Louisville is for Single Payer Health Insurance

The letter below is an email I received today from John Yarmuth('s office). He is the Congressperson who represents Louisville in the House. To all of you who live in Louisville: this man wants you to have insurance. To those of you who live outside of Louisville: TELL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON TO SIGN HR 676 -- it is our moral and civic duty to achieve universal, single payer healthcare in the United States, if we are to realize and live out our American ideals of freedom (from debt and illness) and equality (of access to health regardless of ability to pay, neighborhood, income, race, gender, age, etc.).

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for universal health coverage. I appreciate the benefit of your views on this matter, and am pleased to inform you that I have signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act.

Our broken health care system places an enormous strain on American families and American businesses. Currently, there are a staggering 47 million Americans who do not have health coverage and 85,000 individuals in Metro Louisville alone. In addition, half of all bankruptcies can be traced back to medical bills. Not only is it a national urgency that we respond to this public health crisis, I believe it is also our moral obligation.

H.R. 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act, will ensure that quality health coverage is not a luxury of the privileged few, but a right afforded to every citizen in the richest nation on the globe. It will expand and improve Medicare, the highly successful single-payer universal health care program for seniors and the disabled, to cover all Americans. This legislation is supported by over 210 labor unions, 13,000 physicians, and more than 100 grassroots organizations across the U.S. In fact, both the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the Louisville Metro Council have passed bills urging the U.S. Congress to enact comprehensive health insurance, and specifically H.R. 676.

Because I firmly believe that high quality health care should be a right and not a privilege, and because of the strong support for universal health coverage in Louisville and in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I am proud to have added my name to this landmark piece of legislation. H.R. 676 is currently pending in the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees. Please be assured that I will continue to do all that I can to see that this bill advances in the weeks and months ahead.

Thank you again for contacting me to share your views on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future with any issues of concern.

If you would like to learn more about my work in Washington and in Louisville, please visit my website at www.yarmuth.house.gov where you will find the latest news, my weekly schedule, video from hearings, and information about constituent services. You can also sign up for my e-newsletter to receive periodic updates on important issues and services for your family.

Sincerely,

John Yarmuth
Member of Congress

Steely heart, be strong

Your emotions are running extra high today, Clare, and you will feel a deep knowing inside that assures you that you are right. Hold on to this power pellet of inner strength. You will need it today as someone tries to push you off the top of the mountain by way of their fast talk and barrage of facts and information. Even though your thinking may be a bit off base, your heart is in the right place.

This could be my stock horoscope for every day in the last 6 months. I feel emotional and steeled against people who try to tell me I am wrong. I have spent my whole life training myself to believe others before myself; this will not happen anymore. And while my thinking may be a bit off, I've got to figure out how to correct it myself and not from outside influences.

Why I Shan't Be Voting for John McCain

Don't get me wrong; I don't mean to say that I think he's a horrible person. On the contrary, the thing that most recommends McCain to me is my impression of his credibility. Unlike my opinion of most politicians, I think John McCain actually says what he means and does what he says. That's also why I won't vote for him. Fuck if I'd vote for a man who says the following--and believes it!

- It "would be fine with me" if America kept a military presence in Iraq for 100 years.

- Asked last year about Iran's nuclear ambitions, he jokingly sang the words "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys hit "Barbara Ann".

- On Israel, McCain offers unqualified support, expressed in years of public statements.

- He has the endorsement of pro-Israel icon Joseph Lieberman, the independent senator from Connecticut.

- He has the endorsement of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

- McCain has met every Israeli prime minister since Menachem Begin and backed Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war.

- He opposes restrictions on assault rifles.

- He wants to "bring democracy" to the rest of the world.

- McCain was endorsed by John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

- He has made it very clear that the best way to deal with Iran is an effective sanctions regime, but is willing to attack them "if necessary."
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I must admit, however, these points in his favor:

- He voted against amending the constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.

- He is against having English be the national language (because of Native American languages, not because it's distinctly un-American to declare a national language).

- McCain voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship.

- His work on Campaign Finance Reform.

- Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson rail against him.
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See, McCain resists spin like an electron beam. I like that. But he is a crazy motherfucker about the military! What the what! In short: Scheunemann, a longtime McCain adviser, said the senator "rejects any other label than a `consistent conservative'." I like the 'consistent' part, but I can't abide the 'conservative' part.

Rally for Higher Education

Hello, to anyone who lives in Kentucky. Especially if you are a college student or about to be one, this info is for you:

The RALLY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION is on Wednesday, February 20th. Budget cuts will affect students!!! A 15% budget cut in the works means 25 million dollars less for the University! Also, the KEES Scholarship Program is going to be cut as well, which means a lot less money for you. If you would like to go and speak out, please email your name, email, and county to sgaevp@louisville.edu Here is some info about the day:

We will leave for the Rally at 10:00am from Papa John's stadium - you can park there for the day. On the bus ride to Frankfort we will go over the agenda for the day, distribute: folders with literature to give to legislators, a map of the Capitol, an excuse letter for missing class, and a t-shirt. We will arrive in Frankfort around 11:00am, giving everyone a chance to eat their free lunch and visit their own individual legislators. The actual Rally will convene in the Rotunda at 1:15pm, will last about an hour, and will feature several speakers. We should be back to the stadium no later than 4:00pm.

I plan to go, so if anybody wants to, you know, like, be my bus-riding-buddy, that is cool with me. Just post a comment here or email me. :)

Lou Dobbs is a Cocksucker

Sorry for the strong language kids, but I just had to get that off my chest. What an effing m-effer.

I am sitting in the atrium of the Galt House waiting for James and working on my shizzle, and I happened to look up and my eye caught the television screen above the coffee bar (both now permanent fixtures in almost all public places in the US). And that fat fucking windbag was blowing his gasket about some shit or another on a split screen with Jesse Jackson. Thank GOD I cannot hear the t.v. from here. B A R F .

Hope all's well, kids. I've been an absentee from the blogosphere for reasons of work and thesis-writing. Wish me luck! I'll have something intelligent and/or high-larious to place here in the near future.

WATCH THIS SPACE. As the random sticker on the newspaper dispenser near campus said:

I HAVE INTERESTING OPINIONS ON CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS. (and a potty mouth, of course.)