Derrick's Progressive News
[Peasants for Plutocracy political cartoon]
Progressive News Contents
President Obama Defends Corporatist Sen. Blanch Lincoln, DINO (AK)
Little Room On Lincoln's Left As Democrats Prep To Rally Behind Arkansas Conservadem
True Blue? TPM Asks Bill Halter: How Progressive Are You?
The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care
Obama Leaves Single Payer in the Cold (VIDEO)
101 Reasons Universal Health Care Works for Pennsylvania
Senator Ron Wyden Made Oregon Proud
David Wu Voted Against Reauthorization of Spying on Americans
Kucinich Announces Introduction of Privileged Resolution to End Afghan War
Human Trafficking: How to Help Women and Children Treated As Slaves
Oregon Attorney General's Annual Report for 2009
A Gift for Republicans: Ronald Reagan 1948 (VIDEO)
Just For Fun: Market Street in San Francisco in 1905 (VIDEO)
President Obama Defends Corporatist Sen. Blanch Lincoln, DINO (AK)
Derrick: Obama today (Monday) immediately announced his support of this Corporatist Democrat against a true progressive Democrat challenger who announced his candidacy today. It looks like this is now our chance to show Obama who the voters are and that progressives can fund a campaign against Obama his corporatists buddies. You can chip in to Bill Halter’s campaign though MoveOn, ActBlue, Democracy for America, Bold Progressives, or the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Mark my words, Obama and the DNC better learn quick. Corporatists in the Democratic party must be retired, or millions more will abandon the already shrinking Democratic party out of disgust with the DNC. They will be gone for a long time, too. Obama brought the nation together FOR CHANGE. The DNC is delivering corporate love and dithering. Only the hard-core and those who don’t pay attention will remain. America is at war against corporate plutocracy that are destroying our country! The Democrates are a natural for this fight.
What is the point of being part of a party that puts corporate profits over the welfare of the people and is scared to death of criticism from the right?
From MoveOn:
For the past year, a small handful of conservative Democrats in Congress has obstructed progress at every turn—but starting today, we've got a huge opportunity to stop one of the worst of them.
That's because just this morning Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter announced that he's challenging Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary there. 1
Sen. Lincoln stood with insurance companies to kill the public option, with coal companies to roll back the Clean Air Act, and with big banks to kill legislation that would have helped families stay in their homes. 2
If we can replace her with progressive Bill Halter, it'll put every conservative Democrat in Washington on notice that siding with corporate interests has a heavy political price.
But Halter needs to quickly raise enough money to compete with Lincoln, who has over $5 million in the bank, much of it raised from corporate interests. 3
So a major coalition of progressive groups has set a goal of raising $500,000 for Bill Halter this week. That'd make headlines, but it'll take 14 donations from Beaverton to meet the goal—can you chip in $25?
https://pol.moveon.org/give/halter_announce.html?id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=4
Just how bad is Blanche Lincoln?
She promised to filibuster any health care bill that included a public option after taking more than $866,000 from insurance and HMO interests. 4 She's the #1 recipient of campaign contributions from Big Oil in the last year, and now she's sponsoring a bill to roll back the Clean Air Act. 5 And she accepted more than $1.3 million over her career from Wall Street banks and financial interests, and then voted to kill legislation that would've allowed struggling homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages and stay in their homes. 6
Here's how MoveOn member Jennifer P. from Little Rock put it: "Lincoln never met a special interest she didn't like. It's hard to express just how awful she has been as a senator. I don't know of anyone who will vote for her if she shows up on the November ballot." That's why MoveOn members in Arkansas voted 92% to support Halter's campaign to replace her.
Fortunately, we've got a much better alternative. Bill Halter has a progressive record as lieutenant governor and he's willing to take on big corporations when he gets to Washington.
Click here to donate to his campaign:
https://pol.moveon.org/give/halter_announce.html?id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=5
In announcing his candidacy today, Halter said: "Washington is broken. Bailing out Wall Street with no strings attached while leaving middle-class Arkansas taxpayers with the bill. Protecting insurance company profits instead of protecting patients and lowering health costs. Gridlock, bickering, and partisan games while unemployment is at a 25-year high. Enough is enough." 7
Halter's well-positioned to beat Lincoln, and her approval ratings are so low that he has a much better chance of keeping the seat Democratic—but only if he can quickly raise enough money to compete. And given her unpopularity, Lincoln's likely strategy is to flood the air immediately with attack ads to keep him from building the momentum he needs to win.
