So called health bill - women's rights under attack again

This health bill which was passed in the House, in terms of peoples' health in general, is pathetic. It leaves millions still uninsured, costs still extremely high and the profit addicted private health industrial complex still making billions. But not only that it steps up the attacks women's rights.

Obama and the Democrats had to get a health bill passed so they could claim they did not suffer a political defeat. So as I say they agreed to an entirely inadequate bill. Compromise after dirty compromise with the Republicans and their own right wing was their game. They could have gone to the people and explained the issues and how the ordinary people were being ripped off and won mass support. But of course as parties entirely based on capitalism and terrified of the movement of working class people they would never do this. So they made their dirty compromises and moved to the right.

Part of the dirty compromises that led to this agreement has been that they sold out women's rights. They have betrayed women in their dirty dealing. The restrictions on abortion rights in the present bill go further than the present restrictions that exist. Obama, the Democrats and the Republicans have increased the attacks on women's rights. What a bunch of chauvinist right wing swine.

Of course they had their mainly male backers egging them on. The Catholic Bishops, these all male degenerates who have presided over the epidemic of child abuse and sexual abuse in their own organization, and covered this up, have been to the fore in demanding that the health bill deny women their rights. Obama and the Democrats came in posing as liberals and they have now agreed to restrict women's rights further.

The so called health bill prohibits coverage for abortion. It is hard enough for women to get an abortion in this country, especially in the more rural areas. It is especially hard for poor working class women. A first trimester abortion costs between $350 to $900. Of course the rich women whether Republican or Democrat will be able to afford an abortion and to get a doctor to accommodate them. They have the money and the connections. We totally reject the health care bill and the approach of the two right wing capitalist parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. We totally reject the increased attacks on women.

We stand for the right of women to choose in the fullest sense.

We stand for the right of women to choose not to have their baby if this is their decision. That is we stand for their right to have an abortion. We stand for this to be their decision and their decision alone. We stand for a free national health care system within which they can have the benefit of the best and most modern treatment if they choose to have an abortion.

We also stand for the right of women to choose to have their child if that is their decision. The right to choose means to choose to not have a baby or to have a baby. The right to choose to have a baby means the right to a well paid job with full health care benefits, a decent and affordable place to live and free childcare at work, school and home.

The right not to have a baby and the right to have a baby together go together to make the real and full right to choose.

We need to begin to build a new movement for women's rights. The Republicans and Democrats and the big business forces that back them are taking away the rights that were won in the past. This new movement needs to campaign on the right to choose in its fullest sense as explained above.

Sean.

Over ten million

US capitalism has now got over 10% of its workforce to whom it cannot provide jobs. This is 15.7 million people. Yes, 15.7 million people. More than the population of many countries. Over five hundred thousand, half a million, people were added to this total in October alone. According to the Wall Street Journal there are another 20 million people reliant on the 10% who have no jobs.

We have to use our imagination. No work and soon no income. Tens of millions in this situation and tens of millions more worried they will soon be in this situation. Poverty and unemployment. No gainful satisfying way to use their time. No income sufficient to make ends meet. No health care. One of the most savage affects of capitalism is insecurity. Never knowing what lies ahead.

We have consistently argued on this blog that capitalism has forfeited its right to rule. We repeat it here today. Any system that cannot give work to at least 15.7 million people has no right to exist. It is a decayed and obsolete system. It must be overthrown.

Contact us to help in the struggle to end capitalism. Either just send us your contact information so we may talk and hopefully work together. Or do this and at the same time send us a donation to help us with our work. Or just send us a donation. See donate icon on this page.

To finish here are a few thoughts from Marx.

On unemployment.

"The whole form of the movement of modern industry depends upon the constant transformation of a part of the laboring population into unemployed or half-employed hands."

On revolution.

"Revolutionary upheavals periodically recur in history."

"In the beginning, the revolutionary measures appear economically insufficient and untenable, but in the course of the movement, they outstrip themselves."

"Doctrinaire and utopian predictions about the future revolution only divert us from the reality of the present class struggle."

"Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class."

"The revolutionary (proletarian) class holds the future in its hands."

Some thoughts from Marx.

Sean.

A Handwritten Letter and Pigs and Prison

right: two pigs not in the hole

It was raining and the doorbell rang.

On the porch was a neighbor's kid who was locked out.

She came in and sat down at the kitchen table with us all. My own daughters cornered her with the compliments that younger girls shower on older girls; mostly centering around her clothes and backpack.

Once settled, she pulled a letter out of the handful of mail in her hand. "My mom says if I'm the first one home that I should take the mail. And this one's for me," she beamed.

Sure enough the letter on top was for her. She opened up a handwritten letter and as the four of us sat around eating snacks, she proceeded to read out the contents. "It's from my dad."

As she began to read the letter outloud pausing to conquer an unfamiliar word here and there, I felt like stopping her, but let it go. I began concluding her dad was in prison. There was an apology from him and several 'I love you's.' I again felt like interupting, but she had the kind of pride in this letter that she needed to share with others. She finished up with his questions about what she did for Halloween and a self-addressed envelope. "We never have stamps in our house."

Marketta is 9 and one of 12 siblings. She is thoughtful and polite and probably more emotionally grown up than most kids her age.

A month ago the son of another neighbor resurfaced. I guessed he went to jail by the way his mother was evasive about his wherabouts. He has kids too. He's a good guy, but he also grew up in a society that is fundamentally flawed. A racist society. A society with rotten values based around money. A broken society.

According to the Bureau for Justice Statistics, a leg of the Department of Justice, over 7 million people are on probation, parole or incarcerated in jail or prison. Half of those incarcerated in state prisons are non-violent offenders. Some people need to be in prison. But many, many, do not.

There are many beneficiaries for the US having the highest rate of imprisonment in the world. The capitalist politicians love to get tough on crime to get elected. The mutli-billion dollar prison industrial complex makes a big chi-ching every time someone is found guilty, everytime a prison meal is served, everytime a new corrections facility is built.

For the children of those incarcerated, on the other hand, capitalism compounds the racism and poverty that bears down on them daily, by taking away their fathers and mothers.

Two sets of mass killings.

In Cleveland at least eleven bodies have been found in the home of a man with a record of rape. There was a terrible stench from this house for years. This was reported to the police. Relatives of missing women, mostly black, have been reporting this to the cops for years. One woman tried to report her missing niece to three different police stations and none would take the report. The refusal of the cops to take these reports and to investigate this house is because the area where the house is located and where the women were missing is very poor and overwhelmingly black. Missing poor black women are not worth being sought after is the message the cops were giving out. American capitalism is a sick racist and class ridden society.

Then yesterday down at Fort Hood in Texas we had the killing of a dozen soldiers allegedly by another US army officer. We need to be careful about drawing too many conclusions. There might be more than meets the eye. The man alleged to have done the shooting was reported to be dead, then six hours after the shooting he was reported to be alive. So we need to be cautious. But whatever about the details this killing is a sign of US over reach. They are fighting two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the beginnings of one in Pakistan. The US does not have the economic, military or personal resources to do this. In particular it is putting huge pressures on the members of the military who are going for one and more tours to fight.

The alleged shooter in Fort Hood was a doctor. He dealt with the many problems of the young people returning. In particular as a psychiatrist he dealt with the young people coming back with terrible mental wounds. He was about to be sent to Iraq himself. His family were from the Middle east originally. He was harassed in the military because he was a muslim. He did not want to go Iraq. He was trying to get out of the US military. This shooting in Fort Hood is a sign of the beginning of cracks in the US military. It is bogged down in its wars and occupations. US imperialism is going to pay a big price for its over confidence and arrogance. Unfortunately because the labor leaders will not mobilize an anti war movement of a mass character many young US working class people and many young people in other lands will die before the monster of US Imperialism, which sends young people to their death will be overthrown.

Sean.

Unemployed in California, Week 34: The $20,000 ring

Had another dark humor moment in the Union's unemployment line today.

The cloud hovering over union construction is very dark. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article explained that the return to the commercial building boom of the past decade will be years away. In the first 9 months of 2009 residential building permits for the San Francisco region were down 73%! The bailed-out banks aren't lending and the Bay Area construction loan delinquency rate is 17%.

Four thousand of San Francisco's construction union labor force were out of work, a figure that may be near 30%. It's about the same at my local.

So as we stood around this morning at the union hall, we got talking about the state of our nation. One guy was better off than me, he was eligible for the second Federal unemployment benefit extension. We chatted, then another guy chimed in that he didn't even get the first extension and his money ran out months back. We broached the healthcare issue: it cost me two of my four weekly unemployment checks this month to pay for my family's health benefits. But then, the guy with the tooth missing up front, chimed in he was worse off, and as he told his story, he confirmed, he was worse off.

"My health benefits ran out long ago. I am deep, deep in debt. I got a kidney stone. I went to the ER. Shit, by the time I got out two days later, they billed me for $20,000!"

We all looked at eachother, then he added, "they even charged me $60 for oxygen - they charged me for the f****** air I breathed. Hospital f***** air." Then someone yelled, "you shoulda brought your own f****** air man." Another dude yelled, "f****** $20,000 for a kidney stone, did they at least give you the stone to take home?" To which our friend quickly replied, "No man! I'll tell 'em I ain't paying till they give me what's mine! And f*** them, let them try collecting that $20,000."

After a brief silence a guy sitting across the room piped in, "hey if you ever get that kidney stone dude, put it in a ring, that'll be the most expensive ring you've ever owned!" We all smiled and got up to move down the line.

Capitalist Health Care: it's just precious.

The US. The best country in the world.

Left: Rising US Health Care Costs, Business Week. Click on image.

I used to see a guy now and then who was a car dealer. He was also a right wing US fanatic. "This is the best country in the world he would continually tell me." I asked him. If somebody was going to sell you a car and he or she said it was the best car in the world would you not respond by saying that you would like to test the others. Well you have never been in any other country in the world so how would you know if this is the best one or not? He would grumble in rage and walk away.

I continually hear a similar claim about US health care. We have the best health care system in the world is the claim. As with the car dealer most people have never been out of the US or experienced a different health care system. So how would they know? Well let us look at it. Let us look at what this US system delivers. After all the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the digestion.

When we do so the failure of the US health care system is staggering. This "the best health care system in the world" delivers the following:

The US is 31st in life expectancy worldwide. (It is even worse for African Americans. An African American in New Orleans has a shorter life expectancy than the average person in Vietnam or Honduras.)

The US is 37th in infant mortality.

The US is 34th in maternal mortality.

In the US a child is two and a half times as likely to die by five as in Singapore or Sweden.

An American woman is eleven times as likely to die in childbirth as a woman in Ireland.

The Robert Wood Foundation and Urban Institute did a study of how well nineteen countries did in avoiding "preventable deaths." The so-called best health care system in the world, that is here in the US, came in last.

Americans take ten per cent fewer drugs than citizens in other countries, but pay one hundred and eighteen per cent more per pill.

However there is one US health statistic that is above average. That is when Americans reach sixty five years of age. This is because medicare kicks in and they are covered. The private health care system and the profit motive in health care does not work. What is working is the lying propaganda machine of the health industrial profit addicted industry. It is especially successful given the pathetic cowardly failure of the labor leaders to put forward any alternative. They are bootlicking Obama and holding back the potential movement that could sweep out this profit mad system and establish a national health care system based on need and not profit and open to all and free at the point of use.

Sean.

A Sense of Powerlessness

The working life, right? If its not one thing its another and what does it do for a person's peace of mind?

When working as a H.E.R.E. "salt" at San Jose's DoubleTree Hotel I was single, no real bills and not a care as to what happened. I recall and incident in which the G.M. grabbed my arm and started to yell at me, I through him into the kitchen and proceed to give my notice to quit to both him and the G.M. of the hotel. When asked why, I replied "You treat me like SHIT, you treat all of us like shit". Later that evening he came upto me, ripped my notice up and said that was disrespectful and that he would let me work there still.

Nothing to lose! Right, thats an anti-social maldaptive view on past situations, however, with a family, school and bills. It puts a new "light" on the situation I face and most face these days in the American and abroad workers situation. Where are you to run when you are being forced out, threatened with being fired, and layed-off. When your life is on the line. When a suit and tie holds your bread and butter in his hands. Its sickening to think about, but it happens everyday and more and more so in this "modern" economy.

A couple of interesting facts towards workplace anxiety. The worst is that going to a doctor about this can lead to prescriptions that can be addictive and dangerous. Here are some stories and facts I have found, whilst trying to cope with my own workplace anxiety.

http://www.healthcentral.com/anxiety/c/38695/26283/anxiety-workplace, "The workplace can be a particularly difficult environment for those dealing with social anxiety disorder and/or generalized anxiety disorder. For the over 15 million people who suffer with the illness, finding ways to adapt can be exhausting, if not impossible, to contend with."

as well as leading into whether or not this is a common thing to add to a disability and to workers comp. From this website http://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/main/anxiety-at-work-stress-in-the-workplace/menu-id-69/

Anxiety at Work - Stress in the Workplace

Stress in the workplace, job stress, traumatic events on the job and a work setting that creates physical stress can all cause anxiety at work.

In today's economic upheavals, downsizing, layoff, merger, and bankruptcies have cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs. Millions more have been shifted to unfamiliar tasks within their companies and wonder how much longer they will be employed. Adding to the pressures that workers face are new bosses, computer surveillance of production, fewer health and retirement benefits, and the feeling they have to work longer and harder just to maintain their current economic status. Workers at every level are experiencing increased tension and uncertainty, and are updating their resumes.

The loss of a job can be devastating, putting unemployed workers at risk for physical illness, marital strain,anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Loss of a job affects every part of life, from what time you get up in the morning, to whom you see and what you can afford to do. Until the transition is made to a new position, stress is chronic.

What happens to you throughout your day at work, whether construction,hotel, social-service or whatever. How do you manage. In this never ending struggle.