Skip to content

Occasional Planet

Progressive Voices Speaking Out

  • Home
  • About
  • Contributors
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Click Quotes
  • Who am I?
  • Infographics

Author: Mary Clemons

Mary Clemons, retired but not retiring, moved from being an armchair progressive to becoming an active advocate for issues of social justice. She credits her new found skills in writing and speaking out to Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice. She is immediate past president of the organization.
gun violence

Seeing the faces and knowing the lives of gun violence victims

April 13, 2017 Mary Clemons Crime/Violence, Guns, Media, Widgets: Guns Leave a comment

One hundred thirty-two Missourians lost their lives, and 164 have been injured during the first 3 months of 2017 due to gun violence. Nine

Continue reading

New rules for Medicaid managed care: What do they mean for Missouri?

June 8, 2015 Mary Clemons ACA/Obamacare, Health care, Missouri region, Social Sec/Medicare Leave a comment

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just released new rules, the first in over a decade, for Medicaid managed programs. These

Continue reading

No excuses: Expand Medicaid

May 14, 2015 Mary Clemons ACA/Obamacare, Missouri region, Republicans, Social Sec/Medicare, States Leave a comment

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch correctly identifies problems with the Missouri Medicaid program (“Medicaid missteps,” May 10). But citing the system as “broken” as a

Continue reading

Women’s voices are missing in online comments. Speak up!

January 8, 2015 Mary Clemons Activism, Media, Women One comment

Nicolas Kristof, columnist for the New York Times, encourages his readers to express their views on his commentaries. But where are the women? How

Continue reading

Ferguson: It’s time to stop studying, already

November 3, 2014 Mary Clemons Activism, Missouri region, States, Violence One comment

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently published an editorial titled, “A defining moment.” The editorial states that by creating a Ferguson Commission,,Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon

Continue reading

Not just another study of racial inequality—this one includes real community action

June 13, 2014 Mary Clemons Activism, Cities, Poverty 3 comments

[by Mary Clemons] St. Louis is known for the Gateway Arch and toasted ravioli. We are also known for being one of the most

Continue reading

The “Cardinal Way”: A model for MO legislature, and others, too

October 30, 2013 Mary Clemons Good government, Health care, Politics, Republicans, Social Sec/Medicare, States Leave a comment

After the St. Louis Cardinals won the [2013] National League Championship Series, it was reported that a rookie player, Seth Maness, said, “It’s a

Continue reading

Blue voices in a red room: Notes from an Obamacare “informational” town hall

September 24, 2013 Mary Clemons Activism, Consumer issues, Health care, Missouri region, Obama, Politics, Republicans, States Leave a comment

What could be better on Constitution Day than a traditional American town meeting?  What a perfect way to celebrate the document that is a

Continue reading

Asparagus disparity: Mountain, molehill or symbol of racial inequality?

July 25, 2013 Mary Clemons Cities, Civil Rights, Consumer issues, Food, Missouri region, Poverty 2 comments

In the national response to the Zimmerman trial, at rallies across the country, we hear from the bullhorns the outrage over police profiling minorities

Continue reading

Legislators against Medicaid expansion wait in the wings to say, “I told you so.”

July 2, 2013 Mary Clemons Government, Health care, Missouri region, Politics, Poverty, Social Sec/Medicare, States One comment

Recently, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, wrote about the “practical effects of the Affordable Care Act. His remarks clarified for me that

Continue reading

Posts navigation

1 2 Next Posts»

In case you missed it

  • What if Guns and Bullets Had Not Been Invented Before the Constitution Was Written?
  • Would President Hillary Clinton have saved Roe? Probably Not
  • War, huh (good God y’all) What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
  • Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation Should’ve Been a Celebration
  • How Loose Lips from Obama Hurt America and the World
  • Back in the USSR

A new book by Arthur Lieber. Political Introverts: How Empathetic Voters Can Help Save American Politics.  Buy it here.

Gloria Shur Bilchik’s new book, Election Insiders: Behind the scenes with the people who make your vote count. Kindle edition now available at Amazon.

Follow Occasional Planet on social media

Newsletter
Twitter
RSS
Facebook