An
Iowa Veteran Still Fighting to End Iraq War Iraq War, Seven Years by Ed Flaherty
Seven years ago on March 19, 2003, the US launched its war in Iraq. Now, seven years later as we launch into the eighth year of the war, the US has 96,000 troops in Iraq and is spending about $8 billion per month on the war effort there. This ignominious anniversary provides an opportunity for us citizens to reflect on the past, present, and future of "our" war. (It has been fought in our name. We own it).
We must not forget that this war was based on lies – WMDs that did not exist, Saddam Hussein’s ties to al-Qaeda which did not exist, intelligence from Chalabi and Curveball. We must not forget the noble sacrifice of 4,384 members of the US Armed Services who have died. We cannot ignore our continuing obligation to tens of thousands of wounded US veterans, and of hundreds of thousands of them returning with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
We cannot ignore the fact that over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the beginning of the war. The incidence of PTSD in the youth of Iraq is immense, but swept under the rug. Two million Iraqis have become refugees in other countries, and another two million are displaced within Iraq. The US has spent (borrowing from China, et al), $750 billion on this war, and that does not include interest on the war debt nor the decades of health expenditures needed for our veterans.
So, as we observe the beginning of the eighth year, have no illusions as to whether this has been a "good" war. More immediately, it is necessary to press for an end to this war. President Obama promised on Feb 27, 2009 that all US "combat" troops would be home by August 31st, 2010. And, the agreement signed by Iraq and the US in the latter days of the Bush administration mandates that all US troops be out of Iraq by December 31st, 2011, with no US military bases to be kept in Iraq. That agreement also specifies that Iraq can hold a referendum on an earlier date for total US withdrawal, with the US agreeing to obey its result. General Odierno has suggested that we may have tens of thousands of troops in Iraq after December 31st, 2011.
We cannot undo the tragedy of the Iraq war. We can and must do the following:
1) keep all pressure possible on President Obama and the US Government to not backslide on the commitments to exit Iraq; 2) recognize that the history of the Iraq war is being rewritten, but only if we allow it; 3) let’s do something productive with the savings from ending of the Iraq war -like, at least let’s not invest it in another war.
**ACTION ALERT**
Make your voice heard on March 19th, and throughout the year.
Join a vigil in Iowa City at the Pentacrest March 19th from 7AM to 8 AM or from 7PM to 8 PM.
In Cedar Rapids, meet at First Ave & First St NE from 4:30 to 5:30, also on March 19th.
Ed
Flaherty
is a member of Veterans for Peace and Johnson County Democrats
Central Committee and other suspect groups. Ed is a retired banker.
Health
Care Reform Update: Covering the Uninsured in Iowa (and Illinois) is a Moral Issue
by Alta Price, M.D.
Spring brings Cover the Uninsured Week, March 14 – 20, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I wrote about it last year, and you can read my post with more details here.
Check out the state-specific information for Iowa here. About 92 percent of Iowans can get health care when they need it, although if you scroll down the page for details you’ll see this is based on data collected in 2005-2006. With the poor economy, I assume more than 8 percent of Iowans today can not get health care when they need it. (The number of Illinois residents that can get health care when they need it is about 88 percent.)
For those of us on the left, health care is a right, and making sure everyone in the richest country in the world has access to health care is a moral issue. Since Americans share values of fairness, equity, and compassion for the less fortunate, our leaders should be making a stronger argument from a moral framework. I’ll quote this David Ignatius column from the Washington Post How Obama can shift the health-care debate:
Here’s what I want Obama to say: A just society assures its citizens’ basic needs. It protects their “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” irrespective of the circumstances they were born into. Citizenship in a great country should not be a DNA lottery, or a case of survival of the richest. A nation has a moral obligation to care for its people, and if it fails to do so, it is a lesser country.
Both the Senate and House health care reform bills that have passed Congress extend coverage to millions who are currently uninsured – a major step towards a more just society.
