Tag Archives: John Boehner

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

temper tantrum on Capitol Hill … AFL – CIO


I just got a message from our Government Affairs director, Bill Samuel, telling me about a temper tantrumon Capitol Hill.It’s flat-out heartless for lawmakers to go home and enjoy the holidays, while their political posturing causes millions of families across America to suffer anxiety and heartbreak. But House Speaker John Boehner is threatening to do just that.

He says he’ll block unemployment aid and raise taxes on working families—even though 89 senators from both sides of the aisle already voted to extend the aid and keep the tax cut in place.

Failing to extend emergency unemployment aid and middle-class tax cuts is cruel and wrong. Cruel because it takes away a lifeline for families that need it. Wrong because it delivers two massive blows to our fragile economy.

I need you to stop what you’re doing, pick up the phone and dial 1-888-245-3381. Tell the person who answers the phone: “Please pass the Senate’s bill to extend unemployment aid and middle-class tax cuts immediately.”

You can also call House Speaker John Boehner at 202-225-0600. Tell him, “ You and your Tea Party supporters can’t keep hurting the American people just so you can get what you want. Stop this temper tantrum and pass the Senate’s bipartisan bill to extend unemployment aid and middle-class tax cuts now.”

If you want to learn more about the deal, keep reading. I’m forwarding a message from Bill. But the most important thing is for you to pick up the phone, right now.
—–Original Message—–

From: Bill Samuel
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 10:40 AM
To: Richard L. Trumka
Subject: Temper Tantrum on Capitol Hill

Rich,

As I mentioned this weekend, the Senate passed a bipartisan deal with 89 votes to keep emergency unemployment benefits going for two months and extend middle-class tax cuts.

This was not just a bipartisan deal–it passed with an overwhelming super-majority.

This two-month extension seemed like a done deal. But this morning, we got word that John Boehner and his Tea Party friends are threatening to blow up the whole thing. The Senate has already left town. This is really bad.

The only thing that might be able to save emergency unemployment and middle-class tax cuts is a flood of phone calls from outraged constituents. Can you ask our activists to make emergency phone calls today?

The toll-free number we need people to call today is 1-888-245-3381. People should demand their representative pass the Senate’s bipartisan bill to extend unemployment aid and tax cuts for working families.

They can also call House Speaker John Boehner and tell him the same thing. His number is 202-225-0600.

A House vote is expected as early as 6:30 p.m. eastern time tonight, but people should keep calling in and spreading the word to friends and family in case the vote gets delayed.

I wish I had better news–but with activists’ help we might be able to make this come out OK.

— Bill
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Demand the House GOP pass this bill

Unbelievable. Last week, the Democratic Senate overwhelmingly passed a payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance extension. Now, extremist Tea Party Republicans are refusing to pass it. They are holding the middle class hostage only days before a tax hike will hit millions.
How urgent is this? In just ten days, the average middle class family will see its taxes jump by $1,000 a year. And 2.2 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits. That’s money families won’t have to spend on food, clothes and rent. That’s money that won’t be spent in our communities. Our entire economy will suffer. Happy New Year, America.
This cannot stand. Demand the House GOP pass this bill. I need your help to reach 100,000 signatures by midnight tomorrow.
 Demand that House Republicans pass the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance extension. Now.   

WWW.DSCC.ORG


People’s lives and livelihoods are at stake here. $1,000 might not be a lot of money to Republican members of Congress, but when you’re living paycheck to paycheck – or are scraping by on unemployment insurance – this is a huge deal.
 sign, and pass this petition on to your friends.    WWW.DSCC.ORG 


Even Scrooge wasn’t this vindictive. It’s way past time for Republicans to put politics aside and pass this payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance extension. Middle class families are counting on it. For once, Republicans should put them first.
Guy Cecil

DSCC Executive Director

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Send a clear message now: “No help for the jobless? No vacation for Congress!” AFL-CIO

