This is way out of hand -- join me in boycotting the debate. Kucinich deserves to at least be heard. He's the only one supporting impeachment. Let the media know we've had enough of their deciding what we should hear. Go here to tell them you get to make the choice, not them.
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You all are being inundated with information about all the candidates right now. I know you probably can't wait for it to be over. Before you cast your vote Tuesday, please take a moment to consider this. Very powerful forces behind our media don't want the people to hear what Dennis Kucinich has to say. His exclusion from the New Hampshire debate on Saturday is the single best indication that he's the candidate you should vote for.
When the corporate owners of this country go that far out of their way to silence the voice of the people, we need that voice to get louder. You have a chance to send a clear message. Please don't be one of the people that say their heart is with Dennis but he can't win - he can, and we can make it happen. This is your moment New Hampshire - make us proud!
Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama and John Edwards are big winners in Iowa tonight, and there's a reason for that - all three represent change from the status quo. Hillary Clinton came in a close third for the Democrats, specifically because she's too beholden to the DLC's Republican-lite corporation-loving party machine. Edward's took second place with far less money than either Barack or Hillary - he's only using public campaign financing. He won't owe anything to corporate interests when his campaign is over, and he got there without a huge war chest.
Huckabee is a nice guy - he's easy to like. The problem is that beneath that personable image lie some very fucked up ideas that would have us living in a Christo-fascist theocracy and women would be breeding slaves of the state. That, my children, must not happen. The Democrats have to win next year, no matter what. Whoever gets the Democratic nomination, make no mistake, we all have to get behind him or her. Right now, I say the money is evenly split between Barack and John.
The turnout in Iowas was unprecedented - young people were an astonishing 56% of new voters. If you watched the caucus, you saw that Kucinich, Dodd, Biden and Richardson all failed to generate enough support to be considered viable. The vast majority of those people who started out supporting one of those four candidates (or should that be 5? Is Gravel still in this race? I haven't heard from him in a while, but there's been a virtual media blackout on anyone but the top 3 Dems) went to Obama. Young people overwhelmingly went for Barack. Not my first choice, but it made me proud. I never thought I'd live to see a viable non-white presidential candidate. Maybe there is hope for us as a nation.
My heart still belongs to Kucinich. While he's still in the race, I can't in good conscience vote for a lesser candidate. He's the only one with all the goods, and I'm praying that all the weeks he has spent in New Hampshire pay off in a big way. I want to see Dennis surprise everybody the same way all those new people who turned out tonight in Iowa surprised the media. Dennis represents the clearest and best form of change we can hope for - but I'm realistic as well as optimistic.
John Edwards speech after the race was called tonight gave me chills. He was damn near channeling John Kennedy and it brought tears to my eyes. Barack is giving his speech as I write this, and he's an inspirational speaker, too, though I'm not feeling it the way I did with Edwards. I could get behind an Edwards/Obama ticket with great enthusiasm thought neither is my first choice. Barack has a huge banner behind him that says "CHANGE" and if there was one resounding winner in tonight's caucuses, that winner was Change. There will be a new America in one year - let's hope it's a better, free-er, kinder and more prosperous one.
One final note to all the Progressive men who will be crowing about the upset accomplished by Libertarian spoiler Ron Paul - about one quarter of Paul's positions are radical and wonderful, but the other three-quarters are frightening and exactly the wrong direction for this country. One of those very wrong positions is that he is radically anti-choice. Some of you are far too eager to trade my sovereignty over my own uterus away for the idea of smaller government. The friend of my enemy is my enemy, too.
Michael Moore's recent movie SICKO cites a WHO (World Health Organization) statistic that the US ranks 37th among countries in terms of our health. This aticle presents a new study showing that we've slipped to 42nd.
From the article:
Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.
"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans, the same as Saudi Arabia.
"It really reflects the social conditions in which African American women grow up and have children," said Dr. Marie C. McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health. "We haven't done anything to eliminate those disparities."
Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans. Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years.
Murray, from the University of Washington, said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But, he predicted, the U.S. won't move up in the world rankings as long as the health care debate is limited to insurance.
Policymakers also should focus on ways to reduce cancer, heart disease and lung disease, said Murray. He advocates stepped-up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.
"Even if we focused only on those four things, we would go along way toward improving health care in the United States," Murray said. "The starting point is the recognition that the U.S. does not have the best health care system. There are still an awful lot of people who think it does."
That infant mortality rate is absolutely shameful. What the hell are we doing to our babies? What are we thinking?!
It's time for America to wake up and realize that we're paying for the best, but most of us are living in Third World realities. We can't afford to wait until Bush vacates the White House.
There's a proposal in the House of Representatives right now for a single-payer, universal health care system. HR 676 would provide "Medicare for all" and it wouldn't require additional spending. Read about it here and here. It is absolutely possible to turn this around and there's no excuse for us to let these abominable conditions persist.
18,000 people die every year in America because of no health insurance. That's 6 9/11's every year that absolutely don't have to happen. Reps. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and Donna Christensen have paved the way for us - we just have to get it through Congress.
Michael Moore has a form set up to tell your Congressional representatives that you want this bill passed. Please go there now if you haven't already. It's time to end the Republican/Corporate war on Americans.
