January, 20 2012, 10:18am EDT
Victory for Men's Health; Medicare Will Keep Covering Prostate Cancer Screening
WASHINGTON
After Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Dan Burton (R-IN) and Don Young (R-AK) organized a bipartisan group of 44 Members of Congress to object to a recommendation by the United States Preventative Task Force (USPTF) that healthy men should not receive a blood test to screen for prostate cancer, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius agreed to overrule the recommendation.
"This victory preserves the right of doctors to decide, with their patients, whether a PSA test can be used as another indicator of a man's health. It is good for the doctor, the patient and families," said Kucinich.
If accepted, the USPTF recommendation would have eliminated coverage for the blood test for tens of thousands of men over the age of 50 who rely on Medicare coverage.
"One in six men will be diagnosed with the disease during their lifetimes and 30,000 American men still die from it annually. There is substantial evidence which shows that screening helps catch the presence of prostate cancer early," said Kucinich.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in the United States, taking over 29,000 lives in 2007. The disease is especially deadly for three groups: African American men, those with a family history of the disease and men over age 65. The prostate specific antigen test, called P.S.A., is one of two commonly-used methods to screen for it, and early-stage treatment is considered the most effective tool in fighting it.
Kucinich was joined in his campaign for men's health by Representatives Dan Burton (R-IN), Don Young (R-AK), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Joe Baca (D-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Michael Burgess (R-TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Andre Carson (D-IN), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), John Conyers (D-MI), Danny Davis (D-IL), Eliot Engle (D-NY), Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Holden (D-PA), Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Billy Long (R-MO), Michael Michaud (D-ME), James Moran (D-VA), Tim Murphy (R-PA), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Bill Posey (R-FL), David Price (D-NC), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Jon Runyan (R-NJ), Bobby Rush (D-IL), David Scott (D-GA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and John Yarmuth (D-KY).
Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.
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Prominent Jewish Americans Condemn AIPAC Effort to 'Dominate' US Primaries
"AIPAC is an essential link in the chain that holds in place the unbearable tragedy of Israel/Palestine."
Mar 20, 2024
More than 100 prominent Jewish Americans signed a statement released Wednesday condemning the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's increasingly aggressive interventions in U.S. elections, particularly Democratic Party primaries in which the powerful lobbying group is spending big to unseat progressives.
The statement's list of signatories includes well-known scholars, rabbis, anti-war activists, journalists, and filmmakers who have "agreed to come together to highlight and oppose the unprecedented and damaging role of AIPAC" and its allied organizations in the American electoral process. The statement calls on Democratic candidates to reject all funding from AIPAC's political network.
AIPAC's political entities, including its United Democracy Project super PAC, are expected to spend $100 million this election cycle targeting candidates who have backed a cease-fire in Gaza or have otherwise been deemed inadequately pro-Israel.
"We recognize the purpose of AIPAC's interventions in electoral politics is to defeat any critics of Israeli government policy and to support candidates who vow unwavering loyalty to Israel, thereby ensuring the United States' continuing support for all that Israel does, regardless of its violence and illegality," reads the new statement from Jewish Americans, which can be read in full below.
"Given that Israel is so isolated internationally that it could not continue its inhumane treatment of the Palestinians without U.S. political and military support, AIPAC is an essential link in the chain that holds in place the unbearable tragedy of Israel/Palestine," the statement continues. "In the coming U.S. elections, we need to break that chain in order to help free the people of Israel/Palestine to pursue peaceful coexistence."
"In contrast to AIPAC, we are American Jews who believe that U.S. support for foreign governments should only be extended to those that respect the full human and civil rights, and right to self-determination, of all people."
The statement comes days after more than 20 progressive advocacy organizations—including Jewish Voice for Peace Action and the Jewish-led IfNotNow Movement—formed a coalition aimed at countering AIPAC's influence in the 2024 elections after the lobbying group had a significant impact on the 2022 midterms.
According to OpenSecrets, most of the candidates AIPAC supported in the 2022 cycle won their races after the group's super PAC raised more than $30 million.
In the current cycle, AIPAC's top targets are members of the progressive Squad who have called for a cease-fire and end to weapons exports to Israel. As The Interceptreported earlier this month, AIPAC recruited and is funding Rep. Jamaal Bowman's (D-N.Y.) primary challenger and is expected to spend heavily to unseat Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who overcame AIPAC money to win her seat in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District in 2022.
On top of working to sink progressives, AIPAC has also previously "endorsed Republican extremists and dozens of Congress members who'd voted against certifying" President Joe Biden's 2020 victory over former President Donald Trump, the Jewish Americans noted in their new statement.
