October 30, 2021
CLICK IMAGE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Guests: Vivek Jain (Child Psychiatrist)
Mark Wood (Professor of Religious Studies)
Topic: Why Hillary Clinton should NOT receive
a prestigious humanitarian award.
********************************
Two Ghouls for your Halloween Scare!
Letter to the American Academy of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
Dear AACAP Leadership:
We write to express serious concern about the selection of former senator and secretary
of state Hillary Clinton to receive this year's Catchers in the Rye Humanitarian Award.
The award
was established to "honor an individual who has made sustained and
significant contributions to the field of children's mental health."
We believe that an
honest assessment of Clinton's domestic and foreign policy
record demonstrates a profoundly troubling disregard for the wellbeing
of children and especially for the wellbeing of poor children
of color.
With regard to domestic policy, Clinton opposes universal
state subsidized health insurance. The lack of universal health coverage leaves millions of children and their families without access to health care resources. She has been a solid ally of the for-profit health insurance
and health care conglomerates, prioritizing private financial interests over public
health and the public good. She served
on the board of Walmart, a company whose record of aggressive
anti-unionism and paying wages so low that many workers qualify for
state aid is well-known. She has been a stalwart supporter of Wall
Street firms and neoliberal policies that have resulted
in record levels of socioeconomic inequality. As a result of these
policies, millions of working families, and disproportionately families
of color, struggle to meet the basic needs of their children, let alone
possess the means to provide their children the
resources needed to flourish.
Hillary Clinton has been among the most
hawkish of political figures in a nation that leads the world in military spending and militarism. She has consistently supported increased military spending and energetically advocated for every
US military intervention. Clinton
supported the bombing, invasion and occupation of Iraq, causing
hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. She played an instrumental
role in persuading the Obama administration
to undertake a massive bombing campaign against Libya, causing tens of
thousands of civilian deaths and making Libya a
haven for terrorist organizations and slave markets. As thoroughly documented by Brown
University's Cost of War site,
US military interventions supported by Clinton have resulted in
hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, the majority of whom were
children, and the destruction
of life-supporting infrastructure. War is the ultimate crime against
children and, as Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs wrote, Clinton's "foreign
policy ‘experience’ has been to support every war demanded by the US deep security state run by the military and the CIA.”
One could go on to enumerate many other examples of policies that Hillary Clinton has supported
which have caused and are still causing immeasurable suffering to children and their families. Though
she and the Clinton Foundation have supported efforts to improve the
lives of children, Hillary
Clinton's record as First Lady, senator and secretary of state is
overwhelmingly not favorable with regard to support for the health and
wellbeing of children and especially for the wellbeing of poor children
and children of color in the US and in other nations.
For these reasons, we implore you to reconsider your nomination of Hillary Clinton for this award.
There are so many others who truly deserve this important recognition.
Sincerely,
Helen Caldicott MBBS, FRACP, MD,
Member of American Board of Pediatrics,
Founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility – 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
Margaret Flowers, MD
Director, Popular Resistance
Cindy Sheehan
Host/Executive Producer of the Soapbox
Founder of the Women's March on the Pentagon
David Swanson
Executive Director, World Beyond War
Mark D. Wood
Professor, Religious Studies
Director, School of World Studies 2013-2021
Virginia Commonwealth University
***********************
Click HERE to add your name to the petition asking AACAP to rescind the award to the cold-blooded killer Clinton!
*************************
