ProgressOhio

Looks like Jim Jordan still thinks the George Bush Health Care plan will work. Someone needs to tell him that we won and we need to move on. Here is his response to a letter I send him and my reply via a letter to the local papers.

June 2, 2009

Dear Steve:

Thank you for contacting me regarding health care. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me. 

The issue of health care is one of the most vital public policy debates today. One of my top priorities in Congress is to ensure that there is an environment in place that will allow affordable and accessible health care to our citizens. 

The Federal Government's current system of paying for health care results in, at times, an inefficient patchwork of subsidies and payments to providers. I believe one of the answers to rising prices and inefficiency is a move to market-oriented, patient-centered reforms.  Improving access to health coverage that individuals and families choose, thus empowering them through a consumer driven system, will better help people meet their health needs at a price they can afford. 

I have advocated a few initiatives that I believe will allow for better access to affordable care. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are an innovative proposal, combining consumer driven ideals with individual responsibility, as a means to fund health benefits. HSAs are special accounts in which contributions are used to pay for current and future medical expenses. The accounts are owned by individuals, not employers, therefore, if the individual changes jobs, the portability of the HSA permits the individual to retain their same account. 

Another reform I favor is the Association Health Plan (AHP). These plans allow businesses the opportunity to band together and form large regional or national groups that can purchase health insurance for their employees. AHPs would create bargaining power with providers, uniformity of plans, freedom from costly state-mandated benefit packages, and lower overhead costs. AHPs represent a valuable tool for providing care to the rising number of uninsured Americans. 

In addition, Community Health Centers (CHC) are the country's single largest primary health care system with a strong reputation for providing stable medical services for patients who are otherwise unable to access primary health care. CHCs serve all residents regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay for their healthcare. I support the mission of community health centers and applaud the outstanding medical services they provide.

I hope you will find this information helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any other concerns or questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at (202) 225-2676, or by e-mail through our website at http://jordan.house.gov. 

Sincerely,

Jim Jordan
Member of Congress

My reply

Dear Editor

Recently I wrote to my Congressman Jim Jordan about Health Care, he responded and I wanted to share my reply.

First thank you for your response to my concerns about Health Care Reform. I agree with you that Health care is one of the most vital public policy issues facing us. All of the polls show  this so your recognition of this issue is not surprising.

However I disagree with about everything you say will be the answer to moving forward. You attack the Federal  Government as being an “inefficient patchwork of subsidies and payments”. You must be talking about Medicare and Medicaid which are the primary sources of payments from the Federal government. You are wrong about this. Medicare and Medicaid are the most efficient and cost effective systems in the Health Care delivery system. Studies have shown that administrative costs in public plans are far lower than in the Private sector and public plans do a better job controlling costs than do private plans.

You advocate for HSA’s and AHP’s yet both of these options have been around for years and consumers are not flocking to them because they don’t work. HSA’s provide limited coverage and high deductibles which force consumers to go into bankruptcy or otherwise shift the cost of health care to the public. They work best with healthy individuals who don’t have high health care costs or pre-existing conditions which HSA plans limit coverage. AHP’s  have similar problems and take away public protections that consumers want and need.

Your solutions are not new and resemble the Bush Administrations answers to our problems, privatize  the profits and socialize the problems. This is not new and it is not responsible.

Finally, you say that you support the mission of the Community Health Centers, yet  when a recent bill was being considered which increased funding for these Centers, you voted against it.

 America is experiencing a health care crisis. Health care premiums have increased 73 percent over the last five years while wages have increased only 15 percent. Large manufacturers and neighborhood small businesses are struggling to remain competitive while paying for their employees' health care coverage, while 46 million Americans go without coverage of any kind.

Your solutions are not solutions at all but passing the buck and not engaging in this debate in a sincere way. Shame on you.

Steve Chaffin

1671 Weiss Ave.

Marion, Ohio 43302

Our family decided to make an occasion of it yesterday -- celebrated Claire's birthday with lunch at Latitude 41 (yummy, local food in an elegant setting), then on to Vets' Memorial, which Claire still remembers as the ACT staging area in 2004, when she was in charge of sending people out all over the west side that cold, rainy day. I think it was good to have a sunny day filled with positive experiences to superimpose on that bitter memory. As for me, I associate Vets' Memorial with the Eddie Bauer Warehouse sales staged there years ago (the girls always refused to come with us to those affairs -- back then they said it was one more place full of mulch colored clothes only parents would like!).

