Health Care Battle Heats Up

From the Progressive Democrats of America (edited by Godless Liberal Homo Blog):

...please don't forget to email your representative [May 14] to let them know you favor single-payer healthcare and ask them to co-sponosr HR 676. Get the details here.

...Read the the reports on the final Senate Finance Sub-committee on Healthcare hearing. Five activists were arrested, while others were outside (pictured) with PDA Advisory Board Chair Mimi Kennedy and the California Nurses Association protesting the exclusion of single-payer healthcare from the debate. Learn More.

The battle lines are drawn and we're doing our best to move single-payer healthcare forward--we appreciate your support!

If you have ever been denied coverage for healthcare you needed, you know why we need single payer healthcare to get the insurance companies and HMOs out of the business altogether.

Find and Contact the People in House and Senate Who Are Supposed to Be Representing You!

Take Action:

If you don't see your congress person on the list of cosponsors below, contact them and ask them to sign on.

• Contact the House of Representatives

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 1/24/2007
Rep Baca, Joe [CA-43] - 9/17/2007
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] - 6/13/2007
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 6/15/2007
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 12/11/2007
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 2/27/2007
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] - 4/17/2007
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 11/9/2007
Rep Carson, Andre [IN-7] - 7/10/2008
Rep Carson, Julia [IN-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 1/24/2007
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 2/16/2007
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/24/2007
Rep Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5] - 4/22/2008
Rep Clyburn, James E. [SC-6] - 4/24/2008
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 2/7/2007
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] - 2/12/2007
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 3/21/2007
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 9/29/2008
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/24/2007
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/24/2007
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 1/24/2007
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 3/7/2007
Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 4/30/2007
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] - 1/29/2007
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/24/2007
Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] - 7/23/2007
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 9/18/2008
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jefferson, William J. [LA-2] - 6/26/2007
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] - 1/24/2007
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 2/13/2007
Rep Jones, Stephanie Tubbs [OH-11] - 5/23/2007
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] - 2/12/2007
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 9/24/2007
Rep Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5] - 4/17/2007
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/24/2007
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lantos, Tom [CA-12] - 10/1/2007
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9] - 10/9/2007
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 1/29/2007
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 1/24/2007
Rep McNulty, Michael R. [NY-21] - 1/24/2007
Rep Meehan, Martin T. [MA-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 9/20/2007
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] - 1/22/2008
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 1/29/2007
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 2/27/2007
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 3/21/2007
Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] - 2/16/2007
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] - 1/24/2007
Rep Richardson, Laura [CA-37] - 9/20/2007
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 1/24/2007
Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 2/6/2007
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 5/8/2007
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39] - 4/23/2007
Rep Sanchez, Loretta [CA-47] - 9/20/2007
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 4/17/2007
Rep Scott, David [GA-13] - 9/20/2007
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] - 1/24/2007
Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 2/7/2007
Rep Solis, Hilda L. [CA-32] - 2/12/2007
Rep Sutton, Betty [OH-13] - 3/27/2007
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 6/12/2007
Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6] - 9/6/2007
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Udall, Tom [NM-3] - 2/27/2007
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] - 1/29/2007
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/24/2007
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Welch, Peter [VT] - 5/3/2007
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 1/24/2007
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/24/2007
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3] - 2/27/2007

Sources:

Progressive Democrats of America.

Godless Liberal Homo Blog.

Library of Congress, THOMAS (Up-to-date list of HR 676 cosponsors).

Contact Congress: We want a Family and People's Economy

We're witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to remake the corporate economy into a family and people economy.

Contact your senators, US representative and others. Get on the phone with this
message and tell them that we hold them accountable.

Pass the word that our voices need to be heard in Washington or we risk having the Wall Street system more securely locked in for generations to come.

Contact Congress:

US House: E-mail Forms

US Senate: E-mail and Phone Numbers

Sources:

Palin: Alaska Independece Party, Checking FactCheck.org

I appreciate the concept and challenge of FactCheck's work; however, it seems in their effort to be "objective" they narrow their summaries into sound-bites made easy to abuse.

Example:

FactCheck Says: "She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982."

Issue dismissed.

But Wait. Palin demonstrates a pattern of involvement with AIP, which isn't captured in the summary.

Deeper reading of FactCheck reveals, "her husband was a member for years, and she attended at least one party convention, as mayor of the town in which it was held." In addition, "As governor, Palin sent a video message to the 2008 convention, which is available on YouTube, and the AIP says she attended in 2006 when she was campaigning."

In her brief video to the 2008 AIP convention, Palin says, "we have a great promise to be a self-sufficient state...." Is this code for saying the State should strive to secede from the union?

It's starting to look like Palin might share the views of AIP, like someone who shares the views of the Green Party but registers Democrat.

A little more balanced shading of the FactCheck summaries might help place the "facts" into a more "factual context." And what about that title, "Sliming Palin: False Internet claims and rumors fly about McCain's running mate."

Contact FactCheck and let them know what you think.

