President Obama is asking us to put truth to action, starting this weekend with a neighborhood canvass. A highway 4 corridor canvass is set for this Sunday.
Here’s the schedule for Northern California:
During July, we will contact Californians to identify supporters and recruit new volunteers to fight for health care reform.
Here are the key dates in July for major activities occurring throughout Northern California:
- July 11-12 – OFA (Organizing for America) California Canvass Weekend
- July 18-19 – “Camp Obama 2.0″ Community Organizer Training
- July 18-19 – Health Care Action House Parties
- July 20-21 – Health Care Days of Action
A highway 4 corridor canvass is something all of us can do locally. I promise it is easy and very rewarding. We’ll talk with neighbors, put a human face on this issue and communicate the urgent need for reform.
Health care reform, we’re in the thick of it. Recently the topic of co-ops has been bandied about. What are they? Would one work in Calaveras County?
Let’s continue the discussion with this article about a co-op in Puget Sound, Washington.
Thanks to everyone today for a great parade down the highway. The applause was truely genuine with many spectators also giving us a thumbs up as we walked by. Our parade contingent includes: Darwin and Mary Boblet, Mary Salegui, Anita and Mark Bonar, Bill Paulsen and Billie McArthur with grandaughters Monroe and Blue. Special thanks to our Tuolumne guests Pam Dobbs, Margie, and Janet Maffei. A big, big thank you to Marilyn Pinnow for guiding us this year.
The parade theme this year was ‘Small Town America — Stepping into the Future’
Arnold Indpendence Day Parade 2008
Join us tomorrow! We will march in a wonderful parade – the 27th annual Arnold Independence Day Parade. This year’s theme is ‘Small Town America – Stepping into the Future’. You know Democrats are all over this theme. I’ve heard rumors the less progressive parade entries concentrate on going back in time. LOL!
See you at 9am sharp at the Bank of America parking lot downtown. We’ll carpool up to the start. The parade finishes not too far from the Bank. Events will take place around and in Arnold all day. Bring your swimsuit and enjoy White Pines Lake too.
- How is your garden growing?
East Calaveras Democrats brought corn seedlings to the Paloma Community Garden. My how they’ve grown! The Boblet boys provide reference. Colin, 12, is in the foreground while Tristan, 13, is ?
Here are some awesome tips from a fellow health care activist – let’s bring health care reform to America during our own lifetime.
Also, a big thank you to everyone who donated blood this week in honor of National Health Care Service Day!
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Sign up with Organizing For America this weekend. Once you’ve signed up with OFA, please visit the Health Care Action Center and take a look around.
The most important tool we’ll be using in the Health Care Action Center. will be the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking tool.
This is the action item agenda with the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking tool below:
- Sign up with Organizing For America.
- Go to the Health Care Action Center and click on the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking icon to the left of the screen, near the bottom of the page.
- Select your state from the drop-down menu. This is where the fun action comes in!
- Let’s say, you select California from the drop-down menu. It takes you to a new webpage where it has a red icon that says “Make Calls Now” with a list of 25 supporters to call. It asks you to make a report after the call, and gives you talking points. In my opinion, these are weak talking points since it doesn’t mention the public option, so I’ll be fixing that a bit.
- So what we’ll be doing is calling 25 people, asking them if they support President Obama’s health care plan, which includes a public option to help keep private insurers honest. Then we’ll tell them to call their Senator Feinstein to ask for her support of the public option in President Obama’s health care plan.
That’s what we’ll be doing—bringing down the grassroots smack-down at a local level by calling our Senator. Here are the talking points that you can use when calling supporters from your call list.
California talking points
Hi, is [person's name] home? My name is [blank], and I’m a volunteer with Organizing for America, the grassroots organization formed to continue bringing the change we worked for during President Obama’s campaign. How are you today? (Wait for response and make sure to engage in a conversational manner). As you might know, Organizing for America was formed after the campaign to support the President’s agenda for change.
Recently, President Obama laid out the three core principles for real health care reform in America which has to reduce costs — such as rising health care costs which are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals, and families, and they must be brought under control. Secondly, real health care reform must guarantee choice in that every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option which helps keep private insurers honest and lowers the cost of the monthly premiums that we pay. The public option will be available nationwide, available on day one, and is accountable to Congress and the voters.
Third, it must ensure quality care for all in that Americans must have quality and affordable health care. The need for action in reforming our health care could not be greater; the costs for premiums are rising 4 times the rate of wages and families and small businesses can no longer afford their existing health care plan. If health care reform is going to be passed it cannot wait another year. For American families, the status quo is unacceptable.
Do you support these principles for health reform? I also would like to ask you to call your Senator, Diane Feinstein, at (202) 224-3841 on Monday to ask her to support President Obama’s health reform by helping pass a strong public option which keeps private insurers honest.
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Lastly, please ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA to help hold the line for us on the public option! He’s having an online townhall on Wednesday, and I’d like you to ask him why Senators are so opposed to the public option when a majority of Americans are in favor of the public option to keep insurers honest and make health care affordable.
- You can ask President Obama this on Youtube here.
- You can even ask President Obama on Twitter with this hashtag #WHHCQ.
- You can go to Facebook and ask him questions there.
To donate blood – and give life on National Health Care Service Day. Saturday, June 27th.
The location is the Delta Blood Bank in Angels Camp. They accept walk-ins as well as appointments. More information is here. Let’s go Calaveras!
For comparison, here’s what happened up-state at a Democratic Party-hosted blood drive Tuesday evening:
The Placer County Democratic Party and Organizing for America (formerly, Foothills for Obama) teamed up to sponsor a blood drive on Tuesday Evening, June 23rd at the Downtown Roseville Tuesday Night event.
“WOW… What a great turnout! We registered 36 and collected 31 pints of life saving blood!” reported Gayle Graves of the Blood Source Roseville office. “The charge nurse said they were so busy that she couldn’t take all walk ins.”
The blood drive, organized as the June community service event for the Placer County Democratic Party, took place in front of the Tower Theater on Vernon Street. The Blood Mobile pulled in around 3:30 and began preparations for a very busy evening. The familiar Placer County Democrats tent was set up next to the airconditioned Blood Mobile and served as a resting place for donors after they gave blood. Donors first filled out a registration form and then completed a screening questionaire
. Then it was time to get comfy on one of the four lux loungers. The BloodSource staff was efficient and very professional. A little stick, give a pint and a short time
later it’s time to head for the cookies and orange juice. All for a great cause. Anyone who is interested in continuing to donate blood or plasma to this joint effort by the PCDP and OFA should reference the account number M627. All donations will be credited toward this very valuable community cause. There are several locations in the Northern California area including Auburn and Roseville right here in Placer County.
Thank you to all who made the effort to participate!!!
From RepowerAmerica.org and the Alliance for Climate Protection:
The House of Representatives has just passed a landmark bill that will propel our nation toward a clean energy future.
The vote was close. Know that all of your efforts — whether a signed petition, a donation, or a call — made a difference in the outcome. Together, we are truly showing the power of government by the people and for the people.
It’s not over though. The debate moves on to the Senate where our opponents will redouble their efforts. There will be more distortions and foot dragging, but the momentum is on our side.
Today, we have something to celebrate. For the first time in decades, we have taken bold action to help solve the climate crisis. I look forward to working with you in the days ahead.
And Al Gore:
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Leadership of the House, and Chairmen Waxman and Markey have, through their leadership, secured an important bipartisan victory for the American people.
The American Clean Energy Security (ACES) Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation Congress will ever pass. This comprehensive legislation will make meaningful reductions in global warming pollution, spur investment in clean energy technology, create jobs and reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
The next step is passage of this legislation by the Senate to help restore America’s leadership in the world and begin, at long last, to put in place a truly global solution to the climate crisis.
We are at an extraordinary moment, with an historic opportunity to confront one of the world’s most serious challenges. Our actions now will be remembered by this generation and all those to follow – in our own nation and others around the world.”
About the Alliance for Climate Protection:
The Alliance for Climate Protection is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 2006 by Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore, who currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors. The Alliance engages individuals, communities, corporations and governments across the world to demand their political, business and community leaders address the issue of climate change.
It’s official: Replacing 2/3 vote rule in our State Legislature proponents NOT gathering signatures
Update from original post earlier this year:
The author of this ballot measure is not collecting signatures at this time. I called them today and their official response is: “We are taking a wait and see attitude at this time. We are not collecting signatures.” For more information on the author, look here.
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It has begun: a movement to take away the 2/3 vote for California State budget approval. The first two of several potential initiatives was released February 18th by our Secretary of State so the proponent can begin collecting signatures. The first initiative asks for a change from 2/3 vote to 55%, or supermajority. The second asks for a supermajority except in the case of property tax increases.
The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the first measure is as follows:
STATE BUDGET. REPEAL OF TWO-THIRDS LEGISLATIVE VOTE REQUIREMENT. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Lowers the legislative vote requirement necessary to pass the state budget, and spending bills related to the budget, from sixty-seven percent (two-thirds) to fifty-five percent. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Unknown changes in the content of the annual state budget. Fiscal impact would depend on the composition and actions of future Legislatures. (08-0022.)
The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the second measure is as follows:
STATE BUDGET. TAXES. REPEAL OF TWO-THIRDS LEGISLATIVE VOTE REQUIREMENT. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Lowers the legislative vote requirement necessary to pass the state budget, spending bills related to the budget, and budget-related tax increases, from sixty-seven percent (two-thirds) to fifty-five percent. Retains sixty-seven percent (two-thirds) vote requirement for property tax increases. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Unknown state fiscal impacts from lowering the legislative vote requirement for spending and tax increases related to the budget. In some cases, the content of the annual state budget could change and/or state tax revenues could increase. Fiscal impact would depend on the composition and actions of future Legislatures. (08-0023.)
The Courage Campaign is pledging to repeal the 2/3 rule, and they have met with members of the Legislature on this. But is a 55% supermajority vote the right idea, or should we go for simple majority?
I hear incoming State Party Chair John Burton is for simple majority.
What’s the difference, and do we care?
A message from the California State Democratic Party
Tell Lawmakers How Budget Cuts Hurt Your Family
On June 24, lawmakers cast their first votes on a Democratic budget plan that would minimize the severe cuts proposed by the governor. Unfortunately, Republicans refused to support the compromise plan and again showed their willingness to drive the state of California off a cliff to protect Big Oil and Big Tobacco.
Budget votes will continue over the coming days and Republicans must hear that the cuts they support will hurt real Californians in real ways. Please take a minute right now to write, or submit a YouTube video telling legislators, how the budget cuts will directly hurt your family. Let’s make sure lawmakers hear that we want a balanced budget solution that includes new revenues.
Submit your story or video here. Thank you.
Hello fellow Democrats, Obama supporters and grassroots participants,
Our county and country are facing a series of economic challenges — I would say beyond any we’ve ever known.
I would like to begin a conversation that helps us address these challenges so that we are part of the solution that drives recovery right here in Calaveras, the Democratic way, gosh darn it.
Thanks to our newly-elected awesome President and a grassroots methodology, we can truly make a difference. My personal hope is that our Democratic base here in this county makes a significant contribution to improve Calaveras County’s economy and the lives of all who live and work here.
This first post is focused on health care, an issue we Democrats carried into the county’s public realm almost a year ago. Barack Obama is putting the wheels in motion at the national level to implement the health care changes we need. How will this affect Calaveras County? The article below helps to explain the underlying concerns many conservative voters are feeling about Obama and the changes he will implement. And as the election revealed, many voters are concerned about Obama’s health care plan and its affect on our communities.
By reading and discussing these issues we can build the dialogue among ourselves and eventually with everyone in our county. Following that we can lay out an agreed-upon plan that will begin to change perceptions and get to the true change we need to make health care a basic right for all.
For your viewing pleasure here’s a link to a PBS Frontline documentary on health care.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
Respectfully,
Mary Boblet
Chair, East Calaveras Democratic Club
795-7818
——–Happy reading and watching!–
Conservative and GOP fretting about Obama’s choice of Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services reveals a whole new level of cynicism. It shows that they know quite well that the people really want universal health care, and that only distraction and stalling tactics have managed to keep it at bay until now.
They know better than the left—I guess because they’ve been furiously playing the shell game for so many years—how quickly Americans will grow used to the security and confidence of guaranteed health care coverage. And the man who can make that happen? As (conservative) U.S. News and World Report blogger James Pethothoukis said yesterday in a piece entitled “How Tom Daschle Might Kill Conservatism,”
it turns out that the fearsome harbinger of free-market doom is the mild-mannered ex-U.S. senator with the little, red glasses, Tom Daschle.
More cynical still, showing how policy for the GOP is purely political rather than a desire to serve the public, is a quote from Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute stating that “blocking Obama’s health plan is key to the GOP’s survival.”
How tragic (though not surprising) that a major political party ties its future to the faint hope of denying the public of a basic right, a right that the vast majority of the people want now. Imagine: the party’s survival depends on thwarting the public will! We’ve known this all along, but it’s a shock to hear it stated so boldly. I enjoyed reading it, however, because the lament that Obama chose a “heavy hitter” like Daschle makes me even happier with the choice.
In spite of himself, though, the author makes two significant points about passing health care reform legislation.
First, he says, “passage would be a political gamechanger,” because economically underprivileged conservative voters would support it indefinitely. They’d be hard to manipulate, is what he means. He quotes Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute as saying “Blocking Obama’s health plan is key to the GOP’s survival.”
Can there be a stronger incentive for the progressive left to rally around this cause?
Secondly, he says that “shrinking government would get exponentially tougher.” Given his politics, he can’t quite get that the obvious reason is that people would see the benefit of expanded government protection of their health and welfare.
To fight this, he invites the GOP to learn “to competently talk healthcare.” (There’s an amusing kind of sleight of hand hidden in that split infinitive, I feel.) His suggestions predictably lean toward reducing coverage and increasing profits for the insurance industry. (see – http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/11/21/how-tom-daschle-might-kill-conservatism.html)
Funny as this is, it’s a mistake to laugh too soon. Conservative panic about health care reform indicates both fear and resolve. They believe (or perhaps are finally understanding) that the election poses a threat to their laissez-faire, survival of the fittest creed. They will do their utmost to block it. Defying logic, defying the realization of businesses, doctors, nurses, and politicians of (almost) every stripe that some kind of universal care is the solution to the current crisis, stalwart wingnuts simply fail to get it. Why? Its not in their economic interest to get it.
I’m not sure how to do it, but we need to build political will, momentum and effective coalitions to make significant health care changes inevitable in the first 100 days of the new administration. My preference is a single-payer plan, because it offers the best chance for universal coverage and reining in costs. There are some terrific plans out there, ranging from the Kucinich/Conyers plan, HR 676, to the Kennedy/Dingell Medicare for All Act, to the Obama plan.
Let’s discuss the pros & cons of each plan. We need to build a buzz and a consensus, and a sense of entitlement that makes failure impossible.
Huber Wins! (0.00 / 0)
By Anthony York (published Tuesday, November 25, 2008)
Democrat Alyson Huber pulled ahead of Republican Jack Sieglock in the race for the 10th Assembly District late Tuesday, giving Huber a likely victory in the hotly contested Assembly race.
The final vote is expected to be certified as early as tomorrow, said sources close to both campaigns, both of which conceded Huber was likely to win the race.
After trailing Sieglock in the count for three weeks, Huber held a 507 vote lead at the end of counting Tuesday. There are a handful of provisional ballots left to count in Sacramento, where Huber outpolled Sieglock, and about 200 ballots left in El Dorado County, a Sieglock stronghold. But there were not believed to be enough remaining ballots to change the final result.
The Huber campaign did not comment on the vote tally, but California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres released a statement congratulating Huber.
“Based on the latest returns from Sacramento County, it now appears as though Alyson Huber will be the next Assemblymember from California’s 10th District and the 51st Democrat in the caucus,” said Torres. “My congratulations go to Alyson, her dedicated staff and volunteers, and Speaker Karen Bass on what soon will be a key pickup for the Democratic Party. We are grateful for the hard working Democratic activists who helped lead Alyson past the finish line.”
Huber’s victory will give the Democrats 51 of the 80 Assembly seats when the new class is sworn in Monday.
Sieglock can request a recount, but his campaign must pay for the ballots to be recounted. While it was unclear what Sieglock would ultimately decide to do, sources in the campaign said a recount was unlikely.
Please join us for a celebratory get together December 13th at 10am.
We are hosting this traditional party to celebrate the holiday and the great Democratic victories of 2008!
Join us at the Schoolhouse in Douglas Flat, at 1358 Main St. Bring a holiday treat to share and celebrate our victory and chat about our bright future in Calaveras County. Lots of folks are expected, please RSVP to mboblet@gmail.com or call 795-7818. Thank you!
Mary Boblet
While there are many technical explanations for the current recession, the underlying cause is the pervasive ideology of self-interest that has guided President Bush’s administration and permeated mainstream American ethics.
While George Bush ran for President as a born-again Christian and “compassionate conservative,” his behavior indicated he was guided not by the principles of Jesus but rather by a narcissistic morality of personal advantage. While making a revealing documentary about the 2000 Bush campaign, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi asked the candidate why she should vote for him; Bush replied. “It’s in your interests.” Pelosi observed, “He didn’t push my country’s interest – but rather, my own.” Bush’s primary consideration was what’s in it for me?
As President, Bush conflated his personal interests – strengthening his power – with those of the United States and political considerations governed all White House decisions. In late 2001, after leaving his appointment as head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, John DiLulio observed: “There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you’ve got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm.”
Presidential decisions were determined by the toxic alchemy of power and greed. Major legislative initiatives – energy and healthcare – were written by corporate lobbyists to benefit their interests at the expense of average Americans. And the President’s self-centered attitude influenced both Main Street and Wall Street.
Bush promoted a national culture of profligacy. After 9/11, when asked how Americans should respond, he advised us to “go shopping.” Rather than call on our patriotism, the President appealed to consumerism; citizens responded by running up huge credit card debts and dipping deeply into their home equity. During the Bush Administration, Americans borrowed $6.2 trillion, doubling their debts and causing the U.S. to have a negative savings rate.
At the same time, the President expressed absolute confidence in the wisdom of the free market and expanded the dangerous deregulation begun during the Clinton era. Among the consequences of Bush’s extreme laissez-faire ideology were the accelerated flight of decent-paying jobs from the U.S. and pillaging of the environment. As Americans shopped until they dropped, financial-sector profits surged: by 2007 the finance industry represented a record 25 percent of US stock-market capitalization.
Aided by the loosening of regulations, banks such as Citgroup, broadened their scope of business and began to engage in a wide variety of financial activities. With this expansion came problems of control and oversight. The increased size of financial institutions made them more difficult to manage as executives were pressed to make profits beyond the range historically associated with banks.
At Citigroup, earning pressure caused bond traders to increase their participation in risky markets, particularly collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s), which repackaged mortgages – notoriously sub-prime mortgages – for resale to investors. The expansion of this niche business was fueled by its profitability – fees were unusually high and, therefore, traders made million in bonuses – and the lack of oversight. Because of deregulation, there was no Federal oversight of the CDO marketplace. Financial industry supervision supposedly came from rating agencies, such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, but they failed to exercise the required due diligence. So did internal auditors, such as Citigroup “risk managers;” who were impeded both by the Byzantine nature of CDO’s and their perceived value as major earnings generators.
As the credit bubble grew, two pernicious moral propositions blinded top managers at Citigroup and other greedy banks to the ever-increasing probability of calamity: everyone else is doing it, so it must be okay and the ends justify the means . Over the course of the Bush Administration, the worldwide CDO market grew to near $500 Billion, resulting in gigantic executive bonuses and corporate earnings. Understandably, none of the participants was eager to jump off the gravy train.
Lurking behind this frenzied momentum was a naïve faith in the wisdom of the marketplace: the belief that whenever excesses occurred, the market would gracefully adjust. Recently, financier George Soros criticized “the prevailing theory of financial markets, which… holds that financial markets tend toward equilibrium and that deviations are random and can be attributed to external causes.” He observed: “This theory has been used to justify the belief that the pursuit of self-interest should be given free rein.”
The President of the United States has a dual responsibility to make key decisions and set a moral tone. By promoting a climate of unfettered self-interest, George Bush precipitated the current economic meltdown. American’s eagerness for the onset of the Obama presidency indicates our need for a leader who will establish a public morality that emphasizes the common good.
Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer, activist, and Quaker. Before starting a second career as a journalist, he was a technologist and one of the founding executives at Cisco Systems. Bob can be reached at boburnett@comcast.net.
What does U.S. health care spending look like compared to other nations?
Check out these graphs (click to see in larger window):
Spending - U.S. vs. other nations
And don’t forget there are some 48 million with no access to health care.
There’s some talk in the land about whether or not the United States can afford to move forward in a big way on bringing guaranteed and affordable healthcare to all Americans, a central campaign commitment of President-elect Obama.
Help can’t wait. The news on the healthcare front is so bad, that the notion that we can continue to let Americans die because they cannot access healthcare is absurd.
The Domino Effect:
As these workers face the loss of their employer-provided health insurance, about 1 in 5 looks to COBRA (an acronym for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986) for help. Through COBRA, a laid-off worker can maintain the same insurance coverage he or she had through their previous employer, but at a cost. Specifically, they must pay the portion of their premiums that they had been responsible for, plus the portion that their employers previously paid — as well as an extra 2 percent of this combined premium.
The increases are a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has just lost a job and likely has less money to spread around. And the small relief provided is only temporary. Those who cannot find another option within 18 months face a new scramble for coverage once this window expires.
“Unfortunately, the COBRA legislation guarantees laid-off workers the right to continue coverage at their own expense, but does not make that coverage affordable,” said Dr. David Himmelstein, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program.
“Under COBRA, health insurers may charge higher premiums to sick individuals, so anyone with a chronic condition who really needs insurance will face astronomical premiums,” he added. “As a result, the vast majority are likely to become uninsured quite quickly.”
“The cost for coverage, coupled with no or substantially reduced [income], may force additional steps to secure cash flow, including mortgage leveraging, credit card and family borrowing, to the extent it is even available,” said Jay Wolfson, associate vice president of Health Law, Policy and Safety at the University of South Florida. “And then, without new employment — perhaps even before COBRA expires — there is no reservoir for cash, and the cascade of additional economic difficulties may create a deadly flood.”
Uwe Reinhardt, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, has studied the U.S. health care system for the past two decades. He agreed that if the economic picture gets much worse, many families could be heading for disaster.
