solidarity

courtesy of cbc

Student association leaders 
after Wednesday's bargaining session in Quebec City,
calling for a 'clear' answer from the government.

cbc reports an undisclosed new offer from montreal students to the government, hoping to hear an answer today.

the news comes amidst notably increased leverage for students due to the movement's spread throughout the population, outraged over the anti-democratic "loi 78" - in addition to the steep tuition hikes.

occupy wall street website reports solidarity protests spread to over 50 cities, internationally, and within other canadian provinces - with global casseroles.

below, a youtube of a new york city march of students, teachers, and occupy wall street protesters supporting the quebec students on may 22, 2012, the 100th day.



we are all québécois!

déjà vu

the timing on this is too weird. 

helmets

it was memorial day monday.

red felt

oscar leon with real news has two reports (below) on how the quebec student protests are only spreading further throughout the general population since charest's notoriously anti-democratic "loi 78."









more photographs, Juristes contre la loi spéciale.

poetry

buffy saint marie reads her poem The War Racket at the native american museum in washington d.c. on march 19, 2008.



afterwards, she sings Universal Soldier.

maple spring

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  Pierre-Alain Gouanvic

march 22 2012 demonstration

democracy now! has an overview here of the student protests in québec, including an interview with student organizer Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and assistant professor Anna Kruzynski, a member of Professors Against The Hike. 

yesterday's arrest tallies now stand at 1,000 (excluding total arrest tallies since the strike began), and estimates for the 100th day demonstration now total over 400,000 montreal protesters.

more here from jesse rosenfeld with NOW news - an earlier piece on how the concept of free tuition has deep roots in québec.

courtesy of rebel youth magazine

jan 2012

"L'education est un droit!"

(Education is a right!)

and here, rebel youth magazine via the ontarion debunks myths about the québec student strikes.  one of the most commonly dispensed myths is that the students shouldn't complain because they have the lowest tuition rates in the country.  denise martins writes:

The fundamental flaw of this myth is its failure to analyze why Quebec fees are so low. The freeze in tuition fees, along with many other victories, are the result of mass mobilization on behalf of the student movement. A ten-year freeze was won in 1996 through a student strike in Quebec, and an attempt to convert student bursaries into loans in 2005 was stopped the same way. Students in English-speaking Canada have long been able to point to the Quebec model of accessibility where students graduate with a debt a fraction the size of those in other provinces. The erosion of Quebec students’ right to education will hurt our ability to demonstrate that alternatives are possible.

courtesy of free education montreal

from the mcgill daily commentary, nov 17 2011

"Fight For Your Right To Education"

nous désobéissons

montreal students and residents continue to defy charest's "loi 78."  RT reports 700 arrested as of the latest night of demonstrations.

below, a four-part youtube video of thousands marching may 24 2012 from 8:34 P.M. until well into the evening and wee hours of the following day - from bill08bill08bill08.  in the first, the youtube channel reports:

8:34 PM: The students and other protesters move out from Parc Emilie Gamelin. The students have now been protesting for slightly over 100 days, and this is perhaps the 30th nocturnal protest in a row. On May 23 there were over 500 arrests as the riot squad moved in on the protesters. This night there must have been a policy shift as the police let the march continue till 2AM, with only a small handful of isolated arrests.

part two, 9:13 P.M.

part three:





in part four, the youtube channel reports protesters continuing in the "Mile-End district" at 11:35 P.M.

books books books

Courtesy of Huffingpost Post

Occupy Wall Street Library prior to destruction by N.Y.P.D.

Tent was donated by rock legend Patti Smith and dubbed, "Fort Patti."

mayor bloomberg and police commissioner ray kelly get sued in federal court by librarians - and for destroying the occupy wall street public library in the wee hours of that november morning remembered like a scene out of a ray bradbury novel.  its aftermath as telling.

librarian michelle hardesty with the ows library writes:

We cannot allow the Mayor and his commissioners to get away with these violations of law and constitutional rights. We have now filed a Federal lawsuit to demand accountability from the city and its officials, demanding both compensatory and punitive damages. We believe that the raid and its aftermath violated our First-Amendment rights to free expression, Fourth-Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure, and Fourteenth-Amendment rights to due process, as well as the laws of the City of New York regarding the vouchsafing of seized property. We are demanding compensatory damages for the lost/destroyed books and equipment, which we have estimated at at least $47,000. In addition, because we believe the seizure and destruction of the books went beyond negligence to constitute a reckless and callous indifference to our constitutional rights, we are demanding punitive damages of at least $1000.

