Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders spoke for months about his “historic” efforts to get a vote on a single-payer health care bill in the Senate. While we all knew the outcome was going to be a rather miserable failure, it was a tiny crumb being flicked to those of us who still believe in both real solutions to the health care crisis AND the possibilities of democracy.
Sanders was correct to intuit that this kind of vote is essential to keep a movement alive, offer some hope, and simply record the moment in history. The entire effort is about seeing where we stand, knowing how far we have to go, and putting both the general public and the electoral elite on notice that we know where we’re going.
Historically, similar “failed” measures were introduced to end slavery, to give women the right to vote, to provide equal rights to minorities and – yes – to end wrong-headed wars. An effective movement must know which side everyone is on, and such votes – albeit failures – provide that organizational and motivational insight.
Bernie had all of this in mind while he talked the talk in the months preceding the historic single-payer health care vote. Because Bernie knows his history, and he also knows – like the rest of us who utilize common sense know – that a single-payer health care system provides the only path to justice.
“The upcoming vote on my single-payer health care bill will be an historic moment in the halls of Congress,” Bernie declared recently on a national radio talk show. “While I know it will fail, it is essential to bring it forward, have the debate, and record the vote so that we can continue to build the movement and move toward single-payer as our ultimate goal.”
Well, Bernie had his moment yesterday. And, as we all know now, he quit on us.
Read the rest on this blog: http://broadsides.org
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
More Children Hungry in USA
The Associated Press: Food stamps estimate raises debate over 'poverty'
"Almost half of all U.S. kids will be on food stamps at some time during childhood"
according an analysis in this months Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
"A USDA hunger report last week raised similar concerns, finding that more than one in seven American households lacked 'food security' in 2008. ... That suggests almost 15 percent of households nationwide struggled to get enough to eat, versus about 11 percent in 2007."
"Almost half of all U.S. kids will be on food stamps at some time during childhood"
according an analysis in this months Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
"A USDA hunger report last week raised similar concerns, finding that more than one in seven American households lacked 'food security' in 2008. ... That suggests almost 15 percent of households nationwide struggled to get enough to eat, versus about 11 percent in 2007."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The root of all war
The root of all war: "George Carlin
Nothing is as cloaked in BS as war.
War is business conducted at gun point.
Nothing more, nothing less.
War costs a fortune and the money is only loaned when the people borrowing it have the assets to back up the loans (i.e. the money they hope to make from the war and, if it fails to pay off, the taxpayer/slaves/suckers back home.)
The US income tax, the IRS, and Wall Street for the masses was created to pay for World War I."
Nothing is as cloaked in BS as war.
War is business conducted at gun point.
Nothing more, nothing less.
War costs a fortune and the money is only loaned when the people borrowing it have the assets to back up the loans (i.e. the money they hope to make from the war and, if it fails to pay off, the taxpayer/slaves/suckers back home.)
The US income tax, the IRS, and Wall Street for the masses was created to pay for World War I."
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Daily Herald | The Philippines Photo Gallery
Part 1: With arms spread like wings, boys leap from a 20-foot-high bridge into the black sewage and trash-filled water below. They swim and sit on make-shift floats looking for discarded consumer products they can sell or barter. 
Daily Herald | The Philippines Photo Gallery
Daily Herald | The Philippines Photo Gallery
The need of the most powerful to turn themselves into victims - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
The need of the most powerful to turn themselves into victims - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com: "Saturday May 2, 2009 13:45 EDT
The need of the most powerful to turn themselves into victims
One of the most common, harmful and downright pitiful dynamics in our political culture is the bottomless need of those who wield the most power to constantly parade around as oppressed, persecuted victims:"
The need of the most powerful to turn themselves into victims
One of the most common, harmful and downright pitiful dynamics in our political culture is the bottomless need of those who wield the most power to constantly parade around as oppressed, persecuted victims:"
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
US Unemployment Map
US Unemployment Map from space
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer you can get the interactive version here:
US Unemployment Map 2 - The KML
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer you can get the interactive version here:
US Unemployment Map 2 - The KML
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Monkey kills cruel owner with coconut to the head
Monkey 'kills cruel owner with coconut to the head
- Telegraph:
"Monkey 'kills cruel owner with coconut thrown from tree'
A monkey who was forced to climb palm trees by his owner took revenge by killing him with a coconut."
- Telegraph:
"Monkey 'kills cruel owner with coconut thrown from tree'
A monkey who was forced to climb palm trees by his owner took revenge by killing him with a coconut."
Karl Marx, Ecologist : Climate and Capitalism
Karl Marx, Ecologist : Climate and Capitalism: "One of the key goals of socialism is to liberate the natural world from the anti-environmental impacts of corporate greed. “From the standpoint of a higher economic formation, the private property of particular individuals in the earth will appear just as absurd as the private property of one man in other men”, Marx wrote."
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Why the U.S. Stimulus Package is Bound To Fail -David Harvey
Feb 12th, 2009
Much is to be gained by viewing the contemporary crisis as a surface eruption generated out of deep tectonic shifts in the spatio-temporal disposition of capitalist development. The tectonic plates are now accelerating their motion and the likelihood of more frequent and more violent crises of the sort that have been occurring since 1980 or so will almost certainly increase."
...Continue Reading
Much is to be gained by viewing the contemporary crisis as a surface eruption generated out of deep tectonic shifts in the spatio-temporal disposition of capitalist development. The tectonic plates are now accelerating their motion and the likelihood of more frequent and more violent crises of the sort that have been occurring since 1980 or so will almost certainly increase."
...Continue Reading
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
blackagendareport.com - Medicare-For-All Will Create 2.6 Million New Jobs, Say CA Nurses
blackagendareport.com - Medicare-For-All Will Create 2.6 Million New Jobs, Say CA Nurses: "Medicare-For-All Will Create 2.6 Million New Jobs, Say CA Nurses"
Friday, February 6, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Seattle General Strike Feb 6 1919
Seattle General Strike: "On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,000 people, stopped working. 25,000 union members had joined the 35,000 already on strike. Much of the remaining work force was idled as stores closed and streetcars stopped running. The General Strike Committee, composed of delegates from the key striking unions, tried to coordinate vital services and negotiate with city officials, but events moved quickly beyond their control."
Sunday, February 1, 2009
"Wall Street Uses the “S” Word to Denounce Criticizing its Bonuses - Socialism!"
“I think President Obama painted everyone with a broad stroke,” said Brian McCaffrey, 55, a Wall Street lawyer who was on his way to see a client. “The way we pay our taxes is bonuses. The only way that we’ll get any of our bailout money back is from taxes on bonuses. I think bonuses should be looked at on a case by case basis, or you turn into a socialist.”
That, indeed, was a recurring equation: Broad strokes + bonuses = socialist.
“It’s a very slippery slope to go down,” said another insurance broker as he waited to be seated for lunch at Cipriani Downtown. “A blanket statement like that borders on” — you guessed it — “socialism.”
The Washington Independent
That, indeed, was a recurring equation: Broad strokes + bonuses = socialist.
“It’s a very slippery slope to go down,” said another insurance broker as he waited to be seated for lunch at Cipriani Downtown. “A blanket statement like that borders on” — you guessed it — “socialism.”
The Washington Independent
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