Longest Walk II, Alcatraz to DC in 2008

LONGEST WALK II, 30 Year Commemorative
http://www.longestwalk.com/

Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the Longest Walk?

The Longest Walk II – 30 Year Commemorative will depart from Alcatraz Island February 11, 2008 arriving in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2008. The Longest Walk Commemorative will travel 5 months through 11 states including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Why are you walking?
We take up this task to walk in a manner befitting our nations. We shall walk for the Seventh Generation, for peace, for justice, for healing of Mother Earth, for the healing of our people suffering from diabetes, heart conditions, alcoholism, drug addiction, and other diseases. We walk with the message: All Life is Sacred, Save Mother Earth.
Who can walk?
The Longest Walk is open to adults of all nations and cultures. We request (not require) that you fill out a Walker Registration and Waiver Form (available soon on longestwalk.org) to help us track how many participants will be joining us. Please email the completed form to longestwalk@comcast.net.
Code of Conduct:
-- Respect for fellow walkers’ body, mind, soul and personal belongings
-- Be alcohol and drug free – a NO tolerance policy is in effect
-- No sexual harassment – a NO tolerance policy is in effect
-- No weapons of any kind (knives, guns, mace, pepper spray, etc.)
Do I have an entrance fee to pay to join?
No. There is no fee to join The Longest Walk. However, at this time, Longest Walkers will be responsible for their own daily food and travel expenses. How this will work is: We will ask for a small daily contribution to help pay for food expenses and support vehicles (gas, maintenance, etc.).
We are actively seeking financial assistance from nonprofit foundations, but we are a grassroots organization and STRONGLY encourage all who plan to join us for the duration of the Longest Walk to have a personal stash of funds.
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net LONGEST WALK II 30 Year Commemorative www.longestwalk.com
Who do I contact if I want to participate?
There will be a Longest Walk hotline soon; keep checking www.longestwalk.org. The Longest Walk Registration Form will be online by July 11, 2007. Please fill it out and email it to longestwalk@comcast.net. If you have questions regarding the Longest Walk, please email longestwalk@comcast.net.
How do I get to Alcatraz Island to join The Longest Walk?
You are responsible for your own transportation to Alcatraz Island.
How will I get home from Washington, D.C.?
You are responsible for your own transportation from Washington, D.C.
We strongly recommend making travel arrangements to and from both locations if you plan on walking the duration of The Longest Walk. Unless you plan on bringing your own vehicle.
What if I want to bring my own vehicle?
We ask that you bring at least another driver with you, so there will always be someone available to drive the vehicle. The Longest Walk will help to cover gas expenses as much as possible if the vehicle is being used in a support capacity i.e. transporting Longest Walk goods (food, supplies, etc.).
What if I get hurt while on The Longest Walk?
Each individual is responsible for their own medical expenses. We will have a small crew of medical and nursing volunteers to treat minor injuries (cuts, sprains, etc.). You are STRONGLY encouraged to have health insurance and carry an insurance ID card with you in case of emergency. The Longest Walk will not be responsible for any medical expenses that arise from your participation.
How can I get involved?
There are several ways to help a grassroots organization! For starters, you can help starting from just spreading the word about The Longest Walk in your local community.
1. If you’re a Myspace (er) then add Longest Walk to your Top Friends. www.myspace.com/longestwalk
2. Email the Longest Walk flier and FAQs to your entire address book.
3. Print the flier and post in your community to get others involved!
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net LONGEST WALK II 30 Year Commemorative www.longestwalk.com
4. The Longest Walk needs support vehicles - and gas cards!
1. Medical vehicle
2. Food vehicle
3. Luggage vehicle
How do I become a committee member if my state is along the route?
Each state along the route will have a state coordinator and a planning committee. If you live in a LWII state, then please contact the coordinator in your state to see how you can contribute in your state. Email: longestwalk@comcast.net to find out who is your state coordinator.
Longest Walk BENEFIT CONCERT:
November 3, 2007, 7:00 pm –
The Fillmore in San Francisco with Dennis Banks & Floyd Red Crow Westerman
Featuring Kris Kristofferson, Taj Mahal, Kitaro, Peter Coyote, Wes Studie performing with his band, Adam Beach, Pete Sears, San Francisco Taiko Dojo & Special Guests. For more information, visit: www.redhotpromotions.com
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net

Michael Moore, making 'em squirm with Sicko

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- Michael Moore's "Sicko" riveted moviegoers here, who applauded Moore's exposure of the broken health care system in the U.S. and the advantages of free health care in Canada, England, France and Cuba.
There were cheers for Moore for revealing how insurance denials for health care result in death. But in Sicko, the most provocative indictment of the U.S. health care system comes as Moore demonstrates, step by step, how alleged terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are receiving better health care than the EMTs and those recovering human remains at the Towers in New York, after Sept. 11, 2001.
An entire second film could be made about the sinister lobbying of Congress and funding of presidential candidates by the pharmaceutical companies. The profiteering pushes up your cost for medicine and places you in danger because of favoritism.
In Tucson, nurses and health care providers came out by the dozens at El Con Theater, wearing orange tee-shirts. They urged people to see the film and change the health care system in America.
The film is funny, too.
As for Michael Moore, congratulations. One person can change the world. One thing has already changed for many moviegoers: the myths and misconceptions about our neighbors to the north and south, and fellow human beings in France.
As for those who didn't know already, the movie makes it clear: the uninsured and the sick in America have been had.
On a personal note, my mind raced back to the news story I wrote just before I was fired in 2006. After being told to write about bird flu, my research led me to the fact that Donald Rumsfeld was profiteering, making millions, off the the sale of the medicine Tamiflu as U.S. states were being told to stockpile Tamiflu.
The article printed, with my name on it, in Indian Country Today is not the one I wrote. It was censored and rewritten by the editors. The references to Rumsfeld's profiteering were deleted, as was some of the information about drug manufacturers attempting to profiteer from the sale of ribavirin on the Navajo Nation, after Navajo deaths from hantavirus in the mid-1990s.
When I complained about this, I was fired. The uncensored article is at:
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/
One can only wonder, what's next for Michael Moore.


Counter Spin

'by Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

As everyone who watched "Wag the Dog," knows, there's a quick spin to counter anything that exposes the truth in America.
After Sicko's premiere nationwide in theaters last night, here's the Counter Spin, carried by scores of newspapers. The AP writers who were quick to come to the defense of the sick U.S. health care system:

Sicko' Film Gives Accused Little Say
By KEVIN FREKING and LINDA A. JOHNSON

The Associated Press

Saturday, June 30, 2007; 1:03 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/30/AR2007063000293.htm

Google wants to protect you from Michael Moore:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5549

UPDATE: Google apologizes
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6310943

MTV's Counter Spin:
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1563758/story.jhtml

Here's all the breaking news reviews, good and bad:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1117466940&scoring=n

Here' more from nurses about Sicko:
OAKLAND, Calif., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses, doctors, and healthcare and community activists -- part of a broad, national coalition -- will be out in force in America's theaters this weekend as Michael Moore's "SiCKO," a riveting indictment of the healthcare industry, opens across the nation. More than 20,000 RNs have already volunteered to participate, part of an effort to also get one million nurses to see the film.
From coast to coast, the caregivers and community leaders will be inviting moviegoers to see the film and then fix our healthcare system by urging our legislators and political candidates to support reforms that guarantee universal healthcare for all -- while getting the insurance companies who systematically deny needed medical care out of the way.
Among the scores of cities where filmgoers can expect to see the volunteers are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Albany (NY), Atlanta, Austin, Bethesda (MD), Boise, Boston, Cherry Hill (NJ), Cleveland, Clifton (NJ), Dallas, Denver, Fresno, Houston, Huntington (NY), Indianapolis, Long Beach, Louisville, Madison (WI), Memphis, Montpelier (VT), Nashville, New Brunswick (NJ), New Orleans, Oakland, Orange (CA), Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, South Orange (NJ), Stockton (CA), and Tucson, Raleigh, and Cary (NC), (partial list).
Many of those on hand will be RNs in red "Scrubs for SiCKO" who will be enlisting the audiences to move "from SiCKO to sanity" and help pass HR 676 in Congress, which would establish a publicly-administered single-payer healthcare system in the form of improved Medicare for all. Several states have similar bills, such as SB 840 in California.
Among the many participating organizations are the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Health Professionals and Allied Employees (AFT), United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island), Communications Workers of America, the New England Nurses Association, and others. California Nurses Association
CONTACT: Shum Preston, +1-510-273-2276, or Charles Idelson,+1-510-273-2246, both of CNA and NNOC