Last night I attended an Open Health Care Forum organized by my friends (and fellow Cardinals) Emily Langner and Deb Hall. The esteemed panelists–Katie Robbins from Healthcare-Now!, Donna Smith from the California Nurses Association (also featured in Sicko!), and U.S. Congressman John Conyers, author of HR 676–spoke for the majority of the program before it was opened up to questions.
U.S. Congressman John Conyers and Katie Robbins at the Open Health Care Forum at Wesleyan University, May 28, 2009
All of the panelists spoke about the need for a national single-payer health care system. I can’t recall ever having been to a health care event specifically geared toward the single-payer argument, though it is an end that I believe we should strive for myself. However, I also believe that there is more than one path between what we have now (which can hardly be called a health care system) and a single-payer health care system, and it was my impression that the panelists have chosen the direct path.
Wherever you stand, if you want to learn more about single-payer or HR 676, you can’t do much better than to hear about it straight from Congressman John Conyers, who authored the bill. You can see his remarks and those of others in the videos from the panel are below, which are arranged in chronological order. I ran out of tape after about 93 minutes, so the second part of the Q&A video was recorded to my digital still camera in two video clips, with a dramatic difference in quality.
Full Disclosure:I am the Online Organizer for the Connecticut Citizen Action Group. However, this being my personal blog, it is maintained on my own time using my own resources. The content of this blog post should be attributed to me, and not my employer. All that said, take my opinions on health care reform with as much salt as you like.
Senator Ted Kennedy was originally slated to speak at Wesleyan University’s 176th commencement this upcoming Sunday, which is a pretty good deal. His step-daughter is graduating and it is his son’s 25th reunion, so having Senator Kennedy speak at graduation would have been just as significant for him as it would have been for the Class of ‘08. But due to his recent health scare and diagnosis, a substitute will be speaking in his place: Barack Obama.
Senator Obama is honored to speak on behalf of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was previously scheduled to deliver the address.
“Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week. Considering what he’s done for me and for our country, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. So I’m looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won’t be able to fill his shoes,” Senator Obama said.
“We were greatly saddened that Senator Kennedy could not speak at this year’s ceremony, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family,” said Michael S. Roth, President of Wesleyan University. “We look forward to Senator Obama’s address and consider it a great honor to Wesleyan and Senator Kennedy that he has decided to join us, our graduates, their families and the entire Wesleyan community.”
The “entire Wesleyan community” is usually pretty broadly defined, but my guess is that the scope of the “entire Wesleyan community” that will be able to attend commencement is going to be narrowed. This is completely understandable, because commencement is a crazy event on its own without a speaker who draws 75,000 people and (and their boats). But you can check out the speech (and commencement) this Sunday at 11 via the WesCast at http://wescast.wesleyan.edu.
Less close to home, heart, and where I bust my brain is the 2nd Congressional District represented by Joe Courtney. As one of Connecticut’s remaining undeclared superdelegates, many of us in Connecticut were waiting to hear who Courtney would endorse. Why it took him 3.5 months after the Connecticut primary to make up his mind I don’t know, but I am pleased that he decided to throw his support to Barack Obama.
In the interview, Congressman Courtney also discussed how an Obama ticket would help other races in the state, talked about his support for the G.I. Bill/Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, and reflected on his first term as congressman of the second district.
That leaves us with only one undeclared superdelegate in Connecticut. After reading CT Bob’s take, I think she’s just constipated. Will somebody please get this superdelegate a super-laxative?
It was a dark and stormy night, but that didn’t stop the community members from coming out to the 100th House District convention in Middlefield Tuesday, where Democrats selected Matt Lesser to run against Republican Raymond Kalinowski.
I know Lesser from his long record of involvement in local politics and as a student at Wesleyan University — things that you can read about in Lesser’s extensive and impressive bio. All I know about Kalinowski is that he is serving his 3rd term in the 100th District, and based on what I saw in Middlefield last night, it will probably be his last.
Challengers to incumbents always face an uphill climb, but after attending the convention in Middlefield last night, I have compiled a list of the several reasons why I think Lesser is going to win:
Turnout in November Turnout for Democrats in the November election will be huge thanks to candidates like Barack Obama and Ned Lamont encouraging so many new voters to register. As Lesser pointed out last night, of all the districts currently represented by Republicans, the 100th boasts the greatest number of Democrats.
Turnout last night There were no shortage of reasons for people to skip last night’s convention: the weather was miserable; the nomination was uncontested; there was an important education budget/funding meeting going on in one of the district’s towns at the same time. Yet every seat at the modest convention was filled.
Support
Lesser has built an impressive coalition of supporters that is both wide and deep. This is evidenced not only by turnout at the convention, but by the fact that his nomination by Christine Bourne (of Middletown) was seconded three times — the first two by Ona McLaughlin and Mary Johnson (of Durham and Middlefield, respectively) and the third being offered extemporaneously by Middletown DTC Chairman Dan Russo.
State Senator Thomas Gaffey also came out to support Lesser’s campaign, remarking that it will be nice to have a Democrat in Hartford to help him deliver for their overlapping districts. As if that weren’t enough to demonstrate the breadth and depth of support for Lesser’s candidacy, former 100th District Representative and present Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz attended the convention to endorse Lesser.
Public Financing Connecticut has new public financing laws that overwhelmingly level the playing field for challengers. Once a candidate meets a fundraising threshold of $5000 from 150 district residents, public financing kicks in a sizable grant. Lesser has already qualified for public financing, which means he can spend more time knocking on doors in the district than he will have to spend raising money. When you can spend more time listening to voters than asking them to open their wallets, you’re going to win.
I shot three videos at last night’s convention, which are included below. If you’d like to learn more about Matt Lesser’s campaign, be sure to visit his website at www.mattlesser.com.
Susan Bysiewicz
Matt Lesser Acceptance Speech
Matt Lesser Interview
I would apologize about the noisy background in this video, but it’s evidence that this convention was buzzing.
However, there are some things that you will not typically learn about until after you’ve been accepted and plunked down your admission deposit. Below I have tried to address some of the things (good and bad) that I learned after I made my decision:
How will your credits transfer? It depends. At Wesleyan, a typical course meets for three hours per week, and counts for one Wesleyan credit. At the school I transferred from, and from many other schools, a typical course that meets for three hours per week counts for three credits. Those three credits will transfer as .75 Wesleyan credits. It is entirely possible to take eight courses in the first year at your original college and only have six credits at the start of your sophomore year at Wesleyan. 32 Wesleyan credits are required for graduation, which assumes four per semester over the course of four years. As I understand it, you must earn a minimum of 16 credits at Wesleyan to be eligible for a degree from Wesleyan.
Today I’m going to venture into the world of live streaming, which is a departure from the videoblogging I have written about (and done) in the past. So if there are any kinks in the process, please forgive them.
As part of a final push for Barack Obama in CT, Ned Lamont (who needs no introduction here) and Kal Penn (of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle fame) are appearing at UConn, Wesleyan University, and Yale University today, rallying students to Obama’s candidacy. As you may already know, Ned Lamont endorsed Obama–an endorsement that just got a lot more meaningful since the race is between just two candidates who are polling within the margin of error of each other in Connecticut.
Here’s a live stream of their stop at Wesleyan University (LIVE from approx. 4pm to 5pm EST on Feb. 1, 2008):
Jim Himes is in the running for DFA Grassroots All Star and Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund. If you’re unacquainted with Mr. Himes, he’s the Democrat running against Congressman Christopher Shays in Connecticut’s 4th. Congressman Shays has proven himself a formidable opponent, besting all Democratic challengers thus far, and as such your early support of Jim Himes via ActBlue or by voting for him at the links below is important to his victory this November.
Wesleying is something completely different. It’s the unofficial, completely student-run blog at Wesleyan University, and is nominated for “Best Alternative Media Outlet” again this year.
Columbia’s “Bwog” is at 35% and U. Michigan’s “College: On the Record” (OTR) has 50%. We all know Wesleying probably really is the best student blog (and college alternative media outlet) out there, so get to it!
It was a dark and stormy night, but that didn’t stop the community members from coming out to the 100th House District convention in Middlefield Tuesday, where Democrats selected 
