People Before Profit blog

LONESOME HOBO If Blue Dogs run free

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:26:00 +0000

'If dogs run free, then why not we

Across the swooping plain? My ears hear a symphony Of two mules, trains and rain. The best is always yet to come, That's what they explain to me. Just do your thing, you'll be king, If dogs run free.'

-- Bob Dylan, New Morning, 1970

I am trying to get more info on the Blue Dogs-White House-Senate health care negotiations. Are we headed to a supportable bill, or not? 'If we were starting from scratch, I would favor single-payer,' the president has said. So he gave the single-payer movement more than just a tip of his hat (I think), even though he shortly backed up to a public option plan where not-for-profit medicine can compete and help drive much needed health care reforms, including universal coverage.

It is beginning to look like the administration is backing up from a straightforward 'public option' -- essentially a national health service to lead the non-profit sector-- to a position that amounts to smuggling in a public option under the guise of a heavier federal funded and regulated coop system modeled on rural cooperative non-profit health providers.

Thus the negotiations appear to be moving more toward the Netherlands-like solution: eventual universal coverage, private insurance, but many public mandates. Frankly I need to be convinced that subsidized, regulated coops will have the market power sufficient to restructure costs and reform health care delivery in a system as huge, complex and varied as the current U.S. one.

A public plan would seem to garner greater administrative savings, and greater market power to drive change, cover everyone, and backstop cost control efforts. People may justly complain about Medicare defects, but it is far more efficient and popular than ANY OTHER insurance provider. A public plan could more easily control overall savings and level of quality. It is true that in some rural areas -- not an accident that all of the blue-dogs are from rural states -- coops function well and certainly at no worse cost than the Canadian National Health Service does in its remote rural areas. However it's hard to see this model scaling well. The U.S. market is many times the size of Netherlands.

In addition, eliminating employer mandates from the House legislation and replacing them with individual mandates seems like replacing a lousy hodge-podge of subsidies and taxes with a worse one.

At what income level will working people have to pay a penalty -- fine -- for failing to purchase health insurance --- when their employer declines to provide coverage, but you do not qualify for assistance? Individual mandates seem like an open door to nail workers' disposable income. Any solution where the cost of benefits under reform is deducted from the current take-home pay of any worker under 80K should be rejected, in my view.

This crisis is fundamentally a consequence, in large measure, of long term flat or declining median income alongside skyrocketing wealth accumulations in financial services corporations. Working people are not getting enough of the pie to play their usual role of saving the economy by starting to spend again. Adding more inequality to the US economy, even if it were in the name of universal health care, is a bad idea.

So, are the Blue Dogs taking just barking? Stinking up the Lawn? Or should we lie down with them on the beach, and assume some beers and a philosophical attitude can get both of us thinking about taking care of everyone, taking the profit out of medicine AND able to say 'National health care' and 'Down with socialism' with equal, respective enthusiasm? John Case (jcase4218@gmail.com) hosts the morning radio show “Winners and Losers” out of Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Lou Dobbs' journalism problem

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:58:00 +0000

Using the debunked conspiracy about the authenticity of President Obama's birth certificate, CNN's Lou Dobbs and executives at that network have managed to redefine the professional standards of journalism.

On both his radio show and his CNN TV program over the past month (as well as in 2008), Lou Dobbs has expressed the opinion that the birth certificate released by the state of Hawaii and posted at various media and watchdog websites isn't real. On his radio show, which he always promotes on his CNN show, Dobbs stated that based on his belief that the certificate provided by Hawaii authorities isn't real President Obama's citizenship is in question and that he has a 'document' problem. Dobbs implied that the president may be an undocumented immigrant.

When challenged about these comments, Dobbs insisted that he merely hosts discussions about the conspiracy, despite the fact he has repeated his personal doubts about the authenticity of the president's birth certificate as is own opinion on numerous occasions on both his radio and TV programs.

This week, CNN President Jon Klein defended Dobb's repeated segments on the conspiracy by stating emphatically that the birth certificate issue has been satisfactorily debunked in his view. But he went on to describe Dobbs as one of CNN's 'leading journalists' and insisting that Dobbs has merely 'hosted panel discussions about this phenomenon' only to report on what others are saying about the conspiracy.

Klein's dubious defense of Dobbs prompted media watchdog Media Matters for America to describe Klein's remark as a misrepresentation of what Dobbs has done on his CNN program. 'Dobbs has gone far beyond reporting on other people's conspiracy theories; he has repeatedly used discredited arguments to cast doubt on the adequacy of the birth certificate Obama has provided,' said a recent post at that organization's website.

On a recent post at the , SPLC President Richard Cohen pointed out that James Von Brunn, the white supremacist who is charged with killing Holocaust Memorial Museum security guard Stephen T. Johns, also posted similar claims about the birth certificate conspiracy and castigated the media for not pursuing it as a story.

Cohen added that Dobbs' rhetoric about the birth certificate feeds a segment of the US population that isn't merely concerned with legal technicalities but rather obsesses over the specific issue of the president's racial background. He dismissed Klein's claims about journalistic integrity. Dobbs 'has a history of promoting false claims that originate on the radical right,' Cohen wrote.

'[W]e’re asking CNN, a private organization, to live up to its own standards of journalistic integrity and take Dobbs off the air,' Cohen added. 'Dobbs can continue spreading propaganda on every street corner in America. But CNN has no more of an obligation to allow him to appear on its network than it has an obligation to let me do the same.'

SPLC has to convince CNN to live up to its claims about journalistic integrity and remove Dobbs from its line-up.

And before anyone starts screaming about Lou Dobbs' free speech rights, please understand that when he and CNN President Joe Klein raised the issue of journalistic integrity they understood that they were imposing a professional standard, not a Constitutional one, on Dobbs. The CNN anchor has failed to adhere to that standard.

A professional journalist has a right to claim the sun is square, the Easter bunny shot JFK and that Obama has a 'documents' problem, but it's only the latter statement that Klein has defended or seems to believe should be promoted on his network each evening to hundreds of thousands of people.

