Democrats to reintroduce DREAM Act

Original Politico article here

By SCOTT WONG | 5/10/11 7:26 PM EDT

Senate Democrats will re-introduce the long-stalled DREAM Act, hoping to tap into momentum from President Barack Obama’s speech along the border Tuesday about America’s need to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and other Democrats will urge passage of the DREAM Act at a news conference Wednesday morning at the Capitol.

Foundering in Congress for a decade, the legislation was passed in the House but came up five votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster in the Senate during last December’s lame-duck session. The DREAM Act would provide a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants brought to the country as children if they attend college or join the military for two years.

At a speech in El Paso, Texas, Obama called on Congress to pass the bill and “stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents.”

“It was a tremendous disappointment to get so close and then see politics get in the way,” Obama said. “These are kids who grew up in this country, love this country, and know no other place as home. The idea that we would punish them is cruel and it makes no sense. We are a better nation than that.

“So we’re going to keep up the fight for the Dream Act. We’re going to keep up the fight for reform.”

Protecting the Affordable Care Act

Talking Points: Protecting the Affordable Care Act

* Instead of working to find bipartisan solutions to create jobs, grow the economy, and make America more competitive, Republicans in Congress are spending all of their time re-fighting the political wars of the last two years by trying to repeal health reform and give control over your health care back to insurance companies.

* The Affordable Care Act provides Americans with more freedom and control in their health care choices.

 It gives families the freedom from worrying about losing their insurance, or having it capped unexpectedly if someone is in an accident or becomes sick.

 It frees Americans from the fear of insurance companies raising premiums by double digits with no recourse or accountability.

 It frees Americans from discrimination when insurance companies deny women health insurance because they are pregnant, or refuse to provide coverage to children who are born with disabilities.

 It provides parents the choice of providing health coverage for a child after they finish school.

It provides people the freedom to change jobs without worrying about losing one’s health insurance, or even retire a little earlier without having to worry about losing one’s coverage.

It provides seniors with the freedom to get the care they need, including free preventive care, lower cost prescription drugs, and Medicare that they can count on.

And, it gives small business owners the power of competing with large employers by providing small business tax credits to make employees’ health coverage more affordable, and by increasing their purchasing power through competitive private health insurance Exchanges.

Finally, it frees our children from the threat of out-of-control government debt and deficits by holding government accountable for its spending. Independent estimates show it will reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars by cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse, and stopping hundreds of billions in unfair and irresponsible subsidies to insurance companies that are now paid by taxpayers. 

* These new choices, freedoms and options are only possible because the Affordable Care Act holds insurance companies accountable.

With this law, insurance companies can no longer overcharge for insurance just to boost their profits and CEO bonuses. They won’t be able to deny women coverage because they are pregnant, something they classify as a preexisting condition. The law has already stopped them from denying kids coverage if they are born with a medical problem or disability. And insurance companies can no longer use fine print, or legal tricks to deny medical treatments that are covered under people’s policies.

 If the Affordable Care Act were repealed, the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that as many as 129 million Americans under 65 – that’s up to one half of non-elderly Americans – could be denied insurance or charged more for their coverage as a result of pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure and asthma.

· But Republicans in Congress want to unravel the law that holds insurance companies in check.

  The insurance company lobbyists are working overtime with Republicans to return to the days when insurance companies were free to do whatever they want, including raising premiums and imposing higher costs on families and businesses to protect their CEO bonuses and corporate profits.

  Republicans will allow insurance companies to once again DENY coverage to children with existing conditions, CANCEL coverage when people get sick, and LIMIT the amount of care you can get − even if you need it.

  When the insurance companies are free to pursue their profits without any accountability, people have fewer choices, fewer options, and little recourse.

· And, by rolling back the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are adding a TRILLION dollars to the deficit.

  They would give back to insurance companies subsidies of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. And they would cut back on efforts in the law to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. We can NOT afford to add another trillion dollars in debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay – especially when it goes to wasteful spending and outrageous subsides for insurance companies.

Gabrielle Giffords Attack

President Obama's Tucson Memorial Speech

Original Huffington Post article

Will We Heed President Obama's Call for a More Empathic Society?

In a memorial service held in Tucson, Arizona for victims of the recent tragedy, President Obama called on Americans to "sharpen our instincts for empathy" so that we can become a more civil people.

The President's call for a more empathic culture and civil society raises the troubling question of "What has gone so terribly wrong with America?" Why are we becoming more aggressive, violent, self-interested and intolerant as a society? The problem goes deeper than just blaming the escalating rhetoric of political pundits and talk show hosts. They are playing off a deeper sensibility that has become engrained in the thinking of many Americans.

It is our core beliefs about the very nature of human beings that make us so susceptible to the rising plague of intolerance that is spreading across the land. The American character was forged, in large part, on a skewed idea about who we are as a people that was spawned several hundred years ago in the Protestant Reformation and English Enlightenment.

From the very moment John Winthrop and his flock of Puritans landed on American shores in 1630, we came to believe that we are God's chosen people and that the Lord has a unique covenant with us that makes us special among the peoples of the world. In our economic life, we have become the fiercest supporters of Adam Smith's belief that the naked pursuit of individual self-interest in the market is the defining feature of human nature. In our political life, we have come to believe in "American Exceptionalism," that our political ideology is somehow superior to all others. In our social life, we are the strongest supporters of Social Darwinism, that life is a combative struggle in which only the strongest survive. These highly regarded core beliefs are antithetical to a mature empathic sensibility.

It's no wonder that when President Obama spoke of empathy during his first year in office and mentioned that it is the guiding philosophical principle in his life, he was pummeled and excoriated in the popular press as being weak and unfit to be the "Commander-in-Chief" of the most powerful nation on Earth.

What is there about the concept of empathy that conjures up so much derision? Why are some so frightened?

Perhaps it's because being empathic requires giving up the pretense of being special and anointed. It means being mindful of other points of view. It means abandoning the idea that rank self-interest governs all behavior. And, most important, it means being open to the plight of others.

New discoveries in human evolutionary development are challenging our long held shibboleths about human nature. We are learning that human beings are biologically predisposed not for aggression, violence, self-interest and pleasure seeking utilitarian behavior but, rather, for intimacy and sociability, and that empathy is the emotional and cognitive means by which we express these drives.

To empathize is to experience another's condition as if it was our own. It is to recognize their vulnerabilities and their struggle to flourish and be. To be able to empathize with another requires that we first acknowledge our own vulnerabilities. It is because we realize that life is fraught with challenges, that we are all imperfect, fragile and vulnerable, that life is precious and worthy of being treated with respect, that we are then able to reach out and, through our empathic regard, express our solidarity with our fellow beings. Empathy is how we celebrate each other's existence. To empathize is to civilize.

Empathy is the real "invisible hand" of history. It is the social glue that has allowed our species to express solidarity with each other over ever broader domains. Empathy has evolved over history. In forager-hunter societies, empathy rarely went beyond tribal blood ties. In the great agricultural age, empathy extended past blood ties to associational ties based on religious identification. Jews began to empathize with fellow Jews as if in an extended family, Christians began empathizing with fellow Christians, Muslims with Muslims, and so on. In the Industrial Age, with the emergence of the modern nation-state, empathy extended once again, this time to people of like-minded national identities. Americans began to empathize with Americans, Germans with Germans, Japanese with Japanese. Today empathy is beginning to stretch beyond national boundaries to include the whole of humanity. We are coming to see the biosphere as our indivisible community, and our fellow human beings and creatures as our extended evolutionary family.

This doesn't mean that our national loyalties, religious beliefs and blood affiliations are not important to us. But when they become a litmus test for defining the human sojourn, all other beliefs become the alien other.

For a long time, we Americans have been obsessed with "creating a more perfect union." Maybe it is time to put equal weight on creating a more "empathic society."

Original Huffington Post article 

After Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and a number of others were wounded or killed in a shooting in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said that the state has "become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

Addressing the tragedy at a news conference, the sheriff said that law enforcement had reason to believe that Giffords was specifically targeted in the attack. He added that evidence suggests one suspect -- 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who is already in custody -- likely did not act alone.

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," said the sheriff. "And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

When asked by a reporter if Giffords being shot could have been motivated by "prejudice and bigotry," Dupnik responded, "All I can tell you is that there's reason to believe that this individual may have a mental issue. And I think that people who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol."

While speaking, the sheriff said that himself it included, "it's not unusual for all public officials to get threats." However, he said the sentiment doesn't come without consequences.

"And that's the sad thing of what's going on in America," he explained. "Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office."

Read more...

Election Results

Statewide election results

Coconino County election results

Kirkpatrick's Flood Relief Bill

Rep. Kirkpatrick Introduces Bill Providing Relief to Schultz Fire Flood Victims
FLAGSTAFF, AZ – Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick announced today that she has introduced legislation that would help many of the homeowners near Flagstaff who had their homes damaged as a result of the Schultz Fire Flood. The bill would ensure that victims who opened flood insurance policies prior to the first major flood would be able to file claims to recover their losses. It would also change current law to provide officials with the flexibility in the future to waive waiting periods for coverage.
As a result of the Schultz Fire, several of the peaks rising above Flagstaff can no longer absorb large amounts of water, allowing water and mud to flow into the surrounding communities. Massive flooding has devastated these areas, impacting thousands. Unfortunately, because of a loophole in the law, residents who followed the advice of officials and purchased federal flood insurance immediately following the fire were not covered due to a mandatory 30-day waiting period before a newly purchased policy can begin. Therefore, although these homeowners did the right thing by getting insurance, they currently have little recourse.

Read more...