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On WHMP in Western MA, I debated local GOP operative Isaac Mass about the pending health care bill and put some persistent right-wing myths to rest about "government takeover," the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the supposed "$1 trillion price tag."

On the Sunday March 15, 2010 edition of “The Rick Smith Show” airing on WHYL 960 AM in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, OurFuture.org’s Bill Scher explains how America’s wealthiest heirs are scrambling to keep windfall inheritance taxes extremely low so they won’t have to contribute their fair share to reduce the deficit. Plus, a preview of the coming week in health care.

The Campaign for America's Future worked with group of private citizens frustrated with the slow pace of health care reform to produce this radio ad, the centerpiece of a media campaign in key congressional districts urging Democratic members of Congress to support health care reform.

“The advertisements are meant to inform and energize independents and rank-and-file Democrats to push forward and encourage their representatives to pass meaningful legislation during this congressional session,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America’s Future. “President Obama has laid down an agenda for passage and engaged our country’s leaders. It is up to the Congress to move forward now!”

The campaign begins with a radio advertisement entitled "Reform Now" that will air on stations in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Columbus, Ohio and Charlottesville, Va.

» Right-click this link to download the ad.

Small business owners, by a more than two-to-one margin, support the kind of financial reforms being sought by the Obama administration and back the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, according to a poll conducted by the Main Street Alliance, which represents entrepreneurs in 16 states. That runs counter to the message of business opposition to financial reform being promoted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Jeanne Boiseneau, who owns a movie casting agency in Richmond, Va., discussed the poll and her views on financial reform in this interview.

Progressive leaders representing more than 50 groups participated in a news conference call to oppose a controversial plan to create a “fast track” deficit commission being pushed by Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. and Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, D-N.H. Their concern, as spelled out by Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey and others on the call, is that the commission would have the power to ram cuts in Social Security and other social programs through Congress, bypassing the traditional legislative debate that would give citizens opportunities to influence the outcome.

Conrad and Gregg's efforts to create the commission has prompted President Obama to propose a deficit commission of his own, and the leaders said that they would vigorously oppose Obama's proposal as well if it had the same features as the Conrad-Gregg plan.

Joining Hickey at the news conference call was Gerald Shea, assistant to the president, AFL-CIO; Barbara Kennelly, president, National Committee to Protect Social Security; Joan Entmacher, vice president, National Women’s Law Center; and Hilary Shelton, director, NAACP Washington Bureau.