LETTERS Change comes to PWW, Sudoku not necessary, Good question

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:02:00 +0000

Re: change comes to PWW

Is there a better paper than the People’s Weekly World? Is there a better group of journalists than PWW writers? A better source for news analysis, commentary, features, opinion pieces? Is there a paper more consistently on the side of the working class and peoples’ struggles? Is there a more attractive paper than the People’s Weekly World?

It breaks my heart that the PWW is forced by this blood-sucking economy to make these changes. For I think that the coming loss of our print edition is a profoundly sad event.

At the same time I welcome the technological advances that have allowed the PWW to reach thousands of new readers across the country and around the world with fresh, new writing every day. The fact that the PWW is now a daily source of Marxist news and information is a tremendous achievement and should be celebrated! I certainly hope that everyone in progressive movements in the U.S. has pww.org for their homepage and subscribes to the PWW e-mail news alerts. How can you possibly function otherwise?

We are living under an economic and social system that savagely attacks literacy and our national treasures: public education and public libraries. When slaves wanted to learn to read, a dangerous undertaking, they set up schools to teach reading. The history of the independent press in our country contains stories of presses being smashed and editors killed. I know that during the scoundrel times of the 1950s the Daily Worker was forced to shut down for several years. Later the New York office of the Daily World was bombed. But now it seems we have been nickeled and dimed to death.

I think that when our working class really wants something, we get it. When workers want to have a print edition of the Paper, nothing will stop them. And I know there are people of all ages — even under the age of 30 — who read books and newspapers and zines and graphic novels. I welcome all who are interested in sustaining the PWW, plugged and unplugged, to send in stories, letters opinion pieces, photos, cartoons, videos, poetry, songs, money and ideas that keep the flame alive.

Barbara Carpenter

Chicago

Having read PWW (and its predecessor) for more than 30 years, I was sorry to learn of your decision to terminate publication of the print edition. Holding a newspaper in your hand is a very different experience than reading text on a computer screen. Over the week that the paper was current, I’d bring it to work, to lunch, and even to the laundromat, where I’d read it — cover to cover — at my leisure. When done, I’d pass it along to fellow travelers who always appreciated the gesture.

But, like records and photographs, newspapers have become a victim of new technologies and tough economics. It’s the harsh reality of our times, and one we’ll regrettably have to live with. Good luck with your new electronic venture.

Michael Kaplan

Knoxville TN

While I am thrilled that the PWW will soon return to a daily, it is with great sadness that I read that it will no longer appear in print form. I recognize that it probably was an inevitable transition, and one which will surely help the paper’s finances and diffusion. I do hope, though, that the PWW continues to format stories as they would appear in the print edition of the paper. For example, maybe the PWW staff could send out a PDF’ed mini-paper, of 3-4 pages, every morning, that readers could print out and bring to work that day. While certainly more difficult than sending out a list of links to stories on the PWW website, I believe that a formatted paper that readers could print up on their own would be a much more effective way to build the Party, and much more pleasurable to read.

Matt Murtagh

Brooklyn NY

I have just read your statement on the success of the People’s World Weekly. I look forward to your daily service, as I have been enjoying the weekly service for some time. It is with a smile on my face that I write this, as I couldn’t be happier with your news.

May there be even more to come!

M.L. Hopp

I write in response to your notice that the PWW will go electronic and cease hard copy production on January 1, 2010. In that announcement you stated that anyone having no access to e-mail or the web should call you to talk about a means of continuing to be able to read fighting stories of progress and change.

As you can see by my address I am a prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary. I’ve no access to the web or e-mail. I would like to be included in any efforts to reach non-web comrades.

Please do not forget me. Live free or die!

Brian McCarvil

Salem OR

Editor’s note: We are working hard to continue sending a hard-copy of our new downloadable edition to prisoners.

I have received a couple dozen calls so far from subscribers who have no access and want to sign up for the new weekly format come January. I’d like to finish taking names by September 1. So please call (773) 446-9920 x201 if you are a subscriber and have no ability to get online.

If you’d like to make sure a current prisoner subscriber can continue receiving our weekly edition, please make a donation today, www.pww.org/support.

Sudoku not necessary

Thanks for sending The World, always thoroughly read, then passed on for others to read a shining ray of TRUTH amidst all the mainstream half-truths and outright lies. Thanks!

Congratulations on your website. And showing on the printed World all that the website contains that the printed version could not possible contain. Good job!

However I’d disagree on the page corner devoted to Sudokus. I am a fan — hooked on them completely and beyond hope. But we can get them anywhere: all the Texas newspapers have them. For which reason I’d suggest that precious space on the printed World be devoted to other matters such as political cartoons that used to appear in the World. Or something more useful to the struggle for socialism.

Only a suggestion. You could put on the website.

Ana Lucia Gelabert

Gatesville TX

Good question

Where in the constitution does it say that the vice president should run the CIA? Oh that’s right, there is nothing about the Central Intelligence Agency in the constitution. Does that mean that the CIA is unconstitutional?

Chuck Mann

Greensboro NC

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Colombian activist Liliany Obando needs your support now

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:28:00 +0000

A year after her arrest by Colombian police and incarceration in Bogotá’s Buen Pastor women’s prison, Liliany Obando is slated to go to trial Aug. 27. When she was arrested, the former international spokesperson for Fensuagro ― the National Federation of Unified Agricultural Unions ― was about to release her report detailing the murders or disappearances of 1,500 Fensuagro unionists over 29 years. She is the mother of two young children.

A worldwide solidarity movement backs Liliany Obando for good reasons.

One, she is a remarkable political personality ― a filmmaker, doctoral candidate in sociology, and a leader in Fensuagro’s international and human rights campaigns. In her own words, she is a “political prisoner, prisoner of conscience, communist activist, and survivor of the genocide against the Patriotic Union.” Colombian officials see her as a dangerous link between Fensuagro and human rights activists worldwide.

Two, evidence against her is misbegotten. She is accused of rebellion, a charge her lawyer characterizes as “very difficult to defend. The charge is highly political ― not really a legal matter.” She is charged with raising money for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In fact, she spent several years traveling throughout Australia, Canada and Europe seeking donations for Fensuagro educational and human rights programs.

