Budget for All!-The Massachusetts Referendum to Stop the Cuts • Invest in Jobs • Tax the 1% • End the Wars

Markin comment:

I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution straight up than some of the “remedies” provided by the commentators in these entries. But part of that struggle for the socialist revolution is to sort out the “real” stuff from the fluff as we struggle for that more just world that animates our efforts.
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Budget for All!-The Massachusetts Referendum to Stop the Cuts • Invest in Jobs • Tax the 1% • End the Wars

Tell Your State Rep

Whom do we talk to next? After the energizing campaign kickoff on Sunday everyone's out there talking to neighbors and co-workers. But one group of decision makers also needs to hear from us: your state rep. and senator. You can find your legislator by clicking on this link. Watch this space for a list of key points to raise with them.

Our Question

Shall the state Representative (or Senator) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon the Congress and the President to:

1. Prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans benefits, or to housing, food and unemployment assistance;

2. Create and protect jobs by investing in manufacturing, schools, housing, renewable energy, transportation and other public services;

3. Provide new revenues for these purposes and to reduce the long-term federal deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, ending offshore tax havens, and raising taxes on incomes over $250,000; and

4. Redirect military spending to these domestic needs by reducing the military budget, ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home safely now.

Write a Letter! Bring Common Sense to Budget Conversations

There's a whole lot of crazy talk in Washington about the budget. The House even passed a bill further cutting programs for working people so that they can fund weapon systems! So it's time to turn the conversation around, says campaigner Paul Shannon, "with a letter writing drive that let's the public know about the costs of Washington's priorities and tells them about the Budget-for-All signature gathering."

The campaign has provided a sample text that can be copied from this webpage or simply downloaded (both files have the same text, one is in Word format and the other is a plain text) and modified by you. Click on "read more" below for the letter and to download the files.

Read more about Write a Letter! Bring Common Sense to Budget Conversations.

Boston area outreach this weekend

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 17:45. | cole.

Join one of these groups as we gather petition signatures this weekend!

Saturday, May 12

Cambridge: 10am. Meet at Au Bon Pain, 684 Massachusetts Ave., near Central Square. Contact Mass. Peace Action or Paul Shannon at AFSC to sign up.

Brookline: 12:00 noon-1pm. Meet at Coolidge Corner and look for the multi-colored peace flags. Contact Frank Farlow to sign up, or just come by.

Sunday, May 13

Dorchester: 7:15am. Collect signatures at the Mother's Day Walk for Peace. Meet with Dorchester People for Peace at Town Field, Fields Corner.

Newton: 1pm. Spring Fair, at City Hall, 1000 Commonwealth Ave. Meet at the Newton Dialogues on Peace & War table.

Sign up on the volunteer form.

Only the signatures of registered voters are valid, others don’t count. (The voter may fill in a registration card and sign the petition on the same day.)

Collect only signatures from one city or town on any given petition page (print the name of that city or town in the space at the bottom).

Signatures from another city or town must be written on a different petition form designated for that city or town.

Collect only signatures from one State Rep or State Senate district on any given petition page. Be sure you know the exact boundaries of the district you are collecting for before you go out. Check our Targeted Districts list if necessary.

A district might contain some complete towns and some partial towns. For the partial towns, you'll need a map or street list in order to find out whether a given voter's address is in your district!

Using a laptop or smartphone, you can also go to wheredoivotema.org to find out which district a given address is in. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom where it says "New District Information".

Petitions are ready! Pick them up at:

Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants, 42 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain. Contact Michael Kane, michaelkane@saveourhomes.org, 617-233-1885

American Friends Service Committee (starting 4/27), 2161 Masschusetts Ave., Cambridge. Contact Paul Shannon, pshannon@afsc.org, 617-661-6130 (w) or 617 623 5288 (h).

American Friends Service Committee (starting appx. 5/3), 2 Conz St. Suite 2B, Northampton. Contact Jeff Napolitano, jnapolitano@afsc.org, 413-584-8975
To add your organization’s name to the list of endorsers, fill in this form.

Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/245861088845210/.

Download and print the referendum flyer.

See the lists of districts we are targeting and those in which we need coordinators here. District maps are available here.

Can you help collect signatures? Volunteers are needed across the Commonwealth to gather 200 signatures per state representative district between April 26 and July 3. If you are interested in helping out, sign up here or contact one of the above names.
The Referendum Kick-Off Meeting will be held Sunday, May 6, 2-5 p.m. at Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th Floor, Boston. Take the T to Chinatown station.

We will live-stream the meeting for those who cannot attend in person. The stream will be on http://masspeaceaction.org/1980 and will also be available afterwards.

The meeting will include training on:

1) The policy issues which the Referendum addresses, and on how to talk to voters about those messages

2) How to gather signatures correctly. Registered voters. Districts. Voter file lists.

3) Review of the districts we are targeting, and what the members attending the meeting can plug in.

Also, a Referendum Planning Meeting will be held every Friday at 3-5 p.m. Contact Paul Shannon, pshannon@afsc.org, for details.