In case you’re among the despondent Democrats or indecisive Independents who doesn’t know which side to pick, I give you the accomplishments of the last 2 years, courtesy Daily Kos poster Thisismytime.

Health Care Reform:

• Coverage can’t be denied to children with pre-existing conditions.
• Adults up to age 26 can stay on their parents’ health plans.
• Free preventive care.
• Rescinding coverage is now illegal.
• Eliminating lifetime limits on insurance coverage.
• Restricting annual limits on insurance coverage.
• More options to appeal coverage decisions.
• $5 billion in immediate federal support to affordable Coverage for the Uninsured with Pre-existing Conditions.
• $10 billion investment in Community Health Centers.
• Create immediate access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees.
• Made an $80 billion dealwith the pharmaceutical industry to contribute to cut prescription drug costs for the nation’s seniors reduce the size of the “donut hole” in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit.

Economy:

1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has worked. The Economy Has Been Growing – take a look at the graph of GDP growth between 2007 thru 2010.
2. US auto industry rescue plan — Detroit making profits again and at least 1 million jobs saved.
3. Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 that extended Unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks and more.
4. Provided $14.7 billion in small business loans increasing minority access to capital.
5. The $26 billion aid to states package preventing large-scale layoffs of teachers and public employees.

Banking and Financial Reform

1. Signed a sweeping bank-reform bill (the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)into law
2. Managed the $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that Banks have repaid 75% of TARP funds, bringing the cost down to $89B as of June 2010.
3. Cut Salaries For 65 Bailout Executives
4. Closed offshore tax safe havens, tax credit loopholes on companies that use the tax laws to ship American Jobs oversees. HR 4213.
5. Signed into law the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act to fight fraud in the use of TARP and recovery funds, and to increase accountability for corporate and mortgage frauds.
6. Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act

Education

1. Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 that increased the amount of federal Pell Grant awards and enabled the stripping of banks privileges as intermediaries for student loan servicing.
2. Created the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion program to reward States that submit the best proposals for change.
3. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, funded over$100 Billion for reforms to strengthen Elementary and Secondary education, early learning programs, college affordability and improve access to higher education, and to close the achievement gap.

Jobs

1. The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved nearly 2 million jobs slowing the bleeding
2. Jobs for Main Street Act (2010)injected $27.5 Billion for Highways, $8.4 Billion for Transit into the country’s transportation system to create jobs and spur economic activity.
3. A $33 Billion Jobs Packagethat will allow Small businesses to get $5,000 tax credit for new hires.
4. A $26 billion State Aid Package Jobs Bill saving 300,000 teachers and public workers jobs from unemployment.
5. The Auto bailout saved 1 million jobs.

Green Energy

1. Implemented renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022, four times what we currently consume.
2. Automakers will be required to meet a fleet-wide average of New Gas Mileage Standards at 35.5 MPH by 2016.
3. A $60 billion investment in renewable and clean energy.

Housing

1. $275 billion dollar housing plan – $75 billion dollars to prevent at-risk mortgage debtors already fallen victim to foreclosures and $200 billion to bring about confidence to offer affordable mortgages and to stability the housing market.
2. Established “Opening Doors” to end the homelessness of 640,000 men, women, and children in the United States in 10 years.
3. Provided $510 Million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing. ref
4. Provided $2 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rehab, resell, or demolish in order to stabilize neighborhoods.
5. Provided $5 billion for Weatherization Assistance Program for low income families to weatherize 1 million homes per year for the next decade.
6. Provided grants to encourage states and localities to take the first steps in implementing new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency.

Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security

1. giving $250 economic stimulus check to 55 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in 2009.
2. Cutting prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients by 50% and began eliminating the plan’s gap (“donut hole”) in coverage.
3. Passing as part of H.R.3962 (Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010) a $6.4 billion measurereversing a 21 percent cut in physician payments that would have started a flood of rejections by some doctors of seniors covered by Medicare.
4. Expanded eligibility for Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,400 per year for an individual).

