Busting Al-Bashir-Use A Cruise Missile Instead

Chief Prosecutor Ocampo of the International Criminal Court is seeking to have an arrest warrant issued for Sudan President al-Bashir, to bring him before The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide. Having never been tried before with a sitting head of state, no one knows exactly what the procedure would be to actually arrest al-Bashir should a warrant actually be issued. If one were to judge from past actions of this monster from Khartoum, he'll kill more civilians in retaliation and thumb his nose at the international community once again.

Although the action taken by the ICC should be applauded, it should be noted that it has taken five long years to put a case together while the entire world has watched with horror as the massacres continued. A case against al-Bashir's henchman Ahmed Haroun was dismissed out of hand by the government of Sudan, as well as warrants for militia and Janjaweed terrorists. In fact al-Bashir showed his contempt for the rule of law and world opinion by elevating Haroun to the position of State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs.

Years of murder and mayhem, rape and pillage. Entire towns burned to the ground with people trapped inside, left to die an agonizing death by fire. Women systematically gang raped by state sponsored devils on horseback, then hacked to death while her children watched. Children being targeted for maiming, with their tiny hands cut off in order to prevent them from growing up and becoming revolutionaries against al-Bashir. Aid workers attacked and killed, food shipments stolen and diverted to government warehouses. And now the predicted killing of U.N. forces by what we all know was the Janjaweed, who would not have acted unless under direct orders from Satan's son in the capital city.

al-Bashir will never submit to any warrant from the ICC. This is purely a political smack down of the Sudanese President, one that will albeit make it almost impossible for him to travel outside his own country, and make it harder for any government to officially negotiate with what will then be considered officially as a criminal regime. But the killings will continue and probably gain momentum now that al-Bashir has no international prestige to pretend to be holding onto. Aid workers are already fleeing. The U.S. has pulled it's USAID people out, and the U.N. soldiers are on high alert.

With the joint U.N./A.U. force out manned, outgunned, and lacking for basic equipment such as helmets due to both Europe and the United States being derelict in providing the equipment, you can bet dollars to donuts that al-Bashir will order the killings of more U.N. soldiers. He knows, just as the rest of the world knows, that when U.N. soldiers start becoming the targets, they leave. And when that happens, and al-Bashir wins the test of wills, the real blood bath will ensue.

Innocent people who's only crime was being born are in danger of being starved to death, shot, stabbed, hacked, chopped, burned alive, bashed with tree limbs, imagine the most evil ways that a monster would kill or maim another human and it is already taking place. And about to get worse. It would seem that with all of the missiles that are flying around these days for testing, that just one errant cruise missile could find it's way to Sudan's Presidential Palace. You know, the one paid for with an $80 million loan from Chinese president Hu. It's located on Blue Nile Street, right next to the historical old Presidential Palace, and it's coordinates are 15o 34N 33o 36E. Because the only thing that this Saddam Hussein of Africa will ever understand is a flurry of military action aimed not at just his Janjaweed militias, his air force , and his military junta, but missiles that have his name printed on them. Hell, take out the new railroad and bridge paid for by China to help facilitate the flow of oil that funds this evil dictator also.

What's the old saying? Kill one to save a thousand. Make that several million. The international community, including the U.N., must make available the means to end this farce once and for all as soon as al-Bashir laughs in the world's face when he is served with the arrest warrant. Iran's launching missiles, China's launching missiles, the U.S. and Russia are testing missiles all the time. They can't all possibly stay on course now can they? Take al-Bashir out, and take him out now. One AGM-129A should do the trick. It's the only way left to stop the genocide.

Democrats To Vote Out Of Office

In what can be described only as the most stunning betrayal of voter trust in the history of our country, the Senate put an end to the debate on telecom immunity for their complicity in the crimes of President Bush and his administration. Giving the entire nation the middle finger, Congress has declared war on the American people and our Constitution by not only capitulating to the will of the worst president in the history of our country, but giving in to his demands for even more domestic spying powers.

With stories of satellite surveillance that can be used to further erode the protections of the Fourth Amendment, the Senate decide that the law breaking Bush could be trusted not to (wink wink) turn those cameras on Americans. What Bush could not accomplish in 2005 with a Republican majority in Congress, was handed over to him like milk money by the most spineless, treasonous group of Democrats to ever assemble in one place.

The FISA bill voted on could have been sent to the President with one of three proposed amendments on telecom immunity, but all three were voted down. Any of the proposed amendments, one of which was put forth by Republican Arlen Spector, would have allowed an investigation into exactly what the telecoms did that broke the law, and what further steps were needed to remedy the situation. But even though all three amendments were voted down with the help of Democrats, some of the very same Democrats who voted in favor of stripping telecom immunity out of the bill voted for it's passage without any amendments. These people, so far removed to the desires of Americans need to feel the wrath of the people when it comes time for re-election. Here are the names of the Democrats who voted FOR the passage of the new FISA bill: Bayh (Ind.), Carper (De.), Casey (Pa.), Conrad (ND.), Feinstein (Ca.), Innuoye (Hi.), Kohl (Wi.), Landrieu (La.), Lincoln (Ar.), McCaskill (Mo.), Mukulski (Ak.), Nelson (Neb.), Nelson (Fla.), Obama (Il.), Pryor (Ar.), Rockefeller (WV), Salazar (Co.), Webb (Va.), and Whitehouse (RI).

All of the above listed Democrats cut and ran from the rule of law in this country, and in order to gain any semblance of it back, voters must choose candidates that will vote in favor of repealing this scurrilous legislation, legislation that says it's ok for corporations and politicians to break the law, but you the People must obey the laws we pass. Even Barak Obama voted for final passage of the bill, and in a moment of "I told you so", Senator Hillary Clinton voted against it.

We've been had, and every Obama supporter, myself included, should give voice to our outrage and not make excuses as to why he voted to betray America. We understand why the Republicans voted in favor of this bill. They side with corporations every time. They stand shoulder to shoulder and vote the party line every single time. But why the Democrats handed Bush this victory is beyond all comprehension. The story of possible criminal liability is just that. Stories. It will never come to pass and we all know it.

There's nothing left to say except this. This November, and in November of 2010, when these Democrats come up for re-election, vote them out of office. To the state of Connecticut, please get Lieberman out of there. Betrayal is betrayal, and this is the granddaddy of them all. Right in your face, and with a middle finger at you to boot. I'm throwing my vote away this November and voting for Nader, because I will not vote for anyone who said that he would filibuster this legislation, then voted in favor of it for political gain. You do what you want, but now s not the time for voter capitulation. This is the time to express our outrage by emailing every Congressional office and bombarding them with phone calls. And then vote for someone with some backbone.

Transparent Government Is A Little Opaque

Established in 1914 by legislation enacted by Congress, the Legislative Reference Service was born and signed into law by former President Woodrow Wilson. Intended to be a research service for members of Congress, it evolved over the years into much more than just another arm of the Library of Congress.

The LRS underwent a name change in 1970 due to it's expanding role in helping to shape legislation. Called the Congressional Research Service, it's functions were to obtain information on the legalities, effectiveness, and ordinary citizen reaction to proposed bills and amendments. With taxpayers footing the bill for the CRS's 700 plus employees to the tune of around $100 million per year, one would think it reasonable to expect the public to have access to the research that was done and how decisions that affect every American were arrived at, but that is not the case. In fact, attempting to glean information from the CRS is akin to pulling teeth with a pair of tweezers.

Although the public at large has access to Thomas, the Congressional website that provides information on legislative sessions, there is no Internet access to the CRS, and it would seem that's the way our government likes it. Repeated attempts to force the CRS to be open to public scrutiny have been met with fierce resistance from both the CRS itself and by some members of Congress, who see the CRS as an extension of their offices. It should be noted that Senators John McCain and Patrick Leahy have offered bipartisan legislation and support to the release of CRS information to the public via the Internet.

If you're wondering why having access to CRS information is so important in a transparent government that is supposed to serve the People and not the other way around, then one must also understand that what members of Congress base their voting decisions on, come directly from the Congressional Research Service. Issues dealing with the interpretation of American Law, Domestic Social Policies, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Trade, Finance, National Resources, Science and Industry.

Things that effect every American and the quality of life of every citizen are debated in secret, with the conclusions reached that are signed into law never being allowed to be scrutinized by the very taxpayers who pay for this service. And so when mistakes in interpretation are made, or erroneous information makes it's way into a bill, the bill gets signed into law, mistakes and all, and the only ones with the authority to go back and research the mistakes, if they are discovered, are the very same people who put forth the wrong information in the first place.

