Good news: the Obama campaign "Organizing for America" (OFA), is harnessing grassroots Obama campaign energy to support the President's new Budget -- OFA focuses on supporting Obama's budget priorities of Renewable Energy, affordable Healthcare, and Education. These are great ideas.
Bad news: In that same Obama Budget are countless billions of taxpayer dollars for permanent military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, black sites and rendition programs, money for corporations like Titan Corp (now L-3) the torture 'outsourcers' at Bagram, armaments like Boeing's Future Combat Systems, depleted uranium projectiles, white phosphorus, Raytheon Paveway bombs, and even Dept Homeland Security's military-grade surveillance technology being used on the United States and its citizens (also supported by Lockheed & Raytheon contracts). All that in Obama's Budget.
Imagine going door to door asking for public support for a budget which pledges massive funding for
- constructing and maintaining 1000 US military bases in foreign lands, built & wired by KBR, Bechtel, Halliburton?
- ongoing occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan, where between 3 and 6.6 million excess deaths are estimated post-invasion (nearing Holocaust numbers)
- continuing unspeakable suffering visited on both US troops and to human beings around the planet?
- illegal military operations and bombing in Pakistan?
Would you pledge your support that budget -- even if it contained great new healthcare & green-tech initiatives? What is the progressive response?
For the next MetroSanDiego PDA meeting on Thursday April 16th, I am organizing two speakers to present two viewpoints about the Obama War Budget, one in SUPPORT, and one CRITICAL.
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( 5 / 1 )Navid and I attended the peace rally in San Diego this weekend to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war. We marched through the streets of Hillcrest to the war memorial in Balboa Park, where we listened to speakers including Cindy Sheehan. It's a small gesture when 4275 American soldiers and over one million Iraqis have died, but it felt good to get out and make some noise for peace.
You can read about the rally and see pictures of the march and rally at the OB Rag and see a lot of photos here . I'm glad people took all those great photos and posted them.
We even got coverage on Michael Moore's website !
The rally was covered by KUSI too, but at the end of covering the actual news event, with interviews and footage, they did a voice-over stating that other people say that the war has accomplished a lot, and that the important thing is that we all have the freedom to express our views, thanks to the American flag, apparently...they literally zoomed in on a flag and said something about red white and blue. I couldn't believe they went out of their way to express an opposing view to what the protest expressed, even though there were no counter-protesters there and they couldn't even find someone on the street to interview who disagreed. So much for objective reporting.
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( 5 / 1 )I've already been boycotting Starbucks based on their discrimination in Saudi Arabia and their failure to sell fair trade certified coffee, but now there's another reason; they're trying to strip key provisions from the Employee Free Choice Act . The problem for me is that Costco and Whole Foods are working with them!
As far as I can see, the Vons, Ralphs, and Albertsons in my area are unionized, so I guess those would be more worker-friendly places to shop. Trader Joe's, Henry's, and Fresh & Easy are not unionized.
We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act with all three key provisions intact: the ability to form a union when a majority of the workers sign a card (without going through a lengthy election process that leaves workers open to pressure and intimidation by their employer); guaranteed timeframe for a contract, otherwise an arbitrator is called in to help; and new stronger penalties for companies that abuse and intimidate workers.
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( 5 / 1 )These poll results clearly show public support for a single-payer healthcare system.
Here's another from October 2007.
Politicians keep claiming that Americans aren't ready for a government health insurance plan, but it's not true. So whose interests are they really protecting???
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( 0 / 0 )Can you believe it? Now they want to put transponders in our cars to track exactly where and when we're driving at all times! This is touted as the new and improved transportation funding mechanism to replace the gas tax and toll roads. The vast majority of the country is still driving gas-guzzlers, and rather than allow the cost of gas to convince more Americans to buy smaller cars, hybrid or electric vehicles, ride their bikes, carpool, or take public transit, they propose to punish every car owner, Prius and Hummer alike, by permanently destroying their privacy of movement. They may claim the information will be protected and only used to tax our road usage, but if this information had been available to the Bush administration, I know they would have been tracking our every move. Think how easy it would be to collect a list of people who attended a particular anti-war rally!
There are apparently multiple studies of the mileage tax idea going on right now. I think this quote pretty much sums up the boneheadedness of the whole scheme:
“We’re seeing more fuel-efficient cars or even cars that run on electricity,” said Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation. “Those people are not paying as much, and yet they’re still on the road and still causing congestion and impacting pavement. How do I get at those people?”
Oh no! Are the people who chose more efficient cars actually benefitting in some small way for their planet-saving ways?? Let's hurry up and find ways to penalize them and remove the incentives to buy a lower emission vehicle! Besides, last time I checked, more fuel efficient cars are smaller and lighter than others, so they create less of an obstruction in traffic and put less wear and tear on pavement. Susan Martinovich should be down on her knees kissing the feet of Nevada's hybrid and electric drivers, not plotting new ways to capture the money they've saved on gas.
I hope Obama was serious in rejecting the idea.
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( 1 / 1 )I got these from the San Diego think tank Center on Policy Initiatives :
1. Rebuild the middle class
The Employee Free Choice Act will boost our economy in the best way, by putting money directly into the pockets of American families and giving them the financial security of health insurance and pensions. Allowing Americans the freedom to join a union is a crucial element in strengthening the economy where it matters most: in our family budgets.
The act is an essential step toward reviving the economy by strengthening the middle class.
We need to focus on creating jobs that allow workers to provide for their families, afford housing and have access to healthcare. Our economy depends on a strong middle class, with workers who are able to earn a fair wage, with benefits and a secure retirement. Allowing workers a fair opportunity to join a union is the best way to rebuild our economy.
