Month: October 2010

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Vote NOW to help Congressman Patrick Murphy!

  By Penn Action and Election 2010

 Today, if you click here  you have a great opportunity to help one strong supporter of health care reform and other progressive causes, Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA 8), get a major boost to his campaign from Penn ACTION’s parent organization, US ACTION. US Action is running a contest, asking its members to vote to determine which of three progressive members of Congress should get major additional help to their campaign. It will come in the form of an addition to the huge ground campaign Penn ACTION is about to lauch in this district (more about that soon) plus paid advertising. Click here to vote and please choose Pennsylvania’s Patrick Murphy to receive additional campaign support from US Action. In the last three weeks, more people from Pennsylvania have taken part in US Action nationwide efforts than in any other state. Pennsylvania prorgressives are counting on you to click here  and do… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania….you have a gas problem.

  By Marcellus Shale Conference

I’m sorry to be the one that brings this up, but… Pennsylvania: You have a gas problem. I’m probably not the only one that’s noticed the layer of rock a mile deep in the earth under you, filled with little bubbles of….well, to put it politely, “natural gas.” And I’m probably not the only one that’s noticed that there are multiple gas companies with heavy pollution records drilling mile-deep holes to crack that rock open with chemicals that cause nerve damage and leukemia and kidney damage…which are now beginning to leak into our waterways. I’m sorry. But it’s a problem, and we can’t really ignore it anymore. It’s not just the pollution… it’s also the quantity. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection expects that over the next 10 years, the state will be punctured with 30,000 of these unslightly drill wells, which each suck 2-5 million gallons of water from… Continue reading

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Quack Attack: Penn ACTION & Labor call out Corbett’s plan to raise taxes on working people

  By Penn Action and Election 2010

Penn ACTION joined labor union activists launched a “Quack Attac” to in Williamport to protest Tom Corbett’s proposal to increase the pay roll taxes on workers for purposes of repaying a $3 billion debt owed to the federal government for unemployment compensation. Corbett, who earlier this year took a no-tax pledge, has consistently denied the payment made by workers into the unemployment fund is a tax.  But Marc Stier, leader of Penn ACTION said “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck –it’s a duck!” “Tom Corbett cannot mask a payroll tax hike imposed on working people simply by calling it another name. He can’t have his duck and eat it too,” Stier said. Patrick Gleason is a spokesperson for Americans for Tax Reform, the group that authored the no-tax pledge Corbett signed. agreed with Stier. Speaking about the Corbett’s proposal, Gleason said,… Continue reading

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Build progressive power in PA; become a dues paying member of Penn ACTION

  By About Penn Action, Penn ACTION

During the HCAN campaign, I received an email from one of our activists who said, “Thanks for all the great work you are doing and for helping me find a way for me to be politically effective. But I wish you didn’t keep asking for money.” I laughed when I read this because, at that point, I had never asked anyone for money to support HCAN. But now I am going to ask you for money, not for a particular project, but to sustain Penn ACTION with $25 or more by becoming a member of the organization. n recent weeks I’ve heard from many of you—in emails, on conference calls, and in response to an on-line survey—about what you want Penn ACTION to be. The answer has many parts, but it really comes down to this: You know that we are up against powerful interests that are determined to block… Continue reading

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Building a New Commonwealth: The Penn ACTION Agenda

  By About Penn Action

Penn ACTION will work on a variety of issue campaigns and civic engagement campaigns and, at some point in the future, is likely to endorse political candidates as well. But Penn Action isn’t just about moving a series of independent issue issues. If we want to build a strong progressive movement in Pennsylvania;  if we want people to be willing stay active and engaged politically and to help us build political power, we have to work toward a set of  goals and ideals that transcend a list of issues that concern us at one particular time. We One way to formulate the ideals and aspirations that unite progressives, and to do so in a way that resonates with our history in Pennsylvania, is thisL our goal is create a new and better commonwealth here in Pennsylvania and in the United States as a whole. A commonwealth is a particular kind… Continue reading

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You’ve done it again: Penn ACTION supporters leads the way

