Category: Health Care

Many years ago, a month or so before his was elected to his second term in the House of Representatives Barney Frank wrote a funny piece in The New Republic about his first term in office. Unfortunately it is not yet in the TNR archives. I recall, however, that Barney wrote something like this: “After looking over my first term, I have to say that I’ve cast a few votes that I find myself disapproving. And I certainly missed some opportunities to speak out on some important issues. But, taking my record as a whole, and especially after comparing it to that of my opponent, I believe I’m certainly the lesser of two evils and maybe even a bit better than that. So I intend to vote for myself in November.” I recall this now because there is a dispute in Neighborhood Networks about whether to endorse Casey for Senate… Continue reading

This is the first in a series of efforts to articulate in broad terms what it means to be a progressive or liberal in Pennsylvanian and Philadelphia today. Democrats and Republicans have many differences on particular public policies. Underlying those differences, however, is a deeper difference about how we look at politics and what we think it is for. I want try to explain the key difference between us. Let’s start with slogans. We Democrats believe “We’re all in this together.” The Republicans believe “Everyone for themselves.” Our motto is “We get by with a little help from our friends.” The Republican motto is “I’m all right, Jack” We Democrats are the party of community, of people standing together. The Republicans are the party of individuals standing alone. That is not to say that we are opposed to individuals taking care of themselves or following their own path in life.… Continue reading

After talking about the uniformity clause and the wage tax, our discussion turned to real estate taxes and the possibility, now denied by the uniformity clause, of taxing commerical property at higher rathes than residential property. Continue reading

The Situation in the House The fight for a minimum wage of $7.15 continues. The latest word from Harrisburg is that there will be a vote in the House of Representatives the week of April 5th. Of course, we have been misled before, so no one is holding their breath. I will report here if the votes look likely and urge you to contact Republican members of the House to ask them to support an increase to $7.15 rather than the $6.25 most House Republicans support. The situation is different in the Senate where more drastic action may well be necessary. Rally and Direct Action on Wednesday, April 26 Right now, there is no indication that Senate President Robert Jubelirer or Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill have any intention of allowing a vote on the Senator floor, where we are very confident that we have the votes to raise the… Continue reading

 Buried on an inside page of the Inquirer today is an interesting tidbit about Bob Casey. He, of course, will not endorse Russ Feingold’s censure resolution. But he went further and would not even criticize Bush’s domestic spying program. Asked whether it is illegal, he responded “Well, that is a judgment that lawyers are going to make,” said Casey, a lawyer. “And that is an important answer.” Continue reading

The leaders of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia and its affiliate RecycleNow will be talking about a new grassroots political effort to bring the RecycleBank program to all of Philadelphia in the next few years. RecycleBank is a brilliant program that has been a tremendous success in the two neighborhoods where it has been tested, Chestnut Hill and West Oak Lane. RecycleBank is a private enterprise that works with the Streets Department to collect a much wider range of recyclables than is collected by the city now. They all go into one big container that is provided to each household. Under RecycleBank, the same folks who now pick up your recycling will pick up and weight the container. And then households can claim coupons worth up to $400 per year, based upon the weight of all the material they recycle. The coupons are mostly for locally owned businesses. Continue reading