(via situationist)

From: quinnd.posterous.com

The health care reform explicitly denies insurance plans that include coverage for abortion, forcing many women to lose existing coverage!

From The Nation
posted by JOHN NICHOLS
Excerpts

Quoting Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky:
This amendment goes far beyond current law which already bans the use of federal funding for abortions. It goes far beyond the language already in this bill that guarantees no federal dollars are used for abortion. This amendment says that a woman CANNOT purchase coverage that includes abortion services using her own dollars; middle class women, using exclusively their own money will be prohibited from purchasing a plan including abortion coverage in every single public OR PRIVATE INSURANCE PLAN in the new health care exchange. Her only option is to buy a separate insurance policy that covers only abortion – a ridiculous and unworkable approach since no woman anticipates needing an abortion. This amendment is a radical departure from current law and will result in millions of women losing coverage they already have.

This health reform bill is about improving access to care, not further restricting a woman’s right to choose. Our bill is about lowering health care costs for millions of women and their families, not further marginalizing women by forcing them to pay more for their care. This amendment is a back door way of overturning Roe v. Wade; it is a disservice and insult to millions of women throughout our country. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.
——————-
Quoting Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich
This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.

1. Matias Aguayo (11) 
2. Four Tet (8) 
3. Various Artists (4) 
4. Mexican Institute of Sound (3) 
5. Heiko Voss (2) 

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

dannygarcia:

Hey guys, my new theme, Adaptation, is up on the Theme Garden. Install it here!

RED!

Productive Dystopia

Is dystopia useful for the designer? What can it tell us about a present urban practice? We asked these questions in this introduction to a panel discussion that took place in London’s east end, 23…

Via: N_O_R_T_O_N

black-and-white:

Final Frontier by Ben Spurgeon

ninakix:

Cartogrammar.com experimented with using “Flickr as a paintbrush.” Compiling geo-tagged photos and using their primary colors to create this beautiful compilation of the colors of Harvard Yard among others.

ragdoll:

Richard Avedon, Brandenburg Gate #1, Berlin, after the wall came down, New Year’s Eve 1989 (via harharhar)

I can feel it!

The Financial Times comments on the failures of Clinton/Obama, Netanyah and Abbas threatening to resign from the Palestinian Authority.

A man humiliated
Published: November 8 2009 

…..
If a figure such as Mr Abbas cannot survive in the present climate, then he is likely to be replaced by a far more radical and uncompromising leadership. No Palestinian leader can or will negotiate while Israeli colonisation of the West Bank continues. Mr Netanyahu’s refusal to call a halt to expanding settlements means in effect there will be no two-state solution.

If that is so, then the prospect is for a long and bitter fight for equal rights within one state. That would spell the end of Israel as a democratic Jewish state. It would come to resemble in many ways the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. If Mr Netanyahu believes that he has achieved a victory by refusing to halt the settlements, he is wrong. It is more like a project of national suicide.

Read Entire Article

Zizek ruminates on the collapse the communism , the rise of authoritarian capitalism and the popular discontent in post-Communist countries

From NY Times Opinion Pages
Published: November 9, 2009

TODAY is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During this time of reflection, it is common to emphasize the miraculous nature of the events that began that day: a dream seemed to come true, the Communist regimes collapsed like a house of cards, and the world suddenly changed in ways that had been inconceivable only a few months earlier. Who in Poland could ever have imagined free elections with Lech Walesa as president?

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Via: Troy Rhoades

copycats:

Beat It by Pomplamoose
originally by Michael Jackson
(posted by Nathaniel James)

Attention Seattlites:
The Seattle Times ran a story in Sundays paper -

How an underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall
How did Mike McGinn apparently take Seattle City Hall? The mayoral candidate had a fleet of volunteers so devoted they deferred graduate school, borrowed money from their parents and spent hours contacting voters for McGinn.

By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times staff reporter

……
By all accounts, McGinn was the underdog in the race. He was out-fundraised by more than 3-to-1, and he lacked big-name endorsements. He was opposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, the chairman of the state Democratic Party, and most of the business and labor communities.

What he did have was a fleet of volunteers so devoted they deferred graduate school, borrowed money from their parents and spent hours contacting voters for McGinn.

The grass-roots campaign seemed to tap into Seattle’s idealism, as McGinn spoke about listening to people and bringing them to consensus, stopping plans for a deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and expanding light rail.