Courtesy of The Millions

Photographer: Bill Morris

Scores of people using the Occupy Wall Street Library

prior to its destruction in the middle of the night by N.Y.P.D.

civil rights attorney norman siegel states, "Mayor Bloomberg thought he could get away with this, late at night, without the media present [..]  This suit will hold him accountable," and that the group wants to "get into the historic record that the city cannot destroy books."

or a public library, for that matter.

from truthout:

Next steps in the suit, said attorney Herbert Teitelbaum, include a discovery process that could turn up records of the raid plan. Depositions of Mayor Bloomberg or Commissioner Kelly could also reveal the extent to which the destruction of the occupation was planned or ordered. Discovery may also surface the names of officers and sanitation workers who carried it out. It's very likely that the individuals who were ordered to destroy the books are city workers, themselves underpaid and with little ability to disobey orders. The librarians, who wrestled with this issue, ultimately decided to ask for a nominal amount of money in punitive damages only from any single person held culpable for destroying books.

about 5,500 books were reportedly destroyed or damaged during the raid and demolition of this clearly beloved public library.  below, a brief youtube clip of henchmen N.Y.P.D. that chilling night:

debt collector

a short film from writer and director Renée Rutgrink, the debt collector.

king of ghosts

homer erotic, a poet's band, in king of ghosts.

cacerolazo

 
courtesy of open file via youtube

montreal residents partaking in "caceralazo" nightly at 8 p.m.

each evening, at 8 p.m., montreal residents reportedly step outside for about 15 minutes to bang on pots and pans in protest of "loi 78."  this is called a "cacerolazo," a form of protest originating in spanish speaking countries, especially argentina and chile.  according to wiki, the term (cacerolazo or cacerolada) comes from the spanish word cacerola, meaning "stew pot," and the suffix, "azo," denoting a striking or punching action.

more here from common dreams, including details on the bill being protested.

more bloggin on the montreal protests here and heading backwards in blogging time from .. well, there.

poetry

Committing Economics

for Harris

So much technology
such gadgetry
the touch of electronic savagery
revs the motor of antiquity
through this giant century
and the little Romans watch their stocks parade
across the aching backs of the world
spewing dollars and death into the greedy hole
the sucking pit
while here on 14th Street
we're all in debt
looking for rent in the daily insult.
This victorious capitalism
born of feudalism
wherever it heavies its dreamless boot is where you'll hear the name of
God.
Bless.
What represents gold
barrels down the information highway
spills across the hearts and heartlands
kills the forests, water , air
turns a hot heart cold goddamn.
Goddamnit.
My love watches the numbers roll
and fears his fate's attached
to the virtual soul of the Wall Street patrol.
Eyes of coal
teeth of spears
they award themselves global custody.
Global. It's Goddamn global now.
They give themselves the right to break my lover's heart.
His thundering beautiful heart.
Goddamn monkey men in monkey suits.
Goddamn global reach reaching straight into my lover's head.
Torching his dreams as he sleeps in bed.
Where did all the money go?
Where did all the money go?
Where did all the money go?

- Barbara Barg

Courtesy of Poet's Website


*photo credit/wikipedia, lunar libration, author/tomruen

day 100

québec students marked the 100th day of striking with a huge montreal demonstration estimated by some observers on twitter at 250,000.

demonstrations were planned in new york, paris, and vancouver, b.c. with students also mounting a challenge to "loi 78" in court.  by saturday, students had gathered 150,000 signatures on a petition opposing the bill, and the legal clinic handling the case had received 500 emails from attorneys offering assistance.

canadians are posting pictures of themselves with protest signs at this website challenging the government to arrest them for disobeying the bill.
 
some video clips of the demonstration today, below:

 

 

the youtube below, a ground perspective, in the plateau-mont-royale district, and on the way to lafontaine park. 

