Category: Action Alert

Bucks County action alert

~ susie

Minimum Wage Workers Call on Rep. Fitzpatrick to Catch Up to 1968

What: Raise the Wage! Minimum Wage Walking Tour

When: Tuesday, July 24 at 1:00 pm

Where: Levittown Town Center, Route 13 & Levittown Parkway, Levittown, PA 19054

*The tour will begin in front of the Wal-Mart SuperCenter. 

LEVITTOWN– As controversy heats up over Mitt Romney’s tax returns and outsourcing, the national conversation has again turned to the growing gap between the rich and the poor. On Tuesday, July 24 at 1pm, community members and minimum wage workers will gather at the Levittown Town Center to continue that conversation and call for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. The group will gather for a “Raise the Wage” Minimum Wage Walking Tour to call on Rep. MikeFitzpatrick to support The Catching up to 1968 Act of 2012 which would raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

Through visiting several low wage-paying businesses like Wal-Mart and Taco Bell, the tour will highlight the struggle of minimum wage workers who are getting by on a wage that has not been raised since 1968, when adjusted for inflation. The group will also highlight the economic benefit for local communities when the working poor have more purchasing power.  Thousands of people, many of whom earn the minimum wage, are expected to participate in more than 30 events across the country on July 24 as part of a national day of action.

Deal for all

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Versus the Grand Bargain:

Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., are trying to get political support for a congressional resolutionthat would repudiate any “grand bargain” on the federal deficit that cuts Social Security, Medicare or other programs vital to economic security.


Their resolution calls for a “Deal for All” that would protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; contain “serious revenue increases,” including corporate tax loopholes and higher tax brackets for the highest-income earners; significant reductions in defense spending; and “strong levels of job-creating Federal investments in areas such as infrastructure and education.”000000000000000000000000000


The Caucus co-chairs issued a joint statement that said, “Congress is gearing up for high-stakes tax and budget negotiations, and we’re standing with working families to make sure we build a stronger and fairer economy. While both parties will need to make sacrifices, we cannot do so at the expense of economic growth or the middle class. A balanced approach like the Deal for All would end tax breaks for the richest 2 percent, close tax loopholes for the wealthy and special interests, and ensure Americans don’t lose the benefits they’ve paid into for decades such as Social Security and Medicare.”


The “Deal for All” stands in sharp contrast to the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan offered by the co-chairmen of President Obama’s fiscal commission, Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson. That plan would, among other things, lower tax rates on the wealthiest Americans while cutting more than $400 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over the next 10 years and reducing cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients.


Many Democrats are being pushed into believing that such policies are necessary to keep the government and the economy from falling over a “fiscal cliff” by the end of the year. Fortunately, some of these Democrats are pushing back, arguing that this is the time to end flawed tax policies that favored the wealthy at the expense of working-class Americans, and reject the austerity policies that we see failing miserably in Europe.


So far 38 members of the House have signed on to the resolution. Ask your member of Congress if he or she will also co-sponsor the resolution.

This would be a good time to call your congress critter and push.

Yoo hoo, Bucks County readers

~ susie

From Working Families PA, a fun action tomorrow:

LANGHORNE- Following what has been deemed a “theatrical” House vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Bucks County residents will call on Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick to stop wasting time and taxpayer dollars, respect the Supreme Court’s decision and move forward with creating jobs. On Wednesday, July 11 at 11:30am constituents will file into Rep. Fitzpatrick’s Langhorne office with a dozen roses and a personalized Playbill in honor of their congressman’s theatrical performance in voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Who: Pennsylvania Working Families, Penn Action
What: Bucks County Needs Jobs, Not Political Theater Event
When: Wednesday, July 11 at 11:30am
Where: Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick’s office, 1717 Langhorne Newtown Rd #400, Langhorne, PA

More: Following a landmark Supreme Court decision, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote for the 31st time on Tuesday to repeal the health care law, knowing the vote will be blocked by the Senate and the President.

“This health care vote is going nowhere and Congressman Fitzpatrick knows that. If Congressman Fitzpatrick wants to do theater, he should audition at Bristol Riverside. If he wants to help get our economy back on track, he should support the Bring Our Jobs Home Act to stop outsourcing in our community,” said Mark McClain of Bristol.

The group will also deliver hundreds of petition signatures in support of the Bring Our Jobs Home Act, which will stop tax breaks for corporations that outsource American jobs to other countries.

“Every moment that Rep. Fitzpatrick wastes with this Washington non-sense is a moment we could be getting serious about getting more Americans back to work, increasing the minimum wage and ending the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy,” added McClain.

