The disorder of words. When the public option is not public at all.

Written by: T Nuspl on Nov 16, 2009 12:53 PM EST

Linked to groups: T-Town DFA, Blog For America, DFA Oklahoma

It's a grave mistake to think the present health care bill "will move very close to what single payer can provide."  Single-payer, the concise 30-page bill for health care reform, saves the taxpaying public $400 billion per year, by cutting out private insurers, and provides truly universal coverage for all Americans, regardless of ability to pay. Meanwhile, with the mammoth bill that has actually passed in the House, HR3962 for a very weak public option, you only have a fig leaf in the place of a public option. It's very unclear how the present bill reduces costs in any way, and it only extends coverage on the margins of society.   Although I hear Rep. Weiner (D-NY) claiming very forthrightly that this bill will reduce costs, overall, to the federal government at least, and won't add to the deficit, the CBO still has not waded through the 2,100 pages of the bill, to tell us whether it saves or costs money in the end. It's a strange form of accounting into the future: spend $1 trillion to save $190 billion over a decade.  But what is known is that the present bill ADDS $50 billion of consumer cost per year (some say as much as an addition $70 billion per year), coming directly out of the taxpayers pockets, by directly underwriting corporate profits with monthly insurance payments, and adding captive customers to the big insurers' base of subscribers. The present bill treats health insurance as if it were auto insurance, and everyone as if they're able to pony up. It comes nowhere near recognizing the right to health care (as opposed to the privilege of driving a car).  It's a HUGE favor to the health corporations.

If you are not covered by an employer, you can calculate what the House bill will cost you, here:
http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

The monthly premium under HR 3962 will likely be more costly than existing health premiums paid to corporate health care providers. The bill wants to garner between 10.5% and 11.5% of your annual pay. Some sources say health care insurance could eat up between 15% and 19% of family annual income! And that's only the cost presuming you are willing to pay (i.e. buy crappy insurance from a company you know is bloated, unethical, and untrustworthy, providing a defective product). If you don't pay, there will be hefty fines (there's talk of thousands of dollars per year per person or per family). You will be penalized if you refuse to play with the big boys in the health insurance industry, friends of politicians in the House. That's what a "mandate" means: punishment for disobedience.

Here's another way of putting it: To whom would you rather be forking over your dollars?  The government or the big health corporations?  At present, the weak public option that passed in the House is going to be RUN BY the insurance companies (who will drive it into the ground, on purpose, so that it fails in the near future), and you will NOT get the choice to direct your health insurance dollars to a genuine government-run public option.  At minimum, when we speak of a "public option," this should mean a government-run program, similar to Medicaid (an existing and working single-payer system, with minimal overhead, and fixed rates for services, well liked by many who bill the government for private services delivered under its aegis). 

The present bill does nothing to provide competition for the private health insurance industry because it has no government-run option (unless you count the slight extension in Medicaid coverage for the very poor).  The bill caves into the lobbying pressure of that industry, which in turn is simply trying to parley its way out of meaningful reform, hoping the Democrats go away by the next election (in 2010 already).  The $1.4 million PER DAY spent by the lobby against health care reform, in D.C., this year, won out against any grassroots activism, this summer.  The goodwill Obama had created in favor of health care reform is being squandered, and we will be yet more unfree as a result, without being in any better health, physically or financially.

Let's call a spade a spade. Let's recognize that the American people is getting virtually nothing of what it wants in this bill; meanwhile, the U.S. corporatocracy is getting a lot of what it wants, albeit with a slap on the wrists for being such bad corporate citizens for so many decades.  They are being rewarded and allowed to steal from your pocket book, yet again, with this Pelosi bill. And without any cost controls.

If you're going to demonstrate for health reform, I'd suggest at least getting clear about what the "public" means in defining a "public option."  To be "public" it should, at minimum, be an independent government-run option, wholly separate from private insurers, that competes with private insurers to provide better cost efficiency, as it would be a non-profit (cutting out the 20% or 30% overhead that most private insurers are burdened with).  We want a non-profit federal option to buy into, something like Medicaid.  At this point, we're being given instead a junk bill that forces us to buy crappy insurance products from unethical providers in private industry, who look at patients as commodities, more or less expendable for the sake of their bottom line.  This is not the reform we wanted.  This is betrayal.

