Sent some dust and will be going to Rep C W “Bill” Young’s office during lunch time on Tuesday. Gonna wear my war suit, too.

Oh man, so, so, so sorry I can’t help right now.

Such a worthy cause to.

Good luck, hope this makes some noise.

And hope you’re personally doing ok today. I know the reaction around the toobz yesterday had to be hard. Please keep on keeping on Jane.

Oh SD, loving the war suit!

Must. Have. Pictures.

I’m going to be going up to capitol hill, early in the morning, and going to congressional offices. Arranged for my a friend to go with me and carry the flip cam today.

My first reaction was to think “Online ads for seniors? Is Jane losing it? How about ads during Matlock, or those History Channel WWII docs?”

Then before I stuck my foot in my mouth I found that over 70% of seniors over 74 (!) use the internet for at least searches and email. No, really it’s true. Go look.

So I’ll chip in $10. I’m unemployed, otherwise you’d get more.

I’ll take my camera and see if somebody will snap a pic. Hopefully, not of me in handcuffs.

Thanks, one_outer. While TV ads are flashier and people donate more, you get a lot more bang for the buck from geotargeted online ads in this particular instance. We can test them to see which ones get the greatest response, we can use various ways to target people and really fine tune the campaign. It’s a very cost-effective way to hit the specific people you need to see this particular message.

TV ads are more likely to get a bunch of PR and publicity for you, but online ads are much more effective for a highly targeted campaign like this. And we’re always conscious of the fact that a lot of people are on limited incomes or in your situation, so we really appreciate your help and want to be as efficient in our activism as we possibly can be.

“but we apparently draw the line at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.”

One of the Catfood Commission members appointed by Obama was the CEO of Honeywell, a major defense contractor.

Go get ‘em with those ads, Jane. I look forward to seeing them. Glad to help with $’s on this effort.

I am a baby boomer. Many of my friends and relatives are republicans. It happens in the best of families. We don’t agree ona lot of things. BUT, anybody that cuts OUR SS and Medicare significantly is gonna regret it. I got bananas and I’m NOT afraid to use them.

(You guys got that “Beverly Hills Cop” reference, didn’t you?)

Thank you Jane for all that you do. I just donated. I really wish we could make a great impact on this issue…But I think our President and Democratic members of Congress have already sold old, I call it “the dog and pony show”.

Just popped the cherry on my new debit card, Jane. Happiest $15.00 I ever spent. Thanks for all the hard work you folks do.

oldnslow and I are in – wont be making contribution ’til Monday, hope it isn’t too late for this campaign

Nice.

ding ding ding!

Thanks stevo! Proud to be the first.

I’ll take my camera and see if somebody will snap a pic. Hopefully, not of me in handcuffs.

I think most of us here will chip in for bail SD, if you do. Give ‘em hell!

Go get em, Jane.

There’s an animation in my head for this – expect an email.

Thanks CBL Nope, Monday will be fine. The ads will be up for as long as people are donating to run them, and we hope to expand them. If they are going to appoint Catfood II, what I’ve read is that they will report and have a vote by the end of the year. So we are probably in for about 6 months of this.

It’s getting to be a habit, Jane, giving you money when you ask. A good habit, better than eating my freakin’ peas.

Thanks, Jane. This is so important to the social fabric of this country. My bank account is laughable but this is so worth it. And you have a mailing address up there too, so the check is in the mail! Actually, I’d better send cash to be safe :))

President Obama supports raising the retirement age to 67 according to the Huffington Post,

Given the African American life span tends to be shorter is Obama punching African Americans like they were Hippies now?
Is he trying to get the Klan vote?

Obama is off the table.

*heh* good one. Voting for O is off the table.

Of course, the base never learns. You never re-elect a fraud. Or you save yourselves the trouble of all the play-acting.

“The group said the pledges represent $17 million in small donations and more than 2.6 million in volunteer hours during the 2008 campaign. Most of those who showed up at Prudential Plaza acknowledged they would still vote for Obama, but said they were hoping to send a message.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-petitions-20110715,0,6019112.story

Do or Do Not. There is no hope if all you ever do is hoping.

Thanks Shadowstalker. It’s impossible to outspend the corporate interests on the other side, so we try to use it efficiently and wisely.

“We will be targeting online ads to senior citizens in Florida on Google and Facebook, letting them know that their Social Security and Medicare benefits are at risk.”

What you need to say is:
“Obama wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. Do not re-elect Obama.”

If you are not willing to drop him, you will fail.

Yeah I saw that. I think I mis-read it the first time around, because I originally thought they were pledging no support.

Where do we report the results of our visit this Tuesday?

Shared sacrifice? Shared sacrifice? When are we going to start hearing about these self-centered, arrogant, asshatted pigs calling for a pay cut for Congress members? A 50% pay cut out to help the deficit nicely, since their salaries affect the deficit quite a bit more directly than Social Security. And while we are at it, why not cut the salary of that $%$*$&$&#%^@$ president, for whom I will not be voting, and yes, I washed the hand that shook his long long ago.

DC needs to understand that voters will have a “balanced approach”:

Cut SocSec/Medicare/Medicaid and the balance tips against them, any and all of them.

Right now as Dave Dayen says, the only game in town is the McConnell/Reid plan, which calls for the creation of a Catfood II commission to recommend cuts that would get and up-or-down vote in Congress. It’s a prospect that the Social Security looters have been salivating over for years. No amendments, no discussion.

Ending both wars Now! to save money and raising taxes on the rich won’t be offered as an option by any commission with GOPers on it despite the will of the majority of voters. Selling the trillion + gold in Fort Knox thats not earning us any interest won’t get a mention. Closing tax loopholes for the rich won’t get a mention.
This commission is just an attempt to shift the blame any bets the report won’t come until after the election?
I bet a temporary debt deal is made now, the GOP and Dems will all swear they will save SS and Medicare and then after the election they will all say their hands were tied.
Obama will have the smallest fig leaf ever to hide behind and the GOP will be all high fives.
Obama just based on unemployment and civil rights might the worse President ever

I can not believe Obama said the catfooders wanted too large a cut in defense spending. That should be the ONLY thing to cut and not only would be be richer, we’d be safer by not selling more arms to the people we don’t kill in our useless and senseless wars.

When Obama was inaugurated, I cried. They were tears of joy and gratitude. If only I’d known, they’d have been tears of sorrow. I cannot wrap my mind around how Orwellian his presidency has been and what frightens me is that the pace seems to be picking up rapidly. Maybe he senses he’s about out of time (if he’s not re-elected).

Amazing that this president is so desperately pushing this Grand Illusion to the public airways in this depression. Folks without jobs are not getting income, so they cannot contribute to SS, etc. which on top of that they will have to starve for two more years to retire on those even more meager funds.

If those MSM folks realize this and raise the point, that election thing will, ehh, be a tricky one.

Obama wants to cut Social Secuirty, Medicare, and Medicaid by 4 trillion over the next 10 years. He wants to keep almost untouched the military-industrial complex, the War on Drugs, and 17 vast and sprawling intelligence agencies. All he asks from the Republicans in return are a few tiny raises in taxes for the rich. And this after going along with all the Bush tax cuts and more.

