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