And it's hard to smile about it.

On the failure to get a vote on HR 676, the bill that would create an amended and expanded Medicare for All, I take the point about not being a purist in politics (or being hopelessly loyal to a party, or political leader, when they fail you, which is another kind of dead end).  Although HR 676 is co-sponsored by veteran health care consumer advocates like Kucinich and Conyers, I would have been very happy to see an up-or-down vote on the Weiner Amendment that defined a version of single-payer, or Medicare for All, that could reform our system sensibly, albeit without touching the privately-run hospital system that we have now, leaving aside the issue of dealing with its gross inefficiencies for another day.  I understand Weiner's amendment wasn't sufficiently pure to get the support of Kucinich and/or Conyers, and I believe that they made a mistake, in not making common cause with Weiner, before the amendment was pulled.

Maybe by the next Congress, if we work hard to get progressives elected, we could get the single-payer system we deserve; however, Pelosi has to go.  The present bill that Pelosi has managed to get passed is a woeful substitute for the public option.  She is not working for UNIVERSAL health coverage. The measure’s public option, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will only attract 6 million out of the 45 million uninsured Americans (which I now estimate at 53 million Americans, due to the increased unemployment in this country, and the inability of an additional 17,000 Americans each day to pay health insurance premiums.) We expected better from the Democrats, many of us having lobbied all summer long, as private citizens or as grassroots organizations, in favor of a robust public option or, preferably, single-payer.  There will need to be future attempts at reforming the corrupt, bloated, inequitable health care system in this country.

We can start by electing better Democrats. Rather than DINOs.

Discuss

Open Letter to the Speaker of the House re: Inadequacies of the present health care bill

Written by: T Nuspl on Nov 3, 2009 12:54 PM EST

Linked to groups: T-Town DFA, DFA Oklahoma, Blog For America

to:

Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0100
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

I write to you as a member of Oklahomans for Health Care Reform, a grassroots organization with a local chapter in Tulsa formed over the summer.

I am astounded with the corporate giveaways in the House bill that you announced this week, and the corporate governance you are willing to countenance over Americans' health care, when the private health insurance companies have proven to be thoroughly untrustworthy, and therefore completely unworthy as partners in any health care reform. BigHealth has used a plethora of dirty tricks to ruin people's health: denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing coverage, higher premiums for women, dropping coverage when people get sick, etc. In California alone, Aetna has denied 6 million people access to health care, on whimsical grounds.

Rather, the public option is what is needed, and by that, the consensus is a robust plan, such as a single-payer government-run insurance plan.

I respectfully request that you :
1) allow a vote on Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) single-payer amendment to the health care bill; and
2) reinstate the Kucinich Amendment, which protects the right of states to pursue single-payer health care initiatives, to help hold down costs against behemoth corporations with virtual monopolies over health care insurance.

If Congress and/or the Federal government is unable or unwilling to enact single-payer, not-for-profit health care on behalf of all Americans, in order to achieve UNIVERSAL coverage, then the 50 states should be free to pursue such coverage for their respective citizens.

I see no chance that the present bill will succeed in pressuring the insurance companies to keep premiums low, or provide better coverage.

Your stated preference is for single-payer, as is President Obama's. Please make sure that single-payer appears in the bill and that the amendment in favor of HR 676 is given a historic up-or-down vote.

Democrats are watching what you do.

Best regards,

from Tulsa

Discuss

Obama ignores grassroots, listens better to $18 million in campaign contributions from BigHealth

Written by: T Nuspl on Oct 25, 2009 11:35 AM EDT

Linked to groups: DFA Oklahoma, T-Town DFA

Obama is looking every bit the corrupt plutocrat today, listening to the money provided by health insurance companies during his electioneering, instead of the needs and desires of his constituents, the American people. Why else would he betray his community activist roots, and work to stunt and/or kill the public option that DFA, and many others across the nation, have been working so hard to enact this year?

