Working with and for progressives, Labor, people of color, peace and justice organizations, and you to transform our society
1. End the war in Iraq
2. Enact universal health care
3. Assure election integrity and clean elections
4. Support economic justice, workers’ rights, livable wage
5. Champion environmental sustainability; stop global warming
PDA-Ohio works to restore the role of government as the instrument to better not only the lives of the citizenry but also to enhance and secure the electoral process in order to protect the process for change. PDA-Ohio will strive to build the progressive base of our Democratic Party by supporting candidates and initiatives serving the general good of the people over the special interests at all levels of government: local, state, and federal. We perform these lofty goals through the forming of coalitions among like-minded individuals, activists, grassroots groups, and issue oriented organizations to effect progressive, positive change, while grounded in the recognition that the forces of the status quo, corporate and institutional, will attempt to undermine change for the sake of retaining power.
We believe power in itself is not inherently bad unless of course its impetus is to limit the general welfare in favor of the few. PDA-Ohio sees itself as one instrument of many working in unison to create a more just society where all citizens are able to reach their potential regardless of color, economic status, sexual orientation, and/or religious beliefs.
Through these coalition-building efforts with organizations, we will work to set practical goals and realistic objectives in order to achieve specific outcomes having a broader impact on the issue(s) at hand to maximize the opportunity for change.
We welcome those of like minds to share in this important work as to build the movement that will make for a better tomorrow by sharing in the work necessary today.
VISIT OUR FRIENDS
For a Fresher Democracy,
Try an ImpeachMINT!
The movement to hold Bush & Cheney accountable is growing, and you can help build momentum. It’s as simple as sending democracy-freshening ImpeachMINTS to your member of Congress. Act now, before the Memorial Day recess that begins May 26 (more)
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We must have fair trade
By Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio)
The Hill, June 20, 2007
PDA Congressional Point-Persons Strategy and You
Progressive Democrats of America and its chapters are working both inside and outside the Democratic Party to build the movement for change. In that spirit, the PDA state leadership in Ohio is seeking like-minded groups, faith-based community representatives and organizers, people of color, peace activists, union leaders and activists, and concerned citizens to help us push change through our inside work within the Democratic Party. We accomplish this mainly through lobbying our state and national representatives.
HMO Whisteblower Dr. Linda Peeno
The Subordination of Healthcare to
a For-Profit System
A decade ago Dr. Linda Peeno made headlines when she told Congress about her work as a medical reviewer for the giant HMO Humana, where she says she denied a man life-saving medical care in order to boost company profits. She would go on to become one of the country's best known
whistleblowers about HMOs and the healthcare industry.
Following her appearance in Congress she would go on to become one of the country's best-known whistleblowers about HMOs and the healthcare
industry.
Dr. Linda Peeno*. Former medical reviewer for HMO company Humana.She is now a physician in Louisville, Kentucky.
PDA-Ohio . All Rights reserved.
"We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak....there is such a thing as being too late....Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with lost opportunity....Over the bleached bones of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
PDA-OHIO'S MISSION IS MOVEMENT-BUILDING. PUT DOWN THE CHANNEL CHANGER AND GET OFF THE COUCH. JOIN PDA-OHIO TO BUILD THE MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE TODAY.
Print the "Progressive Challenge 2008" HERE:
A coalition of progressive groups including Progressive Democrats of America, Velvet Revolution, The Backbone Campaign, The Hip-Hop Caucus, Democrats.com, Camp Casey Peace Institute, and Justice Through Music developed our 7-point progressive platform. It is a document to take to every campaign, to the candidates of your choice. Tell them this is the platform by which the progressive movement-- inside and outside the Democratic Party--will measure them. Share it with your friends and neighbors, too.
"Progressive Challenge 2008"
LET' TAKE BACK THE HOUSE IN 08!