The allegation of FARC connections rests on e-mails supposedly found in the computers of Raul Reyes, confiscated last year after the Colombian military killed the FARC commander in Ecuador. The lead military operative confessed recently that word documents were found there, no e-mails. The International Police Agency Interpol refused to authenticate the government’s findings on grounds that such material is easily doctored.

Three, support for Obando means solidarity with Fensuagro, Colombia's second largest labor organization. Of the 80,000 people belonging to member unions, half are landless peasants, 30 percent are small landowners and 20 percent are sharecroppers. Women make up 43 percent. Fensuegro members comprised 20 percent of all Colombian unionists murdered in 2007. The army and paramilitaries have victimized over 5,000 members in one way or another.

“We are a class-conscious organization,” says the Fensuagro web site, “class conscious because we defend the peasants and struggle against the landowners, the big estate owners, the transnationals, and the regime’s anti-peasant politics.” Goals include food security for Colombia, land reform, rights for rural workers, participatory democracy, and upgrading the status of rural communities.

Four, in standing with Obando one protests the incarceration of 7,200 other political prisoners in Colombia. In a prison interview with Garry Leech (see colombiajournal.org.), Obando sheds light on their experiences, too. When she was arrested, national television covered the police ransacking of her apartment as it unfolded. Her children and mother were abused. She and 83 other women political prisoners held in her section ― unionists, guerrillas, students, peasants, and community organizers ― are all charged with “rebellion.” Three people share two beds in a cell measuring 8 feet by 5 feet. Prisoners are forced to work for no pay for outside companies.

Five, what happens to Obando may hint at the fate awaiting many other human rights activists, Communist leaders, leftist journalists, and leftist politicians targeted by the regime as FARC supporters. A judgment of innocence would serve as an impediment to the present wave of persecution. Conviction would fuel the witch hunt.

Six, Liliany Obando is a revolutionary. She told Leech that she and her fellow prisoners have the right to rebel. Now is the time for those who object to the Colombian oligarchy and its imperialist masters to lend a hand in her fight for freedom.

“The government of Alvaro Uribe has many facets of fascism,” she said. “It hates the opposition and the poor. It is a government that is fundamentally oligarchic, that serves the upper class and multinationals. It is a government that has given up our sovereignty to the United States and has given away our resources. It is a government that refuses to engage in a process for peace. It is a government of war. It is a government that lies.”

Some suggested actions:

• Contribute to the care of the children of Liliany Obando and her fellow prisoners. Send an online contribution to http://nicanet.org/?page_id=341. Or mail a check to Alliance for Global Justice, Lily Obando Fund, 1247 E Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.

• Send a handwritten letter protesting the political nature of the case to Liliany’s lawyer. Address it, “To Whom it May Concern” and send it to: Liliany Defense Letters, c/o Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 E Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Letters need to be received by July 23, 2009.

• Have your organization endorse a resolution to free Obando. The resolution is available at: http://www.clrlabor.org/wordpress/wp-content/lilianyresolution.pdf. Send endorsement to james@afgj.org.

WORLDNOTES China, Nigeria, Israel, Bolivia, Turkey, Cuba

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:52:00 +0000

China: Gov’t revamps health careA three-year health care reform plan costing $124 billion was announced in April. At a State Council meeting last week, Premier Wen Jiabao indicated that medical insurance will be extended this year to 72 million additional people. Health care will also be guaranteed for over 6 million workers laid off from state-owned companies. A campaign to improve coordination between 900 city hospitals and 2,000 county-level hospitals has been launched. The government is also reaching out to millions of women with screening for cervical and breast cancers. Over 23 million unvaccinated children between age 8 and 15 will receive hepatitis B vaccine. People’s Daily reported that at the same meeting regulations were outlined to implement China’s new Food Safety Law.

Nigeria: Insurgents call for ceasefire After weeks of intensified assaults on oil facilities culminating in an unprecedented hit on a depot near Lagos, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced a 60-day ceasefire on July 15, the day after the government released MEND leader Henry Okah. Negotiations on MEND demands and the government’s amnesty offer were conditioned on military forces withdrawing from occupied communities and the return of displaced persons. MEND’s three-year fight for autonomy in the Niger Delta region and equitable division of national oil wealth involved threats recently against the Trans-Sahara pipeline carrying oil to Algeria. Afrol News reported that the National Petroleum Corporation’s monthly revenues are down 50 percent this year.

Israel: Soldiers speak out Breaking the Silence, an organization of present and former Israeli soldiers “demand[ing] accountability regarding Israel’s military actions,” (see breakingthesilence.org) released a 110-page report last week with testimony from 26 soldiers underscoring rampant brutality evident during Israel’s recent war against Gaza. The Jerusalem Post accused the group of taking foreign money. Co-founder and Army reservist Yehuda Shaul claimed that Israeli soldiers, who ran no risk, failed to protect civilians, who comprised most of the 1,400 people killed. One soldier lamented the “hate and joy in killing.” “The artillery fire was mindless,” said another, referring to “gratuitous destruction” of houses, where “not one was left intact.” Shaul, quoted by rebelión.org, explained: “There were no limits. Everybody there was an enemy … The Israeli army abandoned all its moral values,” he said.

Bolivia: President lambasts U.S. bases At ceremonies last week commemorating Bolivian victory 200 years ago over Spanish colonialism, President Evo Morales labeled Latin American political leaders who accept U.S. bases “traitors to their country.” Regional military forces need to shed U.S. dependency, he declared. TeleSur highlighted Bolivia and Ecuador’s new constitutions as having banned foreign bases. Yet according to human rights lawyer Orlando Castillo, U.S. troops have entered Paraguay under the guise of embassy technicians (Upsidedownworld.org). U.S. Ambassador Liliana Ayalde has utilized drug counseling, narcotics interdiction and medical care to dress up “joint military exercises” as “diplomatic cooperation.” The United States is reportedly refurbishing its Mariscal Estigarribia air base, built during the 1980s close to the Bolivian border.