Another question:

Why did DFA endorse Obama for President, instead of a genuine candidate for health care reform, like Dennis Kucinich? The Kooch has been at the forefront of the movement to reform health, co-sponsoring HR 676, the improved and expanded Medicare for All bill. Meanwhile, given Obama's conservatism, there's no chance whatsoever that President Obama will see reason and endorse single-payer, but even worse, he's now working against the public option, betraying even his own foot soldiers' desires.

This article pretty much sums up the problem:

"Leaderless: Senate Pushes For Public Option Without Obama's Support"
huffingtonpost.com
2009/10/24

President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a preference for an alternative policy, favored by the insurance industry, which would see a public plan "triggered" into effect in the future by a failure of the industry to meet certain benchmarks.

The administration retreat runs counter to the letter and the spirit of Obama's presidential campaign. The man who ran on the "Audacity of Hope" has now taken a more conservative stand than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), leaving progressives with a mix of confusion and outrage. Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have battled conservatives in their own party in an effort to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Now tantalizingly close, they are calling for Obama to step up.

"The leadership understands that pushing for a public option is a somewhat risky strategy, but we may be within striking distance. A signal from the president could be enough to put us over the top," said one Senate Democratic leadership aide. Such pleading is exceedingly rare on Capitol Hill and comes only after Senate leaders exhausted every effort to encourage Obama to engage.

"Everybody knows we're close enough that these guys could be rolled. They just don't want to do it because it makes the politics harder," said a senior Democratic source, saying that Obama is worried about the political fate of Blue Dogs and conservative Senate Democrats if the bill isn't seen as bipartisan. "These last couple folks, they could get them if Obama leaned on them."

But with fundamental reform of the health care system in plain sight for the first time in half a century, the president appears to be siding with those who see the Senate and its entrenched culture as too resistant to change. Administration officials say that Obama's preference for the trigger, which is backed by Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, is founded in a fear that Reid's public option couldn't get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. More specifically, aides fear that a handful of conservative Democrats will not support a bill unless it has at least one Republican member's support.

The president's retreat leaves Reid as the champion of progressive reform -- an irony that is not lost on those who have long derided the Majority Leader as too cautious.

"Who knew that when it came down to crunch time, Harry Reid would be the one who stepped up to the plate and Barack Obama would shy away from the fight," emailed one progressive strategist.

On Thursday evening, after taking the temperature of his caucus, Reid told Obama at a White House meeting that he was pushing a national public option with an opt-out provision. Obama, several sources briefed on the exchange, reacted coolly.

"He certainly didn't embrace it and he seemed to indicate a preference for continuing to work on a strategy that involved Senator Snowe and a trigger," said one aide briefed on the meeting. Several other sources, along with independent media reports, confirmed the exchange.

On Saturday, the activist group Progressive Change Campaign Committee -- which just days earlier had targeted Reid in a separate campaign -- took out a new television advertisement in Maine accompanied by an "emergency petition." Titled, "Time to Fight," the spot featured a former Obama campaign volunteer pleading with the president not to abandon the public plan.

"If this once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass a public option goes down the drain after we were just a couple votes away in each house of Congress, everyone will remember exactly who was and was not willing to fight when it counted," said the group's co-founder, Adam Green, when asked why he aired the ad. "Our grassroots pressure is an attempt to get President Obama to live up to the mandate for sweeping change that was given to him in the 2008 election."

MoveOn.org rallied its base on Friday. "The President has said many, many times that a public option is the best way to keep insurance companies honest and lower skyrocketing health care costs. Senate Democrats are ready to fight for a public option -- if the White House gives up now, it would be a tragic mistake," said an e-mail to the group's membership.

Advocates of a public option largely consider a "trigger" the equivalent of no public option at all. A trigger would implement a public option only if insurance companies failed to meet certain benchmarks over time and it would only be implemented in the regions of the country where those benchmarks weren't met. The Medicare prescription drug proposal passed in 2003 includes a "trigger," but the public provision has never been activated despite soaring drug costs. The industry can help craft the trigger language and can game its stats to prevent it from becoming reality.

"The current state of our health system should be trigger enough for anyone who's paying attention," said a congressional aide in the middle of the health care battle. "The American people pulled the 'trigger' in November."

