200 people can commute in:
Great poster from Seattle demonstrating the space it takes on a street to move 200 people in various modes.
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California Action Alert on Employment & Disability
Dear Advocates,
AB 1269 is important for Californians with disabilities who want to or do work. If you’re unfamiliar with Medi-Cal’s California Working Disabled Program, please see the following text link that describes the current program. http://www.chiip.org/longdesc/medi-cal_brochure_english.html
AB 1269 adds desperately needed improvements to California’s Medicaid Buy-In Program that were vetoed by the governor two legislative cycles ago because of legal language flaws, and again during the last legislative cycle because of the budget. Advocates have worked closely with the governor’s staff and the state’s fiscal actuaries, and are confident that we have addressed concerns expressed by this administration.
Please let Assemblymember Brownley know that you support her bill as she ushers it through the committee process. It is important to ask people in your personal life and business associates to also send letters of support. Please spread the word.
ACTION ALERT!
Write Letters to Members of the Assembly Committee on Health by April 16, 2009
AB 1269-Fundamental Fairness!
CALIFORNIA WORK GROUP On Work Incentives and Health Care the CWG
PLEASE SEND TO YOUR COLLEAGUES AND NETWORKS
Dear CWG Participants & AB 1269 Supporters,
We need you, your friends, family, and colleagues to write letters of support by the end of this week!
ACTION STEPS:
1. Write your letter of support! See our sample letter below that you can edit with your own stories, Assembly contact person, and your personal contact information.
2. Please send or fax a letter of support to Julia Brownley, the bill’s author attention Irene Ho.
Office of Assembly Member Julia Brownley
Attn: Irene Ho
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0041
Tel: (916) 319-2041
Fax: (916) 319-2141
3. Send or fax a copy of your letter to Ginny Murphy:
Ginny Murphy
World Institute on Disability
510 16th St. Ste 100
Oakland CA 94612
Ginny@wid.org
Phone: (510) 251-4340
Fax: (510) 763-4109
4. Forward this email to a friend or colleague who can join us in supporting AB 1269. Consider sending them your letter so they can see why you support the California Working Disabled Program.
Thank you for your action and support! Please contact us if you have any questions. If you need any assistance with this AB 1269 letter of support over the next two days please contact Burns Vick, Policy Consultant, at fburnsvick@sbcglobal.net.
Sincerely,
Bryon MacDonald
Program Director
California Work Incentives Initiative
The World Institute on Disability
Ginny Murphy
Projects Coordinator
California Work Incentives Initiative
World Institute on Disability
Sample letter
“Cut and paste” the following letter into your word processor, then make the needed changes to personalize it:
April ____, 2009
The Honorable Julia Brownley
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0041
Dear Assembly Member Brownley:
YOUR NAME or ORGANIZATION in YOUR CITY is deeply committed to support the improvement of Medi-Cal’s California Working Disabled Program with the features and the fundamental fairness found in your pending legislation AB 1269. ____________A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF WHY YOU SUPPORT AB 1269… ________________________.
Medi-Cal’s California Working Disabled program (CWD) came about so California workers with a disability who have earned income under 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) can buy into Medi-Cal by paying an affordable monthly premium. This bill would reform the program to enable more disabled individuals to save their earnings without consequence, and enable them to retain their health coverage and hard-earned savings when changing employment during these hard economic times, and when they receive retirement income.
AB 1269 improvements to the California Working Disabled Program:
- Allow enrollees who are temporarily unemployed to remain in the program for up to 26 weeks (6 ½ months) during a work transition;
- Allow enrollees to save their earnings without any limit or ceiling as long as they save them in a separate bank account; and
- Allow enrollees to stay in the program and work by exempting Social Security disability income that converts to retirement income.
In 1999, California passed legislation (AB 155-Migden) that established the California Working Disabled program. While creation of the California Working Disabled program successfully facilitated the return to work for some workers with a disability, program enrollment rates have been much lower than every state projection since 1999. These long sought, non-controversial improvements, and promotion of them by the State of California, can improve employment outcomes for many more California residents working and living with a significant disability.
Thank you for your leadership.
Sincerely,
YOUR SIGNATURE, PRINTED NAME AND ADDRESS or ORGANIZATION’S INFORMATION
—
Ginny Murphy
Projects Coordinator
California Work Incentives Initiative
World Institute on Disability
Phone: (510) 251-4340
Fax: (510) 763-4109
Ginny@wid.org
Posted 11 months ago. Add a comment
War Resister support protest at Peace Arch
On my way back from Canada, I stopped for my usual visit to the Peace Arch on the Canada/US border. This year I was pleasantly surprised to find a protest in favor of US war resistors, and Robin Long in particular. For more details, see http://resisters.ca/index_en.html. Click the photo on the right for more photos.
In short, Robin Long is a US Army soldier who fled to Ontario in 2005. He has been in Canadian courts as one of the test cases for deportation. While the Canadian Parliament votes (non-binding) to allow US soldiers who have left the US to stay, the Prime Minister has different politics.
Here’s the Wall Street Journal article on Long’s deportation.
I was interviewed by GlobalTV, so I might appear in an online story there.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago. Add a comment
Great visit with some of the Canadian Trampleasures
Last night I had a great visit with cousins in Delta, British Columbia, Canada.
Gary is my “fourth cousin.” He’s proud to be the oldest living Trampleasure in Canada, and the third oldest in the world (my dad beats him out by a decade, as does Colin in London).
I met two “fourth cousins once removed” and three “fourth cousins twice removed.” We had a great time talking about the family tree, how Canada got it’s name (a joke I’m sure they would have heard, but maybe it’s just a US joke), whether or not we actually made it to the moon, and the reality of the 9/11 events (let’s just say not everyone believes the US government tale).
