We focus on Health Literacy, Education-at-every-level and on Civic Engagement. We are about enriching our communities on every level. We profile organizations; we engage students positively, and we provide constructive information. Join us in these efforts. Find “21st Century Conversations” on your PEG access station in CT. Watch as retired school principal, Marc Palmieri, discuss team-building with parents and teachers from various school districts. When you visit our site visit each section; browse our very informative and educational video programs. Watch clips from student participants. Join us as we seek to engage residents in positive ways; learn about their issues of concern and the things they want to see changed in this the 21st century.  Meet students from Hamden, New Haven, West Haven and North Haven.

Learn what are the educational concerns parents in Bpt, NH, Hamden and WH have; they are the same concerns you have.  OneWorld is about building a more positive community from infancy to old age.   Let us stand together so we can ALL be stronger.  Join us.  Please send us an email;  go to the Contact Us page.  Peace & grace.

There are those in our communities who have gotten away with carrying out all kinds of atrocities against the less powerful because they could count on the fact that the rest of us would sit by and let it happen.  They count on our silent collusion against the oppressed.  “ALL IT TAKES FOR EVIL TO THRIVE IS FOR PEOPLE OF GOODWILL TO DO NOTHING.” 

Liars get away with telling lies because no one calls them on it.   Sometimes, in trying to keep the peace we facilitate the perpetuation of lies and deceit.  Democracy is about standing up for what we believe in, and for the principles to which we subscribe as individuals, as communities,  and as a society. 

A democracy only functions as such when everyone can have a reasonable expectation of fairness, and when there are rules adhered to that ensure that such fairness is practiced.

Some of those given a little power abuse it a little and get away with it; when they abuse it more siginificantly and are not challenged, they go on to becoming despots.  There are too many despots in our communities.

Politicians get away with deceptious behavior because they are often not challenged.  Interestingly, some of the things the media invest time in (such as what is going on in people’s private lives and that do not affect their public performance) are not the things that voters/ citizens who need help care about.  Journalism has become too gossipy.  Too much time is being invested in Mel Gibson’s private life.  If the tapes being broadcast repeatedly are authentic, Mr. Gibson clearly has a problem; however, whether his career is over or not is not going to affect the price we pay at the pump, or whether the Republicans regain control of the House.  Those are the real issues that will affect the pocketbooks and lives of average Americans.

In the 8 years during which president Bush and the Republicans ran the American economy into the ground, I did not see the majority of the media asking detailed questions.  Recently we learned that the economy needs 22 mil jobs.  Republican leaders are condemning President Obama for not fixing in 18 months what they destroyed in 8 years.  These 22 million jobs were not lost in the 18 months since President Obama took office!  Where were the media pundits then?  It seems that in the second term of the Bush presidency much of the media became their partners rather than the servant of the people providing accurate information.

Republicans held up the unemployment extended benefts for weeks, and they are now concerned about economic issues so that they will be able to use it as a weapon in the mid-term elections!  That is shear hypocrisy and blatant lying.  Where were John Boehner, Kevin Brady and Mitch Mcconnell when Mr. Bush and his cronies were destroying the economy and while their very rich friends got richer? How many of us were paying attention?  Where were the investigative journalists then?  What about the tax cuts for the rich?  Why did those keep going even when average Americans were in dire economic stress? What did the Republicans do for the average American?

Do not be impressed by the noisy,  hysterical politics, media Obama-bashing wagon.  Get informed; ask questions of your political representatives and don’t accept the media’s word.  Except on PBS, The Nation and a few other outlets with integrity, the news is all about ratings and advertising dollars.  Real democracy is about all of us citizens trying to get the facts and holding our representatives accountable.  Local, state, and national politicians, and all those who claim positions of leadership are to be held accountable to we the people.  Real Democracy Is About Citizen Participation.  The politicians are supposed to be working for the people

Remember to VOTE in the primary elections in August and in the mid-term elections this November.  Think about who you are voting for and why.  Do NOT be influenced by endorsements made by popular leaders or politicians; most such endorsements are about bargains made and deals cut. Invest the time to learn about each person for whom you vote.  Look at someone’s track record.  The fact that someone was a successful business person does not make him or her a successful political leader.  