Support Mike Moran for the Ohio 42nd District House Seat
PDA Ohio is a Democratic organization. There are times when we are challenged to rise above Party affiliation and cast our vote for the person who best exemplifies our values as Americans. Cindy Sheehan is challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Congress this year.Cindy has worked hard and paid the price to end this illegal war and the trampling of our Constitution, while many Democratic members of Congress remain timid. We can't vote for Cindy in Ohio. But, If you believe in Cindy and the work she is doing to bring about an end to the war and occupation and to challenge the Republicans while waiting for Democrats to show some spine, there are ways you can help. Go to http://www.cindyforcongress.org/ and contribute to Cindy's campaign.
One thing is for certain. Cindy will stand up and fight for the issues we care about as progressive Democrats. Her candidacy will surely send the message - "We elected Democrats to be an authentic opposition party". If Cindy's campaign does nothing else but to make Nancy Pelosi put impeachment back on the table, progressives win! , Give em' hell, Cindy!
Ohio's Next Senator?
CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN (CD - 17)
Email Congressman Ryan and ask him to run for the Senate against George Voinovich - Contact Tim Ryan HERE
..., formerly Ohio Progressive Action Coalition
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Thank You Rep. Wexler for showing Democrats it is possible to stand up for Americans and our Constitution
PRIVATIZING A PUBLICLY-OWNED ASSET
By Pat Carano, PDA-Ohio
Soon, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic will be calling together community leaders "to examine how we (Akron) might create a plan for securitizing a city asset by re-investing the funds into a public trust, and developing a plan to provide a publicly-funded education beyond high school" (excerpt from Akron mayor in State of the City address, 2008). The city asset is the Akron sewer system.
The goal is to provide college and advanced technical scholarships to Akron Public Schools students with the intention of providing a capable workforce for our local business community. Goodyear, Firestone, and hundreds of small and mid-size companies looking to compete in the global marketplace need the best and the brightest the City can produce. With many college graduates looking outside of the City, and Ohio for that matter, we as a community need to keep our young and talented professionals in NE Ohio. The future of our economic well-being depends on it. (MORE)
LOCAL VIEWPOINT
VIEWPOINT FROM PORTAGE COUNTY
A FAIR TAX PROPOSAL TO FUND THE WAR IN IRAQ
By Bob Howard, Portage Democratic Coalition
I wish to propose a new approach to federal taxation for the U.S. It has been estimated that the total cost of the Iraq war will be about $3 Trillion, after taking account of the direct costs of the war itself, plus the costs that will be incurred as we attempt to care for the tens of thousands of American casualties, many of whom will require lifetime care. This will cost each and every American about $10,000, on average. (READ)
VIEWPOINT FROM COLUMBUS PDA
AT LONG LAST, SENATOR, HAVE YOU NO DECENCY?
By Dan Baechlin, Progressive Democrats of America - Columbus, Ohio
While voting and volunteering for Barack Obama, I've consistently -- and insistently -- urged my friends to support Senator Clinton in the event she's nominated. But I can no longer give her that deference. Not since her adoption this week of full-blown, right-wing demagogy.
Clinton knows, or ought to, that Obama didn't condemn gun ownership or religion. He stated an obvious fact: When government ignores serious problems, some of the people affected will seek outlets for their frustration. And right-wing media stand ready to sell them *intolerant* religion, *unregulated* gun trade, racism, gay-bashing, and immigrant-bashing, so as to divert them from real solutions. (More)
Over 400 Sick After Eating Out in Kent Highlights Need for Paid Sick Days - Watch the video - PDA Ohio's Mary Nichols Rhodes comments on this important issue
SPAN of Summit County and PDAOhio were aggressive and successful in the ballot initiative signature drive for the Healthcare For All Ohioans Act during CoverTheUninsured Week that began April 26 and finished May 3rd. Over the week, 466 signatures were collected and volunteers from outside the organizations left Kmart in Tallmadge carrying petitions they planned to fill with the signatures of their friends, neighbors and co-workers.
URGENT ACTION ALERT!