The intellectual father of the public option, Yale Professor Jacob Hacker, told HuffPost that the trigger proposal is a betrayal.

"The trigger is an inside-the-beltway sleight of hand that would protect private insurers from the real competition that a strong public health insurance option would create," he said in an e-mail. "It is unworkable in the current Senate bills, unwise as public policy, and unwanted by the substantial majority of Americans who say they want a straight-up public option."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/24/leaderless-senate-pushes_n_332844.html

Discuss

Whose Side Is Coburn On?

Written by: Mark Manley on Oct 8, 2009 12:13 PM EDT

Linked to groups: T-Town DFA, State of Oklahoma DFA

   Our Oklahoma Senators refuse to vote for affordable healthcare for the people of Oklahoma. Senators Coburn and Inhofe yesterday voted against an amendment that would allow victims of sexual harrasment to take their cases to court instead of being forced to undergo arbitration. Senator Coburn has been spending his time in Washington brokering deals for a collegue involved in a sex scandal. These two have everything BUT their constituents needs on their agenda!

    Please join us on October 14 in front of Inhofe's office to protest these two and ask the passing public, "Whose Side Are You On Senator Coburn?"

Place: 1924 S. Utica Ave

Time and Date: Noon Oct 14,2009

Discuss

Rep. Sullivan is a corporate sell-out, a toady of the health insurance corporations

Written by: T Nuspl on Sep 6, 2009 3:02 PM EDT

Linked to groups: T-Town DFA, DFA Oklahoma

Review of Rep. Sullivan's town hall, Tulsa 31 Aug 2009

Rep. Sullivan has sold out to health insurance corporations

Tulsa, Aug 31 2009 -- Republicans were on the short end of the stick, today, at town halls called by Rep. Sullivan (R-OK1) . Many of the audience members, still supportive of Sullivan, are apparently still coming to terms with the change of administration in Washington. The fact that their representative will be unable to do anything, as a small time politician from a district relegated to the boondocks by the landslide elections in November 2008, is only just beginning to sink in. Some people are having are hard time adapting to the change. Today was one of the first times his constituents had a chance to speak to their representative publicly, since the presidential election last year, because Sullivan had gone to ground for several months after the watershed election turned out his party, losing control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. Presidency. At the Tulsa town hall, held at the TCC PACE auditorium, Sullivan admitted that Bush had done many things wrong, in allusion to both the Iraq invasion and the economic meltdown in the waning months of Bush's presidency. Sullivan suggested that perhaps Republicans had learned a lesson from Bush's mistakes. He did not go on to criticize former Vice President Cheney, implicated in ongoing investigations by the U.S. Dept of Justice for his role in the scandal about the use of torture in U.S.-run prisons abroad, since 2003.

In a very pointed intervention, one woman from OK1 explained how she could never again vote for any politician who supported the invasion of Iraq, a misguided foreign policy decision resulting in an interminable occupation of the country, at a cost of US $10 billion per month, and counting. That is the price tag put on the monthly occupation by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan branch of the federal government. At least US $940 billion has been spent on the occupation, at this point in time. The speaker asking Sullivan a question made it plain that this money, were it diverted to domestic use, would be more than sufficient to provide health care for each and every man, woman and child in the U.S. It is estimated that for the cost of just one day of the Iraq occupation, the U.S. could have funded 163,525 people with health care coverage (source: AFSC). Some 646,000 Oklahomans are forced to live without health care insurance, including 1 in 5 people in Sullivan's district (source: Kaiser Family Foundation) When confronted with the fact that 80% of those without care in this state are also too poor to afford private health insurance, Sullivan had no reply.