So we need to get Bill Halter's campaign off to a huge start. Can you chip in $25 towards our goal of 14 donations from Beaverton to his campaign this week?
https://pol.moveon.org/give/halter_announce.html?id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=6
Thanks for all you do.
–Adam, Wes, Nita, Michael, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. Official campaign website, March 1, 2010
http://www.billhalter.com/announcement
2. "Lincoln: 'I'll Filibuster A Public Option Bill,'" Talking Points Memo, November 21, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85297&id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=7
"Blanche Lincoln Cosponsors Murkowski's Dirty Air Act," The Wonk Room, January 21, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86489&id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=8
"'Cramdown' Crammed Down in Senate—For Now," BusinessWeek, April 30, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86490&id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=9
3. Selected data from the Center for Responsive Politics, March 1, 2010
http://pol.moveon.org/lincoln/contribs.html?id=19161-8265398-m9hAnlx&t=10
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Official campaign website, March 1, 2010
http://www.billhalter.com/announcement
Bill Halter ActBlue Page
http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/23963
Dump Lincoln.com Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oilbWlKu360&feature=player_embedded#
Little Room On Lincoln's Left As Democrats Prep To Rally Behind Arkansas Conservadem
Christina Bellantoni | March 2, 2010 | TPMDC | Link
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) by all accounts is in trouble as her reelection nears, and a primary challenge from her left is unwelcome by even some of her critics. Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's primary started officially today and he's got a surge of progressive organizing, labor union money and online support as left-leaning Democrats attempt to boot Lincoln from office.
TPMDC spoke with several Democratic senators on Capitol Hill today who said the party will close ranks around Lincoln and that she won't have to worry about rogue endorsements. The Lincoln camp and her supporters will frame the challenge from Halter as "liberal, out-of-state Democrats" and sources familiar with the race said Lincoln will soon roll out high-profile local endorsements to shore up her side. The White House is backing Lincoln and already has done fundraising on her behalf. An Obama aide wouldn't say today if that will continue.
National Democrats were even more frank, saying Halter's challenge will force Lincoln to dip into her massive $5.1 million war chest that she will need in the fall against a Republican foe. The Republicans haven't determined who their candidate will be. Lincoln trails all of them, but none are as well known and the GOPer who comes closest to her in fundraising has just $600,000 cash on hand.
The current TPM Poll Average of this race shows Republican Rep. John Boozman with 52.7 percent and Lincoln with 35.7 percent.
"It never helps us to have a primary and if she has to spend all that money in the primary that's a problem," a Democratic strategist said in an interview, speaking privately to be able to freely discuss the intra-party battle.
State Democrats admitted in interviews with us that Lincoln's poll standing doesn't look good, but they blamed in part the national attention on the race. They said Arkansans recognize Lincoln's critical role as the new chairman of the Agriculture Committee and will choose her in the May 18 primary - and, Democrats hope, in the fall - with that in mind.
The strategist said Lincoln is as "homegrown" as you can get in the Natural State, and believes that liberal blogger campaigns, MoveOn.org emails and ActBlue fundraising attempts won't convince the state's Democratic voters to choose Halter.
An Arkansas Democrat familiar with the race told TPMDC today in an interview the primary could do more harm than good for the party's causes.
"The movement in the whole country seems to be this anger on the right, and it sure as hell isn't swinging to the left in Arkansas," the source said.
The source added: "If they are running to the left, where does that leave them in the unlikely event their efforts are successful? An Arkansas Democrat is a unique Democrat and we're successful here largely when left to our own devices."
Sources said privately that Halter is not popular or liked by state party officials and has proven to be a "lousy fundraiser." Others questioned whether Halter would even equivocally back the things progressives would want. For example, Halter hedged about supporting the Employee Free Choice Act in this interview with Roll Call.
It's not like unpopular Sen. Chris Dodd's decision not to seek reelection, a move that helped Democrats breathe a sigh of relief since he was in such trouble in the polls. By stepping aside Dodd (D-CT) helped the party's chances of keeping his seat blue.
