Sunday, June 28, 2009

Fired Up And Ready To Go! Phone Bank And BBQ For Health Care Reform!


Nearly 9 million Americans have lost their health insurance since 2000.

The United States spends more money on health care than any other country, yet 1 in 6 Americans have no healthcare insurance at all. That’s over 50 million people. Another 75 million Americans are considered underinsured.

Every 30 seconds an American files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.

Over 20,000 Americans die needlessly every year because they don’t have health insurance.

Compared with five other nations—Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom—the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The U.S. is the only country in the study without universal health insurance coverage.

Health care reform is now being debated in Congress. In the House, the so-called Tri-Committee (made up of Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and the Committee on Education & Labor) produced a health care bill a couple of weeks ago, which is being "marked up" (debated and modified) as we speak. The committee members will take a break this week for the 4th of July holiday, then resume deliberations starting July 6th before the bill goes up for a vote later in the month.

Essentially, whatever comes out of this committee will be what we end up fighting for in reconciliation after the August recess, mostly because whatever comes out of the Senate will be significantly weaker. It's imperative that activists do everything we can to get the best bill possible out of the committee process.

Phone Bank And BBQ For Health Care Reform!
Wednesday, July 8
6pm-9pm
758 Palms Blvd. Venice, CA 90291

We will be phone banking to constituents in those California districts who have members on the Tri-Committee, and will ask those constituents to tell their congress members the following:

  • You support a strong public option as part of health care reform.

  • You support a public health care option that is available to ALL Americans on Day One. No “trigger”. No delay.

  • You support a public health care option that is national, available everywhere, and accountable to Congress.

  • You support a public health care option that can bargain for rates from providers and big drug companies.

Please bring a cell phone and your charger.

We will be grilling as well as phoning! We supply the burgers, you supply the side dishes!

RSVP HERE!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

"Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" UPDATED with extra sugar!


Stanford missing in action? No, I'd say he's been getting a "lot" of action.




South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he's been having an affair with a woman from Argentina and will resign as head of the Republican Governors' Association.

The married father of four emotionally apologized to his wife, staff and others at a news conference after returning Wednesday from a trip to Argentina that followed a dayslong absence. His staff had said the Republican was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Sanford says he met the woman about eight years ago and it became romantic about a year ago. He says his wife and family have known about it for the past five months.

Sanford says, "I've let down a lot of people."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he's been having an affair with a woman from Argentina and will resign as head of the Republican Governors' Association.

The married father of four emotionally apologized to his wife, staff and others at a news conference after returning Wednesday from a trip to Argentina that followed a dayslong absence. He staff had said the Republican was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Sanford says he met the woman about eight years ago and it became romantic about a year ago. He says his wife and family have known about it for the past five months.

He had been a rumored contender for the 2012 GOP ticket. He's most recently snared headlines for his unsuccessful fight to turn aside federal stimulus cash for his state's schools.


But wait, there's more! Evidently, the Charleston, SC "State" newspaper had been sitting on love emails between Sanford and his Argentinian lover for over six months


E-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At the time, efforts to authenticate the e-mails were unsuccessful. However, Sanford’s office Wednesday did not dispute their authenticity.

The State has removed the woman’s full name and other personal details, including her street address, e-mail address and children’s names.

The woman who South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford had an affair with lives on Republica de la India in the Palermo neighborhood of Argentina.

McClatchy special correspondent Angeles Mase on Wednesday visited the 14-story apartment building in Buenos Aires where the woman lives, according to the e-mails, which included her address. A woman at the address answered to the name in the e-mails and, at first, agreed to speak to a visitor, but she declined after the visitor identified herself as a reporter.

Shown a photograph of Sanford, the doorman at the building said he did not recognize him. According to the doorman, the woman has two sons, one a teenager of driving age and the other younger. The e-mails refer to the woman’s two sons.
----------------------------------------------