"In contrast to AIPAC, we are American Jews who believe that U.S. support for foreign governments should only be extended to those that respect the full human and civil rights, and right to self-determination, of all people," the statement reads. "We oppose all forms of racism and bigotry, including antisemitism—and we support the historic alliance in our country of Jewish Americans with African Americans and other people of color in the cause of civil rights and equal justice."
"Therefore, we strongly oppose AIPAC's attempts to dominate Democratic primary elections," the statement adds. "We will support candidates who are opposed by AIPAC, and who are advocates for peace and a new, just U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine."
Read the full statement and list of signatories:
We are Jewish Americans who have varying perspectives. We’ve agreed to come together to highlight and oppose the unprecedented and damaging role of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and allied groups in U.S. elections, especially within Democratic Party primaries. We recognize the purpose of AIPAC's interventions in electoral politics is to defeat any critics of Israeli Government policy and to support candidates who vow unwavering loyalty to Israel, thereby ensuring the United States' continuing support for all that Israel does, regardless of its violence and illegality.
Given that Israel is so isolated internationally that it could not continue its inhumane treatment of the Palestinians without U.S. political and military support, AIPAC is an essential link in the chain that holds in place the unbearable tragedy of Israel/Palestine. In the coming U.S. elections, we need to break that chain in order to help free the people of Israel/Palestine to pursue peaceful coexistence.
In the same 2021-22 election cycle in which AIPAC endorsed Republican extremists and dozens of Congress members who’d voted against certifying Biden's victory over Trump, the AIPAC network raised millions from Trump donors and spent the money inside Democratic primaries against progressives, mostly candidates of color. AIPAC is now vowing to spend even more millions in the 2024 Democratic primaries, targeting specific Democrats in Congress—initially all legislators of color—who’ve advocated for a Gaza cease-fire, a position supported by the vast majority of Democratic voters. AIPAC’s election spending increasingly works to defeat candidates who criticize the racist policies of Israel.
In contrast to AIPAC, we are American Jews who believe that U.S. support for foreign governments should only be extended to those that respect the full human and civil rights, and right to self-determination, of all people. We oppose all forms of racism and bigotry, including antisemitism—and we support the historic alliance in our country of Jewish Americans with African Americans and other people of color in the cause of civil rights and equal justice.
Therefore, we strongly oppose AIPAC's attempts to dominate Democratic primary elections. We call on Democratic candidates to not accept AIPAC network funding, and demand that the Democratic leadership not allow Republican funders to use that network to deform Democratic primary elections. We will support candidates who are opposed by AIPAC, and who are advocates for peace and a new, just U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine.
Signed by: (Organizational Affiliations For Identification Purposes Only)
Adam Gold, Senior Strategist, Working Families Party
Adam Shatz, London Review of Books
Alan Levine, Civil rights lawyer
Alan Minsky, Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Alicia T. Singham Goodwin, Political Director at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice
Rabbi Alissa Wise, Lead Organizer, Rabbis for Ceasefire
Alisse Waterson, Presidential Scholar and Professor, John Jay College, CUNY
Anna Baltzer, Author, “Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories”
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, M4BL Black Hive/Black Alliance for Peace
Ariel Dorfman, Novelist, playwright, essayist, human rights activist
Ariel Gold, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Ariela Gross, Distinguished Professor, UCLA School of Law
Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen, Professor, American Jewish University
Aurora Levins Morales, Writer
Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History, Salem State University
Aviva Orenstein, Professor, Maurer School of Law, Indiana University
Ben Cohen, Co-founder, Ben & Jerry’s, philanthropist
Ben Ehrenreich, Author, winner of American Book Award
Beth Miller, Political Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Rabbi Brian Walt
Caroline Levine, Professor of the Humanities, Cornell University
Dan Segal, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology and History, Pitzer College
Dan Simon, Professor of Law and Psychology, University of Southern California
Daniel Stolzenberg, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Davis
Danny Goldberg, Music executive, author
Dave Zirin, Sports editor at The Nation, author
David Vine, Professor of Anthropology, American University
Deborah Eisenberg, Writer and actress
Deena Metzger, Poet, novelist, and essayist
Dennis Bernstein, Poet, human rights reporter, and host of Flashpoints
Donna Nevel, Educator
Eliot Katz, Poet, author “The Poetry and Politics of Allen Ginsberg”
Elliott Gould
Eric Drooker, Graphic novelist and artist
Estee Chandler, Board Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Eva Borgwardt, National Spokesperson, If Not Now
Ira Shor, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Center, CUNY
