Tag: Pennsylvania

Aug 23 2010

Some news from Hugh Giordano’s Green campaign for state legislature in Philadelphia

I’ve been gone all summer – traveling, gardening, volunteering a bit, and doing some other things – and as much as I had a lot of fun, it is nice to be back.  In all that time, some interesting things have happened with what I consider to be one of the better Green campaigns in the nation this year, and one that I’m very involved with, Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state legislature as a Green.

In case you don’t know who Hugh is, he’s a 25 year old union organizer running as a Green in PA’s 194th district, which is mostly in Philadelphia and also a bit in Montgomery County (for locals, it encompasses Roxborough, Manayunk, parts of Lower Merion, and some surrounding areas).  He’s been running a great campaign, knocking on doors, holding fun fundraisers, getting in the newspaper, and raising as much money as a typical Green congressional candidate.

Anyway, below the fold is some news from the campaign, including an endorsement from a fairly prominent local Democrat.

Apr 29 2010

Green Thoughts: Green Jobs for Green Days

Originally Posted at SumofChange.com

With a poor economy, new technology offers the ability to create new jobs as well as progression for companies large and small.  Combining this with the global need for clean energy creates a viable opportunity for economic alleviation.  

To continue our “Green Thursdays”, here are some clips from a panel at the 2010 PA Progressive Summit, held this last January in Harrisburg, PA.  Michael Fedor, the Pennsylvania state director for Repower America, and Adam Graber, PennEnvironment, discuss the current job environment and how clean energy “green jobs” are essential for the future for most companies.

In the first video, Fedor (along side Adam Garber) explains the realistic ways green jobs can fix unemployment.   Once more green jobs have been established, Fedor in the second video describes the ways green jobs can become green careers.  In the final video, Fedor illustrates how to make Pennsylvania the leading green jobs state in the nation.

For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it’s organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org

For more videos from Sum of Change at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, please go to SumofChange.com/paprog

Apr 28 2010

Marriage Equality: Details You Should Know to Make it Happen

Cross Posted from SumofChange.com

Also from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit (paprogressivesummit.com), I’d like to bring you a few videos form a panel simply entitled ‘Marriage Equality’.  On this panel, the speakers discussed the benefits, issues, and consequences or allowing homosexual couples marriage rights equal to those of heterosexual ones.  The panelists and approached the topic from a variety of angles.  Some spoke about the legal issues equality, both in the PA state legislature and in the constitution, others talked about the religious aspects, especially from the Christian and Jewish traditions, and others talked about the moral and human rights aspect of the debate.

The clips below go into many of the arguments against marriage equality and gay marriage and why most of them struggle for validity.  The first video, PA state senator Daylin Leach, who sponsored a bill in the PA state legislature in support on marriage equality, goes into many of the arguments against gay marriage that he has heard while debating the bill.  As he says, no one has debated him twice, because no one has presented him an argument with any validity.  The second video looks at many of the religious issues brought up by the marriage equality debate.  Many think that religion has no part of the legal debate over gay marriage and often when religion is invoked, it is done so incorrectly.  Finally, the last clip discusses why marriage equality supporters should want legalized gay marriage and not civil unions.  Civil unions seem like an acceptable compromise, but really they are impractical and still discriminatory.

For more videos from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, go to SumofChange.com/paprog

For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it’s organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org

Apr 18 2010

(updated)Lower Merion School Webcam SnooperGate, PA-06, Welcome to TerraWar, Kids!

(ARC note: Multiple edits were made to this because the Lower Merion Township, PA School District website, where this correspondence was posted publicly, did not allow the text to be cut and pasted successfully into this format, so I retyped all of it and did not hyperlink. )

(Update Mon April 19, 2010, 8:25 pm see end of story)

(PA-06. It’s not the Onion.  It’s my in- law’s congressional district.  I live in CA. That way they can’t visit easily. )

Feb 18, 2010  Lower Merion School District Initial Response to Invasion of Privacy Allegation (yes, it says that right on their School’s webpage at www.lmsd.org  )  


Dear LMSD Community,

Last year, our school district became one of the first school systems in the United States to provide laptop computers to all high school students. This initiative has been well received and has provided educational benefits to our students. The District is dedicated to protecting and promoting student privacy.  The laptops do contain a security feature  intended to track lost, stolen, and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today.