From: Mark Sanford
To: Maria
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:09:44 +0000
Dearest,
You are glorious and I hope you really understand that. You do not need a therapist to help you figure your place in the world. You are special and unique and fabulous in a whole host of ways that are worth a much longer conversation. To be continued ...
Have been having a few email problems as I am getting email through an aircard at the farm, where access to computer world is more than tough. Please let me know if you have gotten my last two eamils (sic) so I know it is working in getting to your part of the world ...
Another glorious day outside. Hope you are doing well, and am anxious to hear about your week. Know that I miss you. Unbeleivably (sic) hard to imagine it has been a week. Please also send your mailing address as I want to send you an insignificant something next week when I am back in civilization that I think you might find interesting given our conversation.
Want to write an indepth note with some thoughts on our visit when I know you are getting these emails. Hugs and much love. M
----------------------------------------------
From: Maria
Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 4:26 PM
To: Mark Sanford
Subject: RE:
My beloved, (hope you also change the dearest ...)
I’am (sic) reading your last two mails sitting outside with a great seaview here in Ilhabela, a beautiful island near Sao Paulo. Have been thinking of you while watching the beautiful blue sea (a) great part of my day and remembering with a great smile on my face, the time we had spent together. As I told you before, you brought happiness and love to my life and (I) will take you forever in my heart. I wasn’t aware till we met last week, the strong feelings I had for you, and believe me, I haven’t felt this since I was in my teen ages, when afterwards I got married. I do love you, I can feel it in my heart, and although I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to meet again this has been the best that has happened to me in a long time You made me realized (sic) how you feel when you realy (sic) love somebody and how much you want to be beside the beloved. Last Friday I would had stayed embrassing (sic) and kissing you forever.
Don’t know why you think you bore me with the description of your farm. I am an urban girl but that doesn’t inhibit me from loving other things, specially if they are the ones you love. I was able to imagine the place with every single detail you wrote and had trassmitted (sic) me the love you have for your farm. It sounds to be a great and peaceful place and loved you had shared it with me.
Thanks for your beautiful words, I don’t know if I do need or not therapy but I have to find my new place in this new stage of my life. Life has been very generous with me and I want to return at least a little bit of what I have been given. I have time and think helping others who haven’t been as lucky as me will do me fine.
My address is (deleted by The State). It will be great finding at home once I am back, whatever you send me, I’ll keep it near my bed so as to feel you nearer.
Miss you so much... love you from the deepest of my heart. Sweet kisses.
----------------------------------------------
From:
To:
Subject: RE:
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:42:46 -0400
Beloved back to you...
Got back an hour ago to civilization and am now in Columbia after what was for me a glorious break from reality down at the farm. No phones ringing and tangible evidence of a day’s labors. Though I have started every day by 6 this morning woke at 4:30, I guess since my body knew it was the last day, and I went out and ran the excavator with lights until the sun came up. To me, and I suspect no one else on earth, there is something wonderful about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the background, the tranquility that comes with being in a virtual wilderness of trees and marsh, the day breaking and vibrant pink coming alive in the morning clouds — and getting to build something with each scoop of dirt. It is admittedly weird but one of my more favorite ways of escaping the norms, constant phone calls and formalities that go with the office — and it probably fits with my weakness in doing rather than being — though you opened up a new chapter last week wherein I was happy and content just being. Last point worth further discussion. Afternoon projects had me outside and by days (sic) end I pretty much looked like a homeless person ... but in this case a very content one. Enough about my love of heavy equipment and woods at sunrise ...
While I was getting exhausted with one project after another at Coosaw work week, you were basking (I’m certain gloriously) on the beach..
Sounds great, hope to hear more about what sounds a great spot.
Will now finally get some sleep and write you a longer note with a few more profound thoughts tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime I send my love and hope you know I am thinking of you.. M
P.S. I do not want to raise expectations, when I say I will send something insignificant I promise I will do as I say! It wont (sic) be worthy of bedside placement ... was just going to find the movie the Holiday as we had spoken of it last Thursday. Its music was pleasant and made me think of you — its mood and the notion of a holiday (wrapped up in our case over two days) certainly fit as well ... (though our visit in some ways for me was as well less of a holiday than it was uncovering and realization of some things and feelings that again are worth longer conversation)
Had also hoped to find the cd of a song that played as I was flying home and also20made (sic) me think of you. Who knows if I can find the music ... so all you may be stuck with is a long released movie — and if you put it by your bed I really be worried! Love you, good night and kisses back to you ...
----------------------------------------------
From: Maria
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 8:14 PM
To: Mark Sanford
Subject: RE:
My love,
I decided to rent a car and went by myself to the other side of the Island where it is located one of the best hotels. It’s name is DPNY Hotel and I find it quite interesting. I had lunch there in a restaurant on the beach with great seaview. I sat under a palm and ate a mixed green salad with grilled abacaxi (pineapple) and honey. in the afternoon I sunbathe and read on the beach. I ve started here “The age of turbulence” from Alan Greenspan which I highly recomend (sic) you. At five I left back to the small town had a coffee with pao de queijo (cheese bread which is something tipycal (sic) from Brazl (sic) and it’s delicious) read some magazines, walked around and finally back to meu Pousada that is hotel.
In the Island is taking place the sailing week and Rolex competition and this was the reason for choosing the place and also why luckily I am most of the time by my own. It may sound bad but it’s how I feel it. As I told you I shouldn’t have done this trip but I would have felt worst if I wouldn’t have come because it was too over the date, he is a very nice guy, great heart ... but unfortunately I am not in love with him ... You are my love ... something hard to believe even for myself as it’s also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation.
Sometimes you don’t choose things, they just happen ... I can’t redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you. Hope you have had a good day, guess with much work.
Send you all my love and goodnight kisses. Sweet dreams from down south. I’ll dream with you.
----------------------------------------------
From: Mark Sanford
To: Maria
Subject: RE:
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:24:54 -0400
Sweetest,
It was indeed a long day. I am most jealous of your salad under the palm tree.
