Single Payer Health Care Plan Makes Progress

The proposed single-payer or "Medicare for All" system of health care made astonishing progress this week almost by default, as proponents of a "multi-player" plan split into factions. The article linked below gives details. (You may also click on the title above.)

I am a bit surprised to see Medicare for All begin to make this kind of progress at this point. However, from another point of view, because of its inherent logic compared with the illogic of a mixed system (which would combine private plans with a public option), such an advance is not so surprising.

It is refreshing to see every-day people beginning to have an impact on the health care discussion. Perhaps common sense and justice will win the day after all.




http://www.truthout.org/061209R

Henry Giroux, Critical Thinker

Recently, I have become aware of the author and social critic, Henry Giroux. In a conversation published on line, Giroux speaks of what he calls critical pedagogy. His is an interesting and thoughtful approach. I especially like the democratic essence of his theory. With all the turmoil in the field of education, it is good to see something as insightful as this.


http://www.truthout.org/060709C

D-Day Dodgers

This evening, while watching a DVD of a portion of the BBC Series on World War II entitled "Battlefields", I was introduced to a song called "D-Day Dodgers" which appears to be a war version of the song "Lili Marleen." The song "D-Day Dodgers" refers to the soldiers who were stuck in Italy at the time of the Normandy invasion in France. The BBC episode entitled "Cassino" told very effectively the story of the Allied attack on Fortress Cassino, southeast of Rome, and held by the Germans. In the overall campaign to reach Rome, some 100,000 men were lost.

The song "D-Day Dodgers" captures poignantly the sacrifice of some very brave men who fought and suffered terrible losses in order to liberate Italy from the grip of fascism. Watching the video and listening to this wistful song brought home for me this awesome sacrifice, now more than sixty years in the past. May we never forget what those men gave up in order to save us from fascism, and to protect liberty.

Creeping (and Creepy) Militarism in Our Public Schools

Thanks to Truthout I have today become aware of recent efforts to step up efforts to establish more military public schools in the United States. This is a trend which deserves the closest scrutiny with an end toward abolishing such schools. Just as a permanent standing army should never be accepted policy in America, so permanent military schools should be off the table.

We must return to the vision of our founding fathers. Their vision was of a republic run by the people. What we have is a permanent war economy with a muscular military presence propping up the failed financial system. None of this has anything to do with a democratic republic. I am aware these are seemingly bold comments. Yet if one studies history, these are the inevitable conclusions.

This, then, is something of a backdrop for my criticism of so-called public military schools. The article referenced presents a typical journalistic false balance to this issue. But contained within this false balance is information which should concern every lover of democracy in America.


http://www.truthout.org/060409EDA

Urgent Health Care Political Crisis

With large regret, I must inform my readers of reports that the Obama health plan championed by such as Peter Orszag and Larry Summers is set to pursue a dangerous course. The information I am getting -- and details remain foggy -- is that private health "insurance" companies' profits will be protected while health care needs of citizens will be subjected to a rating system in which the lives of people will be judged on their value in comparison to the cost of keeping them alive.

As I say, I am still gathering the facts on this matter, but I am understanding further that former Senator Tom Daschle has advocated an independent Health Care Board, which would act like the Federal Reserve -- that is, independent of Congress and the government to make the unpopular decisions regarding who will get care and of what kind.

In coming days I will be seeking confirmation of this information. But it fits in with the other Bush/Obama programs which seek to protect the financial "community." And let's be honest: health care has already been heavily financialized to the detriment of the health of the American people.

Thus, the Obama health care plan as described above is rightly being called fascist. That is, the plan seeks to serve corporate interests first and citizen needs second, though, of course, the White House officials are not going to admit this.

Such a fascist plan should not be surprising in a country in which corporations are allowed to donate through "bundling" huge sums of money to political campaigns. Further, they are allowed preferential access to legislators through their professional lobbyists.

I hope to have more to say on this soon. In the meantime, I plead with you to contact your legislator immediately to express your opposition to this Nazi-type health care proposal which seems to blend the worst of the current for-profit system and state-run health care systems.* Do not wait. Time is of the essence.


* Unlike some, I am not necessarily opposed to state-run health care systems, if structured to preserve patient rights. The single-payer idea in which the government is the sole purchaser of group health care comes close to what I favor. More later.

We Have a Problem

As in Apollo 13, Americans are beginning to realize, "We have a problem." People who are keen observers of the economic situation in the country are aware that reality does not necessarily match verbiage. What we are told by the corporate media these days is often a far, far different thing from what the man on the street senses.

Reports from some quarters would seem to indicate the economy has "hit bottom." Various statistics are marshaled. Yet job losses continue, on-going unemployment claims continue to rise, more and more men and women drop out of the job market.

And there is the problem of the continuing Wall Street and corporate bail-outs. Never in American history has there ever been such a flow of money from the American tax-payer into private hands. This outrageous negation of everything decent and just, rankles as no other festering wound.

That this is being done under a new President seems to make matters worse. We were expecting so much more, so much better.

