US House barely passes watered-down Health Care Reform Bill
On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed what is being hailed in the commercial news media as an “historic health care reform bill.” The measure barely passed with a 220-215, a vote, which included all Democrats and one Republican voting for the bill. West Michigan members of Congress, Vern Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra, both voted against the bill.
The closeness of the vote demonstrated the volatility of the issue, despite the fact that what ended up being passed was ultimately not a very progressive bill. The so-called “Public Option” was watered down in such a way as to not challenge the power of the medical establishment, including health care insurance companies. Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the Democrats who voted against the hill, echoes this critique in a statement he gave that said:
“We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.”
One reason the House version passed is because of the provisions that further prevent women’s reproductive rights. The growing number of Pro-Life Democrats embraced the language in the bill, which would further erode reproductive choice. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, co-chair of the Congressional Women’s Caucus, who also voted against the bill, had this to say:
“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.”
As has been noted the bill (H.R. 3962 Affordable Health Care for America Act) is rather lengthy and since the commercial media has done such a poor job of providing any clear analysis of the content of the bill, most Americans are left to support partisan groups which have been endorsing or criticizing the health care legislation.
Despite the bill passing in the House it must now go before the Senate and some critics have pointed out that the conservative Democrats, also known as Blue Dog Democrats, are even less sympathetic to real reform. This conservative stance on health care is reflected in how much money these Senate Democrats have received from the health care industry.
In the days before the Senate voted we plan to continue to provide some analysis and independent reporting on the fate of the health care legislation.
Counting the Vote Coverage: ArtPrize vs Local Elections
Since 1998 GRIID has been monitoring election coverage in West Michigan. Most of our studies in the past have been entitled An Informed Vote, as we were attempting to determine whether or not voters who relied on Grand Rapids-based news media could make an informed decision when voting.
We just finished another monitoring project of the local news media as it related to the November 3 elections. According to the Kent County Clerk’s office, there were 43 candidates running for office in Kent County alone and three ballot proposals.
In this monitoring project we only looked at the Grand Rapids Press from October 2, 2009 through November 3, 2009. We documented all stories related to elections in Kent County, but also tracked stories that were about ArtPrize. Considering the amount of news coverage that ArtPrize generated in the local media, we decided to make a comparison of the voting for ArtPrize and voting in local political elections.
We chose to begin the monitoring project on October 2, a full month before the local elections, but also because it was the day that the Top 10 Finalists in the ArtPrize competition were announced. Statistically what we found is that there were a total of 10 Election stories over the 30-day period and 35 ArtPrize stories.
We also looked at placement of stories and found that local elections only made the front page once (November 1st), whereas ArtPrize was on the front page a total of 6 times during this 30-day period.
As we suggested in a previous posting, it appears that an art contest organized by the richest family in the area garnered more media attention than local elections. And remember, these statistics on the number of election stories vs ArtPrize are almost exclusively after the ArtPrize vote. Imagine how many more ArtPrize stories there would be to local election coverage if we looked at 30 days prior to the art contest vote.
Some Election Analysis
In the 10 election stories, the first story did not appear until October 24 (Campaign Finances). On October 26, there were two short stories on ballot proposals in Rockford and Overisel Township. Grand Rapids City Commission races got coverage on October 27, 28 and November 1st. There was also a full story on a Kentwood City Commission race on October 30. Some local races were mentioned at the end of other stories, but the only elections that received any substance were the First & Third Wards in Grand Rapids and the City Commission race in Kentwood.
In the Grand Rapids City Commission candidate coverage the Press used a set of questions that they submitted to all four candidates running in the First & Third Ward. The questions were primarily focused around city budget issues – cutting departments, taxes, pensions, road repairs and the creation of bike lanes. While these were relevant questions to ask of the candidates, there certainly could have been more that the Press could have asked these candidates.
In addition, in both of the City Commission races there were incumbents running. However, the Press never bothered to report on the voting record of either candidate. Providing voters with a record of how candidates have voted in the past would be useful information on where they might stand on issues in the future.
Lastly, considering the lack of coverage by the only daily newspaper in the Grand Rapids area is it a surprise that only 10% of the registered voters in Grand Rapids even bothered to participate in the election process?
US House Votes to Condemn Goldstone Report
On Tuesday the US House voted overwhelmingly to condemn the United Nation Report on War Crimes committed during the Israel assault on Gaza, which began late last year. Known as the Goldstone Report, the UN document demonstrates that Israel is guilty of numerous war crimes with its indiscriminant bombing of Palestinian civilians.
