USA update

[the_future_modernes]

Vermont House passes Single Payer!!! Woootttttt!!!! Vt. House passes single-payer health care bill

MONTPELIER, Vt.—Every Vermonter could sign up for state-financed health insurance under a bill passed by the House on Thursday that would put the state on a path to a single-payer health care system by the middle of this decade. "This bill takes our state one step closer to a system that ensures that all Vermonters have access to the care they deserve and contains costs," House Speaker Shap Smith said shortly after the House passed the bill 92-49. The measure now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass, but with some possible changes. 

Gov. Peter Shumlin, who made single-payer health care a centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign last year, also praised the legislation. He said it would make Vermont "the first state in the country to make the first substantive step to deliver a health care system where health care will be a right and not a privilege, where health care will follow the individual, not be a requirement of the employer, and where we'll have an affordable system that contains costs." 


Costs are an open question. The bill sets up a five-member state board to design a benefit package to be called Green Mountain Care, but doesn't require the governor to propose a way to pay for it until 2013. That drew fire from minority Republicans in the House, who said the hard part of reform -- paying for it -- won't be tackled until after Shumlin campaigns for a second two-year term in 2012. They also said the bill would create too much uncertainty for businesses in the state. 


... Rep. Thomas Burditt, R-West Rutland, went further, arguing that government should sharply reduce, not increase, its role in the delivery of health care. Burditt quoted V.I. Lenin, leader of the Russian Revolution and founder of the Soviet Communist Party, as saying "medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism," adding, "I believe those who are promoting 'universal coverage' via government-run and government-controlled medicine know this. What they hope is that the public won't find out the truth. There is nothing compassionate about socialism. "

Right. Because capitalism has been SO compassionate, especially lately. I mean those insurance companies!! Their compassion and empathy KNOWS NO BOUNDS. MORE INFO HERE

Eyewitness at the Triangle

March 25 is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. That day, 146 workers--mostly immigrant women and girls--were killed trying to escape the inferno at a New York City garment factory. Many desperate women threw themselves out windows in an effort to flee the top floors, which were too high for firefighters' ladders.

 

Just a few years earlier, workers at Triangle led a militant 13-week general industry strike, the "Rising of the 20,000," which won many important reforms. The right to organize in unions, however, was not fully recognized.

Today, socialists honor the memories of the workers who died at Triangle and--and vow to fight for strong unions, safe workplaces and decent wages for all workers. A commemorative event will take place on March 25 at 7 p.m. at the Great Cooper Union in New York City.

Here, we reprint the eyewitness account of William G. Shepherd, a reporter who was in Washington Square on March 25, 1911. This report was first published in the Milwaukee Journalon March 27, 1911.

MORE

 

On a related theme, daily kos user dsteffen has an ongoing series called How regulation came to be. I keep hearing a whole lot of people talking utter nonsense about how regulations are bad for business because how dare the consumer be kept safe at the expense of the almighty dollar, and the free market will keep us safe, blah blah blah. Such people need to be hit over the head with historical cluebats. 

And you know what? Mr. Dsteffens has a GREAT selection:

1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act  The Iroquois Theater Fire Radium Girls - Part I Radium Girls - Part II Radium Girls - Part III Construction Summer Red Moon Rising The Cherry Mine Disaster, Part I The Cherry Mine Disaster, Part II Ground Fault, Interrupted The Cocoanut Grove DK GreenRoots: Donora Confined Spaces The Hotel Fires of 1946 - Part I The Hotel Fires of 1946 - Part II

How regulation came to be: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire  Our Lady of the Angels  The Great Molasses Flood Toy Safety The Power of One: Frances Oldham Kelsey Santa Barbara The Scofield Mine Explosion The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire The Cincinnati Who concert tragedy The Flexner Report The Eastland Disaster El Cortito -- the short hoe The Buffalo Creek Act of God The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Filling it up with Ethyl

  Black Kos' Week in Review features black scientists and artists. 


Makeshift Magazine's newest issue is now out 


General Electric, btw, paid no taxes this year None. Zip. nada. Despite make a grand worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, of which $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. But they did get a tax credit! Guess how much? 


Have some news of radical childcare collectives in an article originally published in Make/shift mag

In 1989, China Martens went to an international anarchist gathering in San Francisco with her one-year-old daughter and found, to her surprise, a childcare room. “That there was a safe place for me and my daughter to go, [that] we could talk to others instead of being left out, that they served peanut butter sandwiches and juice, and that they had a flyer saying how childcare is a radical activity everyone should support made a huge impression on me,” she says. Today, Martens is a cofounder of Kidz City, a new childcare collective in Baltimore. Across the country, from Los Angeles to Austin to D.C., these collectives are emerging. 

Mainly made up of activists and those with a passion for children, groups have formed to ensure that parents and caregivers have a voice in social justice movements. Many of them incorporate workshops and political education in their work, and many support specific organizations—especially organizations led by women of color. Simon Strikeback of the Chicago Childcare Collective (ChiChiCo) explains that many organizations “don’t have a lot of moms and other women in their leadership and ranks because they need to make sure their kids are taken care of. ChiChiCo offers childcare so those women (and other caretakers) can participate more fully in that organization’s work.” ChiChiCo works with Young Women’s Empowerment Project, Chicago Freedom School, and Centro Autonomo, among other groups. MORE

 

This is from the rather pro-business and low taxes Wall Street Journal. Proceed with that in mind:Insolvency Looms as States Drain U.S. Disability Fund

Puerto Rico has emerged in recent years as one of the easiest places in the U.S. to get payments from the Social Security Disability Insurance program, created during the Eisenhower administration to help people who can't work because of a health problem. In 2010, 63% of applicants there won approval, four percentage points higher than New Jersey and Wyoming, the most-generous U.S. states. In fact, nine of the top 10 U.S. zip codes for disabled workers receiving benefits can be found on Puerto Rico
MORE

 

 

Unsurprisingly :Disability Claims in Puerto Rico Get New Scrutiny I want to see more about this situation, will keep you posted as to developments. 





In more happy-making news:Workers With Epilepsy, Diabetes Gain Under Obama Disability Rule

Employers will be barred from discriminating against workers with conditions such as epilepsy and diabetes under an Obama administration rule that broadens the definition of disabilities.The regulation makes it easier for employees to win workplace accommodations, according to a statement today from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces discrimination laws. A business group said the rule won’t be burdensome.Workers with diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and bipolar disorder have conditions that should be considered a disability, according to the statement. Previously, employees with those conditions were sometimes denied legal protection.“I am confident that these regulations will work well for both people with disabilities and employers,” EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum said in the statement.

 

MORE

 

U.S. Hispanic population tops 50 million

(Reuters) - The U.S. Hispanic population passed the 50 million mark for the first time and Latinos accounted more than half of U.S. population growth in the last decade, the Census Bureau said on Thursday. The Census Bureau put the Latino count at 50.5 million or 16.3 percent of the U.S. population. In 2000, Hispanics accounted for 12.5 percent of Americans. The new numbers were part of a wealth of data released by the bureau, including ethnicity and geographical figures. 


Growth in the Hispanic population accounted for more than half of American population growth between 2000 and 2010, the data shows. The Census Bureau said that it had not yet determined if the increases were caused by immigration or births. The Asian American population grew by almost 43 percent, and now accounts for 4.8 percent of the U.S. population. African American numbers grew slightly to 12.6 percent of the population. The white population of the United States fell to 72.4 percent in 2010 from 75.1 percent ten years ago.Over nine million Americans identify themselves as being multiracial. Census Bureau analysts said that 46.5 percent of all children under the age of 18 are minorities, an indication of how the demographics of the United States are changing.MORE