#keystoneprogress

[civilrightsadvocacy]

Aloha from #reptulsigabbard to participants to the #KeystoneProgress #summit w concerns about family, infrastructure, etc, etc... (at Hilton Harrisburg Hotel)

[goodfriendraf]

Tfw when your representative doesn't represent you so you n 300 of ur fellow townsfolk gotta go head and roll up on his ass 🙄 #lancasterstandsup #letlloydknow 📸 @eliza.beeeee #swampcabinet #keystoneprogress @moveon

[keystoneprogress]

Group Leading ‘Defund Obamacare’ Tour Was Urged by Funders to Downplay Tobacco Risks to Children

Secret Tobacco Documents Show Heritage Has No Credibility on Health Care

  (PITTSBURGH)—ProgressOhio and former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy presented documents this week showing the Heritages Foundation collaborated with Big Tobacco to mislead the public about the health dangers of second-hand smoke. Philip Morris drafted a letter asking Heritage to share pro-tobacco propaganda with children.

  ProgressOhio and Keystone Progress are affiliates of the ProgressNow network.

  Internal memos show that Philip Morris requested Heritage contact the EPA to criticize an upcoming study, showing that second-hand smoke was dangerous. [1] When the report was released in 1992, Heritage wrote an op-ed blasting the EPA’s finding that second-hand smoke causes cancer, using scare quotes around the words “study”, “carcinogens”, “secondary [smoke]” and “science”.[2]

  Philip Morris circulated the article internally, and cited insider details proving they were in contact with Heritage about the piece.[3] Days later, Philip Morris drafted a letter addressed to Heritage praising them for their “article on corruption at the EPA” and hoped that,  “Heritage Foundation isn’t restricting its audience to adults like myself but also reaching out to children.”[4]

  Heritage had a close financial relationship with Big Tobacco:

·       Philip Morris had the ad agency behind the Marlboro man work with Heritage to create a 20 page survey aimed at increasing Heritage’s donors. The survey included questioned designed to figure out which Heritage members had positive opinions about Philip Morris.[5]

·       Heritage invited the Tobacco Institute to be a member of their President’s Club in exchange for money.[6]

·       Heritage was paid a $15,000 a year stipend from RJ Reynolds from 1994 to 1997.[7]

·        

Heritage is currently on a multi-state tour advocating for the defunding of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, who voted for the ACA, stated, “These documents show Heritage Foundation has no credibility when it comes to health care. You can’t take anything they say at face value.”

  ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg agreed, saying, “Heritage has proven they can’t be trusted when it comes to our health. The Affordable Care Act extends insurance to 3 million young people and eliminates discrimination for pre-existing conditions. For Heritage to tour the country opposing access to health care after what they’ve done to mislead the public is unconscionable.”

  Heritage’s questionable work on tobacco and public health continued on for decades. In 2007, Heritagerepeatedly published work opposing SCHIP expansion, specifically citing concern with raising cigarette taxes.[8] In 2011, Heritage mocked a proposal used successfully in other countries to show graphic pictures of the damage smoking causes on cigarette packaging, saying that “every kindergartner” already knows cigarettes are bad and that “Given teens’ current obsession with all things zombie, the gruesome images will likely prove highly popular as collector’s items."[9]

  [1] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kzb92a00/pdf

[2] http://www.legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/m/l/p/mlp40c00/Smlp40c00.pdf

[3] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jhc65e00/pdf

[4] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jqj46e00/pdf

[5] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xcy00c00/pdf

[6] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lww06b00/pdf

[7] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kzb92a00/pdf

[8] https://www.google.com/search?q=site:heritage.org+schip+tobacco

[9] http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/22/tales-of-the-red-tape-we-see-dead-people/

  Heritage Worked with Big Tobacco for Decades to Mislead People on Health Care

  Heritage received over 6 figures in support from Big Tobacco

1.    RJ Reynolds gave them $15,000 a year for much of the 90s. [1]

2.    They courted the Tobacco Institute and put them in their President’s Club.

3.    In 2000, Philip Morris had the ad agency that created the Marlboro Man come up with a plan to help Heritage raise money. They designed a 20 page survey they gave to almost 27,000 households.

