Portlanders packed downtown's Terry Schrunk Plaza this morning for the "Health Care Can't Wait!" rally.

 

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger spoke first and then introduced the rest of the speakers - which included nurses, business owners and labor leaders.

 

It was a great honor for me to be there representing Ecumenical Ministires of Oregon.

 

(Thanks to Carrie Aguilar for this last photo)

The audio podcast of my remarks can be downloaded here:

Download CCPDXHealthCareRally082909

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes by clicking here. 

This Saturday – August 29^th from 10 am until 11 am – there will be a major health care rally in downtown Portland.  As you know, Congress will return soon from their August recess to consider health care reform.  Opponents of reform have been well funded and organized…spending tens of millions to defeat reform…but 47 million of our fellow citizens still have no health insurance and that number grows every day.  This is a moral issue that all people of faith should be concerned with.

 

The “Health Care Can’t Wait” rally will take place at:

 

Terry Schrunk Plaza (Portland, OR)

SW 3rd Ave

Between Jefferson St & Madison St

Portland, OR 97204

 

That’s right in front of the Green-Wyatt Federal Building.

 

At the request of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, I have been invited to speak at the rally as a representative of Oregon’s faith community.

 

It should be a beautiful August morning in Portland.  Please take the time out of your busy summer schedule to show your support for health care reform.   

 

If you live outside the Portland area and would like to attend an event closer to you visit:

http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/ 

 

Related Link:  Health Care and The Christian Tradition

Related Link:  Letter to President Obama On The Public Option

On Facebook?  Join the group People of Faith for a Strong Public Option in Health Care Reform

Catch me tonight on KOIN (http://www.koinlocal6.com) and KPTV (http://www.kptv.com) talking about Senator Kennedy’s passing.

You can also listen to my interview this moring with KINK here:

Download KINKInterviewReSenKennedy

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes by clicking here. 

Related Post: The Death Of Senator Kennedy  

Senator Edward Kennedy was a champion of the poorest Americans – fighting for stronger schools, universal health care, and affordable housing. His death leaves a great void in American politics. Few have used their power to work for the “least of these” as he did. His faith clearly was the underpinning of his politics. It will always be a lasting honor for me to have been in the Pepsi Center last August to hear Senator Kennedy give his last public speech. I thank God for the years America enjoyed with Senator Kennedy. His legacy will endure.

Related Post:  Reflecting On The Great Legacy Of Ted Kennedy

Catch me tonight on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/EadyMedia talking about health care and faith.  8 pm Pacific. 

Update:  You can now download the show or listen to it on demand at:

http://tobtr.com/s/624877 

Update:  It was annouced this morning (August 26, 2009) that Senator Kennedy died.  A terrible loss for the nation.  My prayers are with his family.  Senator Kennedy was a gift to America.

On the most important moral issues of our time – Vietnam and Iraq, health care, public education, poverty and civil rights – one figure has towered over the others as a champion of the progressive cause: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. For 40 years he has waged battles that others would not, served as the keeper of the legacies of President Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy, and made sure that Americans remembered that the “dream would never die.”

Like all people, he has faults. But unlike most his have played out on a national stage. But if you weigh his great accomplishments against the public moments of drama it is easy to see that he is a man of character who has always put the least of these first.

The news this week that he is attempting to help his state determine how to choose a successor for his U.S. Senate seat has me thinking again about all that Senator Kennedy has given to this country. He has often been in my thoughts and prayers since his diagnosis of cancer.

I’ve never met Senator Kennedy (how I envy the photo my wife Liz had taken with him when she worked on the Hill). But there are two times that I’ve seen him speak. The first time was in 1984 when I was on a school trip to D.C. and we were fortunate enough to visit the Senate while he was speaking.

But being in the Pepsi Center last summer at the Democratic National Convention as he took the stage was an electric moment that I’ll never forget. Everyone knew that he wanted to attend, show his support for Barack Obama, and to speak about the need for universal health care. No one knew, however, if he would make it. In the end, he did. And what a moment it was.