Three thoughts in one note now that I have a moment. One the travel schedule is about to get real busy (and this distresses me for the way it may well make it more difficult to get your notes over the next few weeks), two unfortunately all the feelings you describe are mutual, and three where do we go from here?
One, tomorrow leave at 5 am for New York and meetings. Will think about you on its streets and wish I was going to be there later in the month when you are there. Tomorrow night back to Philadelphia for the start of the National Governor’s Conference through the weekend. Back to Columbia for Tuesday and then on Wednesday, as I think I had told you, taking the family to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand and then back through Hong Kong on world wind tour. Few days home then to Bahamas for 5 days on a friends boat for the last break of the summer. The following weekend have been asked to spend it out in Aspen, Colorado with McCain — which has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home.
Two, mutual feelings. I have been specializing in staying focused on decisions and actions of the head for a long time now — and you have my heart. You have oh so many attributes that pulls it in this direction. Do you really comprehend how beautiful your smile is? Have you been told lately how warm your eyes are and how they softly glow with the special nature of your soul. I remember Jenny, or someone close to me, once commenting that while my mom was pleasant and warm it was sad she had never accomplished anything of significance. I replied that they were wrong because she had the ultimate of all gifts — and that was the ability to love unconditionally. The rarest of all commodities in this world is love. It is that thing that we all yearn for at some level — to be simply loved unconditionally for nothing more than who we are — not what we can get, give or become. There are but 50 governors in my country and outside of the top spot, this is as high as you can go in the area I have invested the last 15 years of my life — my getting here came as no small measure because I had that foundation of love and support so critical to getting up in the morning and feeling you could give and risk because you already had a full tank of love in the emotional bank account. Since our first meeting there in a wind swept somewhat open air dance spot in Punta del Este, I felt that you had that same rare attribute. Above all else I love that inner beauty about you. That gift of yours is going to make a tremendous difference in (The State deleted sons’ names) life — and in anyone’s life who is blest to be touched by yours — you need to rest very comfortably in that fact. As I mentioned in our last visit, while I did not need love fifteen years ago — as the battle scars of life and aging and politics have worn on this has become a real need of mine. You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that is so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificently gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curves of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of night’s light — but hey, that would be going into the sexual details we spoke of at the steakhouse at dinner — and unlike you I would never do that!
Three and finally, while all the things above are all too true — at the same time we are in a hopelessly — or as you put it impossible — or how about combine and simply say hopelessly impossible situation of love. How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes (and yes this is true even if you did occasionally tantalize me with sexual details over the years!) — but it was all safe. Where we are is not. I have thought about it and in some ways feel I let you down in letting these complications come into a friendship that I hope will last till death. In all my life I have lived by a code of honor and at a variety of levels know I have crossed lines I would have never imagined. I wish I could wish it away, but this soul-mate feel I alluded too is real and in that regard I sure don’t want to be the person complicating your life. I looked to where I often look for advice and counsel, and in I Corinthians 13 it simply says that, “ Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude, Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice in the wrong, but rejoices in the right, Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things”. In this regard it is action that goes well beyond the emotion of today or tomorrow and in this light I want to look for ways to show love in helping you to live a better — not more complicated life. I want to help (one of Maria’s sons) with film guys that might help his career, etc. I also don’t want you walking20away (sic) from some guy (I take it the younger guy you mentioned a t dinner) because of me — and what we both have to see as an impossible situation. I better stop now least this really sound like the Thornbirds — wherein I was always upset with Richard Chamberlain for not dropping his ambitions and running into Maggie’s arms. The bottom line is two fold, my heart wants me to get on a plane tonight and to be in your loving arms — my head is saying how do we put the Genie back in the bottle because I sure don’t want to be encumbering you, or your options or your life. Put differently, given I love you, I don’t want to be part of the reason you are having less than an ideal week in what sounds like a cool spot.
Lastly I also suspect I feel a little vulnerable because this is ground I have never certainly never covered before — so if you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know ... In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul. I love you ... sleep tight. M
PS. I will make it a point in NY tomorrow to drop by a store and get that movie I promised to send your way ... I am encouraged to know you will not keep it beside the bed least we have tangible evidence of two pathetic figures missing each other far too much to live a few thousand miles apart!
----------------------------------------------
From: Maria
To: Mark Sanford
Subject: RE:
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:22:29 +0000
You have not brought complication or are not bringing complication to my life, on the contrary you’ve fullfiled (sic) me with happiness and made me aware how you can feel when you love somebody. I can think with my head but only feel with my heart so I can’t avoid it even knowing is hopelessly impossible. The guy is the one I told you ,just three years younger than me, but I am not in love and won’t fall in love with time so I have to continue my way ... be alone for some time and if I am lucky enough will someday feel towards somebody, what I today feel for you. At least you made me realized it can happen.
I don’t know if I did understood (sic) well about what was unsafe or not safe. Before our mails use to have other contents ... if you want to go back to that and don’t write love things and so on because is not safe for you it’s ok with me, i (sic) love you and by no way would do something that can harm you, so please let me know.
I don’t know how we figure all this out and I am not interested in knowing. I prefer to think we’ll see each other again somewhere sometime in this life and in next. Will be missing you till then... . .
Have a great trip with the ones you love ... they are the kind of trips you will never forget and for your boys will be unworthable (sic) not only because of the places they will visit but for sharing all that time with you.
Send you millions of kisses that will last till we get in touch again. best wishes from the deepest of my heart.
P.S.: I don’t want to put the genius (sic) back in the bottle because I truly believe in freedom. I never gave you sexual details but now you don’t need to imagine you can close your eyes and just remember. I’ll do the same.
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Monday, June 22, 2009

