Last Thursday, ten thousand people from around the country came to Upper Senate Park in Washington, DC to rally in support of a public option for health care.  The rally was organized by Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) and its partners, including USAction.   USAction affiliates, other community  organizers and union activists were treated to speeches from Edie Falco (yes, THAT Edie Falco), Dr. Howard Dean, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Sherrod Brown, Representative Allyson Schwartz, and a host of other members of congress.   The rally was closed out by USAction President William McNary, who gave an incredible speech and really revved up the crowd (be sure to check it out here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP4uMs8ZXrE).  Perhaps one of the most compelling parts of the day was listening to the personal stories about struggles with the health care system.  Doctors, nurses and ordinary Americans spoke about the need for a public option and why “we can’t wait.”

The rally was followed by a series of lobby visits and town hall meetings where people voiced their support for a public option to their members of Congress.  Many of these meetings yielded positive results.  At the Pennsylvania town hall, for example, Senator Arlen Specter, came out in support of a public option in front of activists from Penn Action and other organizations.  Additionally, Illinois Citizen Action signed Representative Daniel Lipinski, Representative Bobby Rush and Senator Roland Burris on to the HCAN statement of principles.

USAction is proud to have been an integral part of the events and contribute to its successes. USAction affiliates turned out over 1,700 people from 22 states.  These activists traveled great distances and braved the heat (and sunburns) to show support for a cause that means so much to all of us.

For the tens of millions of Americans without quality, affordable health care along with their supporters, last Thursday’s rally and lobby day was the culmination of a groundswell of support years in the making.    USAction Communications Director, David Elliot, summed up the day quite well when he said,

Every year or so we have large rallies and marches in DC, and they’re usually either against the war, for or against reproductive choice or for or against GLBT rights.  Never in the history of the United States have 10,000 people come together to mobilize around health care.

Indeed, while June 25, 2009 may not be written in the history books, this is an incredible turning point and our predecessors would be proud.

      Earlier this week, President Obama announced his historic appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. As a constitutional law scholar, the president recognizes the importance of a Supreme Court Justice with both judicial experience and intellect along with a common sense understanding into people’s lives.

      Along with the historical nature of being the first Latina Supreme Court Justice nominee, Judge Sotomayor’s personal story embodies the American dream and instills hope and possibility in so many of us. She grew up in a public housing unit in the South Bronx where she excelled in school and went on to Princeton University and Yale Law School. After she finished school, Sotomayor went on to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, international corporate litigator, prosecutor, trial judge and appellate judge. If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor will bring more federal judicial experience to the court than any other justice in over 100 years. Throughout her thirty-year legal career, Sotomayor not only gained legal expertise and judicial experience, but she also maintained a deep understanding of people’s struggles and the tangible effects of her decisions on everyday lives.

      While the opposition forces may attack Sotomayor’s nomination and try to pigeonhole her with the false notion that she is a judicial activist who will legislate from the bench, evidence from her legal career show her to be qualified, experienced and fair-minded.

      With Judge Sotomayor’s practical perspective and judicial experience, I can get past the fact that she’s a Yankees fan (bracing for hate mail in 5..4..3…). Once again, Obama has proven that lacking family wealth and political connections are not barriers to achieving one’s dreams. Sotomayor’s nomination is an inspiration to people of all ages, races and backgrounds. Besides, maybe spending some time in Washington will turn her into a Nationals fan.

President Obama’s 100^th day in office marks a plethora of accomplishments for the new administration, and I’m not talking about Michelle Obama’s inspiration to women everywhere, the White House vegetable garden, the new swing set or Bo, the Portuguese water hound. While I could ramble on and on about these personal-interest stories (that dog is just so cute), I’ll instead focus on the administration’s tremendous legislative achievements to reinvigorate the economy, restore equal opportunity, reestablish a responsible foreign policy and turn the page on the failed policies of the last eight years.

On February 15^th, the President signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which marked the initial advancement to stimulate the economy after the economic downturn. The legislation included tax relief for working families, the expansion of unemployment benefits and other safety-net programs and investments in education, health care and green infrastructure. This historic piece of legislation is the first step in shielding Americans from the damaging effects of the recession and investing in sustainable growth.

