Within a week of President Obama’s effort to expand off-shore oil drilling, a BP oil rig 50 miles off the Louisiana coast caught fire and sank, taking with it the lives of eleven men.

“The blast could be one of the nation’s deadliest offshore drilling accidents of the past half-century,” reports the AP.

More than 210,000 gallons of oil are gushing into the ocean every 24 hours. Almost 6 million gallons may have flooded the Gulf of Mexico in the last seven days and are visible by satellite (see NASA image at right). Now the oil is pouring into the Mississippi River and the cleaning booms that are supposed to stop the oil from reaching land have been rendered ineffective by five-foot swells.

Local fisherman Ricky Robin fears the impact the oil spill will have on his livelihood, saying it’s “worse than the atomic bomb.”

Is this the time to expand off-shore oil drilling? I don’t think so.

Tell President Obama that one disaster is more than enough; it’s time to end off-shore oil drilling.

Hundreds of May Day rallies have been organized across the country and USAction partners and affiliates are leading or participating in several of them.  Reform Immigration for America has an interactive map and a full list of rallies so you can get involved on Saturday to express your disgust with Arizona’s onerous, new law or simply support human and worker’s rights in your community.

USAction affiliate Washington Community Action Network has organized a March for Immigration Reform Now (flyer to the right) asking community members to come out and support immigrant rights and justice for all.  WCAN was recently targeted by a hate crime for their work on health care, immigration reform or both.  You can stand in solidarity with WCAN and take a stand against racism by virtually adding your name to a banner to be carried during Saturday’s march.

In Rhode Island, USAction affiliate Ocean State Action and other community organizations and leaders spoke out earlier this week against Arizona’s new law and stood with the people of Arizona.  “A diverse coalition of workers rights advocates, community based organizations, immigrants rights groups, progressive allies, and community members of all backgrounds stood together to stop the spread of terror.”  On Saturday, they are rallying again at the State House to continue the fight against injustice.

In Maine, USAction affiliate Maine People’s Alliance sent the following call to action to members and allies for their march in Portland on Saturday:

In America, people of color shouldn’t have to carry papers proving their citizenship. It’s just plain wrong and puts our nation in unseemly company with some of history’s worst violators of human rights.

It’s time to stand up for the Constitution and against racial profiling and demand federal action. We need comprehensive federal immigration reform to protect families from being torn apart and provide immigrants with a path to citizenship.

Maine has a long and unique history of immigration, from the French and Irish to East Africans and Latinos. On Saturday, let’s stand together as one state and fight back against discrimination and hate.

Shakira and Linda Ronstadt are in Arizona today to voice their opposition to the state’s tough new immigration law.

Grammy Award-winning Colombian singer Shakira will meet with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon at City Hall in the evening. Gordon has called the law unconstitutional and has said he may sue on behalf of the city to stop the law from taking effect.

Legendary singer-songwriter Linda Ronstadt will attend a rally that organizers say will draw thousands. Ronstadt grew up in a Mexican-American family in Tucson.

The law, S.B. 1070, is the nation’s harshest profiling law, which could turn Arizona into a police state — forcing cops to interrogate, fine, or even jail anyone who “looks” undocumented and leaves their wallet at home.

The law is not yet active, but will the police ask Shakira and Linda Ronstadt for their papers?

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Joe Heller - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

The controlling narrative in the national media in recent weeks and months has been one of angry Americans protesting taxes and “big government.”

“Tea party” participants, including many older Americans who receive assistance from Social Security and Medicare, have put forward the argument that government spending is a thing to be feared and despised.

Now Americans from all walks of life are fighting back. Not against the tea party people per se – although in some places that is happening – but against cuts in services at the local and state level that threaten our schools, children, families and communities. These Americans are taking to the streets and filling up public hearings with a simple and increasingly common message:

We want to pay for the things that are important to us. For this to happen, everyone must pay their fair share, including corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The largest such rally took place earlier this month in Springfield, Illinois. A crowd of 15,000 strong marched on the state capitol, demanding that legislators raise taxes in order to address a $12 billion budget deficit. “Show some guts! Avoid the cuts!” the crowd chanted.

What were groups such as AARP, AFSCME, Citizen Action/Illinois and SEIU protesting? Many of the same things people are concerned about across the country: the specter of tens of thousands of teachers laid off, high student-to-teacher ratios, libraries shuttered, home health care workers and day care providers cut.

While few national outlets covered the rally, it received saturation coverage at home – and some in the media compared it with the much smaller tea party protests. Here’s what Chicago’s local NBC-TV affiliate had to say:

“So you thought 2010’s biggest, populist movement was a tax revolt? You may be wrong. The demonstration taking place in Springfield today is going to make a tea party rally look like…a tea party. More than 15,000 protestors are clogging the state capitol to demand that legislators raise their taxes…The tea party may be the angriest movement in America today. But it is not the biggest, or the best organized.” [Emphasis added.]

