5/2/09 AT 2:00PM - ORGANIZING MEETING AT 517 MANILA AVE.,JERSEY CITY

5/2/2009 POWERUP AMERICA ORGANIZING MEETING

To sign up click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=93104&id=-8727613-zXE1H4x

On May 28, all over the country, we'll be organizing a Clean Energy Jobs Day -- a national day of action to turn up the heat on Congress by showing the promise of the clean energy economy to our senators and representatives, the media, and the public. We'll highlight the clean energy jobs and businesses that already exist in our communities, and we'll showcase the ways in which they could expand. During the Jobs Day, we will organize a press conference at a clean energy business, and then lorganize tours of a few other clean energy sites. We'll call on our senators or representatives to support President Obama's plan for a new energy economy.

To effectively plan for and build up to the Jobs Days, we'll hold an Organizing Meetings on May 2nd at 2:00pm.

In order to run Clean Energy Jobs Days-- we need to recruit clean energy business leaders! Click here for an outline for your conversations with clean energy business leaders in your community to invite them to join with the Council for the Clean Energy Jobs Days.
The best way to find clean energy business leaders who are willing to participate in the Jobs Day is to ask everyone on the Council to brainstorm local clean energy business leaders who they know in the community.

We also should call all of the small business leaders recruited through the Small Business drive to ask them to help recruit clean energy business leaders specifically. We can also contact members who who signed MoveOn's online petition.

HEALTHCARE UNDER ATTACK

Conservatives are running $1 million in ads, starting today, to crush the public health insurance option (1) —the heart of Obama's health care plan. And they've promised to spend tens of millions more.(2)
To win against the powerful insurance lobby, we'll need to be everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members have already made calls, signed petitions, faxed Congress, rallied at events—and we'll even run our own ads soon—all in support of the public health insurance option.
But with the insurance industry in all-out attack mode, we now need to go even further. Can you drop by your senator's local office today or tomorrow to tell him or her to stand up for a public health insurance option that would guarantee coverage and reduce costs by up to 30%? (3)
Here's the office closest to you (or at least we hope so; see the P.S. for other options):
Sen. Frank Lautenberg's District Office One Gateway Center, 23rd Floor Newark, NJClick here to print out your flier and let us know you're going:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSNJ_1.FSNJ_2&cp_id=891&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=4



Just stopping by your senator's office for two minutes has more impact than a call, an email—even more than a handwritten letter. And if enough of us show up at the local office, a staffer will call Washington to explain how strongly voters back home are feeling.
Dropping off a flier is easy:
Write a short, personal note on your flier. Your visit will be more effective if you tell your senator how saving 30% on health care will have a positive impact on your life.
Bring a friend if you want, but you totally don't have to. Don't worry about coordinating with other volunteers—just get to an office! The more individuals who stop by the office, the more powerful the message will be to Congress.
Tell the staffer that you're there to express support for the public health insurance option. Be polite and friendly, and don't feel like you need to stay more than a minute. Just stopping by is a huge statement.
In this economy, the public health insurance option is especially crucial. Saving up to 30% on high-quality coverage could help families struggling to pay for their insurance—and those with no coverage at all right now.But with insurance companies using their vast resources to attack Obama's plan, we can't just sit back and hope Congress does the right thing. We all need to speak out for the public health insurance option to make it a reality.
Can you stop by your senator's office today?
Thanks for all you do.

P.S. Can't make it to that office up above? Here is another office near you:
Sen. Robert Menendez's District Office One Gateway Center, 11th Floor Newark, NJ

P.P.S. If you'd like to look up office addresses yourself, you can do so here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5" target="_blank">http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5


Sources:
(1). "Health group launches $1M ad buy," Politico, April 27, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21746.html
(2). "Group launches health care offensive," Politico, March 3, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19542.html
(3). "The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options," The Lewin Group, April 6, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51315&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=6


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NEW IDEAS - Local Connections

On Friday 4/24 our council held a meeting to discuss the council's organization and to brainstorm about what we would like to do, what we need MoveOn to do , how can we improve the information exchange between the council and MoveOn.org, and what we want to plan for the future.

