Aug 07 2009
Weekly Digest – 08/07/09
Our weekly edition is a nationally syndicated one-hour digest of the best of our daily coverage.
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This week on Uprising:
* Iran’s Green Revolution Going Strong; Ahmedinejad Weak
* Black Agenda Report on John Conyers, Barack Obama, and Health Care
* Right-wing Groups Organize Astroturf Campaign to Defeat Health Care Reform
* Empire Notes: Global Environmental Strain and New Thinking
* New UK Study Reignites Debate Over Organics
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Iran’s Green Revolution Going Strong; Ahmedinejad Weak
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after a much disputed presidential election on June 12th, was inaugurated in early August in Tehran with several members of parliament and senior officials boycotting a ceremonial endorsement by Ayatollah Khamanei. The two main opposition candidates in last June’s election, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani decided against attending the inauguration event which was not televised on Farsi television channels in Iran. Protesters had attempted to assemble but were dispersed by authorities. But since the inauguration, they have once more taken to the streets in smaller numbers denouncing Ahmedinejad’s election as fraudulent and keeping his government on edge. Meanwhile, a trial of reformist activists and dissidents accused of directing the massive protests this past June, that came to be known as the “Green Revolution” has resumed this week. Defendants include former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Mohsen Mirdamadi, the secretary-general of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Laureate. The trial has been roundly criticized as similar to those under Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s.
GUEST: Muhammad Sahimi, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Southern California and a regular columnist for Tehranbureau.com.
Black Agenda Report on John Conyers, Barack Obama and Health care
Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about John Conyers, Barack Obama and Health care Reform.
Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.
Right-wing Groups Organize Astroturf Campaign to Defeat Health Care Reform
Conservatives are already celebrating the delay in health care legislation as a victory to quash reform. Now that Congress is on recess touring their districts to interact with constituents, the fight has been moved to localized town hall meetings. Right wing groups like Americans for Prosperity, and their front groups, like Patients United, have descended on Congressional Democrats supporting a public health care option, including Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, Tim Bishop of New York, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Steve Kagan of Wisconsin, and Steve Driehaus of Ohio. A video of a right-wing mob facing down Representative Doggett in Austin, Texas has gone viral. The activists are largely the same groups that organized the so-called Tea Party demonstrations earlier this year around the economic stimulus legislation. Their defacto allies in the health insurance industry are busy monitoring their progress by sending staffers to 30 town halls meetings in states across the country. Meanwhile, a new online video produced by Brave New Films exposes the mind-bogglingly vast salaries and stock options of health insurance CEOs, juxtaposed with the routine denial of life-saving patient services.
GUEST: Lee Fang, blogger at ThinkProgress.org.
Empire Notes: Global Environmental Strain and New Thinking
Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is called Global Environmental Strain and New Thinking.
GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade.
Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.
New UK Study Reignites Debate Over Organics
A new British scientific review claiming that organically grown fruits and vegetables are not nutritionally superior to conventional foods, has generated a heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic. Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine reviewed 162 scientific papers over the last 50 years to come to the conclusion. But many supporters of organic agriculture immediately began refuting the study, pointing to its narrowness and selectivity. The study discounted several instances of organic foods having greater amounts of nutrients than conventional as “statistically insignificant.” Additionally, it only compared beneficial chemicals rather than toxic additives, which conventional produce is more likely to contain since it is grown with the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Here in the United States, an important moment is approaching for those invested in organic foods: the US Department of Agriculture is on the verge of announcing new members of the National Organic Standards Board. The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy group has urged the USDA to make the process of selection to this influential board public and transparent.
GUESTS: Paula Crossfield, managing editor of Civil Eats, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post’s Green Page, Mark Kastel, co-director of the Cornucopia Institute. For more information, visit www.cornucopia.org.
Read Paula Crossfield’s article here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/31-10
Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” — Frank Lloyd Wright
One Response to “Weekly Digest – 08/07/09”
Re: Right Wing Groups Organize to Defeat Health Care Reform
Again, the Left drops the ball. They allow the right wing to frame the debate and dissent regarding health care reform when the Left should be out in full force opposing Obama’s watered down, Big Insurance/Big Pharma friendly reform package. The administration and Congress reform proposals are, to quote John Conyers, total crap. Proposed reforms contain more bureaucratic redtape and will not cover all citizens. Plus, Obama’s proposal calls for a phased in period where reform won’t kick in until after the 2012 elections.
HR676, Medicare for All, is the ONLY reform package that is cost effective (as Medicare program has proven over the years) and offers quality coverage for all. If President Change Man really meant half of the hope and sanctimonious drivel spewed throughtout his campaign, he’d have signed on and twisted Congressional arms to enact HR 676 – as opposed to suppressing info about single payer and allowing insurance and drug companies to hijack the debate and formulate the reform proposals.
Left leaning activists know this but continue their silence or tepid criticism. They should be out in full force at town hall meetings, blocking the streets in DC, and on every mass media outlet informing the public and demanding passage of HR 676 as opposed to allowing the corrupt Obama administration and the right wing zealots to frame the debate. Further, John Conyers should be out doing the same. After a lifetime job in Congress, the man appears to have zero clout in getting HR 676 passed, much less any gumption or courage to take his message to the people – like MLK and those civil righters did who paved the way for Conyers’ cushy Congressional gig.