Medical Privacy Isn’t

As usual with the federal government, doublespeak prevails. The new federal medical-records “privacy” regulation is really anti-privacy. You may be denied health care, pay heavy fines or even go to prison if you refuse to authorize your health care providers to disclose your medical records to federal bureaucrats.

The regulation, which has the effect of law, gives enormous enforcement powers to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, who can impose severe penalties on anyone refusing to disclose medical information to the federal government.

Those penalties may be applied to all providers of health services including physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, pharmacies, home-care services and health-insurance plans. They could face fines of as much as $250,000 and prison terms up to 10 years (Public Law 104-191, section 1176).

If you do not consent to your personal medical records being disclosed, your physician may refuse to give you medical care or you may be denied coverage by a health-insurance plan. More information is at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/4/24/93614.shtml

Bill Holmes

Carlsbad, CA

Rather Hang Out than Pray

I just read Wes Howard-Brook letter criticizing you for making fun of Christianity. Give me a break. I’d rather hang out with Henry Miller or Arthur Rimbaud than Gandhi or Dr. King.

I find it so trite that people believe in this stuff which makes astrology look profound. I am not even a communist but Marx said it best... “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Ooh the Sloth [via email]

American for Freedom in Palestine

Throughout the occupied territories, Israel has stationed military checkpoints to obstruct Palestinians from traveling from one Palestinian town to another. Palestinians have no choice but to pass through these checkpoints in order to reach their work, study, and worship, to receive medical care and basic goods and services, and to visit family and friends.

These checkpoints do not protect Israeli security. Rather, they are the source of inconveniences and delays that make it exhausting if not impossible for Palestinians to carry out the tasks of daily life.

Moreover, they have been the sites of Israeli soldiers’ arbitrary uses of power, ranging from the confiscation of car keys to the firing of live ammunition at unarmed civilians.

On Saturday 9 June, the faculty and staff of Birzeit University in the West Bank held a non-violent protest against the Israeli military checkpoint that impedes movement between the village of Birzeit and neighboring Palestinian cities and towns. For the past week this checkpoint has brought the functioning of the university to a complete halt.

As an American citizen, I feel fortunate to have participated in this brave demonstration in defense of freedom of movement and education. Only recognition of Palestinians’ inalienable rights to live with dignity in their own state will bring peace to the Middle East.

Wendy Pearlman

Birzeit, Palestine