Last night, reflecting on Senator Kennedy, I read The Boston Globe series on his life and career that was published earlier this year. It was an honest portrait that shows a very human figure. I highly recommend it. Please continue to keep Senator Kennedy and his family in your prayers.

Photo credit: U.S. Senate

I am excited to share the news that The Rev. Don Frueh has been called to serve as the new permanent minister at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ.  Click here to learn more.  Rev. Frueh is a friend and colleague.  I could not be happier that he has been choosen.  My last day as the interim minister will be Sunday, September 13th.  The service that Sunday will begin at 10 AM and a reception will follow.  If you are in Portland that day please join us.  Directions to the church can be found here. 

Where does President Obama stand now on including a public option as part of health care reform?  It's unclear.  CNN has the latest:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House sought to reassure jittery supporters Monday that President Obama is not abandoning the fight for a public health insurance option.

The assurance came amid a media firestorm ignited over the weekend by administration officials seeming to indicate a willingness to drop such an option in order to secure congressional approval of a health care reform bill.

"The president has always said that what is essential is that health insurance reform must lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all Americans, and it must increase choice and competition in the health insurance market," White House aide Linda Douglass said in a written statement.

"He believes the public option is the best way to achieve those goals."

The administration seemed to step back from its insistence on such an option over the weekend, when Obama said it is "not the entirety of health care reform."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president could be "satisfied" without it. And Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" that a public insurance plan is "not the essential element."

Clearly, the White House is flirting with the idea of dropping the public option.  As former Gov. Howard Dean says, doing so would destroy the goal of obtaining anything close to universal health care:

Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, a leading figure in the liberal wing of his party, said Monday he doubts there can be meaningful health care reform without a direct government role.

Dean urged the Obama administration to stand by statements made early on in the debate in which it steadfastly insisted that such a public option was indispensable to genuine change, saying that Medicare and the Veterans Administration are "two very good programs that have been around for a long time."

Dean appeared on morning news shows Monday amid increasing indications the Obama White House is retreating from the public option in the face of vocal opposition from Republicans and some vocal participants at a town-hall-style meetings around the country.

The former Vermont governor was asked on NBC's Meet the Press about President Obama's statement over the weekend that the public option for insurance coverage was "just a sliver" of the overall proposal. Obama's health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, advanced that line, telling CNN on Sunday that a direct government role in a system intended to provide virtually universal coverage was "not the essential element."

Dean argued that a public option is fair and said there must be such a choice in any genuine shake up of the existing system.

"You can't really do health reform without it," he said. Dean maintained that the health insurance industry has "put enormous pressure on patients and doctors" in recent years.

He called a direct government role "the entirety of health care reform. It isn't the entirety of insurance reform. ... We shouldn't spend $60 billion a year subsidizing the insurance industry."

The president needs to hear from supporters of a public option now. Without his strong leadership the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are just about to kill any meaningful chance for health care reform.  Write the president today and tell him to stand firm. 

Related Link:  Health Care and The Christian Tradition

Related Link:  Letter to President Obama On The Public Option

On Facebook?  Join the group People of Faith for a Strong Public Option in Health Care Reform

The Oregonian has published an op-ed piece that I wrote this week on health care reform. You can read it here.

Steve Duin, usualy The Oregonian's best critical thinker, still loves the Community Transitional School - as evidenced by yet another uncritical profile of the program - but segregating homeless kids into separate schools is still a bad idea. 

The debate over health care reform continues to rage.  47 million Americans have no health insurance and millions more have inadequate coverage.  Before Congress now are proposals that would extend coverage - letting people keep their own doctors and insurance plan - but also creating a much needed public option.

Critics of the plan are disrupting town hall meetings with mobs of enraged people organized by DC lobbying firms where members of Congress are attempting to listen to citizens concerned about health care reform.  A Congressman in Washington State and a North Carolina congressman have had their lives threatened.  These out of control groups are being egged on by right-wing radio shows hosts and politicians like Sarah Palin who actually called the proposals now under debate "downright evil." 

IT'S TIME FOR PEOPLE OF FAITH TO TAKE A STAND

Organizing for America is asking people to be in touch - either in person or with a phone call - with their members of Congress immediately to show support for health care reform and the president's call for a public option.  At this moment extremists fighting against health care reform are dominating the discussion and we cannot let them win.

Once you've talked to your House and Senate members please contact the President.  Thank him for his leadership and urge him to stand strong against the opponents of a public option.  As I told the president in a letter sent this evening, for the faith community health care reform is about a ministry of healing. How we treat the least of these in society is akin to how we treat God, says Jesus.

And if you are on Facebook please consider joining the People of Faith For A Strong Public Option group.  In just over a week more than three hundred lay members, seminarians, clergy, authors and professors have joined national religious leaders in calling for meaningful health care reform.

Finally, show some love to the people at Faith In Public Life and help them keep the spot above on CNN.  

Today the United States Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to a seat on the United States Supreme Court.  Judge Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama, was one of the most qualified people to be nominated to the nation's highest court in the last one hundred years.  Her nomination drew 68 votes - all Democrats and a small number of Republicans.  Sadly,the majority of  Republicans, towing the line of the National Rifle Association and extremist voices from the Religious Right and others, opposed the nomination.  Nevertheless, an overwhelming number of senators supported the nomination.  The Supreme Court will benefit from her experiences and judicial philosophy.  Today was a victory for America and a defeat for extremists like the NRA. 

Photo: White House

Related Link:  Bush, NRA Share Blame For Tragic Pittsburgh Shooting

Related Link:  Sonia Sotomayor’s Views Draw Support From Mainline Christians, Gun Control Advocates 

The tragic mass shooting in Pittsburgh last night further illustrates the need for gun control in the United States.  Allegheny Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said in a press conference today that the bullets clips which held 30 bullets purchased by George Sodini to use in his semi-automatic weapons were illegal under the assault weapons ban that expired under pressure from then-President George W. Bush and the National Rifle Association.  In other words, had the assault weapons ban still been in effect it would have been much more difficult - and illegal - for Sodini to have purchased the fire power needed to carry out his attacks against women at the LA Fitness Center.  Sodini, who took his own life, is clearly responsible for the violence that occurred but President Bush and the NRA also have blood on their hands for allowing people like Sodini to get their hands on dangerous weapons of mass destruction that have no legitimate place in our society.  President Obama and Congress must do more to reinstate the assault weapons ban and enact other sensible gun control measures to protect Americans.  Religious leaders who want to become more involved in this important issue should visit the website of God Not Guns for additional information.

Related Link: "God, Guns & American Violence: Turning Weapons Into Ploughshares"   

From Politico.com:

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) knows his bikes and bow ties. He co-chairs the Bike Caucus, which now has an impressive 160 members, and as a die-hard bow-tie wearer, he recently told Newsweek’s George Will via Twitter: “Bring your bow tie, your neckwear choice may be one area we may actually agree.”

Blumenauer has been a congressman for 12 years — and even he admits that making and passing legislation is complicated, if not mysterious. Shenanigans caught up with him before he jetted out of town for August recess

Click here for the Q & A.

Rep. Blumenauer is my congressman and a darn good one.

Frances (far left) and Katherine (far right) joined Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski as he signed a bill this morning expanding health care to 80,000 children.  Children First for Oregon notes that the legislation signed today will "provide health care coverage to 95 percent of Oregon’s uninsured children over the next two years."  That's a great accomplishment for the governor and Oregon's legislature.

Katherine and Frances attended the event this morning with their mom (my wife), Liz Smith Currie, who works as the policy director for the Oregon School Based Health Care Network.

The above photo comes from KGW in Portland.