Single Payer Universal Health Care Alert
<http://www.mainenurse.org>
"as Maine goes, so goes the nation"
Maine will lead the nation with single payer universal health care if ...
* The feasibility study gets funded. (Maine recently passed a law that directs a Security Board to implement a single payer universal health care system for the State of Maine.)
* The report is published ASAP. (The State of Maine has appropriated $10,000 for the Security Board and it will cost $40,000 plus to fund the feasibility study and produce the report.)
Help make universal health care history!
Make checks payable to Secretary of State.
Maine Council of Senior Citizens adds another prescription drug run
<http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?id=51229>
Associated Press, February 18, 2002
AUGUSTA (AP) ‹ Elderly people will get an additional chance to make a prescription drug run to Canada with the Maine Council of Senior Citizens thanks to money from a national organization. The Maine Council of Senior Citizens was able to plan a second annual trip north of the border because it received $5,500 from the Alliance for Retired Americans. ARA is paying for a number of bus trips from border states in late March and early April to call attention to the price of medications that seniors on Medicare pay, according to Edward Coyle, executive director of the Washington-based group. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Maine State Employees Association also contributed money for the trip, which is set for March 27. During the last trip organized by the Maine Council of Senior Citizens, a group of 26 seniors collectively saved $32,000, or about $1,200 each, according to the organization¹s president, John Moran. Many seniors are not eligible for the state¹s discount prescription drug programs such as Healthy Maine and Drugs to the Elderly, Moran said.
Poll finds support for health-care plan
<http://www.portland.com/news/local/020219healthcaresu.shtml>
Associated Press, February 19, 2002
SOUTH PORTLAND ‹ Fifty-seven percent of Mainers say they would support legislation creating a universal single-payer health-care system in the state, according to results of a survey released Monday. In a breakdown of the survey by South Portland-based Market Decisions, 41 percent would support the legislation "a lot" and 16 percent would support such a measure "a little." In Portland, a majority of voters endorsed an advisory referendum calling on the state to study instituting a single-payer universal health-care system, and that sentiment seems to echo statewide, said Brian Robertson, director of research. The November ballot question in Portland passed by 532 votes, a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. ...
Public Hearings for the Advisory Committee on Consolidated Health Care Financing
<http://www.masscare.org>
The advisory Committee on Consolidated Health Care Financing (established as part of the health care compromise bill passed last year) is required to report out preliminary recommendations on how to finance a universal health care system in Massachusetts by May 31, 2001.
The consulting firm of LECG of Evanston, Illinois and its partners, William M. Mercer, Inc. and McDonell Consulting have been chosen to conduct a study on consolidated health care financing and streamlined health care delivery. As part of this process, the consultants will hold public hearings next week to gather testimony from concerned citizens.
The MNA is a member of this Task Force and, along with more than 70 other health care, labor and community organizations who belong to MASSCARE, are working to convince the state that a single payer system is the most efficient and effective way of financing health care. Please plan to attend one of these hearings. This is your chance to give your input. Let your voice be heard. Let them know that there is a better way to finance and deliver health care. It is important that we show that there is strong support for a universal, single-payer system in Massachusetts. Publicize the hearing in your community. Tell your family, friends, and colleagues.
Britain's National Health Service reaches middle age. How is Its Health?
It's an all-too-familiar picture for Americans living under managed care. But this is also a picture of England's National Health Service (NHS) three years after its 50th anniversary. Two different health care systems facing similar challenges: aging populations, greater demands and heated funding debates. Since its inception the NHS has been a sacred part of English public life. Polls show that, across the social spectrum, it is a concept held dear to the hearts of the British people. Successive governments have affected changes and improvements, but none have dared to seriously question it as the method of health care delivery in the UK. The NHS was conceived in 1942 when World War II was at its bleakest for the British and the need for a robust public health system to deal with mass casualties was deemed paramount. Implementation of the NHS began in 1945 and was finished by 1948. A new politic was sweeping the nation, fueled by the optimism of the returning soldiers who, after defeating fascism in Europe, were eager to right social inequities at home. A new welfare state was the goal, with cradle-to-grave social services for all. The NHS would be the cornerstone of this new state. Tax supported, the service would be free to all at point of use, based on community care with general practitioners and community health centers at its core. ...
The Perfect Storm
Health care in America is in trouble. After a long period of intensive analysis, we have concluded that our health-care system has three serious and interrelated problems -- rising costs, decreasing coverage, and very serious and pervasive quality problems. We have further concluded that systemic problems of this magnitude cannot be solved by a "patchwork" strategy and that 40 years of national experience attests to the bankruptcy of such an approach. ...
Editor's Note: To read more about the trends discussed in this commentary, please visit <http://www.americashealth.org/APerfectStorm.pdf>.
HCA appealing IRS rulings ordering company to pay millions in taxes
<http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/02/02/13244325.shtml?Element_ID=13244325>
Jerry Moskal, Gannett News Service, February 2, 2002
WASHINGTON ‹ In a fresh round of tax disputes, HCA Inc. finds itself facing millions of dollars in additional 1997-98 taxes. The Nashville-based for-profit hospital company filed petitions asking the US Tax Court to overturn Internal Revenue Service rulings adjusting tax returns on HCA facilities in Dallas, San Antonio and New Orleans. The IRS denied the HCA operations in the three cities $18.5 million in deductions and ordered $4.5 million in expenses capitalized and deducted over a number of years. The agency's determinations increase taxable income correspondingly. ...