2. Unions are effective.
Research has shown that union membership dramatically improves wages and health coverage. On average, California workers who join unions earn $2.87 more per hour than demographically identical non-union workers in similar jobs. Nationally, union workers are 28% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance.
3. It's not true that secret ballots would be eliminated.
The Employee Free Choice Act will restore workers' freedom to improve their lives - - and our economy - - through forming unions, free from employer interference and intimidation. It does not eliminate the secret ballot election, but gives the power to choose between majority sign-up and an election to the workers rather than the company.
Read More...
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( 0 / 0 )This item was brought to my attention by the San Diego Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions group:
March 7, 2009
TLVFEST / Yair Hochner
Tel-Aviv Cinematheque,
2 Sprinzak St, 64738, Tel Aviv, Israel
yairho@bezeqint.net
Dear Yair:
After much wrestling with these difficult issues, I’ve come to a decision: I can’t show Fig Trees in your festival, and I can’t go forward with my proposed film shoot in Israel.
This choice has been very difficult to make. As I’ve said before, I have great respect for the work you’re doing, and know what a struggle your festival faces to keep going. I want to be very clear: my decision isn’t in opposition to your festival, which has done much to promote the voices of global queers, or to you, who have done much to get queer films made and shown in your city.
Instead, I feel I must join the many Jews and non-Jews, Israelis and Palestinians, queers and otherwise, who are part of the growing global BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement against Israeli apartheid. I’ve come to the conclusion that, in this moment, to not take this stand is unthinkable, impossible.
Read more
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( 0 / 0 )I submitted the following question for the regional healthcare forum to be held April 6th in LA. The auto-response said the forum is already filled up. I wonder if they will set up more events, since there is so much demand to attend.
"Knowing that private insurance companies are driven by the profit motive to provide the lowest possible level of service and reject as many people as possible in order to pay for advertising, big salaries and shareholder profits, how can we remove private insurance companies from the decision-making process and from the health care system?"
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( 0 / 0 )Democracy Now! covered single-payer healthcare on yesterday's show . I haven't finished listening yet but wanted to get the link out right away.
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( 3.3 / 6 )I just read the report on the community healthcare discussions that were held in December. I had attended another meeting with a broad agenda to sustain the movement for change that started with Obama's campaign, and I found the discussion to be primarily congratulatory and reliving moments from the campaign rather than looking ahead, so I skipped the healthcare one. The report was interesting although the conclusions they drew had more to do with very broad goals like "fairness" rather than specifics of how we get there. As a cynic I might ask if that was an intentional effort not to collect solutions that might clash with the ones Obama already had in mind...but I'll try to dismiss such thoughts. Still, it's hard to remain hopeful when the President says all options are on the table while rejecting the single-payer option out of hand. The Friday before last I got the opportunity to visit my Representative's office and speak with a member of his staff about HR 676, with three other constituents. I won't say that we changed Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray's mind about the single-payer plan (his staffer's first, and only substantial question was if other Republicans are supporting the measure) but at least we were able to educate someone in his office with some background, facts, and statistics that I'm sure they aren't getting from party leaders. He took the time to watch this video on HR 676 and listen to all of our personal stories and ideas about why a single-payer plan will work better for Americans. I know Representative Bilbray values choice and competition, so I made a point of mentioning how a single-payer plan gives consumers more choice of doctors, since they are not tied into a specific HMO or PPO network nor forced to change doctors whenever they change jobs. In addition, they are spared from harmful choices like "How much of a risk am I willing to take with my health to get a lower premium?" I enjoyed my citizen lobbying experience, and encourage others to do the same. Unfortunately it's not so easy to fly to DC and lobby President Obama, but I posted the following comment at whitehouse.gov/contact today. Tomorrow I plan to participate in PDA's national call-in day to Congress. They may not listen the first or second time, but that's okay; if we keep at it, eventually they'll have to hear us.
Dear President Obama,
I read your report on the health reform discussions that took place around the country in December. I did not attend, but I have sent you comments on this issue before. I did not see the specific questions that were asked of the groups, but I gather that you did not ask how people felt about a single-payer plan, since not all of the groups discussed the single-payer option. However, the report says that of the 27% of groups that discussed single-payer, most supported the idea. That leads me to believe that if single-payer was raised as an option to all of the groups and a little bit of education was provided, support for single-payer healthcare would have been nearly unanimous. Why not let the groups watch the video put together to explain HR 676, and then discuss? I'm sure many are not aware that this solution has already been worked out, since the mainstream media, fueled by advertising dollars from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, have refused to cover this side of the issue. This would have given you the mandate you need to move forward with a strong push to provide all Americans with health care funded by our tax dollars, as in every other developed nation of the world. Leaders like John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich have been leading the charge for single-payer healthcare for years now. I argued for single-payer healthcare for a year on my high school debate team. This is not some untested, radical, fringe idea. It's a mainstream, realistic, direct solution to our health insurance crisis. You have massive public support, a huge bully pulpit, and the best chance ever to fundamentally overhaul our health care system. We can do away with for-profit care-deniers once and for all! I don't understand why you put out a compromise plan and then announce you are willing to compromise even on that. You should use the next round of community discussions, which most of the participants asked for, to educate people to the single-payer solution. With their understanding and support, you can come out swinging for government-funded health care for all Americans. There won't be a better chance. Now is the time. Please be the leader we need you to be. We're counting on you to deliver single-payer universal health care. Don't let us down.
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