On June 6, 2009 we held an OFA Health Care Reform Kickoff event at the Carousel Mall in San Bernardino, California. At this event an insurance company operative was actively attempting to divide our grassroots movement on the issue of a public option. He was describing inadequacies in the Canadian system, in addition to using other fear tactics, to enforce his opinion that the insurance industry was best positioned to make the necessary changes needed to provide quality health care to all Americans. This is absolute hypocrisy, due to the fact that insurance companies' modus operandi is to deny coverage to those in need and accept only the healthy. This is the status quo that has made insurance companies' participation in America's health care system extremely profitable. They do not want a public option to be part of health care reform legislation and will fight to the bitter end to prevent it. The massive slice of the health care "pie", which the insurance industry has been gorging on for decades, has increased their bottom line (and lobbying war chest) and is responsible for the soaring medical costs. In spite of the presence of the insurance industry's "henchman", our group came to the consensus that a public option is undeniably necessary. Furthermore, it was painfully obvious, this overt infiltration of our public event on June 6th (and likely covert infiltration of living rooms across America), insurance companies are already in the fight and have been for years. We may be just getting started, although, they underestimate the power of our grassroots movement.
On June 27th, please attend a National Health Care Day of Service event in your community. Locate one near you by visiting http://www.barackobama.com .
High quality health care for all Americans is attainable this year!
On May 28th 2009, I had the privilege to participate in a conference call with President Barack Obama, where we discussed the issue of health care reform. In this call he stated several very important points: "Americans now spend more on health care than on housing or food... Millions of Americans have lost their insurance... We need health care reform legislation that preserves what works and fixes the things that are broken. The status quo is unacceptable. And we've got to get it done this year... To do that, we need all of you to mobilize... This is our big chance to prove that the movement that we started during the campaign isn't over; were just getting started."
When asked, what do you need us to do to grow this grassroots movement, create community and bolster our change agenda? He responded, "Stay involved, the election in November didn't bring about change, it just gave us an opportunity for change. Remobilize. We had a chance to catch our breath after the election and we got a lot of things done in the first four months... but health care, that's a big push... host a kickoff event to help launch our campaign for health care reform."
In response to another question, he said, "...American people want action... as we proved during the campaign, change really comes from the bottom up... grassroots work makes the difference primarily because people trust their neighbors and their friends and coworkers more than talking heads on TV where everybody seems to be screaming at each other... having that tone of reasonably presenting the case for why change is needed; thats going to work everywhere."
In the November campaign, against the Republican party, we faced an opposition with a $500 million war chest. This time, we'll be up against insurance companies that typically spend BILLIONS, annually, on lobbying. So, it's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
On June 2, 2009 President Obama affirmed his support for the creation of a government-sponsored health insurance plan as part of legislation that “must reduce costs, guarantee choice, and ensure quality care for every American."
However, Congressional politicians may distort this intent by employing a “triggering” option, a ploy to placate the health care industry. “Triggering” will not produce true economic reform because it will either never happen or if so, not in a timely manner. Medicare legislation includes a “triggering” mechanism that is controlled by the health industry and never used. The trigger has already been pulled! Furthermore, the current industry proposal merely cuts the cost of increase, not an actual reduction. Even that proposal lacks clarity and guarantees.
Any passage of health care reform legislation at the state and federal level must include an independent publicly regulated or managed option that does not controlled by the health care industry. While I concur that a properly crafted single-payer system along the lines of social security is ideally the best solution, practically it will never pass. Instead of repeating the past strategic miscalculation of the Clinton Administration, we must build a coalition in support of a public alternative choice. Otherwise we will lose a unique opportunity to pass true comprehensive health care reform. Furthermore, if a public alternative as proposed is adopted, the free market will most probably gravitate towards a government alternative very soon. What the public needs and deserves is the transparency of comparative analysis and an effective marketing campaign.
During the campaign Barack Obama stated that the health care “will cover people through a combination of private insurance and public insurance” asserting that “we could get to $2,500 in savings by the end of the first term, or be very close to it”. A consensus has emerged among health economists that at least a third of the country’s health care costs are unnecessary.
We are both 66 year-old cancer survivors. My wife also suffers from chronic ulcerative colitis and I was struck by a cerebral hemorrhage rendering me disabled and currently unemployed. We both rely on my wife's health insurance that is threatened by the Recession. Her employer furloughed her for one day a week. Governor Schwarzenegger has called for drastic reduction in California's health care program as a deficit reduction measure.
