Project Economic Refugee

…which is a different headline than “GOP forces new House vote on health overhaul”, which is what MSNBC has on their website (implying somewhat that Republicans might have succeeded at amending it).  What the Republicans were able to do was to find a couple of minor technical language items that violate reconciliation rules and ”relates to Pell grants for low-income college students” and that needed to be changed, that’s all.  Even then, MSNBC concedes:

The two [changed] provisions are expected to be formally removed from the bill on Thursday. Manley said he expected the Senate to approve the measure without them and send it to the House. He said Senate leaders, after conversations with top House Democrats, expect the House to approve the revised measure.

DailyKos has this to add:

The Senate will return today to deal with another few amendments still pending, but all indications are that the Republican resistance is collapsing. And why wouldn’t it? Recess is coming! Well, that plus the fact that the main health care bill is now the health care law, and the reconciliation bill was always a considerably less-important appendage, and Republicans stood to gain next to nothing by trying to block it. In fact, they risked provoking Democrats into cutting their efforts off at the knees and setting new precedent with which to fight future Republican obstruction in the process.

The bill will have to go back to the House, with just 16 lines of text removed from 150+ pages. And if the House chooses, it can dispatch with the whole thing with a rule it can debate and pass in an hour, and a motion to agree to the Senate changes in an hour after that.

On the other hand, Democrats could charge a fee of sorts for the trouble Republicans put them through, even though it really didn’t amount to much. Since the bill goes back to the House no matter what at this point, there’s no longer any disadvantage to, say, offering a public option amendment. At least there’s no disadvantage procedurally. Will they do it? Well, they’ll probably opt for the path of least resistance, which would tell you no. But it’s certainly worth considering. Democratic counter-planning for the Republican filibuster-by-amendment appears to have sapped GOP resolve. It might not be a bad time to at least give the public option (or some other similar item) a road test with the Byrd Rule. If it doesn’t work, you’ve learned important lessons in advance of writing the next budget resolution and any attendant reconciliation instructions. And since you’ve always got the option of having the House agree to the Senate changes with nothing added in about an hour, you can always just double back and pass that instead and close out the game.

To read the rest of the DailyKos posting, click here.

Update: the reconciliation bill has been officially approved by the Senate 56-43, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding in case he needed to break a tie.  Read the story here; as the Associated Press reports:

Eager to get the contentious battle behind them, Democrats originally hoped the Senate’s vote would ship the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature. But working with the chamber’s parliamentarian, Republicans found two minor provisions in the bill — dealing with Pell grants for low-income students — that violated congressional budget rules and were deleted from the legislation.

As a result, the bill had to be returned to the House because both chambers must approve identical legislation before it can be sent to the White House. Top House Democrats said they expected to do just that by evening.

Update #2: Health Insurance Refom is officially complete with the House doing the final voting on it today, approving the reconciliation bill 220-207.

Looks like the left finally got its sh*t together:

The Huffington Post has a great post summarizing the dramatic events. Click here to read.

Also, David Frum, George W. Bush’s former speechwriter, declares:

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. [...]

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed.

Read more of what he had to say here.

My take? Let the Republicans run on repealing Health Insurance Reform.  If progressives keep their act together, conservatives run the risk of keeping the debate alive to such an extent as to give liberals an opening to argue for even deeper reforms: single-payer healthcare (which would basically be an expansion of medicare to cover everyone, rather than just seniors).

In the meantime, be sure to sign the petition to the Senate to get the job done on this round; click here.

Update: DailyKos has a great picture of Hillay Clinton and Obama embracing in joy upon the signing into law of this historic bill.

Update #2: I was listening to the Thom Hartmann show on the drive to work and he pointed out something very interesting that I thought was a very good point.  One of the reasons (besides a more energized progressive base) why Obama succeeded where other Democratic presidents failed in getting Health Insurance Reform was that he did what Lyndon Johnson did (and that Clinton did not): he made a “deal” with the insurance and pharmaceutical drug companies.  Thom explained that Lyndon Johnson actually went to the insurance companies and told them that he would alleviate them of their riskier assets: the poor and the elderly and have them covered under the government plan that he wanted passed: Medicare … thereby allowing for the insurance companies to just focus on more profitable market demographics.  For all the criticizing on the left for this kind of “deal-making”, I have a different take.  It sounds like Obama applied what a community organizer knows: you start where you’re what, with what you have, and do a reformation (which must always precede a revolution if a BIG change is to be successful).  You play the system within, and you play the powers-that-be against each other by appealing to their self-interests.  If that is the case: very well played Mr. Obama, very well played indeed.  I wonder what Saul Alinskly would think of this play.  Personally, deals like that make me nervous; but I understand the reality of the world we live in … which in some ways, is a bit depressing but also serves as motivator to change things.