Big Tobacco used Heritage to mislead the public about health care

1.    Philip Morris contacted Heritage asking them to write the EPA about an upcoming report showing that second hand smoke is a carcinogen, responsible for killing 3,000 non-smokers a year.[2]

2.    When the report was released in 1992, Heritage wrote an op-ed blasting the EPA, which ran in the Washington Times and other papers. Heritage mocks the EPA’s finding that  second-hand smoke causes cancer, using scare quotes around the word “study”, “carcinogens”, “secondary [smoke]” and “science”.[3]

3.    Philip Morris’ internal memos show that they were in contact with Heritage about the piece and knew exactly how many papers the op-ed was shopped to (over 300).[4]

4.    Days later, Philip Morris drafted letters addressed to Heritage praising them for their “article on corruption at the EPA” and hoped that “Heritage Foundation isn’t restricting its audience to adults like myself but also reaching out to children.”[5]

All this happened at the exact same time that Heritage was working to sink the last major attempt to overhaul health care under Bill Clinton. Heritage’s name comes up over 2,500 times in Big Tobacco records.[6]

1.    In 2011, Heritage mocked a plan to pictures of smoking’s effects on cigarette packaging, claiming “every kindergartner” already knows they’re bad and that “Given teens’ current obsession with all things zombie, the gruesome images will likely prove highly popular as collector’s items.”[7]

  [1] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kzb92a00/pdf?search=%22heritage%20foundation%22

[2]

[3] http://www.legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/m/l/p/mlp40c00/Smlp40c00.pdf

[4] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jhc65e00/pdf

[5] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jqj46e00/pdf?search=%22heritage%20foundation%22

[6] http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/basic?fd=0&q=%22heritage+foundation%22+-hispanic+-african&df=er&c=at&c=ba&c=bw&c=tc&c=ca&c=ct&c=da&c=ga&c=lm&c=ll&c=mg&c=mm&c=pm&c=py&c=rj&c=re&c=ti&c=ub&c=us

[7] http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/22/tales-of-the-red-tape-we-see-dead-people/

[keystoneprogress]

Marriage Equality Lawsuit Filed in Pennsylvania

Tom Joseph, Public News Service-PA

(07/10/13) HARRISBURG, Pa. - Claiming Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act violates their civil rights, close to two dozen couples are in court demanding a change in the state's policies on same-sex marriage. The lawsuit has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania and a Philadelphia law firm.  Attorney Mark Aronchick, with the law firm of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, said Pennsylvania is treating some residents as strangers in their own state. He added that the public has shown it is ready to embrace same-sex marriage as a fundamental right. "If it is a matter of fundamental fairness, then it has to be a matter of constitutional fairness as well," he explained, "because that is the nature of our country, that is who we are." Ron Gebhardtsbauer is one of the plaintiffs. He has been with his partner for 19 years and strives for the day when their union is viewed the same way as it would if they were man and woman, he said.  "Financial issues aren't the most important thing for us. It's just sort of being recognized, being treated like everybody else, so I don't have to think of Greg as my partner and use the word 'partner.' I can call him my husband," Gebhardtsbauer said. Aronchick said he hopes the courts will come to the same conclusion as many people in Pennsylvania and across the country. "As soon as they realize the desires and drive and motivations of the people who want that marriage, time and again they say, 'Of course that is something I don't want to stand in the way of.'" Same-sex couples who marry deserve the same benefits as heterosexual married couples, and deserve to know that in times of crisis, their loved ones will be provided for, Aronchick added. A bill introduced in the state senate that would provide full marriage rights for same-sex couples in Pennsylvania was referred to a committee in March, but never had a hearing.

[keystoneprogress]