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MT People Should Be HeardJoin PDA's Stop Global Warming/Environmental Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
All over America, the news is spreading that long-term investment in our national infrastructure, is--amazingly--a good idea. I guess people start to wake up when bridges start to fail, schools fall apart, etc; the writing's on the crumbling wall, so-to-speak. Rebuilding America is a trillion dollar plus project. Levees, roads, bridges.But while we're in the infrastructure inventory mood, why not look at some upgrades? God knows, whenever my computer takes a dive and I'm forced to replace it, I always look to moving my specs up a notch or two, don't you?
Current infrastructure upgrades include: [more]
MT "We Are Being Shafted"The recent Supreme Court decision lets corporations spend unlimited amounts of their money to influence our elections.
A Public Finance bill would help to remedy that imbalance of power over real people. Members of Congress prefer the present system because it favors incumbents. Incumbents like Max Baucus who received about three million dollars from the Health Care Industry...is chairman of the Finance Committee. When his committee held an exploratory hearing to discuss the various health care bill options...he refused to allow advocates for a “public option” to be part of the meeting A number of Single Payer proponents did attend the gathering on their own. When they stood up in the audience and expressed their support for Single Payer Baucus had them arrested...That group is now called the “Baucus 8”. Many in that group were practicing physicians. [more]
PA Pennsylvania Democrats Unanimously Endorse Single Payer Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660The following letter was sent to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Billings Gazette, Montana Standard, Helena IR, Great Falls Tribune:
Dear Editor and the People of Montana,
From the President's State of the Union address:
"But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. ... I'm eager to see it." [more]
UT Going Nuclear in Green River: Policymakers and the Energy Industry's Continuing Lack of ImaginationThe Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee today unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for passage of single payer healthcare, Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660, also known as the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."
Given the healthcare reform deadlock in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania’s nation-leading status in the battle for state-based “Medicare for All,” is all the more significant. “Not only does Pennsylvania now have the Democratic Party on board with the Single-payer healthcare for all,” said Healthcare for All PA executive director Chuck Pennacchio, “we also have the promised signature of our governor and the active support of Republican and Democratic leaders in both the State Senate and State House.” [more]
MN Single Payer Solution for ObamaJoin PDA's Stop Global Warming/Environmental Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by Citizens Education Project.Even in good economic times the lure of high paying jobs can be almost as powerful as the gravity of a black hole. As [this] Salt Lake Tribune story makes clear, the promise of decent, stable employment is apparently enough to get most residents of Emery County [Utah] on board with a proposal for an expensive nuclear power plant requiring water the Green River can't spare. [more]
NY Wall Street Democrats vs. The PeopleJoin PDA's Healthcare for All Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by Common Dreams."If anyone...has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know."
-- President Obama, State of the Union, January 27, 2010
An open letter in response to President Obama's State of the Union request for a better approach to health care reform: [more]
CA Activists Plan To Protest Bush's Dana Point VisitPublished by FireDogLake.
Our democracy is for sale. Every day. It is the reason people are just fed up with the dysfunctional political system. People want real change that will give them back a smidgen of security. The Republican Party has shown itself to be incapable of managing our economy. But, there is a fight underway for the soul of the Democratic Party: between Wall Street Democrats and the people.
I want to start this story by recounting a very recent conversation with a seasoned political operative in New York, a good, decent person who plays the political game quite well. This person said, "your opponent is totally beatable and can win this race if you raise the money and I know how you could get money from Wall Street by making an alliance with X person". I stopped this person immediately and said, "I won’t take that money". There was silence on the phone and this person said, "Then, you can’t win." I replied, "I do not want to win if the price is to be corrupted by that money." [more]
SC Dobbs Clear Winner in Charleston County DebateJoin PDA's Accountability and Justice Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by The Orange County Register.Peace activists are planning on Thursday to protest George W. Bush's visit here to speak and accept an award for his pro-life efforts at a Catholic summit, even though it is not entirely clear when specifically the former president will attend.
It is "outrageous that he's receiving a pro-life award," said Sharon Tipton, an organizer of the protest with a group called the Orange County Peace Coalition, which she described as an umbrella group for other local peace organizations. [more]
OR Beating the Corporations: Taxing the Rich Wins in OregonVisit Robert Dobbs for Congress.