Update # 3: It’ll be interesting to see how this reform improves the economic standing and the lives of Latinos in general over time, as it is currently estimated that one in three, or 34 percent, of Hispanics do not have health insurance, which tends to have multiple socio-economic repercussions.  The bill itself (which could easily be branded as “Obamanomics”) is actually the biggest attack on socio-economic injustice and on “Reaganomics” in decades, as the New York Times has analyzed:

For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago …

…Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan…

…Since 1980, median real household income has risen less than 15 percent. The only period of strong middle-class income growth during this time came in the mid- and late 1990s, which by coincidence was also the one time when taxes on the affluent were rising…

…The laissez-faire revolution that Mr. Reagan started did not cause these trends. But its policies — tax cuts, light regulation, a patchwork safety net — have contributed to them…

To read more of that analysis click here.

Update # 4: to read a more recent take on how all of this will affect the Latino community, visit this site.

From OneCare.org:

Businessman Alberto Saavedra points out that 30% of Latinos do not have health insurance, even though healthcare is a basic human right. He encourages all Latinos to help reform our dysfunctional health care system with single payer, California OneCare. (In Spanish; subtitled)

George Lakoff defines what freedom means for progressives in the healthcare debate:

Health means freedom. If you have a serious illness or injury and cannot get it treated, your freedom will be limited in many ways. Your physical freedom: you may no longer have the freedom to move around. Your economic freedom: you may not be able to work or your medical bills may impoverish you. Your emotional freedom: you will not be free to live a happy life. 

To read the rest of Lakoff’s advice, click here.

Blaming Latinos for the healthcare crisis or using them as scapegoats to oppose Obama’s plan to reform the system is just wrong and racist.  In fact, in a twist of irony, the bigots attacking Latinos don’t even realize that many Americans are now moving to Mexico in increased numbers, while others venture into Mexico because healthcare is much cheaper over there.  The difference in cost is in large part due to the existence of a government-run system in Mexico, making healthcare much more cost-efficient, compared to how criminally expensive it is here in the United States.  Anyway, I’ve sent the following action alert to the Project Economic Refugee community.  I urge others to do the same:

Justice. Not bullets.

“Send them home with a bullet in the head”.  That’s what racist right-wing protesters at HealthCare Reform townhalls are shouting now, attacking immigrants. Watch:

This is NOT an isolated instance, but rather part of grotesque campaign to blame Latinos for the healthcare crisis.  The protesters’ hatred does not stop there.  In Hagerstown, Maryland – The Secret Service is investigating a man who authorities said held a sign reading “Death to Obama” outside a town hall meeting on health-care reform in western Maryland. The sign also read, “Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids.”

We can NOT and must NOT let these extremist displays of disrespect and hatred go unanswered. It is time to go to these townhalls and tell these bigots to stop scapegoating immigrants and instead go after the hitmen that are behind the efforts to rile up the hate: the greedy insurance companies’ top executives-people like Rick Scott, who are content with defrauding the American people.

So let’s go and let America know that we will NOT allow for the scapegoating of immigrants to continue any longer!  Click here for a list of organizing events where you can make a difference or here for a specific list of upcoming townhalls. 

IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to bring your signs demanding that protesters stop scapegoating immigrants while the greedy insurance companies’ CEO’s (like Rick Scott) are being given a pass!  As George Lakoff, professor of Linguistics (and the inspiration for Project Economic Refugee itself) has pointed out:

Insurance company plans have failed to care for our people. They profit from denying care. Americans care about one another. An American plan is both the moral and practical alternative to provide care for our people.  The insurance companies are doing their worst, spreading lies in an attempt to maintain their profits and keep Americans from getting the care they so desperately need. You, our citizens, must be the heroes. Stand up, and speak up, for an American plan.

Adelante!