Many ideas and opinions were tossed on the table.
MaryAnn Sherman, our regional co-ordinator, is going to bring them to the attention of the MoveOn people and we'll try to restructure the council to better suit everybody's needs.

One of our goals would be to reach out to many community groups and faith base groups to see if it would be possible to coordinate local initiatives asking for change and make them stronger. Many of us would like to join actions taken by local groups other then MoveOn, and if we cooperate with local groups we can lend support for their causes. We toyed with the possibility of becoming a clearinghouse for local action initiatives promoted by other groups.

MoveOn.org basically acts on national issues but as a council we feel the need to be more connected to the local community. We'll continue to promote MoveOn events at the national and local level but at the same time we'll make every effort to advertise and promote local initiatives.

In that spirit we hope to show in this post links to many local organizations and groups that share similar interests.

Members feedback

We'd like to get feedback from all council members.

Please share your thoughts on:

• what MoveOn has done right during this year campaign and where it was lacking
• what excited you about MoveOn and what turned you off,
• what MoveOn is planning and what you would like to see MoveOn do in the coming months,
• how our council can engage the local community and work with local community and faith based groups
• how can our council grow
• how do we keep people interested and active
• any other feedback members would like to share

MOVEON AGENDA FOR NATIONAL GREEN JOBS DAY

"We're in a pivotal moment on passing ground-breaking clean energy jobs legislation through congress. We need to quickly ramp up pressure on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which is writing the legislation now; and we need to begin organizing to place pressure on the Senate, so that conservative senators can't kill the legislation later. So in Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're organizing small-business district meetings by May 11th (Note: Frank Pallone, Jr., is the only representative in NJ on the committee and he represents the Sixth District of New Jersey which covers most of Middlesex County and a good portion of Monmouth County, including the Bayshore and 16 communities on the Atlantic Ocean. It also encompasses small portions of Somerset and Union counties). And all over the country, we're organizing a "Clean Energy Jobs Day" during the next congressional recess -- a national day of action to highlight clean-energy businesses and the local opportunity of the new energy economy."

"In the coming weeks, we have an important window of opportunity for our Power Up America campaign:

• The Energy and Commerce Committee, sometimes called the Waxman Committee, is debating a big, potentially economy-shifting and game-changing energy bill. We're hearing that this committee's bill is increasingly important -- so we need to quickly organize some extra pressure on ALL members of that committee.
• At the same time, we need to take our target-focused campaign to the next level, so that this big energy bill can't be watered-down and killed in the Senate.
  We know that the biggest obstacle to progress is fierce lobbying by pollution-based companies like Big Coal and Big Oil. To counter them, we need to continue to elevate the voices of small business owners, and look for ways to highlight clean energy businesses. So, we're planning two exciting tactics to rise to this pivotal moment:
• In House Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're organizing district meetings featuring small business owners. We need to move quickly on these, since the committee will begin voting on amendments to the legislation around May 11th. These meetings will include some media work -- a press conference outside the office, so that media can cover it and other members can come.
• And all over the country, we're organizing a Clean Energy Jobs Day -- a national day of action in late May (28th) to turn up the heat on Congress by showing the promise of the clean energy economy to our senators and representatives, the media, and the public. We'll highlight the clean energy jobs and businesses that already exist in our communities, and we'll showcase the ways in which they could expand. During the Jobs Day, each Council will organize a press conference at a clean energy business, and then lead a tour of a few other clean energy sites. They'll call on their senator or representative to support President Obama's plan for a new energy economy. To effectively plan for and build up to the Jobs Days, we'll hold an Organizing Meeting on May 2nd.
  
  IN BRIEF: We're organizing Clean Energy Jobs Days all over the country for late May. In House Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're also organizing small business district meetings with Congress. And there will be other additional tactics for councils that are really energized and want to do more.
  In all our organizing for the coming weeks, we're pivoting out of the small business outreach that we've been doing. It should be an exciting drive, and it's directly relevant to the political moment we're in."

