Tuesday, 5/25/10
7pm, Mt. Mercy Library-Report! Talk! Action!
Women for Peace-Iowa

http://www.womenforpeace-iowa.org

We will report on and discuss the new government study on the Afghanistan War. Then we will plan action in response!

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The US Elite View:
htthttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/world/asia/30afghan.html?scp=9&sq=afghanist\
an&st=cse

Ten Things You Can Do for Healthcare Reform

http://www.pnhp.org

Drs. David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, longtime advocates for single payer with Physicians for a National Health Program, have sifted through the mounds of information and misinformation to bring you ten things you need to know about the new law and a few actions to bring true reform to the healthcare industry.

By The Editors
The Nation

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama is, we hope, a first step on the way to a Medicare-for-all type program, which would offer better coverage at a lower cost by cutting out private insurers. Under the new healthcare system, however, private insurance companies are guaranteed millions of new customers, and regulations on the industry aren’t as tough as they should be. Big Pharma and HMOs were also able to secure lavish subsidies and concessions in the bill. Drs. David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, longtime advocates for single payer with Physicians for a National Health Program, have sifted through the mounds of information and misinformation to bring you ten things you need to know about the new law and a few actions to bring true reform to the healthcare industry.

1. The act risks ensconcing skimpy coverage as the norm. Participating plans are required to cover only 60 percent of expected healthcare costs, leaving families responsible for huge out-of-pocket expenses. The law will also tax “Cadillac plans,” hitting millions of working families.Work with union activists to repeal the tax, maintain comprehensive healthcare benefits and fight for Medicare for all.

2. The law reduces Medicare’s out-of-pocket costs for drugs by closing the infamous “donut hole,” covering 75 percent of these costs by 2020. But the deal is even better for drug firms, who’ll be getting paid full price for their products. Push to replace the privatized Medicare drug-coverage program with a fully public plan that would use its bargaining power to force down drug prices by about 40 percent.

3. HMOs were allowed into Medicare on the promise that they would save money, but over time they successfully lobbied Congress to increase their Medicare payments to 14 percent above costs. The new healthcare law cuts about $136 billion from these overpayments. Advocate for eliminating them entirely and phasing out investor-owned health providers that deliver inferior care at inflated prices.

4. The law will reduce federal subsidies to public and other safety-net hospitals. Yet 23 million Americans will remain uninsured and tens of millions more will continue to rely on safety-net providers because hospitals often shun insured patients with unprofitable illnesses. Unless the assault on public hospitals is stopped, millions of sick Americans may find they have nowhere to go. Advocate on behalf of Safety Net Hospitals.

5. Insurance and Big Pharma lobbyists’ fingerprints are all over the new law. It’s time to curb their influence. Join efforts for public funding of political campaigns. Support the Fair Elections Now Act. Ask your elected officials to stop taking funds from the health insurance lobby and push for tougher regulation of Big Pharma.

6. Expose and agitate against insurance firms’ abuse of their customers and the outrageous incomes paid to their executives. Share your story at the excellent site maintained by the California Nurses Association.

7. The law excludes undocumented immigrants from buying insurance in the new exchanges, even if they can pay full price, and bars green-card holders from receiving any publicly subsidized insurance for five years. Defend the right to healthcare for everyone. Sign the petition at The Center for Immigrant Healthcare Justice.

8. Keep up to date on reform at PNHP or Trudy Lieberman’s blog. Show Michael Moore’s “Sicko” in your community, and start a dialogue about what true reform should look like.

9. Work with state-based single-payer groups. Vermont passed a law that mandates the design of new healthcare models, including the possibility of single payer. Similar bills have been introduced in California, Maryland and Minnesota.

10. Exercise, eat right and advocate for public policies that facilitate healthier lives. Learn how to get active as a physician, a medical student, a citizen or labor advocate. The fight for real national health insurance will carry on into the 2010 election cycle and beyond. We need you around for the long haul.

This article appeared in the May 24, 2010 edition of The Nation.

CONCEIVED BY Walter Mosley with research by Rae Gomes

“Ten Things” is a monthly feature. Readers who wish to propose ideas for it should e-mailNationTenThings@gmail.com.

