The Two Obamas

The Two Obamas

by Teri Szucs

 The progressives in our country are growing impatient as common sense solutions are pushed aside and labeled extremist; the pragmatists among us are concluding that patience is no longer a virtue, but just a waste of time.

As a naturalized citizen, I hold dual citizenships, and dual political points of view that see two presidents.

One is President Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, the man who, in weeks, obliterated the world's perception of the United States as an imperialist bully. The other is President Obama and his domestic trail of broken promises and wasted opportunities.

The immigrant in me sees the President as an improbable day dream of how the world should be. No more, "he is a bastard but he is our bastard." No more Iran contra, no more political assassinations in Chile, no more secret police in South America, and no more operation Paris keeping our hostages in Iran. No more torture, and I do not mean just, "I am shocked there is water boarding going on in Guantanamo," I mean just dunk their head in the toilet, Chile-style. No more El Salvador, no more United Fruit Company, no more Shah of Iran coups, and no more arming the Taliban to "protect the Afghan people from the evil empire."

In an instant, Barack Obama became the impossible dream and ended not eight years of imperialist policies, but 60.

Then there is the American in me - most of me, since I have lived here my entire adult life. This American citizen is completely disillusioned. President Obama has broken or fudged every single domestic policy promise made during his campaign, leaving most progressives to wish Dennis Kucinich had been a better candidate. This is just a short list: reverting the Bush tax cuts, protecting gay rights, investing in infrastructure, putting an end to mandatory sentencing, closing Guantanamo, fixing the education crisis, and of course, how he blundered and delegated health care reform.
I suspect that someday, history will remember his Cairo speech and the jaw dropping moment when he spoke about the US overturning the government of Iran as a pivotal moment in the relation and perception between the United States and the rest of the world. In a passing comment, the president of the United States said the emperor was naked.

President Obama's Afghanistan policy does not make him a hawk. He will not let the Taliban stone rape victims to death - the Taliban that Reagan helped bring to power in the first place. We should not need a self serving reason to stay; the consequences of leaving would be horribly inhumane. I think I can live with the president's decision to stay, and so can the Nobel Peace Prize committee.
Yes, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, but don't we deserve the progressive government we thought we were electing?

During the first weeks of his presidency, as his left hand kept putting pen to paper, one executive order after another, I was expecting to be just as awe struck, but the ceremony failed in substance and impact again and again. I wanted to hear, loud and clear "elections have consquences." Instead, I got "bipartisanship," aka, one-partisanship. I wanted to hear, "as of right now, Medicare will comply with the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and protect all citizens regardless of age." Instead, I heard, "I will delegate health care reform to Olympia Snowe." I am sure Senator Snowe did not vote for President Obama, just as I am sure we did not elect her president. Anything less than single payer is just one more entitlement the middle class cannot afford. Anything less than Medicare for all does nothing to mitigate the competitive handicap for American companies in the global market.
I wanted to hear the gates of Guantanamo slam shut. Instead, I got, "not in my backyard, fine, send them to The Hague."

I wanted to hear "our education will rise to international standards and implement an international baccalaureate equivalent nationwide."

I wanted to hear soldiers ask and tell.

I wanted to hear our pot smoking president rethink the ten years mandatory sentencing for marijuana.
I expected this day dream president to bail out Main Street, not Wall Street. I had the audacity to hope that when a bank too big to fail, fails, my president would nationalize it; excuse my language; he would buy it, giving the United States of America something every other country in the world has: a National Bank. This bank would keep credit flowing and avidly refinance "the toxic assets" most people call homes. Our National Bank would be the financial equivalent of the public option and would assure that no bank dare hike credit card rates up to usury levels to lend us our own money. Yes, I want the bank I paid for.

I expected infrastructure, the kind that builds a country and creates jobs: freeways, airports, public transit, all of which we desperately need. Instead, the stimulus package "saved" jobs by giving the states a one time reprieve - jobs that will not survive another fiscal year.

I want the president I voted for, the president candidate Obama would support.

I expected a new deal, the Second Bill of Rights. But while F.D.R. wanted to be judged by the enemies he made, President Obama wants to be judged on how many friends and compromises he makes.

Yes, the world should love him; they have all the right reasons to, and for those reasons, so should we. But after twenty five years of trickle down free market Reaganomics, the American people desperately needed a president for and of the people, fearless of change, fearless of rival opinions.

Those of us who put Barack Obama in the Oval Office have been pushed aside, our loyalty taken for granted. It would seem his leadership ended at the front doors of the White House.