No evidence that profits improve health care
<http://www.cupe.ca/mediaroom/newsreleases/showitem.asp?id=4768&cl=1>
Canadian Union of Public Employees, February 6, 2002
OTTAWA There are lots of ways to strengthen Medicare, but increased privatization isn¹t one of them, says Canada¹s largest union. ³We challenge the privateers to provide some evidence that increased for-profit services will improve the health of Canadians or the quality of care,² says Judy Darcy, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. ³We¹ve looked at the experience in Canada and around the world and we don¹t buy it.² CUPE is concerned that for the past several months the health care debate has been dominated by premiers committed to privatization, along with people linked to the private health insurance industry and other pundits with a right-wing agenda. ³The same people who promised you trickle-down economics are now pushing trickle-down health care,² says Darcy. ³They want you to think that if the rich get better care we¹ll all be better off because we¹ll be able to cut waiting lists. That¹s just not the case. In fact, the evidence is clear that when doctors work in both the public and private sectors, the lines are longer.² ...
Ruling parties agree to make salaried workers pay more for medical treatment from April 2003
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2272/rule.html>
Japan Press Service, February 6-12, 2002
The government and three ruling parties on February 11 agreed with Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's proposal that salaried workers with health insurance should pay 30 percent of hospital bills from April 2003, instead of the 20 percent at present. Although the ruling Liberal Democratic, Komei, and New Conservative parties were unanimous in increasing the insured salaried workers' burden, ruling party members had been divided over when to start the new rate. Prime Minister Koizumi has been sticking to April 2003, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Akahata said Koizumi wanted to demonstrate his firm resolve to carry out reforms in spite of the fall in the approval rating for his cabinet. ...
Lawsuit accuses Tenet Health Care of overcharging Hispanic patients
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/02/08/state0353EST0021.DTL>
Simon Avery, Associated Press, February 8, 2002
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A group representing Hispanic patients in California is suing Tenet Health Care Corp., charging that the giant for-profit hospital owner overbilled Latinos and then collected inflated reimbursement charges from the government. Tenet charged the patients four to seven times higher rates than members of Health Maintenance Organizations, according to the action filed by Consejo de Latinos Unidos. ...
BC health premiums boosted 50 per cent
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=F0534673-BFDF-4E92-903F-30E5174598EE>
Cindy E. Harnett, Victoria Times Colonist, February 11, 2002
Medical Services Plan premiums for most BC residents and employers will increase by 50 per cent May 1 to offset wage increases for doctors and nurses, Finance Minister Gary Collins announced Thursday. The move is expected to inject $340 million into the province's health-care system. "I'm not enthusiastic about doing this," said Collins. "I'm not happy about having to do it all." The increase is needed because there is no room to move in BC's health-care budget, said Collins. The finance minister called it a premium hike, not a tax hike, that will bring the annual health care budget to $9.9 billion. "It's a premium hike and I'm not making any excuses for it. It's going to help pay the wages for nurses and physicians and other health-care providers," he said. ...
Dismantling of medicare plan on schedule
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=B2B78B9B-9F8E-4687-9EEC-208F8F5B0F8F>
Carol Carson, Melfort, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, February 11, 2002
Two years ago, Premier Ralph Klein and the Alberta government gave huge salary increases to their doctors and nurses, making them the highest paid health-care professionals in Canada.
Now Klein and the Mazankowski Report state that our health-care system is not sustainable because governments don't have enough money.
Their solution to this problem is to de-insure some publicly funded services and to allow private (for profit) health-care corporate institutions to expand operations in areas that are now serviced by the government sector.
Is it possible that what we see happening today in Alberta is just the second phase of a plan that started two years ago?
© Copyright 2002 Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Medicare cut seen raising labour costs
'Bargaining issue of the decade' predicted if private sector forced to pick up costs
<http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=medicare+cut&option=&start_row=1¤t_row=1&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1>
Virginia Galt, Toronto Globe & Mail, February 12, 2002
Labour costs could shoot up, jeopardizing one of Canada's key competitive advantages, if universal health care is eroded and unions go after employers for private coverage, industrial relations specialists say. "It will become the bargaining issue of the decade" if the private sector is forced to pick up a greater share of health care costs, Brian Payne, national president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, told representatives of several top corporations at a closed meeting in Vancouver last week. The Conference Board of Canada, which organized the meeting to discuss emerging labour relations issues, confirmed that publicly sponsored health care "has been a real source of competitive advantage, particularly over the United States." ...
Let's Insure America
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60625-2002Feb11.html>
Thomas J. Donohue & John J. Sweeney, Washington Post, February 12, 2002
When representatives of business and labor meet, it's usually across the table. Today there is an issue in America that compels us to sit side by side. It's a major health problem that plagues us despite the fact that the United States has the most advanced health care system in the world. It imperils the lives and health of the 39 million who are its immediate victims, and it endangers the well-being of our nation as a whole. It is the quiet crisis of the uninsured. For all our miracle cures that are saving lives every day, we have failed to solve our biggest health problem -- the fact that so many Americans lack access to even the most basic care because they lack health coverage. It has gotten worse despite good economic conditions, and it certainly won't improve during a downturn. Today, we are urging our fellow Americans and elected leaders in Washington to join with us and begin the hard work needed to solve this problem. ...