And since Obama is supposed to be a “liberal”, and certainly is a Democrat,
all the natural enemies of those proposals are confused and silent.

Obama is the dream politician for the ruling oligarchy.

Everyone who pledged to go on Tuesday will get a reminder beforehand, and it will include a link to a form where you can write about what happened to you, and also upload photos and video. It will also be on the website.

Damn, we should have voted for that black guy.

I’m in.

I won’t be able to go in person on Tuesday, but I’ve called my elected officials twice this week and will keep after ‘em as long as it takes.

I also called my state Democratic Party headquarters. I think it is really important to help the party get religion on this issue as they seem to think it is all up to Obama. Uh, no. That’s why we have parties for their structural support system. If the party yanks the Billion Dollar Baby’s chain hard enough, he will have to change course no matter what OFA says or does.

So we need to find a way to get the message to senior citizens — especially the ones that the President has to care about in 2012.

Obama will delay the commission’s results until after the election he will get a temporary debt deal now unless he is even stupider than I thought which is saying something.
But he has to sell that message and thats his weakness the man has no Cred voters won’t believe the commission’s report is not a done deal.
A man might outlive his life but not his Word!

Can we trust Obama not to cut SS and Medicare?
We trusted him to end both wars.
We trusted him to fix the economy.
We trusted him to end torture.

A man might outlive his life but not his Word!
Stop Obama and the Democrats and Republicans from cutting you SS and Medicare which you earned and Wallstreet lost. Ask Obama where is our bailout cash! Ask Obama why is it that the rich who own everything get bailed out but we don’t.
If the rich create jobs when they get tax cuts then where are all the jobs?

If Social Security and Medicare are means-tested, support for the programs will plummet and they will be eradicated.

The programs have such broad support today because we “all” pay in and we “all” receive.

Obama is a piece of crap.

Thanks Jane I can’t wait to what Russ Carnahan says. I am sure it will be what I want to hear. /s

Obama mentioning that the military shouldn’t have to sacrifice much was a little like the Roman emperors giving the Praetorian Guard higher pay just to get them to keep their swords off the emperors neck. Obama is scared of the military.

What’s really tragic is a vast majority of Americans have no idea what is about to hit them. Maybe when there are enough families living in tent cities, hobo camps or vehicles if they are lucky a tipping point will be reached.

We trusted him on FISA.
We trusted him on the Public Option.

Oh my God, the Evil of this man.

One day after the government is set to default on its debts, Barack Obama could be the guest of honor at a 50th birthday celebration where the cost of attendance tops out at $35,800 per couple.

Okay, it’s not likely if the government defaults that the president will be partying it up.

But the timing of Obama’s Aug. 3 birthday bash is raising some eyebrows.

The White House said earlier this week the president’s Aug. 3 party could be canceled if a deal is not reached by Aug. 2. As of now, however, the event is “not on hold,” …

At this point a military coup might be preferable to this Chinese water torture.

I’m planning to write a MyFDL diary, perhaps with pics if I’m lucky. I’ve also posted a Facebook event so Portland folks in David Wu’s district can meetup there at 1pm.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180703318658908#!/event.php?eid=180703318658908

Sorry to disagree—again. You will have as much success with your campaign to save social security as you did with the public option. (Full disclosure-I’ve been on social security twenty years. I’d hate to see it go.) Jane, you can take this place in a different direction if you want to, but I don’t think you want to. All is lost only if we keep doing the same things and expecting a different result.

Thanks for letting us know that we could use debit cards. I put in $50. Can we use debit cards for membership too? Nowadays, I only use my company Amex card because I have to pay it off each month, but you don’t accept that.

Even our creditors, the Chinese, recommended we cut our war budget in these trying time. We spend three-quarters of a trillion on our war machine, the Chinese are next with 85 billion.

Just gave with a smile on my face! I dont care who runs against him I will never vote for the man again.

I think Obama is waaaaay more interested in cutting Social Security than being reelected. But I’m with the anybody but Obama crowd so if you are running ads against him I’m in.

what direction do you suggest she takes it?

$15

You betcha. Yes we can. And did.

When you email this post out to your lists do not forget to attach this link to Jane’s post about the July 19th action:

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/07/13/fdl-announces-july-19-congressional-office-visits-to-protest-cuts-to-social-security-and-medicare/

We should heed the advice of the Chinese. After all they may provide troops of liberation some day.

Why isn’t defense spending cuts the first thing out of anyone’s mouth when —- THAT PRESIDENT —– talks about ‘entitlements’?

Excellent stuff, Jane.

No slack for these assholes, and especially, the asshole-in-chief. :o)

Jane, are House Progs considering a “Just Say Now,” amendment? I know they can’t introduce anything, but a block could vote against anything that doesn’t contain it. If the MSM and Barry want to lie down with the “GrandMa can eat more catfood,” party; it seems like it would be tough for them to turn down the additional tax revenue from pot.

“Why isn’t defense spending cuts the first thing out of anyone’s mouth when—that president—talks about “entitlements”?”

Because, even with polls showing that a clear majority of voters want to end the shitmires, he’s too chickenshit to confront the corporations and the warbots. And right there is the problem. The american people are NOT his “constituents”. His constituents are part of the Fortune 500 and they’re in the Pentagon.

Not about Social Security, but about overall voter satisfaction, Charlie Cook on Hardball just said he thought voters will turn on both parties, essentially saying a “throw the bums out” result is possible; and he thinks it could happen.

Hmmm….

Even if we can hold the line this year, it’s clear he can’t be trusted with a second term.

Back during the HCR, weren’t a few acceptable cuts for Medicare/Medicaid identified? i.e., the parts where insurance and pharma artificially inflate costs? and/or stifle competition (via generics, etc.)?

I understand that we’re in defensive mode, but I wonder if we’re not allowing ourselves to be distracted from a real opportunity to get what we wanted during HCR negotiations. Dovetail! Cross the streams to send Zuul back to another dimension!

They want Medicare/Medicaid cuts? Fine, let’s hit insurance and pharma where they intersect with these programs.

Such an approach would put GOP on its heels. How could they argue against their much balleyhooed, yet unspecified, cuts to these programs? We have to scratch beneath the surface to win this one. We can provide the specifics.

Can we please, for once, have some crossover, from one negotiation table to the next? Some strategery like the Trojan horse or a little Will Smith-Jeff Goldblum virus uploaded to the mothership in Independence Day?

We don’t see any tangible alternative plans being floated by the Dems other than “not this.”

If you’re going to go to the lengths of demographic specific online ads, please deliver a message with a plan. We’ve already done the homework. Now let’s use it.

Ek, sorry to disagree with you, but SS and the public option that we didn’t get are two very different things.

With the public option, we were trying to convince people that something that has never existed in america, would be good for them, and were trying to do that with the repubs and the fatcats putting everything they had into convincing people that it would mean “death panels”, etc…

With SS, we’re defending something which the vast majority of americans already believe is one of the cornerstones of america. It’s going to be a lot easier.

Which is why the P.O. died so quietly, and why Obama and the republicans are walking around SS like it was 5 foot Timber Rattler, buzzing away.

