Let me say that again: human rights are the foundation of society. They underpin all transactions that people can perform. We know all this already, but one cannot hear it too many times.

I will not volunteer for or donate to any candidate who does not support full equality for all people. I don’t care if they are the perfect abolish-corporate-personhood-single-payer-healthcare-withdraw-our-troops-from-everywhere-let-the-teachers-teach candidate. If they do not support full civil rights for gayfolk, including full marriage, employment, housing rights, then screw them. I will not support apartheid. This is the absolute highest priority issue for me. Even though I don’t want the government in the marriage business at all, if a government sanctioned institution is available to some, it must be available to all.

Instead, let’s start saying “Medicare for Everyone.”  Everyone already knows what Medicare is, and as it seems, everyone seems to like it.

We should, in all likelihood, just open up the rolls of Medicare to everyone.  If there are still deficiencies in coverage, then we could have supplemental policies, much like they do in France, and here already in the United States.  There would still be a private insurance industry that way, but they would be largely de-fanged.

What are the benefits?  Well, it seems likely that costs would go down, as Medicare payments are a known quantity.  Payment to doctors and hospitals would become much more streamlined, as there wouldn’t need to be huge staffs of people who’s job was to deal with the balky insurance companies, saving money.  The uninsured wouldn’t need to visit Emergency Rooms for non-emergencies, another savings.  And I’m sure there are probably lots of other ways that the system would become less expensive, too.

Why can’t we do this?

The GOP doesn’t have much sense of humor – they can dish it out, but they can’t take it. So the false outrage of the Republicans over Representative Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) recent floor speech where he said “The Republicans have a back up plan in case you do get sick … This is what the Republicans want you to do. If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly!”

Meanwhile, although the public option amendment was voted down in the Senate Finance Committee, momentum is still building for it outside the beltway, as people realize more and more how important this fight is for universal health care.

Call and write your Congressional Representatives in the House and Senate today and urge them to support the public option!

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Going back to the question of stare decisis, the one thing that is very interesting about this area of law for the last 100 years is the active involvement of both State and Federal legislatures in trying to find that balance between the interest of protecting in their views how the electoral process should proceed and the interests of the First Amendment.

And so my question to you is, once we say they can’t, except on the basis of a compelling government interest narrowly tailored, are we cutting off or would we be cutting off that future democratic process? Because what you are suggesting is that the courts who created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons, and there could be an argument made that that was the Court’s error to start with, not Austin or McConnell, but the fact that the Court imbued a creature of State law with human characteristics.

But we can go back to the very basics that way, but wouldn’t we be doing some more harm than good by a broad ruling in a case that doesn’t involve more business corporations and actually doesn’t even involve the traditional nonprofit organization? It involves an advocacy corporation that has a very particular interest.

Although she tailored her remarks to the case at hand, very narrowly, just the idea of questioning from the bench the notion of the correctness of corporate personhood is like a clarion call in the chaos.  Corporate personhood is why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. that we do.  We need corporations to be for the public benefit again, and not immortal, and unable to lobby or donate to political campaigns.

Thank you, Justice Sotomayor!

And Clinton inadvertently sent the bloggers a very different message. Lane Hudson interrupted his speech to challenge him on the unconscionable “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military. Clinton’s famed temper flared as he defended himself:

“You wanna talk about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I’ll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn’t deliver me any support in the Congress and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military, and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting some support in the congress. Now, that’s the truth.

“Well, not quite, since many of the bloggers in the audience were teenagers or younger when this debate took place. But the former president provided clear strategic insight for the current moment. We don’t want a former President Obama to say, a decade from now, that the reason we didn’t get a public option was that we “couldn’t deliver” any support for him in the Congress. It’s time to deliver that support.

So no surrender; no retreat. Don’t start embracing “half a loaf,” or thumb-sucking about the reasons for the demise of the public option. Real reform has the support in the country, the Democratic Party, the House of Representatives and the White House. It has support of a majority of Democrats in the Senate. Now it is time to deliver the president the votes he needs for the public option he favors. Full court press on the handful of Democrats that are standing in the way, and then real pressure on the two or three Republicans who have yet to surrender to the obstructionist extremes of their party.

Pull out the stops. Do whatever you can think about doing to weigh in at this time – and then enlist your friends to join you. We are very close. We don’t have to overcome a presidential veto, or the opposition of the congressional leadership. All we need to do is to get Democrats and a couple Republicans to commit to giving the president a majority vote on this critical reform, and then get 50 members of the Senate to join the majority of the House in supporting it. Forget the naysayers. This is in reach. Let’s make it happen.

via Robert L. Borosage: Health Care: Let the Majority Be Heard.

This is horrible service and a terrible way to treat one’s constituents.

In a statement Monday, Gibbons said Senate Bill 283 conflicts with a constitutional amendment approved by Nevada voters in 2002 supporting marriage between a man and a woman.

He says only the voters should be able to amend or undo provisions of the constitution.

Gibbons says domestic partners can also sign private contracts to accomplish many of the goals of the law.

Join the Facebook Group and learn more about how you can help.

• Check here for Day of Decision events.
• Check here for Meet in the Middle events set for 30 May at Fresno City Hall.

No matter which way the decisions go, we must be ready to celebrate or protest.  Do not be afraid to get arrested tomorrow if the decision goes against us.  Non-violent civil disobedience is important.

He’s got a lot of action items, and the President needs our help to continue to forward his agenda of change.  Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to support President Obama’s plan for change.

The power of collective action and Freedom of Association are what brought the rise of unions.  Unions are what made the 40-hour work week possible, what made retirement pensions possible, what made healthcare benefits possible.

The easier it is to unionize, the better position people are in when dealing with their employers.  Help the SEIU and Congress pass the Employee Free Choice Act and let’s get organized!