Meanwhile, one of the only issues Sullivan feels obliged to address, when interviewed for TV news, or when talking to constituents at today's town halls, is the likely demise of the “MedicareAdvantage” system of subsidies for private health insurers, providing seniors with extra types of health care coverage that are otherwise not covered by “Basic Medicare” parts A & B. (Things not covered by traditional Medicare include such things as prescription drugs, dental care, vision care and health club memberships). At issue is an optional and additional monthly premium payment for the private supplemental (“Advantage”) program, an expense that precious few seniors can afford, but which directly subsidizes the bottom line of private insurers by using tax-payer money. Sullivan is always willing to talk about this without any need of prompting. When he asked an audience at the town hall in Broken Arrow, last Monday, how many were covered by MedicareAdvantage, exactly no one raised their hand. When he asked the same question, later in the day at the town hall in Tulsa, only one person raised their hand. Out of touch with the issues of the day, Sullivan keeps harping away at a problem that the insurance companies are concerned about, as if he were their mouthpiece and not a spokesperson for the needs and interests of his constituents in his congressional district. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that administrative costs are far higher with MedicareAdvantage than traditional fee-for-service Medicare, so once again, Sullivan is defending an inefficient system, to serve his masters.

MedicareAdvantage is already a sort of head tax on seniors, an expense that usually comes right off their Social Security check, reducing their disposable income. But worse, the draconian limits placed on coverage in the current traditional Medicare program are causing a good deal of pain and suffering, and again, Sullivan has no ideas to offer about how to improve basic care for seniors. Worst of all is the question of how possibly to compare one American's pain and suffering --who at least benefits from some sort of government-sponsored care-- to another's pain and suffering who lives without any coverage at all, namely, the totally uninsured, ineligible for Medicare.

It's fair to say that Sullivan has no idea about people's right to healthcare, and no idea how to pay for the needed coverage. Earlier in the day, at a town hall in neighboring Broken Arrow, Sullivan brazenly attempted to defend the interests of those making over $280,000 per year, or even those making over $800,00 per year, attempting to immunize them from further taxation.

When asked by a woman in his constituency (who was deeply critical of his stance against the public option) Sullivan was unable to say anything about what is in his heart on the issue, or what dictates of conscience might sway him to vote in favor of the public option.

He has taken more than $536,000 in campaign donations from the health sector. Arguably, Sullivan's performances today in Broken Arrow and Tulsa reveal him to be a corporate sell-out, a shill for the private health insurance industries. In these respects, he resembles other politicians on the national scene who have been bought and paid for by private interests, and vote accordingly in Congress, such as Boren (D-OK2), Sen. Coburn (OK), and Sen. Inhofe (OK).

When discussing H.R. 3200 in particular, Sullivan explained: “I've actually read the bill. I just didn't understand it.”

This was partially criticism of Sen. James Inhofe, the senior senator for Oklahoma in the U.S. Congress, who admitted recently that he has not even read the bill that is the subject of so much acrimony this summer. The bill is likely a failed attempt to achieve bi-partisanship consensus on a solution to the health care crisis in this country.

There are other bills on the floor, notably H.R. 676, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised will be voted on this September, and in the Senate, S.B. 703, advocating for a single-payer national health insurance plan, providing universal and comprehensive care, without eroding any of the powers of the individual states in the Union. Sullivan did not make it clear whether he had read these other competing bills. Senator Kennedy, a long-time advocate of universal and comprehensive care for all Americans regardless of an individual's ability to pay, also introduced the “Affordable Health Care Act” in the U.S. Senate, prior to his untimely death last week. There is a movement afoot to have the upcoming health care reform act, whichever version ultimately passes, named in Kennedy's honor.

Some 20,000 people a year are said to die for lack of access to health care in America. At present, under the current conditions of economic recession, it is estimated that for every additional 1% increase in the national unemployment rate, an addition 1 million people fall off the health care rolls in this country, as they are no longer able to afford the premiums demanded by private health care insurance companies, without an employer to help cover them. With a six or seven point leap in national unemployment rates, another 6 to 7 million people may now be added to the existing 47 million uninsured Americans in this country. In addition to the new estimate of 53 to 54 million uninsured in the U.S., another 25 million American souls are under-insured, with incomplete or unreliable coverage.

An increasing number of Americans have come to realize that health insurance provided through an employer is NOT reliable insurance at all. Many argue for the need to switch to a public option, a government-sponsored privately-delivered health care system that would guarantee universal and comprehensive health care coverage, regardless of employment, and regardless of ability to pay. At a public demonstration held two days after Sullivan's poor performance in Tulsa, some 140 people brandished signs and chanted slogans in favor of the public option, on 2 Sept 2009, to voice their support in favor of a government-run health insurance program that would cover all Americans.

