Month: February 2010

March Tomorrow

~ susie

Philadelphia, PA – On Wednesday February 17th at 12pm EST, hundreds of health care reform activists and supporters will kick off “March to the Finish Line for Melanie” – an eight-day march from Philadelphia, PA to Washington, DC in honor of one health reform advocate who recently lost her battle with breast cancer after her insurance company refused to pay for the treatment her doctors said she needed. Local residents are participating in the march and are available to the press.

During her illness, Melanie Shouse was a tireless campaigner for health care reform for all Americans, and the marchers will be bringing Melanie’s message to Congress that not one more person should have to suffer or die for lack of health care in our country.

The “March to the Finish Line for Melanie” group will arrive in Washington, DC the day before President Obama’s Health Care Summit. As the summit is set to begin, the marchers—and supporters expected to number in the hundreds—will be there to tell lawmakers enough is enough!

They will deliver the message that Members of Congress have had plenty of time to discuss and debate health care over the past year, and now it’s their job to make it happen. It’s time to get it done and get it done right. Congress must deliver the change people voted for.

The March starts with a noon rally at the Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia and proceeds through University City and Southwest Philadelphia, ending the first day with a vigil at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park. The group will hold rallies in Wilmington and Baltimore and host meet-ups for local residents in small towns along the way. Supporters and press can track the walk online at http://www.facebook.com/l/950e4;melaniesmarch.com/. This website will be updated throughout the march with logistical information for the events and video from the marchers.

Members of the press are invited to join the group at any point along the route and interview walkers – some of whom have personal stories about the difficulty of securing access to affordable health care in America today. They will be accompanied by an RV with Internet access.

WHAT: “March to the Finish Line for Melanie” – A Walk from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. for Health Care Reform

WHO: PA citizens and activists from Health Care For America Now, Families USA, SEIU, Catholics United, The AME Church, Families USA, Health Rights Organizing Project Interfaith Worker Justice, National Physicians Alliance Pennsylvania Health Access Network, Philadelphia Unemployment Project, UFCW, Raising Women’s Voices (List in formation).

WHEN: February 17 to February 24, beginning with a noon rally in PA and ending in DC at 2 p.m.

WHERE: Starting point is Mother Bethel AME Church, 419 S. 6th St., Philadelphia

For more information: http://www.facebook.com/l/950e4;www.melaniesmarch.com.

What Were They Thinking?

~ susie ~ 10 Comments

Really interesting article on the psychological process behind tea partiers:

Moral psychology historically confined itself to the study of altruism and justice. When morality is defined as being nice, then the angry rantings of right-wing protesters seem to have nothing to do with morality, and psychologists have long searched for non-moral explanations of conservatism. (Frustration? Racism? Fear of change?) In contrast, the righteous anger of left-wing marchers for peace and “social justice” was sometimes held up by social scientists as the pinnacle of moral development. But the new synthesis that has recently occurred in moral psychology—merging social psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary theory—gives us a new set of tools for understanding political movements, which are always moral movements, whether left-wing, right-wing, or something else. This new moral psychology is based on three principles, each of which can help outsiders understand the tea party movement.

Go read the rest.

Con Man Says He’ll Wash Teh Gay Away

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

You can take the man out of the con but you can’t take the con out of the man. This man likes to take money from desperate people, obviously:

NEW YORK – A Truth Wins Out (TWO) and South Florida Gay News (SFGN) investigation revealed today that a Wall Street criminal mastermind who was convicted in 1987 of “fraud of spectacular scope” has secretly reinvented himself as a moral leader who “cures” gay and lesbian people. Known as “Abba Dabba Do” in the financial world, Arthur Abba Goldberg was sentenced to 18 months in jail for bilking poor communities with complicated bond schemes and served six months in prison.

“We have long considered Arthur Goldberg a con-artist, but our investigation shows he is also an ex-con,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. ”His diabolical past mirrors his dishonest present-day work with the ex-gay industry. Whether it was shady deals on Wall Street or shading the truth on gay issues, Goldberg is someone who lacks credibility and can’t be trusted.”

[…] Upon completing his parole, Goldberg dropped his conspicuous middle name, Abba, and co-founded Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) in 1999. He is currently the president of Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH), an umbrella group for “ex-gay” referrals and the Executive Secretary of the notorious National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). He is also the President of Congregation Mount Sinai, a temple in Jersey City and a Principal for the International Center for Gender Affirming Processes (CGAP). Goldberg is a key ex-gay industry insider and viewed as an architect of its strategy and message machine, says TWO and SFGN.

In 1989, Goldberg plead guilty in federal court in California and Illinois to three counts of wire and mail fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The accusations he admitted to include his participation as the engineer of a phony bond and investment scheme, which netted his Wall Street investment firm nearly $11 million in illegal fees.

The U.S. Attorney who handled the case at the time, K. William O’Connor, told the court at his sentencing that Goldberg’s crime was “a fraud of spectacular scope.”