I intend to pursue this issue to the fullest extent and urge your leadership on this vital matter. Thank you for your attention.
Border Patrol Beats a Pastor. We cannot allow this.....I have found that there are racists people working at the check points. Immature little boys that now have some power. Mr. President there needs to be an investigation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUzd7G875Hc
No matter how much better he is than Bush on some things, the disregard for the rule of law and common decency makes Obama no better than the common criminals of the previous administration. In some ways he is even worse. At least with Bush I never held out hope that he was a man of true character. Between refusing to investigate torture and FISA, I can no longer deny that he is any more than the same kind of politician that we thought we had voted out. Sure, he says the right things and makes you feel good but that is what a con man does. The true test of character is in the actions and he has failed miserably. Why in the world should anyone believe that when the time comes, he is not going to sell out on health care too. Sorry, but all the hope for change I had is all gone.
For the first time in the 57 years of my life I want to visit the White House! You see as a little girl, I always wondered why the only roles blacks could play or have in the white house was that of a servant or to support the president.
Well time has changed and I would love to be a guest of President Barack H. Obama and his gorgeous wife First Lady Michelle.
My total outlook has changed, I no longer just go through the motions of saluting the flag, singing the national anthem etc. With honor I do so now mainly because I am impressed with how our nation has embraced the first family and it seems for the first time the nation has embraced me.
To see President Obama walk up to the Helicopter that is waiting for him on the lawn at the White House and later walk up the steps of Air Force One, turn around and wave then duck and enter into it and take off is such a joy.
When I see their lovely daughters it reminds me of my daughters and granddaughters. I am happy, happy, and happy. You see we are as deserving as anyone else as I have always believed! I never let anyone define for me what being black in america meant. I fought against negative stereotypes. I realized the struggle of my elders and took it personally to do all I could in homage of their sacrifices. Primarily that of teaching my sons and daughters to also believe!
I am pleased with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America.
America, America God sheds his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
Yes it is "My country tis of thee sweet land of liberty ...! "
I am one of the ticket holders that did not get into the blue section!
This is from a post by "A New Birth of Freedom" on Barack's website.
Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis of California will be Barack Obama's pick for labor secretary as the president-elect fills the last open positions in his Cabinet, a labor official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Solis, who is the daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants, has been the only member of Congress of Central American descent. She just won a fifth term representing heavily Hispanic portions of eastern Los Angeles County and east LA. Obama planned to announce Solis' selection on Friday along with his selection of Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois for transportation secretary. The official spoke on conditions of anonymity because an announcement has not been made yet. A call to Solis's office was not immediately returned.Solis, in 1994, was the first Latina elected to the California Senate, where she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996.In Congress, she wrote a measure that authorized $125 million for work force training programs in areas such as energy efficiency retrofitting and "green building" construction.Andy Stern, president of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union, the 51-year-old praised Solis for her deep roots in the union movement. He recalled marching with her in Los Angeles -- well before she was elected to Congress -- to seek higher wages and benefits for janitors."We were with her fighting for the rights of people who work from the beginning and we're so proud that she's been chosen to be the labor secretary," Stern said.
Obama planned to announce Solis' selection on Friday along with his selection of Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois for transportation secretary. The official spoke on conditions of anonymity because an announcement has not been made yet. A call to Solis's office was not immediately returned.
Solis, in 1994, was the first Latina elected to the California Senate, where she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996.
In Congress, she wrote a measure that authorized $125 million for work force training programs in areas such as energy efficiency retrofitting and "green building" construction.
Andy Stern, president of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union, the 51-year-old praised Solis for her deep roots in the union movement. He recalled marching with her in Los Angeles -- well before she was elected to Congress -- to seek higher wages and benefits for janitors.
"We were with her fighting for the rights of people who work from the beginning and we're so proud that she's been chosen to be the labor secretary," Stern said.
More high praise for Solis in statements from SEIU, Unite to Win, American Rights at Work, and Change to Win.
Here's video of Solis speaking on the House floor about the Employee Free Choice Act, a top legislative priority for the labor movement.
