Steve Santarsiero on Thursday, July 5, 7:00 p.m.

Upper Bucks for Democracy
Thursday, July 5, 7:00 p.m.
Plumstead Township Building
5186 Stump Road (0.4 mi east of 611 on right)
Plumsteadville, Pa. 18949

Steve Santarsiero, Democratic candidate for Bucks County commissioner, will be our featured guest in July. Steve will do a presentation on his work with the Pennyslvania Land Use Coalition. He will be available to answer your questions. Information about the PALUC is available at http://www.paluc.org.

Come out and give Steve a warm welcome from Upper Bucks!

Abe Amoros on June 7, 2007

Howard Dean's 50-state plan comes to Bucks County on Thursday, June 7, 7:00 p.m., to help us win a Democratic majority.

Abe Amoros, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Political and Communications Director, will discuss how resources can be maximized in competitive county races to increase the chances of a Democratic majority. The meeting will focus on campaign issues in the upcoming municipal races. Discussion will continue at the Capri Restaurant in Plumsteadville after the meeting.

April meeting to be rescheduled

Upper Bucks for Democracy will not meet on its usual date of the first Thursday of the month in April because of the holidays. The new meeting date for April will be announced.

John Strauss on March 1, 2007

Our main speaker will be John Strauss, Professor of Language and Literature at Bucks County Community College, acting chair of the Greater Philadelphia local of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and a member of DSA’s national board.

“Over 45 million people without health insurance; employers dropping health plan benefits; cost of health insurance shooting through the roof. Attempts to create private accounts out of Social Security. School vouchers and privatization that cost more, don’t work, and decimate public school finances. Funding cuts for public education that hurt our already weakened schools and our students. Funding cuts for the EPA that result in weaker environmental protection.

“Everywhere we turn, we see attempts to cut human necessities out of the public realm, usually putting them in corporate hands, to the detriment of the majority—in spite of the generally lower cost, stronger oversight, and broader access under public ownership. We need to bring the priority back to people’s needs—in public awareness, in political discussion, and in political action.”

We will also have an update on the healthcare front from Chuck Pennacchio, Executive Director, PA Healthcare Solutions Coalition (http://www.pahcsc.org/), who is promoting SB 1085.

Meeting on February 1, 2007

Upper Bucks for Democracy
Thursday, February 1, 7:00 p.m.
Plumstead Township Building
5186 Stump Road (0.4 mi east of 611 on right)
Plumsteadville, Pa. 18949

Democratic candidates who will speak
Gary Gilman for Judge of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas
Mardi Harrison for District Judge, Doylestown
Diane Marseglia for County Commissioner
Donna McKillop for Judge of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas
Sandra Miller for County Commissioner
Steve Santarsiero for County Commissioner
Andy Warren for County Commissioner
Fred Viskovich for County Treasurer

Larry Glick will attend for Congressman Patrick Murphy. Our meetings are open to all. Bring your questions and concerns.

Update on our activities
Flood issues–national and local
Who: Jeanne & Mike working with Steve Kanstoroom (DC flood expert & citizen activist, www.femainfo.us). We’re working with Congressman Murphy (& Doug Platz)
Goal: To get changes in the language of FEMA regulations clarifying accountability in the way WYO insurers deal with flood claims. Last fall this was worked through Mike Fitzpatrick’s subcommittee and also with Gov. Rendell and PEMA.
Military Commissions Act
Both Murphy and Casey said, before the election, that they supported passage of the MCA. We must lobby to get their support for changes to this law or overturning it.
Goal: We want an unequivocal commitment from the US government to the principle of habeas corpus. We will introduce resolutions for endorsement by local municipalities and the county.
Together with Coalition for Peace Action (Rev. Al Krass) we co-sponsored two events on the status of Guantanamo prisoners with speakers from the Philly Public Defenders' office.
Single-payer healthcare
Lots of visibility with recent state plan proposals (MA, CA, PA). PDA supports HR 676.
Next month we will get an update from Chuck Pennacchio (Executive Director, Health Education & Legislative Progress Fund of PA), who is lobbying for PA-SB 1085, also a "single-payer" bill.
We support both efforts–our goal is universal coverage/single payer.
Verified voting
We support an auditable voting system; e.g., optical scans with voter-verified paper ballots. Update from Madeline Rawley of the Coalition for Voting Integrity.

Craig Kaufman will speak on current activities of PA Action.