Urge Congress to Do More to Reverse the Recession!

[bobbolink]

Coalition on Human Needs

Tell your Representative and Senators to do more to reverse the recession.
There are lots of ways you can weigh in . . .

Congress will take up a supplemental spending bill* next week. They plan to attach an amendment that will provide money to fund growing domestic needs. There have been reports of a small number of items that we care about being included in that proposal, such as extending unemployment benefits and stopping harmful Medicaid regulations. But more needs to be done!

It is up to us to make sure their proposals include more help that will really work to reverse the impact of the recession for ordinary Americans. Help that will come in a timely way.

We need to be heard now so more of our proposals will be included!

Call on Wednesday, May 7: 888-460-0813, toll-free**

Give each of your Senators and Representative this message:

I am calling to urge Rep ____ to vote THIS WEEK for recession relief for low-to-moderate income people. To really boost the economy, we need to help the unemployed, including youth; provide Food Stamps and other nutrition and home energy aid; and prevent cuts in Medicaid, Head Start, child support, and schools from dragging down the economy still further.


Need Help finding your Member's name?

Find your Rep. at: www.house.gov.
For your Senators' names go to www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.


There is more you can do to weigh in:

You can send your Members of Congress an emailable letter, sign and circulate a state sign-on letter, post a story on the impact of the recession on our blog, and more! To take action, simply go to our website at http://www.chn.org/takeaction/index.html



Get informed- An audio briefing and materials on ways to ease the pain of the recession can be found here.
http://www.chn.org/recession08.html#audio

*The supplemental spending bill is in response to the Administration's request for extra money to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

**The toll-free number is provided courtesy of AFSCME

[caseycoon]

1. K&R Excellent post! Thanks

They dang sure better do more!

[bobbolink]

2. IF they get told, and STRONGLY, by enough constituents, it will happen!

Thanks, caseycoon!

:hug:

[calimary]

12. We do indeed have to keep chewing their asses. NONSTOP.

Remember this:

If they think you don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!!

How many squeaky wheels can we become? And how loud?

[bobbolink]

19. "If they think you don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!!" Your motto is perfect!

Because that is EXACTLY what has happened.

"Progressives" will shout loud and long about the war, about voting rights, about the environment.

BUT, they are practically mute about poverty.

The result is --- continual CUTS in desparately needed funds. Then the grumbling... "those RW pigs".

NOPE, it's OUR lack of pushing!

[calimary]

21. It is the truest of truths. Squeaky wheels and all that. I mean, look at hate radio.

It's grown and become such a PERCEIVED powerhouse because it started with a few selfish, snot-nosed, me-only-and-screw-you loudmouths who just refused to shut up. And they attracted attention, and because they sounded big and ferocious, they BECAME exactly that - in other people's minds. You only need ONE schoolyard bully to turn the playground into Desolation Row. Because if that ONE bully struts and intimidates, he/she will attract followers - simpering sycophants who don't have it themselves but gain it anyway by jumping onto somebody else's bandwagon and riding it to supremacy. If you're not powerful, you sidle up to someone who is - and then you become powerful-once-removed. Their perceived strength then surrounds you and you take on that aura, too. And EVERYBODY wants to be thought of as powerful and a force to be reckoned with. Worms turn that way.

So WE need to build and become that juggernaut, too. In the meantime, WE are all we've got. Nobody else is gonna do it for us, or with us, unless they think we're some formidable entity. It starts with raising your voice, and then raising your profile, I think.

I'd throw it straight back in their faces and call them what they are: STINGEY. CHEAPSKATE. SELFISH-SELFISH-SELFISH. TIGHTWAD. SHORT-TERMER. HERE IT IS AGAIN: Take their "strengths" and turn them into weaknesses and liabilities. What we need to do to them is what they did to us - repetitive association. Keep linking them and what they're about and what they stand for - with all things negative. Eventually, the stink spreads and sticks to 'em. It must be made negative, bad, repellant, uncool, and just plain icky to be who and how and what they are.

We could start with "...and you call yourself a CHRISTIAN???!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!!" Especially since so many on the Dark Side loudly embrace Christianity and wrap themselves around the Bible, and are the first to condemn and finger-point and be arrogant. Who'd Jesus hang with all the time? Rich folks? Pharisees? The privileged? Show me where in the Bible. SHOW ME where it says in The Beatitudes - blessed are the wealthy, blessed are the stingey, blessed are the cheapskates. Where in the Sermon on the Mount did Jesus talk about how noble and blessed it is to fleece somebody, or neglect the needy, turn your back, or your deaf ear, or turn somebody out into the cold?

I used to talk about this here, earlier-on as a Poison-the-Well strategy.

Remake their image so they're not who you wanna hang with and be with and be associated with. Render them toxic. Poison the well.

Poison THEIR well.

[caseycoon]

25. I wish you would make an OP out of this!

Truly excellent & much needed!
I'm feeling meaner already...
:D

[bobbolink]

26. SNARL!!!

:rofl:

:hug: :loveya: :hug:

[baldguy]

3. We absolutely need a Democratic President & a Democratic Congress

with solid majorities in both houses.

