August 20: Recess action -"Summer Streets" Bike/walk caravan

August 2011 Recess Action

Saturday, August 20th, 10:00 AM

"Summer Streets" Bike/Walk Caravan
starts at 51st & Park Ave/ ends at 25th & Park Avenue,
New York, NY

Message from your host, Arlene G.:

Let's keep the momentum going!
Please sign up for this gathering right away! Join this roving roll out of MoveOn's Contract for the American Dream. We'll bike and walk along [carless] Park Avenue wearing tee shirts or holding placards saying "Jobs not Cuts","Save the American Dream", "Tax the Rich to Invest in our Future".

We'll chant and sing our message along Park Avenue which will be free of cars due to "Summer Streets" with ready made crowds to see/hear us. Walkers will hand out and discuss our newly minted "Contract for the American Dream" give out free "Dream" buttons and sign people up for the ongoing campaign to Save/Rebuild the American Dream. Whether you walk or bike it'll be lots of fun.

There's FREE BIKE RENTALS!!! if you can't bring your own bike. If you'd like to help making the tee shirts/placard, etc sign up for further information.

July 9: From MoveOn: Nat'l Day of Action for an Oil-Free President

From MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

National Day of Action for an Oil-Free President.

HOLLAND TUNNEL GAS STATION (in Jersey City)
Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2008, at 5:00 PM

Have you seen the latest ad from the RNC? With holiday travel and gas prices on every channel, the Republicans are spending over $3 million in the next week to convince voters that high gas prices are Barack Obama's fault.

What's scary is that their strategy is working—even though the Republicans' energy policy got us into this mess!

So this Wednesday, we're pushing back with our National Day of Action for an Oil-Free President. We'll be gathering at gas stations around the country to reach out to voters and make sure they know John McCain is Big Oil's candidate and that he won't solve our energy crisis.

We'll be in front of gas stations with signs and fliers to remind people that McCain is in the pocket of Big Oil. His campaign is run by oil industry lobbyists,(1)
and he looks to Big Oil for big campaign contributions.(2)
We can't count on him to push for alternative energy solutions or help lower gas prices.

But soon ads blaming Obama for gas prices will be up all over the country. And people squeezed by energy costs may forget that it was another Republican with close ties to Big Oil and former oil lobbyists advising him in the White House who brought us to this point.

Now is the time to make sure voters know John McCain won't solve our energy crisis.
Hope you can make it! Thanks for all you do.

P.S. Can't make this event?
Here is another event near you:

SE Corner of Atlantic Ave and Henry, Brooklyn at 6:00 PM

Sources:
1. "John McCain, His Big Oil Lobbyists, and His Big Oil Policies," Progressive Media USA Research, June 16, 2008
http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0014

2. "John McCain On The Side Of Oil Companies," Progressive Media USA Research, April 23, 2008
http://www.mccainsource.com/homefront?id=0001

The Senate circus plays on

From The Senate Clown Show by long-time media critic Jeff Cohen:

Cable news networks that cheer-led our country into invading Iraq took a break from their latest all-O.J.[all-Brittany]-all-the-time binge to make an antiwar ad more controversial than the ongoing slaughter of Iraqis and Americans that the invasion predictably unleashed. And 22 Democrats were more desperate to distance themselves from the 3-million-member MoveOn than from less than 50 Republican dead-enders bent on prolonging the killing.

The 22 Democrats can be reached by dialing the Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121. They are Baucus (MT), Bayh (IN), Cardin (MD), Carper (DE), Casey (PA), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), Feinstein (CA), Johnson (SD), Klobuchar (MN), Kohl (WI), Landrieu (LA), Leahy (VT), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Mikulski (MD), Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Salazar (CO), Tester (MT) and Webb (VA).

MoveOn's response to Giuliani

I'm sure that you are aware of the Giuliani attack on MoveOn this past week. One thing that it tells us is that if Giuliani is nominated we are faced with another mud-slinging campaign. If by some chance he is elected, we will be faced with Deja Bush all over again. The world can't afford that.

Here is MoveOn's response to Giuliani's attack:

This weekend, Rudy Giuliani launched a series of attacks on MoveOn for exposing the White House spin on the "surge."

Giuliani is hoping to scare war critics into staying silent. But that isn't going to happen. We've put together a rapid-response ad which demonstrates that Giuliani doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to leadership on Iraq: He was booted from the Iraq Study Group after missing meeting after meeting so he could make millions of dollars giving speeches.