© Tony Nuspl 2009

Replacement needed for Rep. Sullivan (Republican-OK1)

Written by: T Nuspl on Aug 23, 2009 11:45 PM EDT

Linked to groups: DFA Oklahoma, T-Town DFA

Linked to campaigns: Manley for Congress

According to information from Democracy for America (DFA), the public pressure we applied this week, in coordination with others nationwide, has indeed had a positive effect. We have dozens in the U.S. House willing to vote against any bill that deprives us of a public option, when we need a government option to compete against the private health insurance market, to keep private companies from gouging their ratepayers. But the big news is the solid progress in the U.S. Senate, gaining many votes for the public option, with only 4 more votes needed to guarantee passage of a public option. President Obama re-iterated his support for the public option this week, stating on Thursday: "So let me just be clear: I continue to support a public option, I think it is important, and I think it will help drive down costs and give consumers choices." Obama explained how health care reform will guarantee competition and choice.

Clearly, the likes of Coburn, Boren, and Sullivan, who continue to defend the status quo that denies 646,000 Oklahomans health care, are all woefully behind the times.

We need to send a message loud and clear at Sullivan's Town Hall meetings this week, here in OK-1 district. We need to convince others in the audience and/or watching news coverage at home, our neighbors, our friends, fellow community members, even if Sullivan himself is a write-off. Does the TCDP have a candidate who's running against Sullivan yet? Where is the local candidate who will act as counter-point to Sullivan's lies this week? I hope this week is the beginning of the end for Sullivan's sordid career as Congressional Representative for OK-1. We can do better than Sullivan!

Who's up for more demonstrating this week, who's ready to rally for public health care?

A message from a four-legged friend.

Written by: Commissioner Richard Renner on Jan 20, 2009 7:28 PM EST

Linked to groups: The Original Broward County DFA- DFAB, State of Oklahoma DFA, South Side DFA Meetup, Progressive Democracy South Jersey, DFA Central Ohio

Mitzy is a two year old Brittany Spaniel/Chocolate Lab mix.  She is a wonderful dog who loves to play, especially fetch, and loves to go for rides in the car.  She knows how to sit, shake and heel. 

Mitzy's family loved her very much.  They had her spayed, as all responsible pet-owners should, and took her to the Vet for the least little problem.  Mitzy was a member of the family, and when a member of your family is sick, you take them to the doctor.

However, about six months ago, the father of Mitzy's family lost his job.  The result was so financially devastating that they could no longer afford to care for Mitzy and were forced to surrender her to the Missaukee Humane Society.

Given the exponential descent of our economy, Mitzy's story has become all too common.  But, there is something you can do to help.  Missaukee Humane Society (MHS) is a small shelter in rural northern Michigan, dependent on contributions to continue their mission of mercy.  They are one of the only no-kill animal shelters left in Michigan, and are currently running on a deficit, at full capacity.  Many mornings, the staff arrives to find abandoned pets, left overnight by owners who can no longer afford to feed or care for them.

Right now, MHS is attempting to win a $10,000 prize from Adopt-a-Pet.com.  Please, can you spare 30 seconds of your time to vote for MHS, by clicking on...

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/70962/?refer=26290.12.1229816824.4762

$10,000 could save literally hundreds of abandoned pets - Pets that give us nothing but unconditional love in exchange for an occasional pat on the head, a squeaky toy to play with, and a couple of bowls filled with food and fresh water.

Because MHS is in a rural, sparsely populated area, they need as many votes as possible from all across the state, and all across the country.  Please vote now at...

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/70962/?refer=26290.12.1229816824.4762

Time is running out, so please don't wait.  The contest ends January 31, 2009, at 11:59pm.  After you vote, you will have an opportunity to forward information about the contest to as many people as possible so that they can join you in this worthy cause.  Vote, spread the word, be a voice for the voiceless...

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/70962/?refer=26290.12.1229816824.4762

I thank you, and Mitzy thanks you.