 

heroes

american veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan lead the largest peace march so far at the 2012 NATO summit.   the march culminates in a rally whereby the veterans introduce themselves, one by one, then hurl their war metals in the direction of the summit, and over a police barricade - returning the metals, so to speak.

an overview from real news:



below, extensive coverage of the veterans' ceremony from democracy now! the video includes veteran scott olsen, who was brutally injured as a peaceful demonstrator by oakland police during the occupy oakland demonstrations.

requiem for the system

anonymous, in support of the québec student protests, has also circulated the rap, requiem for the system.

anonymous, québec

anonymous turned its attention to the québec student protests, with another announcement, and while hacking into two canadian government websites - branches related to the police and minister of security. 

hundreds of students were arrested in the canadian province this weekend since premier charest declared the protests illegal through an "emergency law" widely criticized as violating charter rights, with demonstrations continuing nightly, particularly in downtown montreal. 

since the protests began 99 days ago, montreal police have made 2,000 arrests.  last night (sunday), over 300 people arrested, possibly the largest number yet.

From The Toronto Sun:

Martin Courcy, a specialist in police interventions, told QMI Agency Monday that Quebec's emergency law cannot be applied.

"Sunday, 300 people were arrested," he said. "What's next? Tomorrow, they'll arrest 400? And then 1,000? We do not live in a repressive society, therefore this law cannot work."

students are planning to demonstrate this evening as well as tommorow to mark the 100th day anniversary of the strike.

anonymous released the following announcement voicing support for the students, and the anonymous signature sign-off, universally recognized whether or not you speak french --



the next youtube from canadian television presents the hacking incidents, and includes a short interview with M. Guglielminetti,  the communications director for the national pubic relations cabinet;  he states that he isn't surprised that it's anonymous --




over the weekend, michael moore and mick jagger (on saturday night live) also voiced their support for the student protesters.

a new york minute

a new york minute by Nickodemus, featuring Sadat X, The Real Live Show, Rabbi Darkside, and iLLspokiNn. 



video by justin carty.  additional work by serge, lamira (super 7 footage), and scott (boomboxes). 

a new york minute can also be found on 99 songs for the 99 percent, reviewed here by mother jones.

trayvon

democracy now! discusses the trayvon martin case, back in the news with a voluminous release of police documents.  the first video includes audio of a heartbreaking interview with trayvon's childhood friend - speaking with him on the phone while he was being followed by george zimmerman.  she describes trayvon as scared and too out of breath to continue running.

the second video includes discussion with benjamin jealous, president of the n.a.a.c.p. and audio of other witnesses.

poetry

tarik aossey reads his poem, shomali.

kabuki

ja myerson on afghanistan and kabuki theater.  why the chicago police presence is running so high at NATO becoming heavy handed saturday.

in the following youtubes, police beat demonstrators, rendering one person laying motionless in the middle of the street and unresponsive -







drive a van into a protester at this ustream recording - and as described in this piece from firedoglake, preemptively stop, search, handcuff, and interrogate journalists at gunpoint  -

sides

no getting around:  there are sides.  in chicago, nurses rally for a "robin hood" financial transaction tax:





also, chicago health care activists head to mayor emmanuel's home to oppose clinic closures.  allison kilkenny writes:

Hosting NATO will likely cost the city an estimated $55 million, and health advocates claim only a fraction of that bill, around $2-3 million, is needed to keep these facilities open.

french physician julie castro writes here about defense of the globally number one ranking health care system, and how insane the u.s. system appears to those living in the truly civilized nations - at that same truthout link, beverly bell also provides references and resources for health care activists.

rice and beans

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  Ericwinny

rice fields under monsoon clouds in burma

simple brown rice and bean salad

to vary a brown rice and bean dish, simply add your choice of greens and dressing- then toss as a salad.  you can serve warm or chilled;  although it is not commonplace americana, raw greens and lettuces blend very nicely with warmer ingredients.  and, you do not need tomatoes before making a salad.  on the other hand, consider cooking lettuce.

ain't over

RT reports that the NDAA battle ain't over yet. 

while a federal judge ruled provisions unconstitutional (allowing the military to indefinitely detain americans without due process), congress was busy yesterday passing another NDAA.

rich man's world

immortal technique portrays the 1% in rich man's world.

rich man's world can be found on 99 songs for the 99 percent, reviewed here by mother jones.

dissapearance

chicago indy media reports that chicago police abducted 8 NATO activists from their home with an unsigned or blank warrant.  the police deny that they have them in custody.

According to witnesses in Bridgeport, police broke down a door to access a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one of the tenants a "Commie faggot." A search warrant produced 4 hours after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge's signature, according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone.

below, chicago indy media livestream channel from chicago NATO summit 2012.  people are asked to phone mayor Emanuel at 312-744-5000 and police superintendent McCarthy 312-744-4000 and demand the immediate release of the activists.