2 Comments

Chris from South Carolina used to work in an unemployment office. Then he was laid off. Here’s his warning:
You should know that Congress has let the emergency benefits lapse several times in the past few years and always when a break is scheduled for them. It happened last Easter and last Christmas. They don’t care about the unemployed. They take their holiday break and deal with it when they return to Washington.
We can’t assume Congress will renew unemployment in time for the millions who are hanging by a thread before extended benefits expire Dec. 31. That’s why we’re pulling out all the stops. More than 2,000 jobless workers, activists and clergy are on Capitol Hill, right now—demanding a clean and immediate extension of emergency unemployment benefits. Thousands more are in district offices across the country.

As we gather on Capitol Hill and at district offices, activists across the country are flooding Congress with messages.

Add your voice: Help make sure the voices of America’s jobless can’t be ignored by Congress. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=NNlhbPw0buvN0Kq3T7aq%2F2C84X%2BQ3emC

Diane from Michigan worked in the newspaper industry and is now unemployed. Here’s how she describes her situation:

Every job opening has hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants. It is almost impossible to get a job—especially if you also face age discrimination. Retraining is too costly. Meanwhile, we are hanging on by a thread. No health insurance….My current unemployment benefits are the only thing saving me from the street. I have faced food insecurity for the first time.

We must not let people like Diane be forgotten.

Make Congress hear the stories and see the faces of jobless workers. Contact Congress now and demand an immediate, clean extension of emergency unemployment benefits.

Momentum is building—but we can’t take the passage of emergency unemployment aid for granted.

Obstructionists like House Speaker John Boehner—who has nearly absolute control over what comes up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives—continue to block a clean, immediate extension of emergency jobless aid. There’s no excuse for that. Especially when our economy is so bad and budget cuts in our communities are so dire.

Chris, a now unemployed unemployment office worker, asks a powerful question: “Don’t they realize they work for us?”

Tell Congress: “You work for us. Renew emergency unemployment aid now.”

Will obstructionists like Speaker Boehner really let benefits lapse yet again, take a vacation, come back and play partisan games?

Will the obstructionists let families get thrown out of their homes? Will they force kids to go hungry to extract cuts and concessions that hurt our most vulnerable people?

Send a clear message now: “No help for the jobless? No vacation for Congress!”

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Our unemployment stories website has been covered by the media in publications lawmakers read while in Washington, D.C., including The Washington Post and The Hill—plus papers they read at home.

 But we need your help to make sure every lawmaker feels the heat and sees these stories. Take action now.

~ Culture & History

The Untold Story … Horne of Africa


http://youtu.be/ssaqOwWeh9c

The recent images of men, women and children starving in the Horn of Africa tell a painful story of famine and suffering. How does a nation recover from a devastating food crisis? To find out, Chip Duncan and Salim Amin returned to a Ethiopia, to a place where famine caused a massive death toll over 25 years ago. What they discovered was surprising and hopeful. In partnership with One, they created a documentary showing the contrast between 1984 and present-day Tigray. Read their words below, view a preview and watch their powerful short film.   << click on link for VIDEO

In Somalia, innocent people are dying needless deaths due to a famine driven by politics and war. Those who are dying need our help and our voice.

Drought is a challenge faced by people around the world. Climate change is now making droughts more common and less predictable. But drought shouldn’t equal famine. Famine is the outcome of poor infrastructure, corrupt governments and warring factions who choose to use food as a weapon.

During our recent work in Ethiopia, we had a chance to revisit the site of the 1984 famine. Our film uses footage and stills from that famine to remind us of the suffering and of its causes. Our story also chronicles the policies and infrastructure put in place during the last two decades to build sustainable agriculture. Water retention systems, irrigation, improved transportation systems, terraced farming, training programs, improved seeds and fertilizers – this is the new legacy in Tigray Province. It’s a story worth sharing so people everywhere can promote small scale agriculture while motivating governments to make similar investments in the future.