How many of us remember and voted for Lowell Weicker?  Thanks to him, we have a state  income tax in CT.  What do we have to show for it?  How many of us believed that Lowell Weicker was a different kind of Republican politician?  Real Democracy Is About Citizen Participation. Please remember to VOTE during the primaries and at the mid-term.

To the Democrats I say:  you dropped the ball by allowing the Republicans to frame the issue of health care reform using the most outrageous language, deception and flat out lies.  Now you  Democrats need to hit the road with town meetings, forums and the facts, educating Americans about what this really means for all of us.   Do not sit back any longer and think people will understand.  Unfortunately,  you cannot depend on people understanding your good intentions; they need to be factually informed without room for LIES to fester.  It is harder now because too many people are already convinced of, or predisposed to believing  the lies that have been fed to them.  Democrats now need to overcome those lies and give people the facts.  This is harder; however, present the long-term benefits of health care reform starting now.  Educate the American public as to the accumulative benefits on all levels of having good comprehensive health care.  We have a long way to go.  But with coordinated and concerted efforts it can be done, and it MUST be done starting now.  It is important to engage people and allow them to ask thoughtful questions.

Health Care reform is a Public GOOD.  It is good for Americans; it is good for the workplace; it is good for families, but they need to be adequately informed. To all five congressional representatives in CT, I say, please start the education process NOW.

“The federal government’s involvement with this issue (of compulsory health insurance) began in earnest in 1934. [6] In that year President Franklin Roosevelt established the Committee on Economic Security (CES) and charged it with drafting a Social Security bill.  The Social Security Act signed into law on August 14, 1935, empowered the Social Security Board (SSB) to study “related” areas, and on August 15, 1935, Roosevelt appointed an Interdepartmental Committee to Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities to pursue the health insurance issue.” 

“Legislative efforts in the 1930s and 1940s went nowhere. The American Medical Association (AMA) strongly opposed compulsory national health insurance, denouncing it as socialized medicine and mounting costly efforts to defeat it. [10] President Roosevelt withheld his active support. Opinion polls indicated strong public opposition, with 76.3 percent of the public in a 1942 Fortune poll saying that the government should not provide free medical care (Cantril 1951: 440).  You can read all about this at: www.cato.org/pubs/  (This is exactly what is being done today.  The private insurance companies reportedly are spending millions weekly.  The media is colluding in this so as to boost its own advertising revenues.)

The resulting Medicare Bill– prized by many today and some of whom likely opposed it in the 1940’s and 50’s — was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965; 31 years later!  How many of those with Medicare today would give it up?  We can save $Billions by rolling all of the multiple types of public health care plans that now exist (SAGA, HUSHKY, Medicaid, etc) into one Medicare-type Public Option plan. Focus on reducing Medicare fraud and put all of the adminstrative savings into covering more people.

More than a million medical professionals today support health care reform with a public option!  Those with Medicare can move anywhere in the country and they still have Medicare; they do not have to wait 30, 60 or 90 days; they cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.  That is what we all need: A Medicare-type public option.  Write, call, email, fax, get in touch with your elected representatives.  They are hearing from the lobbyists; let them hear from you.

Like many others, I wish that President Obama had more direct involvement with crafting the original health care bill; instead he expected members of Congress to act like responsible adults, so he left it up to them.  He had too many things on the radar. Being a smart person, he thought that the moral clarity and the economic imperatives were so clear that Democrats and Republicans would act in the best interest of the American people.  He was wrong.  Now let us all demand that our elected represntatives act in our own best interest and pass health care with a public option.

Anyone who watched the “summit on health care” with the President and the Republican and Democratic leaders last week can have no doubt that the Republicans have no interest in meeting the needs of the millions of Americans who have no health care coverage, or access to affordable care.  It was a remarkable display of indifference and commitment to big pharmaceuticals and the private insurance companies.  Whether we are Democrats or Republicans we would have to be blind not to see what was happening. As an American citizen I was stunned at  John Boehner, Republican House Leader’s behavior.  He is truly frightening.

