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Some photos from Al Swanstrom's canvass yesterday:

Here's the letter I just zipped off to Congressman Shuler, and here's where I got the facts:

I know Bush's budget is going to undergo a KennyRogersesque transformation when it hits Congress, but I wanted to point out to you the issues about Mental Health spending.

Bush's budget cuts the following:

- the State Incentive Grants for Transformation to support the development of comprehensive plans to address fragmentation in a state’s public mental health system (to be eliminated);
- school violence prevention (to be cut by $17.8 million);
- jail diversion (to be cut by $2.9 million);
- seniors mental health (to be eliminated);
- post traumatic stress ($ 17.5 million cut);
- consumer support technical assistance centers (to be eliminated); and
- suicide prevention ($15.1 million cut).

Monkeyfister blogs from Memphis, TN, and he's been writing about the massive storms that hit the southeast Tuesday night:

LINK: "Bigassed tornado just 4-5 miles north of me. I HATE this shit. Sirens blaring constantly.

Very little scares me. THIS terrifies me.

UPDATE: 6:24PM. A tornado has touched down on top of the Hickory Ridge Mall in Northeast Memphis. Reports are saying the damage was VERY heavy. Plenty of people inside. Multiple injuries being reported."
[...]
"UPDATE 7:11PM-- Sears building hit with people inside. Debris from that hit spread miles away. A Sharp manufacturing plant was flattened. Reports of injuries. Every time a reporter gets to a scene, the newscaster asks, "Has Memphis Police or Firefighters set up any sort of Command Post anywhere?" The reports are always "NO,"
[...]
"UPDATE 7:30pm: A Taco Bell was flattened with people inside. Search is on for survivors. US Marshal's have been activated and are on the way to the area to assist.

The next wave of storms is producing baseball-sized hail, and tornadoes, and is about a 1/2 hour away.

I made this petition to call upon Bush to sign SCHIP. I can't imagine him not doing this, but them again both Dole and Burr were comfortable voting against NC children, and the White House probably told them to.

He's certainly threatening to veto:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/

Please sign the petition.

http://ncdp.org/petition_schip

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THREATS TO -- Senate Bill 3, Promote Renewable Energy/Baseload Generation, has been referred to the House Energy and Energy Efficiency Comm. We should support this legislation which increases the use of renewable sources of energy, which is how S 3 started out. However,because it now also encourages the use of fossil fuels...

H77, the bill pending in the state House that would require utilities to get a percentage of their power from renewable sources, is going to be considered today at 2pm by the House Energy and Energy Efficiency Committee. If it passes, it will move on to the Committee on Public Utilities on June 14th.

There's work to be done to ensure that this progressive bill makes its way through the legislature!

As you may know, legislation is pending before the House of Representatives which would require health plans to cover mental health and substance abuse services fairly, using the same coverage practices that they use for general medical care. Tomorrow, on Wednesday, May 2^nd, we're asking everyone to help support the “Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act". This legislation is long overdue, as it would help end insurance discrimination against people suffering from mental illness and addictive disorders. Over 100 national advocacy organizations have endorsed H.R. 1424.

Rep. Butterfield (NC-1), Rep. McIntyre (NC-7), Rep. Watt (NC-12), Rep. Price (NC-4), and Rep. Etheridge (NC-2) are the only NC Congressfolk among the 264 cosponsors of this legislation. We're asking all of our readers to take a moment to contact their representative to say one of two things:

Hooray for the AC-T for reading the situation correctly:

AC-T: "The chaos and mismanagement of mental health reform under N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom justifies last week’s call by the Western Highlands Network for her resignation."
[...]
"A consultant hired to evaluate the state’s mental health delivery system said in January that the state provides inadequate, ineffective and inconsistent treatment; lacks sufficient crisis intervention and community detoxification services; and has a poorly functioning system for screening people with mental illness and providing community-based support.

Rep. Charles Thomas (R-116) today moved that the House Appropriations Committee hold a public hearing regarding the mental health system crisis precipitated by Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom and her lackeys. The motion was seconded and carried.

Unless House Speaker Joe Hackney kills it, there will be a public hearing next week. Secretary Odom, Division Director Allen Dobson, Deputy Director Mark Benton, and Director Mike Moseley will also be expected to attend.

When I say public, I mean public. Every citizen of North Carolina who's affected by Secretary Hooker Odom's impulsive, dangerous decision to slash Community Support rate will have the right to speak.