Four experts discussed the new health care reform legislation at Wichita State University last Saturday.
The experts were: Dr. Richard Skibba, David Wilson (President, Kansas AARP), Bev White (President and CEO of the Center for Health & Wellness), and Monica Flask (Director of Project Acress, Central Plains Regional Health Care Foundation).



The event was sponsored by the Sedgwick County Democratic Party and WSU College Democrats.

Re-emergence of anarchism in Cuba

A UK anarchist site has this report  (Hat tip: Poumista)

Recently, on 13th & 14th of March there was in San José de Las Lajas, near Havana in Cuba, the 4th Critical Observatory event organised by the Haydee Santamaría Professorship[?]. There were a good group of attendees from across the island who presented, listened and debated around the libertarian idea and practical self-organization alternatives for today's Cuban society.
Without doubt this is an encouraging sign for those who have hoped for a long time to see a strong remergence of the path laid by Enrique Roig San Martín, Alfredo López, Enrique Varona, Marcelo Salinas and many other men & women as recollected in Frank Fernández's impressive book "Anarchism in Cuba". So it's necessary that we abroad strongly support this effort at reconstruction that is going ahead in very difficult conditions and in the face of all kinds of obstacles.

For more information, visit the blogs: http://observatorio-critico.blogspot.com and http://elblogdelacatedra.blogspot.com, or search the internet for the terms "Observatorio Crítico" y "Cuba" to find many recent references.

Sent in the name of the Cuban comrades, who have agreed to the distribution of all that this message says.

Fernandez book is recommended.  It should be interest to more than anarchists.  The link above is to a Spanish version.  Fortunately, there is an English translation by Charles Bufe available from See Sharp Press.

Goodbye doom and gloom!

Very good results for progressive, labor-left Democrats tonight.   Conway and Sestak wins in Kentucky and Pennsylvania and Halter forcing Lincoln into a run-off in Arkansas.  And. Murtha's seat in Pa was won by a big margin.  A blue, blue dog.  But not a Republican.  All of the right-wing blowhards had been claiming this as a bellwether seat for months.


There's an increasing chance that Democratic losses this November can be kept within normal, tolerable limits.  It is looking less and less like a wave election.

Wish I could say that things were looking so great for Knsas Dems.

Q&A on Arizona immigration law

Confused by the right-wing's talking points or frustrated by the thin reporting of the national and local menda? Here's a suggestion, take a look at the ACLU's Q &A on the new Arizona immigration law. Here's one.

What is the difference between this law and the federal law?

The Arizona law goes well beyond federal law because it mandates that all local police and sheriffs demand papers from people they stop and believe may be in the country without authorization. Nowhere is such requirement in federal law. This law reverses the presumption of innocence, forcing police officers on the street to demand that people prove they are U.S. citizens or otherwise in the country legally. The racial profiling this law invites with its undefined standard for what constitutes “reasonable suspicion” that someone is in the country unlawfully would violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law and federal civil rights protections.

There are a number of ways in which the Arizona law directly conflicts with federal law regarding the regulation and enforcement of immigration. As a threshold matter, SB 1070 presumes that the citizenship or immigration status of individuals can be determined simply, outside the complex administrative procedures set up under our nation’s immigration laws. It cannot. Moreover, the Arizona law would also impose different state penalties against people for conduct, such as authorization to work in the United States that is directly regulated under federal law. Not only is this unconstitutional under the supremacy cause, but it is also bad policy as the United States cannot have a patchwork of conflicting immigration laws depending on what state you happen to find yourself in.

Read the rest on-line or down as a PDF

Phyllis Jacobson Remembered

There are a number of remembrances of Phyllis Jacobson who played a leading role in the the creation and sustenance of New Politics, one of the most important journals of the American democratic left. Bogdan Denitch  Barry Finger Sam Farber and others

New Politics had two lives--from 1961 to 1975 and from 1986 to the present. It occupies a space to the left of Dissent (and to my left) and  has always been a valuable and thought provoking journal.

Joanne Landy and Steve Shalom write

 "The Jacobsons did not want an editorial board of clones. They welcomed board members from a range of left perspectives that supported the basic orientation of New Politics: standing "in opposition to all forms of imperialism," "uncompromising in its defense of feminism and affirmative action," and above all insisting "on the centrality of democracy to socialism and on the need to rely on mass movements from below for progressive social transformation."

If that sounds like the kind of thing you might be intersted in, check out New Politics. And if you like what you see, subsribe.

Wichita May Day Immigration Reform Rally

Here are a photo slide show and speeches by Kansas NAACP President Kevin Myles and State Representative Delia Garcia

Bumpersticker of the week (an ocassional feature)

Ks. Sec. of Labor Jim Garner on Two Programs That Work

Kansas Secretary of Labor Jim Garner made some timely remarks on the importance of OSHA and unemployment compensation at the 2010 Workers' Memorial Day observance in Wichita, Kansas. The event was sponsored by the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation.

Garner points out that the unemployment benefits program has pumped $1 billion into the Kansas economy in the last year.. OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, has led to a remarkable decline in deaths and injuries on the job.