Editoral for Socialist Appeal 32                          

As Congress enters its summer recess, millions of Americans who were expecting a real change after the Democrats’ November 2006 victory are justifiably discontented.  For all their promises and rhetorical bluster, what have these big-business politicians really accomplished?  Has anything fundamental changed for working people? Bush’s approval rating is at an all-time low of just 29 percent – a sharp drop  from his 90 percent approval rating after the September 11 attacks. How quickly things change! Only Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter had lower approval ratings. But after nearly 7 years of Bush’s disastrous domestic and foreign policy, his overwhelming unpopularity is understandable.

Michael Moore’s latest film, SiCKO, is from beginning to end an all-out assault on the for-profit U.S. health care system. Most of us have heard of the 47 million Americans, including 10 million children, without health insurance, a number that has been steadily rising over the last few years.

But Moore clearly states in the opening minutes of the film that SiCKO isn’t about them.  The focus of the movie is on the nearly 250 million Americans who are insured.  He focuses on how the health industry in the U.S. is set up not to provide, but rather to deny care.   As a former “denial management specialist” says in the film, “It’s not unintentional.  It’s not a mistake.  It’s not an oversight. You’re not slipping through the cracks. Somebody made that crack and swept you towards it, and the intent is to maximize profit.”

For almost nine years, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González, and René González have been  imprisoned in the United States for fighting against terrorism.

On August 20th in Atlanta, two judges from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing arguments on over 20 irregularities that occurred during this political show trial, ranging from venue prejudice, prosecutorial misconduct, governmental lowering in its burden of proof of espionage conspiracy, errors in  sentencing instructions given to the jury, and relevant discovery principles.