Police today arrested 21 people and charged them with trespassing for entering the Bush/Cheney '04 campaign offices and chaining themselves to the entrance of the building. Those arrested were among about 100 AIDS/HIV activists who showed up this afternoon to protest White House policies at Bush's reelection headquarters in Arlington, Va.

"Under the Bush administration, the Ryan White Care Act has been flat-funded as the number of people with AIDS has increased," said Terri Smith-Caronia, director of New York public policy for Housing Works Inc., a non-profit AIDS/HIV advocacy group that organized the protest. "They have refused to increase the funding to keep up, and that equals a cut in services. It's particularly ironic because it's the law his father signed into law."

She was also critical of Dick Cheney's statement during the vice presidential debate that he was unaware of the sharp increase in the number of black women living with AIDS and HIV. She said some of the protesters who chained themselves to the front of the campaign headquarters were HIV positive.

"These are the women that Cheney doesn't know exists," she said.

"What does it mean for us to be investing this level of resources in the defense industry entities to achieve our international AIDS efforts, and how close are we moving to have this become the Halliburton of AIDS relief?"

Maguire says the president's plan shows the price of going it alone -- and not working with multilateral groups already present in these countries. Groups like the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fear, she says, is that there will be parallel systems with duplication and waste.

"There is an absence of where are our partners in this," she says. "Are we potentially going it alone because of our own interest, not just in the projects and contracts that we already have in the various countries, but because of the interest in the suppliers and pharmaceuticals based here."

Abortions up during GW Bush's term?

The number of abortions performed in the United States rose while Ronald Reagan was president and fell under Clinton; the abortion rate was stable under Reagan, but declined under Clinton. And abortions are up during GW Bush's term.

Is this a chicken or egg issue? Or is is perhaps that most anti-abortion activists are concerned about life until delivery but not beyond, for vulnerable members of our society? Why are they not strongly in support of comprehensive health insurance benefits, a living wage, etc for these families? More at Body and Soul. And Glenn Stassen, a Christian ethicist and statistician, on how economic policy and abortion are linked.

Antiabortion advocates in Wichita, Kan., have been sending letters to the neighbors of an Oakland, Calif., abortion provider who travels to Kansas for one week each month to perform abortions, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Residents living within several blocks of Dr. Shelley Sella have received the letters, which are postmarked from Wichita and say that Sella "is perpetuating the American Holocaust" and "bringing the shame of bloodguilt on her neighborhood," according to the Chronicle. Sella works for a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Contra Costa County, Calif., and Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, which has been "singled out" for protests by Operation Rescue West, according to the Chronicle. The letters include pamphlets produced by Life Dynamics of Denton, Texas, that refer to Planned Parenthood as "Klan Parenthood" and say that Planned Parenthood is involved in a "genocide against African-American babies," according to the Chronicle. Operation Rescue West President Troy Newman, who is a resident of Wichita, said he "would neither confirm nor deny" that his group mailed the letters, but he said the group "support[s] exposing babykillers 100%." Newman said that Sella "comes to our neighborhood to kill babies, so we think it's appropriate that we tell her neighbors what she does for a living," adding, "We feel it's just like notifying neighbors of a sex offender under Megan's Law."

..."I want the world to know that abortionists can't just go and hide in the godless, liberal San Francisco Bay Area," Newman said.

Now, as if this harassment wasn't enough, this Operation Rescue group has been meddling in Dr. Sella's love life in godless San Francisco:

Operation Rescue West has obtained documentation that a California abortionist employed by late-term abortion specialist George Tiller, was in Wichita on Valentine’s Day weekend aborting pre-born babies, then returned to California and was “married” to her lesbian lover in a San Francisco ceremony a day later...

In an ironic twist, Sella married a midwife, Julie Litwin, in the presence of Litwin’s seven-year old son, Noah Lani. Midwives deliver babies while abortionists kill them...

“People like to say that what people do in their bedrooms is no one’s business, but they forget that actions, even private ones, bear consequences. One who can commit such immoral acts as murdering a helpless child in the womb and homosexuality is a depraved individual whose sinful conduct will certainly corrupt others, just as a small about of leaven spreads through the entire lump of dough. We are asking for Christians everywhere to pray for the repentance and salvation of abortionist Shelley Sella, her lesbian lover Julie Litwin, and especially for divine protection for young Noah.” -Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue West

Where as the majority of Nationalisms are founded upon a belief in ethnic or cultural superiority; American Nationalism is is a belief in the superiority of our political ideal. This would make sense, for we feel pride in seeing ourselves as an ethnically and culturally diverse nation. America is the great "melting pot", as they say. Thus, George W. Bush's claim that Bin Laden attacked us because he "hated freedom" is a prototypical example of American Nationalism in action.

