MMRules's blog

MoveOn.Org

Subject: Blue Cross

Hi,

We hear all the time about rising health care costs, but this really takes the cake.

Blue Cross has just announced that it's immediately raising premiums charged to hundreds of thousands of individual customers by as much as 39% -- even though their parent company's profits soared to a record $4.7 billion last year.

Even worse, the insurer has so far refused to explain why they're increasing their rates, and warned that they might do so again this year without warning.

The Obama administration is demanding answers from Anthem Blue Cross, and Congress has opened an investigation. But Blue Cross is only going to respond if this story becomes a major public-relations problem for them.

So it's time to turn up the heat. I just signed a petition calling for an explanation from Blue Cross -- will you join me? http://pol.moveon.org/bluecross/?r_by=-7039163-l8YCOvx&rc=paste

MoveOn.Org

Unlike just about every other industry in America, health insurance companies are completely exempt from antitrust laws.

And that allows companies like Blue Cross to create monopolies and raise their premiums without having to worry about competition. In California, Blue Cross wants to raise the premiums they charge some customers by up to 39%.

Led by freshman Representative Tom Perriello, the House just passed a bill to strip insurers of their special exemption by 406-19. Now the Senate needs to follow suit.

A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your senators.

http://pol.moveon.org/perriello_antitrust/?r_by=19132-7039163-wGitgQx&rc...

Senator Dick Durbin

Hey --

I just visited FedUpWithTheFilibuster.com to sign a petition addressing my Senators, urging them to revisit the outdated filibuster rule, which effectively requires a supermajority to pass virtually any legislation in Washington these days.

If you share my belief that it's time to end the filibuster as we know it, will you speak up and sign the petition, too?

http://www.FedUpWithTheFilibuster.com

Changing the filibuster is no pipe dream. In fact, back in the 1970's the Senate successfully amended what was a 67-vote cloture requirement to the current 60-vote requirement.

We cannot continue to allow a minority of Senators to paralyze progress. Together we can restore majority rule and make Congress work for the American people again.

Please join me and sign the petition at:

http://www.FedUpWithTheFilibuster.com

Thank you.

**

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

**

Your message to Attorney General Eric Holder:

Since Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to playing a key role in the commission of war crimes during the Bush administration, you are legally obligated to indict him.

Please prosecute Dick Cheney for torture immediately.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/cheney_torture/

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*The Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of Tom Donohue, has gone from a well respected trade organization to an extremist political organization dedicated to corrupting American democracy by elevating the profits of big corporations over the well being of the citizens they serve. The most recent example of this corrupt behavior is the Chamber's announcement that it is spending more than $100 million to defeat initiatives to protect the environment and provide affordable health care to everyone.

The Chamber is the biggest lobbying operation in the United States, spending billions of dollars on behalf of big business over the past decade to corrupt the political system. Polluters like Big Coal, Big Asbestos, and Big Oil only need call the Chamber to stop any accountability for their toxic destruction. Wall Street banks and CEOs need only make sure that they have paid their Chamber dues to ensure that they can continue to rip off the taxpayers. And killers like Big Tobacco need only form a partnership with the Chamber to ensure that they will be given immunity from lawsuits that seek accountability for the death and sickness of millions of Americans.

Tom Donohue has turned the once respected and even-handed Chamber into an extremist organization, bragging that the Chamber gutted the Clinton tobacco settlement, killed the Clinton health care plan, and scuttled previous oversight of Wall Street and the banking system. Now the Chamber is spending tens of millions on ads and lobbyists to stop health care for all, protect polluters from accountability, and shield the financial industry from government regulation.

Con't..

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber/

Scroll down page for link to Petition..Thank You !

Official Grassroots American Movement

In January, the rightwing Supreme Court let corporations - even foreign-owned corporations - elect all our politicians, from Mayor to President.

Petitions:

-Save Our Democracy

-Free Speech for People

-Stop the Corporate Takeover

Join The BrownBaggers ! - More Info: \/

http://brownbaggers.wordpress.com/

Tell CBS: We won't be silenced !

I just took action against an attack launched by CBS Outdoor against the IndictBushNow movement.

IndictBushNow had spent weeks communicating with CBS representatives for the launch in Washington, D.C., of wrap-around bus ads that read: "TORTURE is not just wrong ... it is ILLEGAL. Because NO ONE is above the law," followed by the organization's website address.

But now, CBS officials have suddenly changed their tune. In a communication that IndictBushNow has just received from CBS Outdoor (which has the contract for the placement of bus ads in the nation's capital), the advertising media giant rejected the bus ads because they constitutes "attack advertisement."

This is an outrage. Their message is factually accurate, asserting that torture is illegal and that no one is above the law, including high-government officials. These are recognized truths. They are fundamental to democracy and the rule of law.

We can't allow this assault on free speech and civil liberties to stand. I urge you to TAKE ACTION and SPREAD THE WORD!

Scroll down for the Petition/Letter:

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/News2/1496367074?page=NewsArticle&id=541...

The Washington Post reported that Google is negotiating an information-sharing agreement with the National Security Agency (NSA) to help the company defend its networks.

The NSA is part of the military, and its primary mission is spying. It collects the equivalent of the contents of the Library of Congress every six to eight hours, every single day. And in the last decade, it turned its surveillance efforts inward on the American people -- in violation of the law and the Constitution.

The ramifications of companies like Google working with the NSA are frightening. If companies think they need the government’s help to secure their networks, it must come from a civilian agency with government oversight, unlike the NSA.

Tell Google CEO Eric Schmidt that you strongly object to any deal with the NSA.

http://tinyurl.com/ykjsqbg

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

This month, key parts of the Patriot Act expire. We cannot let fear-mongering and scare tactics be an excuse for continuing the outrageous abuses that are being perpetrated under the authority of the Patriot Act.

Tell your members of Congress that it’s time to reform the Patriot Act.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=1599&page=Use...

Thank You !

**

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."