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Health Care will (almost) be a right not a privilege

  By Health Care

The Patient Care and Affordable Care Act was not everything we progressives wanted. Many of us were distraught over losing something that is important to our vision of health care reform: a public option that would compete with private insurance and hold down health insurance costs. Make no mistake, that was, indeed a loss. But the public option was not the only important feature of the legislation we have been supporting. Indeed, while holding down costs are important to this country, the fundamental moral issue is making sure that everyone can get affordable health care. And, the legislation we won goes incredibly far to attaining that goal. The Affordable Care Act will take this country close to the ideal of making health care a right not a privilege. It will, over ten years, save perhaps 100,000 lives. It will reduce the suffering of millions of people. And it will save… Continue reading

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The old romanticism and the new environmentalism

  By Environment, Philosophy

Political environmentalism is a movement shaped by twentieth century romanticism. And that is one source of its political difficulties, especially in America. Twentietth century romanticism presumes a sharp divide between the creativity of the arts, which draws inspiration from the untamed natural world we perceive with our unaided senses, and the routinized development of scientific knowledge whose goal is to give us the power to transform, and thereby destroy, nature with our machines. It thinks of the natural state of nature as pure, peaceful, and unchanging and humans as malignant interlopers in thus natural world. Thus it looks incessantly back to the past¸ to the time before mankind interfered with the natural world and it only appreciates with some reluctance how we use technology to shape the natural world to serve the interests of human beings. This is a romanticism that stands against both science and humanism. And, the environmental movement it has inspired… Continue reading

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29

  By Twitter feed

My guest blog on the United Steelworkers site: http://bit.ly/9pQov0 # Tom Corbett will spend a day in the shoes of a lazy, unemployed worker collecting unemployment insurance….as soon as he finds one. # Dan Onorato spent a day in the shoes of an SEIU member http://bit.ly/a69xwa # In 1937 FDR took a risk and challenged an undemocratic institution to save his economic program. Obama needs to take on the filibuster. # Powered by Twitter Tools Continue reading

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We elected a President; Now we have to build a movement

  By Politics

Dear Friends, Over the next month, Penn Action will be sponsoring a series of events around the state, some in conjunction with other groups, that aim to build a strong progressive movement to get voters who share our ideals out to the polls in November and then to keep the pressure on our elected officials to support progressive legislation over the next two years and beyond. Three meetings are now scheduled. In Erie, this Wednesday, on August 25, join a Penn ACTION meet-up at 7:00 pm at Panera Bread in the Plaza off Peach Street, 1935 Keystone Drive in Erie. In Northeast PA, on September 14 at 7:00 PM at the Holiday Inn Express Meeting Room at the Scranton WB Airport, join a Penn Action sponsored event that will focus on building our power on a variety of issues and, especially the drilling in the Marcellus Shale. In Philadelphia On September 25… Continue reading

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We Made Them Listen To Us

  By Environment, Health Care, Marcellus Shale

This is my speech, more or less, at the Gas Stock concert and rally on Saturday. This not exactly what I said. I spoke extemporaneously and didn’t record it. But this is the gist of it. Good Afternoon. I’m Marc Stier, the Executive Director of Penn Action, grassroots political organization in Pennsylvania. I’m really thrilled to be here. This is an incredible event, organized by an incredible team of people led by my friend and colleague, Roxanne Pauline who recently joined us as the NEPA Penn Action organizer. I have to be honest, I don’t know enough about the Marcellus Shale drilling and its impact on people here in Northeastern PA and the rest of the state. I’ve spent the last two years totally focused on the movement for health care reform, which I led in Pennsylvania. But after talking with many of you, it’s pretty clear that I need… Continue reading

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The Next Step in Building Progressive Power in Pennsylvania

  By Penn ACTION, Politics, Take political action

We won a big victory. But the struggle is not over, either for health care or for the larger progressive agenda. I’m writing to ask you to sign up so that together we can build a force in Pennsylvania to keep America moving forward.For over twenty months, we worked together to do something that will make us proud for the rest of our lives. Continue reading

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Is it time to take direct action to block the effects of Citizen’s United?

  By Campaign Finance Reform, Politics

It’s just a trickle now, but the corporate money that was unshackled by Citizen’s United is beginning to flow just where we feared it would. And now, before it turns into a torrent, we should try to stop it. The ideal way to do so is with legislation. But the filibuster enabled a minority of Republicans to block more limited campaign finance legislation last week, so that might take a while. In the meantime, perhaps it is time to embrace direct action, boycotts of corporations that support right wing candidates, especially those that depend on a huge base of consumers for their profits. Continue reading

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A small victory: Blues will support AdultBasic for six more months

  By Health Care, Penn ACTION

We had a small victory for AdultBasic today. But there is still more to be done to insure that the program continues until it is no longer necessary. The Adult Basic Program Health Care For America Now joined five events around the state led by the Pennsylvania Health Access Network in support of Adult Basic, Pennsylvania’s health insurance program for 47,000 people who cannot afford health insurance but whose incomes are not low enough to qualify for Medicaid. AdultBasic is inadequate insurance, but it provides a lifeline for many people. And over 350,000 are on a waiting list for the program. AdultBasic has been funded in large part by community reinvestment funds contributed by Pennsylvania’s Blues—mostly from the two largest Independence Blue Cross and Highmark. The Blues agreed to make these contributions in the first year of the Rendell administration, when it was apparent that they were amassing surpluses in… Continue reading