Thomas J. Donohue is president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce. John J. Sweeney is president of the AFL-CIO.
From: "Don McCanne" <don@mccanne.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 11:08 AM
Subject: Quote of the Day
Comment: Another step backwards. "We will undoubtedly disagree on specific solutions," is a concession that no interested party is willing to abandon its own agenda. And, even though the preliminary findings of the California Health Care Options Project reveal, once again, that single payer models can assure comprehensive health care for everyone while reducing overall health care costs, the parties involved in this latest process have already rejected single payer reform before the discussions begin. They will continue to look at various solutions that the California study indicates will only increase health care costs while perpetuating flawed health policies.
Twelve organizations plus the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have set up a website for this new effort to publicize the plight of the uninsured and to begin to seek solutions. The website: <http://www.coveringtheuninsured.org>
The glossary at this website is revealing in that it includes terms such as medical savings accounts, catastrophic health insurance, purchasing pools, tax credits, refundable tax credits, group insurance, flexible spending accounts, cafeteria plan, FEHBP, HMO, PPO, managed care, and other concepts that the various factions continue to debate. But conspicuously absent from the glossary is which term? Single payer! Not only should it be in the glossary, it should be on the negotiating tables!
<http://coveringtheuninsured.org/glossary>
The compromise recommendation that will be reached is quite predictable when considering the organizations that are participating and the positions already taken by each of these entities. The organizations include the US Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, The Business Roundtable, SEIU, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the Health Insurance Association of America, Families USA, American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, Catholic Health Association of the United States, AARP, with the support of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. There will be general agreement that public programs should be expanded in order to cover the low-income sector. The affluent will be granted medical savings accounts and other options. And the great compromise will be that tax credits will be accepted as the means of providing access to coverage for the majority. Without elaborating on the serious flaws inherent in this approach, there is no question that the result will be that health care costs will continue to escalate, and greater financial barriers will be erected thereby further impairing access to care.
Representatives of each organization spoke at the press conference announcing this effort. They all agreed that they were committed to compromise with most of them specifying that reform would be "incremental." Most alarming was US Chamber of Commerce's Donahue stating:
"The other thing we should know is that there are a lot of private conversations going amongst the people here. I mean, we didn't just show up here today to, you know, make a statement. We've been having a lot of conversation and I'm encouraged by it because it hasn't got the vitriolic kind of who shot Jack, you know. It's really - if this is the kind of problem - then how could we fix it and what ways might work."
"If we move vigorously towards a single payer system which, by the way, doesn't work anywhere in the world, we're gonna find a great migration away from the people that are providing the coverage, and we can't afford that."
<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm>
The fix is on. They already shot Jack! How could a process that begins with an agreement to keep the strongest advocates of health care justice, the single payer advocates, out of the negotiating rooms ever result in a just health care system? Tragically, special interests already have killed another attempt at rational reform before it even got off the ground.
15,000 people rally to defeat Koizumi Cabinet's plan to make people pay more for medical services
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2273/15.html>
Japan Press Service, February 13-19, 2002
On February 14, about 15,000 people from all over the country attended a rally in protest against the government plan to force working people to pay more for medical treatment. The rally was organized by national medical, social welfare, and trade union organizations, including the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren). "We are now launching a popular united front for life," said Takayanagi Arata of the Liaison Council of Medical Organizations in the opening remarks. Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Zenroren President Kobayashi Yoji said that the Koizumi Cabinet is digging its own grave by threatening people's lives and destroying the nation's economy at the same time. He said that the people united can block the government plan for raising the patient share of payment for medical treatment. ...
Everyone feels the pain
Alberta's Mazankowski report says that "without fundamental changes in how we pay for health services, the current health system is not sustainable." This week, the BC government's Speech from the Throne reiterated that health-care spending is not "sustainable." A 2001 Ipsos-Reid poll reports that 64 per cent of Canada's doctors believe that "health funds are not being spent wisely or efficiently" -- and 78 per cent of that group have no confidence that any strategy is in place to improve the situation. As for the Canadian public, they're apprehensive, but a majority (63 per cent) hopes that problems can be solved by improved efficiency and management. Health is a central preoccupation of all modern democracies. All have implemented some form of public health insurance over the second half of the 20th century in an attempt to meet the public's expectations in an equitable fashion. And no country has yet discovered the perfect system. France, whose health-care system was ranked No. 1 by the World Health Organization in 2000 is now thinking about transforming it from top to bottom. "Hospitals on strike," "Nurses demonstrate" and "Crisis in the emergency room" were some of the headlines in the weekly selection of Le Monde last month. The same situation prevails in the Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland ... indeed, across Europe. ...