Original Article on HuffingtonPost.com: http://bit.ly/6CG6Hh 
Follow Teri Szucs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teriszucs

National Health Care Vigils Tues. 12/8

Healthcare For America Now and Moveon.org are organizing

National COST OF DELAY Health Care Vigils this Tuesday 12/8.

Find or or host one near you!

Los Angeles Vigils include Feinstein's office in West L.A.
and Pasadena City College, among others.

More info at: Moveon.org Cost of Delay Vigils

Why Kucinich Voted Against HR 3962

From kucinich.house.gov

Kucinich: Why I Voted NO 
Washington, Nov 7 -  
After voting against H.R. 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement: 

“We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.  We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are.  But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

“Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution.  They are driving up the cost of health care.  Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills.  The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%.  It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care.  Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.  

“But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care.  In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers.  This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies — a bailout under a blue cross.  

“By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal.  The Center for American Progress’ blog, Think Progress, states “since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.”  Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that “money will start flowing in again” to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation.  Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy.

“During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back.  The “robust public option” which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million.  An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration.  Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.

“Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy.  The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks’ hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy -- in which most Americans live -- the recession is not over.  Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street.   

“This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care.   America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system.  As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.  

“Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America’s businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals.”

Rep. Conyers Applauds Weiner for Heroic Effort to Further the Cause of Medicare for All

 

 

 

 

Nov. 06, 2009
For Immediate Release

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr.  (D – MI)
released the following statement applauding the work of Representative Anthony Weiner (D- NY) to promote the cause of single-payer national health care:

“I want to thank my friend and fellow Judiciary Committee colleague,
Anthony Weiner, for his courageous efforts on behalf of the single
payer movement to attempt to secure a true up-or-down vote on a
single-payer substitute amendment to the health care reform bill.  It
is unfortunate that the vote ultimately offered to Rep. Weiner and
other single-payer supporters would have required a two-thirds
majority for passage in the House of Representatives.  The American
people deserve a true debate on the floor of the House on the benefits of single-payer health care.  I decided to withdraw my support for a vote that did not give the amendment a fair chance to succeed.

“Although single-payer legislation will not come up for a vote, I want
to personally express my strong appreciation to Rep. Weiner for his
effort to advance the cause of Medicare-for-All in this debate.
Working collaboratively with my office, Rep. Weiner and his staff made a valiant effort to accurately reflect the legislative intent of H.R. 676.

“As we move forward with this historic vote on health care reform, I
look forward to working with Rep. Weiner and my fellow Members of
Congress to pass a bill that improves meaningful access to health care
for the American people.  And, whatever the outcome of the current
effort, I am heartened to know that the cause of single-payer health
care reform has found a true hero and passionate advocate in
Representative Anthony Weiner.  With his leadership and our continued efforts, I am certain we will have Medicare-For-All single-payer health care in our lifetime.”

--
Mike Darner
Office of Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
mdarner@gmail.com
michael.darner@mail.house.gov

U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. 

 

Do NOT push for MEDICARE FOR ALL VOTE FRIDAY! :/

Kucinich calls off plans--for now--to push single payer health bill 

I can't keep up. 

I believe this statement by Kucinich last night (http://is.gd/4OFw5) negates the call to action, below.

Kristin Dewey

www.mikessister.com

From PDA:

Finally—the Vote on Single Payer

Last night PDA got word from Congressman Weiner’s office that Speaker Pelosi is keeping her promise to allow the Weiner single-payer amendment full debate and vote on the floor of the House. This will happen on Friday or Saturday.
After nearly being shut out of the discussion completely, single-payer Medicare for All is being heard in the corridors of power. This is the one opportunity for your Congress member to go on record as supporting the only universal, comprehensive, cost-effective solution to the health care crisis.
Please call to make sure your representative votes in support of the Weiner Amendment.
Four key HR 676 cosponsors also need to get a reminder to vote yes on the Weiner Amendment: Mike Doyle, PA-14; Tim Ryan, OH-17; Howard Berman, CA-28; and George Miller, CA-7. Click here to make those calls. They need to vote for the plan that most American people—nurses, physicians, and patients—want and so desperately need: Medicare for All.
This vote will make it clear to the movement which elected officials are truly with single-payer, Medicare for All. PDA will remember the members of Congress who stepped up with their support.
We need you to call today. Make our demand for single payer loud and clear by calling these representatives now!

