Mary Shindell is a Meetup host for Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I am pleased to report on our success in Washtenaw County, Michigan.

Beginning last Spring, we encouraged DFA meetup attendees to run for Precinct Delegate. At every Meetup we reminded everyone about this effort. We ran 47 candidates in the August Primar and 40 won, out of a total of 174 PDs elected in Washtenaw County.

There are still about 40 empty PD seats in the county where no one ran. We are now seeking people to fill those empty seats. This is part of the organizational infrastructure building to prepare for the midterms. We are changing the tradition of leaving this until the last minute!

Our efforts were also successful in getting people who have been active in DFA elected to our Washtenaw County Democratic Party Executive Board. Seven out of the 10 of the County Party Officers are now DFA'ers. Several DFA leaders have also been elected to the State Central Committee.

Our coalition of DFA Michigan Meetup hosts decided to promote joining the Justice Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party (also known as the Progressive Caucus of the MDP). The Justice Caucus board was so pleased to have us join, they voted to double the size of their board so that it is now at least half DFA leaders.

We organized a fundraiser/celebration for the Justice Caucus following the Michigan Democratic Convention last Saturday in Detroit. We had food, beer & wine, music, video and even a silent auction of signed Dean merchandise. It was a blast!

—Mary Shindell
Ann Arbor, Michigan Meetup host

Mary Kirpes is an Arizona resident who joins us on Blog for America today to share her personal story of Social Security.

In reference to President Bush's idea for privatizing social security, I believe it would be disastrous. The reason is simple... risk. If you think private investments—or even company pensions—are the best way to prepare for the future, you should read my story:

My husband and I, married for 25 years, invested early in stocks, bonds and pensions. We were warned that Social Security would not be there for us at retirement, so we thought these private investments would carry us through our golden years.

Some of our choices were poor and we lost every dime we invested in those particular stocks and bonds. Now—in our mid-fifties—we're finding significant problems with many of our other investments as well. For example, we were recently informed that our state's governor mismanaged my husband's union pension plan and we may never receive any of it.

Recently, I followed up on our bonds that became due in November 2004 and I was informed that somehow, our new address was "lost" in paperwork (despite the fact that I called to update our address last April) and the bonds were turned over to the state. Naturally, we asked how to recover the money and we were told that they didn't know! They don't even know what state has our money! The search continues...

A few years ago we fell on hard times and had to sell some of our other investments—while they were at their lowest—in order to pay urgent expenses. All of that money is now gone. After many years of hard work and investing in the stock market, we won't have what we need to retire. We may only have the one thing that we were told would not be there for us... Social Security. It is our safety net, and hopefully it will be there for you as well.

—Mary Kirpes
Arizona

President Bush continued his pitch for dismantling Social Security today with a trip to the suburbs of New York City. While Bush stumped for privatization in New Jersey, Democratic leaders met across the river in lower Manhattan to debunk the plans. "I think privatization is just a terrible idea," said Caroline Kalkut, 20, a [Pace University] junior from New Jersey. "It's been tried in many other countries, and it didn't work."

One Republican State Representative, Brian Duprey of Maine, has introduced legislation that proposes to ban abortions in cases where the fetus is discovered to be homosexual. It's currently impossible for doctors or researchers to determine sexual orientation in humans, let alone fetuses; however, Duprey says he's keeping an eye to the future, where such a determination is possible. "[S]ome lawmakers say Duprey is neither interested in creating new policy to protect gays and lesbians nor seriously discussing the issue of abortion. The bill, they say, is a way of forcing some lawmakers to choose between abortion rights and gay rights."

Freed Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, went from being a hostage in Baghdad for over a month, to being shot at by U.S. troops. Sgrena's motorcade failed to slow at a checkpoint and troops fired into the car. One bodyguard was killed and Sgrena is currently hospitalized with shrapnel injuries. President Bush has promised an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Teri Mills is a a longtime Blog For America community member and participant. Her guest column on health care appears on Fridays.

Apparently California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) never saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This film featured Nurse Ratched, a woman more a dictator than a nurse. I highly recommend this film to Schwarzenegger who this past month has been vocal about the nurse to patient staffing ratio, saying that nurses who now only care for five patients instead of six are causing the hospitals they work in to shutdown because of the added cost.

Schwarzenegger further goes on to call nurses "special interests" who are angry because he kicks them around. Nurses in California are fighting back with commercials of their own. 20-year-plus nurse Melita Dionosio-Temple says, "I like to think of it as 'Conan vs the Nurses'." Schwarzenegger has a history of treating women like objects, only this time he may not get away with it.

The Bush administration also continues to hold its head in the sand by not setting minimum staffing levels for nursing homes and other health care settings. The truth is more Americans die each day in hospitals because of medical errors than are killed in Iraq.

Governor Howard Dean understands the complexity of the nursing profession. He addressed nurses in a speech he gave in Iowa saying, "We must hold facilities accountable by setting minimum staffing ratios that ensure a safe number of nurses to each patient." This legislation is not only necessary to allow nurses to provide excellent care to their patients, but also to promote their own job satisfaction.

As for Governor Schwarzeneggger, can you picture every nurse and family/friends of nurses standing on the state capitol steps in Sacramento with a bedpan in hand to greet him?

—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP

A big thanks and congratulations go to Mike, Gina, Charles, Maura, and everyone who attended the highly successful DFA conference that took place last Saturday in Washington, DC. The folks from DC, Maryland, and Virginia got together this weekend to organize, strategize, and mobilize. Tom, Chris and I were lucky enough to be there; and we did our best to keep up.

Like the recent DfNY conference in Albany, there was very productive discussion about best practices and candidates. However the DC conference had the unique challenge of incorporating the issues of DFA groups in our nation's capital, as well as DFA those in the two neighboring states, into a coherent and actionable agenda. There are plenty of differences within these political environments; but the organizers did a masterful job of making sure that the conference would address both common and unique topics within the groups.

Mastering this challenge holds additional importance given that Virginia has both a governor and legislative election this year. There should be no doubt that we have great people within and around Virginia working on these races. We will be talking more about this in the coming weeks because DFA will be doing everything we can to support these efforts.

For now, you can get more information by visiting DC for Democracy, Democracy for Virginia, and Democracy for Maryland

We have a tremendous opportunity in the '05 cycle no matter what state we live in. Any progress we make in '05 will be progress we make towards more victories in 2006. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I look forward to listening more and doing what I can to help.

—Jim

The US Army and Marines are missing their recruiting goal—prompting the use of National Guard troops in overseas operations. Watch Nightline on television tonight as they highlight the effect of these changes and how one state's residents have decided to work through their local government to do something about it:

"Are we leaning too much on the National Guard?"

Per capita, Vermont has suffered the greatest loss of troops in the war in Iraq. Their National Guard units have been hit hard, and tonight Nightline presents an exercise in democracy as citizens hold town meetings to do something about it.

Nightline official website >

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week over whether displays of the Ten Commandments on public property are constitutional. The two displays which are the cause of the controversy are "a granite monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol in Austin, and framed documents that were posted in two county courthouses in Kentucky. In cases that have prompted a vigorous national debate over religion's role in government, both have been challenged as violations of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from endorsing religion." The justice to tip the balance in this decision is likely to be Sandra Day O'Connor; however, Justice O'Connor has not hinted at her position:

Speaking broadly about ceremonial prayer and symbols allowed in government buildings, she said, "It's so hard to draw the line."

U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan came out against the rising national deficit in the United State today, saying, "the consequences for the U.S. economy of doing nothing could be severe."

The focus in the Senate today was a bill to revise bankruptcy laws which would make it more difficult for consumer debt to be dissolved in court. Included in the legislation up for a vote was a proposal to raise the hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years and another to help those forced into bankruptcy by the cost of illness to keep their homes.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a leading opponent of the legislation, said, "[F]at cats who go into bankruptcy don't lose their mansions," said Kennedy, author of the twin amendments. "Where is fairness in this bill?"

A Democratic Mayor of Salt Lake County. An African American woman on the bench in Alabama. A GLBT legislator in Idaho. What do these people have in common? You helped them get elected. Dean Dozen candidates Peter Corroon, Anita Kelly, and Nicole LeFavour could not have taken office without the crucial help of Democracy for America grassroots activists.

You helped elect socially progressive and fiscally responsible people to various levels of government by mobilizing volunteers, contributing and spreading the Dean Dozen message. March has arrived... and now its time to start this process anew.

Democracy for America is gearing up to launch its endorsement process for 2005—and we need your help. Drawing on the collective creativity of the DFA community, we're asking for your ideas on a new name for the candidate endorsement process.

DFA will be endorsing three or four candidates per round (no dozens!), who reflect the values and bottom-up leadership ideals of our community. The name should reflect the greater involvement of local DFA Meetup and coalition groups in this year's process. These are truly your candidates. This year, they're not the "Dean Dozen." In 2005, they're the... you tell us!

Click on the link below to send us your name suggestions:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/endorsement

Submissions will be taken until Sunday night, March 6th. On Monday, March 7th, we will announce our finalists and open a vote on your favorite name. Thanks again for all that you do!

—Lakshmi Barot
Political Coordinator

Before today, I knew a few Social Security facts and I had an idea how hurtful President Bush's changes would be; however, after tonight's Burlington Meetup I now have a much better grasp of what these proposed changes will entail and how they will critically affect Americans.

Most of my new knowledge can be attributed to the two amazing speakers at tonight's Meetup. Stephanie Seguino, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont, gave an informed speech that broke down the shocking economic side to privatizing Social Security. Professor Seguino spoke for about ten minutes about social security in a manner that was very obliging for all of us who were not economics majors. She made the great point—under this system, Social Security is not guaranteed for your lifetime as it is now.

Stephanie Seguino

Gregory Marchildon, State Director of AARP of Vermont spoke about DFA's petition drive and our activists "being on the frontline" of the Social Security battle. He also spoke about the chilling effects of privatization, including the fact that this new plan would take away the original point of Social Security—a safety net for Americans.

Chris Warshaw and I finally left around 9:00 p.m., but not before Chris "rented" out a book. Laura Carey, a regular DFA volunteer, had brought more than a dozen books dealing with a broad spectrum of social issues to Meetup and lent them out. I had a great time and learned a lot as well... how was your Meetup?

—Lakshmi Barot
Political Coordinator

PS—If you are a Meetup host, don't forget to file your monthly report at www.democracyforamerica.com/meetupreport

Since I asked the DFA community to share their Social Security stories just 24 hours ago, we've received thousands of moving personal stories. It's these stories--not numbers and statistics--that will change public opinion and help America realize how much we need Social Security.

Here are just a few of the stories that we have received:

My father was a public transit mechanic and union member, and my mother worked as an administrative assistant. Shortly after my father retired and my parents began planning how they were going to spend their retirement years, my father was diagnosed with brain cancer. My mother quit her job and struggled to care for him until he died a short time later. The expenses of caring for him, coupled with the severe downturn in the market, and thus, the value of their modest retirement investments, left my mother in the situation where she will very likely be highly dependent on Social Security (as well as Medicare) for her comfort, dignity, and survival once she retires. One of the reasons why I continue to support Chairman Dean, DFA, and San Francisco for Democracy is my desire to protect Social Security for people like my mother. That is what government is supposed to do!

—Leon
San Francisco, CA

I was laid off from my job one month after 9/11. The company I worked for produced dry chlorine bleach and could no longer compete against the low priced Chinese import. I had osteoarthritis in both knees, which required me to have a "first" floor job, or one in a building which had an elevator. I had both knees replaced, but never quite recovered enough to get around very well. I kept going for interviews, although here in WV they were few and far between at that time. I always got the same response -- "you are over-qualified for this job." I had been a computer programmer for over 20 years. I finally applied for Social Security Disability in the fall of 2003. I was granted total disability benefits, back-dated to August 2002. If it were not for this Social Security Disability program, I would have no income or medical coverage. I just turned 60 years old this month (February 2005) and our President is determined to destroy this country even further by dismantling our Social Security benefits. My husband lost his job to China, also, and was forced to take early retirement. We are now living on 36.6% of our former income. It would be even less if I were not receiving Social Security Disability.

—Allegra
Charleston, WV

This month is your Meetup's chance to collect stories like these about how Social Security is essential for people in your community. If we act now, we can show the media and the Congress in real, human terms what Social Security has done to end poverty and provide security for every single American.

We're asking every Meetup participant to collect 5 stories over the next two weeks. You can enter your stories online at
democracyforamerica.com/socialsecuritystories.

Later this month, we'll provide a web page to enable you to see all the stories from people around the country. At the April Meetup, your group can use these stories to frame Social Security based on the experiences of people in your community.

Thank you, and have a great Meetup!

Tom Hughes
Executive Director
Democracy for America

The Bush administration has managed to create a Social Security crisis of sorts — no one, it seems, believes the president's sales pitch for his plan to wreck it. According to pollster Ruy Teixeira, a solid majority of respondents to an Associated Press poll — 56 percent — disapprove of the president's approach to Social Security, while a scant 39 percent approve. No wonder White House staffers say they might drop the subject, unless they can get the debate back under control; without convincing more Americans, Republicans look headed for sure defeat.

Looming defeat, however, breeds desperation — and that, of course, brings us to USA Next.

Stephen Rozov is Coordinator of Rapid Response Pennsylvania and proud grandfather of Georgia and Max.

During this past election cycle, there was a good deal of attention paid to media bias. We at Rapid Response are perhaps in a unique position to do some analysis with regard to this issue and frankly, from my standpoint, I find the argument wanting. To focus on bias avoids the real issue—professionalism on the part of reporters and editors who should know better.

