Writing Life

This is impressive. I saw this over on Brick Lane in East London. I was so moved.

First, because the UK is working on providing care to the homeless. And it’s part if the National Health Service, not some NGO stepping in to do what the government should be doing.

Second, I was moved since we don’t have anything official like this in the States. We have so many without healthcare, and the homeless likely have no care and get no proper respect. This place in London wasn’t an emergency room. It was an established, government-run healthcare facility.

We must learn from this and provide care, top-notch care, to all. That is the duty of government.

County Executive Ken Ulman (D) and County Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson will unveil a health care proposal for all uninsured Howard County residents next month. This is fantastic news to hear. It will take the burden off of emergency rooms, so that they can focus on real emergencies, instead of dealing with the victims of structural violence. It also sets an example for other counties, states, and indeed the country as a whole, to follow.

Mr. Ulman is an advocate for change, sometimes pushing forward in order to make a difference now. I like that mentality, though I worry that other jurisdictions might not be so visionary themselves and we’ll end up with a patchwork of care instead of providing universal coverage. But, if we wait until all the nuts and bolts are worked out, we know that it’ll never happen. There’ll always be naysayers and there’ll always be more things that could be tweaked. I’m sure Howard County and Maryland will be watching next month.

Great story in today’s Baltimore Sun about the Howard County Council gearing up for a lot of work after it’s August recess. One item that caught my attention was a bill introduced by my Councilwoman Jen Terrasa:

If that weren’t enough controversy for one month, County Executive Ken Ulman and Councilwoman Jennifer Terrasa introduced a bill to require thorough environmental testing of any golf course proposed for development. The bill was prompted by the revelation that heavy concentrations of arsenic were found two years ago near a utility shed at Turf Valley Conference Center and Resort, where the Mangione family is trying to develop more than 1,300 new homes.

The family agreed last week to enter a state environmental cleanup program to reassure the public that the land under its golf courses is safe, although Louis Mangione, vice president of Mangione Family Enterprises, has insisted the firm always intended to do more testing as part of the required development process. Mangione said this week he opposes the bill as “unneccesary and redundant” since he already agreed to enter the state program.

Having read about Mr. Mangione in the past and knowing people who live up in Turf Valley, I have to say I fully support Ms. Terrasa and Mr. Ulman on this issue. Mangione seemed forced into doing this clean up, especially after tests were released that showed highly elevated arsenic levels on the property. If he cleans it up and sticks with the program, that’s great. If he doesn’t, the County will be able to hold him accountable. No harm no foul.

With all the talk of Vice President Dick Cheney’s pacemaker replacement, there’s been tons of ink spilled about his past four heart attacks, several angioplasties, and quadruple bypass surgery.

One thing missing, though, is staring us right in the face. Dick Cheney has HEALTH INSURANCE. He wouldn’t be able to afford these types of surgeries nor this level of care without it. Everyone in America should have this level of access to care. Hoepfully, they’ll have preventative care as well, in order to prevent the need for the drastic measures needed to maintain the health of the Vice President. I don’t want to take away the VP’s health care; I want to make sure everyone has access to such a plan.

Some of the Democratic presidential aspirants are talking about some form of universal care. It’s not socialized medicine, that’s just a right-wing way of trying to avoid a discussion about one of the most serious issues facing Americans today. It’s about the richest and strongest nation in the world caring for its citizens. I’d like to hear all of the candidates, Democrats, Republicans and independents, talk about universal coverage. I don’t want them to disrespect it, I want them to offer their plan to implement it. The time has come.

Read New York Times piece on just how sinister the Bush Administration is. Knowing their policies that have science or medical components are wrong, they hid the facts and the scientists, rather than change their policies. This article focuses on how Bush political appointees urged, told or demanded the Surgeon General not speak out about public health issues that went against Bush policies that had been ideologically decided beforehand. This is a heinous crime on the people of America.

Some of you may have seen Michael Moore’s most excellent dis of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, in regards to his new film Sicko, and also Fahrenheit 9/11. The accusations Moore leveled in that video piece were indeed true, as CNN and Gupta are admitting they knew the facts but decided to report their own spin instead.

In the June 6th edition of The Hill newspaper, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) wrote an an excellent opinion piece on HIV/AIDS funding for the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She wrote her piece in response to President Bush calling for more funding for his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR has done some very good things, but it’s been underfunded and used as an ideological tool of the far-right evangelical community (through its abstinence-only funding clauses).

The Global Fund is a public-private partnership that works across borders to address these three modern plagues. The U.S. contributes money to the Fund but not at the levels is is assessed and not at the levels a country of our financial resources should.

Andrew Speaker, the self-centered, self-important American from Georgia with XDR-TB, testified by phone to a Congressional panel yesterday. Yet again, he asserted that he did nothing wrong and that everyone else but him is to blame. Defiantly, he seemed to imply that since he wasn’t detained or arrested, he was free to do whatever he felt like.

Of more interest is his assertion that all was fine and dandy according to doctors who examined him prior to his escape to Europe. Once he was told that he shouldn’t fly, something he denies he was told, he immediately changed his flight plans for his honeymoon, leaving two days earlier. When actually told that he was a serious contagious threat, while he was in Italy, he fled the country, by plane!

Andrew Speaker is detestable. A spoiled child. But, he’s not a child since he made adult decisions. Decisions that put his fellow travelers unwittingly at risk of contracting an extensively drug resistant form of tuberculosis. More so, due to his ignore doctors advice, evading Centers for Disease Control (CDC) requests that he go into quarantine in Italy, and sneaking back into the U.S., Andrew Speaker has created an environment where everyone in the U.S. will pay. Voluntary cooperation with public health officials might not be so voluntary in the future, due to the actions of Andrew Speaker. This spoiled man couldn’t play by the rules; and it’s likely the rules will be changed and more stringently impact all U.S. residents.