Statewide Conference on Drilling in the Marcellus Shale

     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

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

Penn ACTION takes the lead on exposing Pat Toomey on 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