Gov. Strickland has assembled a task force comprising a State Coverage Initiative Team of 12 and a Healthcare Coverage Initiative Advisory Committee of 40. $500,000 tax dollars have been allocated to study health care options — the goal being to cover a third of Ohio’s 1.5 million uninsured. What about the other two-thirds? And what about the additional millions of underinsured?
Incredibly, single-payer — the only plan that would help ALL Ohioans, uninsured and underinsured alike — will NOT be included among the plans to be studied. Only plans that include the private insurance companies are being considered. This is unacceptable. (See letter from U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich to Governor Strickland urging inclusion of single-payer in the study.)
Please take Action NOW !
1) Contact Governor Ted Strickland
Governor's Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108
2) Contact Governor Strickland's Policy Director Janetta King janetta.king@governor.ohio.gov.This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Phone: 614-466-3555
3) Go to the Governor's Public Input Request Site
Tell them that as an Ohio constituent, you want a single-payer plan (H.B.186 and S.B. 168) to be one of the five models studied by the Governor's task force for healthcare reform in Ohio. Input Request Site HERE.
PDA Launches the "Healthcare Not Warfare" Campaign
Norman Solomon, PDA Advisory Board member
For several years now, the news media have identified healthcare and the war in Iraq as key issues in American politics. But very little of the reporting or the punditry goes beneath the buzz-word surfaces to the human realities that span from local hospitals to a faraway war.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift,” Martin Luther King Jr. said 40 years ago, “is approaching spiritual death.” Today, nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance, and tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured--while the war in Iraq continues to further skew the U.S. government's budget priorities.
By launching the national “Healthcare Not Warfare” campaign, Progressive Democrats of America is moving ahead with a grassroots opportunity to turn from warfare to healthcare for all. (More)
SPAN OHIO's Summit County Coordinators collect over 600 Signatures in a two-week period for Healthcare for All Ohioans! (By Jodie Smith - May 12, 2008)
Five years after "Mission Accomplished"
May 1, 2008, Cleveland, OH
Major National Anti-War Assembly to be Held in Cleveland on June 28-29
Plans were announced today for a major national anti-war assembly in Cleveland, Ohio, in June. The National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation is set for the weekend of June 28-29, 2008, in Cleveland and is open to all those opposed to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq.
"May 1st marks five years since the 'mission accomplished' speech by President Bush on the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier," said Greg Coleridge, spokesperson for the National Assembly organizing committee and director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. "In the past five years, the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. More than 4 million Iraqis have been injured or displaced. More than $500 billion U.S. tax dollars have been wasted. The U.S.-led war and occupation has been a military, human, and economic disaster." (MORE)
SPAN and PDAOhio volunteers were overwhelmed with the stories they were told during their time at Kmart. Victims of cancer, heart disease and diabetes told heart-wrenching stories of divorce, lost jobs and poverty all traced to the medical bills they had amassed by having the misfortune to become sick in a country that allows and encourages profiteering from disease by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. There were some bitter and angry citizens who signed the petition, urging SPAN and PDAOhio to persevere in the fight to gain affordable healthcare for all Ohioans and ultimately, all Americans.
SPAN and PDAOhio wish to thank Kmart for allowing the signature drive to be held at their storefront. Many of the 466 customers who signed in support of Single Payer Healthcare also expressed their appreciation to Kmart.
SPAN and PDA's Summit Chapter added to the numbers of petitions signees in the following week by obtaining 140 more signatures at Kent State May 4 Commemoration as well as the Cinco De Mayo fundraiser sponsored by the Tallmadge Democratic Club. This two-week effort produced over 600 petition signatures bringing Healthcare for all Ohioans closer to reality.
If you are interested in helping SPAN and PDAOhio's push to provide a single-payer health care system in our State please visit http://www.spanohio.org today!
PDA-Ohio's Summit County SPAN Ohio's Coordinators Steve and Jodie Smith collecting signatures for Healthcare for All Ohioans