June 1998

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Wed., June 3, 1:303:00 p.m.
Board meeting at the office.
All Welcome!
Tues., June 9, 1:003:00
p.m.
OWL. "The Herstory of Breast Cancer." Personal stories told through poetry
and journals. San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Community
Room A. Info, 989-4422.
Sat., June 20, 12:303:00 p.m.
Open meeting : Reading of A. E. Biderman's
Cry The Unborn. Special memorial
meeting honoring humanitarian author Biderman at the Community Room of the
Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street.
Sun., June 21, 8:00 & 9:30 p.m.
The Global Peace Foundation and One Earth One People Peace Vision present
"The Majestic Laser Light Show." Morrison Planetarium, Academy of Sciences
Bldg., Golden Gate Park.
Thurs., June 25, 6:30 p.m.
N2N. Women's Building, 18th near Valencia.
Fri., June 26, 10:00 a.m.2:30 p.m.
Northern California Town Hall Meeting on The Future of Medicare. Discussion
with Health Access California and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi plus several
other public officials. First Unitarian Church, Franklin at Geary.
Sat., June 27, 10:45 a.m.12:15
p.m.
OWL. "How to Save Social Security," discussion by advocacy groups, 665-0380.

June Meeting
On Saturday, June 20, the Gray Panthers
monthly meeting will feature a reading of Cry The
Unborn by A. E. Biderman. Spicy, irreverent and
inspiring, Cry The Unborn is a modern myth, in
which a soul crosses the Great Divide into the next
world and there seeks out Great Mother Eve to warn her of Earth's impending nuclear
Armageddon. She learns about Eve's passionate commitment to the recycling of souls and how
she plans to avert a catastrophic replay of the
Great Flood which caused her such difficulties in
locating bodies in which to put the glut of
immortal souls she had long before so assiduously
created, despite the resistance of God. Eve does not
want to go through that search again!
Published in 1985 by The Old Man Press
in San Francisco, 13 years before the author's own recent passing,
Cry The Unborn deals with a problem as pertinent and urgentas we all know
but tend to denyas it has been ever since it clouded

Election Meeting
At our May meeting a discussion of the

June ballot resulted in a spirited session

chaired by Aroza Simpson, convenor, and Rebecca Hirshleifer, program coordinator.
The ballot issues had been discussed at
the May Board meeting. Everyone is invited to attend Board meetings held the first Wednesday
of each month where topics are discussed and Gray Panthers stands voted on.
There were nine propositions on the ballot,
all of them important, but everyone agreed on
the special importance of the following props:
· No on Prop E. Rent Control Repeal.
· Yes on Prop L. Presidio Land Use and Rental
Housing.
· No on Prop 222. Prison Sentences for
Murder.
· No on Prop 226. Political Contributions by
Employees.
· No on Prop 227. The UNZ Initiative
English Language Education.

time Gray Panther Fannie, Ed's wife of 59 years,

Health Plan for All S.F.
Mayor Willie Brown endorsed a task force

plan to provide medical coverage to 130,000

uninsured San Francisco residents. The plan will
need to seek voter approval, probably in 1999, before
it would become law.
A 30- member task force, working on the plan
for two years, came up with the idea of enrolling
private and public workers that could use their large
numbers to lower insurance rates, said Dr. Sandra
Hernandez, former public health director of S.F. and chairman
of the task force. Future members of the health plan
will include municipal workers and their dependents.
Small businesses which cannot afford coverage for
their workers would be invited to join. The City
would provide a sliding subsidy so small businesses could
get insurance for workers. The City would use funds
it already gets from the state to subsidize coverage
for some of the working poor, and needy people
could also join and be subsidized by The City.
The monthly rate for the plan would be $110
to $139 a month. Brown and Dr. Hernandez said the
plan would not cost the city any more than it spends
on medical insurance now and even might save the
city money.
The plan would be administered by a
nonprofit corporation of nine members appointed by the
Mayor and the Board of Supervisors who would oversee
the operation.

for this very special event bringing Ed Biderman's

words to lifeand to join with all of us
afterwards in brainstorming what we can do to protect ourselves and future generations from
the ever-expanding nuclear threat to the survival
of life on this planet. As he says in Cry The
Unborn, " life is not life without future life." We must

respond to his call to us to see to it " that
there will be no nuclear war; that there will be
no Armageddon."
The meeting will take place 12:303:00 p.m.
in the Community Room of the Park Branch Library, located in the Haight-Ashbury
district, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and
Shrader). Page Street runs parallel between Haight
Street and the Panhandle. Refreshments will be
served. Come one, come all! Deetje
Boler

Human Rights

Join the Gray Panthers and other progres-

sive organizations and individuals on Mon-

day, June 8 in a demonstration for Human

Right and Economic Justice. Though the U.S. signed the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the S.F. Board
of Supervisors passed Prop. Q, in 1991, calling
for the federal government to reduce military
spending by 10% each year for the following five
years and to use the savings for specific social
services, where are we now in fulfilling those goals?
This rally will focus on the unmet promises made
in these contracts.
We will meet at the UN Plaza, on
Market between 7th and 8th streets, at noon. At 12:30
we will march to the Veterans Memorial Building at 401 Van Ness and gather in the lobby
outside Herbst Theatre where the UN charter was signed.
Canadian film maker Nicole Giguere will
be filming for the international film tentatively
titled, "The Other Way of Aging."
This is an opportunity for diverse, but
united in concern for social justice, organizations
to demonstrate for those causes most pressing at this time: better housing, education, health
care, AIDS and cancer research, job training and
employment opportunities, environmental protection, mass transit, drug abuse prevention
and treatment, and deficit reduction
instead of continuing nuclear expenditures and weapons
proliferation.

Town Hall Meeting

The Future of Medicare

Friday, June 26, 1998
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
First Unitarian Church, Franklin and Geary
RSVP by June 19 to (415) 863-2033

Senior Action Network and
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi are sponsoring a free Town
Hall Meeting to hear from public officials, health
care professionals and Medicare consumers on the future of Medicare. (Box lunches $2.00)

Report on Regional Meeting
_We met at the AARP offices in Sacra-

mento and focused on combining our

strengthslocal, regional and nationaltoward compassionate social activism.
The next regional meeting will be in
Contra Costa on August 8. Try to attend!

The Newsletter of the San Francisco Gray Panthers is published each month, and distributed free of charge to members and friends of this nonprofit organization.

Editorial Board: Rebecca Hirshleifer, Mitzi Raas; Publisher, Astrid M. Spector; Art Director, Fannie Biderman; Proof, Lurilla Harris; Circulation: Harold Greenblatt and Mary Francis Smith. Printed by Graffik Natwicks; Webpage design: Barry Simpkins



time Gray Panther Fannie, Ed's wife of 59 years,			Health Plan for All S.F. Mayor Willie Brown endorsed a task force plan to provide medical coverage to 130,000 uninsured San Francisco residents. The plan will need to seek voter approval, probably in 1999, before it would become law. A 30- member task force, working on the plan for two years, came up with the idea of enrolling private and public workers that could use their large numbers to lower insurance rates, said Dr. Sandra Hernandez, former public health director of S.F. and chairman of the task force. Future members of the health plan will include municipal workers and their dependents. Small businesses which cannot afford coverage for their workers would be invited to join. The City would provide a sliding subsidy so small businesses could get insurance for workers. The City would use funds it already gets from the state to subsidize coverage for some of the working poor, and needy people could also join and be subsidized by The City. The monthly rate for the plan would be $110 to $139 a month. Brown and Dr. Hernandez said the plan would not cost the city any more than it spends on medical insurance now and even might save the city money. The plan would be administered by a nonprofit corporation of nine members appointed by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors who would oversee the operation.
for this very special event bringing Ed Biderman's
words to lifeand to join with all of us afterwards in brainstorming what we can do to protect ourselves and future generations from the ever-expanding nuclear threat to the survival of life on this planet. As he says in Cry The Unborn, " life is not life without future life." We must
respond to his call to us to see to it " that there will be no nuclear war; that there will be no Armageddon." The meeting will take place 12:303:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Park Branch Library, located in the Haight-Ashbury district, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and Shrader). Page Street runs parallel between Haight Street and the Panhandle. Refreshments will be served. Come one, come all! Deetje Boler
	Human Rights
	Join the Gray Panthers and other progres- sive organizations and individuals on Mon- day, June 8 in a demonstration for Human Right and Economic Justice. Though the U.S. signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the S.F. Board of Supervisors passed Prop. Q, in 1991, calling for the federal government to reduce military spending by 10% each year for the following five years and to use the savings for specific social services, where are we now in fulfilling those goals? This rally will focus on the unmet promises made in these contracts. We will meet at the UN Plaza, on Market between 7th and 8th streets, at noon. At 12:30 we will march to the Veterans Memorial Building at 401 Van Ness and gather in the lobby outside Herbst Theatre where the UN charter was signed. Canadian film maker Nicole Giguere will be filming for the international film tentatively titled, "The Other Way of Aging." This is an opportunity for diverse, but united in concern for social justice, organizations to demonstrate for those causes most pressing at this time: better housing, education, health care, AIDS and cancer research, job training and employment opportunities, environmental protection, mass transit, drug abuse prevention and treatment, and deficit reduction instead of continuing nuclear expenditures and weapons proliferation.

