Want to cut through the rhetoric and grasp the evolving state of health care in the U.S.? Jan Baughman's splendid cartoon makes it clearer than a thousand words -- though words should not be disregarded. Gilles d'Aymery uses a few to revisit the standings of health care in Cuba, France, and the U.S. You'll learn that the number of physicians, nurses, and hospital beds has actually decreased in the U.S. in the past 15 years while the population has increased by over 40 million. And you'll also find in his Blips the reasons for the current health care (non)reform debacle and what should be done about it.
While it will come as no surprise who controls the health care reform agenda, the behind-the-scenes manipulators of the anti-nuclear movement may not be as apparent. Michael Barker analyzes the tight hold that elite, ostensibly progressive, philanthropists currently wield over leading members of the movement. Equally enlightening is Femi Akomolafe's report from Africa on Western hypocrisy, control of Africa's oil and minerals, and the UN Security Council's indictment of the Sudanese president. How fitting, then, is Tiziano Terzani's plea from the Himalayas that is shared by Martin Murie: It's time for us to move out into the open, time to make a stand for the values we believe in.
It's also time for an Arts & Culture interlude, in which Art Shay reflects on David Sedaris, the kookaburra bird, and his 1946 Australia adventures; Charles Marowitz reviews A Strange Eventful History, a book that delineates how the Ellen Terry-Henry Irving partnership transformed the Gilded Age of acting to the modernism of the New World; and Peter Byrne pens a one-act play on the perpetually-smiling aunt, her abusive father, and the New Deal propaganda that shaped her slaphappy persona. In the French Corner Graham Lea muses in English over the state of the best cheese in the world. In French, Marie Rennard presents a polesy with the help of a duck; newcomer Irène Grätz disserts on freedom of speech; and we offer some old and new words about adultery. We end with the creative poetry of Guido Monte and Jeffery Klaehn as well as your letters.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.
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Jan Baughman: (R)evolutionary Health Care Reform
Editorial cartoon: Jan Baughman illustrates the evolution of reform in America's failing health care system. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Health Care Here And There
The 2009 World Health Statistic Report shows that US health metrics continue to lag other countries, despite higher government expenditures and in the face of obscene insurance company profits. Even so, there is little hope for reform any time soon. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #90
A few selected issues that landed on the Editor's desk, from government subsidies and corporate profits, representative democracy and influence peddling, to reform that's off the table in the "economic anarchy of capitalist society," and more. More...
Michael Barker: Anti-Nuclear Philanthropy And The US Peace Movement
Cooption of the US peace movement and anti-nuclear activism. More...
Femi Akomolafe: Africa And The International Criminal Court Of [In]justice
An insightful report from Africa on Western hypocrisy, colonialism, control of Africa's oil and minerals, and the UN Security Council's indictment of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. More...
Martin Murie: What To Do?
A review of Tiziano Terzani's last Letter Against the War written from The Himalayas, in which he pleas that "It's time for us to move out into the open, time to make a stand for the values we believe in." More...
Art Shay: Kookaburra Bird Shit
Art Shay reflects on David Sedaris, the kookaburra, and his middling adventures in Australia in 1946. More...
Charles Marowitz: Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, & Co.
Michael Holroyd's A Strange Eventful History delineates the ways in which the Ellen Terry-Henry Irving partnership transformed the Gilded Age of acting to the modernism of the New World. More...
Peter Byrne: Only Read The Small Print
A one-act play on the perpetually-smiling aunt, her abusive father, and the "Keep Smiling" New Deal propaganda that shaped her slaphappy persona. More...
Graham Lea: French Cheese: A Cultural Metaphor?
Graham Lea takes a look at French cheese, the very best cheese in the world. More...
Marie Rennard: Polésie de canard
Marie Rennard voyage au bout du monde, une introduction poétique au coin frnaçais de Swans. More...
Irène Grätz: Liberté d'expression: limites, contraintes et possibilités
La définition de la notion de liberté d'expression est fondamentale, mais varie selon les pays. Dans la majorité des démocraties européennes, elle est limitée -- les propos racistes, négationnistes ou diffamatoires étant passibles des tribunaux. Où se situe la limite du permis, et comment peut-on combattre l'infamie si l'on en interdit l'expression ? More...
Plaidoyer de la comtesse d'Arcira
Plaidoyer de la Comtesse d'Arcira accusée d'Adultère, extrait du Dictionnaire Philosophique de Voltaire, article Adultère. 1764. More...
Marie Rennard: Adultère
L'adultère : La différence entre l'homme et la femme. Extrait du fameux Dictionnaire arbitraire. More...
Guido Monte: Unknown
Guido Monte, after his blending of old and new authors, remembers tragedies happening every day, of unheard shipwrecks of African immigrants trying to land on the shores of Sicily. More...
Jeffery Klaehn: Your Beauty Washes Over Me Like Rain
Brush strokes of Keats, Shelley, and Bronte paint a love poem. More...
Louis Proyect on Michael Barker, Eric Williams, Amazing Grace, and slavery's link to capitalism; Raju Peddada and the conversion of India; and some pithy yet sage advice for the US Congress. More...
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