People Before Profit blog

A U.S. socialized medicine success story

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:28:00 +0000

Charles Gibson, anchor of ABC’s nightly news program, asked his Dec. 12 viewing audience the following provocative question: What national health care program in our country uses “socialized medicine,” and why do people like it?

Then he gave a clue: 'The system is well known to over 5 million U.S. citizens.'

The answer, you may have guessed, is the health care system run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, better known as “the VA.” In 2006 it served about 5.5 million veterans at 155 medical centers and more than 1,000 other sites of care, including outpatient clinics and nursing homes. In 2006, over a quarter million veterans received inpatient medical treatment; outpatient clinics registered about 60 million visits.

As part of the ABC news segment, one of its reporters at a VA medical center interviewed physicians, nurses and many veterans themselves. They all agreed that everyone in the United States should have this kind of system. Veterans praised the quality of care and its low cost.

The news story reported that the VA system delivers quality health care far more cheaply than does the other federal system of health care, Medicare. The reporter credited the VA’s superior data information system as the primary reason its care is so good and less costly. But there are deeper reasons why the VA’s “socialized medicine” works.

The VA hires predominantly salaried physicians, nurses and other health delivery personnel. The staff is on a government payroll with a defined wage scale and benefits package. This helps control costs.

Further, the system is able to negotiate with drug manufacturers and other suppliers on a level that allows it to get the lowest possible prices. These savings are then passed along to the system.

The Bush administration forbids Medicare from undertaking similar negotiations with the drug companies, so Medicare ends up paying market prices for pharmaceuticals. In addition, Medicare keeps getting privatized into what are now called “Medicare Advantage” programs, which drive the price of health care skyward. These programs are modeled after the failed HMOs of the 1990s.

The VA health care system deserves to be emulated. For example, what if the federal Medicare program were integrated with state-based Medicaid into a fully federal system with salaried doctors, nurses and other personnel? Just think of the savings! In fact, it would make sense, over the long run, to merge the VA system, Medicare and Medicaid into one comprehensive system.

Policy analyst professor Paul Krugman, a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of The New York Times, has for months heralded the VA system, using the feared term “socialized medicine.” Krugman has called for the VA system to become the model for a national system of health care.

Krugman is not alone. The December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health is devoted entirely to the subject of “Health Care for Veterans.” The articles try to analyze the reasons why the quality of care for veterans has been rising.

Dr. Elizabeth Yano of UCLA’s School of Public Health in Los Angeles, in her article titled “The evolution of changes in primary care delivery underlying the Veterans Health Administration’s quality transformation,” gives the clearest explanation.

In so many words, Yano says that veterans using the VA system are seeing the same team of physicians and other health care providers visit after visit, resulting in their increased confidence in the system. As a result, they are motivated to come back again and again for the appropriate follow-ups.

Dr. Said A. Ibrahim, writing an editorial titled “The Veterans Health Administration: A domestic model for a national health care system?” says the following: “Diabetes care in the VA has been reported to be better than that of the private sector; VA patients are reported to be more likely than even Medicare patients to receive life-saving treatment in cardiac care; VA performance of many processes of care measures across a spectrum of health care services [screening, diagnostics, treatment, and follow-up] is better than in non-VA health care systems.”

And finally, Ibrahim writes, “Patients receiving care within the VA report higher levels of satisfaction then do their counterparts receiving care in the private sector.”

Why don’t other health care “experts” want to hear this? Because it strikes at the heart of the private, for-profit system of health care in our country.

So here’s a question for the presidential candidates: Given that the VA system works so well, why not give everyone in our country the benefits of socialized medicine?

S. Africas Communists comment on Zuma victory

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:39:00 +0000

The ANC conference: a platform for a fresh start

POLOKWANE, South Africa — The South African Communist Party congratulates the newly elected national officials of the African National Congress, led by President Jacob Zuma.

