Clean Energy Bill Vote Goes to House Vote
The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the most unprecedented clean energy and climate legislation in our nation's history Friday. The list of national groups that are calling on congressional leaders to strengthen the clean energy jobs bill is impressive: MoveOn, rePower America, 1Sky, ACORN, Democracia Ahora, Environment America, Green For All, Health Care Without Harm, Oxfam, Rock the Vote, the Sierra Club, and USAction. They’re asking Congress to stand up for three key changes to the latest version of the energy bill: Ensure more clean energy for America: Require power companies to produce more clean energy. Wind and solar create more than twice as many jobs as coal and oil. Hold polluters accountable: Restore President Obama's current authority through the EPA to crack down on global warming pollution from power plants. Create more clean energy jobs for America and build resiliency to climate change: Reduce giveaways to polluting industries in order to bolster green job development and protect vulnerable communities. Critics say the Waxman/Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act has been weakened by special interests and will be weakened further as it goes to the Senate. Reverse the process; join the efforts of one or more of the abovementioned groups. There are a number of local groups engaged as well. We’ll have more information in coming days at our website www.alamobama08.com.
Bank On Health
Saturday, June 27, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, as part of the President’s National Day of Service at San Antonio Towne Center parking lot, SAAPAC Headquarters, 7122 San Pedro. Come make a "deposit" in both the food bank and the blood bank. We told both the San Antonio Food Bank and the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center that alamObama cares about the world in which we live and thus the reason for our existence. So, they’re parking their vehicles at the SAAPAC office and taking us at our word.
Food Facts: Texas is the most food insecure state in the nation. Defined, food insecurity is when you are so limited in resources to buy food that you are running out of food, reducing the quality of food that your family eats, feeding your children unbalanced diets, or skipping meals so your children can eat. We have details on most needed items for the SA Food Bank at our website, www.alamobama08.com. The truck holds 8,000 pounds of food. Let’s fill the truck!
Blood Facts: In order to meet hospital demands, the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center must collect at least 600 units of blood each day to service 100 hospitals in 43 South Texas counties. Sixty percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, however, only five percent do. Blood donation takes four steps: medical history, quick physical, donation, and snacks. The actual blood collection takes approximately 10-20 minutes. The entire process, from when you sign in to the time you leave, takes about 45 minutes to one hour. Please sign up today at www.barackobama.com and in the comments section, tell us if you wish to donate blood, donate food or be a volunteer to help on the 27th. Or just contact us at alamobama09@aol.com.
State Legislative Town Hall
For our regularly scheduled alamObama meeting we’re holding a State Legislative Town Hall , July 9, 6:30 – 8:30 at the San Antonio Library Auditorium. The entire Bexar County delegation has been invited. So far Senator Van De Putte and Representatives Castro, Menendez, Villareal and Martinez Fischer have agreed to attend. Senator Zaffirini, and Representatives McClendon Jones and Corte have other engagements. We are following up with the rest to see who will attend. Of course, the Special Legislative Session has been called for July 1 but is expected to be kept to a few days. Should the session go longer, we’ll have to postpone or cancel. Go to my.barackobama.com to sign up. The auditorium only holds 140 so you’ll need to reserve your spot quick.
Housekeeping Notes
We’re at the SAAPAC office every Tuesday and Thursday, 1 PM to 5PM , 7122 San Pedro, Ste 114 . More volunteers mean more hours.
White House
This week the President: answered questions and concerns from health care stakeholders more thoroughly than ever before in a prime time health care reform event; discussed Iran during the opening remarks of his Press Conference, watch the video with Persian captions, or read translations in Persian and Arabic; and announced United We Serve -- a call to action for all Americans to volunteer this summer and be part of building a new foundation for our country, one community at a time. Also watch an amazing video of green jobs in action, lowering energy bills and rejuvenating the economy. That and much more at www.whitehouse.gov. Tammy Duckworth discusses a new coordinated effort to aid homeless veterans, and ultimately eliminate homelessness in our country and Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, hosted a live chat to discuss green jobs, taking questions from Facebook as well as WhiteHouse.gov. All this and more at www.whitehouse.gov.
National
Senator Spector Shifts on Public Option
Senator Arlen Specter told union activists he supports a public option in health care reform. That’s a shift from his position a few months ago. Of course he’s also facing a 17 year low in popularity right now. Read more http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2009/06/specter-backs-public-option-on-health-care.html and http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/specter-schumer-has-it-right-on-the-public-opt
United We Serve
Today, the Obama family worked with volunteers to fill backpacks for children whose parents are currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the United We Serve project. He also mentioned a new website, www.serve.gov, where you can go and find or list volunteering opportunities in your community. Let's begin by filling the Food Bank truck this Saturday!
Health Care Reform
Current polls show 72% of Americans want the real health care reform only a public option can produce. Earlier this week, Senators Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy and Charles Schumer started a Citizen's Petition to demonstrate enough support to hopefully give some of their peers the spine to back what we the people want. Please sign the petition and pass it on to as many interested friends as possible. This petition could use several million signatures ASAP.
http://ga3.org/campaign/healthpetition?source=hc_ty
Thank you for supporting this important effort.
-Stand with the President; go to the Health Care Action Center for more http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/health-care-action-center
-At www.healthreform.gov get an exhaustive trove of administrative information on health care and reform
-The Kaiser Family Foundation has provided a tool that provides a side by side comparison of major health care reform proposals http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm
Local
Congress On Your Corner
Congressman Ciro Rodriguez constituents can join the Congressman for Congress On Your Corner Saturday, June 27 at the Wildfire Coffee Roasters coffee house, 15502 Huebner Road in San Antonio from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Mobile office hours Tuesday, June 30th at El Progreso Memorial Library, 301 W. Main in Uvalde from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Southside Democratic Club
Message from Katrina De Los Santos :
I am writing to inquire if you all are interested in joining a new Democratic Club on the SouthSide of San Antonio? We are in the process of forming a new club that will support those causes and issues that are important to us on the SouthSide (we will vote on a name later). Once we become a viable club we will support those running for local, state, and national Democratic offices. We will ask those leaders to do all that they promised during their run for election and bring positive recognition to the SouthSide. If you are interested, please reply to this Email with your name, address, telephone number and Email address. If you know anyone who may be interested, please feel free to contact me at dodger58@gmail.com.
SAAPAC Fundraiser
Groups are meeting and talking at San Antonio Progressive Area Coalition, 7122 San Pedro. AlamObama is just one of many groups taking advantage of this space. But SAAPAC needs funds to operate. So let’s join them in their fundraiser Tuesday, June 30, 2009 , 5:30 - 10 pm at Big Kahuna Restaurant, 741 W. Ashby Place (across from SA Little Theater). Go to www.saapac.org to get details on the fundraiser, make a donation to SAAPAC if you can’t attend, and find an activity that may interest you on their events calendar.
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