“If this recession gets any deeper and lasts several years, many Americans may lose whatever savings they have, should they or their family members get sick,” Reinhardt said.
. . .The first domino falls when those who lose their jobs seek assistance through COBRA. If they can afford it, they will remain under their old policy and still pay premiums. But if they cannot, they will join the ranks of the uninsured.
For every person who becomes uninsured, health insurance companies lose revenue from monthly premiums. The situation worsens 18 months later, when those who opted for COBRA but have not yet been able to find a new employer-based plan, become ineligible for coverage. The insurance companies will take yet another hit.
“Insurance carriers, even the not-for-profit Blue Cross plans, are going to suffer mightily as layoffs accrue,” Nash noted.
And this hit from lost revenue gets passed on to employers, who, in turn, pass it on to existing policyholders.
There is no going forward as a nation, as American citizens are falling over a cliff. President-elect Obama knows this.
The health insurance industry lobby (AHIP)also knows this. They know the train has left the station. They’re trying to stay on board in the worst way.
I’ll leave you with this, The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in the United States; How They Raise Premiums, Deny Claims, and Refuse Insurance to Those Who Need It Most.
Wellpoint is number six on the list. Here’s some light reading about this criminal enterprise which if Max has his way, is destined to become one of the crown jewels of the retooled U.S. healthcare system.
WellPoint has a long history of putting its bottom line ahead of the welfare of its policyholders and their health care providers. Investigations have shown that Wellpoint routinely cancels the policies of pregnant women and chronically ill patients.
. . .California is making an aggressive effort to force
WellPoint to stop engaging in practices it believes are illegal.
In March 2007, the state’s Department of Managed Health Care fined Blue Cross of California and its parent company,WellPoint, $1 million after an investigation revealed that the insurer routinely canceled individual health policies of pregnant women and chronically ill patients. The practice, known as rescission, is illegal in California.. . .Other states have taken action against WellPoint and its
subsidiaries over their claims-processing practices. In January 2008, Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice A. Molasky-Arman announced a $1 million settlement with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield over systematic overcharging of policyholders. Similarly, Colorado’s Insurance Commissioner, Marcy Morrison, secured a $5.7 million refund for consumers of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance policies.109 In Kentucky, the Office of Insurance ordered Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky
to refund $23.7 million to 81,000 seniors and disabled people over inaccurate Medicare claims payments.
It all starts with simple but vital survey. Click here and share your ideas for action goals in 2009. We will share results and vote for our favorites in February.
Our first Executive Board meeting of 2009 is Saturday, January 3rd at 10am at Mary Boblet’s home. Please call 795-7818 or email mboblet@gmail.com if you would like to join in. Everyone is welcome. We will review survey results and plan an awesome inauguration party.
We gather for our monthly meeting January 10th at 9:30am. The Gold Country Roasting Company will host. We will talk 2009 goals, action plans and inauguration parties. Come prepared to talk goals and actions plans for the month and year.
Questions and comments welcome! Post here in the comments section or email Mary Boblet at mboblet@gmail.com.
Happy New Year and we look forward to sharing in the joy that 2009 will bring!
Party Time! Tuesday, January 20th at 6pm, downtown Murphys
The Presidential Inaugural Committee, at the direction of President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, will organize an inclusive and accessible inauguration that reflects the new Administration’s commitment to leadership that sets aside partisanship and unites the nation around our shared values and ideals.
Here in Murphys we’re participating in a wonderful community event in downtown Murphys.
Join us on Tuesday January 20th at 6pm to view the inauguration speech and celebrate with the community! Food provided by local businesses and music provided by local performers and musicians. Just like in Washington D.C. this will be the most open and accessible inauguration event, ever.
Commemorative buttons, plus other items will be available at reasonable prices.
~~Updates for Tuesday January 13th ~~
Bandera is taking pre-orders for embroidered sweatshirts and caps. Place your orders by Thursday January 15th and they will be ready by next Tuesday!! Order here or call Lucky at 728-8295. Additional apparel may be available for purchase at the celebration.
Music!!
We will celebrate with the best local bands — Schiraz, Still Bill, Keno & Nicole, and M.C. Duo – Matt Cullen’s band.
Welcome Postcards — Send a Postcard to Our President-Elect!!
We will have materials for partygoers to craft a message to our nation’s new President-Elect, write it on a postcard from your community, and have it ready to mail on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009 (this is the first date we can be sure we have a good address for him).
Read the press release (not affliated with this Club) by Mary Boblet
~~ Updates for Thursday, January 15th ~~
Curious about previous inauguration speeches throughout history? (since TV of course!)
Click here.
~~ Updates for Friday, January 16th ~~
Turnout is looking fabulous! Many partygoers have RSVPed through online groups such as MoveOn, although its not required. Bandera would still love to hear from you to purchase commemorative sweatshirts and baseball caps. Click here or call 728-8295.
~~ Updates for Saturday, January 17th ~~
A quote from State Party Chairman Art Torres:
I can think of no better way to prepare for the Inauguration of Barack Obama and to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. than to spend a bit of time volunteering to create the change we wish to see in the world.
Barack Obama has called for our National Service Day to be this Monday, January 19th, coinciding with the national holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr.. In Calaveras County we will be participating in a dinner for the community of Angels Camp, sponsored by the Congregational Church in Angels. The dinner will take place on Wednesday, January 21st. Please call 795-7818 if you wish to volunteer. Thank you!
~~ Updates for Sunday, January 18th ~~
~~ Updates for Monday, January 19th ~~
An excerpt from President-elect Barack Obama’s Jan. 15 meeting at The Post:
Question: To what extent is the promotion of freedom or democracy something that you think should be part of the foreign policy and, if it is a part, how would you do it differently than it has been done in the past eight years?
President-elect Obama: Well, I think it needs to be at a central part of our foreign policy. It is who we are. It is one of our best exports, if it is not exported simply down the barrel of a gun.
And one of the mistakes, I think, [that] has been made over the last eight years, and, by the way, I’m not somebody who discounts the sincerity and worthiness of President Bush’s concerns about democracy and human rights, and I think a lot of the ways that he spoke about it were very eloquent, but I think the mistake that was made is drawing an equivalence between democracy and elections.
Elections aren’t democracy, as we understand it. They are one facet of a liberal order, as we understand it. And so in a lot of countries, you know, the first question is, if you go back to Roosevelt’s four freedoms, the first question is freedom from want and freedom from fear.
If people aren’t secure, if people are starving, then elections may or may not address those issues, but they are not a perfect overlay.
And, you know, issues like arbitrary arrest or corruption may or may not be addressed by an election. So I think what we need to be thinking about is, in various countries, and I use my father’s home country of Kenya as an example, what we should be spending more time thinking about is, how can we provide them tools so that somebody doesn’t get stopped on the street by a police officer and shaken down, or how do we create a system in which you don’t have to pay a large bribe in order to get a job or get a phone installed?
And if we ignore those things, then oftentimes an election can just backfire or at least won’t deliver for the people the kinds of — it may raise expectations but not deliver what they’re looking for. And, you know, so we will be working with — you know, one of the things that I have pledged to do in foreign policy is to ramp up our State Department and restore some balance between the civilian and the military side, to — and right now we have already begun conducting a thorough review of our various aid programs, our democracy programs, how do these all fit together and how do we view it through a lens that it is actually delivering a better life for people on the ground and less obsessed with form, more concerned with substance.
Here’s an awesome diary considering this excerpt and Roosevelt’s four freedoms.
Our best to all of you on this holiday celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Obama's Inauguration will be celebrated in Murphys Tuesday evening!
Its a bit bleak out there folks:
The United States lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most in any single year since World War II. Manufacturing is at a 28-year low and even Obama’s economists say unemployment could top 10 percent before the recession ends. One in 10 homeowners is at risk of foreclosure and the dollar continues its slide in value. (”Obama touts aid plan’s impact on average Americans” by PHILIP ELLIOTT/Associated Press – 1 hour ago)
Today Obama took to the airwaves to promote his plan. What does Calaveras County need and how will this plan return us to prosperity in East Calaveras? Study the summary and video to learn more and stay tuned as we find a way to ask our government officials how the plan will affect us and share with them what we would like to see happen right here at home.
Read the recovery summary, called the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan”
Watch Obama talk about this on video, in ‘what-does-it-mean-to-me’ terms.
I have an idea to consider here in Calaveras County as America’s leaders maneuver to stimulate the economy — let’s keep our eyes on the ball…the Bush administration really tried their best, really they did, to implement their own idea of ‘an ownership society’ where everyone who worked hard enough would prosper. But the failures of the last eight years are painfully clear with the shedding of 74,000 jobs across the country today.
Our small county’s situation rests on the edge of a knife. On the one hand we proudly support the ‘rugged individualist’ legacy we’ve embraced since the gold rush era. On the other hand we have become a series of communities with homeowners, small business people and families struggling to survive.
As we take steps to do our own small part, I share words from a Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman. He speaks and writes plainly. Because what we want – no, what we need right now — is straight talk, not political spin and games. We are so past that. Krugman describe his words this way:
So as a public service, let me try to debunk some of the major antistimulus arguments that have already surfaced. Any time you hear someone reciting one of these arguments, write him or her off as a dishonest flack.
As Democrats its time we heed Obama’s suggestion to adopt a common purpose. This common purpose President Obama speaks of is needed right here in Calaveras County and it is one that goes beyond left or right. In his Iowa victory speech, Barack Obama said:
They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.
The election proved that America can gather together, for a common purpose. And we certainly introduced this sense of common purpose locally in Murphys at the Inauguration Celebration.
What should the next chapter look like for East Calaveras? What is our area’s common purpose as we work through this crisis?
Game’s not over yet, folks! Barack Obama wants action. Americans want action.
The score is calculated this way:
- For every dollar of direct spending, we get 1.5 dollars of stimulus
- For every dollar of tax cuts, we get 75 cents of stimulus
President Obama met with business leaders this morning. Here are his remarks:
Remarks of President Barack Obama on the Economy
A few moments ago, I met with some of America’s leading business executives. It was a sober meeting – because these companies, and the workers they employ, are going through times more trying than any we have seen in a long, long while. Just the other day, seven of our largest corporations announced they were making major job cuts. Some of the business leaders in this room have had to do the same. And yet, even as we discussed the seriousness of this challenge, we left our meeting confident that we can still turn our economy around.
But we must each do our share. Part of what led our economy to this perilous moment was a sense of irresponsibility that prevailed from Wall Street to Washington. That’s why I called for a new era of responsibility in my Inaugural Address last week – an era where each of us chips in so that we can climb our way out of this crisis – executives and factory floor workers, educators and engineers, health care professionals and elected officials.
As we discussed in our meeting a few minutes ago, corporate America will have to accept its own responsibilities to its workers and to the American public. But these executives also understand that without wise leadership in Washington, even the best-run businesses cannot do as well as they might. They understand that what makes an idea sound is not whether it’s Democratic or Republican, but whether it makes good economic sense for their workers and companies. And they understand that when it comes to rebuilding our economy, we don’t have a moment to spare.
The businesses that are shedding jobs to stay afloat – they cannot afford inaction or delay. The workers who are returning home to tell their husbands and wives and children that they no longer have a job, and all those who live in fear that theirs will be the next job cut – they need help now. They are looking to Washington for action – bold and swift. And that is why I hope to sign an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan into law in the next few weeks.
