Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category

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drink to progress, green your ride, and rethink “support our troops” (and vets)

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Hey Tractivists,

It’s been a hell of a week, and it’s barely half over!

Come out at Traction HQ tomorrow night and toast to progress!  Then stick around for the film The Good Soldier, hosted by Tractivist and young veteran Jeremy B., and a conversation about U.S. military actions and policies that will change how you think about supporting the troops.  RSVPs appreciated to soldier@getTraction.org and you can report for duty at 7pm @ 1018 Broad St.

Recent news round-up and linkfest…

Health Insurance Reform passes!
Thanks to the efforts of millions of us, President Obama signed a bill yesterday that…
- extends health insurance to more than 32 million people
- allows you to stay on your parents’ insurance until the age of 27
- bans discrimination based on pre-existing conditions
- and it saves money over the long-term: it’ll cut more than a trillion dollars from the deficit over 20 years.
For many progressives, it stopped short in several key ways — and the reproductive rights sacrifices went too far — but there’s a chance we’ll make it stronger before it’s finally final.  And there’s no denying that it’s a good step in the right direction and a historic achievement!

In scary news… the Tea Partiers are getting incredibly nasty, harassing members of Congress (like civil rights hero John Lewis and Barney Frank) using the N-word, the F-word and even spitting.  This Brave New Foundation video will frighten you, but you should see it.  This John Nichols column from The Nation provides historical perspective on right-wing opposition (Conservatives railed against Social Security too.), although I doubt it was quite this hateful.  And the Wake County school board ended Wake’s model diversity policy (again by a 5-4 vote).  Let there be no doubt — local elections matter!

Now for the kind of activism we LIKE to see…
Last weekend, 200,000 people marched for Comprehensive Immigration Reform!  Check out SEIU’s great 2-minute video.  And you may have missed some incredibly brave direct action for equality, with Lt. Dan Choi handcuffing himself to the White House gate to protest Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and bi-coastal sit-ins at Nancy Pelosi’s offices to demand passage of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act.

Last thing: mark your calendars for Green My Ride on Sunday afternoon April 11th.  You’ll learn many ways to shrink your carbon tireprint, including how to:
* change your own oil
* improve your gas mileage
* improve the performance and efficiency of your air conditioning
* switch to motor oils that don’t need to be changed often or are made from soy (not petroleum)
* and much more
Space is limited. Write greenmyride@getTraction.org for more info and/or to reserve your spot.

Keep Hope Alive, Lanya

P.S. Upcoming Traction events:
Thurs 3/25: ReelPolitik presents: The Good Soldier  soldier@getTraction.org
Sun 4/11: Learn to shrink your car’s carbon tireprint: greenmyride@getTraction.org
Sat 4/17: Trip to new civil rights museum in Greensboro: gbo@getTraction.org
Sun 4/25: Another freezer party (aka the potluck that keeps on giving): freezer@getTraction.org
plus Spring means the Traction Outdoors group is back!  Write outdoors@getTraction.org to be in the loop on hikes, swims, berry-pickings and more.

Posted in Civil Rights, Events, Health Care, Peace, Politics, Walk the Talk | No Comments »

fear, loathing, health care and Labor Day

Monday, September 7th, 2009

[IMPT NOTE from Traction: This Wed eve, Pres. Obama delivers one of the most important speeches of his administration: a talk on health insurance reform to a joint session of Congress.  We've postponed our Socially Responsible Investing workshop and we're headed over to the Pinhook to watch the speech (time TBA).  Come early to talk with health care advocates who will help us make sense of this complex issue.  RSVP to health@getTraction.org]

—

Fear is a powerful thing.

Today, on Labor Day, I’m thinking about health care and job insecurity.  When my daughter was born 7 years ago, she was 2 months premature and spent over a month in the hospital.  It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to care for her, make her safe and ensure she could become the smart, beautiful and strong little girl she is today.  Because I was insured through my employer at the time, I never paid anything beyond my monthly premiums.  Within the last year, however, I’ve lost my job twice — the first time, I lost my group plan, and the second time I lost the ability to pay for individual coverage.  I shudder to think what would happen if Chaya had been born this year, or what will happen if she gets seriously ill now.

Over the last few weeks, as I’ve watched the rhetoric on health insurance reform ratchet up and tempers flare higher, I used to wonder why health care would elicit such strong opposition.  Doesn’t every other Western democracy already have universal coverage?  Don’t we already provide government protection against fire, crime, natural disaster, starvation, invasion, and the like?  Shouldn’t this be a no-brainer?

But now I realize there may be a fairly deep, unspoken reason for the resistance: Health care is scary, scary stuff.  It’s about us at our weakest and most vulnerable.  It’s about the biggest bogeyman of all, the specter of debilitation and physical suffering for our loved ones and ourselves.

The idea of being able to go it alone successfully in the face of this threat is very appealing and comforting — and demonstrably, dangerously false.  The hard truth is that we, all of us, ARE susceptible to the ravages of injury and disease, and no amount of rugged individualism will ever make it otherwise.  In fact, as a nation and a species, the only thing that has ever gained us any ground against the bogeyman is our ability to hang together and look out for one another.

I’m scared too.  Not that government panels will make life-or-death decisions for us, or that the US government aims to destroy private industry, or that expanding the “welfare state” will result in Stalinist clampdowns on individual liberties, or that reform (as opposed to inaction) will bankrupt the nation — all those fly in the face of available evidence.  No, I’m scared that millions of uninsured Americans won’t be able to afford essential care.  That those with pre-existing conditions will be excluded.  That private insurance companies will maximize profit at the expense of their customers’ health.  I’m scared of all of these things because they are happening now.

But to hell with fear.  I would rather temporarily lose a principled fight for what we really need — truly better financial and medical outcomes for us all — than achieve only a half-measure now by trying to appease an opposition led by irrational arguments and invested in failure anyway.

We need what we need, and we’ll get it eventually — sooner, if we take a stand, later if we don’t, or now, if we fight tooth and nail.

Sasha Akhavi
job-seeker, hiker, Tractivist

P.S. Join Traction at the Pinhook this Wednesday evening to watch President Obama speak.  RSVP to health@getTraction.org for details as they unfold.

Posted in Economic Justice, Health Care | No Comments »

are you up to date on your (jello) shots?

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Hey there Tractivists,

August is the hottest month, for both weather AND politics. (My god, the fanatics at recent town hall meetings need an intervention — seriously.) So next week, we’re throwing a hot-and-cool happy hour!

What: Thermo-dynamic: a hot-and-cool Happy Hour

When: Thurs Aug 20th, 5:30-7:30pm

Where: Traction HQ, 1018 Broad St. in Durham

Swimsuits: optional

RSVP: happy@getTraction.org

Next Thursday, have some fun in the sun outside where we’ll have a kiddie pool, some sprinkler action, live music from the one and only Adam Sampieri , and maybe even a slip-and-slide. Inside, we’ll cool off with jello shots, drinks, eats, newly repaired a/c (yes!) and smart, cool-as-cucumbers Tractivists who know their stuff on the two hottest issues in politics today: health care and climate change.

Come hang out with folks like Avery Book from Health Care for America Now ; Jenny Cook, sassy scholar of health policy; Chris Gianino from 1Sky NC ; and other special guests. And, we’ll celebrate progressive successes that Tractivists have helped achieve in the state legislature this year, including passage of the Racial Justice Act, Healthy Youth Act, School Violence Prevention (anti-bullying) Act and more.

Stay cool, and be sure to RSVP: happy@getTraction.org .

Lanya Shapiro

swimming hole enthusiast, pesto maker, Tractivist

Posted in Environment, Events, Health Care | 1 Comment »

Building the Progressive Majority : Blogging from the America’s Future Now Conference

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Talk at the first day of the America’s Future Now conference has centered on the issues of healthcare, the economy, and labor rights.  Highlights for me included speeches by Gov. Howard Dean, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and William McNary calling for healthcare reform, and an innovative presentation about the need for public funding of elections.  