The clamor for keeping important government services (like schools) operating at current strength is not limited to Springfield. Consider:

• In Atlanta, protestors this month marked giant “X”s in red paint on buses and trains – indicating which ones would be eliminated if proposed, Draconian cuts to mass transit are implemented.

• In Cleveland, hundreds of people this month crammed into a public hearing to oppose the city’s decision to lay off more than 500 teachers in order to make up a $53 million deficit. That decision would result in a 40-1 student-teacher ratio in Cleveland’s classrooms.

  

• In New Jersey this week, thousands of high school students cut school one day this week to protest Gov. Christie’s proposed education cuts. “We can’t cut, why can you?” the students chanted.

• In conservative enclaves from Burbank, Ca., to Greenville, S.C. taxpayers similarly are protesting proposed cuts to the schools.

• In Pennsylvania, USAction partner Penn Action is battling proposed cuts in Supplemental Security Income (which serves 67,000 children), pre-kindergarten programs, Head Start, libraries and adult and family literacy programs.

• In Rhode Island, legislators are considering devastating cuts to cities and towns, further cuts to schools and higher education, cuts to public employee pensions, severe cuts to all state agencies, and potential cuts to Medicaid and other social services. Ocean State Action and the Campaign for Rhode Island’s Priorities are actively opposing the cuts.

So what is being done to stand up for the new silent majority – those Americans who believe that government, effectively managed, can make a difference in people’s lives?

On the ground and in Washington, D.C., much is happening. On the ground, USAction affiliates coast to coast are rallying and organizing to oppose damaging budget cuts. In Washington, D.C., USAction has helped form Jobs for America Now, the nation’s largest jobs coalition. Jobs for America Now is supporting the Local Jobs for America Act, a $100 billion proposal that would create or save one million jobs in local communities, including in several areas this memo has discussed.

In early May, USAction and its state affiliates will launch an intensive national program to train the next wave of urban, suburban and rural activists on how to organize around the most pressing economic issues facing our country. This new wave of activism will advance the broader movement to strengthen American communities and create jobs while reforming and rebuilding our economy.

Meanwhile, we are calling on the media to tell the whole story regarding taxes, joblessness and the role of government in our lives. For the public to be served, all sides of this story need and deserve to be covered. And that’s a brew we can all savor.

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction

(See bottom of post for update on how to stand with Washington Community Action Network.)

USAction affiliate Washington Community Action Network was the target of hate-based vandalism this weekend.

KIRO TV covered the incident, with video at the link:

Members of the Washington Community Action Network who arrived at their offices Sunday morning to plan a May 1 march found the tires of a Honda Civic slashed and the words “Rahowa 88″ written on the car’s window.

The Anti-Defamation League said Rahowa means “racial holy war” and that 88 means “Heil Hitler.”

The vandals wrote the same message on a van in the parking lot, sprayed foam in the van’s tailpipe and broke the front window with a steel ball.

The perpetrators could have been targeting the community organization based upon their organizing around economic justice or immigrant rights, which Arizona forcefully placed on the national stage with their draconian, new immigration law.

Or perhaps WCAN’s national profile during the final months of the health care debate animated the vandals; WCAN was in the national spotlight when 11-year-old, WCAN member Marcelas Owens stood beside President Obama as he signed the historic health care bill into law.

Marcelas, had the following observations:

“I was kind of shocked that people would do things like this,” said Owens, who lobbied for health care reform after he said his mother died because she had no health insurance.

“I know we’re on the right track because they wouldn’t do things like this if we weren’t as powerful as we are,” he said.

The Seattle police department’s “bias crime” division are investigating and we may soon have answers, but one thing is for certain: intimidation will not stop WCAN or the rest of the USAction family from working to create a more just society.

Will Pitz, Executive Director of WCAN:

“We don’t know exactly what motivates these people. What we do know is it’s not going to stop us from doing what we’re doing”

UPDATE: (4/28/2010, 4:00 PM)

You can stand in solidarity with WCAN by signing here and joining others in sending a giant banner made up of the names of all USAction / TrueMajority members who stand together against this racist violence. WCAN staff and volunteers will carry the banner this Saturday as a sign of solidarity against hate.

Sign now to support WCAN’s march for immigrant rights and the fight to stop the racism before it spreads further. If you’ve got a Facebook account, after you sign on to show support click the “Like” button and we’ll proudly add your profile picture to the banner too.  And if you are on Twitter, Tweet your solidarity after signing.

As we reflect on last month’s tremendous health care legislative victory, we must take note of the important milestones as we shift to the implementation phase.  The recently-passed reform package ushers in some monumental reforms-some are immediate and some won’t kick in until 2014.

Check out a summary of the health reform timeline from Consumer Reports.

