Health care crisis

We have a big health care crisis in Ohio and in the U.S. Costs are skyrocketing, 46 million people are uninsured (1.2 million in Ohio), and we aren’t as healthy as nations that spend a lot less. The facts are astounding:

  • 80% of the uninsured are in working families but don’t receive work-based coverage
  • $847 of the average yearly Ohio family health insurance premium goes toward paying the cost of caring for the uninsured
  • The US is spending way more than any other country on health care, yet we rank 37th in the world on health care performance


  • $1500 of very General Motors car manufactured in the U.S. pays for employee and retiree health benefits; GM now makes more cars in Canada and Mexico.


    • The politics of hope

    At its most basic, politics is about hope.

    Power, greed, narrow interests, and, too uncommonly, large ideas – yes, politics is about these things as well. Politics is the means that serve so many different ends, every now and again including the common good.

    Yet even while scarce few yellow brick political roads end at cities agleam with emeralds and good men, the journey down none of them begins until the first step and each thereafter is launched by hope. Hope is the journey, you see, though so few anymore venture to take it.

    Too many in this country today are instead indifferent to politics. Tyrannized by their overscheduled lives, distracted by money and possessions, celebrity and sport, or preoccupied with simply keeping their heads and those of their children above water, too many Americans live believing the state of the world does not concern them.

    Wal-Mart expands

    Cleveland Coast Guard hearing on firing ranges in the Great Lakes

    The U.S. Coast Guard has announced its plan to turn the Great Lakes into the world's largest freshwater firing range. They are installing machine guns on their boats, and want to set aside 34 sites on all of the lakes to use for live ammunition target practice. If the Coast Guard goes ahead with its plan, they will shoot more than 6,000 pounds of toxic lead into the lakes each year.

    The Coast Guard will hold a public hearing on this issue this Monday, October 23 at the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building, 31st Floor Auditorium, 1240 E. 9th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. This hearing is the only one that will be held in your area. It is very important that there be a large number of people at the hearing to voice opposition to the plan.

    The hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. and everyone who shows up will be given 2-3 minutes to speak. The Coast Guard will not answer questions at the hearing; they will only listen, and whatever is said becomes part of the official record. At 4:00 the Coast Guard will hold what they call an open house, at the same location, so people can come and find out about their plan.

    Channeling Thomas Friedman

    Get ready for a special tour of a renowned outlook, conjured from the writings of syndicated New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. As the leading media advocate of “free trade” and “globalization,” he is expertly proficient at explaining the world to the world. If we could synthesize Friedman’s brain waves, the essential messages would go something like this:

    Silicon chips are the holy wafers of opportunity. From Bangalore to Bob’s Big Boy Burgers, those who understand the Internet will leave behind those who do not.

    I want to tell you about Rajiv/Mohammed/George, now doing awesome business in Madras/Amman/Durham. Only a few years ago, this visionary man started from scratch with just a vision -- a vision that he, like me, has been wise enough to comprehend.

    So, Rajiv/Mohammed/George built a business on the digital backbone of the new global economy. Now, the employees fill orders on a varying shift schedule, and time zones are always covered. Don’t ask what they’re selling -- that hardly matters. They’re working in a high-tech industry, and the profits are auspicious. This is the Future. And it is good. Fabulous, actually.

    Bush intends to follow law!

    http://mattbors.com

    Corrode your conformity: Big Brother doesn't practice fraternal love

    "Non-violence is a weapon of the strong." --Mahatma Gandhi

    "It is with regret that I pronounce the fatal truth: Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtuous citizens; Louis must die that the country may live." --Maximilien Robespierre

    October 17, 2006 is a watershed date in the epic struggle between oppressors and oppressed. Events of that day undoubtedly prompted Marx and Engels to awaken from their eternal slumber and spin violently in their graves. A mere swish of the pen by a conscienceless swine effectively transferred absolute power into the hands of a relative handful of rich and powerful individuals and corporations.

    Happy birthday, Big Brother!

    Over two centuries ago, 25,000 intrepid souls sacrificed their lives to free the American Colonies from the clutches of a ruthless empire and to found a nation based on democratic principles. Tragically, on 10/17 the tattered remains of freedom for which American Revolutionary soldiers spilled crimson rivers were reduced to mere abstractions by a miniscule volume of ink.

    Important voter activism

    This is REALLY important, and you can help by taking just a few minutes of your time over the next few days, from the comfort of your own home. 

    Cuyahoga Board of Elections has “decided” NOT to post election results at the polling place, despite the fact that:

    • Their May primary election debacle made national news, and voter confidence has plummeted.  (Why else would there be record numbers of voters clamoring to vote absentee?)

    • The Election Science Institute revealed numerous discrepancies in vote counts among the different vote tallies (across the different media: paper, memory card, hard drive, etc.).

    • There is undisputed proof that electronic voting (especially Diebold equipment) is vulnerable to fraud, hacking, and other security breaches.

    • Judging by the Poll Worker Training Manual and numerous predictions, election day will be chaotic, with near impossible tracking of all election components.

    • The general public is VERY concerned about electronic voting machines and wants transparency in the vote counting (Zogby poll – 92%)

    Cheated!

    "Cheated!" written by Sheri Myers illustrated by Sophie Goldstein, published by Wake Up and Save Your Country, 2006

    Buy "Cheated!" through our online store now

    Issue 3

    COLUMBUS- Ah, election season in Ohio. I have been out of state for quite a while, but I am delighted to be back in Ohio for election time. One can walk down the street and all but smell the politics simmering: harried college kids taking a semester off to campaign, politicians out and about, sticking their noses into the very diapers of tiny constituents, the sickly sweet fragrance of ballot paper…wait, those ballots aren’t supposed to smell like that! Blackwell, what are you doing?

    The Grinch of election season, our Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, as chair of the bi-partisan Ohio Ballot Board and the fifth vote on a board of five, has quite an influence over ballot language in this state.

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