All posts by carldavidson

elections

PDA Notes 75th Anniversary of Social Security at Congressman Altmire’s Office

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Bob Stewart (left), a member of Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees and Randy Shannon (right), Treasurer of the 4th CD’s Progressive Democrats of America, hold sign while others sign messages at Congressman Altmire’s Aliquippa office.  ‘We just want him to state in plain language that he will not vote for cutbacks to Social Security. So far, he has refused, and that’s the message we are writing on the sheets we a delivering here today.”

The next vigil to protest Altmire’s intention to cut social security will be on September 15th at noon, 2110 McLean St., Aliquippa.

Economy, labor, Right Wing

‘Cheap Labor Conservatives’ – A Proper Label for Blue Dogs, the GOP and the Tea Party

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Defeat the Right Wing in Three Minutes With

Truth in Labeling and the ‘Cheap Labor’ Frame

By Conceptual Guerilla

Have you got three minutes. Because that’s all you need to learn how to defeat the Republican Right. Just read through this handy guide and you’ll have everything you need to successfully debunk right-wing propaganda.

It’s really that simple. First, you have to beat their ideology, which really isn’t that difficult. At bottom, conservatives believe in a social hierarchy of “haves” and “have nots” that I call “corporate feudalism“. They have taken this corrosive social vision and dressed it up with a “respectable” sounding ideology. That ideology is pure hogwash, and you can prove it.

But you have to do more than defeat the ideology. You have to defeat the “drum beat”. You have to defeat the “propaganda machine”, that brainwashes people with their slogans and catch-phrases. You’ve heard those slogans.”Less government“, “personal responsibility” and lots of flag waving. They are “shorthand” for an entire worldview, and the right has been pounding their slogans out into the public domain for getting on forty years.

So you need a really good slogan – a “counter-slogan” really, to “deprogram” the brainwashed. You need a “magic bullet” that quickly and efficiently destroys the effectiveness of their “drum beat”. You need your own “drum beat” that sums up the right’s position. Only your “drum beat” exposes the ugly reality of right-wing philosophy – the reality their slogans are meant to hide. Our slogan contains the governing concept that explains the entire right-wing agenda. That’s why it works. You can see it in every policy, and virtually all of Republican rhetoric. And it’s so easy to remember, and captures the essence of the Republican Right so well, we can pin it on them like a “scarlet letter”.

Continue reading ‘Cheap Labor Conservatives’ – A Proper Label for Blue Dogs, the GOP and the Tea Party →

elections

Kucinich Urges Full Employment and Ending Wars as Way for White House to Build Support for Democrats in November

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Click twice to watch. You have to click a second time, ‘Watch on YouTube’, to start the Video



elections

What Should We Do About Altmire in November?

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YOU ARE

CORDIALLY INVITED

TO ATTEND A

Progressive Democrat’s

Breakfast Meeting

 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7th

 9:00 AM

 

AT THE

CANDLE-LITE LOUNGE

 

CONWAY-WALLROSE ROAD

near intersection with Route 989

ECONOMY BOROUGH

 

$6.00 ADMISSION

 

———

 

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION

 

HOW SHOULD WE HANDLE THE UPCOMING ELECTION

FOR THE 4TH CD CONGRESSIONAL SEAT?

 

SHOULD WE VOTE FOR JASON ALTMIRE?

 

JOIN US FOR AN INTERESTING POLITICAL DISCUSSION

AND A STIMULATING SOCIAL EVENT

RSVP REQUIRED

Tina Shannon 724 843 0545

antiwar, Economy, labor

April 28 to Labor Day: Jobs, Peace & Justice Caravan from Detroit Through Pittsburgh To Charleston, W VA

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Let’s Give Congress

Our Marching Orders

 

By JESSE JACKSON

Rainbow / PUSH

July 21, 2010 – Will the U.S. once more sacrifice economic justice at home for war abroad? Dr. King used to say that the bombs dropped over Vietnam exploded in America’s cities. The war on poverty was lost in those jungles.

And now? The war in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year. Vice President Joe Biden told “This Week” that our policy is “going to work,” but “all of this is just beginning. And we knew it was going to be a tough slog,” so “it’s much too premature to make a judgment” about how we are faring.

Just the beginning after eight years? We are spending $100 billion a year on Afghanistan, with U.S. casualties rising, and with no noticeable progress on the ground. The government that we support is noted for its corruption and ineffectiveness. Our military is trying to do nation-building in a country whose warring tribes unite only to expel outsiders.

Continue reading April 28 to Labor Day: Jobs, Peace & Justice Caravan from Detroit Through Pittsburgh To Charleston, W VA →

Economy, labor

Getting the Change We Voted For: March on DC Oct. 2 for Jobs and Justice

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Unions, Civil Rights Groups

Starting Big Political Push

By Mark Gruenberg

Press Associates, Inc.
The Newspaper Guild

July 16, 2010 – Traditionally, people don’t start paying attention to politics until Labor Day, but that isn’t stopping unions from starting their big political push now.