Sources:

FactCheck, Sliming Palin: False Internet claims and rumors fly about McCain's running mate

Text Message Price Gouging

T-Moble, ATT and Verizon have increased the cost for texting to twenty-cents a message. Not too long ago text messages were free. Prices have doubled in two years (100% increase). Free Press reports that

There have been no additional costs [to the phone corporations] that would necessitate a price hike.

At the new price, texting is at least four times more expensive for the customer than the cost to transmit data from the Hubble telescope.

We're facing a 7,314% mark-up; serious price gouging. The actual cost to the cell phone corporations is 0.015 cents per kilobyte compared to 109.71 cents per kilobyte charged to customers (or about a dollar and ten cents $1.10. A 7,314% differential).

If the same price mark-up used for texting was used for downloading a 4 Meg song, it would cost the user almost $6,000.

Feeling a little pissed off at the cell phone corporations? You'll be even more pissed when you learn that the phone corporations are charging for otherwise unused transmission capacity. Free Press explains it this way:

[T]he cost to carriers to transmit text messages is next to nothing [about two one-hundredths of a penny per kilobyte noted above, 0.015 cents]. Here's why. When a cell phone is on, it is constantly connected to a cell phone tower as it waits for a call or data. The cell phone and tower send little data packets to one another to keep in touch. These packets hold 160 characters. That's why a text message can carry only 160 characters of text, because they hitch a ride on these data packets. So, compared to the cost of transmitting e-mail or downloading data that need their own bandwidth, the cost of text messaging is exorbitant.

"Exorbitant" is a nice way of saying "price gouging."

So what can be done about it? In case you haven't noticed, a small number of huge corporations dominate the telecom industry. This near-monopoly situation is known as an oligopoly, and price-setting by oligopolies can be illegal.

For example, in the 1950s American tire companies took turns each year being the first to release their price list. The others would follow by releasing their lists with prices that were... Ta Dah! the SAME! They got busted.

More recently, Oligopoly Watch reported:

Five major chemical companies were caught colluding on prices once again. A cartel made up of American-based firms Dow and DuPont, Germany's Bayer, Italy's Eni, and Japan's Tosoh was convicted of fixing prices for chloroprene. Chloroprene is a kind of synthetic latex rubber is used in such products as hoses, transmission belts, condoms and shoes.

The European commission fined the companies over $300 million for the cartel, which reportedly operated from 1992 to 2003. The participants allegedly met together to discuss prices on a regular basis.

But, as noted above, they don't even have to meet together to violate prohibitions on price-fixing.

You and your friends can make a difference. Contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and ask them to "investigate price-fixing on text messages among cell phone companies."

CONTACT the FCC Do it today. You'll feel better and together we might get text message prices down to less than a penny a message.

Sources:

Free Press, Media Minutes for July 18, 2008 (Audio and links to all sources), e.g., Spoiled Techie

Warrantless Fear Mongering

Will the Democrats stand up to Bush's warrantless fear mongering on domestic wiretapping? It appears that they have, for the time being.

It appears that the fear mongering of Bush and the Republican Congress is warrantless.

Many intelligence scholars and analysts outside the government say that today's expiration of certain temporary domestic wiretapping laws will have little effect on national security...

With the Protect America Act expiring this weekend, domestic wiretapping rules will revert to the ... Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which requires the government to obtain a warrant from a special court to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance in the United States.

Gotta love the name, "Protect America Act." That's the law that lets the president intercept domestic phone calls and emails without a warrant. Do you trust the president, Republican or Democrat? I don't.

It's always worth re-reading the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution at times like these:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

shall not be violated, period. Warrants are only issued if there is "probable cause," not just for curiosity sake, to to see if, maybe somebody is thinking about maybe doing something to resist the US empire.

So, Bush turns to the fear card... again. But even the conservative Washington Times is reporting that the FISA law, updated in 2001, is sufficient; we don't need the additional Protect America Act, which allows unconstitutional warrantless surveillance.

The House Democrats are wise to take no action on reauthorizing Protect America Act. The Senate has passed a version that includes retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry from prosecution for their role in warrantless spying on American citizens, that is, violating the fourth amendment to the Bill of Rights. The House Democrats know that, if they reauthorize the Protect America Act, even without an immunity amendment, reconciliation of the House and Senate versions by a conference committee would likely result in immunity.

We need to support the Democratic House members who are taking a stand to protect our civil liberties. Now is the time for all good citizens to contact their US Representatives:

CLICK to Contact Your House Member. Ask them to let the "Protect America Act" expire for good. Don't reauthorize it, period. FISA is sufficient.

Update:

One of the tireless members of Congress fighting on our behalf is Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ). Learn more and watch an interview with him.

Sources:

Washington Times, Analysts say FISA will suffice, Sean Lengell, February 16, 2008.

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Domestic Infrastructure and National Security

What happens when you mix a paranoid, corporate toady with a Vice President? A failure to recognize that maintenance of domestic infrastructure, like bridges, is a national security issue.

The recent collapse of the highway bridge into the Mississippi River is a reminder of this. It is also a foreshadowing of what is to come if we don't re-direct our national priorities away from funding wars of empire, which enrich a minority of the corporate elite. This infrastructure tragedy is an example of the expense we pay for enriching Bush's campaign donors via largesse to the military/security industrial complex and the oil industry.

