Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 03.11.08

[David Shove (shove001]

              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    03.11.08

1. Peltier hearing  3.11 9am

2. Aeon/CCHT        3.12 7:30am
3. Disability/KFAI  3.12 11am
4. Genocide/silence 3.12 11:30am
5. Womens rights    3.12 12noon StCloud MN
6. Water rights     3.12 12:15pm
7. Mortgage mess    3.12 6pm
8. Globalization/f  3.12 7pm
9. Climate/humans   3.12 7pm
10. Immigration ref 3.12 7pm
11. Vets for peace  3.12 7pm RedWing MN
12. Teach-in v war  3.12 7pm
13. Amnesty Intl    3.12 7:30pm

14. ACLU/Capitol    3.13 8:30am
15. New Hope demo   3.13 4:30pm
16. Eagan vigil     3.13 4:30pm
17. Northtown vigil 3.13 5pm
18. Colombia/unions 3.13 6pm
19. Green careers   3.13 6pm

20. Welfare Rights - Don't let legislators steal welfare money!
21. Metro U        - Tutu tickets now
22. Kip Sullivan   - DFL leaders health "reform" bills poison pills
23. June Terpstra  - Hollow women of the hegemon

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From:  <info [at] freepeltiernow.org>
Subject: Peltier hearing 3.11 9am

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2008, BEGINNING AT 9:00 A.M.
Case No. 07-1745MN
Leonard Peltier v. Federal Bureau of Investigation
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
University of St. Thomas School of Law
Frey Moot Courtroom
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Background:

On June 8, 2007, Peltier attorneys filed with the U.S.  Court of Appeals
for the Eighth Circuit an appellate brief asking the Court to review and
release some 11,000 pages of documents related to the investigation and
prosecution of Leonard Peltier.  The FBI continues to withhold those
documents, claiming that their release would violate promises of
confidentiality made to informants and would, incredibly, endanger the
national security of the United States.  In the brief, it is argued that
the FBI's promises to its informants expired long ago, and were waived
when those informants testified publicly.  It is asserted that the
virtually unprecedented public interest in the case of Leonard Peltier
warrants careful judicial review of the withheld documents.  In addition,
it is demonstrated that the FBI's historic misconduct in this case,
coupled with its continued misrepresentations about Peltier's case, shows
sufficient bad faith to require the most searching inquiry into any claims
of privilege.

The government's response was to categorically insist that there is no
degree of governmental misconduct toward a FOIA litigant that could cause
a court to "question the good faith of the agency," Cox v Department of
Justice, 576 F2d 1302, 1312 (8 Cir.  1978) unless the litigant can prove
misconduct in the FOIA proceedings themselves.

On October 9, 2007, attorneys Ron Kuby and David Pressman filed a reply
brief with the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eight Circuit.
According to the Peltier attorneys:

"The government's assertion that it can wave away its sordid history of
proven FBI and prosecutorial misconduct toward Peltier with a 'what have
we done to you lately' nonchalance rests entirely on the government's own
insistence.  More significantly, the government conflates Peltier's
lengthy, documented, proven history of the most serious governmental
misconduct with some fanciful, gauzy grievance made by some hypothetical
litigant.  The government again demonstrates that it does not now, nor has
it ever, taken seriously any of the courts that have admonished it about
the treatment of Leonard Peltier. It has been proven that the FBI withheld
exculpatory evidence, manufactured inculpatory evidence that it knew to be
false, coerced witnesses and engaged in an over reaction to Wounded Knee
sufficiently grave to cause a Senior Judge of this Court to opine that the
Government shares responsibility for the firefight that led to the death
of the two FBI agents.  The government has shown no solicitude for the
enormous 'burden on the judiciary' that its own malfeasance has caused."

Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier http://www.FreePeltierNow.org


--------2 of 23--------

From: Jenny Johnson <JJohnson [at] aeonhomes.org>
Subject: Aeon/CCHT 3.12 7:30am

Learn how Aeon is responding to the affordable housing shortage in the
Twin Cities. Please join us for a 1-hour Building Dreams presentation.

Minneapolis Session: March 12 at 7:30 am

We are also happy to present Building Dreams at your organization, place
of worship, or business. Space is limited, please register online at:
http://www.aeonhomes.org/bd or call Jenny Johnson at 612-341-3148 x237


--------3 of 23--------

From: Andy Driscoll <andy [at] driscollgroup.com>
Subject: Disability/KFAI 3.12 11am

WEDNESDAY, MAR 12: THE STUDENTS ARE BACK! TALKING ABOUT KIDS WITH
DISABILITIES - HOW TO TEACH, HOW TO TREAT.

Our budding journalists from Twin Cities Academy return to take over TTT
and the five 7th-graders take a look at some of the barriers and
opportunities kids with disabilities encounter as they grow into the world
of academic and social dynamics, sometimes coping with preconceptions
about their ability to learn, their ability to communicate, their ability
to play, despite some perceived limitations.

GUEST CO-HOSTS: EMILY SYVERUD, TEAGHAN PERSONS, AND MADI DRISCOLL with crew
members TESSA FERGUSON and  SAM MASON.

