A. Phillip Randolph Institute Legislative Conference

From a Press Release in my email, notice of this interesting Conference this weekend — let us know if you plan on going:

A. Philip Randolph Institute of Delaware to Host Legislative Conference Featuring Public Officials, Non-Profit Organizations, the Faith Community and Community Based Organizations

Contact:

Mark Brunswick, APRI Director of Education
302-691-5816

The A. Philip Randolph Institute of Delaware has recruited a roster of public officials, non-profit organizations, the Faith Community and community based organizations to discuss legislative issues of importance to all Delawareans in a conference to be held on Saturday, February 21st at Ezion-Mt. Carmel Church, 800 N. Walnut St. in Wilmington. The all day event will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

“This is a first of its kind event hosted by an organization in the African-American community,” said Mark Brunswick, the A. Philip Randolph Institute Director of Education. “We have conducted active and effective lobbying in Dover for the past five years and have learned that our mission of social justice and change is at its best when we are able to bring together legislators, advocates, policy makers and the community to discuss issues and plan solutions to improve opportunity and quality of life for us all,” he continued.

The following panelists have committed to participate in the conference which will address the Delaware Economy, Justice System Reinvestment, Health Care and Wilmington Public Safety:

59% of Americans Want National Health Insurance

From a recent CBS/NYT poll:

HEALTH INSURANCE: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE VS. GOVERNMENT?

CBS/NYT Now

CBS/NYT 1/1979

Private enterprise

32%

48%

Government – all problems

49

28

Government – emergencies

10

12

Don’t know

9

12

Are Democrats listening? This represents a 37% swing in opinion on an item that Americans routinely put at the top of the list of priorities for the government to fix. National health insurance has multiple faces, so it is a mistake to think that this question indicates support for any one idea — but it is pretty safe to say that people no longer think that private insurance is doing what it should.

Another interesting item from this poll:

The Making of a Conservative Lie

Steve Benen over at The Washington Monthly points out how a conservative set of lies became “news” this week. It begins with this lie from Betsy McCaughey who works for a wingnut think tank, published in the opinion section of Bloomberg:

Specifically, McCaughey insisted that the policy would create a “new bureaucracy” called the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, which will “monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective.” McCaughey said the federal government would then “‘guide’ your doctor’s decisions,” adding, “Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.”

You won’t be surprised to know that this National Coordinator infrastructure was created by BushCo (with no real achievements to its name, either), and that the text of the Final bill says nothing of the sort. (See pages 154 – 157; 442 – 450 of that pdf to see the entire provision and judge for yourself.) That didn’t stop the usual suspects — Limbaugh, Drudge and Fox Noise from running with it and trying to ramp up the usual fear and loathing, McCarthy-style.

Steve follows up his original post to talk about countering the wingnut echo chamber and the real limitations the left still has within the traditional media:

Day 19: Mike Castle’s Betrayal of Delaware

The LTE that I submitted to the News Journal yesterday:

With his vote against the Stimulus Package (and against the largest middle class tax cut in history), Congressman Mike Castle definitively demonstrates that his allegiances are no longer with the citizens of Delaware he was elected to represent. Mr. Castle was quick to support every facet of President Bush’s agenda that increased both the deficit and the debt: tax cuts that took us from historic surpluses to historic deficits; voted for Patriot Act provisions that increased spending on multiple fronts, including unneeded surveillance of Americans; an unnecessary war in Iraq that adds to our debt burden every day; and Medicare Part D, which made sure that the government would not be able to negotiate preferred pricing of prescriptions paid for by taxpayers.

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