Despite the support from senators including Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), it's not a sure thing that Lincoln will have united backing from her fellow Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told me he wasn't sure if some progressives might support Halter.
Kerry said Lincoln has nothing to worry about from her Senate colleagues. "I don't think there is any risk whatsoever that would happen," Kerry told me.
True Blue? TPM Asks Bill Halter: How Progressive Are You?
Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 2, 2010 | TPMDC | Link
Progressives across the country have been overjoyed with Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's decision to challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the May 18 Senate primary. Activists on the left feel that Halter's candidacy offers them a chance to punish Lincoln for taking stands on key issues that run counter to the progressive agenda.
Much of the progressive effort before Halter entered the race was focused on attacking Lincoln, rather than building up Halter. To many on the left, she is the embodiment of the conservative faction in the Democratic Senate caucus that kept many key components of President Obama's agenda -- most notably health care reform -- from sailing smoothly through a Congress the Democrats control. Those angry at Lincoln got their wish Monday when Halter decided to enter the primary. But we wanted to know just how progressive a candidate Halter will be now that he's the standard-bearer for progressive discontent across the country. In a brief interview this morning, we got our answer.
Halter told me he doesn't like labels when I asked him if he's a progressive. "When campaigns use one-word labels, typically it's meant to distract and destroy," he said.
Halter wasn't afraid to put the label on himself when comparing himself to the rest of the Senate field in Arkansas, however. "I do think I'm more progressive than the other candidates in the race," he said before telling me his legacy as Lt. Gov has been to "help Arkansans advance and make progress."
On the issues, Halter often came down on the left-hand side of the line. He told me he likes candidates that talk specifics and in most cases he put his money where his mouth was, offering detailed answers on a number of policy fronts. One notable exception was cap-and-trade, where Halter took a vague stance on the House version of the bill past last year saying only that it needed "significant changes" before he could support it.
Here's a rundown of Halter's stances on the issues we discusses. Judge for yourself whether his answers make him a progressive or not.
Card check: Lincoln's public opposition to the card check provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act last year led to the first threats from organized labor that it could withdraw it's support from her in a primary. Yesterday, the AFL-CIO made good on the threat, pledging $3 million in independent expenditures to help Halter defeat her.
Halter said he would have been "inclined to support" the version of EFCA that Lincoln rejected, but he stressed to me today that arguments over that bill are essentially a moot point.
"The fact is, the discussions have moved beyond that," he said. Halter said that he supports current union-backed efforts to revise EFCA to make it easier for workers to unionize by speeding up the elections process and making it tougher for employers to stand in the way.
"The final language hasn't been emerged yet," Halter said, "but the fact is, we do need to provide working men and women with the ability to come together and decide whether or not they want to be represented in a union."
Public Option: On this topic, Halter was very clear -- he supports a robust public option, modeled on Medicare, that would compete directly with insurance companies. He said that if he were in the Senate today, he'd support using reconciliation to add a public option into the current Senate bill.
On the trail, Halter said he'll use better messaging to sell his proposal to voters. "If you ask 100 Arkansans what ["public option"] means, you're going to get 100 different answers," he said. "People don't know what it is. So rather than go around talking about a "public option," I'm going to outline for people exactly what my plan is."
Cap-and-Trade: Lincoln has drawn fire from environmental and progressive groups for her rejection of the House-passed cap-and-trade bill last year. Her decision to join with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and call on Congress to make it illegal for the EPA to regulate carbon emissions has been a particular bone of contention, leading to anti-Lincoln advertising in Arkansas from the Sierra Club and MoveOn.
When I asked him about the EPA ban, Halter was direct. "No," he said when I asked if he would joined with Murkowski's efforts to weaken the agency as Lincoln did.
But on cap-and-trade overall, he didn't offer a specific policy stance, instead talking at length about developing alternative energy resources to better the environment and the economy. But he said "there are significant changes that need to be made" to the House cap-and-trade bill before he could support it.
Halter ended our interview before he had a chance to elaborate on what those "significant changes" are.
The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care
By REED ABELSON | Published: February 26, 2010 | The New York Times | Link
Margaret Butler provided this article/link.
