Social Justice Magazine
Politicians are attacking Medicare and Medicaid on all sides -- Democrats and Republicans alike. Obama's national health care bill will slash hundreds of billions from Medicare over the next decade, an act supported by so-called "progressive" Democrats. Soon after this "victory" Obama created the Super Committee to balance the budget, which included automatic "triggers" -- if no decision was … [Read more...]
Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and gender studies at Columbia University, is the author of a new book released last month, entitledBody and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination. By documenting the multifaceted health activism of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and critically assessing the BPP’s strategy and tactics in a respectful and appreciative … [Read more...]
Pharmaceutical companies have sought for years to protect their expensive brand-name drugs by paying generic rivals handsome sums of money to put off efforts to introduce cheaper, generic alternatives that could steal market share.The controversial practice, known as “pay for delay," occurs as part of patent litigation settlements and typically buys a brand-name drug company more time to … [Read more...]
Twenty years ago this week, the world heard an announcement that we all thought was the end of the world for a young man who had changed the world through his gift of playing basketball. Earvin “Magic” Johnson had entertained us for the previous 12 years by putting a fledgling league on his shoulders, and “Showtime” in the hearts of basketball fans everywhere...even in Boston.Magic … [Read more...]
This Thursday the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability will decide whether to appropriate sufficient funds to keep the Jacksonville Development Center open, or to close it down in a matter of months.That decision will have major implications for the city, but it also represents one case out of hundreds across the country in which reduced government budgets conflict … [Read more...]
With Mitt Romney his almost certain opponent, Barack Obama faces an uphill fight to win re-election. But Republicans may have given Obama the rallying cry he needs to spur disillusioned voters. In vowing to abolish national health care reform if they win the White House, Romney and fellow Republicans have made health care a central issue in the 2012 campaign. If the health care measure were not at … [Read more...]
The health care crisis in the United States is getting worse with no visible end. The popular anger over unattainable or unaffordable health care has been diverted away from corporations by crafty politicians, always seeking to exploit a social disaster for their benefactors. Instead of making health care more affordable for the average person, politicians have successfully switched the messaging. … [Read more...]
Why the New Healthcare Law Should Have Been Based on Medicare (And What Democrats Should Have Learned By Now) Two appellate judges in Atlanta — one appointed by President Bill Clinton and one by George H.W. Bush – have just decided the Constitution doesn’t allow the federal government to require individuals to buy health insurance.The decision is a major defeat for the White House. The … [Read more...]
There have been occasional cases of polio (poliomyelitis) throughout human history. The Roman Emperor Claudius suffered from a disease as a child thought to be polio: muscle weakness, severe pain and paralysis. But it wasn’t until the summer of 1910 that it became an epidemic in the modern industrialized world. In fact for the next 40 years the summer was called “Polio season.” The numbers … [Read more...]
The 2nd Annual California Summer Conference for Single Payer Saturday, July 16, 2011 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PMSponsored by:The State Strategy Group: Center for Elders' Independence, The California Health Professional Student Alliance, California OneCare, California School Employees Association, Single Payer Now!, California Nurses Association, Health Care for All - California, Progressive … [Read more...]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about cicadas as they were emerging, flying, singing, mating. Now so many of them are dead that they clog our pathways. Every time I am outside, I see dozens of dying cicadas, trying desperately to right themselves, to fly with damaged wings or simply to escape the hot pavement beneath them. They’re done for.Mass death always seems sad to me, even for insects I … [Read more...]
Dr. Death is dead.Murad (Jack) Kevorkian, whose name has been synonymous with doctor-assisted suicide, died last week at 83. He spent eight years in a maximum-security prison for helping the sick end their suffering. But Kevorkian was no angel…of death. He was eccentric, flamboyant and obstinate about his pet cause. He taunted the authorities, doing himself no favors in the process. But he … [Read more...]
Today I’m getting my left eye cut open. A cataract has been gradually clouding my lens, so that now I have trouble seeing the big E on the chart. I’m spending half the day at Passavant Hospital.Cataract surgery is one of the most common operations in the US. My doctor, David Sutton, has successfully replaced thousands of cataracts with artificial lenses. I’ve already had this done to my … [Read more...]
The best thing about the upcoming 2012 election is that the ominous “Obamacare” was a Republican idea. But now since this alternative to Hillarycare was signed into law by a (gasp) Democratic president the GOP has been trying to peg as a radical socialist Kenyan – Republicans now have to be against their own ideas.Politicians who are already adept wafflers and wrigglers are shadowboxing … [Read more...]
The Republican House members who voted for Paul Ryan’s Ayn Rand wet-dream budget are apparently getting an earful from their constituents. And the earful isn’t coming from people wearing Bradley Manning T-shirts, but from crusty old baby boomers who probably voted for the GOP in the last election.Too bad their angst isn’t being amplified a hundredfold through a gigantic echo chamber … [Read more...]
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
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