In solidarity,
Tim Carpenter, PDA National Director
Laura Bonham, PDA Deputy Director, Communications Coordinator
Conor Boylan, PDA Field Coordinator
Roberta McNair, PDA IOT Coordinator

Public Option Rallies at CNN headquarters in N.Y., L.A. & Atlanta Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 at 12 Noon

Story Updated.

L.A. CNN Rally photos by Dick Chogyoji

Reposted from Cenk Uygur's blog at The Daily Kos:

Demonstrations in Favor of the Public Option This Week in NYC, LA and Atlanta! 

by Cenk Uygur

Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 02:22:46 PM PST

We are organizing street demonstrations in favor of the public option across the country. We are going to ask CNN - Most Trusted Name in News - to accurately tell the American people and the politicians that come on their show that the clear majority of the American people support the public option (here is a clip where they totally misrepresented the facts on national support for the public option).

Crazed right-wingers made a very public display of their antipathy toward health care reform earlier in the year. The overwhelming majority of the American population that has been in favor the public option has been called the Silent Majority. It's time to stop being so silent.

So, we're going to go to CNN headquarters in NY, LA and Atlanta on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 at 12Noon local time to show that there are people willing to stand up for the public option. Votes are coming up in the Senate and the House. The fate of the public option hangs in the balance right now. If you want the public option, this is the time to fight.

Here are the addresses of the three different locations:

CNN Atlanta

190 Marietta St, NW

Atlanta, GA 30303

CNN New York

10 Columbus Circle

New York, NY 10019

CNN Los Angeles

6430 W Sunset Blvd Ste 300

Los Angeles, CA 90028

Here is the link to the Facebook events where you can see who else is coming and coordinate in your area: http://is.gd/4MCqu



UPDATE: People have been asking about signs. Here are some signs I would love to see. I would just write these numbers, nice and big on the sign and then write the Survey it came from at the bottom. These are all the percentage of Americans who said they wanted the public option:
77% (SurveyUSA 8/20/09)

65% (NY Times/CBS News 9/25/09)

55% (Washington Post/ABC News 9/12/09)

62% (Quinnipiac 8/03/09)

56% (Time 7/28/09)

72% (NY Times/CBS News 6/20/09)

56% (Washington Post/ABC News 10/20/09)

59% (Kaiser Family Foundation 8/11/09)

UPDATE II:

I want everyone to know that, of course, the whole TYT crew will be at the LA protest, including me. We will also be taping it for the show.

Make These Calls Nov. 2! Get the Kucinich Amendment Back!!

From PDA - URGENT!

We are all frustrated by the Affordable Health Care for America Act—H.R. 3962--the House’s lamentable healthcare reform bill, if you can call it reform at all. We think of it as tweaking a badly broken system--at best it’s a band-aid on a hemorrhaging system--although, it does appear to be drawing fewer flies than the Senate version.

There’s still time to make it better—much better—but not a lot of time. The bill will be finalized by 5:00 PM Monday evening.
We need to call the bill’s “managers” on Monday, November 2, and insist that the Kucinich Amendment be reinserted in the bill. Pelosi reneged on her deal with Weiner—she can make up for it by reinserting the Kucinich amendment.

The “gang” that holds our future in their hands includes:

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4965; San Francisco office (415) 556-4862
• Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4131; Greenbelt office (301) 474-0119; Waldorf office (301) 843-1577
• Rep. Henry Waxman: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-3976; Los Angeles office (323) 651-1040
• Rep. Charles Rangel: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4365; New York office (212) 663-3900
• Rep. George Miller: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-2095; Concord office (925) 602-1880; Richmond office (510) 262-6500; Vallejo office (707) 645-1888

It’s crucial for everyone ... to make these calls, and to tell others to make these calls. TODAY! Be polite, but let them know you’re angry, and that you vote.

So many of us have poured our heart and souls into Medicare for All; our disappointment could lead us to give up. Any right worth having is worth fighting for, so the fight goes on. We’ll do our best to make this bad bill better in the House and in the Senate. Then we’ll take this fight to the states.

Susan B. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King didn't give up—neither will we. Please, make those calls.

In solidarity,
Tim Carpenter for PDA
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please read Pelosi's Not-So-Robust Public Option.

Patients Not Profits Sit-In for Medicare for All
Mobilization for Health Care for All 

October 28, 2009 10am to 12pm
at Cigna Headquarters
400 N Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA‎
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps...

October 28th is the launch of the next wave of Patients Not Profit Sit-Ins ~ And the wave will continue until at least November 4th.

Mobilization for Health Care for All - L.A. is organizing Patients Not Profit Sit-Ins in Glendale to end insurance abuse and win health care for all.

The Rally starts at 10am, and will feature a picket line, a press conference, and an ER DOCTOR delivering their demands to the Insurance Company. If Cigna refuses to speak with them and meet their demands, a group will SIT-IN, and won't leave until they win Healthcare for all.

Contact: Laura Flanagan,
305-542-3570, leflanagan@hotmail.com
http://is.gd/4FsF5

San Gabriel Valley Interfaith Coalition for Health Insurance Reform Vigil at Pasadena City Hall

Entitled “Remembering The Faces,” various interfaith Pasadena area congregations met for brief presentations and a candlelight vigil and march to mourn the 45,000+ people who die every year for lack of affordable health care. Those who believe that the health insurance system is broken and needs reform now gathered at Pasadena City Hall Monday night 10/19/09 at 5:30 pm.

Several area clergy committed to speaking about healthcare, either in a sermon, discussion or homily, during the coming weekend Sabbath services, including Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Rabbi Alan Lachtman,  Rev. George VanAlstine, Rev. Matthew Colwell, Rabbi Sharon Brous and Rabbi Ari Margolis.

Marchers traveled along Colorado Boulevard to Arroyo Parkway and gathered on the four corners of the Arroyo Parkway intersection in a silent vigil.

Participants carried votive candles, signs and banners honoring people they knew, and photographs of friends and/or relatives who have suffered for lack of health care.

Photo: Kristin Dewey 

More photos of this event at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39995061@N00/sets/72157622623394908/

October 15th – And Beyond: Mobilization for Health Care for All

“Patients Not Profit” sit-ins will be happening in at least 9 cities across the country this Thursday!
October 15th L.A. Sit-in:
When: 10 am Where: Anthem Blue Cross / 801 S. Figueroa St. 90017
Contact: Sam Pullen – samuelbpullen at hotmail dot com

October 15th will announce the arrival of a new force on the political landscape: Americans across the country who have had enough of the insurance company death panels and are standing up – and sitting in – to end their abuse once and for all. If we have to go to jail to move our nation to enact reform that finally guarantees the right to health care for all, so be it. The status quo cannot continue, and current reform proposals simply won’t solve the problem.

We know many of you are organizing sit-ins in your community, but haven’t been able to make it happen for the 15th. That’s okay: Thursday is just the beginning. Mark your calendars – the date for the next round of sit-ins is October 28th.

...If even a small percentage of the millions of people who’ve been hurt by these insurance companies start going to jail to stand up to them all over America, there will be historic possibilities for real reform that do not exist now. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to do everything we can to realize that possibility.

Thanks for everything you’re doing. Let’s make it happen.
If you haven’t yet, please donate today to help us continue to build this campaign.

More info and other city sit-ins at http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/2009/10/13/october-15th-and-beyond/

Last Call For Weiner (Medicare 4 All) & Kucinich (State's Choice) HCR Amendments. Vote may be today! Call your Rep today!

 

From PDA

Progressive Democrats of America:

The Weiner and Kucinich Amendments

We need you to act now!

The vote in the House on healthcare reform is imminent.

Through our Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign, PDAers 

have sent emails and faxes, signed petitions, and made 

phone calls and office visits to our members of Congress. 

We’ve had lobby days on the Hill, protests in the streets, 

and forums in cities and towns across the country. 

PDA has never wavered in our support of single-payer

healthcare—and we never will. 

Call you representative—today!

The powers-that-be took single-payer off the table,  

but our diligent persistence helped keep it alive. 

This week, perhaps as early as today (Tuesday, October 13),  

the House will vote for the first time in history on the  

Weiner amendment --Medicare for All!  

This is a victory worth celebrating.

Our friend Dennis Kucinich successfully added an 

amendment to allow states the right to create their own 

single-payer healthcare systems.  

The Kucinich amendment must be retained in the final 

legislation so states can more easily implement single-payer 

systems.

Our job now is to let our representatives know that there is 

still great support for Medicare for All and to encourage them to vote to support the Weiner and Kucinich amendments.

Take action here.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely the Weiner amendment will pass

in this Congress, and it will be difficult to retain the Kucinich 

amendment as well.

Don’t be discouraged—we have a Plan B! Canada created their national health system province by province. We can do the same here—state by state.

Pennsylvania may become the first state to do so. There’s a 

bi-partisan bill working it’s way through the legislature right 

now, and PDA is already working to help pass it. Join us 

(if you can) for the Healthcare4allPA Rally in the Harrisburg 

capital rotunda on October 20.

When Governor Rendell signs the Pennsylvania single-payer 

bill, they will have created a model for other states to follow.

If this Congress passes “health insurance reform,” it will be 

only a matter of several years before they’re back at the 

drawing table. 

During those years, we have excellent opportunities to

help pass single-payer legislation in Pennsylvania,

California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio. That will

certainly change the debate.

After all of our hard work, it is easy to become discouraged, 

even despondent, over the current reform.  

Now is not the time to give up—call your representative today and prepare to win single-payer healthcare in the states.

It’s only a matter of time until our elected officials admit what we already know—Medicare for All is the best and only solution to what ails our American healthcare system.

In solidarity,

Tim Carpenter

P.S. Medicare for All supporters across the country have 

been sitting-in at healthcare industry corporate offices. 

PDA’s own Lorin Klugman and Jim Rhodes were arrested 

at Cigna in Chicago earlier this week—check it out.

SELL YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE STOCK!

CALL TO ACTION!

DO YOU HAVE STOCK IN HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES?
Almost every American does - 
In your Mutual Funds, your Pension, your IRA, etc. 

Teri Szucs sent a letter to Keith Olbermann at MSNBC 
about the importance of all of us divesting ourselves of 
Health Insurance Company Stock. 

We Must Make Owning Health Insurance Stock 

Politically Incorrect!

VOTE WITH YOUR STOCK!

Please write, call, email everyone you know 

and anyone of influence 

who may be able to help us 
Get this into the national conversation this week!

If there is any chance that you or any of your friends, colleagues or other contacts could get this message to Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, Phil Donahue, Chris Matthews, Shepard Smith, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, AirAmerica, Larry King... Or any other high profile public figures:  Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Weiner, Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Grayson, Rep. Howard Dean, Matt Taibbi, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, Wendell Potter, Jon Waters, Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Janeane Garofalo, Mike Farrell, Will Ferrell, Ed Begley, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneris, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, etc.,  we would really appreciate your making that effort. 

Please help us get this message into the right hands. See below. 

Thank you very much.

Kristin Dewey

www.mikessister.com

DIVEST THYSELF!

Do you have a pension fund, mutual fund, an IRA, a 401k? Congratulations, you too own a piece of a Health Insurance Company.

Unless we demand Health Care as a Basic Human Right, the tangled web is in so many of our pockets it will forever keep us trapped. If we remove the risk of a big down slide for all of us and all of the powerful big investors on Wall Street, this strong resistance to Single Payer Universal Health Care and the demise of the Health Insurance Companies will be less of a real financial and practical threat.

Reaching our goal of Universal Health Care under a Single Payer System should not take a huge toll on everyone’s savings, so let’s divest.


There is an easy way to weaken the Health Insurance Companies, even to break them, without withholding our premiums: STOP OWNING THEM.

VOTE WITH YOUR STOCK! 

Make investing in Health Insurance Companies bad karma, like Sierra Leone blood diamonds. Major institutions have turned the tides around the world by refusing to trade in inhumanity - Apartheid was overturned, selling ivory is now illegal in most countries.

Insurance companies and their obscene profits are a major part of all our portfolios, including union’s retirement plans and the pension plans of all our cities and states. 

This explains why none of the other high power corporations, auto makers, Coca Cola, the usually liberal Hollywood studios, just to name a few, and all our Senators, Republican and Democrat and even President Obama, are not demanding single payer. 

Their executives and their unions, their cities and states, their school boards, also own a piece of the Health Insurance pie, strengthening the stranglehold these corporations hold over every aspect of our lives.

Let us all call our banks, our brokers, our pension fund administrators, and tell them to divest our portfolios from any mutual funds that include Health Insurance Company stock. 

Once we're clean, we need to call our employers, unions, school boards, colleges  mayors, governors, and ask them to divest their pensions and investments from all Health Insurance Company stocks.  

Ask your viewers to do the same. Call on the Networks and the Studios to divest. 

Please do this for the rest of us. We need a voice, Please be that voice, because you can.

If a few public figures will make a statement - or a song, or a video - paralleling Health Insurance Stock to blood money, to blood diamonds, to ivory, to Apartheid, few people will want it. We should be guilted and embarrassed out of owning it.

If you know a union leader, your councilman, a newscaster, an actor.... 
Please use them wisely.