Iran: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words


I know nothing about this photo, except that it was taken sometime this week during one of the Tehran protests. 

Does it matter?

Villaraigosa bows out of CA governor's race



Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on national television today he would not be running for California governor in 2010 after flirting with a bid for higher office for months.

Elected to a second, four-year term in March, the mayor told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he wanted to devote his full attention to Los Angeles, which is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

Villaraigosa’s decision adds a dash of clarity to the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination which, at the moment, appears will be between state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has yet to say if he will run, while Newsom already has announced his candidacy.

In a recent Los Angeles Times Poll, voters citywide gave Villaraigosa a luke-warm approval rating, and a plurality opposed his entrance into the governor’s race. Villaraigosa received a favorable job approval rating from 55% of those surveyed, statistically equivalent to the vote he won in the city’s March election against a field of little-known and underfunded candidates.

Starting in July, the mayor and city council agreed to lay off 1,200 city workers, and furlough those who remain to help close a $530 million deficit for 2009-2010. City officials continue to negotiate with city unions for alternatives, but no deals have been announced.

Given the city’s precarious financial situation, and with Villaraigosa set to sworn into a new term on July 1, announcing for governor could have created a sticky political situation for the 56-year-old mayor.
Plus, winning the California governor’s race has proven to be an elusive quest for big-city mayors.

Several Los Angeles mayors including Tom Bradley, Richard Riordan and Sam Yorty all tried, and lost, along with San Francisco’s Joseph Alioto. Pete Wilson, the former mayor of San Diego, lost once and became a U.S. senator before trying again and claiming victory over former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who went on to become a U.S. senator.

The latest statewide Field Poll in March found that without Feinstein in the 2010 governor’s race, Brown was the top Democratic contender with 25%, followed by Villaraigosa with 22% and Newsom with 16%.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

CA Budget Crisis - "It's About Common Sense"

Members of the Service Employees International Union in California are out with the first high-profile ad campaign targeting the budget mess in Sacramento - and they're aiming right for Arnold and the Norquist "No Taxes Ever" Republican Cabal.





SACRAMENTO, CA - As Legislators review Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal to close a $24 billion state budget deficit with massive cuts to schools, health care for children, home care for seniors and people with disabilities, and other human services, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) launched a statewide television ad today calling for a common sense, balanced approach to solving the state budget crisis. 

The ads draw on recent surveys that show voters - both Democrats AND Republicans - oppose deep cuts to vital services and favor an approach that balances cuts with new taxes. They particularly favor eliminating excessive tax breaks for corporations, which are set to receive multi-billion windfalls from new tax loopholes that were written into the 2008-09 budget agreement. 

"It is unconscionable to allow corporate special interests to avoid their fair share of taxes at the same time we take health care from kids, throw seniors and people with disabilities out their homes, deprive our students of an education, and undermine the quality of life of California's working families," said Eliseo Medina, SEIU executive vice president. "We need a fair and balanced approach that mixes cuts and tax increases."

The seven-figure ad buy on broadcast and cable television covers Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Sacramento, and Fresno.
They're also ramping up a campaign to pressure lawmakers through direct action. Go to this link to learn how to contact your representatives in Sacramento.


BREAKING NEWS! Rep. Jane Harman Breaks From Blue Dogs, Issues Statement Supporting Kennedy Health Care Reform Plan


This weekend, the news coming out of Washington was not good - Big Pharma and the Insurance Industry is gaining ground in Congress.

They're pulling out all the stops - pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called "moderate" Republicans who say they're in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they've been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.

The problem isn't, and never has been, Republicans. Because we can pass health care reform through the reconciliation process, we only need 51 Senators to pass the bill. With 58 Democrats in the Senate,the threat of Republican filibuster is non-existent.

No the problem is Democrats. Specifically, the Blue Dog Coalition in the House, and Conservative Democrats in the Senate. 

Conservative House Democrats agreed to a set of health care principles late last week that angered advocates of a overhaul of the health care system.

The Blue Dog Coalition issued a statement that said it would only support the public health care option as a fallback measure that would be triggered sometime down the road if private insurers don't meet a particular set of goals.


However, the Blue Dog Coalition is far from united. A number of Blue Dogs publicly broke ranks by opposing any trigger for health care reform, including Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) who issued this statement today,

I am a strong supporter of universal health coverage, which is why I support the health care reform plan being developed by President Obama, Senator Kennedy, and Congressman Waxman. Like them, I believe that the bill must include a public health insurance option which guarantees all Americans access to quality, affordable health care. I will oppose any plan that does not include this option, and am unwavering in my opposition to the so-called "Blue Dog trigger." I am proud to have signed the HCAN (Health Care for America Now!) pledge to seek universal coverage.



The real health care reform--aka, a public option--is the lowest bar for progressives to clear with the current Congress. It has the most lobbying behind it, bringing in not only health care reform groups, but also unions and mutli-issue groups like MoveOn. It only requires 51 votes in the Senate, whereas Republicans will force 60-votes on virtually everything else. It is a very popular, not only in absolute terms (60%+), but also relatively popular compared to other major Democratic agenda items like climate change. And President Obama won't have a 60%+ approval rating forever, either.

The bottom line is this: if we can't get our most popular major agenda item, during the peak in Democratic popularity, when we need only 50 Senate votes, and on the issue where we have given our strongest lobbying and activist efforts, then we aren't going to pass meaningful progressive legislation on anything else.


Once again, it's up to US to make sure that a true public option is in the final bill.

We must demand nothing less than a national public option that can compete directly with private insurance and use it's bargaining power to bring down drug costs. Health care reform must, at a minimum:

  • Enact concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.

  • Consist of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.

  • Be available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation

  • Allow patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promote the medical home model, and eliminate lifetime caps on benefits.

  • Have the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management, and good public health.

  • Utilize the existing infrastructure of successful public programs like Medicare in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes including payment systems, claims and appeals.

  • Establish or negotiate rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment providers, and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.

  • Receive a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.

  • Ensure premiums must be priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans

CALL!

