----- Pre-written letter ----- Dear Senator:This week will be as important as any week in our lifetime in determining whether the anti-gun health care bill moves forward. As a result of the mandates in the Senate bill, all my gun-related health data can be dumped into a government database that was created in section 13001 of the stimulus bill. This includes any firearms-related information your doctor has gleaned..... or any determination of PTSD, or something similar, that can preclude you from owning firearms.The vote this week will be on shutting down a Republican filibuster of the motion to bring the bill up -- "cloture" on the "motion to proceed."The Senate and the House have a great tradition of conservative Democrats. The question is whether any conservative or even "moderate" Democrats will remain independent, or whether they will just do whatever their leftist leadership demands of them. In the House, every evidence is that the so-called "Blue Dog Democrats" were nothing but a stable of Pelosi puppets. And the only question was which ones Pelosi would choose to dance at the end of their strings, and which would be allowed to lie crumpled up in the corner. Is this the case in the Senate as well?1) You have demanded seventy-two hours to examine any legislative language -- and a CBO assessment based on final legislative language. You will not get this before this week's vote. The question is whether you were serious.2) You have demanded a bill which does not send the deficit spiraling into the stratosphere. The Reid bill will add over a hundred billion dollars to the deficit, when you consider the $210-247 billion Medicare "fix" Reid is trying to sneak through on separate Legislation (S. 1776). It will add over A HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS TO THE DEFICIT IF YOU DISCOUNT THE PHONY MEDICARE "CUTS." Was your promise worth the paper it was written on?3) You have promised a bill which will not tax the middle class. But the Reid bill will impose enormous costs and taxes -- not only on the middle class, but on the sick and elderly. Did you mean what you said? This is a week in which you will make history. Will you be a hero and a champion? Or a Reid puppet? I have faith that you will live up to your calling.You are being told that this is your chance to "make history." But history seldom rewards cowards who break their word because they are frightened by their "masters."Please, show me and the people who elected you that you are the hero we elected you to be. Vote against "cloture" on the anti-gun health care bill. Sincerely,
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NOTE:
I emailed,called,signed petitions,spoke to Sarah in McConnell off. and Jamie in Reid's off. The
opponents to HCR are busy,please stay aggressive. Continue to email and call.
VAgg
I am at work on my first novel, A memoir: No Regrets..., love and politics southern-style.
I obtain so much information from my sisters and brothers on OFA. I find it helpful when
calling my neighbors list. It is amazing that so many folks that voted for our President have
forgotten his words that "CHANGE" doesn't come easy and we must want it bad enough to work
with him to make it happen. I will continue to post daily on OFA,...however time making calls,
attending listening events and canvassing go hand in hand with our OFA BLOG. I,like so many
others here have learned how to post and make calls and email our Senators at the same time.
I hope calling a few neighbors daily will be added to that agenda.
Let's go change the world...
It's time for Health Insurance Reform!
Joining the discussion at Whitehouse.gov/live
Posted by Nathan Sterken
The White House live stream broadcasts all kinds of White House events, from press conferences with the President to concerts in the East Room. As you may have seen, it’s also home to a new, interactive feature—Open for Questions. During what we call "Open for Questions" sessions, which are hosted about once a week, administration officials answer questions from the public in a live, online video chat. To participate in a future session, stay tuned to the White House blog, Facebook page or Twitter feed for announcements, and then head to the White House Live application on Facebook during the event to submit a question.
By looking at the percentage of people from each state who tuned in, we can see that the popularity of Open for Questions and other White House events varies from state to state with each event. The map below, for example, shows this Wednesday’s Open for Questions session with the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors was most popular in the Midwest and Virginia:
The President’s primetime press conference in the midst of the H1N1 outbreak, though, was popular in California—home to the first confirmed case of H1N1:
And when President Obama weclomed Alison Krauss and Union Station, Brad Paisley, and Charley Pride to the White House, the event was most popular in Tennessee, the nation’s country music capital:
Stay tuned to the White House blog to hear about future Open for Questions sessions and other White House events. To participate in future Open for Questions segments, visit the White House Live application on Facebook.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Joining-the-discussion-at-Whitehousegov-live/
Obama's Prime time address on Health Care this coming Wednesday seems like a great opporunity for a watch party! I also think that OFA needs to have yard signs and bumper stickers available for sale. The messages could be any appropriate slogan with an Organizing for America tag line
Health Care for All Americans
Clean Energy Jobs Now
etc.
These days, one can't go many places without hearing about the need for Health Care Reform and Insurance Plan coverage with choice of a Public Option plan,as well.
Today was a day where groups of people all over the Unites States attended Events having to do with Health Care Reform. These events were all organized by volunteers. There was no compensation other than the fact that the events were successful. Since these events were successful then the argument that we don't need Health Care Reform becomes a false statement. Today was just more proof of how much we do need Health Care Reform, and it must include a Public Option.
