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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2011)
12 street roots Jan. 21, 2011 Single-payer movement alive and kicking BY JAY THIEMEYER C O N T R IB U TIN G W RITER What: Single Payer Conference “It is time to recognize that our advocacy for peace, jobs, education, health, housing, human rights and environmental and economic justice is insufficient We face the same fundamental obstacle: corporate control of our country. Together we have the strength and the resources to shift power away from the rich corporations to the people and we can demand social justice. We have the solutions, but they are not being heard. We must cause enough disruption that our voices and our solutions cannot be ignored. And we must organize actions of nonviolent civil resistance. Otherwise growing public discontent in this nation may turn to violent means." Those are the remarks of Dr. Margaret Flowers at the protest/vigiljn December outside the White House fence as the President held a press conference on our “progress” in Afghanistan. That day was a year after she and other physicians protested on behalf of single-payer health care in the atrium of the Senate Hart Building. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which was due to hold hearings on healthcare reform, so-called, Sen Max (you can call him the corporate health care shil) Baucus of Montana, had refused to even consider single payer in their deliberations. The Obama administration was totally When: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sat., Jan* 29. Where: First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main St. Register: at www.singlepayeroregon.org. compliant with this corporate demand. Single payer, after all, eliminates the corporate middle man in healthcare delivery. One third of every dollar spent in this country on private health insurance is administrative, that is, the people who administer delivery of healthcare to the insured but really whose job it is to guarantee profits for their employers by denying coverage. Even to the point, as revealed during the legislative process, of “rescission,” simply refusing to provide what the insured supposed they had paid for. Corporations can do that: deny the reality of contractual agreements and services paid for by patients they’ve subscribed. They live in a very simple world of unhampered predation. While arguing their personhood and all the legal perks that attend that entitlement, they can’t afford to waste time on human considerations. It’s energy they can spend on devising profit-making schemes to gratify their shareholders and plump big sums in the laps of their CEO’s. And it appears increasingly apparent this administration is yielding more and more to that reality. Dr. Flowers, a pediatrician, will be one of the speakers at the upcoming Single Payer Conference (singlepayeroregon.org), a daylong event of speakers, workshops and spontaneous confabs, due to take place at First Unitarian Church the last Saturday of this month. Other speakers will be Katie Robbins and Mark Dudcic who also protested at Baucus’ corporate-sponsored hearing and were duly charged and prosecuted for their insistence on health care as a human right. The keynote will be delivered by Rep. John Conyerrs, former chair of the House Justiciary, and chief sponsor of HR676, the single payer legislation. His remarks at midday will be followed by the Mad As Hell Doctors who will talk about their travels to town halls across the country last year, as well as plans for something similar in Oregon as the new legislature considers a single payer bill to be presented by Michael Dembrow and Chip Shield. Recommendation: attend this conference then attend “Stories: From the Streets” at the Sellwood Auditorium, 7126 SE Milwaukie, beginning 8:30. Makes you tingle all over. Solidarity in defense of our common wellbeing. Peace and justice can be loads of fun! Vertigo Lover by Shannon Andrews The righteous of your honesty brings forth the courage trusting you. I pass this day thinking of you amicably And your thoughts entwine with mine compared to how much we are identical, with the same philosophies of life, so we progress in time together hoping the sun shines in our footsteps and we envision this utopia as we are in bliss and nothing can change my undying love for you. Since 1979 Changing Lives Building Communities Creating Opportunities Health Recovery Housing Employment www.centralcityconcern.org 503-294-1681 Take Action Get Tested Multnomah County Health Department's | HIV Community Test Site offers | confidential HIV testing | w ith or w ith o u t your name at these locations: I I Downtown Community Test Site Cali 503.988.3775 for an appt. Mon I Thurs | Fri 426 SW Stark St., 6th Floor, Portland, 97204 Northeast Health Center th this coupon” | | | | j I j Just walk in Tuesdays | 5:30 - 7:15 pm | 5329 NE MLK Jr. Blvd, 2nd Floor, | Portland, 97211 | Se habla español: other interpretation by appointment Street Roots vendors say thank you to the great customers on the West Coast! T h a n k you, P ortlan d!