Most of the money we’re investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job-creation, generating or saving three to four million new jobs. And the vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector – because, as these CEOs well know, business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country. But even as this plan puts Americans back to work today, it will also make those critical investments in alternative energy and safer roads, better health care and modern schools that will lay the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity. And it will invest in broadband and emerging technologies, like the ones imagined and introduced to the world by people like Sam Palmisano and so many of the CEOs here today – because that is how America will retain and regain its competitive edge in the 21st century.
I know that some are skeptical about the size and scale of this recovery plan. I understand that skepticism, which is why this recovery plan will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people to hold my Administration accountable. Instead of just throwing money at our problems, we’ll try something new in Washington – we’ll invest in what works. Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made public, and informed by independent experts whenever possible.
And we will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov. Because I firmly believe with Justice Brandeis that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back that trust in government without which we cannot deliver the changes the American people sent us here to make.
In the end, the answer to our economic troubles rests less in my hands, or in the hands of our legislators, than it does with America’s workers and the businesses that employ them. They are the ones whose efforts and ideas will determine our economic destiny, just as they always have. For in the end, it’s businesses – large and small – that generate the jobs, provide the salaries, and serve as the foundation on which the American people’s lives and dreams depend. All we can do, those of us in Washington, is help create a favorable climate in which workers can prosper, businesses can thrive, and our economy can grow. And that is exactly what the recovery plan I’ve proposed is intended to do. Thank you.
John Podesta led the transition team for President Obama. He addressed this question to today on the internet:
“Why is President Obama giving up so much to try to appease the conservatives?”
Podesta’s response:
snip
I think he was willing to have a dialogue with Republicans. So far, that dialogue has been largely one in which it’s good-natured but the Republicans don’t seem to really want to come to the table and talk seriously about what needs to be done for the country. So be it — that’s their choice. But I think he did want to change the tone in Washington. He wanted to talk to people across the political spectrum. He wanted to open up the government to people from all perspectives around the country. That’s what WhiteHouse.gov is about. That’s what the transition — change.gov — was about, to try to solicit ideas from across the political spectrum to meet the big challenges.
But I would not confuse that with an idea that he’s compromising on his big goals of trying to deal with the very difficult economic circumstances we face and deal with the big challenges this country faces on energy, education, health care, and the other things.
Here’s the list Republicans voted against. Note the first few items are things we need here in Calaveras County (there are alternative proposals by House Republicans that consist of cuts to corporate and capital gains tax rates instead):
- An increase in the maximum benefit under the former food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP);
- An expansion of broadband internet access to rural areas of America;
- Programs to improve infrastructure and develop rural communities;
- Improvements to the criminal justice system;
- funding for science and technology research;
- Funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services;
- Funding to repair, maintain and renovate the Department of Defense (DoD) facilities;
- Energy efficiency projects and modernization of heating/cooling and electrical systems at the DoD;
- Improving Army barracks;
- Energy related research and development (renewable energy programs and expansion of existing weatherization activites);
- Funding for the Army Corps of Engineers (remember the levees in New Orleans that weren’t funded?;
- Modernization of the nation’s electrical grid;
- Construction and repair of Federal facilities;
- Funding for clean water programs and water infrastructure projects;
- Capital improvements and maintenance for Forest Service and National Park Service, the Superfund program and wildland fire management;
- Funding for the Department of Health and Human Services;
- Funding for labor and employment training programs/Department of Labor;
- Renovations to elementary and secondary schools;
- Pell Grants and other student financial assistance;
- Educational programs aimed at elementary and secondary education;
- Defense construction projects – including hospitals, barracks and day care centers;
- funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to be used on maintaining VA medical facilities and cemeteries;
- Funding for Information Technology projects at the State Department;
- Funding for highway construction;
- Funding for housing assistance programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
- Grants to states and cities for community development;
- Refundable tax credits for middle and lower income families;
- Increase tax credit for higher education;
- Extension of tax credit for renewable energy production;
- Increase the earned income tax credit for lower income families with three or more qualifying children;
- Increased funding for emergency unemployment benefits for those who exhaust the amount of benefits they collect;
- Temporary increase in amount of unemployment benefits;
- Assistance to states for spending on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program;
- Extension of Medicaid coverage to certain unemployed workers;
- Assistance with COBRA premium payments for certain unemployed workers; and
- Incentives for health care providers to use “health information technology” which would reduce health care costs for providers and lower premiums.
And finally, a little reminder about those tax cuts, just so we don’t forget. Here’s a recap of our earlier math lesson:
- For every dollar of direct spending, we get 1.5 dollars of stimulus
- For every dollar of tax cuts, we get 75 cents of stimulus
Calaveras County is a rural county, and when it comes to the stimulus bill, rural counties benefit any number of ways. Stay tuned as we try to keep pace with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as it makes its way through Congress before reaching the President’s desk.
In summary, the USDA portion of this bill is $27 billion. 78% of the this funding goes to nutrition programs, including food stamps. The balance is designated for rural development, such as Internet broadband service, rural water and water treatment systems, and other infrastructure improvements. Funds are also included in the $850 billion package for conservation that includes watershed, dam, and floodplain projects.
The CRS report indicates the administration is proposing $5.125 billion for rural development and infrastructure improvements over a two year period to fund grants and loans. That is double the annual USDA appropriation, and with local matching funds, raises the local impact to nearly $35 billion.
1. The rural facilities program would receive $200 million for public safety, libraries, education, community centers, day care, and rural medical clinics that will begin $1.2 billion in loan and grant applications already pending.
2. Another $500 million will be distributed to guarantee loans for rural housing, which will benefit low income individuals to purchase modest homes in rural areas or to upgrade similar homes with water and septic systems.
3. Rural water and waste water programs will receive $1.5 billion to provide community drinking water systems and waste water treatment plants, which is double the annual USDA appropriation.
4. $100 million will be appropriated to spur $2 billion in loans and grants to rural businesses which have been hampered with tight credit.
5. The stimulus bill will provide $2.8 billion for loans and grants to expand broadband Internet service to rural areas. This is more than 20 times the annual appropriation. CRS says funding will be limited to areas without existing broadband service and where more than 75% of residents are in rural areas.
6. Funds will also be allocated to upgrade computers and IT equipment in local FSA offices, upgrade scientific equipment at Agriculture Research Service facilities, and make repairs at USDA buildings in Washington, D.C.
Conservation programs would receive $400 million from the economic stimulus bill. CRS says $350 million would fund watershed projects, flood prevention projects, floodplain easement purchases, and for dam rehabilitation.
1. Watershed and flood prevention projects would receive $175 million. Projects must be planned and contracted by September of 2010, but USDA has over 300 unfunded, but approved, projects ready to start.
2. Floodplain easements would also receive $175 million in funding to allow NRCS to obtain full authority to restore and enhance floodplain functions. There is currently an estimated $250 million list of projects in 17 states that already meet the criteria, but the priority will be on those projects that can begin immediately.
3. Watershed rehabilitation would get $50 million to provide technical and financial assistance to rehabilitation aging dams. 775 dams are on the list, which will grow to more than 4,300 by 2015.
About CRS:
The use of the funds are detailed in a new Congressional Research Service report distributed to Members of Congress in preparation for a vote in coming days.
CRS is the public policy research arm of Congress. This legislative branch agency works exclusively for Members of Congress, their committees and their staffs. For more information, visit the CRS Web site at http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) does not provide direct public access to its reports, requiring citizens to request them from their Member of Congress. Some Members, as well as several non-profit groups, have posted the reports on their Web sites.
This information comes from Stu Ellis, a blogger with the University of Illinois Extention blog The Farm Gate.
From Michael Grunwald, “What is Real Stimulus and What Isn’t?“:
I learned three questions we should ask about each item in this stimulus bill:
- Will it stimulate the economy quickly?
- Will it create long-term fiscal obligations?
- Is it something we ought to do anyway?
We need to zap the economy with a big jolt of federal dollars, and it’s important that those dollars be spent in timely and temporary ways. But it’s just as important that they’re spent in ways that promote, and don’t undermine, national priorities. Fast is good, but this downturn is likely to last awhile no matter what the feds do. So smart is better.
By these measures, some of the tax cuts in the current House and Senate plans are hard to defend. For example, both chambers included a tax credit for first-time home buyers, a classic hair-of-the-dog solution to a crisis with roots in an artificially inflated housing market; the credit wouldn’t provide stimulus and it wouldn’t point the country in a new direction. Similarly, as the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center pointed out, the Senate’s $70 billion patch to the alternative minimum tax is “neither timely nor targeted” and “makes no sense as economic stimulus.” And it’s worth noting that the corporate tax cuts favored by the GOP critics who have screeched the loudest about the lack of stimulus in the stimulus happen to be lousy stimulus. But the biggest measure — a $145 billion payroll tax cut — is both good stimulus, because it targets low- and moderate-income earners who are more likely to spend it, and good policy, because it aims to start rebuilding the middle class and help ordinary families shafted by eight years of trickle-down tax policy.
and here’s an easy to use site that explains the costs and benefits of the stimulus proposals put forth by both parties.
Calaveras County has the potential to create some of the greenest jobs in America. After all, a majority of our county’s land is undeveloped and covered in…well…green trees! This blog explains what the stimulus bill could create for Calaveras County. That would be green jobs and a new economy based on eliminating fire fuels. This is fuel that exists in that overgrown forest that’s down the road (you know the one I’m talking about, everyone knows and worries about this each summer)
From Jeff Merkley’s blog:
This week the Senate is debating whether to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a bill we absolutely need to help arrest our economic freefall. Economic policies championed by the Bush Administration largely focused on tax cuts for the big corporations and the wealthiest among us. Not only did these policies fail, they helped create the crisis we now find ourselves in. Yet many in Congress believe we should go down that road yet again in hopes that this time it will be different. Even worse, they are obstructing a recovery package focused on creating jobs, investing in our future economic competitiveness, and providing middle-class tax relief. Indeed, provisions aimed at working Americans are now characterized as “wasteful spending.”
It is as if the Bush team set a house on fire and then blocked the fire trucks trying to put that fire out.
On Monday, Republican leaders in the House put out a list of items in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act they deemed to be “wasteful spending.” Many of the projects they demonize create jobs, invest in our children and protect our citizens.
One project they’re attacking hit close to home. They’re calling funding to restore forest health and prevent wildfires in National Forests wasteful. Coming from Southern Oregon, I can tell you firsthand they are dead wrong.
I grew up in Southern Oregon. My father was a sawmill worker and a logger and his job put food on the table. Right now Douglas County, where I was born, has an unemployment rate of 12.8 percent. That’s the highest it’s been in decades and well above the current national average. Douglas County is home to many of Oregon’s timber workers and they need the stability of a good paying job. The money that would be allocated to counties like Douglas to restore forest health and prevent forest fires would put these folks back to work.
Let me explain. Due to federal mismanagement, there are millions of acres of choked and overgrown second-growth forests. These forests are a complete menace. They are diseased and are very little use for strong ecosystems. Moreover, they are a huge fire hazard. Thinning these neglected forests is essential for restoring forest health and generating thousands of rural jobs.
Let me emphasize this: this provision will create thousands of rural jobs. This is a win-win for our rural economies and our ecosystems.