Gabriel Winant, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago
Gail Hershatter, Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
Gene Bruskin, Labor leader and playwright
Hadar Cohen, Scholar, mystic, and artist
Hollie Ainbinder, Program Director, Institute for Public Accuracy
Howard Horowitz, Board President, WESPAC Foundation
Howard A. Rodman, Screenwriter, novelist, and educator
Ivan Handler, J Street Chicago
James Schamus, Filmmaker, Professor, Columbia University
Jay Levin, Founder of LA Weekly
Jeff Cohen, Media critic, retired Ithaca College journalism professor
Jeff Gottlieb, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Jennifer Spitzer, Associate Professor, Literatures in English, Ithaca College
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, Organizer, founding member, Radical Jewish Calendar
Joel Beinin, Emeritus Professor of History, Stanford University
Judith Butler, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Judith Gurewich, Publisher, Other Press
Kenneth Pomeranz, Professor, University of Chicago, Yuen Campus in Hong Kong
Larry Cohen, Former President of Communications Workers of America
Laura Dittmar, Professor Emerita, author of “Tracing Homelands”
Leora Auslander, Professor, University of Chicago
Lesley Williams, Librarian, Board Member, Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Lisa Sternlieb, Associate Professor of English and Jewish Studies, Penn State University
Marcy Winograd, Co-founder, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita of Law, past president of National Lawyers Guild
Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union
Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Martin A. Lee, Author, “The Beast Reawakens”
Maya Schenwar, Director, Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Co-founder
Michael Greenberg, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Defiance
Mike Hersh, Communications Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Mitchell Plitnick, President, ReThinking Foreign Policy
Molly Crabapple, Artist and writer
Morgan Spector, Actor
Naomi Dann, Chief of Staff, Housing Justice for All
Nomi Stolzenberg, Professor, USC Gould School of Law
Norman Solomon, National Director, RootsAction
Dr. Paul Zeitz, Author and activist
Penny Rosenwasser, Author, Center for Jewish Nonviolence
Peter Beinart, Editor-at-Large, Jewish Currents, author, and journalism professor
Phyllis Bennis, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies
Rafael Shimunov, Radio host and co-founder, The Jewish Vote
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Organizer and author
Richard Bauman, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Richard Handler, Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia
Rick Goldsmith, Documentary filmmaker
Robert Brenner, Professor Emeritus of History, UCLA
Robert Greenwald, Filmmaker, President of Brave New Films
Robert Herbst, Esq., Board Co-Chair, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
Robert Naiman, Former Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
Robert Scheer, Author, journalist, publisher of ScheerPost
Sam Rosenthal, Political Director, RootsAction
Samuel Moyn, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History, Yale University
Sarah Jaffe, Journalist, author of “Work Won’t Love You Back”
Sarah Schulman, Writer
Seth Ackerman, Editor-at-Large, Jacobin
Sheldon Pollock, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
Simone Zimmerman, Co-founder, IfNotNow
Sarah Sophie Flicker, Artist, actress, and activist
Spencer Ackerman, Journalist and author
Stefanie Fox, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Susan Adelman, Feminist, activist, and philanthropist
Suzanne Gordon, Journalist and author
Suzi Weissman, Professor of Politics, St. Mary’s College
Tony Kushner, Writer
Victor Wallis, Professor of Liberal Arts, Berklee College of Music
Wallace Shawn, Actor & Playwright
Zillah Eisenstein, Professor Emerita of Politics, Ithaca College
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Sanders Says US Must Follow Suit After Canada Halts Arms Exports to Israel
"The U.S. should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu's war machine," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Mar 20, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that the Biden administration must follow Canada's government in halting arms exports to Israel, a call that came after humanitarian groups refuted the Israeli government's claim that its use of American weaponry in Gaza has been in line with international law.
Sanders (I-Vt.) said the Canadian Parliament was "absolutely right" to vote to stop weapons exports to Israel, whose military has killed more than 31,800 people in Gaza in less than six months—often using explosives, ammunition, and other equipment supplied by the U.S., Canada, Germany, and other countries.
"Given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including widespread and growing starvation, the U.S. should not provide another nickel for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's war machine," said Sanders.
Canadian lawmakers on Monday approved a nonbinding motion calling on the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to "cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada's arms export regime."
Shortly following the vote, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister MĂ©lanie Joly told the Toronto Star that the government would stop exporting arms to Israel in line with the motion's demand. In the three months after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, Canada exported at least $28.5 million worth of military equipment to Israel, according to Global Affairs Canada.