There is something else that can be done to prove the need for Health Care Reform with a Public option. Many Doctors, Nurses and Health Care Workers,are supportive because they know it's needed and must happen now. The fact that forty seven million Americans,that includes working people are without insurance,threatens the very core of our Nation.To the concerned members of our prestigious Medical Profession,I submit this challange...
How about organizing your own "Health Care Day", in cities all around the United States and volunteering your time and your service. I'm not talking about a day where blood pressure is taken and weight is checked. I'm talking about a Health Care Day where Pap Tests and Mammograms for women without Health Care Coverage are given at no charge. A Health Care Day where prostate exams are given to men without Health Care Coverage at no charge.
A Health Care Day like this would bring out thousands of people, because they do not have health care coverage to afford these tests. That would prove once again, that there is an urgency and need for a Public Option to be included in Health Care Reform.
So, to all Health Care professionals, are you ready to show your support, and volunteer just as Middle Class Americans did all over the United States today? We, Middle Class Americans,are asking you to do, what we are doing on a regular basis,"A Day of Service".
When our President speaks, do we listen to everything he says? Do we just receive the messages that are pleasing to our ears and give us hope for the future? He has told us time and time again, that he can not change our lives without us working towards changing ourselves. He can promote, and sign legislation to improve the wages of teachers, but we do not ensure our children study and do their homework, the positive result of the presidents good work will be limited.
We are now faced with a challenge to improve, reform, and our healthcare system. What good will it do to provide healtcare to every American citizen, if you will not go to the doctor for regualar check ups, eat a proper diet, and exercise? Change we can believe in is change we must take responsibility for in our lives, and communities first. If we can spend our resources on things that we enjoy, many of which serve no longterm purpose of a positive nature, we should certainly consider dedicating a portion of our disposable income to something that matters. When my neihbors lost their homes, the value of mines dropped.
When a child goes to school sick with a communicable disease, virus, or bacterial infection that has not been treated because they do not have access to a doctor, your child may come home with that illness. This can be prevented by us taking a active role in supporting the passage of legislation that will solve this problem. We have a responsibility to speak out and spread the word to people who our President cannot speak to every minute of every day. We are out here, living in real time, in our real lives, not what is depicted on the news networks or descripbe by the political pundits who have been detached from the real American experience for years.
We must bridge the gap. We must invest in our future with our human assests, as well as our financial assests. Sacrifice now, to ensure you will not have to do it continually for the rest of your life, and your children will have to pick up the tab after we are gone. I served as a Marine, and continue to serve as a federal employee, union officer, as well as a Independent Advocate. I do not have to, but I have a responsibility to conitnually ask what I can do for my country, fellow co workers, and my community.
We all must do the same. President Obama made this clear throughout his campaign and his first 100 days in office. Have you answered his call, and joined a cause bigger than yourself? You need not bear arms, but you must serve your country in some way larger than being a law abiding tax paying citizen.
Do I have a witness on this?
Yes I do and he is our President and Commander in Chief.
God Bless You!
God Bless America!
Charles
For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act, the following websites can be consulted:
www.freechoiceact.org
www.aflcio.org
www.heritage.org
www.themiddleclass.org
"Let us pray." Those were the words of financial historian, John Steele Gordon, when he was asked by an Associated Press (AP) writer to comment on the current global financial crisis. He went on to opine that "..., it's probably going to be the worst postwar recession...," The same AP report included a litany of dismal statistics comparing the current troubles to the recession of 1982. The list includes:
In January, reports showed 207,000 manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one month drop since October1982.
Major automakers'U.S. sales extendedtheir deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years.
Struggling homebuilders have just completed the worst year for new home sales since 1982.
There are 12.5 million people out of work today, topping the number of jobless in 1982.
I have personal memories of seeing a tent-city in Phoenix, Arizona. Hundreds of unemployed and homeless in a rag-tag assortment of tent-like structures--most of them with shopping carts holding all of their worldly possessions. Many had migrated from the states where steel-working, auto-making and logging had paid the bills. In the face of staggering numbers of job losses, frustrated workers sought a new start in the southwest. Phoenix was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. (I took pictures and sent them to my mother here in Danville--appalled that this was happening in America.)
Ronald Reagan presided over the 80's recession and not even the "teflon" president could avoid comparisons to Herbert Hoover when he visited a beleaguered Pittsburgh, Pa. What he faced pales in comparison to President Obama's challenge. In Reagan's era, the problem was pretty much an in-house situation which responded to some changes in monetary policy to curb inflation. The situation we face today is global in scope and it is only the icing on layers of inattention to the fundamental problems that are faced by our own economic system.
