http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/group_rss/AdamsCounty Stay connected to other progressives in Adams County. Click on the "Join Group" button near the top of the page. As of Wed. 11/26 at 6:00 am the responses to this Impeachment OpEd had grown to over 1,246 The right wingers of both the Democrats and Republican parties were doing their best to ruin the discussion and diss the Constitution. They posted garbage using fake names which kept the right wing Dem/GOP messages on top. For instance the message "Blah.. Blah... Blah... this gets old" repeated many times really got in the way of real discussion. Regardless this is a record for comments on that paper for an impeachment discussion. It is a marvel that the Editorial Board allowed the article to be published. Our thanks to everyone who read it and commented at the newspaper. ----------------------------------------------- PLEASE: FORWARD TO YOUR LISTS NOW ! Thanks e. Suggest we all read and comment on this Pro-Impeachment op-ed piece in the Detroit Free Press today. Earlier the better. Getting to 1,000+ comments might help. Interestingly it is placed high on the paper's website. Is the paper now getting behind impeachment??? The comments have tripled to over 500 in 2 hours. Please add your pro-impeachment hearings comment and forward to your lists asap. Thanks John John H Kennedy, Denver CO impeach Colorado Coalition For economy's sake, Pelosi needs to push for impeachment now BY ROCHELLE RILEY Nov. 25, 2008 For economy's sake, Pelosi needs to push for impeachment now Rep. Nancy Pelosi's ineffectiveness became clear the day she became Speaker of the House and immediately announced that there would be no impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney. Advertisement Guided by politics, she said leading investigations into just how much the Bush administration did - and did wrong - would be divisive. What she didn't express was her worry that too many Democrats faced elimination from the House if they took on the difficult task of proving who knew what, when. But Congress is running out of time to finally make the Bush administration own up to its actions for eight years. If Congress isn't careful, the president who already has issued 171 pardons could also pardon every appointee and employee he has ever had - and their dogs. And then Americans will never find out what happened to our country over the past eight years. Pelosi wouldn't have to start from scratch: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the bravest member of Congress, introduced legislation 11 months ago to impeach the president and vice president. Last January, the House gave a first reading of one of those articles of impeachment. Our own Rep. John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, joined 38 other representatives to sponsor HR 635, which would form a committee to look into whether there are grounds for impeachment. Revive that effort! Last week, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, submitted a resolution demanding that Bush stop issuing "pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his administration during the final 90 days of office." Nadler said in news reports that he was moved to action by the president's "widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution" and that he wanted to prevent the "undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the president's unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants." Nadler is storming the beach; others should join him. If Congress moves quickly and forces the president to focus on impeachment, then he won't have so much time to push through last-minute regulatory changes that will continue to hurt our country and our ideals. He already has pushed deregulation that would allow employers to talk directly with employees' doctors and allow power companies to build polluting facilities close to national parks. Anyone worried that our congressional representatives can't tie their shoes and chew gum at the same time, or cannot focus on the economic crisis and impeachment hearings at the same time, will find that many answers to our economic and global defense problems will come from those hearings. The only question I have for Nancy Pelosi is this: What are we waiting for? --------------- If the House Democrats fail to hold Bush and Cheney accountable, they are unlikely to get you Single payer Healthcare or anything else that will take courage to accomplish. --------------- http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp/commentary#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:02:57 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDp/ Failed U.S. health care is a major contributor to our systemic economic crisis. Indeed, the excesses of Wall St. and the subprime mortgage catastrophe mirror U.S. health care policy  – both are typified by privatized profit (for investors and insurers), and socialized risk (for taxpayers and consumers). Inflated U.S. health care costs – 16% of GDP and rising – are major contributors to an inflationary economy. Redress of this single aspect of an out-of-control U.S. economy would lift all boats. Comprehensive health care reform would improve the economic status of all, relieving health access concerns of families, individuals and businesses, large and small. So-called "legacy costs" alone, comprised largely of retiree health and pension benefits, have contributed significantly to General Motor’s negative cash flow, prompting yet another request for government bailout. In 2005, costs of health care coverage to GM amounted to $5.6 billion for 1.1 million employees, retirees and their dependents. In 2005 BusinessWeek reported that legacy costs added $1,600 to the cost of each GM vehicle. It’s time to confront the crippling economic effects of employment-linked health coverage that reduces competitiveness of businesses in the world marketplace, reduces effective employee take-home pay, and adds to the costs paid by all for goods and services (note above cost added to each U.S. -made car). State and city budgets, too, are depleted by escalating health costs for employees and retirees. Progressives leaders must do a better job of promoting civic discourse while clearly defining issues, like health care reform. Democrats shoud cease parroting right-wing framing and code words intended to distort the issue, e.g., "government health care" or "socialized medicine," as a couple of recent Colorado candidates have done. We need to refute Republican "free-market" advocacy that treats health care as a commodity to be exploited for maximum profit, with top-skimming of over 25% of health care dollars for private insurance shareholder profits, CEO salaries, excessive administrative costs, marketing, lobbying, etc. "Free-market" health care is as perverse an incentive as free-market police and fire protection would be, leaving everyone vulnerable, at the mercy of the marketplace. Barack Obama showed promise broaching issues during the campaign. He made a start at explaining the high cost of privatizing Medicare (13% higher than traditional Medicare), and the failure of Medicare prescription drug reform that prohibits negotiation of bulk drug rates, as the VA does to save money. The 2003 reform was a giveaway to insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies, with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated costs to benefit their bottom lines. Now is the time to make the case for an improved Medicare for All - a public insurance with true free choice of providers and hospitals. By contrast, for-profit insurance choices are narrowly limited to "in-plan" providers, necessitating change of providers with change of insurance. Comprehensive health care reform shoud be part of a broad economic remedy. U.S. health costs are almost double those of all other industrialized nations, and growing; yet we still experience worse overall health outcomes. Increasing numbers of underinsured pay escalating costs for decreasing coverage. Taxpayers currently pay for over 60% of health care costs, including 70% of legislators’ health coverage. By many accounts, that is enough to provide single-risk-pool coverage for all. In fact, single-payer health care is the only model of reform that has demonstrated in over 20 federal and state studies the capacity to save money and provide comprehensive coverage for all. It is time for reform that benefits the worker as well as the CEO. First posted on Huffington Post 11-13-08 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV/commentary#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:33:24 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV Michele S Michele S 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDV/ Obama advisers: Bush era war criminals will walk . No Accountability for Bush, CHENEY, Rumsfeld, Addington, and the rest of these scum. IF THAT PISSES YOU OFF Call 800-828-0498 Ask for each of Colorado's Congressmen in turn and tell them to file their own Impeachment Resolution and to do it THIS WEEK. (Hint: leave a voicemail at night) IF enough Congressmen file single crime impeachment resolutions during the same week (this week) it will get the attention of the Media. Yes the MEDIA got Obama elected, and now are much more likely to pay attention to impeachment. WE MUST GET PEOPLE RILED UP ENOUGH TO DEMAND IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS NOW John Kennedy Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com QUESTION: HOW MANY US SOLDIERS HAVE TO BE KILLED AND MAIMED FOR THE BUSH/CHENEY WMD LIES Before Colorado Voters (you and me) bother to call the state's US Congressmen and Demand Impeachment Hearings NOW? Hint: Over 4,197 Killed Over 30,000 Maimed (some reports say it's over 70K) .. .... http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh/commentary#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:32:56 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQzh/ The "right-to-life" movement that elevates embryonic life above women's lives is more accurately termed "right-to-prenatal-life." One of the most extreme 2008 anti-abortion, anti-contraceptive ballot measures is the so-called Colorado "Personhood" amendment - number 48 - defining fertilized eggs as "persons" with Fourteenth Amendment rights to "life, liberty and due process of law." Simultaneously, rightists have opposed the same rights for women as "reading feminism into the Constitution." Both Amendment 48 and a rule change proposed by the Bush administration Department of Health and Human Services would re-define pregnancy as the point of conception, disregarding the medical definition of pregnancy - "the implantation of a fertilized egg." They would effectively categorize as abortion any contraception (e.g., the pill, IUD, emergency contraception, contraceptive patch) that interferes with the implantation of a fertilized egg, thus outlawing most contraception - the primary means to reduce the need for abortion. In a slippery slope to 19th century status for women, rightists have promoted "conscience clauses" permitting pharmacists' and others' refusal to fill prescriptions or provide health care for women. The HHS proposal states, "[T]he conscience of the individual or institution should be paramount in determining what constitutes abortion..." - holding women's health hostage to anyone's professed religious/ideological beliefs. It is time to recognize that abortion serves as surrogate for a spectrum of unspoken issues related to female personhood and male entitlement. The anti-abortion political litmus test was introduced by Paul Weyrich, who dictated that women step aside and "make way for new life." It serves dual purposes - the marginalization of women and the lightning rod around which to mobilize political coalitions, notably, Evangelicals and Catholics. The elevation of fetal life over women's lives, coupled with conservative strategist Howard Phillips' euphemistically described goal of return to "one-family-one-vote," is calculated to marginalize and disenfranchise women, consistent with the ultraright tenet that ultimately, only select white Christian males should retain the right to vote or hold office. Rickie Solinger concluded from her historical research of women's health care that women's rights have often been held hostage by politicians and others with "political agendas hostile to female autonomy and racial equality" ( Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade , 1992). The criminalization of contraception and abortion, and the widespread U.S. adoption black market that assigned value to babies and punishment to women based on race, were some effects of pre- Roe efforts to control women's reproduction. At core, Weyrich's anti-abortion, anti-contraceptive and abstinence-only ideology serves as cornerstone of an anticipated male supremacist theocracy. It is the platform upon which the majority of Republican candidates continue to run in 2008. The greatest conceit - that pregnancy is not a health issue and women's lives are expendable - underlies the dual standards of Republican Party pronatalist policy demanding female submission to males who presume the right to hold women hostage to personal beliefs. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R/commentary#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:42:59 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R Michele S Michele S 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8R/  On August 29, the Friday before the Republican Convention, members of the Council for National Policy convened in Minneapolis to grant their imprimatur to the vice presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin. Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery described the group's reaction in a Focus on the Family Action video, which has since been removed from their website: "There could not be more excitement based on the little we know about Palin so far," enthused Minnery. Given general longstanding opposition to women in positions of power among CNP members, Minnery was asked whether James Dobson could possibly support a woman for the office. He quoted Dobson: "If it's the right woman, we are ready to vote for her." Dobson has been hoping for some time to find a "Margaret Thatcher" type, noted Minnery. Outside the obvious, i.e., her anti-gun control and anti-abortion positions, Minnery recited Palin's positives as a conservative candidate: a hocky mom in an intact marriage who "has not rejected her feminine side"; because she and her husband are union members, it was speculated that blue collar voters in important swing states would be attracted; and (improbably) because she is a woman, that she would appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters. The Council for National Policy (CNP) has remained largely below the radar since its 1981 founding as an umbrella group uniting a network of over 500 members from Congress, the business community and hard-right evangelicals. The press are excluded from their secretive invitation-only strategy meetings, held three times annually. The group is strongly influenced by the teachings of the late Rousas Rushdoony , a CNP member and patriarch of the reactionary Christian Reconstructionist (Dominionist) movement that has infused the doctrine of conservative churches since the '60s, and seeks Christian dominion over all aspects of society and the world. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZMG http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZMG/commentary#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:48:40 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZMG Michele S Michele S 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZMG/ From a story in the Economist "UNPOPULAR, isolated, and facing the humiliation of impeachment, Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of Pakistan on Monday August 18th.... they (the people)were dancing in the streets." ------------------------------------------------ We here in America can cause accountability for President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but you have to take action before the election. You the voter have the power to force our Incumbent Democratic Congressmen(and women) to honor their oath of office to protect our Constitution by calling for immediate impeachment hearings. It is not necessary that impeachment hearing be finished prior to the election, only that they are started. We the voters have the power to make this happen, but you will have to call your congressman repeatedly over the next two months. Contact information for Colorado congressmen can be found here . In addition, US House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is calling the membership of the House Judiciary Committee back from their Fall recess to investigate Ron Suskind's revelations about the forged letter that falsely said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It has been reported that the order to the CIA to have the letter forged came on White House Stationary. On Democracy Now today Conyers said "The 110th Congress isn't over. We're starting our work, and then we're doing it in a period where the Congress is in recess. I'm calling everybody back. We've got a huge amount of work to engage in." Please contact the Judiciary Committee to urge them to impeach now: 202-225-3951 FAX: 202-225-7680 THE GRAVES OF THE 4,134 Murdered US Soldiers CRY OUT FOR IMPEACHMENT for the WMD LIES Impeachment. More important than ever. Plenty of time. Impeachment Is Coming! John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION ImpeachCO.com http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F/commentary#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:36:48 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 5 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq4F/ US House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is calling the membership of the Judiciary Committee back from their Fall recess to investigate Ron Suskind's revelations about the forged letter that falsely said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It has been reported that the order to the CIA to have the letter forged came on White House Stationary. On Democracy Now today Conyers said "The 110th Congress isn't over. We're starting our work, and then we're doing it in a period where the Congress is in recess. I'm calling everybody back. We've got a huge amount of work to engage in." Here's the link to Democracy Now Please contact the Judiciary Committee to urge them to impeach now: 202-225-3951 FAX: 202-225-7680 Please help by contacting all media outlets and members of Congress . Impeachment. More important than ever. Plenty of time. Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com IMPEACHMENT IS COMING .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c/commentary#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:46:49 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq4c/ The blockbuster claims that White House officials conspired to forge evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 plotters and ignored clear intelligence indicating Saddam Hussein's lack of WMDs may not be getting as much attention as it should in the US press, but some key lawmakers are beginning to take notice. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers says his staff will investigate these allegations and others aired in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind's new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism. "I am particularly troubled that the decision to disseminate this fabricated intelligence is alleged to have come from the highest reaches of the administration," Conyers said in a press release Tuesday evening. "The administration's attempt to challenge Mr. Suskind's reporting appears to have been effectively dismissed by the publication of the author's interview recordings and transcripts. I have instructed my staff to conduct a careful review of Mr. Suskind's allegations and the role played by senior administration officials in this matter." The announced probe garnered quick praise from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has waged a months-long campaign to convince his colleagues and Democratic leaders in the House to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Suskind has said the allegations outlined in his book could be impeachable offenses. The rest of the story is here John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION ImpeachCO.com .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9/commentary#comments Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:29:16 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9 John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqP9/ Whispers of a Watergate for Bush By Clive Crook the FT's chief Washington commentator. The response in the US to startling new allegations that the White House directed the forgery of evidence to support its case for the war in Iraq has been surprisingly muted so far. The charges may be false, of course, but if they are seriously examined and turn out to be true, this is - or ought to be - a Watergate-sized scandal. Ron Suskind is a heavyweight: a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and the author of a well-regarded book on the administration's security policies, The One Per Cent Doctrine. His new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, which was published last week, contains the extraordinary new charge. It says that late in 2003 the White House ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to forge a memo dated July 2001 from Tahir Jalil Habbush, Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief, to Saddam himself, affirming that Mohammed Atta, the September 11 2001 bomber, had contacts with the regime and that Iraq had an ongoing weapons of mass destruction programme. YOU need to read this Now! The rest of the story is here You may have to Register (for free) to read it. John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION ImpeachCO.com .