 

chicagoindymedia on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

poetry

i like this poem, and i like the way it was recorded:  janet kuypers reading david.

unconstitutional

revisiting NDAA - a federal judge blocks indefinitely detaining americans as unconstitutional.

montreal

huge demonstrations in québec when premier jean charest announced "emergency laws" attempting to end the student strike, and by ending the semester and restarting classes in august.  one hundred twenty-two students were arrested in montreal.



students can be seen on video at this globe and mail link flooding the hallways of the Université du Québec à Montréal.

below, a youtube showing students protesting inside pavillion j.



the premier ironically accused students of interfering with "the right to an education."

daily toast

i topped a crusty bread toast today with cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and freshly ground black pepper.

i listened to charles mingus sing.  i drank a cup of coffee.

in bagel art, what else you can put on cream cheese.  you can use goat cheese, which you may notice, like cream cheese, sells combined with sweet flavors like berries or honeys.

stick 'em up

debt collectors: 

taking seniors' social security payments for student loans.

in hospital emergency rooms demanding payment before medical treatment.

and more from time moneyland.

simple faith

artist jl stiles singing his piece, simple faith, in nickelsville, a seattle tent city that recently marked its one year anniversary with 2 weddings. 

NATO

an occupy chicago preview of the week of actions planned around the NATO summit, and from chicago network access television (CAN TV).




here is a taste of what the city is planning for protesters, in the following chilling youtube video of a long-range acoustic device or LRAD, which reportedly can cause permanent hearing damage.  the city has spent 1 million dollars on policing and this sort of military equipment, the LRAD purportedly "as a means to ensure a consistent message is delivered to large crowds that can be heard over ambient noise."  the video shows the LRAD being used for the first time in the U.S. in pittsburgh for the G20 summit in september, 2009.




and, of course, while chicago breaks the piggy bank taking militarism out to the ball, the city is facing deep cuts in common sense priorities like health care and education, for starters.

poetry

tim seibles reading his poem, Midnight, the Coyote, Down in the Mouth.




more recordings of tim seibles at chamesrichards channel.  you won't be able to stop listening there, unless you must suddenly drop everything because now you must write a poem, too.

here is an older bio.  i am seeing that he has a new publication out, in addition to those listed- titled, Fast Animal, available through etruscanpress.org. 

indignados

real news speaks with a collage of protesters mobilizing against austerity in madrid, spain.  their motto:  "we're not merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers!"

stolen futures

courtesy of one wisconsin now

demonstrators against student loan debt

which recently topped 1 trillion dollars

a new york times article on u.s. student loan debt hits their most frequently emailed list. 

student loan debt has outpaced all other forms of consumer debt, recently topping one trillion dollars.

Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.

“If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my debt also,” said Ms. Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith.

Ms. Griffith, 23, wouldn’t seem a perfect financial fit for a college that costs nearly $50,000 a year. Her father, a paramedic, and mother, a preschool teacher, have modest incomes, and she has four sisters. But when she visited Ohio Northern, she was won over by faculty and admissions staff members who urge students to pursue their dreams rather than obsess on the sticker price.

“As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me, and the school really sold it,” said Ms. Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that.”

this takes places against a backdrop of greatly increasing enrollment at state colleges and universities, with funding there being radically cut, along with recent issues in Congress over letting interest rates double and further ravaging the (now minimal, once sorta robust) Pell Grant system. 

rajeev v. date, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - the federal watchdog created after the financial crisis - is likening excessive student loans to risky mortages with what the times describes as a "cast of contributing characters," including colleges and universities that encourage students and families into thinking that high amounts of debt are "doable and normal," and roots dating back to the 1980's when tuition began to rise faster than family income.

In the 1990s, for-profit colleges boomed by spending heavily on marketing and recruiting. Despite some ethical lapses and fraud, enrollment more than doubled in the last decade and Wall Street swooned over the stocks. Roughly 11 percent of college students now attend for-profit colleges, and they receive about a quarter of federal student loans and grants.

courtesy of RT

photographer:  andrew burton/ap

students protest at union square, n.y.,

against rising student debt

Common Dreams reported in early April, and with sources from national newspapers like Washington Post and Time Magazine that $36 billion dollars in student loan debt belongs to Americans who are 60 years and older.  It is not uncommon for social security checks to be taken and debt collectors to harass people for payments in their eighties.