Even with the constant pressure from organizations such as The Project For Government Oversight and the Sunlight Foundation, changes are slow in coming and contested bitterly by those in Congress and the White House, who would rather keep the public in the dark when it comes to the running of our government. But what galls every citizen who becomes aware of the existence of the Congressional Research Service is that although publicly funded, and attempts by both Congress and the CRS to maintain it's secrecy, corporations are allowed access to CRS reports, which they then promptly turn around and sell to lobbyists in order to give them an inside track of what's going on inside the halls of our Capitol.

Not galling enough for you? Try this. Former members of Congress who go to work for lobbying firms have unfettered access to current CRS reports, reports they use to the advantage of the corporations that hire them. If an average citizen that is aware of the existence of CRS wants a copy of a report, well somehow the Freedom Of Information Act doesn't apply to the CRS. But Lexis and Westlaw will sell you a copy of any report you like, for the lowly fee of $7.95 per report, provided of course you are a 'member' to the tune of several hundred dollars per year.

So get this straight now. We the taxpayers foot the bill for the Congressional Research Service but are not allowed to read and critique what they do. But lobbyists and corporations are allowed access, and are allowed to turn around and sell you the information they obtained. Former Congressional Members have access to current reports, but you don't.

In an attempt to soothe the uproar from transparent government groups, the White House had the State Department start putting up selected and redacted versions of some CRS reports. the problem is that when you go to the State Department website to take a look, all of the reports that are posted as NEW are from 2001 to 2006, with only six reports from the year 2006, and nothing past that.

What is the big secret? And why is the taxpayer required to fund a completely separate branch of Congress that we are then told we are not allowed to see? The only way to find out the answers and to acquire the dream of a transparent government that works for the People and not the corporations is for the public to demand that CRS reports be available to all, not just those who can further personal ambitions and profit from what should be public information. Contact Senator Leahy's office and the office of Senator McCain and tell them this issue is important to the American people. Let them know you are willing to support their bill to open the government to public scrutiny. Seek out the organizations named above and others like them and if nothing else, sign a petition, write a letter of encouragement, and if possible, drop a few dollars their way.

There are soldiers dying and soldiers who have died trying to preserve the United States. They fought and fight for freedom, not so the government can do in secret the things they would never even contemplate putting before the masses first. Transparent government means just that. Like a window, not like a filthy, rusty screen covered pane of glass that no one can see through. See who supports this open government legislation in Congress and who doesn't. Those who don't can be easily voted out of office in favor of a person more favorable towards the People. Because in the end, this is OUR government, not theirs. It's OUR money that they spend so freely, not theirs. And freedom includes the ability to know what the government is up to, and how they are going about the People's business. Demand public access to the Congressional Research Services database, and it can be a first step to restoring the governemnt's power back where it belongs. With we the People.

Medicare Recipients Are Not The Enemy

When the push for privatizing Medicare came along, the public was told not to worry. They were told that there would be minor adjustments as the program was handed over to the pack of hyenas that constitute the HMO community of private insurers. We were assured of the cost savings and the benefits of managed care. What they didn't tell you is that the entire scam was a lie.

By using the key catch phrase and talking point of 'bankruptcy', the fear mongers claim that the only way to save the program is to further cut the payments made to doctors and insurers. As July 1st passed and another 10% cut slipped by, right wingers of every stripe decried the cut as much too little and did some quick calculating that did not include revenue from the Medicare deduction taken from everyone's paychecks, and claimed a staggering $53 trillion dollar deficit for America's children. But if we examine how Medicare became mired in the mess it is in, we see the neo-con hand in the attempted destruction of yet another social safety net program designed to help the elderly, the poor, and the infirm.

The Republican controlled Congress of the 1990's forced through the first of the privatizations of Medicare by coming up with a set of numbers that declared the program would be broke by the year 2008. They claimed that the choice Americans faced was between an HMO run Medicare system, or no system at all. Going so far as to blatantly lie about how Americans felt about the idea, they claimed that the majority of Medicare recipients were absolutely thrilled at the idea of a more restrictive atmosphere as opposed to their traditional Medicare freedoms.

The evolving march to completing the process of handing over a government program to the private insurance industry has been the largest heist of taxpayer dollars in American history, but there are so many numbers involved, that no one wants to take notice. Leave it for the accountants to sort out everyone cries, and so, the insurance industry and their good fella buddies working the revolving door of government continue the scam. Why anyone continues to believe these liars is beyond comprehension, since what they are doing and claiming is so blatant, they may as well just walk up and spit in your face.

As with the privatization of Medicaid, the Medicare program now supplies LESS services for recipients with costs that are spiraling upwards. HMO's make bonus money for denying treatment to people who need it. They receive incentives to change a doctor's prescription or to deny it as 'experimental'. They over charge for services, and sometimes charge for services that are no longer being received. Even Medicare's own 1-800 number for recipients to report abuse and fraud is staffed in such a way that reported insurance company fraud gets swept under the rug. Basically, in a nutshell, they have taken the money that was to go towards people's health and given it to the insurance industry. An industry with an army of lobbyists, and an industry that donates substantial amounts to political campaigns.

Even as far back as 1996, a Congressional study called the Physician Payment Review Commission, showed that medicare recipients enrolled in HMO's were three times as likely to have problems gaining access to medical care compared to recipients on traditional Medicare. So what did the study do to change the minds of extremists determined to wipe out the poor and the elderly? Absolutely encouraged them to force everyone into an HMO and give their corporate sponsors even more billions of unearned dollars. They placed a middleman between every patient on Medicare and their doctors, and then quietly slipped the Medicaid program into the mix as well.

And so the game continues. Caught as pawns between political ideologies, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled must on many an occasion, choose between seeing their doctor or paying their rent. Eating dinner that night, or paying for a prescription. Fighting an HMO decision that denied them needed medical care, or just dying. Treated as the enemy by fanatics who have given almost the entire country away to foreign interests, run up deficits that can only be called obscene, and given tax cuts to the wealthiest of the wealthiest, they now tell you to believe their new deadline for the expiration of the Medicare program. They demand more cuts in programs in the areas of health, education, and even the Food Stamp program in order to extend the tax breaks given to multi-national corporations.

The recipients of assistance programs are not the enemy. The enemies of the People sit in the halls of Congress. The ones who are determined to turn every government program over to the corporations are the same ones enacting illegal legislation allowing for domestic spying, immunity for criminals, allowing for the outsourcing of American jobs, (and actually giving subsidies to corporations who ship them overseas), and failing to fix our infrastructure. Oh. And they are also the same ones who started a false war, then told veterans to eat cake when they returned home.

So you go ahead and believe the 'experts' who cry wolf over and over and over again. Go ahead and let the extremists destroy as much of the country as they can before election day. But when the time comes that one of the programs that was allowed to be cut is needed by you or a family member, remember the names of those who pushed for the decimation of domestic programs and who gave the entire store away to corporations. Then and only then, can you possibly understand who the true enemy is.

America's Youth Will Shape The Future

Before the age of the Internet, and the ease of access to information about candidates running for office other than the mainstream media, younger voters were not courted very hard by politicians, who figured rightly that they would never show up at the polls. There are several schools of thought as to why it has been that way for so long, but conventional wisdom told the politicos that only the well informed voter would actually be there to pull the lever, and that younger voters tended to not read the news.

Not so any more. If the 2008 primary season is any indication at all, then the general election will see the largest turnout of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 than any other election in our nation's history. Numbers compiled by Rock The Vote, The Center For Information And Research On Civic Learning And Engagement, And Direct Democracy show that youthful voters nearly doubled in turnout for the 2008 primaries when compared to 2004.

Texas saw the largest overall increase percentage wise, jumping a full 301% in young voter turnout rate, Tennessee came in second at 209%, with Connecticut showing 163% increases in turnout. Many other states saw triple digit increases, such as New York, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Georgia and Iowa. It's expected that the numbers will be pretty much the same come this November.

If the trends, exit polls, and numbers add up correctly, and younger voters show up at the polls once again, there could be a landslide of historical proportions in the making. An under the radar mass exodus to the left, courtesy of the youth of America. For in the primaries themselves, only Arkansas, Connecticut, and Oklahoma saw higher percentages of young Republican turnout than Democrats. In Arkansas and Connecticut, the differential was 1%, while Oklahoma showed a substantial 6 point separation. Some speculate that the higher Republican voter turnout among younger Americans was due to the candidacy of Ron Paul, who appealed to the desire for a different direction.