Turkey: Agreements reached on gas pipeline Despite financial uncertainties, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey agreed to pave the way politically to construct the Nabucco natural gas pipeline aimed at relieving European dependency on Russian gas. The agreement last week materialized after Turkey relinquished demands that it retain 15 percent of gas derived from the Caspian Sea region. At the Ankara meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s warm words for Iranian participation riled Washington. As if in response to a Greenpeace critique citing greenhouse gases and calling for solar energy, 12 corporations, mostly German, signed an agreement July 13 to plan and develop the Desertec Initiative, solar-energy installations strung across Northern Africa projected as eventually supplying 15 percent of Europe’s energy needs.

Cuba: The ‘Five’ gain international support “The Americans answered that they will do it,” Dave Prentis, head of Britain’s Unison public workers’ union, told Trabajadores (Workers’) Newspaper. His reference was to UNITE labor federation leader Tony Woodley’s trip to the United States recently where. unionists there promised support for the campaign to free the Cuban Five. “These unions are going to exert their influence on the government,” said Prentis, quoted by Cuba News Agency. The Five have served 10 years in U.S. jails for monitoring anti-Cuban terrorists in Florida. “What is happening to them is an immorality,” Prentis declared. Last week in Havana, Adriana Pérez learned that the U.S. State Department had again denied her the right to visit husband Gerardo Hernández in jail. She has not seen him since 1998. World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit@roadrunner.com)

WORLDNOTES Equatorial Guinea, Australia, Afghanistan, UN, Guyana, Cuba

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:30:00 +0000

Equatorial Guinea: Corporations, banks back corruption

Oil money has been diverted to the ruling few while people languish “in poverty worse than in Afghanistan or Chad,” according to a Human Rights Watch report issued last week. The account by Inter Press Service cites a 5,000 percent rise in Equatorial Guinea’s GDP in almost 20 years.

A Global Witness report released in March featured the Teodoro Obiang regime, in power since 1979, as typifying collusion between a repressive government and international banks leading to billions stolen and disregard of problems like skyrocketing child mortality rates. Investments from U.S.-based oil companies have allowed the country to become sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth-largest oil producer.

Human Rights Watch called upon the Obama administration to reverse Bush’s support of the country’s regime.

Australia: Labor protests anti-worker discrimination

“It is time for a national debate about a new deal for job security,” declared Sharan Burrow, Australian Council of Trade Unions president. She was protesting a minimum wage freeze imposed last week by the Fair Pay Commission affecting 1.3 million workers, and the loss of 22,000 jobs during June. With their “windfall,” Burrow declared, “Employers have no more excuses not to pull out all stops to protect jobs.”

Unemployment presently is 5.8 percent. The ACTU head called for reduced executive salaries and brakes on overseas export of jobs.

Ironically, new industrial relations laws taking effect July 1 represent “an historic step forward for the rights of working Australians and their families,” the ACTU web site said.

Afghanistan: U.S. military contractors take root

The U.S. military buildup in Afghanistan signals opportunity for DynCorp and Fluor corporations. Awarded contracts totaling $15 billion over five years, the giant enterprises will build military structures and bases there and undertake power, water, housing, logistic and administrative projects.

Texas-based Fluor Corporation will carry out work at 74 bases in northern Afghanistan, while DynCorp will operate throughout southern Afghanistan.

The Defense Department rejected bids from Halliburton subsidiary KBR, recipient of contracts worth $31.4 billion from 2001-2009. Reuters recalled that a Congressional commission found that KBR had wasted billions because of “poorly defined work orders, inadequate oversight and inefficiencies” marking construction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.

United Nations: Ban speaks out on climate change

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon scolded Group of Eight heads of state last week for waffling on commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, 80 percent of which are produced by their nations.

“The time for delays and half-measures is over,” Ban declared at the L’Aquila summit. “Personal leadership” was needed in dealing with “one of the most serious challenges ever to confront humanity.”

The goal of reduced emissions by 2050 lacked credibility, he suggested, unless short-term goals are set, specifically 25-40 percent reductions from 1990 levels by 2020. The UN News Service reported that in September Ban will convene a climate-change summit in New York in preparation for December talks in Copenhagen aimed at a new climate treaty.

Guyana: U.S. military visits

The U.S. Southern Command has billed the three-month deployment of 650 troops to Guyana beginning July 1 as humanitarian. They will build schools and a medical clinic, according to www.southcom.mil, as well as providing medical care. The soldiers started off with a visit to an orphanage.

The project mirrors last year’s visit to Peru of 950 active duty troops and reservists whose supposed humanitarian outreach provoked nationalist-inspired condemnation of violations of national sovereignty.

No benevolent purposes were evident in arrangements currently under discussion for opening up three Colombian air bases and two naval bases to U.S. forces. An agreement is close, Bogotá’s Cambio newsweekly recently reported. Last year, the U.S. Fourth Fleet included Guyana on its unprecedented continent-wide tour.

Cuba: Good living at low ecological cost

Issuing its annual Index of Planet Happiness July 4, the London-based New Economics Foundation (NEF) awarded Cuba seventh place among 143 nations surveyed. Societies were assayed in terms of life expectancy, citizen satisfaction and ecological impact.

Costa Rico ranked first in proving, according to the NEF web site, that “good lives don't have to cost the earth.”

The top 10 included nine Latin American nations. The United States was assigned 114th place.

Analyst Pascual Serrano explained the contradiction between Cubans emigrating to the United States and expressing satisfaction with their lives (see rebelion.org). Prior to the revolution, migration north was considerable, he said. And the United States receives more immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica and Canada than from Cuba.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit @roadrunner.com)

Union City a union city

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:04:00 +0000

UNION CITY-- A fighting militant demonstration of several hundred nursing home workers, members of 1199/SEIU sent a message to their employer, Castle Hill Nursing Home, that they want a new union contract and they mean to get it. No more stalling. The owner of OMNI nursing homes, Avery Eisenreich has refused to negotiate directly with the union which has been without a contract since 2007. Wages at the Omni group range from $7.90 to $9.00 an hour even after long years of service. By contrast, Eisenreich pays himself $10,000 an hour according to union speakers and the many union picket signs. It was also reported that he is now building his third mansion. Further, by contrast, workers must pay $165 per week for health coverage if they choose to have their families covered out of their meager wages.