Get ready to hear that we need to privatize our infrastructure, because the tax-payer can't afford the billions needed to maintain our highways and bridges. This is another scam; how can it be less expensive to maintain our highways, bridges, drinking water supplies, schools and other basic infrastructure while generating a profit for the private sector? Answer, it can't. That's why it's a scam. Don't fall for it.

It's time to demand that Congress cut back military spending and prioritize our limited for securing our national infrastructure. The links below might help. Tell Congress you want taxes spent on the majority of the people, not the narrow interests of the military industrial complex and oil barrons.

Contact the US House of Representatives

Contact the US Senate

Tell Bush What You Think about Libby

My message to George Bush on his commutation of Lewis "28301-016" Libby's sentence:

Mr. Bush:

Your action in commuting the sentence of Lewis Libby is at best a clear conflict of interest. At worse, it is criminal obstruction of justice.

Add your voice:

Contact the White House

Create Buzz for Impeachment

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The next few months will determine whether or not America redeems itself in the eyes of the world by impeaching either Bush, Cheney or both. It's a matter of accountability and sending a message to future presidents: "It's the people stupid."

Take the MoveOn.com Poll to Impeach Bush:
LINK to Poll

Tell the media you want coverage of HR333 to impeach Cheney. Contact the Media

Tell members in the US House of Representatives that you want them to co-sponsor HR333 to impeach Cheney: Contact US House


Visit the A28 Impeachment Network. It's a pretty cool way to experiment with a web presence. See my A28 Space.
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HR 333 Impeach Dick Cheney

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Congressman Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney provide a focal point for citizens to express their views about the corrupt Bush regime.

A Paraphrased Synopsis of the Articles of Impeachment

The articles of impeachment contend that each of Cheney's actions have undermined the national security of the United States.

Article 1 - False Claims of Iraqi WMD: Cheney purposefully manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the US Armed Forces against Iraq.

Article 2 - False Claims of al Qaeda Connection to Iraq: Cheney purposefully manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda to justify the use of the US Armed Forces against Iraq.

Article 3 - Threats of Aggression Against Iran: Cheney has violated his constitutional oath by openly threatening aggression against Iran absent any real threat to the United States.

To see the entire Articles of Impeachment and supporting Documentation CLICK HERE

The Court of Public Opinion Rules Impeachment

You might find some counter-points to right-wing talking points to be helpful:

1. "The threshold for impeachment is high." Not True. Laws need not be violated in order to justify impeachment. Do the actions undermine the government's credibility? Has the official failed to carry out constitutionally mandated duties? Does the American public want the official removed? That is sufficient to meet the threshold.

2. "Bush's term in office is nearly over." This is less about expelling Cheney from Office than it is about accountability. A citizen-based impeachment movement helps maintain the integrity of our country's principles, and deter abuses of future leaders.

3. "Impeachment would be a distraction of Congress." Bush and Cheney's abuses are so extreme that impeachment is warranted despite the distraction it would cause.

4. "Impeachment is inappropriate when our Nation is at war." The US is engaged in a chosen war of aggression in Iraq, founded on false pretenses, which are part of the charges against Bush and Cheney. The Bush administration has created an Orwellian war stance to boost their executive power. The "time-of-war" argument has no credibility in this case.

Flex Your Citizen Muscles:

It's vital to create "buzz" in the halls of Congress and the corporate media editorial board rooms. The links below facilitate your involvement in doing that.

Media Contacts

Contact the US House of Representatives

Contact the US Senate

H.R. 333, House Resolution 333

Give the President Sufficient Rope to Surge

Although Congressman John Murtha is leading an effort to withhold funds for the President's troop surge, Congress will ultimately allow the President's troop surge to go forward. Succeed or fail it is the President's troop surge, and his Iraq strategy.

If Congress pulls the plug on more troops, it would be Congress's Iraq strategy. Failure in Iraq, and the increase in Iran's geopolitical influence would be Congress's failure.

Rather than risk taking the blame, Congress is going to give Bush all the rope with which he needs to hang himself. That is my prediction.

My hope, however, is that Congress will try to prevent a troop surge. If they take this route, they must give the President an unabiguous directive. They must, pursuant to Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, preclude any additional deployment of United States Armed Forces to the operations in Iraq. Congress must explicitly refused to authorize or appropriate the use of funds for an increase in troop levels. This is necessary to establish an actual confrontation between the legislative and executive branches sufficient to confer standing to Congress in the U.S. Supreme Court should the President disobey their directive and should they seek intervention of the judicial branch. (Campbell vs Clinton).

That's the legal side. But the political side could be influenced by the voices of the people. How strongly do the people feel against a troop surge? Is it strong enough that the Congressional offices are going to be flooded with phone calls and correspondence? Are vast numbers of people going to demand meetings with their Senators and Representatives to voice opposition to an escalation? If not, the Democratic leadership will exercise the "give-him-enough-rope" option.

Write the US House of Representatives
Write the US Senate
Write the Major Media Outlets