You didn’t misread that title – SB400, the bill in the PA State Senate for statewide single payer health care, is getting some hearings because of Republican State Senator Don White.  Here in Pennsylvania, single payer isn’t a partisan issue.  We’ve got bipartisan bills in the Senate and House with Governor Rendell’s pledge to sign them if they pass.

In the words of HealthCare4AllPA:

The hearing will take place on December 16, from 9:00-10:30 AM in room 8E-A East Wing, located on the lower level of the Capitol building. Those in support of SB400 will have 45 minutes to present their information and arguments, and those opposed will also have 45 minutes.

This is a vitally important step forward, and one of the only times in history that a state-based single payer bill has been granted a senate committee hearing.

Whether you live in Pennsylvania or not, this is great news for progressives.  Follow me below the fold to find out more and see how you can help.

Is there a tradition any more backward or disgusting practiced across America today than that of Black Friday?  Hordes of consumers mob stores for great deals on useless “goods” like new TVs or Playstations or clothes manufactured by Southeast Asian or Central American children in sweatshops.

We’re in a pretty messed up place politically and environmentally.  Multinational corporations and financial firms pretty much own the government.  Global warming is not only a real and present danger, but rapidly accelerating.  There is a plastic “raft” in the Pacific Ocean bigger than Texas.  And as people we’re constantly being taken advantage of to make this situation last longer so that corporate profits and bonuses can climb even higher than they are now.

The strong link between these two things – our society’s consumerism and the terrible political, social, environmental, and economic situations we’re in – demands action.  By buying things from these corporations and feeding into this model of an economy, we only encourage it.  So I’m asking you:  please join me in buying nothing tomorrow.

I’m a high school junior, and since I was a freshman I’ve been trying to get my school to be more environmentally friendly.  I’ve tried several different paths.  The first was starting an environmental club – and it failed.  Basically, kids use it to get something on their transcript and we haven’t gotten anything done.  The second major attempt of mine was to go directly to the school board.  I proposed things to them at a meeting that would help the environment and save money.  They very respectfully didn’t act on any of my suggestions – although I did follow up with someone and found out that the school has been consistently reducing their energy usage.

I’ve tried a few other, smaller things, as well, but now I’m working on something that is so close to success I can taste it:  a community garden.

This blog post is for a mini blog action day at GreenChange.org, where I am the “blogging coordinator.”  The theme is taking local action.

The disgusting act of gerrymandering is when partisan interests take control of the redistricting process, which is when congressional and legislative districts are redrawn and is usually conducted by state legislatures after the census, and use it to benefit incumbents and specific parties.

But there is good news.  There is a growing movement to end gerrymandering.  In 2008, Californians passed Prop 11, which moved the responsibility of redistricting from the legislature to a nonpartisan committee.  Now, a group in Florida is trying to put an end to gerrymandering through another ballot initiative, and they need your help today more than ever, no matter where you live in the country.

UPDATE:  Here’s a quick summary of what I’m talking about:

1.  Gerrymandering is awful and needs to be stopped

2.  FairDistrictsFlorida.org, a grassroots organization, is working to stop it by putting an initiative on the Florida ballot

3.  They’re asking for donations from Florida and across the country to pay for a processing fee of over $140,000 for their petitions

This is a repost from a few months ago.  I am reposting it because this organization needs to raise $25,000 in order to pay for the initiative to be qualified.  If they don’t do this, gerrymandering will most assuredly continue in Florida.

I wonder if the Philadelphia Inquirer will start printing opinion pieces by Charles Taylor or Robert Mugabe soon.  Probably not, because their crimes were committed in Africa, at a safe distance from the editors’ board room, where the editors can comfortably judge these war criminals’ actions.  They aren’t intellectuals who justified torture of prisoners in America, like John Yoo.

In any case, they’re printing Yoo’s op-ed pieces now.  They are giving credibility to him and destroying their own credibility.  And, surprise, today John Yoo is saying that there’s no real reason to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal court in New York City.

If you live in Maine and know 100 people (or live within driving distance of 100 people), then you can change the results of the gay rights referendum from last Tuesday.  An email from Black Box Voting:

I’ve been getting a lot of calls and emails from folks both for and against gay

rights, the first group wondering how to get this recount thing off the ground,

the second group kinda mad at Black Box Voting for leading the charge.

So here are some updates:

1. The $2500 is available. People who’ve been getting our emails have stepped up

to the plate with this, and all it takes is a phone call now

2. The holdup is the petition. Black Box Voting is not going to organize this.

It takes 100 Maine voters on a petition to  do this thing. 100 names:

http://www.mainelegislature.or…

If someone gets 100 names on a petition, call me and I’ll help push the buttons

for #1.

Wire transfers or overnight means tomorrow’s deadline is challenging for handing

over the money.

Now as to “why do it?” and “where are the numbers anyway?” and what would happen

if the recount goes forward?

Why? Because Maine does happen to have the best voter’s rights in the country

right now, but it’s not great — they use concealed computerized vote counting,

violating citizens right to see their own election counting. Maybe I should call

it “the least worst” voting rights in the country. We have a confluence of key

opportunities that is very rare for the issue of concealed computer counts.

1) The recount is affordable

2) There are probably interested citizens willing to seek it

3) The firm with control over programming Maine’s elections is one that concerns

many citizens, not just Maine, but also in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New

Hampshire and Vermont. LOTS of people want more light shed on these guys.

4) If machine counts don’t match the recount in any location, or if the chain of

custody is broken in any way for any of the recount ballots the implications

will affect all of New England because one firm controls all the voting machines

(LHS Associates)

5) This will give us a good opportunity to examine chain of custody in Maine

There’s more to the email, but the basic story is this – for $25,000 and 100 Maine citizen signatures (although you should probably collect a few hundred if possible), anyone in the state can order a recount of November 3rd’s vote.  It’s worth a shot since it’s so easy, and it could mean a victory for election, integrity, too.

Any takers?