health care reform

Socialism? Rationing? Death Panels?!! Very little criticism of health reform is well-founded, and most of it is incredibly emotional. The drama unfolding in town hall meetings across the country makes one wonder about underlying subconscious factors fueling opposition. Are we really afraid of health care reform resulting in the creation of a socialist state? Do we really think that the government is going to actively pursue euthanasia? Will we be refused needed healthcare under the proposed system because of rationing? There is undoubtedly a much deeper cause for the abhorrence of health care reform. For many of us, the idea of a government-funded health care option threatens the very conception of being an American.

In this country, many of us seek to sustain religious, cultural, and linguistic divisions. The psychological function of racial discrimination has been pointed out as a means to ascribe any/all undesirable characteristics upon the "other". As long as we have an "other" to degrade, we can project undesirable traits and thus feel a little better about ourselves. Does the non-availability of health care ensure that a mental wall between classes is maintained?

It's not racism, and racism has nothing to do with it, but the deeply held irrational fear of health care reform is remarkably similar to racism. Somehow, the availability of health care is inextricably tied to class, upward mobility, happiness, and the American dream.

Are we afraid to share a doctor's office with someone who makes less money than we do? Are we afraid to visit a nurse when the same nurse is assisting people of a different color or cultural background than us? Would that take away from our health, happiness, or degrade the quality of care received? If our answer is yes, then we really do need a lot more regulation.

If insurance companies and health care providers could be trusted to provide what they agree to provide, there would be no need for government regulation. But, they can not be trusted. People in this country are dropped by insurance companies while they are being treated for cancer. Their spouses are sometimes dropped as well. If other businesses followed this type of behavior, the public would not allow it. Why should we allow corporations to deny us health care because of their interest in profit?

Critics of proposed health care reform claim that they do not want to be controlled by government and that socializing medicine would be an attack on basic freedoms. It seems they would rather to remain under the tyranny of large corporations that are replacing the art of medicine with the art of making profits. How is being controlled by corporations more American than allowing government to make health care affordable for everyone?

It's time we take a good look at our underlying emotional opposition to health care reform and consider that it may be time for us to evolve as a society.

Fun Fun Fun Stage Diving

Last weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest featured great sets by D.O.A., the Cro-Mags, and Bad Brains. Here's D.O.A.

Integrity, American-Style

I watched the Obama victory from a crowded pub last night. Everyone there cheered as announcements appeared on the wide-screen that Obama had taken Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida... and we booed when it was announced that McCain had claimed Alabama, Texas, etc.

When McCain conceded the election, I applauded his presentation. McCain spoke patriotically; he spoke of Americans united. At that moment, walls of political and racial division seemed to evaporate.

Obama spoke with as much integrity as did McCain. He quickly and quietly turned the country's attention toward the reality that there is a lot of work to be done. The celebration was sweet, but the lasting feeling to me is the appreciation of living in a great country that has power to do good: Power to ensure that people have jobs to feed their families. Power to protect our natural environment. Power to alleviate the problems across the world caused by our own misdeeds. Power to educate. Power to find cures for disease and illness. Power to evolve as a people.

With broad smiles of contentment, we slowly navigated through streets cars blowing horns, people on the street shouting and celebrating. We cranked up Manu Chao's Politik Kills, sated with the feeling that politics had been killed, at least temporarily. We rolled beneath roof-top revelers chanting "Obama", strangers on bicycles waving and smiling, others yelling victoriously out of car windows. Of course, we blasted our own victorious horn, and let fly a few "barbaric yawps".

There are concerns in this world far more serious than how much a politician spends on clothes, more important than questioning funny middle names, more deserving of our time than contemplating guilt by past associations. We have the present moment to analyze real problems, re-prioritize, assess, and create plans to solve them. We have vast resources and talent to work for change.

The problems facing America and the world in 2008 are quite real and require immediate attention. We've made it through the labyrinth. Let the walls fall.

John Cusack's blog: www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack/no-currency-left-to-buy-t_b_140250.html

Today, I'm turning the blog over to that of actor John Cusack, who has written an extraordarily clear analysis of why Obama must be our next president. Happy reading!

Democracy is Coming to the USA, by Leonard Cohen

... also see his official vide at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OETwbVBPI1U

Oui On Peu

It seems to me that the real America has spoken...

Palin's Failin' Nature

Here's a little research on Palin and the natural environment. It seems to me that Palin has very little respect for the natural world and its creatures.

When asked about global warming, Palin says:
"I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made," Palin said.

On protection of threatened Beluga whales, Palin says:
"I am especially concerned that an unnecessary federal listing and designation of critical habitat would do serious long-term damage to the vibrant economy of the Cook Inlet area"

On protecting threatened Polar Bears, Palin says:
"We believe that the Service's decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available," Governor Palin said. Governor Sarah Palin filed a lawsuit to overturn the Federal decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/habitat_conservation/federal_lands/arctic/polar_bears_in_the_arctic_national_wildlife_refuge.pdf

On protecting salmon from pollution caused by mining:
Ms. Palin issued a last-minute statement of opposition to a ballot measure that would have provided added protections for salmon from potential contamination from mining.

On Exxon and Valdez:
Palin refuses to push Exxon to pay the government for the unanticipated environmental injuries from the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Almost 20 years later, the private case is still unresolved and the governments likewise have yet to collect full payment from Exxon. Meanwhile, Exxon reaps record profits from Alaska.
from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html

On promoting more clean water:
Palin aggressively opposed the "clean water initiative" on the August ballot in Alaska (which then failed), favoring instead foreign mining company desires for fewer government regulations controlling their toxic effluent into salmon streams.
from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html

On wolves and bears:
Palin approved and expanded the state's aerial predator control program, where wolves are shot from aircraft and bears hunted from aircraft and killed upon landing. This year, her state biologists even dragged 14 newborn wolf pups from their den and, having already shot their parents, then shot each of the pups in the head at close range.
from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html

On opening ANWAR and Alska to more drilling, Palin says:
It’s going to take at least five years. You know, and there are other areas in Alaska too, that have the reserves that need to be tapped, certainly offshore. There’s trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, and billions of barrels of oil there too that need to be tapped. We also have a natural gas pipeline that is underway now, a process to get that constructed, where we can build infrastructure and allow known reserves of natural gas up on our North Slope - it’s already there, it’s already proven – to be tapped and flow through a natural gas pipeline. Our legislature is dealing with that issue right now, getting ready to license a company to build that gas line. Again, to feed these hungry markets.