Late June 2010

New high-risk insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions will be up and running for people who have been without insurance for at least six months.

July 2010

All states will have public web sites to look up the available coverage choices, including private plans, public plans and high-risk pools.

Various times in 2010

Medicare patients who fall into the Part D “doughnut hole” will get a one-time $250 rebate.

Sept. 23, 2010

Several consumer protections begin at the start of the first plan year.  Changes include:

• New group and individual plans must start covering proven preventive care.
• All health plans, new and old, must allow adult children to stay on their parent’s health plan until age 26.
• All health plans must start covering minor children with pre-existing conditions.
• Health plans can no longer rescind your coverage if you come down with a serious illness.

Nov. 15-Dec. 31, 2010

People on Medicare can switch plans. Private Medicare Advantage plans start losing the extra subsidies and some may respond by changing prices or benefits.

Jan. 1, 2011

Medicare plans must start covering the full cost of proven preventive services, with no deductibles or co-pays and provide a free annual “comprehensive health assessment”-a checkup, plus discussion of personal risk factors and ways to address them.  Anyone who falls into the “doughnut hole” will receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs.  This subsidy will increase in subsequent years until the doughnut hole closes completely in 2020.

2013

Changes begin in preparation for full reform in 2014.

• Medicare taxes go up by an extra 0.9 percent tax on adjusted gross incomes of more than $200,000 for individuals or $250,000 for couples.  These high earners will also have to pay a 3.8 percent tax on unearned income such as stock dividends.
• Starting this year you can contribute a maximum of $2,500 a year to your Flexible Spending Account, adjusted annually by cost-of-living increases (until that date, the law allows employers to set the limit they choose.)

2014

Full reform starts.

• All citizens and legal residents will be required to have health coverage and those who decline to purchase coverage will be charged a tax penalty.  Exemptions will be available for financial hardship and other reasons.
• Every state will have an exchange where individuals and small businesses (up to 100 employees) can purchase coverage.  All plans in the exchange must offer unlimited annual and lifetime coverage and a comprehensive set of “essential benefits.”
• Insurers must sell individual or group coverage to anyone who wants it, regardless of pre-existing conditions. They can’t charge people more, or limit coverage, on account of their health status.
• Families and individuals who meet income requirements will receive subsidies in the form of refundable tax credits and reduced out-of-pocket costs in order to make required coverage more affordable.
• All individuals under 65 with an income of less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level will automatically be enrolled in Medicaid, even if they don’t have dependent children.

This timeline was adapted from consumerreports.org.  For a more comprehensive timeline, check out http://www.consumerreports.org/health/insurance/health-reform-timeline/overview/index.htm.

Arizona’s Governor, Jan Brewer signed S.B. 1070 into law last week.

It’s the nation’s harshest profiling law, which could turn Arizona into a police state — forcing cops to interrogate, fine, or even jail anyone who “looks” undocumented and leaves their wallet at home. Watch Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA) on Chris Mathews, arguing that you can tell someone’s an “illegal immigrant” by their… shoes??!

Sign your name to tell President Obama: “Stop S.B. 1070 and pass real immigration reform, not racial profiling!”

Our country is often referred to as a “beacon of democracy,” but among all the capitals in all the world’s democracies, only Washington D.C. doesn’t have federal voting representation or real home rule.

For anyone wondering, that’s an estimated 599,657 disenfranchised D.C. residents. For comparison, the population of Wyoming is estimated to be 544,270.

Last week, the House almost advanced a bill that would have begun to right this wrong. But politics continue to get in the way. Mostly-Democratic D.C. was to be given a vote in the U.S. House in exchange for one additional Representative seat for mostly-Republican Utah.

“This has never been about the Constitution. This is all about adding a Democratic vote to the House. If it were a Republican vote, the roles would be reversed,” said former Fairfax congressman Tom Davis, who’s an exception to the pattern. He’s a Republican who took the lead on pushing for voting rights when he was in the House.

It wasn’t just about party politics this time; an amendment about guns brought the bill down before it went to a vote.

DC Vote is an organization working to grant our capital the democratic rights it deserves. As someone who likes to be politically engaged, I hope they succeed while I’m still a D.C. resident; I’d like the opportunity to give a congressperson a piece of my mind.

Yenny Hsu of Los Angeles, Robin Beaton of Texas and Patricia Relling of Louisville, Kentucky are not alone. But they probably feel that way.

The three women, whose names surfaced today in a stunning, 4,200-word expose by Reuters, each have breast cancer. And each had insurance carriers that are subsidiaries of WellPoint, which has 33.7 million policy holders – about one of every nine Americans covered by private insurance.

As Reuters reported, “The women all paid their premiums on time. Before they fell ill, none had any problems with their insurance. Initially, they believed their policies had been cancelled by mistake.

