June 30, 2007

The signers of the Declaration of Independence must be turning in their graves this July 4th over the shredding of basic democratic rights by corporate right-wing politicians in Washington.

Hey, Verizon, let the workers decide
Job well done
Diabetes and Cuba
CIA exposed
Stop predatory lending
Ontario’s electoral reform
Voting rights

English is so dominant in this country that it is hard to get Americans, even university students, to learn other languages. And, although first-generation immigrants may struggle a bit with English, their children here almost always are fluent in it, and by the third generation, the problem is not to get people to learn English, but to re-teach them the language of their grandparents. When politicians try to turn a non-problem into a problem, you can bet that the purposes are demagogic

The great, recurring question that is often asked by people of good will about the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazi regime is, “How could this happen?” Yet many of these same people think nothing about asking a couple why they want to adopt a disabled child, or whether they would like to be “relieved of the burden” of caring for a child with Down’s.

Michael Moore, the activist author and filmmaker, has given every union member in the United States a great tool of advocacy for our health care agenda with his new movie, “Sicko.” We should return that favor by turning out to see it in big numbers.

Pollsters with their questionnaires were all over the moviegoers waiting in line for the sneak preview of “Sicko” on June 23 in Dallas. They seemed particularly interested in finding out why people were motivated to turn out.

Against a backdrop of ratcheted-up Bush attacks on Cuba and the devastating contradictions afflicting U.S. health care, the documentary “Salud!” by Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba is timely, informative and inspiring.

“A Mighty Heart” is a story about people just trying to get from point A to point B against the backdrop of terrorist incidents and the Bush administration’s response to them.

For decades the U.S. has used the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act to manipulate Cuban emigration for counterrevolutionary purposes. Its provision that Cubans arriving on U.S. soil gain permanent residency after a year has lured thousands to death by drowning as they sought to cross the shark-infested Florida Straits. They end up receiving work permits and Social Security numbers and need not provide affidavits of support.