Pick up the telephone and call the White House at 202-456-1414. You can also fax them at 202-456-2461.

THEY ARE LISTENING! I spoke with rep from Organizing For America, and he confirmed that Obama actually changed his position in favor a strong public option as a direct result of the public (and organized) groundswell for single-payer. Keep it up folks.

When you're done with the White House call the following Senators and Congressmembers:

Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542
Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543
Senator Bill Nelson at (202) 224-5274

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel
(202) 225-3625

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman
(202) 225-2927

House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller
(202) 225-3725


Next, call your OWN Senators and Congressmembers!

Don't know who your Congressmember or Senators are? Go to this link to find out, and to get their contact information.

When you call up your representative, you'll get a staffer on the phone who will be fielding many of these phone calls, so keep it short and to the point! Just say you're calling to urge your representative to "support a true Medicare-like public option that can compete with private insurance and bargain for lower drug costs."


SPREAD THE WORD!

Use all your social networks - facebook, family, friends, coworkers to spread the word. We especially need folks from Maine (Sen. Snow), Nebraska (Sen. Nelson) and Montana (Sen. Baucas)



The concrete is being mixed and about to be poured. And after it's poured and hardens, universal health care will be with us for years to come in whatever form it now takes. Let your representative and senators know you want a public option without conditions or triggers - one that gives the public insurer bargaining leverage over drug companies, and pushes insurers to do what they've promised to do. Don't wait until the concrete hardens and we've lost this battle.


Now is the time.

Monday, June 8, 2009

This is what WE have to do to save public option healthcare


This weekend, Robert Reich came out with a devastating piece about how big Pharma and the Insurance Industry is gaining ground in Congress.

They’re pulling out all the stops — pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called “moderate” Republicans who say they’re in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they’ve been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.

Once again, it's up to US to make sure that a true public option (let alone single-payer) is in the final bill.

Folks, we must demand nothing less than a national public option that can compete directly with private insurance and use it's bargaining power to bring down drug costs.

Enact concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.

Consist of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.

Be available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation

Allow patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promote the medical home model, and eliminate lifetime caps on benefits.

Have the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management, and good public health.

Utilize the existing infrastructure of successful public programs like Medicare in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes including payment systems, claims and appeals.

Establish or negotiate rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment providers, and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.

Receive a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.

Ensure premiums must be priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans

1) CALL!
Pick up the telephone and call the White House at 202-456-1414. You can also fax them at 202-456-2461.

THEY ARE LISTENING! I spoke with rep from Organizing For America, and he confirmed that Obama actually changed his position in favor a strong public option as a direct result of the public (and organized) groundswell for single-payer. Keep it up folks.



When your done with the White House call the following Senators and Congressmembers:

Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542
Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543
Senator Bill Nelson at (202) 224-5274

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel 
(202) 225-3625

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman 
(202) 225-2927

House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller 
(202) 225-3725



Next, call your OWN Senators and Congressmembers!

Don't know who your Congressmember or Senators are? Go to this link to find out, and to get their contact information.

When you call up your representative, you'll get a staffer on the phone who will be fielding many of these phone calls, so keep it short and to the point! Just say you're calling to urge your representative to "support a true Medicare-like public option that can compete with private insurance and bargain for lower drug costs."


2) EMAIL
Use the same link above to find the email addresses for your Congressmember and Senators. Tell them the following:

Enact concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.

Consist of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.

Be available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation

Allow patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promote the medical home model, and eliminate lifetime caps on benefits.

Have the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management, and good public health.

Utilize the existing infrastructure of successful public programs like Medicare in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes including payment systems, claims and appeals.

Establish or negotiate rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment providers, and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.

Receive a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.

Ensure premiums must be priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans



3) SPREAD THE WORD
Use all your social networks - facebook, family, friends, coworkers to spread the word. We especially need folks from Maine (Sen. Snow), Nebraska (Sen. Nelson) and Montana (Sen. Baucas)




This is it, folks. The concrete is being mixed and about to be poured. And after it’s poured and hardens, universal health care will be with us for years to come in whatever form it now takes. Let your representative and senators know you want a public option without conditions or triggers — one that gives the public insurer bargaining leverage over drug companies, and pushes insurers to do what they’ve promised to do. Don’t wait until the concrete hardens and we’ve lost this battle.

Now is the time.




Thursday, June 4, 2009

"Your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy"



Study Links Medical Costs and Personal Bankruptcy
Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2007 were caused by health problems—and 78% of those filers had insurance

By Catherine Arnst

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.

Medically related bankruptcies have been rising steadily for decades. In 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy cited a serious medical problem as the reason, while a 2001 study of bankruptcies in five states by the same researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to 50% of all filings. This newest, nationwide study, conducted before the start of the current recession by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Deborah Thorne, a sociology professor at Ohio University, found that the filers were for the most part solidly middle class before medical disaster hit. Two-thirds owned their home and three-fifths had gone to college.

But medically bankrupt families with private insurance reported average out-of pocket medical bills of $17,749, while the uninsured's bills averaged $26,971. Of the families who started out with insurance but lost it during the course of their illness, medical bills averaged $22,658. "For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection. Most of us have policies with so many loopholes, co-payments, and deductibles that illness can put you in the poorhouse," said lead author Himmelstein. "Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy."

