The United States is the only industrialized nation that allows for-profit corporations to offer primary care health-care insurance. Other developed countries consider health care an absolute right, not a privilege as in the U.S. T.R. Reid in his 2008 documentary film “Sick Around the World.” All the fuss and furor over the Affordable Care Act is a waste of money and … [Read more...]
Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf Belongs in Jail
Congress has rightly engaged in a barrage of CEO bashing. Fine. But that’s easy cheap-talk. What is needed is prosecution and jailing of CEOs who tolerate fraudulent schemes. Also needed: job protection for bank whistleblowers. Case in point: Wells Fargo. About 5,300 employees of the bank were fired for illegally opening millions of unauthorized bank and credit card … [Read more...]
People Needs Come First in Many Countries
“Where to Invade Next?” American documentary film / 2015 Written, narrated and directed by Michael Moore The movie has Michael Moore’s humorous banter but is deadly serious. The searing theme: the United States spends trillions of dollars on wars but relatively little on health and welfare of the American people. The social benefits guaranteed by a host of other … [Read more...]
Demands for Snowden Pardon Snowballing
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” John Milton, “Areopagitica,” speech in 1644 for unlicensed printing President Obama is one of the few public people who doesn’t want to pardon Edward Snowden although he has granted amnesty to hundreds of non-entities far less worthy. Three human rights groups … [Read more...]
Stop Celebrating the Anniversaries of 9/11
(I resurrect today a column I wrote for the Sparks Tribune Nov. 8, 2001. I do so because it is relevant to a nation that recently went through an orgy of the 15th anniversary of 9/11 observances and lamentations.) For they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. — Hosea 8:7 (King James Version) With the country on a war-footing, it is difficult to write … [Read more...]
Mother Teresa Unworthy of Elevation to Sainthood
(I repeat today a column I wrote for the Sparks Tribune Oct. 16, 1997. I do so because Pope Francis recently pronounced her a saint.) While millions mourned the recent death of Mother Teresa, cynics remained unmoved. Yes, she did have a rapport with many of the world’s poor and outcast. She established health clinics, orphanages, homes for lepers and homeless shelters. … [Read more...]
Boasted American Superiority Doesn’t Exist in Voting
DOWN FOR THE COUNT Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America By Andrew Gumbel The New Press, New York, 2016 Nothing new in this book. It’s a rehash of what keen observers of American politics have written for years. Nevertheless, author Gumbel gives a worthwhile reminder of just how fraudulent America’s purported democracy is. Start with the … [Read more...]
Plea to DEA: Quit Treating Pot like Heroin
The Drug Enforcement Administration remains mired in the Dark Ages, refusing to take marijuana off Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA barrier is puritanical to begin with. In the second place its arguments are disingenuous, calling marijuana dangerous and without enough scientific research to justify removal from the Schedule 1 list. The fact is the Food … [Read more...]