An Especially Happy Holiday Greeting to All Field Hands
By Al Giordano
Perhaps by the time you read this it will be 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 24, and the US Senate will be casting its historic vote approving the health care bill that will:
- Subsidize insurance for 31 million people that don’t have it.
- ban insurance companies from rejecting those with pre-existing conditions (and prohibit them from dropping coverage for those who suddenly become ill).
- Require insurance companies to provide free preventive medical services.
- Allow you to insure your dependents through the age of 26.
- Grant a discount on drug prices for seniors that don’t already have it through Medicaid.
- Make it worth it for small businesses to insure their employees, via tax credits.
- Among the other benefits that make it the single largest expansion of the social safety net in generations.
This was not a political battle I had planned to report and write about much. I had presumed (silly me!) for months that that the progressive leap forward inherent in a health care bill’s role in getting the foot in the door to even more wider national health care in the future would have been obvious to everyone.
But about a week ago, it became clear that some were trying to muddy the waters and destroy (again) this once-in-a-generation chance to get the health care reform that has eluded the United States for sixty years.
So on December 17, I asked aloud, “What Would Teddy Do?” and jumped into the fray with the memory of a fallen friend.
Hard to believe it’s only been a week and in this short time we, and others like us, have cleared the air of Chicken Little feathers and momentum has turned back in favor of the health care bill that will likely pass the Senate on the morning of Christmas Eve, as if to say: To 31 million of our brothers and sisters, yes, we can, and there is room at the inn.
I know that not all Field Hands are always that interested in our reporting from Latin America. Many of you inside the United States are locked in vitally important and urgent struggles to take back your own country and land. I hear it in your comments and your emails: Al, we need you to report on what happens in the United States! And at times I share that frustration of not being able to be in two places at once.
But what I hope that December of 2009 has demonstrated, once again, is that in hours of moral crisis, our reporting is there for you in every land of this hemisphere, including in the United States, as it was for much of 2007 and 2008.
In the past week, you’ve seen us do, again, what we often do in other lands: Come into a crisis, report it as nobody else is doing, afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted, and very quickly change the strategic dynamics of the battle in play just by investigating and telling the wider truth.
And just like many of you might be happy about what we’ve accomplished riding in with this surprise cavalry on the health care story in just a week, you can be sure that others – who had planned on a bill-killing finale this week – are just as upset that we did suddenly ride into town. They're still off balance, wondering what hit them. We wear their frustration as a badge of pride. And we will continue to pound relentlessly until we see this story through to its logical triumph.
I would ask you to consider this as you celebrate the holidays or vacations with your loved ones (or on the Internet, in which case we’ll still be here for you, a kind of virtual family): This kind of journalism we do is not found in many other places, not on TV, not on radio, not in print, and frankly not on much of the Internet either. It is journalism that makes a difference because it adheres to the facts and it listens to and considers the voices and aspirations and stories of the people that the rest of the media leaves out: the great mass of everyday citizens who, time and time again, are ignored and harmed by so much of the media.
And frustrating though it may be at times that I can't enter every single battle as I'm in the midst of similar ones South of the Border, it is these Latin American lands that taught our colleagues and me precisely how to have an impact on an entire nation in just a few days. These are methods and strategies and tactics that our adversaries in the United States simply don't and can't understand, and they help us win against them time and time again.
The only thing that makes it possible for us to do this is your support, through many small contributions that make up one big online newspaper, which hosts The Field and so much more.
So if you get a little extra in your stocking on Friday (even coal is worth more than it used to be valued at: I should have saved mine from a very young age!), or Hanukah or Kwanza or bohemia was good to you in that way, or if family members, friends and spouses were generous to you this year, or if you got a bonus at the workplace, or even if times are tough but you have a little surplus in these times of scarcity, please consider tossing a little coin into this cup before 2009 is done.
