American Values Alliance | Practical voice for progressive valuesAmerican Values Alliance | Practical voice for progressive valuesOver the weekend, several AVA contributors have had articles published on The Indianapolis Star’s op-ed page. This past Saturday Dr. Christopher Stack, a member of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan, wrote a piece entitled “High ranking doesn’t make us feel better”, which takes WellPoint CEO Angela Braly to task for insisting in a recent Forbes article that “health-care reform be done by the private sector, and in measured steps.” Dr. Stack rightly points out that WellPoint and other private-sector companies have benefited handsomely from our for-profit system of healthcare (its earnings have grown 55% since 2000 to $3 billion in 2006), but the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 47 million and WellPoint’s premiums over that time grew at 2.5 times the rate of inflation. Chris observes that while the market-driven approach to health care has made huge profits for WellPoint’s CEO (whose contract calls for a $2.4 million annual salary and 410,000 shares in stock options), it has miserably failed the American people. If WellPoint’s huge profits weren’t obscene enough, he also points out that WellPoint has spent $2 million in California in an effort to defeat Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan to require insurers to offer coverage to all regardless of health status. Thanks in no small part to the pressure being applied by committed physicians like Dr. Stack, the New York Times reports that today Sen. Hillary Clinton today will lay out a plan to secure health insurance for all Americans, while severely limiting the ability of insurers like WellPoint to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to people with chronic illnesses and other medical problems. Keep us the great work, Chris!
Monday’s Star contains op-ed pieces by two more of AVA’s finest, Sheila Kennedy and Rev. Robert Giannini.
I am pleased to announce that Ryan Nees, Dr. Chrisopher Stack, Indiana State Rep. David Orentlicher, and former Marion County Fire Chief Louis Dezelan, each of them in their own unique ways a prominent citizen-activist, have agreed to join our expanding list of contributors. Each of these individuals brings a distinguished record of accomplishment in their respective fields.
Ryan Nees will be a senior at Western High School outside Kokomo, Indiana, this fall. In 2006 he won a public access lawsuit against the City of Kokomo, made national news, and was recognized with a prestigious Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, who recognized him for his “youth, tenacity, understanding of the law, and his courage in the pursuit of public records.” Last year, he launched IndianaOnMessage.com, one of "the best and most viewed Internet sites on Indiana politics," according to the Herald Times, has worked for years in Democratic politics, developing media for municipal, legislative, and gubernatorial campaigns, and is now serving as Sen. Richard Lugar's youngest-ever intern in Washington, D.C. He writes for The Kokomo Perspective and the Howey Political Report. Ryan will be writing about Indiana and national politics and the youth culture.
David Orentlicher is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law at Indiana University Law School at Indianapolis. Before that David served as the Director of Medical Ethics for the American Medical Association. He is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University Medical School and a 1986 graduate of Harvard Law School. He has published more than 80 articles in leading medical and legal journals addressing critical issues in medical ethics. Since 2002 he has served in the Indiana House of Representatives. David will be writing about public policy and ethical issues involving the law and medicine.
Christopher Stack was known as one of Indianapolis’ leading orthopedic surgeons prior to his retirement in 2004. He graduated in 1979 from IU’s School of Medicine and began his practice at IU Medical Center, later joining Indiana Orthopedic & Sports Medicine. Chris was appointed by Gov. Joe Kernan to the Indiana Mandated Benefits Task Force on which he served as its chair. He is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program as well as Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan. Dr. Stack is an active advocate for single-payer health plan coverage, and will be writing about health care issues.
Louis A. Dezelan was a professional firefighter 30 years and served as the Fire Chief for the City of Indianapolis from 2000 through 2004. Chief Dezelan holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Governments. He has had 26 articles published in nationally distributed trade magazines.
Dezelan has served on the Board of Directors for the Indianapolis chapters of the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association and is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the National Institute for Fitness and Sport. He now serves as an independent consultant in matters of public safety and government consolidation. Louis will be writing about local government politics and administration and other public policy issues.
We look forward to Lou, Christopher, David and Ryan sharing their wisdom and commentary with the AVA community. Welcome aboard!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
7 PM
Key Cinemas, 4044 S Keystone Ave
IN DEBT WE TRUST is the latest film from Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," director of the internationally distributed and award-winning WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception), an expose of the media's role in the Iraq War. The Emmy-winning former ABC News and CNN producer's new hard-hitting documentary investigates why so many Americans are being strangled by debt. It is a journalistic confrontation with what former Reagan advisor Kevin Phillips calls "Financialization"--the "powerful emergence of a debt-and-credit industrial complex."
While many Americans may be "maxing out" on credit cards, there is a deeper story: power is shifting into fewer hands.....with frightening consequences.
IN DEBT WE TRUST shows how the mall replaced the factory as America's dominant economic engine and how big banks and credit card companies buy our Congress and drive us into what a former major bank economist calls modern serfdom. Americans and our government owe trillions in consumer debt and the national debt, a large amount of it to big banks and billions to Communist China.
Theater generously donated by Key Cinemas
Co-sponsored by Central Indiana Jobs With Justice, Indiana Alliance for Democracy, and United Senior Action
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Friends, we need your help!!!
We are facing a crucial time stopping this bigoted amendment and it is urgent that certain IN House districts are targeted immediately. Indiana Equality and HRC are implementing the patch-thru call campaign I blogged about last week to reach out to voters to call their representatives. This is a very expensive effort but with SJR-7 coming out of committee today, we need to do this now more than ever! The more money we raise, the more voters we can reach! All money previously raised will be given to this initiative.
HRC will match your donation to Indiana Equality, dollar for dollar, up to $5000. Anything that you can give will be doubled!
Donations can be made online here or can be mailed to: Indiana Equality, PO Box 20621, Indianapolis, IN 46220-0621. Please put "patch-thru calls" on the memo line of your check.
Please forward this to all your friends and ask them to distribute it widely.
Don't forget that The Indiana Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, the American Values Alliance and Lambda Legal are sponsoring an evening discussion with Paul Smith. Smith, the legal council for the plaintiffs in Lawrence vs Texas, will be speaking on "The Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships from Lawrence v. Texas to the proposed Indiana Marriage Amendment."
This fundraising appeal has been suspended.
Attorneys for the AVA have raised concerns over whether this activity would jeopardize our 501(c)(3) status since this could be considered political lobbying.
We are continuing to work with other organizations to find a way to implement this action. All funds already raised will be given to another organization that will implement this plan or it will be refunded to the donors.
We apologize for any confusion or misunderstandings.
Executive Director Bil Browning appears on this week's podcast for the Indy Freethinkers. Jerame Davis, the AVA technical support person and co-owner (with Bil) of bilerico.com, also joins the conversation. The podcast focuses on SJR-7, the proposed amendment to the Indiana constitution that would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. Be sure to check it out!
The AVA held a press conference before today's House committee hearing on SJR-7, the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. Speaking at the press conference were:
Below is the press release we handed out at the news conference:
Featuring:
Paul M. Smith
Partner, Jenner & Block LLP
Plaintiff's counsel, Lawrence v. Texas
Chair of the ACS Board of Directors
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Bingham McHale LLP
2700 Market Tower
10 West Market Street, 27th Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana
There is no cost to attend this event. Refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP here.
As attorney colleagues of Indianapolis Star contributor Sheila Suess Kennedy, we take serious exception to Chris Stovall’s insinuations (“Get facts straight on same-sex issue”, Feb 15) that her February 13th commentary (“Sex, lies and politics”) comes anywhere close to violating the ethical rules governing Indiana lawyers. While Mr. Stovall is free to disagree with Ms. Kennedy’s views, his suggestion that her opinions are outside the bounds of the professional ethical standards governing attorneys is a form of rhetorical thuggery that undermines civil discourse and the cogency of his own arguments.
Mr. Stovall is an out-of-state advocate for amendments on marriage like SJR-7, currently before our legislature. Ms. Kennedy is making a zealous case for the proposition that passage of SJR7 will wipe out existing laws that bestow even a few “marriage-like” benefits such as domestic violence protections and domestic partner benefits, as has taken place in Michigan and Ohio under their own amendments. Proponents there also gave assurances that those amendments would only prohibit the state from recognizing gay marriage and then retreated in silence when courts interpreted ambiguous language to impact other rights and benefits.
The second paragraph of SJR-7 says: “This Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.” What is most disturbing about Mr. Stovall’s piece is his pulling out of thin air his “Law 101” definition of “construe”, insisting that it only applies when a statute is unclear. But this does not apply when, as would happen if SJR-7 were to be enacted, a judge would be told by the constitution itself NOT to construe a law a certain way. The public has differing opinions on same-sex marriage, civil unions, and related benefits. But all should be concerned over the current frenzy to ram through a proposal, the meaning of which even its proponents are in disagreement over. The should also be concerned over recent attempts to recklessly tinker with current Domestic violence protections to bolster their arguments on SJR-7.
Colleagues of Mr. Stovall urge the legislature to just pass off the whole mess to the voters and abdicate their responsibility to carefully consider and craft clear language worthy of what the drafters of our 1851 Constitution had in mind when they required two separate legislatures pass a proposed amendment before sending it to the people. Our lawmakers ought not to push this solemn duty off simply to satisfy a partisan political need to energize a constituent base in the November 2008 presidential elections. Moreover, attacks by a paid, out-of-state advocate on the integrity of a respectable public servant such as Ms. Kennedy are reprehensible and far beyond what should pass as acceptable public discourse.
by Kerry Blomquist, Bil Groth, Robb Minich, and Don Sherfick
American Value Alliance president William R. Groth will be a featured speaker at an upcoming Indiana Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitutional Society. Bill is an expert in election law and serves as co-counsel for the Plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging Indiana's photo ID law, which is currently pending in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He will be joined by Daniel P. Tokaji an expert in election reform.
Today's Indianapolis Star has a letter to the editor from the President and Executive Director of the American Values Alliance.
Statehouse leaders are exploiting civil-union issue
The American Values Alliance is a nonpartisan group of Hoosier citizens who seek to restore civility to political discourse and who believe that public policy should be based on facts and reason. We are disappointed that, because of a recent court decision in New Jersey, The Star chose to run a front-page story with a banner headline announcing the "return" of gay marriage as a "timely issue" in the upcoming election.
The Indiana Economic Digest recently ran a very flattering column by leading economist Morton J. Marcus. The column mentions the recent AVA brownbag lunch and issues a call for civility that we can only echo and praise.
Thanks for the kind words, Mr. Marcus. Your input and discussion topics were valuable and insightful. We hope to see you at our next event.
Yesterday AVA ventured out into the daylight to host a public, face-to-face, conversation rather than an online one. (As in radio, there’s always that slight fear of people finding out what you really look like.) About 30 people came to the Sagamore Institute to discuss the difficulties involved in holding a civil, evidence-based political dialogue about such controversial topics as the recent detainee bill, immigration policy, and election reform.
We would like to invite you to an exciting event being held by the American Values Alliance (AVA).
The AVA isn't your run of the mill "issue group". We're not left-wing or right-wing; we have Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Greens in our midst. We believe that there's plenty of room for multiple points of view on just about every issue as long as those views are expressed in a civil and fair manner. At the AVA, it's not about being right or wrong, instead we're more about expressing our own personal view without the partisan rancor and baseless attacks found so often in modern "discussions."
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