The study underscores President Barack Obama's arguments in calling for health-care reform legislation this year. In a letter to Democratic Senate leaders this week, the President said: "Health-care reform is not a luxury. It's a necessity we cannot defer. Soaring health-care costs make our current course unsustainable. It is unsustainable for our families, whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy and forcing them to go without the checkups and prescriptions they need.".......

They found that a number of medical factors contributed to a family's financial disaster. More than 90% of medically related bankruptcies were caused by high medical bills directly or medical costs that were so high the family was forced to mortgage their home. The remaining 8% went bankrupt because a medical problem caused them to lose income. The authors were not able to track credit-card defaults caused by medical bills, but a 2007 study found that, of low- and middle-income households with credit-card debt, 29% used their plastic to pay off medical expenses.

Individuals with diabetes, one of the most common chronic diseases in the U.S., and those with neurological illnesses such as multiple sclerosis had the highest costs, an average of $26,971 and $34,167, respectively. Hospital bills were the largest single expense for half of all medically bankrupt families.

Dr. Woolhandler, an advocate of a single-payer health-care system, said lawmakers in Washington should reconsider health-care reform in light of the study. "Covering the uninsured isn't enough," she said. "Reform also needs to help families who already have insurance by upgrading their coverage and assuring that they never lose it."

President Obama Speaks To The Muslim World From Cairo, Egypt



"A New Beginning" The President gives a speech in Cairo, Egypt, outlining his personal commitment to engagement with the Muslim world, based upon mutual interests and mutual respect, and discusses how the United States and Muslim communities around the world can bridge some of the differences that have divided them. June 4, 2009. 

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The President’s Field Team





Last week I heard the perfect one-line description of Organizing for America.

Mary Jane Stevenson, the newly hired California State Director, got up before a big room full of Democratic Party donors -- who were there to drink fine wine and eat elegant little nibbles and enjoy the name entertainment at a luxe Beverly Hills hotel – and did something unusual. She gave them a field pitch.

She asked them to join OFA – which she described as “the President’s Field Team.” To reinforce the point, a group of us there as volunteers worked the room with clipboards, pens and signup sheets.

Organizing for America is something no one has ever tried. Which makes it hard to pull off. And it is based on a local organizing model. Which makes it hard to see how it is working. But here's what I learned the last time - don't judge an Obama-led organizing effort by its early reviews.

If you have followed my blogging over the last couple of years, you know I am fully acquainted with the delicious taste of the Obama Kool-Aid. For the better part of two years, I had the unforgettable experience of being part of the "largest field operation in the history of American politics." And I wrote a lot about my take on the theory of that campaign, and its grassroots component, from my perspective as a long time volunteer and eventual staff member.

Like many people, I have been wondering what would become of this campaign organization, now an official project of the DNC but with its own identify, staff and structure. I have been following the process of building Organizing for America since December. I have talked to people who were part of the planning process. I have participated in the process of evaluating what we did. I have been able to see first hand the rollout in California, and I have talked to people around the country about what is happening in their areas.

And I’ve seen -the good-, the bad and the ugly in the early reviews, and in debate on this site. OFA is too top-down, too disorganized, too sycophantic, too vague. What I think that debate is missing is a clear sense of what OFA intends to be - perhaps because the organization itself has been in a long period of development and its mission is finally becoming clear. My take on this isn't official. It's just one highly engaged volunteer's perspective on why I'm on the team, that I think might help other people decide whether or not this is for them.

Zephyr Teachout has been one of the fiercest early critics of Organizing for America - uncomfortably echoing the language of hoping for failure we have heard from Republicans about Obama:

Organizing for America sent out a request for house parties today, asking people to watch a video about Obama's economic recovery plan, talk about it with their friends, and build support for it. While there will be tweaks, this is the kind of action we can anticipate from OFA.

I predict that there will be perhaps a thousand of such parties, then hundreds, then dozens. I think OFA will fail in its mission to directly engage Obama supporters in supporting Obama's executive actions. And I think this is a very good thing. . . .

This is not to say I think OFA should throw away its list and networks. If it were up to me, I would encourage OFA to throw all of its support and resources at local democratic parties and officials--to decentralize the data, and let local groups experiment. I believe Obama has largely done his job, by getting elected and by electrifying the country and showing people that they can have power; but for them to exercise it meaningfully, instead of simply acting as shills for Presidential policy, they will need to exercise it through our representative offices: Congress, and the state houses.


She found the situation more hopeful in a recent post describing a recent OFA organizing meeting in Massachusetts:

The report from Massachussetts suggested to me that there are three possible futures for the network formerly known as the Obama campaign:

--It dissipates, with some significant number of people inspired by the campaign joining other groups
--It is explicitly joined to the Democratic Party throughout the country, and local democratic party operatives work with the new Obama-inspired to build strength
--Groups like OFA-MA use the next year, before dissipation, to find and create local grassroots groups that listen to and learn from, but do not directly follow, the direction of OFA


The Massachusetts event was indeed impressive. As this great first hand account explains, it was organized by volunteers and drawing hundreds of people to hear from Mitch Stewart and others about OFA and to talk about community organizing. Teachout focuses in particular on how participants talked together in break out sessions about their own ideas and policy priorities, and not just about the OFA questions that were part of that meeting.

But with all due respect to ZT, there is yet another path for OFA, and it is from my perspective the far more likely and most appropriate future identity for this organization: the President's Field Team.

Imagine if the President called you up and asked you to join his West Wing staff. You might say yes - this is a great opportunity to have a real impact on problems I care about, to be part of an historic policymaking moment in the United States. You might say no - because it means being part of an Administration you might not always agree with. But the choice is yours. There are pros and cons. And if you choose to say no, there's a host of other ways to participate in politics and policymaking.

OFA is like a smaller version of that choice. You could be part of the President's Field Team, and take what we learned to do during the campaign and turn that firepower on Congress, on the health insurance industry, on whoever is standing in the way. Or you could do something else, perhaps challenging the President to change his policy, or fighting for local and state issues and candidates you believe in. There's even a way you can do both, I think, as a volunteer, as long as you are clear about when you engaging in work for OFA and when you aren't.

So -- do you want to work for the President? Nope, he probably won't be able to pay you. But keep reading. The payoff might be more interesting than you think. . .

Last week, the President literally made that call to OFA volunteers. As diaried by mdmslle, President Obama made a personal pitch to volunteers, asking them to get involved in pushing for health care. In that diary's comments, and in my many conversations over the last few months with other activists about OFA, I have heard plenty of analysis in line with Teachout's call for OFA to become the local agents of the Democratic Party or a locus of grassroots resistance (or die of boredom/uselessness).

So why shouldn't OFA go the way ZT suggests?

Option A - local Democratic shock troops - is potentially problematic. Al Giordano points out that the alignment of Teachout's "local democratic party operatives" and the Obama-inspired volunteer organizers is far from seamless:

In Teachout's view, "local democratic parties and officials" ought to be the filter for the future organizing of the Obama movement, rather than Organizing for America. Who's she frickin' kiddin'? Herself? She clearly doesn't "get" that the Obama movement was an insurgency in the Democratic party, against many of the practices and turf-warriors of those local parties and officials.

Hers would be a very romantic notion if, and only if, the Democratic Party on the state and local level had already undergone the kind of transformation that the 2008 elections (and the 2005 Howard Dean DNC chairmanship victory) brought to the DNC. But the truth is that most state and local Democratic parties are still stuck in the stone ages of the Clinton-Bush years. . .

In other words, handing over data (voter lists and information, donor lists, etcetera, built by so many volunteer data-entry folks and field organizers last year) to "local democratic parties and officials" as Teachout advocates - which will be done but to a more carefully limited and targeted extent for the 2010 elections anyway - would not decentralize the data in the spirit of Jeffersonian democracy. . . . the rank-and-file volunteers and organizers from the Obama 2008 campaign would end up outcast (and correspondingly demoralized) much more so than if information and resources flow through Organizing for America, which at least is about them, and not about the old guard in local Democratic Party organizations.


Indeed, as we've seen in the stimulus fight, not all our local Democratic politicians are on board with the President's agenda. Healthcare will be even tougher.

Option B - a fully independent grassroots entity where all the local teams are fully autonomous is what might have happened if we lost the election. But in fact, we won. The White House and the DNC can't exactly be faulted for wanting an organization that they fund and manage to actually carry out their priorities.

Option C - an organization that really isn't very active or effective, is actually what a lot of folks have been worrying about. Ari Melber sums it up in a post mocking a recent OFA e-mail ask:

The drive is boring and thus more likely to falter, as Zephyr Teachout wrote in this space, because the goals are predictably top-down (support the President's agenda) and somewhat propagandistic (because he said so).

Then, click through your inbox and you'll find the new petition is almost comically vague. The three goals are: Reduce cost; Provide choice; and Ensure affordable care for all. It is hard to see any need to demonstrate official public support for those general principles.

Finally, asking millions of Obama's strongest supporters to simply sign petitions, regardless of their location, ambition and ability, is surely redundant and probably wasteful.


What I think this criticism misses is that we're at the beginning of a new campaign. In the warm afterglow of building a huge, record-breaking and highly-effective campaign organization, our expectations for Organizing for America are predictably off the charts. But in fact, OFA has to go back, one by one, to all its supporters and re-engage them. Each campaign requires a new pass (or 12) through the list, carefully identifying supporters and potential supporters, volunteer leaders ready to take action, and connecting with individual voters, or in this case potential citizen activists.

House parties, calling your member of Congress, signing a petition. Each contact, each local activity seems quite small. But enough of them, on a big enough scale, produces surprising results.

Last week’s fundraiser was a “small win.” Fundraisers – the big, glitzy ones for the big spenders, not the small donor houseparties and events, are usually not the best places to sign up volunteers. If there is a pitch to get involved, it is low-key and general. But hey, we went in with out clipboards. And came out with pages of names, numbers and e-mail addresses. All of these people are being asked to host house parties this weekend. And they will be asked for more, again and again.

In fact, we've been here before. Here's what I wrote back in November of 2007 - before Iowa, before Super Tuesday, before states like Indiana and North Carolina fell in the general election.

Largely invisible up until now, Obama's field structure is now coming into focus. That's what is energizing the campaign and the candidate. If Obama wins in Iowa, California and elsewhere, organizing - not oratory - will be the reason. . . . The Obama campaign has been relentless about two things: (1) raising enough money to be competitive with Clinton and (2) building field structure. The first has been fairly visible, with the quarterly reports providing a clear progress indicator. The second has been happening largely below the radar screen. We tend to focus here on what we can see - who has made an endorsement, what has a candidate said about a particular issue. Knowing who is "winning" the field structure war is tough, because we can't really see what the campaigns are doing. We largely rely on impressions or anecdotes, or gut feelings about who is more organized.