We also wish to congratulate our national chairperson, comrade Gwede Mantashe, for his election to the important position of secretary-general of the ANC. In this he follows in the footsteps of other outstanding Communist stalwarts of the past, like comrades Moses Kotane, J.B. Marks and Dan Tloome, who have served concurrently as officials of both the Party and ANC.

ANC delegates to this historic 52nd National Conference have voted in large numbers for change and renewal within the leading formation of our tripartite alliance [of the ANC, the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions]. Delegates have affirmed their conviction that the ANC belongs to its membership. We congratulate these thousands of delegates for refusing to be swayed by all manner of blandishments foreign to the culture of our movement.

The SACP believes that the electoral renewal of ANC leadership provides a platform on which to rebuild our alliance around a shared program of action. For too long, intra-alliance relationships have been marked by recriminations and standoffs. We warmly welcome the ANC Conference commitment to holding an Alliance Summit within three months.

ANC delegates have sent a clear message, but the electoral outcome of this conference does not mean that the underlying challenges of our society have gone away — poverty, unemployment, deepening inequality. As an alliance leadership, we will be failing the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of ANC branch delegates if we do not use the new reality as a platform to address with an even greater sense of urgency and determination these realities that impact upon millions of South Africans.

The resolutions that the ANC is taking at this conference, following on the June National Policy Conference, are, therefore, as important as the leadership elections. In particular, the SACP warmly welcomes emerging policy perspectives on industrial policy, a strong developmental state, an accelerated land and agrarian reform program, and measures to address unemployment. What is needed now is much greater determination to drive forward these transformational, progressive policy perspectives, using the state and popular organization, participation and mobilization.

This is not a moment for triumphalism or factional revenge. Those inclinations will simply plunge us into another cycle of inward-focused maneuvering. Let us devote our energies to uniting around the tasks of transformation. However, unity can only be built if we are collectively prepared to reflect critically and self-critically on why a particular section of leadership, with all of the advantages of incumbency, has found itself voted out by thousands of ANC branches. What lessons must we all draw from this? How do we ensure that we do not repeat the same errors? How do we build a stronger and more united ANC and alliance?

The SACP pledges to be a loyal and reliable ally in this necessary process of reflection. In particular, we believe that we all need to understand leadership is something that has to be earned daily on the ground and among millions of ordinary South Africans — whether we are speaking of leadership of our respective formations, or the leadership role of the ANC in our tripartite alliance.

This ANC Conference has recommitted the ANC to being both a party of governance and a national liberation movement. This Conference has said that the key pillar of ANC activity is the pillar of mass organization and mobilization. These are proud ANC traditions that have tended to be marginalized in the recent period.

The SACP believes that it is critical that we reaffirm the leading role of the ANC in developing broad strategic policy perspectives without, of course, seeking to micro-manage government. We certainly need a skilled and professional cadre in government, but we must avoid the dangers of a technocratic (not to mention corporate) capture and aloofness.

The 52nd ANC National Conference has provided a platform for a significant renewal and advance of our progressive movement. The SACP pledges to work as a force for unity and dynamism in the context of these new possibilities.

Dec. 19, 2007

LETTERS: Dec. 22

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:17:00 +0000

Holiday wishes

Let the warmth Hold and hug us Let the glow grow us Let the blood stop letting Let Justice Rain and Reign Down, up and all over us Let the sword and gun Melt into housing supports Let a million soldiers build them Let the enemies of misunderstanding Smile Let the earth heal now Let laughter contage us Let reconcile breathe Let the star and sun, darkness and light guide us Let the worker eat Let the death machine die Let justice be done

Curly Cohen Chicago IL

New Jersey’s important step

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law the abolition of the death penalty. That makes New Jersey the first state in more then four decades to reject capital punishment. Corzine said eliminating it “best captures our states highest values and reflects our best efforts to search for true justice.”

A feeling echoed by the executive director of Amnesty International USA, who said that studies on the death penalty show it’s “a colossal public policy failure that wastes tax dollars and diverts it away from valuable social crime prevention measures.”

The bill, which the New Jersey Assembly and Senate approved, replaces the death sentence with life in prison without parole. Corzine also commuted the sentences of eight prisoners on death row to life without parole.

