A sit in at Humana Headquarters has gotten local media coverage.

It was actually one of the top stories, as building security allowed the protesters to remain inside after the building was locked.

Here's the video.

I didn't get to see the full story, only the recap at the end of the hour. But, this isn't the first single payer activism in my neck of the woods, but this is the first time I've observed any media coverage.

Progress!

I look at it this way, if they ever bring back "The Wire," this could make for some interesting plot lines:

An unusual pension benefit for police and firefighters could cost Baltimore $164.9 million next year, nearly double what the city is now paying and a figure that the city's finance director says taxpayers cannot afford.

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From my local single payer activist, the news is that we have a commitment from Congressman Mike Doyle, not only to support Anthony Weiner's single payer amendment, but to speak for it on the house floor.

Meanwhile, last week Congressman Mike Doyle (Pittsburgh) reiterated his pledge to vote YES on the Weiner Amendment when it comes up for a vote on the floor of the House this fall AND HE ADDED THAT HE PLANS TO SPEAK ON THE FLOOR IN SUPPORT OF THE AMENDMENT (in response to our question to him as he was exiting the Organizing for America rally at Schenley Park last week. Doyle also made a point of thanking the single-payer supporters at the beginning of his speech on the rally stage, as we were present there with our signs and leaflets.)

Via Pacific John:

Ruling favors Latino voters in Texas Democrat suit
AP

By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer - Tue Aug 25, 4:18 pm ET

SAN ANTONIO - Latino voters [sic] celebrated a federal court ruling Tuesday that came down against the Texas Democratic Party and could put the complicated "Texas Two-step" presidential delegate system in jeopardy.

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So I spent Saturday night at Wolf Trap, America's National Park for the Performing Arts, watching one of the great party bands, the B-52s. For those unfamiliar with Wolf Trap, it's a pavilion with lawn seating outside of Washington D.C., in Northern Virginia. Given the high price of most concert tickets, lawn seats at Wolf Trap are a bargain at $25 and you're allowed to bring in your own food and drink, including wine and beer.

Last night's show was one big dance party from beginning to end.

The Bs have a new record out after 16 years (Funplex) and they sounded and looked great. I was shocked to learn Kate Pierson is 61, you'd never guess it by the way she looked or sounded.

I'm tired of talking about the FAIL (which doesn't mean it isn't important to document the atrocities, just that I'm tired). I want to talk about the good things folks are doing and Sarah suggested I put this one in a post and sticky it, so here it is.

The website democrats.com, which is not an official party website but advertises itself as "aggressive progressives" (a sure sign it's not the party's website), asked the site's 600,000 subscribers to call members of the Energy & Commerce Committee to whip for Weiner's single payer amendment. You can see the results here. While the decision late Friday to take it to the full house obviously negates some importance of this info, I think it's still useful since all of these folks are, of course, House members.

More importantly, I fully expect these folks to also whip for the full floor vote given that they seem pretty strongly single payer. When they do, I'll post the info unless someone else beats me to it. And they've been working in other ways to add pressure. For example, they adeveloped an online petition that can be sent to Congress members.

So the question is how do we bring together the websites that are doing the work? I'm sure there are others.

[Because I forgot to classify this under the Department of the Happy Dance, I'm leaving it sticky for a bit. -- lambert]

Pressure works. Bring the pain!

My local single-payer activist sends some happy news: Dr. Margaret Flowers of PNHP has been invited by Sen. Kennedy's office to testify at the Senate Hearing on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on Thursday, June 11 at 3:00.

So, as she says, we can update the latest Healthcare-NOW! action alert: contact Sen. Kennedy's office (Phone: 202-224-4543 - Fax: 202-224-2417) and let them know we are glad to hear Dr. Margaret Flowers has been invited to testify on behalf of national single-payer healthcare reform and that we expect single-payer advocates to continue to have a seat at the table in meetings and senate hearings on health care reform.

My local single payer activist sends the following:

The Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing titled “Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option” on Wednesday, June 10th at 10:30am in 2175 Rayburn House Office Building.

You may be able to watch via webcast.

She adds:

Contact C-SPAN and let them know we would like them to carry it. C-SPAN's Main Number is: (202) 737-3220.

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So the elder of my two sons is grilling dinner for us all tonight. This is one of the advantages of living through the stage that comes after the kid quits being cute.
You do anything special this weekend?

Smart cooks will notice how long the various parts of the meal take, and start by making the brownies first. (Yes, it is worthwhile, especially when cooking for a crowd, to read labels and avoid MSG. I get migraines from it, and I learned I'm not the only one this week.)

This fed a dozen hungry kids and about a fourth of their parents Wednesday night, with enough leftovers for two adults' lunches

Lest we all be accused of Obama Derangement Syndrome, here's a significant good thing.