Military Veterans and Families

1. Implemented a strategic planto increase the hiring of Veterans and Military spouses throughout the Federal civil service.
2. Provided for the expenses of families of to be at Dover AFB when fallen soldiers arrive.
3. Passed the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009 increasing the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.
4. Declared the end of the war in Iraqi bringing back nearly 100,000 U.S. troops home to their families.
5. Donated 250K of Nobel prize money to Fisher House, a group that helps provide housing for families of patients receiving medical care at military and Veterans Affairs medical centers

LBGT

1. Extended  benefitsto same-sex partners of federal employees
2. Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
3. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
4. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)
5. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
6. Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover Gay employees taking unpaid leave to care for their children of same-sex partners
7. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban.
8. Implemented HUD Policies that Would Ban Discrimination Based On Gender Identity

There’s usually a considerable amount of apathy over non-presidential year elections. Democrats, with their party in power, are staying home in disappointment engendered by legislative compromises and a poor economy.Young voters, who came out in droves to support Barack Obama in 2008, don’t feel the same sense of idealistic purpose.

All signs indicate a disastrous election for the Democrats, with some pollsters even suggesting that they may lose both houses of Congress.

Typically, the minority party is much more energized in midterms. Republicans have built on that energy by nakedly appealing to their base, using fear-mongering of President Obama’s origins, xenophobic appeals against the “Ground Zero” mosque (not at Ground Zero and not a mosque!), and health care misinformation (Death Panels!). This has allowed them to divert attention from the fact that they really don’t have any better ideas to offer the country. Indeed, they have spent the last 2 years colluding with lobbyists and corporations, and proudly obstructing every single initiative proposed by the majority party. (If the Democratic party has, at times, displayed similar characteristics, it is due to the Blue Dog representatives from conservative districts, who are but Democrats in name, and who do not represent the progressive values of their brethren.)

Voters not deeply engaged with the political process might have an idealistic belief that a divided Congress would lead to bipartisan and productive decision making. Let me disabuse you of that notion. Many Republican representatives and candidates have proudly stated their intention not just to repeal some of the useful legislation passed with such great difficulty over the last 18 months, but also to bring about a complete government shutdown. One representative from California, much to my shame, has even mad rabid statements about impeaching the President (for reasons that are unknown even to him).

It is my intention, therefore, to write a series of posts leading up to the elections to convince you of how important your vote is. To begin, check out this video courtesy of Steve Benen and Bill Simmons.

And mark your calendar for November 8, 2010.

The South Asian community in the United States may be super successful, but mental health issues are our Kryptonite. The stressors of leaving our support systems behind, adapting to a different culture, and redefining success and prosperity are very real, but our approach and response to mental health issues remains one of avoidance.

This fact was brought home to clinical psychologist Parijat Deshpande when she attempted to set up a study on South Asian mental health. Puzzled by the lack of participation, she probed further by conducting informal surveys, and came to the conclusion that there was profound misinformation and ignorance about these issues in the community. “The most common responses were, ‘I don’t think I need help to deal with my problem,’ and ‘What I am feeling is completely normal.’”

“Behind closed doors, we face just about the same problems as any other community; depression, disorders, marital problems,” adds Deshpande, citing recent cases of murder/suicides in middle class Indian American families.

Deshpande has taken it upon herself to educate and bring awareness of mental health issues and has set up MySahana.org (sahana means “patience” in Sanskrit), a website that offers readers insight into the problems they may be facing in a culturally relevant and culturally sensitive manner. Asked to provide an example, Deshpande offers the following – “In our culture, public displays of affection are not considered acceptable, so how can partners show affection to each other?” The website deals with this question, among others.

The website busts several myths, the first being that mental health is not as important as physical health. A section on food is unusual, but sets a warm and welcoming tone to make readers comfortable with the site.Typical mental health queries are answered in the blog section. The content is entirely written by Deshpande, who credits her cultural background and clinical training with helping to establish a good connection with readers.

While the content primarily deals with relationship issues at present, this is only the beginning as far as MySahana is concerned. The non-profit has found several willing volunteers around the SF Bay Area to help with marketing, research, and administration, and the idea is to grow this fledgling site to a destination for South Asian mental health discussions and help. In progress is collaboration with doctors and service providers to tackle a wide variety of subjects.

The response from the community to MySahana has been extraordinary, reflecting, perhaps, the underserved needs of the community. “It has been my experience that the community really responds when we show an understanding of the culture,” says Deshpande. “I was contacted by a couple who went through a very stressful period at the beginning of their marriage. Divorce wasn’t an option, and both partners felt trapped. Couples therapy helped for a while, but before long they had slid back to the old patterns of behavior. A friend suggested they read some of the articles on the website. They did, and recognized some of the hurtful patterns of their relationship. The couple decided to try couples counseling again, and I heard from them that they are in a much better place today.”

“There is a special set of needs that separates the immigrant population. These needs are unique and need to be addressed accordingly,” she adds.

