Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America

July Meeting

2009-06-25T15:14:00.005-05:00

Twin Cities DSA invites you to attend July's monthly meeting where the guest speaker will be Charlotte Lipa from the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition. July's meeting will be Sunday, July 12, 7:30-9pm. We look forward to a lively discussion on the state of Minnesota's universal health care initiatives. Please join us!

Health Care for All Americans- Sign the Petition

2009-06-19T10:59:00.003-05:00

Our current private health insurance system is the most costly, wasteful, complicated and bureaucratic in the world. Today, 46 million people have no health insurance. Even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. Close to 20,000 Americans die each year because they don't have regular access to a doctor.

The time is now for our nation to address the most profound moral and economic issue we face. The time is now for our country to join the rest of the industrialized world and provide cost-effective, comprehensive quality health care to every man, woman and child in our country. The time is now to take on the powerful special interests in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and pass a single-payer national health care program.

Send a message to Congress, sign the petition.

Video presentation by Bernie Sander on Single Payor Health Care

Follow the health care debate in the Senate, sign up for the Bernie Buzz newsletter here.

The Petition:

Whereas:

• 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance;
• 60 million Americans, both insured and uninsured, have inadequate access to primary care due to a shortage of physicians and other health service providers in their community;
• 100 million Americans have no insurance to cover dental needs;
• 116 million adults, nearly two-thirds of all non-seniors, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time, or were underinsured in the last year;
• The United States spends $2.3 trillion each year on health care, 16 percent of its Gross Domestic Product;
• Americans spend $7,129 per person on health care, 50 percent more than other industrialized countries, including those with universal care;
• The U.S. does not get what it pays for. We rank among the lowest in the health outcome rankings of developed countries, and on several major indices rank below some third-world nations;
• The number of health insurance industry bureaucrats has grown at 25 times the growth of physicians in the past 30 years;
• In 2006, the six largest insurance companies made $11 billion in profits even after paying for direct health care costs, administrative costs and marketing costs.

And, whereas:

• Medicare has administrative costs far lower than any private health insurance plan;
• The potential savings on health insurance paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, is enough to provide comprehensive coverage to every uninsured American;
• Only a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan can realize these enormous savings and provide comprehensive and affordable health care to every citizen.

Now, therefore:

• We, the undersigned, urge the United States Congress to pass a single-payer Medicare-for-all program which will provide quality, comprehensive health care for all Americans.

2009-03-12T14:56:00.002-05:00

Minnesota DSA members and supporters issue a call to action

Proposal for Solidarity with people of Europe and the Put People First March for Jobs, Justice and Climate for March 28, 2009.

Whereas the working people who did not create the current recession and are paying a high price through lost jobs and housing foreclosures, the Democratic Socialists of America calls on world leaders attending the G20 Summit in April 2009 to take decisive action to tackle the global recession and ensure that the world emerges a fairer and more sustainable place for working people an their families.

In solidarity with the Put People First March in Europe on March 28, 2009, the Minnesota Democratic Socialists of America calls on the National DSA to take immediate action and engage with union, faith and green groups to put on a USA Put People First March for Jobs, Justice and Climate for March 28, 2009.

We call on the national DSA to send a letter of support to the British Trades Union Congress for their efforts in organizing the Put People First March for Jobs, Justice and Climate.

Organizations backing the march include the TUC, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, Action Aid, Stop Climate Chaos, Save the Children, WWF, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Salvation Army, Tearfund, War on Want, World Vision, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Trade Justice Movement, Muslim Council of Britain and Jubilee Debt Campaign.

Free market fundamentalism has given mega-bonuses to the super-rich and destroyed jobs and communities for ordinary people. We DEMAND action for a better world based on justice for all and sustainable jobs and a clean climate.

Minnesota DSA members and supporters

Dear Friends of Twin Cities DSA- Please contact us!

