Author Archives: dave

The DNC, President Obama, and Change We Can’t Believe In

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During the past week, I have received three phone calls from the DNC.  Rather, I have received three phone calls from DNC-hired fundraisers.  They wanted money.  I thought my crankiness during the first call would have been warning enough about me as a difficult customer to give pause to any subsequent caller.  But naively, I failed to realize that I am just a name in a database through which a dialing machine churns– nothing more, nothing less.

Why would I give these people money?  I have already blogged about the “Obama/DNC Listening Tour” that I attended (during which no one was listening).  Now I see that President Obama will be sinking us deeper into the quagmire of Afghanistan.  Did he forget that he is president by virtue of Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq War?  Had it not been for her militarism, she would be president instead of Barack Obama.  He was the anti-war candidate.

President Obama’s tepid support for real health care reform has indeed been puzzling.  Is he willing to make more deals with Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson?  Will the DNC be giving these obstructionists to decency and social justice money to run their next campaigns?  I want to know that.  I would rather support  primary candidates against these destructive, pro-Republican turncoats.  Rahm Emanual can tell us that we are f…ing stupid for criticizing another Democrat, which he has said.  Since he is a big part of the problem these days, I would say,  f… him.

Apparently, Emanual has been successful in purging Greg Craig from the Obama Administration.  This is a bad sign.  Craig was one of the members of the president’s inner circle who was pushing for adherence to the spirit of the Obama campaign.  That was a campaign that inspired many of us to give money, walk neighborhoods in Missouri, and heartily celebrate Barack Obama’s election. 

I think we need a very quick and serious course correction by President Obama at this juncture in his administration. 

Remembering Darryl Ringer: Charismatic Farm Activist

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This Thanksgiving, I can truly give thanks for having known and worked with farm activist Darryl Ringer from Quinter, Kansas.  Darryl died in a farm accident in 1993.  At the time he was killed, he had gained national stature as an activist on behalf of farmers who were losing their farms to banks in foreclosure actions.

I am proud to say that I offered my couch to Darryl as a place to sleep as he traveled the state in 1988 and worked with us on the Jesse Jackson campaign.  His charisma, intelligence, and organizing ability were phenomenal.  His death left a gaping hole in the progressive movement.

In memory of Darryl, I suggest that we support the actions of the National Farmers Union, which represents 250,000 farming and ranching families. The Farmers Union is pushing for a strong, viable, government-run, health insurance program.  Farm families are finding the cost of health care out of reach due to the nature of the insurance cartel.  For instance, 69% of health insurance policies in Nebraska are written by two insurance companies.

The other farm organization, the Farm Bureau, is opposing the bill passed in the House of Representatives.  Since the Farm Bureau represents large corporations and the agricorp industry as a whole, it opposes the provision of HR 3962 that requires employers to provide health insurance or pay some rather severe penalties.

Warfare or Health Care?

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35,000 More Troops in Afghanistan…
Is President Obama About to Make a Huge Mistake?  

Will we get warfare or health care in the Obama Administration?  If the media is correct in reporting that President Obama is planning to announce a major military escalation, perhaps a whole new war, in Afghanistan, then that is the question.  Will this Country pour another $50 billion per year into an unnecessary, misguided war that will in all likelihood end badly?    

How much militarism can the U.S. afford?  How many U.S., mostly working class, troops are we willing to sacrifice in worthless military ventures that have nothing to do with the safety and welfare of our population – or any other population for that matter?  Have we learned nothing from Viet Nam and Iraq?  It is mind boggling to see the seemingly intelligent, liberal Barack Obama bend to the will of a general that should have been fired for insubordination when he undermined the President in public.   

I sometimes wonder what could have become of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society had he not made the mistake that President Obama is apparently ready to make.  Congress can stop this. 

Call Congressman Moore and/or Congresswoman Jenkins and tell them to vote against this misadventure.

HR 3962: Does It Go Far Enough?

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Thanks Congressman Moore 

Today Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS) generously gave Eric Kirkendall and me time to discuss health care reform with him.  We expressed our concerns about the public option as it is framed in HR 3962, The Affordable Health Care for Americans Act.  With only 2 billion dollars in seed money and a clause that excludes a “bailout” if the program cannot sustain solvency, the public program may be set up for failure.  Due to negotiated “fee-for-service” reimbursement to providers, a likelihood of higher risk customers, and competition with private insurance conglomerates, the public option will have an uphill battle as is.    

Also, the public option will not provide insurance until 2014 (as the bill is written).  In the meantime, the uninsured will still need to buy insurance in a high risk pool.  What will that cost?  A healthy middle aged staff member for the Congressman said that she would have to pay $500 per month with a $5000 deductible.  In other words, she would be paying $500 per month for nothing, unless she was unlucky to suffer a catastrophic illness.  A woman who has just opened up a small business in Lawrence told me she was denied insurance due to some minor surgery for endometriosis.  She was told that she would not be able to buy insurance, outside of the risk pool, unless and until she had a hysterectomy.  Her female organs, being a perceived risk for insurance companies, had to go.  She refused to do that and is buying insurance in the risk pool for $350 per month with a $10,000 deductible (per year).  Essentially, she is handing over $350 a month to an insurance company for nothing. 

The language in HR 3962 regarding state risk pools is vague.  We don’t know what will be available to the uninsured until the public option kicks in.  If a few U.S. Senators in our party (Democrats, with the exception of Joe Lieberman), succeed in destroying the public option altogether and, therefore, any meaningful health care reform, all of this will be a moot question.  However, if a public option like the one included in HR 3962 comes out of Congress in the final analysis and is signed into law, we will need to intensify our lobbying.  I think the Congressman is in a position to help us out.  We need to maintain communication with him and his staff. 

Keep lobbying at the local level and push back on K Street.