 Today was different for all of us. Claire wondered aloud if she would cry (voting for John Kerry made her tear up because the election mattered so much).

We Need You to ActBlue for David Robinson!

Dear Robinson for Congress Supporter,

This week we are undertaking a significant on-line intiative that we need your help with! We are asking each of you to go to the ActBlue fundraising page for David Robinson and make a contribution between now and this Friday.

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18783

If enough supporters contribute to the campaign through ActBlue over the next 5 days, we will be placed in the list of the “Top 5 Hot Candidates of the Week” that appears on the ActBlue website front page. Making it to this list will place our campaign in the national spotlight and will expose us to funders throughout the U.S. You can help put Robinson for Congress in the national spotlight by donating once, or better yet, multiple times between today and Friday.

We have only 5 days to accomplish this goal. Please consider giving a contribution each day - the more contributions we receive, the higher our ranking will be. A $5.00, $10.00 or $20.00 donation will put us one step closer to our goal! http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18783

Together, through our collective energy, we can send a New Voice to Congress. So get BLUE and ACT today!

For more information on David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com

David Robinson: Candidate for U.S. Congress, Ohio’s 12th District

David Robinson's opponent has raised one million dollars, mainly from special interests.

Robinson for Congress needs to raise one hundred thousand dollars from people like you. We need your help to launch A New Energy for Ohio, A New Voice in Congress.

Help us meet our goal of $100,000 by June 30, 2008. How YOU can Help: DONATE $25, $50, or $100

Please visit our website  www.robinson2008.com to show your support today! Your contribution will help send a new voice to Congress!

Robinson's Comments: "Now that the presidential nominating process has come to a close, I think it would be good if we paused and reflected for just a moment about the significance of what has just happened and how this sends a message not only to every American, young and old, but to the whole world, that the American Dream is alive and very well.

We have seen through this contest, which could easily have gone either way, that in America no matter your gender or your race, that with talent and hard-work there are no limits to what you may seek and achieve.

And this campaign, Robinson for Congress, is fortunate enough to be a part of this historical moment, to be a part of this hunger for change, or as Obama’s campaign says, Change We Can Believe In. And I do believe in it, because I believe in the ability of Americans—through ingenuity, hard-work, finding of common cause, and with good leadership—to do the most extraordinary things and to solve our problems in the most unexpected of ways.

But as you know, our current leadership in the White House, and all those in Congress who have supported them consistently through the years—as our opponent has—our leadership has failed us, has failed our nation. In less than eight years we have gone from Peace and Prosperity to an inconclusive war in Afghanistan, and an unprovoked, endless war in Iraq, and an economy marked by an embattled middle class and a poverty of opportunity for too many.

So what we face now is a contest for leadership, both at the presidential level and here in the 12th District. And as you know, John McCain is running for a third Bush term, but if that’s not bad enough, my opponent is running for a fifth Tiberi term! And we're not going to let that happen..."

-- David Robinson

For additional information about David and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com

Launch a New Energy for Ohio and a New Voice in Congress with Us!
 
David Robinson for Congress Campaign Fundraiser
Wedgewood Golf and Country Club - Powell, Ohio
 
June 5, 2008
5:30-8:00 p.m.
Suggested donation - $25
 
Join David Robinson and other Robinson for Congress supporters to kickoff the summer season and rally into the the general election.  The Robinson for Congress campaign is forging ahead and it is time for ALL supporters -- ALL those desiring change, ALL those fighting for our district, and ALL who believe it can happen -- to come together.
 
Join us.  Join David Robinson for Congress.  Join us in sending needed change to Congress!
 
RSVP to: kickoff@robinson2008.com
Donations accepted at the door, evening of the event
 

Wedgewood Golf & Country Club
9600 Wedgewood Blvd.  Powell, OH  43065
(614) 793-9600

For more about David Robinson and his policy platforms, please visit www.robinson2008.com

This Memorial Day holiday will find many of us surrounded by loved ones at parades, picnics and long vacation weekends.  As we travel to these celebrations and welcome the long-awaited start to summer, let us honor first and foremost those for whom this holiday was meant to cherish -- the brave men and women who have gone before us for the sake of freedom.
 
I join my fellow citizens in remembering the valiant bravery of the people who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom.  Let us also honor the thousands of men and women who served alongside these patriots who survived the perils of war and those who still wait in support from home.  And finally, lest we forget, we must do all we can to recognize their stewardship of freedom by keeping our commitments to them as veterans.
 