Preventing wildfires is something that desperately needs to be done in any economic condition and now has the added benefit of providing jobs in areas that need them most. How Republicans can call job creation for hardworking millworkers like my dad “wasteful spending” is a mystery to me. To the contrary, like school or bridge repairs or broadband internet access, thinning overgrown forests is the best kind of economic recovery investment: it creates jobs in the short-term while addressing a critical and long-neglected priority. The funding would improve the health of dangerously overgrown second-growth forests, helping protect our forests from disease and preventing wildfires that are devastating to rural communities and enormous sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Funding the protection of our forests isn’t the only thing critics are calling wasteful spending. They are attacking funding for Amtrak, which is underfunded, has recently increased ridership, and is a major economic engine of the East Coast in particular. They are attacking funding for public computer centers at community colleges, programs which create jobs now and provide workers with the skills they need to compete in a technology-driven economy. They are even attacking funding for flood reduction projects off of the Mississippi River – just three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina and inadequate levees led to devastation in New Orleans.
Whether motivated by a knee-jerk opposition to anything the government does or a desire to play politics and try to give the new Obama Administration a black eye, the opponents of this bill are opposing job creation and repeating the mistakes that led to the Great Depression. Economists across the political spectrum recognize that government spending is vital to create economic activity in a recession, and many even say the price tag is too low. Whether it’s logging to reduce wildfire hazards, teaching children, laying new light rail tracks, or preventing floods along the Mississippi, people will be paid to do these jobs – that’s not wasteful spending, that’s the whole point.
For eight years, we weren’t investing in our economy. We were running up record debt but we weren’t creating jobs or bringing families into the middle class. Some in Congress see the past eight years and think we were on the right track, all current evidence to the contrary. I vehemently disagree.
I believe the key to putting our economy back on track is to put Americans back to work by investing in infrastructure and green energy jobs and building a pathway for our children and economy to compete and innovate through education. We can address the short-term crisis and re-build our economic foundation for the future. America voted for a change of direction last November, not more of the same. Republicans should listen to the American people and work in a bi-partisan fashion to help get our country on the road to recovery.
Comparing job losses among the last three recessions
What’s left in the stimulus bill to help bring broadband to Calaveras County? According to the Daily Yonder, lawmakers stripped some funding because this provision won’t bring about jobs fast enough.
Rural communities around the country are talking about this. The Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald takes on this argument in an editorial today:
“(W)e’ll leave the debate about the economic theory behind the bill for another day. Because the substance matters, too. This bill also represents a serious long-term investment in the nation’s infrastructure, and it is equally reasonable and right for citizens to scrutinize its substance. That’s why it’s important to remember that for the 21st century, infrastructure does not mean only old-school stuff like roads, bridges and railroad tracks.
“It also ought to mean expansion of high-speed Internet cables into rural areas. The House bill included $6 billion in broadband grants and the Senate bill includes $9 billion. The number in the final bill may be somewhere in between, or it may change altogether. But this represents an important investment, and one that can help especially Northwoods Wisconsin to thrive economically in years to come. The legislation’s broadband grants will work as economic stimulus in the sense that some jobs will be created for producers, shippers and installers of the cable lines themselves. But the long-term economic benefits are even greater. Broadband availability will allow Northwoods tourism to thrive.”
Update:
Check out the Daily Yonder (link over there on the left) for an update on rural broadband and the stimulus package. Here’s some eye candy from that discussion:
Nation's farms on broadband
GDP under FDR
source economy.com
Debunking the FDR myth…with a quick history lesson — you know, the same one we’ve been taught in elementary schools across the nation
The current recession will soon become the longest since the Great Depression. The U.S. is losing over 500,000 jobs each month, and a new president, elected overwhelmingly, is pleading for unity and urgent action on a scale not seen since the New Deal. At such a moment, it is imperative to expose a dangerous popular myth regarding the efficacy of President Roosevelt’s actions: that it was not the programs of the New Deal, but only the placing of the nation on a wartime footing years later, that restored the health of the nation’s economy.
The author is Dr. Charles W. McMillion. He is president and chief economist of MBG Information Services, a business information, analysis and forecasting firm based in Washington, DC. He is a former contributing editor of the Harvard Business Review and a former associate director and professor of the Johns Hopkins University policy institute. He is a founder of the bi-partisan US Congressional Competitiveness Caucus and was its first policy director.
Sen. Harkin Says Greatest Demand Is For Water Projects
When asked what feedback he’s getting from rural areas on the proposed federal stimulus package, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, didn’t hesitate. Rural water means something to his constituents, said the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee on a conference call with the Daily Yonder and other media. “As I talk to people in rural Iowa, rural communities, they see the need for rural water,” Harkin said.
The Senate compromise version of the stimulus package passed today retains the proposed $1.375 billion for rural water and waste disposal that would be administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A House-passed version provided for $1.5 billion in rural water and waste disposal through the stimulus. More money could flow to rural projects through Environmental Protection Agency programs Harkin said could get a boost from the stimulus.
Harkin said “there’s an immense backlog” of rural water projects. “A lot of these are ready,” Harkin said. “Those are jobs right now.” In 2008 there were $2.4 billion in requests for water and waste loans and almost $1 billion for grants that went unfunded, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Douglas Burns
www.dailyyonder.com
Murphys, CA…..See you at 9:30am at Matt’s Gold Country Roastery this Saturday. Matt’s is at the corner of Big Trees and Main. Please join us for hot coffee, perhaps a little debate, stimulative conversation, and of course, taking action where and when its needed. The stimulus package is through Congress: how will Calaveras benefit and what can Democrats do to leverage this benefit?
Update Sunday, February 15th
The meeting’s outcome was diminished somewhat due to the giant snowstorm and its aftermath. Several club members chose not to attempt the roads and attend the meeting. A meeting summary will be up shortly. Stay warm!
Great Decisions
2009
A Discussion Series of World Affairs
Presented by
The Foreign Policy Association
And
The American Assoication of University Women
Calaveras County Chapter
First Congregational Church
509 N. Algiers St.
Murphys
Sundays 2:00-3:30 PM
February 22 U.S. & the Rising Powers
Professor Don Millikan
March 1 Egypt & the Middle East
Professor Ted Hamilton
March 8 Afghanistan & Pakistan
Professor Laura Leslie
March 15 Global Food Supply
Victor & Barbara Ulmer
March 22 Energy & the Global Economy
Fred Moody
Bring your friends and join one or all of the free discussions.
Information contact 209 795-3798 or diskc@aol.com
To order reading materials contact 209 728-9870 or mccarroll@prodigy.net
Its true, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. With that I present the Atlantic’s interactive map:
These interactive maps show historic changes in different U.S. cities, suggesting how well each area might bounce back from the current downturn.
The first map displays innovation, in the form of patents issued between 1975 and 2007. The second map reflects changing income levels between 2001 and 2006. The third follows shifts in population between 1860 and 2007.
From a LA Times article today announcing the results of an all-night attempt to secure a future budget for California. The hold out to the agreement is our own Senator Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks). Its no secret, California budget negotiations are complex and in many ways seem to have little impact on Calaveras County. Certainly the budget isn’t a top news item in our local media.
That has changed however, as Calaveras, like other high-growth counties, started leaning on the state for support for its citizens, water infrastructure, planning, not to mention state-mandated tax incentives to help small business. As it stands the budget proposal wrangled last evening gives businesses lots of support but it also raises the gas tax by $.12/gallon – which is a killer for tourism.
I just can’t see our top industry thriving in this scenario.
Take a look at this article and then take a moment to send a message to Senator Dave Cox and tell him what you think :
The plan would nearly double the vehicle license fees Californians pay, increase sales taxes by 1 cent, increase gasoline taxes by 12 cents per gallon and add a surcharge of as much as 5% to income tax bills.
It also would reduce the dependent care credit by about $200 per year. The increased taxes would remain in effect for two to four years.
In addition to the tax hikes, the proposal includes $15.1 billion in program cuts and $11.4 billion in borrowing, some of which would be erased by the stimulus package Congress just approved.
Sacramento’s spending plan would balance the state’s books through mid-2010.
But even some Democrats were hedging Saturday.
Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), a moderate who pledged never to raise taxes, demanded some last-minute concessions for his own district. He insisted on a late addition to the package of budget bills that boosts education spending in Orange County by allowing the county to keep $35 million to $50 million more property tax revenue a year.
“I’m hoping that will be part of a possible agreement tonight,” Correa said.
The state program cuts would be felt throughout California. They include reductions for the state’s public schools, universities and colleges; cuts in programs for the developmentally disabled; and the elimination of cost-of-living increases for the blind and disabled as well as people on welfare.
Transportation and transit programs would also take a hit, as would some payments to local governments. If California does not get as much federal stimulus aid as budget experts anticipate, an additional $1 billion in cuts would kick in.
Even if the deal makes it through the Legislature and Schwarzenegger signs it, it will unravel if voters do not approve several provisions that would be on the ballot this spring.
One of those would allow the state to borrow $5 billion against the California Lottery’s future receipts.
Two others would allow the state to siphon away hundreds of millions of dollars voters had previously set aside for mental health and children’s programs. A fourth measure would change the formulas in Proposition 98, the 20-year-old initiative that sets minimum funding levels for public schools and community colleges.
From an article found today, “There Goes Retirement“:
The advice in recent months — from financial planners, economists and educators — has been unvarying: Retirees whose nest eggs have cracked wide open should go out and find a job.
Easier said than done.
Across the country, retirees who never imagined themselves returning to the workplace are polishing résumés and knocking on employers’ doors. The problem: Most are running smack into the worst job market in almost three decades. Nearly 5% of workers age 55 and older were unemployed in December, a 58% jump from a year earlier and the highest percentage since 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rural Broadband is in the Stimulus Package!!
This isn’t going to be easy. Let’s sort this out and then work to advocate for broadband here in East Calaveras and throughout our county. Details are emerging to help us understand how the funding will work. Here’s an article from the Washington Post:
Congress has targeted more than $6 billion to wire rural America with Internet service as part of the nearly $790 billion stimulus plan. But the bill would place much of those funds in an Agriculture Department program that has been criticized for its past management of grants, raising concerns among some public interest groups.
Under a deal House and Senate leaders negotiated yesterday, about $1.5 billion would fall under the oversight of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, a program launched in 2002 to connect farming towns to high-speed, or broadband Internet, according to a Senate Commerce Committee aide.
Some public advocacy groups are critical, citing a September 2005 report on an investigation by the USDA’s inspector general that found that $236 million, or more than one-quarter, of the program’s loans under review “was either not used as intended, not used at all, or did not provide the expected return of service.”
More of this article here.
Read more here for details on our local provider’s (Golden State Cellular) efforts to go after stimulus package dollars for rural broadband.
Midnight, rumbled suit lobbying in the Capitol is what the real stuff of politics is all about.
By following the Twitter here (http://twitter.com/KQED_CapNotes) we read the minute by minute account of the intense hand-wringing, furious glares and time-tested lobbying that brought the budget stalemate to a close so early this morning.
The good news for Calaveras is that there will be no $.12/gallon of gas tax! Now that’s true tax relief and it brings hope (!) for the future of Calaveras County’s tourism this year. From AP:
A 12-cent-a-gallon hike in the gasoline tax was removed along with a 5-percent income tax surcharge for taxpayers who owe money to the state at the end of 2009. Instead, lawmakers would impose a 0.25 percent income tax increase that would drop to 0.125 percent when California gets its expected share of money from the federal stimulus bill.