Although I do not agree with President Obama on every jot and tittle--he could have gone further in reform of the tax code-- I stand firmly behind him on the direction in which he is taking this country. It's time to pay the piper. President Obama's budget is right on target. He is making us face what has been hidden by political smoke and mirrors--the actual cost of running this country if we are to adhere to the ideals on which this country was founded. Funding understaffed agencies like the Veteran's and Social Security Administrations, aggressively pursuing energy independence, providing access to quality health care for every American, refurbishing the country's crumbling infrastructure and the list goes on.
President Obama's detractors--most of them proponents of what they would call "limited government"--are screaming at the price tag on his initial budget. They warn that he is creating a socialist state, that he is set to destroy the world's greatest monument to capitalism. Some quote noted economist, Adam Smith, who defended the market economy so eloquently when he said, "Speak to a man of his own self-interest." What they ignore is that Smith did not stop there. To quote Amartya Sen from "Capitalism Beyond the Crisis:"
Smith viewed markets and capital as doing good work within their own
sphere, but first, they required support from other institutions--including public
services such as schools--values other than pure profit seeking, and second,
they needed restraint and correction by still other institutions--e.g., well-
devised financial regulations and state assistance to the poor--for preventing
instability, inequity and injustice. If we were to look for a new approach to the
organization of economic activity that included a pragmatic choice of a
variety of public services and well-considered legislation, we would be
following rather than departing from the agenda of reform that Smith
outlined as he both defended and criticized capitaism.
President Obama has chosen not to deal in "half measures." He is attacking on a myriad of fronts, taking possession of the mandate he was dealt in the November election. He and his staff, most notably, Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner, are moving in a calculated but expeditious way to change the direction of American policy, both domestically and around the world. He called for change--we said yes and change he is giving us.
The beauty of the American system has been and continues to be the rule of law. We accomplished regime change of monumental proportions in November in a deliberate and peaceful manner. The Bush administration graciously offered all possible cooperation to the incoming president, handing over power in way which is the envy of the civilized world.
We have much to be thankful for.
It is noteworthy that President Obama last week welcomed England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the White House for substantive talks. England and America remain the staunchest of allies. Also, Great Britain's membership in the Eurpean Union makes Brown something of an emissary to that struggling confederation.
(According to a New York Times report, "The leaders of the Eurpean Union [EU]gathered..,in Brussels in an emergency summit meeting that seemed to highlight the very worries it was designed to calm: that the world economic crisis has unleashed forces threatening to split Europe into rival camps." EU countries share little in common except a currency. They do not enjoy a "joint political destiny.')
Our united states make us unique.
President Obama is taking full advantage of our unique position and I applaud his efforts. These are critical times and they call for drastic measures.
I agree with Mr. Brown that we need to pray, but to that prayer we must add action. God helps those who help themselves.
Let’s be honest. We didn’t really expect Congress to come up with a "bold" stimulus plan, did we? But do we agree that NO action will only aggravate our current crisis?
The GOP surprised us when it failed to respond more constructively to the bipartisan overture from Barack Obama. I personally witnessed the precedent-setting bipartisan dinner for his defeated opponent (my photo of the President-elect at the dinner honoring McCain, January 19) and noted the subsequent meetings with Congressional Republicans. And what did we get in the way of proposals from the loyal opposition? More of the dogma-driven, supply-side ideology that contributed to our current mess: tax cuts!
On the other hand, GOP critics have a point: the bill that passed the House and was embraced by Obama essentially is an accumulation of favorite Democratic spending proposals.
What is missing is CHANGE. The CHANGE Obama advocated in his campaign for the Presidency. The CHANGE that won him a resounding mandate to govern for four years. The CHANGE from policies that have worked to benefit few and imperil many. Where are the first steps toward affordable health care, a sustainable green economy and alternative energy? And why are we not moving boldly to address the systemic failures that underlie the current crisis in credit markets?
Obama asked for ideas. And Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, among others, obliged. But what these brilliant men offer is predictable: rationales for orthodox Keynesian solutions and concern about labor market distortions, respectively. More is needed, not just in additional spending, but in fresh ideas that advance the President's policy agenda. So, if suggestions are still welcomed, here is my two-cents worth. And please do keep the CHANGE.
Health Care
Obama has promised the nation affordable health care similar to his own Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), to be available to all by the end of his first term. There is no need to back off this goal. Health care is one of the largest drags on our economy and the stimulus bill provides a real opportunity to begin managing its cost. In addition to the bill’s provisions to help state governments fund Medicare and work projects, I suggest that the federal government reimburse all state and local governments for their employer's share of health care for the rest of this year. In exchange, recipients may not fire government workers and must commit to integrating their health care plans with the existing FEHBP starting in 2010. That provides additional and immediate financial assistance to state and local governments, while paving the way for the establishment of a Public Employees Health Benefits Program. By January 2010, the federal government’s negotiated health care program would expand its base and economies of scale. The next step will be to apply the system to businesses, and subsequently to capture the un- and under-insured.