GUESTS:
 MARY McKEOWN, Executive Director  Highland Friendship Club
 ANNA GREEMAN, Friendship Club member and consumer
 JENZI SILVERMAN, PhD candidate, author of Dissertation on Teacher
Inclusion of Disabled Students


--------4 of 23--------

From: Jeff Hartman <hartm152 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Genocide/silence 3.12 11:30am

Musicology/Theory Colloquium series, Philip V. Bohlman - "The Silence
of Genocide."
Wednesday, March 12, 11:30 - 12:30 pm
280 Ferguson Hall
2106 4th Street S, Minneapolis

Drawing upon the history of genocide that defined the twentieth century
and the aesthetic confluence of modernity and modernism, Prof. Bohlman
turns to the problem of aesthetic response to the conditions of
destruction and death. Philip V. Bohlman is the Mary Werkman Distinguished
Service Professor of the Humanities and of Music at the University of
Chicago, where he served as Chair of Jewish Studies during 2003-2006.


--------5 of 23--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Womens rights 3.12 12noon StCloud MN

Wednesday, March 12: Women's Center St. Cloud State University. Women on
Wednesday - Still Fighting for Our Rights 30 Years Later presents Progress
for Women of Color? Insights from Campus Women with Sharon Fineday,
Interim Student Services Coordinate, SCSU American Indian Center; Debra
Leigh, CSU Community Anti-Racism Education Team; Dr. Margaret Villanueva,
current teaching & research focuses on Latina & Latino communities in the
Midwest. Noon-1 PM. Atwood Theatre, Atwood Memorial Center.


--------6 of 23--------

From: Human Rights Events Update <humanrts [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Water rights 3.12 12:15pm

The Human Right to Water - Human Rights Center Lecture Series (Cosponsors:
Program in Human Rights and Health / School of Public Health)

All lectures Wednesdays: 12:15-1:15 p.m., 30 Mondale Hall
<http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/MondaleH/index.html>  (Law)

*       3/12 Making it Happen: Practical Strategies for Fulfilling the Human
Right to Water (Paige Novak, PhD, Civil Engineering)
*       3/26 Water and the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples


--------7 of 23--------

From: Amy <amy [at] minofamily.net>
Subject: Mortgage mess 3.12 6pm

Impact of Mortgage Foreclosure on Saint Paul Investigated at Upcoming
LWVSP Program

The League of Women Voters of Saint Paul (LWVSP) invites all interested
members of the public to its next Member Meet-up on Wednesday, March 12,
2008, to be held at 6:00pm at the Mississippi Market Community Room in
Saint Paul.  The topic for the evening is

"Impact of the Mortgage Meltdown on the Local Economy"
Julie Gugin, Executive Director of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 6:00-7:30 pm
Mississippi Market, 622 Selby Avenue, at Dale Street, in the upstairs
Community Room.  There is a deli in the Market where a light dinner can be
purchased and brought upstairs.  Please park in the overflow lot, across
Hague Avenue.

Julie Gugin joined the Home Ownership Center in February 2007 and has over
fifteen years of experience in non-profit leadership and housing program
development. Prior to joining the Center, Gugin served as Associate
Director and Director of Development in the supportive housing division of
the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. As Vice President and Director of
Programs at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, she coordinated an elaborate
array of programming and facilitated significant program growth for the
organization. In both positions, Gugin successfully cultivated numerous
partnerships with philanthropic organizations, local governments,
for-profit and non-profit builders, faith-based organizations,
corporations, in-kind suppliers, and home buyers to achieve organizational
goals.  She is actively involved in the Twin Cities' housing community and
has served as a board member for numerous organizations including the
Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services and the Emergi ng Markets
Home Ownership Initiative.

All Member Meet-ups are free and open to both League members and the
general public.  To RSVP for the meet-up or for more information, please
contact Amy Mino at amy [at] minofamily.net or 651-430-2701. For more
information on the League of Women Voters of St. Paul, please visit:
www.lwvsp.org.


-------8 of 23--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Globalization/film 3.12 7pm

Wednesday, March 12: University of Minnesota Office for University Women.
REEL Dames Documentary Film Series (Film/Discussion) "Nalini by Day,
Nancy by Night," is a documentary exploring complex issues of
globalization, capitalism & identity through a witty & personal account
of the film maker's journey into India's call centers. 7:00 PM at Walter
Library 402, U of M.


--------9 of 23--------

From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Climate/humans 3.12 7pm

The Human Impact of Climate Change
Wednesday, March 12, 7:00 p.m. Minneapolis Public Library, Baseball Scam
Hall, 300 Nicolett Mall, Minneapolis.

Representatives from developing countries will educate the public in
target states on the links between climate change and poverty. The primary
goal of the speakers tours is to educate the American public and
policymakers about the development impacts of climate change; to ensure
that people in the most vulnerable and poorest communities (abroad and in
the U.S.) have access to the financial and technological resources needed
to adapt to current and future changes in the climate. Sponsored by: Oxfam
America and the Climate Equity Campaign. FFI: Email
<lhille [at] oxfamamerica.org> or visit <www.climateequitycampaign.org>.


--------10 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Immigration reform 3.12 7pm

Wednesday, 3/12, 7 pm, NW Neighbors for Peace sponsors Alliance for Fair
Federal Immigration Reform attorney Rose Grengs speaking on "How and Why
We Need Immigration Reform," Parish community of St Joseph, 8701 - 36th
Ave N, New Hope.  nwn4p [at] yahoo.com or 763-478-4956.


--------11 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Vets for peace 3.12 7pm RedWing MN

Wednesday, 3/12, 7 pm, meeting Red Wing Vets for Peace, home of Charles
Nicolosi, Red Wing.  tuvecino [at] redwing.net


--------12 of 23---------

From: Meredith Aby <awcmere [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Teach-in v war 3.12 7pm

Teach - In to Stop the War
WED, 3/12 @ 7pm @ Blegen Hall Room 135 (U of MN, West Bank)

What is happening in Iraq and why should we care?  How do protests raise
consciousness and change history?  Come for an hour of speakers and
discussion about the Iraq War and students can do to stop it.  Brief
presentations will be followed with popular education.  Organized by
Students for a Democratic Society, umnsds [at] gmail.com, meetings every Tuesday
@ 4:30 @ Coffman Board Room (307).