President Obama has made incredible advancements in health care as well. On February 4^th, he signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 which reauthorized the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The reauthorization provided the program with an additional $32.8 billion, which safeguard coverage for seven million low-income children and extended coverage to an additional four million uninsured children. This signals great progress toward quality, affordable health care for all. In addition, the president made it quite clear that he will halt the Bush administration’s war on science when he signed an executive order on March 9^th reversing restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research and allowing advances in disease treatment.

The administration’s first hundred days have given women in the U.S. and around the world great hope for the future. As stated by Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women,

In just 100 days President Obama has begun reversing the extensive damage done to women’s rights these last eight years, giving us an idea of what is possible with enlightened leadership. I look forward to many more victories for women and girls in the coming days and years.

The president not only appointed seven strong, intelligent women to his cabinet including Hillary Clinton, Hilda Solis and Kathleen Sebelius (who was just confirmed and sworn in today). He also shaped his staff to meet the needs of women by establishing the White House Council on Women and Girls, whose role is to coordinate federal agencies and policies to address the challenges faced by women and girls, including pay inequity, sexual assault and domestic violence and the professional “glass ceiling.”

Speaking of the “glass ceiling,” the President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on January 29th, making it easier for women to sue for pay discrimination. The legislation was drafted to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which prevented underpaid workers from using civil rights laws to rectify pay discrimination.

As one of his first acts in office, President Obama rescinded the disastrous Mexico City Policy (known as the “Global Gag Rule”), which banned federal funding for international organizations that offer abortion counseling. The funding restoration will bolster the health of women around the world. As stated by Planned Parenthood Federation of America:

With the overturning of the global gag rule, a stranglehold on women’s health around the world has been lifted, and more than 200 million women around the globe will be able to access critical basic services, including safe abortion and birth control. Local reproductive health care organizations abroad will now be able to offer counseling, referral, and services for the full range of reproductive health options without fear that the U.S. government will strip them of their funding. Expanding access to services like birth control, annual exams, and safe abortion will help save women’s lives.

President Obama has also taken steps in his first hundred days to reverse the irresponsible, cowboy-esq, go-it-alone foreign policy of the past eight years. A mere two days after taking office, he signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year. The President signed a second executive order banning torture by requiring that terrorist interrogations follow the Army field manual. This not only outlaws an antiquated policy that is inhumane and ineffective, but it also restores America’s credibility abroad.

In addition, President Obama announced on February 28^th that it was time to start drawing troops out of Iraq and transition sovereignty back to the Iraqis. The president’s plan calls for pulling combat troops out of Iraq next fall and having them home by 2011. This will not only halt the senseless killings of Iraqis and American soldiers, but also siphons defense spending back to domestic priorities.

The president’s 100^th day in office also marks another notable event: the passage of his historic fiscal year 2010 budget. The House passed the final budget conference report earlier today, and the Senate just voted for the passage moments ago. The budget makes significant investments in health care, education and clean energy while restoring tax fairness and spurring job creation.

The advancements in foreign policy and equal opportunity along with the national investments of the last hundred days mark an exciting time in American history. These down payments on reenergizing the economy along with the initial steps to restoring equal opportunity and a common sense foreign policy are proof that elections matter.

Oh, and Bo the Portuguese water hound is still adorable.

Yesterday’s anti-tax tea parties are another example of the right-wing attempting to mimic the progressive movement’s grassroots groundswell of support while simultaneously trying to protect special interests and defend the failed policies of the past 8 years.

In packaging the tea parties, the organizers sought to capitalize on the widespread short-term frustration that goes along with tax day. It’s safe to say that no one, not even the most patriotic among us, enjoys paying their taxes and filling out form after form on the previous year’s activities (it’s hurting my head just thinking about it). Instead of accepting it as par for the course and presenting solutions for the future, right-wing organizers took advantage of people during a vulnerable time and used it as leverage to stage fake opposition to President Obama’s plan to reinvigorate the economy and get this country moving again.

For the marketing of the tea parties, the organizers pulled out all of the stops and tried to bring in every constituency they could. The front page of the tea party website lists a plethora of reasons for becoming involved in the events, ranging from taxes, healthcare and charitable giving to immigration, child pornography and abortion.

