I voted for Obama-Biden last November. I voted for hope. I did not think I was voting for more war. A lot of things I voted for may not be addressed because war is a sport that sucks the air out of a presidential administration and drains the spirit of a nation.

I voted for health care for all. I wanted support for HR 676, the Conyers “Medicare for all” to be a part of the debate about our people and about single payer health insurance would benefit economic growth.

I voted so that no human is illegal. Our racist immigration laws and attitudes are an affront to the values our nation should aspire to and ignores the fact that our culture and our economy are enriched when our borders are more open and our hearts are open as well. Prosperity depends on our border being a symbol of human rights for all who choose to cross it peacefully and openly.

I voted for employee free choice legislation to tighten rules against union busting and illegitimate employer interference against employee organizing. It would allow a majority card check of employee interest to obviate the need for an election. An attitude of Union yes reinforces economic human rights. That is good for citizen workers. That will reduce exploitation of immigrant workers.

I voted for increased funding and emphasis on science and space exploration. We can build spaceships and atom smashers. Basic science costs money. But, the money is not nearly as much as from the waste of wars. We could stabilize our climate, protect our environment, green our jobs, and reduce hunger and obesity. Yes we can.

But no we can’t, and we won’t. The wars will sink everything. The wars will extinguish the flame of hope. We will forget to relight the candle, and we will not do what we want, can, and should. I voted for wars and empire. I should have known.

David Smithers

Wellman, Iowa 52356-0357

I am working for health care reform. The preferred and necessary reform is for single payer public health insurance such as the Canadians have enjoyed for over twenty years. In fact the politician who first advanced their plan is a national hero in Canadian political history. The second front I am working on is with “Organizing for America” and those supporting the “public option” plan such as that proposed by the Service Employees International Union and President Barack Obama.

I am experiencing a stressful period of my health story right now. I am a 56-year-old white man. I am morbidly obese, have type II diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, depression, and neuropathy. I am also the father of three young adult boys who I would like to leave some tiny estate to and/or help with their young adult lives, as my wife and I were helped. As it is they have helped my wife and I, financially, as much as the other way around. Any long-term incapacity to work or wait to obtain disability benefits would devastate my wife and I, and would have personal generational repercussions.

During our adult years we have been fortunate to have good health insurance and sick pay, as we have been employees of the University of Iowa. We did not have health insurance when we were in our twenties, just as our boys do not. Nevertheless, even with our health insurance, we have bankrupted three times, and each filing had a large component of health care debt as the prime cause.

The fear of incapacity and being unable to help our children is something that would start to be solved with the introduction of single payer national health insurance. Of course, personal and societal health care variables will have to improve, as well, but health insurance is the greatest Achilles’ heal. The American Dream and the American Economy are closely linked.

For the average American, the dream and the economy are not very good and confidence is evaporating. To Senator Charles Grassley, I would like your support of a decent public option package that is immediately available. But, far more important, I ask that Representative Dave Loebsack and Senator Tom Harkin renew their support for single payer. And, President Obama, I voted to end the American health insurance crisis, and for single payer to be number one on the bargaining table.

David Arthur Smithers

Box 357 Wellman

52356-0357

http://facebook.com/betterpolitics

Hopefully, I can get back to regular blogging on my little flagship podium on MySpace. I have been fairly active with many local friends and some faraway on Facebook (see, David Arthur Smithers, Cedar Rapids). I have traveled a little ways politically from my days of participating in the Iowa Democrats, as I deeply admired the campaigns of  Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. Like a lot of people, I would best be categorized as a socialist who happens to be a long time member of the Democratic Party. On things like immigration and the drug war, libertarian leanings must be added to my political conciousness.

This week, I have suffered the pain of my first eruption of Chicken Pox Shingles. The spot was confined to my right back neck and scalp nerve. but I had a lingering cold and flu before and since which has kept me sleeping a lot.

Locally, I am involved with three others in forming the founding bylaws of Iowans for Economic Human Rights, Inc. Hopefully it will evolve into a statewide organization with local chapters. The inspiration follows from the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

May 12 was the one year anniversary of the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raid on the packing plant in Postville, Iowa. I was honored to join the protest in August, and visited the town for the first time. I have gone to local meetings of the Justice Peace Outreach Group and eastern Iowa PEACE to discuss this matter and also the antiwar efforts in the Iowa City area.

I have recently been elected an area vice president in AFSCME local 12, and am working at becoming a steward again after a hiatus of 10+ years. I have not dropped my registration as a Democrat and keep in contact with many party friends around the state and in Washington County. My active participation has been cut back as I evaluate how to include my Green Party, socialist, etc. complexities into the mix. My loyalty as a straight ticket voter ended in 2008. Though, I was a supporter of Senator Joe Biden, even given my political differences ith him, just because I grew to like him and his family as they spent so much time in the Iowa caucus of 07-08.

As a liberal, I hold out some faint hope that the Obama presidency will begin the U-Turn in the ill fated project of American Empire, and begin working again on the American Dream. I remain an affectionate critic.

Tom Geoghegan supports single payer national health insurance, higher social security benefits, a competitive economy, and employee free choice. All these are vital for a new New Deal.

Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is to be the director of Homeland Security, and given that some of the most racist policies and attitudes exist in Arizona, compared to California, New Mexico, and Texas where Hispanics experience comparatively more welcome and tolerance, I want to make sure that human rights for undocumented migrant peoples is not sacrificed to racism and border walls.                   BetterPolitics

Immigrant Rights Activists March on ICE on Day After Inauguration

By Marcelo Ballvé, New America Media
Posted on January 21, 2009, Printed on January 23, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/121570/

© 2009 New America Media All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/121570/

While blood is on the Palestinian side as well, the Israelis apartheid war against the Palestinians is disproportionate and is slow motion genocide.