Physicians for a National Health Program
29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602

THE ACLU OF IOWA IS SEARCHING FOR A TALENTED, WEB-SAVVY PROFESSIONAL
TO JOIN THE STAFF AS A COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST.

PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED POSITION DESCRIPTION, AND DISTRIBUTE TO
OTHERS AS YOU FEEL YOU CAN … ESPECIALLY TO PERSONS AND
ORGANIZATIONS WITH ACCESS TO DIVERSE GROUPS OF QUALIFIED PERSONS.

THANK YOU!

“Ben Stone”

www.aclu-ia.org
JOB DESCRIPTION
Communications Specialist
May 2010
The ACLU of Iowa (ACLU-IA), an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization devoted to promoting and defending civil
rights and civil liberties in Iowa, with nearly 3,500 members across the state supporting our
legal, legislative and public education programs. The ACLU-IA, which is celebrating its 75th
year of existence, currently has three staff members in an office in downtown Des Moines.
The Communications Specialist will be responsible for most written communications and
media relations, including the ACLU of Iowa’s online presence and email advocacy, working
cooperatively with staff and lay leaders to develop public education strategies that enhance
the public’s understanding and appreciation of constitutional rights and the principles of
Democracy, Justice, Liberty and Equality.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Develop and manage strategies and processes for creating and nurturing a diverse
and varied online ACLU-IA presence through social media and other types of
internet based systems, including an efficient and practical email advocacy system.
• Assist in the management of media relations, including maintaining a media contacts
database, preparing press releases and statements, handling incoming media inquiries,
developing media strategies, pitching stories and drafting op-ed pieces.
• Manage content for the ACLU-IA website, including posting of documents, photos
and videos, and oversee contributions of content to external websites, as well as
coordinate interactions between the affiliate’s web site and various social media.
• Oversee production of our triennial newsletter, The Defender.
• After training, providing staff support for data input and report production from
ACLU membership and gift data system.
• Assist in development and implementation of community outreach and membership
recruitment efforts as needed.
• Develop and produce ACLU-IA publications including pamphlets, brochures, issuespecific
reports, event promotions and other materials as needed.
• Travel occasionally within the state, as well as attend ACLU staff conferences as
needed.
QUALIFICATIONS:
• Excellent writing, editing, and analytic skills.
• A strong understanding of civil liberties issues, and the ability to explain ACLU
positions to the interested public.
• Experience in public relations, journalism, civil liberties law, or a related field
requiring significant writing and public relations duties.
• A bachelors degree from an accredited post secondary institution.
• Proven skills for the development and production of publications.
• Web-savvy and knowledge of social media techniques and use of the blogosphere.
• Experience with e-activism campaigns and other web organizing efforts.
• Ability to work successfully in a collaborative setting, working with both volunteers
and public relations consultants to advance ACLU issues.
• Ability to manage numerous concurrent projects and work under tight deadlines.
• Competency in data entry and use of databases.
• Ideal candidate would also have experience and skill as a webmaster, with an
understanding of web site construction and design.
COMPENSATION AND TERMS:
The ACLU-IA offers a generous and comprehensive compensation and benefits package,
including free parking, cell phone subsidy, and employer-paid employee health and dental
coverage (and, if applicable, up to 50% of coverage for other family members). In addition,
after an initial period of employment, we provide life, AD&D, and long term disability
insurance, as well as a defined contribution/401(K) pension plan.
The first six months of employment are probationary. Flexible work hours and some work
from home are eventual possibilities.
Minimum starting salary is $40,000, with more for those with exceptional experience or
qualifications.
TO APPLY: Send a letter of interest and résumé to:
Human Resources
ACLU of Iowa
505 5th Avenue – Suite 901
Des Moines, IA 50309
OR send via email to: job@aclu-ia.org
Applications reviewed upon receipt. Position will remain open until the right person
is found.
The ACLU-IA is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and encourages
women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and lesbians and gay men to apply

“Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class”

http://www.mediaed.org

7:30pm, Thursday, May 20, 2010
Hiawatha Library

Free Film and Discussion sponsored by:

Linn County Green Party
PO Box 2151
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402
#360-5119

You’re Invited!