The president tried to get everyone in the room to focus on areas of agreement. Someone I once respected, Lamar Alexander, was incredibly obstructionist.  Many of the Republicans just flat out lied and did everything they could to undermine the President’s efforts at cooperation and bipartisanship.  The only obvious exceptions to the stone-walling and obstructionist behavior were Senator Thomas Coburn (a very conservative doctor from Oklahoma) and Representative Dave Camp, a lawyer from Michigan.  John Boehner has consistently been one of the most offensive, hostile and irresponsible representative in the House.  Eric Cantor is close behind.  Some of the Democrats are pretty spineless also.  This is why people like Bayh are leaving; they want to get work done, but Washington is in freeze mode.  There should be term limits.  Too many of our elected officials are serving the lobbyists rather than the people who elected them.  When they stay too long they get too powerful.

Finally, the President has gotten the message.  The Republicans have no intention of meeting the needs of the American people.  He has told the Democrats to get some spine and call a vote by the end of the month or soon.  This is where we – the people—come in. It is not too late to get Comprehensive Health Care Reform in America, and it is NOT TOO LATE for a Public Option.  We NEED to Mobilize!  Since the Republicans are not going to support any plan the President put forth anyway, we might as well go for broke and work for real comprehensive reform.

In 2007, the CEOs at the top seven for-profit, private insurance companies pocketed an average of $14.2 million each in total compensation (blog.aflcio.org)

 In the past few years insurance premiums have gone up 100 — 150 percent.  These costs are passed on to those who have such coverage and to their employers.  This is why many companies are cutting back on the benefits they offer. Insurance companies price their premiums much above what they expect inflation to be; this guarantees their investors a solid profit.  This is what the Republicans want to ensure.

 In an article written by Jason Shafrin, Ph.D., economist in the Healthcare Economist magazine we learn that William W. McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, received compensation of $124.8 million in 2005.  Managed Care Magazine also says that the average executive compensation (excluding unexercised stock options) for an executive of a ‘top 10 for profit health plan’ was $11.7 million and that was back in 2000.  The compensation for this one executive could pay the health care premium for 34,000 Americans.  Yet, most of these wealthy people pay no health care premiums at all.  Recently Anthem Blue Cross in California announced a 39 percent increase in health premiums on many customers; the increase is effective March 1; two weeks’ notice! They are raising premiums now to gauarantee their profits for a long time to come.  I am all for free markets, but this is straight  ripp off.

What justifies this increase?  GREED and POWER. They do it because they can.  What accounts for the extreme opposition to health care reform by the wealthy and powerful, and by the Republicans? It has nothing to do with these people caring about the average American; far from it. It has nothing to do with anyone losing coverage, or govt. being in our pockets; neither is it due to concern that the govt. is coming between patients and their doctors.  None of that is true.  These private insurance companies and for-profit health care groups simply want to maintain their enormous profit margins.  The Republicans simply want the President to fail. These people could care less about the average American.   UnitedHealth Group’s Profit Rises 30% UnitedHealth Group’s 4th-quarter profit climbs; commercial enrollment continues to stumble By TOM MURPHY AP Business Writer, INDIANAPOLIS January 21, 2010 (AP)

There are many groups –across the country– that are fighting for health care reform. Sadly, the mainstream media is not telling us about them; we hear a great deal about the Tea-Partiers and those who oppose health care.  We at OneWorld strongly encourage people to get involved and network with others who want reform; it is our only hope. 

Visit our web site www.oneworldpi.org the Health Literacy Section and get in touch with a state, community or national group.  Write an email or a letter to your congressional representative, or make phone calls.  Encourage family members and friends and church affiliates to participate.  This is the civil rights issue of the 21^st Century. Americans should not have to decide whether to have health care or a roof over their heads. The President and Congress can use Democrats only to pass a health care reform bill.  The Republicans did it when they wanted to pass the Bush tax cuts. They are now screaming about how unfair it will be to use reconcilliation, but it was fine when they used it on 14 of the 19 occassions it has been used since 1980.   Click the links below to get the fact on reconcilliation and the Republican and Democratic use of this process.  The hypocrisy is palpable.  Please get involved to relieved the suffering of hard-working Americans who have no access or limited access to affordable health care. 

FACTBOX-U.S. Democrats try to expedite healthcare bill | Reuters

Mar 4, 2010 … Reconciliation was used “for tax cuts for the rich twice under Bush.” … www.politifact.com/…/bush-tax-cuts-were-passed-reconciliations-50-votes/