Like Maria Said Paz: Medicare For All

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Medicare For All

That's "My Song (Too Far Gone)."

For years, Cher refused to post it on YOUTUBE but would get YOUTUBE to take it down when others posted it. If she hadn't done that, there'd be a version on YOUTUBE with at least a half a million views.

We're all noting a Cher song we like tonight and I'm going with that.

It's a wondeful ballad. How it ended up on TAKE ME HOME, I don't know. But it really is the highlight of the album for me. Cher co-wrote the song. The Hudson Brothers were a minor musical act in the 70s. Two of the brothers, Mark and Brett, wrote the song with her. (Mark was married to Goldie Hawn at the time.) Cher does a great job singing but I'd think she'd want the song widely known because it's such a beautiful song. "What I did so many times was finally done to me."

She might not like it now because Gregg Allman's dead. Back in the 80s, she would talk openly about how the song was about him. She'd talk about how their son Elijah wouldn't understand why Sonny Bono would come over all the time to visit Chastity and to take her places (that's Chaz Bono now) but his father (Gregg) just ignored him. Cher would say she told Elijah that was the luck of the draw and Chastity ended up with a good father but but he (Elijah) was like her (Cher) in that he didn't end up with a father he could count on.

Anyway . . .

Here's Jeff Cohen (COUNTERPUNCH):

In 1948, Harry Truman pushed for a national nonprofit health insurance program in his successful, come-from-behind presidential campaign. When Truman’s plan was denounced as “socialized medicine” and “un-American” by the powerful American Medical Association, “Give ‘Em Hell Harry” stood his ground, defending his proposal as “simple Christianity.”

In 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson secured passage of Medicare (and Medicaid), he traveled to Missouri to formally sign it into law in Truman’s presence – declaring that “the real daddy of Medicare” was Truman. Medicare was federal health insurance for those 65 and older, but proponents hoped it was step one on the way to Medicare for all.

In the 1970s, it remained the Democratic Party’s official position to support a federally-provided health insurance program for all (“single payer”) – and its strongest advocate was the chair of the Senate Health subcommittee, Ted Kennedy. Supported by unions and seniors, Kennedy introduced a Medicare for all proposal in 1971: the “Health Security Act.” Worried about the plan’s popularity, President Nixon countered with a supposed reform that would preserve for-profit, private insurance: the “Health Insurance Partnership Act.” Kennedy declared, “It’s really a partnership between the administration and insurance companies. It’s not a partnership between patients and doctors of this nation.”

In 1976, Jimmy Carter promised a national health insurance plan in his victorious campaign for the presidency. Kennedy later called it a “missing promise” – and their discord over healthcare continued through Kennedy’s failed challenge of Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.

As harsh neoliberal capitalism dawned in the Reagan ‘80s there was a sea change in the country and within the Democratic Party. Democratic leaders – calling themselves “New Democrats” – scarcely even pretended to resist greedy corporate interests. Those interests were invited into the party and into policy formulation.

Enter Bill Clinton.

I'm sure you know that when the name "Clinton" comes up, sell out quickly follows.

Read the whole article. Read it and weep. We could have had a shot at what the country needs, Medicare For All, but instead we got the awful Joe Biden shoved down out throats via a rigged process.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, July 28, 2020. So far this week, 3 protesters have been killed in Iraq and while the prime minister is making statements they seem awfully familiar to what's been said before.

In Baghdad on Sunday, protesters were shot at by security forces with two ending up dead and many more injured. Those two murders have only increased the number of protesters. Let's look at ALJAZEERA's report and see if you can catch where the government is in conflict with itself.

Did you catch it?

Simona Foltyn: The military spokesperson of the prime minister has condemned the violence and has promised an investigation. He also said that security forces have been ordered to use force only as a last resort.

From THIRD's "Editorial: Attacks on protesters continue:"

Samya Kullab (AP) reports, "Iraq’s prime minister said Monday he had ordered an investigation into the killing of two anti-government protesters, saying security forces were not authorized to fire 'a single bullet' toward the demonstrators. Twenty-one protesters were also wounded in the overnight clashes." An investigation?

Doesn't he have investigations already into previous attacks on protesters?

And no one's been punished for those attacks -- attacks carried out by security forces under the command of the prime minister. To be fair, these previous attacks? We're talking about attacks carried out before Mustafa al-Kadhimi became prime minister (May 7th).

But he made promises. As AL KHALEEJ TODAY reminds, "Prior to joining office Mr Al Kadhimi vowed to meet protester demands by holding early elections and investigating protester deaths. Yet the new prime minister has had to deal with a catastrophic economic crisis triggered by a decline in oil prices caused by the coronavirus pandemic."

Are any of these promises going to be kept?

Oh, he's dealing with an economic crisis? Wow. Poor baby. All the leaders of countries are dealing with economic crisis in one form or another -- with or without oil being factored in.

Yes, AP, Mustafa did Tweet:

Yesterday's protest by young Iraqis are a legitimate right, and the security forces do not have permission to fire a single bullet towards our protestors.

What does that have to do with his failure to keep promises?

His spokesperson is stating that the security forces are only allowed to fire on the people as a last resort; however, Mustafa himself Tweeted that they "do not have permission to fire a single bullet towards our protestors."

Which is it? Those are two different things. Is Mustafa telling the truth or is his spokesperson?

ALJAZEERA also offers a photo essay. On that essay and the two videos above, let's note women and girls are participating in the protests. We have to note that now. When the protests started in October, the western media refused to acknowledge the presence of women and girls. To read the western coverage, no females were participating. Not only were they participating from the start, their numbers steadily grew -- so much so that their participation became one of the key stories and Shi'ite cleric and one-time movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr would attempt to prevent females from protesting and issue an edict that males should not protest with females. The response to that? Even more females showed up for the protests. The Tweet below uses two photos from the ALJAZEERA essay:

Demonstrations Continue In Baghdad As A 3rd Person Was Killed Overnight On Tuesday,This Comes After Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi Instructed Security Forces Not To "Fire A Single Bullet" On Monday #IraqProtests #Iraq #Baghdad 

7:26 AM · Jul 28, 2020

The western media is already bungling key details about the protests so let's stress that females are participating before they run (again) with their lie that it's only Iraqi males.

Mina al-Oraibi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Discontent in Iraq is not new, and neither is the suffering of Iraqis from unemployment, lack of security, corruption and a crippled health system trying to fight Covid-19. However, tensions are escalating. Rocket attacks on military bases or in the vicinity of the International Zone of Baghdad, commonly known as the Green Zone, are near-daily occurrences, and security incidents such as kidnappings and assassinations are on the rise.

Armed groups within the country, some with political parties backing them and others with Iranian backing, know that Mr Al Kadhimi has them within his sights and are lashing back. With temperatures exceeding 50 degrees, frequent electricity cuts and a general public malaise setting in, Mr Al Kadhimi is heading towards a crisis.

The Prime Minister’s first foreign trip abroad since he came to office was slated earlier this month to be to Saudi Arabia. It was meant to bring news of economic opportunities and entering a new era in relations in the region. However, the trip was cancelled as King Salman bin Abdul Aziz was taken to hospital. Consequently, Mr Al Kadhimi’s first foreign trip was to Iran. It became a staging ground for Iranian leaders to push their own anti-US agenda, at which point Mr Al Kadhimi had to push back defensively on the need for ‘non-interference’ in relations.

All this comes as the Iraqi government is facing an economic crisis that can only be resolved by external investment. Foreign direct investment or private sector investment at a time when the global economy is facing a recession and global pandemic will not be easy and will require hard work.

AFP quotes two protesters:

“We had no guns, no knives, just our chants,” said Ahmad Jabbar, a male protester in the square.

“We (clashed) with them for six hours. They wouldn’t even let the ambulances come get the wounded,” he said. More rallies have been called for Monday night, with activists demanding the release of fellow protesters arrested the previous evening.

“If our guys aren’t freed, we’re going to ramp up our efforts. We’re staying in our tents, and we’re not afraid,” said protester Maytham al-Darraji.

The number of protesters killed in the last three days is three. RUDAW's Lawk Ghafun Tweets:

Latest from #Iraq

- IHCHR confirms 3 protesters died & 21 others wounded since Sunday in #Baghdad
- PMF repelled an #ISIS attack on SYR-IQ border
- Latest: Outlawed armed groups ‘seeking chaos’ at Baghdad protests: interior min

#IraqProtests #العراق

‘Outlawed’ armed groups ‘seeking chaos’ at Baghdad protests: interior ministry

Iraq’s interior ministry has called on protesters in Baghdad to cooperate with authorities identify the “outlawed” armed groups which aim to create chaos in 

One of the three killed has been identified.

Riot Police have killed Abu Ahmed al-Nahhat, a protestor, at Tahrir Square. #IraqProtests #Iraq

5:41 PM · Jul 26, 2020·Twitter for Android

Retweets and comments

And now a second has been named:

His name was Sajad Haidar Hassan He was killed overnight at Tahrir Square Baghdad iraq #IraqProtests

At RUDAW, Ghafuri quotes activist Mohammed al-Tamimi:

Iraqi activist Mohammed al-Tamimi told Rudaw on Monday that he sees parallels to Sunday night's violence against demonstrators with that of previous administrations.

“What we witnessed yesterday in Tahrir Square by Kadhimi’s government was similar to what we used to face during the government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi,” he said from Tahrir Square, referring to Kadhimi's predecessor who resigned as PM late last year.

The prime minister addressed the Iraqi people via television Monday.

Watch: Highlights of PM @MAKadhimi
’s address to the Iraqi people in which he outlined the @IraqiGovt
 approach to electricity outages, events surrounding recent protests and reiterated his commitment to holding early, free and fair elections.

7:12 AM · Jul 28, 2020

In the video, a highlight, not the full speech, he states:

It pains me to see my fellow Iraqis suffer in this hot weather because of the mismanagement of the electricity sector. Our approach is for Iraq to produce its own gas to operate our gas-fired power plants. Successive governments have imported gas-powered plants but they did not develop Iraq's gas production capacity. The protests by young people are a legitimate right and the security forces do not have the permission to fire a single bullet towards our protesters. We started an investigation into the circumstances of what happened yesterday in Tahrir Square and I asked for the facts to be presented to me within 72 hours. I said on my first day of assuming office that I wasn't seeking to hold onto any position and that government will prepare for early elections. I remain committed to holding early elections.

In response to Mustafa announcing an investigation, Hayder Tweets:

Feels like we heard this before. #IraqProtests

New content at THIRD: