Election Reform Activist Arrested for Speaking Out -- For Single-Payer Health Care!

[Bill Bored]

Talk about walking and chewing gum at the same time!

Kevin Zeese of TrueVoteMD was one of the protesters who spoke out for single payer health care as seen on TV on the Ed Schultz show (MSNBC) -- and got arrested for his trouble!
See: http://www.bigeddieradio.com/videoblog/details.asp?BID=111

And here on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncb58qnDyxs&NR=1

The "MD" in TrueVoteMD stands for the state of Maryland by the way, but a Medical Doctor got arrested too!

Ya gotta love 'em!

Please K&R and call The Senate Finance Committee at [phone] and tell them to include a single-payer advocate in the discussion on Tuesday, the next hearing.

[livvy]

1. Another way to voice your opinion.

This came via email from Physicians for a National Health Program. I've include the link to their website below, and one to the email page for Baucus. I tried to find this email alert at the site yesterday without success. The PNHP website has a lot of good info there...talking points, etc.

Dear PNHP Colleagues,

As you may be aware, three PNHP physicians, along with five other single-payer advocates, were arrested Tuesday after speaking up in a dignified way for single payer at the beginning of a Senate Finance Committee "public roundtable discussion" on health reform.

Drs. Margaret Flowers, Carol Paris, Pat Salomon and the others took this extraordinary and courageous step after it became clear that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Committee, was determined to disregard the tens of thousands of requests - via letters, e-mails, phone calls, faxes and personal visits - urging him to invite a supporter of single-payer health reform to the discussion, i.e. to put single payer "on the table."

Dr. Flowers' statement about why she and the others took this action, which carries a potential six-month jail sentence, appears below. Her subsequent appearance on MSNBC television's Ed Show with host Ed Schultz is remarkable. We urge you to watch it here. Our news release about the event also appears below.

The group's action has resulted in an outpouring of support for them from all over the country and an increase in media interest in single-payer national health insurance, with articles appearing in the online Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the Associated Press, Politico, the Congressional Quarterly, and the Kaiser network, among other places. It also resulted in a surge in radio and television talk show appearances.

This Tuesday, May 12, the Senate Finance Committee is holding its third and last roundtable on health reform. PNHP has formally submitted the names of two outstanding physicians, Drs. Marcia Angell and Steffie Woolhandler, to testify as expert witnesses. As of this hour (Friday afternoon), however, no single-payer supporters have been invited. (You can call Sen. Baucus' office in Washington and urge him to extend the invitations at 202-224-2651, or e-mail him here.)

Around the same time that the hearing is taking place inside, a demonstration of physicians, nurses and other supporters of single payer will take place outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington at 9:30 a.m. The group will gather outside the main entrance of the building at 1st Street and Constitution Avenue NE. If you live in the vicinity and can attend, please do. If you're a physician, wear your white coat. (All participants are encouraged to wear black in remembrance of those who have died because they lacked health insurance.)
If you prefer to seek a place inside the hearing, we recommend arriving at the hearing room (106 Dirksen) by 7:30 a.m. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m.

For more information, contact Dr. Margaret Flowers via e-mail at [e-mail] or call her at 410-591-0892.
Secondly, on Wednesday, May 13, a "Single-Payer Solidarity Rally" will take place in Washington as part of National Nurses Week. The activity will begin at 11:45 a.m., when participants gather at the Washington Court Hotel. They will then march to a rally at Upper Senate Park (near the Union Station Metro Stop), which will take place from noon until 2 p.m.

Leading the charge is the California Nurses Association which expects 500 nurses to lobby and rally for single payer in the nation's capital. Joined by the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, of which PNHP is a part, we want to use this opportunity to make the single-payer message loud and strong for our legislators to hear. Wear your white coat!

Speakers will include Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT); Rep. John Conyers Jr. (MI-14); Rep. Eric Massa (NY-29); Rose Ann DeMoro, CNA/NNOC executive director; Mike Farrell, actor (http://www.1payer.net/videos/24-medicare-for-all/218-ev... ); Dr Margaret Flowers, PNHP; and John Sweeney, president AFL-CIO.
If your schedule permits, please participate in one or both of these actions in Washington next week.
Cordially,



Quentin D. Young
National Coordinator Mark Almberg
Communications Director
________________________________________

Baucus email:
http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

PNHP website. Lots of good info there.

http://www.pnhp.org

on edit: trying to fix Baucus email link.

[ellenfl]

5. email sent to baucus. i hope the media keeps this up front. eom

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. excellent public protest, great piece of activism

If we could get some of the e-voting activists into the single payer movement,
we could kick Baucus ass.

Every bit of the Baucus 8 protest was executed magnificently.
Perfecto. Their words, intonation, the professionalism (no one wearing costumes that could be ridiculed), their timing - all was perfect.

I was angered when the senators tried to mock the protestors, because the protestors were right
and senators wrong, and the senators knew it.

We have senators and congressmen bought and paid for by health insurance companies.

***Oh, and try to go to the health forum and post in favor of universal health care, and the
"medical experts" there will try to drown you out.****

[Wilms]

4. I don't like to judge books by their cover.

But I agree with you about the costumes.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. should read "walking and kicking ass at the same time!"

dont ya think?

[Bill Bored]

6. Well, I was referring to Zeese's dual activism -- not necessarily his tactics.

But sure! The Dems need to be held accountable on this and every other issue. That's why we worked so hard to put them there fairly and squarely and all that.