Some of the victims’ families have expressed disappointment in the state’s actions. One would be hard indeed to expect anything less from a grieving relative. Still, these families fail to see that the death penalty is not justice, but injustice. It degrades us socially and does nothing it espouses to do.

It also lends itself as a tool of the capitalist system. The majority of those sentenced to death are from working-class backgrounds and/or minorities. Complete abolition of the death sentence in the United States is necessary.

New Jersey has joined the 13 other U.S. states and 134 countries that have abolished the death sentence. “New Jersey is evolving,” Corzine said. It’s an evolution that, I hope, continues throughout the nation and the world to end this barbarism. This is a struggle we should all take up as not only a social class, but as human beings.

Darius Engel Via e-mail

Torture in Chicago

I have been locked up inside Illinois prisons for 26 years. I have been incarcerated since age 16. Why? I did not commit a crime.

For over three decades as many as 200 African American and Latino men were beaten and tortured — some in their genitals and some raped with a device in their rectums — by Chicago Police detectives at Area 2 and the violent crime unit — this to repeat to Cook County prosecutors the confessions told to them by these white detectives.

Detectives, judges, prosecutors and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley denied these claims even existed. Most of these men had spent decades behind prison walls and some are still there.

Does it really surprise U.S. citizens that the CIA destroyed interrogations on video of some terrorism suspects? It shouldn’t. This country has railroaded some kids as young as 13 years old to prisons on flawed evidence. Torture is nothing new; police in this country are accused weekly of committing it toward U.S. citizens. The U.S. Justice Department ignores it in most cases. President Bush and the CIA can destroy interrogation video of terrorism suspects. It’s only common sense this government permits torture upon suspects or it would jail Jon Burge and Daniel McWeeny and free their victims from Illinois prisons now. To find out more about my injustice you can log on to .

Mark A. Clements Pontiac Correctional Center IL

New Orleans housing fight

I am writing to encourage you to do what you can to support the struggle to stop the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans. This week, the City Council will vote on whether or not it will support thousands of working-class and Black residents of New Orleans to be able to return home.

I moved to New Orleans two months ago to work in a public health clinic. I was outraged to learn that the city is currently estimated to have between 12,000-16,000 homeless people. I was further motivated to act when I learned that developers are scheduled to begin demolishing four major public housing complexes, a total of 4,605 low-income housing units. This would result in thousands and thousands of low-income families, unable to return home to New Orleans and/or homeless.

Residents of public housing have been organizing to reopen public housing for the past two years, and are currently working really hard to hold off the wrecking balls and bulldozers. Their voices must be heard.

Organizing for New Orleans is about supporting public housing on a national level. Please act. One way is to contact your elected officials to demand that the federal government stop these demolitions.

Sarah Harden New Orleans LA

Serious error

The letter from James Jordan (PWW 12/15-21) contains a serious error of fact. Mr. Jordan claims that at the Annapolis meeting on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, “No representatives from Hamas or the PLO were invited.” In fact, the Palestinian delegation was led by Mahmoud Abbas, who not only was elected Palestinian president, but who also and separately serves as chairman of the PLO. The Palestinian delegation formally and technically represented the PLO, which is the body officially authorized by numerous national and international documents and decisions, to represent the Palestinian people in negotiations with Israel.

Hussein Ibish Washington DC Hussein Ibish is a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine.

Be back in January

This is the last People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo print issue of the year. We will be back in print with the Jan. 12 issue. We will be posting new articles over the holidays on our web site, www.pww.org. Check out all the Online eXtra stories there. Click on Online eXtra for the full listing.

We want to hear from you! By mail: People’s Weekly World 3339 S. Halsted St. Chicago IL 60608

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Letters should be limited to 200 words. We reserve the right to edit stories and letters. Only signed letters with the return address of the sender will be considered for publication, but the name of the sender will be withheld on request.