A perusal of The Columbia School of Journalism's Campaign Desk archives documents that the same outlets and the same reporters came under repeated scrutiny, often for serial occurrences of the same transgression. The practice of using unnamed sources, the use of quotes out of context, the seeming inability (unwillingness) to verify information, the perpetuation of information proven false, all characterized the press during this past election cycle. Need I mention the "scream?" Even with an unusual debunking, (note that some are still trying to clarify this context) most writing about Governor Dean's ascendancy to the DNC chairmanship referred to, you guessed it.

The willingness of the press to uncritically parrot the White House isn't a story unique to the JeffJames GannonGuckert affair. Witness the framing of the Social Security debate. When "private" did not test well, the WH switched to "personal" and the press followed suit. The argument is sometimes presented that the Bush administration will take revenge on a reporter who asks hard questions and access will be denied. But "we, the people" ask: If the White House chooses to deny access, what would they do with an empty briefing room?

In a telling comparison of today's press with the Washington Post of Watergate years, Richard Reeves wrote:

"It was the persistence and courage of the press that made the difference 30 years ago. Above and behind the often confused and sometimes inaccurate young men were the publisher of the Post, Katharine Graham, and her editor, Ben Bradlee, who hung tough when it counted... Graham bet the company on journalism."

Indeed.

—Steve Rozov (PA) (with contributions by Liz Herbert (FL), Rob Nesvacil (IL) )
Speak up. Join Rapid Response.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) took to the podium this past week to speak out against President George W. Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security. Boxer warned that Bush Administration officials are trying to dismantle a program that not only isn't broken, but "is not bankrupt, and not in crisis."

With Bush's privatization -- moving social security away from government control into private accounts managed by separate entities -- the percentage of decreased benefits will grow larger as time passes, making young Americans the group that would be most affected.

Future generations could be left with debt from the cost of such a vast undertaking -- a repercussion of swapping systems that would take a while to set in, according to David Sandretti, a Boxer communications director. He also noted a substantial increase in administration needs from privatization, leaving the potential for the younger generation to cover the added costs.

....

"We need people working on a one-on-one level, talking to their neighbors," said Peter Killian, a Rosemont resident and computer support specialist who attended Boxer's speech. "Ultimately that's where the battle is going to be won or lost."

Democracy for America is collecting personal stories of Social Security success—share your experiences as a participant or as someone with a friend or loved one who benefitted from this system that has been a safety net for 70 years.

www.democracyforamerica.com/socialsecuritystories

Teri Mills is a a longtime Blog For America community member and participant. You can find her comments under the name of "Your Aspiring National Nurse."

Yes, we have trouble, right here in River City, OR. The number one domestic concern is health care, yet not a single elected federal official wants to talk about ways to improve our health care system. Instead, our government is using its usual duck-and-cover scare tactics; ducking the issue of health spending and covering it up with a crisis that does not exist—social security. As a result, costs continue to explode, and fewer Americans can afford the medical care they need and deserve.

In less than 9 years, health care in the United States is projected to be $3.6 trillion or about 19% of our GDP. This nation is expected to spend $11,045 for each person, and this cost is not adjusted for
inflation. Presently the U.S. spends about $6,423 on each man, woman, and child.

Our troubles become even more apparent when you consider that our government, which is already in the red by over half a trillion dollars, plans to foot the bill for nearly half the nation's medical costs. This is the result of the Bush administration's new Medicare drug plan. Remember—it was only supposed to cost a $400 billion dollars, but now is projected to cost $720 billion. This is what Al Gore referred to as fuzzy math.

Maybe we ought to model our health care system after Canada; whose citizens live two-and-a-half years longer than we do, who has an infant mortality which is 35% less that ours, and who spends about 50% less on their GDP for health care. Their prescription drugs do not cost anywhere near what we pay in the U.S. But what is even more appealing is that every Canadian is covered for basic/hospital care.

"What we ought to be demanding as Democrats, is what Harry Truman put in the 1948 Democratic Party platform: health insurance that covers everybody, just like they have in Germany, France, Costa Rica, Japan, Ireland, and Italy! Every single industrialized country on the face of the earth has health insurance for all of its people. Why can't we have what all those countries have?"
          —Gov. Howard Dean's Speech at the Take Back America Conference, Washington, DC, June 5, 2003

—Teri Mills

Today, the Democracy for America staff gathered in Bolton Valley, Vermont today for some intense workshopping, budgeting, and mission-statement creating.

However, among the meetings, presentations and brainstorming sessions, we found some time to play outside in the snow.

Pat Hanson and Diane Straus Tucker trying to keep warm.

All DFA Staff attempt to perch on a chair in the snow

In the afternoon, Executive Director, Tom Hughes, sent the staff outside with three chairs. First, we were to divide into three groups and use the chair to get every group member off the snow. Then, we took away one chair and tried to perch everyone one two chairs. As you can see, one of the side effects of this activity is that we got to know each other very well.