Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Senate Republicans want action on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts before tackling any other issues.” width=300 height=169] Alan Silverleib CNN Washington (CNN) — Senate Republicans promised Wednesday to block legislative action on every issue being considered by the lame-duck Congress until the dispute over extending the Bus … Read More

via Anderson Cooper 360

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Call right now and demand no cuts to Social Security

11/30/2010 Nativegrl77

Let’s just call this so-called “Deficit Commission” what it really is — an attack on the middle class.

From the very start, right-wing Republicans have been using the commission as a platform to destroy Social Security. They want to cut benefits and raise the retirement age, knowing full well that it will throw millions of seniors into poverty.

It’s wrong. That’s why we supported candidates who stood strong for Social Security and that’s why we’re working today to hold them accountable to the promises they made.

Call your Senators right now and tell them Hands Off Social Security.

Call now at 1-866-529-7630 and tell Congress “No cuts, no raising the retirement age”

When we asked DFA members where they stood on Social Security, the answer was clear — you said to stand strong for Social Security — No cuts, no raising the retirement age — and that is exactly what we’re doing.

We’ll deliver our Hands Off Social Security petition, with almost 100,000 signatures from across the country, directly to members of the House of Representatives this week. But today’s target is the U.S. Senate. Whether your Senator is a supportive Democrat or a right-wing Republican bent on destroying Social Security, your call still has an impact. Strong supporters use these calls to back them up on the Senator floor and some Republicans will think twice about sticking their neck out against seniors if their offices are flooded with calls too.

So don’t throw your hands up and think this call isn’t worth it, especially because DFA members aren’t alone when it comes to protecting Social Security. On Election Day, we polled voters nationwide to ask them where they stood and 85 percent said they don’t want to see ANY cuts to Social Security.

That’s right, even people who voted for Republicans to take back Congress said they don’t want any cuts to Social Security.

Make sure Congress gets the message — Call your Senators right now at 1-866-529-7630 and tell them Hands Off Social Security.

Thank you for everything you do.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell Congress: Women Can’t Afford Social Security Benefit Cuts

11/30/2010 Nativegrl77


	Tell Congress: Don’t Cut Our Social Security!



	Your Senators need to hear from you that jeopardizing the well-being of women and families is no way to improve the nation’s bottom line.

	Call 1-866-529-7630 today!

Can women and their families afford deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

We don’t think so. But as the President’s Fiscal Commission meets this week, deep cuts to these and other vital programs for women and their families are on the table.

We need your help to make sure these proposals don’t stay on the table — starting with joining the National Call-In Day on Social Security.

Tell Congress: Don’t Cut Our Social Security! Call your Senators NOW at 1-866-529-7630.

After providing your zip code, you’ll be given a choice of which of your state’s Senators to be connected with first. Call both if you possibly can!
Tell the person who answers the phone: I am a constituent living in [your state]. I am calling to tell the Senator to say “NO!” to cuts in Social Security benefits. Social Security benefits are especially important to women — and women’s average benefits are just $12,000 per year. Women can’t afford Social Security benefit cuts.

Why are we so concerned? Commission Co-Chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles have proposed:

Cutting Social Security benefits for the vast majority of beneficiaries by raising the retirement age, lowering the cost of living adjustment, and changing the basic benefit formula.
Shifting more Medicare costs to beneficiaries and requiring low-income Medicaid beneficiaries to pay higher co-pays.
Cutting overall federal funding for domestic discretionary programs by about 20 percent, jeopardizing funding for child care, education, training, and other crucial investments.
Relying on spending cuts, far more than revenue increases, to reduce the deficit. While some tax expenditures would be curtailed, much of that revenue would be used to cut tax rates for the wealthiest Americans and corporations rather than to protect vital services or reduce the deficit.

Bottom line — these proposals would hurt women and their families. The reductions to Social Security would disproportionately hurt women, who depend more on income from Social Security than men do. And the changes to Medicare and Medicaid would place an extra burden on women, who are the majority of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and who already spend a higher percentage of their (already-lower) incomes on health care than men.

Your Senators need to hear from you that jeopardizing the well-being of women and families is no way to improve the nation’s bottom line. Call your Senators NOW at 1-866-529-7630.

This will be a long, hard fight and we are counting on you to stand up for women and their families.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. To find out more about the co-chairs’ Social Security benefit cuts, check out our blog.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Netflix under attack

11/30/2010 Nativegrl77

Tell the FCC: Protect the open Internet!

BREAKING: The New York Times just reported that Comcast is blocking Netflix unless a new fee is paid to Comcast — so Netflix’s price goes up and people use Comcast’s video service instead.

This outrageous abuse of power by Comcast comes on the very week that President Obama’s FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce whether he’ll fulfill Obama’s promise to protect the open Internet and Net Neutrality — which would prevent this type of corporate abuse.

The FCC needs to hear from us now, before the chairman’s big announcement this week.

Sign our message to the FCC: “Don’t let Comcast block Netflix or other online innovators for their own profit! Support the strongest Net Neutrality protections possible — and keep Obama’s promise.” Click here.

Then, please tell your friends. We’ll deliver thousands of messages to the FCC this week. Sign here.

What else could Comcast do if the FCC doesn’t protect Net Neutrality?

Internet providers like Comcast can drive their financial competitors (or political opponents) out of business by charging them more, for no good reason — exactly what’s happening right now.

For instance, Comcast could block or degrade iTunes, which competes with Comcast’s own online music store.

Worse, the FCC will soon decide whether to allow Comcast to buy NBC! Can you imagine what Comcast will do to block customers from getting video from ABC, CBS, and other media outlets? This is way more serious than just movies — the FCC’s decision impacts pretty much everything.

Tell the FCC to stop Comcast’s abuse of power and protect the open Internet. Click here — then pass it on.

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

Jason Rosenbaum, Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Forrest Brown, and the PCCC team

P.S. You can read excerpts from the New York Times story on the petition page.