f word

GRITtv: The F Word: Working Families Still Squeezed

There were grumblings from all corners of the AFL-CIO at its winter meeting in Orlando recently. "Disappointment," "disillusionment," "unengaged"...these words and worse peppered press reports describing labor's view of President Obama and the Democrats.
Organized labor spent $200 million to help elect the president, and support of its 15 million members is considered absolutely critical for Democrats to hold the line this November.

GRITtv: Mar. 8 2010

Joining us today, International Women's Day, to talk about women around the world are Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women in Fiji. They discuss war and peace, media use, and women's rights as human rights."From Grass to Cheese" is the story of the Nolan family and their Laurel Valley Creamery, founded in 2005 as a way to make cheese sustainably and renew the connection between people and their food.

GRITtv: F Word: Healthcare Reform Without Single Payer Is No Reform At All

Here's a simple question for the White House: "Why are you still refusing to even consider single payer?!" And here's a simple message for the public: "Any health care 'reform' bill that does not provide a Single Payer option is NO real reform at all." You'll find both in a new fax petition you can add your name to if you're so inclined. The organizers need 100,000 signatures to submit their petition to the White House. You can get more information at our website.

GRITtv: The F Word: Extracting Recovery, Too?

Yesterday it was security, today's it's recovery: another nifty, ubiquitous word that means a whole lot of different things to different people. When President Obama in his state of the union talks about economic recovery, just whose is he talking about? What has (for the moment at least) recovered, are stock market returns and Wall Street bonuses. What hasn't recovered are personal incomes or discretionary spending on things other than debts. What hasn't recovered are small shops and small business and people who produce stuff.

GRITtv: The F Word: Being Female Is Not A Preexisting Condition

We all know by now that private insurers make their profits by denying people's claims when they get sick. But how about denying claims and refusing coverage to people who are perfectly healthy? Insurance companies routinely discriminate against women; when they provide coverage at all, they charge women more than men. It should be shameful but mostly it's not. Don't like it? The good folks at RH Reality Check have a launched a campaign: BEING FEMALE IS NOT A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION. Thanks to SEIU and RH Reality Check for the data.

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GRITtv: The F Word: Equality March Shows What Grassroots Can Do

The National Equality March on the D.C. mall Oct. 11 drew one hell of a crowd. If for-profit media had given each equality marcher the air time dedicated to the 60,000 or so teabaggers that came to D.C. a month ago, they'd still be hogging the airwaves, dawn to dusk. Most reports estimate Oct. 11's turnout at 100-200,000. We might have learned that the march was organized by locally-focused, nationally-connected activists representing every race, class and faith.Imagine what we'd learn, given half a chance.

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GRITtv: The F Word: Geithner's All Ears for Finance Buddies

It would be clear by now if Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was just listening to his friends to hone his arguments. But Geithner has yet to show any sign of breaking with his Wall Street buddies. In a Banana Republic we'd know what to do: pay out protection money. Oh, but I forgot, we did that already.

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GRITtv: F Word: GOP Nuts Throw ACORN From a Glass House

The House this month passed by a wide margin a provision that would bar ACORN from receiving any federal funding. Every House Republican voted 'aye' as well as 172 Democrats. Soon the Senate will consider its own complete ban measure. Let's hope they enjoy their gloat and then get right back to business. The legislation they passed in all their rush, you see, is written so broadly that it just comes in very handy. Rep. Alan Grayson (D of Florida) has already asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to find out which other contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

GRITtv: F Word: When Will Healthcare Get its Norma Rae?

Crystal Lee Sutton died last week. You might know her by her "other" name. It was Sutton's story that inspired the film Norma Rae, starring Sally Field, of a North Carolina union organizer in the early 1970s. She died at 68. It makes all the talk of death panels, a government takeover, and socialized medicine sound rather silly, doesn't it?

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GRITtv: September 9, 2009: The F Word: Pushing the President, and Your Healthcare Videos!

We do our best to stay honest -- and accurate -- here at GRITtv. And we were corrected, a few days back. In a recent commentary I'd mentioned the Bonus Army of the Depression era. Those troops returning from World War I who marched on D.C. for financial help. I'd said it was during the FDR administration that those veterans were brutally suppressed by federal Army troops. I was wrong: the violence occurred in the waning months of Herbert Hoover's presidency. Viewer Marc Matheson of San Raphael, CA, kindly pointed this out.

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