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Monday, July 13
Alternative Energy Learning Opportunities in Iowa and Illinois
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 13 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
Alternative Energy Learning Opportunities in Iowa and Illinois
 contributed by Cliff Day
July 16-18
Solar Energy Workshop
Location: Prairiewood Franciscan Spirituality Center, 120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, Iowa.
This three-day workshop will provide information about and experience in installing solar panels to generate electricity. It will include hands-on exposure to assembling pole-mounted solar racks, installing solar modules and wiring of the entire system including modules, disconnects, inverters and grid tie. Approximately half the class time will be in the classroom learning how solar energy works. Workshop fee is $250 for first person from a family, business or organization and $200 for each additional person. Lodging is available for $45 per night at Prairiewoods. To register or obtain more information, call Prairiewoods at (319) 395-6700.
August 8
Residential Wind Workshop 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location: Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, 120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, Iowa.
Attendees will leave this workshop with the working knowledge to evaluate if residential wind is a realistic option to fill all or part of their residential energy needs. Leave knowing if your site is right for wind energy, size, wind patterns etc. Learn how to size and select a wind turbine. Evaluate which turbine to purchase and learn how the turbine is installed. For more information: go to Irenew.org
August 8-9
Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair
Location: Ogle County Fairgrounds in Oregon, Illinois
The 8th annual Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair will be held on Saturday, August 8th and Sunday, August 9th at the Ogle County Fairgrounds, in Oregon, Illinois. Click here for more information
September 12-13
Iowa 2009 I-Renew Energy & Sustainability Expo
Location: Frontier Natural Products Co-op, Norway, Iowa
This year's Expo will feature workshops and speakers on renewable energy, sustainable living, green building, energy efficiency technology, renewable fuels, alternative transportation, advocacy, energy technology, and related topics. The event will also have a demonstration area featuring cars that run on alternative fuels, solar PV, solar thermal and wind energy, hydrogen storage and a fuel cell, among other demonstrations. For additional information go to Irenew.org
October 03
Residential Solar Hot Water Workshop 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location: Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, 120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, Iowa.
Considering installing Solar Hot Water in your home? This is the workshop for you. The workshop will teach you the fundamentals of solar collector systems for heating domestic hot water. Incentives and rebates that help make these systems affordable and the payback period on energy savings will be explored. For more information go to Irenew.org
November 21
Solar Photovoltaic Workshop 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location: Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, 120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, Iowa.
This workshop is for the curious and the experienced solar power user. The class will cover the basics of residential sized, grid tied photovoltaic solar systems. Attendees will learn the basics of designing a system, including the cost of installation and the incentives and rebates available to help offset the cost. For more information go to Irenew.org
Sunday, July 12
Insurance Insider Reveals Industry Tactics Intended to Kill Health Care Reform
by
Trish Nelson
on Sun 12 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
Insurance Insider Reveals Industry Tactics Intended to Kill Health Care Reform
 PBS.Org/Bill Moyers Journal
I heard Bill Moyers speak at the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis in 2007. It was an eloquent, inspiring speech that I will never forget. This is how he began: "Benjamin Franklin once said: 'Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty,' he said, 'is a well-armed lamb, contesting the vote.' My fellow lambs, it's good to be in Memphis and find you well-armed with passion for democracy, readiness for action, and courage for the next round in the fight for a free and independent press in America."
You can still read Moyers' entire speech at the The Nation or watch it on YouTube.
~Last month, testimony in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation by a former health insurance
insider named Wendell Potter made news even before it occurred: CBS NEWS headlined: "Cigna Whistleblower to Testify." After Potter's testimony the industry scrambled to do damage control: "Insurers defend rescissions, take heat for lack of transparency."
In his first television interview since leaving the health insurance
industry, Wendell Potter tells Bill Moyers why he left his successful
career as the head of Public Relations for CIGNA, one of the nation's
largest insurers, and decided to speak out against the industry. "I
didn't intend to [speak out], until it became really clear to me that
the industry is resorting to the same tactics they've used over the
years, and particularly back in the early '90s, when they were leading
the effort to kill the Clinton plan."
"When you're in the executive offices, when you're getting prepared for
a call with an analyst, in the financial medium, what you think about
are the numbers. You don't think about individual people. You think
about the numbers, and whether or not you're going to meet Wall
Street's expectations. That's what you think about, at that level. And
it helps to think that way. That's why you - that enables you to stay
there, if you don't really think that you're talking about and dealing
with real human beings." - Wendell PotterNot only that, but check this out: This was sent out to Michael Moore's e-mail list on Friday, prior to Bill Moyers Journal.
Bill Moyers Show Reveals Insurance Lobby's Secret Plan to Attack 'Sicko' and Michael Moore
ALERT: We've just been informed that Bill Moyers, on his show later tonight, will expose for the first time the health insurance industry's secret campaign against Michael Moore and his film, "Sicko." It contains a stunning revelation and admission by a top health insurance executive - the former head of publicity for CIGNA, one of the top health insurance companies in the country - that the disinformation and attacks on Michael and the film were extensive and well-planned. Their job was to stop the movie from reaching a wide audience (and, more importantly, from having the widespread political impact the industry feared "Sicko" would have).
Wendell Potter, former Head of Corporate Communications at CIGNA (which provides health insurance to nearly 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies) admits that, in fact, "Sicko" "hit the nail on the head" and told the real truth about how much better people in other countries have it when it comes to their health care.
[The show aired on Friday, but you can still see a video here:]
You can check out the segment about Michael and "Sicko" here:
Check here for local listings (and rebroadcasts):
See the video of the full show and read the text at PBS.
Friday, July 10
Iowa's 5th District Rep. Steve King "Explains" His Vote
by
Trish Nelson
on Fri 10 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
Iowa's 5th District Rep. Steve King "Explains" His Vote
 [BFIA Action Alert: Please help the 5th District Dems in their quest to replace King in 2010. We're placing this action alert before the story because it is so important. Please consider contributing any amount to the cause.]
From IDP5's website: Let's Get Serious: Do you want to elect a Democrat to Congress and get rid of Steve King? You MUST contribute some of your hard-earned money so we can recruit and support a great Democrat to represent all of us in Western Iowa, not just the right-wing.Can YOU give $20 to help finance our candidate in 2010?Contribute HERE: Any amount, to the secure ActBlue service
_________________
RadioIowa
Congressman Steve King (R-Kiron, Iowa) was the only "no" vote yesterday in the House on a proposal to honor the slaves who built the U.S. Capitol. During a phone conversation late this afternoon [Wednesday] with Radio Iowa, King explained his vote. According to King, the slavery-related resolution was passed in a "quid pro quo" deal that will get a picture in the capitol visitor center changed to include the words "In God We Trust."
"It is clearly etched in stone above the speaker's chair in the House chambers: 'In God We Trust.' The architect of the capitol has been for years trying to eradicate any sign of faith or Christianity from the capitol itself and from the historical documents that flow from it...So this was a deal that we had to put up another monument up to slavery to even get another resolution passed...I'm out of patience with these kind of maneuverings," King said.
According to King, the picture of the speaker's chair that is currently in the capitol visitor's center is inaccurate. "They had photoshopped that language off of the picture, so the architect of the capitol had gone in - or directed someone to go in - and photoshop and scrub the language, 'In God We Trust'...and in order to get them to agree to put the real language back in the picture so the picture was real, we had to agree to pass a resolution to put another monument up to slavery," King said. "So it was a trade-off that we had to apparently give up something in order to get the truth back and I rejected that idea and I think there were a lot of members that would have liked to vote no with me."
So why was King the only no vote?
"I think it's simply many of them thought, 'I don't want to die on that hill. It's not worth fighting over,'" King replied. "...It was a deal and I mean, I sat there and looked at that (voting) board for quite a while last night and I thought this through and I knew I was going to be the only one and I thought: 'I just can't. I just cannot simply go along with this and let them do what they're doing to our history.' This doesn't have anything to do with slavery to speak of, really. It has to do with them trying to amend our history, after the fact, and at some point somebody had to draw the line and no one else had the will to do it when the issue was slavery."
"I would just add that there were about 645,000 slaves that were brought to the United States and I'm with Martin Luther King, Junior on this. His documents and his speeches - I've read most of them and I agree with almost every word," King said. "Slavery was abhorrent, but it was also a fact of life in those centuries where it existed and of the 645,000 Africans that were brought here to be put forcibly into slavery in the United States, there were over 600,000 people that gave their lives in the Civil War to put an end to slavery and I don't see the monument to that in the Congressional Visitors Center and I think it's important that we have a balanced depiction of history."
