Environment

Van Jones’s Resignation: Bad for the Country and Bad for Obama

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This moment will be looked back upon as giving a signal of encouragement to some of the most fascistic elements in the American political Right. I signed the same statement on 9/11 that Van Jones signed, and there was nothing immoderate about it. It didn’t say what the Right claimed it said (and the mainstream media chimed in without investigation). I’ll explain below. Jones’s resignation is bad for the country and for the Obama administration.

Health

What's Really Going On With Health Care?

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I’m attracted to any article with that kind of title because — probably like you if you are reading this — I am so distressed that so many Americans who would benefit from universal health care are against it. This article, by political prof John Kenneth White in this Sunday’s SF Chronicle, seemed plausible to my liberal self at first sight. The title online is “Whose America?” but in print it was “What the debate is really about: changing America,” and that referred to an America that is already rapidly changing, like it or not. His take is that white middle class people felt in the 1970s that America was theirs, but — this was the part that was interesting to me — that the New Deal had been theirs too.

Christianity

We Need Help! (Senator Tom Coburn and the Radical Right)

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I am left speechless by Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) response to a sobbing woman, begging for help because her insurance company will not pay for a feeding tube for her brain-injured husband. Coburn instructs her to call his office, blames her situation on her neighbors, and then lectures that it is not appropriate for “the government” to intervene in her health care. (Hat Tip Jeffrey Feldman). [youtube: video=”e3jwhLcW_c8″]
I have several questions for the Senator:

You are a Christian and you align yourself with the Christian Right. Did your version of the Greek Scriptures not include the Sermon on the Mount?

Health

Fight Truth Decay

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I simply could not resist posting this photo of a woman we met at the San Francisco City Hall health care reform rally. Her button, combined with her winning smile, were priceless. Adding dental care to health care reform…… may be a good idea! As we head into this weekend and await President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress this coming Wednesday, the “tea-partiers” will be out spreading lies and fear.

Health

"What's a Co-Pay?"

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Connecticut Man1 posts a video of real Canadians talking about their health care. Guess what? They like it!

Health

Boy who survived brain surgery wants all children to have access to health care

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“I came here because I have health issues and I want other kids, ones that aren’t as lucky as me, to have access to health care.” We had asked his mother why they had come to San Francisco City Hall today and she pointed at the kids and said “Ask them.” Her older son, munching on the addictive kettle corn on sale at the City Hall Farmer’s market quipped “I was hungry” and then her younger son had talked about his health issues and why he worried about other kids not as lucky as him. “Health issues” Mom piped in, “He had brain surgery, spent two months in Children’s Hospital, the bills were staggering even though we had insurance…. my husband had lost his job, and we got sent to collections.

Gender and Sexuality

The New Right Wing Meme

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Perhaps disappointed that death panels failed to frighten the tar and feathers out of the average American, the right wing appears to have settled on a new meme to undercut healthcare reform: the CDC will force males to undergo circumcision. Loosely based on a CDC report to be presented at an AIDS prevention gathering in Atlanta, Fox News, Reason Online, and The Drudge Report report that the CDC is considering forced circumcision of all males to prevent the spread of HIV. David Harsanyi, a Denver Post columnist and author of Nanny State wrote:
Here’s the problem: Why is the CDC launching campaigns to “universally” promote a medical procedure? If you’re an adult (and nuts) or a parent, no one stands in your way of having a bris. Today 79 percent of men are circumcised already, and even if 100 percent were, the effect on the collective health of the nation would be negligible.

Earth-based Religions

Thomas Friedman a Wiccan?

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I don’t normally read Thomas Friedman’s op. ed. pieces. But this one — “Connecting Nature’s Dots” — drew my attention, probably because of the word “Nature” in the headline. Practicing Wicca attunes me to nature, since to me it’s sacred.