Archive for March, 2010
Monday, March 8th, 2010
The push for health care reform is back on! Enjoy these semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates to help keep track of this complex debate.
Today’s Updates – 3/8/10:
Stupak Amendment trying to make its way back into the health care debate
Although provisions have been made in the health care bill that prohibit funding for abortion, Rep. Stupak (D-MI) is still continuing to make unreasonable demands regarding the language on abortion in the Senate version of the health care bill, which is the version likely to be passed through the reconciliation process. In fact, Stupak along with at least eleven other house democrats are threatening to vote against the legislation if their demands are not met. However, the fact of the matter is that the final health care bill will not use tax payer dollars to fund abortions, making Stupak’s demands seem irrational.
Obama shifts health care focus onto insurance industry, sets deadline for reform passage
President Obama was in Philadelphia earlier this morning where he gave a speech criticizing the health insurance industry’s rising premiums and lack of coverage for millions of Americans. As the president continues his populist format in gaining support for health care reform, he hopes that Congress will be able to pass the health care bill by March 18, which would be before the congressional two-week Easter recess.
Health Care Rally on March 9
Heath Care for America NOW is hosting a rally in Washington DC tomorrow, March 9th. The insurance industry’s lobby front group is back in DC and protestors will gather at Dupont Circle and place a mass citizens’ arrest of the health insurance companies. Howard Dean has just announced that he will joint he protest as well! You can join virtually if you are not in DC. For more information about tomorrow’s health care rally, click here.
How health care reform could affect “young invincibles”
This article in Kaiser Health News touches on an issue we have been fighting hard for, to avoid “insurance in name only” for young adults. The provisions for Catastrophic plans in the Senate bill could still leave millions of young adults who would get only small subsidies, or none at all, without adequate coverage:
“This plan is insurance in name only,” a group called Y.I. Want Change said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. The coalition of liberal groups such as College Democrats of America, the youth arm of the Center for American Progress, and the Young Invincibles, wants emergency-room care and three primary-care doctor visits covered before the deductible is paid.
*This blog was written by CP Intern, Yosef Getachew
For more info on health care reform and young people, click here
Tags: health care
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Friday, March 5th, 2010
 By now, almost everyone has heard of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. This bill, which just went into effect, finally created some basic consumer protections for credit card borrowers. While these companies are doing their best to find new and creative ways to stick it to their customers, the bill stopped some of the worst abuses, and made sure that credit card companies could no longer treat college students, whom they courted aggressively, differently from the rest of the population.
There is a provision in the bill that many people have not heard about, however, and it could be a real help to student journalists, student government, and anyone else who is trying to make sure that colleges, credit card companies, and alumni associations are not taking advantage of students. This provision, championed by Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy, requires schools to disclose agreements that they have with credit card companies allowing them to market to students. It also allows any individual to request this information. (more…)
Tags: action, congress, credit cards, student debt
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Friday, March 5th, 2010
Tags: action, budget, college access, college affordability, congress, house, lobbying, march4, News, pell grants, press, reconciliation, SAFRA, senate, student debt, student loans, young people
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Today, students across the country are going on strike, attending rallies, engaging in civil disobedience, and more as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education. You can read more about it and find local actions here, read Campus Progress’s statement here, and take action here.
The latest updates:
- Protestors in Sacramento being beaten, tased, gassed by police as they try to march forward.
-via @ CaliforniaAggie on Twitter
- 500 High School students and supporters in Baltimore, as part of the Algebra Project, marched to a youth detention center in order to draw attention to the “school-to-prison” pipeline. They’re insisting that money for the youth detention center be diverted to education.
-via SocialistWorker.org
- Hundreds at UCLA convene in the Chancellor’s office to present their demands to Gene Block: lower fees and less layoffs.
-via Huffington Post
- 200 students at UMass-Amherst had the same strategy as UCLA. Disrupting the chancellor is a popular tactic today.
- 18 students arrested at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after rallying with 250 others to deliver signatures to the chancellor. Police are accused of using excessive force. Video here and here.
- 400-500 UW students in Seattle marching in the streets demanding to see UW President Mark Emmert.
-via @JayBeeStarkey on Twitter
Tags: budget, college affordability, march4
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
- Fire alarms are being set off across several campuses in a symbolic effort to represent the state of emergency in higher education.
- via @reclaimuc on Twitter
- Crowds are steadily increasing at CSUN for the March 4 higher education walk out while hundreds more gather at Berkeley and Laney College in Oakland.
- via @dailysundial, @NSNS, and @dailcal on Twitter
- A Washington Post article highlights the student protest efforts that have taken place throughout the day noting the increased tuition rates and the drastic budget cuts that have sparked students to protest.