"This is an important step," Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East wrote in response to Joly, "but we need to make sure that Canada stops the transfer of all military exports, period, without any loopholes."
The U.S. is a far bigger weapons supplier for Israel than Canada. Since October 7, the Biden administration has approved more than 100 separate arms sales—collectively worth billions of dollars—to Israel even amid massive and growing evidence that the country's military is using American-made weapons to commit atrocities against civilians in Gaza.
In a new memo to the Biden administration, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch noted that Israeli forces "routinely" drop "2,000-pound bombs on densely populated areas in Gaza."
"According to The Washington Post," the memo states, "Israeli forces dropped over 22,000 U.S.-origin munitions on Gaza during the first 45 days of the hostilities. The United States has reportedly transferred at least 5,000 2,000-pound 'dumb bombs' to Israel since October 7."
Last week, prompted by a new Biden administration policy, Israel's defense minister reportedly provided the White House with a written assurance that "Israel will use U.S. weapons according to international law and allow U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza." Critics dismissed Israel's pledge as a "sick joke."
But at least one key Biden administration official appears satisfied. HuffPost's Akbar Shahid Ahmed reported that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew on Tuesday "privately endorsed Israel's claims it's abiding by U.S. law in using American weapons [and] sending aid to Gaza."
According to Ahmed, Lew's move alarmed U.S. officials who believe the Israeli government's claims are untrue.
"I used to advise the U.S. State Department on law of war assurances," Brian Finucane of the International Crisis Group wrote in response to Ahmed's reporting. "If Ambassador Lew buys these Israeli assurances, I have a bridge he'll also be interested in purchasing."
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Sanders, Dems Tell Biden to Learn From Covid Amid Pandemic Treaty Talks
"A fairer, more equitable response to the next public health outbreak is in everyone's interest."
Mar 19, 2024
This week's high-stakes negotiations on a new global treaty inspired by the Covid-19 crisis "present an historic opportunity to prepare for future pandemics, to protect lives and livelihoods, and to demonstrate political leadership the world will long remember," a dozen progressive U.S. lawmakers wrote to President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
The members of Congress told Biden that "as the U.S. participates in the negotiation of the pandemic accord at the World Health Organization (WHO), we urge you to push for strong, binding equitable access standards to ensure that tests, treatments, and vaccines for the next global public health threat are available to everyone who needs them as soon as possible."
"You can help make sure the next pandemic is shorter and less deadly than the last."
"Nearly 15 million people died during the first two years of the pandemic," they noted. "Most tragically, millions of people died needlessly after the vaccines were developed, but before they became widely available in low-and-middle income countries. Major manufacturers chose not to share the vaccine recipe to expand global production."
"But vaccine inequity did not just hurt people abroad. Major gaps in access to vaccines globally also increased the risk of deadly new variants that changed the course of the pandemic at home," the lawmakers highlighted, stressing that "we must act on the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic."
The letter was led by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) along with Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). They were joined by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), as well as Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
During the WHO talks on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response—which began Monday and are scheduled to run through March 28—they want the Biden administration to champion three foundational commitments:
- Pharmaceutical companies should not be allowed to charge outrageous prices for products developed with taxpayer dollars;
- When the public funds information that can help end a pandemic, it should not be kept a secret; and
- The U.S. should support countries that take steps to increase access to pandemic products.
The letter specifically calls out Pfizer and Moderna, asserting that the latter "serves as a powerful reminder for why American leadership is so critical," because the Massachusetts-based company "worked hand-in-hand with scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health" to invent one of the multiple coronavirus vaccines created during the pandemic.
"U.S. taxpayers spent $12 billion to research, develop, and procure the vaccine," the letter explains. "Yet Moderna refused to share its technology with other manufacturers to increase global production, charged some poorer countries more for doses than wealthy countries, and then quadrupled the price of the Covid vaccine to $128—at a time when it costs just $2.85 to manufacture the vaccine."
"A fairer, more equitable response to the next public health outbreak is in everyone's interest," the lawmakers wrote to Biden. "By supporting strong, binding equitable access standards, you can help make sure the next pandemic is shorter and less deadly than the last."
Reporting on the negotiations Monday, Axiospointed out that "a key sticking point is whether countries must provide viral specimens or genome sequences to a global repository managed by the World Health Organization, which would enable others to use that information to create vaccines, diagnostic tests, and treatments."
Nithin Ramakrishnan of the global advocacy group Third World Network told the outlet that the treaty's current draft "serves the interests of developed countries and their biotech industries by forcing developing countries to share biological materials and information without adequate legal certainty of benefit sharing."
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