:o)

How can President Fuck You say that 80% of the people want this social program snuffing legislation when 53% said no to it in a poll reported in the Christian Science Monitor?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0715/Obama-says-80-percent-of-public-backs-his-debt-ceiling-option.-Really

Glad you asked. In the first place we need to create an egalitarian community. The world may not ready for utopia, but we should be able to work out something here. I won’t go into changes generally (though it might be something that gets an ongoing treatment) I, for example, doubt the need for moderators, censorship and banning people. There are assholes everywhere-I recall someone posting some kind of ad. Stuff like that should get plucked ASAP. The main change I suggest now is to have some way to keep a discussion going. This thread will probably get over three hundred comments and disappear into the ether to be repeated when Obama again does something nasty. We also need a way to cull through posts to eliminate the torrent of texts without losing the ideas. One way to do that might be to stop identifying posters. These are just ideas. Someone may have good reasons to shoot them down. I suggest that we meet each other expecting the very best and not see those who disagree as fools or worse.

That little bit of pr/marketing gem is worth my subscription and more, Mz. Hamsher!

*G*

When I was studying and then in the pr/marketing biz I learnt a lot, but that dates back to ’03 or so. Times have changed, and so have pr/marketing strategies.

Kewl!

So, tell me ma’am, your thoughts on effective pr/marketing strategies to reach the seniors 55+ NOT on the internet?

I love that concept of pr/publicity with tv ads for a social cause campaign (assuming that is what ya meant), but online direct to seniors for this type of campaign (a social cause campaign IMO).

Perhaps socio/political cause is a better term . . .

Anyhoots, lots to think about.

FYI and for Pups in gen:

1) Boxers office-staff said no official position on NO CUTS to SS/Medicare/Caid, etc. I said, she loses me, the Dims lose me (they already have but hey, no point in spoiling a good phone call) if there are ANY hints Boxer caves in to NO CUTS, I asked about Chained CPI dull blank stare over the phone line, ‘no official position’ . . . staff did not seem to know what it was!

2) Feinstein-staff said compromise is on the table to resolve it. I said, NO COMPROMISE, repeated my call to Boxer’s office, got a dull flat response about it all and about Chained CPI.

3) Rep Matsui-staff said she supports NO CUTS, no comment about Chained CPI . . . would not indicate if they knew what it was.

All 3 calls included end wars, bring troops home, defund Pentagon and weapons making, raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

All staff somewhat cheerful, Matsui’s the most. Their eyeballs glazed over once I went antiwar, anti pentagon budgets, raising taxes on rich.

N that’s it from here, back to you, Chet . . .

Obama said he doesn’t check out cable TV or even read The Hill, but he didn’t say he doesn’t read FDL, and he spoke directly to the Progressives who kvetch — the bloc who aren’t part of his “80 percent approve of cuts and revenue”. He didn’t provide a link, though. And why is that?

I’m in for $250,000.

How many votes does the General Dynamics Corp get?

You’re covered for $10.

Hey, you still around here?

Gonna do some phone mods tomorrow . . . might change our phone line quality a LOT!

I’ll call if it does . . . *G*

See my diary today?

*G*

People aren’t fools. Obama’s bill was a health insurance bill, not a health care bill. More than sixty representatives signed on to not voting for a health care bill without a public option. Had they held their ground the health insurance bill would have been defeated. As it was even one of the better ones, Kucinich, took the fall.

Well I see they are villifying Jane over at Kos. They’d sacrifice Medicare and Social Security to re-elect Obama. They are under the delusion the most voters are under 30.

If you’re 60, keeping Obama and losing Social Security and Medicare is not a reasonable choice — even for conservativs.

Geebuz . . . Cat 2 . . . arrgh.

Next month we’ll have $10 to toss atcha . . . this one’s ugly.

Oh, btw good on Southern Dragon, I’ll be making an appearance at Rep. Matsui’s on Tuesday!

Gotta find out if Mary Mac has Matsui or someone else, we could tag team the office!

Wonder who Sac John’s rep is . . . he’s a good one out here, too.

I feel things warming up and it ain’t the dry valley heat either.

These pol fucks don’t KNOW the crap they have riled amongst the masses, this time.

Stupid is . . . ;-)

If everyone turns on their party be it GOP OR DIM, WHO WINS?

We do.

Charlie also talked about “doing what’s right” — making big cuts.
The MSM wants them their cuts. They’re hot for $4 trillion.

Including Medicare and SS.

thanks Jane, I draw a small VA check, but i though in 10 dollars. I can probably give 10 a month…..

FDL is the only place I trust to spend my money wisely. Thanks, Jane!

If this isn’t the time for VIABLE third/fourth/fifth party candidates all over the nation, top to bottom, I don’t know what is.

Anyone know what the Green Party is doing these days?

“People aren’t fools.”

Um, many are. Many others have adopted learned helplessness.

hope I am not too late for you to read this jane but it’s VERY important;

obama had on his agenda BEFORE HE TOOK OFFICE, the deconstruction of medicare, as wigwam noted on my diary

Obama Pledges Reform of Social Security, Medicare Programs
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 16, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare “bargain” with the American people, saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs.
That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a “fiscal responsibility summit” before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the issues of entitlement reform and long-term budget deficits soon after it jump-starts job growth and the stock market.

let me re-iterate what I pointed out in my diary;

Obama; The Producer/ Author of The Debt Problem

I have been mentioning on every thread and it still has not made it’s way to those who might make a difference, this fact needs to get on broadcast media and to whatever progressives are left who still have a voice;

This supposed “debt ceiling crisis” was created by Obama, nobody else, it was NOT created by Bush, it was NOT created by the republicans.

Obama actively and aggressively extended the right wing’s redistribution of middle class assets scheme (also marketed as “the bush tax cuts”)

That scheme to lift our assets was set to expire, it took NO political capital in refusing extension and actually took political capital extending that scheme

Obama was informed in NO uncertain terms that we needed to stop giving away middle class treasure to the wealthy, he was TOLD it would cause a debt problem.

Obama had NO reason to extend that scheme YET HE INSISTED.

The man is producer of this play, he is author of the script.

There is NO way a republican elected as a republican could dismantle social security, there is NO way a republican elected as a republican could have extended the scheme to steal middle class assets again.

It took a corporatist elected as a democrat to pull off this high jack.

We NEED to lay the blame for this grand theft at the door of the man who deliberately, pro-actively and aggressively a set out to take our assets and give them away

That man is the president who had the “audacity” to bring it off

PRIMARY THIS CORPORATE TOOL!!!!

And regarding throwing the bums out… And replace with what, exactly?

I think PCCC is doing something like that. Trouble is, nobody takes them at their word any more after the public option pledge. So my feeling is that there may be other places to put our energy that will be more fruitful.

I just donated $10. It’s my first time donating. I would give more but am underemployed. Dropped it in the mailbox just right now. I hope you get it soon.

yes, Perris, I think he did.

http://www.slate.com/id/2200517/

Jane, can you say, does FDL have regular office hours in DC?

Thank you so much thirdpartyca. We really appreciate it.