2008-11-11T12:57:00.004-06:00

Dear Friends of Minnesota DSA:

We have a special request to make of you- we would like to request that you contact us via our e-mail and share your name, address & e-mail with us if you would like to be on our e-mail list for news from Twin Cities DSA.

We do not have very many e-mails, and we do not have names and addresses to go with some of the ones we have.

We do not share or sell our lists, our e-mail list is for our local Twin Cities DSA community, and for our friends elsewhere in the country who desire to keep abreast of our activities.

Please e-mail to us your contact information at: tcdemsoc@gmail.com

We hope those of you who live in the Twin Cities area can join us this Sunday, November 16th 2008 for our next meeting. See the notice below.

Best Regards,

Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America Steering Committee.

Canadian Activist Marianne Cerilli to Speak in Twin Cities August 28th

2008-08-03T17:11:00.004-05:00

The DSA International Commission and Twin Cities DSA are sponsoring a special speaker event as part of the upcoming Republican National Convention protests in St. Paul. Canadian activist Marianne Cerilli will be in the Twin Cities Thursday, August 28, 2008, to help give voice to a political agenda quite different from the RNC's.

Her topic: A Canadian perspective on U.S. politics - a review of the Bush years and a progressive wish list for the next U.S. president. Marianne Cerilli is a community activist, feminist, environmentalist, writer, and has been chair of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus in the Manitoba legislature. Come join us for an informal international talking circle with Marianne. The event is free and refreshments will be served.

Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Location:
Riverview Tower,
1920 S 1st Street in Minneapolis

Time: 6:30pm

For driving and parking instructions, contact Janette Lever at 612-341-4501

BRIAN MERCHANT TO SPEAK AT NEXT DSA MEETING ON PEAK OIL

2008-03-22T16:59:00.007-05:00

This Sunday, March 30th, Twin Cities DSA will be proud to welcome Brian Merchant to speak on the topic of peak oil. Our meeting will be at 7:00 PM, Sunday March 30th, at Davanni's Pizza & Hoagies.

When: Sunday, March 30th, 2008, at 7:00 pm

Where: Davanni's Pizza & Hoagies, Riverside, at 2500 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN, in the upstairs meeting room.

Brian's Background
Brian Merchant attended the First U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions in 2004. Since then, he has made presentations on peak oil and energy transition for Living Green Expo, the Minnesota Green Party Membership Conference, First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, the Critical Thinking Club of St. Paul, the Environmental Sustainability program of the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs, and the Northland Bioneers Conference. Brian's article, "Have We Hit Peak Oil Yet?," appears in the 2008 issue of Do It Green magazine.

Brian served as a group facilitator for "Overcoming barriers to action and taking the next step," a portion of the June 6th conference, "Preparing Your Community for Climate and Energy Change: Opportunities for Local Sustainability" sponsored by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He was a panelist for "Minnesotans respond to a growing energy crisis" at the May 2007 "Green by Design" conference sponsored by Minnesota Green Communities. And Brian is a member of the Twin Cities Energy Transition Working Group which developed the Twin Cities Peak Oil Resource Guide posted at Neighborhood Energy Connection.

Brian arranged for two public appearances in the Twin Cities by Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over and Powerdown, in June, 2005.

Brian has a B.A. degree in Psychology and an M.A. degree in Human Development.

Fighting for Health Care for all: Health Care Action

2008-01-29T10:11:00.000-06:00

We invite Twin Cities progressives to take part in an important event in order to fight for health care for everyone! Check the link below for details.

Take Action Minnesota
Health Care Action
Tuesday, February 12 at 11:30 AM
State Capitol Rotunda

Coalition organizing protests at Republican Convention in St. Paul:
www.protestrnc2008.org

MN United Steelworkers (USW)

2008-01-14T15:59:00.000-06:00

Twin Cities DSA supports the MN United Steelworkers (USW) campaign 'Moving the Midwest towards Energy Independence'. The campaign aims at expanding renewable energy development and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Less reliance on foreign oil will reduce the chance of going to war over limited resources. More renewable energy and alternative fuel sources in Minnesota will create quality jobs for MN workers and family farmers. Other benefits include less pollution and global warming as well as greater price stability and energy reliability for MN consumers.

Building links between the labor and environmental movement is a step towards ecological socialism. Check out these links at:

www.blugreenalliance.com and www. apolloalliance.org

Recent Events

2008-01-14T15:31:00.000-06:00

November 2007:

Guest speaker, Kip Sullivan, author of one of the finest researched books on the American health care system entitled The Health Care Mess: How we got into it and how we'll get out of it. He works at COACT (Citizen Organizations Acting Together). He has worked closely with HCCM (Health Care Campaign of Minnesota), and more recently the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition.

September 2007:

During the week of September 17, 2007, four executive committee members of the Luxembourg local of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) visited the Twin Cities. The tour was sponsored by the Washington Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The members were Koba Krause, Renata Fackler, Nikolaus Bahn and Bianca Bethke. There were several events scheduled around town, with the main theme of discussion being health care, renewable energy, Iraq War and European unification. The first major event was at the home of former Mpls. mayor and long-time Congressman Don Fraser and his wife Arvonne. 30 people from the DFL Education Foundation and Twin Cities DSA were present. The second day, MN Rep. Steve Simon (DFL) gave the visitors a two hour tour of the state Capitol building in St Paul, much more extensive than a regular tour. For lunch, there was a discussion with at the University of Minnesota Center for German and European Studies, led by director Sabine Engel. Representatives from the political science department, history, European studies, and others were in attendance-among them Minnesota's most famous historian, Prof. Hy Berman. Sabine Engel then treated the visitors to a tour of the University of Minnesota campus. There was also a brief talk with the dean of the Humphrey Institute, Brian Atwood. Wednesday, there was a roundtable discussion with ten or so labor union leaders at the AFL-CIO headquarters in St Paul, led by the editor of Workday Minnesota, Barb Kucera. The Luxembourg delegation then had conversations with staffers of a feminist bookstore in Minneapolis and also the "Wedge", the Twin Cities largest food co-op. A political report followed up their visit in October.

April 2007

Special guest, Saul Escobar Toledo, from Mexico's PRD party visits from Mexico City. Events in Mpls-St Paul included student student activities scheduled at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, DSA dinner in Minneapolis, and events in Chicago, IL.

Book of Condolence for Anna Lindh, Swedish Foreign Minister

2003-09-27T16:38:00.000-05:00

We received this message from the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis:
This day has been one of great sorrow as we awoke to the news of the tragic and senseless death of Anna Lindh, Sweden's Foreign Minister. People throughout Sweden and those with whom she came into contact had the deepest respect for her intellect, her passion and her compassion. She was dedicated to the cause of human rights, and to making the world a place where all peoples can have the opportunity for a meaningful life in democratic societies without fear of violence. She will be deeply missed, and all people should be keeping the members of her family, her colleagues, and the people of Sweden in their thoughts and prayers.

Secretary of State Colin Powell stated today that "Anna Lindh will be remembered for her outstanding contributions to international diplomacy and transatlantic relations. She had a special energy, integrity and compassion and she spent a great deal of her time focusing her efforts on global humanitarian issues. Anna was a cherished colleague and friend, and I will miss her."

There will be a Book of Condolence available for people to sign and express their sorrow about the death of Anna Lindh. This Book of Condolence will be placed at the American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis. All are invited to come to sign this Book of Condolence during the open hours of the American Swedish Institute through Wednesday, September 17th. This Book of Condolence will be sent to the Embassy of Sweden in Washington DC.

If you cannot make it to the American Swedish Institute by Wednesday, inquire at the office there, as they expect to have the book on hand for a few days afterward; it just won't be on display. The Institute is open from 12 noon to 4 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is open on Wednesdays from 12 noon to 8 PM, and on Sundays from 1 to 5 pm.
For more information, call the American Swedish Institute at 612-871-4907.
Archived 2003-09-27