From our friends at Whitehouse.gov:
In his weekly address, President Obama explains his plan to address one of the major causes of the current economic crisis: the breakdown of oversight leading to widespread abuses in the financial world. The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will have the sole job of looking out for the financial interests of ordinary Americans by banning unfair practices and enforcing the rules, a cornerstone in America’s new economic foundation.
If the viewscreen is not visible above, the video may be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdm-pZm8hoA.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
'Intersection Rally' protesting corporate tax breaks happening tomorrow
Unhappy with budget cuts in the face of corporate tax breaks? Make your voice heard at the 'Intersection Rally,' scheduled at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, June 17, outside the Chevron station at First and Shaw in Fresno.
Planned by several local organizations, the rally will protest making severe cuts to the state's budget for education and healthcare while retaining billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and tobacco companies.
For more information about the rally, see our previous post titled 'Intersection rally' against oil-company tax breaks happening Wednesday.
Want to participate? Contact Connie Peterson via e-mail at c.peterson8784@sbcglobal.net or Nancy Griesser at nancyg@csufresno.edu right away!
Planned by several local organizations, the rally will protest making severe cuts to the state's budget for education and healthcare while retaining billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and tobacco companies.
For more information about the rally, see our previous post titled 'Intersection rally' against oil-company tax breaks happening Wednesday.
Want to participate? Contact Connie Peterson via e-mail at c.peterson8784@sbcglobal.net or Nancy Griesser at nancyg@csufresno.edu right away!
California Democratic Party Chair Burton asks for help with preserving education, healthcare
V4CF is indeed a nonpartisan organization. That said, this note from California Democratic Party chair John Burton describes how California's budget cuts will hurt education and healthcare in our state -- two of President Obama's stated priorities for 2009 -- all while while preserving tax breaks for oil and tobacco companies. As he states in his letter, "That's just wrong."
Here is his letter, which includes his invitation to take action:
In the coming weeks, our state legislators will face stark choices about our state budget – choices that will touch the lives of nearly all Californians.
If our legislators do as Governor Schwarzenegger asks, California will slash billions from public schools and community colleges, eliminate health care for nearly two million people (half of them children), end the grants that allow high-achieving middle-class and poor students to attend college and close more than 200 of our state parks. AIDS patients will be denied medicine. Domestic violence shelters will lose funding.
What the governor's budget doesn't do is ask big corporations, oil and tobacco companies or the very wealthy to share in the sacrifice. That's just wrong. As our lawmakers make critical budget decisions to fill the shortfall, we must tell them what's important to California's residents and the future of our state.
The current budget year ends June 30, so we may only have a week or two to make a difference. Please take a minute right now to send a message to your legislators about the budget -- before it's too late. Tell them that we must have a budget that includes new revenue to pay for the services we all need.
As Democrats, we stand firmly against the severity of the proposed cuts. We will do everything possible to minimize the cuts and the harm they will inflict. That's why we're urging legislators to Protect All Californians by passing a balanced, sensible budget that includes new revenue.
Our budget ought to reflect our values – but right now, it doesn't. California has tremendous oil reserves, yet the governor isn't asking oil companies to pay the same extraction fees imposed in other states. Corporations reap billions from tax loopholes that are left intact. And the wealthiest Californians aren't asked to pitch in more – in fact, the most affluent Californians currently pay a lower income tax rate than they did when Republican Pete Wilson was governor.
Adding revenue from any of those sources would help minimize some of the devastating cuts looming for education and social services. Yet some in the legislature so far would rather protect a few elite special interests instead of millions of average Californians. We must help them see the error of their ways!
The only way to ensure our elected representatives make the right choices is to speak up now and to keep speaking out until the budget has been passed.
Please take a moment to send a letter to your legislators asking them to pass a budget that will Protect All Californians, not just the privileged few. We will continue to give you ways to stay involved in the budget battle in the days and weeks to come.
Please join me in standing up for our values and fighting to Protect All Californians.
Peace and friendship,
John Burton
P.S. The budget fight is upon us and the cuts proposed by the governor would devastate millions of poor and middle-class Californians – and affect us all. If you believe as I do that California must find a balanced budget solution that includes new revenues, please take a minute to send that message to your legislators today. Go to www.cadem.org/ltl-budget.
Here is his letter, which includes his invitation to take action:
In the coming weeks, our state legislators will face stark choices about our state budget – choices that will touch the lives of nearly all Californians.
If our legislators do as Governor Schwarzenegger asks, California will slash billions from public schools and community colleges, eliminate health care for nearly two million people (half of them children), end the grants that allow high-achieving middle-class and poor students to attend college and close more than 200 of our state parks. AIDS patients will be denied medicine. Domestic violence shelters will lose funding.
What the governor's budget doesn't do is ask big corporations, oil and tobacco companies or the very wealthy to share in the sacrifice. That's just wrong. As our lawmakers make critical budget decisions to fill the shortfall, we must tell them what's important to California's residents and the future of our state.
The current budget year ends June 30, so we may only have a week or two to make a difference. Please take a minute right now to send a message to your legislators about the budget -- before it's too late. Tell them that we must have a budget that includes new revenue to pay for the services we all need.
As Democrats, we stand firmly against the severity of the proposed cuts. We will do everything possible to minimize the cuts and the harm they will inflict. That's why we're urging legislators to Protect All Californians by passing a balanced, sensible budget that includes new revenue.
Our budget ought to reflect our values – but right now, it doesn't. California has tremendous oil reserves, yet the governor isn't asking oil companies to pay the same extraction fees imposed in other states. Corporations reap billions from tax loopholes that are left intact. And the wealthiest Californians aren't asked to pitch in more – in fact, the most affluent Californians currently pay a lower income tax rate than they did when Republican Pete Wilson was governor.
Adding revenue from any of those sources would help minimize some of the devastating cuts looming for education and social services. Yet some in the legislature so far would rather protect a few elite special interests instead of millions of average Californians. We must help them see the error of their ways!
The only way to ensure our elected representatives make the right choices is to speak up now and to keep speaking out until the budget has been passed.
Please take a moment to send a letter to your legislators asking them to pass a budget that will Protect All Californians, not just the privileged few. We will continue to give you ways to stay involved in the budget battle in the days and weeks to come.
Please join me in standing up for our values and fighting to Protect All Californians.
Peace and friendship,
John Burton
P.S. The budget fight is upon us and the cuts proposed by the governor would devastate millions of poor and middle-class Californians – and affect us all. If you believe as I do that California must find a balanced budget solution that includes new revenues, please take a minute to send that message to your legislators today. Go to www.cadem.org/ltl-budget.
Defend the public option: Tell Senators
you oppose 'co-op' healthcare plans
From our friends at MoveOn.org comes this:
President Obama has spoken forcefully about the need for a public health insurance option that would lower costs and keep the insurance companies honest.
But the Washington Post is reporting that a new health care proposal may be gaining support in the Senate that could defeat his plan.
The proposal would create a series of small, regional "co-op" insurance plans that would be too weak to really compete with private insurers and bring down prices. And these "co-op" plans would mostly be privately run, so they wouldn't be accountable to voters or Congress. A "co-op" is not an acceptable substitute for a strong public health insurance option.
Would you call Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein today? Tell them: Voters wants a strong, national public health insurance option. Please oppose the "co-op" proposal and other half-measures. And after you've called, please let MoveOn.org know that you've called.
Here's where to call:
Senator Barbara Boxer
Phone: 202-224-3553
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841
We need a strong public health insurance plan that has the size and strength to reduce overhead, negotiate lower costs for drugs and treatments, and compete with national private health insurance plans. Small, regional co-op plans just won't cut it on their own.
President Obama has spoken forcefully about the need for a public health insurance option that would lower costs and keep the insurance companies honest.
But the Washington Post is reporting that a new health care proposal may be gaining support in the Senate that could defeat his plan.
The proposal would create a series of small, regional "co-op" insurance plans that would be too weak to really compete with private insurers and bring down prices. And these "co-op" plans would mostly be privately run, so they wouldn't be accountable to voters or Congress. A "co-op" is not an acceptable substitute for a strong public health insurance option.
Would you call Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein today? Tell them: Voters wants a strong, national public health insurance option. Please oppose the "co-op" proposal and other half-measures. And after you've called, please let MoveOn.org know that you've called.
Here's where to call:
Senator Barbara Boxer
Phone: 202-224-3553
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841
We need a strong public health insurance plan that has the size and strength to reduce overhead, negotiate lower costs for drugs and treatments, and compete with national private health insurance plans. Small, regional co-op plans just won't cut it on their own.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
President Obama's weekly address:
Healthcare reform as the key to our fiscal future
From our friends at Whitehouse.gov:
President Obama has long noted that skyrocketing health care costs will be disastrous in terms of our long-term national debt unless we pass real reform. In his weekly address, the President explains how he will cover the upfront costs of reform by eliminating overpayments from Medicaid and Medicare and driving down costs contributing to government’s healthcare expenditures across the board. He also provides a fact sheet laying out the details of these savings.
If you cannot see the viewscreen above, the President's weekly address is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j12NRuH4gM.
President Obama has long noted that skyrocketing health care costs will be disastrous in terms of our long-term national debt unless we pass real reform. In his weekly address, the President explains how he will cover the upfront costs of reform by eliminating overpayments from Medicaid and Medicare and driving down costs contributing to government’s healthcare expenditures across the board. He also provides a fact sheet laying out the details of these savings.
If you cannot see the viewscreen above, the President's weekly address is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j12NRuH4gM.
'Intersection rally' against oil-company tax breaks happening Wednesday
Unhappy about California's coming budget cuts? Check out this invitation from member Connie Peterson:
The state budget should be a serious concern to any Californian. Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing ridiculous cuts to almost every program on the books, and is quoted recently in the Los Angeles Times as being willing to bring the State down.
His approach to "helping" California is costing millions of jobs and services we all need, while also making cuts that result in a loss of Federal matching funds, which add up to even more lost revenue for our economy. What some may not know is he's continuing to give an average of $2.2 billion dollars a year in tax breaks to some of the largest corporations in the country, including Chevron.
California needs that money! And it's time to show the Governor we won't stand for his budget proposal. With that in mind, there will be an Intersection Rally beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, outside the Chevron station at First and Shaw in Fresno.
Speak up for the millions who will be devastated by this budget, including students, the elderly, and children. Come after work, hold a sign, pass out fliers, oppose the tax breaks!
Thanks for the information, Connie. Want to participate? Contact Connie Peterson via e-mail.
The state budget should be a serious concern to any Californian. Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing ridiculous cuts to almost every program on the books, and is quoted recently in the Los Angeles Times as being willing to bring the State down.
His approach to "helping" California is costing millions of jobs and services we all need, while also making cuts that result in a loss of Federal matching funds, which add up to even more lost revenue for our economy. What some may not know is he's continuing to give an average of $2.2 billion dollars a year in tax breaks to some of the largest corporations in the country, including Chevron.
California needs that money! And it's time to show the Governor we won't stand for his budget proposal. With that in mind, there will be an Intersection Rally beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, outside the Chevron station at First and Shaw in Fresno.
Speak up for the millions who will be devastated by this budget, including students, the elderly, and children. Come after work, hold a sign, pass out fliers, oppose the tax breaks!
Thanks for the information, Connie. Want to participate? Contact Connie Peterson via e-mail.
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