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY/commentary#comments Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:21:12 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPY/ When Democrat Mark Udall debated Republican Bob Schaffer in July, he made no effort to refute Schaffer’s distortions surrounding health care reform. In fact, he essentially short-circuited meaningful debate by adopting the nebulous right-wing description of single-payer health care as “government health care,” thus capitulating to Republican framing of the issue. Just what is government health care? Is it the more than 60 percent of all health care costs that are paid by taxpayers, including subsidies for inflated costs of private insurances? Private insurers skim the cream and game the system for profit, and count on government (taxpayers) to pick up the health care costs of all whose coverage they reject. Does government health care include the 70 percent of our legislators’ health coverage that is funded by taxpayers? Democrats who facilely echo GOP talking points grossly misrepresent single-payer health care. In fact, contrary to assertions by the right-wing “free market” chorus, only single-risk-pool insurance provides true free choice of private providers, the same as traditional Medicare before Republicans moved to privatize Medicare (at 12 percent higher cost). Private insurance plans limit choice to “in plan” doctors, often requiring change of providers when plans are changed. Only single payer is capable of providing comprehensive, continuous health care benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy. Our leaders should vigorously protest the abomination of Medicare prescription drug reform that was written by insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines, while prohibiting negotiation of bulk drug prices. Instead of privatizing Medicare-for-profit, why not improve and expand its coverage for everyone? Traditional Medicare has lower overhead costs – less than 4 percent – whereas private insurances divert 25 percent or more to profits, lobbying, marketing, exhorbitant CEO salaries and wasteful administrative costs. Profit is a perverse incentive for health insurance, which protects its bottom line by reducing benefits and shifting ever-greater costs to consumers. The insulated political class in Washington, dependent upon corporate money and privy to 70 percent taxpayer-subsidized health coverage, seem out of touch with the U.S. people. Polls by Pew and others have revealed that increasing numbers – 54 to 65 percent – support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine (3-31-08) that 59 percent of U.S. physicians “support government legislation to establish national health insurance,” an increase of 10 percent since 2002. Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money and provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. The Colorado single-payer proposal and Rep. John Conyers’ national health care bill, HR 676, both deserve serious further study. We have everything to gain from an honest dialogue about quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care, in place of profiteering health insurance gatekeepers. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs/commentary#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:50:53 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs Michele S Michele S 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPs/ "Our Health Freedoms " Educational Seminar Oriental Theater (http://theorientaltheater. com) Denver, Colorado THURSDAY AUGUST 21, 2008 9a.m. to 6p.m. A unique opportunity for the public, interested parties, patients, and holistic professionals to gather and learn about a new program designed to help their client base, while assisting veterans, other social work cases, and the general public on the road to better health utilizing a wide variety of complimentary therapies. Our forefathers worked hard to see through the Freedoms of Democracy, and NOW is the opportunity for us to work hard at assuring, "Our Health Freedoms", instead of those being dictated by BIG PHARMA's multi-Billion dollar daily lobbying efforts diverting our government in unhealthy directions. Registration is ONLY $35., payable by CASH ONLY the day of the event, or by depositing via credit card payment through paypal account (paypal.com) deposit $35. to account name goldnkid@earthlink.net . Your conference payment includes continental breakfast, lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs), and Colorado made "HEMP I SCREAM" afternoon treat. Within walking distance remain several restaurants including Swing Thai, Mexican Jalapeno Grill, and others. It should, however, be noted that there will be a lunch time speaker that you might not want to miss. Warning, your conference fee does NOT automatically entitle you to concert entry for the 1st THC National Convention in the evening. Tickets may be purchased separately online through the box office at http://theorientaltheater.com Please Note: Due to the considerable excitement surrounding these unique events and due to the fact that thousands of individuals will be coming to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, ticket availability is going fast. Get yours today, and DON'T get left out in the cold!) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS • 8a.m. to 9 a.m. REGISTRATION & SET-UP ACTIVITIES "Meet & Greet" time. • 9a.m. to 10a.m. Continental Breakfast with Opening Speaker • 10a.m. to 11:15a.m. "Why a Collective or Cooperative?" • 11:15 a.m. to 1p.m. Lunch with speaker. • 1:00p.m. to 3p.m. Breakout Sessions including: 1. Growers(Balcony) 2. Caregivers & Patient Advocacy 3. "Holistic Practitioners -enhance your client base" 4. "The Business of Cannabis (medical) in Colorado" • 3:00p.m. to 3:30p.m. BREAK TIME (complimentary Colorado HEMP ICE SCREAM served). • 3:30p.m. to 5:30p.m. "FREE SPEECH DIALOGUE"-with numerous representatives of the politics of the day. Included will be a Recreate 68 representative (recreate68.org) and an Alliance for Real Democracy representative along with other speakers, and having moderation by the U.S. Department of Peace. A unique experience following the concept of "Community Mediation". • 5:30p.m to 6:30p.m. Networking and Cash Bar. THE FIRST HEMP AND CANNABIS NATIONAL CONVENTION http://thcnationalconvention.com http://www.myspace.com/thcnationalconvention Official Gear: http://www.cafepress.com/THCNC The HEMP CANNABIS NATIONAL CONVENTION Oriental Theater (http://theorientaltheater. com) Denver, Colorado THURSDAY AUGUST 21, 2008 6 p.m. to Midnight PUBLIC INVITED • 6:30p.m. to Midnight Continuous Live Entertainment including: BIG BUDS BLUES BAND ONE MANNA (Anna, the one woman band) APEX VIBE Comedians and More POLITICAL ACTIVISM, EDUCATION, COMMUNITY This will be a celebration of Our Freedoms following a daylong seminar for Medical Marijuana in Colorado HIGHLY PRIZED & extremely limited $10 tickets (now available Online at http://theorientaltheater. com or at the Oriental Theater Box Office) Complimentary VIP for ALL legal Colorado Medical Marijuana patients at the door with package including buffet, limited laminate, official THC National Convention t-shirt, "Green Cross" goodie bag and more!) Sorry, price of the Concert is NOT included in the educational conference fee. BE WARNED, this event and conference WILL sell out early) If interested, please obtain your $10. concert tickets separately online at http://www. theorientaltheater.com Very limited Sponsorship Opportunities and Vendor Booths remain available (Deadline for paid application: August 10, 2008) contact Bobby at 720-628-6291. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP/commentary#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:42:22 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP COmidnightrider46 COmidnightrider46 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPP/ Progressive Democrats of America with The Nation magazine are setting up headquarters at Central Presbyterian Church (1660 Sherman St.), where they have scheduled issues forums over 5 days of the Democratic National Convention. Free daily panels moderated by The Nation 's John Nichols at 11 AM, are followed by additional panels covering Health Care on Monday, August 25, followed the rest of the week with forums on Media and Election Reform, Economic Justice, Global Warming and Constitutional Law. Participants include Reps. John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Keith Ellison and Lynn Woolsey; Tom Hayden, Jim Hightower and authors David Sirota and Vincent Bugliosi; various writers and publisher of The Nation ; journalist and radio host Laura Flanders; Jeff Cohen, author and founder of FAIR; and many others. For schedule and more info, check Web site http://pdamerica.org , click on "Progressive Central" in green bar at page top. Watch for posting of PDF event flyer. Also, check link to HCAC page for Democratic Convention Actions around Health Care . http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk/commentary#comments Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:00:39 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk Michele S Michele S 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPk/ Friday's House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge by Dave Lindorff at Commondreams.org The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation's democracy by two aspiring tyrants in the White House. As Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the committee, made clear more than once during the six-hour session, this was "not an impeachment hearing, however much many in the audience might wish it to be." He might well have added that he himself was not the fierce defender of the Constitution and of the authority of Congress that he once was before gaining control of the Judiciary Committee, however much his constituents, his wife, and Americans across the country might wish him to be. At the same time, while the hearing was strictly limited to the most superficial airing of Bush administration crimes and misdemeanors, the fact that the session -- technically an argument in defense of 36 articles of impeachment filed in the House over the past several months by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- was nonetheless a major victory for the impeachment movement. It happened because earlier in the month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has sworn since taking control of the House in November 2006, that impeachment would be "off the table" during the 110th Congress, called a hasty meeting with Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Conyers, and Rep. Kucinich, and called for such a limited hearing. It was no coincidence that shortly before Pelosi's backdown, peace activist and Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan announced that her campaign had collected well over the 10,000 signatures necessary to qualify for listing on the ballot as an independent candidate for Congress against Pelosi in the Speaker's home district in San Francisco. Sheehan has been an outspoken advocate of impeaching both Bush and Cheney. "Pelosi is trying to throw a bone to her constituents by allowing a hearing on impeachment," said Sheehan, who came to Washington, DC to attend. "It's just like her finally stating publicly that Bush's presidency is a failure -- something it has taken her two years to come to, but which we've been saying for years." So determined were Pelosi and Conyers to limit the scope and intensity of the hearing that they acceded to a call for Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to adhere to Thomas Jefferson's Rules of the House, which prohibit any derogatory comments about the President, which was interpreted by Chairman Conyers as meaning no one, including witnesses or members of the committee, could suggest that Bush had lied or deceived anyone. Since a number of Rep. Kucinich's proposed articles of impeachment specifically charge the president with lying to Congress and the American People, this made for some comic moments, with witness Bruce Fein, a former assistant attorney general under former President Ronald Reagan, to say he would reference his listing of crimes to the "resident" of the White House. In the end, the rule imposing a gag on calling the president a criminal fell by the wayside, with witness Vincent Bugliosi, a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney, accusing Bush of being guilty of the murder of over 4000 American soldiers and of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians because he had "lied" the country into an illegal and unnecessary war, and with committee member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-CA) suggesting that the president may have committed treason in invading Iraq, and that he appeared to be preparing to do it again with an unprovoked invasion of Iran. Conyers also acquiesced in a Republican effort to minimize public monitoring and involvement in the hearing, allowing the minority party to fill most of the available seats in the hearing room with office staffers who showed little interest in the proceedings. Only a few dozen of the hundreds of pro-impeachment activists who had come to the Rayburn Office Building at 7 am in order to get seats in the Judiciary Committee hearing room were allowed in, with the rest having to remain in the hall or go to two remote "overflow" rooms to watch the proceedings on a TV hookup. Conyers also went along with a call by Republican members of the committee to have some of those who did make it into the hearing ejected simply for wearing buttons on their shirts calling for impeachment (the Republican members referred to these as "signs"), though such small personal tokens are routinely allowed in congressional hearing rooms. It was clear that this was to be a tightly controlled and strictly limited hearing. It was also clear that it was intended to go nowhere. At one point, after hearing witnesses like Fein, Bugliosi, former representative and Nixon impeachment committee member Elizabeth Holtzman, former Salt Lake City mayor and impeachment activist Rocky Anderson, former House Clinton impeachment manager Bob Barr, former Watergate Committee counsel and current senior counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice Frederick A.O. Schwartz, and Elliott Adams, president of the board of Veterans for Peace, lay out the administration's crimes and abuses of power -- which included charges of usurping the legislative powers of Congress, violating international treaties, war crimes, lying to Congress, an illegal war, felony violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Fourth Amendment, defying Congressional