This Memorial Day, we stand united.  It is not the day to express dismay about ill-begotten wars and conflicts with which we agree or disagree.  Nor is this the time to make anti-war or pro-war speeches.  There is nothing political about it at all.  It is a day we draw upon the strength we have as Americans -- our unity.  A day to recall the poignant words of writer Peter Collier, to remember "those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays."
 
 --David Robinson, Candidate, Ohio's U.S. 12th Congressional District  www.robinson2008.com

David Robinson's Congressional Campaign Website has been updated and relaunched with a whole new look!

The revamped website includes the new logo for the Robinson campaign and a new slogan... "A New Energy for Ohio, A New Voice in Congress".

Also new to the site are two videos and a photo gallery.

Check it out at www.robinson2008.com

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

The Orchestra, the Arts, Our Community -Submitted to The Other Paper by David Robinson on 5/5/08

The well-publicized and documented troubles facing the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) are part of an even bigger picture that I find troubling. The CSO is a key contributor to our quality of life in Columbus, well beyond the seasonal performance schedule. The education programs and outreach, and our accomplished Youth Orchestra, bring music and more to our children.

In terms of the business case for our Orchestra, many writers and economists emphasize the importance of the creative class as a central driver of the new economy. The CSO employs significant numbers of artists who live here, raise their families here, and spend their money here. Perhaps most importantly, for businesses small and large trying to attract and retain talent, the CSO represents an important part of our cultural fabric and our image as a great American city. Simply stated, no symphony, no great city.

The root of the symphony’s problems is our ailing economy. Working families in Central Ohio are being pinched at every turn for time and money. When one is forced to choose between food, fuel, and the finer arts, it is the latter which will suffer first. And without an audience, our performing arts organizations will need additional support from the same sources everyone else is tapping: individual donors and the business community.

So where are we investing in the creation of tomorrow’s jobs? Where is the support for innovation? Our region needs leadership and a long-term development strategy to help us take action and improve the things that matter.  Yes, I need food to live, and fuel to travel, but I need the arts to make the journey worth taking.

_____________________________________________________ 

Robinson is the Democratic candidate for Ohio's 12th U.S. Congressional District running against incumbent Pat Tiberi this fall. For more information on David Robinson and his policies, go to www.robinson2008.com.

David Robinson, 12th Congressional District Candidate, will be attending a Dublin house party at the home of Lucy and Al Gabel, located at 7190 Coffman Road on April 29, 2008 and beginning at 7:00 PM.

This event is open to all that wish to attend.

Suggested Donations: Sponsors-$200, Guests-$50

Please RSVP, by e-mail to agabel7190@aol.com or call 614-889-8282. Please include your name and telephone number with your RSVP.

Directions: Exit at 17A from 270, Rt. 33, 161. Go East to the first light. Turn left onto Post Rd. You will go going West over 270. At the first light, turn right onto Coffman Rd. Proceed North to 7190 Coffman Rd.

For more information about David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit http://www,robinson2008.com

Join the Robinson for Congress Grassroots Team

With less than 200 days to go until Election Day, now is the time to start telling voters about David Robinson and why he is the best choice to represent the 12th District in the U.S. Congress.

Over the next several weeks, the Robinson Campaign will be pulling together a Grassroots Team – a group of committed and energetic Robinson supporters who are willing to spend a few hours on the weekend, or a few hours during the week, reaching out to voters at the door or on the phone.

No Experience Required! "If you can walk, you can canvass. If you can talk, you can phone bank." Training will be provided.

We are going to win in November with good, old-fashioned hard work; and the Grassroots Team will be a critical part of our success.

If you would like to be part of the Team, RSVP to Jed Thorp, Grassroots Coordinator at jedthorp@hotmail.com or 617-553-0541.

For more information on David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com

The Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (LICOPAC) will be hosting a breakfast for David Robinson this Saturday March 29th, 9:30 a.m. at the Bake-n-Brew restaurant, 1821 W. Main St. in Newark. http://bake-n-brew.com

For more information about David Robinson or to volunteer for his campaign, please visit www.robinson2008.com .

David Robinson accepted an invitation to speak at the Central Ohio Peace Network's (COPN) commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq war. This event was held the evening of Wednesday, March 19  at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium.  The following is a transcript of Robinson's speech.  