Energy Independence
Most honest leaders recognize that in due course government will have to produce the substantial additional revenue to pay for the stimulus. But good luck finding a politician willing to propose increasing taxes of any kind. So let me suggest instead a hefty tariff on imported oil to fund the “green economy.” A tariff of 50 percent or more on the landed cost of all imported energy (probably with some form of accommodation for our NAFTA partners) can be justified because of national security as well as the external costs to our environment inherent in the use of fossil fuels. And such a levy would promote conservation, subsidize domestic production, and help to fund and protect our investments in alternative energy. This is a measure that should be welcomed by Republicans who advocate "drill, baby, drill” as well as environmentalists interested in promoting clean energy. The windfall earned by American producers could be invested domestically or taxed as profits. And while there may be a marginal increase of fuel cost at the pump, it will pale in comparison with the amounts we forked over to foreign potentates rather than our own Treasury these past few years, when oil was effectively 200% greater than its current price.
Reestablish a ‘Risk-Free’ Investment Benchmark
Explanations for our current credit crisis and financial market meltdown abound, including the Washington Post's excellent series. But absent from all the expert analyses is any mention of the Treasury Department's October 2001 decision to discontinue issuing 30-year Bonds. That decision, on the heels of 9/11 and the cusp of Bush's costly war on terror, both lowered mortgage yields and prompted increased sales of bundled mortgages marketed as alternative 'risk-free' instruments, which in turn fueled the housing bubble and distorted both government and corporate credit point spreads. Treasury Bond auctions have resumed, but a clear provision to finance America’s recovery through borrowing would repair yield spreads – both between short and long term sovereign debt and in relation to all other debt instruments. Transparent budget financing will help re-establish more realistic risk pricing and global confidence in the US economy. But the 30-year Bond will not regain its position as a benchmark for 'risk-free' long-term investment if Fed meddling in the market, as it proposes to do with its planned purchase of Treasuries from troubled banks. In fact, this central-bankers-gone-wild approach will only create a greater Treasury bubble that will seriously aggravate our problems. Once markets are allowed to properly price the cost and risk of our recovery without Fed manipulation, global confidence in the US economy has a chance to be recover.
So Pay the Bill, and Keep the CHANGE
Barack Obama attended his last inaugural event, the Staff Ball, at the DC Armory on January 21. But he arrived after a performance by the opening act, Arcade Fire. So here are some insightful lysircs from their “Intervention”:
You say it's money that we need As if we're only mouths to feed I know no matter what you say There are some debts you'll never pay
You say it's money that we need
As if we're only mouths to feed
I know no matter what you say
There are some debts you'll never pay
The message is relevant to the stimulus bill now before Congress.
We can act responsibly and cautiously if we:
Pay the Bill and Keep the CHANGE.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement after meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss the Inauguration Swearing-In Ceremony:
“Today I met with Mark Sullivan, Director of the Secret Service, Philip D. Morse, the Chief of the Capitol Police, and Terrence Gainer, Senate Sergeant at Arms, along with other law enforcement officials to discuss the 56th Presidential Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony.An unprecedented number of people, estimated at nearly two million, converged on the National Mall area for this ceremony, and there was not one major arrest or injury at the event, apart from various medical emergencies. All law enforcement agencies worked very hard to keep the nation’s capital safe during this historic event, and they deserve our thanks. But the purpose of the discussion today was to learn more about what led to thousands of people not being able to get into their designated ticketed areas.It is clear that there were significant problems with managing crowds, especially in the Third Street Tunnel and the agencies involved are in the process of sorting out exactly what happened. There will be an after-action report compiled, not to cast blame, but to help us understand what mistakes were made so that we can make sure they are not repeated at future Inaugurals.”
“Today I met with Mark Sullivan, Director of the Secret Service, Philip D. Morse, the Chief of the Capitol Police, and Terrence Gainer, Senate Sergeant at Arms, along with other law enforcement officials to discuss the 56th Presidential Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony.
An unprecedented number of people, estimated at nearly two million, converged on the National Mall area for this ceremony, and there was not one major arrest or injury at the event, apart from various medical emergencies. All law enforcement agencies worked very hard to keep the nation’s capital safe during this historic event, and they deserve our thanks. But the purpose of the discussion today was to learn more about what led to thousands of people not being able to get into their designated ticketed areas.
It is clear that there were significant problems with managing crowds, especially in the Third Street Tunnel and the agencies involved are in the process of sorting out exactly what happened. There will be an after-action report compiled, not to cast blame, but to help us understand what mistakes were made so that we can make sure they are not repeated at future Inaugurals.”