- San Diego area college students will meet today at 3 PM in Balboa Park to march to the Governor’s office in downtown San Diego.
- via @cfaCSUN on Twitter
- Approximately 2,500 people are already gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento, CA to protest.
-via @mrdaveyd/loxocele on Twitter
- Several hundred students at Hunter College in Manhattan faced police resistance when trying to enter buildings to encourage more walkouts. A march on Governor Paterson’s office may occur after this afternoon’s rally.
-via Socialistworker.org
Stay tuned for more, and take action at campusprogress.org/march4th
By: Yosef Getachew
Tags: budget, college affordability, march4
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
- More than 100 students turn out for the teach-in for education at Brooklyn College, still 3 hours to go until official demo begins
-via @SocialistZine Twitter
- Service workers at UC San Diego are marching with the students in protest of layoffs and budget cuts.
-via @JenMeanIt Twitter
- California’s Electronic Disturbance Theatre has initiated a virtual sit-in on the UC Office of the President. The simple action (available at the link above) involves just leaving your computer on.
- Faculty at UC Irvine have released a statement encouraging faculty to participate in any action they see fit: “…announcing the events in class, allowing the students to participate in these activities without any penalty, teaching about the current crisis in public education.”
-via UC Regent Live
- Children in Redwood City get in on the protest action. At the rate we’re headed now, they won’t be able to afford college once they reach that age.
-via @ StudProtest Twitter
Tags: budget, college affordability, march4
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
- A UCSC professor writes an open letter urging for the end of racism, sexism and homophobia at UC San Diego. The letter not only condemns recent racist events that have occurred on campus but also calls for an increase in African American student enrollment, increased funding for organizations that support underrepresented students, and an upgrade to the universities diversification office.
-via @NSNS on Twitter
- The Washington Post has put together a guide to the March 4th protests including a list of events and key protests around the nation.
- The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the largest tuition increases in public universities. Public universities have seen tuition increases up to an astounding 32%, which have added heavily to student debt.
Stay tuned for more, and take action at campusprogress.org/march4th
By: Yosef Getachew
Tags: budget, college affordability, march4
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Today, students across the country are taking action as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education. You can read more about it and find local actions here, read Campus Progress’s statement here, and take action here.
The latest updates:
- The national day of action to defend public education kicked off this morning with a blockade of the entrances to the University of California at Santa Cruz. Approximately 400 students are blocking the entrances to the school, infuriating commuters. As one car tried to tag along behind a police car to get through the crowd the driver has “run over” 4 students ending in at least one broken leg.
-Via @occupyca on Twitter
- Students protesting at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, demanding free education for poor citizens, were dispersed by the police when they were sprayed with water hoses.
-Via iafrica.com
Stay tuned for more, and take action at campusprogress.org/march4th
By: Christian Pittman
Tags: action, budget, college access, college affordability, march4, News, young people
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Monday, March 1st, 2010
By Kandi Mossett, Indigenous Environmental Network – Cross-posted from It’s Getting Hot In Here
 For the past year, I’ve been anxiously waiting for the federal government to address the growing climate crisis, but month after month new delays to passing healthcare reform brought my desire for a fair, just and ambitious climate bill further and further out of reach. As Senators found excuse after excuse to avoid moving forward, I started thinking back about the fundamental role that healthcare played in motivating my climate change activism.
I grew up in the small rural community of New Town on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. When I was 20 years old I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as a level 4 sarcoma tumor. It’s an extremely rapid spreading cancer that’s usually attached to the muscle or bone. What made it rare was that in my case it wasn’t attached; it was right there on my stomach where I could see it and feel it. I remember the morning I woke up and noticed that the pea sized lump I had discovered on my tummy just a few days before had grown and was now changing color. Because of the fact that so many people on the reservation had already dealt with cancer in the past I knew that it was not good and that I had to get to the doctor. At that point I was in college and my only form of health care was through the Indian Health Service (IHS).
By the time I was able to get into the IHS clinic for an emergency appointment the following week, my lump had gone from pee-size to nickel size and was changing from red to dark purple to blue. I remember feeling scared because I was pretty certain that it was cancer and I remember being completely taken aback when my doctor had asked if I had somehow bumped into a chair. He told me it looked like a bruise and he thought I just had calcium build up from an old scar that was there. As a result he would not give me a referral to see a specialist. Without the referral there was nothing I could do because I had no other form of healthcare and no money. My doctor told me to come back in 30 days and sent me home.
Within less than one week I was back at the IHS clinic talking to the same doctor. The lump on my stomach had grown from nickel size to just over walnut size and the color had spread as well. (more…)
Tags: Cancer, climate, Healthcare, Kandi Mossett, Pollution
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