It’s a sad day in Wisconsin. Yesterday afternoon in less than two hours, our Republican Senators — after insisting for a month that their union-busting law was needed because the state was broke — separated the collective bargaining sections of the bill from the financial parts and then passed it. They no longer needed a Democratic Senator for a quorum, since the bill was no longer ostensibly about finances! They unmasked themselves with this political maneuver. Now everyone can see that it never was about the money. It was an attack on workers’ rights all along. And despite massive protests last night and today, the Republican Assembly passed the bill as well.

Many of us thought Republican legislators were shoving an undemocratic bill down our throats three weeks ago. But at least they gave us six days (a ridiculously short amount of time) to think and talk about it then. Yesterday’s two hours of discussion breaks that record by a yard. The upshot of all this is that 60 years of workers’ rights have been swept away using undemocratic methods for an undemocratic outcome (there will probably be a lawsuit about the tactics). This is especially hard to take, since polls show that anywhere from 65% – 74% of Wisconsinites believe that public workers should have the right to organize.

How can anyone oppose Michelle Obama’s campaign to combat the childhood obesity epidemic by educating children about healthy eating and exercise? How can anyone not rejoice about recent changes in USDA policies that will make school lunches healthier? Wouldn’t most people agree that it would be a positive thing to use government subsidies to encourage the production of healthy foods and sustainable agriculture, instead of the opposite?

As Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times this week:

Agricultural subsidies have helped bring us high-fructose corn syrup, factory farming, fast food, a two-soda-a-day habit and its accompanying obesity, the near-demise of family farms, monoculture and a host of other ills. Yet – like so many government programs – what subsidies need is not the ax, but reform that moves them forward. Imagine support designed to encourage a resurgence of small- and medium-size farms producing not corn syrup and animal-feed but food we can touch, see, buy and eat – like apples and carrots – while diminishing handouts to agribusiness and its political cronies.

Eating healthier foods and exercising more are hardly controversial goals, yet some people on the far right are trying to politicize these common sense recommendations in order to score political points. Does Mrs. Obama’s contention that people should skip dessert once in a while really deserve Palin’s derision? Since when is trying to educate children about health and nutrition coercive? Should children really be allowed to eat whatever they want? Should any of us choose to indulge in whatever we want anytime we want?

Brenda Shoshanna

by Brenda Shoshanna

Many, many questions arise in our minds when someone close to us is seriously ill. It takes a while to realize that these questions do not have one answer. They have many answers, appear in different ways, and may have different impacts on us at different times. In a sense a finger is being pointed in our direction. These questions are demanding a response . . We cannot be free from answering. Life itself is demanding a reply. Some of the questions we struggle with are:

“How is suffering truly relieved?”

“What is the best way through serious illness and beyond?”

For years, Rio Arriba County has been the butt of jokes about its high overdose death rates and its supposed lack of coordination between providers. But on August 25, over 350 people showed up at my office (a huge crowd for a working day in Espanola!) to celebrate our town’s health care reform success. (More)

The twenty-something son of good friends of mine had some scary symptoms with swine flu last week and recovered. My son at college had a mild go of flu, most likely the H1N1. How worried should we be and where’s the best advice?

Swine flu is estimated to have killed 800 people in the US already. This is much less than the 36,000 who are said to die of the flu every winter in the US, so is there little to worry about? What are your feelings about this at the moment?

Is there fear-mongering going on, or is there actually “complacency-mongering?” The first time I’ve seen that word combo in print is in an article in New Scientist this week, that is clearly concerned that people are taking it all too lightly. The piece describes eight “myths” about swine flu and lays out the countering facts as understood by a smart science journalist who has been following the pandemic for a while, Debora Mackenzie.

Of course, as soon as anyone writes about a medical issue on a spiritual and politically progressive website like this, one dives into the heated pool of opinions about holistic vs. western or allopathic medicine.

America: land of the brave and home of the free. Free. One of my favorite words. Yes, equality and rights to freedom are excellent, but what I really enjoy are free giveaways.

Today Starbucks is holding free pastry day – anyone who comes in with a coupon, easily printed off the Internet, and orders a beverage will receive one free pastry of choice. It was the perfect way to start off my morning. I ordered the necessary soy latte and got a complimentary butter croissant on the side.

But after finishing my delicious breakfast, I’ve been reconsidering my pastry choice. Was it the healthiest? Maybe I should have picked a whole grain roll. Would it have made a difference?