Marla Turner sent a message to the members of Thinking Liberally on Facebook. I want to share it with you all.

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Subject: Important Events Taking Place This Week

Hello Liberals!

Several important events are taking place this week on Capital Hill. It is in all our best interests to be as engaged as possible for what could be the beginning of the end for an unregulated health insurance industry and the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

To get ready for health insurance reform actions this week, I recommend reading Noelle’s diary at Daily Kos. http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/21/132029/805?new=true. In it she outlines the following three things that all of us can do right now to support health care reform.

1. Tell your Representative to sign on to the Perriello-Markey bill to repeal the antitrust exemption for insurance companies. This is a very easy call: insurance companies shouldn’t be allowed to collude to set prices: they should have to compete for business fairly. Period. http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;action.progressivecongress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=857

2. Tell your Senator to sign onto the Bennet letter in support of a public option. They can join twenty of their colleagues who have signed on this week, including Sen. Schumer – who, as the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, knows a fair amount about Senate process and how to get this done procedurally. http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;action.progressivecongress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=858

3. Be one of a million voices for health care: pledge to make calls on Feb 24 for members of Congress to fix and pass the health care bill. Sign up now at http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.moveon.org/r?r=86481&rc=vm.mailto

MONDAY 2/22:

The White House is expected to release the details of the newest health care reform proposals. Although both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have thrown their support to the public option, the version coming out tomorrow is not expected to contain it. Instead, it is likely to include a recommendation of utilizing the budget reconciliation procedure (for the public option) in order to bypass a potential Republican filibuster in the Senate.

You can find the details tomorrow at http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.whitehouse.gov.

TUESDAY 2/23:

Testimony begins on repealing DADT. Speakers include the Army’s Gen. George Casey and the Air Force’s Gen. Norton Schwartz. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway, who is said to oppose changes to the policy, will testify on Wednesday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen says he believes DADT unfairly forces gay and lesbians in the military to “compromise their integrity” by pretending to be something they’re not. Listen to who says what and let your representatives and senators know where you stand.

Proceedings can be viewed on http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.cspan.org.

WEDNESDAY 2/24:

All hands on deck! This is the 1,000,000 Voices Virtual March, a joint project by MoveOn, HCAN, DFA, SEIU, and Progressive Congress which aims to bombard Congress with 1,000,000 contacts in support of health care reform. This is timed to occur the day before the start of President Obama’s bi-partisan summit.

Sign up now and on the 24th, you’ll be able to use their tools to contact Congress and the Senate – and to take action of your choice, whether by calling, emailing, faxing, or writing. It’s simple, painless, and takes about a minute. DO IT – we need you.

Sign up here to participate on Wednesday: http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.moveon.org/r?r=86481&rc=vm.mailto

THURSDAY 2/25:

The bi-partisan summit President Obama requested begins. Obama says that the summit will test Democratic and Republican lawmakers’ ability to solve not just the health care reform debate but other problems, too. Republicans consider the summit to be a trap. In a sense, I think they’re right. Because if they continue to play the role of obstructionist, they’ve outed themselves to the American public. And the insurance company rate hikes that took place last week give those in support of health care reform a great starting point to kick off this event.

The summit begins at 10:00 a.m. EST and will be broadcast live on C-Span. Check your local listings or visit http://www.facebook.com/l/06a26;www.cspan.org.

The ante has been upped and we’ve got to stay engaged to see these things through. Thanks in advance for hanging in there through this long message and for doing your part. Together, WE make the difference!

As always, be well and do good,

Marla

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League of Women Voters' of Las Vegas Valley

My wife, Lillie, and I had an enjoyable and pleasant opportunity to attend the celebration breakfast of the League’s 90th year yesterday morning in Las Vegas.

Must have been around a couple hundred there. Really a welcoming and friendly group of ladies that run that outfit.

Good breakfast; scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, muffins and more for breakfast.

We had been invited to attend the celebration by Don and Fran Rust. Don is president of the League of Women Voters of Pahrump. Glad we accepted and went. I am an admirer of the League.

We were treated to an interesting and informative PowerPoint presentation covering the history of the League from Susan B. Anthony right down to current times.

Looking around I saw Catherine Cortez-Masto, the Attorney-General of Nevada. There were a number of political candidates that introduced themselves.

Also there was the diminutive Kim Wallin, Nevada’s Comptroller, Controller (or whatever the name of the office title is.) I’ve always liked her since first seeing her here in Pahrump at a dinner aptly labeled “Women on the Run” and later in Tonopah when she was running for election. She would have to carry a small suitcase to stand on to reach the microphone.

Ms. Wallin and I got to chat a bit. I was amazed she even remembered who I am since I’m nothing more than a simple peasant. But she did. Kind of flattering.

I’ll be glad when Pahrump’s League gets set up to conduct events for candidate’s night.

Health Care Reform has been resurrected like Lazarus from the grave. I suspect Anthem Blue Cross’s raising of health insurance premiums up to as much as 39% has been the catalyst.

The Daily Beast today displays the following:

The televised health-care summit President Obama will host Thursday is being billed as likely the last chance for the GOP to influence the legislation. The Obama administration said health-care proposals will be published on its website Monday and will likely be a melding of the House and Senate Democrats’ versions of the reform legislation. The summit has been hyped as a chance to break through partisan gridlock and listen to Republican ideas. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Saturday that the final Democratic bill will be unveiled Monday evening, and that Democrats will finish up health care within the next 60 days using the budget reconciliation process, a procedure that requires a simple majority vote and would block a potential Republican filibuster. Republicans have decried reconciliation as a partisan move.

Maybe, just maybe, the Democratic leadership is about to cast off its timidity and going to move forward on health care reform. Thank you Anthem Blue Cross!

The White House will publish its updated healthcare proposals sometime tomorrow, Monday, so we can all see for ourselves what is being touted. Something that should have been done, I think, many months ago.

We can all, then see our elected representatives deal with the plan on live TV on C-SPAN when members of congress meet on Thursday. Now that is transparency!