Teri Szucs' website: http://healthcare4all.org/

10/5/09 Mad As Hell Doctor Paul Hochfeld On MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Fox News Is Bad For Our Health - Protest at Fox News W.L.A. Tues. 10/13

Join Westside Progressives & Friends
PROTEST FOX LIES ABOUT HEALTH CARE

&

SUPPORT HEALTH CARE 4 ALL

RALLY IN  FRONT OF FOX TV CENTER

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, 5pm-7pm

Fox accuses other stations of under-reporting opposition to Health Care Reform…

Will support of Health Care Reform 
continue to be ignored?

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH ACORN LOS ANGELES WHO IS INVITED TO JOIN US TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE FOR ALL & 

TO PROTEST FOX RECKLESS MISREPRESENTATION OF NEWS!

Rally Location: Fox Television Center, Home office and news studios for KCOP and KTTV, across street from KSCI, Los Angeles major Asian language TV station.

Address: 1999 S. Bundy Dr, LA, CA 90025
Near corner of Bundy and La Grange, a couple blocks north of Olympic.

RSVP: leapinloui@gmail.com, attn: June. 
Please indicate if you can help host at site on day of event!!

Bring SIGNS to encourage ongoing traffic to honk to support Health Care Reform, especially SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE 4 ALL.

9/30/09 White Ribbon Single Payer Health Care Rally Supporting the Mad As Hell Doctors

MAD AS HELL DOCTORS D.C. WHITE RIBBON 
SINGLE PAYER RALLY AND L.A. SUPPORT RALLY

September 30, 2009

The Mad As Hell Doctors care-a-vanned from Oregon to D.C. for 3 weeks, stopping for several town halls and community meetings per day along the way promoting a Single Payer health care reform plan. 

Our current health care system puts profit before people. A Single Payer plan is the only real path to a health care system that is socially, ethically and fiscally responsible. The Public Option is a trap, and is doomed to fail. What we need is real reform that finds immediate savings, controls costs, and accomplishes the moral imperative of true Universal Access.

 TIE ONE ON FOR SINGLE PAYER! 
 The White Ribbon is the new national symbol for the Single Payer Movement.

Teri Szucs and I decided to organize a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Doctors’ arrival in D.C.  Teri had to leave the state for work, so I took over, but with a lot of help from Suzanne O'Keeffe and my day-of/right-hand woman, Lilly Russell.

The Washington, D.C. 
Mad As Hell Doctors Rally 

Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaking at the MAHD D.C. Rally

The Hollywood MAHD Support Rally

HOLLYWOOD SPEAKERS:
Rally Organizer Kristin Dewey

Radiation Oncologist Paul Y. Song
E.R. Physician Matt Hendrickson, MD MPH
Pediatrician Johanna (Jo) Olson MD, FAAP, FSAM
Mario Milch MD, Medical Director of Kaiser L.A. Hospice
Rishi Manchanda MD MPH
Joanne Daly, MD, Family Practice Physician, Kaiser L.A.
UCLA medical students, including Adam Saby
Frank Cavestani
Linda Krausen

James Koopman, Dist. Rep for Rep. Diane Watson 
 

Taking the Mad As Hell Doctors' Single Payer Pledge:
"On my honor, as a healthcare advocate,
I will do all in my power to work for:
A system of payment that redirects all current health care money
Both public and private into a single public fund
That covers everyone...
Till death do us part."
 

Dr. Paul Y. Song and Dr. Matt Hendrickson

Dr. Matt Hendrickson

 

Dr. Paul Y. Song

Dr. Jo Olson, left

Dr. Rishi Manchanda, speaking

 Dr. Paul Papanek, Jr. & Dr. Mario Milch 

Dr. Mario Milch
Dr. Mario Milch video:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuamarks/3971799356/
 

Dr. Joanne Daly

Dr. Jo Olson video 1

 Dr. Jo Olson video 2: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuamarks/3971631554/
 

UCLA Medical Students - hours after final exams...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuamarks/3971059837/

Frank Cavestani

 

Linda Krausen

 

James Koopman

Congresswoman Diane Watson's District Rep.

ABC Eyewitness News showed up after the rally. That would be me holding the mic for Dr. Paul Y. Song. The interviews were cut out, but they did use us as a teaser at every commercial break on the 11:00 News - the human interest story for the night, and they did get out our Single Payer message - that we think it's a trap, and gave the Mad As Hell Docs a nice plug.

Lilly Russell & the Duggars

 

Yes, I put 300 fliers on windshields one hot weekend.

Hollywood Photos: 
Suzanne O'Keefe, Joshua Marks, Lilly Russell & Kristin Dewey
Hollywood Videos:
Frank Cavestani & Joshua Marks