On “Kucinich throws his support behind Obama health care bill”
You can count me among those who has supported Kucinich in the past. I became disillusioned with the man in the 2004 race when he threw his support behind the Democratic platform—a platform of imperialist war. I was confused as to why he placed loyalty to the Democratic Party above the needs of citizens that he himself had well documented.
In the 2008 race, he bowed to the party at an even earlier time and didn’t even keep progressive issues in the discussion, once again allowing an imperialist war party to proceed with no internal dissent. It was at this point that I decided I was deluding myself if I thought that he would ever carry the fight all the way and oppose his party masters. He talks a good game, but once again it’s become obvious that he will cave when it comes time to make a real stand.
Troy J
Arkansas, USA
19 March 2010
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Kucinich, like President Obama, has shown his true colors. Obama campaigned for many progressive things, then changed his tune when he was elected, and emulated Bush #2.
Kucinich has made speech after speech supporting the public option, and has railed against Obama’s Insurance money grab health care system. But when his vote counts, Kucinich votes with Obama, against his own, and the people’s best interests.
A plague on both you phonies.
Raymond C
Canada
19 March 2010
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your article exposing the despicable Kaa-cinich as he tries to maneuver all of the poor little Mowglicrats into position for a clean kill. Mowgli managed to avoid the fate that Kaa had in store for him, but how will our Mowglicrats fare?
Charles H
Texas, USA
19 March 2010
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My letter to Dennis Kucinich:
So how did they get to you, Mr. Kucinich?
Did your opposition to Obama’s gift to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries start to waver when Rahm Emanuel went to the House Progressive Caucus a month ago and called you and your colleagues “a bunch of fucking retards” for not seeing the benefits (more campaign money) of voting for the bill the health care lobby drafted?
Maybe it was Mr. Obama’s letting you ride on Air Force One. Is that plane really cool?
Maybe Mr. Obama offered to create your “Department of Peace,” making you its first Secretary. If that’s the case, be sure to ask for an office with a window. Doing nothing all day gets pretty boring if you don’t at least have a window to look out.
In the press conference in which you announced your switching your vote you admitted that the bill is still a bad bill—as you have been telling everyone for months. You rationalized your new support for the bill on the grounds that a defeat for Obama’s health care bill would “delegitimize” Obama’s presidency. In other words, you think Obama’s presidency is legitimate and worthy of protection. That is an odd defense, coming from someone who sought to impeach Obama’s predecessor, Bush, because he started a couple of illegal wars, violated the Geneva Convention, and pushed through the civil liberties disaster called the PATRIOT Act.
In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Kucinich, the current president, the man whose “legitimacy” you hope to preserve, is expanding Bush’s illegal wars into Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and even Colombia. There has been no congressional authorization for these illegal acts, either. Obama has also pledged to give the military and intelligence services free reign when it comes to their treatment of “detainees” (the Obama administration, consistent with the preceding administration, refuses to call prisoners taken in this war “prisoners of war,” because prisoners of war have rights under the Geneva Convention). And (last but not least) Obama just pushed through a reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act (in addition to defending warrantless wiretapping of American citizens). In other words, Obama is doing all the same things that you thought warranted impeachment proceedings for Bush. But, when it comes to Obama, you throw away your integrity to defend him.
Lloyd G
South Dakota, USA
20 March 2010
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Great article (and funny too), but I think it’s unfair, insulting, and counterproductive to suggest that people may be “scoundrels” simply because they are “holding out hope.” Hope is an essential ingredient to any movement. It’s your (self-chosen) job to persuade people to redirect their hope (with their actions to follow) in more promising directions, rather then kick them in the head for being misguided.
Perhaps what you meant to suggest is the obvious fact that some of the people who publicly defend Kucinich are scoundrels. But that’s not what you wrote.
Mike
19 March 2010
On “Hounded by Hindu right, India’s best-known painter takes Qatari citizenship”
It is indeed a timely article. It is a sad plight that an artist of high order has to flee his country to escape persecution and threats to honour and life. Reminds me of Galileo. There was no substance in any charge against MF Husain. Nudity, sex and eroticism were not taboo in the ancient Indian and Hindu arts and literature. There are numerous paintings, murals and sculptures that show gods, goddesses and mythical characters in nude, sensuous and even engaged in intimate acts. Classical religious literature contains descriptions of goddesses’ nakedness and eroticism. They have been accepted. In some traditions of Hinduism, gods are considered close to the devotees who take liberties even to criticize them. The only difference in Husain’s case is that he is a non-Hindu. As you rightly said in the article, the Hindu fundamentalism rose during the recent decades since mid 1980s as a digression from the economic policies. Till the 1970s there has been some literary freedom on religious matters. Points and counterpoints were tolerated. Attack and defence have been through the literary media. Actions of Congress and BJP to please one communal group or the other were the starting points.
Prabhakar
India
13 March 2010
On “Britain: Reimprisonment of Jon Venables sparks right-wing media campaign”
Great article. It really is amazing that so few take the time to consider how something like Jamie Bulger’s death occurred and the best ways to see that nothing like that happens again. Nice to see your emphasis on the unfortunate life of Jon Venables who I personally consider to be a victim of the same crime that killed Jamie Bulger: that being a neglectful, careless social structure.
David C
17 March 2010
On “Britain: Protests against closure of elderly care homes”
Nothing is more horrific than the wretched quality of care often provided for the vulnerable old—those who don’t have the money to buy high quality care. The state of affairs in Canada is in many ways similar to that of the UK—a public system of universal health care is being starved, and privatization is offered as the only alternative. And as more degrading forms of management are implemented to keep health care workers under control, it is harder to keep up a level of quality care even if one wants to. It is heartbreaking to witness the kind of end of life of many of these elderly people who have struggled and suffered so much. Quality of care is replaced by quantitative measures under systems such as CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement). Accreditation can be little more than a joke, as facilities clean up and hire more contract staff when accreditation is coming up, to make them look good. And expensive private care homes aren’t always so great either! I’ve seen bad care in expensive institutions, where it was considered more important to keep the decor and furniture clean than to provide the residents with meaningful activities.
Kamilla
Canada
18 March 2010
On “Obama spearheads nationwide assault on public schools”
I can remember Mr. Obama’s words verbatim during his presidential nomination acceptance speech at Denver, Colorado, and I quote, “I am going to hire an army of teachers and pay them more.” Imagine the anxiety, confusion, stress and turmoil going on in so many of these young lives right now.
Nelson V
South Dakota, USA
13 March 2010