Alliance for Retired Americans Blog

Valentines for Veterans

Yesterday in Reno, Miss Reno/Sparks and Miss University of Nevada and joined members of the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans in expressing gratitude and love for veterans by giving valentines at Reno's Ioannis A. Lougaris Veterans Medical Center.

"We thank them for serving our country. We want them to know just how much we value their sacrifices and cherish them as individuals," said Gail Dietrich, NARA coordinator. 

Valentines were produced by a local artist who wishes to remain anonymous.

Gail Dietrich sent the following update:

We had a wonderful morning. The beauty queens are not only stunningly pretty, but they are both on scholarships. Miss UNR is majoring in International Affairs and Politics and the other is studying Psychology. We could not have had a better reception by the vets and it caused quite stir around the hospital. ...

A young vet had arrived home from Afghanistan today and came to the hospital to surprise his mother. We took a photo of him, in uniform with the 2 queens. He was on cloud nine. ...

Our vets were so happy, surprised and appreciative.

REMINDER: Western Regional Conference in Vegas

FEBRUARY 29 – MARCH 2, 2012

REGISTRATION:
We have extended the deadline date for REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT for the Western Regional Conference to February 15, 2012, to avoid the $15.00 late fee.

HOTEL
Bally’s Las Vegas
3645 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV  89109
877-603-4390
 
Bally’s Las Vegas has extended our cutoff date to February 10, 2012 for making Hotel reservations.
We would encourage you to make your reservations on or before February 10, 2012 in order to get the contracted rate for our Western Regional Meeting.

If you have any question about registering for the conference or about registering at the hotel, please contact: Joni Jones - Alliance Event Coordinator at 202-637-5377.

Photo: Douglas Carter Cole on Flickr

 

Nevadans ask Heller "Where are the Jobs?"

The Nevada Alliance (NARA) joined labor and environmental groups yesterday in protesting Senator Heller's positions to give subsidies to big oil while cutting social programs and threatening Social Security and Medicare. Rallies took place outside of Heller's Las Vegas offices.

Pictured: Janet & Rich Miller (AFT retired, NARA leaders)

Nevadans rally in support of Wisconsin's public workers

Post by Rita Weisshaar

There was a great showing of union solidarity in Carson City!

There were probably 300-400 people at the President's Day rally. They came from a wide variety of unions in Nevada who came out to support the state workers in Wisconsin.

Vicki Borst, pictured at right picketing NV Energy last summer, is a NV Energy retiree and activist with the IBEW Local 1245 Retirees Club. She came out on February 21st to rally and support public workers in Wisconsin.

“I think it’s an awesome show of unity and solidarity in Wisconsin, and I see the same thing going on here today,” Borst said in a channel 8 TV report.

All four of the local TV stations, including the FOX network, covered the rally.

Nevada AFL-CIO chief Danny Thompson was the MC for the rally and several from the state workers, teamsters, teachers and other unions spoke on the importance of collective bargaining and the importance of the services state workers provide.

A few members of the legislature came out and stood with us in support of the state workers and collective bargaining. Senator Horsford furnished pizza to the people in the crowd saying he would rather give than take away from the state workers.

There was a great deal of enthusiasm in the crowd and it was reflected by the people in passing cards who honked their horns in support. There were a few anti-union protesters but they were outnumbered probably 20 to 1.

There was a good showing of Local 1245 retirees at the rally - about a dozen. One of them, Jim Walker, brought his young son. There were lots of families at the rally because of the Presidents Day holiday. It will create a memory for them they'll never forget.

It was a great day!

Rita Weisshaar is a retired NV Energy employee and IBEW Local 1245 shop steward. She is also an organizer for the union.

Sandoval Slashes Seniors Benefits

Statement by Richard Miller - Retired Teacher (AFT) and Alliance leader in Nevada

The Governor’s  budget proposes to slash essential services to seniors is now being revealed for what it is.  Seniors are smart enough to recognize a scam when they see it.

A tax increase for the most vulnerable group in Nevada, seniors are being asked to sacrifice while the Governor’s rich friends are held harmless.

Where is the “shared sacrifice” he espouses?

Using his unrealistic bumper sticker slogan of  “No New taxes” diverts attention from the real issue from the voting public.

These mean-spirited cuts hit the most vulnerable the hardest.  He is willing to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and other most in need and can’t afford it.

He wants to remove the small benefits of $335.00 for the average Senior who is struggling to hold on to their homes, provide food on their table and make their prescription drug and home payments.

These benefits become essential to seniors and disabled in the name of shared sacrifice while protecting the richest and most powerful in our State.

The  17,000 seniors and with  further downturn of the economy these are the very people who can least  afford this loss of the Senior citizens’ Property Assistance Program.

No one should believe the Governor’s rhetoric of his simplistic approach of “no new taxes”: when seniors who qualify because of their low income will be given the tax increase by removing this small but essential benefit.

While seniors and their grand children are sacrificing, the mIning and Casino industry go without paying their fair share of the tax burden and are free to make enormous contributions to their friends in the Governor mansion and the legislature.

Year after year, there have been commissions that have made recommendations to create a broad-based and fair tax system to move this state to a sustainable future and continued growth.
 
Over the year, no one has been willing to muster the political will to fix the antiquated tax system, which allows businesses to go virtually untaxed and doesn’t provide adequate funding to sustain essential and basic services.

These proposed cuts reveal that the “shared sacrifice “ is anything but shared.  

