These are just a few of the stories I got in one email from Common Dreams. Here’s the newswire, but email subscription is recommended.

“If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Can you imagine a trillion? How about the almost 9 trillion of our national debt? How could the $2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion) that the Iraq War has cost us so far been spent instead? At a cost of less than 200 billion a year – about a tenth of the total war budget – we could eliminate extreme poverty everywhere! What does this say about America’s priorities?

Israel has blocked all fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip, a move that Amnesty International calls deliberate collective punishment. As electricity and fuel supplies run out, and humanitarian assistance is cut off, this may well escalate to a full-blown humanitarian emergency for the entire Gaza Strip.

The organization called for an immediate lifting of the fuel blockade and of other restrictions which have effectively prevented entry or exit of people and goods from the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in the territory, in which 1.5 million Palestinians live, in June 2007. … Amnesty International acknowledged Israel’s right to take measures to protect its population from rocket and other attacks by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, but condemned the Israeli authorities’ decision to cut off the already tightly restricted supplies of fuel, electricity and humanitarian assistance to Gaza’s inhabitants.

“This action appears calculated to make an already dire humanitarian situation worse, one in which the most vulnerable – the sick, the elderly, women and children – will bear the brunt, not the men of violence who carry out attacks against Israel,” said Malcolm Smart. “The rocket attacks should cease, and immediately, but the entire population of Gaza should not be put at risk to bring this about. …“Now, even crucial aid is not allowed to reach those that need it most in Gaza. These measures must be stopped and the passage of aid, fuel and electricity and other basic necessities must be allowed to resume immediately”, said Malcolm Smart.

Corporate sponsored energy programs have taken root in American Universities. So what’s the problem with that?

How about – get this – corporate representatives sitting on governing boards? How about corporate sponsors influencing the direction of research before the funding decisions are made? How about giving away the exclusive rights for commercialization, effectively subcontracting research rather than promoting independent research? How about delaying the publication of research while they scurry for the patents?

“It’s a cheap subterfuge for carbon-emitting companies,” said Merrill Goozner, director of the CSPI’s Integrity in Science Project. “They get the prestige of associating themselves with major respected universities, yet can control the direction of research and get first rights to intellectual property while delaying any finding that doesn’t help the bottom line. Meanwhile, the p.r. blitz surrounding these programs masks the fact that the carbon-emitting industries actually are spending much less on research and development than they did 10 or 15 years ago.”

Between 1998 and 2005, Exxon gave more than $19 million to groups that promoted the idea that global warming was a hoax. Yet beginning in 2006, ExxonMobil ads proudly touted the company’s funding of the Stanford program: “Today an energy company and a leading university share a common goal. The common good.” Another ExxonMobil ad bore the Stanford University seal.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has done a pretty damning study, and they recommend that universities accepting corporate funding adopt policies to protect the autonomy of themselves and their researchers.

There’s a proposal in the works to turn Union Square – the famous Washington Mall site of the Capitol reflecting pool and the Grant Memorial – into a designated protest place. Oh, swell. You can imagine the debate going on.

“This is a sugar-coating effort to conceal the real plan, which is to reorganize the Mall from its traditional venue as the heart and soul of this country’s free-speech protest movement,” said Brian Becker, national coordinator of Answer, an antiwar coalition.

C’mon, you millions! Off to the protest area! You are not allowed around here!

Other noteworthy articles collected at Common Dreams:

• A Failure to Think: Defeat in Iraq? By its own hubristic prospectus, the neocon project has been a cataclysm – caused by a total lack of analysis by Jonathan Steele
• Covering Up the Coverage – The American Media’s Complicit Failure to Investigate and Report on the Sibel Edmonds Case by Daniel Ellsberg
• The Lessons of Violence by Chris Hedges
• US Among Harshest for Sentencing Children by Daniel Macallair
• Accused of Hiding Drug Dangers Again, Big Pharma Starts 2008 Defending Itself by Martha Rosenberg

I am complete agreement with Jolly Roger’s post Uninsured? Insured, But Poor? DIE, Deadbeat at Reconstitution 2.0, in which he speculates about the ultimate purpose of MedFICO. MedFICO is a new Healthcare Analytics product that assesses healthcare payment risk.

Already, payment history is being gathered from hospitals around the country in order to develop records that will predict “how likely patients will be to pay future medical bills.”

Don’t tell me that this isn’t some kind of a screening process to allow for the disposal of the inconveniently ill among us. Once they die off, why those health insurance CEOs can enjoy pay and bonuses that will make rock stars look like paupers in comparison. Isn’t it way past time to force these heartless, greedy, useless motherf**kers OUT OF an arena that absolutely should NOT be run like a business?

See: The Doctor Will See Your Credit Now:

“If you had a poor score, you could be denied a hospital stay, for example,” she said.

Linda Foley, who runs the Identity Theft Resource Center, also said any kind of medical risk scoring would run into a thicket of federal laws designed to protect consumers. It’s not clear if such a score would be covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other credit-related laws that grant consumers the right to see their own credit reports and scores. The information may also be covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which restricts the use of patients’ private information.

The problem we see is: Who is regulating this?” she said. “How do we know it will never be used before treatment?”

Short answer: We don’t, and it will.

What question would you like to ask the top three Democratic candidates?

On June 4, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama will join Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners live on CNN for a conversation about faith, values, and poverty — and they’re asking supporters to vote for their favorite question to ask in front of a national television audience.

The presidential candidates forum will be a unique opportunity to shape the national debate over faith and values — and to put poverty on the national agenda. Be sure to tune into the forum on Monday, June 4, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time to see which question is asked — and how the candidates respond.

The questions were submitted by Sojourners supporters.

I’ve just cast my vote for my favorite question (of the very few questions given):

Executive salaries have increased by almost 300% in recent years, while wages for ordinary workers have remained stagnant. What specific policies would you endorse to address the growing gap of “Haves” and “Have-nots” in our nation? – Submitted by Randy from Deer Park, TX

Cast your vote here.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

My son came home from school and told me that he was so grateful for Martin Luther King Jr.

“Mommy, did you know that if he didn’t tell people to be nice to each other, that I wouldn’t have any black kids at my school? I’d only be with other white kids.”

Hmmm. I like his “gratefulness,” I think, although I’ve never known him to use that word before.

I like that he instinctively realizes what a loss it would be to be surrounded by only white kids.

On the other hand, race – as an issue – wasn’t even on his horizon until fairly recently. This shimmering semi-unreal version of King reminds me of his views on Jesus and Santa and Leprechauns. But maybe that’s how it is… George Washington cannot tell a lie, the Revolution was about some tea in Boston, Indian tribes love Thanksgiving, all the other cartoonish and inaccurate things we absorb somehow as children.

How do you choose what (and how) to explain? He’s only 6.

“Yes, King was a very brave and good person. There were a lot of people who fought, and still fight, for equal rights and for fairness and justice for everybody in America. It’s not something that’s all over. He was very special because he was able to say some things in very powerful and compelling ways…. and all his different kinds of work are still going on. He showed us that you can – and should – stand up for what you think is fair for everybody, not just for some people.”

He didn’t know that King had been shot and killed. He didn’t know about Malcolm X. I think he probably heard or saw the “I Have a Dream” speech, but he didn’t really have a context – and frankly, I hate to give him one. Not yet. Let him think – for a while – that the only issue was whether little children should be able to work and play together, no matter how different from one another their appearance might be. He is a loving child, and he understands that.

Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

We cannot remain silent as our nation engages in one of history’s most cruel and senseless wars. During these days of human travail we must encourage creative dissenters. We need them because the thunder of their fearless voices will be the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.