Daily Archives: 08/30/2010

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Great article by OK Go lead singer


We wanted to pass along this great column about Net Neutrality written by the lead singer of the band OK Go.The article, printed in Sunday’s Washington Post, explains really well why a free and open Internet is so important, from the point of view of one of the most creative people anywhere online.

Give it a read. As Senator Al Franken recently said, Net Neutrality is the “First Amendment issue of our time,” so it’s crucial we spread the word about threats to it—after you check it out, please click here to easily share it on Facebook and Twitter:
Thanks for all you do.

–Steven, Kat, Amy, Jeff, and the rest of the team

OK Go on net neutrality: A lesson from the music industry

By Damian Kulash
Sunday, August 29, 2010

On the Internet, when I send my ones and zeros somewhere, they shouldn’t have to wait in line behind the ones and zeros of wealthier people or corporations. That’s the way the Net was designed, and it’s central to a concept called “net neutrality,” which ensures that Internet service providers can’t pick favorites.

Recently, though, big telecommunications companies have argued that their investment in the Net’s infrastructure should allow them more control over how it’s used. The concerned nerds of the world are up in arms, and there’s been a long, loud public debate, during which the Federal Communications Commission appeared to develop a plan to preserve net neutrality.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture, ~ Recent Post

100 Days Fighting the Low-Waging of America
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Sample Message to Dr Pepper Snapple
It’s best to write your own personal message, but here’s a sample to give you some ideas:

Dear Dr Pepper Snapple,

With record-breaking profits, your company has no justification to cut the pay and benefits of the more than 300 Mott’s workers in Williamson, N.Y. In saying you want to bring their wages down to “local industry standards,” you are trying to take advantage of the recession and high unemployment rates to lift your profits even higher.

Your workers deserve better. And so do workers at other profitable companies that might try to follow your shameful example.

Mott’s is a 142-year-old company with a product that’s as American as you can get—a company we all thought we knew and could trust. I hope you realize you are jeopardizing a well-known, well-established and respected brand. That’s a lot to throw away.

I urge you to back off your attack on the Mott’s workers’ wages and benefits and do the right thing.

For 100 days, more than 300 Mott’s workers in Williamson, N.Y., have been on strike, fighting the low-waging of America. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the corporate conglomerate that owns Mott’s (of apple juice and apple sauce fame) has been trying to cut their pay and benefits—even though the company reported a net income of $555 million in 2009.

Tell Dr Pepper Snapple to back off its corporate greed and treat the Mott’s workers fairly.

Dr Pepper Snapple is taking advantage of the recession and high unemployment rates in the area to beat down the workers, members of RWDSU/UFCW Local 220. A spokesman told The New York Times recently the company’s just trying to take wages down to meet “local industry standards”—in other words, to make recession-era wages the norm.

Dr Pepper Snapple is demanding wage cuts that would amount to $3,000 a year per worker, ending pensions for new hires, cutting the company’s 401(k) retirement contributions and increasing employee health care costs.

This is a 142-year-old company with a product that’s as American as you can get—a company you thought you knew and could trust. It’s a company that symbolizes everything we’re fighting for—and everything we’re fighting against: the low-waging of America.

This strike isn’t just about Williamson, N.Y. As The Times put it, “if the Mott’s workers lose this showdown, it could prompt other profitable companies to push for major labor concessions.”

If America’s economy is going to recover, we need paychecks that can fuel consumption. And if profitable companies are allowed to use the recession to drive America’s middle class out of existence, it’s unconscionable.

Don’t be silent about the low-waging of America. Support the Mott’s workers who have been walking the picket line for 100 days. Act now.

Tell Dr Pepper Snapple to back off its corporate greed and treat the Mott’s workers fairly.

Thank you for taking action for the Mott’s workers and all working families. Please forward this e-mail to at least five friends and urge them to take action, too.

In solidarity,

AFL-CIO Working Families e-Activist Network

P.S. The RWDSU Mott’s Hardship Fund has been established to help aid Mott’s workers affected by the strike. Donations to this fund will be used to help offset hardships being faced by Local 220 members as a result of their strike against the corporate greed of Mott’s/Dr. Pepper Snapple. Please consider making a contribution to the strike fund by clicking here.
~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

mash-up Monday &some News


While the airwaves were able to force us into seeing what beck was doing at the National Mall and seemingly held back the coverage when Rev. Sharpton or Ben Jealous or Rev. Jackson were at the podium and though we did see President Obama speak eloquently by the way; the coverage on beck was more than it deserved.   It was sad and eye opening to know that channel 24 would cover the entire beck rally then I realized it might have been CSPAN and quite honestly made me think it might be time to reassess my support for CSPAN having watched people from the Heritage foundation spew nasty rhetoric about what President Obama and his administration has done over the last 20months. I was quite offended by what I felt was a whole lot of miss-information coming from a group of people knowing no one was there to rebut this stuff they were selling and in a book too. It was disturbing.

A Cnn article offered up a video of what you missed -the glenn beck rally … I am quite sure our family missed absolutely nothing as we spent the day watching the Sharpton, Jealous plus gatherings on when available  and remembering Katrina while getting informed about the progress and definite misses by the Bush admin …sadden that so much more needs to be done for neighborhoods of families in certain parks of the Gulf Coast mostly folks of colour and wonder if the rumors of deliberate avoidance is true?

Sarah Palin and her code talk made me laugh -The whole thing was a joke.
The beckthorn was not anything my family related to… and one day of so-called sane behavior does not make up for a history of racist vitriol … the only thing that i did want to mention is Alveda is not MLK jr. and her association as a niece does not give any…any substance to the beckathon rally …she used the day to rile against a woman’s right to choose and homosexuality -she clearly does not represent her Uncle or the intent of the “I have a dream” speech. I would go as far to say she doesn’t understand what the speech was about.

Other News …

“I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” President Obama told NBC’s Brian Williams last night when asked about the growth of the fringe “birther” movement. “There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” Obama explained.

“I’m making decisions that are not necessarily good for the nightly news and not good for the next election, but for the next generations,” Obama told NBC last night.

Government anti-poverty programs now “serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.” Upwards of 50 million Americans on Medicaid and more than 40 million Americans are now receiving food stamps.

The “consensus among economists” is that the Recovery Act “worked in staving off a rerun of the 1930s,” but other emergency measures implemented by the Obama and Bush administrations played a larger role. The stimulus “was important for confidence,” said Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the IMF, adding, “But fiscal stimulus was the least important of the three planks of the government’s strategy.”

**VPresident visits Iraq to mark formal end to Combat

**Primaries in WVA  -Democrat  Joe Manchin in WVA -Democrat Charlie Melancon in LA


CSPAN …

Weekly Addresses Weekly Addresses

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Big Endorsement …BoldProgressives.org
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Check out this new TV ad from progressive House candidate David Segal. In just 15 days, he’s in a big primary for Patrick Kennedy‘s open seat in Rhode Island. He’s facing 3 uninspiring hacks. Together, we can help this progressive fighter win!

Can you watch the ad — and chip in $3 to help him air it on TV?

Donate $3 today

David Segal’s been endorsed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Blue America, Democracy for America, local unions, teachers, and environmentalists.

If we raise $5,000 for Segal, he can plaster all local cable news outlets for a week. If we hit $6,000, he can include Comedy Central and reach younger voters. Can you please chip in 3?

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Jason Rosenbaum, Michael Snook, Caroline Dean, and the PCCC team