Any news on people organizing to crash the fundraiser in Montana? I’m the one who suggested it, but have not had lots of feedback. I may post again at kos to see if interest levels have gone up.

Jim

And this is not just for Montanans, its not easy, but people from most of the west can make this a weekend road trip!

Jim

from Marissa’s link above:

Fenderson said protesters will line the road to Big Sky Resort holding signs with slogans that read “Buy Back Baucus” as well as large scale faux checks that read “Max — A seat at the table. What does it cost? $4 million. Buy Back Our Senator!”

(click on Marissa’s link, then click on the blue “Camp Baucus” link)

p.s. Baucus has backed out of that Tester fundraiser – too busy working on healthcare doncha know :D

You don’t know how time-consuming it is to cash all those checks from lobbyists.

Gawd, I love that! Buy Back Baucus, indeed.

Please, please, please if you know anyone to contact in GA to set up an event, contact them and add it to your list. I’ve contacted the HCAN rep, but have yet to receive even one email response. I retired recently and have plenty of time to participate in any event.
Thanks

At least in Bozeman, the “Buy Back Baucus” signs are being held up by single payer advocates.

And then there are our intrepid SoCal seniors:

Police called on retirees at senator’s LA office
Thursday, July 30, 2009
(07-30) 20:28 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) –

Police were called on a group of retirees who refused to leave Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s West Los Angeles office until she talked to them about health care reform.

Los Angeles police Sergeant Rich Brunson said Thursday that police lured the group of seven outside somehow, then locked the building’s doors behind them.

Brunson had said earlier that eight people were being taken into custody, but corrected himself after getting new details from officers on the scene.

A spokeswoman for the 55- to 87-year-old activists said they arrived at Feinstein’s office around noon and remained in her conference room more than six hours.

Feinstein spokesman Gil Duran says staff offered the retirees an in-person meeting with the senator during a Los Angeles visit next week but that they demanded to speak with her immediately.

I think Baucus must be getting hit pretty hard with negative stuff. He had said that he didn’t know how he would vote on Sotomayor and then yesterday said he would vote for her. Sounds as if the Dems in the Congress might be manning up on him.

Good. More like this, please. And if you take a minute to dig deeper into the story, you’ll find that these seniors are single payer advocates.

Working from news.google.com on “Feinstein retirees” I found this article, which gives more detail on the event than the AP link does:

Cate Engel, a spokeswoman for the group California Alliance for Retired Americans [CARA], says the activists – all between 55 and 87 years old – wanted to talk to Feinstein about strengthening Medicare and using the program as a model for health reform.

That sounded like Medicare for All to me — single payer — so I took another minute to go to the CARA website, where I found this in their weekly action alert newsletter:

California’s seniors depend on Medicare for their basic health needs, but we must expand this program and open it to all!

I think it’s praiseworthy that these elders are advocating for a policy that benefits everyone.

Notice also that these elders are advocating for single payer at the state level. HR3200 (I am almost certain) allows for this (ERISA provisions need to be overridden). It’s important that FDL begin to whip for single payer at the state level, so that the efforts of these elder activists don’t go to waste.

Marisa: Since this is “Health Care Action in the States,” and from a large, important, and blue state not mentioned in the original post, could you update your list to include it? Thanks!

Also, since MN is mentioned, here’s a letter advocating single payer in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. I think these physicians make an excellent point:

Elimination of U.S.-style private insurance has been a prerequisite to achieving universal health care in every other industrialized nation. One must ask, “What if the rest of the world is right?” …

As physicians, we are obligated to use evidence-based medicine in our decision-making. The reform debate must be held to the same standard. Ample evidence, including studies by the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office, have concluded single-payer can assure universal coverage while saving money.

For doctors, evidence-based medicine is an ethical duty and a moral imperative.

Would that our political discourse could be held to the same “evidence-based” standard!

Marisa: Since this is “Health Care Action in the States” in a listed state, could you add it to your list? Thanks!