Goodbye 2007 Hello 2008

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:10:00 +0000

Message From the editor

Like a roller coaster ride, 2007 has had high climbs, stomach-churning drops, painful hairpin turns and finally — at the end of it all — satisfaction and relief as we say, “Let’s do it again.”

And so we shall, as the movements for progress, democracy and peace go into 2008, a year that is shaping up for historic battles, since it will be the last year of the Bush regime.

Expectations were high when the new Democratic-controlled Congress was sworn in last January. Sick of the Iraq war and GOP corruption, the people had another agenda in the making that included college tuition relief, a minimum wage hike, labor rights and immigration reform.

But ending the war took center stage. Of the first 20 issues of the People’s Weekly World newspaper, 15 had the Iraq war as the top story. A major never-before-held battle got under way in Congress to try to force President Bush to accept the reality that the Iraq war must end. Instead, the president “surged” on, sending thousands more troops. The battle at home and in Iraq continues to rage. The current toll is 3,900 U.S. troops dead, at least 29,000 wounded, anywhere from 86,000 to 1 million Iraqis dead from the occupation-related violence, millions of Iraqi refugees and some $600 billion of U.S. tax dollars poured out in Iraq (and Afghanistan).

This war will be a theme in all the issues and battles in 2008. Even as polls show voter concerns shifting towards economic problems as more worrying than the war, it’s crystal clear that economic needs here at home are intertwined with the obscene military spending on Iraq, and voters know that.

An example is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program fight, which the People’s Weekly World first reported in March (“Governors confront Bush on kid care”). There hasn’t been one demonstration on keeping and expanding this vital program that doesn’t include a reference to the skewed spending priorities, especially the Iraq war. It’s become a common adage that you hear from so many people as they shake their heads: “The money spent for one day of the Iraq war would cover the whole kids’ health program.”

Likewise, on the numerous education, public transit or other budget cuts that are being made on every state and local government level, more and more people are linking the two: human needs vs. war.

The war has also triggered some shifting geo-political and economic dynamics. After the 2006 elections and the public’s turn away from the far-right agenda, 2007 saw a major fraying of the Bush coalition. The alliance of religious evangelicals, so-called budget hawks, foreign policy neocons, racist extremists, anti-immigrant bashers, military brass and corporate boardrooms began to fracture, with sections moving away from the Bush agenda. Major splits on foreign policy, nuclear weapons, civil liberties and economic globalization have begun to emerge in this coalition and in ruling circles in general. The new crisis in the housing and financial markets — also a development the People’s Weekly World editorialized on back in March and one we continue to focus on — has deepened the divide in ruling circles.

At the same time, a growing cooperation between many different “people’s” constituencies has continued and consolidated in many areas. Labor and immigrant rights groups are working together for legalization and against mass raids and deportations. Numerous civil rights groups, students and Internet activists came together in Jena, La., for one of the largest marches against racism in recent years. A wave of strikes and related solidarity actions — national and global — by union workers and supporters unfolded (see related story on page 8). Labor unions, community groups and entire cities are working together on creating “green jobs and a green economy.” And not a moment too soon, as a new world consensus warns of the looming disasters unless action is taken on global climate change.

These steps signal that we can expect to see the emergence of stronger alliances and coalitions in 2008 that can not only challenge the ultra-right and its extreme, pro-corporate agenda and win in November, but bring to the fore the key problems that the majority of people face and the solutions they need. Putting unity into action, we could see the labor and people’s movement going from a defensive position — always reacting to a lousy agenda — to setting the agenda and seeing that it’s carried out.

2008 will have these struggles and new ones, with new alliances. They will take on a new character of solidarity for jobs, equality, health care, sustainability, democracy and peace. We are seeing the early stages of it with 30 different unions representing some 350,000 workers in Southern California coming together to fight not only for good contracts for their members, but for good jobs for all, and for elected officials who will work for these ends.

A roller coaster ride shakes you up a little, but it just gets you back where you started. This ride we’ve been on, this past year, has taken us to a new starting point.