Just tossed in $50. That’s $12.50 each for the FOUR voters in this household, including the unemployed recent college grad.

We may not live under the same roof, but we’re family. And, as I’ve informed DSCC, DCCC and the DNC when they’ve called here, not a ONE of these four former Obama voters is going to be voting for him this time.

BTW, on the subject you raised yesterday of Peterson brain-washing young folks that “social security won’t be there for you, so just cut it,” have you thought about a series of “social security: it’s not just for old farts any more” ads. They could feature Junior coming home to live with parents because he/she can’t find a job, but his/her room’s not available because Grandma’s there, since Obama cut her social security.

Or Junior’s college fund could be depleted because the $$$ has to go to support the family since after Dad’s debilitating accident, SSDI is no longer available.

I’m sure creative minds at FDL could come up with lots of scenarios to illustrate to kids that SS and Medicare aren’t just give-aways to the golf-cart riding old folks.

Heh. Obama actually joked at the Gridiron dinner that he does read FDL. But I’m pretty sure he has better ways to spend his time.

Late again; but please help save Medicaid, too. It keeps getting overlooked, and 70% of Medicaid goes to fund the elderly in nursing homes (not very nice ones, but still…) and the disabled.

It’s a good program, and crucial, and has already taken hits from this administration. Blended rates and other cuts to federal funding will force more states to cut services as Arizona and others have already done.

PLEASE INCLUDE IT!

He has a 3 dolls, a working class doll, a middle class doll and a poor doll that he sticks pins in.

The thing is we just cannot ignore this particular issue. To my mind this goes to the core of social justice. SSMM are programs that present us with an imperative to support and defend if you believe in helping people. It is not conceivable to me that we can give the rich huge tax advantages and at the same time increase the costs of living for the poor, the old and the disabled, to say nothing of the future, for you and your children. Do it this time, next time and the time after that until it takes.

Evidently not ; )

We’d be better off if O went on a long vacation and simply didn’t do anything at all. Who knows, maybe Congress would learn to do their damn job and the various agencies could just trundle on unmolested for awhile.

HI Jane!

I hope again you are still reading this, when you get to speak on broadcast media, PLEASE point out that obama knew the debt ceiling would be an issue when he extended bush’s lifting of middle class assets, marketed as “tax cuts for the wealthy”

he needs to hear that we blame HIM not the republicans and that we are ON to him

and please don’t call that redistribution “tax cuts” without disclaiming or putting into air quotes

hope to see you soon again on teh TEE vee!

When do activities such as these become self-defeating in the sense of frittering away time and resources while piling up loss after loss. Obama realizes he can’t wait for a second term (the strategy of his two predecessors); he must act now if he is to be the Hero who put the final stake in the Heart of the Social Security Monster. The other calculation he has made is that dollars produce votes, not the other way around. Better than talking to Congressional staff who are paid to know nothing, better we should be talking among ourselves, our neighbors, co-workers, family and friends. Do we begin building communities of resistance? Do we plant the seeds of new unions at work where the old ones have been crushed? How do we begin to build the kinds of political organization(s) that will lead to progressive power in the twenty-first century?

Back during the HCR, weren’t a few acceptable cuts for Medicare/Medicaid identified? i.e., the parts where insurance and pharma artificially inflate costs? and/or stifle competition (via generics, etc.)?

Yes, we fought hard for better biologics amendments and Medicare drug prices. But Obama negotiated them away. And the people he appointed to the Catfood Commission wouldn’t touch anything in the ACA, because we needed to “look forward not back” (paraphrasing).

If you’re going to go to the lengths of demographic specific online ads, please deliver a message with a plan. We’ve already done the homework. Now let’s use it.

The plan is to tell old people in a swing state that Obama plans to cut their Social Security and Medicare benefits. Unless every newspaper that reported it is lying about it. Keeping that from happening is more important than fighting for something nobody trusts Obama to follow through on anyway. He had his chance and he did not do it, so it sounds to me like smoke and mirrors.

[T]he only game in town is the McConnell/Reid plan, which calls for the creation of a Catfood II commission to recommend cuts that would get an up-or-down vote in Congress. It’s a prospect that the Social Security looters have been salivating over for years. No amendments, no discussion. - Jane

That “game” is the game of two national fundraising organizations known as the “Democratic and Republican Parties” and, specifically, of a handful of people in Congress and the White House who undemocratically direct those two national campaign-fundraising organizations in private, off the public record.

Will any reporter ask McConnell/Reid why they distrust the “bipartisan” members of the standing Budget Committee of their own democratic institution – the United States Senate – to do that very work, in public, on the record, the way they’re elected and the committee is designed and intended to do? [Or why McConnell/Reid distrust the idea of appointing a Select Joint Budget/Finance Committee of the House and Senate, composed of the members of the budget and finance committees of both houses, to do the same, in proportion to the power that the American people vested in their representatives, which committee membership already accurately represents?]

Or will any federal reporter ask why Reid/McConnell are afraid of seeing the Senate debate and vote on ideas from other elected representatives of the American people, who don’t sit on the Budget (or Finance) Committees, in the open, on the floor, after the committee has done its best? [Knowing, as every journalist in Washington should know, that no "filibuster" that's not an actual debating filibuster is possible, unless the Democratic majority voluntarily enables it, and thus simple majorities are all that's needed to pass such legislation (or joint resolution) under regular order, absent an actual, rare debating filibuster. And knowing, too, that not even a rare debating filibuster is possible, nor a presidential signature needed, on a Congressional budget for the federal government for this year or the next five years, as mandated by law.]

Honest answers to such questions would reveal a lot about the mindset of Party “leadership” these days. Days in which Congressional incumbents will address any constituent in their district but, when inside the House and Senate, will speak to or work with only the Party members in the trench on their own side of No Man’s Land (the public Chambers and committee rooms of our Legislative Branch of government) on major issues, reserving juvenile name-calling and blame-casting for their communications with the perceived ‘enemy’ in the trench “on the other side of the aisle.” [Unless, that is, the President - the Executive Branch - first blesses, with the "bipartisan" label, communication (in the limited manner in which the President decrees) between the warring Congressional sides - just the way the President is busily conducting an unauthorized, unConstitutional war on Libya because he figures that the leadership of both "Parties" (privately) endorsed it, so never mind what the elected members of the U.S. Congress think.]

Those power-usurping Party Directors, and too many of their followers in and out of Congress, believe that the Parties are two of the three branches of government now, and the national media, parroting and amplifying the self-serving Party organizations, likewise treat grossly over-simplified, but lucrative Party vs. Party feuding as the natural, intended design of our federal government.

Thankfully, however – because where else is there any sign of movement toward a reversal of the President-as-foreign-and-domestic-policy-King trend, not counting the forlorn hope for a Kinder, Gentler Emperor after the next presidential election – there remain some Party members in our Congress today who still appear to sincerely believe in the concept of public, democratic, representative self-government. And those legislators know, and some aren’t afraid to say, that private, backroom, undemocratic dealmaking by a few fundraisers does not and cannot substitute for the tried and true methods of representative democracy in our national legislative body:

Mr. CORKER [speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, 7/14/11]. Mr. President, I realize a scheme has been concocted on the debt ceiling that allows Democrats to go into this next election continuing to ensure that spending to many of their constituents is at levels that please them; therefore, allowing them to run successfully in 2012, and that scheme also allows Republicans to run in 2012 with spending being the issue.

