Addicted To War :: June

VENICE ECO-FEST 2009 ~ Saturday, June 27th, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM ~ At Venice Beach ~ Free To The Public!

VENICE ECO-FEST 2009

Saturday, June 27th, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

At Venice Beach

www.veniceecofest.org

Presented by Venice Chamber of Commerce and Earth Day LA

VENICE ECO-FEST 2009
MUSIC AND ARTS ECO-FEST and EXHIBITS
Venice Beach Invites You
To Enjoy the Future Now!
FREE TO THE PUBLIC!

Featuring Green Technology, Eco-Businesses and Services, Great Entertainment at the Solar Sound Stage, Art Gallery, Eco Booths and Displays, Tasty Organic Food Delights, an Interactive Children’s Court, Bicycle Parade, Fun and Education for the Whole Family, and much more!

Our purpose at the Venice Eco-Fest is to honor the Earth and all of life, as well as to:
• Promote solutions to global warming, such as having individuals, businesses and
communities becoming carbon neutral.
• Educate and raise awareness of the many environmental issues that affect every being
on earth.
• Raise awareness of conscious consumerism, to support socially and environmentally
responsible businesses and organizations.
• Promote the benefits of organic and healthy foods.
• Celebrate life and the arts and bring the arts to the greater public.
• Foster community unity – bringing together the diverse communities of the LA area,
especially in Venice and the Westside, under the banner of protecting the Earth.
• Showcase and support the work of our vendors, artists, and sponsors.
• Feature local businesses and organizations that are ecologically friendly.

Dear Friends: Let’s Help Marcy Winograd, Congressional Candidate in California’s 36th CD, get this Urgent Single-Payer Healthcare Commercial on Television.

Dear Progressives:

Let’s help Marcy Winograd, congressional candidate in California’s 36th CD, get this urgent single-payer healthcare commercial on television. Click on the link below and watch PDA’s Marcy Winograd challenge her Blue Dog opponent, Jane Harman, to sign on to HR-676, the single-payer health care bill.

http://winograd4congress.com/petitions/single_payer_video.php

For those hoping the "public option" will be a vehicle for getting single-payer,

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issues words of caution:

From National Public Radio:

"Asked if the administration’s program will be drafted specifically to prevent it from evolving into

a single-payer plan, Sebelius says, "I think that’s very much the case and again if you want anybody

to convince people of that, talk to the single-payer proponents who are furious that the single-payer

idea is not part of the discussion."

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During these crucial discussions and committee hearings, single-payer advocates — virtually shut out of the debate — must get their voices heard, not only to advocate for the most economical and efficient health care plan but also to make sure the national health care bill does not prohibit states form organizing single-payer consortiums to use their bulk purchasing power to get better rates on medicine and services. Help Marcy Winograd keep single-payer in the public eye. Donate so Marcy can issue this challenge on television:

http://winograd4congress.com/petitions/single_payer_video.php

In the middle of all this, just when politicians are pitching a private/public option, health insurers remind us of how they routinely cancel health insurance once the policy holder gets sick. Should the health insurance industry continue this practice, sick people will be pushed on to the public option, making that option increasingly expensive to subsidize. Proponents of the health insurance industry can then say — Look, this is a failure. We need to privatize everything. For more on why we can’t trust the insurance companies to forsake underwriting, read below:

From the Los Angeles Times:

June 17, 2009

Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.

The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation’s healthcare system.

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

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Instead of abdicating to the insurance industry, let’s stand up and speak out to support HR 676, the single-payer health care bill with almost 80 co-sponsors. With much of Washington refusing to address the mounting grassroots support for single-payer, one of the only ways to focus attention on single-payer is to help progressive primary candidates air television ads that challenge their opponents, as Marcy does in the video below:

http://winograd4congress.com/petitions/single_payer_video.php

Support single-payer! Support Winograd for Congress 2010. To learn more about Marcy Winograd, the co-founder of Progressive Democrats of America’s (www.pdamerica.org ) LA chapter, visit www.winograd4congress.com or Marcy Winograd for Congress on Facebook.

My name is Marcy Winograd and WE are running for Congress.