[bobbolink]

4. Please, don't wait for that... we need your calls and emails NOW!

Thanks!

That guarantees NOTHING. They can't even stand up for stuff like this.

[scarletwoman]

5. k&r (nt)

[varelse]

6. K&R

Thanks for the link - the site itself is a gold mine of information for potential activists and concerned citizens.

I'll pass this along to my family and friends.

[bobbolink]

17. Thank you so much for passing this along!! Much appreciated!

It's what we all need to do.

:hug:

[Clear Blue Sky]

7. Include these comments when you respond to their requests for donations.

[smokey nj]

10. K&R!

[varelse]

8. I sent an email

I added a small comment into the letter, mentioning that charity alone wouldn't even put a scratch on this beast - and that we need our elected lawmakers to step up and act to stop it from eating our poorest and most vulnerable people.

[bobbolink]

18. Yes! Justice, not charity! It's time to raise that awareness!

Thank you again for adding that comment -- I sure hope they pay attention to that!

:hug:

[checks-n-balances]

9. C'mon, DUers, K & R!!!

Thanks Bobbie, this is SO IMPORTANT!!

[calimary]

11. Back up to the top with you!

K&R!

[calimary]

13. Contains another TOLL FREE Capitol Hill switchboard number - always good to have.

[bobbolink]

20. ***Reminder*** This toll-free number ONLY FOR POVERTY ISSUES!

Paid for by an organization for use only for poverty issues, please.

Poverty isn't a popular issue, and this number shouldn't be used for "sexier" issues.

BUT, please make "liberal" use of it to urge action on poverty issues!!

[calimary]

22. Good point.

The good thing (and it arises out of a bad thing) is that there are so damned many poverty-related issues. Hunger. Homelessness. Bankruptcy. No health care. No nutrition. No good, safe, or reliable schooling. No after-school programs or constructive availabilities. Drug abuse. Forced prostitution. Physical abuse and neglect. No usable ID or address that you could use to fill out an employment application or - heaven forbid - vote.

Poverty in and of itself is so sadly and shamefully widespread. It is the root of MANY evils. So there's still plenty to call about using this number. SO MUCH of it relates directly back to the overriding poverty issue.

And perhaps we should be framing it, wording it, presenting it that way. Give those numbskulls on Capitol Hill another way to think about it - SOME way that might get them motivated. Poverty eventually affects EVERYONE.

[caseycoon]

23. YES! It does affect everyone.

This is a great idea, calimary!
:applause:

[blindpig]

14. k&r

For what it's worth, Bob Ingeles (R, ozone)

[G_j]

15. kick!

[scarletwoman]

16. Good morning! Me, too: kick! (nt)

[bobbolink]

27. Thanks!!

:pals:

[G_j]

28. worth it

sorry I haven't had a lot of time to communicate!
:hug:

[vickitulsa]

24. R, for sure, and kicking for visibility -- and ACTION!!

I am sometimes so discouraged by the lack of attention to poverty issues and legislation dealing with them. Shit gets sneaked by us because not enough of the people who are seriously affected are aware of what's going on.

Sadly, so many of us who really need to stay on top of these things find it so depressing and feel so frustrated and defeated -- and ignored! -- that we may tend to turn our attention to other things too. Just to bring our spirits up, you know, and try to ease the constant stress.

Whether it's escapism or not, I'm unsure; but some days I feel like watching only sports on teevee, playing only games on my computer, or staying outdoors puttering in my yard for the entire day, not even thinking about these critical issues and how they affect my life ... and the lives of MILLIONS of USians!

I very much like hearing some of the comments on this thread, but I'm truly wondering if we can ever muster the solidarity we need, and the energy among those of us who are struggling to survive every single day, to get the attention we need from our legislators and government!

As a very wise person reminded me recently, there may be millions of us poor folk, but often each of us lives in our own sort of isolation, a direct result of our poverty and how we feel about it and react to it. So we don't pull together as we need to do in order to get some action in the necessary places.

I want to see poor folk -- and those who care about us and recognize their own vulnerability as well -- really uniting to fight this battle with more strength that numbers bring!

With the economy tanking and people who have always thought of themselves as "middle class" and felt reasonably secure in that ranking starting to have genuine concerns about their futures, NOW IS THE TIME to push for unity and collective action.

And just for the record, I hugely appreciate the attention and action of all those who care enough to bother thinking about the significant issues of poverty. Many of us have been in crisis for so long it has become "normal," and we are very, VERY exhausted. Any infusion of energy, attention, and help from others is sorely needed and greatly appreciated!

[ThomWV]

29. Sure, cut off war funding and repeal his tax cuts. That should do it.

[bobbolink]

30. And how many poor people die, waiting for DEMs to do that?

Or, does it even matter?

[Trillo]

31. By the time Wednesday rolls around

I'll have forgotten all about this. I don't have any kind of calendar program to remind me (got rid of Outlook years ago).

I hope I remember.

[bobbolink]

32. The toll-free numbers work NOW. You can call and leave messages!

That's about all you'd be able to do on Wednesday, anyway.

Tell your friends.

Tell your family.

Spread it to others.

(I understand, btw... I always say "I have a good memory...it's just short)

This is desperately important!