I think we all understand that, look, the debt ceiling is going to be increased, and it is going to be increased in such a way that both sides of the aisle have the ability to campaign against the other respective to their bases.

But the fact is, our great Nation is in decline because of the elected leaders in Washington. Our great Nation is in decline because of this body and the way it is acting, the House of Representatives and the way it is acting, and the White House and the way it is acting.

This body, as we meet and go on to a spending bill [the military construction/veterans' benefits appropriations bill], is helping our great Nation go into decline. Let me explain why.

Maybe the debt ceiling was the wrong place to pick a fight as it relates to trying to get our country’s house in order. Maybe that was the wrong place to do it. The reason it was chosen is because this body has not passed a budget in 806 or 807 days, and I credit both sides for that. But the fact is the Senate has not passed a budget in over 806 days [or more than two years].

I had a dinner this week, Monday night, with six Democrats and five Republicans. I will not mention their names to impugn them in any way. But all of them expressed tremendous frustration with the way this body is being run. Basically, most Senators in this body are nothing but two-bit pawns–two-bit pawns–as a political fight is under way basically to lay out the groundwork, if you will, for the 2012 election. That is what is happening right now in this body, and I think we all know that.

Yet yesterday we voted to move to a spending bill where we, in essence, are acting as accomplices. We are accomplices to this–the Presiding Officer and myself. I voted against it. But anybody who votes to go to a spending bill without forcing the Senate to come to terms with a budget is, in essence, an accomplice to allowing the shenanigans that are taking place right now to continue. We are allowing this great Nation to go into decline by not forcing us to make those tough decisions.

[...]

But my point is, both sides of the aisle actually had focused on this debt ceiling vote–or many people on both sides of the aisle–to try to cause us to have the fiscal discipline we need. Obviously, with this new scheme, that is not going to happen.

I think we all know the debt ceiling is going to be raised. Blame will be assessed to either side. Both sides will use that in the 2012 election, and then we will move on to another cycle where probably we will continue to be irresponsible.

[...]

But, again, I say to all those folks who are not head of this body, who are not in [Party] leadership, who in the bathrooms or in the halls or at dinner or at lunch complain about the fact that this place is dysfunctional, complain about the fact that they do not have the ability to be involved in causing us to function in the way we should, every single one of you, in my opinion, who votes to go to a spending bill today or end debate on a spending bill–in essence, allow us to pass a spending bill–is an accomplice, is an accomplice in allowing this great Nation to go into decline. That is pretty strong, but I believe it.

The fact is we make a big deal out of some items around here, but we do not make a big deal when it comes to something we can actually affect and cause us as a body to do the things we need to do.

[...]

I do not think this great country was created the way it was so one side of the aisle got it exactly the way they wanted it. I think this body was created to be “the greatest deliberative body in the country.” Yet we do not do that. We do not act that way. We do not debate tough issues. We hide–all of us–we hide and we let our leadership concoct ways to keep us from doing the tough things we need to do.

The fact that we cannot even have a budget on this floor to come out of a committee, when, obviously, there is a majority–and I am not even pointing fingers at the other side; I think both sides are equally problematic in this because both sides, it is evident to me, are going to allow us to go to a spending bill today without a budget, but the fact that we cannot even bring a budget to the floor, when committees are stacked in such a manner that one side does have the majority, to me, is incredible.

[...]

We have not done any real business this year. We all know it. We have not done any real business this year because we have not wanted to take on those tough issues. I am embarrassed by that, personally. I am embarrassed about the way this Senate has been conducting its business this year.

I am not going to vote for a spending bill until we pass a budget. If we had passed a budget and had the tough debates about revenues and expenditures, we would not be in this no-win situation right now as it relates to the debt ceiling, and we all know that. But we want to hide behind that.

And as also very well put, a day earlier (Wednesday, July 13, 2011), by the ranking Republican on the idled Senate Budget Committee:

Mr. SESSIONS. [...] The United States Code requires us to have a budget by April 15. [...]

But while the White House and Senate Democrats may think their strategy is clever, I do not think the American people should be amused. I do not think the American people are amused. Until the majority, who asked for the responsibility to lead this Senate–that is what they wanted. They have it. Until they allow this Chamber to adopt a badly needed budget, I am going to continue to raise points of order on appropriations bills.

Now more than ever, we should fulfill our legal duties, not shirk them. More than ever today we should. We were not elected to preside over the financial decline of this country. We were not elected to shut down the committees, deny them the right to function, to shut down debate or cede our constitutional responsibility to secret meetings and closed-door proceedings.

The debt limit is not only about fulfilling our obligation to creditors, it is about fulfilling our obligation to the all of the people we serve, good Americans. We owe them a Senate that works, that works openly and tirelessly on their behalf, which casts votes on these important matters and has to respond and be accountable to the American people. We owe the people an honest, competent, limited, efficient government. We owe them a Senate that is worthy of their faith and trust.

We are not there. We are not fulfilling that responsibility. Therefore, I expect that I will object and raise a budget point of order against movement to the Military Construction bill.

Right now such voices as those of Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Sessions of Alabama are a minority in their own Party caucus in the Senate, and not one Senate Democrat or “Independent” has (publicly) joined their calls for the Senate to conduct its business in a responsible, public way, as Senators were elected to do. [On Thursday the Senate ignored Corker and Sessions, and voted to waive the Budget Act point of order that Sessions raised, passing a supermajority cloture motion in order to move to proceed to the MilCon/VA appropriations bill next week, with some amendment debate/votes possible on the floor next Tuesday.]

Of necessity, such a stand, in defense of the prerogatives of the Senate and Senators, challenges Party leadership (and thus, at least in the current thinking of Democrats, the President). For fundraising-needy Democrats in Congress, they no doubt believe that their campaign-funding haul from presidential appearances would be threatened if they stood up for themselves, and for Republicans, the extra power that’s been given them (to the Senate minority by the Senate majority and President), by being treated as numerical equals in backroom negotiations, would be lost.

But I know whose “side” I’m on, and it’s that of the irreplaceable democratic institution that’s designed to allow the voices and will of the representatives of the American people – from any and all (or no) Parties – to be heard and acted upon, when left to its own devices.

If we do not heed and honor these too-rare, principled calls from a handful of incumbents – though coming from “partisans,” of necessity, since that is the present default for all in Congress, given Party control over federal elections – we will lose even the few voices we now have, and will continue to reap the ugly, predictable consequences (see, for example, those leading to the need for this diary) created by the ongoing, gross abuses of power that the Parties have been allowed, without consequence, to exercise in and over our Congress.

Where is the Senate’s legally-required budget for the federal government, Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader McConnell, and why hasn’t Chairman Kent Conrad submitted his long-overdue finished draft to the Senate Budget Committee for its consideration??

I signed the petition and donated.

I believe 2012 is the election year for a new party that would win ….would be historic…like maybe a “labor party” . Why is no one considering this?
Obama is relying on people having no where else to go but to him.

Does anyone know what happened to Cenk? Is he on vacation or did they bounce him?

I’ve told everyone we will probably lose the Social Security fight, but we’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do:

http://firedoglake.com/2011/07/07/the-breaking-point/

If you think taking the author’s names off the posts on FDL will make the difference and give us a “win,” I’m going to disagree. I don’t see an outbreak of support wildly sweeping the comments, but maybe it’ll happen.

I’m happy you’re making a concrete suggestion for change this time, though, rather than just bemoaning things in general and predicting doom. Progress not perfection.

1) I sent a check today for the fight

2) I called the DNC to protest any cuts and they asked what state I lived in…would advising seniors in FLA to call the DNC make sense?

3) are there groups in FLA that represent Seniors in FLA that would help get the word out? Newspapers that FLA seniors read? Doctors groups?

4) any other states that Obama is in trouble that we could target? I know money is an issue but just a thought

5) Would Alan Grayson help? Any “Old” Progressive Pols in FLA that would help?

This is an outrage and it is clear that Obama is bought by Wall st and Pete Peterson..I will do my best and I am visting a Congress person on Tuesday!

‘Rebuild the dream’ may fit your definition; Labor is involved, many other groups, with MoveOn sponsoring it.

http://rebuildthedream.com/

Dunno where they are headed; maybe just a prod to the Dems.

Thank you, Jane and FDL!

Well in all fairness, Jeff Sessions is all about principle when he’s out of power. He’s the guy who bemoaned Obama’s deal with PhRMA and called it crooked because it didn’t have Medicare prescription drug price negotiation — but he voted AGAINST Medicare prescription drug price negotiation when Bush was in office (twice as I recall).

But yes. The Democrats have all made the bet that what’s good for Obama is good for them, a rising tide lifts all boats, they must support their President, etc, even when it means violating the principles they claim to hold most dearly. That’s why my eyebrows shot up into the middle of my forehead when Pelosi preemptively endorsed the McConnell plan, then said she didn’t wan to go to Camp David over the weekend. I understand she doesn’t want to get her arm twisted into killing the McConnell deal in the House, but her comment about hoping the President didn’t want them to go to Camp David — “that really is beyond the pale” — was…well, extremely uncharacteristic. Something has changed.

) are there groups in FLA that represent Seniors in FLA that would help get the word out? Newspapers that FLA seniors read? Doctors groups?

Thanks, bearman. I was wondering about that. If anyone knows radical seniors groups, lemme know. We need some who are willing to break a few eggs.

What could be worse? A weekend with that asshole at Camp David?
I would rather have gas.

I was thinking about that on the way home from PetsMart. 2012 would be an ideal time for independent candidates everywhere. Yeah, we might end up with a few dunderheads but a good leftie could possibly beat out both a Regressive and a Vichycrat. Enough people are fed up with the two sides of the same coin bullshit.

In my best Judy Tenuta voice, “It could happen.”

On vacation.

You’re right Wendy, what is happening to Medicaid is awful. I invited the people from the American Association of People with Disabilities to post here. We put one piece up and they were going to try to check in after their meeting with the White House but they haven’t yet. No doubt they’re swamped.

It’s tragic that they played a bait-and-switch with Medicaid in the ACA (30 million more people “covered” — but half from Medicaid). And even more tragic what will happen when it gets cut back. I will look for an opening to see if there is any way we think we can have an impact. It would be a different campaign than this, however, which is an appeal to people who are directly impacted. Could do the same for Medicaid, but it would be a different group.

Thanks.

I think that would be a 900+ comment post — “things I would rather do than spend a weekend with Dave Camp.”

Mght overload the severs.

Thank you very much.

I’m really interested to see how the ads perform. Maybe I can get Brian to do a post on targeting and performance. It’s actually really interesting, if you’re at all into that kind of stuff.

I believe Obama can easily be beaten. And the way the Republicans are going, they can easily be beaten.

The problem is that the Progressive Groups are very weak and won’t run anyone against Obama because they are afraid. Afraid of being called spoilers, afraid they can’t raise enough money, afraid. . . . .afraid. For the sake of the country we need to find good candidates to run against the President and Congress. Then we need to work hard for them to be elected. It can’t be through a Progressive Group, because if they are afraid to get a candidate, they certainly lack the leadership skills necessary to run a country. The Green Party appears to be beaten down. Someone had metioned the Perot Reform Party on this site. After I read it in a thread, I contacted them; they are still around. We could open new chapters and reinvigorate that organization.

I have an idea. How many FDL members live within driving distance of DC?
I would pay $100 — CASH — to have dinner with Jane Hamsher.

The problem is that the Progressive Groups are very weak and won’t run anyone against Obama because they are afraid. Afraid of being called spoilers

let’s be clear;

we are better off if the republican in office is elected as a republican then if that republican is elected as a democrat

it is almost impossibly to run defense against a republican elected as a democrat

if obama were elected as republican there is NO way he could deconstruct medicare, there is NO way he could have extended the redistribution of middle class assets scheme (calling them “bush tax cuts”)

if we are to have a republican in office let’s do whatever it takes to have him elected in aa red suit instead of blue

I WANT to be a spoiler against a second term of obamination

I’d be on the 500 dollar a plate list if she comes to ny

there, I raised you 400 bucks

I may not be taking your meaning correctly, but a super-majority of the elderly in nursing homes are in Medicaid ones, which means that many of the AARP members will need Medicaid toward the end. Only the very financially comfortable will be able to pay the $3-4000 bucks a month that nursing homes charge, even in the little one-horse town I live in.

DD called the Republican cuts something like: “Take Grammy Home to Live with You” cuts; ah…not that, but close. And that many Medicaid eligible would be immediately affected.

And while Obama’s may be slower, lower, they will will wind out into the future. Jay Rockefeller had forty other Senators sign a letter to Obmama not to make cuts, but if I remember correctly, the wording was akin to Obmama’n ;not slashing’ cuts.

But glad to hear you’re aware of it.

Focus on Congress. Races for the House can be run on low dough if there are enough people on the ground knocking on doors, etc. Speaking at small community gatherings works too. Radio ads, direct mail, handouts on street corners. All that old fashioned face to face stuff. We did it on a shoestring against Bill Young (R, FL-10) in 04. We didn’t win but we got more votes than anybody running against him ever. It can be done. It takes commitment, time and energy. 2012 could present an excellent opportunity for a local progressive to get elected.

There you go, Jane.

This is just another bail out for the mega rich war contractors and Wall Street o the backs of the old and sick. who would have thought Obama would tender what little secure health care Americans have. My God i will never vote for him no matter what. he is a Republican Trojan horse and Americans have been sold out by sociopaths. Bye Bye miss American Pie

OH, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.

So Obama, be nimble. Obama be quick
Cuz your base is hip to your shtick
And cut-throats will be your only friends.

Oh, And as we watch you on the stage
Our hands are clinched in fists of rage.

No angel born in hell
Will stop the rebel’s yell.

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day of bankers’ toxic lies.

He was singing, Bye bye Miss American Pie
Drive that Chevy off the levee cuz it’s built in Dubai.
And good ole boys with their health care on standby,
Singing: To my vote you can say goodbye, to my vote you can say goodbye

We didn’t have Facebook or any social networking sites in those days (geez, I make it sound so 20th century) but pols are using them very effectively for organizing campaigns. And it’s free.

Okay, make it $200.

Just donated, even though I’m an old geezer surviving on a teacher pension & Social Security.

Obama is the first Democratic President since FDR who doesn’t know jack shit about Social Security and has shown us that he is unable and/or unwilling to defend it. I still find it difficult to believe that he took the Dems’ Crown Jewel and put it on the table in a negotiation with the GOP thug uglies! For that alone he is undeserving of a second term.

I kick in $20/month to FDL. That’s a good a start.

Had Corker included that 5/9ths of the SCOTUS he could have done a riff on FDR’s “I see one-third of a nation …”.

Nice of you.

I with you. I totally want to be a spoiler.

Obama is the worst president we ever had, holding office at a time we needed the best. It is a disaster. Republican or Con Man, I’m not sure which one.

Jane – have you considered an email blast? You probably know of at least one legit email clearinghouse that can get this message to the targeted audience.

Obama touched the third rail. He will be swiftboated mercilessly in 2012. He’s toast. The man is spectacularly inept.

I would happily scrape up $500 for the Lake if Jane would come to Mid-Missouri for dinner. And I would somehow find another $500 if she brought Dan Choi with her. I’d empty my savings if TBogg came along with his dogs. That would be seven liberals in Jeff City at one time, well worth my life savings!

You write with much wisdom. This is an opportunity as well and we must start thinking and acting that way. Cudos!

“pledge not to vote for”…

YEAH… thats what I am talking about. REAL consequences.

That is the ONLY thing politicians will respond to. Now we are getting somewhere.

Bravo Jane.

Unfortunately over on HP they ran an article about the PCCC today issuing a release of “pledges” that members would not work for or donate money to the Obama campaign…

BUT…

“It’s not a question of who they’re going to support for president, they’re going to vote for Barack Obama. It’s a question of where their time and money is going to go,” according to spokesman T. Neil Sroka.

That makes their peldges a complete EMPTY THREAT.

“Empty Threat: When someone will say there will be a consequenc­e for someone’s actions… but none the less there is no intention on following up with those consequenc­es.”

So there you have it… an organization claiming to speak for progressives… but who is obviously a front for the Democratic party. There whole purpose is to continue the enslavement of brainwashed members to the Democratic party… with only a fake pretense of attempting change. It’s fake.

Not really, since the military is now full of evangelical Christians.

Well, Obama isn’t going to get my vote whether or not he cuts “entitlements” as he’s come to call them, emulating his Republican colleagues, but I did contribute a little for the ads. I think it’s a lost cause, but as Jane said, it’s the right thing to do. I’m getting old and tired; wish I had SD’s fighting spirit.

I just did a google search and found a site 60 Plus Association based in FLA…the web site has an artice screaming about Obama and SS scare..James Martin is the Chairman…don’t know anything about them….60plus.org

When they asked Michael Douglas what motivated him, he said “revenge.”
Just sayin’

I am there!

Maybe we could just have a picture of Jane there — autographed, of course.

Pat Boone is 60plus spokeperson! I am sure he is anti Obama!:) well who cares? If they will help to kick Obama in the butt why not?:)

Obama just threw Elizabeth Warren under the Bus

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102×4922261

Elizabeth Warren went rougue the other day?For LOL
Elizabeth probably has had enough of OBAMA

Rahm just attack UNIONS today?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/rahm-emanuel-could-layoff_n_899490.html

something is going on?

Nancy Pelosi may be changing, they need Nancy to get the votes for Catfood Project 2? this may be a fight?

Obama? no longer has a economic team

Want to stop Obama’s relentless war on Social Security and Medicare?

CHAIN YOURSELF TO THE WHITE HOUSE FENCE.

BRING FRIENDS, AND POSTERS!

It’s been argued that the turning point for DADT reform was Dan Choi and other gay servicemembers repeatedly chaining themselves to the White House Fence.

Obama doesn’tlike being embarrassed, or called out publicly. The turning point in stopping the torture of Bradley Manning came almost immediately after donors at an Obama fundraiser burst confronted the President to his face.

Obama doesn’tlike being embarrassed, or called out in public.

He hated the optic so much of Choi and company chained to the White House fence, that all the protestors were arrested, for what had usually been a ticketed offense.

Unfortunately, I’m on the wrong coast, but if you want to save Social Security and Medicare (no less) Medicaid, and live in the East gather your group, call a press conference and chain yourself to the White House fence.

Every time President Obama and Congress go after the safety net.

You’ll get arrested, but hey.

Wh

Let me put it this way. Many roads lead to Rome. Giving money to FDL to attempt to keep social security from going down the tube may be the best political contribution that can be made at this time. I also know we must change the way we relate to each other; to see the community as more important than any individual member. Sounds subversive and it is. Our present greed based society is killing us. I just think we have to crawl before we can run.

Jane

I have some other suggestions which, being technologically challenged, I cannot measure for practicality. All I am saying is the issue is something all of us should discuss and keep discussing until we reach some conclusions. How we do that is the first big problem we must solve. I did not mean to suggest taking author’s names off posts would give us a win. I think the fix is too far in against Social Security. It was a suggestion that might make online conversation easier.

BTW it may be possible to field a credible challenge to Obama in 2012, but it must be bottom up not top down. That is something else we should talk about and keep talking about.

Because of the mood I’ve been in since Nov., 2000, I could easily support a Hamsher/Warren ticket in 2012!!

kicked in a little sumtin…will try to do more next month…the eco is so bad,im taking care of friend$ and critter$..oy

Obama is a snake,and will continue to ignore us .Unlike the tea baggers,we have no understanding of movement politics.Unless Obama has to compete for our votes,we can never instill the requisite fear to discipline this rabid conservative. When we are mocked as retards who have nowhere else to go,we are being viewed as freightened old pansies who will always vote for the lesser evil.Ironically,Obama might not even pass that pitiful expectation.We need to primary this Wall St. toady .Students,nurses and tens of thousands from other groups who voted for Obama,now detest him.

Jane and Liz would be great.

whitehouse.gov should hear from everyone before monday noon.

Exactly

Ooo. “DUMP OBAMA” signs could be supplemented with “DUMP THE WALL STREET TOADY” signs.

But where are the “DUMP OBAMA” signs, to begin with??

“That makes their peldges a complete EMPTY THREAT.”

Not so. Withholding 2.6 million hours of volunteer time is no empty threat. In a close race, it could make Obama lose.

Never fear, metamars is here!

If you want to reach seniors, and make them raging dust devils of anti-Obamabotism, you can tweak one of my previous ideas. Instead of just water ballooning Obama in effigy, you can make a contest for seniors out of it. Top prize: an electric wheelchair. 2nd Prize: a years supply of prune juice.

Also, where are the Raging Grannies when you need them? Their wiki page mentions Gray Panthers and Granny Peace Brigade – NYC. The Gray Panthers website says,

Dave Brown and Joao Cunha, members of the group, point to the Gray Panthers as instrumental in the effort to popularize health care over the past twenty years.[7] Their goal is “to create and fund a single-payer, nonprofit and universal health care system.” [8] They also encourage a “health consciousness” system as opposed to the current “disease orientation” where the focus will be on preventative care.[5]
The organization has filed several suits targeting pharmaceutical companies whom they allege to have blocked competition over generic drug production. In the past, they have filed a class-action law suit against Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, for alleged damages the company caused in delaying competition for BuSpar, a brand-name anti-anxiety drug.[9] The suit was the first of its kind in seeking damages for the unlawful blocking of generic competition by a drug company.
The Gray Panthers were also in the courtroom when they brought a class action suit in order to change Medicare regulations.[10] The case, Gray Panthers v. Schweiker, occurred in 1980. The group saw that the current way older patients were notified that their Medicare reimbursements were denied was an unconstitutional violation of their due process rights, arguing that the notification was laden with jargon and thus difficult to understand. While they lost the initial court case, they were successful on appeal.

Hmmm. Seniors as the spark that lit the fuse of a democratic revival. I like that thought.

Gray Panther’s website has a big graphic on their homepage:
“Don’t Cut Social Security / National Call Congress Days July 14-15″

From Gray Panthers Outraged at President Obama’s Proposal for Cuts in Budget Deal

July 8, 2011
Today, President Obama and lawmakers met on Capitol Hill to discuss budget deficit-reduction negotiations. Various news outlets are reporting that President Obama proposed cuts to Social Security benefits during these negotiations as a means to achieving a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that make major changes to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue. Specifically, reports indicate that the President is considering Social Security COLA cuts by changing the formula used to calculate the annual COLA to the chained CPI. This technical change is just a sneaky way to cut the benefits people have earned – whether they receive Social Security now or in the future.

Gray Panthers are outraged by this proposal and are growling about it!

In the past, President Obama has supported that Social Security is not the cause of the federal deficit and therefore should not be a part of a deficit reduction deal. His willingness to now go back on his word to protect these crucial programs from dangerous cuts is a betrayal to the American people and he should NOT renege on that promise now.

Their contact info:
Gray Panthers National Office
1612 K Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
(800) 280-5362 or (202) 737-6637
Fax: (202) 737-1160
E-mail: info@graypanthers.org

I think PCCC is doing something like that. Trouble is, nobody takes them at their word any more after the public option pledge. So my feeling is that there may be other places to put our energy that will be more fruitful

Would someone remind us what this pledge was, exactly?

Let me say first, that as a Social Security and Medicare recipient, I am heartily sick of both parties using us as props. We care about the future of our country and the nature of the country we are leaving to our children and grandchildren. Agitating, per your Florida gambit, is not going to solve anything. Even the most extreme Republican proposals do NOT AFFECT current recipients and to allege otherwise is dishonest and pointless.

You need to apply the same clear thinking to fixing Social Security and Medicare as you applied to the health care debate. You did the best job of anyone of explaining the various options, why they would work, why they wouldn’t. I favored a clean jump to single payer, but that’s not going to happen here and we need to look at other options.

Fixing Social Security is not so difficult. Raise the cap on salaries from which contributions come and raise the retirement age gradually to 70. My understanding is that this would protect the program well into the future. Why aren’t the Democrats pushing this big time? Yes, it’s a tax increase, but it’s targeted and falls on those who can pay. Yes, it imposes a tax on businesses, but there are ways to mitigate this. The Europeans have come up with some ways to protect people who work physically taxing jobs (like miners) and who may need to retire earlier than 70.

Medicare is more complicated. From personal experience, it is nearly impossible now to find a gp who will take a NEW Medicare patient. They can’t kick you out, I don’t believe, if you are already their patient, but they can and do refuse to take you on. So further cuts to providers is only going to make this worse.

Some doctors are returning to the model of my childhood where everyone paid their gp for routine care at modest prices (we were poor, and yet we had an annual physical and dental care) and if they could, carried major medical insurance. Some employers provided this.

Some doctors are now offering “concierge plans” under which you pay a flat fee (some high, some lower) for all your routine care. These doctors see fewer patients, make a decent living, and even make house calls to those who can’t get out. This isn’t single payer, but maybe there’s a way to set up a private system that subsidizes such arrangements for those who can’t pay. A flat fee would eliminate the “fee for service” model, at least for gps as well as the insurance transactions that go with it and drive up costs.

This and some changes to doctor’s training to encourage more students to become gps.

We need to “think outside the box” as they say, rather than putting out the same tired arguments on both sides of the philosophical divide. Come on, Jane, you and lots of other smart people contribute to this site – why not put your minds to work to come up with something workable?

Thanks I will look for your diary but I do not belong to Facebook or Twitter.

Thats absurd…

They want the person they are VOTING FOR to loose?

That make no sense whatsoever.

It makes less sense than what they did yesterday and the statement that was made by their representative.

I will quote again… “It’s not a question of who they’re going to support for president, they’re going to vote for Barack Obama. It’s a question of where their time and money is going to go,” according to PCCC spokesman T. Neil Sroka.

So the guy they support… they want him to loose? How can they claim they are working to make him loose… if they are voting for him?

That is the most convoluted thinking I have ever read.

That organization is a front for the Democratic party. Their purpose is to “pretend” ,”appear” to “act as if” they are advocating for progressives when in fact they are shills for Obama and the Democratic party.

I would help you. Me living in St. Louis.

What they want is for Obama to leave SS and Medicare alone. They are willing to risk an Obama loss, in order to put pressure on him. Without applying real pressure, which means a credible political threat, somewhere along the line, they don’t have the ability to exert pressure on Obama.

Oh, sure, they could send yet another sternly worded petition his way, but that won’t pass the snicker test.

If an armed intruder comes into your house, and shoots two of your children dead, and then points his gun at your third child and says to you “drop your gun, or I’ll shoot her”, you may decide to shoot the intruder, anyway, and risk him shooting your daughter, if you miss your shot (or can’t get it off fast enough).

You don’t want your daughter shot, but your willing to risk it, since the alternative – her getting shot, anyway – seems more likely. Likewise, Obama is digging his own political grave, if he goes after SS and Medicare. By threatening Obama, they are actually trying to help him. (They’ve looked at the polling to justify this conclusion.)

So, what do you have against PCCC simultaneously trying to save SS and Medicare, and as well as make Obama make choices that increase his chances at re-election?

More absurdity.

What you just said doesnt make any more sense than what they said.

I am advocating for REAL consequences for Obama and the Democrats betrayal, fraud and corruption.

I am against FAKE, do nothing, solve nothing scams.

I dont want Obama re-elected, or a Republican elected.

I WANT SOMEONE WHO REPRESENTS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED…!

Makes perfect sense to me!

Remember those embarassing and obnoxious Sorry Mom commercials from the campaign? Maybe MoveOn could front you some cash.

Next time think before you vote.

Maybe you could send Sarah Silverman down for a second Great Schlep.

http://www.thegreatschlep.com/