Obama cancels program for new nuclear warheads

Via email:

MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF DARWIN TO BROADCAST/STREAM IN MAY ON WCNY-FM

The Origin, Richard Einhorn’s new critically-acclaimed opera/oratorio in celebration of Charles Darwin, will be broadcast and streamed over the internet in its entirety on WCNY-FM (wcny.org) from 6:00-8:00PM on May 16, 2009. The Origin premiered to packed houses, standing ovations, and rave reviews a few days before the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. The performers included the Balkan ensemble Kitka, soprano Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek from the extraordinary vocal group Anonymous 4, baritone Eric Johnson, filmmaker Bill Morrison, SUNY Oswego College Choir, Oswego College-Community Orchestra, and the Oswego Festival Chorus with Julie Pretzat, conductor.

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Following through on her commitment last week at the Commonwealth Club, Pelosi moves to schedule hearings:

Wall Street may be heading for the deepest investigation of its practices since a congressional panel’s probe of abuses following the 1929 stock market crash.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to push for a comprehensive inquiry, saying that three-quarters of Americans want to know what led to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. She favors one patterned after Senate Banking Committee hearings led by Ferdinand Pecora starting in 1933, according to her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami.

The Pecora review “was probably the single most important congressional investigation in the history of our country, except perhaps the Watergate hearings,” Donald Ritchie, associate historian for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview.

I never thought I'd use the words "predictably lame" and "Barney Frank" in the same sentence, but The Big Disappointer, er, does not disappoint: Barney Frank's response is predictably lame:

Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, had this to say in response to Rick Perry's outstanding example of poor sportsmanship, poor statesmanship, and lack of forethought, reflection, or candor in his recent stealth-secession speech at an Austin Taxed Enough Already party _{(btw, is anybody donating all that leftover bagged tea? VA hospitals, homeless shelters, food banks could put to good use what the insipid GOP wasted.)}:

Every Texas elected official takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. I take oaths seriously, and that one most of all. And every day during the legislative session we pledge "allegiance" to the flag of the United States.
We even require every public school child to recite the pledge -- every day. That is "one nation, under God, indivisible."
"Indivisible."
Yesterday, our Governor had the opportunity to disavow anti-American rhetoric of secession. He chose not to, and instead he chose affirm those who believe and actually contemplate that our nation is divisible.
What do I say to my youngest daughter when she asks "why do I recite the pledge every day at school, if our Governor doesn't believe it?"
Hopefully Gov. Perry simply made a mistake; a mistake I call on him to correct by unequivocally declaring that our nation is one and indivisible, and that talk of secession from the union is thoughtless and reckless.
Perhaps he did not understand that words are important and that talk of secession carries heavy meaning.
Some hear this talk and associate it with racial division - an issue that caused over 600,000 Americans to lose their lives in a Civil War.
Others are incited by this kind of reckless rhetoric. I believe that the role of Texas Governor is to lead us to a better place, not stoke the fires of divisions.
Talk of secession is an attack on our country. It is the ultimate anti-American statement. Serious discussion that we would even contemplate dividing our country, the greatest country in the world, shows lack of judgment -- and any words from the Texas Governor will be taken seriously. Finally, such statements -- particularly in a time when we are at war overseas, with over 4,000 American lives lost, and thousands in combat as we speak -- are both offensive, irresponsible and not the words of a patriot.
I am surprised that Governor Perry would reinforce a sentiment that is so clearly anti-American. He should choose his words more carefully unless they are intentional, and if his words were intentional, they should be condemned.

You cannot lead a state that is part of a nation by trying to divide that state from that nation.

We live in a time when ill-thought words can stoke emotions. And today we have 100,000 Texans who have just lost their jobs, through no fault of their own. A time of economic recession and possible depression. We just came off a presidential election. In times like these, our leaders should strive toward unity, not pander to the divisive elements in our society.

Our Governor should be focusing on striving to lower homeowners insurance rates, lower college tuition, improve our public schools, provide better access to health care for working families and leading our state and our nation through this time of trouble. He should not be attending fringe political rallies; he should be offering and advancing solutions. There will be time for Rick Perry to run against Kay Bailey Hutchison after session is over. He should put the good of our state above his ambition to serve another term as Governor.

For backup, he's got Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston:

"There are some issues that simply should not be legitimized in any way, shape or form, and secession is one of them," said Ellis. "By not rejecting out of hand the possibility of secession, Governor Perry is taking a step down a very dangerous and divisive path encouraged by the fringe of Texas politics.

"It was only 12 years ago that Texas had a deadly stand-off with those urging secession. Governor Bush stood up to those fringe elements. I urge Governor Perry to ramp down the rhetoric and state unequivocally -- as Governor Bush did in the 1990s -- that secession is not only not an option, it isn't going to be part of the political discussion.

In the last week, we’ve seen an extremely troubling escalation of rhetoric. Talking about state’s rights, the oppressive hand of the federal government and secession brings up some pretty bad memories in this state. It was not all that long ago that those were the exact words used by those who opposed desegregation and the civil rights movement. The top elected official in the second largest state with our history simply cannot be so loose with his comments. He’s not a radio or cable TV talk show host.

