VIEW ONLINE: http://dev.portside.org/2012-10-11/test-tidbits-reader-responses-comments-and-announcements-october-11-2012 SUBSCRIBE: http://portside.org/subscribe VISIT PORTSIDE.ORG: http://portside.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Test - Tidbits - Reader Responses, Comments and Announcements - October 11, 2012 <span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-10-11T00:00:00-05:00">October 11, 2012</span> By Portside (Thu, 2012-10-11 00:00) <p><a href="#Mitt">Mitt and Big Bird (Seymour Joseph)</a><br /> <a href="#LM">Re: This Presidential Race Should Never Have Been This Close (Laurel MacDowell)</a><br /> <a href="#schools">Re: Charter Schools Do Not Outperform Unionized Schools (Stephanie Jennings)</a><br /> <a href="#Radey">Re: Letting Patients Read the Doctor's Notes (Jack Radey)</a><br /> <a href="#Lenzer">Healthcare Lies (Jeanne Lenzer)</a><br /> <a href="#Norman">Worker Cooperatives: Creating Participatory Socialism in Capitalism and State Socialism (Norman Markowitz)</a><br /> <a href="#Columbus">Re: Columbus Day: No Cause for Celebration (Dave Ecklein, Leonard Lehrman, Isabel Thompson)</a><br /> <a href="#Steve W">Check out Degelman's novel "Gates of Eden" (Steve Willett)</a><br /> <a href="#note">Moderator's Note - Sorry about all of the New York City vicinity announcements.(Judith Ackerman)</a><br /> <a href="#rage">The Raging Grannies - New York - October 13</a><br /> <a href="#baker">Dean Baker in NYC on Oct. 16th: Threats to Medicare thru the Election and the Lame Duck Congress</a><br /> <a href="#Palestine">"Health Care as a Human Right in Occupied Palestine" - Sacramento - Oct.30 and Berkeley - Oct. 25</a><br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="Mitt"><strong>Mitt and Big Bird</strong></a><br /> <br /> A word about Mitt Romney and Captain Queeg. Yes, I'm suggesting that Mitt Romney is unstable, just as Captain Queeg was in the "Caine Mutiny."<br /> <br /> All the gaffes Romney has been making got me wondering about his noggin. Is he just careless as a campaigner or is there something askew in his personality? His hyper performance in the first debate, partly the result of Obama ignoring his lies and hypocrisy, led him right over a cliff. The cliff came in the form of Big Bird.<br /> <br /> Of all the gaffes Mitt has made during this interminable campaign, none was more telling that something is wrong with this guy than him saying he was going to end the subsidy to PBS ? right in front of Jim Lehrer, no less! ? and then try to make nice by stating that he likes Big Bird, and Jim Lehrer too!<br /> <br /> It's obvious to anyone with a shred of objectivity that Romney doesn't care about that famous 47 percent ? though it's really more like 98 percent. But that PBS gaffe was in a different ballpark. President? Please!<br /> <br /> Seymour Joseph<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="LM"><strong>Re: This Presidential Race Should Never Have Been This Close</strong></a><br /> <br /> Thank God for Rolling Stone that tells it like it is! It is unbelievable that a chameleon like Mitt Romney is even close to the presidency. There is no question that Romney is representing his small rich constituency. If he wins, many American will lose big-time as he cuts supports from under them. America will lose prestige and its economy will sink like a stone. The only people who will do well are the 1%. So come on America! Turn off Fox News! Think about your own interests! You need good health care and good public education! You need to rebuild your economy and the best way to do that is by spreading the wealth around! You need to act on climate change before we all face a crisis! As for foreign policy, Obama has gotten you out of one war, has nearly gotten you out of another war, has destroyed Bin Laden, and has firmly indicated to Israel that he will not okay a nuclear attack on Iran and will instead keep up the sanctions which seem to be working! He is tough and effe ctive. So let's give Obama a good second term by re-electing him and giving him majorities in both houses so he can actually do something.<br /> <br /> Laurel MacDowell<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="schools"><strong>Re: Charter Schools Do Not Outperform Unionized Schools</strong></a><br /> <br /> As a public school supporter with a child in her 10th year in public school I agree with the argument that Charter Schools do not outperform unionized schools. 1/2 of my daughters school years have been in district schools and 1/2 in charter. I dragged my feet before reluctantly choosing to send her to a charter school 4th-8th. She has now moved back into a district school for high school and I am being reminded of the difference. It is definitely not performance. Both of her schools charter and non are highly sought after with high test scores. The difference is parent access. Maybe that's not the case in all charter/non charter side by side comparisons but in my case the difference is stark from a parent point of view. In the charter school parents had nearly unfettered access to administrators and teachers. Much to the staffs dismay at times, but this access created committees working on improving special ed servic es, parents pushing for priority shifts to get an art program, a small music program, more after school options, improved nutrition & a school garden program.