			Town Hall Meeting
			*The Future of Medicare*
			Friday, June 26, 1998 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. First Unitarian Church, Franklin and Geary RSVP by June 19 to (415) 863-2033
			Senior Action Network and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi are sponsoring a free Town Hall Meeting to hear from public officials, health care professionals and Medicare consumers on the future of Medicare. (Box lunches $2.00)

		Report on Regional Meeting _We met at the AARP offices in Sacra- mento and focused on combining our strengthslocal, regional and nationaltoward compassionate social activism. The next regional meeting will be in Contra Costa on August 8. Try to attend!



	CALENDAR OF EVENTS Wed., June 3, 1:303:00 p.m. Board meeting at the office. All Welcome! Tues., June 9, 1:003:00 p.m. OWL. "The Herstory of Breast Cancer." Personal stories told through poetry and journals. San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Community Room A. Info, 989-4422. Sat., June 20, 12:303:00 p.m. Open meeting : Reading of A. E. Biderman's Cry The Unborn. Special memorial meeting honoring humanitarian author Biderman at the Community Room of the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street. Sun., June 21, 8:00 & 9:30 p.m. The Global Peace Foundation and One Earth One People Peace Vision present "The Majestic Laser Light Show." Morrison Planetarium, Academy of Sciences Bldg., Golden Gate Park. Thurs., June 25, 6:30 p.m. N2N. Women's Building, 18th near Valencia. Fri., June 26, 10:00 a.m.2:30 p.m. Northern California Town Hall Meeting on The Future of Medicare. Discussion with Health Access California and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi plus several other public officials. First Unitarian Church, Franklin at Geary. Sat., June 27, 10:45 a.m.12:15 p.m. OWL. "How to Save Social Security," discussion by advocacy groups, 665-0380.
			June Meeting On Saturday, June 20, the Gray Panthers monthly meeting will feature a reading of Cry The Unborn by A. E. Biderman. Spicy, irreverent and inspiring, Cry The Unborn is a modern myth, in which a soul crosses the Great Divide into the next world and there seeks out Great Mother Eve to warn her of Earth's impending nuclear Armageddon. She learns about Eve's passionate commitment to the recycling of souls and how she plans to avert a catastrophic replay of the Great Flood which caused her such difficulties in locating bodies in which to put the glut of immortal souls she had long before so assiduously created, despite the resistance of God. Eve does not want to go through that search again! Published in 1985 by The Old Man Press in San Francisco, 13 years before the author's own recent passing, Cry The Unborn deals with a problem as pertinent and urgentas we all know but tend to denyas it has been ever since it clouded
	Election Meeting At our May meeting a discussion of the June ballot resulted in a spirited session chaired by Aroza Simpson, convenor, and Rebecca Hirshleifer, program coordinator. The ballot issues had been discussed at the May Board meeting. Everyone is invited to attend Board meetings held the first Wednesday of each month where topics are discussed and Gray Panthers stands voted on. There were nine propositions on the ballot, all of them important, but everyone agreed on the special importance of the following props: · No on Prop E. Rent Control Repeal. · Yes on Prop L. Presidio Land Use and Rental Housing. · No on Prop 222. Prison Sentences for Murder. · No on Prop 226. Political Contributions by Employees. · No on Prop 227. The UNZ Initiative English Language Education.