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Departments National Issues Congress must pass single-payer health care now! I never want you to take the journey that I’m currently on. So, I want to tell you about it. It starts on the front of the refrigerator: “The Healthiest Foods on Earth,” a two-page primer from apple to watermelon, touting issues from immunity to male fertility support. Inside the refrigerator: natural and organic foods only. On the countertop is the Jack LaLanne juicer, the Magic Bullet, the handy food chopper plus, the food saver vacuum sealer – all items familiar to us because they are constantly hawked on the midnight cable channels. Hanging from the kitchen cabinet door are plastic bags for recycling: one for plastics, the other for aluminum cans. The house and car are filled with reusable shopping bags made of recycled materials. By the way, a new car was in the works, and not because of the cash for clunkers program of the federal government. An American-made hybrid was preferred – keeping U.S. workers working. In the back seat of her Ford Focus is a booklet, “Living in a Healthy Body: A New Look at Health & Weight.” What I’m trying to describe is someone working very hard at changing a typically indulgent “American” lifestyle into one more respectful and healthy for the body, healthy for our earth. So, in an act of preventive medical care, my Aunt Hazel went to the doctor to have a colonoscopy. We are all bombarded with television commercials advising us to have a colonoscopy. I know in the Black media, those ads abound. And so, dutifully, my aunt abided by those suggestions for healthy choices and had her first colonoscopy. What the family knows is that her colon was perforated. That’s when our journey took us on a wrong turn. Unfortunately, the facility that performed the colonoscopy had told my aunt not to call before the results were published and that would take up to two weeks! When my aunt called them because she was feeling so bad, they told her to go to sleep, she’d be ok overnight and they would call her in the morning. The hospital talked to her and her daughter. But my aunt-tee continued to deteriorate so badly that her daughter called 9-1-1 and by the morning, my aunt-tee was already in surgery at another hospital that was not too busy to care for her. This is when the perforation was discovered and repaired. While my aunt was recovering in the second hospital, in intensive care, a letter was sent from the hospital where the colonoscopy was performed stating that they were the insured’s provider and that the hospital performing the emergency surgery would not get paid. The hospital performing the mal-colonoscopy demanded my aunt-tee back. So, against the desires of the hospital providing the emergency surgery, my aunt, while still in intensive care, was forced to be transferred to the hospital that, in my opinion, committed a capital crime. My aunt-tee deteriorated after the transfer, but fought like heck to live. Unfortunately, her body had been so poisoned by the doctor’s failure to recognize that he had perforated her colon that her body became toxic. The third affront to my aunt-tee’s health and life occurred when morphine was administered, ostensibly for pain, and gave her such a blow to her vital organs that the family objected to a second administration of morphine. But guess what! She was given morphine again, despite her children’s complaints! My aunt never recovered from that. My aunt, a divorced mother of two, struggled to live righteously. Those of you in Southern California know that she accompanied me almost everywhere I went. She was a hard-working woman, a proud homeowner in Watts, a student working on her social work degree, finally able to achieve her dreams after deferring them for so long in order to help her children realize theirs. |
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Recent National Issues Articles McCain could have meant Less War Healthcare mandate vs. the Constitution A healthy economy Apostle of our inner genius Wars or jobs: decide now Are Americans Too Broken for the Truth to Set Us Free? The school-to-prison pipeline Kucinich circulating privileged resolutions to end wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan National security state still killing John F Kennedy Richard Viguerie calls GOP litmus tests "Well intentioned," but urges replacement of Republican establishment leaders Craziest Obavietghanistan speech moments New civil resistance coalition formed to end the war Anti-Americans Why can't we do to DC what we did to Seattle? They should get a union KSM and MSM The two percent robustness Between hate speech and adoration Pelosi arrested us for asking for healthcare Over 2,200 veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance Isolated incident Come together right now Joel Peresman of the Rock Hall Foundation says the time has come today Between hate speech and adoration Preview of Ramzy Baroud's 'My Father was a Freedom Fighter' Why I am risking arrest for Medicare for all Single-eye vision Did Obama/McCain choice matter? No one else will stop the killing -- Veteran's group to members: Multiply resistance by any peaceful means available Accepting the prize Glen Ford speaks in Columbus Heavy Traffic Who SHOULD Decide About War? Starting Another Year of War in Afghanistan Congress must pass single-payer health care now! U.S. Drug War Priorities in Need of Re-Evaluation Senator Kennedy visits then Cleveland City Councilman Govt-funded reporter urged lynching of Black Congresswoman HEALTH CARE WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE Oligarchy rules the health care debate Six months of immunity Grand theft auto: how Stevie the Rat bankrupted GM The perfect storm The Joint Public-Option Single-Payer United Front Breaking sarcasm: Holder Joins Conyers in Demanding Action If media were any good I've Seen 1,200 Torture Photos California should pay its people in pot How to trap a torture judge A Campaign Proposal for Progressives* Two Ways to Pay As You Go Declaration of Indictment Remove the filibuster from the Senate rules The Emperor's seven signing statements Letter to Obama from a dying friend Honor our hemp-raising patriot heroes Breaking: Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously finds Franken winner Why demand to prosecute torture will grow The Iron Triangle The rise of single-payer health care Trading press events for votes: What should press do? U.S. government threatens to prosecute waterboarding Gutting the health care plan: the scorpion and the Congress Darth Vader Cheney and the next attack Justice for the privileged The Omnibus CYA Act of 2009 We don't need the General Motors Corporation New report casts exclusion of single payer option as a question of democracy and human rights Peace rising Democratic Socialists? Dems Not Half That Good Give workers what they need! Priorities Never Again George & the Water Board 76 members of Congress oppose staying in Afghanistan forever Holder's plans as clear as Gonzales' memory Why isn't Obama turning to the Credit Unions? Connell's sister now doubts plane crash was accident Renters caught in squeeze face eviction Interview with Dr. Margaret Flowers, arrested Tuesday on Capitol Hill, part two Why we risked arrest for single-payer health care Not outraged about torture? Take your torture photos to church day The hounds of heaven Pay to play politics is unacceptable for health care reform It's national Nancy Off the Table Day President Obama's war budget: analyzing the numbers Give everyone healthcare by shutting down insurance companies Torture and treason The wrong torture question The prosecution of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney The prosecution of torturers Rule of law vetoed by President Obama Take heart and have courage Karl Rove still not arrested Hard times for African-American workers Forced patriotism Geo-insanity's latest mutation Changing the rules of the blame game War casualties at home Capitalism's self-inflicted apocalypse MoveOn is not new to supporting war Is this the best we can do? Happy Birthday, Cesar Chavez! Capitalist Incarnate: My interview with a vampire Baseball: More than a man's game Let's truly honor Cesar Chavez A modest proposal Breaking: Peace activists arrested at Pentagon Government stands in the way of financial security of small farmers: NAIS program is source of deep concern A New Deal for American Workers Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Simon Johnson Join a union, get fired Oregon Plumbers Local Endorses HR 676 Appoint a special prosecutor Kids for cash Washington & Lafayette get stoned & talk marriage An RX for nurses -- and us, too Jobs may decline, unions won't Cross of irony Coffee entrepreneur brewing trouble for George W. Bush Perriello, peace and justice What President Obama should say Truth and healing The problem with truth, reconciliation, and commissions Sit down! Sit down! Abandoning torture, but what about war? ... No intelligent life down here Keeping the Bush era viable Bolsheviks in Seattle? New letter from Leonard Peltier: A hero’s welcome Holding Rove in inherent contempt Missing the train on the recovery package President Obama must free Leonard Peltier Dangerous executive orders Childish things A New Day The shirt off my mother's back Not to remain silent Be the peace For the health of all: Camp Hope Bill Richardson - Kissinger-American The future of civilization Camp hope holds Obama to "Change" pledge Read National Issues Articles by Year: |
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