Follow this link to the page at Democracy For America where you can sign on as a citizen cosponsor to the letter from Senate Democrats to Senate leader Harry Reid.

Dear Leader Reid:

We respectfully ask that you bring for a vote before the full Senate a public health insurance option under budget reconciliation rules.

There are four fundamental reasons why we support this approach – its potential for billions of dollars in cost savings; the growing need to increase competition and lower costs for the consumer; the history of using reconciliation for significant pieces of health care legislation; and the continued public support for a public option.

You can read the rest of the letter at the Democracy For America web site.

Follow this link to a CNN opinion piece by Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.

What a great suggestion for President Obama.  He can use the Eisenhower technique  to lose the next election but go down in history as being prophetic.

Maybe the headline means that President Obama can model Ike, but he would be a fool to do so.

You seldom see published the following graph:

Follow this link to the page on OFA web site that makes the case for what President Obama has already accomplished.

One year in, the evidence is clear – and growing by the day – that the Recovery Act is working to cushion the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and lay a new foundation for economic growth.

• According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Recovery Act is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs through the end of 2009
• As a result, job losses are a fraction of what they were a year ago, before the Recovery Act began

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

• Cut taxes for 95 percent of working families through the Making Work Pay tax credit
• Cut taxes for small businesses
• Provided loans to over 42,000 small businesses
• Funded over 12,500 transportation construction projects nationwide, ranging from highway construction to airport improvement projects
• Made multi-billion dollar investments in innovation, science and technology that are laying the foundation for our 21st century economy
• Provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls, including help to prevent cuts to Medicaid and creating or saving over 300,000 education jobs

Economists on the left and the right have stated that the Recovery Act has helped avert an even worse economic disaster.

Follow this link to the CNN story Stimulus created jobs, controversy, backlash which reports on the above posting and adds some information of its own.

Mike Pickett, CEO of Onvia, a Seattle, Washington, firm that advises clients who may be looking to bid on contract work and tracks government contract spending, told CNN the stimulus so far is a mixed bag.

Picket estimated “roughly $68 billion have actually reached contractors and sub-contractors. We estimate that has delivered… or saved about 500,000 jobs.”

“It looks like the majority of the remaining funds — some $200 billion — will leave Washington and reach contractors this year. And that should increase the jobs created or saved number to around 1.6 million. And I think that’s where it’ll cap.”

Yet, despite the majority of the stimulus funds for job growth not having been spent yet, the nay sayers are repeating the lie that the stimulus is over and it’s all down hill from here.

I guess the Obama administration has decided that if the press won’t report the facts, they will have to do it themselves.  The poll cited in the CNN article shows the public holding onto badly misinformed ideas.  And who helps the public to remain misinformed?

Can’t resist one more cheat sheet joke.

I don’t need no stinkin’ jobs bill

Follow this link to an interview with Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medicine and sociology at Harvard University.

This interview is related to his talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference.

There is a web page for the Archive for the ‘TED 2010’ Conference

Follow this link to the article in the Los Angeles Times.

This states the case for the fact that snow in Washington DC and the lack of snow in Vancouver BC do not contradict the theory of global climate change.

All you need is cold air and moisture to meet each other to make snow, said Jay Gulledge, senior scientist for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. And with global warming, the opportunities to do that should be more frequent.

Follow this link to the editorial on the McClatchy News web site.

The author discusses our two party system - the party of hope and the party of nope

He has concluded that one tactic the party of nope will use to insure electoral success is to scare people stupid.

Follow this link to the article posted on the Legal Schnauzer web site.  The introductory paragraph says:

A profile of Attorney General Eric Holder in the current issue of The New Yorker contains a quote from Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that should be troubling to all citizens who care about justice issues.

I’ll be reading the referenced The New Yorker article next.

Until then, I leave it to you to decide if the article on the Legal Schnauzer web site is overwrought or not.  The article does have very good things to say about Attorney General Eric Holder.

Follow this link to the article about the idea of taxing financial speculation.

I have not thought through the ramifications of such a tax, but the above article points to a study of such ramifications.  I’ll read the study to see if I still like this idea.

On first blush, it sounds like an excellent idea.  Rather than add more complex laws that only lawyers could love, why not just tax behavior that you want to cut down on?

Now that Fidelity has cut my transaction cost to $7.95 per trade, I could afford to pay the tax.  Actually, as the article points out, for the number of trades that I do per year, the tax wouldn’t even be noticed by me.  The kind of trading I do is not the kind that needs to be discouraged.

Coincidentally to RichardH’s previous post, Lawrence Lessig-How To Get Our Democracy Back, I received an email that is more in line with my thinking of how we get our democracy back.

It uses the power of the electorates’ numbers to fight the wealth of the special interests. It requires fewer legal entanglements, but it does require the people to pay the price of using the time and efforts of the many to counter the wealth of the few.

If we don’t have faith that the many can overrule the few, then do we truly believe in democracy?

Steven — As we head into an election year, the new strategy for killing reform is claiming that members of Congress who vote for it will suffer at the polls. For months, our opponents have spread lies about reform to scare voters away. But the simple truth about what reform would actually do — save jobs, guarantee all Americans affordable, stable coverage, and significantly reduce the deficit — is something most Americans strongly support. The question is, come November, will the voters know the facts? OFA supporters have asked for a way to show every member of Congress that if they fight for reform now, we’ll back them up this election season. That’s why we’re launching “You fight, we’ll fight” — a volunteer pledge bank where you can commit your time to back up candidates and officials who fight hard for health reform. We’re shooting for 1,000,000 hours pledged to spread the word to fellow voters. And if we get there, we’ll publish the total hours pledged in USA Today, so there will be no doubt that health reform is both good policy and good politics. Can you pledge right away? President Obama has made it crystal clear that he has no intention of walking away from health reform — and this movement has made its desire to fight on just as clear. And many members of Congress are already working hard by his side to get the job done. But for those on the fence about whether or not to proceed, knowing you are there to back up a courageous stand can make all the difference. Your volunteer hours can have a huge impact no matter where you live. You can make calls into critical districts where health reform champions are in jeopardy, write letters to the editor, volunteer for nearby campaigns, or even just talk to friends, family, and neighbors to help cut through the special interest spin. We’ll offer lots of ways to get involved between now and the elections in November, and you can decide which are right for you — the important thing right now is to publicly show your commitment to fight for those who make health reform a reality. Please help us hit our ambitious goal of one million volunteer hours pledged: http://my.barackobama.com/YouFight We’ve certainly faced setbacks in this fight. But as President Obama told OFA supporters last week, that only means we need to work that much harder. Thanks for making it possible, Mitch Mitch Stewart Director Organizing for America

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee — 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. This email was sent to: steve@ssgreenberg.name