Most agree that private health insurance is a rip-off, with yearly health insurer profits topping 11 figures, while our costs have ballooned above one -sixth of the gross domestic product! In the third Democratic debate, Elizabeth Warren said we must find the best, most cost-effective way to deal with this crisis (it impoverishes every American, and currently kills 23,000 yearly). Recently she rolled out her Medicare for “all” plan; which makes no mention of “single payer” — a fatal flaw — by creating a two-tier system that includes private health insurance (PHI). It allows PHI to undermine Medicare for All’s (MFA)’s cost effectiveness, by insuring only the healthiest and wealthiest consumers. But, she is not alone, in allowing 11-figure profits to hold sway, every Democratic presidential contender (except Bernie Sanders) includes this two-tier system that harbors the seeds of destroying MFA.
Bernie’s plan replaces PHI with health insurance that is expanded Medicare, is universal (everyone is covered and the choice of provider is unlimited), is cost effective (proven worldwide where single payer exists), transitions, so that industry workers’ jobs are saved, and saves tens of trillions of dollars, over decades to come.
Critics claim there is a loss of “choice” with MFA, (as if consumers would like having the option to be ripped off), when actually, choice of providers is as universal as coverage. They also claim it is unworkable account our population is 333 million, which is demonstrably ridiculous, as several other countries enjoy the cost savings as well as better health outcomes.
Bernie understands that it takes ‘our revolution’ to change every aspect of our healthcare system, and leads with courage to go against the powerful interests - to replace a broken and corrupt system, with a better one that works for ALL, with best health outcomes.
ANDREW MARTIN, Morrisville, Pa.
In support for Mr. Mansour Hadi [former president of Yemen], Saudi Arabia has resorted to indiscriminate bombings, which have led to thousands of people killed and Yemen is almost on the brink of starvation. It is not that the US is standing by — it is actively participating with mid-air refueling [of Saudi aircraft] and supplies of arms and ammunition to the Saudis.
Has the US joined the centuries-old war between Shiites and Sunnis, joining the Sunnis by assisting them? Is it not terrorism? The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has not issued any comment on that matter.
We can safely say that the Houthi rebels, with their connection to Iran, is not seen lightly by the US. We have walked out of the nuclear deal, which was signed by Europeans, with Russia and China participating, and we have strict sanctions that Iran is not allowed to sell her oil to the world. Why do we have to get involved in the wars between Shiites and Sunnis?
G.M. CHANDU, Flushing, N.Y.
I recently received a free copy of The Progressive Populist. My late father was an holocaust survivor. Why should I subscribe to a periodical that publishes commentary by Juan Cole? According to the Wikipedia entry about him, he espouses the stereotypical anti-Semitic accusation that American Jews hold dual loyalty with Israel. His 9/15/19 column grotesquely distorts the history of the Middle East and paints Jews as villains when in reality they were fighting for their right to exist. He makes it sound as if the so-called Palestinians were innocent victims. This is untrue.
Cole claims Zionist militias attacked Arabs in 1948 to “ethnically cleanse” the region. He completely leaves out the actual history behind the conflict. Arab murderers had been attacking and even wiping out Jewish settlements for decades prior to the birth of Israel. In 1947, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, an ally of Adolf Hitler during WWII, launched a wave of violence against the Jews. It wasn’t until the following year that the official army of Israel, the Haganah, began offensive operations. Any independent militia actions before this were self-defense and justifiable retaliation. So Cole leaves out this important fact — the Arabs started the war that they then proceeded to lose. Upon Israel’s declaration of independence, the entire Arab world attacked Israel. The military dictatorships in these Arab countries were set up with the help of Nazi refugees who fled prosecution in Europe, and their armies were also advised by Nazis. Arabs with help from Nazis were trying to wipe out Jews. Cole ignores this real effort at ethnic cleansing. Jews were merely defending themselves. Much of the world, however, considers it a war crime when a Jew defends himself.
Cole is also wrong that Arabs living on the West Bank didn’t lift a finger during the 1967 war. At this time the West Bank was part of Jordan, and many of the men living there served in the Jordanian army. Not many Arabs living on the West Bank were clamoring for independence when this territory was part of Jordan. In fact, there really is no such thing as a Palestinian. There never was a country known as Palestine — the people who live there are just Arabs, no different from any other Arab, except they happen to live in this region. Zahir Muhsein, one of the founders of the PLO, admitted the non-existence of a Palestinian when he said this in 1977, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is just an Arab tactic for the destruction of Israel.”