The one absolute, unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world—the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous—is his dog…

 - George Graham Vest, American lawyer and politician, 1830-1904

Can you spare 30 seconds of your time to help save abandoned pets?

Written by: Commissioner Richard Renner on Jan 4, 2009 10:30 PM EST

Linked to groups: Tigard DFA, Washtenaw County Democracy For America, DFA Las Vegas, San Mateo County Democracy for America, DFA Bookclub -- Chicago

As our economic crisis continues to worsen, some of the most vulnerable among us can not speak for themselves - Unwanted and abandoned pets.  Missaukee Humane Society (MHS) is a small shelter in rural Northern Michigan, dependent on contributions to continue their mission of mercy.  MHS is one of the only no-kill animal shelters left in Michigan.  They are currently running on a deficit, and at full capacity.  Many mornings, the staff arrives to find abandoned pets, left overnight by owners who can no longer afford to feed or care for them.

Right now, MHS is attempting to win a $10,000 prize from Adopt-a-Pet.com.  Please, can you spare 30 seconds of your time to vote for MHS, by clicking on...

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/70962/?refer=26290.12.1229816824.4762

$10,000 could save literally hundreds of abandoned pets - Pets that give us nothing but unconditional love in exchange for an occasional pat on the head, game of fetch, and a couple of bowls filled with food and fresh water.

Because MHS is in a rural, sparsely populated area, they need as many votes as possible from all across the state, and all across the country.  Please vote now at...

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/70962/?refer=26290.12.1229816824.4762

The one absolute, unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world—the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous—is his dog…a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that had no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace, and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.

 - George Graham Vest, American lawyer and politician, 1830-1904

Happy Thanksgiving from Missaukee County (Michigan) :)

Written by: Commissioner Richard Renner on Nov 26, 2008 7:30 PM EST

Linked to groups: Georgia Business Professionals DFA, Montco DFA, Naperville/Aurora, SW Portland DFA (Downtown), DFA County Committee Project

To all my friends at Democracy for America,

May your Thanksgiving be filled with Love, Faith and Laughter.

Best wishes,

Richard Renner

Missaukee County Commissioner-elect

Membership Chair, Missaukee County Democratic Party

“Strange is our situation here upon earth.  Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose.  From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know:  That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.  Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

 - Albert Einstein

"...let's not forget all the hard-working, progressive Democrats who are running for local offices..." - Democrats.com

Written by: Commissioner Richard Renner on Nov 17, 2008 9:41 PM EST

Linked to groups: Connecticut DFA, Eastside DFA, Fairfield County Democracy for America, Philly for Change, Broward County Democracy for America

"...let's not forget all the hard-working, progressive Democrats who are running for local offices...Local and state offices have an enormous impact on our lives, and also produce our future national leaders..." - Democrats.com

CHALLENGE: ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT to raise $380! Help the only Democratic County Commissioner in Missaukee County (Michigan).

On Tuesday, November 4th, history was made in Missaukee County. I was fortunate enough to defeat a Republican incumbent for County Commissioner in the second most Republican county in the state of Michigan. However, as with many campaigns, I have debt to pay off, and several final expenses to pay. I need to raise $380 in 3 days. Can I count on you? Making a contribution is easier than ever. Just click on the link below, and make a secure, online contribution using PayPal...

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=rrenner%40core%2ecom&item_name=Friends%20of%20Richard%20Renner&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

OFFICIALLY ENDORSED BY MID-MICHIGAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA (MMDfA)!

“Richard REALLY knows his stuff and has specific plans for improving his county.”

As I was quoted in our local daily, the Cadillac News, following my victory...

"The voters...have made a determination that the status quo is no longer acceptable, that we expect more accountability, greater openness, and transparency in county government."

Please, help me pay off my debt by raising $380 in 3 days. Just click on the link below, and make a secure, online contribution using PayPal...

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=rrenner%40core%2ecom&item_name=Friends%20of%20Richard%20Renner&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

Victory '10,

Richard Renner

Missaukee County Commissioner-elect

"...public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people...with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration."

- Margaret Chase Smith, U.S. Senator from Maine, 1949-1973