subpoenas, obstruction of justice and more, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chair of the Constitution subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, appeared convinced that the abuses were real and serious. But Nadler, who for two years has been a major obstacle on the Judiciary Committee to any efforts to move impeachment to a formal hearing, said, "No president has been removed from office through impeachment." He asked the witnesses, "How would you approach impeachment today so it would be a viable option?" Former Rep. Holtzman responded, "The real remedy to a president who believes he is above the law is impeachment. There is no running away from that." She said, "An impeachment inquiry, handled fairly, could work. Maybe I'm a cockeyed optimist, but I believe it could work." The basic point, made by Holtzman, by Fein and by many others, including this writer, is that worrying about the political opposition to impeachment, both in the House, and in the Senate, not to mention among the broader public, is completely wrongheaded. Even when impeachment articles were first filed against Nixon, the public and the bulk of the Congress were against the idea. It was during the hearings that the tide turned, as evidence of malfeasance, criminality and abuse of power became evident through hearing testimony. The same would happen in the case of President Bush and/or Vice President Cheney. Most Americans don't even know that the president made up evidence to justify the war against Iraq out of whole cloth. They don't know what the Geneva Conventions are with regard to torture. They don't know why Congress passed the FISA act, which Bush has been feloniously violating to spy on them (it was passed because Nixon was using the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without judicial warrants!). They don't know the Bush has been refusing to enact laws passed by the Congress. Public hearings by an impeachment panel would make all these high crimes and misdemeanors clear on national TV to all sentient Americans. Moreover, as Holtzman pointed out, the president would not be able to use the claim of "executive privilege" to withhold testimony from aides in an impeachment inquiry, the way he has done when they have been subpoenaed by other House and Senate committees. Impeachment would be about violations of the very executive actions he would be claiming privilege on. As well, an impeachment committee, unlike any other committee of the Congress, is specifically sanctioned and empowered in the Constitution, meaning that even strict "constructionist" Federalists on the bench would have a hard time backing presidential obstruction. As Holtzman noted, "There is no executive privilege in impeachment, because refusing to testify is itself an impeachable offense." Committee Republicans, aided by two law professors they had brought in to testify, Stephen Presser of Northwestern University School of Law and Jeremy Rabkin of George Mason University School of Law, tried to argue that impeachment was only meant for crimes in which the official, or the president, was seeking personal gain. This nonsense was knocked down by most of the speakers, who quoted numerous founders who made it clear that what high crimes referred to were actions -even taken with the noblest of intentions -- that undermined the Constitution or abused the powers of the office. As Rep. Nadler said, "Impeachment has nothing to do with intentions or with good faith. Impeachment has to do with abuse of power which weakens the balance of power." In the end, the hearing petered out, taking no action of any kind -- exactly the result that Pelosi, Hoyer and Conyers cynically intended. Now it is up to the public and the impeachment movement to call their bluff and take impeachment to the next level. Noting that even Rep. Conyers ended the hearing by saying, "We are not done yet, and we do not intend to go away until we achieve the accountability that Congress is entitled to and that the American people deserve," Rep. Kucinich and five other co-sponsors of his articles of impeachment (Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Hank Johnson) are calling on all Americans to contact their representatives (202-224-3121) and urge them to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. They are also calling on everyone to contact their local and national media, nearly all of whom have blacked out news of impeachment. Incredibly, the New York Times, for example, has not even reported on Friday's hearing, even as a news "brief." Those news organizations, like the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, that did report on the hearings did so only in short, inside articles. Though the hearing was aired in full on C-Span (and is still available for download), many Americans don't even know it happened. Time is short, but even at this late date, it would be a simple matter to impeach the president on some issues. As several of Friday's witnesses pointed out, President Bush has essentially dared Congress to act, admitting that he openly violated the FISA law -- a felony, and openly admitting that he has refused to enact laws passed by the Congress, claiming a power-unitary executive authority not even mentioned in the Constitution. He has openly admitted to having known about, and approved, "enhanced interrogation techniques" devised by his subordinates -- techniques like waterboarding which clearly violate the Geneva Conventions and US law. No hearings would be required to establish these high crimes and misdemeanors. They could simply be voted on by an Impeachment Committee and sent to the full House for a vote. Even if there were no time for a Senate trial, the simple act of impeaching the president for one or more abuses of power would serve notice on future presidents that future such abuses would not be tolerated. Failure to do so, and allowing this administration to leave office unimpeached, would send the opposite message: that Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government, but is merely a consultative body, at best, and that a president is in effect a dictator. That Pelosi buckled and permitted a hearing on impeachable crimes by the Bush/Cheney administration is a major victory for the impeachment movement, but it must not be the end of the line. Impeachment activists need to now redouble their efforts to make Congress do its Constitutional duty, and initiate a formal impeachment proceeding. As former Republican representative Bob Barr, now the Libertarian candidate for president, told Friday's hearing, "We had a nuclear clock during the Cold War. In the '90s we had a debt clock. Now we have a Constitution Clock." That clock is getting close to midnight, and it is ticking. Dave Lindorff is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. ---------------------------------------------------- Rep. Kucinich and five other co-sponsors of his articles of impeachment (Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Hank Johnson) are calling on all Americans to contact their representatives (202-224-3121) and urge them to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. This phone number is staffed 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days per year. You can call after normal business hours and leave a message urging your Congressman to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. ------------------------------------------------ And if you have time on Saturday around Noon-1:00 pm Our group holds an Impeachment Protest at East 6th & Speer in Denver every Saturday. We have lots of Impeach Signs so just show up and help. OR JUST DRIVE BY REPEATEDLY and HONK TO IMPEACH. John H Kennedy, organizer Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com ( other groups around Colorado do similar events and are listed on our Calendar at ImpeachCO.com ) .