--------13 of 23--------

From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: Amnesty Intl 3.12 7:30pm

AIUSA Group 640 (Saint Paul) meets Wednesday, March 12th, at 7:30 p.m. Mad
Hatter Teahouse, 943 West 7th Street, Saint Paul.


--------14 of 23--------

From: ACLU of Minnesota <action [at] aclu.org>
Subject: ACLU/Capitol 3.13 8:30am

SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE ACLU OF MINNESOTA
Can you join us Thursday and lobby your state legislators in St. Paul?

Whether you're experienced at lobbying your elected officials or this is
your first time, we'll make sure you are fully prepared to make an impact
on critical civil liberties issues.

RSVP NOW
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=bo5erYhuqfUhAVyr_TLRjA..

Don't miss our second Annual Day on the Hill on Thursday, March 13. You
can help bring liberty and justice to the state capitol!

ACLU of Minnesota Day on Capitol Hill. The day will include a training on
how to lobby, a rally in the capitol rotunda, and meetings with your
legislators.

Thursday, March 13, 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. (If you can only come for a
limited amount of time, please let us know when you register so we can set
up your meetings during the times you are available.) Breakfast will be
provided, lunch will be on your own.

Schedule of the day
8:30 a.m. 9:00 a.m. - Registration in the Rotunda
9:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. - Lobby Day Training
10:30 a.m. 10:45 a.m. - Rally in the Rotunda
10:45 1:30 p.m. - Individual Meetings with legislators

WHY:
 To prevent Minnesota from adopting Federal REAL ID laws, which would
invade our privacy and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
(You can learn more about REAL ID at
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=QreCVd-Jd-YI6u7ZN4YFZQ.. )
 To ensure that our students have access to comprehensive sex education
 To ensure everyone is given their constitutional right to vote

Minnesota State Capitol, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Saint
Paul, MN.  The Capitol complex is to the north of I-94 just minutes from
downtown St. Paul. It is accessible from the east and west on I-94, and
from the north and south on I-35E.

Register Today! http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=O5fdzGCVBV9T8fer1AQwEQ..


--------15 of 23--------

From: Carole Rydberg <carydberg [at] comcast.net>
Subject: New Hope demo 3.13 4:30pm

NWN4P-New Hope demonstration every Thursday 4:30 to 6 PM at the corner
of Winnetka and 42nd.  You may park near Walgreens or in the larger lot
near McDonalds; we will be on all four corners.  Bring your own or use
our signs.


--------16 of 23--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <family4peace [at] msn.com>
Subject: Eagan vigil 3.13 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.


--------17 of 23--------

From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 3.13 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy
10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park,
Fridley, and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


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From: Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition <aranney [at] citizenstrade.org>
Subject: Colombia/unions 3.13 6pm

Forum on Trade and Union Worker Struggles in Colombia (Rochester/Mnpls)

Join the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition for an evening of coffee, snacks
and discussion on trade and union worker struggles in Colombia. We'll be
engaging an in-depth discussion with organizers who have experienced the
dangerous realities and risks of union organizing in Colombia. We'll
followup with a discussion connecting these risks and the impacts of trade
in Colombia, Minnesota and the United States.

The forum will be hosted by Edgar Paez from the Colombian Labor Union
SINALTRAINAL (National Food Industry Workers Union), Dan Kovalik,
Associate General Counsel of the United Steelworkers, Gerardo Cajamarca of
the Global Justice Program with the United Steelworkers, Alicia Ranney of
the MN Fair Trade Coalition and Kristen Melby of Witness for Peace.

The discussions will focus on conditions for union organizers in Colombia
and how trade deals impact workers, families and human rights both in
Colombia and the US.

Contact Alicia Ranney, Director of MNFTC for more details!
Minneapolis, MN
March 13th at 6:00PM
Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council
(312 Central Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55414)

Rochester, MN
March 14th at 6:00pm
Christ United Methodis Church
(400 5th Avenue SW, Rochester, MN )


--------19 of 23--------

From: Do it Green! <Do_it_Green [at] mail.vresp.com>
Subject: Green careers 3.13 6pm

Thursday, March 13th: Green Careers with Barbara Parks of Green Career
Tracks
6-8 PM
Nokomis Public Library (5100 34th Ave. S., Mpls)


--------20 of 23--------

From: Welfare Rights Committee - Alt Email <welfarerights [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Don't let legislators steal welfare money!

Tell DFL Leaders: "Don't balance the budget on the backs of poor and working
Minnesotans! Don't steal poor people's money from TANF."

CALL THE LEADERSHIP of the House and of the Senate:
Rep. Margaret Kelliher, Speaker of the House - 651-296-0171
Rep. Tony Sertich, House Majority Leader - 651-296-296-0172
Sen. Larry Pogemiller, Senate Majority Leader - 651-296-7809
Sen. Tarryl Clark, Asst. Senate Majority Leader - 651-296-6455

More info:
We know Gov. Pawlenty wants to steal $94 million from TANF...But it is
shocking that some DFL members are also talking about taking poor families
money.