-Reg

PS Would you like to be a more active part of Project Economic Refugee?  Be a part of the organizing team! Email me at economicrefugee@hotmail.com to ask for more details.

Update on the healthcare reform front: veterans and religious groups that support Health Care Reform are fighting back the vicious tide of well-funded hate:

That’s what racist healthcare protesters are shouting now. No, I’m not making it up. See for yourselves:

I have been blogging for the last couple of days about this-how protesters of healthcare reform are falsely claiming that providing health care to the uninsured would cover “40 million illegals“, aka economic refugees.

Besides the fact that their angry violent shouts are pretty disturbing onto themselves, their claims are actually based on pure lies.

Sadly, in the meantime the real culprits for our healthcare crisis are not being called out: the insurance companies. Instead of scapegoating Latinos for the healthcare crisis, the American public would do itself a favor and go after the REAL bad guys.

Ed Schultz & Robert Greenwald explain best who the real evil guys are:

We can NOT and must NOT let these extremist displays of disrespect and hatred go unanswered. It is time to go to these townhalls and tell these bigots to stop scapegoating immigrants and instead focus on the REAL evil doers: the greedy insurance companies’ top executives … people like Rick Scott, former CEO of a hospital company that defrauded the government:

So let’s go and let people know we will NOT allow for the scapegoating to continue any longer! 

Click here to see a list of upcoming townhalls.

SEIU & Organizing for America also offer ways you can sing up online to stay involved.

IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to bring your signs demanding that protesters stop scapegoating immigrants while the greedy insurance companies’ CEO’s are being given a pass!

Be safe and be strong!

Update 08/14/09: I am telling you guys, the right-wing protesters’ shouts and signs are getting more radical, evil, and disturbing. Check this report out:

Hagerstown, Maryland – The Secret Service is investigating a man who authorities said held a sign reading “Death to Obama” outside a town hall meeting on health-care reform in western Maryland.

The sign also read, “Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids,” referring to the first name of President Barack Obama’s wife, said Washington County Sheriff’s Capt. Peter Lazich.

Looks like the demons out there are showing up and exposing themselves in all their gory glory :-/  To read the rest of the report, go here.

That’s what protesters of healthcare reform are shouting.  Yup.  They’re shouting at the townhalls that the reform would cover “40 million Illegals.”  Besides the fact that their angry violent shouts are pretty disturbing onto themselves, their claims are just based on lies.  Read this article:

Right-Wingers Are Stirring Up Xenophobia to Swiftboat Health Reform
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted August 4, 2009.

I’ve blogged about this ongoing grotesque attempt to blame the healthcare crisis on Latinos:

Instead of scapegoating Latinos, support Public Option in Healthcare Reform:

Extremists love to bring up how “illegals” are overwhelming the Healthcare system yet they hardly ever talk about how the Healthcare system itself is a joke in this country.

Instead of blaming refugees, people should be talking about the things (like Universal Healthcare or the standwithdrdean campaign) that the U.S. government could implement to solve the healthcare crisis.

By the way, reports have come out before that have debunked the claims that “immigrants abuse the health care system”. Back in 2007, the Center for American Progress published such study.  To access it, visit this link.

It seems, nevertheless, that the right-wing knows no limits with their hatred of brown people.  They are on a self-destructive path and they can’t help themselves.  A new poll has come out that clearly shows that Latino support for the Republican Party has hit new time lows in light of the racist onslaught of attacks that Sonia Sotomayor had to endure to get confirmed.

Sadly, in the meantime the real culprits for our healthcare crisis are not being called out: the insurance companies.  Instead of scapegoating Latinos for the healthcare crisis, the American public would do itself a favor and go after the REAL bad guys:

Southern Poverty Law Center has an action alert on this; see below:
 

July 24, 2009
 
Dear Friend,
 
Lou Dobbs is at it again.
 
We’ve told you about how the CNN host has used his platform to spread hateful propaganda that demonizes Latinos.
 
Now, Dobbs is supporting the bizarre claims of so-called “birthers” who insist that President Obama isn’t really a citizen of the United States and that his presidency, therefore, is not legitimate.
 
The truth about Obama’s birth in Hawaii is not in dispute. It has been verified by many reputable journalists, including CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who called the claims “a joke,” and even a reporter on Dobbs’ own show. Yet Dobbs continues to fan the flames.
 