<br /> <br /> In the first 3 years I was involved at a district school parents were suspected and rebuffed at every turn being told no without recourse for serious behavioral and safety concerns. Now at the high school level the district school is again suspect of parent involvement and though the district has improved some the overall approach is suspicion and fear of parent involvement.<br /> <br /> I do not see this as a union problem but as a bureaucracy problem. Our district, the 2nd largest in the state of California is in protection mode. Protecting itself as an institution. Sometimes the union is involved and sometimes it isn't. But the truth deep inside this education debate does not pit parents or students against teachers & unions but against a doing business as usual attitude by districts that are monolithic in nature & obstinate.<br /> <br /> The schools I am comparing are urban, mainly Latino and both have majorities of working class families. Parents do not want to do the job of educators. We prefer to leave it to the professionals but we do want a place at the table and way to share our unique perspective. I have found that parents bring a worldview not seen within the school that enriches the whole campus when it is engaged. I certainly don't have all of the answers but without this segment of the education community being heard we will continue this great divide. I am aware that much of this divide comes from a right wing agenda to destroy public education. I am not interested in supporting their propaganda. However, the bureaucracies we support have to be looked at in the cold light of day & we have to admit, education is broken and needs to be reinvented. Teachers are trying to do it everyday in the classrooms with little support. But sometimes, their main support comes from the families of their students, not their administrators, union & certainly not their district.<br /> <br /> Education must be fully funded but funding alone will not address the transformation that we need to see in education. Lots of great people are doing work in this direction. Rethinking schools is one such organization. If prop 38 or 30 pass in California we might have a chance to improve our children's education and opportunity. But even with those funds it will require a new openness on the part of districts to allow those funds to be used as schools need them not solely to maintain large districts.<br /> <br /> Stephanie Jennings<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="Radey"><strong>Re: Letting Patients Read the Doctor's Notes</strong></a><br /> <br /> It is very important in medicine to have a maximum of trust and communication between physician and patient. With the advent of computerized charting, the ability of patients (and medical staffers!) to read doctor's notes is greatly improved, and offers excellent possibilities for patients to read their own charts online. Although "secure website access" may sound secure, I think it is safe to say that there is a potential downside here, because I seriously doubt anything online is all that secure.<br /> <br /> However, there is a point in the article that I think needs clarifying, namely the status of your chart at your doctor's office. In fact, this collection of documents, notes, test results, medications, etc was created for and by your doctor, not you. That's right. It is NOT yours, it is your doctor's. You are entitled to a copy of it if you want it, but you have to pay for the work involved in duplicating it. A patient of long standing with significant health concerns might have a chart four inches thick or more. Since few doctor's offices have surplus staff, copying this (and to protect the patient's privacy and to protect the doctor's office's control of these critical documents, this is NOT sent out to your local Kinko's to be xeroxed) is a substantial commitment of time, plus the cost of making the copies. So do not be surprised if it takes a while and costs you money.<br /> <br /> When a patient is involved in a legal matter concerning their health, anything from an insurance claim to an accident to a malpractice suit etc an attorney from either side can get a subpoena for the records. Typically this is served at the doctor's office and the messenger comes with a portable copy machine to do the deed.<br /> <br /> It is a common belief that your chart belongs to you. It doesn't. It is made by the doctor's staff for use by the doctor. Many patients get confused; they have one doctor, and have a relationship with her or him, and assume, without thinking much about it, that therefore the doctor has one patient. The doctor may have hundreds of patients, some of whom he/she sees weekly, some of them yearly or even less often. Before your visit, the doctor, if they have time, reviews your chart, to remind themselves who the heck you are, what your problems have been, and what treatments they, and other docs, may have prescribed. You want that doctor to have your records, securely, in their office. You may also want a copy for yourself, just be prepared to wait, and to pay for them.