Be assured the proposed budget is just a shell game.  The plan is to not only cut services from those in most need, but to take money from the Counties, thereby cutting even further the essential services seniors and the young depend on.  This will force local government to raise our taxes and fees

In this way the Governor can say he didn’t raise your taxes.

Instead of approaching our budget crisis in a courageous and creative way, the Governor’s proposal merely pushes the problem off to the future and on to the backs of the poor, elderly, disabled and the young.

Unless the legislators step up,  we again will see wheel chairs taken from seniors  and again denying them the essential services they require for them to live out their golden years with some dignity.

We call upon the Legislators to not approve this heartless cut.

Nevada Alliance gets out the vote

Nevada Alliance activity

On Monday, the Nevada Alliance participated in two events with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius around Nevada intended to explain what is in the Affordable Care Act, including new benefits that hit last week. In addition to spreading the news about the Affordable Care Act, Sebelius was in Nevada to support Harry Reid’s re-election to the U.S. Senate and Shelley Berkley & Dina Titus in their run for the U.S. House.

In Reno, Nevada Alliance President Scotty Watts (pictured at right) and NARA Treasurer JoEtta Brown joined the morning panel discussion.

AFT retiree and NARA Vice President Rich Miller attended the 100-person meeting in Henderson. Miller reported that there were several Nevadans present who spoke out about how provisions in the new health law would benefit their families.

Miller added on the Nevada Alliance’s work in the state around the Affordable Care Act, “We’re doing the best we can to get the information out. There’s no doubt that every opportunity we have to go to the press, to hold educational panels, and to lobby, we do that.”

Senior Issues take Center Stage in Nevada Senate Race

Nevada Alliance members rushed to Republican/tea party Senate candidate Sharron Angle's office last Friday to protest her position on privatizing Social Security.  “She’s extreme. She's dangerous,” said NARA President Scott Watts.  Nevada Alliance activists then convened a protest at GOP Headquarters earlier this week.

Watts called emergency meetings in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Sparks, Nevada on Thursday about Angle’s positions, and scores turned out to exchange warnings about her ideas for privatizing Social Security.  Emotions ran high.  Other sources of concern for retirees include Angle’s stated desire to privatize Medicare and the Veterans Administration. 

Despite numerous attempts by television stations to reach Angle for comment and clarification, no one from her campaign returned their calls and e-mails over the past few days.  During the primary campaign, Angle said that she wanted to phase out Social Security and Medicare programs, for something private.  “I've never seen any compassion from this person as far as senior citizens are concerned.  Never,” Watts added. 

Watch the Nevada Alliance in action here:

Yesterday (Thursday, June 17th) in Sparks, NV - emergency meetings covered on Channel 4 ("Seniors Upset with Angle") and Channel 2 ("Could Social Security Be in Jeopardy?")
 
Wednesday's (June 16th) emergency meetings in Las Vegas Channel 3 ("Nevada Alliance Red Alert Meeting") and Channel 8 ("Retired Americans Group Gathers to Oppose Candidate Angle")

Monday protest at GOP HQ in Reno Channel 2 ("Alliance Seniors Protest Angle's Office")
 
Last Friday's protest at Angle office on Channel 3 ("NV Seniors Outraged By Sharron Angle's Plan to Eliminate Social Security")

Talking Points Memo

AFL-CIO blog

Some tv highlights also availabe at http://www.facebook.com/retiredamericans - (click "Like" on the page to receive periodic updates in your Facebook feed).

Nevada Seniors Outraged by Sharron Angle's Stance

Nevada Alliance members rushed to Republican/tea party Senate candidate and Sharron Angle's office on Friday to protest her extreme opposition on Social Security.

On Tuesday, tea party member Sharron Angle captured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Nevada.  She will face the Democratic nominee, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in November. 

“Retirees across Nevada need to know about Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle’s dangerous plans to dismantle Social Security,” said Scotty Watts, President of the Nevada Alliance.  “Angle has said that she wants to eliminate Social Security for future retirees, letting our children and grandchildren fend for themselves in a retirement system completely dependent upon the whims of the free market.  One look at what has happened to our retirement savings because of the collapse of the stock market and declining home values shows just how risky this would be.  Clearly we cannot trust Wall Street gamblers with our retirement security.”

You're Invited to Ask the President Health Care Questions on Tuesday!

At a special event on Tuesday, June 8, Alliance members are invited to ask the President health care questions by telephone!

A few members of the Alliance will be attending the event - which will include information on benefits for seniors under the new health care law - live, in Wheaton, Maryland. Other members are invited to ask the President questions by phone.

This one-time, national "tele-town hall" can also be seen and heard on television by watching C-SPAN, or on-line via web streaming at www.healthreform.gov.

If you live in one of the following communities and would like to join a local watch party, please contact us at:

ARAORGANIZING@retiredamericans.org

Iowa - Dubuque, Des Moines, Waterloo
Missouri - St. Louis
New Hampshire - Nashua, Manchester
New Mexico - Albuquerque
North Carolina - Raleigh
Ohio - Ashtabula
South Carolina - Columbia

In addition, several of our allied unions are sponsoring events. Currently, we are aware of an
AFT-sponsored event in Latham, NY and an event in Las Vegas sponsored by IUPAT. A number of other unions will be sponsoring events, and a more complete list will be available later today.

The live event is scheduled to begin at 11:15 AM on Tuesday and will last one hour.

The President will also be joined by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. Topics to be covered will include the $250 checks for seniors caught in the Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole" coverage gap, and efforts to combat scams associated with those checks.

The Hill: Obama holding healthcare town hall next week

New York Times, The Caucus blog: Obama Will Tout Medicare Rebates