Additionally, six of the reasons for getting involved in their protests display a classic case of selective amnesia:

• spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying
  run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China
• consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected
• want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others
• punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not
• admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda

While these are all valid reasons for frustration, where were they the past 8 years when government ran up massive debts, gave handouts to special interests and redistributed wealth to irresponsible corporations? Clearly, this is not a valiant attempt by non-partisan “good government” reformers.

Although these events were marketed as non-partisan grassroots activism and an organic groundswell of support, they were the result of a coordinated effort by right-wing groups, big-time donors, inside-the-beltway lobbyists and Republican officials and operatives.

The widespread dissemination of these events can be attributed to Fox News and their cacophonous propaganda machine. The latest report by Media Matters, carefully documents the instances of Fox’s incessant promotion of the tea parties by Glenn Beck, Greta Van Susteren, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and various other pundits. Along with promoting their appearances at these events alongside Republican officials (as if they were country music singers at a state fair), Fox pundits spent much airtime promoting the times and locations of the protests. They posted a search tool on their website to find local events and hosted a virtual tea party for those who couldn’t make it to a live event. In fact, after one of many discussions on the protests, Bill Hemmer suggested the viewers visit their website for more information,

If you want to know more about the tea-party movement, if there is one happening near you, head to our website FoxNews.com/americasnewsroom. We have an entire section devoted to the growing tea-party movement. That’s our America’s Newsroom website online. All the information you need to know. Check it out right now.

Right-wing activists are praising themselves for their success in generating activists, however, it’s not difficult to spread messages and stage events when you have special interest money and a whole news network behind you.

In contrast to these forged grassroots events, the Rebuild and Renew America Now! (RRAN) coalition is mobilizing national, state and local activists around the country to promote a positive message of turning the page on the failed policies of the past and moving towards tax fairness and investments for long-term growth in healthcare, education, clean energy and job creation.

Since the RRAN campaign was announced just over a month ago, activists have made over 75,000 calls into Congress and held over 330 events in 46 states in support of the President’s budget and vision to restore tax fairness, create sustainable jobs and invest in healthcare, education and clean energy.

Yesterday, progressive activists mobilized at post offices around the country urging tax filers to call their members of Congress to reinstate tax fairness. This tax day mobilization comes on the heels of the latest report by U.S. PIRG, which found that over 80% of large U.S. corporations evade taxes by hiding their profits in off-shore tax havens, which has led to $100 billion loss in revenue. The RRAN coalition stands with the President and his plan to end corporate tax evasion and restore tax fairness.

Right-wing activists would have you believe that yesterday’s events are the culmination of widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama’s economic vision and the act of paying taxes. In actuality, most Americans are rooting for the President to succeed and approve of his plans to get America back on the right track. In addition, a recent Gallup Poll found that 61% of Americans believe that they are paying a fair amount under the current income tax system, and their largest fear stems from the economy and jobs.

In a major speech delivered today at Georgetown University, Obama spoke about the progress of his economic recovery programs and the upcoming actions that must be taken in order to ensure the economy begins to prosper once more.

Time and time again during the speech, Obama came back to health care as the main thing that must be reformed for true economic recovery to occur:

The key to dealing with our deficit and debt is to get a handle on out-of-control health care costs — not to stand idly by as the economy goes into free fall.

It’s no secret that Medicare, Medicaid, and other health related costs have burdened our budget for years. According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) constituted 20% of the federal budget in 2008, or $599 billion dollars.

Does anybody else find it weird that despite spending one-fifth of our budget on health care we continue to live in a country where 50 million people remain uninsured? Clearly the system as it stands not only isn’t working, it’s burdening our weakening economy as well. The President is absolutely right - health care reform is a vital necessity if we hope to achieve true economic recovery.

For more information on the health care fight and how it relates to economic recovery, please visit www.healthcareforamerica.now.org.

The annual Maria Leavey Tribute Award will be presented at American’s Future Now! (the progressive conference formerly known as Take Back America), June 1-3.

Click here to learn more and nominate someone you think is an unsung progressive hero by midnight EST tonight!

The running joke is that in politics, things move at snail’s pace. Usually, it takes years to create change that directly impacts the lives of everyday men and women.

That’s what makes the past week so unusual in the fight for marriage equality. In a matter of only five days, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that its state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, the Vermont legislature overrode its governor’s veto and enacted gay marriage, and the DC city council agreed to recognize gay marriages from other states.

Wow!

That brings the total to 4 states that allow gay marriage (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont), four states that provide the equivalent of state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples (New Jersey, California, New Hampshire, Oregon) and one state plus the District of Columbia that recognizes same sex marriages from out of state (New York).

After years of struggle, things seem to be moving in the right direction for LGBT advocates. This issue is about more than the right to marry, however, it’s about granting a group of American citizens the basic civil rights guaranteed to them by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

By passing the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, the federal government made marriage a legal term, thus opening it up to Constitutional scrutiny. Therefore, through the Fourteenth Amendment, gays and lesbians must be granted equal access to civil marriages.

With recognized marriage comes several perks including: tax breaks, the ability to adopt, hospital visitation rights, and others. It’s high time we put our old way of thinking aside and grant our gay brothers and sisters the basic civil rights they deserve. The decisions of this past week are a great starting point, but much more work needs to be done

Amid new reports that violence in Iraq is heating up, President Obama today made a surprise visit to the war torn country.

Speaking to a group of students in Istanbul Obama reasserted his opposition to the war, yet the need to draw down troops in Iraq responsibly:

When it comes to Iraq, I opposed the war in Iraq. Now that we’re there, I have the responsibility to make sure that, as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that you don’t see a complete collapse into violence.

The purpose of Obama’s trip was threefold: Meet with US commanders, discuss strategy with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and visit with US troops.

On April 1, USAction took their message—Pass the President’s Budget!— to the Hill.

But, we weren’t doing the talking this time. Community leaders, U.S. Senators and American workers struggling with health care issues took the stage.

The new Democratic Congress inherited a record Republican deficit and the worst economic crisis in generations, but are working to strengthen the economy by creating jobs and providing critical investments in health care, education, and renewable energy.

“It’s time for change,” Florine Jones, a social worker from Maryland, told the crowd. “Big, bold smart change that takes America in a fundamentally new direction. That’s what President Obama promised us. That’s why we voted for him. And that’s what he’s delivering with this budget.” read more

The people we hired (by voting for them) to pass the budget gave impassioned speeches.  Senators Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Benjamin L. Cardin, and Robert Casey are featured in this video.

Plenty of other community leaders and American workers, with and without full health insurance, joined in rallying support of the Democratic budget proposal.

Mr. Webb, pictured above, lives in Washington County, Maryland.  He works with United Cerebral Palsy.

NPR’s Planet Money posted a video which plots U.S. house market values between 1890 to today by virtual rollercoaster.

They write, “the last drop’s a doozey.”

This is the problem that kicked off the global economic crisis: Private lenders flooded the housing market with risky loans, leading to inflated demand and inflated housing prices.  The ticking financial time bomb that allowed lenders to inflate demand -– the infamous sub-prime housing loans -– hit the magic number of home owners who started to default on their mortgages.  Bundled into financial packages traded on Wall Street, these risky mortgages lost value, and the companies that bet too much on these packages collapsed.

But it wasn’t just companies that bet on these financial packages, it was governments – state & local governments, even federal governments!  Our financial system is completely intertwined not only in the global private sector but in civic management.

Economists believe that because the problem is global, the solution is global.  This week the largest national economies in the world, the G20, will meet in London to identify policies to end the global financial crisis.  This is the first time since WWII that national governments have had to coordinate a response to a global crisis but this time, in theory, we are all on the same side.  That’s the good news – we have a common goal.

The concern is whether all governments can agree on the policies.  Developing countries rightly blame the US and European countries for the economic collapse and therefore want us to pay more.  They also want a larger ‘vote’ at the economic table.  The rich, developed countries want India and China to put up money into the world financial institutions in order to get that economic vote.  The US wants to put more money into markets in order to stimulate spending.  The Germans want more financial regulation.  China wants a single international currency…

Fasten your seatbelts.  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride indeed.