I want to share some hopeful news from a session I attended called “A New and Enduring Progressive Majority?” which featured speakers from Progressive Majority, Women’s Voices Women’s Vote, the Center for American Progress, Working America, and Democracia USA.  All the speakers agreed that the changes in the American voting population in the past decade have worked in favor of progressive change, and this trend is likely to continue–good news.  

Every speaker also talked about the role of young people in the future of the progressive movement.  Young people are overwhelmingly more progressive than older folks, so it’s going to be vital that we stay active and keep working to engage our peers–even better news!  I was proud to be representing an organization that’s working to do just that.   

One last stunning factoid from the session: by the year 2016 (not that far off!), the majority of voters will no longer be white Christians.  

More to come tomorrow about the progressive plan to move America forward and what Tractivists are going to need to do to help shape our future!

Tags:
Posted in Economic Justice, Fair Elections, Health Care, Politics, Uncategorized, Walk the Talk | No Comments »

Join Traction at HK on J 3

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Hey Tractivists

If you’re not already planning to come out to HK on J 3 this Saturday, this video will change your mind.

It’ll be great if we have a large number of Tractivists come out to send the message that Traction (and young people in general) are standing up for progressive change in NC.  It’s also going to be a lot of fun and a chance to meet folks from progressive organizations from across the state.

So, get yourself to HK on J using one of these 3 easy options:

Carpool from Orange County

There’s an official group that is arranging bus seats and carpools leaving from University Mall: http://groups.google.com/group/HKonJ-OC/browse_thread/thread/c3b8a06a462c8b97/8d85edc04bfade69?show_docid=8d85edc04bfade69&pli=1

Or, email me ( cara@gettraction.org ) and we’ll meet up at Eastgate Shopping Center in Chapel Hill, near Trader Joe’s.  Email me ahead of time to let me know know if you can drive or if you’ll be riding with someone else.

Carpool from Durham

Meet at Traction office (1018 Broad St.) at 8:40 AM; leave 8:45.  Email me ( cara@gettraction.org ) ahead of time to let me know if you can drive or if you’ll be riding with someone else.

Meet up at Chavis Park in Raleigh

Look for the Traction crew (with Traction shirts and banner) on the playground side of the seating area.  If you can’t find us, call Cara on the Traction phone at 919-Traction (919-872-2846).

Email me ( cara@gettraction.org ) ASAP to let me know you’ll be there.

See you Saturday,

Cara

Posted in Civil Rights, Economic Justice, Education, Environment, Events, Fair Elections, Health Care, Peace, Politics, Tractivists in Action, Walk the Talk | No Comments »

H K on J: History in the making and Traction was there!

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

Traction was honored to be part of H K on J, or Historic Thousands on Jones St., on Saturday.
Thousands of North Carolinians gathered in an NAACP-led People’s Assembly and adopted (by roaring acclamation) a bold 14-point progressive agenda:

1. High quality, well-funded, diverse schools for all children
2. Living wages
3. Health care for all
4. Government redress for the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898 and the forced sterilization of black women from 1947 to 1977
5. Same-day voter registration and public financing for elections
6. More funding for historically black colleges and universities
7. Redress for 200 years of discrimination in state hiring and contracting
8. Affordable housing and consumer protection
9. Criminal justice reform including abolition of the death penalty
10. Creation of an environmental job corps for youth
11. Collective bargaining for public employees
12. Immigrant rights
13. More funding for civil rights enforcement agencies
14. Bringing troops home from Iraq

Then we marched to the General Assembly and posted it there for our state legislators to see.

Thanks to Tractivist Robert S., who posted lots of H K on J clips on You Tube! Here’s one featuring several Tractivists on stage, including yours truly…

Traction represented well, with Dave, Celeste, Bria, Anne, Tamara, Brandi, Jim, Adam and many more among the marchers.

Did you take pictures? Post them to flickr and tag them HKonJ and Traction!

Posted in Civil Rights, Economic Justice, Education, Environment, Events, Fair Elections, Health Care, Peace, Tractivists in Action | 2 Comments »

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