Enloe pulls the plug
The Jan. 31 town hall meeting in the Willows Memorial Hall auditorium was titled "Glenn Medical Center in Transition." But for the 200-plus people who attended, the gathering felt more like a funeral service for the community's 50-year-old hospital, the only one in Glenn County. The pain and loss they felt was almost palpable. Just a week earlier, Chico's Enloe Health System, which took over operations of the financially ill Glenn General Hospital in 1995 under the name Superior California Medical Services, had announced it would close the hospital in five weeks. On March 1 the facility would be transformed into an outpatient clinic open 10 hours per day, with no emergency room services. Emergency and off-hour patients with injuries and illnesses would be transported to Chico's Enloe Medical Center, 45 minutes away by ambulance and 20 minutes by helicopter, assuming the weather allowed and the chopper was available. ...
Glenn County to continue negotiating with Enloe to retain medical emergency services
<http://www.chicoer.com/display/inn_news/news1.txt>
Larry Mitchell, Chico Enterprise Record, February 15, 2002
WILLOWS - Glenn County supervisors sounded hopeful that emergency medical services can be maintained in the county, after meeting with a lawyer Thursday. "I think there will be a favorable resolution to the current impasse that will satisfy all the parties," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom McGowan. In interviews Thursday evening, neither McGowan nor Supervisor Denny Bungarz would offer details of what was discussed earlier in the day at a closed meeting held by the five-member board. Attending the meeting was an attorney from the Sacramento law firm of McDonough, Holland and Allen, which supervisors hired to help them try to keep Glenn Medical Center open. ...
Health center officials say patients would feel budget cuts
<http://www.startribune.com/stories/568/1632940.html>
The Associated Press, February 18, 2002
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Fourteen community health centers around Wisconsin that provide care for low-income and uninsured residents would lose all of their state funding, including $3 million next year, under Gov. Scott McCallum' s budget proposal. The loss of state money could mean 10, 000 fewer prenatal consultations for women at Milwaukee' s Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, executive director John Bartkowski said. It also could mean the end of a mobile program that brings preventative health care to migrant farm workers near Wautoma, the center' s director said. ...
Mercury Poisoning: The Hidden Danger in Your Home
<http://www.familycircle.com/home/homepage.jsp>
Dan Fagin, Family Circle, March, 2002
At first the doctors didn't think anything was seriously wrong with Maya Bailey. But her parents, Chris and Virginia Bailey, soon knew otherwise. They watched helplessly as their once-vivacious toddler became a listless 18-month-old who stumbled and fell out of her chair. Maya could sleep only for an hour or two before waking up sweat soaked and screaming. Her hands and feet turned bright red. Then the red splotches on her hands became deep sores, which also spread to her mouth. Her teeth started to fall out, as did her fingernails.Worst of all, breathing became excruciatingly painful, especially at night. Still, all four pediatricians the Baileys consulted were stumped. What was making Maya so sick? ...
Nader Had It Right All Along
<http://www.theamericanprospect.com/webfeatures/2002/02/kuttner-r-02-06.html>
Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect Online, February 6, 2002
If one political figure looks prophetic these days, it is Ralph Nader. The Enron collapse is having a ripple effect on the rest of Wall Street, reflecting years if not decades of corporate balance-sheet abuses, insider enrichments at the expense of workers, pensioners, and communities, and bipartisan regulatory defaults. President Bush's new budget cuts outlays for children, hospitals, worker training, and spending on the needy. A serious prescription drug program is nowhere in sight. Regulatory agencies - including the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Enron era - take major hits. Even education spending, the signature program of this compassionate conservative, lags inflation. ...
Taking care of business
<http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/archives/story.asp?id=5570FDC8-9CB4-47C4-808E-49F0D30F636E>
Lyle Stewart, Montreal Gazette, February 8, 2002
The bells started ringing when the CBC-TV program Disclosure revealed last week that prominent Canadian business journalists were involved in a payola scandal. In return for thousands of dollars, Diane Francis, Garth Turner and others produce puff pieces on various businesses for their respective networks. The wink-wink joke is that the networks then receive CRTC Canadian content credit for presenting these infomercials as serious business journalism. The payola story takes on a different hue in the wake of the recent revelation that several influential US media figures accepted thousands of dollars from Enron Corp. to sit on a fictional advisory panel. The implication is obvious: take our cash and make us look good. ...
Making sense of campaign 2002
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/040/oped/Making_sense_of_campaign_2002+.shtml>
George Bachrach, Boston Globe, February 9, 2002
SOME OF US who have run for public office are having difficulty understanding the current campaign debate and analysis. So if you're confused, you're not alone. Here are a few quick points: On Clean Elections: Whether or not you want to spend tax dollars on it, this election reform requires significant changes. The most obvious argument by supporters is that it diminishes the role of special interests. While that alone is laudable, there is much more. From a candidate's perspective, it radically changes your life. Instead of spending eight hours a day locked in a room dialing for dollars, as a mendicant beseeching strangers for money, candidates could spend their days designing creative public policy or hearing the concerns of ordinary folk. In addition, the Clean Elections system simply levels the playing field. If all candidates spend the same amount, the contest is about messages and ideas, not money. It is also possible that a number of civic-minded people who have some good ideas will decide to run for office rather than feeling outgunned by incumbents or fat-cat candidates. ...
