• The Bush Administration's dangerous flirtation with yet another war . . . Iran in the Crosshairs!
  
  
• The Bush Administration's irresponsible veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

IRAN IS IN THEIR CROSSHAIRS

“As a medical doctor, I was trained to listen to the patient.  I’ve been listening to this President and he is telling us that Iran is his next military target.”

That is the crux of a speech I delivered in the House of Representatives October 2, 2007, the birth date of Mahatma Gandhi, and the United Nation’s first World Nonviolence Day in honor of Gandhi’s commitment to peace.

When I sounded the Iraq alarm in 2002, the President and Vice President had already set in motion their plan for war. I hear the familiar drum beats of war again. This time, Iran is in their crosshairs.

Once again the President and Vice President are attempting to use the right wing media to silence their critics and disarm the American people, while they lay the groundwork and shop for a provocation. At least one development may make the outcome different this time. The Internet has grown exponentially. Credible and factual information is readily available. The Blogosphere is on fire, and reputable journalists like Seymour Hersh are on the story.

We stand on the brink of a conflagration spreading from Iraq to Iran, to Pakistan, and the entire region. The legacy of this Administration could well be wars without end and wars without borders. And we will have no one to blame except ourselves if we let this Administration take us to war against Iran.

Call to Action:

• Read my “Iran in the Crosshairs” floor speech
  
• Explore Iran escalation in the Blogosphere:
  Informed Comment GLOBAL AFFAIRS 
  Stop Iran War 
  

SCHIP – MILLIONS OF CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

You've been hearing news about SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. SCHIP covers children in families above the poverty line but below the income level it takes to afford private insurance. Millions who need SCHIP don't get it - the program has never been fully funded. We tried this year, and failed. Next, we went with a compromise that taxed tobacco to extend the SCHIP umbrella to 10 million children.

SCHIP is overwhelmingly popular with Democrats, Independents, and Republicans – with voters who need it, and voters who don't. The President vetoed it, and we missed overriding his veto by a few votes. Our latest bill keeps the funding but changed the language to overcome specific Republican objections. He'll probably veto this one, too.

How can anyone justify a half trillion dollars for war but not 35 billion dollars for kids? The President is betting on the statistical fact that the poor don't vote and corporate America does. This foolish calculation is a product of right wing ideology, big tobacco, and the profit motive.

Whether it's middle-income working parents, or seniors retired from lifelong work at union scale, or adults trapped in dead-end jobs by the risk of losing benefits, much of mainstream America lives either without health coverage or on the brink of losing it. We can all identify with a parent's anxiety over a sick child. Take the "bad news" diagnosis, and compound it with: How do I pay for this? Do I pay this bill, or buy gas to drive to work? Will I have to quit work to take full-time care of my child? In the fear, anger and shame of parents unable to care for their children, choices are made from desperation. These choices drive whole families deeper into crisis, and they have far reaching implications for all of us.

We all pay when a child gets care without coverage. Reactive emergency room visits take the place of routine preventive care. Bills aren’t paid, and providers have no choice but to shift costs to the insured. In Seattle, our crown jewel of pediatric care, Children's Hospital and Research Center provided more than $41 million in uncompensated care in 2006.

SCHIP itself is a band-aid covering failures of the private sector. Medicare, Medicaid - more band-aids on more private sector failures. This patchwork may serve corporate interests but it does not serve the common good. The whole private, for-profit health care system will eventually fail. What we really need is the accessible, affordable public good of universal health care.

Call to Action:

What on Earth Have I Done?
by Robert Fulghum (St. Martin's Press; 2007)

I just read another book by my good friend Robert Fulghum. I like Robert's books because they make so much sense - common sense. The title of his most recent book comes from the question we were often asked as children by our parents (and we now find ourselves asking as parents and grandparents) . . . "What on earth have you done???" - a huge question.

As Fulghum finds out, the answer is never easy and, almost always, surprising. I like to read one of the very digestible chapters of Robert's book before bed. Each entry is like a delectable little pizza.

• Get more details
  

The World Without Us
by Alan Weisman (St Martins Press; 2007)

What if we humans were never here on Earth? What if human existence was obliterated and the Earth was left with the refuse of our infrastructure? What would the planet be like without us? What difference does our existence make on the many intricacies of out planet's infinite environments?

The World Without Us is a thought-provoking look at the answers to these questions. A New York Times bestseller, definitely a fascinating read - I highly recommend it.

• Get more details
  

"Cheney's Law" - A PBS Frontline Report

On October 16th, PBS aired a Frontline Report focusing on the influence that Vice President Cheney has within the Bush Administration.

It is a chilling documentary of the Administration's relentless quest for power at the expense of our Constitution and in the face of the congressional majority that opposes them. It is an astonishing story of secrecy, subterfuge, and arrogance - a sordid story of the consolidation of power by the Vice President and usurpation of power by the President.

You won't feel very good after watching this report. The report will give you some insight about the erosion of our constitutional protections that is underway during the Bush presidency. Watch this documentary. You will recommit yourself to preserving our congressional majorities and placing a Democrat in the White House!

• Watch the program on-line at PBS
  

In the Valley of Elah

This movie unsentimentally tackles the not so obvious and confusing ravages of the Iraq war. There’s not a whole lot of physical violence on the screen – but the psychological violence of war on our soldiers, their families and on those of us who try to comprehend its meaning from the sidelines at home, is what makes In the Valley of Elah so intriguing and meaningful.

• Get more details
  
• See it! Playing at The Uptown on Queen Anne