Union City Mayor Brian Stack addressed the rally pledging his full support behind the workers. Stack said that he understands their problems. The mayor indicated that both his parents were union members. Stack's mother - who is 75 - is still working. To the cheers of the demonstrators, Mayor Stack said that he, as a State Senator along with Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, Jr. would call for a government investigation into the salary of Eisenreich.

Stack invited the union to demonstrate whenever they need to and that he would supply the hot dogs, soda, and water.

Tom DeGise, county executive of Hudson County said if Mayor Stack is supplying the hot dogs, then “I’m going to supply the hamburgers.” Most importantly, DeGise pointed out that Hudson County is the most diverse county in the whole country and that diversity is reflected in the workforce at Castle Hill and “we want you to stay here.”

The spirit of unity was deepened by remarks made by Peter Busacca, President of the Hudson County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO and Mauro Camporeale of the neighboring Bergen County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. They were joined by other members and retirees of the Central Labor Councils.

Militant solidarity were at the heart of the chants, slogans, songs and speeches at the rally. The chants were in English and Spanish – everyone joined in. “It’s our union, the people’s union, the patient’s union, the community’s union. It’s 1199. It’s SEIU.”

Fully appreciative of the workers rally were the nursing home residents who watched from the windows. When the bosses cut food rations to the residents, nursing home workers dipped into their pockets to augment meals.

New Jersey has historically been a haven for nursing home profiteers.

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:49:00 +0000

In a day full of dramatic events, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya attempted to return to home to Tegucigalpa, Honduras capital, July 5. However, his plane was not allowed to land.

As Zelaya approached Honduras in the plane, he asked the soldiers occupying the airport to return their allegiance to him, 'in the name of God, in the name of the people, and in the name of justice,' according to The Associated Press.

'I am the commander of the armed forces, elected by the people, and I ask the armed forces to comply with the order to open the airport so that there is no problem in landing and embracing with my people,' Zelaya said while en route. 'Today I feel like I have sufficient spiritual strength, blessed with the blood of Christ, to be able to arrive there and raise the crucifix.'

But coup leader and Interim President Roberto Micheletti refused to withdraw his order to prevent the plane from landing, and said he would not negotiate with anyone until 'things return to normal.'

Zelaya supporters entered the airport earlier and made their way to the terminal to confront the soldiers and demanding permission be given to land the planes.

The AP reported, 'Thousands of protesters descended on the airport in the Honduran capital in anticipation of the showdown, pressing against about 250 officers with riot shields as they waved Honduran flags and posters of Zelaya, chanting 'Honduras! Honduras!'

Police helicopters hovered overhead. Commercial flights were canceled, and each private plane landing was met on the tarmac by armed police.'

But the soldiers attacked the protestors, according to TV reports.

'People are running. Smoke is being seen at the airport. Reports of gunshots. Tear gas is being launched against the protestors. People are throwing themselves on the ground, seemingly to avoid being shot. Looks like shots are being fired into the air, though there are reports of rubber bullets and teargas. Telesur is reporting three dead, Radio Globo is saying they have confirmed two,' reported Nuestro Mundo Editor Jose Cruz in an e-mail.

Telesur is the Venezuelan-based TV station is showing live coverage in Spanish of the Honduran crisis.

Micheletti also alleged that Nicaragua was moving troops to their border in an attempt at psychological intimidation, and warned them not to cross into Honduras, 'because we're ready to defend our border.' Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega called the allegation 'totally false.'

Zelaya won wide international support after his military ouster a week ago, but the only prominent escort aboard his plane was the U.N. General Assembly president after Latin American leaders backed out, citing security concerns.

At least three other planes left the Washington area separately, carrying Latin American presidents, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States and journalists. They were trailing Zelaya to see what happens in the skies over Honduras before deciding where to land. Flying with Zelaya were close advisers and staff, two journalists from the Venezuela-based network Telesur, and U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, AP reported.

The Telesur crew enabled Zelaya to speak in a live interview from the air. 'No one can obligate me to turn around,' Zelaya declared.

But with their safety not guaranteed, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa pleaded with the Honduran military forces to avoid bloodshed. 'If there is violence the whole world must clearly know who is responsible,' he said.

After Zelaya's plane was forced to turn around and land in El Salvador, Correa, the presidents of Paraguay and Argentina and Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, also landed in El Salvador.

Honduras' coup government has vowed to arrest Zelaya for 18 alleged criminal acts including treason and failing to implement more than 80 laws approved by Congress since taking office in 2006.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling, Zelaya had also pressed ahead with a referendum on whether to hold an assembly to consider changing the constitution. But instead of prosecuting him or trying to defeat his referendum idea at the ballot box, other Honduran leaders sent masked soldiers to fly Zelaya out of the country at gunpoint.

The military solution prompted condemnation from the United Nations and OAS. Many called it a huge step back for democracy, and no nation has recognized the new government, including the United States.

Its membership suspended by the OAS, the isolated interim government now faces trade sanctions and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized oil, aid and loans.

The immediate concern, however, was avoiding bloodshed.

'We have to defend our rights in a way that is personal but peaceful. Against the bayonets, we must put forth our conscience and our patriotism,' Zelaya said as Venezuelan pilots flew him toward home.

Zelaya supporters said they got the message as they converged on the airport, where at least five soldiers with binoculars and high-powered rifles watched from the roof with their weapons trained on the protesters.

'We have no pistols or arms, just our principles,' organizer Rafael Alegria said. 'We have the legitimate right to fight for the defense of democracy and to restore President Zelaya.'

Large crowds of Zelaya's critics also have staged daily demonstrations to back Micheletti, the congressional president who was named by lawmakers to finish out the final six months of the Zelaya's term. However, government workers at the pro-Zelaya march said they were forced to go to the pro-coup demonstration wearing white shirts.

Most of the ousted leader's supporters come from the working and middle classes of this impoverished nation, while his opponents are based in the ranks of the well-to-do, according to the AP.

Teachers' organizations have declared there will not be a return to classes tomorrow, according to various reports.

