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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2012)
Page 6____________________________________ $îort binò (Obstruer luiy 2s. 2012 Feels Good to Win Decisive Battle w o m en " th a t u ses a c c e ss to health care as its m ain battering ram . T he d ecision m ay not stop the w ar, but it surely feels good to w in such a d e cisiv e battle. by M artha B urk T he law , w hich b e n T he u n p re c efits virtually all A m eri edented attack on c a n s, sc o re d th e s e big w o m e n 's h e a lth w ins for w om en: hit a roadblock on R e p r o d u c tiv e C are: June 27. w hen the Birth control w ill be co v S u p re m e C o u r t e re d as a p re v e n ta tiv e ruled in favor o f the A ffordable m easure w ithout co-pays. Yes, C are A ct's individual m andate, the U.S. C onference o f C a th o effectively upholding the entire lic B ishops w ill continue their law . It w a s a b ig w in fo r assau lt on this basic service, w om en. but they're now less likely to In upholding O bam a's lan d prevail. O ther very im portant, m ark health care refo rm , the but less divisive, p reventative R oberts C ourt threw a hand g re s e r v ic e s lik e p a p s m e a r s , nade at the co n serv ativ es w ag m a m m o g ra m s, and d o m e stic ing an u n re le n tin g "w a r on violence screenings m ust also Upholding the health care mandate be covered w ithout co-pays. Security: The law p ro h ib its denial o f coverage fo r p re-e x is tin g c o n d itio n s . In s u ra n c e com panies have reached far and w ide on this one, refu sin g c o v erage for such "pre-existing c o n ditions" as having had a c ae sar e an se c tio n — a p ro c e d u re w hich accounts for one out o f three U.S. births — o r being a victim o f sexual assau lt or d o m estic battering. M otherhood: M aternity cov erage will now be mandated. A w idespread myth about health coverage has been that m aternity coverage is generally available — it ju st costs more. A corollary myth is that wom en's coverage costs more because o f m aternity coverage. Not so. A ccording to the National W om en's Law Cen- ter, alm ost 90 percent o f indepen dent m arket-share policies ex clude m aternity coverage alto gether. They don't provide it at any cost. Nursing mothers who work for large em ployers will also benefit, as they will now be able to have breaks and a private place to pump breast milk. Equality: Flat-out sex discrimi nation in coverage and pricing will no longer be allowed. The Affordable Care Act prohibits the widespread practice o f charging wom en higher prem ium s than they charge men o f the same age for the same coverage. This is known as "gender rating," and the usual excuse is that wom en are more likely to get check-ups. The law makes any kind o f sex dis crim ination in plans that get fed eral support a no-no, including policies in the new insurance ex changes. T he one place w om en m ay lose out is in expanded M ed ic aid co v erag e, since the court's d e c is io n sa id the fe d s c a n 't threaten to take aw ay existing M edicaid funding (w hich p ri m arily ben efits w om en and c h il dren) if states refuse to expand th eir M edicaid program s. S till, th e S u p re m e C o u rt handed w om en a huge victory. In a co n tin u in g w ar w ith no end in sight, it's a w elcom e one. Martha Burk is the director o f the Corporate Accountability Project fo r the National Council o f Women's Organizations and the author o f the book Your Voice, Your Vote: The Savvy Woman's Guide to Power, Politics, and the Change We Need. ■H nM H nH H M M tnaBM aH BM Investing in a Worldwide Holocaust The truth about nuclear weapons P eter G. C ohen It is time to tell the truth about nuclear weapons. They are not a deterrent to terrorists, whom se curity experts regard as the great est danger to our nation. They do not deter attacks from other na tions, because very few want to attack us, and our overw helm ing conventional forces are more than enough for our defense. W hat nuclear w eapons actu ally do is cost us a great deal o f money. Just to m aintain the w ar heads will cost us $7.6 billion next year and $2.5 billion more to prevent proliferation. As we trim our federal budget, other urgently needed program s will be cut, while nuclear w eap ons funds are defended in the name o f National Security and for the benefit o f senators and repre sentatives who have facilities in their districts. Som e C ongress by people hope to spend at least $ 100 billion in the next decade on “m od ernizing” the planes, m issiles and subm arines that are ready to de liver the warheads to an unidenti fied “enem y.” N u clear w eapons are co m pletely indiscrim inate. They in cinerate adults, children and pets in the target area without regard for innocence or guilt. The radio active fallout drifts for m iles on the shifting winds and all scien tific studies done since Chernobyl and now Fukushim a, acknow l edge that, even though m ortality figures differ. Even the Pentagon acknow l edges that a relatively “lim ited” n u c le ar w ar w ould c re a te so m uch rad io activ e soot that it would drift around the earth for years, blocking the sun and re ducing crop yields, thus causing w idespread famine. flortlanb ODbserUtr E d it o r - I n - C h ie f , P u b l is h e r : Established 1970 Charles H. Washington EDiTOR.Michael L e ig h to n A ssistant to P ublisher . P ublic R elations : C reative D irector : M a r k W a s h in g to n P a u l N e u fe ld t A ssistant to P ubijsher , O ffice M anac . er /C iassiheds : A ssistant P ubijsher : At the same time, the great heat o f a nuclear fireball and the follow ing firestorm carries radioactive m aterials into the stratosphere, where they fatally weaken the ozone layer, causing blindness, skin can cer, and damaged immune sys tems. It would also destroy aquatic ecosystems, resulting in reduced ocean productivity for years. For those who are concerned that a nation might try to cheat a Nuclear W eapons Convention, a world system o f sensors is now in place. While it is almost impossible to produce a nuclear weapon with out testing, this worldwide system will make any nuclear weapons test immediately known to all. The generals and admirals, the senators and representatives, the nuclear laboratories and plants, believe that they are defending America. Their experts can calcu late the kilotons and megatons of explosive power in each of the weapons systems. But they do not ----------------- USPS 959-680 --------------------- Peter G. Cohen an artist and long-time anti-nuclear writer from Santa Barbara, Calif 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 2008 THE PORT LAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member o f the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885. and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association Lucinda Baldwin Tony Washington S taff W riter /P hotographer : Mindy in a w orldwide holocaust that will incinerate, sterilize and starve dis tant people who have nothing to do with the nations involved in the war, accident, or act o f nature that detonates these weapons. The C reator has given us this beautiful, abundant planet and the m iracle o f hum an life. Hum an cleverness has provided us with the tools o f worldwide suicide. Can we adm it that we have gone too far? That hum an, m e chanical or natural failures can plunge us into the final fire? That the only recourse is to overcom e our fears, our dream o f dom ina tion, and our attachm ent to the profits o f death? Only then can the United States take the lead in freeing the world o f these suicidal weapons. A superpow er o f the future would dem onstrate super hum ility and get the jo b done. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied CALL 503-288-0033 Leonard Latin A dvertising M anager , P ublic R eiations : represent the human future, or the millions who would disappear in stantly in the fireball or slowly succumb to radiation disease. It is up to people o f conscience to make their voices heard. It is up to mothers and grandm others to say that it is intolerable and crim inal that more than 20-years after the end o f the Cold W ar, Russia and the United States still have more than 3,300 warheads targeted on each other, and thou sands more that can quickly be brought back and deployed. If we love m oney more than life, as some supporters o f “m od ernizing” our nuclear w eapons and facilities seem to do, then we must accept the idea that we, or our children and grandchildren, sooner or later, will be incinerated in a flash, poisoned by radioactive fallout, or sick and starved in misery by a nuclear winter. As long as we persist in having these weapons, we are investing Cooper n ew s@ portlandobserver,com FAX 503-288-0015 ads@Dortlandobserver.com subscription @portlandobserver, com P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR97208