Arabs living in Israel were not forced to leave their homes. Arabs are allowed to vote in Israel and many serve in the Knesset. The refugee crisis was caused by the Arabs who voluntarily left their homes during Israel’s war of Independence, hoping to return after the Jews had been wiped out (or ethnically cleansed to use a term favored by Cole). When the Jews weren’t exterminated, these Arab refugees were put in camps and kept there by their fellow Arabs who refused to help them.
I can’t believe Cole holds a position at the University of Michigan. No wonder so many college students today are misinformed. I am a liberal, but it is disappointing to discover that leftist magazines consistently publish unfair one-sided criticism of Israel written by obvious anti-Semites.
MARK GELBART, Augusta, Ga.
Editor Notes: Juan Cole, who is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and an authority on modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history, is a frequent critic of Israeli government actions but we don’t think that makes him an anti-Semite, which the Anti-Defamation League defines as “belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish.”
Re: Eric Boehlert’s “Sunday Morning Talk Shows Become Willing Trump Enablers” [8/15/19 TPP], you can’t Chuck it all, by George.
“Richard French Live” (Channel 81, WWDP Boston) five nights a week tells it like it is, but sadly, his show is leaving the air in November.
Other than PBS and a few others, Big Business cracks the whip over the ad agencies, who don’t give free rein to network execs who command the broadcasters who don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, while the neigh-sayers are silenced.
So far, we wait for someone to speculate that the self-proclaimed “Chosen One” may suffer from Frontal Lobe Frenzy after staring at a solar eclipse without protective glasses. Or a collapsed cerebellum from overuse of yellow dye 5 and 6. Round up the retainers.
The Capitol is run by such capitals as NRA and EPA instead of FTD and PETA.
Blame the Kochs of the Walk, not the Chickens Little.
FLORA ORMSBY SMITH, Marblehead, Mass.
Re: “Misogyny and white supremacy: It’s time to fight both sources of vicious violence,” by Heather Digby Parton [9/15/19 TPP]
The connection between religion and misogyny couldn’t be more clear. I only wish it would get more attention.
St. Paul, the most revered man in Christendom (after Jesus of course) had this to say about women in 1 Timothy 2:11-15:
“I give no permission for a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. A woman ought to be quiet … It was the woman who fell into sin. Nevertheless, she will be saved by childbearing …”
Does St. Paul’s opinion of women in sacred text inspire men to respect them, or to hold them as equals? Of course not! According to the great apostle, woman’s duty in life is to sit down and shut up – and let the man, her master, do all the thinking and make all the decisions.
It’s shocking, really, how far women have strayed from the righteous path that God ordered them to follow. Instead, they have joined the ranks of men as doctors, lawyers and professors, and have found success in all professions.
Who gave those inferior creatures the audacity to defy God’s instructions anyway? Satan? So now it’s time for all God-fearing men to put women in their place – in the home where they belong, and bearing children so that they can be saved.
DAVID QUINTERO, Monrovia, Calif.
I flipped my wig when I saw Ted Rall’s apology for the arrogant, nauseating “incel” nonsense [“The Root Cause of Mass Shootings Is the Rage of Alienation,” 9/15/19 TPP].
You’ve heard the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” Go to Matthew 19:12 to find out.
MARIA ROSE, Indianapolis, Ind.
It is my expectation that President Trump is going to do all of us a big favor and decide some time in early-to-mid 2020 not to run for re-election in part because of an economic slow-down. When that happens, I hope that the Republicans will nominate someone of good character such as Nikki Haley or Carly Fiorina.
Personally, I don’t know what I find to be more despicable about the guy — the way that he makes fun of and insults people’s physical appearance, or the way that he views women as sex-objects.
STEWART B. EPSTEIN, Rochester, N.Y.
An advanced being would never place their children before a device (TV) that is showing behavior they want their children to avoid. If our television is teaching violence, then we will have a violent world.
How do we stop it?
MICHAEL BURTT, Miami, Fla.
From The Progressive Populist, October 15, 2019
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