On January 30, Charleston County Democratic Party hosted a debate between the three Democratic candidates for the 1st Congressional District. Robert Dobbs, the PDA endorsed candidate, easily won the debate.Robert's answers were concise and specific. He was clearly supportive of progressive values and policies. Unlike his two opponents, Roberts supports a single-payer healthcare system, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating green jobs, and opposing off-shore drilling and nuclear power. Robert clearly stated that the money being spent in Afghanistan could be spent to provide jobs and healthcare for every American here at home. He was unwavering in his opposition to off-shore drilling and nuclear power plants. [more]
NJ Congressman Payne: I Won't Oppose War Money Because Obama's PresidentJoin PDA's Healthcare for All Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by Global Research.Ca.Victory! Thousands of Oregon workers fought valiantly over the past weeks to ensure that corporations and the rich will see their taxes raised, so that social services, health care, and education could be saved. Massive phone banking operations, door-to-door canvassing, and rallies were used by union and community members to educate the public about a progressive tax measure used to offset the state’s dire budget situation. [more]
CA Kern River Valley PDA Chapter Brown Bags It at McCarthy's OfficeTake Action: Tell Congress "Stop funding war"
My encounter with Congressman Payne at the PDA-NJ Statewide ConferenceCongressman Donald Payne (D., N.J.) has voted against war funding bills for years. Last summer he was one of 32 heroes to vote No under intense pressure from the White House to vote Yes. When I asked him a couple of years ago to sign onto impeaching Bush he immediately said "Sure!" and he did it.
Today I asked him if he would commit to voting No on the next $33 billion for war. I asked him privately, just after he'd given a long speech to a Progressive Democrats of America conference in New Jersey, a speech about how much he opposes the wars. [more]
On Monday, January 25, members of the Kern River Valley PDA Chapter--carrying signs and singing songs, met at Kevin McCarthy's office in Bakersfield California. McCarthy represents California's 22 congressional district.NY Obama Supporters Want More Forceful Action from President
This was the chapter's first Brown Bag Lunch Vigil (BBLV). The third Monday of the month seemed to work out better for most of the chapter members rather than the third Wednesday when most BBLVs take place. The weather was good enough to make the 45 mile drive down the treacherous mountain road to Bakersfield.
We started with several prayers; the "Lord's Prayer" was played on guitar. We sang: [more]
MT Both Sadness and AngerPublished by The Democrat and Chronicle.
It wasn't exactly a lovefest for the president they had gathered to see.
"We would like to see more bold leadership," said [PDA chapter leader] Robin Wilt , who, along with her husband, Nicholas, hosted about 40 people in their Brighton home on Wednesday night to watch President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
Their backgrounds were different, but all progressive—from the Democratic National Committee staff member who heads up Obama's local political organization to single-payer health care advocates to Obama campaign volunteers looking for a reunion. [more]
MA Massachusetts Campaign for Health Care Justice LaunchedTake Action: Join the "Axe Max Campaign!"
In the mire and waste of what was the promise of Barack Obama, one is now hard-pressed to make sense of him or his Administration. The once audacious presidential candidate is now the hesitant, silenced and politically weak White House resident. If this writer were not so vexed by and irritated with the nation's new "leader" (who has mutated into just another same ol’-same ol’ politician), I would be well nigh despairing over what he has done and, more accurately, not done during his year of back-pedaling, ignoring of promises and continuing several of his predecessor’s bad policies. [more]
On January 25 in Boston, Massachusetts members of PDA joined with legislators and leaders from a broad coalition of single-payer organizations from across the Commonwealth to launch the Massachusetts Campaign for Health Care Justice.
The consensus was that with what is going on in DC and the state of the single-payer legislative situation in Mass., a broad based mass movement along the lines of the woman suffrage or the civil rights movement was going to be needed to make this a reality in our state. Given the legislature in Mass. and the economic hardship created by the spiralling costs of health insurance for individuals, businesses, and government (cities and towns, school districts, ...) It is the perfect time to launch the campaign. [more]
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