Mark Trahant
The coming year’s proposed federal budget is a lost cause. Mostly.
The budget that will finally emerge from Congress is going to be ugly. A zealous sense of frugality will consume most federal Indian programs, agencies that serve rural communities, and many others that serve important constituent groups in the United States.
At their best: Budgets reflect priorities. They identify the choices ahead and quantify what’s important to a society. So what does the United States care about in its budget messages, both from the president and from the Congress?
At the top of the list, the single most important priority, is the promises made to those older than 65 years. Neither the president nor Congress is suggesting any major – or even minor – changes to the entitlements found in Medicare and Medicaid. (Not yet, anyway.)
But if Medicaid and Medicare represent the promises made to our elders, what about the other promises that were so solemnly made?
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Tags: 2012 budget, Mark Trahant, Trahant Reports
It will take five months and 5,000 miles, but Native leaders and health advocates started today a walk across the country to help raise diabetes awareness.
“The Longest Walk 3 Reversing Diabetes” trek to raise awareness about the chronic illness kicked off in San Diego on Valentine’s Day, a press release on Market Wire said.
Groups will walk or run in legs crossing through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia, to help show how exercise can help ease the diabetes epidemic. The goal is to reach Washington, D.C., by July 8.
“The Longest Walk 3 Reversing Diabetes” was created in 2009 by 75-year-old Dennis Banks, co-founder of the Native American Movement, who will also host this year’s event. Banks was once hospitalized as a result of serious diabetes complications but has reversed the disease as a result of a transformative diet and exercise program. He now works as an advocate to bring awareness to the issue and successful ways to reverse diabetes through diet and exercise.
More information about the “Longest Walk 3 Reversing Diabetes.”