TANF dollars are for TANF.  It is illegal to use TANF dollars for other
uses, such as nursing homes or to replace general fund spending for
anything.
It is immoral to steal money from the survival program for low income and
working families to balance a budget deficit.

There are real needs for the TANF dollars , and there are poor peoples
bills that put that money to use for low income families, but these bills
are being denied a hearing in the House.

Demand that the Poor peoples bills HF 3616 and HF 3618 be granted a
hearing. UPDATE: Friday evening,there was an agreement to move the Senate
companion bills to the Finance division - which means our bills made the
first deadline!

We call on the DFL and all politicians to stand up against this abuse.

In a time of recession, the social safety net is more important than ever.
When the jobs are gone and the unemployment runs out, MFIP is all that
working and low income families have to survive on.

Welfare Rights Committee PO Box 7266, Mpls MN 55407 pho: 612-822-8020 main
email: welfarerightsmn [at] yahoo.com alt email: welfarerights [at] qwest.net


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Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:31:33 -0500
From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: Tutu tickets now

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR APRIL 11 PUBLIC LECTURE
BY ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU

Metropolitan State University's Presidential Lecture Series to host
Archbishop Tutu at April 11 event at Minneapolis Convention Center

February 27, 2008 (Minneapolis) -- Metropolitan State University today
announced that tickets are now available for Archbishop Desmond Tutu's
public lecture, which will take place on Friday, April 11, at 7 p.m. at
the Minneapolis Convention Center. The subject for the Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate's remarks will be "Making Friends Out of Our Enemies."

Tickets are $100 each [gulp!], plus a $5 per ticket handling fee ($6.50
for phone orders) and are available at Metropolitan State's website,
www.metrostate.edu or by calling 877-772-5425. Archbishop Tutu is the
third nationally and internationally renowned speaker in Metropolitan
State's President's Lecture Series. "As we continue our deep commitment to
civic engagement we are delighted to be hosting Archbishop Tutu, a man who
is probably the world's leading proponent of world peace," said William
Lowe, interim president of Metropolitan State.

Metropolitan State and the nonprofit organization youthrive are bringing
Archbishop Tutu to the Twin Cities. The purpose of Archbishop Tutu's visit
is to work with area youth through youthrive's PeaceJam event, which is
being hosted at Metropolitan State on April 12 and 13. In addition to
participating in PeaceJam, Archbishop Tutu will also address youth
attending the National Service-Learning Conference hosted by the National
Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) the morning of Friday, April 11.
youthrive/PeaceJam, Metropolitan State and NYLC are all helping to make
Archbishop Tutu's participation possible. The PeaceJam event also will
include a service project with the North Minneapolis community, which is
being supported through a grant from Greater Twin Cities United Way.

youthrive (www.youthrive.net) is a nonprofit organization that provides
youth with leadership and service-learning opportunities, especially
around the concepts of peace building, social justice, anti-racism, human
and environmental rights, and ethical leadership. youthrive, the Upper
Midwest affiliate of PeaceJam Foundation based in Colorado, brings youth
together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, and provides curriculum,
training and service-learning opportunities related to each Nobel
Laureate's visit.


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The DFL leadership's health "reform" bills contain poison pills
By Kip Sullivan, March 10, 2008

Last May, fifty-seven state legislators, all DFLers, signed on to the
Minnesota Health Act, a single-payer bill that would implement universal
health insurance within two years of the date of enactment. You might
think that a bill with the support of one-fourth of the state's 201
legislators would have influenced the DFL leadership. You would be wrong.
The DFL leaders on health policy, Sen. Linda Berglin (Minneapolis) and
Rep. Tom Huntley (Duluth), have introduced bills that tweak the current
system and, in the case of Senator Berglin's bill, move us further away
from a single-payer system. In this commentary, I will concentrate on
Senator Berglin's bill because it is the worst of the two bills. I'll
comment on Rep. Huntley's bill at a later time.

Senator Berglin's bill, SF 3099, calls for the creation of a second layer
of insurance companies beneath the current layer (dominated by Blue Cross,
Medica, and HealthPartners). It also requires the publication of report
cards on the quality of care provided by these second-layer companies as
well as by the individual clinics and hospitals. These "reforms" are to
our health care system what poison is to a sick patient. They will force
our health care system, already groaning under excessive administrative
costs, to bear even more administrative costs. They will also damage
quality of care, lead to further consolidation of our health care
industry, and destroy patient privacy.

                 IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DUCK.

SF 3099 does not state that its goal is to create a second layer of
insurance companies, but that's precisely what the bill will do. The new
layer of insurance companies will be created by language in the bill
calling for clinics and hospitals to assemble themselves into large
networks called "care systems" that will have the essential features of an
insurance company: They will be paid premiums, they will have the
equivalent of policy-holders or enrollees, and they will bear risk.

SF 3099 assiduously avoids words like "premiums" and other insurance
lingo. However, the bill does say care systems will be paid a fee per
month or year (the bill doesn't specify the time period) by the first
layer of insurance companies for each patient who enrolls with a care
system, and care systems will be legally obligated to provide all
necessary medical services to its enrollees. SF 3099 doesn't call the
payments to the care systems "premiums," but that's precisely what they'll
be. SF 3099 does not call the care system members "policy-holders" or
"enrollees," but that's precisely what they'll be.

The bill refers to the "patient populations" of care systems. That phrase,
plus the provisions in the bill making care systems "responsible" for the
"total care" of those populations, makes it clear patients will have to
enroll in care systems in advance, just as we have to sign up with
insurance companies prior to the start of calendar years now, and that
care systems will be legally responsible for providing all necessary
medical care to those "populations."