The vote was 344 – 46 in support of a non-binding resolution, which says that the Goldstone Report is biased against Israel. The breakdown of the vote shows that the resolution had bipartisan support, with more Democrats voting against it. Both West Michigan Congressmen Pete Hoekstra and Vern Ehlers voted for the resolution.
The Center for Responsive Politics noted on Friday that there was substantial financial support from Pro-Israel lobby groups to members of the House that voted for the resolution. “The members of the House who voted in favor of the resolution have received $51,260 more on average from pro-Israel organizations ($81,020 versus $29,770) since 1989 than those who opposed it, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) made this vote an issue and encouraged their members to lobby for the resolution. Other pro-Israel lobby groups were also active in determining the outcome of this resolution. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz noted, “The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) urged Democratic members of Congress to support the resolution and denounce the commission’s report.”
The NJDC stated their Pro-Israel views in a press release from November 3. The press release stated in part: “NJDC is mindful that the Gaza incursion, like all military conflicts in urban areas, was accompanied by tragic loss of civilian life. There is a great deal of evidence that indicates that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made extraordinary efforts to protect civilian life in the conflict. Moreover, those who call for investigations of “war crimes” should be mindful of Israel’s extraordinary record of investigation into allegations of military misconduct and to the extreme likelihood that the Hamas regime in Gaza would never undertake any credible investigation of its own misconduct.”
This voted to condemn the Goldstone report and side with Israel on a major international law issue demonstrates the near unanimous support for Israel from the US that has existed since the mid-1970s no matter which party inhabits the White House.
Diverse Audience Attends First Healing Children of Conflict Event
Last night, 7:25 p.m. Afghanistan time, a NATO air strike killed six adults and three children working in their cornfields. Last night, 7:25 Eastern Standard Time, a diverse group of Grand Rapids area residents were gathered for a fund raising dinner and silent auction sponsored by Healing Children of Conflict (HCC). This new local organization hopes to bring 30 children to Grand Rapids over the next ten years for medical treatment—children from the Middle East injured by the United States’ actions and munitions.
More than 150 guests filled the 29th Street Hall: Muslims and Christians, college students and grandparents, Midwestern accents, middle Eastern accents—and a splash of Arabic in between. “We’re here to have a good time and raise some money, but also to share information about Healing Children of Conflict,” says HCC member, Bert DeVries. “It’s wonderful to see such a diverse group of people gather for a common cause, cutting across traditional boundaries around a common vision.”
HCC member Dr. Aly Mageed sees the HCC’s work from a medical perspective. He is familiar with the limitations of medical care available to the war-wounded in occupied territories like Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan. “They cannot afford the needed medical care there,” he says. “And if they could, it is not available.”
After dinner, the group watched a short video presentation about an Iraqi child brought to the U.S. for medical treatment by the organization No More Victims. Salee, her brother and their best friend were playing hopscotch in their yard when a U.S. bomb exploded in the middle of them. Yards away, Salee’s parents were splattered with the flesh of their son. They ran to find Salle alive—but the blast had sheared off both of her legs. In addition, Salee’s sister, Rusul, had to have her mangled foot and ankle amputated. Funds raised from last night’s event are being used to help purchase new prosthetic legs for Salee.
A guest at the event, Bahia Shanaa, grew up in Lebanon as a Palestinian refugee. She came to the United States more than twenty years ago, at age 18. Her past as a child living in the midst of war still impacts her today. “There is never a day goes by that I am not reminded of the war. I cannot go to the movies. The theatres remind me of the bomb shelters,” she says. “During an attack, when you are a child and you know there is a bomb coming, you’re just waiting to die.”
Shanaa has lost family members, friends and neighbors to Israeli terrorism in Palestine. “There is no excuse for violence. We don’t have the right to take anybody’s life,” she says. “I would hope for all children to have the same basics. To be able to go to sleep feeling safe, go to school and play at the playground. To be able to live.”
While the thousands of dead children killed by US involvement in Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan cannot be brought back to life, 30 of the thousands more who have lost arms, legs, eyes or survived other debilitating injuries will have a chance to improve their outcomes if this West Michigan group has its way. “We have a moral responsibility to do what we can to help kids whose lives have been changed because of our actions,” says HCC member Christine Yared. “We hope it helps the cause of peace when people hear these human stories.”
Yesterday, thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC to rally against health care legislation that will be voted in the next 24 hours. The organizers of this rally were members of the Tea Party, the same group that organized a much larger gathering on September 12.
Alternet posted a story about the DC rally and pointed out some of the speakers, their message and the support the rally was given by Fox News. Members of the Kent County Tea Party gathered yesterday in front of the Federal building in downtown Grand Rapids to express their opposition to the proposed legislation as well.
I counted about 30 people during the time I was there, many of which had signs that read “Stop Spending,” “No Big Government Obama,” and “Congress Does Not Measure Up.” I spoke with several people at the rally in Grand Rapids and asked them their thoughts on the proposed health care legislation.
Nancy DeBoer from Conklin said that she wants to see people who don’t have health insurance have access to health care, but she thinks that the proposed bill will force people to have insurance that will be too expensive for taxpayers.
Another person who did not want to give her name said she live in the UK for 10 years and was not impressed with their “socialized” form of health care. “What the government wants to do is adopt a similar health care system, which I didn’t think was very effective.” I asked this woman if she could give me an example of how the proposed legislation in the US is similar to what they have in the UK, but she refused to answer.
I asked a group of four women at one point if they would support some kind of assistance for the 40 million plus people in the US who don’t have health care insurance and they all said they would support that. However, they all thought that the current legislation would not achieve that and that it would give too much power to the government in determining who would get treatment.
At one point one of the Tea Party members made the observation that she was puzzled why the health insurance companies were not more vocal in their opposition to the proposed bill. I mentioned the data from the Center for Responsive Politics and said that the health care sector makes their voice heard through money, not by staging media events.
I looked at the local news media this morning and the only place that the Tea Party rally received any attention was in the Grand Rapids Press. The Press only reported on the DC rally not the one in Grand Rapids. The article does not really discuss what happened at the DC rally, only that Congressman Hoekstra spoke there.
The Press article also had a video statement from Congressman Vern Ehlers, who compared the size of the proposed bill to his family bible.
Local Media Announces Sarah Palin to Visit Grand Rapids
West Michigan news organizations announced today that former Republican Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will make a stop in Grand Rapids as part of her national book tour.
The Grand Rapids Press put the story on the front page and said that Palin will be signing books at the Barnes & Noble store inside the Woodland Mall. Palin’s book, Going Rogue: An American Life, is supposed to be an expose of her time as a running mate with Senator John McCain in the 2008 Election.
The only source cited about the Palin visit is a HarperCollins spokesperson. Harper/Collins is the publisher of Palin’s book. The company also owns the local Christian publishing company Zondervans.
The rest of the local news media also announced Palin’s visit (WOOD TV8, WZZM 13, WXMI 17 & WOOD Radio) and they all relied on either Press Release information or mimicked what was in the GR Press.
None of the local news outlets mentioned why Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska or what influence she has had with the Republican Party in recent months. Mother Jones posted an interesting piece on Tuesday about Palin’s role in a few critical election races around the country. The article focuses on how her support of a third party candidate contributed to the loss of a GOP Congressional seat in New York that hasn’t been won by a Democrat since the 19th century. The story also suggests that Palin and other national figures may create larger divisions with the GOP, since there seems to be a growing rift within Republican ranks.
It’s unfortunate that none of the announcements in the local news about Palin’s visit next week explored any of these issues, but we’ll keep monitoring to see if anything is reported on leading up to and during her visit.
The Road to Copenhagen: Climate Change and Climate Deniers
We are one month away from the international climate change conference that will be taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. While there have been numerous meetings since Kyoto in 1997, Copenhagen is the main follow-up to what global standards were put in place with the Kyoto Protocol.
We will be following the news coverage leading up to and during Copenhagen, but we also felt it was important to post several stories about different aspects of climate change and climate justice. These articles will look at the current data, climate deniers, what the US government is doing legislatively and an analysis of what local groups are doing to address or not address climate change.
Climate Deniers
Part of the struggle for climate justice and the fact that there are numerous entities – think tanks and corporate front groups – which deny that global warming is even an issue. These groups are so aggressive with their anti-global warming message that many news stories still include the opinions of climate deniers.
In 2004, Fairness and Accuracy in reporting conducted a study on major US media reporting on global warming and found that “53 percent of the articles gave roughly equal attention to the views that humans contribute to global warming and that climate change is exclusively the result of natural fluctuations.”
Since their 2004 study, FAIR also found that there are several national news pundits who also deny global warming, such as John Stossel (ABC), columnist George Will and Glenn Beck (CNN & FOX).
With Climate Deniers being legitimate news sources and some national media pundits denying global warming, no surprise that more and more people in the US are questioning the near-consensus in the scientific community that human actions are contributing to global warming.
Two weeks ago the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press published the finding of a survey they conducted on the current trends amongst Americans on global warming. As the chart here shows there is a significant percentage of people who don’t believe global warming is an issue and the number of those who think that has risen since 2006.
In addition, there are organizations, which deny global warming, primarily because they represent business interests, which would be negatively impacted from policies that sought to curb human actions that contributed to global warming. One group, the Global Climate Coalition, which no longer exists, was made up of oil companies and other industries, which are arguably some of the biggest contributors to global warming.
These front groups are numerous and tend to be funded by big oil companies like Exxon-Mobil. Exxon-Mobil has spent between $17 – 23 million dollars to fund groups that deny global warming, according to the research done by Exxpose Exxon. Exxon Mobil funded global warming deniers have even come to Grand Rapids. In 2007, Media Mouse reported that the local far-right think tank the Acton Institute brought a global warming denier speaker to town representing the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
This brief look into some of the forces behind climate change denial and how it impacts public perception should give us all concern for how this issue will be dealt with politically in the US and internationally at Copenhagen next month.
Healing Children of Conflict Hosts Its First Event
A new group committed to healing the wounds of war has formed in West Michigan and will host its first public event. According to their website, Healing Children of Conflict:
“heals families and communities by facilitating medical treatment for children seriously wounded in conflicts involving the United States, and thereby educates others about the root causes of those conflicts. By taking responsibility for healing children with traumatic injuries from war arsenal we seek to spread healing and reconciliation between one community, the war zone, to another—Grand Rapids and West Michigan.”
The group came together after inspiration and conversation that grew out of a visit from Cole Miller, founder of the group No More Victims. No More Victims has been helping Iraqi children who have been wounded as a direct result of US bombing or military attacks.
Healing Children of Conflict is following a similar model and the group decided to assist children from Iraq and children wounded as a result of the most recent Israeli military attacks on Gaza. The group believes that since the US provides $3 billion a year in funding for Israel and many of the weapons used in the attacks are manufactured in and provided by the US that we have an obligation to heal the wounds of this violence.
The Healing Children of Conflict event is a fundraiser and will be held this Thursday, November 5 at 7pm. For details, visit their website at http://www.healingchildrenofconflict.org/home.html
On Sunday the Grand Rapids Press ran a front page story entitled, “All eyes on endgame as war decision looms.” The story, written by Press reporter Ted Roelofs, begins by focusing on a local soldier who was “singled out for bravery last month” in Afghanistan. The soldier’s father is then cited in the article making comments in support of his son.
Roelofs then writes that the upcoming decision to send more troops to Afghanistan “is dividing US citizens and making it difficult for Obama to follow through on goals outlined in his campaign.” Unfortunately for readers, the Press reporter never states what those campaign goals were as it relates to Afghanistan.
The article then provides readers with comments from another military family, Donna & Bob Roush, who think the US should not pull out of Afghanistan. “Those are bad guys over there. I would like the president to take the advice on the ground. I don’t understand this waffling and waiting.” Here the Press reporter doesn’t bother to verify or clarify what is meant by “bad guys over there.”
The reporter then says that, “a majority of Americans either oppose the war or question whether it is worth continuing to wage.” This statement is based on a Washington Post-ABC News poll, but the Press doesn’t tell readers when the poll was taken, nor which questions were asked of those polled. The Press is providing its own poll with three voting options: 1) Add troops and continue counterinsurgency, 2) Maintain current strength, focus on militants along the Pakistan border, or 3) Pull out of Afghanistan entirely. While it is interesting that the Press is conducting its own poll it should be noted that President Obama has said that withdrawal from Afghanistan is not an option.
The rest of the story is devoted to other comments on what the US should do in Afghanistan. Representatives Vern Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra both support send more troops and Senator Carl Levin wants to “see a large increase in the Afghan army be the major way in which this is successful.” We have pointed out in previous postings how Levin’s position supports the US strategy in Afghanistan, but doesn’t agree with some of the tactics.
Another source cited in the story are Mary Alice Williams, an Obama supporter, who said, “the troops should come home.” However, her comments are drowned out by two more comments from pro-military families. One mom says that her son thinks the US should stay in Afghanistan and “we need to be there and get the job done.” A comment from the military parent who lost a son in Afghanistan in August concludes the article by saying, “His buddies want to finish the job. I would like us to see it through.”
This is the first article written by a Press reporter since President Obama took office that deals with the US war in Afghanistan that didn’t just report on troop deaths. However, like most of the reporting we have seen in the Press in recent months, this story does not deal with the real policy issues that will ultimately determine what the current administration will do in Afghanistan, instead it presents numerous claims about should be done with no evidence to support any of the claims, particularly those made by politicians.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 