/snip

We regret if this situation has caused any concern or inconvenience among our students and families. We are reviewing the matter and will provide an additional update as soon as information becomes available.

Sincerely,  

Dr. Christopher McGinley,

Superintendent

Apr 14 2010

We know the health insurance bill was insufficient. So what’s a DFH to do?

The health “care” – really insurance – bill that passed is far from a perfect bill, in large part because it leaves a system intact that is the source of a ton of the problems that were used to create support for it, and it is not actually universal health care.

To get any kind of actually universal coverage we’re going to need to turn to the states.  Clearly those thousands of lobbyists are too powerful in DC to really challenge the powers that be in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.  So the good news is that there are state-level campaigns for single payer, and they’re gaining a lot of momentum in states like California and Pennsylvania.

Mar 23 2010

So where does the state single payer movement go from here?

A national health insurance reform bill is on the brink of passing and all is well on Capitol Hill.

But that doesn’t mean too much for the rest of the country.  Much of the country still wants more than a public-option-free, far-from-single-payer, band-aid-like bill to fix our broken health care system.  One writer states, from the interesting vantage point of Australia, where they do have universal health care:

But Australia has something that America lacks: a universal public system that provides basic medical services for all.

Here, thanks to Medicare, you can be cared for in a public hospital without going broke regardless of your health insurance status…But the political compromise [Barack Obama’s] been forced to adopt fails to address the morbidity at the heart of the system.

It’s taking the disease and trying to turn it into the cure.

The solution, the real health care reform that we’ve been asking for since Teddy Roosevelt’s time, lies with the state single payer movement.  And, at least here in Pennsylvania, we’re moving full speed ahead.  All that this bill means for us is that we’d better move fast if we want real health care reform any time soon.

Mar 16 2010

David Swanson on state single payer movements, Kucinich, and ERISA

Check this out, it’s well worth it.  If you don’t want to watch, there’s a transcript at http://therealnews.com/t2/inde…

Very informative, he talks about PA single payer for a while, among other things.

Check out single payer for PA at http://healthcare4allpa.org

Feb 10 2010

BREAKING: Democrats endorse single payer!

This is for real.

When it finally came time for the Committee to meet and vote the result was almost anti-climactic. Jack Hanna, the Chair of the Rules Committee said that there that there was “great concensus in support of this resolution” and urged that the entire membership be permitted to consider it.” Democratic Chair T.J. Rooney shepherded the resolution to the floor, and in seconds it was over. The resolution was passed by acclamation.

Dec 05 2009

State single payer bill in PA Senate gets a hearing… because of a Republican!

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.

Oct 27 2009

Remember Mischief Night? It’s back, and it could get us statewide single payer in PA

In case you’re unaware, there is currently a bill in the Pennsylvania state legislature to establish a statewide single-payer (that’s something close to Medicare for all) system.  Governor Rendell has pledged to sign it if it gets to his desk, and there are currently 35 co-sponsors in the House – including 4 Republicans – and 9 co-sponsors in the Senate.  That’s out of a Senate of 50 and a House of 203.

This Friday, the 30th, there will be a protest at a Blue Cross/Blue Shield building in Philadelphia in support of single payer, and in my state of Pennsylvania this will have particular significance because of how close we are to real health care reform.

IMPORTANT:  If you can’t make it to the protest, but live in Pennsylvania, please contact your state legislators and/or the media to either thank them for their support or to urge them to support these bills (SB 400 and HB 1660).  You can do that here.

Aug 15 2009

Sen. Specter and Rep. Sestak At Netroots Nation

It seems there is too much to see and too many people to talk about (as well as too many Tequila and Coke’s to consume) to have time to post in a timely manner form Netroots Nation. So you are getting the news kind of a day behind. Sorry about that, the Dog is only one hound and he can only do what he can do.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Jun 06 2009

Action Alert in Pennsylvania: They’ll take my state parks from my cold, dead hands!

I apologize for the short and rushed essay, but I really want you to take action (something anyone can easily do) on this issue that is near and dear to me.

The Pennsylvania Senate’s proposed budget, SB 850, would cut the Department of Conservation and Natural Resource’s budget so much that they might have to close about 35 state parks.  With 117 state parks in PA, that’s a huge chunk, and chances are there would be a state park near you closing if you live in Pennsylvania.

Go below the fold to see how you can take action.

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