The kids were pleased to see a Trampleasure from another shore (well, almost). I had a great time. The visit gave me encouragement to do more family tree research.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago. 2 comments
Two lovely days on Whidbey Island, WA
I spent Saturday and Sunday with my old neighbor Quinn. Quinn moved up here last fall, and is enjoying his first summer on the island. He’s got a nice place, with enough space to hang his many guitars, but not so much as to need to hire a housecleaner
He’s on the end of a dead-end road, with a few other houses within earshot, but not enough to make one feel crowded.
Both days went great, Quinn and I hung out a bit talking, then we went off with his friend Charlene to see the island (well, south part).
Saturday was (not by plan) “Cultural day.” We went to one of the local towns (Langley) for an art/music festival (Choochochum), where my souvenir from the island was a CD of one of the local bands that played. We then went over to Charlene’s place for dinner, then off to visit a neighbor (environmental consultant, full of great stories and anecdotes).
Sunday we went to South Whidbey State Park and walked through the forest, including a view of the “Ancient Cedar.” Next we walked the beach at Double Bluff, where we saw a Harbor Seal pup on the beach. We later heard from a marine mammal volunteer that the beached pups rarely make it. This one seems very thin, and its rear flippers appeared paralyzed. See my album for lots of photos of the cute pup: http://trampleasure.net/lee/gallery/main.php/v/july2008/album/
Further down the beach we realized it was about time for the cruise ship Charlene’s nine-year old son was on to pass by. We looked carefully at the first one, waving as it went by (we could barely see people on the deck). Oops, wrong company. Two ships later we saw his ship. We waved and waved, because he had told his mom that he’d be watching the island as he passed. I got a couple photos where we could see people at the railing, but too small to identify anyone.
I’ve seen a few eagles, and this morning on my drive I was able to take a picture of one arriving at the nest with some food for the little ones.
Today I’m off to visit the Trampleasures in Canada. Gary and Betty Anne will be there, as well as probably a few of the kids and/or grandkids. It should be fun. I haven’t seen them since ages ago when they came down to California. Time to get back on the road
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
Mt. Rainier and a family of foxes
Today started off with me doing laundry and computer tasks while Etsuko went to class and Bob went to work.
Around noon, we had got it together to drive to Mt. Rainier. Etsuko used to give tours on the mountain, so she was our guide. The park entrance is about two hours from Seattle, but we had a nice drive, and didn’t run into much traffic. I find it interesting how you can see Mt. Rainier clearly from Seattle, but then when you start getting closer to it it becomes hidden behind closer, but much lower foothills (west coast speak for 2,000 foot mountains). But, we finally got there, and had a wonderful drive up the mountain, stopping at waterfalls and wildlife along the way.
At the top of the road, at about one mile high (~5,000 feet), we stopped at the Paradise Inn for a bathroom break and to enjoy the view.
On our way down from the Inn, we were stopped by a gaggle of cars (well, two) pulled over with cameras flashing. A family of four foxes (looked like “mom” and four kits) were posing for us. The kits were happily romping around in the snow, while mom seemed happy to sit in the sun, scratch, and stretch. I’ve got several photos online, so be sure to check the album.
I found it amazing how “tame” these foxes were. They weren’t begging for food, but they also didn’t have the fear of humans that one would expect from “wild” animals.
On our way back down, we stopped at a great Thai Wok, a great Tai restaurant in and had dinner (with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow). The review on Yelp was great, and I added another to it.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
Two hundred people can commute…but how would Lenin do it?
The options shown in the poster are: By car, by bus, by light rail, and by bike. Very descriptive.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
Another day, another 200 miles or so
Last night I did make it to the Hoh Rainforest. Lots of lichen, moss, and fungi.
I went to a campfire talk on fungi, and it was lead by a fungal. She had group participation acts, with people playing the role of trees and fungus. It was a big hit, and people learned a lot.
I didn’t get to see any elk, but heard of one that wandered through our campground. I do have a nice shot of the Hoh River and its great glacial till induced steel blue color (the glaciers grind the rocks into powder as they pass over, and when the ice melts at the end of the glacier, the powder enters the runoff).
One twelve mile stretch where the speed limit was 35 I was able to get 48 MPG in my little car. Oh, if only we could all drive so slow.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
Aberdeen, my Aberdeen
Yesterday’s hitchiker was a self-proclaimed aging hippy who was just getting off work and heading home to help insulate the floor of her house with her old man (no, that’s not her father). I only took her about six miles.
Today’s hitchiker was a guy named Bill (as my dad would say, no one with that name can be all bad). Neither he nor I knew the roads, and I thought I’d be able to take him about 80 miles, but about 15 miles into the ride there was a fork and his road went right when mine went left. Both Bill and I were the same age, and he was trying to get to a town where he had room and board lined up so he could look for a job. I always remember from my days of unemployment during the baseball strike of ‘81 how close we can be to being homeless. For a couple months I lived in my VW bus in front of the house I had been living in because I couldn’t afford the $105 rent and another friend (who could afford rent) needed a room. “There but for fortune [and friends] go you and I.” On parting I gave Bill $20 to help with life.
Well, tonight I’ll be camping in the Olympic National Park, and probably get a hike in as well. My goal is the Hoh Rainforest area, hope there will be spaces open. I’ve been lucky so far, and I’m fairly flexible if there’s not spaces–it seems like there’s other camp sites nearby, and it is the middle of the week.
Well, time for a quick pit stop in the back of Safeway (free Wifi at most Safeways these days), then back on the road.
Love,
Lee