The debt to this demographic comes as a result of unpaid loans from their original days in college, loans for mid-career education, and co-signing loans for younger family members, the research shows.

The plight of unpaid student loans has become a cause for increasing concern in recent years. Tuition continues to drastically outpace inflation, the job market for recent college graduates remains murky, and wages for are stagnant. 

Another problem for borrowers is that as of 2005, when the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was passed, private student debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court. This lack of this consumer protection makes student debt nearly impossible to erase. “A student loan can be a debt that’s kind of like a ball and chain that you can drag to the grave,” said William E. Brewer, president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, in an interview with the Washington Post. “You can unhook it when they lay you in the coffin.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), has introduced legislation that would reinstate bankruptcy protection for students. Other groups, such as Occupy Student Debt, are fighting for a variety of protections for student borrowers.

courtesy of rt

photographer:  khalid khan

occupy wall street march against student debt

signs read:  "1,000,000,000,000" and "Occupy Wall Street"

 

From the NY Times article:

“I’ll be paying this forever,” said Chelsea Grove, 24, who dropped out of Bowling Green State University and owes $70,000 in student loans. She is working three jobs to pay her $510 monthly obligation and has no intention of going back.

“For me to finish it would mean borrowing more money,” she said. “It makes me puke to think about borrowing more money.”

Another former student, Wanda McGill, like many others, has stopped opening her bills.  The Times reports:

She isn’t sure how much debt she has accumulated, though she thinks it’s about $100,000. But Ms. McGill, a 38-year-old single mother, knows for sure she cannot pay it.

Ms. McGill said she dropped out of DeVry University, a for-profit college with a branch in Columbus, two years ago after she ran out of money — even with the loans. She now makes $8.50 an hour working for an employment training center in Florida.

Similarly, and from an RT article, another student and single parent, Katie Zalman currently owes $111,000.  She is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Wisconsin.  Ms. Zalman states, “It's not going to be worth it. I might as well have not come to graduate school. I might as well be working at Starbucks right now."  Her sentiments are echoed in the article by other students facing and anticipating a bleak employment market.

courtesy of in these times

photographer:  don emmert

protester in new york on 4/25/12 or 1T Day

The Nation proposes:

It is long past time for reform. Representative Hansen Clarke introduced a bill that would forgive up to $45,520 in student debt after a borrower makes ten years of payments at 10 percent of income. The Occupy Student Debt Campaign is calling for a write-off of existing debt as well as free public higher education. Students in California are pushing an initiative that would make four years of state university free for all full-time, in-state students who maintain at least a 2.7 GPA or do seventy hours of community service a year. Lost tuition would be paid for with a modest surtax on those earning more than $250,000.

Making public college (or advanced training) free for those who merit it isn’t a radical idea. For many years the United States led the world in free K–12 education. The GI Bill paid for college or advanced training for a generation of vets after World War II, which gave us the best-educated citizenry in the world and broadened the middle class. As recently as 1980, Pell grants covered 69 percent of public college costs; now they cover less than 35 percent.

We can easily afford the estimated $30 billion annual cost of free college education; a financial-transactions tax would raise many times that sum, and it would inhibit destabilizing speculation on Wall Street. We would reap the benefits of a better-educated citizenry, and young people could be more entrepreneurial and more public-spirited.

from RT below, a youtube below describes a growing movement to sue schools for refunds, accusing the schools of fraud and falsely inflating employment figures:




and looking at a new occupy, that is, occupy graduation, whereby graduating students plan to use their college or university graduation ceremonies to highlight the student debt problem, and by putting stickers on their caps with the dollar amount they owe, and wearing symbolic balls and chains.

more here at occupy graduation.

occupy student debt.

more blogging on student loan debt here and here.

marinade

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  kanesu

soy sauce in a supermarket

 

simple tuna marinade


splash, by taste,

soy sauce (lower sodium variety)
olive oil
juice from 1 lemon

add, to taste,

several cloves of crushed and chopped garlic
a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
a small amount of grated fresh ginger root

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  Devadadkrishnan

pepper yet to be ripened, kerala

procedure

1.  place your tuna steaks in grilling or baking pan.  premix ingredients together and spread on top - or top the fish with each of the ingredients, one at a time, and with the fish in the pan.

2.  let the meat sit in its marinade for anywheres from one to several hours in the refrigerator, and covered.

3.  cook fish, as planned.


serve and enjoy with some more fresh lemon juice! 



more stuff

this simple marinade is adapted from a recipe in The Japanese Grill, by Tadashi Ono.  He prepares a simple garlic soy marinade with 1/2 cup soy sauce, 8 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper;  it keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks for various dishes - just stir to mix it again, before using.  which is, of course, appropriate for not only fish, but red meats, too.

have a nice mother's day.

education as a right

continuing to follow the quebec student strikes, blogged earlier here, here, and here. real news sits down with student organizer, jeremie bedard-wien with the student union classe to discuss the latest developments.  as discussed earlier, a tentative deal fell through when it became apparent that administrators intended differently than they represented during a marathan meeting.  thousands of students have been marching nightly for a few weeks already, and in one instance, police attacked the group, firing rubber bullets at students.  another student organizer and friend of jeremie bedard-wien, and hit by one of these bullets, lost one of his eyes.  at present, the students are overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the strike.  mr. bedard-wien talks about all of these developments, and how his group, classe, views priorities, at present, in education reform.

a protest song

the ascetic junkies in a protest song.

 

single payer

courtesy of correntewire

new york protester for single payer;

sign reads:

"Expanded and Improved Medicare For All -

Health Care Is A Human Right!"

 

in health care news, two more states - new york and missouri - have introduced single payer bills, riding momentum initiated in may last year by vermont when they became the first state to implement a universal health care system.

healthcare-NOW! reports over 70 new york state legislators as co-sponsors in an effort supported by scores of "[d]octors, nurses, patients, senior citizens, anti-poverty advocates, faith leaders and medical administrators." 

assemblymember and health committee chair richard gottfried and senator thomas duane unveiled what is essentially revised legislation drafted in the early 90s incorporating "changes that have been made in the state’s oversight of health care in the interim, advances in how to provide medical services, and the recent federal changes in the health care system."

courtesy of columbia journalism review

photographer:  Arun Prabhakaran

philadelphia protesters for single payer;

sign reads:

"What's A Life Worth?"

in the article on recent developments in new york, healthcare-NOW! reports:

The proposal would provide comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers. Every New York resident would be eligible to enroll, regardless of age, income, wealth, employment, or other status. There would be no premium, deductibles, or co-pays. Coverage would be publicly funded. The benefits will include comprehensive outpatient and inpatient medical care, primary and preventive care, prescription drugs, laboratory tests, rehabilitative, dental, vision, hearing, etc.

courtesy of The Standard,

Missouri State University

posted by BigTimePeace

missouri protester supporting single payer health care;

sign reads:

"I'm One Of 47 Million Americans

Without Health Insurance -

Never Heard Of Single Payer National Healthcare?"

in missouri, the missouri health care policy committee gave a formal hearing to MO HB1405, a single payer health plan bill tirelessly advanced by Missourians for Single Payer

below, 2 youtubes from the hearing.  in the first, representative mike brown from the kansas city area introduces HB1405, presenting an inescapably logical and compelling argument as to why the bill is in the state's best interests; 

.

in the second video, members of the saint louis chapter of physicians for a national health plan, also testify in support of single payer -




more blogging on health care here, here, here, here, here, here,  a short teach-in here, here, here, here, here, and here.

reminding me of verse from a bob dylan american classic.

time lapse

poetry takes many forms. 

 

update on montreal student strike;  on monday, canadian students voted overwhelmingly to reject the deal with the provincial government.  as blogged on sunday, and a day earlier, students in quebec have effectively mobilized 250,000 students in a 13 week long strike with massive demonstrations - also blockading banks, bridges, and government ministries - and since the liberal provincial government announced 75% tuition hikes over five years.

more in the video below from cbc news in montreal;  you can also see a motion picture clip of how massive some protests have been:





cbc also reports:

One student website has published what purports to be an insider's account of a marathon 24-hour negotiating session that led to the arrangement over the weekend.

That blow-by-blow description accuses the government of using sleep deprivation to get students, in the morning after all-night negotiations, to agree to what was put before them.

The paper breaks down monday's voting by student unions as follows - 

Rejecting:

Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne.

CEGEP Marie-Victorin.

CEGEP de Valleyfield.

