Today's local paper (the Gary Post Tribune) featured a story about "Antonio's Angels"- a group of neighbors holding a silent auction for 2 year old Antonio Moreno who has neuroblastoma cancer. In addition to having surgery, little Antonio had a successful stem cell transplant last month. (now if Antonio was an unborn fetus, the Republicans would be cheering for him, but since he's already 2, no "prolifers" seem to be worried about his health oh and they certainly would have opposed him getting treatment with stem cells. )
Meanwhile his family's neighbors have decided to help raise money for his medical costs and to create a fund for medical research on childhood cancers. (www.post-trib.com under "Antonio's Angels by Sue Ellen Ross) Here in the "heartland" it is not uncommon to see little jars on the counter of the local quickie mart or even at big chain stores asking for donations for a cause like this. Even families and individuals with health care find that if they get seriously ill, their health care has major limitations. The Physicians for a National Health Care Program website has some great information about how relatively easy it would be to set up a single payer healthcare system which would provide medical insurance to all Americans. http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php but , the Republican candidates for President are using the scary code words, "socialized" medicine and in the case of former NY Mayor (Mr. 911) Giuliani, "Hillarycare" or lately "Obamacare" and "Edwardscare" (just in case, he's ready with the really well thought out insult).
Yeah, it's way better you have to hold a bake sale for a 2 year old with cancer than face the terrible idea that every American should be insured. Ironically Mitt Romney talks on the campaign trail about the high costs of health care but seems to have no clue that it's the insurance agencies and hospitals that have made it so expensive.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Bush government Iraq Urban legends "grassroots volunteers" aka "concerned local citizens"
As with all of its sadly successful campaigns, the Bush administration has rolled out a series of urban legends (which are dutifully being repeated by the press and Republican candidates for President and after a while these "facts" echo in people's brains as "the truth" told by a friend of a friend) on the "success of the surge in Iraq" Let's look at just at one of the components of the " surge's success" which is being touted by American military commanders and Bush himself- This is the claim that a "grassroots " movement of "volunteers' are spreading peace through Iraq due to their own love of democracy and good will towards men. (:Here's the military's press release on the subject: http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?Itemid=128&id=14596&option=com_content&task=view)
You will never hear the US military or the Bush folks mention the fact that the 77,000 Sunni alleged "volunteers" are being paid with US tax dollars at a rate of $300 a month (nearly 300 million a year).
Here's the truth about the "volunteers" according to the MidEast for Coexistence Website : " In Baghdad, the US military enlisted the help of civilian volunteers to fight common enemies such as Al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, the militant Shiite group commanded by Moqtada al-Sadr. There are currently almost 70,000 of these volunteers countrywide. They volunteers are officially known as "Concerned Local Citizens," and are given salaries and uniforms by the Americans. In reality, many of them are former insurgents, which makes the Shiite government nervous and detracts from the Manichean moral narrative preferred by Bush's speechwriters."
"(http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000653.htm) Those of us who want to see peace in Iraq don't have a problem with Iraqis helping keep the peace, but here's the question-why are military commanders and the Bush government lying about the fact that they aren't volunteers (any more than anyone who applies for a job with benefits is a "volunteer"), they aren't part of a grassroots movement-they are being recruited, and they are often former insurgents-so the US is paying salaries to folks who don't like the current Iraqi government, who may have fought against the US during the occupation, and who may take their new uniforms and guns and turn them on either the Iraqi government, the US military or both. This is yet another reason to bring our troops home now- if we want to pay Sunnis to protect their neighborhoods (which is an idea that was suggested by an Iraqi refugee to me over 2 years ago) then let's pay them without setting up yet another situation (see the history of Afghanistan) where we arm a population only to have them turn the weapons we paid for on us down the road.
You will never hear the US military or the Bush folks mention the fact that the 77,000 Sunni alleged "volunteers" are being paid with US tax dollars at a rate of $300 a month (nearly 300 million a year).
Here's the truth about the "volunteers" according to the MidEast for Coexistence Website : " In Baghdad, the US military enlisted the help of civilian volunteers to fight common enemies such as Al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, the militant Shiite group commanded by Moqtada al-Sadr. There are currently almost 70,000 of these volunteers countrywide. They volunteers are officially known as "Concerned Local Citizens," and are given salaries and uniforms by the Americans. In reality, many of them are former insurgents, which makes the Shiite government nervous and detracts from the Manichean moral narrative preferred by Bush's speechwriters."
"(http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000653.htm) Those of us who want to see peace in Iraq don't have a problem with Iraqis helping keep the peace, but here's the question-why are military commanders and the Bush government lying about the fact that they aren't volunteers (any more than anyone who applies for a job with benefits is a "volunteer"), they aren't part of a grassroots movement-they are being recruited, and they are often former insurgents-so the US is paying salaries to folks who don't like the current Iraqi government, who may have fought against the US during the occupation, and who may take their new uniforms and guns and turn them on either the Iraqi government, the US military or both. This is yet another reason to bring our troops home now- if we want to pay Sunnis to protect their neighborhoods (which is an idea that was suggested by an Iraqi refugee to me over 2 years ago) then let's pay them without setting up yet another situation (see the history of Afghanistan) where we arm a population only to have them turn the weapons we paid for on us down the road.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Read the fine print
Welcome to Folk U - here's an introduction- before you hit "send" come to this blog to see if there's any truth to the warning you got by email about some scary thing happening to someone you don't know; before you decide that Obama is bashing gays because some guy says so on a blog on Huffington's post; and before you believe anything anyone says-
who you gonna call? Folklorists!
as a folklorist and an activist I've learned you need to research things you hear from a "friend of a friend' (see Jan Brunvand, "Too Good To Be True, the Big Book of Urban Legends")
so read the fine print and ask the same questions you would ask before you moved in with someone- who is saying this and why are they saying it?
who you gonna call? Folklorists!
as a folklorist and an activist I've learned you need to research things you hear from a "friend of a friend' (see Jan Brunvand, "Too Good To Be True, the Big Book of Urban Legends")
so read the fine print and ask the same questions you would ask before you moved in with someone- who is saying this and why are they saying it?
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