Blessed are the Peacemakers, David Robinson, 3/19/08

Thank You. It is good and it is right that today, here in our state's capital, on the fifth anniversary of our nation's launching of the Iraq War, we are giving voice and visible testimony to both our grief about the war and our hope about the prospects for peace. By giving voice and witness to our beliefs we are declaring our determined opposition to the endless stay-the-course-and-we-can-win policies of the current administration.

As you know, silence and invisibility are enemies of truthfulness, justice, human rights, and yes, peace. In the case of the Iraq war, those that precipitated it, those that would perpetuate it, seek to hide it from the public—no taxes are paid to fund it—, and to sanitize it—no caskets are seen to show the cost of it. They seek to hide the realities of the war in order to continue a policy that the clear majority of Americans, after sober reflection, now reject. And so it is good that we break this official silence, giving witness here and now to the will of the people.

The reasons for protesting the continuation of this war are many: foremost of all is the direct loss of human life, both American and Iraqi—lives lost and lives shattered through wounds of both body and mind;

and beyond this immeasurable human toll, there are the unknown consequential costs of this war, future tragedies that well may spring, in part, from hatreds born of this war, for violence begets violence, and cruelty is contagious;

further, there is the financial cost to us, now estimated to be hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars—these costs may be measured in terms of "what could have been" had we spent the billions elsewhere on schools, health care, energy research, or even, with enlightened leadership, peace initiatives in the Middle East; or these financial costs may be understood in terms of the staggering addition to our crushing national debt, further constraining the opportunities of our young;

and, finally, even in terms of enhancing our nation's security, the war has cost us much and may be judged an unprecedented American strategic failure as it has dissipated our military, enhanced Iran's influence, and diverted our attention from what I, and perhaps some of you, believe was a legitimate use of arms in Afghanistan.

In my judgment, these costs—human, consequential, financial, and strategic—are each reason enough to demand an end to this war-torn occupation. And so I believe it is time to issue a clear and definitive statement that we will not construct or sustain permanent bases, and that we will soon commence a definitive yet responsible withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq, in accord with our own assessment of the security needs of our remaining troops and the Iraqi people, and not according to a timeline held hostage to the Iraqi politicians' own interests in a continued American presence.

While effecting a responsible withdrawal, it is incumbent upon us to safeguard—through immigration here or elsewhere if necessary—those Iraqis who have helped us and would face violent retribution once we leave. Further, it is imperative that we embrace returning veterans—through full funding of VA benefits, explicit and robust public acknowledgment of their service, and educational and jobs-related programs designed to reintegrate them productively back in to civilian life.

And yet a critique of the specifics of the current war is not enough, for if we left matters there I believe we would be overlooking the central fact as to why this war, and any future war of choice, is a profound mistake. It is my conviction that the wars of the 20th century, and the advent of the nuclear age, held lessons for humanity that indeed war is not the answer, and that we must—if we are all to survive—we must develop institutions, traditions, and mechanisms for restraining our warring impulses and for employing peaceable means for solving our inevitable conflicts.

The Geneva and Hague Conventions, the League of Nations, and the United Nations, were all born out of the human desire to outgrow our ancient cruelties to one another. In scripture we read that "there is a season and a time for every matter under the sun," including "a time for war and a time for peace." But it is precisely this sense of fatalistic inevitability that humanity has struggled to overcome, guided, for some, by a different biblical imperative, "blessed are the peacemakers." It is the latter devotion to which I adhere.

And so this war of choice is not only an act of aggression, but is an act of regression on a national scale, conceivable only to those who have failed to understand the primary lesson of our parents' and grandparents' generations: that war itself is the common enemy of man, that our shared fate rests on our ability to abolish it from Earth, and, until that day, war is justifiable only as a last-resort and in self-defense. These lessons of our forebears must now be reaffirmed by our nation as we move forward to end this war and forestall any that would follow.

To do so, we must recognize the fragility, and defend accordingly, our democratic form of government of the people, by the people, and for the people; this means a reassertion of constitutional checks and balances, the protection of civil liberties, and the regulatory support of a diverse media and net neutrality. These are our safeguards against the demagogue's rush to war.

I am hopeful that the United States will remember lessons once learned, and now learned again, that war is not the answer. By giving voice to this truth tonight, we advance the cause of peace.  And that is good, for blessed are the peacemakers.
 

___________________________________
For more information about David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com