Chip Duncan
Director, “The Untold Story”

I made a journey following the footsteps of my father from 25 years ago. When Mohamed Amin made that journey a quarter of a century ago, he never imagined it was one that would change his life forever. He had covered every major story in Africa over four decades, but nothing prepared him for what he saw in Korem in October 1984.

A famine of biblical proportions, with more than 5 million people on the verge of starvation. A famine that was, to a large extent, man-made. The ruler of Ethiopia at the time, Colonel Haile Mariam Mengistu, was using the famine as a tool to suppress the rebel movement that was rising against his brutal regime from the north of the country. He didn’t want the world to know this famine existed.

The pictures that my father shot on the plains of Korem changed his life and changed the world. They prompted the greatest single act of charity of the 20th century and saved the lives of millions of Ethiopians. After this story, he changed the way he looked at news coverage. He cared for the first time in his life and did everything he could to keep the story in the headlines. Those images were amongst the most powerful and iconic images in television history.

I was expecting to see Korem still reeling from the effects of that massive famine. It takes generations to repair that kind of damage, but I was in for a shock. I went in with the best TV production team I had ever worked with, and what we saw stunned us all! A massive drought is taking hold of the Horn of Africa once again, but Korem and Tigray Province is an oasis of crops. Irrigation schemes that have been put in place over the last decade. There’s also a new awareness of the types of crops to grow and how to market and sell them for the best prices; and new resilient seeds have all transformed a community from being “takers” to being “providers”.

The farmers of Tigray Province have proved that drought doesn’t have to equal famine, and smart aid can work.

Salim Amin
Chairman
Camerapix/A24 Media

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Campaign 2012

1 Comment

 

Who will win the GOP nomination?

It doesn’t matter.

There has NEVER been a more extreme field of candidates.

Renew your 2012 membership now to help us reach our $250,000 goal and stop extremism from defeating the American Way.

As a member of People For the American Way, you know as well as I do all that’s at stake with the upcoming elections, and that 2012 will be an absolutely critical year for our country.

Our nation has already begun what I believe will be one of the most pivotal presidential elections in American history.

That is why I’m asking you, Carmen, to help People For the American Way be prepared now and have the biggest impact possible in this critical presidential election year.

So please renew your 2012 membership early with a contribution of $49.00, $65.00, $115.00 or more today to help us reach our $250,000 year-end goal.

Our nation is facing a potential sweeping right-wing takeover. This is no exaggeration. With dishonest extremists like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain vying for the GOP nomination, and the possibility of a Radical Right-controlled Congress, Supreme Court, and White House, you and I should be very concerned.

So much of what you and I care for is at stake, but you can help us prevent a right-wing victory next year by renewing your membership for 2012 now.

The threats to the issues you and I hold dear are not idle speculation. If you’ve watched any of the GOP presidential debates, you know that these extremists are quite open about their plans for radically changing America.

They want to roll back civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, and recent hard-won progress toward equal rights for gays and lesbians… they block every effort to help the economy and the middle class to protect tax breaks for corporations and the richest 1%… and they seek to undo both separation of church and state AND the separation of corporation and state.

Say “no” to their plans by immediately renewing your membership for 2012 early with a generous donation to our year-end campaign. YOU can help us reach our $250,000 goal and support PFAW’s efforts to beat the right wing in the 2012 elections.

Your membership contribution will finance our opposition campaign in the coming elections as well as our ongoing efforts to battle right-wing legislation on Capitol Hill, and our many other campaigns to fight the increasingly extremist Far Right movement.

Thank you in advance for your continued support, I’m confident you’ll help us close out 2011 strong and be ready for the battles that 2012 brings.

Sincerely,
Michael Keegan

P.S. The Tea Partiers and right-wing extremists have committed themselves to an unyieldingly rigid conservative orthodoxy … tax cuts for the wealthy without compromise, deregulation without common sense, and social conservatism without an ounce of compassion or respect. We cannot let them win. Renew today.