Still SiCKO After All These Years

~ susie

Still SiCKO After All These Years
Saturday, June 30th, 2012. – 7 PM
Plays and Players Theater, 1714 Delancy Street, Philadelphia, PA

$40 Minimum Donation. Tickets Available On-line. First Come, First Served.
Go Here: http://tiny.cc/sicko5

Michael Moore’s documentary SiCKO was released in 2007 to widespread acclaim. A straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and sometimes cruel U.S. healthcare system, SiCKO is told from the vantage of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage.

Join Filmmaker Michael Moore, Health Insurance Industry Whistleblower and Deadly Spin author Wendell Potter, and American SiCKO’s Donna and Larry Smith, Reggie Cervantes, Billy Maher, Julie Pierce, Lee Einer, Dawnelle Keys, Adrian Campbell Montgomery, and more for a Q&A about the film’s impact and their lives five years after its release.

See Michael Moore and Wendell Potter on the same stage face-to-face for the first time since Wendell spied on the film’s release back in 2007 while working for Cigna. Celebrate how SiCKO changed the conversation on healthcare reform in America, and hear the latest on the movement for healthcare justice from leaders around the country.

Proceeds to benefit Vermont Public Assets Institute (publicassets.org) and Healthcare-NOW! (healthcare-now.org).

Tickets available here: http://tiny.cc/sicko5

Questions? 802-223-6677 or sarah@publicassets.org.

Welcome, Mittens!

~ susie

QUAKERTOWN-Ahead of Mitt Romney’s visit, outsourced and unemployed Pennsylvania voters will speak out on Saturday at noon in front of Romney’s bus stop at the WaWa on route 663. As Mitt Romney touts his business experience to local voters, residents will highlight the impact outsourcing has had on Pennsylvania.

“Romney made most of his money off a company that buys businesses only to shut them down and ship the jobs overseas. He has no business coming here and talking about his vision for the economy. We already know that his vision for the economy includes shipping good jobs overseas and leaving low wage jobs here,” said Mary Downing of Warminster.

WHAT: 99% Rally and Speak Out: Rolling Out the Un-Welcome Mat for Mitt
WHEN: Saturday, June 16, 2012 at 12pm
WHERE: (In front of) Wawa Gas Station, 1960 John Fries Highway, Quakertown, PA

PA HB 2191

~ susie ~ 10 Comments

The fight is on to stop payday lending in Pennsylvania, and of course the Republicans are working to protect it. If you live in PA, please sign the petition or make a call TODAY:

The GOP is saying they’ll call for a vote on the bill next week.  The only way to stop it is to put constant pressure on the Republican State Reps now, so people should be calling them and spreading the word.  People can find out the name and contact information for their State Rep here.  Calls are a must.

This is Penn Action’s action page, which lets you send an email and make a call.

Opposition to HB 2191 is broad and deep.  You can see a list of organizations opposed to the bill at Stop Pay Day Loans PA.  In addition to several other military organizations, the PA Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America are opposing the bill.  Iraq war veteran Rep. Tom Murt (R), has filed an amendment that would align HB 2191 with the federal law currently in place for members of the armed forces.  Details are below.

The bottom line is that HB 2191 worsens the problems it claims to solve. It legalizes internet and storefront payday lending at rates more than 12 times existing law. It codifies the very toxic terms of the loan product and allows payday lenders to electronically debit 50% of a borrower’s bi-weekly take home pay. Exorbitant fees and interest rates will drain hundreds of millions of dollars out of PA’s economy.

Predatory Pay Day lending doesn’t only hurt the people desperate enough to get them, they hurt most everyone who lives and does business in PA.

Here’s more info on the Murt amendment:

This amendment aligns HB 2191 with the laws currently in place for members of the armed forces.  This ensures that Pennsylvanians, such as our veterans, the National Guard, and others are not exploited by the very practices that the U.S. Department of Defense found to threaten our national security.  Specifically, this amendment, similar to the law signed by President George Bush, provides that charges on payday loans do not exceed 36 percent annual interest, prohibits holding a post-dated check or electronic access to a borrower’s bank account as a security for the loan, and provides a minimum repayment period of 91 days.  In assessing the effectiveness of these types of provisions, the U.S. Department of Defense concluded that “has established a balanced approach in using the regulation to curb products with demonstrated high costs…”

On, Wisconsin

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

You’ve all heard the story by now, how the DNC is refusing to give $500k to Wisconsin Dems to help defeat Gov. Scott Walker. Unfuckingbelieveable.

And you may have already gotten an email from Daily Kos, or MoveOn.org, asking for donations. If you can, you can also donate here. Five bucks is good; 20 bucks, even better.

Let’s do. Let’s kick this guy’s ass.

I hesitate to say this (because I might be horribly wrong), but I have a feeling this year will be like 2006, when we took back the House and the Senate. Back then, if you recall, the blogosphere put many, many Dems over the top that the DNC wrote off. We did it, with our little blogs. Maybe we can do it again. So if you can help, do it.

Also, fuck the DNC.