Nursing centers aren't health care factories
<http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits/letts.htm>
Jim Desrosiers, Administrator, Eagle Pond Rehabilitation & Living Center, Cape Cod Times, February 24, 2002
After reading the Feb. 18 article regarding our president's opinion about nursing centers, I had to compose myself before I wrote my opinion. As a health care professional for 18 years and a licensed nursing home administrator for 12, I took great umbrage with the statement that nursing centers need to be more productive. I work with the women and men who have chosen to work with their fellow human beings who can no longer care for themselves. More productive? Mr. Bush has not been in a nursing center lately. Productive? The CNAs, LPNs and RNs I have worked with over my years are productive daily! Mr. Bush's use of the word productivity makes me think of a factory or some type of manufacturing, not caring for a human being. Besides nurses we have staff who show their concern for our residents by making their meals, doing the laundry, cleaning their rooms, organizing activities for them to do, helping new residents adjust, keeping their accounts in order, ensuring the building is safe and helping with rehabilitation. Mr. Bush needs to spend some time in a nursing facility before he speaks again.
Pentagon Proposed Pretexts for Cuba Invasion in 1962
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430>
The National Security Archive, April 30, 2001
In his new exposé of the National Security Agency entitled Body of Secrets, author James Bamford highlights a set of proposals on Cuba by the Joint Chiefs of Staff codenamed OPERATION NORTHWOODS. This document, titled ³Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba² was provided by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962, as the key component of Northwoods. ...
Friendly Fire
NEW YORK, May 1 ‹ In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in US cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a US ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in US cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing US military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." ...
Suppressed Details of Criminal Insider Trading lead directly into the CIA¹s Highest Ranks
Although uniformly ignored by the mainstream US media, there is abundant and clear evidence that a number of transactions in financial markets indicated specific (criminal) foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That evidence also demonstrates that, in the case of at least one of these trades -- which has left a $2.5 million prize unclaimed -- the firm used to place the "put options" on United Airlines stock was, until 1998, managed by the man who is now in the number three Executive Director position at the Central Intelligence Agency. Until 1997 A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard had been Chairman of the investment bank A.B. Brown. A.B. Brown was acquired by Banker's Trust in 1997. Krongard then became, as part of the merger, Vice Chairman of Banker's Trust-AB Brown, one of 20 major U.S. banks named by Senator Carl Levin this year as being connected to money laundering. Krongard's last position at Banker's Trust (BT) was to oversee "private client relations." In this capacity he had direct hands-on relations with some of the wealthiest people in the world in a kind of specialized banking operation that has been identified by the US Senate and other investigators as being closely connected to the laundering of drug money. ...
CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July
French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.html>
Anthony Sampson, Manchester Guardian, November 1, 2001
Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere. Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. ...
Has someone been sitting on the FBI?
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/newsnight/newsid_1645000/1645527.stm>
BBC Newsnight, November 6, 2001
GREG PALAST: The CIA and Saudi Arabia, the Bushes and the Bin Ladens. Did their connections cause America to turn a blind eye to terrorism?
UNNAMED MAN: There is a hidden agenda at the very highest levels of our government.
JOE TRENTO, (AUTHOR, "SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA"): The sad thing is that thousands of Americans had to die needlessly.
PETER ELSNER: How can it be that the former President of the US and the current President of the US have business dealings with characters that need to be investigated?
PALAST: In the eight weeks since the attacks, over 1,000 suspects and potential witnesses have been detained. Yet, just days after the hijackers took off from Boston aiming for the Twin Towers, a special charter flight out of the same airport whisked 11 members of Osama Bin Laden's family off to Saudi Arabia. That did not concern the White House. ...
CIA complicit on September 11?
Straight Goods reader Ken MacAllister of Vancouver, BC writes: Michael Springmann worked for the US government for 20 years with the foreign service and consulate. He just went public with the story of his involvement in a large scale CIA operation that brought hundreds of people from the middle east to the US, issued them passports and trained them to be terrorists. Springmann says that the CIA is working closely with Bin Laden and his operatives in Jeddah and has been since 1987. The most haunting implication from this interview is that all of the terrorist acts of late were planned and paid for by the CIA with US taxpayers money so that the US could legitimately bomb the hell out of Afghanistan -- not to "get the Taliban" as the official party line states, but to erase all of the evidence of the US's secret operations in Afghanistan left over from its 10 year war with the Soviet Union in that country. ...
Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team
<http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html>
Wayne Madsen, Democrats.com, January 2002
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) (globalresearch.ca), January 23, 2002
According to Afghan, Iranian, and Turkish government sources, Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the El Segundo, California-based UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan. Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. ...
³The Great Deception²: What really happened on Sept. 11?
<http://www.visiontv.ca/programs/insight/Deception.htm>
VisionTV Insight: Mediafile, January 28 and February 4, 2002
³Why did it take the CIA, the Pentagon and the White House so long to respond to the horrendous events of Sept. 11, 2001?² asks media critic, analyst, author and host of VisionTV Insight: Mediafile Barrie Zwicker. In his controversial Jan. 21 commentary, the first in a series of commentaries on the terrorist attacks, Zwicker said that the official narrative for the events of that day is ³frankly implausible.² According to Zwicker, a more likely scenario suggests elements within the top military and political offices were anxious to justify a war on terrorism, increase the military¹s budget and make a grab for Middle East oil. ...