“Hands off my health care,” goes one strain of populist sentiment.
But what if?
Suppose Congress and President Obama fail to overhaul the system now, or just tinker around the edges, or start over, as the Republicans propose — despite the Democrats’ latest and possibly last big push that began last week at a marathon televised forum in Washington.
Then “my health care” stays the same, right?
Far from it, health policy analysts and economists of nearly every ideological persuasion agree. The unrelenting rise in medical costs is likely to wreak havoc within the system and beyond it, and pretty much everyone will be affected, directly or indirectly.
“People think if we do nothing, we will have what we have now,” said Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research group in New York. “In fact, what we will have is a substantial deterioration in what we have.”
Nearly every mainstream analysis calls for medical costs to continue to climb over the next decade, outpacing the growth in the overall economy and certainly increasing faster than the average paycheck. Those higher costs will translate into higher premiums, which will mean fewer individuals and businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage. More of everyone’s dollar will go to health care, and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid will struggle to find the money to operate.
Policy makers, in the end, may be forced to address the issue.
“It will break all of our banks if we do nothing,” said Peter V. Lee, who oversees national health policy for the Pacific Business Group on Health, which represents employers that offer coverage to workers. “It is a course that is literally bankrupting the federal government and businesses and individuals across the country.”
Even those families that enjoy generous insurance now are likely to see the cost of those benefits escalate. The typical price of family coverage now runs about $13,000 a year, but premiums are expected to nearly double, to $24,000, by 2020, according to the Commonwealth Fund. That equals nearly a quarter of the median family income today.
While some employers will continue to contribute the lion’s share of those premiums, there will be less money for employees in the form of raises or bonuses.
“It’s also cramping our economic growth,” said Frank McArdle, a consultant with Hewitt Associates, which advises large employers and reported on the need for change for the Business Roundtable, an association of C.E.O.’s at major companies. Spending so much on health care is “really a waste of people’s money,” Mr. McArdle said.
The higher premiums will also persuade more businesses, especially smaller ones, to decide not to offer insurance. More people who buy coverage on their own or are asked to pay a large share of premiums will find the price too high. It doesn’t take too many 39-percent increases, like the recent one proposed in California that has garnered so much attention, to put insurance out of reach.
“We have an affordability problem that is moving up through the middle class now,” said Paul B. Ginsburg, the president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonprofit Washington research group.
While estimates vary, the number of people without insurance is expected to increase by more than a million a year, said Ron Pollack, the executive director of Families USA, a Washington consumer advocacy group that favors the Democrats’ approach. The Urban Institute, for example, predicts that the number of uninsured individuals will increase from about 49 million today to between 57 million and 66 million by 2019. The Democrats’ plan is expected to cover as many as 30 million individuals who now are uninsured.
There will be a cost in lives, too. Mr. Pollack’s organization estimates that as many as 275,000 people will die prematurely over the next 10 years because they do not have insurance. Even people with insurance will find their coverage providing much less protection from financial catastrophe than it does now. Individuals will pay significantly more in deductibles and co-payments, for example. “More and more families will experience huge debts and bankruptcies,” Mr. Pollack said.
Federal and state governments will also feel the squeeze. Medicare, the federal program for the elderly, is already the subject of much hand-wringing as its spending balloons. Medicaid, a joint program of the federal government and the states, is already struggling as states try to balance budgets hit hard by the economic downturn. Many states may be forced to cut benefits sharply as well as reduce financing for community health centers and state hospitals that serve the poor.
“I think we’ll just see the decline of public services,” said John Holahan, the director of the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute.
Exactly how politicians, or anyone else, will react to the increasing pressures on the system is anyone’s guess. If the system actually collapses, could there be a movement to adopt a government-run system, something like Medicare for all, where the whole health care system would be much more heavily regulated?
Or maybe employers would take up the effort to figure out a better way of providing coverage.
The states may also step up their role. Some may try to follow the lead of Massachusetts, which overhauled its own insurance market for individuals and small businesses, while others may try a series of regulatory fixes. A state senator in New Hampshire, for example, recently introduced legislation that regulates hospital prices in a fashion similar to an approach favored in Maryland.