Likewise, if you visit with some aunt, uncle, family member or friend in these festive days that likes to support worthy causes (and who may still seek additional tax deductions before the year is out), tell her and him about The Field and The School of Authentic Journalism and the other good works we do, and ask them to make out a check to:
The Fund for Authentic Journalism
PO Box 241
Natick, MA 01760 USA
Tell them you’ll mail it for them and have them write it out on the spot. (In other words, organize them!)
Or bring them to this online website where they (or you) can make a donation immediately:
http://www.authenticjournalism.org
Although I can’t be in two places at once, we do have a plan to, in a sense, clone my colleages and I or at least this work that we do: It’s called the School of Authentic Journalism, and we’re still $6,718 US dollars short of our fundraising goal that will make possible a $20,000 matching support from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict to make the February School – with its 31 authentic journalism scholars and more than 40 top notch pros in this field – happen.
After that happens, there will be even more of us to go around and respond to the emergency calls up and down this hemisphere, and even in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Like the Marvel comics team, The Avengers, this past week we called out “Field Hands, Assemble!” And you responded. And, together, we rolled over the cynics with righteous fury and rapid-fire facts in a single week: the poutragers and foot stompers and rake steppers, we left them in the dust (and haven't even fired our next shots yet!), and, together, you and I and so many others putting our minds and hearts and our actions together played a vital and necessary role in salvaging, again, the course of history.
It feels good, doesn’t it?
It'll feel even better at 8 a.m. ET tomorrow, Thursday, morning.
It’s how folks in many lands feel when we are able to do our job as well as we can do it. That’s our life’s work. And sometimes it touches on your lives, just as we are lucky enough to at times be touched by yours.
So, from us – our entire team here at The Field and Narco News and the School for Authentic Journalism, because this is a group effort, it’s not just me – to you, when we say “Happy New Year” it’s not an empty phrase.
What we mean when we say it is that we are going to be here in the trenches with you throughout 2010 to make it a happier and better year than it would otherwise be.
And just as you know you can count on us, we have the honor and privilege of counting with you. Have a wonderful holiday. Rest up. Enjoy. Check in here whenever you need it (we’ll keep reporting through the rest of 2009 and the start of 2010). And please accept my most heartfelt and sincere thanks for all that we have done together, and all that we have yet to do… for Field Hands will assemble again... and again... and again... as long as you keep calling for it.
Email this page
Recurring Donation
Submitted on December 23rd, 2009 by Elliot KaufmanI've been feeling guilty because I haven't been able to afford it, but my money situation has gotten better, and so I can afford to start a recurring donation of $25 per month. Al and everyone, happy holidays, and keep up the great work for all Americans (both North and South)!
Thank You, Elliot!
Submitted on December 23rd, 2009 by Al GiordanoYou're one of few the great statistician-predictors we have. And it is an honor to count with you. And a privilege to have your support.
Happy holidays, all!
Submitted on December 23rd, 2009 by Laura M. PoyneerYay Senator Stabenow of Michigan!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Pamela Hilliard...Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) cast "Aye" vote #51 to pass the Bill!
Thanks Al for all that you and your colleagues do for us and with us!
@Elliot: thanks for reminding me of the recurring donation option. Setting mine up TODAY!
To All of my Fieldhand Friends: Support your President--everyone will never get everything they want at the same time. You can keep him accountable and support him at the same time. He has enough battles from elsewhere...
Happy Holidays, All--I've been missing you!
XOXOXO Pam
waterprise2 AKA Pam
Liberal with a Capital L!
Whoppee. And I am done. Just as the HCR bill.
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Agoram MuthukumaranHappy Hols Al.
amk
A powerful speech and a powerful comment
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Ladyhawke (not verified)that standout from the last couple of weeks.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse speech (starting at 107.5 mark) calling out the Republicans:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ID/217151&start=0&end=37795
Booman Tribune comment explaining what it took to get here:
I will remind you that we needed every single victory from 2006 and 2008 to achieve this. We needed Tester and Webb and McCaskill and Whitehouse and Klobuchar and Franken and Begich and Merkley and Sanders and the two Udalls and Brown and Cardin and Hagan and Casey and Hagan and Shaheen and Warner. We needed to seat Bennet and Burris and Gillibrand. We needed to replace Kennedy with Kirk. With had to flip Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party. If we lost any single one of those battles, health care reform would be dead. Instead, it lives. And you have yourselves to thank for that. Your activism made the difference.
Thanks Al, You saved our sanity!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by zizi (not verified)Thank you so much Al,
For stepping in at crunch time like the proverbial knight in realism armor to nudge us back from the brink of insanity. You filled a void in more ways than you will ever know.
And having lurked here for a very long time, I appreciate the depth of your coverage of news from Latin America, that has been lacking not only in the MSM but the blogworld as well. And I pledge to donate to your cause at the end of the month when I am paid. It will be small but I hope it helps.
Have a joyous holiday. Peace!
The struggle continues....
Thanks Al!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by MacArthur Antigua (not verified)Al, I just put a long overdue $50 in the till. Thanks so much for you and your colleagues' work. Thanks for taking a moment to report on this bill. I've shared your posts with many of my friends and family who've been yammering the chicken little talking points, and getting caught up in the poutrage.
Keep up the great work, sir!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Jim (not verified)I got a huge laugh this morning, learning that Jane Hamsher is apparently suggesting a primary against Bernie "most progressive Senator in the US" Sanders, for voting for the health care bill. As I write this, there are now several top diaries at Daily Kos ridiculing Hamsher (not to mention the same thing at other blogs).
And thus goeth the last shred of credibility for Hamsher...
Merry Everything, Everybody!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Lorie CavinI saw Captain America and grinned.
Because of excellent reporting, The Sphere/Narconews has helped me understand what's happening in the Southern part of these Americas. Even if I don't understand the situation, I learn from the dedicated reporters who bring me the news.
Just watched the President give his post Senate vote remarks. He repeated 30 million Americans...Wow. The final push, just like having a baby, will begin soon.
Al, Here's $50 for the Scholars. The $$ showed up in a Christmas card for my family yesterday.
Wish I could do a shot with you, even at this early hour.
..still feels like a hollow victory
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Charlie Ray (not verified)I agree with you whole heartedly that this is a great step forward for all (even the neo-cons will benefit whether they like it or not!) in being able to have health insurance but I still can't help but feel disappointed in what was left out.
Yet, it is a start. Happy Holidays.
@Al
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Elliot KaufmanAl, it's always a pleasure to donate to such a worthy cause, and it's an even greater pleasure to see such kind words about me.
Thanks for the opportunity to give and to appreciate
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Nalani McClendonthe Field and creating community! May the future that we create be improved toward quality for all!!!!
Mele Kalikimaka!
Thank you!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by indubitably (not verified)Thank Yourselves, Too
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Al GiordanoThis comments section has been simply the greatest during and especially over the past week.
Oh, and Jim - Here's the funniest part about a certain shark-jumper calling on folks to run a "primary" against Senator Bernie Saunders: He's an Independent. He has no political party. "Primaries" can only happen inside a political party.
Some years back the Democratic Party gave Bernie the nomination anyway, and Bernie turned it down. He didn't need, and didn't want it, and won of course anyway.
So not only does the Firebagger-in-Chief fall on her sword on the very week she teamed up with Grover Norquist, but by calling for a primary against Bernie, she also reveals (again) that she doesn't understand even the basics about American politics. You can't primary an Independent! LOL!
A modest donation
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by TNK (not verified)Al, I've set a modest donation, all I can spare after 14 months of unemployment and a $1500 health insurance premium from COBRA, set to run out in April, at which point I will be uninsured unless something changes. (I have been turned down everywhere due to an existing condition.)
Both my husband and I have college degrees in scientific fields from excellent universities, and he additionally has a Master's degree. We are hard workers and reasonably intelligent, yet we cannot get ahead in this climate. Here's hoping to a better United States in the New Year.
Odd how I never thought we'd be still fighting these battles in 2010, but at the same time it feels fast and sudden....