(click here to read the original story with links at Radio Iowa)
Thursday, July 9
Howard Dean Attempts to Spread Truth About Health Care Reform
by
Trish Nelson
on Thu 09 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
Howard Dean Attempts to Spread Truth About Health Care Reform
 Here are some highlights from the Esquire interview of Howard Dean. BFIA would like to recommend taking the time to check out the entire interview at Esquire. Dean, apparently not knowing the secret handshake, tells it exactly how it is.
"The Republicans just make things up out of whole cloth. Nothing they say about health care is true. " Howard Dean, M.D.
by John H. Richardson
~ As a doctor married to a doctor, Howard Dean made health care a priority of his administration, putting strict regulations on health insurance profiteering and figuring out a way to extend insurance to every child in the state. In a new book called Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Health Care Reform, he makes a persuasive case for reform.
ESQUIRE: Your book really lays everything out in a very simple, clear way. It's obvious this is something you've been thinking about for a long time.
HOWARD DEAN: It was one of the reasons I ran for president.
ESQ: One thing I've never seen before is when you say, "Much is made of the 47 million without insurance, but nothing of the 25 million who have insurance but don't go and see the doctor." I've got one of those high-deductible catastrophic plans myself, so I don't go to the doctor unless I'm bleeding. Why have I never seen this argument before?
HD: Because 99 percent of the discussions among reporters, policy wonks, and politicians focus on the uninsured — which is, frankly, why nothing is passed. They don't focus on the majority of Americans who have health insurance that doesn't work.
ESQ: Boil it down, if you would. Why isn't it working even if you do have insurance?
HD: Because it's too expensive. The private sector can't manage costs. Health care is one of the few places — defense is another — that the government works more efficiently and more effectively than the private sector. That's just a fact.
ESQ: Why is that?
HD: Because there is no feedback in the private health-care system. When I was practicing medicine, nobody with substernal chest pain ever got off my examining table and said, "The guy down the street does it for $2,000 cheaper, I'll see you later." That's why we've had 40 years of costs that increase between two and three times the rate of inflation every single year. It's breaking our economic system. People are yelling and screaming about jobs going to China, but they're not yelling and screaming about jobs going to Canada. But they are. Because the right-wingers can scream and yell about rationing if they want, but economically their system works much better than ours does.
ESQ: I've seen nothing about that during this debate. But in the book you talk about GM and — or was it Toyota? — moving their new factories just across the bridge to Ontario to take advantage of the Canadian health-care system.
HD: Toyota did also, but GM and Ford were the big ones.
ESQ: It seems pretty obvious. They save money. So why are businesses so completely resistant to this?
HD: They're not. Some businesses — and the Chamber of Commerce — are resistant because they're ideological. They are part of the right wing. Then there are lots of businesses that aren't particularly ideological but genuinely believe that if they keep doing the same thing, they'll somehow get a different outcome. That's human nature. They think they can manage health-care costs even though it's been 40 years since any of them ever have. That's why I think Obama's plan is so great: If you like what you have, you can keep it.
ESQ: Speaking of the Obama plan, you're even stronger than he has been lately in support of the public plan. You say that without it, it's not reform.
HD: It's not. It's a waste of time. Don't pretend you're going to do health-insurance reform unless you're really going to change the system. The discussions in the Senate have not been about changing the system.
ESQ: They seem to be worried about preserving the status quo.
HD: Washington is the most conservative town in America. Its culture is the most resistant to change except a few religious cults.
ESQ: [Laughter]
HD: It's true! It's absolutely true.
ESQ: You say that the public plan shouldn't be able to dip into general government reserves to subsidize its operations. But the Republicans say it will.
HD: The Republicans just make things up out of whole cloth. Nothing they say about health care is true. It's all just nonsense and fears and what-ifs. It doesn't happen. First of all, Medicare doesn't dip into government reserves. It has never happened. It might happen in 10 years if they don't cut benefits or raise taxes, but so far, never in the history of America has a program like Medicare used public reserves. The Republican tactic is to raise objections because they never have anything positive to say themselves.
ESQ: In the book you ask, "Is health insurance really health insurance or an extension of the things that have been happening on Wall Street?"
HD: Think about it. What the big insurance companies have done is deny claims just so they can improve their bottom line. That's just extraordinary.
ESQ: And what about the public plan?
HD: I think that the Senate needs to understand that the American people want a public plan. That's not an advocate talking. That's the facts of the polls. People want the choice. And why shouldn't the American people get to choose instead of the big Washington government making the choice for them? So I think the Senate will come to understand that their first job is to serve the American people and not the health-insurance industry.