Many of the tax hikes would remain in effect through the 2013-14 fiscal year if voters approve the cap on state spending during the May special election.
Pulled from the internets today:
Senator Kennedy’s 77th birthday is Sunday, and we can send him a birthday greeting here.
The Boston Herald, published an article, Is Vicki Kennedy ready to succeed? Although we’re well aware that Senator Kennedy is facing an uphill battle against his cancer, reading this excerpt from the Herald article just made my heart sink:
Sen. Ted Kennedy, wintering in an undisclosed location in Florida, may never return to the Senate, friends say, as his battle with brain cancer enters its final rounds.
“He’s someplace sunny, near the water, where he can rest and sail,” said a pal of the senior senator. “Time is of the essence. It’s very sad.”
….Although family members have said publicly that the senator is doing “good,” privately those close to Kennedy say he may only have a few months to live.
“He’s very sick,” said another Kennedy associate. “He’s actually done well to get to this point.”
Because of Kennedy’s condition, off-the-record speculation about the future of his Senate seat has been rampant this week – especially in light of a seven-part Boring Broadsheet opus that is being widely viewed as a premature obituary. And yesterday’s installment was interpreted by some close to the matter as the first step in a torch-passing to Kennedy’s wife, Vicki.
If the reports of Senator Kennedy’s condition are true, this is truly heartbreaking news. My thoughts and prayers are with him. For all of us who appreciate this incredible man’s courage and accomplishments, it might be a good time to drop him a note of thanks and encouragement at his website.
All the best to you, dear Senator Kennedy. We’re pulling for you!
Courtesy of Dana Nichols of the Stockton Record:
HATHAWAY PINES – A landscape architect with deep experience in building public recreation facilities has become the new ranger in charge of the Calaveras Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest just as it seems likely that new facilities from trails to visitor centers may actually be built.
Teresa McClung became the district ranger on Jan. 16, four days before Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation’s 44th president. But a month earlier, when she still was a resource management program area leader for the Stanislaus Forest, she already was attending meetings with state and local officials to discuss ways federal stimulus dollars could help revive the Calaveras County economy. Read more here.
Amid all the conservative caterwauling about the stimulus package and the mortgage relief program and TARP II and the various other elements of Obama’s fiendishly clever plot to enslave future American generations by burdening them with mind-boggling levels of debt, I thought it might be informative to look at where the country stands, debt-wise, and how we got here.
Hint: It isn’t Uncle Sam’s fault.
Source: Federal Reserve
Debt definitely has exploded — and now equals roughly 350% of US GDP, which is more than twice the debt burden shouldered by the American economy on the eve of the 1929 crash and the Great Depression.
More here.
Hey, its Academy Awards Night!
Here’s a really great synthesis to read and watch today, the day before the State of the Union speech.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities is the author, and the speech was given by its Executive Director, Robert Greenstein. Its easy to read or watch and so wonderful in its ability to put everything in context.
It seems so long ago when we held our first Peace Vigil in Murphys, assisted by MoveOn.org and attended by over 60 people from around the region. At that vigil, we called for a peaceful, diplomatic and reasonable approach to end the war.
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now about President Obama’s plan to finally bring an end to this war. It will bring most of our troops home by August of next year—and by the end of 2011 there won’t be any more troops left in Iraq. This is a major turning point in the fight to end the war.
Many of us here in the Sierra Nevada region made contributions, wrote in to the newspapers and online, publicly spoke out against this war and voted for a President who promised to end the Iraq War.
We helped to bring it to an end. We made a difference. Congratulations!
Our role most likely doesn’t end here. Soldiers are expected to return this year and in to 2011. And that brings up a couple questions, like, “Where does America’s responsibility lie for helping soldiers and their families? How should we help a soldier from our community settle back in to his daily existence? How can we effectively advocate for Obama’s suggestion for a GI college bill plus good policy and solutions to veteran’s health care and support right here in Calaveras County?”
Personally, I believe we should give them a hero’s welcome and salute them upon their return. I believe, at the very least, we owe each and every soldier this kind of recognition for a job well done.
Contribute your own ideas here and stay tuned as we learn more about how our communities, our county and the nation can re-engage with these tremendously brave and loyal soldiers.
Margot Cross of AAUW contacted us today and asked for a reminder to go up for the next Great Decisions Speaker event next Sunday, March 1st, from 2:00-3:30 pm. The subject is “Egypt and the Middle East”.
Ms. Cross:
“Professor Hamilton is a dynamic discussion leader, and I’m certain the topics will be of high interest to the members of the club.”
Learn about the entire series here.
A report was released late last year called “Our Shared Fate: Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide Creates New Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity.”
An excerpt:
Places we used to recognize as discrete and distinct – neighborhoods, communities, cities, suburbs, towns, counties, and rural areas – now have fluid boundaries with system interconnections and interdependencies that challenge our traditional policy making. We are beginning to realize that we need to develop a more nuanced understanding of place – including what is ‘rural’ and what is ‘urban’ – in America.
The report, coauthored by five colleagues at the Aspen Institute, The California Endowment, The Humboldt Area Foundation and the Southern Rural Development Initiative, is the distillation of a remarkable discussion between rural and urban thinkers (and doers) that took place in California in 2005. We concluded that the notion of “place” has evolved dramatically: Places we used to recognize as discrete and distinct – neighborhoods, communities, cities, suburbs, towns, counties, and rural areas – now have fluid boundaries with system interconnections and interdependencies that challenge our traditional policy making. We are beginning to realize that we need to develop a more nuanced understanding of place – including what is ‘rural’ and what is ‘urban’ – in America.
The report suggests five steps we could take to break down this division:
• Redefine rural, urban, suburban into working regions. First we need to start looking at the data showing the connections between rural and urban places.
• Develop new champions and non-traditional leadership. New leaders won’t be rural or urban advocates. They’ll span regions.
• Support, learn from, and disseminate lessons from emerging rural-urban partnerships. Urban and rural schools in Nebraska worked together to increase funding for poorer schools. That’s a start.
• Build the rural-urban advocacy agenda around upcoming policy opportunities. The new administration presents all kinds of possibilities.
• Work with practitioners to test and disseminate the power of the rural-urban framework
The report is here.
Welcome to State Matters! Our state has plenty of issues that matter to Calaveras County and its time to give them some attention.
Every Saturday morning we will take a look at California policies and politics. Do you want your own column too — every Monday, Friday, whenever? Just let us know. This blog belongs to the entire 50+ person East Calaveras Democratic Club.
This morning let’s talk state policy taking shape in Sacramento.
Specifically let’s talk about the federal stimulus package, known as ARRA.
Word is out California’s Governor is unwilling to take the federal unemployment funding portion of ARRA. Some southern states, like Louisiana, also made similar noises last week. The California Majority Report wrote a good report on this issue titled Schwarzenegger Goes Jindal.
Luckily there are enough legislators to override our Governor’s silly veto, if in fact he follows through on his claim that our state cannot afford to take this unemployment insurance stimulus money.
For me, this issue brings up some interesting questions about supporting laid off workers. In the Great Depression and even in earlier times in our country’s history, unemployment insurance was non-existent. How did people get by? We now find ourselves heading that way again — towards a great depression. How are laid off workers able to get by and how many would be hungry and homeless if they didn’t receive unemployment?
Related to this, I read an interesting discussion on our local blog called ThePinetree. In a particular blog entry, members debate the difference between charity and socialism, at the local level.
How are we, as communities and also as groups of communities (known as societies), morally bound to help stop the suffering of others, whether that be hunger or homelessness or something else? Taking this a step further, how are we morally bound to help stop the suffering our neighboring families experience from an empty wallet due to a health care crisis?
Is this charity? It looks like an example of what President Obama likes to call being our brother’s keeper. If you aggegate this type of charity up to the county, state or national level, what do you call it — charity or socialism?
This is an important question and one that all of us need to get a handle on during this economic crisis. I find many of us casting about, searching for meaning in our world, due to all the uncertainty in the financial markets and in our economy in general. How we chose to come together as communities will depend on the meaning behind the words of charity, socialism, and economic stimulus. I believe Calaveras County residents have already weighed in on this matter. We choose to care for one another, and fill up empty wallets if need be. It appears we care less about wealth than we care about our neighbors and are friends. And as a Pinetree poster wrote about charity:
That isn’t socialism. It isn’t mandated by the government, it is mandated by your heart.
I urge you to take a look.
An important state-wide election, set for May 19, 2009, will allow voters a shot at how our state budget will be designed – how much revenue will be generated through taxes and other sources, as well as how the state should plan future budgets.
The California Budget Project explains our budget crisis and the upcoming ballot measures with great charts and no-nonsense facts and summaries.
The League of Women Voters opposes 4 of the budget measures up for a vote on May 19th
A March 2nd Field Poll (an independent and non-partisan survey of public opinion) explains public opinions on these budget measures.
Here are the budget measures on this May 19th ballot:
Proposition 1A
• Attempts to slow growth in state spending by transferring money to the state’s “rainy-day” fund in good fiscal years.
• Extends various tax increases on sales, vehicles and income by up to two years. Taxpayers would owe up to an additional $16 billion between 2011 and 2013, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.
• Gives the governor new authority to make mid-year cuts in state spending.
Proposition 1B
• Requires the state to pay schools an additional $9.3 billion total over multiple years starting in 2011-12. The money will be built into calculations to determine each subsequent year of education funding.
• Relies on passage of Proposition 1A to take effect.
Proposition 1C
• Authorizes the state to borrow $5 billion against future California Lottery profits.
• Gives the California Lottery more flexibility to increase the amount of money returned to players as prizes.
Proposition 1D
• Allows the state to take $340 million in reserves from the California Children and Families Commission, which is funded through a 50-cent tax on tobacco.
• Redirects $268 million annually in First 5 funds through 2013-14 to existing state General Fund programs for children up to age 5.
Proposition 1E
• Allows the state to take about $230 million annually for two years from a Proposition 63 account for mental health programs. The money would go toward existing mental health early screening costs.
Proposition 1F
• Prevents raises for state elected officials in budget deficit years. Each 1 percent raise is equal to about $160,000 per year.
Coming up in June:
The seventh measure would create an “open primary”system which will be placed on the June 8, 2010 statewide primary ballot.
Guaranteed.
May the luck o’the Irish be with you at
this awesome gathering of blarney-free Democrats
Saturday, after Irish Day is over. The change we need is only possible because Democrats are stepping forward to make it so. Gather with people talking about solutions to community concerns and meet members of Obama’s Organizing for America while enjoying luck o’the irish food and drink.
for more information please call 795-7818
An invitation from the our neighboring district to the North and newest Democrat elected to serve the Sierra Region!
Town Hall with Assemblymember Alyson Huber
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
6:30 to 7:30pm Board of Supervisors Chambers
810 Court St Jackson, CA 95642
For more information please contact: Capitol Office at (916) 319-2010 District Office at (209) 333-5330
Message from Amador Central Committee Chair Randy Bayne:
Assemblymember Huber is inviting all residents of Amador to come and hear about what’s happening in the Capitol, her ideas for the district and what resources she can offer to residents.