The push is taking two forms.  One is that unions are sending members out to worksites, with flyers about labor’s positions on key economic issues, such an unemployment benefits and the stimulus law, along with lawmakers’ voting records. That drive will last for at least the next two weeks and continue afterwards.

The other part of the push has been led by the Service Employees, building on a grand coalition that helped win health care reform — and again emphasizing grass-roots efforts.  They’ve been joined by the Teachers, the AFL-CIO and approximately 170 other progressive groups in a grand coalition, “One Nation Working Together,” to push a progressive agenda this fall — even when the Obama administration doesn’t.

Continue reading Getting the Change We Voted For: March on DC Oct. 2 for Jobs and Justice →

Community, labor

History of Safety Issues Preceded Deadly Explosion: Beaver County Times, Post Gazette Coverage

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Two Workers Killed in Explosion

at Monaca’s Horsehead Zinc Plant

Photo: Bill Wade/Post-Gazette

Tina Smith, of Monaca, places a cross outside the Horsehead Corp. plant on Thursday evening.

By Moriah Balingit

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

July 23, 2010 – An industrial accident at the Horsehead Corp. zinc plant in Beaver County Thursday afternoon claimed the lives of two men and injured at least two other workers.

Neither the company nor the Beaver County coroner’s office would release the names of the two men who died. The coroner’s office said results from autopsies would be released today.

The workers were killed in the plant’s zinc oxide refinery, a part of the plant where molten zinc is turned into zinc oxide. The incident occurred in the zinc distillation columns, three-story-high smokestack-like structures constructed of brick.

One worker who would not give his name reported hearing a large boom followed by what sounded like several small explosions.

But company spokesman Ali Alavi refused to characterize the incident as an explosion, saying the company was still in the fact-finding mode.

Workers gather at Horsehead’s Fence on Route 18

Wesley Hill, director of Beaver County Emergency Services, said two of the workers suffered minor injuries.

Continue reading History of Safety Issues Preceded Deadly Explosion: Beaver County Times, Post Gazette Coverage →

elections

Dangers of Natural Gas Drilling Need Regulation

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1,200 Hear Marcellus Shale Debate

At EPA hearing in Canonsburg

Photo: Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette
By Don Hopey
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23 2010

Sandra McDaniel of the Clearville Citizens for Sustainability speaks during a public listening session hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the agency’s proposed study of the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg on Thursday.

Concerns about the risk of water contamination and public health problems from Marcellus Shale drilling dominated a sometimes loud U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing in Southpointe attended by 1,200 people Thursday night.

Although EPA officials told those in attendance the meeting was not about drilling policy, most of the more than 100 speakers let it be known that they oppose Marcellus Shale drilling in the state, and many shared personal stories of contaminated wells, dead farm animals and damaged health. They attributed the problems to water contamination caused by the deep gas drilling operations that are increasing quickly through much of the state.

Several urged that a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling be enacted until the EPA finishes its study scheduled for the end of 2012.

Continue reading Dangers of Natural Gas Drilling Need Regulation →

Community, Economy

Message to Altmire: Stop the Wars, Tax Wall St and Hands Off Our Safety Nets!

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Beaver County Times photo by LUCY SCHALY

Photo by NOLEARY:  Sending Our Messages!

BCT  Caption: Members of the group Progressive Democrats of America (4th Congressional District PA chapter) stand in front of Jason Altmire’s office in Aliquippa and let their feelings be known about Social Security during a luncheon “vigil” Wednesday afternoon.  Janet Sabat, left, from Raccoon Township, and Randy Shannon from New Brighton hold their protest cards along the side of the road for drivers to see.

elections

Example: Why We Need a Living Wage, Full Employment Program

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Photo: Monument to the 1930s CCC workers

Many Young Adults in Poverty

Have a College Degree, Report Says

By Sara Lipka

Increasing proportions of low-income young adults are pursuing higher education, but some remain poor even with a postsecondary degree, according to a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

In 2008, among Americans ages 18 to 26 whose total household income was near or below the federal poverty level, 47 percent were or had been enrolled in college, compared with 42 percent in 2000. Eleven percent of them had earned a degree, a proportion roughly equivalent to that eight years ago, according to the report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The institute is a nonprofit group in Washington that conducts public-policy research to encourage access and success in higher education.

In introducing its report, the group called into question President Obama’s declaration in his State of the Union address in January that “the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.” Poor students go to college academically unprepared, the report says, and, amid competing family and work obligations, they accumulate debt “that could have been avoided by pursuing a different type of degree or a credential.”

Continue reading Example: Why We Need a Living Wage, Full Employment Program →