What seems unlikely, say policy analysts, is that Congress would try to pass anything nearly as ambitious as the bills that went through the House and Senate last year.
“If we fail this time, you’re not going to get this Congress to take this up on a big scale,” said Len Nichols, a health policy analyst at George Mason University who says he thinks the Democrats should go ahead and pass legislation.
But few policy analysts think Congress can afford to do absolutely nothing. Lawmakers are instead likely to try a series of smaller fixes, said Stuart Butler, a health policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a research group that favors market solutions over a larger government role.
After President Bill Clinton failed to get Congress to pass his health care bill in 1994, Republicans, who then had substantial victories in the House and Senate, worked with him to pass legislation like the health care privacy bill, a children’s health insurance program and the Balanced Budget Act, which contained significant changes to the Medicare program. Under President George W. Bush, the Republicans went on to pass a drug benefit under Medicare. “In the space of less than 10 years, you have several major bills,” Mr. Butler said.
If nothing passes now, Mr. Butler says he thinks Congress will tackle narrower areas, like insurance regulation, to make it easier for people with pre-existing medical conditions to find coverage, or maybe it will try another expansion of Medicaid or the children’s program.
But President Obama clearly prefers passage of a broader bill. In wrapping up Thursday’s session with lawmakers, he and other Democrats warned that an incremental approach was likely to provide too little relief to the people already feeling the effects of a broken system. “It turns out that baby steps don’t get you to the place that people need to go,” he said.
And even some people without a partisan point to make argue that the series of bills passed in the last 15 years have not made enough of a dent in slowing down medical costs. “We’ve had a lot of incremental reforms already,” said Mr. McArdle, the Hewitt consultant.
And many argue that putting off the inevitable has an additional cost. The Commonwealth Fund estimates that the nation would be spending hundreds of billions of dollars less than it does today if any of the health care legislation proposed by previous administrations had been enacted, assuming that they reduced costs by about 1.5 percentage points. If President Nixon’s plan had passed, the United States might be spending a trillion dollars a year less than it does now, and President Clinton’s plan would have reduced spending by some $500 billion a year.
“It makes a huge difference over a long period of time,” said Ms. Davis of the Commonwealth Fund.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 28, 2010, on page WK1 of the New York edition.
Obama Leaves Single Payer in the Cold (VIDEO)
Single Payer and Teabaggers ‘Unite’
Charles Baccus provided this article/link.
The whole of Pennsylvania Avenue from 15th Street to 17th Street was closed off yesterday.
Obama and leaders of the two corporate parties were meeting at the Blair House across the street from the White House to hatch a plan to protect insurance industry profits.
Obama had made sure that not one advocate for a single payer Medicare for All system was in the room.
They were all left outside in the cold.
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=2173
Teabaggers had gathered on 17th Street to protest against what they saw as an inside job.
Single payer activists gathered on the North Side of Lafayette Park to protest what they saw as an inside job.
After a number of speeches from the leaders of the single payer movement – Katie Robbins, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Dr. Carol Paris, Donna Smith, Andrea Miller and Kevin Zeese among others – the group of about 50 activists marched around the corner to where the teabaggers had gathered.
As we approached, the more aggressive of the teabaggers began shouting at us – Kill the Bill.
By which they meant — kill the Democratic bill that Obama is seeking to ram through the Congress.
They were a bit taken aback when we started chanting back – Kill the Bill – Medicare for All.
We would defeat Obamacare.
And then get rid of not only the insurance industry’s bill, but defeat the politicians they control.
And in fact, we would get rid of the insurance industry itself altogether.
The teabaggers didn’t quite understand it.
This is one instance where we believe in the death penalty and the teabaggers don’t.
Get rid of the insurance industry’s bill.
And get rid of the insurance industry.
Replace it with one public insurance pool.
Everybody in.
Nobody out.
Free choice of doctors and hospitals.
Onward to single payer.
101 Reasons Universal Health Care Works for Pennsylvania
Philip Kauffman provided this link/article.
Here's a list of the good things a universal single payer health insurance system will do for Pennsylvania. There are more, most importantly the over one million uninsured citizens of the Commonwealth. Support our efforts to pass sane health care legislation in Harrisburg. Learn about the bills working their way through the State House right now.
1. Protect Pennsylvania jobs - by capping the employer contribution to the Health Trust at 10% of payroll. Those Pennsylvania employers currently paying for employee health insurance coverage will enjoy a substantial savings and will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage to those paying nothing toward the cost of health care coverage. This also completely eliminates the administrative overhead costs associated with employer paid health insurance.
2. Reduce the cost of prescription drugs - by using Pennsylvania’s 12.5 million citizens as a formidable bargaining entity in dealing with drug companies.
3. Eliminate uncompensated care - by assuring that health care providers are paid for all of the services they provide.
4. Assure comprehensive care for all - through a universal health care system. Approximately one million out of our 12 million citizens have no health coverage of any kind.
5. End wasteful defensive medicine - which, according to a recent survey, 90% of Pennsylvania physicians admit to. We address this by replacing the fault based malpractice system with a no-fault program that emphasizes broader availability of compensation, quality assurance instead of punishment. Those who believe they are better off retaining their traditional fault based right to sue may opt out of the no-fault system, but the Balanced Plan adopts the no-fault approach as the default position and thus the vast majority of Pennsylvanians will participate in the no-fault program.
6. Address racial disparity - through universal access and a commitment to assuring the availability of quality providers in all communities.
7. Dramatically reduce wasteful administrative costs - through a single payer approach that eliminates the unnecessary and redundant overhead of the existing myriad of public and private payers. Major studies have agreed that approximately 20% of our health care dollars are wasted due to the inefficiencies of the current system.
8. Remove health care as a recurrent union/management issue in collective bargaining - by providing automatic, comprehensive, and universal health care independent of the employment relationship. This legislation does permit unions and employers to opt out of the Commonwealth Plan so long as the benefits included in the collective bargaining agreement are at least as comprehensive as the Commonwealth Plan.
9. End health care expenses as the leading cause of personal bankruptcy - thus preserving the dignity and savings of Americans who already face the burdens directly associated with family illness or accident.
10. Preserve the volunteer firefighter and emergency responder base, especially in rural areas of the Commonwealth - through a $1,000 per year state tax rebate to active volunteers we encourage the retention and recruitment of this vital resource.
Read the rest of this list here.
Senator Ron Wyden Made Oregon Proud
The DC pundits are telling Democrats to cave to Republicans and big corporations in the name of "bipartisanship."
But Sen. Wyden just joined the growing list of senators supporting the will of the people – saying he would vote "yes" for the public option in reconciliation if it came up for a vote.
When elected representatives take bold action, they deserve our praise.
Can you write Sen. Ron Wyden a short thank-you note for his bold support? Click here.
We'll deliver your note to him.
In just two weeks, support for passing the public option has skyrocketed.. Over 30 senators have signed a letter or issued a statement in support of the public option, including nearly every member of the Senate Democratic leadership. Here's what Sen. Wyden had to say:
"I've long believed we need a more competitive insurance market. If the House version of the public option came up for a vote in reconciliation I would vote yes."
Let's show Senator Wyden that we appreciate him standing up for the public option -- thank him today. And please ask your friends to thank him too.
-- Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Aaron Swartz, Michael Snook, Brian Bills, and the PCCC team
David Wu Voted Against Reauthorization of Spying on Americans
Derrick: David stood up on the right side of American values and rights. Wu voted against reauthorization of Patriot Act Provisions. Bravo!
http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?page=voteInfo&voteId=10458
Kucinich Announces Introduction of Privileged Resolution to End Afghan War
Will Hobbs provided this link/article.
Washington has a lot of money. It has trillions for war, but no money for housing. Money for war, but no money for health care. Money for war, but no money for education. Money for war - no money to rebuild our cities. No money to create jobs, but money for war.
The Democrats took control of the Congress in 2006 with a promise to end the War in Iraq and it's not enough for this Administration to slow-walk the end of the war, which could continue for years to come. And it's not enough for a Democratic Administration to escalate a war in Afghanistan at a time when there's no clear objective and no end in sight of the contribution of blood and treasure, to a region which has never been conquered by any foreign country.