She also want to hear your thoughts on issues important to you. Other topics to be discussed include septic tank issues, the local economy and job loss. There will be time for questions and answers and staff will be on hand to help residents with any questions or requests involving state and local agencies. I hope you can make it to this important meeting with our representative in the State Assembly, Alyson Huber.
View the official list of measures we will vote on here.
Voters will receive special election pamphlets at their homes sometime between Apr 9 and Apr 28, 2009. Voter Registration closes May 4th. Here’s something I didn’t know: between May 5 and May 12, 2009, new California residents can register to vote too.
Here’s a nice, concise analysis of measure 1A. This is a budget brief updated March 23rd by The California Budget Project. CBP was founded in 1994 to provide Californians with a source of timely, objective, and accessible expertise on state fiscal and economic policy issues. The CBP engages in independent fiscal and policy analysis and public education with the goal of improving public policies affecting the economic and social well-being of low- and middle-income Californians. General operating support for the CBP is provided by foundation grants, individual donations, and subscriptions.
Check out this great survey report from the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California.
It helps explain voter interest, perceptions, and attitudes toward the May 19 special election, and ballot measures:
- Proposition 1A (“Rainy Day” Budget Stabilization Fund Act)
- Proposition 1B (Education Funding Payment Plan Act)
- Proposition 1C (Lottery Modernization Act)
- Proposition 1D (Children’s Services Funding Act)
- Proposition 1E (Mental Health Funding Temporary Reallocation Act)
- Proposition 1F (Elected Officials’ Salaries Prevents Pay Increases During Budget Deficit Years Act)
We Central Valley/Sierra region Democrats have a reason to celebrate — Mrs. Obama will speak at the UC Merced commencement May 16th. Shall we arrange a day trip from Calaveras? This has to be the closest (so far) the Obama family has come to Calaveras County.
Surrounded by orchards and vineyards, UC Merced sits far from the spotlight of its sister campuses in Los Angeles and Berkeley. Many of its students are the first in their families to attend college.
“This is a true testament of the founding class’ vision, hard work and can-do attitude that will take them far in life,” said Chancellor Steve Kang, who will participate in the ceremony.
University of California President Mark Yudof and members of the UC Board of Regents also plan to attend.
The campus, which opened in 2005, eventually is to house up to 25,000 students and 6,000 faculty. It now has 2,700 students and 162 faculty members.
If Mrs. Obama plans to stop in UC Merced, might she want to tour the area and stop in our county? Saturday matters folks. What would you write to convince her to visit Calaveras?
The official voter information guide is now published online by our Secretary of State, Debra Bowen. See the menu link above or click here. The East Calaveras Democratic Club will be reviewing and making endorsements in the next two months. Results will be published here. Stay tuned!
Bridging the Green Divide
Van Jones on Jobs, Jails, and Environmental Justice, an interview by David Kupfer
I introduce the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies. We’re talking about some real GREEN POWER !
Now there’s a way to be at the state party convention without driving down to Sacramento. I’m talking virtually, through Twitter.
Randy Bayne, our awesome and hip Democrat neighbor to the north, is twittering the convention. Enjoy!
Let’s think good thoughts about creating jobs and opportunities today and thank our forefathers for introducing basic human rights into America’s industries…
Today is May Day. It’s Labor Day for most of the world, the one day every year on which the work of people from every corner of the globe is recognized and celebrated. Every corner, that is, except North America. Neither the US nor Canada celebrate May Day — in the US, we have our own Labor Day in early September, a move which definitely serves to undermine Americans’ trans-national solidarity with other workers.
But May Day was born in the US, as a day of labor action which culminated in the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago. And even though we don’t formally celebrate it here, today is a good time to remember the activists who fought, bled, and died for our rights in the workplace:
Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.
In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Jack London’s The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860’s, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn’t until the late 1880’s that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class. . . .
In a proclamation printed just before May 1, 1886, one publisher appealed to working people with this plea:
Workingmen to Arms! War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS. The wage system is the only cause of the World’s misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either made to work or DIE. One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of BALLOTS! MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper manner.
Not surprisingly the entire city [of Chicago] was prepared for mass bloodshed, reminiscent of the railroad strike a decade earlier when police and soldiers gunned down hundreds of striking workers. On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public’s eye.
So even though you’re probably not out on strike today, and you’re not taking the day as a holiday, give a thought to those who struck and fought for dignity and the 8-hour day. And happy May Day.
Check out Calaveras County’s Democratic Central Committee website for the latest and greatest events, speakers, and more…
It is a beautiful spring and a great time to hold a party. This spring we are meeting up with our colleagues in Tuolumne County’s Democratic Club at a member’s home. Check your email for a special invitation. Of course, all Calaveras Democrats are invited. If you are interested but not yet a member, shoot me an email (mboblet@gmail.com) to get your own personal invitation into the coolest political event of the season.
Things are happening on the East Calaveras Democratic club calendar !
This awesome calendar helps you track Democrat club-related meetings, events and happenings on the Hwy 4 corridor, from Angels Camp to the Alpine county border.
One important event we want to highlight is the strategic and sobering town hall happening this Tuesday evening in Murphys. The topic is the economy, the county and the community. Check it out here.
Brilliant.
On this Memorial Day we are reminded of our local fallen soldiers, Army Sgt. Robert “Bobby” Rapp of Sonora and Army Sgt. Matthew L. Tallman, of Groveland. These brave men paid the ultimate price to protect their country during a time of war.
Of the more than 5000 soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, these are the only two from the Sierra Nevada Mother Lode region of California.
Rapp, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, enlisted after graduating from Sonora High School in 2004 as a response to the Sept. 11 attacks, his mother said. He spent four months in Iraq in 2005.
“He said, ‘Never again on our soil,’ ” Jennifer Rapp said. “He felt that he was working to protect America and help the people in those countries.”The attack happened in the Sabari District of Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan and southeast of the capital city of Kabul.
Army Sgt. Matthew L. Tallman, 30, died in August 2007 in Multaka, Iraq.
We salute you Sgts. Rapp and Tallman, and honor you this Memorial Day.
Army Sgt. Robert "Bobby" Rapp
Sgt. Matthew L. Tallman
The campaign to elect President Obama? That was nothing compared to the real campaign about to begin
Citizens across the country are gearing up for a most important campaign to bring back our right to access quality, affordable health care. Health care reform will be passed this year, and we are needed to make it happen.
Comments yesterday from our President:
So we need healthcare reform legislation that works, that preserves what works about healthcare, but fixes the things that are broken. And I think the status quo is unacceptable and that we’ve got to get it done this year. If we don’t get it done this year we’re not going to get it done. And to do that we’re going to need all of you to mobilize. We’ve got to have you knocking on doors, making calls, educating your neighbors. I truly believe that with your help we can reduce costs for families, businesses and government. We can protect people’s choice of doctors and hospitals and health plans and we can assure affordable, quality, health insurance for all Americans. This is our big chance to prove that the movement that you started during the campaign isn’t over, we’re just getting started.
We can do this! Billie and Jan have just set up our kickoff. Please join in this effort to bring back dignity and strength to our country and bring back safety and security for all.
Health care is a right not a privilege.
On Saturday Americans all over the country are joining with Calaveras County as we start campaigning to bring down skyrocketing health care costs. President Obama lays out the scene here in a letter to Congress June 3rd:
In 2009, health care reform is not a luxury. It’s a necessity we cannot defer. Soaring health care costs make our current course unsustainable. It is unsustainable for our families, whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy and forcing them to go without the checkups and prescriptions they need. It is unsustainable for businesses, forcing more and more of them to choose between keeping their doors open or covering their workers. And the ever-increasing cost of Medicare and Medicaid are among the main drivers of enormous budget deficits that are threatening our economic future.
In short, the status quo is broken, and pouring money into a broken system only perpetuates its inefficiencies. Doing nothing would only put our entire health care system at risk. Without meaningful reform, one fifth of our economy is projected to be tied up in our health care system in 10 years; millions more Americans are expected to go without insurance; and outside of what they are receiving for health care, workers are projected to see their take-home pay actually fall over time.
We simply cannot afford to postpone health care reform any longer. This recognition has led an unprecedented coalition to emerge on behalf of reform — hospitals, physicians, and health insurers, labor and business, Democrats and Republicans. These groups, adversaries in past efforts, are now standing as partners on the same side of this debate.
We want to partner with you to bring this reform to Calaveras County. Please join in!
The state budget woes have all of us here in Calaveras County a little on edge. Two Democratic Senators would like to talk directly with California residents and answer their questions.
So next week there will be a live internet town hall on the state budget hosted by Senators Darryl Steinberg and Mark Leno. Please submit your questions now here. This is a great way to participate in your government, from the comfort of your own home.
This is also a good time to ask about issues concerning us locally….like Big Trees State Park, among others!
This event begins at 6:00pm and ends at 7:30pm on Monday, June 15th.
East Calaveras County Democrats have an opportunity to participate in the President’s call for a National Health Care Service Day later this month. The President said a few words today about health care reform while in Wisconsin:
By fixing what’s broken and building on what works, the current health care system that equates expensive care with better care can be changed to a system that is inclusive, quality driven and cost effective, President Barack Obama said Thursday in a speech in Green Bay, Wisc.
“Health care reform is not something I just cooked up when I took office,” Obama told a crowd of about 1,500 people Thursday at Southwest High School in the Green Bay suburb of Ashwaubenon. “It is central to our economic future. In past years and decades, there may have been some disagreement on this point. But not anymore.”
Earlier this month, Obama said he wants Congress to pass a comprehensive health care bill by the end of the summer so it’s ready for his signature by fall.
Many Democrats, including the president, favor a government-sponsored health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers and be available for people not eligible for other government health care programs such as Medicare or Medicaid.
Most Republicans and many business groups, however, say a competing plan that isn’t profit-driven would drive private insurers out of business.
On Thursday, the American Medical Association, a physicians group Obama is scheduled to meet with Monday in Chicago, said it is opposed to a government-sponsored insurance plan.
Obama said his administration is working on a Health Insurance Exchange that would allow people to compare insurance benefits and prices.
None of the plans included in the exchange would be allowed to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions and all must include an affordable, basic benefit option.
“I also strongly believe that one of the options in the Exchange should be a public insurance option – because if the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep prices down,” Obama said.
Supporters of health care reform say it would provide health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and make coverage more affordable for those who are already covered.
Because health insurance premiums have doubled over the last nine years, and have grown at a rate three times faster than wages, even those with coverage have reached a breaking point, Obama said.
Employers are not faring any better. Small business owners have been forced to cut health care benefits or drop coverage entirely because of rising costs, Obama said.
“We have the most expensive health care system in the world,” Obama said. “We spend almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next most costly nation. But here’s the thing, Green Bay: we’re not any healthier for it.”
Obama vowed to let Americans who are content with their coverage and their physicians keep what they have, but he said the country has reached a point where doing nothing about the cost of health care is no longer an option.
“If we do nothing, within a decade we will be spending one out of every five dollars we earn on health care,” Obama said. “In 30 years, it will be one out of every three.”
Obama acknowledged covering all Americans would be expensive but promised health care reform would not add to the country’s deficit over the next 10 years.
“To make that happen, we have already identified hundreds of billions worth of savings in our budget – savings that will come from steps like reducing Medicare overpayments to insurance companies and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in both Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama said.
In addition, Obama is proposing that Congress scale back the amount that the highest-income Americans can deduct on their taxes. That money then could be used to help finance health care.