What does all of these confusing and sometimes garbled jumble of numbers mean? Simply that because of sites like MySpace and Facebook, HeadCount and YouTube, young voters have instant access to information on all of the candidates, more so than could ever be gleaned from the pages of mainstream media. If McCain slips and says something dumb, it's all over the web within an hour. Obama gives a rousing speech and everyone across the country can see and hear the entire thing almost immediately. With social networking, and the desire for change, America is seeing the same exact marches on Washington that occurred during the Vietnam war. Only the marches and the calls to action take place in cyber space now, and woe to any politician that hasn't gotten that through their heads yet.

America's youth will shape the future, in fact they already are. But unlike days of old, when one was impressed by million person sit ins in front of the White House, today's protests and today's sit ins occur under the radar, in unseen chat rooms and message boards, where the young are planning how to change the country for the better. They exhort each other to get to the polls, they discuss the same issues that older voters talk about, and suddenly, as older Americans become jaded about what's going on, America's youth is about to show up and make a stand.

A stand for democracy. A stand for change. A stand for decency and respect. And a stand for caring about our fellow citizens, no matter their color, creed, gender, or lack of blue blood pedigree. Oh yes, some of us gleefully await the arrival of November, because the youth of the nation is about to rock not only the vote, but shock the world in their overwhelming condemnation of the past decade's abuses of power, and the last three decades of the march towards fascism. The political pundits don't have a clue as to what they're talking about, and the candidates would serve themselves well to take a good hard look at the primary results and the ongoing voter revolution taking place in invisible cyber space.

And With Freedom From Tyranny For All

As much as we Americans like to gripe about what our government has been pulling on us for what seems like a very long time now, on July 4th, we still come together in celebration of freedom. There will be concerts and BBQ's. We'll have dance-a-thons and sing alongs. To top off the day and evening of celebrations and beer drinking the nation over, explosions will light up the skies of virtually every city across the land.

Although it is well and good for us to hold festivities paying homage to what we as a country have accomplished over the last two and a half centuries, we should also stop and reflect on three important issues. The first would be the people who have fought to protect what we have and although we have a separate holiday to honor them, today should also remind us that many have paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend our way of life.

Second we must keep in mind today during our celebrations of freedom that there are those who wish to take those freedoms from us, and they are our own countrymen and women.

Third, we should all take a moment every 4th of July to think about the people all across the world who have absolutely no freedom, and who live under the most brutal and repressive regimes known to man. There are literally billions of people living under tyranny, with no hope, no future save abject poverty and despair.

Regimes such as the Saudi government, our 'friends and allies' who put bloggers in prison for speaking our against the regime or it's policies. A country where freedom of religion is not even a thought, and where beheadings are such a ho-hum happening, that spectators to the gruesome practice hardly give the executions a second glance any more. Just being gay can get a rope put around your neck and Lord help a woman who isn't covered from head to toe. A place where young children can be arrested for such minor offenses as running away from home, or being seen together with another child of the opposite sex without an adult present. The boys can be held for six months without any judicial review, and the girls can be kept without charge indefinitely for re-education. This land that provides the world with most of their terrorists also does not allow women to do or say anything without the permission of a man. Being declared a witch in a Saudi court of law will be cause for execution.

Sudan's al-Bashir must be one of the first to come to mind also when we think of tyrannical madmen who enslave their own people. Although we have all heard of the plight of the Darfurian people, who are being systematically tortured and murdered even as we speak, we never hear about the rigged elections, the absolute control of the media, the death sentences for speaking against the government, or the ordinary citizens who have no food and no hope. All of Sudan's oil wealth sits in accounts at banks in the Caymans, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and the Bahamas. The people of Sudan benefit not one cent from all of this fueling of China's war machine, only those at the very top of government and military power are growing fat off the land there.

