January 26, 2012January 23, 2012January 18, 2012West Virginians Rally for the Corporate Death PenaltyCitizens in West Virginia have had it with health insurance rip-offs. So, they’re organizing what they call a “Rally for the Corporate Death Penalty — Say Goodbye to Private Health Insurance Corporations.” The event will take place on Wednesday February 1, 2012 between 7 pm and 9 pm at the Earth Dog Cafe in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
“It’s time we stop the bleeding and get rid of private health insurance corporations,” said Russell Mokhiber of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. “There are people in our community who are going without care because they can’t afford health insurance. This is not acceptable. We must get rid of private health insurance corporations and create one public health insurance pool. Everybody in, nobody out. Most of the western industrialized nations have this — it’s called a single payer system. They control costs better than we do. And they don’t have 50,000 people dying every year from lack of health insurance the way we do.” Mokhiber said that the health care reform pushed through by President Obama and the Democrats did little to alleviate the problems in the health care system. “You can’t keep the private health insurance corporations in the game and deliver health care at a reasonable cost to the American people,” Mokhiber said. “The halls of power in Washington are marinated with insurance industry money. Obama and the Democrats made sure the insurance industry got what it paid for.” The February 1 event at the Earth Dog Cafe is open to the public. January 17, 2012January 14, 2012Single Payer Occupy and 99 to 1George Randt is a doctor of internal medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He’s also a supporter of a single payer national health insurance system. Randt was in downtown Cleveland last month at a rally to protest cuts to public services. At the rally, Randt heard Jonathan Blackshire singing. What caught Randt’s attention was a song that Blackshire wrote for the Occupy movement. The song? Randt liked the song. So, he approached Blackshire and asked him if he had recorded it. Blackshire said — no he hadn’t. “What’s holding you back?” Randt asked. “I’m a musician,” Blackshire said. “I don’t have any money.” Randt forked over $200. And Blackshire went to Suma Recording Studios and did the deed. On his web site, Blackshire describes his music as folk, acoustic, and indie. But it’s a country song in the true sense — it defends the country from corporate attack. “We’re not from the left or right,” Blackshire sings. “We’re from America.” “Our issues are not black and white. They are American.” “We won’t let them divide us anymore. And if we stay united, we can be a nation once more.” After writing the song last year, Blackshire wanted to make sure he got the Occupy movement right. He test drove 99 to 1 to a group of Occupiers in Cleveland in September. “It was just my interpretation of what is going on,” Blackshire said. “So, I took it down to Occupy Cleveland. It was midnight. There was a long line of tents. I had just finished a show. Everyone was quiet inside their tents. Somebody steps out of a tent and talks to me. Then more people came out and started talking to me. I played the tune. And they gave me the thumbs up.” Blackshire has written a number of other occupy songs — including We Will Not Stop, We Shall Rise Up, We Need a Hero, Non Violence, and Consensus. But if there is an Occupy album, 99 to 1 will be the title song of the album. And maybe of the movement. January 10, 2012January 9, 2012Older Posts » |
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