Obama spoke for about 20 minutes and then took questions from six people in the audience who expressed fear over “socialized medicine,” asked questions about wellness and even questioned the country’s education system.
Regarding the idea of socialized medicine, Obama said that isn’t what he, or anyone in Congress, wants.
One of the things we Democrats should do is educate our voters about essential matters affecting our communities. Today I am adding a new feed called Aquafornia. This blog about water issues is managed by the California Water Foundation. Not all water issues spring from the Sierra but a great many of California’s resource issues relate directly to California’s water supply — and the Sierra Nevada supplies 60% of the state’s drinking water!
Let’s get educated about water — the supply, the quality, its affect on people and wildlife and how California policies promote or endanger this precious resource. Happy reading!
This one-pager is uniquely shareable, you’ll want to spread it around…
We are a rural county. Healthcare reform has its own unique set of issues when it comes to rural counties.
I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting up with two newsworthy women, both Democrats, living in the Motherlode region. Their recent accomplishments deserve some attention, in particular due to their amazing dedication to be the change they seek.
The first woman is Irene Perbal. Irene is an expert at integrated solar cooking methods and has oodles of experience and expertise providing solar cookers in Brazil. She is truly awe-inspiring! Her husband is also on the awesome list because he accompanies Irene as she travels and helps her carry out programs teaching needy communities to pasteurize and cook food and water. Irene also has her own website where she explains how to make your own solar cooker, among other things.
Irene’s successful trip bringing the integrated solar cooking project to Brazil was recognized with a Rotary Club Gold Award to the Jackson Rotary Club at the 2009 Rotary District Conference of District 5190 in Reno.
Irene also gave credit to Michael:
without whom I never could have done this. He was of great help, he is an excellent teacher and knew how to communicate with the students without speaking their language. He even designed an alternative model of rocket stove, entirely made of scrap material, easily available in Brazil. He is not a Rotarian, but certainly knows the meaning of ‘Service Above Self’
Obrigada (that means thank you in Brazilian portugese) Irene!
The second newsworthy Democrat is Marlys Bell, of Columbia. Marlys and her husband Jay, moved out from the east coast to enjoy retirement in the Motherlode. However, Marlys is anything but retiring! Marlys recently had an article published in the online blog www.mymotherlode.com, entitled “Sustaining Our Resources For Future Generations.”
Marlys is a formidible master gardener with beautiful gardens all around her home, including a gorgeously green and beautiful vegetable garden. On Saturday Tuolumne and Calaveras Democrats attended a club mixer at the Bells and had the opportunity to tour the gardens via meandering paths surrounding her home. Marlys shares the belief in sustainability held by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources at UC Davis:
Sustainability is taking action today to ensure that California’s agricultural and natural resource systems are not used up, destroyed or contaminated and that they will be in as good or better condition for subsequent generations. All citizens can help protect vital natural resources by making relatively simple changes in their gardening and landscaping practices.
The article states Marlys is developing her property to demonstrate sustainable gardening practices. Congratulations on the awesome job so far, Marlys!
Avery ranch and Twisted Oak Winery will present a summer solstice concert, “Sunset on the Mountain Top,” with Seattle singer/songwriter Jim Page. Light food and beverages will be available.
Page has issued more than 18 CDs and albums since 1976. Recent titles are “Folk-Punch,” “Head Full of Pictures” and “Seattle Songs.”
The concert is a benefit for the Wednesday Free Hot Meal provided through Union Congregational Church in Angels Camp. Pastor Lloyd Schneider is one of our own Club members!
Tickets cost $10 each. For more information call 770-2451 or 736-9080, visit twistedoak.com or jimpage.net, or e-mail lloyds38@gmail.com.
We’re finally down to it in Washington on the health care reform public option – the debate is now, the HELP committee vote on this is imminent. Big pharma and other health care corporations are coming out strongly against the public option. Your call supporting the public option is needed now! Let’s remind these committee members they work for us, not lobbyists or corporations.
More information on today’s events is here.
Here’s a script:
Tell Senator [Name] that you DO NOT want the 7-year trigger for the public option and take it off the table, and that you want him to support an affordable strong, robust Medicare-like public option. We NEED a strong, robust Medicare-like public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that’s given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Also, DON’T TAX OUR EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS. Instead, follow the proposal by President Obama to tax the wealthy above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform. TELL YOUR SENATOR NO ON THE SCHUMER COMPROMISE AND NO ON THE CONRAD CO-OP COMPROMISE.
Here are the phone numbers of Senators on the HELP Committee:
Tom Harkin (IA): (202) 224-3254
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD): (202) 224-4654
Jeff Bingaman (NM): (202) 224-5521
Patty Murray (WA: (202) 224-2621
Jack Reed (RI): (202) 224-4642
Bernard Sanders (I) (VT): (202) 224-5141
Sherrod Brown (OH): (202) 224-2315
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA): (202) 224-6324
Kay Hagan (NC): (202) 224-6342
Jeff Merkley (OR): (202) 224-3753
And Now, The Debate
In the theater or the movies, we’d call this the beginning of Act Two. In baseball, it’s probably the sixth inning.
We now have two relatively complete looks at how to resolve the gaping hole in the state budget — one from Governor Schwarzenegger, one from legislative Democrats — with the Dem plan headed for a vote on the floor of each house as soon as Monday.
The Democratic plan comes in at $23.3 billion over the 15-month fiscal period in question, compared to Schwarzenegger’s $24 billion plan. Sounds close, but the details are the problem… no surprise there.
The governor proposes about $16 billion in cuts, while Dems have countered at $11.4 billion. Schwarzenegger pitched about $4.7 billion in borrowing, fees, and revenue acclerations (a technical way of saying extra revenue in the short-term that’s not a “tax increase”). Dems countered with $5 billion in fees and revenue accelerations and no borrowing (reflecting a rejection of the local government proposal).
Both have a sizeable amount ($2 bil-$2.5 bil) of what are called “fund shifts,” which includes local transportation dollars that cities are threatening to challenge in court.
And then there are new taxes, about $2 billion from Dems and zilch from the Guv. The Democratic plan includes an extra $1.50 per pack of cigarettes (amounting to $1 billion in the new fiscal year), a 9.9% tax on the gross value of each barrel of oil extracted from the ground in California ($830 million in next year revenue) and a $15 annual vehicle tax to fund state parks (brings in about $200 million, not all goes to parks).
Setting aside the policy issues for a moment, the Democratic plan is particularly interesting for its placement of the tax revenues into the reserve fund… thus making a $3.8 billion reserve, compared to Schwarzenegger’s $4.5 billion.
The message: if the governor (or legislative Republicans) want a large reserve, then a tax hike must take place. Schwarzenegger’s reserve is filled with money that comes from spending cuts.
“We are not going to create that reserve on the backs of the most vulnerable people in California,” Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said this afternoon.
The Dem plan also includes a few extra gimmicks from the governor’s plan — not unusual gimmicks in budget writing, but gimmicks nonetheless. That includes a 24-hour delay in issuing paychecks for state employees, legislators and staff, and executive staff… a delay from June 30 to July 1. Why? Because the expense then counts towards the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which begins on July 1… and not towards the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The “savings” of such a shift: $1.2 billion.
The Democratic leaders’ news conference was slightly upstaged by Schwarzenegger, who spoke to reporters outside his Capitol office an hour earlier. And no surprise, he said he’d veto a deficit package that includes new taxes.
“Even though they have done a good job,” said the governor, “I cannot sign a budget that has tax increases in there.”
A couple of other points worth noting. First, the package of proposals is a modification of the state budget; the new fiscal year spending plan was actually enacted in February. As such, all proposals that are not a tax increase — most notably, the spending reductions — can be passed with a majority vote in each house. Trouble is, that would mean they wouldn’t take effect for 90 days… thus delaying aid to the cash-strapped state. For the cuts to kick in immediately, it will take a supermajority vote — which shifts some of the pressure over to the GOP about matching votes to their rhetoric about cuts, even if the rest of the package isn’t to their liking.
The second noteworthy item: Dems are being cautious about whether the entire cuts/taxes proposal is an all-or-nothing package. In other words, if they can only get consensus on cuts, will they send those to Schwarzenegger alone… or will they hold back bills until a full package to their liking has been approved?
“We will send a package to the governor,” said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, when I asked this question today. But then when I asked if that meant it was an all-or-nothing deal… which Bass’ answer implied… Steinberg quickly jumped in. “We’re not saying that,” he said. “We’re not saying that.”
That makes it seem as though Dems know they, too, stand to lose the PR battle if it seems they’re more interested in taxes than in cuts. And the governor could also face a tough choice: would he really veto a package of spending cuts if it was less than $24 billion… thus ensuring the state’s finances start to crumble by the end of July?
Act Two is going to be an interesting one.
Here’s a chance to learn about these two approaches, one from our State Democrats, and the other from the Governor. Once you do call your Senate and Assembly State Legislators and tell them to do the people’s work.
The comparison is here.
And here’s another way to understand the budget crisis – try your hand at balancing the budget! Click here to add revenue and/or cut spending until the deficit reduces to $0.
Never has it been more important to tell these two gentlemen how you feel about investing in changes we need here in Calaveras County and throughout the state. I think we can all agree the budget picture is ugly – now is the time to tell our elected officials what you would do if you found your family in the same position. Certainly no one would toss out the needy or the infirm from their own families. History will judge these officials by the decisions they make in these coming months. The Democratic proposal shares the pain as equitably as possible, without completely wiping out the safety net so many require at this point in time.
Our Elected Assemblyman: Honorable Tom Berryhill (R)
District Office: (209) 576-6425 | Capitol Office: (916) 319-2025
Our Elected State Senator: Senator Dave Cox (R)
District Office: (916) 783-8232 | Capitol Office (916) 651-4001
East Calaveras, this is your community’s stories, perhaps even yours is in here too. And these stories from OFA’s Heath Care Action Center are not new; a year ago our County’s Democratic leadership held health care forums throughout Calaveras County communities. We listened when you told us similar stories and we talked with residents paying exorbitant fees to drive down to health care providers in Stockton or San Francisco. Others were feeling they had a handle on their own health care costs but worried about their daughters and sons and their children’s access to affordable health care.
This we do know: this problem does not discriminate between Republican, Democrat or even Libertarian. Our health care delivery is in itself a sickness, brought on by a broken system and sooner or later it will take all of us – through our quality of life, our checkbook, or our cherished relationships with loved ones.
We poured it on last fall to elect President Obama so he could bring about health care reform — but he has told us, time and again, that he cannot work these issues alone.
Let’s show our support for reform by participating in National Healthcare Service Day, coming up this Saturday July 27th. We suggest three blood drives – in Murphys, Arnold, and Angels Camp, on June 24, 25, and 27. Delta Blood Bank is standing by, monitoring our sign-ups so they can be prepared to serve us. To learn more and make a reservation please click here.
Please tell your friends to sign up too. Let’s show our community we stand in solidarity with the President. And as Dr. Howard Dean said today:
We just did an extraordinary thing in electing Barack Obama — we’ve got to have his back.
Let’s take action that sends out a message, loud and clear, that we believe now is the time to put to rest the travesty that is our health care delivery system.
Yes. We are Californians after all!
You can add your name to appear in a TV advertisement in Washington DC, calling the Senators out.
Produced by Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Sign up here.
