Sen. Kennedy visited the AFSCME offices in 2007 to congratulate Pres. McEntee on 50 years with the union. (Photo by Jay Mallin)

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

In nearly 47 years spent serving the American people, Ted Kennedy never stepped away from a fight, never stopped being a champion of the middle class, never ceased being a friend to labor and working families. From civil rights to health care, right until the end, he was our strongest advocate. We will always remember him. In his memory, we will continue to pursue our shared dream of opportunity for all.

Senator Kennedy’s congressional accomplishments were monumental, and health care was a significant theme throughout his career. He first advocated for health care reform in 1966 when he proposed amending the Economic Opportunity Act. In 1972, he created and ushered through the Congress a program focused on nutrition and health care for low-income women and children known as WIC. In 1997, he carried the banner high for the children’s health care program, S-CHIP. He even made a surprise return to the Senate last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on a Medicare bill.

Ted was always there to remind us, when too many had forgotten, that health care for all Americans was not a privilege but a right. This is his legacy. He said that quality, affordable health care for all Americans is “the cause of my life.” And he fervently believed, “Quality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face.”

Known as the “Lion of the Senate,” we counted on Ted to fight for fairness in the workplace and serve as a voice for those whose labor makes this country great. He crusaded for the best, most comprehensive plans on immigration, housing discrimination, rights for the disabled, poor children and struggling young adults hoping to attend college. He never sought credit or recognition. When he co-authored the sweeping Patients’ Bill of Rights, he even asked that Sen. John McCain’s name appear first and his last.

Beyond what he achieved on the national stage, Ted was an empathetic and caring man. When my father died, Ted was the first person to reach out to me in my time of sorrow. He stayed in contact with families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and remained in touch long after the cameras were gone. The tragedies he experienced made him especially compassionate when others endured their own hardships.

For me this loss is particularly difficult. He was not just an ally, but a dear friend. Ted’s great voice has been silenced, but we will forever remember what he gave all of us: his life, his passion, his commitment to a more fair and equitable nation. In remembrance of him, we must all keep fighting for the causes he championed so well and rededicate ourselves to winning national health care reform and lifting the lives of all Americans.

AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee issued a statement today calling Senator Ted Kennedy “Our closest ally and most steadfast friend in the U.S. Senate.”

Senator Kennedy called health care reform the cause of his life, first advocating for national health care in 1966. He made a surprise return to the Senate last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on a Medicare bill. In his memory, we must continue to do all we can to realize his goal of health care reform.

Read the full statement.

Earlier today on The Ed Schultz Show, President McEntee reflected on the legacy of Sen. Kennedy. Visit our tribute page to listen to the full segment.

This video, from the 2008 DNC Convention, celebrates the life and accomplishments of the Lion of the Senate:

Find more on AFSCME.org.

At Tuesday’s event in Delaware, this youngster enjoys coloring for change.

The Highway to Health Care RV pulled into Wilmington’s Rodney Square earlier today and was greeted by over 200 Delawareans who want real health care reform, capping two busy days that saw reformers from three generations come together with one call for change.

While some of our younger supporters used crayons to color their messages of support, the rest called and wrote to Sen. Carper and Rep. Castle urging them to support reform with a public health insurance option.

New Castle resident Claudette Sherwood is a child care provider who is among the 100,000 people in Delaware who don’t have health insurance. She said she’s struggling to pay off a $1600 bill as a result of a recent visit to the emergency room. WDEL 1150-AM has more:

Today’s stop in Wilmington follows yesterday’s successful event in Charlottesville, VA, where another large crowd gathered to support President Obama’s plan for health care reform. NBC-29 spoke with supporters there including recent U.Va graduate Melissa McCrumb:

“I’m working two jobs, for two small businesses. I work with a bunch of bright, young, energetic people and not a single one of us has health care. I think it’s absolutely absurd that we are at the mercy of insurance companies that care more about turning a dime, than our health.”

The tour is now rolling up the coast and will stop in Portland and Bangor, ME, on Wednesday.

By the way, if you’d like to get out your crayons and color like the kids in Wilmington, download our health care reform coloring pages (104k PDF) and print your own copy.

Death panels aren’t coming in health care legislation — they’re already here.

As reported by Salon.com, Americans United for Change has launched a TV ad turning the tables on the debunked charge made up by opponents of health insurance reform.

The spot features Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical director at Humana Insurance and Blue Cross/Blue Shield who has since turned whistleblower.

“In the spring of 1987, as a physician, I denied a man a necessary operation that would have saved his life and thus caused his death,” Peeno says in the ad. “I am haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper on which I have written that deadly word, ‘denial.’”

Be sure to check out another Salon article on death panels: “The ‘Death Panels’ Are Already Here.” Writer Mike Madden shows, contrary to charges by Sarah Palin and others who prefer not to bother with facts, that private companies are already rationing care, with sometimes fatal results.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ran a report yesterday on our Highway to Health Care event in front of the state Capitol in Little Rock — and the importance of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s support of a public option. In the article, “Union backs public health-care plan during rally” (subscription-only), AFSCME’s Blaine Rummel pointed out that Lincoln has said she’s open to it.

He continued:

“If we allow [government] to compete with private insurance companies, it’s going to force private insurance companies to lower premiums,” Rummel said.

He said Obama’s plan will ensure that people keep coverage when they change jobs.

Sen. Lincoln sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which is playing a key role in shaping health care legislation. She has said she believes individuals should be given choices when it comes to health insurance. In a July guest column in the Democrat-Gazette, Lincoln said “Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals of a public plan.”

Rummel said the association wanted to provide a contrast to the “mob mentality” of protesters during recent public forums. Its literature has a rock ‘n’ roll theme.

There was no mob in Little Rock, as you can see in this photo — just a group of ordinary Americans who want to make their voices heard as we fight for real health insurance reform.

Little Rock residents were excited about reform at the Highway to Healthcare event on Monday evening. Find more on Flickr.

Read more coverage of the tour in this article from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, LA, and check out Kombiz’s diary at Daily Kos about his time on the highway with the AFSCME RV.

As we continue on the Highway to Health Care Tour, the messages left on our map have been a constant reminder of why we need reform that keeps the insurance industry honest and lowers our costs. We can do that through competition and by giving employers and families more choices, including the choice of a public health insurance option.

On Thursday, President Obama will hold a special forum to update us on what’s happening in Washington — and around the country — as special interests try everything in their power to derail real reform that protects the middle class instead of insurance companies and their executives.

Sign up now to join this forum and hear President Obama lay out the strategy going forward and answer questions from supporters like you. Here are the details:

Organizing for America National Health Care Forum
Thursday, August 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET
RSVP and submit a question for the President

We have to keep our momentum going strong, and Thursday’s call is a chance for us to rally the troops — and connect with allies from all across the country — for an insider’s update on how we’re going to achieve this historic victory. You won’t want to miss it, so sign up now.

During Saturday’s Highway to Health Care event in downtown Lincoln, NE, the crowd got a health care reform history lesson from Vince Powers. It was 100 years ago that President Teddy Roosevelt — a Republican — said the country needed national health care, but he ran into opposition from his party and was unsuccessful.

More from the Lincoln Journal Star:

In the 100 years since, Powers said, incredible advances have made lives easier and better — the automobile, telephone, TV, jet planes, the Internet.

Yet, he said, all over Lincoln, the state and the country, people are worried they may go bankrupt if they get sick because they don’t have health insurance.

“How can we get someone on the moon in that 100 years since Teddy Roosevelt, but we can’t get health insurance?” he asked the crowd.

We’re not asking for the moon, but real health care reform that puts people ahead of insurance company profits. After a week on the Highway to Health Care, it’s clear we’ve really tapped into something — people are eager to learn fact from fiction in a health care debate where opponents spread lies and misinformation.

Stop after stop, we’re sending a powerful message to Congress — we need to fix health care, and we need to do it now.

For more from Nebraska, watch this report from KPTM Fox-42 in Omaha:

After stops yesterday and today in Fayetteville and Little Rock, we’ve crossed into Louisiana where we’ll be stopping in Shreveport and Baton Rouge. Then we’re back on the highway to Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Delaware and, finally, Maine.

By the way, our Facebook page has 3,141 fans right now — are you a fan? How about your friends? Help us surpass 3,200 today — and pass H.R. 3200 next month! Thanks for your help.

Stephen Schwartzman, CEO of financial firm Blackstone made a sweet $702 million in 2008. Never mind that Blackstone stock has plummeted 40 percent over the last two years. On the slightly more modest side of corporate excess, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries took home $72 million in 2008, even though his company’s stock sank 55 percent in the last two years.

This, as national unemployment skyrockets toward 10 percent and wages and salaries for the rest of us fell 4.7 percent in the 12 months through June – the biggest drop since records began in 1960.

What will it take for the greed-meisters of Wall Street to realize that their shenanigans can’t continue? Is it that difficult to see how the very same people whose selfishness helped crash our economy are trying to pick it clean once again?

This is why AFSCME is leading the fight to re-regulate the financial industry and reign in the excessive paychecks that unaccountable corporate boards of directors routinely hand out to many of America’s CEOs. Their rapacious behavior not only threatens the interest of shareholders but the security of working families who have their savings invested in the market.

We obtained an enormous victory a few weeks ago when the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation granting shareholders greater say over executive pay. But this is only the first step. Greed and corporate scandals will continue putting our pension plans in jeopardy until we win the fight to restrain undeserved CEO pay and make corporate boards more democratic.

A new ad campaign from AFSCME and Health Care for America Now (HCAN) targets Republican leadership in the House and Senate and seven additional Republican members of Congress who are blocking comprehensive health insurance reform.

As members of Congress they have guaranteed access to quality health care, but the Republicans oppose legislation that would lower costs for America’s families and businesses and stop insurance company abuses. Meanwhile, they’ve raked in millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the health care industry.

AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee had this to say about the GOP leaders featured in the ads:

“These Republicans on Capitol Hill are working for the insurance industry, not the American people. They are putting profits ahead of people, and the voters need to know it. Congress has to make real reform happen – Americans can’t wait for reform that guarantees quality, affordable health care for all.”

The ad, called “Shoes,” airs for five days nationally and in North Carolina and six Congressional districts represented by GOP House members who have voted or spoken out against health care reform. A national version of the ad targets House Republican Leader John Boehner, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitchell McConnell, and Senate Republican Whip John Kyl. State and district versions of the ad target Republican Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Representatives Dave Camp (MI-04), Mark Kirk (IL-10), Patrick Tiberi (OH-12), Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), Dave Reichert (WA-08), and John Boehner (OH-08).

Read the press release and see all the ads on AFSCME.org.

Well, our Highway to Health Care Reform Tour has been on the road for a week, and judging from our Facebook page, it’s been a big success so far (don’t forget to suggest it to your friends).

We did want to share a story with you, though. On Saturday in Omaha, a retiree approached us wanting to make sure that health care reform wouldn’t affect the quality of care he receives through Medicare. We assured him that it wouldn’t, and that we were the very same folks fighting to protect the quality of Social Security and Medicare from privatization attempts by the right.

But it brings up the issue of the smears and scare tactics that the anti-reform crowd is using to derail health care reform. The Alliance for Retired Americans has devoted a section of its website to bust the myths and clear the air. Check it out.