  By About Penn Action, Penn ACTION

As you know, Pennsylvania had one of the strongest Health Care For America Campaigns over the last two years, with more of you taking part in more and more varied actions—both online and offline—than in other states. And now you have done it again, twice, in the last weeks Penn ACTION supporters lead the way in the PEPSI Challenge. We win $1000. In the last few weeks, we have asked you to vote in the Pepsi challenge, in the hope that our national organization, US Action, would come in first or second in the competition and win $250,000. Well, unfortunately, US Action came in third just a little out of the running. We will try again, probably, in November. But Penn ACTION, which is the newest US Action affiliate, had more people vote in the Pepsi challenge than any other affiliate. As a result, and thanks to your efforts, Penn… Continue reading

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Penn ACTION and CLEAR lead Democrats and Republicans to Stand Together In Support of FMAP, Education Funding

  By FMAP, Penn ACTION

Just three hours before the House of Representatives voted to extend FMAP funding and provide additional federal funds for education, a bi-partisan group of state legislators from the Greater Philadelphia suburbs stood together on the steps of the Delaware County Courthouse in Media with representatives of labor unions and social service providers to urge Congress to extend funding of the FMAP program through the end of June 2011. They were joined by a crowed of more than fifty people. Republican and Democratic State Senators including Edwin Erickson, Stewart Greenleaf, and Daylin Leach, and state Representative Tom Murt, come together or issued statements with Penn Action, CLEAR, the SEPA Budget Coalition, Education Voters PA,  the Mental Health Assocation of SEPA, and the Delaware County Literacy Coatlition.  to say that the House of Representatives should follow the Senate in passing an extension of FMAP. The theme of the event was that FMAP… Continue reading

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Statewide Conference on Drilling in the Marcellus Shale

  By Marcellus Shale, Marcellus Shale Conference

     BUILDING A STRONGER MOVEMENT: STATEWIDE CONFERENCE ON NATURAL GAS DRILLING      For community groups, activists, and residents concerned about the effects of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Saturday, October 16, 2010 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Radisson Hotel Harrisburg 1150 Camp Hill Bypass, Camp Hill, PA 17011 Participating organizations: ACLU, Campaign for Clean Water, Common Cause, Clean Water Action, Protecting our Waters, Democracy for America, Responsible Drilling Alliance, Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, Delaware Riverkeepers Network, Penn Future, Penn Environment, and many more. The extraction of natural gas in Pennsylvania has been going on largely with minimal state and federal oversight. This conference is an opportunity to exchange information about natural gas drilling or “fracking” and learn how to make our voices heard in the Marcellus Shale debate.Conference topics include: Best practices of how to wage a winning campaign Training on organizing and getting your message out How… Continue reading

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Penn ACTION, Democracy for America and UFCW tell Pat Toomey to come clean on Social Security

  By Penn ACTION, Social Security

In response to Pat Toomey’s waffling on Social Security, dozens of seniors, labor leaders, and community residents brought together by Penn ACTION, Democracy for American and UFCW Local 1776 gathered at the Municipal Services Building across from City Hall to tell Toomey to come clean about his position on Social Security.  “When Pat Toomey attacks Social Security he is attacking all of us, every participant, which is every American that participates in that system,” said Arshad Hasan of Democracy for America. “Worse than that he’s attacking me and my generation – people who are working, and he’s saying, ‘you work for it, you pay into it, but you don’t get it. I don’t want to leave a system for you.’ And I think that is fundamentally unfair.” Seniors held up bars of soap and shouted, “Come clean Toomey!” Toomey came under criticism last month when he responded to a question… Continue reading

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Penn ACTION takes the lead on exposing Pat Toomey on Social Security

  By Social Security

  Penn ACTION has taken the lead on exposing Pat Toomey as not only the biggest threat to Social Security east of Nevada’s Sharon Angle, but also as a hypocrite on the issue. Pat Toomey Waffls On Social Security Privatization Click here to see video.   Toomey has long been a supporter of Social Security privatization. A chapter in Toomey’s book, The Road to Prosperity, details a plan to allow workers to invest their payroll taxes on Wallstreet instead of being part of the Social Security system. Yet in a speech in Harrisburg, taped by Penn ACTION’s Jeff Rousset, Toomey claims that “I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security,” Our work in capturing Toomey’s flip-flopping on the issue was reported in Paul Krugman’s blog and in Philadelphia and Harrisburg newspapers. Social Security privatization is a terrible idea for a few reasons. First, it puts our Social Security benefits at… Continue reading