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Oligarchy rules the health care debate

The protests against health insurance reform has laid bare the war between the oligarchy (Ruling Class) against the citizenry. Obama should have described the health insurance problem as class warfare in order to focus the debate. Now, the corporate powers have unleashed a barrage of attacks, most of which are simply false (death panels, abortion payments). The ruling class media eliminated the single payer debate at the outset, and has since limited the discussion from the necessary step of a public option. By the time you read this the public option will be a dead issue. Instead the propaganda machine (TV) is focusing on the false debate created by industry and the ruling class resulting in an apparent fight between right and left, when the fight should be against the ruling class.

HEALTH CARE WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

Today,  Congressman Dennis Kucinich sent the following email. I have removed his request for contributions as I know you can find him if you wish to lend financial support. Kucinich explains what is happening to the health insurance reform debate concisely and accurately, so Free Press wanted to reprint it for our readers.

HEALTH CARE WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

The masquerade is over!  The "public option" is ... dead.

Health care  reform is now a private option: WHICH FOR PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANY DO YOU WANT? You have to choose. And you have to pay. If  you have a low income, under HR3200 government will subsidize the  private insurance companies and you will still have to pay  premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

The Administration plan  requires that everyone must have health insurance, so it is  delivering tens of millions of new "customers" to the  insurance companies. Health care? Not really. Insurance care! Absolutely. Cost controls? No chance.

You will next hear  talk about "co-ops." The truth is that insurance  company campaign contributions have co-opted the public interest.

Mein Health

The Perfect Storm: A timely combination of influences & events underscores the need to legalize marijuana

A perfect storm is gathering to end the prohibition against marijuana in the United States . Economic, generational, and technological forces have combined with new views from the public and powerful opinion makers to create an unprecedented climate for the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana.
Storm clouds are brewing from all segments of society to upend the “reefer madness” fear and misconceptions that have dictated U.S. drug policy for decades. The upheaval begins with the economy, but doesn’t end there. As Bob Dylan noted long ago, "You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Here’s a review of the pressures bearing down on the prohibitionists.

It’s the economy, stupid

With the country in an economic meltdown similar to the Great Depression, an increasing number of citizens are questioning the cost of the drug war. Billions of dollars have been spent on law enforcement and imprisonment since 1970. (1) More than 20 million citizens have been arrested for cannabis-related charges, including 90 per cent for possession. Marijuana-related arrests continue at the alarming rate of more than 900,000 a year.

Indirectly leveraging Democrats on health insurance vote?

The upcoming health insurance vote is so important to me personally, first as a moral issue, and second as a practical matter (after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease), that I intend to hold all Democrats -- from President Obama to those Democratic Legislators who vote "yes" through those Democratic Legislators who vote "No" -- responsible INDEFINITELY into the future, if the final reconciled bill does not include at least a "public option" for health insurance. To be clear, under the conditions i just outlined, i will not vote for any Democrat for anything. I'll stay home on Election Day if the choice is between a Democrat and a Republican--or vote Green if that choice is available.

Maybe Ralph Nader was right, even in this past election, in saying that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans? Clearly, there isn't much difference between voting "no" like a Republican, pro-insurance company lackey and voting "yes" for insurance company approved bill like insurance company shill, Senator Max Boccus, took his pieces of silver to support. As I have no direct leverage over the senator from the great big state with

Environmental groups bring 'Repower America' campaign to Columbus as climate bill faces motley opposition

The Alliance for Climate Protection, which was founded in 2006 by Al Gore, and the Climate Protection Action Fund have brought the Repower America campaign to Columbus, seeking to generate support in Central Ohio and beyond for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as ACES or the Waxman-Markey Bill, or as a “pile of s---t ” to quote House Minority Leader John Boehner, (R-OH). The measure passed in the House, 219-212 on June 26. Time will tell what becomes of the bill in the Senate.

Proponents say ACES will create jobs, help address climate change, and promote US national security. To some environmental groups, the bill is a flawed step in the right direction that is better than nothing. To other environmental groups, the bill is a handout to big industries and has little chance of addressing climate change. Moreover, many Republicans oppose the bill on economic grounds, saying it will hurt an already damaged economy.

Traverse City Film Festival continues to be an energetic, enthusiastic and enthralling experience

Just like a fine and flavorful wine, the Traverse City Film Festival (or the Michael Moore Film Festival experience) continues to ripen and mature with each passing year.

The festival’s fifth year was not only a challenging and thought provoking social/political film experience, the coordinators also added a film school for emerging directors. Raucous parties for the many film goers celebrated the final festival evening.

Fun and funny panels with writers such as Jeff Garlin and Larry Charles (“CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM”) as well as a dialogue with unparalleled American filmmaker Paul Mazursky enthralled the many film goers.

A festival’s most vibrant feature was its generosity of spirit, especially in its highlighting of women voices in films, scripts, philosophy, and activism.

Annemarie Jacir”s “SALT OF THE SEA”, a Palestinian film which boldly shows the frustrations of the abused Palestinian people, is a brilliant, intense, and soul-searching drama which stresses the ongoing peoples’ personal struggle for justice.

Collecting School Supplies For Children Around The World

During the months of August & September, our church community is collecting school supplies to put together kits which will go to children around the world who don't have access to these items.
They will be distributed by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and are given primarily to refugee and displaced children, helping students and teachers add some normalcy to disrupted lives.

They are also given to children living in areas that experienced natural disasters. MCC has sent school kits to children in places such as Bosnia, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Liberia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine and to poorly funded schools in Canada and the United States.

In 2008 MCC shipped over 120,000 school kits. For more information, go to School supplies

Location: 35 Oakland Park Ave.
Phone: 614-784-9002
Website: Columbus Mennonite

Wait Times!

Deep green: a good solution

Recently, we've been hearing about 'the death of environmentalism' because - allegedly - the world's corporations now understand ecology and will solve our problems with investment, innovation, and gung-ho optimism.

Of course, what the investors want to create with all that optimism and ingenuity are profits, not real sustainability.

Critics regularly accuse environmentalists of being 'doom and gloom' prognosticators who complain of endless problems, but offer 'no solutions'. However, if we check the record, we'll discover that serious ecologists have been offering solutions for centuries.

Real economic solutions

Economist John Stuart Mill realised the limits of nature 160 years ago, as he witnessed British factories multiplying across the landscape, spoiling woodlands, mowing down hedgerows and turning rivers into sewers.

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