(click here to read the entire article)
(click here to order Howard's book for your local library)
Tuesday, July 7
Grassley's Support Expendable on Health Care
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 07 Jul 2009 08:18 PM CDT
Grassley's Support Expendable on Health Care
 Rollcall.com
By David M. Drucker and Emily Pierce
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday ordered Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill.
Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus was meeting with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.
According to Democratic sources, Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes; Reid told Baucus it wasn’t worth securing the support of Grassley and at best a few additional Republicans.
By Tuesday afternoon, the Finance Committee began looking at ways other than taxing health benefits to deliver a health care overhaul that costs less than $1 trillion and is deficit-neutral, as Baucus wants.
“This was discussed in the weekly Democratic leadership meeting,” one Democratic source confirmed Tuesday afternoon. “These concerns were relayed to [Baucus] later on.”
(click here to read the entire story)
We Must Act Now on Health Care Reform
by
Abraham Funchess
on Tue 07 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
We Must Act Now on Health Care Reform
 by Abraham L. Funchess, Jr
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We must act now and decisively if we want to realize a significant health care package by 2010 that can alleviate massive health care burdens for ourselves and our community neighbors.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said that “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Today, in February 2009, with President Barack Obama in the White House there are some who suggest that we live in a “post-racial” society. In this era of historic firsts, some question whether Black History Month has been rendered obsolete. While we joyfully acknowledge the progress our nation has made in terms of civil rights and opportunity for all, we have only to consider the quote from Dr. King to see that race still plays a role in the lives of all Americans.
African Americans have nearly twice the occurrence of others for low birth weight babies, fetal deaths, and infant deaths. Infants that die in the first 27 days of life occur at a rate of three times that of whites. And also according to the Center for Health Disparities at the University of Northern Iowa, African Americans have a higher rate of diabetes than other populations. But whatever the disease or injury is, in almost all cases, African Americans suffer higher mortality and morbidity rates than any other group. But why is that?
The simplest explanation is that many of the issues that prevent African Americans access to health care are the same financial ones that keep people of all races out of the health care system. However the problem looks even worse for Black Iowans as a group. On average, African Americans earn nearly 40% less than whites, and are four times as likely to live below the poverty level. Compounding the problem, around 70% of African American families in poverty have a single woman as the head of the household, and in the absence of another partner to help shoulder the financial and familial load, she must perform the delicate balancing act of taking care of her family while determining which bills get paid, and this is not always an easy choice. Lack of insurance coverage, lack of transportation, limited hourly access to clinics, and a general lack of knowledge of the health care system all contribute to this problem of access.
Because of this limited access, African Americans are also less likely to seek treatment for major health problems in a timely manner, and will often wait until the problems become more severe and complicated to treat. If we are truly serious about achieving cost savings by getting people better up-front and preventative care, this is an issue that will have to be addressed in any significant health care reform, either at the state or federal levels.
The historical legacy of racism, illegal and legal segregation, unethical scientific experiments, and other abuses have made many African Americans distrust our health care system. The Tuskegee Experiment debacle may seem like ancient history to many Iowans, but such histories are still fresh in a lot of minds and are passed down from generation to generation with real meaning to many in our community. It should be no surprise that the two populations that have the worst health status in America, Native Americans and African Americans, also are the two populations that have suffered the worst mistreatment by the majority population.
Before we can find a solution, we must correctly identify the problem. Before we can turn the page on history, we must read what’s on that page. And the reality of race-based disparities in health care in America is a story that many people do not know. And problems that face African Americans and other minorities in gaining access to the best quality health care are multiple and complex. Real equality of opportunity for all people requires that we reform our state and national health care systems to focus not only on coverage, but this reform must also focus on the severe racial discrepancies in health care quality, cost and access that arise from what are known as the “social determinants of health,” such as income, education, social and physical environments.
So where should we go from here? With 47 million uninsured in America, this is the civil rights cause of our time. Get involved, write letters, make calls to your elected officials, and organize others, because this is a fight that will take the collective energies of all of our communities - urban, rural, black, brown, and white - to win.
Abraham L. Funchess, Jr. was appointed by Governor Tom Vilsack to serve as Division Administrator of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans within the Department of Human Rights. Funchess was reappointed to the position by current Governor Chester J. Culver. In 2003, Funchess was appointed by Resident Bishop Gregory V. Palmer to serve in the Iowa Annual Conference to work at Jubilee United Methodist Church in Waterloo, where he still serves.
Dr. Alta Price will return next Tuesday with her weekly Health Care Reform Update
Monday, July 6
Citizen Report on Grassley Event in Coralville
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 06 Jul 2009 06:57 AM CDT
Citizen Report on Grassley Event in Coralville
 by Ed Flaherty
I'm no blogger or good reporter, but I will try to give a sense of the meeting with Senator Grassley at the Coralville Public (a socialist institution) Library @ 5PM today [Friday].
A roundtable for the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, with about 40 people there. There was a group of 15+/- outside, many from SEIU and others with signs. Grassley went in the less-used north entrance and avoided them. Three from that group (Jim Arthur, Barbara, & Chris) also attended the meeting, but were told they couldn't ask questions.
Grassley began the meeting by talking about health care, and the first question asked was about the status of the bill. G acknowledged the work of the National Federation of Business in helping. Also, AARP and SEIU and the "Divided We Fail" group, for two years of work prior to the Congress taking it up. Talked about accessibility (no elimination for prior conditions) and affordability (likelihood of gov't subsidies for anyone under 300% of poverty level), said perverse incentives need to be reversed and talked about potential mandates on individuals and businesses. Said he favored the former, not the latter. Also favored taxing employees for a portion of high class employee health benefits. I didn't catch if he predicted timing or compromises.
I asked this question: "1,2,37, and 47 are important numbers. 1 is for the US being the 1 and only industrialized nation that depends upon health insurance thru employers. 2 for we spend twice per capita for health care than any other "modern" nation, which gets us 37th in ranking of health quality standards in the world, leaving 47 Million (+more everyday) without any health coverage. Clearly the system is broken, and you oppose any public option and count on the health insurance companies which have profited from this dysfunctional system to reform it. You oppose a strong, public option because you see it as a Trojan horse for the takeover of the health system by govt. However, if you are successful in keeping out any public option, might that not lead to a total collapse & rejection of the system and lay the groundwork for a true public health system?" (There is no commitment to verbatim here).
He indicated that Obama promised in his campaign that anyone who liked their current coverage could keep it, and that if there were a public option then 119 million policyholders (according to the Lewin group) would choose that, the private insurers would have to raise premiums, then the last of policy holders would switch to public option, and Obama's promise would be broken, because the "heavy hand" of government would make it impossible for private insurers to compete. He said he wants competition, thru a co-op system (in honorable existence for 150 years) that would force private insurers to compete. No explanation, no opportunity to ask follow-up.
Brian from Big 10 Rentals related frustration on providing health insurance for 20 employees, and asked about being able to have the rental groups national association negotiate a plan. Grassley referred to a proposal from Sen. Olympia Snowe, which is a dead-end.
There was a question about Pres. Obama firing the Inspector General of Americorps without the 30-day required notice. Also a question about Cap & Trade, which G said he did not like the House version because it discriminates against Iowa which is 85% reliant on coal for electricity, and makes US non-competitive, motivating more manufacturers to move to China, etc. Says he favors an International Treaty.
Also a question from Alzheimer's group rep. about changing the 2-year waiting period, and Sen. Grassley said he thought a change would be justified but had no way of assuring it would be. Also took a question from Kelly Hayworth on flood relief related questions.
I asked if he was embarassed by the Senate Finance Hearings in which no Single Payer advocates were allowed to testify, and were arrested when they offered testimony. He said he didn't have control of the hearing, Sen. Baucus did. Hearings can't be allowed to have interruptions from the floor. I said the comments from the SP advocates were very intelligent, and that they deserved to have a place in the hearing. He said Sen. Baucus mollified it all by meeting with them later, and said it's not necessary to have an official hearing to be heard (again, the question was not answered).
James Lynch of CR Gazette was there (and I think was with the Grassley tour all day).
Please read the above as an imperfect recollection. Give 'em hell!!!
Ed Flaherty is a member of Veterans for Peace and Johnson County Democrats Central Committee & other suspect groups. Retired banker.
If you would like to cover an event as a Blog for Iowa citizen journalist, please contact us at blog3@democracyforiowa.com.
Saturday, July 4
Takin’ It To The Streets
by
Alta Price
on Sat 04 Jul 2009 05:00 AM CDT
Takin’ It To The Streets
by Alta Price
For an alternative to a Fourth of July Tea Party protest, check out HAARM’s (Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine) video Takin’ It To The Streets. Check out their other videos at their website, along the right side as you scroll down.
Happy Independence Day, everyone! Yay for democracy!
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