. . . And the geographically-based field structure has an advantage. We know our communities. We are calling and canvassing our neighbors, literally. We have a sense of what kinds of messages and strategies can work where we are. It's messy, because it's such a huge organizing project and it is bound to be uneven. It's risky, because the campaign's paid staff and centralized messaging is depending on volunteers to carry our these strategies and they can't fully control it. It's far from perfect. But it is exciting to be a part of it. The payoff, if it works - and I recognize that's a very big if - could be huge.


At that point in time, it was hard to see results. But just as welcoming $10 donors on a scale never before attempted broke the bank, welcoming volunteers with small, easy tasks produced the "largest field operation in the history of American politics."

By the time Obama fought Super Tuesday to a draw, you could begin to see the importance of field organizing in the key primary campaign metric - the delegate count. Obama consistently won delegates - even in areas where he "lost" he kept the count close. He used his staff and field office investments in every state to leverage his much larger volunteer resources. And then he did it again when he beat McCain, turning red states blue across the country. How? Over one million GOTV canvass shifts. Turning California into the nation's GOTV phone bank as we made 2 million phone calls in a single day using only volunteers. .

The key, as Zack Exley and others identified, was developing local volunteer leaders. Instead of simply using the e-mail list passively, the campaign adopted a multi-tier strategy. Over a series of organizing meetings, trainings, and field activities, volunteers with leadership potential became identified. They in turn were tasked with recruiting and mobilizing more volunteers in their area - using both the campaign's lists and their own networks. They were accountable for specific targets, and empowered to manage campaign activities typically performed only by paid staff. Even Patrick Ruffini was impressed.

So that's why I'm excited about the President's Field Team. He knows how to do it, better than almost anyone. And he wants to use it in a way no one else has tried, to build a nationally linked, locally-organized, team-based volunteer model to lobby Congress for health care, education and green energy. And the best part is that we are continuing to build up our progressive organizing capacity. Volunteers can learn from OFA and go work locally on what they care about, or join other campaigns. ZT's options A and B likely benefit from OFA's commitment to training and supporting local organizing, even if OFA itself isn't doing those things.

So yeah, I'm back. I'm making phone calls to volunteers, lugging boxes of clipboards around, doing conference calls with other organizers. I'm becoming reacquainted with the VAN.

It's OK if it isn't for you. But if it is, you can jump right in this weekend. Host a Health Care Kickoff Meeting, or just go to one in your neighborhood or town. Or donate to OFA so it can hire more staff and open field offices across the country.

We need a tidal wave of pressure to get serious health care reform through Congress, not to mention the rest of President Obama's "ambitious" agenda. Fortunately, he has a secret weapon. 

It's the President's Field Team.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Meet In The Middle For Equality - An American Journey


Many thanks to Billy Pollina for turning the photos I took in Fresno last weekend into something close to art.

To learn what you can do for marriage equality in California, go to the Courage Campaign website.




ACTION ALERT! Tell Congress We Need To Pull The Trigger NOW On Health Care Reform!


In a classic case of bait-and-switch, the Insurance Industry - even as they promised President Obama to work as partners in reforming our moribund health care system - are suddenly pushing Congress for a 7-year "trigger" to stop real healthcare reform in it's tracks. Here's what this means, and here's what you need to do to fight back.

Although many Republicans don't believe government can run anything efficiently and effectively, apparently private health care and big pharmaceuticals don't agree because they are afraid to find out.

Their newest attempt to block a public option single-payer/Medicare for all coverage is called "the trigger." They want Americans to keep the same broken system we have now and give the insurance industry one more chance to fix it on their own. Then, if insurance companies fail, the bill would "trigger" the public option - you know, in like seven years or so. Of course, if Republicans regain control of the House, the Senate or the White House, they would never have to use it.

So what are the Republicans and the Insurance Industry so afraid of? 

The new public option could start using Medicare-based rates and Medicare leverage to negotiate better prices (this is what Kennedy's plan is considering). Or, beyond the public option, Congress could establish Medicare-based rates throughout the market, allow all private insurers to pay Medicare rates and require all providers serving Medicare patients to accept those rates as full payments. Or Congress could task a commission with the task of adjusting health spending to achieve fiscal balance.

But it’s unclear why we’re bending over backwards to give private insurers the benefit of the doubt...yet again. Why shouldn’t we require private industry to deliver on their promise to contain costs? Health reform isn’t about protecting private industry; it’s about adopting policies that are most likely to lower health care costs. A robust public option — the Kennedy proposal — is likely to score well even with a conservative CBO because it will be able to use its inherent advantages (lower administrative spending) and Medicare leverage to negotiate lower prices with providers and lower health care spending.


PLEASE CALL these Senators on the Senate Finance Committee , and three chairman in the House today to demand a strong, robust affordable Medicare-like public option. Here's a list of talking points:

  • No 7-year trigger for a public option

  • Support an affordable strong, robust Medicare-like public option. 

  • A public option must be open and affordable to all Americans, not more of the same broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays.

  • Do not tax employer health benefits

  • Follow the proposal by President Obama to tax income above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform.



Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651

Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542

Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543

Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472

Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244

Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043

Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521

Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742

Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843

Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822

Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441

Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274

Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744

Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441

Please CALL Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel (202) 225-3625)

Please CALL Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (202) 225-2927)

Please CALL Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (202) 225-3725)