Intense negotiations over Waxman Markey

ISubject: intense negotiations over Waxman Markey

f the testimony from Al Gore yesterday spelled out just how important this bill is, the top stories in this summary of the news shows you why our efforts over the next few weeks are so important -- there are significant backroom negotiations underway right now that will determine just how strong a bill this is. We need to let Congress know that passively going along on this bill is not enough. We want them to be among those pushing for this bill to stay strong.
http://climateprogress.org/2009/04/25/energy-and-global-warming-news-for-april-24-25-the-inevitable-watering-down-of-waxman-markey/

GRACO

GRACO (Garfield-Randolph-Arlington-Clerk-Ocean) is the committee protesting the chromium field on Garfield Avenue. It's chairperson is Felicia Collis. The group meets the first Wednesday of the month. Should one or some of us plan to attend? Cheryl Clarke

Jersey City - Hoboken MoveOn.com Council: Healthcare reform

Jersey City - Hoboken MoveOn.com Council: Healthcare reform

Healthcare reform

On April 15 NPR aired this wonderful piece on the Healthcare system in Taiwan.

Link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916

I think getting as much information as possible about healthcare systems in the world should help us see which are the options that would work better in the USA once our governament tries to reform the current system.

Personally I think that anything else but a single payer system is not going to give us the results we are seeking, but a single payer system is not being considered by anybody, not the Obama administration, not Congress, not the media and not even MoveOn.org!

They are all too afraid of upsetting the apple cart of the insurance companies and HMOs.
The industry says they will not be able to compete...but why should the interest of the industry be put ahead of the interest of the people? Because they would close down and loose many jobs? The people fired by the private sector would be reabsorbed by the public sector. Only the shareholders and top administrators of the private companies would loose money.

Here's a link to a nonprofit organization promoting single payer universal health care:

Link http://www.health-justice.org/

You can make your voice heard by faxing letters to politicians and even to MoveOn to make them aware that there are many of us out there that will not accept anything less than a single payer program.
Link http://www.1payer.net/campaigns/efax-pelosi-single-payer-agenda.html

Reaching out to small business owners to create a clean energy economy

Shifting to a clean energy economy means creating good local jobs that can't be outsourced, which means rising employment – and that’s good for business. A massive weatherizing program would mean that small businesses and homeowners would save money on monthly utility bills – and that’s good for the bottom line. Overall, the clean energy economy vision is good for America, and good for local business – and it’s the future of America’s economyRight now, MoveOn Councils are reaching out to thousands of small business owners around the country. These business voices are very powerful in calling for a shift to a new, clean energy economy. So our goal is to gather letters from as many small business owners as possible--and then to start making their voices heard by delivering those letters to members of Congress.
On April 16, we'll deliver the first round of small business letters to our target members of Congress.
Do you own a business in New Jersey? Does anybody in your family own a business? Are you self employed?
Will you sign the letter at the link below endorsing a clean energy economy?
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7vn3z5_0gdqndpgt

Here’s what we need you to do:
Print out the attached letter either or your company’s letterhead or on plain paper
Fill in the blanks and have the business representative sign it
Fax it to : 973-324-5763

We need to collect all the letters by Wednesday April 15th to deliver them to Congressman Albio's and Senators Lautenberg and Menendez's offices on Apil 16th.

Make your voice heard
This is an ongoing effort, and we’ll continue working to recruit local business leaders to our campaign
You can sign online by going to: http://pol.moveon.org/smallbusiness