It's time that we take a stand as citizens. And it's also time to force Congress to take it's Constitutional responsibility seriously. Article 1, Section 8 requires that Congress has the war-making power. It is absolutely imperative that Congress be required to assert it's responsibility on behalf of the American people. Congress is directly elected by the people. And Congress has to respond and step up to it's responsibility to decide if we're going to stay at war in Afghanistan. And so, soon, I will bring to the Floor of the House a Privileged Resolution which will force a vote as to whether or not we stay in Afghanistan.
I ask your support for this Resolution. I ask you to go to that page on our website where you can sign-in and pledge your support to the effort to get out of Afghanistan; and where you can circulate far-and-wide the petitions that will enable us to be able to build a rising, civic movement for peace and social justice in America.
Money for war: Isn't it time that we demanded that the resources of our country be used to create the society that we know that we're capable of building.
Thank you very much.
Human Trafficking: How to Help Women and Children Treated As Slaves
March 8, 2010 Monday
Kell's Irish Pub, 6:00 PM
Free and open to the public. All ages included.
Mark you calendar for the first Monday of every month for these events.
RSVP: Amy Harris at amy@pdxcityclub.org or 503-228-7231 x 110.
This month's speakers include Brian Willis and Michael Smith.
Brian Willis, founder of Global Health Promise, began researching the public health impact of child prostitution in 1990 at the same time he joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While at CDC, Brian worked on HIV/AIDS legislation and policies, TB, and immunizations. In 2002 he left CDC and began working on the public health impact of prostitution full-time and became the Health Advisor to ECPAT-USA. While continuing to working on child prostitution and sex trafficking, Brian has focused much of his attention on the impact of prostitution on mothers and their children since 2003.
Michael Smith has worked with The Salvation Army for five years combating human trafficking. He began in the National Headquarters where he wrote a training manual which was widely disseminated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and parts of Europe. He has trained on how to recognize and combat trafficking extensively domestically, and also in China, India, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, and France. A second edition of The Salvation Army's Anti-trafficking Manual was just distributed. In addition to researching and writing on trafficking, he also has worked directly with rescued victims in Los Angeles. He earn his doctorate in social work from The Florida State University in 2000.
Oregon Attorney General's Annual Report for 2009
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
March 2, 2010
Dear Derrick,
Please take a moment to read the Attorney General's Annual Report for 2009. This new report -- the first of its kind for the Oregon Department of Justice -- provides detailed information about our efforts to protect our state and its citizens during my first year in office.
I am very proud of our work for 2009. We took aggressive action to protect consumers, taxpayers, and victims of crime; started new efforts to prosecute environmental crimes and protect civil rights; and provided excellent legal counsel to state government, in and out of court. We even managed to cut our costs by $4.5 million, so those funds could be used to fund vital state health, education, and public safety programs during our current recession. We look forward to achieving even more in 2010.
Every day, the men and women of DOJ work with dedication, tenacity, and skill to protect the public interest and make Oregon a safer, healthier, more productive state. As always, please feel free to contact my office at attorneygeneral@doj.state.or.us if you have any comments or concerns.
Sincerely,
JOHN R. KROGER
Attorney General of Oregon
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A Gift for Republicans: Ronald Reagan 1948 (VIDEO)
Darrel Johannes provided this article/link.
Ronald Reagan, in his own words, telling the still-true truth about the Republican party. To bad You Tube wasn’t around in 1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0A_P9kNBc
Just For Fun: Market Street in San Francisco in 1905 (VIDEO)
Dick Quinn provided this article/link.
Scenes from a video shot from a streetcar traveling down Market Street in San Francisco in 1905, before the earthquake/fire of 1906 destroyed the area. This is remarkable footage of the turn of the century lifestyles in California! The video is CC, no rights reserved. You can download video from the www.archive.org. Search for "trip down 1905 " without quotes.
Derrick: I recommend watching it full screen on YouTube. The details are wonderful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRxze9k&feature=player_embedded#
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Derrick Duehren www.Duehren.com By day, I’m a technical writer/human factors Specialist for a local telecommunications company; by night, I’m a fire-breathing defender of liberal social policies. I’m a news hound and share with you stories and videos that I feel are worth sharing with you all (510 as of Feb 2010). I do not share my mailing list and all newsletters go out as blind copies, so everyone gets their own individual copy. |
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