From Samhain to Halloween

I used to celebrate Halloween.  As a child, my mother made our costume and off we went with our shopping bags, going door to door of friends and neighbors, gathering candy corn, apples and more. At home, my mother made home-made peanut brittle and candy apples.  My sisters and I ate way too much candy, listened to The Inner Sanctum or The Shadow on the radio (no television), and that was that.

Triggers will kill the public option.

Previously, 68 members of Congress signed a letter pledging to vote against any bill without a robust public option.  That means no “triggers,” which would kill any chance of a public option becoming a reality.

But triggers are rearing their ugly heads again – we need to let those members know that triggers aren’t acceptable.  They are a white flag to the insurance industry to ensure a public option will never happen. Fire Dog Lake has a petition you can sign — follow the link to their petition below.

The Fat Lady is Still in the Wings

Yesterday, we took one step closer to health reform with the public option still on the table, with a state opt out.  But the fat lady is not on stage center yet.  And the final act is not yet up.  We still have to be just as vigilant as ever — and in some ways, even more so — to ensure that the final language of the bill actually reforms the health insurance industry.

You can count on the insurance industry lobbyists and special interests groups are pumping up the volume on misinformation and misleading ads. 

Where has all our insurance premiums gone

Where has all our insurance premiums gone

The ones we pay each month, each year

They told us they would take care of us

The insurance industry did

If only we will keep paying into the system

That they built.  It is for the best they say.

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Where has all our insurance premiums gone

Each month, the payments added up and up

Each year, for 10, 20 years or more

85% of America paid their premiums

And made the Insurance Industry so happy

85% of America pays $1 trillion dollars a year.

My, we are good!

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Fighting for Justice with a Heart of Steal

Keeping the pitch raised is not an easy task.  For the most part, people would rather “keep the peace” and say not too much for fear of elevating the discord, for fear of shouting, for fear of contaminating relationships and hopeful conversations.  Do we turn the other cheek; or, do we agitate.  More importantly, who will speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves?

Whether one aspires to the big bang theory or not, the primordial soup ingredients have been drastically altered.  We now live in a chemical soup mix wherein we eat contaminated foods, breathe contaminated air and drink (and swim in) contaminated water, as well as often live and work in “sick” or contaminated buildings. [....]  

Don’t eat the food or drink the water, Ethel … they’re thinning the herd.

Remember the peanut company in Georgia that knew its product was contaminated with salmonella but kept shipping it out to its customers anyway?[....]  That was back in January of this year.  Over 500 people became ill and 9 people died as a result of consuming the contaminated products.

The problem has not gone away or even been properly addressed.  Almost every month, another food outbreak is reported, leaving us wondering whether we should all start finding ways to grow our own.

America: don’t get sick and you’ll be fine.

On Tuesday October 20th, there were several candle light vigils in Connecticut and various church services, calling attention to the 44,789 excess deaths that occur each year in our country due to lack of health insurance.  In addtion, grassroots volunteers from across the country made 312,023 calls to lawmakers in Washington, telling them we must have health reform with a public option.  After the vigils, after the calls, we were all elated.  Today, I received a reply to one of my letters to Sen. Lieberman that got my ilk up.  In it, Sen. Lieberman stated:

Money, money, money … Big banks need more of our money.

The headline story today is all about America’s banks on track to earn record profits and pay out record amounts of bonuses to their top brass. Has anyone noticed that we are still in shock from the financial crisis?  Apparently major banks did not get the memo and it is business as usual on Wall Street.  Next weekend, thousands of taxpayers will confront big banks and hold them accountable.[....]

It is unfathomable that the banks received trillions of our hard-earned tax dollars through bailouts, and now they are playing with it like it’s Monopoly money; paying out huge bonuses and lobbying against financial reform.

Since the beginning of 2009, JPMorgan Chase has already paid out $21.8 billion in bonuses, achieving a new record! Bank of America’s compensation payouts are expected to hit $30 billion – up 64% from last year.

It is time to change the ideology with which we do business.  Anyone of us ordinary folk would be escorted to the door were we to fail at our job in the same manner as the large banks.  Instead of being canned, CEOs are rewarded.

SEIU is organizing to go to Chicago to confront the bankers at their annual conference on October 25-27th.  All are welcome to support this effort.   Click here to demand a meeting with the big banks.

44,789 Excess Deaths Associated with Lack of Health Insurance

On Tuesday, in front of Bridgeport’s City Hall in Connecticut (45 Lyons Terrace) people will gather to shine a light on the 44,789 excess deaths that occur each year among working Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 that are associated with lack of health insurance.  This is mind-boggling.

Every once in a while, I go back to the source and re-read it to ensure that I got it right; that these deaths are related to lack of health insurance.   The report also states:

This is America. We have the right to Choose.

In debating the public option, some lawmakers (from both sides of the aisle) seem to have forgotten that this is America and we the people make our own choices.  We decide what color clothing we want to wear.  We decide what foods we want to eat.  Some of us like sushi (raw fish) while some of us prefer those little morsels — no matter how trendy it is to eat them raw — battered and deep fried with some hush puppies on the side.  After all, if we kill it in the skillet, we just might kill the mercury.

TrueMajority Statement on Health Insurance Reform

A message from Democracy for America

Meet Melanie Shouse.

A few years ago, Melanie was living the American dream when she transformed an old Domino’s storefront into an expansion of her home business. But just as the store was opening, Melanie was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and told she had only months to live.

Melanie had insurance, and she went straight to the experts at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. Working with the world-renowned doctors there, she’s beaten the odds and stayed healthy for years. But now her insurance company, a subsidiary of WellPoint, is refusing to pay for the medication her doctors recommend.

Latin, the language of the gods, romance and a woman’s heart.

There are those who have expressed that Columbus is the person who discovered America and that the word “discover” means to reveal that which is hidden.  Moreover, we should not disparage Columbus for what other explorers who came after him did.  But is life that black and white.

The dispute over who discovered America, Columbus or Vespucci, has been going on since the late 1400s.  With each passing century, we gather more information, perform better translations, and apply better technology.  Vespucci getting a nod by having this country bear his name is a powerful statement and one that is not being so easily dismissed.  Imagine we could have been called Columbia.  My belief is that one should delve into the politics of the times and then follow the money.

Celebrating Columbus Day … or Not

I received a broadcast email today, urging recipients to celebrate Columbus Day, while remembering the plight of America’s indigenous peoples.  The message opened with:

Today, Americans are celebrating Christopher Columbus Day and Native American Day. In acknowledging the significance of Columbus and his accomplishments, we should also use today as a time to pause and to ask why Native American suffering remains ignored.

Politics is Local – Support local candidates or loose the ground we gained.

Over the past few months, we have been working tirelessly on health insurance reform and we will continue to do so until President Obama signs a bill that includes a strong public option into law.

There is one thing that we must not ever forget and that is how to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Something that many of us forget is that politics is local.  We come out for the national elections but we sit down and take a rest for all other elections.