Yesterday we printed a touching letter from an Iranian woman that began with these ominous lines: “I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed…”
Tonight, she posted a second letter, passed along and translated by two readers. She writes about her “sister” in this cause who was killed today, referring to Neda.
Yesterday I wrote a note, with the subject line “tomorrow is a great day perhaps tomorrow I’ll be killed.” I’m here to let you know I’m alive but my sister was killed…
I’m here to tell you my sister died while in her father’s hands
I’m here to tell you my sister had big dreams…
I’m here to tell you my sister who died was a decent person… and like me yearned for a day when her hair would be swept by the wind… and like me read “Forough” [Forough Farrokhzad]… and longed to live free and equal… and she longed to hold her head up and announce, “I’m Iranian”… and she longed to one day fall in love to a man with a shaggy hair… and she longed for a daughter to braid her hair and sing lullaby by her crib…
my sister died from not having life… my sister died as injustice has no end… my sister died since she loved life too much… and my sister died since she lovingly cared for people…
my loving sister, I wish you had closed your eyes when your time had come… the very end of your last glance burns my soul….
sister have a short sleep. your last dream be sweet.
The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy over the administration’s defense in court of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Tracy Russo, a spokesperson for Justice, confirmed the meeting to me, after I posted below that top gay rights lawyers were miffed that administration lawyers had rebuffed their requests to meet and discuss ongoing litigation involving DOMA.
At the meeting — which hasn’t been announced and is expected to include leading gay rights groups like GLAD and Lambda Legal — both sides are expected to hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases. Source Article
Fighting to improve health care for people in my state of Connecticut and across the country has been a crusade of mine for the last 25 years. The ability to care for yourself and your loved ones and to live a long and healthy life shouldn’t be a privilege. In this country, particularly in 2009, it must be a right. You shouldn’t have to be well-off to get well.
Because you and millions more across the country worked for change, we have the votes to pass a bill that expands coverage to millions of Americans, improves quality, protects patient choice, cuts costs, and averts disaster for our economy and our families. Source Article
I don’t remember where I was in the days after the 2001 election. I know for sure I wasn’t out in the streets protesting. I remember being angry – but angry like when a sports team I follow loses in the playoffs. Not angry like I would have been if I’d known George W would spend the next 8 years showering the World with torture and pestilence and taking a virtual hot carl right on our Constitution.
But in Iran they have an election that is flawed (most likely rigged), and instead of just running home to their TV’s and the internet, and going to the mall and buying shit – the Iranian people come out to the street in unprecedented numbers to ensure that the Democratic process is fair and that their voices are heard. They even risk death from the Dick Cheney like police there. Source Article
First, sorry about the length of this post but this is “THEE” ISSUE that will make the PUBLIC OPTION in any Health Care Reform Bill a moral imperative. And a BIG re-election issue for ANY lawmaker that refuses to support the Public Option.
Most are aware of my feelings when it comes to the SOUL EATING BASTARDS called Health Insurance Companies, but the absolute undiluted bullshit called “Post Claim Underwriting” takes the outrage to a whole new level, but it also provides the fulcrum for The Public Option.
Imagine that you actually have enough money to go out and purchase health insurance for you and your family. You find a company you like, you fill out the application, the company issues you a policy and you pay your monthly premiums on time for 2 or 3 years, all the while thinking you actually have health insurance.
Then one day you go to the doc and get the news you have cancer, but they caught it early and with the right treatment everything should be fine, so you start making arrangements for the FIGHT OF YOUR LIFE and schedule the necessary treatment. Source Article
This is what happens when you don’t allow real competition into the picture. It’s also what happens when you have a for-profit healthcare system:
Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.
The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation’s healthcare system.
Who cares if Obama’s electoral coalition is fragile? Democrats need to run against other Democrats to push Congress to the left.
With polls showing volatile levels of support for President Obama and his policies, it’s important to remember that political upheavals of the past 12 months have left the Democratic Party with a raft of new senators, and a presidential job approval rating in the sixties. Most of them got to where they are the old-fashioned way. Freshman Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina was in the state senate, defeated several other candidates in a primary, then ran and won against Elizabeth Dole in a general election. Others, like Roland Burris (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand of New York—a House member chosen by unpopular governor David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton even though the state featured a bevy of more senior Democratic legislators—and party-switcher Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania got where they are through less orthodox paths. And while those who’ve taken a traditional route to power are essentially all in good standing with their state-party organizations, the unorthodox senators face some discontent. The official position of the Democratic Party leadership, from the White House on down, is that people should leave well enough alone and support the re-election of incumbents. Nevertheless, both Specter and Gillibrand appear to be drawing strong primary challenges from Reps. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY). Source Article
So many of us fell into the trap! We cried tears of JOY when Obama won the election. We BELIEVED the lies about Health Care For All. We BELIEVED the Democratic Party would repair the damage 12 years of GOP rule had done to Medicaid, Medicare, Access to doctors for everyone – whether you had private insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare.
We BELIEVED that children and adults would no longer have to suffer, or even die, as one 12-year old did recently, from an abscessed tooth his parents couldn’t afford to have treated by a dentist, or for an antibiotic and trip to a medical doctor. We BELIEVED there would be a chance, in what’s left of our lifetimes that people, who’s only wrongdoing was to be born poor, or to believe in lifetime jobs and employers that would always be there, would no longer be condemned to death for lack of “ability to pay” for illnesses that would have been survivable, if there had been someone who cared enough to put their lives ahead of the bank accounts of insurance executives or of campaign donations, the next election, or the GOP talking points. Source Article
As in: Wait, are you talking about rationing medical care? Access to medical care is a fundamental right. And rationing sounds like something out of the Soviet Union. Or at least Canada.
The r-word has become a rejoinder to anyone who says that this country must reduce its runaway health spending, especially anyone who favors cutting back on treatments that don’t have scientific evidence behind them. You can expect to hear a lot more about rationing as health care becomes the dominant issue in Washington this summer.
Today, I want to try to explain why the case against rationing isn’t really a substantive argument. It’s a clever set of buzzwords that tries to hide the fact that societies must make choices. Source Article
Mir Hossein Mousavi, the politician at the centre of Iran’s opposition movement, has called for a day of protest and mourning in solidarity with those killed or hurt as tensions over the presidential election results show no sign of ebbing.
Mousavi has urged his supporters to stage peaceful demonstrations or gather in mosques on Thursday.
Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent president, was officially declared winner of Friday’s election by a margin of two-to-one over Mousavi, a moderate who was the main challenger.
“In the course of the past days and as a consequence of illegal and violent encounters with [people protesting] against the outcome of the presidential election, a number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred,” Mousavi said on his website on Wednesday. Source Article
