A Better Way to Reform Health Care

I thought you might be interested in this letter to the editor in today's Washington Post.

I want a single-payer national health plan that provides private care (so we can choose our doctors) but is financed through the government (so we have oversight and economies of scale).

The full piece may be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/11/AR2008111102389.html

I spent this past weekend in northeast Ohio campaigning for the Obama campaign and was very encouraged by what I saw. 

There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for change in Ohio.

I traveled from Cleveland to Warren to Youngstown to Akron to Cuyohoga Falls. Along the way I met with scores of Obama volunteers. I even met with my former House colleague, Tom Sawyer, and my present Judiciary Committee colleague, Betty Sutton.

I also ran into some very interesting people in Akron.  Upon leaving the Obama headquarters there, I discovered some HR 676 supporters had gathered led by Progressive Democrats of America.  They have a bus made to promote single payer health care.

In all, I must report that there are a lot of people working hard to make sure voter turnout is as big as it should be.  The people I met understand something very important.  Obama doesn't win unless all of us vote and all of our friends vote.  

I hope you'll help in your community.

Barack Obama is ready to lead us in a new direction but he cannot do it alone. He will need a larger Democratic Majority in Congress to give us the change we need. Here are three strong candidates who can help us build an enduring progressive majority for years to come.  If you are able, please consider donating to their campaigns.  These gentlemen would make great congressmen.

I came across an interesting gentleman who published a book online to serve as a resource for Obama supporters and those who are seeking answers posed by campaign commercials.  It's broken down by issue and has only quotes from Obama himself.  Check it out for yourself.  You can download and print the book for yourself here:

Obama Wisdom Book

Two new studies released today show further evidence that the burden families bear for increasing medical costs is growing heavier and heavier, even for families with health insurance.  The New York Times has more details in this article.

According to a report in this morning's Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency is likely going to bow to extensive political pressure from the White House and Pentagon and rule that it will not set a safety standard for the amount of perchlorate allowed in drinking water. Perchlorate is a component of rocket fuel that has been shown to cause thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborn babies and young children.

For six years, career scientists at the EPA have urged regulations on the chemical and have been opposed by White House and Defense Department political forces. The Office of Management and Budget heavily edited the EPA's proposed ruling, and went as far as to ask the EPA to use a different computer modeling system to determine the allowable levels of the chemical. OMB's preferred model was developed by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology.

The politicization that has run rampant through the Bush Administration is a detriment to one of our government's most basic functions--protecting its citizens from harm. We have seen in it in the perversion of Justice at DOJ, and here it is again in the manipulation of scientific research at the EPA.

A recent report by the Interior Department's Inspector General has given us a close-up view of yet another Bush Administration failure. The lobbyists and energy industry insiders hired by the Administration turned the royalties-in-kind program at Interior into a mass of corruption.

For details on this latest Bush Administration scandal, I recommend this article in the LA Times and also this editorial in today's New York Times.

As the convention coverage winds down, I do want to share with you one particular piece that caught my attention over the weekend--this editorial from The Nation Magazine compares our convention in Denver with the Republican's in St Paul. It's a well-written piece about the substance that was underlying the style at both conventions, and in many instances, the lack of substance in the case of the Republicans.

I've posted a few photos from last week's Democratic National Convention in the photo gallery. I hope to have more photos and video clips soon.

I only have a moment to write before I have to speak at the Progressive Democrats of America panel discussion on Healthcare Not Warfare, but I want to tell you about the event I did last night at the Convention Center. The Nation, the Denver Public Library and Rocky Mountain PBS sponsored "From Fannie Lou Hamer to Barack Obama: How the Civil Rights Movement Changed American Politics." John Nichols, political writer for The Nation, interviewed me on my experiences in the Civil Rights Movement and conventions and campaigns past and present. We were also treated to performances of musical compositions of the very talented David Avram, including a few songs by the Colorado Children's Chorale. I'll add photos to the event to the gallery later today.