CEGEP de Saint-Laurent.

CEGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe.

Arts and technology students association at the University of Montreal.

Literature and French language students association at the University of Montreal.

Computer sciences and operational research students association at the University of Montreal.

Sociology students association at Laval University.

Litterature students association at Laval University.

Geography students association at Laval University.

Quebec studies students association at the University of Trois- Rivières.

Language and communication students association at UQAM.

Regional development students association at UQAC.

Accepting:
 CEGEP de la Gaspésie et des Îles.


today, the montreal gazette cites figures - in the latest tally from the last two days of continued voting - overwhelmingly at 83,250 students against, and only 3,200 for.

so complete rejection is expected.  the montreal gazette reports:

Students said during weekend discussions their understanding was that everyone on this council would work to find money to reduce fees. But subsequent to the deal being signed, they said, government and university officials presented it as the onus being uniquely on students to find the money.

The students also said there was ambiguity about any surplus being applied to tuition fees.

Not only are students rejecting this deal en masse, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for CLASSE, the Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, said they are actually insulted by it.

“Students are not ready to compromise,” he said Tuesday night.

courtesy of montreal gazette

photographer:  john mahoney

montreal student strikers;

protester with sign:  "Le Diable Est Dan Les Details"

"The Devil Is In The Details"

the gazette's latest talley from student groups as follows:

So far, students at only two schools have supported the agreement : CEGEP de Gaspésie (600 students) and CEGEP de Rimouski (2,600 students).

Here’s a list of the associations that have rejected it:

CEGEPs: Valleyfield (1,965 students), Marie-Victorin (3,800 students), Bois de Boulogne (2,950 students), St. Laurent (3,500 students), Maisonneuve (6,100 students), Montmorency (6,600 students), l’Outaouais (4,600 students), Baie Comeau (700 students) and Lanaudière à Terrebonne (1,500 students).

Université de Montréal: Arts, creation and technology (13 students); psychology and sociology (88 students); comparative literature (185 students); architecture (353 students); geography (242 students); art history (160 students); medicine (1,319 students); computers and operational research (337 students); philosophy (296 students); music (634 students); graduate communication (209 students); graduate political science (170 students); history (337 students); and demography (72 students).Université Laval: Sociology (111 students); literary studies (350 students); geography (250 students); history (350 students); philosophy (241 students); and researchers in philosophy (120 students).Université du Québec à Chicoutimi: Regional intervention (85 students).
Université du Québec à Trois Rivières: Quebec studies (43 students).
Université de Sherbrooke: Arts and humanities (2,001 students); graduate arts and communications (282 students).
Concordia University: Concordia Student Union (34,000 students).

courtesy of tuition truth

montreal students on strike

in Sunday's teach-in discussion with montreal student organizers, organizers attributed part of their success in mobilizing so many students to the fact that their student unions are "inherently political." 

internet privacy

internet privacy updates in two stories today;  via the verge, twitter fights back against the subpoena to obtain an occupy protester's tweets, filing a motion today to quash the subpoena on 4th amendment grounds against unreasonable searches and seizures, and, because users' licenses state that they retain the right to content - that -  

the federal Stored Communication Act specifically allows users to challenge requests for their information. According to Twitter, the court's decision to deny Harris an opportunity to fight the DA's subpoena "imposes a new and overwhelming burden on Twitter to fight for its users' rights," since it will have to either always give up information or get directly involved in every Twitter user's defense when there's a request for tweets.

as blogged in late april, a manhattan judge recently ruled that your tweets belong to twitter, in the d.a.'s action against a brooklyn bridge occupy protester who was allegedly tweeting the day occupy stood up for the constitution and n.y.p.d. arrested 700 people.  although millions of viewers saw n.y.p.d. leads thousands of marchers directly into traffic, protester malcolm harris is the one who really "done the deed," i guess, in the eyes of that judge, and even if he wasn't, the judge has a right to look and see what he may or may not have been writing on the internet.

so this judge is not the last word, we hear today, and by any stretch.

and, more good news in internet privacy today, another new york judge rules that an ip address is not a poisen.  that is, your ip address is not "you."  observant judge in my opinion!

more below in a youtube from RT, and in an interview about the ruling with a staff attorney at the electronic frontier foundation, a sort of civil liberties advocacy group for internet users. 

more blogging on internet privacy here, here, here, and here.