President Obama yesterday:

I know that the insurance industry won't like the idea that they'll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that's how we'll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families. I know that banks and big student lenders won't like the idea that we're ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that's how we'll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won't like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that's how we'll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries. I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: 'So am I.'

Freedom of Information and Sunshine laws can make people local heroes by making a difference in their communities when they get involved and hold government accountable.

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

Ohio's Sunshine Laws give you the right to access numerous government records and require many government bodies to conduct official business in public. Citizens, activists, advocacy groups, and others use these laws to monitor government actions and uncover potential wrongdoing.

Sunshine Week is a non-partisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.

When: Wednesday, March 18 at 3:00 PM
Where: Columbus Metro Library Auditorium, 96 Grant Ave., Columbus 43215

The panel includes:

• Catherine Turcer, director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Program
• Frank Deaner, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association
• Fred Gittes, attorney and advocate for open records
• Gary Daniels, associate director, ACLU of Ohio

The event is co-sponsored by the ACLU of Ohio, Ohio Citizen Action, the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, and the Ohio Newspaper Association.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information or to RSVP, please call (216) 472-2200 or email contact@acluohio.org.

For a Mapquest map and directions to this event, click here.

Join the discussion of Tom Friedman's latest book Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America on Sunday, March 1, 3:00 p.m. at the Lane Road Library, 1945 Lane Road. (Map.)

Amazon.com Reviews say:

In his brilliant, essential new book, Friedman takes a fresh and provocative look at two of the biggest challenges we face today: America’s surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11; and the global environmental crisis, which is affecting everything from food to fuel to forests. In this groundbreaking account of where we stand now, he shows us how the solutions to these two big problems are linked--how we can restore the world and revive America at the same time . . .

This is a great challenge, Friedman explains, but also a great opportunity, and one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth; it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America.

The book club is sponsored by Sustainable UA.

Please support our State Representative Ted Celeste at his next District Dialogue for his "State of the State" presentation. The event will be held on Thursday, February 26, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m., Grandview Middle School, 1240 Oakland Heights Avenue. (See map here.)

It has come to the attention of UAPA that Celeste is being targeted by state and local Republicans who have been urged to attend this meeting and "make Ted Celeste's life miserable." We ask that you consider attending this meeting to support Rep. Celeste as well as learn about the status of the state during this trying econonomic time. Hope to see you there!

Please join us for a night of Salsa music and dancing in support of

Mary Jo Kilroy

Representative from Ohio’s 15th Congressional District

3rd Annual Salsa Party – Thursday, February 19th at BoMA
583 East Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215
Sponsor Reception: 5:30 pm General Reception: 6:00 pm Music: 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Contribution Levels:

Gold Sponsor: $500 — Silver Sponsor: $250 — Admission: $50 per person
or join Club 15 at $15 monthly through November 2010 at www.kilroyforcongress.com/club15

Complementary Latin refreshments provided.
Sponsors: 2 drink tickets provided, General Admission/Club 15: 1 drink ticket provided.
RSVP to: Tyler — (614) 545-4070 x2 or tyler@kilroyforcongress.com
Please make checks payable to: Kilroy for Congress, PO Box 2582, Columbus, OH 43216

With only a short time in Congress, Mary Jo Kilroy is already making good on her promise to help middle class Americans. Her voting record on middle class issues is stellar. Here it is compared to some Ohio Republican representatives:

Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15-D): 100%
...Kilroy voted for
..........The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009- House Version
..........The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
..........The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
..........The Paycheck Fairness Act of 2009

On the other hand----
Steven LaTourette (OH-14-R): 20%
Jean Schmidt (OH-2-R): 0%
Steve Austria (OH-7-R): 20%
John Boehner (OH-8-R): 0%

Congresswoman Kilroy was at Obama's signing of the kids-health bill, a bill she co-sponsored.

The GOP, more interested in obstruction and filibuster even while our economy is in free fall, is running radio ads blasting MJK's and 29 other Democrats' support for the stimulus package.

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writers


Sunday, February 15, 2009; A03

CHICAGO, Feb. 14 -- The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday.

"We are basically looking now at a future climate that's beyond anything we've considered seriously in climate model simulations," Christopher Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Field, a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said emissions from burning fossil fuels since 2000 have largely outpaced the estimates used in the U.N. panel's 2007 reports. The higher emissions are largely the result of the increased burning of coal in developing countries, he said

Read the rest of the story here.

The Senate bill is now inferior to the House's in terms of stimulative effect.

• Out: Education and State aid: The compromise Senate bill "cuts all $16 billion from the original bill for K-12 school construction, [and] trims more than $1 billion from Head Start programs for youngsters." Of the $83 billion cut by the Nelson-Collins gang, $40 billion of it was for state stabilization funding. This is incredibly important funding meant for "helping states and localities avoid wide-scale cuts in services and layoffs of public employees."
• In: Ineffective tax breaks: One example --- Republicans added the "house flipping subsidy", a $15,000 home-buyers credit, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy Research calls this the “flip your house to your brother” provision: it will cost a lot of money while doing nothing to help the economy.

Want to learn about what's in the stimulus package in the first place? Try Recovery and Reinvestment 101 and the 'A Guide to How the Stimulus Works' video.

Interestingly, the most criticized provisions of Obama's stimulus package comprise a very small portion (less than 2%) of the total economic recovery legislation. Read about this in 'Republicans Mount Mini-Criticisms of Stimulus in the Media'.

Here are some programs that have been cut, either entirely or partially in the latest Senate version:

Partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Fully eliminated

• $55 million for historic preservation
• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $100 million for distance learning
• $98 million for school nutrition
• $50 million for aquaculture
• $2 billion for broadband
• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $50 million for detention trustee
• $25 million for Marshalls Construction
• $300 million for federal prisons
• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program
• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program
• $10 million state and local law enforcement
• $50 million for NASA
• $50 million for aeronautics
• $50 million for exploration
• $50 million for Cross Agency Support
• $200 million for National Science Foundation
• $100 million for science
• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees
• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration
• $89 million General Services Administration operations
• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security
• $200 million Transportation Security Administration
• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife
• $20 million for working capital fund
• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start
• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity
• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants
• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)
• $16 billion for school construction
• $3.5 billion for higher education construction
• $1.25 billion for project based rental
• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization