How far will the 'Obama effect' go?

After a couple of weeks of restraint regarding Iran's post election protests (yesterday he did condemn the regime's violence), and the Republican outrage over said restraint (supporting those who might have been dead today if they had gotten their way last year to bomb the hell out of them), Chris Hedges reminds us who another violent perpetrator is and who the people are acting like citizens of a democratic republic.

"Where were we when our election was stolen from us in 2000 by Republican operatives and a Supreme Court that overturned all legal precedent to anoint George W. Bush president? Did tens of thousands of us fill the squares of our major cities and denounce the fraud? Did we mobilize day after day to restore transparency and accountability to our election process? Did we fight back with the same courage and tenacity as the citizens of Iran? Did Al Gore defy the power elite and, as opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has done, demand a recount at the risk of being killed?"

Read his whole excellent piece in Truthdig, a little reminder of Iran's history at the mercy of foreign powers.

How far will our President go, speaking about our country's failings? In Cairo he acknowledged our role in the 1953 violent coup in Iran. Does this go far enough to flip the Bush credo that Iran is one of the members of the Axis of Evil? Our government, in our name - WE are the ones who have incited, and continue to incite and impose, violence in the Middle East. I hope for a day when masses of U.S. citizens wake up to this fact and stop demonizing the Other (with plenty of evil deeds, granted) under our leadership as if we are God's anointed. Even if President Obama believes this, how far can and will he go to effect a shift in perspective and policy of what might be the most terrifying government in the world?

scary socialist health care and Richard Scott

The same man who drummed up the Swift Boat "scandal" against John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid is behind the "socialist" health care scares against President Obama's health care reform plans: Rick Scott. He himself has a shady past - the biggest health care settlement over fraud in U.S. history. Imagine slinging mud when you've got that kind of history? Politico broke the story about the launch of his group Conservatives for Patients' Rights, using his own money behind trying to bomb Obama's health care plans before they get launched. Scott claims that the more government is involved with health care, the worse it will be. You can read his own March 2009 entry at The Health Care Blog in which he outlines the four "pillars" of Patients rights: choice, competition, accountability, responsibility.

Nicolas Kristof's column in yesterday's NYTimes gave a great example of a Canadian who happens to have had some pretty good experiences with her medical care for $49 a month. Hmm, imagine going into an Emergency Room and no one is sticking a clipboard in your face to find out how you're going to pay for it? So all those terrible stories you hear about Canadian health care, don't assume those are the only ones.

I just had lunch with a friend who spent seven hours in Emergency Room waiting last week here in Michigan.

So it's time to weed out the scary stories from the true ones - both here at home and in that terrible country to our north (and across the pond) - while the Obama administration forges ahead with health care reform. Come on, something has to give with the cost of every little - and big - item related to medicine, and when someone desperately needs medical attention but can't go to the ER because they don't have insurance. It's lovely to want each of us to be in charge of our own health care, but when at least 46 million - 18% - of Americans don't have health care coverage (in 2007 according to this site), what is in their control besides the choice not to go to the doctor and suffer?

The High Line

Have you ever walked along abandoned railroad tracks? There's something about the weeds, the fields around you, the sense of destiny.

How wonderful that a lot of rich NYC residents poured money into a new park that took the brownfield-ish strip of abandoned elevated tracks to an innovation of delight. With its wildflowers and prairie grasses, you can walk along it while looking down on the meatpacking district just 3 floors below. The sidewalk even runs through an old brick commercial building.

Read the NYTimes piece here. See the slideshow here. The High Line's home page is here. Maybe you can make it to their opening benefit event Monday, June 15: It's only $1,000 a ticket.

green movies

I'm going to have to start shifting my perspective on Wal-Mart, now that it is driving markets for antibiotic-free beef, and also pressing vendors to cut down carbon emissions in their packaging.

According to the NYT yesterday, Warner, Disney and Sony are altering DVD packaging to be lighter and use less plastic. Warner alone hopes to cut its carbon emissions by 31% by doing so. Part of the story is that they need to reduce costs. But apparently before the economic downturn, it was Wal-Mart that was holding vendors to the green fire.

Digital Digest also shows that DVD package sets will be smaller.

Dog Green Sector on Omaha Beach imagined

William Pfaff on Obama's Cairo speech

In Pfaff's column at Truthdig he makes two observations about President Obama's speech at Cairo University Thursday:

Obama’s newsworthy statement was his adamant reiteration of his conviction that Israeli settlement expansion must be halted, in conformance with the commitment made by Israel in the road map agreement, and that an independent Palestinian state must come into being. . . .

The second noteworthy declaration by Obama was that he intends to withdraw all American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan; to establish no American bases there; and to demand no privileged access to the region’s resources.

This is surely as much of a blow to Pentagon planners as his statement to Israel was to the settler community. It would seem a renouncement of the American military program of world-girdling strategic bases, pursued for the past 30 years. It comes as more of a surprise than the Obama statement concerning Israel. It could be much more important to America and its future. One awaits elaboration.

from "huffing" to "puffing"

After some time rethinking this blog, I am turning it a bit - maybe as much as 180 degrees.

I'd still like to address current events. But rather than "huff" about them I plan to "puff" the positive about them as much as possible. I don't want to be Pollyana-ish. The point is rather to showcase ways people are facing the world's problems with honesty. Well, who can really know, right? What is the truth?