<br /> <br /> Jack Radey<br /> <br /> <a name="Lenzer"><strong>Healthcare Lies</strong></a><br /> <br /> When it comes to healthcare, there are lies aplenty coming from both the right and even a few on the left who believe that efforts to rein in overtreatment will create "death panels." This concern is understandable given that insurance companies have denied many patients the care they need. But overtreatment, like undertreatment, is also driven by greed - a problem described by Nobel laureate and famed cardiologist, Bernard Lown, who called overtreatment and undertreatment the "Siamese twins" of a for-profit healthcare system.<br /> <br /> For a short free-access video about the human cost of overtreatment produced by the BMJ (formerly, the British Medical Journal) go to: <a href="http://bit.ly/RKmHEp">http://bit.ly/RKmHEp</a><br /> <br /> Jeanne Lenzer,<br /> Independent journalist<br /> <br /> <a name="Norman"><br /> <strong>Worker Cooperatives: Creating Participatory Socialism in Capitalism and State Socialism</strong></a><br /> <br /> This is a well reasoned article, but, as a "state socialist" I would respond with the comment that cooperatives of this kind can play a significant role in complementing larger structures of public ownership and "state socialist" administered economy, but are not a substitute to such structures. The history of cooperatives in capitalist societies in the past is that, over time, they either fall apart because the structures of the larger capitalist society seek to discriminate against and isolate them, and/or they fail to hold their members. Those that do survive also tend to adopt capitalist market and ownership principles over time. That doesn't mean the cooperatives that Peter Ranis discusses don't deserve sympathy and support. It does mean though that for the Occupy Movement to become an effective national anti-monopoly movement, it will need a program that calls upon the state to institute major changes in its relations hip to industry, finance, labor, consumers, and environment, not opt out of the present system</p> <p><br /> Norman Markowitz<br /> <br /> ==========<br /> <br /> <a name="Columbus"><strong>Re: Columbus Day: No Cause for Celebration</strong></a><br /> <br /> (un)Happy Columbus Day! But why not celebrate Leif Ericsson Day? He was the European who originally "discovered" America about a thousand years ago, and so far as we know, did not cause trouble for folks already here as Christopher did. Maybe that's why US history books slight him. Not disagreeable enough for current standards - or just dumb luck that Leif never actually encountered any Native Americans?<br /> <br /> Just a lot of vines...<br /> <br /> So Leif called it Vinland, not realizing it was a continent. Chris thought he discovered India (hence the misnomer "Indians") - whose call was worse?<br /> <br /> There IS in fact a Leif Ericsson Day. It is October 9, this Tuesday (tomorrow as I write)! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson_Day - his last name is spelled according to national preference - mine was Swedish of course. Norwegians sometimes claim him as theirs (sp. Erikson), but the guy was actually Icelandic (sp. Eriksson). Many of you undoubtedly know all this and more, since apparently in several midwestern states it is already a recognized holiday. But not by the banks. And thank goodness it occurs too early for lutefisk, that is to be saved for spoiling Xmas with.<br /> <br /> Skol,<br /> <br /> Dave Ecklein</p> <p>(3rd generation, born in North Dakota, ancestors from Småland, probably...)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> To read about, and watch, NEW WORLD: An Opera About What Columbus Did to the "Indians" by Leonard Lehrman & Joel Shatzky (commissioned by the Puffin Foundation presented by the Long Island Composers Alliance), go to <a href="http://ljlehrman.artists-in-residence.com/NewWorld.html">http://ljlehrman.artists-in-residence.com/NewWorld.html</a><br /> <br /> Leonard Lehrman<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Excellent!! Let's see if NY can follow.<br /> <br /> Isabel Thompson<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="Steve W"><strong>Check out Degelman's novel "Gates of Eden"</strong></a><br /> <br /> I highly recommend Charles Degelman's book, "The Gates of Eden", especially if you lived through the "sturm und drang" of the sixties' in this country - or are curious about the times. The book gives you a real inside feel for the complexities of the politics and culture of the period, from the civil rights struggles in the south to the turbulent anti- war movement.<br /> <br /> For me personally, it was a trip of nostalgia and sadness, reflecting my own conflicted feelings and reactions at the time. It also helped that some of the background was personally familiar to me, having grown up in New England but come to political "maturity" (?) in Northern California.<br /> <br /> Pick this one up - you will not be disappointed...