Our new web site
Every day The New York Times sends me the highlights of the day’s news. I skim through and click on the articles I am interested in and voila, there it is. I can save it, forward it, or just read it. What a handy deal.
Why couldn’t the PW do that? It would be just wunnerful.
Lewis Lubka
Fargo, ND
Editor’s note: We are doing just that, currently twice a week. Go to our web site, peoplesworld.org, and sign up!
Great news!! Looking forward to working with you all again.
Charles R. Gilyard
President
United Steelworkers Of America, Local 2154
Via e-mail
National health service
Erica Smiley’s letter, “Will the real socialist health care please stand up?” is right on target. The “single payer” and “public option” proposals are in line with the current health care movement in our country. We must continue our mass struggle for the best public option that we can get.
And, you’re right, each is a compromise, albeit very good compromises, from our goal.
That goal is what our friends and comrades enjoy in the United Kingdom and what is also enjoyed in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and many other industrialized countries in the world. Of course, the crown jewel of health care is in Cuba.
What is that goal? Oddly, it is exactly what is enjoyed by our veterans who utilize the Veterans’ hospitals in our country. (Not the military hospitals, like Walter Reed, which is still woefully poor medicine.)
VA hospitals and those countries have salaried physicians (or physicians who may work independently, but accept government-established fees for procedures, as in France.) And, as in ALL of those countries, hospitals are government-run and financed. That is a must.
Whatever private hospitals there are small and not significant.
The Josephine Butler National Health Service Bill, HR 3000, first introduced in the 1970s by Congressman Ronald V. Dellums, now the mayor of Oakland, Calif., is now introduced by the heroine of the House of Representatives, Barbara Lee.
I use HR 3000 in my classes as an example of real health care. Yes, it is “socialized medicine.” All students support this approach and wonder why we can’t have this in the U.S.
And, it works around the world.
It works in our VA hospitals where the level of quality of care is on a par with if not greater than most hospital in the U.S.
Regardless of the outcome of this struggle, we must elevate the struggle for a true public option, i.e., a national health service.
Phil E. Benjamin
New York, NY
Care for the farmers
Why not take up the cause of the farmers in California? Our food supply is withering away while the governor shuts off their water supply. If you are going to care for the workers, why aren’t you caring for us all?
Anna Marie Grubbs
Via e-mail
Glenn Beck
I was a stringer for the People’s World in the late ’70s. They published a rhyme of mine in ’76 called “Time Clock.” I still write rhymes – here’s one on Glenn Beck:
BECK
The bully pulpit is Glenn Beck’s-
The kid picked on in school
Who bullied timid girls for sex
And developed a mighty cruel
Streak, which he denies of course:
And now Glenn Beck’s a mighty force.
I was thinking of giving it the title, “The Moron Glenn Beck” but I didn’t want to offend my Mormon friends, and I have a few although we don’t hang out, coffee and booze being my good buddies.
Regards,
John Wester
Via e-mail
Letterman
Recent developments in the David Letterman extortion controversy have raised serious issues about the abuse of power leading to an inappropriate, if not hostile, workplace environment for women and employees. In the case of Letterman, he is a multi-million-dollar host of one of the most popular late-night shows; in that role, he wields the ultimate authority as to who gets hired, who gets fired, who gets raises, who advances, and who does entry-level tasks among the Late Show employees. As “the boss,” he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace – and he did that with sex. In any work environment, this places all employees – including employees who happen to be women – in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation.
Most women can attest to the fact that many workplaces are plagued with inappropriate behavior by men in power. The latest Letterman controversy sheds new light on the widespread objectification of women in the workplace.
We recently received a call from a man in Rockford, Ill., who wanted to get advice from NOW about what to tell his 16-year-old daughter who was confused by reports on the Letterman controversy. The father raised his daughter to be a feminist. He raised her to stand up for herself. He raised her not be objectified as a sexual object. She admits she is confused because the messages she sees on television and news reports appear to make it okay to objectify women as long as the man in power is famous. He can crack a few jokes and publicly apologize for his mistakes. It is this kind of hypocrisy that perpetuates the image of men in power preying on women, while many look the other way.
Every woman – and every man – deserves to work in a place where all employees are respected for their talents and skills. The National Organization for Women calls on CBS to recognize that Letterman’s behavior creates a toxic environment and to take action immediately to rectify this situation. With just //two// women on CBS’ Board of Directors, we’re not holding our breath.
Terry O’Neill
NOW President
Via e-mail
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