It’s important to note that this conspiracy theory was concocted by an anti-Semite and circulated by racist extremists who cannot accept the fact that a black man has been elected president. Among those who helped disseminate the lie was the neo-Nazi who killed a security guard at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in June.
 
Respectable news organizations should not be peddling propaganda that supports the agenda of radical extremists who are only interested in stirring up hate and fomenting violence. But Dobbs continues to do just that. And it’s irresponsible for CNN to let him continue trading in falsehoods.
 
Enough is enough. Today, I’ve written to the president of CNN urging that Dobbs be removed from the air [to read the statement, visit]:

http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=390&splcnewsletter=newsgen-072409
 
I encourage you to contact CNN yourself. If enough of us speak up, the network will listen.
 
[To contact CNN, visit]:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form6a.html?2
 
Thank you for standing strong against hate.
Sincerely,
J. Richard Cohen
President, Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104

Update 08/08/09: Looks like this same racist crowd is mobilizing people on the far far right to oppose and even shut down a simple townhall conversation on Healthcare and on caring for the sick.  It’s gone so far that the subtext of the extremist far-right is becoming clear: the promotion of violence and murder. Truly scary … watch:

Update 08/09/09: The American Jewish Congress issued a statement, “The Limbaugh comments comparing Obama (and Pelosi) to Hitler and the Nazis are grossly offensive and intolerable. They reflect a nasty and hyperbolic tendency on our political culture, one which makes reasoned discourse impossible, confuses disagreement with evil, and which makes it impossible to distinguish evil from ordinary politics. … It behooves all participants in the political process to unequivocally disavow the comparison and to make it plain that peddlers of such noxious comparison have no place in our politics, no matter how large their audiences. And all Americans should make plain their disgust at the comparisons by talk show hosts by a prompt use of the off button.” Read the story by clicking here.  

Media Matters for America also has a revealing piece on all this, focusing on another right-wing propagandist of hate, Glenn Beck:

…a perfect example of the game conservatives in the media are playing: pouring gasoline on the fire, and then, once they are criticized, saying that they were only kidding. But what does Beck expect his viewers to take away from his broadcasts? After a week of increasingly violent protests at town halls around the country, including one such event at which protesters reportedly mentioned Beck by name when explaining what inspired them, he cannot seriously contend that his rhetoric isn’t having an impact, isn’t stirring up the rage and confusion that is defining opposition to Democratic reforms.  Read the rest here.

Here’s a rustic print ad I did with the help of my friend Saira who modeled for me-thank you Saira! (this was part of an assignment that I did for a Communications class I’m currently taking):

Paper AND plastic are BOTH bad choices for your health

These are the basic elements of the ad:

Attention grabber: bright colors in the fruit and vegetables

Appeal: fruit, healthy living, relatable to you (you could see yourself doing what Saira is doing).

Narrative: the ad asks the question that you often hear at the grocery store: “paper or plastic?” It then urges you to be different, to “step outside of the box” and to support and pick “the better choice”: reusable bags.

Call to action: it asks you to reject the use of paper AND plastic bags so you can instead use reusable bags; it also invites you to visit the site www.healthebay.org/store  so you can get your own reusable bag.  In the future, the site could change to something like healthebay.org/healthyfuture (Heal the Bay does not have a site that has such a name … yet) that could be a centralized online center for people to take action (like send letters of support to newspapers and legislators or the like) on various issues dealing with marine debris.  Ideally, the center would reinforce the idea that it’s going to take all of us to solve the problem of plastic bags polluting our environment, working together: 1) through legislation that taxes the use of plastic and paper bags to discourage usage, 2) cleanup efforts, and 3) reclycling campaigns; and that if you take one element out (because of pressure from powerful moneyed interests), the efforts will most likely fail to solve much. 

I’m also trying to frame the situation very clearly with this ad with some long-term messaging:

• Plastic AND paper bags = bad for your health (because it impacts your quality of life).
• Reusable bags = healthy living, promising future, protecting your children from pollution.

Sure, the ad is not commercial-quality, but I think it gets the point across very effectively nevertheless.

  PS Don’t forget to click on the picture of the print ad above: it takes you to a video that CurrentTV aired about the problem of plastic bag pollution in our rivers and ocean.