“They had no idea that WellPoint was using a computer algorithm that automatically targeted them and every other policyholder recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The software triggered an immediate fraud investigation, as the company searched for some pretext to drop their policies, according to government regulators and investigators.”

Let’s see here. Some “pretext” to drop their policies? Could the pretext be the dreaded “c” word? Could it be because they are women?

Yes – and maybe. You see, it turns out that women are more likely to get breast cancer and to get pregnant than men are.

“It’s not like these companies don’t like women because they are women,” Jeff Isaacs, the chief assistant Los Angeles City Attorney who runs the office’s 300-lawyer criminal division, told Reuters. “But there are two things that really scare them and they are breast cancer and pregnancy. Breast cancer can really be a costly thing for them. Pregnancy is right up there too. The worst-case scenario is that a child will be born with some disability and they will have to pay for that child’s treatment over the course of a lifetime.”

Tens of thousands of Americans have lost their life insurance because of life-threatening medical conditions, a practice known as “recission.” The new health care reform law is aimed at stopping outlawing this practice, among other things, but we will need strong federal regulations – currently in formation – to make sure it is reform done right.

Strangely enough, President Obama used Robin Beaton’s example in the key health care speech he made to Congress last September in which he successfully pushed back against the tea baggers and got health care reform back on track. But White House aides told Reuters that no one in the White House knew that WellPoint was singling out breast cancer patients like Beaton.

According to Reuters, in June 2008, Beaton learned that her insurance had been dropped just as she was about to undergo surgery for breast cancer. She had been recently diagnosed as having a particularly aggressive type of cancer that would require a double mastectomy.

Beaton’s problem? Apparently she visited her dermatologist before being diagnosed with breast cancer. A word written on her chart was mistakenly determined to be precancerous. In fact, she was being treated for acne.

Beaton’s surgery was postponed for five months while she frantically sought to get her coverage reinstated. WellPoint finally agreed to cover the surgery. In the meantime, the cancerous mass in her breast had grown from 2 centimeters to 7 centimeters. Now her survival rate is a fraction of what it would have been if she had her surgery earlier.

Words are neither numerous nor powerful enough to capture the rage many Americans feel about the way we have been treated by the big insurance companies like WellPoint.

So I’ll simply close by quoting Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now:

“WellPoint is committing murder by spreadsheet, and it has to stop now. This is a matter of life and death, and the executives and board members of WellPoint need to be held to account to the fullest extent of the law.

“WellPoint’s Blue Cross-Blue Shield companies’ disregard for human life to maximize profits is immoral and outrageous. The Reuters report shows an unconscionable pattern of denying needed health care to line the pockets of wealthy executives and shareholders.

“Today’s disclosure provides more evidence of why Congress needed to pass national health reform in the first place, and it also shows why we need to curb the extraordinary influence of insurance companies so they don’t interfere with enforcement of the new law. We need the forthcoming federal regulations to shine a light on the insurance companies and hold them accountable for their bad practices.”

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction

Mark Floegel is mourning the “passing” of Earth Day, on its 40th birthday:

“Barack Obama calls for taxpayers to guarantee loans for a new generation of nuclear power plants, despite the fact that we have not – in 60 years – figured out what to do about the waste that will be toxic for the next 25,000 centuries and in denial of the fact that one quarter of our existing nuke plants are leaking radioactive tritium into the environment around them.

“Mr. Obama also calls for opening millions of acres of the continental shelf to oil drilling, supposedly to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but I’ve yet to see a substantive proposal from his administration on conservation and efficiency, which could reduce that dependence more quickly, more cheaply and forever.”

He reminds us that this platform is not new – you might remember Dick Cheney laying it out nine years ago next week, when he called for a new generation of nukes and opening the continental shelf to drilling. So, Mark says:

“If Mr. Obama, running for the presidency said, “My vision for America’s energy future is essentially the same one Dick Cheney articulated in 2001,” would you have voted for him? Because that’s where we are today.”

(There’s probably more going on here than Cheney re-entering the White House - see Eric Alterman’s post on the politics of this subject.)

Here’s my question: since when has the policy position of whoever happens to be in the White House determined whether or not we have Earth Day – or any other people-driven action? If we want the people we elect to be more progressive, we need more activism by progressives.

We need an organized movement with capacity , resources, and visibility to win progressive social change now just as much as we did to oppose disastrous policies advanced under the Bush Administration.

You can be part of this.

Forty years ago today, 20 million Americans took to the streets as part of the first Earth Day and launched the modern environmental movement.That day in 1970 helped drive Congress to pass major regulations that remain the backbone of U.S. environmental law — the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and more.

Four decades later, we need another groundswell of support to push lawmakers to address the biggest challenge now facing the Earth and humanity: climate change.

Click here to tell Congress to pass a fair, ambitious and comprehensive climate bill.