If you look at polls, like this Pew Research Center poll from January, you will see that only 26% of self-identified Republicans, versus 75% of Democrats and 41% of Independents, think providing health insurance to the uninsured is a “top priority.” Of course there is much more to the bill that Republicans and Independents will like, but they really don’t care about the 30 million people who will finally get health insurance if this bill passes.
Tell your Republican friends that health care security is a major benefit of the health care reform bills for those currently insured. Just because you have insurance today does not mean you will have it tomorrow.
Without reform more employers will drop coverage.
Without reform if you lose your job because of a serious illness, you may not be able to afford to keep your insurance even for the limited period of time you are entitled to continue participating in your employer’s plan under COBRA.
Without reform people who get sick, or have a seriously ill family member, will continue to be dropped by their insurer.
Without reform people with pre-existing conditions will not be able to get health insurance if they want to start a small business or work for an employer who doesn’t provide insurance. Most of the people who go bankrupt because of health care expenses actually have health insurance.
Without reform, people with health insurance will continue to face financial ruin when they use up the annual or lifetime limits of their policy, or discover their insurance is junk insurance when they try to get the care they need. (See also this excellent editorial from the New York Times – If Reform Fails).
So even if your Republican friends don’t care about the 22,000 – 45,000 Americans who die every year due to lack of insurance, this bill may save their life some day should they have the misfortune of becoming ill or losing their job when they already have a pre-existing condition. (Note: The number of deaths varies depending upon the study/methodology.)
For those who do care, the Health Care Reform Issue Forum of Progressive Action for the Common Good, together with the Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care, will be having a “die-in” on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at noon. We are having the event in Rock Island, Illinois (we are a bi-state progressive community) at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 4501 7th Ave.
We will be using some of our Handprints for Health Care panels to depict the number of people who die every day from lack of insurance. Some participants will further dramatize the plight of the uninsured by “dying” – crumpling to the ground. The “die-in” will be videotaped and put up at YouTube. (If you want to come and be in the video, arrive at 11:30 am, dressed in black, for the rehearsal!)
Next week I’ll bring the link to the YouTube video along!
Alta
Price is a physician practicing Pathology in Davenport, Iowa. One of
the original Deaniacs, she stays involved with Democracy for America,
Iowa, and the Quad Cities. She advocates for quality, affordable health
care for all, primarily as a volunteer with Progressive Action for the
Common Good (Health Care Reform Issue Forum).Watch for Dr. Price's Health Care Reform Update every Tuesday here on Blog for Iowa. E-Mail Alta Price
"While few know this history, health care has gotten so far
away from the notion of caring for the population of our state that we need a
reminder of why our growing health care system was created in the first place."
After breakfast with a colleague and a visit with my
octogenarian mother, I headed north on Marquette Street from Davenport towards
Interstate 80 and home. Marquette takes me past my birthplace where Mercy
Hospital stood a few yards from the road. The building where I was born is
gone and is now a construction site where workers were hanging vast expanses of
glass on a new building on Friday. According to the sign, the new building
would be home to yet another medical group.
As I crested the hill, on the left was the wrought iron
fence around the
cemetery where Mother Mary Borromeo Johnson of the Sisters of Mercy is
buried. Mother Borromeo and four other sisters opened the first hospital in
Iowa. They admitted its first patient on December 8, 1869 in Davenport. It is
noteworthy that the medical staff was not organized until after the
hospital opened. The hospital was established to serve the “neglected insane”
and the “sick poor.” For that, they did not need a medical staff right away. In
1873, Mother Borromeo established an emergency clinic in downtown Davenport to
serve cholera victims during the epidemic. Today one can still see the unmarked
mass grave of some of its victims. In some ways, the Sisters of Mercy were the
public health system during this cholera epidemic.
In 1873, Mother Borromeo and three other sisters arrived in
Iowa City and opened the second hospital in Iowa. Mercy Hospital was to serve
as a clinical setting for the University of Iowa Medical College. When we look
at the medical complex that has grown in Iowa City to be the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics, the Veterans Administration Hospital and Mercy Hospital,
it is hard to imagine those
four sisters riding from the train station sitting on bags of grain in a
farm wagon to open the hospital. When the H1N1 ethics
committee was counting the number of medical service providers for vaccine distribution
last year, we figured that there were some fifteen thousand of them in Johnson
County. The health care system has grown since that initial wagon trip.
The Sisters of Mercy are no longer directly involved in
managing the health care enterprise that their early efforts helped spawn in Iowa. There
was talk about moving the cemetery where Mother Borromeo is buried in 1994 when Genesis Health System assumed
management of the Davenport hospital from the Sisters of Mercy. I am
glad they didn’t. While few know this history, health care has gotten so far
away from the notion of caring for the population of our state that we need a
reminder of why our growing health care system was created in the first place.
Sometimes it seems like only a few of us remember the work of Mother Borromeo
and her sisters.
As Leonard Cohen wrote of the Sisters of Mercy,
"If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn, they
will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem." Their work now belongs to us.
If you get a chance, read Sister Mary Brigid Conlon R.S.M.’s
From Obscurity to Distinction: the Story of Mercy Hospital. A few
copies are still available in thrift shops and on Amazon.com.
More importantly, for what must seem like the hundredth time, contact your US
Congressman and Senators and urge them to do something to reform the broken
health care system. If not now, then when?
~Paul
Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend
editor of Blog for Iowa. He is also a member of Iowa Physicians for
Social Responsibility and Veterans for Peace.E-mail Paul Deaton
**BFIA ACTION ALERT**
Click on the links to write our elected officials now and ask them to vote for the health care reform bills before the congress. If we don't do this now, then when?
Iowa House Kills Flood Prevention Bill While our legislators in the Iowa House were busy giving $15 million to Warren Buffet and MidAmerican Energy, (see Paul Deaton's post below) they have oddly decided that there is no money in the budget for better managing Iowa's flood plains to prevent future flooding to our farms and communities, something that is very likely to occur, given the reality of global climate change, increasing weather extremes, and urbanization of the natural environment.
I can imagine a future scenario where the nay sayers to this important legislation will be one day quoted as saying, "Nobody could have predicted...." Sound familiar?
Last week, I reported that the Senate passed SF 2316, a bill to prevent future flood damage to communities and farms by better managing our flood plains. The very modest bill squeaked by on a vote of 26-20. Senator Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids) has championed this effort in response to the 2008 Iowa floods.
This week the bill was pronounced dead in the Iowa House. See who opposed the bill. As we continue to struggle with 2008 flood recovery and with spring flooding predicted throughout Iowa, this is an amazingly short-sighted defeat.
**BFIA ACTION ALERT**
To Locate your Iowa State Representative, Click Here
HF 682 Would Secure the 2010 Iowa Vote by Paul Deaton
"The
fiscal note for HF 682 states that an audit would cost each of the 99
counties an average of about $100 per year. “For just pennies a vote,
we can do enormous good for Iowa elections,” Flaherty said." Iowans for Voting Integrity expressed dismay on Friday when the Iowa Senate indicated it would not move forward on HF 682, a measure which requires a hand count of a random sample of ballots after each general election in order to ensure computerized vote tallies are reliable. Sean Flaherty, co-chair of the group, indicated that by this action, the Iowa Senate failed to secure the vote for the 2010 midterm elections.
“Failing to pass this bill would be a terrible mistake for Iowa elections” said Flaherty. “The state did the right thing and bought paper ballot voting systems that can be manually audited. That’s the most important reliability measure available today, but without Senate action, we won’t be using it,” he added. “That would be unconscionable.”
“Audits are highly cost-effective; they increase voter confidence, deter fraud and provide routine checks on equipment performance,” Flaherty said. The fiscal note for HF 682 states that an audit would cost each of the 99 counties an average of about $100 per year. “For just pennies a vote, we can do enormous good for Iowa elections,” he said.
