A number of
actual grass roots organizations have joined forces to organize the Health Care For All Rally in Nyack, NY Sunday Oct. 4th starting at 4:30pm featuring music, speakers and outreach.
Nyack Memorial Park at 53 Piermont Ave. in Nyack, NY will be the venue for an event advocating the understanding of health care as a human right and exposure of the indecencies of the for-profit health insurance industry.
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger will be there armed with his banjo at age 90, as will Grammy Award winning singer-songwiter Tom Chapin and songsmith Emory Joseph who has collaborated with Odetta, Bonnie Raitt and Wavy Gravy.
The event came together quickly following a recent Health Care event hosted by Organizing For America nearby in Rockland County which was attended by so-called "Teabaggers" who
held up rude signs and were heard claiming the meeting was arranged by ACORN members.
Organizing For America (formerly Obama For America) will be returning for a more civil discussion this time to present "mythbusting" information but the event was conceived and planned by local groups including The
Rockland Progressive Dems who recently launched a local news blog and the Hudson Valley arm of
The Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest, oldest interfaith Peace organization in the US which happens to be headquartered in Nyack.
The Nyack N.A.A.C.P., the 30-year old
WESPAC Foundation for peace and justice (from neighboring Westchester County) and this site,
OpEd News have co-sponsored the rain-or-shine event which has also been endorsed by
Rockland Coalition For Peace and Justice, a group of dedicated "vigilers" who have protested the Iraq War on a local street corner every Saturdayregardless of the weathersince the war began in 2002,. Kucinich organization reps are also expected to be in attendance as are a plethora of local politicians trying to solidify support for upcoming elections.
Organizers invite all to bring blankets or lawn chairs to picnic on the large lawn area overlooking the Hudson River. Below follows the official statement posted by organizers on their
Health Care For All Now page. Look for a follow-up report here early next week.
**UPDATE 2-- A "Tea Party" group from White Plains
has announced intentions to gather a large group of "Patriots" to stand against the President and the 90 year old Seeger, who they call an "unrepentant 60's commie". Bringing signs and flags, they intend to "ensure the American side of the debate is heard" since the rallyers are "likely to have media coverage that we never get."
HCFA organizers encourage attendees to show support for healthcare reform civilly and refrain from engaging anyone trying to stop the proceedings, announcing "the Orangetown Police Dept. will not allow them to disrupt this event".
Though one OFA rep has been invited, all are reminded this event was organized by the actuallocal grassroots groups and not "the government" as pro-health industry supporters would have you believe.
*UPDATE 1-- The above page, set up by Health Care For All Now, hosted on the Tripod web service has started featuring opposition ads right below their message! Paid for by "Patients First, a project of Americans for Prosperity", the ad seems targeted specifically to the message delivered on the page and displays the warnings "Hands Off My Healthcare" and "Stop Government-Run Healthcare". This is a brilliant example of how well-funded and responsive the for-profit insurance industry is, how they mobilize and how they are so effectively spending corporate cash to influence this debate!
From the HFCA page: Health Care for All
Whereas: Health Care is a Human Right;
Whereas: The private, for profit health insurance industry has failed to deliver quality health care to all the people and failed to control the cost of health care:
Whereas: The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has published a report, "Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations",which offers the following set of guiding principles to assess policy options:
1. Health care coverage should be universal;
2. Health care coverage should be continuous;
3. Health care coverage should be affordable to individuals and families;
4. The health care coverage strategy should be affordable;
5. Health care coverage should enhance health and well-being by promoting access to high-quality and equitable care;
THEREFORE WE DO HEREBY RESOLVE:
to advocate and lobby the federal government for a national universal health care plan which meets these policy recommendations;
to inform and educate all the people in our community and beyond as to the terrible price paid in both lives and in dollars caused by delays in implementing a health care policy that recognizes health care as a human right.
Join us at 4:30 pm, October 4that Memorial Park in Nyack
Advocate for:
1. the understanding of healthcare as a human right;
2. exposure of the failures of the for-profit system that leaves people on their own in the current private insurance industry:
3. government bargaining with the pharmaceutical industry for lower prescription drug prices;
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