Check out MySahana for help or to volunteer. It’s time to begin talking about mental health issues openly and honestly. We are the model minority when it comes to professional success, let’s be the model minority for mental health as well.

By Geeta Padmanabhan

On October 14, 2009, the Indian government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) cleared the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) brinjal (eggplant, aubergine, baingan). For the first time a GM food crop was approved in India.

GEAC is an ad-hoc 30-member committee. Its members are mainly bureaucrats and scientists from state institutions. There is no other regulatory agency.

A huge uproar followed the announcement all across the country. Before we go into that, here are some basic facts.

The vegetable originated in India. Half a million hectares go under an annual baingan crop for an output of 8.4 million tonnes. We have a choice of nearly 200 varieties. The transgenic brinjal was developed by Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) in collaboration with the US-based transnational, Monsanto. It involves the insertion of a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into the DNA or genetic code of the vegetable to produce pesticidal toxins in every cell.

You can imagine what the GEAC clearance meant. Once Bt brinjal was approved for commercial cultivation, there’s nothing to stop other GM food crops like rice, maize, soybean and sorghum from coming in through the open door. Bt brinjal means directly introducing a genetically engineered vegetable into India’s food chain. The silver lining was Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had publicly opposed GM foods only months ago.

Do we have experts talking on this? Yes, one is Professor P M Bhargava, biologist, GEAC’s only independent expert, appointed by the Supreme Court. Another is Biotechnologist Sultan Ismail of Chennai. They both say that a majority of the necessary bio-safety tests were skipped before the clearance was given. That in itself is a strong reason for refusing to approve Bt brinjal. We don’t know enough about the effects of insertion of alien genes on the recipient organism, about the risk of transfer of those genes to human organ systems or viruses and hence about the impact on human and animal health and the environment. (Read article by Praful Bidwai)

Intense opposition for Bt. brinjal came from several NGOs and state governments (Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar). Two weeks ago, the government put on hold commercial cultivation of GM brinjal till such time independent scientific studies established, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, the safety of the product on human and animal in the long-term.

Why do we oppose it?
THREAT TO BRINJAL DIVERSITY
Genetic engineering should not be allowed in the “centre of origin” (of brinjal) as it could lead to the loss of original varieties by transgenic cross-pollination .
Counterview from Mahyco: “The origin of cultivated brinjal is uncertain, with differing views put forward by scientists . South America and Indo-China are thought to be areas of origin. India is considered a centre of diversity.”

TOXIN PUT IN BRINJAL NOT SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
Bt brinjal is fatal to a pest called fruit-and-shoot borer. Some scientists question the premise that the Bt gene acts only in the alkaline environment found in the gut of insects. For, the human digestive system is acidic only in the stomach while the rest of it is alkaline. The study done by Mahyco on rats allegedly does not address possible human dangers such as cancer, infertility and kidney damage.
Counterview: The Bt gene breaks down during digestion into common amino acids, which are part of the normal diet and are neither toxic nor allergic.

PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
Bt brinjal has been developed for the first time anywhere in the world. Precautionary principle requires that its clearance should have been withheld because of the uncertainty and irreversibility of its long-term implications for health and environment .
Counterview from Mahyco: There is no cause for alarm over Bt Brinjal as Bt cotton, the GM crop introduced in India in 2002, “is already in our food chain” . For, about 11 lakh tons of Bt cotton oil is consumed annually by people, directly or through vanaspati. “As the Bt gene present in cotton is identical to that used in brinjal, there is a strong precedence for safety of the gene itself.”

NO LABELING AND LIABILITY REGIME
It is a matter of consumer choice. Introduction of Bt brinjal be put off till a mechanism of mandatory labeling is put in place. But then, how will GM food be labeled in a country where vegetables are not sold only in supermarkets? And how feasible is it to maintain the segregation from the field to the market? Worse, there is no law fixing liability in the event of contamination of non-Bt brinjal by the GM variety.

LEGALLY UNTENABLE

GM products, without proper labelling, was illegal and attracted penal action under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.

SPURIOUS SEED TRADE
Asked about the possibility of spurious Bt brinjal seeds making their way into India, Ramesh said it was up to state governments to check this. “I hope we don’t see a repeat of Bt cotton where spurious and illegal Bt cotton seeds found their way into the market.”

“A moratorium implies rejection of this particular case of release for the time being; it does not, in any way, mean conditional acceptance,” said Jairam Ramesh. The decision followed his month-long public consultations in seven cities across the country. The opposition was loud, dramatic and acrimonious.

“I am not getting into any timeframe . . . the moratorium will continue for as long as it is needed to establish public trust and confidence,” JR said. He admitted that the current standards followed by GEAC in coming to its decision on Bt brinjal did not match with the global regulatory norms. “GEAC processes need to be changed and made more transparent,” he said.

A little bit of Google search will reveal the murky details of GEAC’s work with Bt brinjal. A PIL was filed by activist Aruna Rodrigues seeking a moratorium on GM crops. The Supreme Court was appalled to discover that the GEAC was rubberstamping recommendations made by the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), a part of the Department of Biotechnology, promoter of GM crops.

I am not going into the details now, but it is enough to say that GEAC was pulled up for contempt of court. And Bhargava’s view on the incompleteness of the safety assessment was vindicated by the GEAC’s disclosure of another installment of raw data on the bio-safety of Bt brinjal on November 17, more than a month after it had already cleared the crop.

The moratorium is confined to Bt brinjal. It would not cover the issue of genetic engineering and biotechnology in agriculture. Still, it was a victory for the farmers and concerned NGOs who had opposed it.

Now we realize we breathed easy too early. The battle starts all over again. Science and technology minister Prithviraj Chavan is our opponent now.

Mr. Chavan seems to be fuming over the public rejection of Bt Brinjal. He will be introducing a GM bill to make it easy to legalize cultivation of bt. brinjal, rice, etc. What is interesting is the letter he has written in support of the GM crops. It in he has copied word for word paras from a study funded by biotech seed companies, including Monsanto. He has not included any public inputs in it. This letter representing commercial interests is now a part of the official documents being referred to by the Prime Minister’s office. Why has he done it?

And here is the alarming part:
Chavan’s bill would create a Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), a small body of technocrats whose decisions cannot be questioned. If passed, this bill will deny the State governments’ rights to say no and BRAI will escape the purview of the Right To Information Act – both of which helped stop Bt Brinjal. The citizens of this country will never be able to stop genetic contamination of rice or any of the other food crops in the pipeline.

Check out http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2010/02/26/ArticleHtmls/26_02_2010_001_010.shtml?Mode=1

Here’s something you can do about it.

Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of India and save our food from genetic contamination:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/chavan-petition/

UPDATE: A message from Greenpeace India

More than 23,000 have signed the petition asking Prime Minister Singh to stop Prithviraj Chavan’s unconstitutional bio-tech bill.

We’ll deliver the petition to the PM, but now he needs to be pressurized further to get him to kill this bill.

Can you give the Prime Minister a call and ask him to stop Chavan’s bio-tech bill? When you call, you can say something like: “Minister Chavan has betrayed the public trust by doing the dirty work of bio-tech giants. The Prime Minister should throw out Chavan’s corrupt GM bill.” Here’s the number.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Phone: +91-11-23012312

Then click here to let us know you called. Tracking the number of calls is key:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/thanks-for-calling-the-pm/

You don’t need to be an expert to call. Just speak from the heart, and tell the PM’s office your opinion.

Mr. Chavan wrote a letter supporting Bt Brinjal, copied word for word from reports funded by bio-tech corporations like Monsanto, and now he has drafted the GM bill to cater to their interests.

In just the past week, Monsanto admitted that Bt Cotton — the only GM crop in India — has failed to stop pests,[1] but Chavan is still pushing for the BRAI bill.

Here’s how the bill would make it easier to approve Bt Brinjal and other genetically modified foods:

* The bill would create a small body of technocrats who take the final decision on the genetic tampering of brinjal, rice, and more. There is no place for public opinion, State governments, other ministries, or any elected representatives like panchayats.[2]
* The science and technology ministry is already responsible for promoting GM crops. It would be a conflict of interests for the same ministry to regulate GM crops.
* The bill has provisions to imprison and fine people who raise concerns on GM crops.[3]
* The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information states that the bill subverts the Right to Information (RTI) act by letting the authority decide what information can be disclosed to the public, instead of the Central Information Commission of the RTI act. The bill thus overrides the powers of the commission which is an impartial body to decide public interest.
* The biotech corporations automatically get a seat in the advisory councils of the very body that’s supposed to regulate them.

Give Dr. Singh a buzz and tell him to save your food and your rights. The Prime Minister is accountable to all citizens of our country, so your voice can create change. Call him now:

Thanks a billion!

Picture courtesy woodleywonderworks via creative commons.