<br /> <br /> My review on Facebook:<br /> <br /> <a href="http://http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Eden-Charles-Degelman/product-reviews/0983321639/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_link_2?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=2&showViewpoints=0">http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Eden-Charles-Degelman/product-reviews/0983321639/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_link_2?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=2&showViewpoints=0</a><br /> <br /> Steve Willett<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="note"><strong>Moderator's Note - Sorry about all of the New York City vicinity announcements.</strong></a><br /> <br /> The Raging Grannies are gonna gig at The People's Cafe on 35th St. off Park Av. NYC on 10/13 7:30PM. We ain't bad.<br /> <br /> Judith Ackerman<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.peoplesvoicecafe.org/">http://www.peoplesvoicecafe.org/</a><br /> <br /> October 13, 2012:<br /> <br /> <a name="rage"><strong>THE RAGING GRANNIES</strong></a> is an international movement which started in 1987 in British Columbia, Canada, and has formed chapters (or gaggles) all over the world. Raging Grannies promote global peace, justice and social and economic equality by raising consciousness through song parodies and satire. The local gaggle, NY Metro Raging Grannies and Their Daughters, was started and sponsored by the New York City chapter of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). <a href="nycmetro.raginggrannies.org">nycmetro.raginggrannies.org</a><br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="baker"><strong>Dean Baker in NYC on Oct. 16th: Threats to Medicare thru the Election and the Lame Duck Congress</strong></a><br /> <br /> The structure of Medicare may be put at serious risk following the election. Governor Romney has explicitly called for turning it into a voucher program. If President Obama is re- elected, there are also major risks to the program, some of which may arise as early as the lame duck Congressional session in the fall, if there is an effort to reach a "grand bargain" on the deficit. CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker will take part in a forum on the threats Medicare faces post-election and during a lame duck Congress. The event, which is sponsored by the New York Metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, is free and will be followed by a viewing of the presidential debate.<br /> <br /> When: Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM<br /> <br /> Where: Beth Israel's Phillips Ambulatory Care Center,<br /> 2nd Floor Auditorium<br /> 10 Union Square East, New York, NY<br /> <br /> Find event details here.<br /> <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7IlsxIvVvUeEoemzOPqvtdX3mnwidylo">http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7IlsxIvVvUeEoemzOPqvtdX3mnwidylo</a><br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="Palestine"><strong>"Health Care as a Human Right in Occupied Palestine" - Sacramento - Oct.30 and Berkeley - Oct. 25</strong></a><br /> <br /> Tuesday, October 30, 2012 7 pm - "Health Care as a Human Right in Occupied Palestine" will feature Dr. Ruchama Marton, founder of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and 2010 winner of the Right Livelihood Award, and Dr. Allam Jarrar of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.<br /> <br /> Speakers at the 2011 and 2012 annual meetings of the American Public Health Association, they will describe the current state of health care in the West Bank. They will discuss the challenges in providing comprehensive health services in light of the military occupation. Their presentation will be at the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society conference room (on the second floor) at 5380 Elvas Avenue, Sacramento with a light supper at 5:30 pm and presentation at 7 pm. This event is free and open to the public, donations are welcome. Sponsored by PSR/Sacramento and Jewish Voice for Peace/Sacramento, endorsed by Sacramento Area Peace Action. For information: <a href="[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</a> or <a href="[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.sacpsr.org/events.htm">http://www.sacpsr.org/events.htm</a><br /> <br /> & in Berkeley:<br /> <br /> Thursday, October 25, 7pm, La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, with Jewish Voice for Peace -- The Right to Healthcare Tour: Dr. ALLAM JARRAR of the Palestine Medical Relief Society and DR. RUCHAMA MARTON, President of Physicians for Human Rights- Israel and winner of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award. Tickets $10-$15 sliding scale.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4850389ae3e2d55804103e6af&id=4fed615ab2&e=1fc626f0de">http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4850389ae3e2d55804103e6af&id=4fed615ab2&e=1fc626f0de</a><br /> <br /> ==========<br /> </p> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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