Blog Archive: June, 2012

It looks as if Congress got our message on the need to pass, without right-wing poison pills, a two-year transportation jobs bill.

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If you want something to feel particularly good about this, heading into the 4th of July holiday, why not relive the moment we learned that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act?

Nothing quite captures the moment like this Take Action News video of the moment when health care supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court got the news.

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Here is a short video with highlights and interviews from the Take Back the American Dream conference panel, Making It In America: Reviving and Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing: more »

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Originally published at OtherWords.

The most conservative Supreme Court in history just upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional. This is a victory for American families. It means lower costs, more coverage, and that insurance companies can't rip us off anymore. It's the law.

Health care costs are a national crisis. The Court affirmed that our Constitution empowers our elected leaders to create national solutions.

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President Obama is visiting Colorado today, one day after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. The state is the site of two major disasters. The first disaster is, of course, the wildfires now on record as the most destructive the state has ever seen. President Obama addressed that disaster today, when he declared a major disaster in the Colorado, and ordered federal funds to supplement state and local efforts to fight the wildfires, and help those affected by it.

After yesterdays Supreme Court victory, it turns out Obama’s bringing some relief for the other disaster in Colorado.

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Now that our "do nothing" Congress is finally set to "do something" to stop interest on student loans from doubling, I think I’ve finally figured out what motivates conservatives on education in general, and conservative opposition to student loans in general. Conservatives are fighting to save our children - your children, my children, America’s children - from a fate worse than collective bargaining. Conservatives are fighting to save America’s youth from being "overeducated."

Say what? "Overeducated"? What does that even mean? I used to think it meant having more education than available jobs require; like the students graduating off a cliff, into a market where most of the jobs being created are low wage jobs, as jobs in the middle of the income and skill spectrum are hollowed by the recession. In other words, I used to think "overeducated" was the flip-side of "underemployed."

Then, Rush Limbaugh set me straight.

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• MORNING MESSAGE: What America Won
• Health Reform Upheld, But Commerce Clause Targeted
• Medicaid Expansion Potentially Trimmed
• Will Businesses Now Have Certainty?
• Republicans Respond With Repeal Push
• Breakfast Sides

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Was today's ruling a victory for justice over corporate power? Did Chief Justice John Roberts rise above partisan differences because that's where an honest reading of the law took him? more »

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With the glow of high school graduations still lingering in many American families, and analysts predicting that an"economic recovery" is on the way, this is a time when you'd expect to start hearing more positive news about the state of US public education. more »

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Today was a victory. I'll leave it to others to analyze the margins of that victory, parse out what the majority of the Court did and didn't say, and what it means for the progressive movement, the health care reform movement, Democrats, Republicans, the tea party, Mitt Romney, and President Obama. There's a lot that can and will be said about all of the above between now and November. 

But make no mistake about it, the Supreme Court's decision upholding the entirely of the Affordable Care Act is a victory. It's not merely a victory for the president and his party. It is a victory for millions of Americans whose fate rested in the hands of the Court, and who had much to lose if the Court decided differently. 

Most of all, it's a victory for America, and a moment that brings us closer to becoming the kind of country we want to be.

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