This is the last issue of the People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo for 2007. All the staff, volunteers and editorial board members wish all of you safe and hopeful holidays and look forward to a New Year of victories, new challenges and new friends.

LETTERS: Dec. 15

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:18:00 +0000

Hold on to your wallets

Hold on to your wallets folks, here comes Chicago’s mayor, hand outstretched asking for a little. A little what? Why money of course! And to whom is his hand outstretched? You can be sure it’s not those who have the ability to pay.

All the “revenue enhancements,” or to use the dreaded word, taxes, are targeting those with the least ability to pay. Whether they are up-front taxes such as property, vehicle or durable goods purchases which cannot be avoided, or taxes on purchases of choice not necessity, the burden will fall on working people.

Was any thought given to other sources of revenue so as to ease the burden on working families? It seems that the answer is no! One source that would not affect working people could be a 0.5 percent tax on stock and bond transactions, but Daley’s financial backers would not be very happy. So there he is posturing on TV, protesting those who dare question his tax increases or rationale for another military academy by expressing his undying love for the people of Chicago.

Did Daley get on the podium in the last four years as our sons and daughters came home in coffins? Did he get on the podium as our federal government squandered billions on an illegal, immoral and unwinnable war? You want money, Mr. Mayor? There’s your money! You could have organized other city mayors and congresspeople from across the state to show the people of Illinois that you really care for them and their problems.

No such thing from you, Mr. Mayor, just a lot of rhetoric. Your decision to close the budget shortfall of approximately $200 million by laying it at the feet of working people shows exactly to whom you are beholden.

Bill Mackovich Chicago IL

Ruling class split

It seems to me a major struggle is going on within the U.S. ruling class. But I don’t even see left journalists discussing it.

Last week, the bombshell story was the NIE and that Bush knew for months that Iran had no nuclear weapons program. This put Bush, Cheney and the neocons on the defensive.

The CIA and the other spy agencies — and the “realist” sections of the ruling class connected to them — let the NIE come to light to forestall an attack on Iran. Result: the planned attack on Iran could not now be launched. Arch neocon John Bolton referred to the leaked story about the NIE as a “putsch.”

So, to punish the CIA and its allies, three days later Bush, Cheney and the neocons retaliated by leaking the story about the CIA destroying the torture tapes. Now, the CIA is under fire, and the scandal about Bush’s lying about Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons is off the front page.

Anyone else see it this way?

Thomas Kenny New York NY

More on the Annapolis conference

Gush Shalom’s Uri Avnery described the Annapolis conference on Palestine as “window dressing.” Masses of Palestinians protested the conference. Few on the left doubt the event’s main purpose was to bolster President Bush’s reputation in the region, to create normalization, minus substance, of Arab states with Israel, and to further isolate uninvited Iran in the face of possible military strikes. No representatives from Hamas or the PLO were invited. Not up for discussion: Palestinian refugees’ right of return, the status of Jerusalem, the situation in Gaza, the UN mandated return to pre-1967 war borders. Yet, in a front page PWW article by Sue Webb (PWW 12/1-7), the conference is called “an opportunity for peace.”

Quoting the American Task Force on Palestine’s Hussein Ibish, we are offered this gem: “How would it really look if a peace process would be started? It would look a lot like this.” How can a so-called “peace process” ignore the protests of so many Palestinians? How can it exclude any representatives but those bearing the U.S./Israeli stamp of approval? How can it call for the establishment of a Palestinian state within a year, yet ignore the most crucial issues?

The editors of the PWW and Ms. Webb have indicated that they do not regard “justice” and “fairness” as necessary components to a peace process. If it be true that this conference was nothing more than “window dressing” for the Bush administration, then it is sad to see that the PWW is helping hang that window’s blinds.

James Jordan Tucson AZ

Susan Webb responds:

Our article was a news story, not an editorial. It reported the thinking of significant American Jewish and Palestinian groups, along with noting concerns and splits in the U.S. ruling class on the issue. You may disagree with these groups’ interpretations, but anyone seriously interested in a just and real peace between Israel and Palestine needs to take them and their views into account. Peace activists ought to note positively these groups’ emphasis on making this an opportunity to organize and struggle. Why would anyone object to that?

Answering racists

How do you answer the racists (Jim Lane, PWW 11/10-16)? I would answer them with a few questions.

What is the difference between transnational individuals crossing borders to improve their financial development, and transnational corporations (legally considered to have the rights of individuals) that are doing the same?

If we support or deny either one, aren’t we ipso facto in support or denial of the other? Or, doesn’t supporting one set a legal precedent that supports the other?

And, I don’t think it’s racism as much as culturism. Nobody likes to change what’s familiar to them, and transnationalism is pushing those edges throughout the species.

I’m not sure if this is an “honest connection” of the transnational dilemma facing human society, but to say it’s caused by the corporations tends to negate the more general reality of the socially inadequate strategies of the capitalist economic system.

Leandro Della Piana Attleboro MA

Blue Diamond Growers guilty, panel says

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:53:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As over 200 union and community supporters gathered at a Nov. 18 town hall forum on the labor situation at Blue Diamond Growers, a panel of elected officials and community representatives found the growers guilty of worker intimidation and refusing a fair and timely election.

The panel members, including a California state senator, a Sacramento City Council member, a professor at Sacramento State University, a minister and representatives of ACORN, Gray Panthers, the Congress of California Seniors, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and the Chicano student organization MEChA, agreed to send a joint letter to Blue Diamond calling for a secret ballot election in a neutral location like a church.

They urged both union and company to agree to equal access to the workers with no worker intimidation and community oversight of the election through an impartial committee acceptable to both sides.

Over the last three years, workers at Blue Diamond’s Sacramento almond-processing plant have been trying to get company recognition of their union, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 17, but have been stymied by company harassment and its insistence on an National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret ballot election. Most of the workers are people of color.

Blue Diamond operates the world’s largest almond processing plant and ships almonds all over the world. It has received large subsidies from the city of Sacramento, as well as permission to permanently block off three city streets in order to enlarge its factory.

“Under the NLRB, a secret ballot does not guarantee fairness,” said Dr. Gordon Lafer, political science professor at the University of Oregon. He pointed out that employers have a list of eligible voters, but unions don’t get this until a few weeks before the election. They then must visit the voters at home, while employers have access to them every working day.

While state and federal laws prohibit employers from telling their employees how to vote in NLRB elections, the NLRB doesn’t count this as economic intimidation unless it includes a specific threat, Lafer said.

Even if a specific threat or other violation is proved, “the NLRB is the only area of civil law where there are no meaningful civil penalties at all,” so employers ignore the law with impunity, he added.

Lafer was followed by several Blue Diamond workers reporting harassment, firings, company spying, false accusations and favoritism. Most of the workers had not gotten a raise in many years until the union became involved in 2005.

Seventeen union and community groups publicly pledged their support of the Blue Diamond Almond Workers campaign.

NATIONAL CLIPS: Dec. 15

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:59:00 +0000

COLUMBIA, S.C.: Obama, Winfrey draw thousands into politics

As 65,000 voters in three states turned out for rallies backing Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and featuring TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey, media coverage depicted the events as business as usual: voter apathy piqued only by celebrity, with no issues.

Nothing could be further from reality. “These are dangerous times,” Winfrey told nearly 30,000 people here. “We’re all watching ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to forget about it.” Obama dug into ending the Iraq war and pushing health care reform — hardly a rock concert.

“There are changes that need to be made in America,” said Audrey Evans, 33, who brought her son, Darius Richmond, to the University of South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium. “If he sees that I’m interested in politics, then he’ll be interested in politics.”

Civil rights movement veteran Jim Campbell, 82, watched as men and women — Black, Brown and white, young and old — streamed into the stadium. He had not seen the same hope, diversity and determination since the 1960s.

“I’m so tired of politics as usual,” said Sally MacMillan, 58. “He’s bringing so many people back into the system who have given up hope. The fact that he takes no special interest money is what Obama is all about.”

Voters will get their first crack at the presidential campaign in the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. Polls say the Democratic races are too close to call. “This race will go to the campaign that finds new voters to bring into the process,” said Democratic consultant Jenny Backus.

Over 18,000 showed up for the Obama/Winfrey stop in Des Moines, Iowa, and 8,500 in Manchester, N.H.

New Hampshire’s Democratic primary is Jan. 8, and Michigan’s is Jan. 15. Nevada’s, with a large Latino vote, is Jan. 19, while South Carolina Democrats vote Jan. 29. Republican primaries and caucuses largely follow a similar schedule.

In a related development, Republican candidate Fred Thompson announced he will skip the New Hampshire contest to focus on Iowa and Florida.

PITTSBURGH: Abandon torture, say 49 retired military officers

“We are trying to come down on the side of American values that we see being eroded and destroyed,” Duquesne University Law School dean and retired Rear Admiral Don Guter told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Guter is among 49 retired generals and admirals campaigning to halt the U.S. use of torture.

Guter said 15 members of the group, working with Human Rights First, met with seven presidential candidates, six Democrats and one Republican, in Iowa earlier this month.

The Republicans’ lack of response is “frustrating,” Guter said. The group plans to meet with all 17 candidates, arguing that torture results in bad information, violates the rules of war and Geneva Conventions, damages military personnel and has destroyed the U.S. reputation around the world.

“As far as we’re concerned,” he told the Post-Gazette, “this shouldn’t be a point the United States should have to debate. Whoever is the next commander in chief, we want them to believe what we are telling them.”

Darius Rejali, a political science professor at Oregon’s Reed College, called the Bush war on terror a “war on values. … You lose the war if you defend your values with barbaric methods,” he said.

The perception that U.S. voters support torture is not upheld by polling data. Rejali said that since Sept. 11, Americans have consistently opposed torture by 55 percent to 65 percent. “We think the debate has been driven by fear,” said Guter. “We’ve faced vicious enemies in every war.”

In a related development, senators from both sides of the aisle are conducting and calling for investigations into the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing torture. “Burning tapes, destroying evidence, I don’t know how deep this goes,” Republican Sen. Chuck Hegel of Nebraska told “Face the Nation” on CBS. “Could there be obstruction of justice? Yes.”

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has initiated an investigation into the destruction of tapes made in 2002.

Questioning whether or not Attorney General Michael Mukasey would prosecute the CIA for destroying evidence of torture, Sen. Joseph Biden told “This Week” on NBC, “He’s the same guy who couldn’t decide whether or not waterboarding was torture, and he’s going to be doing this investigation?”

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 @aol.com).

LETTERS: Dec. 8

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:55:00 +0000

Bravos

Bravo for publishing Hazzim Yousif’s letter regarding the genocide in Turkey (PWW 11/10-16). I thought of writing you along the exact same lines, including elders’ memories of murder, but Hazzim wrote what needed to be said.

I understand Norman Mark-owitz’s article focused on the Armenians, but the points Hazzim makes are an important part of that episode in history and need to be included. So glad you did not pass it by.

My Assyrian grandparents and theirs before them made their home in an Armenian/Kurdish area in eastern Turkey. There are many stories of that painful period. My mother saw this letter before I did. Thanks again for publishing it and thanks to Hazzim for writing it.

Pam Saffer Worcester MA

I thought Frank Chapman’s comments on the background to American gangster movies in his review of “American Gangster” was extremely well done (PWW 12/1-7). He’s a fine writer and clearly an excellent analyzer of social trends as reflected in our culture.

But why ruin the movie by telling the ending?

Jim Lane Dallas TX

Thank you for the “Jewish Americans speak out for Middle East peace” article in the Dec. 1-7 issue. Many of my relatives were victims of the Holocaust and I, like Anna Baltzer, grew up with the misconception of the Israeli state as a “tiny victimized country” surrounded by hostile Arab regimes.