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX/commentary#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:36:25 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPX/ According to a RawStory.com article just published the Judiciary Committee approves resolution holding Rove in contempt of Congress. "The House Judiciary Committee has voted 20-14 to approve a contempt of Congress resolution against former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his failure to appear after a Congressional subpoena. Voting along party lines Wednesday morning, the committee said Rove broke the law by failing to appear at a July 10 hearing on allegations of White House influence over the Justice Department, including whether Rove encouraged prosecutions against Democrats. The committee decision is a recommendation. It remains unclear whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will allow a final vote." Are our House Democrats growing a spine? We can hope. A six hour preliminary Impeachment Hearing last Friday and Now This. IMPEACHMENT IS COMING! John H Kennedy, Denver CO, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention and organizer of the Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5/commentary#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:24:51 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5 John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqP5/ Kucinich, Barr, Bugliosi, Holtzman,"Rocky" Anderson, and Elliott Adams, President of the Board, Veterans for Peace are among those testifying. The House Judiciary Committee has released a witness list for its hearing to examine "the imperial presidency" of George W. Bush. Testifying Friday morning will be Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced several resolutions calling for President Bush's and Vice President Dick Cheney's impeachment; former Rep. Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential candidate who led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998; Vincent Bugliosi, author of the just-released book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder; and 10 other current and former members of Congress, constitutional experts and human rights activists. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday on Capitol Hill and will be carries on CSPAN. Late Thursday afternoon, the committee released the full witness list, broken down into two panels. Panel One The Honorable Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio The Honorable Maurice Hinchey, Representative from New York The Honorable Walter Jones, Representative from North Carolina The Honorable Brad Miller, Representative from North Carolina Panel Two The Honorable Elizabeth Holtzman, Former Rep. from New York The Honorable Bob Barr, Former Rep GA Nominee for President The Honorable Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson, Stephen Presser, Raoul Berger,Northwestern Univ.School of Law Bruce Fein Asst.Dep Atty General 81-82 Chair Vincent Bugliosi, former Los Angeles County Prosecutor Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason Univ Elliott Adams, President of the Board, Veterans for Peace Frederick A O Schwarz Jr Senior Counsel, NYU School of Law Conyers (D-MI) previously laid out six areas the hearing would explore: (1) improper politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys offices, including potential misuse of authority with regard to election and voting controversies; (2) misuse of executive branch authority and the adoption and implementation of the so-called unitary executive theory, including in the areas of presidential signing statements and regulatory authority; (3) misuse of investigatory and detention authority with regard to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, including questions regarding the legality of the administration's surveillance, detention, interrogation, and rendition programs; (4) manipulation of intelligence and misuse of war powers, including possible misrepresentations to Congress related thereto; (5) improper retaliation against administration critics, including disclosing information concerning CIA operative Valerie Plame, and obstruction of justice related thereto; and (6) misuse of authority in denying Congress and the American people the ability to oversee and scrutinize conduct within the administration, including through the use of various asserted privileges and immunities. Rep. Kucinich has offered four impeachment resolutions so far: >According to article on Rawstory.com John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention and organizer of the Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com Join our Impeachment Protests, see the Calendar on the website .. .. .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC/commentary#comments Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:44:28 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPC/ USAToday.com has published an editorial criticising Denver Mayor Hickenlooper's handling of free speech issues that affect all voters who treasure their Constitutional right to speak out. The Mayor wrote his own rebuttal and I added my comments about the threats our Impeachment Group received from the Denver Police recently. Both the USAToday Editorial, Hickenloopers opposing view & My Comments are at this url. My Comments are below the Mayor's piece (Opposing view: We support free expression By John Hickenlooper). John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention. Impeach Colorado Coalition http://ImpeachCO.com .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74/commentary#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:23:55 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74 John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq74/ Kucinich said he was doing it for our Soldiers whose "Commander in Chief sent them on a mission that was based on falsehoods about the threat of WMDs from Iraq." RawStory.com Join us in Calling The House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers to demand that he allow the Judiciary Committee to immediately begin Public Impeachment Hearings. Call Chairman Conyers at 202--225-3951 Or 800-828-0498 (ask for the House Speaker's Office) John H Kennedy 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention, organizer of Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2/commentary#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:38:09 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2 John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqy2/ Read Resolution overwhelmingly passed by U.S. Conference of Mayors at their Jun 22-24, 2008 annual meeting. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5/commentary#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:39:24 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5 Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqy5/ A study published in Health Affairs (6-10-08) documents a sharp (60%) increase in numbers of underinsured between 2003-2007. Underinsurance rates nearly tripled among those with incomes above 200% of poverty. Consequently, 42 percent of U.S. adults were under- or uninsured in 2007, reporting high levels of access problems and financial stress. Even among those with incomes over 400% of poverty, 15% are underinsured. The study indicates that the move toward greater consumer cost-sharing for minimum benefit insurance policies in recent years is pushing millions of insured non-elderly adults toward spending large shares of their incomes on health care. The clear impact is to increase the share of families at risk for medical debt and loss of savings for retirement, college, or other long-term needs. Our current insurance system is working well only for the wealthy, who can afford high costs. Politicians' promises that "you can keep the insurance you have" also apply to the wealthy.  Read the Report Following is a 650-word piece I wrote about the failure of profit-centered health care that has been picked up by several newspapers around the state.                               Failure of U.S. profit-centered health insurance Spending almost twice as much, the U.S. has worse health outcomes than other industrialized nations. Uniquely, U.S. health care is dependent on over 1200 for-profit health insurances, functioning as gatekeepers. Underwriting – the art of risk evaluation and avoidance – insures profits by covering the healthy and rejecting everyone else as a "pre-existing condition." Profit is a perverse incentive for quality health care: imagine for-profit fire or police protection. "Market-driven" health care treats health as a commodity, to be negotiated like a car or a house. The free market has also spawned "designer hospitals," offering only the most profitable specialties, e.g., cardiac procedures, and eliminating less profitable services, e.g., emergency and mental health. No reform proposal by current presidential candidates addresses the failure of the private health insurance industry, characterized principally by decreasing benefits and greater costs and risks shifted to consumers. In turn, more are subjected to underinsurance and unpaid medical bills – now the leading cause of personal bankruptcies. Premium increases of 87 percent over 6 years have outpaced both cost-of-living and median family income increases. Incremental reform proposals demonstrate lack of political will – the same failure to confront corporate profit-taking by insurance and pharmaceutical industries that wrote Medicare prescription drug reform with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines. Commercial health insurance is the 800-pound gorilla, responsible for over 25% of health care dollars siphoned to excessive administrative costs, lobbying, marketing, CEO salaries and profit-taking: $30 billion annual health insurance profits; $32 billion insurance underwriting and marketing costs (McKinsey Group, 2007). Gaming the system for profit has given rise to the annual $20 billion business of "denial managment" – health insurance middlemen who search claims for excuses to delay, deny or renege on reimbursements. Responding to double-digit premium increases, more employers are opting to move employees into underinsurance – high-deductible catastrophic plans. Simultaneously, the American Hospital Association reports that both family out-of-pocket health expenses and unpaid medical bills have risen approximately 60% over a decade – still more costs ultimately shifted to taxpayers and consumers. Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money and provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. Indeed, the single payer model is the only truly efficient, equitable, and sustainable financing system, enabling universal coverage by spreading risk across the entire population. Contrary to assertions by the "free market" choir, only single payer insurance permits true choice of pubic and private providers; private insurance is limited to "in plan" doctors. Only single payer provides comprehensive benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy. Rather than comprehensive health care reform, most current proposals revert to a Massachusetts-style nostrum, preserving insurance profits and requiring an individual mandate to purchase minimum-benefit insurance, subsidized by taxpayers as needed. It is a formula for continued inflationary consumer health costs and decreasing benefits. National single payer bill, HR676, calls for a progressive 3 to 4 percent employer and employee payroll tax to replace all health deductibles and premiums. Full-coverage costs for a family of four earning $40,000 annually would drop to $110 a month, from recent levels of $273/month for employer-sponsored coverage, or $489/month for an individually-insured family (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007). A political class dependent on corporate money (and privy to 70 percent-taxpayer-subsidized health coverage) sidesteps meaningful reform. Nevertheless, polls by Pew and others have revealed increasing numbers – 54 to 65 percent of people – support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent survey reports that 59 percent of U.S. physicians now support national health care, up 10 percent from 2002. A grassroots movement and political reforms, including publicly-financed campaigns, may be necessary to instill the political will for meaningful reform. We have everything to gain from quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care to replace U.S. dependence on profiteering health care gatekeepers. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45/commentary#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:35:09 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45 Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq45/ The Bush Impeachment Resolution H Res 1258 was refered to the Judiciary Committee today. Nearly all Democrats voted for it to be buried in the Committee. I find it very strange that an experienced legislator like Kucinich would not call for a vote on floor debate first (as he did with the Cheney Resolution), as opposed to instead calling for a vote to refer the measure directly to committee where he knows that no action will probably be taken, ever. It is my belief that Kucinich was allowed to introduce the measure by Pelosi with the requirement ( or expectation) that the only vote would be one referring it to committee, which would then allow all House Democrats to claim they voted to study the resolution rather than vote to kill it. It is a smoke screen to make it plain to the voters and the media that the impeachment issue is dead for good. Once again the House Democrats prove they are not worthy to call themselves patriots. The only way to get the House Democrats to honor their oath and protect the Constitution is to make them fear losing their jobs. Of course some of us don't have the willingness and courage to make that happen. A recent post you might be interested in John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com .. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD/commentary#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:17:17 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqmD/