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Thursday, June 28, 2007
Kathryn N. Herr, 103, of Elizabethtown,
died on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at home with her daughter, Lois K.
Herr. Born in
Dauphin County, she was the daughter of the late J. Harper and
Gertrude Hassler Nisley. She was the wife of Ira R. Herr who died in
1986.
A graduate of Lebanon Valley College with
a degree in modern languages, Mrs. Herr earned her library
certification from Temple University and did her post graduate work in
French at the University of Pennsylvania. She was employed for 16
years as a teacher/librarian at Elizabethtown High School, where she
also directed senior class plays. Mrs. Herr taught French at
Elizabethtown College for 26 years, and upon her retirement in 1969,
was named Assistant Professor Emeritus.
Mrs. Herr is survived by her daughter,
Lois K. Herr of Elizabethtown, and by numerous close relatives.
Contributions may be
made to
Hospice of Lancaster County, 685 Good Drive, PO Box 4125,
Lancaster, PA
17604-4125.
 Mrs.
Herr's last public appearance was on September 26th, 2006 when she
attended the Herr Family Reunion held at the
Hans Herr House in southern
Lancaster County. The event was sponsored by the Lois Herr for
Congress Campaign. She had written articles for the campaign about
Lois and about the strong women who had founded the Nisley Family in
Pennsylvania.
Read more...
Wednesday, June 27,
2007
Join Progressives at The Movies and Win
Universal Health Care for PA
 “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s
devastating indictment of the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries,
is coming to a theater near you June 29th. The film is playing to packed
movie houses in early release. Audiences have given it standing ovations
and the critics have lavished praise upon it.
This movie event may be the best opportunity America will
ever have to galvanize public opinion to demand the repair of our broken and
dysfunctional health care system. Here in Pennsylvania “Sicko” is a unique
opportunity to spread awareness of the
Family And Business Health Security
Act, a comprehensive universal single-payer health care bill that
delivers full coverage to every man, woman, and child in Pennsylvania.
This crucial bill is
even now
working its way through the State House in Harrisburg.
Health Care for All PA (HEALTHCARE4ALLPA.org)
has created a simple
kit
to amplify the film's message, Locally, the Lancaster based
Progressives4Pennsylvania is enlisting as many people as
possible to participate in the distribution of the kit at local theaters.
This is a non-partisan effort to
pass the single-payer health care legislation. P$P are encouraging other
local groups to get involved. Contact P4P for more information at
info@progressives4pennsylvania.com.
Link to kit…
 Sunday,
June 24, 2007
Time for Republicans to Choose: Bush-Cheney or America...
by Stephen Crockett, co-host of
Democratic Talk Radio
The recent claim by Dick Cheney to have both executive privilege and
not to be part of the executive branch of government seems to amount
to a claim that Cheney is simply above the rule of law. It appears
that both Bush and Cheney think they rule by divine right like the
absolute monarchs of medieval Europe or the dictators of the old
Soviet Bloc. Both need to be impeached. Until they are removed from
office, the media, Congress and the courts should be aggressively
investigating, exposing and opposing their abuses of power.
Read more...
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Wednesday, June 20,
2007
Why
Ignore Single-payer Option?
by Jerry
Policoff (Letter to the Editor, published in the Intelligencer
Journal, June 19, 2007, reprinted by permission of author.)
I was distressed to read the article "Pa. GOP
eyes health care fix" (Intell, June 13). Nowhere in the article does
it even mention that there is a third option on the table, Senate Bill
300, which is the only bill offering single-payer, universal,
comprehensive health care and the only bill that will truly cover all
Pennsylvanians.
I know this omission was not the result
of ignorance because the same reporter covered a recent health care
forum at Franklin & Marshall College at which the relative merits of
Gov. Rendell's "Prescription for Pennsylvania" and the single-payer
option offered by SB 300 were debated. The story ran on page one the
next day.
A single-payer health plan is strongly opposed by
the health insurance industry because they are the only ones who stand
to lose if it passes.
It pains me to think that perhaps the media
chooses to ignore SB 300 because the industry that opposes it
represents a major source of ad revenue.
comment on this news item...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Old
Media, New Media and the Democratizing Potential of the Internet...
 Editorial
by Robert Spicer, Adjunct Professor of Communication at Millersville
University
When a new medium is introduced the
reaction of the old media is to attempt to destroy it rather than
adapt to it. This was the film industry’s reaction to movie rentals in
the mid 80s. Today it is how the recording and broadcast industries
are reacting to Internet radio. Earlier this year the Copyright
Royalty Board (CRB) decided that Internet radio stations should pay
record labels a fee per song played rather than a percentage of
revenue made by the station.
This decision is nothing short of a
threat to the democratizing potential of the Internet.
Read more...
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Joe Pitts’ Fails
Retired Americans… Again
by
Jerry Policoff
The Alliance for Retired Americans is out
with its annual Congressional voting scorecard for the 109th
Congress, 2nd Session (January-December 2006): “A Special Report on
legislation Vital to American Retirees.”
The report rates
members of Congress based on how they voted on ten pieces of
legislation that they consider vital to retirees:
Our own Joe Pitts voted the right way on
Pension Fairness and missed the vote on Skewed Estate Taxes. On the
other eight bills he voted against the interests of retired Americans
according to the Alliance for Retired Americans. Pitts’ received an
11% over-all score in 2006, which might appear shocking, except when
viewed in the context of his lifetime composite score of 2%. In fact
this is the first time ever that Pitts has managed not to receive a
“0” score from the Alliance for Retired Americans.
Read the report
here.
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Sunday, June 17, 2007
Slater Announces
Candidacy for
16th Congressional District
 Lancaster
County’s Bruce Slater announced his candidacy for the Congressional
seat now held by Republican Joe Pitts. The announcement was made at
the Pennsylvania Democratic Party held in Harrisburg today.
Slater criticized Joe
Pitts for his blind adherence to President Bush's legislative and
diplomatic agenda. He said, "We can no longer afford this lack of
leadership. The stakes in our district, our country, and around the
world are far too high."
Slater criticized Pitt's
non-responsiveness to a health care system which is in crisis. He
said, "The crisis is hurting our families, our businesses, and
draining the assets of our elderly, and I am committed to reforming
it."
"Joe Pitts and the
Administration have racked up trillions of dollars in debt for us and
our kids and grandchildren. It has to end. We cannot keep on
spending money we don’t have. I will vote to pay as we go, not borrow
and spend."
Read more...
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Transportation Spending
Bill Approved in House Panel
The House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
approved an FY 2008 spending bill that provides $2.8 billion more than
the Administration's request. The bill includes $40.2 billion for
highways and $9.7 billion for transit. It also provides $1.4 billion
for Amtrak and $50 million for a new state matching grant program for
intercity passenger rail. The bill provides $4.18 billion for the
Community Development Block Grant program, $400 million more than FY
2007. Housing programs, including Section 8, tenant-based rental
assistance, project-based rental assistance and the HOPE IV program,
receive increased funding. In addition, the Airport Improvement
Program was funded at $3.6 billion, $850 million above the President's
request.
Read more from the AFSCME Legislative Report
Friday, June 15, 2007
 DemocracyFest
2007...by Lois
K. Herr,
Senior Editor of www.newPA16.com
DemocracyFest drew
activists from all over the country to the hotbed of primary
campaigning, New Hampshire, which of course is where it all started
with Howard Dean's Presidential Campaign in 2003.
My serious involvement
with politics goes back to September 2003 when I drove to Manchester,
NH, to volunteer at the Dean campaign office. What a motivating
experience that was, as evidenced by complete absorption in my own
campaigns for the next three years. That's part of why I wanted to
attend this event, which is affiliated with Democracy for America
(DFA). DFA originally was Dean for America, as you may remember.
Sen. John Edwards and Sen
Mike Gravel both spoke with us in person; Kucinich appeared via
teleconference. William McNarry spoke passionately about his personal
friend Sen. Obama.
We talked about "Blue
Cities and Red Areas" and had a great overview of "the Logic of
American Government." DFA ran several of its training sessions,
including one on "Utilizing Social Networks for Campaigns," which was
the housemeeting concept.
After sessions on
everything from organizing to impeachment, the highlight was the last
speaker - Howard Dean. Dean is still the challenging, dynamic speaker
capable of making people believe that they are empowered to bring
about change. Now four years later, after being in DC for awhile at
the DNC, he's even more urgently pressing for us to be involved.
Wednesday, June 13,
2007
 Clinton,
Obama, and Gore Close Gap on Giuliani
in Today's
Quinnipiac Poll...analysis
by Jerry Policoff
The top three Democratic
presidential candidates have caught up to the top Republican presidential
contender, former New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani. Hillary Clinton
gets 45 percent to Giuliani's 44 percent; Barack Obama ties
Giuliani 42 - 42 percent and former Vice President Al Gore gets 45 percent
to Giuliani's 43 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University national
poll released today.
Read more...
View Quinnipiac poll...
Friday, June 8, 2007
Lois to Attend
DemocracyFest
Lois Herr, Senior Editor
of www.newPA16.com will be
attending a progressive festival with political candidates,
motivational speakers, campaign training, and keynote speaker, Gov.
Howard Dean this weekend in Bedford, NH.
Participants will explore
opportunities to gain political influence while networking with others
looking to take responsibility and claim ownership of their
government. The 4th Annual DemocracyFest is a 2-day festival traveling
from state to state, and it will be in New Hampshire on June 9-10.
DemocracyFest™ seeks to engage residents throughout New England
and from across the country, under the theme of “Potluck Politics: The
Art of Participatory Democracy.”
Read more...
Federal
Eminent Domain Threatens Pennsylvania
from the Pennsylvania Land Trust,
conserveland.org
The
Federal Department of Energy (DOE) is considering the designation of
nearly three-quarters of Pennsylvania as being included in a National
Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC). This designation
would expedite the construction of interstate high-voltage
transmission lines anwhere within this 50 county area. Just as
important, federal eminent domain authority could be granted to
private power companies for projects within NIETC regions. To our
north and our south, power companies have eagerly targeted protected
natural resources and eased lands for new transmission projects. Thus
the NIETC designation with eminent domain rights creates a huge new
threat to our state's conserved lands.
Bills and resolutions have been introduced in
both Congress and the State House opposing this action by the DOE. At
the state level, House Resolution 297 was introduced by state Rep.
Bill DeWeese, urging our Congressional delegation to repeal those
sections of the federal law to preserve the rights of the
Commonwealth.
Read more...
Maybe a Little
Congestion Isn't the Worst Thing That Can Happen
By R Walker, as posted on
Congress for the New Urbanism
Sometimes it helps when the state department of
transportation runs out of money.
That's what Allen Biehler, secretary of
transportation for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, seemed to suggest
Thursday morning. He was speaking as part of the panel "Putting
Traffic in Its Place: Using the New CNU/ITE Manual," one of the NU 202
sessions.
"We've have trained our citizens to expect that
if there's congestion, we're going to solve that congestion."
But maybe avoiding congestion isn't the most
important thing. And maybe the price for keeping some local streets
free of traffic is, in terms of livability for the whole community,
too. Sometimes a slight degradation in level of service, on the other
hand, may be offset by huge gains in livability and aesthetics.
Read more...
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
National
Health Insurance - Socialized Medicine?
Danny Schechter,
NewsDissector Blog
The
relentless rejoinder by the GOP “debate” participants to questions
about health insurance and health care are grave warnings about
the evils of “socialized medicine”, and the evils of government
sponsored health insurance.
I doubt that I’m that much smarter than anyone in
the pantheon of journalism, so why is it that once again, NOBODY….I
mean NOBODY….rises, however meekly to suggest that we already HAVE
government health insurance….and that it works fine.
About 75 million Americans get their health
insurance/health care from MEDICARE AND/OR THE VETERANS’
ADMINISTRATION!
Is it possible that I’m
the only one in America who knows this?
If a candidate dared to bray at me about
“socialized medicine” when confronted with a question about health
care and health insurance, I would ask him if he felt that Medicare
was “socialized medicine” and if he therefore was assuring his fellow
citizens that, if elected, he would save them all from the execrable
and dangerous damage to their freedom that Medicare represents, by
eliminating Medicare.
comment on this news item...
Comment:
Besides Medicare and the veterans
administration we also have another form of socialized health care. It
is in the form of health care given free or at a very low cost to all
the employees of our local ,state and federal governments. Anyone
receiving health care derived from taxpayers dollars is receiving a
form of socialized health care. If a private sector employer pays for
it, you can call it a benefit. If a taxpayer pays for it, you can call
it socialized. Do you think our politicians in Washington are ready to
give up their socialized health care? no way, but they are slow to act
for the rest of us who pay their bills
Bruce Slater, Narvon
Pa.
Comment:
You are not alone Danny. There is very
little discussion of "socialized medicine." It works very well at the
Veterans Administration, once you get into the system. Medicare's
overhead is 3-4 % compared to 25-30 % for private "providers" (a
misnomer, more on that later). The mess at Walter Reed was due to the
privatization of services by the Department of Defense, not a failure
of socialized medicine.
I had to dust off my definitions for this
one: it is not socialized medicine by going to a single payer plan.
Socialized medicine would mean that the healthcare facilities are
owned collectively or by a centralized government. In fact, the
providing of healthcare would not change; you would still have the
same doctor and his or her private practice. It would be the
administration and cost control that come under the jurisdiction of
the government.
When you are asked: who is your
healthcare provider? Do you give the name of your doctor or a
hospital? Or do you answer with the name of your HMO or PPO?
The insurance companies have managed to
pervert the truth and create the perception that they are healthcare
providers. They are merely the collectors of premiums and dispensers
of payments TO the true healthcare providers: doctors, nurses, social
workers, therapists, and on and on.
Obviously, health insurance companies
have the most to lose if our current for profit system is replaced by
a single payer plan; since they have lots of money and many
shareholders, prepare for an inundation of media ads against anything
that isn’t “free market.”
Morally, it is reprehensible to treat the
health of a human being as a commodity that can be bought and sold to
generate income. Every dollar spent on commercials, advertisements,
and exorbitant salaries is one less dollar spent on health.
Don LeVasseur, Lititz
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Republicans Should
Sex-Up Ideas Instead of Candidates...by Stephen Crockett, co-host of
Democratic Talk Radio
The sudden rise of Fred
Thompson as a leading Republican candidate for President shows that
the Republican leadership still does not understand their impending
implosion as a national political party. Thompson is a “sex-up”
version of a failed product. With Thompson, voters are getting the
same old package of ideologies and policies that have been total
disasters for the vast majority of Americans with new wrappings. Fred
Thompson is much more “Bush-lite” than the second coming of Ronald
Reagan.
Read more...
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Editor's note:
Crockett advises the Republicans! My hope is that the American people
see the Republican Party of Bush for what it is and then decide to
vote Democratic in coming elections. There is plenty of time for
reform of the Republican party when it is NOT in power. Lois K. Herr.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Reflections on
the “Density Summit” – Coalition for Smart Growth...by
Lois K. Herr, Editor
 Intense talk
about density, from a variety of perspectives, proved worthy of our
hours of seat time at the Coalition for Smart Growth’s Density
Summit. This summit comes on the heels of much public discussion of
the impact of higher density developments in the county. First of
all, density should be seen as a primary tool for implementing the
urban growth strategy of “Balance,” the County’s Growth Management Plan,
and the success of the overall strategy is dependent on it. However,
the other part of our equation requires equal attention. We must
dedicate comparable effort to developing tools to implement our rural
strategy, a far more difficult task requiring will and creativity.
Only with effort in both urban and rural areas can our goal of Balance
be achieved.
As was discussed in the
Density Forum, the word “density” sometimes creates denso-phobia, when
misunderstood or misused. Density should be seen in context and
illustrated with stories of design success. This is not a numbers
game, though zoning ordinances in place
can make or break our opportunities. Surely we must review and
develop ordinances that aid smart planning; creative design needs
flexibility in such restrictions as height. (We need to grow up!)
Once denser developments are possible, then the pressure must be put
on design. We need to design great places to live.
Importantly, our ability
to design our future depends on our infrastructures as well as on our
understanding of good design and our implementation of effective land
use. A key element of our infrastructure is transportation. Our
dependence on the car and on an extensive, growing highway system is
now counterproductive. Federal, State, and local funding practices
still direct our resources to highways when what we really need are
creative mass transit options.
I pose a possible topic
for the next summit – Rural Strategy and Smart Transportation.
More
resources...
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