In sum, care systems will be insurance companies that won't be called
insurance companies. But they will look, walk and quack like insurance
companies.

                      NO PATIENT LEFT BEHIND

SF 3099 also calls for report cards on care systems and individual
providers (clinics and hospitals) that will cost a lot to produce, will
damage quality of care for at least some patients, and destroy what's left
of patient privacy. These report cards are supposed to serve two purposes:
They will, we are told, help Minnesotans "shop" for the best care system
and the best clinic or hospital once they are published in the media and
on the Internet; and they will serve as the basis for "pay for
performance" payment methods that will reward doctors for getting good
"grades" on the report cards and punish doctors who get "bad" grades on
the report cards.

The report cards will be prepared by an entity called the Health Care
Value Reporting Organization. This entity will apparently be a private
corporation like the Minnesota Community Measurement Project, an
organization financed by the health insurance industry (SF 3099
specifically mentions the Community Measurement Project as an acceptable
candidate). (George W. Bush is such a fan of the Community Measurement
Project that he flew out to Minnetonka two years ago to celebrate it as
the cutting edge example of the No Patient Left Behind report cards that
he thinks will solve the health care crisis.)

In order to prepare report cards, the Health Care Value Reporting
Organization is authorized to collect patient medical records from all
Minnesota clinics and hospitals as well as all patient medical records
that health plans have gotten their hands on. The Reporting Organization
will need lots of data on patients because SF 3099 instructs the Reporting
Organization to "risk adjust" the grades on report cards. "Risk
adjustment" refers to the process of adjusting "grades" on provider report
cards that take into account differences in patient health, patient
income, and other factors outside of providers' control that influence the
outcomes being measured. For example, if the quality measure is the
percent of heart disease patients who survive surgery for more than 30
days, you would want to adjust the 30-day survival rates for factors like
number of diseased coronary arteries, whether the surgery was emergency or
non-emergency, whether the patient had a normal pulse at the start of
surgery or was in shock, and so on. Those data are, by definition, medical
records data.

In short, SF 3099's call for report cards on all Minnesota providers for
all diseases known to Western medicine means the complete destruction of
patient privacy. It does no good to say that the clinics will only be
sending patient medical data to Big Brother after "patient identifiers"
have been stripped. I doubt very much all identifiers will be stripped. In
any case, some third party will have to strip the identifiers. In other
words, the de-identification process itself will violate patient privacy.

                         WRONG DIAGNOSIS

What on earth could justify legislation like the provisions in SF 3099
that call for the creation of a second layer of insurance companies and a
blizzard of report cards? Like most legislation, SF 3099 does not lay out
the rationale for the bill's provisions. To get some idea of the rationale
for creating an even more Byzantine insurance industry than we already
have, and for subjecting this more Byzantine industry to No Patient Left
Behind report cards, we have to turn to the Health Care Transformation
Task Force (TTF), a commission created by the Legislature in the spring of
2007. The proposal to create a second layer of insurance companies is
based on a recommendation by the TTF in its January 2008 report to the
Legislature known as "level 3 payment reform."

The arguments for this "reform" set forth by the TTS are somewhat cryptic,
but when you decode them they turn out to be the same unfounded arguments
that have been made for the last four decades for managed care. According
to the TTF report, and according to testimony of TTF members at a House
joint committee hearing on February 28, the health care crisis is caused
by bad doctors. Bad doctors are everywhere, we are told. They are not
practicing good medicine, they are harming health, and the resulting high
prevalence of sickness in our population is the reason why American health
care costs are double those of Canada, England, France and the rest of the
industrialized world. Never mind the high administrative costs generated
by the insurance industry, never mind hospitals and clinics buying more
equipment than is necessary, never mind specialists and drug companies
charging sky-high prices, never mind fraud committed by insurance
companies and some clinics and hospitals.

Note how similar this diagnosis is to the Bush administration's diagnosis
of the crisis in our schools. The problem is bad teachers.

And what's causing all the bad doctoring, you ask? Why, it's the
fee-for-service method of paying doctors, the dominant method of paying
doctors in this country for centuries. The TTF members and other advocates
of "level 3 payment reform" can't bring themselves to come right out and
say bad doctors are the problem and the fee-for-service system is inducing
bad doctoring. They prefer much more abstract language that makes it
harder to pin them down. Here are examples of semi-cryptic statements from
the TTF report that implicate doctors and the fee-for-service system as
the primary causes of the American health care crisis:

* "The quality of health care is uneven, and it is well below the levels
that Minnesotans should expect for the money we are spending."

* "The way we pay for health care must be fundamentally changed in ways
that support improvements in quality and establish accountability for the
total cost of care."

At the February 28 House hearing, one TTF member made these
pronouncements:

* "The quality of [medical] services does not enter into what is paid";

* "Our payment system does not take into account quality"; and

* "We know quality 'varies significantly'"

You see how the game is played. The TTF and "level 3 payment reform"
advocates don't come right out and say doctors are bad and the
fee-for-service method is the culprit. Rather, they tell us "quality is
uneven" and the current "payment system does not take quality into
account." You're supposed to conclude:

* that "uneven quality" means "inferior quality,"

* that this inferior quality is induced by the "payment system" as opposed
to high drug prices, lack of insurance, the nurse shortage, overstressed
ER departments, managed care insurance companies meddling in the
doctor-patient relationship, etc.,

* and that the TTF members have a payment method up their sleeve that will
"take quality into account," and make quality "even" (please God, give us
"even" health quality).

Let's begin our analysis of these cryptic remarks with the question, How
do we know "quality is uneven"? Advocates of "level 3 payment reform"
virtually always cite one of three sources. I'll discuss their favorite
one here. According to the TTF report and to at least one of the TTF
members who testified at the February 28 hearing, we know quality is
"uneven" because the Community Measurement Project tells us so. "If you go
to the Minnesota Community Measurement Project, you see significant
differences in outcomes," this witness stated.

I urge you to go to the Web site of this organization (mnhealthcare.org)
right now and tell me if you see any evidence of "uneven quality." Just
for fun, type in "diabetes" into the box entitled "select by condition"
that appears on the first page of this Web site. Up will come a list of
dozens of Minnesota clinics and clinic-hospital networks (the future "care
systems" under Senator Berglin's bill) with percentages next to their
names. These percentages are the percent of diabetic patients "assigned"
to these clinics who have their blood sugars, blood pressure, and
cholesterol levels under control, who don't smoke, and who take aspirin
daily. You will see, for example, that only 8 percent of the diabetics
"assigned" to the Mayo Clinic make the grade on these five measures of
"quality," only 1% of the diabetics "assigned" to the MeritCare Clinic in
Cass Lake make the grade, and 15 percent of the diabetics "assigned" to
the Park Nicollet Clinic in Burnsville make the grade. (I put "assigned"
in quotes just to alert you that the way the Community Measurement Project
lumps patients into one clinic's denominator and not some other clinic's
denominator is suspect.)

When your eyes behold these figures, do you leap to the conclusion that
they reflect differences in "quality"? Do you leap to the conclusion that
the doctors in the MeritCare clinic in Cass Lake are inferior to the
doctors at Mayo, or that the doctors at Mayo are inferior to the doctors
at the Park Nicollet Clinic of Burnsville? I sure hope you don't. But
that's precisely what the TTF members and Senator Berglin want you to
believe.

The problem with those slick-looking tables at the Community Measurement
Project's Web site is that the Community Measurement Project makes no
effort to adjust the percentages for factors outside the clinics' control.
You don't have to have a PhD in anything to know that the best doctors in
the world cannot make their diabetic patients buy cholesterol-lowering
drugs like Lipitor or Zocor. They can't buy health insurance for their
uninsured patients, and they cannot guarantee that if their patients have
health insurance it will cover prescription drugs and won't have
prohibitively high deductibles. They can't hoist their poor patients out
of poverty. They can't make them literate if they're illiterate. Just as
teachers can't guarantee that the kids they teach won't come to school
hungry, so doctors cannot control all the factors that will affect their
grades on sloppy, deceptive report cards like the one the Community
Measurement Project publishes.

If one clinic has more poor, uninsured, and/or illiterate diabetics, it is
bound to look bad on report cards like the one you see at the Community
Measurement Project Web site. If the MeritCare Clinic at Cass Lake, for
example, is serving a disproportionately poor and uninsured population,
then the diabetics who show up at that clinic are far more likely to be
unable to follow their doctor's instructions. It is simply wrong to cite
the Community Measurement Project as evidence that "quality is uneven,"
or to use plainer language, that bad doctoring is rampant in Minnesota.

I believe the average, unbiased reader gets what I'm saying. But just to
drive this point home, let me use an analogy. Let's say we did a survey of
auto mechanics and automobile owners in Minnesota and determined that only
half the cars in Minnesota have had their oil changed on schedule. Would
anyone leap to the conclusion that the problem is bad auto mechanics? Of
course not. If we had the equivalent of a Community Measurement Project
report card on auto mechanics that showed that the percent of cars up to
date on their oil changes was 8% at one shop and 15% at another, would we
say "quality of car care is uneven"? Of course we wouldn't. We could
easily imagine a host of factors affecting car maintenance that has
nothing to do with the quality of auto mechanic services. But according to
the logic of the TTF and their allies, we should leap to the conclusion
that auto mechanics are the problem, and subjecting them to report cards
and a new payment method will solve the problem of "uneven car care."

I'm not arguing that quality of medical care cannot be improved. I'm
arguing that there is simply no evidence to support the claim of the
"level 3 performance report" advocates that bad quality is rampant, nor
that what bad quality there is out there is caused by the fee-for-service
payment method. And there sure as heck is no evidence that report cards
are a solution to anything that ails the Americans system. I'll comment
more about report cards in my email about Rep. Huntley's bill.

                        THE TTF'S REBUTTAL

The proponents of the "level 3 payment reforms" have argued that their
proposal does not shift risk to care systems and thereby convert them into
a second layer of insurance companies. They claim that the payments to
care systems will be risk-adjusted (using the same data the report-card
makers will be using to risk-adjust grades on report cards) so that the
premiums vary with the health status of the patients who enroll with them.
But risk adjustment methods are very crude. They predict very little of
the actual expenditures incurred by individual patients. Therefore, it is
not accurate to argue that risk adjustment leaves all the risk with the
current layer of insurance companies and shifts none to providers. Current
research on risk adjusters justifies the statement that 85 to 90 percent
of the risk will be shifted to care systems and only 10 to 15 percent of
the risk will be retained by the current layer of insurance companies.

                             SUMMARY

The TTF and Senator Berglin are urging us to adopt a horrendously
complicated and expensive "solution" to a problem that either does not
exist or is minimal compared with other problems. The evidence simply does
not support their diagnosis - that high health care costs are caused by
low-quality medical care. Because their diagnosis is wrong, their
prescription is wrong. We don't need a second layer of insurance companies
practicing managed care. We've been there, we've done that. The managed
care experiment failed. There is no point in conducting another experiment
in managed care.  And we don't need No Patient Left Behind report cards.

It would be nice of Senator Berglin and the DFL leadership would get
behind the Minnesota Health Act (Senator Berglin made a point of leaving
the committee hearing room when the Minnesota Health Act passed the Senate
health committee last month by a vote of 8 to 3). But if the DFL health
policy "leaders" can't do that, the least they can do is to do no harm.
There are a few good things in SF 3099, but they are outweighed by the
"level 3 payment reforms" and the report card provisions. If those
sections cannot be stripped out of Berglin's bill, then the entire bill
should be voted down.


--------23 of 23--------

HOLLOW WOMEN OF THE HEGEMON,
June Terpstra
Sunday, 09 March 2008

Visible token women leaders clucking sanctimoniously over "women's rights"
- as bombs are being dropped on their "sisters" - are examples of Western
feminist "success" within the hegemon; women such as Margaret Thatcher,
Corazon Aquino, Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton.

This article is a call in honor of International Women's Day warning the
people not to follow the woman leader who stands by her hegemon.  This is
a call for new women leaders who will stand with men to resist and defend
the people against tyrannical governments posing as democracies.  This is
a call to us all, women and men, to end the oppression of globalized debt
based economics that funds all wars, profiting from state terror while
fomenting all states of terror.  The interlocking directorate of rulers
who employ women leaders, such as Margaret Thatcher, Benizer Bhutto,
Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Corazon Aquino, Madeline Albright, Janet Reno,
Condoleezza Rice, or Hillary Clinton, do so because they are loyal
supporters to the men of the hegemon reveling in the greed, wars,
invasions, occupations, and the New World Order.  As such, they along with
their power hungry husbands, fathers and brothers must be stopped.

Today's women in power are focused on power for themselves "in solidarity"
with the men of the hegemon. They neither represent the liberal feminists
"ethic of care" or the revolutionary women's demand for a radical
reordering of society.  Instead they have joined the front lines in the
agenda to, as Kissinger stated, "depopulate" the women, men and children
of the planet.  They are power hungry women who want to be included in the
process of "add women and stir" to the list of acceptable positions of
power and profit of the hegemon.

Let us begin with Condoleezza Rice, who is said to be the most powerful
woman in the world today.  She is a highly educated woman who fronts for
the oil companies and bankers as a neoconservative secretary of state.
Her stated ambitions for the sons and daughters of the people of the USA,
red or yellow, black or brown, is to be the dead and wounded "investment"
that the people make in the 21st century's hundred year war. She says Iraq
is "worth the investment" in American lives and dollars and that the
United States can still win a conflict that has been more difficult than
she expected.

Rice represents a dramatic and symbolic historic shift in the way imperial
monarchies, oligarchies and plutocracies worked in the past.  The
traditional paradigm was of the male military hawks working with Catholic
Priests and the Protestant intelligentsia to con the public into feeding
their boys to the military cannons profiting the kings, bankers and
weapons manufacturers. Women in general and mothers in particular,
historically decried wars and abhorred sending their sons to battle.  Yet
since WWII, we have Golda, Indira, Margaret, Benazir, Corazon, Madeline,
and perhaps Hilary, if she becomes the President, all representing for the
bankers, military complex and oil industries.

Here is hegemon's historical array of women leaders urging their country's
children to die, and celebrating that suicidal military "service" to the
Judeo-Christian god and plutocracy with college educations to the tune of
cheesy "proud to be" country and western patriarchy songs. More young
women - some married with infant children - are joining the US branch of
terrorism training camps because they have been told they are "free to be
all they can be" so "sign on" for training with a company and a unit that
their government and corporations care nothing about as is evidenced in
the jobs or healthcare they will never have.  Those jobs were outsourced
to India and the healthcare is too expensive.

Here is what has been and is preached by the hegemon's women war lords who
pose as government leaders:

     "I know from the point of view of not just the monetary cost but the
    sacrifice of American lives, a lot has been sacrificed for Iraq, a lot
    has been invested in Iraq," Rice said.  "Bush would not ask for
    continued sacrifice and spending "if he didn't believe, and in fact I
    believe as well, that we can in fact succeed", Rice said. Stand by
    your man, Condi!

Hilary Clinton was asked about the "ticking time bomb" scenario, and said
in skillful doublespeak, "I have said that those are very rare but if they
occur there has to be some lawful authority for pursuing that,"  she
responded. "Again, I think the President has to take responsibility.
There has to be some check and balance, some reporting. I don't mind if
it's reporting in a top secret context. But that shouldn't be the tail
that wags the dog, that should be the exception to the rule."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says, referring to a half million
children dead in Iraq, more children than died in Hiroshima, "I think this
is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
"The significance of the Falklands War was enormous, both for Britain's
self-confidence and for our standing in the world. Since the Suez fiasco
in 1956, British foreign policy had been one long retreat...  Victory in
the Falklands changed that. Everywhere I went after the war, Britain's
name meant something more than it had," Thatcher says in her memoirs./

Or the O.G., Golda Meir, who once put it: "... we cannot forgive you for
making us kill your children."

As is evidenced today, women's participation in the military industrial
complex is embedded in every way. Legislation for the draft submitted
after 2001 explicitly defined both men and women of the ages between 18
and 26 as "conscripted" for military service. In 2004 women, including a
woman general, officers and grunts stationed at Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq
are on trial for torturing Iraqi men, women and children. One of the women
of Abu-Ghraib had also been accused of torture in Afghanistan.

Media and educational systems now include women experts and
representatives of legal organizations such as the National Organization
of Women are quick to appear publicly to criticize women's oppression in
Middle Eastern countries. These accusations become part of the rhetoric of
American women's liberation under "American democracy" - fronting as an
excuse for US invasion and occupation.  The hegemon uses the subject of
women's oppression selectively when stirring up sentiment for war against
Muslims and Arabs. Without consulting Arab and Muslim women about their
purported oppression, or only consulting exiled women who are agents and
assets of the US state, there occurs a double form of imperialism and
racism perpetrated by the American women "experts."

While ignoring the statistical realities of the obscene numbers of women
raped, beaten and killed by men in the USA these "experts" are used to
gain women's support for war. As women in the USA support war under the
guise of democracy and liberation a divisive diversion is wedged between
women and men who are resisting hegemonic invasion and occupation.
Visible token women leaders clucking sanctimoniously over "women's rights"
as bombs are being dropped on their "sisters" - are examples of Western
feminist "success" within the hegemon; women such as Margaret Thatcher,
Corazon Aquino, Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton.

The hegemon makes and breaks the rules that govern domestic global
political and economic relations by controlling most of the research,
legal and governing international institutions. Women's increased
participation and support in these institutions is crucial for continued
maintenance of the hegemon. Whether in media, education, government, or
corporations, women play critical roles as leaders, managers and foot
soldiers paving the way as role models for future obedient leaders and
workers for the hegemon. As the hegemon minimally provides for the needs
of its poorest women the illusion of equal opportunity and equity is
fostered when a Hilary and Condi take the stage together.

In the same pattern in which Fanon described the desire of the "native"
for the white man's power so do many women of the world desire the power
of their master's. Desiring the master's power is the opposite of desiring
liberty. Liberation and resistance means desiring freedom, it is struggle,
and the struggle requires we build ties by nurturing the desire for
liberty in each specific situation. The historical tragedies of torture
and genocide now are commandeered by the "powerful" women allowed to act
as overseer for the global masters.

Resistance to the state terror of the New World Order (NOW) carries even
greater risks than those posed by the danger of the car bomb or dynamite
rigged vest. The US combatant has left their humanity at the boot camp
door.  A moment's hesitation costs innocent lives, like the four doctors
allegedly killed by one of my students at an Iraqi checkpoint or the 14
year-old girl raped by the US combatant who laughs about it on You Tube.
One could be the next innocent victim rendition to Poland or incarcerated
by the NYPD in an asbestos laden condemned warehouse on the docks.

Our failure to hesitate to stop these leaders has a price here and there.
As more women and children are recruited by their women leaders more
defenseless women and children will be tortured, shot and killed.  It is
all part of the grand depopulation plan of the US lords of war.  All the
hegemon's boys and girls are to follow the "harsh arithmetic of pain,"
whereby civilian casualties on both sides "play in their favor," - the
favor of the ruling class that is.  They like to pose that democracies
lose, both politically and emotionally when they kill civilians, even
inadvertently. Yet, the state terrorists are dropping bombs on civilians
from Somalia to Iraq killing numbers thousands weekly, far surpassing the
numbers killed by the bits of dynamite strapped to the resistance fighters
vest.

Since WWII women in power have been agents and assets for the state and
the corporations behind the state. With a clear political agenda they are
caught up in the tendencies and values of imperialism. They revel in the
hegemon and in the benefits that come with rising to the top of it.  So
total is hegemony now established over the mind and spirit of American
women who almost never perceive it at all, striking the mind as 'normal"
as capitalism markets the "uncovered" woman who is "free to be" - having
"sex in the city" buying $400 shoes (even when her historical people are
drowning in New Orleans) because she is "worth it."

It will come as no surprise to the people that the answer to the question
"who benefits" from these women leaders is the "new world order". I refer
here to the term "new world order", by which I mean the globalizing
hegemonic force, as announced by George Herbert Walker Bush on the eve of
"declared" war against Iraq in 1991.  The hegemon benefits the most from
women's leadership and if it did not, they would not be there.

People who are standing with the oppressed and for liberation need new
rules, strategies and tactics to deal effectively and fairly with these
dangerous realities of the new gender and color blind imperialism. We
cannot simply wait until the next generation of sons and daughters decide
to follow a Condi's or a Hillary's demands for more cannon fodder. We must
stop these leaders, whether female or male, before they export their
perverted propaganda, their sick and dangerous militaristic terrorism,
their culture of death to the children and grandchildren here so they do
not spread it to the children and grandchildren over there.

Those of us who are dedicated to ending the terrorism and imperialism of
the hegemon need new rules, strategies and tactics to deal effectively
with the dangerous realities of US military aggression here and abroad.
We cannot simply wait until another son or daughter of people decide to
follow the leader's con jobs and deceptions.  We must stop this madness of
pre-emptive war games and the Judeo-Christian culture of death that the
leadership of the hegemon, male, female, GLBT, left, right, red or yellow,
black or white, is spreading from sea to poisoned sea.

June Scorza Terpstra, Ph.D. is an activist educator and university
lecturer in Justice Studies, Criminal Justice and Sociology.  She has
founded numerous programs for homeless, abused, youth and oppressed people
in the USA.  She is presently teaching courses on Law and Terrorism,
Social Justice, Resistance, Criminology, and Juvenile Justice.  She is a
former Community Research Fellow and doctoral graduate of Loyola
University Chicago.

<http://carolynbaker.net/site/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=371>


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