...Rather, I'd like to remind a few people of the responsibility they have to America, and the rest of the world. The world is prone to following our example. Do we set an example of pre-emptive war; "do whatever we please cause' we can"? Or, do we show the rest of the world that there actually might -- in fact -- be substance behind our rhetoric of freedom, justice, and opportunity? I think the American electorate would be wise to think very carefully about that question.

Interesting -- the superiority of our political ideals as our form of nationalism. Like the fortune cookie game where you add "in bed" to your recently found fortune, I thought I'd add "also in healthcare" to the ends of these sentences...

...the responsibility they have to America, and the rest of the world...in health care. The world is prone to follow our example...in health care.

Do we set an example of "pre-emptive war;" "do whatever we please cause "we can"?... in health care? Or do we show the rest of the world that there actually might -- in fact -- be substance behind our rhetoric of freedom, justice, and opportunity...in health care?

So, that was fun. Anyway, I think our view of health care is sometimes a bit... arrogant. We really don't want to hear about how other countries do it (there's been an interesting debate on the AMSA healthpolicy listserv of late on comparative systems, and many med students and docs are satisfied with pushing forth myths about other countries' health care systems and myths about our health care system). True, we have an awesomely trained health care workforce, and an amazing health care system, but it's rippin' at its seams with millions uninsured and our priorities all twisted upside down (doing what we can to prove that the market works, instead of working on the system and the public's best), and our nationalism may be getting in the way of even checking out other systems and having a dialogue with them. This February, 14 of us medical students went to Seattle and Vancouver, on a 5 day study tour called SeaCouver, and one of the things we did was talk to people on the streets (we filmed them too), and we heard some very interesting views on their health care system and their personal experiences. I personally think that more of this discussion can only help us strengthen our system.

Again, I love the GOOD things about my country's health care system, but I'm very passionate in my belief (shared by many others) that there should be a way to make the GOOD parts of our system accessible to more people (and for hardworking folks who work two jobs and can't afford the ever-rising costs of health insurance, it's just not accessible). At the same time, I believe strongly that the BAD parts of our system need to be fixed in order for our nation to stand tall in the world as an example of good health -- we need more equitable access to health care, more affordable and comprehensive benefits (total reform of the health insurance industry), more of a focus on public health than there is now (5% of health care $$ going to prevention, 95% going to treatment), a comprehensive fix to medical malpractice issues (which means a reform of the malpractice insurance industry), and a serious decrease in racial, ethnic disparities in health care.

The letter, entitled "Our Children Deserve Better," was released at a news conference and will be running in key newspapers around the country over the next few weeks. It was signed by 36 pediatricians, including six past presidents of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). One of the letter's key points noted that 27 million children in the United States were without health insurance at some point in 2002-2003...

"We need to address the fact that it is simply unconscionable that the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world under the Bush administration has millions of uninsured children. The words 'leave no child behind' ring hollow when so many children are left out," said Dr. Joel Alpert, professor and chairman emeritus at Boston University School of Medicine and past president of the AAP.

The letter, along with statements from various pediatricians at the news conference, bemoaned various aspects of White House policies, including cuts in state health programs. "In the president's home state of Texas alone, more than 150,000 children of working-class families have been dropped from the State Child Health Insurance Program, leaving them without any insurance," said Dr. Stephen Berman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and past president of the AAP.

Berman related the story of a teenager who recently came to him with severe diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when the body doesn't get enough insulin. The family, it turned out, was not insured and could not afford to pay for the insulin the patient needed. They were denied Medicaid because their one asset, a car, exceeded the allowable amount in Colorado.

"The boy almost died -- and shared with us that perhaps he wished he had died so he would not be such a financial burden on his family," Berman said.

"President Bush's main health-care proposal of tax credits and deductions would decrease the number of uninsured by as little as 5 percent while still relying on market forces proven to be ineffective for dealing with the millions who will remain uninsured," the letter read. "Sen. Kerry's proposal, building on his belief that health care is a right, not a privilege, extends coverage to virtually all children, and ultimately to all Americans."