Scientists question N. Korea nuclear test

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:27:00 +0000

In an article recently published in the journal Science, noted scientific journalist Daniel Clery has raised serious questions about the actual nature of the May 25 underground explosion claimed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] as a nuclear test, provoking worldwide condemnation. Clery points out that while the DPRK's first nuclear test in 2006 released traces of radioactive xenon gas detectable as far away as Canada, this time super-sensitive U.S. 'sniffer' planes overflying the zone could not detect so much as an atom of anomalous nuclear material.

The May 25 explosion on the Korean Peninsula was detected by geological and nuclear monitors around the world as a magnitude 4.5 tremor consistent with a human-made underground explosion, but according to Science, the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) network of over 200 atmospheric sensor stations around the globe reported no measurable spike in artificial radioactive elements anywhere in the world, not even in South Korea, on instruments that can detect 'a couple hundred atoms in a cubic meter of air.'

Objective observers and scientists remain puzzled about these results, pointing out that it is highly unlikely that North Korea would be technically advanced enough to produce a perfectly-contained nuclear explosion, which would have to take place at extreme depth in rock strata easily enough melted to produce a perfectly airtight containment bubble and strong enough that the bubble would not collapse and release nuclear fission products into the environment immediately after the explosion. However, it is equally improbable that North Korean scientists could easily assemble the wherewithal to produce an underground chemical explosion of the observed magnitude, even though such a blast would be technically possible using currently available high explosives. Some scientists have even dismissed as 'conspiracy theory' suggestions that the May 25 test was non-nuclear.

Even so, suspicions that the most recent North Korean test might have been faked evoke memories of ambiguous threats by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about weapons of mass destruction, claims which were then used by the Bush administration as convenient justification for the American invasion and occupation of Iraq even though, after careful international inspections, both sides were well aware that Iraqi WMDs no longer existed.

Given that both the DPRK and western military analysts have a clear self-interest in discounting questions about the threat of a practical North Korean nuclear arsenal, the most politically significant aspect of this controversy may be the degree to which scientists' doubts are being underplayed and silenced in American media reports. While the explosion itself was given top-headline status, a cursory review of New York Times headlines during May and June shows no mention of scientific questions surrounding the May 25 explosion.

Although President Obama has repeatedly advocated nuclear disarmament, the United States and the DPRK are still among only nine countries of the world which have not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Chavez nationalises Banco de Venezuela

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Original source:

President Hugo Chavez has made a great leap towards increasing democratic control over the economy by nationalising Venezuela's third-largest bank.

The government took over Banco de Venezuela after agreeing to pay Spanish privateer Grupo Santander more than $1 billion (£612m) for its subsidiary.

The purchase makes the state by far the largest player in Venezuela's banking system, owning one-fifth of all bank deposits.

Mr Chavez has spent about $23 billion (£14.1bn) in the past two years nationalising telecommunications, electricity, steel, oil and other companies.

His push into banking will reinforce the government's increasingly dominant role in the economy.

The banking sector is already highly regulated, with the government setting interest rates and commissions.

The government of Mr Chavez will now be able to 'indirectly regulate prices and market strategies,' said Leonardo Vera, an economist and professor at Venezuela's Central University.

In taking over Banco de Venezuela, Mr Chavez is bringing an institution that was privatised in 1996 back under democratic control.

When Santander agreed to the sale in May, Banco de Venezuela had 3.2 million clients, 10 per cent of the country's deposits and 6,000 employees.

Combined with other state banks, the government will now control about 21 per cent of deposits and 16 per cent of loans, a payroll of 15,000 employees and 651 bank branches.

Mr Chavez has made it a pillar of his socialist programme to nationalise businesses in 'strategic sectors' of the economy to ensure that they are run for the benefit of all Venezuelans.

In the past, he has also seized oil projects previously run by private companies.

And Mr Chavez has introduced a series of progressive economic measures such as exchange and price controls.

The government, with support from the predominantly pro-Chavez National Assembly, has approved some 150 new laws and economic regulations since 2001.

COMMENTARY On racism, Supreme Court rules for status quo

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:07:00 +0000

Another good reason why Sotomayor should be confirmed

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the New Haven firefighters is not a reason to keep Judge Sonia Sotomayor off the court as some on the right are pushing, but rather it shows how urgent it is that she be confirmed.

Justice Ginsberg in her dissenting opinion pointed out that the majority on the court “ignores substantial evidence of multiple flaws in the test New Haven used. The court similarly fails to acknowledge the better test used in other cities which have yielded less racially skewed outcomes.”

The impression is given that no blacks or Latinos passed the test and therefore none were qualified for the job. The fact is that there were eight openings for lieutenant and 77 fire fighters took the test. Thirty-four passed including 25 whites out of 43, three Hispanics out of 15 and six African Americans out of 19. The top 10 scorers were white. There were seven openings for captain and 41 took the test with 22 passing. Twenty-five whites took that test and nine failed, 16 passed; eight Hispanics took the test and five failed and three passed; eight blacks took the captain test, five failed and three passed. The top nine were seven white and two Hispanic. This is all according to The New York Times.

One white fire fighter said he passed because he studied for eight to 13 hours a day. Another one on national television at a press conference of white firefighters said it takes “hard work” to move ahead, suggesting that blacks and Latinos don’t work hard enough and that was the reason they didn’t get higher scores.

The nature of the test and who got help and who didn’t get help in preparation for the test needs to be looked into.

Also the city of New Haven is now majority African American and Latino and it seems to me that an affirmative action program in their fire department is very much in order.

It’s important to know that there is a long history of struggle with both the New Haven firefighters union and fire department over its racist policies. Black firefighters had to set up an organization called the “Fire Birds” to combat the entrenched exclusionary policies they face getting hired and advancing in the department. The majority on the U.S. Supreme Court ignored all this. Why?

The majority avoided these deeper questions, which speaks volumes about what is wrong with the current composition of the court. To put it frankly, from its many rulings, the majority seems to be in support of the racist status quo and not committed to the elimination of racial discrimination as it continues to be practiced throughout this land.

Sotomayor and her colleagues on the appellate court ruled in favor of New Haven’s attempt to address these deeper issues of eliminating racial discrimination.

So now, the right-wing racist trash talkers in the media are trying to use this ruling to stop the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor. The racist Rush Limbaugh is back to calling her “a racist” again. They are working overtime to destroy the racial unity that elected Barack Obama and the new Congress. They’re attempt to stir-up hatred and division at this time of economic crisis and war must be answered with greater unity. .

The fact that Judge Sotomayor was in the majority at the appellate level that rejected the white fire fighters suit is another reason why she must be confirmed. Speak out!

Jarvis Tyner (jtyner@cpusa.org) is the executive vice chair of the Communist Party USA.

New York Pride

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:48:00 +0000

The demand for full marriage rights was a major theme at the June 28 Gay Pride Parade in New York. The parade route took the marchers past the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar raided by police in 1969. A crowd of thousands formed to protest the raid, triggering what became a national movement for human rights by lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:59:00 +0000

A passerby pushed off a would-be 'suicide jumper' off a bridge in Guangzhou city, southern China's Guangdong province, for he was 'too angry about the jumper's selfish activity,' Saturday's China Daily reported.

The jumper, Chen Fuchao, attempted to become the twelfth 'suicide jumper' of the Haizhu bridge which has gained a reputation as a macabre tourist destination after attracting 11 would-be suicide jumpers since the start of April.

Lai Jiansheng, the 66-year-old man happened to pass by the Haizhu bridge on Thursday morning when he found Chen sit at the bridge threatening to jump off and had held up traffic around the bridge for almost five hours.

Chen wanted to kill himself because he was in 2 million yuan of debt following a failed construction project.

After knowing the situation, Lai volunteered to talk with the Chen to persuade him. After denied by the police, he broken through a police cordon and climbed up to where Chen sat.

Lai first greeted Chen with a handshake, and then he pushed him off the bridge. Chen fell 8 meters onto a partially-inflated emergency air cushion, damaging his spine and elbow in the fall.

'I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest,' Lai said

'They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals,' he added.

Lai was taken away by police after the incident. Chen is now recovering in hospital.

Police sources said many suicidal people had financial troubles, such as unpaid wages and some suffered from medical conditions and injuries from workplace accidents.

'Traffic across the Haizhu Bridge, which is widely regarded as an important scenic attraction, become worse,' said a spokesman with the Guangzhou public security bureau.

He said the situation caused chaos to residents, adding that the city had to send a rescue vessel, an ambulance, several police cars and fire engines each time when there was a 'jumper.'

OPINION Lets break mayor-corporate lock on citys schools

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:49:00 +0000

NEW YORK — At 12:01 this morning, the law that enshrined mayoral control of New York City’s public schools formally expired, as the state Senate remained paralyzed by crisis. The city’s old Board of Education was automatically resurrected, as were 32 community school boards, whose members are to be elected.

Whether or not this will stand, or if the state Senate will come back to order and re-institute some form of mayoral control, remains to be seen. However, what we’ve seen so far is not good. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is working to keep himself and his corporate chancellor of schools, Joel Klein, firmly in control, with as little in the way of checks and balances as possible.

The seven-member board is composed of two people directly appointed by the mayor and one person appointed by each of the five borough presidents. The mayor and the BPs have made their appointments, and six of them are sympathetic to Bloomberg. These six include three deputy mayors and three allies. The other board member, Dolores M. Fernández, was appointed by Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr., and, thankfully, she is expected to oppose Klein’s continued reign as well as many of Bloomberg’s policies.

It’s too bad that four of the five borough presidents decided not to challenge Bloomberg’s power. If they had, we could have seen a board that would fire Joel Klein and bring in someone who has an actual background in education. Klein has imposed a top-down corporate model on the schools, and has left room for virtually no input by parents or the community.

We need a system that will not be bogged down in bureaucracy and patronage, as the old Board of Education was, as well as something that is democratic, allowing for the greatest possible involvement of the people of New York — something that the Bloomberg top-down control model did not do.

For that reason, we agree with the efforts of the new Democratic leader, John Sampson, as well as other Democrats and members of the State Senate who want to pass an amended version of executive control that is far better than the version passed by the State Assembly, which left the Bloomberg version largely unchanged.

An example would be the “Better Schools Act,” introduced by Sen. Kevin Parker, D-Brooklyn, and endorsed by the Alliance for Quality Education, a diverse coalition of community organizations dedicated to bettering local public education. This bill would divide appointment to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), which leads the city’s Department of Education, between the mayor and the City Council, which, by its nature, is closer to the people of the city. Members of the PEP would be appointed for fixed terms — not at the pleasure of the mayor or city council. As it stood until this morning, the PEP was a farce: any member who disagrees with Bloomberg is simply removed and replaced. The bill would also add accountability and transparency to the DOE, and would allow for greater participation by the community.

Neither the current nor the previous setup works. We need a democratic form of executive and legislative control.

As soon as possible, go to , and use their form to urge our state leadership — the governor, the Assembly and the Senate — to make real, desirable education reform a priority.

Dan Margolis (dmargolis @ cpusa.org) is chair of the New York State Communist Party.

Central Asia union support Employee Free Choice Act

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:51:00 +0000

Leaders of the global union for skills and services, (UNI) affiliates in Kyrgyzstan together with the UNI Moscow delivered a letter to the Ambassador of the USA to the Kyrgyz Republic in support of Free Choice Act.

The representatives of UNI affiliates in Kyrgyzstan together with the UNI Moscow office coordinator – Grigory Ovsyannikov delivered a solidarity letter to Tatiana C. Gfoeller, the Ambassador of the USA to the Kyrgyz Republic, in support of Employee Free Choice Act.

“We welcome the introduction of this legislation into the US House of Representatives and Senate, and hope that it would become a law soon.

Taking into account the indispensable position of the USA in the world economy, a law that will protect workers’ right to unionise in the United States will be vital to winning union recognition and bargaining rights world-wide.

American companies have been exporting their labor practices to every country they do business in and foreign companies have eagerly embraced those practices once inside the US.”, said the letter.

Brazil frees 28,000 from slave labor

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:24:00 +0000

(Prensa Latina) More than 28,000 Brazilians have been rescued from conditions of modern slavery since 2003, according to figures of the Department of Work Inspection (STI) of the Ministry of Work and Employment, informed sources here.

Detection and rescue of Brazilians from this degrading form of work is the task of the Special Mobile Legal Group of STI, and statistics point to farm and agricultural activities as top perpetrators of this kind of labor force.

To free this number of Brazilians from slave labor, the Mobile Group has made 1,470 interventions since 2003 in agriculture, livestock, the lumber industry and mining, reported in STI statistics.

It specifies that from January to the present, the Mobile Group rescued 1,120 persons from this situation in which the largest number are in the states of Pernambuco (329) followed by 296 in Tocantis, Para (119) and Minas Gerais (99).

In addition to rescuing exploited workers auditors of the Mobil Group are in charge of preparing a report and gathering documents to allow future legal processes regarding work and activities in the commission of these crimes.

Since 1995 when the Brazilian government of the time became aware of the existence of slave labor in the country, its elimination became a priority task of the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

During the presence of the Brazilian leader in the International Labor Organization headquarters he signed a commitment to put an end to this scourge before 2015.

Work Inspection Secretary, Ruth Vileta, pointed out that advances are significant but pointed to the need for public policies to prevent and punish slave labor employers.

She added that when we assume commitments to eliminate undesirable and illegal policies we must first act to prevent these actions from occurring, and compared it to the challenge of public health that cannot be merely for curing but also preventive.

Queer parade defies anachronistic Indian law

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:02:00 +0000

NEW DELHI, Jun 30 (IPS) - 'Not all females are women,' reads a poster emblazoned in red. 'I am the pink sheep of my family!' is the message on another, while a third, very cheekily proclaims, 'I don’t give a f***, I am a greedy bisexual'!

New Delhi’s second Queer Pride parade was flamboyant, riveting and raucous - a medley of rainbow hues, music, and in-your-face attitudes that infused an infectious energy and verve to a sultry, simmering Sunday evening.

On Jun. 28, more than 1,500 people joined the parade in central Delhi. Among them women and men from the city’s urban villages like Khanpur and Kapashera and well-heeled residents of South Delhi. A group of students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and also visitors from Mumbai, Dehradun and Assam, and a few foreigners.

Like 27-year-old Liz from Texas, studying Hindi at the American Institute of Indian Studies in Jaipur, who did the four-hour bus journey just for the Queer Pride. 'I am a lesbian,' she said. 'My partner is in Toronto but will be joining me soon. This march is an excellent way to express solidarity and see the community come out in the open.'

India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are only now more openly coming out of the closet. Homosexuality is a criminal offence under an anachronistic law, Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which has been used by the police and religious orthodoxy to harass and terrorise same sex couples.

'No Fear, We are Queer' says one of the posters, challenging the authority of the state that seeks to 'criminalise and throttle an individual’s right to profess and practice their sexual preferences,' asserts 44-year-old Pramada Menon, a Delhi-based activist and consultant on women’s rights and gender issues.

'We are just asking to be allowed to live the way we want,' according to Anusha, 23, a political science student who describes herself as bisexual. 'We are not impinging on anyone’s rights, so why is it so difficult to allow us our rights of self expression and choices? It is discrimination when you ask me whether I am straight or queer, or if I can’t talk about my sexuality freely.'

Under Indian law, only heterosexual couples can get a house loan from a bank, apply for medical insurance jointly, adopt a child as a couple, or will their property to a partner. 'We are marginalised at every step,' Menon states.

Activists have been campaigning to scrap the British colonial era law. 'We need to resist the heterosexual matrix,' says social scientist and activist, Aditya Nigam.

Also known as the anti-sodomy law, Sec 377 penalises 'voluntary carnal intercourse against the order of nature with a man, woman or animal.' The punishment, though rare, includes life imprisonment and fines, which are frequently resorted to by the police to extort money from bisexual, homosexual and transgendered women and men.

But repealing Section 377 is a contentious issue in India with religious organisations strongly opposing the move under the plea that 'it would lead to sexual anarchy.'

Talk of sexual anarchy is a big joke, feel many gay rights activists. 'Should they not address more lethal issues like child marriage, female foeticide, domestic violence, rape, murder for dowry and pedophile? There has to be reconciliation and there has to be support for this marginalised section,' says Menon.

Support is essential, according to 35 year-old cabin crew personnel Varun, who was 'dismayed and confused when I discovered myself in college.' Eye-catching in a black and gold ensemble and flamboyant feathered headgear, Varun says he could come out in the open only because of the support of his family. What scares him is the 'potential HIV/AIDS factor and access to unbiased treatment!'

In 2001, Naz Foundation (India) Trust, an NGO working on HIV/AIDS issues filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Delhi High Court demanding repeal of Article 377 on the grounds that it discriminates against LGBTI people who may need HIV/AIDS treatment.

The petition also raises another contention: describing people with different sexual preferences as criminals is a violation of human rights guaranteed under India’s Constitution. The court began hearings in 2008.

Meanwhile, the Manmohan Singh government is believed to be 'back-pedalling' on the issue of supporting the demand for amendment of Article 377 for fear of religious backlash, say activists.

Anjali Gopalan, director of the Naz Foundation Trust, says, very angrily: 'How can you place religion over human rights!'

There is no doubt that 'it (repealing) is about human rights and about acceptance,' says Dr Kumar, a professor at Delhi University, who was at the parade with her daughter Ria, 26, (name changed) a PhD scholar. 'Isn’t it discrimination that compels many present here to hide (their faces) behind a mask or a shade. It is humiliating and very confidence eroding!'

'I was not shocked when I learned of her (Ria’s) sexual orientation. The issue brought us closer, forging a deeper understanding. I’m proud that my daughter could express herself. She won’t tell herself a lie and I don’t want her to be a fraud. It is important to be able to experience what one really is,' she adds.

Kumar who describes herself as a 'proud mother' says: 'Freedom and progress is not just about economic progress, but also about uninhibited thought, progressive attitude, and the courage of conviction to confront natural reality. The great Indian middle class needs to change its mindset to become a more inclusive society.' (END/2009)