I know it is daunting and emotionally draining to recognize the brutality of Zionism in its campaign to rid the land of Palestinians. It is essential to do so, however, if we hope to correct past errors. These errors include systematic usurpation of land and the institution of national borders that pit Israeli workers against Palestinians.

If things are to change, we must speak out. As the article urges, we should insist the United States “stop sending our tax dollars to Israel.”

Sandy Rosen Via e-mail

Gambling

A most thought-provoking article by Bill Mackovich (“Gambling with our money,” PWW 12/1-7), which places the spread of gambling in context of the wider social and economic changes that have occurred since the Second World War. I have sent it on to friends who are concerned about the spread of gambling.

I recommend for reading “Unbalanced Reel Gaming Machines” by the Canadian expert Roger Horbay and myself. The paper may be downloaded from a number of web sites including www.vivaconsulting.com/advocacy/34.pdf.

The paper has formed the basis for consumer complaints in Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Tim Falkiner Melbourne, Australia

Answer to last week’s question

The Annapolis conference was nothing more then a photo-op for Bush. Hamas, the party put into power by the Palestinian voters, was not even invited.

Sean Mulligan Via e-mail

Where are you now?

President Bush has vetoed funding for the Women’s, Infants’ and Children’s nutrition program (WIC), a program that has a long and proven record of reducing miscarriages, neonatal mortality, low birth weight, potentially fatal birth defects and infant anemia. Tell me: Where the heck did all those pro-lifers disappear, just when we need them the most?

Owen Williamson El Paso TX

Shop talk

A note of thanks the PWW staff: I have a new co-worker who mentioned factory farms and the problems so I brought in a copy of the PWW, which had a two-page article on factory farms (PWW 11/10-16).

My co-worker exclaimed, “The PWW! I pick it up all the time at the co-op.” It is always great to run into people who read the paper, but a co-worker one desk over is even better.

Dean Gunderson Minneapolis MN

Abu Dhabi and Citigroup

Citigroup, one of our nation’s largest and most venerable banking houses, has been compelled to seek financial salvation by cutting an unprecedented bailout deal with Abu Dhabi, a capital city in the United Arab Emirates.

We recall some two years ago that the Bush administration proposed a sell-off of vital U.S. seaports to Dubai, another Emirate metropolis. That scheme was quickly shot down amidst widespread public condemnation. In contrast now, the Citigroup deal is hailed by punch drunk money pundits as a brilliantly opportune plus for America’s flagging economy.

As a result, anxious investors immediately boosted the N.Y. stock market, a morose institution since the great burst of the housing debt bubble. Moreover, little has been made of Abu Dhabi’s lavish foray into U.S. high finance in the nation’s op-ed pages or on our normally bumptious talk-radio airwaves.

The dollar is inexorably sinking and shrinking. And yet, the Fed is pondering interest rate cuts. Whoopee! Citigroup can continue providing cash loans to already over indebted consumers. There’s still plenty of shopping for America to do, with a little help now from the wealthy princes of Abu Dhabi.

Cord MacGuire Boulder CO

Erosion causes

I think Tim Wheeler wrote a great article on Gulf Coast shrimpers (PWW9/29-10/5). But, I would like to point out that the west side of the Mississippi River has the same coastal erosion as the east side. Both sides have a lot in common. But what they don’t have in common is the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (M.R.G.O. or Mr. Go). I believe it is not a big part of the erosion problem. If so, why is such a problem on the west side also? Get a map from 30 years ago on the west side and compare to a recent photo map and its easy to see the damage is at least equal to the erosion on the east side. A serious problem does exist, but MRGO is not the main cause.

Dan Robi Via e-mail

Tim Wheeler responds:

Thanks for your response. I am not a geologist or climatologist so my knowledge of the problem of erosion is based on interviews, what I read, and what I see by visiting the Delta region. I much appreciate the information you have provided and I will incorporate it in a PowerPoint presentation I am giving around the country. It seems logical that there is a complex of interrelated factors contributing to the erosion, not one cause. If it were just MRGO, then it would be easy to solve by closing MRGO. These days, nothing is easy. Thanks again.