“The timing and focus of this talk doesn’t make much sense. Since 2001, the Texas budget has increased by 62 percent. The budget we are now working on includes $65 billion from the federal government. We didn’t hear about the oppressive hand of the federal government when we asked for hurricane and wildfire relief and, we didn’t hear these complaints when we took money for transportation and education and health care. We didn’t hear about it for eight years of exploding federal budget deficits, so why now?

“I understand that the governor has a difficult political race on his hands, but that is no excuse to whip up this type of frenzy among people who are already worried about keeping their job or a roof over their heads.”

Ellis knows his business -- with Robert Duncan (R- Lubbock), he's cosponsored a bill that will help Texas journalists maintain source confidentiality without facing jail time.

Now for that chorus of "Get the hell out, Texas!" voices ... no. Rick Perry doesn't get his way in Texas. That's what the Democrats are here to ensure. Ellis' reference to the DPS action versus tax-dodging secessionists in the Davis Mountain is more than a slap at the sitting governor's silly, superheated rhetoric; it's a reminder that, once upon a time, even a Texas governor had to behave like a grownup. Given that we're talking about w here, Perry ought to be ashamed of himself. In spades.

Well, not really. But:

It's great to be Shrill! [lambert blushes modestly]

A c&p from PNHP...

Challenging head-on the powerful private insurance and pharmaceutical industries, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a single-payer health reform bill, the American Health Security Act of 2009, in the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The bill is the first to directly take on the powerful lobbies blocking universal health reform in the Senate since Sen. Paul Wellstone’s tragic death.

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AIG didn't comply and Andrew Cuomo issued subpoenas, and now we wait for the next round in this game.

Via The Consumerist and The Business Review

As I mentioned before, Obama created an incredible White House Council on Women and Girls that will normalize gender throughout top levels of government. Here he is delivering a great speech on why gender equality is so important to us all:

President Obama took a step forward on equality in creating a White House council on gender that will be chaired by his trusted friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett:

"The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families," reads a memo describing the move and obtained by The Fix.

Call me what you will -- naive, blindsided, gobsmacked, overcome, a turncoat, whatever -- if David Brooks, the New York times pundit, can be all "they don't know enough to do this much" a month into the new administration -- I can be thrilled.

Quoth David:

Over the years, I have come to see that Burke had a point. The political history of the 20th century is the history of social-engineering projects executed by well-intentioned people that began well and ended badly. There were big errors like communism, but also lesser ones, like a Vietnam War designed by the best and the brightest, urban renewal efforts that decimated neighborhoods, welfare policies that had the unintended effect of weakening families and development programs that left a string of white elephant projects across the world.
These experiences drove me toward the crooked timber school of public philosophy: Michael Oakeshott, Isaiah Berlin, Edward Banfield, Reinhold Niebuhr, Friedrich Hayek, Clinton Rossiter and George Orwell. These writers — some left, some right — had a sense of epistemological modesty. They knew how little we can know. They understood that we are strangers to ourselves and society is an immeasurably complex organism. They tended to be skeptical of technocratic, rationalist planning and suspicious of schemes to reorganize society from the top down.
Before long, I was no longer a liberal. Liberals are more optimistic about the capacity of individual reason and the government’s ability to execute transformational change. They have more faith in the power of social science, macroeconomic models and 10-point programs.

Well, David, the last eight years in particular and the last 30 in general, salted with memories of Nixon and Ford in the White House, have convinced me that everything you're afraid of is exactly what we need, my man.

1 large yellow onion -- 29 cents.
1 can evaporated milk, store brand, 69 cents.
1 pound sliced beef shanks, $1.90.
2 packages instant mashed potatoes, $1 (on sale).
1 can store-brand diced tomatoes and green chiles, 89 cents.

A spritz of cooking spray, some salt and pepper, and water I already had on hand.

Spray a deep-dish pie pan or shallow casserole with cooking spray. Peel the onion; slice thin and line the bottom of the pan. Lay the shanks on top of the onions; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Pour over the tomatoes and green chiles. Cover dish tightly and bake at 350 for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Turn off oven. Remove dish and let rest and cool for 10 minutes.
Open can of milk; add can of water and both packets of potatoes. Cook and stir per packet directions. If desired, add a pat of butter before serving.

There it is -- three adults, well fed, for about $5. No bread, no cheese, no soup.
Got something similar? Post it! Or, for the challenge part -- feed three or four adults as cheaply, or more so, without

This weekend was supposed to be a weekend of 3000 or so house parties across the country to explain Obama's economic stimulus plan to his supporters. Proving once again that herding kittens is easier than keeping lefties on message is an excerpt from this article from MSNBC:

RENTON, Wash. - The gathering Friday night in Daryl Berry’s house in this suburban city 20 miles south of Seattle was both a dozen people sitting around talking in a den and a history-making political event.

[...]

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