The facts are very clear: When it really mattered, Giuliani chose to make big money from speeches rather than helping figure out a strategy for Iraq.

The Iraq Study group (ISG) was a bipartisan panel appointed by Congress in March of 2006 to evaluate the situation in Iraq and make policy recommendations on the war. Sometimes it's referred to as the Baker-Hamilton commission.

Giuliani originally said that he looked forward to participating in the group, but then he never showed up to any of the meetings.

Newsday reported earlier this year that, "Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said."

Giuliani later said that he couldn't participate in the group because of "time constraints." A close look at his financial records shows that those time constraints actually consisted of a series of speeches that he made millions of dollars on.

In April of last year. Giuliani skipped a meeting and made $200,000 giving a keynote speech at an economic conference in South Korea.
The next month he skipped another meeting to give a $100,000 speech on "leadership" in Atlanta. Later that day, he attended a $100-a-ticket political fundraiser for conservative activist Ralph Reed.
For Giuliani to claim any authority on handling the war in Iraq when he abdicated his responsibilities to the Iraq Study Group is a plain betrayal of the nation's trust. In fact, Stephen Hess, who served on the panel and has served in Republican and Democratic administrations, said, "Leaving that study group was not exactly an act of courage."

While the media spotlight is on Giuliani and MoveOn, we've got an opportunity to remind voters about his real record on Iraq.

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/giuliani.html?id=11257-169500-pjeN0C&t=4

Giuliani's ad against MoveOn is in response to the ad they ran in the New York Times last Monday. The ad really got under Republicans' skin—Senator John McCain even called for MoveOn to be "thrown out of the country." (His campaign later conceded that we have the right to free speech.)

But Republicans are right to be nervous about the facts that ad brought to light. As cognitive scientist George Lakoff said, "The ad worked brilliantly to reveal, via its framing, an essential but previously hidden truth: the Bush Administration and its active supporters have betrayed the trust of the troops and the American people."

Aug. 28: National Take a Stand Day vigils

From MoveOn.org

Stand Up In September Vigil

On August 28--National Take a Stand Day--We're holding candlelight vigils and Town Hall meetings in cities all over the nation to remember the human cost of the war and urge our members of Congress to stand up in September and end this endless war.

This September, after hearing the White House‘s report on the "surge," Congress will decide whether we bring our troops home or spend another year fighting an unwinnable religious civil war. As Congress heads back to DC, we're here to tell them that it's time to take a stand.

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 7:00 PM
OUT OF IRAQ CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
Union Square
14th Street and Park Avenue South
To let Congress know that it's time to get out of Iraq.
(Directions: R,W, N,4,5,6 trains to Union Square. We'll meet on the steps near 14th Street.)

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 7:30 PM
Stand Up VIGIL
Madison Square Garden
7th avenue Outside Borders Books
(Directions: Trains 1 2 3 N R A E to Penn Station. Walk to 33rd and seventh ave.
The space outside Borders Book Store is handicap accessible}

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 6:00 PM
Peace Vigil at Ground Zero
Church street between Vesey and Fulton streets, in front of the graveyard of St. Paul Chapel
To tell congress to stop this war. We have been holding our Peace Vigil at Ground Zero every Sunday and Monday from 5:30-6:30 PM since the war began. Join us, Lower Manhattan Peace Coalition, and Move On at 6 on Tuesday the 28th to send a loud message to congress.

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 7:00 PM
Stand Up in September Candelight Vigil
112th & Amsterdam (in front of St. John the Divine)
To bring attention to the United States Congress that this constituency feels the time has come to end the war in Irag and bring the troops home.
(Directions: Subway: take the 1 to 110th, walk two blocks north to 112th, turn right and walk one long block to Amsterdam where you will see the Cathedral. The vigil will take place on the sidewalk in front of the church.)

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 7:30 PM
Upper West Siders - Three Parks Independent Democratic Club - for bringing our troops home from Iraq and send a message to Sens. Clinton & Schumer to commit to this. Let's keep the pressure on our elected officials.
Strauss Park: 106th St + Broadway
(Directions: #104 bus to 106th St & Broadway or the IRT #1 or #9 subway and exit at 110th or 103rd Street. Strauss Park is a triangulur park between Broadway & West End Ave at 106 - 107th Streets.)

Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 6:00 PM
Stand Up in September Vigil
A candlelight vigil on--National Take a Stand Day--to remember the human cost of the war and urge our members of Congress to stand up in September and end this endless war
Borough Hall
Joralemon & Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(Directions: N,R,2,3,4,5 to Borough Hall)