Traction » Health Care

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

Lanya — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:40:35 +0000

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.

fear, loathing, health care and Labor Day

Guest Blogger — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:18:32 +0000

[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.

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

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:01:20 +0000

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

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

Guest Blogger — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:30:05 +0000

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!

Join Traction at HK on J 3

Guest Blogger — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:22:31 +0000

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

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

Lanya — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:33:26 +0000

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!

you down with O.P.P.?

Lanya — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 16:33:14 +0000

Heads-up, Tractivists:

You could be denied healthcare if your sexual behavior (or orientation) doesn’t mix well with someone else’s values.

If you’d never thought about it before, you’ve got another think coming: religious restrictions to reproductive health care are on the rise. You’ve got pharmacists who refuse to sell the pill. You’ve got hospitals who won’t snip, clip or tie tubes. And infertility specialists and sperm banks who pick and choose who gets to play mommy based on their own “family values.”

Sex is personal. Faith is personal, very. The personal is political. And the political is sexy. (Okay, now we’re being silly but you know it’s true.) But what happens when individual and institutional values conflict with your right to health care access and/or treatment?

Bottom line: Who has the right to get all up in your business?

Join Traction, Planned Parenthood of Central NC and Jill Morrison of the National Women’s Law Center for…

Below the Belt: Religion, Reproductive Rights and O.P.P.* — a conversation about the growing issue of religious restrictions to reproductive health care.

Tuesday, April 11th 8pm
Joe & Jo’s
427 W. Main St. in downtown Durham
688-3322
And it’s FREE!

Jill C. Morrison is Senior Counsel at the NWLC and author of “Don’t Take ‘No’ for an Answer: A Guide to Pharmacy Refusal Laws, Policies and Practices.” She speaks with community activists, medical professionals and state officials throughout the nation on strategies to protect and expand access to health care. Her issue areas include STDs and HIV/AIDS, racial and ethnic disparities, socioeconomic status and violence against women. Ms. Morrison is a graduate of Rutgers and Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism and President of the Black Law Students’ Association.

*If you DON’T know, O.P.P. is classic oldschool hiphop (You down with O.P.P.? Yeah, you know me.) and it means Other People’s, well, Property.

FREE STUFF! Lobby me NOW while you still can…

Carole Bell — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 06:59:41 +0000

It’s Hard Out Here for a Lobbyist, what with all the ethics reform in the news these days. They’re trying to take all the fun out of being a big Washington or Raleigh lobbyist, so I guess I’ll stick with my PhD program.

At least I have ONE chance to give away special favors:
Traction just got a box of slick stuff from THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, the great new black comedy about slick lobbyists (starring William H. Macy, Katie Holmes, Robert Duvall, Rob Lowe) and I get to give it away!

I’ve got about seven very slick black T-SHIRTS, twelve bizarre plastic babies who smoke (their brand: Li’l Smokes), and about 25 FREE PASSES for two to an advance screening on Monday night in Raleigh.

The passes go to the first 25 people to ask. But the T-shirts, well, those are harder to come by so YOU gotta lobby ME. Why should you get one?

Inside tip: I’m likely to be swayed by…
- Tales of your own lobbying efforts
- Tales of your activism, whether hardcore or novice
- Clever ideas for future Traction events and offers to volunteer
- Recruiting new Tractivists (CC: carole@getTraction.org b/c seeing is believing.)
- other creative ideas

Make your case by Friday at 5pm, and by Sunday, I’ll do my best Abramoff and hand out some special favors.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is getting positive reviews from such wildly divergent sources as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the LA Times and Entertainment Weekly. I can’t wait for the advance screening, which is 7:30pm on Monday at the Regal Cinema (Brier Creek Stadium). I’ll be out front between 7 and 7:15pm with passes. Coffee or a beer afterwards?

Traction sets a trend? Reproductive Justice Happy Hour tonight!

Lanya — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:56:39 +0000

We got this email today from friends at IPAS:

Join us for the Reproductive Justice Happy Hour!

When: Wednesday, 8 March, 6 PM

Where: Joe & Jo’s (427 W. Main Street, Durham, NC)

What: A happy hour for local folks concerned with reproductive health and rights

Who: Colleagues, co-workers, activists and volunteers who work with reproductive health/justice issues.

Feel free to pass this e-mail on to anyone whom you think might be interested.

We love this trend of making social awareness more, well, social! Please join IPAS tonight at Joe & Jo’s, and tell them Traction sent you…

Proud Member of the Religious Left

Ben Stark — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 17:26:03 +0000

I grew up attending a Southern Baptist church in Birmingham, AL. One of my most vivid memories of that time is our youth pastor – a hyper-energetic man named Ronnie – striding around the room urging us not to be “Sunday Christians.” Ronnie was referring to people who acted like Christians at church on Sundays, but abandoned their faith and values for the rest of the week. To me, teenagers who would sing the loudest at Sunday School yet tease me mercilessly in middle school were the epitome of “Sunday Christians.” Here’s the lesson Ronnie was trying to get through our thick adolescent skulls: our faith and values must permeate every aspect of our lives. To limit one’s Christianity to a small portion of one’s life is the height of hypocrisy.

As I observe the Religious Right, I see a lot of people behaving like “Sunday Christians.” Folks like Ralph Reed, James Dobson, and Pat Robertson limit their Christianity to a small portion of their politics. They are perfectly willing to cast their arguments about abortion and gay marriage in Biblical terms. But I’ve not heard a peep from these guys about the Bible and, say, civil rights or poverty. On those issues, they are either silent or supportive of their right-wing corporate colleagues. This is the behavior of a “Sunday Christian” – applying the Bible only when it is convenient.

The Religious Right acts as if the Bible has nothing to say about all these other issues. They are wrong. The Bible contains about 3,000 verses on poverty. (My favorite: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:40.) Jesus spent his time ministering to the outcasts of his day – lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors – not currying favor with the powerful. If I sincerely try to apply my faith and values to my politics, I find I must fight for the poor and the oppressed – concerns which are associated with the left wing of American politics. This is why I am a proud member of the Religious Left.

That’s also why I’m proud that Traction is co-sponsoring the American Values Summit, coming up on Friday, March 3 at Duke University. The speakers at the Summit – including Sojourners editor Rev. Jim Wallis, North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Dr. William Barber, and Rev. Rebecca Reyes – share my vision. The Summit will be about treating poverty, civil rights, ecology and other issues as the moral issues they are. These speakers will talk about how they apply their faith and values to a wide array of issues… and how this usually leads them to side against the “Sunday Christians” of the Religious Right.

I’ll be there with bells on. Hope to see you there, too! Register here: http://www.americanvaluessummit.com/index.html