In President Bush's soon to be new home, Paraguay, (There's no extradition treaty between Paraguay and the U.S. and the Bush family bought a massive ranch there a couple of years ago), human rights abuses are so rampant that Amnesty International has called their criminal justice system one of the most corrupt and depraved in the world. You don't think of South American countries when the word tyranny comes to mind, but in Paraguay, women are arrested by police on made up charges, thrown in prison for years in some cases without ever seeing a judge, all so some big wig can profit from her body being rented out. There are children in these prisons, their 'crime' being that of begging in the streets. Past calls for reform in this country have been laughable due to the government's blanket immunity for all involved in past abuses.

Ethnic cleansing is the norm for the small country of Bhutan. Situated just north of Bangladesh, Bhutan citizens whose ancestry is Nepalese have been forced to live in refugee camps under appalling conditions and have had their citizenry revoked. Nepal has refused to take them in, and so hundreds of thousands live in squalor and hunger due to no crime save being born.

President Bush the 1st expelled Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in the name of freedom for that tiny emirate, but almost 20 years later, reforms are slow in coming or non-existent. Along with the Saudis, rich Kuwaitis are the largest employers of imported domestic workers from former Soviet bloc nations. And they are the worst abusers of these vulnerable people, forcing them into virtual slavery. Working for nothing more than food and a cot, their passports taken by their employers, they suffer physical abuse as well. Although women are allowed to vote due to pressure from the U.S., they enjoy no equality here. Routine whippings, honor killings and the like are the norm. And forgotten by all are the people called 'bidoons', born in Kuwait, but denied citizenship by the government for being from the wrong tribe.

There are so many nations that flagrantly violate the U.N.'s mandate for human rights that we could be reading about them for days. These are but a few of the really bad offenders. But what is most interesting is that over the past few years, the United States itself has been cited by human rights groups the world over for abuses against it's citizens. Pointing out the almost routine use of tasers by American police, Amnesty International says that several hundred people have been killed by these nasty little toys since 2001. And they're handing them out at an ever faster clip. Also noted has been the blanket denial of conscientious objector status to those soldiers who feel the war in Iraq is unjust, and according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, that makes them prisoners of conscience.

So although when stacked up against many a country the world over, the U.S. enjoys much greater latitude than others, there is a backward slide that is not something that has gone un-noticed by rights groups. Everyone on this planet has the right to be free from tyranny, and that includes us here at home. Fireworks and BBQ's do not freedom make, but an ever vigilant population willing to call abuses of power for what they are. Tyrants, attempting to subvert what we have held dear for a very long time. Enjoy the light shows in the sky, take the weekend and hold your family dear. And as the new week begins, contact someone and gripe about an issue you feel is wrong. Keep the politicians on their toes, or they'll start passing even more bills to restrict our freedoms and tear up the Constitution. But if they know we're watching and won't hesitate to make our displeasure known, they will get back in line and do the People's bidding.

Murder By Medicaid

Every so often we are treated to the devastating visualization of exactly what the cuts to domestic programs are causing. Once in a while the lurid photographs or the stunning video makes it's way to the media showing just how far we have sunk as a people when it comes to the care and the treatment of the poor.

The murder of a mentally ill patient, and that's what it is, murder, at Brooklyn's Kings County Hospital is indicative of a larger problem when it comes to services for the poor and the mentally disabled. Video shows security guards and a doctor ignoring a woman who had been waiting for twenty four hours in an emergency room at the hospital, even after she collapsed to the floor. A nurse finally comes and kicks her like a dog to see if she is alive, but of course, by this time she was dead.

Kings County Hospital has long been the only place in Brooklyn where the poor could go when they were sick or injured with non life threatening illnesses and injuries. Long waits for service are nothing new there, but the deaths of patients who seek treatment at the facility are on the rise. A lawsuit brought by the parents of a twelve year old boy who died of MSRA, a super staph infection, alleges that doctors never diagnosed the extremely ill child properly and sent him home with an over the counter antibiotic. He died soon after being discharged. Another recent incident at Kings County shows a man taken to the emergency room by relatives, where after a long wait to be seen, he also died. The cause? Admitting doctors failed to detect a stab wound that was bleeding profusely in his abdomen.

