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Questions whirl like tree tops just before another thunderboomer. I wonder what Nancy Pelosi thinks as she reads, "How far is Obama going to roll back the legacy of Bush's torture policies?" For that matter, what is GOP spokesman Karl Rove thinking after his closed-door encounter with Uncle Sam's lawyer? Forget Dick Cheney! That piece of yesterday's news will settle down as he rides off into summer at Jackson Hole.I was just certain that nothing will be as important on OEN pages as single payer health care. Dr. Margaret Flowers was the symbol for me. Did you see the video clip of Ed Schultz with her? I can see no reason whatsoever why all Americans cannot have the best of care like I do. It's just too bad we have to wait until we turn 65.
I first understood how important good insurance was for good health while living in Denmark in 1950. I spent time in the hospital twice and paid--because I was not a citizen--the cost of room and board, as cheap as living on the outside. Later, in the US, I remember talking about what kind of coverage a company offered for assurance that landing in a hospital wouldn't break us. Real horrors set in when I retired to Tennessee and relied on the fickle finger of fate and a high-cost policy which did little except keep the hospital from taking over our house. Ten years of sweating it out. It's happening now for another generation. Looking back on it, I realize that we were all enslaved to a corporate system which promised to protect us to our very graves. When I saw the airline pilots lose pay rate--because their companies wanted to declare bankruptcy--I realized there was something rotten going on. And it wasn't in Denmark. Matt Renner interviewed James Galbraith on Truthout May 6. The Professor prescribes a stimulus action by lowering Medicare age to 55. Never mind that it will cost a little from theTreasury. The Secretary there knows how to work with big numbers.
Looking ahead to the week in front of us, I see global matters looming. From the naming of an ambassador to China to what Obama will say when he makes his "muslim speech" in Turkey. It was so wonderful to see what Juan Cole and Shahan Mufti had to say on Bill Moyers' Journal last night. It's not the kind of history we understand from MSM. And that goes for what may be behind changing generals in Afghanistan. Check out Tom Hayden's article: Thursday, May 14, 2009 - McChrystal's Rise: More Secrets, Less Daylight. There have to be hearings and a vote on that switcheroo. And Rob Kall did us a favor by interviewing Sibel Edmonds. I thought it was one of his best radio programs. She brought up Turkey again, and Dennis Hastert.
On money matters, John Nichols' article Case for Kenosha makes you want to cry. Wisconsin needs help. Cancelling the parts plant used by Chrysler and substituting an overseas one is just plain wrong. When I saw that I started wondering how many auto parts plants are being exported. It could hit jobs here in the South very hard.
Of all the many articles I read, maybe edited, the one which seems like the lesson of the day is Howard Zinn's. Thursday, May 14, 2009 Changing Obama's Mindset He wrote :
"We are citizens, and Obama is a politician. You might not like that word. But the fact is he's a politician. He's other things, too--he's a very sensitive and intelligent and thoughtful and promising person. But he's a politician."
We citizens must think back and work forward. Have a nice weekend!