Despite these facts, Senate aides told members of Iowans for Voting Integrity yesterday that a leading Senator believes post-election audits are a “solution in search of a problem.” Aides have noted that recounts of close elections in Iowa have shown few counting problems and that testing voting machines before the election can detect and deter vote miscounts.
“Recounts occur only when the margin is a hair's whisker,” Flaherty said. “They offer absolutely no assurance about the vast majority of elections. More than half the states do post-election audits. These states have recounts of extremely close races, and they know that it's not enough. You need routine checks,” he said.
“When a task force that includes the President's cyber security adviser and leading authorities on voting systems says audits are necessary, we trust the Senate would listen and take appropriate action,” Flaherty said. California, Ohio, and Connecticut voting equipment reviews examined ballot scanners that are the same as those used in over Iowa’s counties. After their security reviews, California expanded its decades-old post-election audit provision, and both Ohio and Connecticut began conducting audits.
“States that have done security reviews of our same voting equipment are doing the responsible thing and conducting audits,” Flaherty said. “We can’t urge the Senate strongly enough: don't fail Iowa elections,” he said.
Click here to urge your elected officials to pass HF 682. Click here to read the full press release and learn more about Iowans for Voting Integrity.
Health Care for America Rally in Des Moines, Iowa Our friends at Iowa Citizens Action Network wanted us to pass along this flyer regarding a rally on health care in Des Moines on Wednesday, February 17th. If you have any questions, contact Mary McCann at mmccann@iowacan.org
ICAN is Iowa's largest grass roots consumer and environmental watchdog
organization, with more than 6000 individual members across the state.
ICAN is also an alliance of community, religious, labor, senior, farm,
environmental and civil rights organizations -- a coalition that is
working together to raise the living standards and improve the quality
of life for all people in Iowa.
Calling All Iowans! Corporations are Not People! - PUBLIC PROTEST By Caroline Vernon
The Corporate Reform forum of Progressive Action for the Common Good and other partner organizations invite you to attend a PUBLIC RALLY in PROTESTof the recent Supreme Court decision that money = free speech.
On President's Day, Monday, February 15th, at Noon, in front of the Federal Courthouse, 4th & Perry, in Davenport For More Information Call 563-676-7580
Citizens will address, and demand justice, from our nine Supreme Court justices...
Abraham Lincoln will be there, reciting his prophetic quote about an impending future crisis that caused him to tremble for the safety of our country...
You will see the US Constitution, laying in rest, as a member of our faith community gives the eulogy and speaks to our inalienable rights as endowed by our Creator - if you listen carefully I believe you'll hear a trumpet in the distance, playing TAPS on the wind...
Will it mark the death of our constitution or the death of a political system mired in corruption?
Will our citizens recoil, overwhelmed by the weight of power corrupted, or will they organize, join forces, and magnify each others voices?
Does it not fall upon us to set things right? Will you join me in speaking truth to power in this fight? We're all in this together - you know that to be true... you stand with me and I'll stand with you.
So just in case you're feeling weary and tired, we really need your help to get our Supreme Court fired! Oh wait.. that's not all... I'm not done yet... to right this wrong we must never forget... democracy requires vigilance and toil... if we don't pay attention, we'll be owned by big oil.
As if that's not already the case, we now can be certain who will win the next race... it won't be Obama or even Joe Biden, it will be Exxon, Monsanto and Pfizer, I'm certain - 'cuz some Supreme Court judges say they are a person.
Now, if you agree with that assessment, with all due respect, I cannot understand, how a corporation can be equal to man.
Does it eat? Does it breathe? Does it live? Does it love? Does it laugh? Does it Cry? Is it blessed from above? Does it recognize, or even see, the inalienable rights of humanity?
How can they say corporations are persons when in spite of their profits, our plight only worsens.
They only care about profit & loss... and giving huge bonuses to the corporate boss.
Do they have a mother who taught them to share, with the workers that they must entrust to their care?
Or does the corporate ladder only provide for those who are willing to tread upon others, instead of treating them as sisters and brothers?
Do we as a culture really want to see, the end of our democracy?
If not, I suggest we all do what we can, to reinforce the brotherhood of man. To stand with each other against corporate might, to say "hell no, you won't win this fight!"
And lo and behold, we'll begin to see, a rising consensus upon the land that a corporation does not equal a man.
So now, once again, I beseech you all, to push past the comfort zones we experience, and take to the streets because this is serious!
After all, if we don't do it, who will? I shudder to think about my children's future... and that's why I know we must do all we can to ensure democracy is safeguarded again.
"We the People" call on our elected representatives to support Congresswoman Donna Edwards Constitutional Amendment to Undo SCOTUS Ruling: Sign the petition at: www.freespeechforpeople.org Please RSVP and share this event with everyone you know.Attached is a flyer (or click here) - please print it and post it at your neighborhood book store, coffee shop, library, YMCA, union hall, community center, university, store windows, and anywhere else you can think of that will reach as many people as possible!
For more information call 563-676-7580.
We're all in this together. It's time to rock... for those about to rock, I SA-LUTE you!
Research 2000 Poll: What Republicans Believe "Today's poll about Republicans was like a Margaret Mead study; except she studied more advanced tribes." [found on OTOOLEFAN's Twitter feed]
This week, a Research 2000 poll commissioned by Dailykos, revealed that the GOP of today, the party of "no," is scarily stuck in the past. 2,003 self-identified Republicans (actually, quite a large sample size for a political poll), were randomly selected by the last four phone digits, and interviewed over the phone. Click
here to read the entire poll and methodology.
Here is some of what the polling found:
A full sixty-eight percent of Republicans polled said 'yes' or were 'not sure' to the question, "Should Barack Obama be impeached or not?" (39% 'yes'/29% 'not sure').
Fifty-eight percent (more than half!) said 'no' (36%) or 'not sure' (22%) to the question, "Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States or not?
Almost a quarter of respondents said they believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win (24%). Thirty-three percent were not sure (God bless this subset of independent-minded Republicans...).
Only fourteen percent of Republicans, according to this poll, believe that Barack Obama is more qualified to be President than Sarah Palin (!) In a way, this seems the most preposterous of all the results. GOP, as long as we've got your attention, here are the facts:
President Obama's resume: U.S. Senator 2005-2008 (resigned to take job as President); served three terms in the Illinois senate; graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), and was editor and first black president of Harvard Law Review; a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years; a civil rights attorney; community organizer; also authored two books, that actually take time to read and are interesting.
To give the GOP some credit, more than a third, thirty-six percent, answered 'no' to the question, "Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates white people?" But of course that leaves sixty-four percent who answered 'yes' (31%) or 'not sure' (33%).
And we'll give credit where credit is due, fifty-eight percent of Republicans do NOT want their state to secede from the union, leaving forty-two percent who either do want to secede (23%) or are not sure (19%).
Republicans apparently are very solid in their belief that Congress should not make it easier for workers to form and join labor unions. Check out this number: sixty-eight percent said 'no.' Another twenty-five percent 'not sure.'
The GOP respondents overwhelmingly believe same sex couples should NOT be allowed to marry (77% no/7% yes/16% not sure).
They (coincidence?) equally believe public school students should be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world. (77% yes/15% no/8% not sure)
Thirty-one percent of the respondents said contraceptives should be outlawed.
Thirty-four percent believe the birth control pill is abortion.
Seventy-six percent believe abortion to be murder (statistically speaking, even if these last two groups did not overlap at all, which would be highly unlikely, that leaves at least 10% who believe that taking birth control pills is murder).
Now that we know what Republicans believe, one naturally moves to the next head-scratching quandary.
Q: Where do they get these ideas?
This one's easy.
