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October 14, 2009
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O pinion
Healthcare that Bankrupts Families
Disgraceful system needs overhaul
J im H ightower
A m e r i c a 's
corporatized health
care system keeps
producing unpleas­
ant surprises.
We've know n for
som e tim e that this sy stem ,
which puts profit above care, is
morally bankrupt-but now we
learn that it's bankrupting hun­
by
d r e d s o f th o u s a n d s o f
A m erican families. In fact,
th e s y s te m 's e x o rb ita n t
m edical bills have become
the No. 1 cause o f personal
bankruptcies in the USA
R e sea rch ers
fro m
H arv ard and O h io S tate re ­
cently con d u cted a national,
random -sam ple survey o f more
than 2,300 families who filed for
bankruptcy in 2007. As they re­
port in the A m erican Journal of
M edicine, 60 percent o f those
fam ilies were forced over the
edge by high health care bills.
T h e situation is likely m uch
worse today, since this survey
w as taken before the current
spike in job losses.
Here's an even m ore sober­
ing finding: The great majority
o f those bankrupted were not
u n in s u re d p o o r fo lk s , b u t
m id d le -c la ss, w ell-e d u c a te d cal d isa ste r does n ot o cc u r in neither improve health care nor
people 75 percent o f whom had o th e r h ig h ly d ev elo p ed c o u n ­ prevent m ore o f those financial
trie s, b e c a u s e th ey p ro v id e catastro p h es.
health insurance!
We need a com plete overhaul
As one o f the researchers, Dr. n ational h ealth in su ran ce for
o
f
the system by ad o p tin g a
all
o
f
th
e
ir
citizen
s.
David Himmelstein, put it: "Un­
single-payer
m ethod o f insur­
Yet,
too
many
o
f
our
repre­
less you're Warren Buffett, your
ance
coverage
for everyone.
sentatives
in
W
ashington
don't
family is ju st one serious illness
To
h
elp
pu
sh
ch a n g e th at
really
w
ant
to
change
our
cur­
aw ay from bankruptcy."
w
orks,
contact
Physicians
for a
rent
system
o
f
health
care
profi­
W hat a disgrace for the rich­
N
atio
n
al
H
ealth
P
ro
g
ram
at
teering.
Instead,
they
m
erely
est co untry in the h isto ry o f
w
w
w.pnhp.org.
w
ant
to
tinker
with
reform
by
the w orld. Indeed, A m erica's
Jim H ightow er is a national
d e p lo ra b le c o n n e c tio n b e ­ extending our corporatized sys­
colum
nist.
tem
to
more
people.
T
hat
will
tw een physical illness and fis­
ACORN & US
by W illiam
R eed
How many Black A m ericans
ire actually buying into rants
ig a in s t th e A s s o c ia tio n o f
Community O rganizations for
Reform N ow ? By now m ost
Blacks have heard o f ACORN
and some are involved in bo­
gus babble defaming an orga­
nization that has dem onstrated
positive intent toward com m u­
nities w here we live. Before
Blacks join chattering classes
against ACORN, its work on our
behalf should be considered.
ACORN has brought about:
better housing and w ages for
the poor, more com m unity de­
v elo p m en t in v e stm e n t fro m
banks and g o v ern m en ts and
better public schools. ACORN
is th e
n a tio n ’s la rg e s t
grassroots com m unity organi­
zation o f low- and m oderate-in­
come people with over 400,000
m em ber fam ilies in more than
1,200 neighborhood chapters.
ACORN helps people histori­
cally “locked out” become more
powerful players in A m erica’s
system . Since 1970, ACORN
has built com m unity organiza­
tions com m itted to social and
econom ic justice and through
direct action and legislative ad­
vocacy w on thousands o f is ­
sues of direct concern to Blacks.
W hile m ainstream m edia por­
trays A CO RN , and its politics,
negatively; Blacks cannot ig­
nore the o rg a n iz a tio n ’s e c o ­
nomic empowerment inside their
traditional communities.
As some Blacks join in parti­
sans' scorn for A CO RN , others
o f us recall its com munity orga­
nizing effo rts that p ressured
banks to provide home ow ner­
ship opportunities for working
people, raised workers' wages,
got traffic lights at dangerous
in te rs e c tio n s and in c re a se d
police protection in low-income
n e ig h b o rh o o d s , and h e lp e d
many families there avoid fore­
closures. ACORN is com prised
o f d istinct non-profit entities
that include a nationw ide um ­
b rella o rg an izatio n that p e r­
form s lobbying; local chapters
e s ta b lis h e d as n o n -p a rtisa n
chanties; and an ACORN Hous­
ing Corporation. ACORN and
affiliates advocate for afford­
able housing by urging devel­
opm ent, rehabilitation and es­
ta b lish m en t o f h o u sin g trust
funds at the local, state, and
federal levels. T he group also
pushes for enforcem ent o f af­
fordable-housing requirem ents
for developers, prom otes pro­
gram s to help hom eow ners re­
pair hom es and organize tenant
dem ands. A C O R N built the
m inim um wage m ovem ent that
helped lift low -w aged poor out
o f poverty. Local ACORN ef­
forts in the late 1990s led to the
2007 m in im u m w ag e law s.
A CO RN was at the forefront
protesting sub prime loans that
were pushing people into m ort­
gage foreclosure in the 1990s;
and cam paigned against preda­
tory, high interest and deceitful
m ortgage loans. A CO RN re­
ports it delivered approximately
$15 billion in direct monetary
b en e fits to its m em b ers and
constituents over the past 10
years. M ainstream m edia ne­
g le c ts to r e p o rt th a t ev e ry
scholar who has conducted re­
c e n t-ev a lu atio n s o f A CO RN
found that it to be a good com ­
munity force. Too often. Blacks
w ho’ve m oved to suburbia buy
into the established order and
m indset at the expense of their
ow n kind/kin.
B lacks should not evaluate
A C O R N b a se d on p o litic s ;
but for its eco n o m ic and so­
cial-eq u ity p ractices o rg an iz­
ing poor people, m ainly those
o f c o lo r, to fig h t fo r th e ir
rights in housin g , ed u catio n ,
etc. Such com m u n ity a c tiv ­
ism is a g a in s t th e p o litic a l
rig h t’s version o f the “A m eri­
can W ay” . A C O R N does not
rely on govern m en t funds and
will survive the rig h t's attacks.
B ut if A C O R N is to restore its
stren g th as an e ffec tiv e d is­
e n f r a n c h is e d a n d n a tio n a l
poor p eople's o rg an izatio n , it
w ill need the su p p o rt o f b en ­
efic iarie s o f its w orks.
William Reed - on the web at
www.BlaikPressIntemationaLcom
-VrtfS CAW
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A Failed Drug War
S anho T ree
P re s id e n t
Barack Obama's
d ru g cz ar, G il
K e r lik o w s k e ,
should be com ­
m ended for initiating som e
basic refo rm s in U .S. drug
policy. One o f his first sensible
acts was to drop the phrase
War on Drugs.
“Regardless o f how you try
to explain to people that it's a
'war on drugs' or a 'war on a
product,' people see a w ar as
a war on them ,” he explained.
“W e're not at w ar with people
in this country.”
As the form er chief o f the
Seattle Police, K erlikow ske
lived under some of the m ost
progressive drug laws in the
nation. W hen it com es to ad­
dressing the basic prem ise of
our failed drug policies, how ­
ever, he's trapped in a linguis­
tic box.
W hen asked about the “L”
w o rd , h is o ft-re p e a te d re-
by
sponse is “Legalization is not
in my vocabulary nor is it in
the president's vocabulary.”
T hat w ord isn't in my po­
litical vocabulary either. It's a
clumsy term that polarizes the
debate and bars the nuanced
discussion we need to have.
The debate over illegal drugs
today is cleaved into a false d i­
chotomy o f tw o polar extremes:
prohibition versus legalization.
That's partly thanks to our laws.
Title VII in the O ffice o f N a­
tional Drug Control Policy R e­
authorization Act o f 1998 says
the office shall “take such ac­
tions as necessary to oppose
any attem pt to legalize” drugs
currently deem ed illicit.
Drug czars w ho respond oth­
erwise would be fired, in all like­
lihood. T his is because drug
w arriors have spent years co­
opting the term , making it so
rad io activ e that m any voters
think legalization means “any­
thing goes" free-m arket anar­
chy. To them , the term evokes
MMNMMMMMM
SPINAtCOLUMN
An ongoing senes of questions and answers about Americas natural healing profession
Dr. Billy R. Flowers
P art 6. H E A D A C H E S : W hy C h iro p ractic is
n a tu re ’s lo n g -lastin g pain reliever.
cause of the headache. W h a t’s
m ore, drugs have serious side
effects. T he o nly side effects
o f Chiropractic are relief from
pain and a healing o f the cause
o f pain. T o find o ut how C h i­
ro p ractic co u ld help relieve
your h ead ach es or for an ­
sw ers to any q u estio n s you
m ig h t h a v e a b o u t y o u r
a ch es?
health , p lease call us at the
A
;
D
rugs
w
ork
prim
arily
,
on re-
lieving pain, i telep h o n e n u m b er listed d i­
but not on treating the rectly below .
: / alw ays seem to be i Y our problem s could be nerve-
, plagued with head related and therefore, stand a
aches. They com e up very good chance o f being re­
>er m y head and seem to stop lieved by Chiropractic.
m y eye. What can Chiro-
: W hy s h o u ld I go
■actic possibly do to help
through a fu ll course
e?
o
f C hiropractic when
: A bout 70% o f all
drugs
'o
ften
relieve m y head­
people
experience
\
■NMHMI
Question now is what comes next?
im a g es o f se llin g h e ro in in
candy m achines to children.
W hat we need is regulation
instead o f prohibition, because
we need to have m ore control
over these substances, not less.
Because we have w itnessed the
dam age illicit drugs can cause,
we have allow ed ourselves to
fall prey to one o f the drug w ar­
rio rs' g re a t m yths: K eep in g
drugs illegal will protect us.
But drug prohibition doesn't
mean we control drugs; it means
we give up the right to control
them because we can't regulate
an in d u stry w e d riv e u n d er­
ground. We have m ade a delib­
era te ch o ic e n o t to reg u la te
these drugs and are paying the
p rice fo r the ch ao s th a t fo l­
low ed. T h ese are lessons we
failed to learn from our disas­
trous attem pt at alcohol prohi­
bition in the 1920s.
The debate reminds m e o f the
old story popularly attributed
to W inston Churchill.
A t a d in n er party one night,
a d ru n k en C h u rch ill ask ed an
a risto c ra tic w o m an w h eth e r
she w ould sleep w ith him for
a m illio n p o u n d s. “ M a y b e,”
th e w o m a n s a id c o y ly .
“W ould you sleep w ith m e for
on e p o u n d ?” C h u rch ill then
asked. “O f co u rse not, w hat
k in d o f w om an do you th in k I
a m ? ” th e w om an resp o n d ed
in d ig n an tly .
“M adam , w e've already es­
tablished w hat kind o f w om an
y o u a re ,” rep lied C h u rc h ill,
“now we're ju st negotiating the
price.”
O nce we bring the drug d e­
bate into the broad spectrum of
regulatory solutions, many op­
tions are back on the table and
w e can “negotiate the price.”
Som e o f us favor stricter regu­
lation and others m ore liberal
(depending on the drug).
Sanho Tree is a fe llo w a t the
Institute f o r P olicy Studies, a
p ro g ressive m u lti-issu e think
tank where he directs its Drug
P olicy project.
MMMMMMMMNMNN
MMMMMHMMNNMMMI
Rooney Rule May be Good for Business
THE
headaches o f one sort
another. The type you de-
ribe is quite typical. The pain
in range anywhere from mod­
ule to nauseating. The top
ree nerves in the neck go up
/er the back o f the skull in a
:ry sim ilar pattern to what
yu describe. Any type o f pres-
ire or irritation on these
rrves can cause extrem e pain.
ä
Flowers' Chiropractic Office
2124 NE Hancock,
Portland Oregon97212
Phone: (5 0 3) 287-5504
*
Could bring in more minority talent
by M arc H.
M orial
With overall unem­
ployment now at 9.8
percent and the Afri­
can American unem­
ployment rate tipping
the scales at a whop­
ping 15.4 percent, it would be a
tempting but fatal mistake for cor­
porate America to take its eye off
the ball when it comes to increas­
ing diversity within its leadership
ranks. In fact, I suggest that
business take a lesson from the
w ay th e N F L h as u se d th e
"Rooney Rule" in recent years
to improve its historically abys­
mal record o f hiring A frican
A m erican head coaches. The
Rooney rule, in place since 2003
and n am ed fo r P ittsb u rg h
Steelers owner and NFL diver­
sity workforce committee chair­
man Dan Rooney, requires that
any NFL team with a head coach­
ing vacancy must interview at
least one minority candidate for
the job or face a fine. I believe
it's tim e fo r c o rp o ra te
America to consider a simi­
la r ap p ro a ch to im p ro v e
both quality and diversity in
its CEO and upper manage­
ment ranks.
Since the NFL's adoption
of the Rooney Rule for the 2003
season, the num ber o f African
A m erican head co a ch e s has
jum ped from two in 2002 to six
today. Two Black head coaches
-- Tony Dungy and M ike Tomlin
— have won Super Bowl cham ­
pionships. And many o f these
coaches credit the Rooney rule
for opening a long-shut door
o f opportunity. It is also clear
that for several o f their teams
the rule has had a positive ef­
fect on team performance. It has
allow ed highly qualified head
coaching prospects w ho would
never have had the opportunity,
the chance to m ake their teams
better.
The overall num bers are still
low. African Am ericans com ­
prise about 70 percent o f N FL
players, while the percentage of
B lack coaches now stands at
a b o u t 2 0 p e rc e n t. B ut, the
R o o n e y R u le h a s m e a n t
progress and it has been so well
received by team ow ners that
in June the N FL extended it to
the hiring o f G eneral M anagers
and other high level front o f­
fice positions.
Corporate America could well
reap sim ilar benefits by follow ­
ing the R o o n ey ru le m odel.
Black Enterprise Magazine lists
ju s t n in e A fric an A m eric an
CEO 's in its 2009 listing o f the
100 M o st P o w erfu l A frican
A m e ric a n s in C o r p o r a te
A m erica. T he m agazine also
publishes an annual list o f the
top 40 companies in America for
workforce diversity. But, by any
measure. Black CEO's and other
A frican A m erican top execu­
tives are still a rarity at m ost
Fortune 500 com panies.
M arc H. M orial is president
and ch ief executive officer o f the
N ational Urban League