Solis is viewed by environmental groups as one of the foremost proponents of green jobs and environmental justice. The Sierra Club and Wonk Room's Brad Johnson have more on her record, and Johnson posts this video of Solis speaking "about her commitment to solving global warming through a clean energy economy for all":
Hilda Solis has blogged for the Huffington Post multiple times in recent years, often about labor issues. Check out the full archive here.
Read more about Hilda Solis, Hilda Solis labor , Hilda Solis Labor Secretary, Solis, Rep. Hilda Solis, Hilda Solis on Source Watch, Hilda Solis votes.
I believe that hope can be found in the person of our next President, Barack Obama. He lived for years in a very poor Muslim country, Indonesia, which at the time was descending into chaos, and is not going to be indifferent to suffering and a catalyst of violence like the Bush regime has been. The demonizing of Islam, calling it a violent religion, a religion of terror, etc. has been the message of the Republican Party and Bush's generals for the last 8 years. The attacks on Barack Obama, claiming that he is a "radical/terrorist/Muslim" show the party line of the Republicans and John McCain's campaign which was resoundingly rejected at the polls on November 4th. We will now have a President who understands that people of all faiths are human beings, that we all are brothers and sisters, whether we are black or white, straight or gay, Christian or Muslim, Israeli or Palestinian, and yes, even Democrat or Republican. The diplomatic team Barack has put together is formidable. Hillary Clinton is going to bring tremendous intellectual firepower to the position of Secretary of State. Susan Rice, another genius, will be our representative to the U.N. With these two women co-ordinating the efforts of the State Department and the U.N. we will have a real chance of bringing peace to many regions of the world. (Remember that the U.N. representative we have had for most of this period has been John Bolton, who has such a pathological hatred for the United Nations that he publicly stated he wished the U.N. building had been destroyed instead of the twin towers on Sept. 11th.) We cannot help but improve things now that we are 'clearing out the trash' and sending legitimate diplomats to engage with the world. When you consider the Israeli/Palestinian conundrum, with it's incredible complexity and history going much farther back than even 1948 or 1917, perhaps to the emperor Nero destroying the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps even to Exodus with the fateful sanctioning of land seizure and killing by the Lord himself, (or so we are told), it is easy to throw our hands up and believe there is no solution possible. But for the last 8 years we haven't even been trying to find one. A few of Dick Cheney's defense contractor friends have been getting rich, and are even now salivating over the money they will receive to replace the very expensive, state of the art munitions the IDF are consuming in Gaza as we speak. This has been what has passed for our 'diplomatic' efforts. I refuse to lose hope. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are my brothers and sisters, and I have faith that my Brother, my President, Barack Obama, is going to do everything he can to try to fix this because he understands suffering and bloodshed are real and can not be ignored. Rob
One of the most effective things our next administration could do to solve many of the problems in our nation's schools is to provide innovative ways to help each state tap into an electronic text book system. I wonder what the difference in cost would be to have a computer screen and keyboard at each student's desk in every classroom which is linked into a network versus the volumes of textbooks that need to be updated, reprinted, reshipped and stored. With changes in our world happening at an exponential rate, some textbooks are outdated before they even hit the teacher's classroom. Could it be that the savings in eliminating physical textbooks would be enough to apply to a national database for each state to tap into by supplying each student's desk with a flip up screen and keyboard?
The students would learn computer skills at a very early age with improved efficiency due to practical application for every subject. Information would be updated continually as current events move world politics, geography and science to change continually. Today's youth have quickly adpated to an interractive technological world...with old ways of learning it's no wonder so many are bored to tears and struggle to stay attentive.
Adapt or become extinct. While I am a true book lover, I am also 48 years old and have come to understand that as we grow in our amazing ability to create new ways to do everything we must be willing to let go of the old ways and make room for innovative improvements. There is something to be said for a library, but what we appreciate from our generation is not necessarily practical for the next generation. A fast paced society complete with an ever changing world of interactive technology necessitates our children to compete on a global level in all aspects of their lives. This begins with computer readiness and updated ways of learning that may not fit the mold of the 20th century.
As the Obama administration begins to put educational modifications into place, my hope is that they consider helping our states to step into the 21st century which will ensure that our children will be ready to take the leadership role when the time comes with confidence and preparedness that has come to be expected from Americans.
I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack
Find a polling place near you at Last Call for Change.