A: (1) Fox News; and (2) Talk Radio
We should not be surprised by the results of this poll. How could it be otherwise? Fox News has been propagandizing for - we don't know, but it seems like a really, really long time, at least since the Clinton years. And Limbaugh goes back at least that far. When Ronald Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine, it allowed right-wing media to flourish, well financed, and unrestrained by the guidelines of journalistic balance and public interest.
Fact: Ninety-one percent of talk radio today is conservative - not because the public wants it this way, but because of the orchestrated effort and infusion of money by the conservative right. BFIA has posted on this issue until we are blue in the face. Please check out our posts on this topic, then consider making a commitment to doing something locally about media reform. We promise you there is an AM station in your listening area that airs exclusively conservative talk with no progressive programming for balance. See BFIA ACTION ALERT below the links.
Click on these links to access BFIA Archived posts:
If you live in any of these ten broadcast areas, please consider calling or e-mailing your local station. Or stop by the station and tell them you would like to examine their public inspection file. Tell them you want BALANCED programming that serves the whole community, NOT exclusively right wing talk. Remind them the broadcast airwaves are publicly owned. If they do not listen, click here to file a complaint with the FCC.
Burlington Talk Radio KCPS KCPS 1150 205 S. Gear Avenue W. Burlington, Iowa 52655 Phone (319) 754-6698 E-mail kcps@aol.com Glenn Beck, 9-11a; Limbaugh 11a-2p;Dennis Miller 2-5p; O'reilly 5-6p; Michael Savage 7-9p;
Cedar Rapids WMT 600 600 Old Marion Road Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Phone: 319-365-0600 Toll free: 800-332-5401 *600 on your US Cellular Phone johnlaton@clearchannel.com Limbaugh 1p-4p; Jim Bohannon 9p-12a
KXIC Iowa City 800 AM (319) 354-9500 /866-609-TALK (8-2-5-5)/news@kxic.com Hannity, Dennis Miller,
WOC Quad Cities 1420 AM 563-344-7025 news@woc1420.com Limbaugh 11a-2p; Hannity 6-9p;Dennis Miller 9-12a;
Des Moines WHO Radio 1040 AM 2141 Grand Ave Des Moines, IA 50312 Phone: 515-245-8900 vanharden@clearchannel.com, Program Director joelmccrea@clearchannel.com, General Manager Jan Mickelson,9a-11:30;Limbaugh 1-4p;Steve Deace 4-7p;Michael Medved 9-10p;Michael Reagan 10p-1a; Jim Bohannon 4-5a.
Estherville KILR 1070 AM (no website) Phone: 712-362-2644 Limbaugh 11a-2p
Mason City KGLO AM 1300 341 S Yorktown Pike Mason City, IA 50401 (641) 423-1300 Tim Fleming, tfleming@kglo.threeeagles.com Brian Fancher, bfancher@kglo.threeeagles.com Limbaugh 1p-4p M-F
Sheldon KIWA (has advertiser list on website!) 1550 AM 411 9th Street Sheldon, IA 51201 Phone: 712-324-5377 E-mail: Walt Pruiksma, Station Mgr., at walt@kiwaradio.com (good luck...there is a picture on the website of Walt with Bush) E-mail: Wayne Barahona, Program Director, at wayne@kiwaradio.com Limbaugh 11a-2p; Hannity 2-5p; L & H Saturdays also
Sioux City KSCJ 1360 2000 Indian Hills Dr Sioux City, IA 51104 (712) 239-2100 sarthur@powelliowa.com Limbaugh, 11a-2p; Hannity, O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Dennis Miller, Bohannon
Waterloo KXEL AM 1540 514 Jefferson Street Waterloo, IA 50701 General Manager: Tim Mathews tim@radiogroup.net Phone: 319-234-2200 or 800-584-7024 Coverage Area: Waterloo-Cedar Falls-Cedar Rapids-Iowa City 5-6a Jim Bohannon; 8-11a Glenn Beck; 11a-2p Limbaugh; 2-5p Hannity
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
Iraq War, Seven Years