A Pentagon report on the last six months in Afghanistan portrays an Afghan government with limited credibility among its people, a still active if not growing insurgency and an enormous reliance on American troops to train, outfit and finance the country’s defense forces for the foreseeable future.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/pentagon-report-afghanistan.pdf

The report, released on Wednesday, is mandated by Congress every six months. It points to some improvements, including an increased optimism among Afghans about their government and the slowing of the insurgency in places where NATO troops have concentrated their efforts.

But an array of measures suggest that the situation is little better over all than it was six months ago despite enormous expenditures of effort, money and lives by the American and international forces.

“This is, I think, a very serious and sober report,” a senior Pentagon official said at a news briefing on Thursday in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“For the last several years we’ve seen this very steep increase in areas that the Taliban control, areas that feel threatened,” the official said, according to a transcript provided by the Defense Department. “People’s perception of security was getting worse. That’s leveling off.”

Still, according to some of the report’s diagrams, insurgent activity in the last six months has spread to several areas where it had not previously been a major factor.

Many sections of the report are based on close analysis of the situation in more than 100 districts where NATO is concentrating its efforts.

In 92 districts assessed for their support of the Afghan government or their antagonism to it, not one supported the government, although the population was neutral in 44 districts. The number of districts sympathetic to the insurgency or supportive of it increased to 48 in March 2010 from 33 in December 2009.

Despite those trends and an 87 percent increase in violent incidents from February 2009 to March 2010, 59 percent of Afghans surveyed nationwide felt that their government was now going in the right direction, indicating a potential for positive change. There was also a modest increase in the proportion of Afghans who expressed confidence in their government, to 45 percent from 39 percent.

“The majority of the people are on the fence, not that they oppose the government,” the senior Pentagon official said. “And the objective is to move those people who are on the fence in the direction of the government, and in areas where people are opposed to the government, move them at least onto the fence.”

Attitudes are a crucial component in a counterinsurgency, so the changes, while seemingly small, are significant, according to senior NATO officials in Kabul.

Pulling in the opposite direction, however, was the Pentagon’s assessment of the insurgency, which it found to be tenacious, with “robust means of sustaining its operations” in terms of arms, financing and recruits.

“Its operational capabilities and organizational reach are qualitatively and geographically expanding,” the report said. It added that the “strength and ability of shadow governance to discredit the authority and legitimacy of the Afghan government is increasing.”

The report notes that the insurgents have proved adept at returning after a military operation to clear them out and at regaining a foothold by using intimidation and selected executions. Far from winning the support of the population, the Taliban are seen by 52 percent of Afghans as the chief cause of instability, and this perception provides the Afghan government with an opportunity to show itself as the protector of the people. The government has yet to take advantage of that.

The insurgency appears to have expanded its influence in Badghis and Faryab Provinces in the northwest, where there has been little international troop presence in the past.

The slow progress in training Afghan security forces has greatly concerned NATO and especially the United States. Ultimately, the creation of a capable Afghan army and police force will enable international forces to leave Afghanistan. There is a lack of trainers, and some NATO countries that promised to contribute them have yet to send significant numbers to augment their current forces.

In the case of the police, many in the Afghan force are not only illiterate and poorly trained, but also hampered by a nearly nonexistent judicial system, which undermines even their best efforts. Corruption, incompetence and threats make it uncertain whether a person detained by the police will be held, prosecuted or sentenced.

And even if Afghanistan can build an adequate security force, it seems unlikely to be able to sustain that force. Congress appropriated $6.6 billion this year for the Afghan security forces, to cover a two-year period, and $155 million more is coming from other international donors.

But the Pentagon report said that there was “considerable concern” about the Afghan government’s ability to sustain the financing, and that as a result the Afghan defense forces would need “considerable international support for the foreseeable future.”

There were a total of 133,500 international service members in Afghanistan on March 31, 87,000 of them American troops, the report said. More American troops are due to arrive over the next three to four months, bringing the total number of American troops to 98,000.

Attacks on NATO and Afghan forces continued Thursday, when a service member died from an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan. In Laghman Province, a suicide bomber attacked a NATO and Afghan National Army patrol, killing one Afghan soldier and wounding two others, according to a senior provincial official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A version of this article appeared in print on April 30, 2010, on page A10 of the New York edition.

By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: April 29, 2010