Power Up America - smallbusiness-signup-letter

Power Up America Small Business Letter

“I stand with other small businesses in calling on Congress to take bold action to shift us to a new energy economy.” To my members of Congress: I run a small business. I stand with other small businesses and other leaders in our community in calling on Congress to take bold action to shift us to a new energy economy. I am on the front lines of the economic crisis. Small businesses around the country are hurting. It is clear to me that this is the time to make major investments in our future, in the industry that will power our future and create millions of good green jobs to renew our communities and our nation. As an entrepreneur, I know that we’ve got to invest in the clean renewable energy economy. One of the best ways to address the economic challenges we face and solve some of the long-term problems that caused them is to begin the transformation to a new energy economy, with millions of good, green jobs and clean energy powering this country. We cannot afford to wait. We need to invest in energy efficiency programs. Small businesses in particular can benefit from this effort, because we can recover our investment through energy savings in as little as 2-4 years. But many businesses need help with financing and technical assistance programs. We need alternative energy sources to repower America with 100% clean, renewable, American electricity and fight the climate crisis. We need investments in mass transit. Together, these efforts can help create 5 million good, green jobs that can't be outsourced. We can save the economy, reinvigorate local communities, strengthen the middle class, and make America competitive for the 21st century. I urge you to support President Obama's plan for a new energy economy. This year is the time to act, to put America on a new course for a clean energy future and a sound economy. Sincerely, Business name:___________________________________________________________ Your name & title:_________________________________________________________ Business address:__________________________________________________________ City:________________________ State: ______ Zip ____________ Phone ____________ Yes, I’m interested in working with the Power Up America campaign by speaking to Congress or the media, appearing at events, or in other ways. (Check here): ____ [Please attach a few business cards to this letter]

We may share your letter and photo with Congress and the media, and we may post your name, business name, and city on our website.

Paid for by MoveOn.org Political Action http://political.moveon.org Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Albio Sires on Passing the Budget

Here's what our Congressman Albio Sires had to say about passing the Budget:



DEAR ROSSELLA,

As always it is a pleasure to update you on my work in Congress. On April 2, 2009 my colleagues and I in the House of Representatives passed the 2010 House Budget Resolution, H.Con.Res.85, by a vote of 233 to 196. This budget invests in our children, our families and our communities by making necessary investments in education, health care, energy technology and infrastructure, while also working to pay down our deficit in the coming years. Please continue to read below for the specific investments included in the 2010 House approved budget.
Health Care Reform
Supports the President’s goals for health reform by addressing rising costs, setting a path to increase coverage and improve quality of care.
Supports improvements to Medicare’s payment system for doctors to provide incentives for efficiency and higher quality care.
Education
Builds on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) funding to aid states in maintaining elementary, secondary, and higher education services, as well as continued funding to Title I, Head Start, and special education.
Makes college more affordable and accessible by raising the maximum Pell grant award to provide additional assistance to help more low-income students attend and complete college.
Supports early childhood education through initiatives to help strengthen and expand such programs.
Supports improved school breakfast and lunch programs by accomodating the reauthorization, expansion, and improvement of child nutrition programs for improvements to meal quality and access in schools.
Energy Independence
Builds on investments in the ARRA to allow for tax incentives to spur the development and production of new energy and jobs.
Provides an 18 percent budgeted increase for energy programs, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, research, and technological development.
Accommodates legislation promoting energy independence through a reserve fund to accommodate fiscally responsible energy legislation- including legislation to reduce green house gas emissions.
Veterans
Honors our veterans by providing an 11.5 percent increase in the budget for veterans’ programs.
Affirms the Department of Veterans Affairs current billing policy of paying for the treatment of veterans’ service-connected, health conditions.
Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility
Reflects the ARRA, including its provisions to provide tax relief to middle-income families, create jobs through investments in infrastructure, and extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.
Cuts the deficit by more than half in over four years.
Includes investments in oversight and enforcement that will yield valuable savings to taxpayers by expanding oversight activities in large benefit programs, more aggressively pursuing fraud, and increasing tax compliance and enforcement activities to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.
Thank you for taking the time to read my enewsletter. I am pleased that the House has approved a budget that will build a stronger economy, and restore fiscal responsibility. I look forward to keeping you updated as Congress continues to work on legislation to assist in the recovery of our economy.
Sincerely,
Albio Sires

MoveOn.org Jersey City/Hoboken Journal

Now you can follow what our council has done and what is planning to do by reading our online journal:



Just go to http://tinyurl.com/JC-H-Council