We have two candidates vying for the Democratic candidacy for the 15th Congressional District slot in the upcoming Ohio Primary on March 6. The winner will run against Republican Rep. Steve Stivers in the fall. 

Pat Lang, 34, visited with UAPA during our Coffee and Conversation event on January 7, 2012. Lang was the youngest person elected to Athens City Council at the age of 19. He's a graduate of Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati, where he received a law degree. He served as an assistant prosecutor for Athens County for nearly four years before being elected to the position of Athens City Law Director in 2007, a position he currently holds. 

Scott Wharton, 53, has been a commercial airline pilot for Delta for 22 years and is a retired Air Force pilot, having spent 10 years in active service and 10 years in the reserves.  He is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and a union member of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.  Wharton, who has a bachelor’s degree in computer science, resides in Amanda with his children, Heather and Thomas, on a family-run farm that raises cash crops. We have not been contacted by his campaign.

When Lang met with us in January, he informed the group about the redistricting changes in the 15th District. The original map, devised by the Republicans, had the 15th District as a snake-shaped monstrosity that was only 43% Democratic. The compromised redistricting plan shows the 15th District wiith 47% Democrats, which is slightly better.

Admittedly the Democratic candidate will have an uphill battle against Stivers, but we feel that no one is unbeatable! We encourage our membership to support the candidate of their choice in the primary election in March, and to support the primary winner in the fall in the general election on November 6th!

How can UAPA members help?

• Vote for your candidate on March 6th. It will say a lot if the Democratic candidates get more votes than the Republican incumbent.

• Facebook friend and bookmark the webpage of your candidate.

• Volunteer for their campaign and "knock and talk"  about your candidate in the nieghborhood. No kidding, shoe leather is the number one way to get votes in UA. Just ask any City Council member!

Helpful Links:

Lang for Congress web page

Facebook: Lang for Congress

Wharton for Congressweb page

Facebook: Wharton for Congress

Our next Coffee and Conversation will be held this Saturday, February 4, 2012, from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. at Upper Arlington Main Library, 2800 Tremont Road. The meeting will be held in Meeting Room B, and coffee and light refreshments will be served.

This will be an interesting meeting. The Upper Arlington Public Library Director Ann Moore, and Board Members Bill Shikurti and Amy Sharpe, will discuss the library levy that will be on the ballot March 6th.  Additionally, Mike Schadek, member of UA City Council, will share his feelings about being on the Council and an update about what's going on with the city. Come and meet your fellow progressives in UA!

The Library is sponsoring Feed Down Fines this Saturday from 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Bring in canned goods and non-perishable food in exchange for a reduction of overdue library book fines. The food goes to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. The Library will also take donations of food if you have no fines!

Please join fellow Upper Arlington progressives for a State of the Union watch party on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, from 8:00 - 10:00 p.m.  Obama signs and bumper stickers will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served. Go to BarackObama.com to RSVP and get directions to the event.

Enjoy stimulating and scintillating discussions with a congenial group at our next book club meeting this Monday, January 23, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. in Donato's meeting room (corner of Northwest Blvd. and Zollinger Road). Ordering food is encouraged since the use of the room is free.  Our book is Conservatives Without Conscience, by John Dean.

UAPA Membership Meeting to Feature Speaker on Fracking

The next UAPA membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. in the Little Theatre of the Upper Arlington Public Library, 2800 Tremont Road. Following a brief business meeting, a speaker from the Ohio Environmental Council will discuss the environmental and health impacts of fracking -- hydraulic fracturing for gas (and apparently earthquake) production. The politics of fracking will also be covered.

We'd like to share a great story about the importance of healthcare. It's written by CNN.com contributor LZ Granderson, and he provides some great points about the necessity of affordable healthcare for all.

Don't repeal Americans' health care lifeline

(CNN) -- I had been wrestling with eye redness for weeks. After trying nearly every brand of over-the-counter eyedrops available, I finally decided to see a doctor.

A handful of tests later, the doctor told me he had no idea why my eyes were red. But that didn't stop him from giving me a prescription. 

It was odd he would assign a treatment without a diagnosis, but what choice did I have? Visine was not getting this red out, and well, he is a doctor. So I paid the co-pay and bought the prescription. After it ran out and I still had red eyes, I went to visit another doctor. He also ran a couple of tests. He also had no idea why my eyes were red. He also gave me a prescription.

Hundreds of dollars spent, and yet I still have no answers or clearer eyes. But I do have an appointment with a third doctor and an allergist.

I'm not sharing this story to complain. I'm sharing because if you know the average American makes only $33,000 a year -- which, adjusted for inflation, has not changed since 1988 -- or if you know the price of COBRA for a family of four, then you also know why a lot of Americans don't even bother to get on this hamster wheel.

They can't afford to do it.  

Medicine is not an exact science; I get that. But what I don't get is what middle-class and working-poor people are supposed to do as they ricochet helplessly between doctors without getting answers -- like pinballs in a business model that thrives on people trying to find out what's wrong...

Read the rest of the story here.

The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities has a replacement levy on the November 8, 2011, ballot. Money raised by the levy will help maintain the basic services for children and adults in Franklin County who have developmental disabilities.

Programs at risk if Issue 22 doesn't pass include Adult and Child Behavioral Support, Dual Diagnosis Clinics, Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education Programs. Also at risk is supported living, and job and home-based training and transportation.

Many of the 16,000 children and adults served by The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities have either physical or mental disabilities. The extra support helps children with developmental disabilities grow into self-reliant adults and enables adults to be productive, active members of the community. The current levy will expire in 2012 and if passed Issue 22 will replace it with the same amount of millage.

Ohio's Issue 3 (more info below) is a disaster waiting to happen and current polling shows it passing on November 8th by wide margin. Unless you help get the word out.

Every major Ohio newspaper has come out against Ohio Issue 3 even traditionally conservative papers that endorsed Issue 2.

• Athens News: Issue 3 will disrupt, complicate health care in Ohio (Oct. 26)
• Cleveland Plain Dealer: No on Issue 3: editorial (Oct. 22)
• Canton Repository: Editorial: Let’s not go down this road again (Oct. 21)
• Akron Beacon Journal: No on Issue 3 (Oct. 16)
• Toledo Blade: No on Issue 3 (Oct. 16)
• Athens Messenger: Statewide ballot issues ... our endorsements (Oct. 16)
• Columbus Dispatch: Health-care amendment wouldn’t override federal law, might cause problems (Oct. 14)

Plunderbund: "For example, if Issue 3 passes, Kasich would be unable to attempt many of the reforms on Ohio’s Worker Compensation system that he’s been promising. And conservatives would likely find any new anti-abortion laws to be in violation of Ohio’s constitution under the changes implemented in Issue 3. Reporting of new contagious diseases? Banned under Issue 3. New school immunizations? BANNED!"

Read the research Innovation Ohio published about the amendment's unintended consequences.

Issue 3: Sloppy, costly and wildly off-target

This year it's easy to remember:

NO-NO-NO on Issues 1, 2 and 3.

The 411 on Issue 3

Issue 3 seeks to overturn parts of the Affordable Care Act, which expands health coverage and reduces health care costs. Experts have determined Issue 3 will cost Ohioans millions in unnecessary lawsuits and that it would likely ban, freeze or prohibit child support orders, workers compensation, COBRA payments, school immunizations, disease tracking and court-ordered rehabilitation. It puts at risk Ohio's ability to license doctors and would prohibit Ohio from regulating health insurance companies.  A “No” vote on Issue 3 will protect health care in Ohio and expand coverage to people who have been previously denied 

Our next Coffee and Conversation is scheduled for Saturday, December 3, 9:00 a.m. at Park Creek Kitchen, 2124 Arlington Avenue. Our speaker will be Tom NcNabb from Occupy Columbus. Come hear what's on the agenda for the occupy movement, including the march on Washington to overturn Citizens United.

There will be a $3.00 charge per person for coffee, tea, juice and muffins.  Come and meet your fellow progressives in UA!

An anti-gay marriage group in New Hampshire, the National Organization for Marriage, doctored up a photo from a 2008 Obama rally that appeared on UAPA's web site. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the group 'Good As You' exposed this attempt to make it look like thousands of people are attending NOM's anti-marriage events.

This story has gained national attention on the Rachel Maddow show, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos.

Here's how original story and image looks on the UAPA web site:

And here's the doctored image on NOM's home page to make it look like they have lots of support:

And this is what a NOM rally looks like :-)

Republican presidential hopefuls Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have all spoken out in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage