Our health care system is broken. We pay more for health care than any other industrialized nation, but we cover the smallest percentage of people. Under the Affordable Care Act, many Americans remain without access to health care. For lack of health insurance, thousands of Americans die each year. For those who do have health insurance, large co-pays and deductibles send many into debt. And it's the taxpayer who picks up the tab for the subsidized plans. The Affordable Care Act is less than a band-aid. It is a giveaway to the insurance companies.

Imagine if health care were a human right. Imagine a health care system that puts people before profits. Imagine if everyone had access to health care. Imagine health care that doesn't push people into bankruptcy. Imagine doctors and patients making health care decisions, not insurance companies. Imagine health care including dental, optical, and mental health care for all.

The Oregon Progressive Party supports local and federal efforts to create universal access to health care. Everyone in, no one out. We need health care, not health insurance.

"Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
--Martin Luther King Jr., 1966

We support the efforts of these organizations:

Health Care For All Oregon - hcao.org
Mad As Hell Doctors - MadAsHellDoctors.com
Simgle Payer Action - SinglePayerAction.org
Healthcare Now! - healthcare-now.org
Physicians for a National Health Program - pnhp.org

Oregon Progressive Party Policy Statement on Police Body Cameras

• The Oregon Progressive Party calls for all Oregon Police to be equipped with body cameras as soon as certain questions are addressed.  We recommend that such questions be addressed during the 2014 Oregon legislative session. 
   
• The Oregon Progressive Party calls on the Portland City Council to put body cameras on the Portland Police to prevent a systemic pattern of excessive force against citizens. 

Police in Oregon should be required to use body video cameras to document police interactions with citizens. This will lead to safer police encounters for everyone involved. Recent Oregon jury awards and settlements for police excessive force have put this debate over the use of body cameras at the forefront, making this the perfect time to have a healthy discussion on this issue. 
 
Police agencies around the country have started using body cameras with encouraging results. In Rialto, California, police officers have employed body cameras since February 2012. Since police body cameras have become mandatory, the number of complaints filed against officers dropped by 88% and use of force reports by officers dropped almost 60%. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan applauded the City of Rialto’s use of body cameras on police in her ruling that struck down New York’s "stop and frisk" policy. The New York City Police Department now plans to employ such cameras on some of their officers as a pilot program to gauge the effect on the number of complaints and use of force reports they write and receive.
 
With mounting scrutiny over police shootings and misconduct throughout the country, there is no question that body cameras should be mandatory on Oregon police officers, but practical questions remain about implementation and the risk of civil liberties violations. Some of the questions that need to be addressed before Oregon police can begin using body cameras are as follows:

• Will officers be allowed to turn their cameras on and off? If so, when and how?
• Where will the information and video content be stored? 
• Who will have access to the content? And will officers or higher-ups be allowed to edit content?
• Will the public through public record requests be allowed to access content? And how transparent must the police be with allowing content to be accessed by the public? 
• How much storage space will be needed to store all the content? And how secure will that information be in this day and age where hackers can access almost anything connected to the Internet?
• Oregon State law requires notification when police are recording people.  How will that affect police interaction with citizens?
• How much will it cost to implement a mandatory body camera policy on all Oregon Police officers?

The Oregon Progressive Party calls on the Portland City Council to put body cameras on the Portland Police to prevent a systemic pattern of excessive force against citizens.  
 
Federal Judge Michael Simon recently approved the City of Portland’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which called for reforms of Portland Police policies, training and oversight. The settlement was reached after a federal investigation into excessive force used by Portland Police officers found a pattern of using excessive force against citizens who suffer from mental illness. In Judge Simon’s ruling, he stated his support for the use of body cameras on police officers but did not rule it mandatory.
 
Mayor Charlie Hales has publicly stated that he is in favor of putting body cameras on Portland Police officers. In an email to the Oregonian, Hales says: 

"We've long been proponents of body cameras but the technology wasn't good enough and they were expensive. The Bureau piloted a variation of clip-on cameras for the Traffic Division this summer to see if they live up to expectations. We have heard that the officers who used them like them.”
 
The Portland City Council approved $800,000 for in-car video cameras, but Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson has since indicated that police are now considering using that money to put body cameras on the 600 uniformed Portland Police officers. The body cameras would include patrol, school police, gang enforcement and traffic officers. 
 
Two of the City of Portland’s largest jury verdicts against the police for misconduct and excessive force have been rendered in the past two years. We as citizens are tired of police misconduct and excessive force, and these jury awards are a statement of this discontent. It’s clear that the time for body cameras is upon us, but we will need to work out the logistical challenges of implementation to make sure we protect our citizens' civil liberties.

Manipulating energy markets was not enough
Now the agenda is manipulating Oregon's elections

Update:  John Arnold has ponied up another $275,000, making his total Measure 90 contribution = $1.75 million.

Former top-level Enron energy trader John Arnold has now contributed $1,500,000 to a new political committee, the "Open Primaries Committee." Arnold doubled his previous $500,000 contribution two weeks before with another $1,000,000 contribution just filed today. The Committee's only mission is to support Measure 90, the "top two" primary plan backed by corporations and the wealthy.

John Arnold made his mark on society as one of the top managers of the Enron energy trading operation. That was the bunch who caused the phony "West Coast Energy Crisis" of 2000-2002 with fraudulent trades, resulting in rolling blackouts and huge electricity rate increases. Later studies showed that it cost the California economy alone over $42 billion. For its impact on Oregon, see Enron Corruption: The Special Oregon Connection.

John Arnold is Measure 90's biggest financial backer, by far. Of the total raised to support Measure 90 between its two committees ($2,189,719 so far), John Arnold personally has contributed 69% of it.

"Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing." That is what Enron traders were recorded as saying as a fire approached a major transmission line, because it caused the line to be "derated" or shut off, thus drastically increasing electricity prices. See this New York Times article: Word for Word? Energy Hogs: Enron Traders on Grandama Millie and Making Out Like Bandits for more information. Or remember this from the Enron energy traders:

"They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

"Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

"Yeah, now she wants her f------g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her ass for f------g $250 a megawatt hour." [emphasis added]

See the CBS News article Enron Traders Caught on Tape.

John Arnold received a $8 million bonus in 2001, one day before Enron declared bankruptcy. In his 2005 deposition, he took the 5th Amendment and refused to answer any questions, except basically his name. He formed a hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors LLC, and hired, among others, John Forney, who had pled guilty to manipulating electricity prices from Enron's now-defunct trading office in Portland, Oregon. See the CBS News piece Enron Energy Trader Pleads Guilty.

For more information on why Measure 90 is bad for Oregon (but somehow apparently good for former Enron energy traders) see:

Save Oregon's Democracy
Protect Our Vote