Through all the suffering, I have a sense there is a deeper purpose at work. It is harder than ever to hide the failings of the profit system. All that remains is for the American people to become fully aware of this fact and begin to take appropriate action. This waking up is closer than it was. May its full arrival be in a near time.

"Torturing Democracy": Torture in Pictures

Bill Moyers has recommended a new documentary on the subject of torture and I am in process of checking it out. It seems clear this is an important work.

In the meantime, Moyers' comments and those of other journalists referenced make clear in a fresh way that Americans have been lied to by the advocates of torture. Americans have, then, been victims of a propaganda machine the likes of which have never been seen in America to justify something deeply against our moral values.

Please join me in reviewing this film.


http://torturingdemocracy.org/

Is Obama Constitutionally Eligible to Serve as President?

The photo below and the article which is beneath it relate to the questions surrounding Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as President. We must get at the truth so our country can be at peace on this particular matter.

Remembering Our Soldiers

The Alamo at San Antonio, Texas. A total of 2831 U.S. military dead.

clipped from www.obamacrimes.info

Latest on Obama Citizenship Suits

Regular readers of this blog are aware of the lawsuits brought by Philip Berg, the former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania regarding the disputed citizenship of Barack Obama as it relates to his eligibility to serve as President. I continue to regard this as an important matter. The web site of Mr. Berg is referenced below.

Many questions about Mr. Berg and his effort can be raised. What is not in dispute, I believe, is his sincerity, his mental acumen, and his professionalism. Certainly he is passionate but I have never known him to act out of pettiness or to grandstand.

I urge you to see the latest news and to act as you see fit.


http://www.obamacrimes.info/

The World Rushes On

Work has kept me extremely busy of late. However, yesterday I was able to begin to catch up with current events somewhat. So I plan to have a longer post here soon.

Of special concern this past week has been the rantings of the former President of vice, Mr. Cheney. His tirade was a piece of work, as they say on the street. This man has an extremely dark view of the world. It leads to a disproportionate fear and then to fear-mongering. Who needs this?

I look forward to writing more later.

Torture Continues at Guantanamo

I strongly support an independent blue ribbon commission investigation of the U.S. torture of these years. These practices are so far out of the mainstream of United States political and legal thought as to amount to a subversion of the U.S. Constitution. They are also against all morality and the tenets of every major religion of the world, including Christianity.

According to the article referenced below, torture is still continuing at Guantanamo! This, in spite of statements to the contrary by President Obama.



A useful, most valuable up-dating on the issue of torture. This article, however, is not for the squeamish.
http://www.truthout.org/051609Y?n

Nature Busy Springing

As nature springs into action, I have been busier with work than I have in several months. This is good for the pocket-book, but taxing on the body. So my posts have not been quite as frequent. I am starting a new temporary assignment tomorrow and am hoping that I will be able to get into a rhythm in the various aspects of my life, including this web log.

*******

I am finished watching the dynamic BBC series The Nazis. A Warning from History. I will have more to say about this series later. However, I can say now that the concluding portion of the series did not disappoint with stunning video and a clear statement about the denouement of the Hitler dictatorship.

The Nazis. A Warning from History, continued

Since my last post I have watched Parts 3-5 of the important BBC series The Nazis. A Warning from History. I have been taken from the early years of the Nazi regime through the development of the killing systems at the death camps. Throughout, the treatment has been thoughtful and quite complete in this format.

Notable is the feeling in the interviewer's questioning of former Nazis. The insistence of the questioner as he probes a former Lithuanian soldier who shot Jews is most appropriate.

As I have said before, we dare not let the horror of the Nazi killing spectacle dim. Documentaries such as this help us remember some of the techniques used by those brutish German fascists of the 1930s and '40s, and possibly avoid a repeat in our time.

Soon I will have more to say about this landmark documentary series.

The Nazis. A Warning from History. Part 2

The DVD of the BBC television production with this title intensifies in part 2 as Nazi rule over Germany is described. The major surprise is that the Nazi system was -- in important respects -- run from the bottom up. That is, the German people for various reasons supported Hitler and the Nazis and made the whole system work through voluntary denunciations of fellow citizens to the Gestapo.

In interviews, vignettes, historical film footage, and state-of-the-art graphics this documentary film explores the social functioning of the Third Reich. While the influence of Hitler cannot be denied, it is clearer than ever before that the German people had in them a desire for arrogance and superiority which the Nazis brilliantly fed.

But while the outward forms of the regime were impressive, behind the scenes party and government functioning was chaotic with two people often being given nearly identical jobs. Overlap and jealousy was bound to develop.

Ambition trumped good sense in a system in which people scrambled to please the Fuhrer. Heinrich Himmler took action which resulted in the death of the brown shirt movement and the assassination of its leader because Himmler wanted greater personal power.

In an age of forgetfulness, this documentary provides a vital memory check. Indeed, we must never forget the atrocities of this brutal fascist Nazi regime in which anyone who didn't seem to fit in was in many cases jailed or even murdered. With grave peril do we dismiss or denigrate the meaning of the Nazi horror in twentieth century Germany.