Today Has Just Been Astounding
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by CarolDuhart (not verified)History has been made, yes, there's more to go, but there has been too much invested by everyone for this bill to lose. So much, so far too much work and hours and pride and chutzpah and everything else for Congress to turn it down.
Observations: just how irrevelant the Republicans have made themselves. They could have gotten at least some funding for favorite projects in exchange for their support, but now they sit on the sidelines impotent to do anything but complain uselessly about a bill that I bet half of them never bothered to even read.
Just how unified the Democrats have gotten lately thanks to working on this bill. It was clear early on that the Republicans weren't likely to get many defections. And the Republican teabagger tacts doubtless turned off Democrats who might have at least considered voting against the bill. No one likes to give screaming, angry mobs a bone.
Obama got it done because unlike other Presidents, he let the Congress solve the problem. Hillary relied on a Commission report that the Congress never got any imput into, so when the 1993 equivalent of the teabaggers put pressure on Congress, Congress found it easy to jettison. Congress this time did the heavy lifting and found out what they could realistically get done, and were invested in the bill. This was their work, and no teabagger was going to make them give up their work. No doubt this was the flaw in other attempts.
Obama has learned the lesson from Clinton-put off the social stuff until you have established enough credibility in other areas and a good working relationship with Congress.
The unstrategic poutrage of certain areas of the left. The gay community wanting to throw Obama under the bus because he wouldn't make speeches against DOMA or come out to campaign in the last week of his campaign against Proposition Eight. Certain others who wanted him to come in and immediately arrest Bush and Cheney, pull out of Afghanistan without a sound exit plan that would let the Afghans prepare for our departure, immediately close Guantamo without sorting out who we need to try and who not. If Obama had taken any of those steps, he would have been playing on the same field that Clinton found himself playing on-of constant resistance against his proposals. Instead Obama has been able to quietly get many things done, like unemployment extensions, the health care bill (in progress), the closing of Guantanamo is going on as we speak. Yes, he hasn't repealed the Patriot Act or some such, but it's a four-year term and when he can tackle more controversial issues, he'll have the wind of an improving economy and a war winding down at his back.
Merry Thursday, Al!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by bonkers (not verified)In honor of us making it to another Thursday in this hemisphere, and of course for the vitally important work you do, I can go in for $40.
Yes, peanuts, but rest assured when my ship comes in, I'll be steering it directly toward the Narcosphere.
Once again, when the zaniness starts, Al proves why we as readers need to make sure he and his students can grow their influence through our financial support. We're almost at the goal!
Hopefully I'll have some cash in the new year...
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by BR (not verified)For a while there I had a small monthly contribution going, but lately I haven't been able to. Hopefully 2010 will be kinder financially.
Merry Christmas!!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Catherine Cainto Al and your staff and all the wonderful Field Hands who I enjoy reading. More than anything I am so happy that President Obama was able to get this accomplished - he worked so hard on this and hundreds of other things every day since he took office and I can only hope, as he goes on a well deserved vacation with his family, that he takes time to realize how much he has done to change for the better the lives at least 30 million Americans.
Reading down the comments here it felt like I was listening to the end of "It's a Wonderful Life" where they all come over to George Bailey's house and throw a coin in the cup. Al, you can count on me to send a some $$ before the year's out. Happy Holidays!
Man, it doesn't take you very long to get results, Al!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Norm W. (not verified)Wow! That was a fast week; but I felt the energy from here in the cold north from your posts. It really brought my spirits up and got me moving again (or, at least my fingers moving!).
Thanks for the perspective and clear thinking, Al. Have a great holiday Al and Fieldhands, and rest assured I'll send some green your way when finances allow.
Thanks, again, Al.
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill (not verified)I keep quiet for much of the Honduras discussions because, well, I know nothing about it. And I'm learning from you.
Wishing that the New Year'll bring some more humble and listening on the point of Health Care by some and much more, and less of the yelling and sky-falliin' we've seen so far.
And if not, we'll try to keep the good work up.
Just sent some $$ your way
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by zizi (not verified)Al,
I decided to go ahead and send you the little that I have now, rather than wait to the end of the month (and likely to forget). Sent it through the donation page. Thanks for everything. ;o)
Nate Silver's analysis after
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Nancy ChesterNate Silver's analysis after the Senate victory, titled Postscrip analyses the left wing "kill billers". He sees some tactical positives and also that some argued in "bad faith".
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com
Referring to the blog Firedoglake, Nate said:
But some of the initiatives they've launched over the past week, particularly teaming with Grover Norquist to pursue a conspiracy theory about Rahm Emanuel, threatening to primary Bernie Sanders, and attacking Joe Lieberman's wife, are a little bizarre and not reflective...
Feliĉan Kristnaskon!
Submitted on December 24th, 2009 by Richard (not verified)Dear Al
I hope you're having a good one wherever on your continent you happen to be. I've dropped a few coins in last year and will do so again next year.
I've learned a lot following your journalism (it's certainly a more considered kettle of fish than the verbally diarrhoeaic outbursts favoured by a number of bloggers out there on the intertubes) and am going to spend these holidays figuring out where in the world might be a set of scales that might benefit from my thumb being placed on them.
All the best from London!
Merry Christmas Field Hands!
Submitted on December 25th, 2009 by Pamela Hilliard...I wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season...we WILL make it through, and have a super fantastic 2010.
Support your President...
and Support The Field in whatever way you can...your sanity depends on it!
Thanks, Al!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Pam
waterprise2 AKA Pam
Liberal with a Capital L!
I gave up on you too soon, Al
Submitted on December 25th, 2009 by Lenore (not verified)Al, I wish I'd come back after your Dec. 21st blistering attack on health reform doubters to read your Dec. 22nd post. I was desperate for information--having seen the measures I was confident would significantly reduce individual's health care costs stripped from both bills, all I could find was unsubstantiated charts claiming that some unspecified thing would protect lower middle class through poor citizens from rape by premium.
I just went back to the Dec. 22nd post and finally found the link to Jonathan Cohn's article. That would have saved me a lot of heartache and frustration this week, as I searched all over the progressive blogosphere for real detail about what Senate reform meant.
I was still glad to see the bill pass, but as much as I love ya', Al, I trust noone, and was getting pretty pissed off at getting yelled at for my lack of faith in bloggers.
But Al, whatever you celebrate this time of year, I hope you have a sweet time. I'd miss the snow down south, but I guess someone has to love it down there. And I deeply appreciate what you do for those of us who strive to liberate our screwed up system, one little step at a time.
Thanks for all you do, Al...
Submitted on December 25th, 2009 by michelle in cook county (not verified)...and thanks for the reminder to contribute. I put in a Benjamin--the Dec 24 column alone is worth that! Keep up the good work--an adult voice in an increasingly childish blogosphere. Happy New Year, everyone!
"The Presider"
Submitted on December 26th, 2009 by Catherine CainAndrew Sullivan has a good post about the important difference between Obama and (thank you Jesus he's gone) The Decider.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/12/the-preside...
Idealism and realism
Submitted on December 26th, 2009 by Jack DuVall (not verified)There are few political bloggers who don't occasionally sacrifice their sense of realism to the worship of their existing ideals, and there are few political journalists who don't occasionally sacrifice their ideals to maintain their supposed reputation as realists.
Al Giordano sacrifices neither his ideals nor his political realism, and he knows that there is no zero-sum game between those two frames of reference. If you're not prepared to be a realist, you're likely to be an ineffectual idealist. If you're not an idealist, you're merely a scorekeeper. Al is effective -- and he's in the arena.
$25 in the kitty!
Submitted on December 28th, 2009 by Russell JosephWish I could give more, but 2009 wreaked havoc on my income and debt load.
I look forward to more great writing from Al and all of his colleagues and pupils in 2010.
Thanks Russell
Submitted on December 28th, 2009 by Al Giordano...and to everyone else!