Enron/Afghanistan/9-11/Bush-Cheney Connection
<http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/02/115642.php>
sf.indymedia.org, February 6 2002
The Enron scandal runs so deep into Bush/Cheney regime that evidence shows Enron may be a factor in Bush/Cheney complicity in 9/11 as pretext for present "war on terrorism" - re: war for Central Asian oil and gas reserves. See <http://www.popandpolitics.com/articles_detail.cfm?articleID=1053> and link below for additional information implicating Bush/Cheney regime in both the Enron scandal and 9/11 as Enron also had its interests in Afghanistan/Central Asia energy grab. Translation: Bush/Cheney must be impeached and removed from office! <http://www.rense.com/general19/lend.htm> they continue connecting dots.
© 2000-2002 San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
Is Enron Behind The War In Afghanistan?
<http://www.rense.com/general19/lend.htm>
Robert Lederman (robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net), February 5, 2002
I've added a few url's from oil industry websites to this forwarded email as further evidence of Enron's involvement in the motivation for the war in Afghanistan. Reading this material will allow you to see the Enron scandal and its ties to Bush-Cheney in a whole new light. ...
Statement by Women Making Peace and Women's Peace Action against War following US President Bush's hard-line rhetoric directed at North Korea
Seoul, Korea, February 7, 2002
We absolutely cannot accept words threatening war on the Korean peninsula.
Last year when President Bush declared war on Afghanistan, he demanded that every nation stand on his side. President Bush has now announced the second stage of the war on terrorism. In doing so he has called North Korea, Iran and Iraq an axis of evil with an implied threat of war on the Korean peninsula. A sensation of fear and anxiety is upon us.
The US administrations hard-line rhetoric directed at North Korea is a threat to Koreans who have worked so hard for peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula.
Bush's pronouncement has come at a point in time when many active non-governmental exchanges have been revived among South Koreans and North Koreans, building again a spirit of trust between the South and the North. This also occurs just ahead of the South Korea - US Summit in February. Bush's words mean that South Korea-North Korea and North Korea-US relations are not going to be easy. Furthermore, dividing the world into two parts of good and evil and increasing the likelihood of military arms deployment throw the world into a semi-war state. We women, who have suffered militarism, are greatly worried that physical and mental violence coming from militarism can devastate the world and humankind. Therefore, we women for the sake of peace and security on the Korean peninsula and moreover for a peaceful world, make known our demands as follows:
First, we strongly protest Bush's promotion of an atmosphere of war and creation of a pervasive sense of terror while seeking to gain hegemony. We demand that Bush renounce his bellicose words.
Second, we reject any kind of military action that increases tension and conflict on the Korean peninsula. We women know from experience that military action brings violence around the world and amplifies it towards women, children and innocent civilians. Also growing tension and military action will surely ruin the whole economy on the Korean peninsula. There have been talks between North Korea and the US about restraining the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We women urge the US to solve problems by continuing to talk and negotiate with North Korea, not through military action.
Third, we insist that the US stop forcing arms purchases and cease using alleged threats from North Korea as an excuse to justify Missile Defense (MD) program. We are deeply concerned about the US MD. US talk of MD has built up tension in Northeast Asia and also made an arms race a near certainty. North Korea has expressed its moratorium on missile tests until 2003. In the wake of 9/11, North Korea condemned the terrorist attacks and signed several key UN antiterrorism pacts. We women sincerely urge that advanced science, technology, and huge material resources rather than being used to hasten hostile military confrontations be employed to improve the welfare, human rights, and environmental conditions of the weak.
Fourth, we request that the Kim Dae Jung administration protest and clearly draw back from hostile US policy targeting North Korea. South Korea, which has maintained a military alliance with the US, requires skillful political leadership in carrying out a peaceful reunification process with North Korea. How can South Korea now accept seeing North Korea become a target of war in US sights? This is an issue entwined in our livelihoods and our very lives. We women insist that the South Korean Government be the driving force behind a Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy and that it carry out the Policy with positive action and wisdom.
Fifth, the press must realize that this crisis is directly connected with the fate of our nation and the people. We plead that this matter be carefully dealt with in order to serve the national interest and to promote peace on the Korean peninsula.
Lastly, we fervently hope that students, politicians, religious leaders, Women's Organizations, and Peace Organizations in the US will take steps to halt the spread of war rhetoric and the threat of military action. With them and all the peace-loving women and people in the world we may strongly oppose war together. We promise to continue our efforts to uphold and keep peace. We also declare that sustaining peace on the Korean Peninsula is essential to maintaining and advancing the peace of the world.
Living together in harmony is the imperative choice for our world.