All of these three victims have one thing in common. Poverty. And even worse, they were on Medicaid, the much maligned by extremists medical program designed to help the poor have access to medical care. Only it doesn't work that way any more. Medicaid cut after Medicaid cut by this monstrous President and the leeway handed over to the states to bring in private insurance companies has so decimated the program, that what taxpayers are getting when money goes towards Medicaid now is not what they think. The money is going straight into the pockets of HMO's such as Kaiser, Magellan, Blue Cross and others, who act as middle man between care providers and the patient. It also didn't help that in March of 2003, Governor George Pataki began a series of funding cuts of his own to Medicaid payments for 17 Brooklyn hospitals, to the tune of $134 million.

New York is not unique in the cuts made to Medicaid payments for the care of the poor. But none can match the outright chutzpah of the Nevada legislature's callous and cold new budget. Passing hefty pay raises for public employees, they paid for them by trimming almost $275 million more from services to the poor, when they had already passed $1 billion in slashed spending not too long ago. Las Vegas mental patients who are suicidal already have almost no services, sometimes waiting up to three days in emergency rooms before being released after being given a cursory inspection by a doctor.

How did this happen? By the Bush Administration's privatization of Medicaid. It used to be that when a poor person had Medicaid coverage, they could go to the doctor or emergency room with the expectation of being seen by a professional. Not so any more, and this is what they do not want the taxpayers to know. Now, Medicaid patients must get approval by their HMO provider to see a new doctor. If the doctor is not on the provider's list, then the patient MUST choose an 'approved' care provider. Encouraged to provide minimal care by lower and lower payments made through Medicaid, the savings are then handed to the HMO's for saving the government money. The largest theft in world history isn't going on at Halliburton. It's happening right here in America's medicaid system under Bush.

The HMO must also approve all prescriptions given by doctors, many times changing the ordered drug for something else, or outright denying the patient access to the prescribed medication by calling it 'experimental'. Also not known by the public at large, who see the Medicaid program as a free ride for the poor, is the fact that while costs are sky rocketing, actual services received are in decline. That's because of the brilliant idea of forcing the poorest of the poor to make co-payments for services rendered. So a person receiving Medicaid due to a disabling illness, and who has to see his or her doctor four times a month will have to pay up to $25.00 per office visit. Say that person is given five prescriptions for approved by the corporate world medicine. Another $10.00. And if the doctor says the sick person has to see a specialist, it can cost another $50.00 co-pay.

Factor in transportation in areas that don't provide it, and the person is looking at $200.00 per month in order to try to regain their health. Sounds reasonable until you realize that if that person is living on a fixed income or minimum wage, they now have to choose between health care, rent and food. Can't have all three so choose one over the other. Of course, food and shelter have to come first, and bingo, the HMO makes more because they just forced the sick to not see their doctor, saved the government more money, and that big fat bonus check is on it's way to Kaiser headquarters. And then the poor and the sick get sicker, overwhelming emergency rooms, themselves understaffed, under trained, and underfunded. And so they die.

But of course, we know by now that this has been the mindset put forth by the sociopaths of our society. The ones who could care less about the poor and the infirm. They have trained us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow citizens in order to turn a buck themselves. And we fell for it time and time again.

Kings County Hospital must be held responsible for not only the death of this woman, but should be held criminally liable for the falsification of medical records, as they reported that this poor, mentally ill woman was alert and sitting upright as she lie face down on the floor gasping out her last breaths.

And the Bush Administration must be held criminally liable for the untold misery they have caused by giving the taxpayers money to corporations while allowing for the needless suffering of our fellow citizens. Whatever political philosophy you believe in, whatever causes you seek to champion, and whether you consider yourself conservative, liberal, or in between, right is right and wrong is deadly. Murder by Medicaid is a reality that has been long swept under the rug and must be seen for what it is. The bilking of billions of dollars from the taxpayers in order to enrich the few on the dead bodies of the poor. we must all call for yet another reform in this system. One that cuts the middle man out of medical programs designed to help the poor and the middle class and gives the power back to the medical providers. Doctors should be making decisions regarding a patient's treatment and not some person who is sitting at a desk being paid extra to make sure that treatment isn't received.

Imagine this was your mother, your sister, your aunt, or just your neighbor. Write to Congress. Call your Representative. Demand that HMO's be cut out off of the Medicaid ATM, because it's not the poor that are bankrupting the nation, it's the policies of take from the poor and give it to the rich that are not only causing us to go broke, but as evidenced by this latest episode, they are actually killing people.