Women Making Peace
Women's Peace Action against War
Korea Women's Associations United
Kyungki Korea Women's Associations United
Kwangju and Chonnam Korea Women's Associations United
Taegu and Kyungbuk Korea Women's Associations United
Pusan Korea Women's Associations United
Chonbuk Korea Women's Associations United
Kyungnam Women United
Christian Women Minjung Association
Taegu Women's Association
Taejon Women's Association
Pusan Sexual Violence Counseling Center
Pusan Women's Social Institute
Korean Catholic Women Association Aaewoomtuh
Suwon Women's Association
Korean Women's Center For Social Research
Ulsan Women's Association
Korean Women Farmers Association
Cheju Women's Association
Chonbuk Women's Association
Pohang Women's Association
Korea Daycare Center Teacher's Association
Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center
Korea Women Worker Association
Women Link
Korean Women's Studies Institute
Korean Women Theologian Association
Korean Women's Hot Line
Korean Differently Abled Women's United
Taegu Housewives Association For Environment
Korean Catholic Women's Community for a New World
My Sister's Place
Peace Mother
The Korean Council For the Women Drafed for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
Korean Church Women United Committee of Women
Korean Federation for Environment Movement
Contact Point: Gyung-Lan Jung (jglan21@yahoo.com)
Afghans are still dying as air strikes go on. But no one is counting
Fardin's world caved in on a bright Sunday morning last October when an American bomb came through the roof of the room where he was sleeping. He was spared physically. But the six-year-old has not uttered a word nor taken a step since. At a quarter to eight on the morning of October 21, exactly two weeks after central command in Florida started bombing the Taliban into submission and al-Qaida into flight, an F-18 airplane circling overhead dropped its ordnance on the north Kabul hovel that Fardin's and three other families shared. The little girl next door lost both her eyes. Sardar Muhammad, 22, leapt out of bed in his room at the bottom of the garden and ran outside to watch the airshow. A piece of shrapnel in the head killed him instantly. The neighbour, Muhammad Sarwar, 50, lost his wife Aziza and seven other family members. ...
Allies drift from Bush's Iraqi course
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/2002/02/13/FFXCQGMKKXC.html>
Gay Alcorn, US Correspondent, Washington, The Age, February 13, 2002
Day after day, America's friends and allies are distancing themselves from the White House's determination to topple Iraq's President Saddam Hussein. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Iraq is "completely different" from Afghanistan, and America should not move unilaterally against Baghdad. He rejected President George Bush's labelling of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil" and said: "We oppose the drawing up of blacklists." Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit believes military strikes against Iraq should be "out of the question." His country neighbours Iraq, and was a crucial American ally during the 1991 Gulf War. ...
I'm With Stupid and Today Is the Day
<http://www.michaelmoore.com>
Michael Moore <mike@michaelmoore.com>, February 19, 2002
Dear friends,
Today is, frankly, a day I thought I would never see. It is the day my book goes on sale to the public. That should be a simple event, as it happens every day with dozens of books that find their way to the bookstores of America.
But eight weeks ago it appeared as if this might never happen for my book, "Stupid White Men." In those dark December days, as I was told that "changes had to be made," I was left to wonder if the 50,000 copies that had already been printed were well on their way to some big shredder in Pennsylvania. That was the option I was given -- rewrite the book and "tone down your dissent," or face the prospect of your book being "pulped."
I refused to change a word and the publisher backed down. And thus, today, you are able to read my book, uncensored. What an odd thing to say in a free society! "We have decided that you can now read Mike's book!" I have had a small taste of the New Order in which we now live, and, folks, I gotta say, I don't like it one bit. The only good thing to come out of it is that they made a big mistake trying to silence the wrong guy.
I had suggested to my publisher that maybe they should slap a sticker on the cover of my book reading, "APPROVED BY THE OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY." I think any organization that is, in and of itself, an illusion meant to create a false sense of safety, should at least have its own seal with a gummy back.
Can you keep a secret? This book is already at #1 on the expanded Amazon Nonfiction Bestseller List, and I got word today from two regional book distributors that the demand has been so high they are out of books! They were so desperate for more copies that they contacted the author directly (as if I had a few spare boxes of them out in the garage!).
I don't want the Axis of Uber-Evil -- Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft -- to find out how well the book has been doing before it even goes on sale, as they must continue to believe the media mantra of, "ALL Americans are behind George W. Bush!" and "Hail W, for it is you who has the HIGHEST approval ratings ever!"
Let them take heart in that nonsense (who wouldn't tell a stranger, a "pollster," who has called you at home at 9 o'clock at night and asked you if you "APPROVE" of your "President," just as you were looking out your window and noticing that your neighbor, Fasoul Hussein Abdulah -- you know, the friendly guy who owns the 7-11 down the street -- is being hauled away by the Men In Black! "Damn straight I approve of Mr. Bush!" you scream into the phone ...).
The longer they keep believing their "ratings," the larger our numbers will grow. Sunday's Zogby Poll already had Bush at his lowest rating since before 9-11. Trust me, it only gets better from here on out, and you are welcome to mark "Stupid White Men Day -- February 19, 2002" as the beginning of the end for Kenny Boy's boy.
So, today, I begin my month-long book tour across the country. If you'll recall from the film I made of my last outing, "The Big One," this can be one wild ride. It can also be no picnic. I am not going to make a movie this time. Instead, I am going to keep a simple diary on the road -- and I am going to make this diary open for you to view on my website.
I promise to be as honest as I can, and I won't be pulling any punches. If the Motel 6 sucks in Syracuse, you'll hear about it. The diary -- "My Stupid Life: Mike's Book Tour Diary" -- can be read or heard (depending on what kind of equipment you have) by going to www.michaelmoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com> anytime after tonight. Please mark it and check it out each day as I think you'll find it mildly interesting and sincerely libelous.
Tonight, I will be going on "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox Nudnick Channel to be interrupted -- I mean interviewed -- by its host, Bill O'Reilly. The fun begins at 8pm ET/PT, and you have to be part of the cable elite to witness this historic meeting of what hath become of Ireland's once great sons. At 10pm ET/PT tonight, you can catch me with Aaron Brown on CNN.
Finally, I want you to know that I will be looking forward to only one thing during this entire book tour -- Opening Day of the 2002 Major League Baseball season! Why? Because that is the day I am asking George W. Bush to resign. And I want the resignation to take place right in the middle of Enron Field in Houston during the 7th-inning stretch of the Astros-Brewers game. I've asked if I can throw out the first pitch at 4:05pm CT.
I mean, can there be a more perfect way to end the madness -- Bush, Lay, Mike, Texas, America's Favorite Pastime, and the visiting team from a Blue State owned by the Commissioner of Baseball (who will hand over his job to the ex-"president" as the fans sing "Da Do En-ron-ron Da Do En-ron")?
C'mon, George, are ya listening? Just step up to the microphone and go out like Gehrig! Opening Day, April 2, 2002. Yoooou're Ouuuuuuuut!!!
Yours,
Michael Moore
Author, "Stupid White Men"
Disputed Gold Medal Winner, Ice Dancing
Write me at: StupidWhiteMen@aol.com
Japan-US summit talks dismiss all criticisms
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2273/summit.html>
Akahata editorial, February 19, 2002
In the Japan-US summit talks, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro pledged total support for the US Bush administration which has declared that its war on terror is to be expanded. The US president reiterated his view that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil." He made clear that the United States will not hesitate to use military force, emphasizing that it will "seize the moment, and do it." He also said that "all options are on the table and that I will keep all options on the table." The prime minister extolled the president's position as a manifestation of the "firm resolve of President Bush and the United States against terrorism," and stated that he will continue to support the United States as an ally. ...
Palestine union HQ bombed
The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins trade unions throughout the world in expressing outrage at the 17 February attacks by Israeli F-16 fighter aircraft and Apache helicopters, which destroyed nearly 40% of the headquarters of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Nablus City, a building which was built with the support of the international labour movement. COSATU reaffirms its solidarity with the PGFTU and expresses its relief that no trade unionists were killed. There can be no justification for such an attack on an organisation which is committed to bringing peace to Palestine and working for unity with Israeli trade union. ...
Defense firms feast on the war on terror
<http://www.examiner.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=OPhallinan0222w>
Conn Hallinan, The San Francisco Examiner, February 22, 2002
IN CASE ANYONE MISSED IT, there was a military coup on Feb. 4. As these things go, it was a quiet affair: no tanks deployed at key intersections, no hard-faced soldiers holding strategic crossroads. In fact the people who seized power don't even have any troops, unless you count lobbyists. But if President Bush's budget is approved, a significant part of our national life will be determined by the financial interests of the "Mighty 10." The "10" are not the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force or various Special Forces, but the huge arms corporations that stand to make hundreds of billions of dollars -- indeed, trillions -- from the massive military buildup over the next five years. Of the "10" -- Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Litton, General Electric, United Technologies, TRW and Textron -- the first six are among the top 10 arms-producing companies worldwide. While the "war on terrorism" is the rationale for the proposed $48 billion jump in military spending, much of that money looks suspiciously like an old-fashioned political payoff. Stands to reason. The energy companies got Alaska and Utah. Mining and timber interests got the West. Why shouldn't the arms manufacturers get an endless war? ...
How Can We Justify This?
<http://www.bushwatch.net/bush.htm#feature>
United States Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), February 23, 2002
Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why should America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?
How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?
We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with it. We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant. We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the ability to designate domestic terror groups. We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records and financial records.
We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for intelligence surveillance. We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy. The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice exposing herself at this time, before this administration.
Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear. Because today there is great fear in our great Capitol. And this must be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in the current environment. The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when we abandoned Washington when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide terror alert and then the Administration brought the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of the House. It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapes at the same time the President was announcing the withdrawal from the ABM treaty. It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote. The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his unelected Vice President.
Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common defense" is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September the Eleventh. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September the Eleventh. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.
We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.
We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.
We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus.
We did not authorize assassination squads.
We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.
We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.
We did not authorize national identity cards.
We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities.
We did not authorize an eye for an eye.
Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.
We did not authorize war without end.
We did not authorize a permanent war economy.
Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion. Consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit. Consider that the Inspector General has notified Congress that the Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Dept. of Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased, wrote off, as lost, billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.
Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.
Email responses to Dkucinich@aol.com <http://www.house.gov/kucinich/action/peace.htm>
First they came for the Communists and I didn¹t speak up because I wasn¹t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn¹t speak up because I wasn¹t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn¹t speak up because I wasn¹t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn¹t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up.
--Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany