Thanks to Gloria Hoffman who organized the Granny Peace Brigade action on Sunday July 30 at Greene & Carpenter, in NW Philadelphia.

We, Grannys (and surrogate Grannys), decked out in our straw hats showed up to say, "Bring the Troops Home, NOW ! "

Nina came from West Philly and Ruth from Center City. No one who came to do their shopping at Weavers Way Co Op turned down the opportunity to sign our petition supporting the referendem that Janie Blackwell has proposed to bring to City Council in the Fall. We hope to see it on the ballot in the November Election.  Call your city council member and the at-large members and tell them to become a sponsor.

Catherine Sayre covered the story for the Express/Courier & took the photograph that is appearing in our local papers which reaches over 40,000 readers.  We had live music, a colorful banner & posters.

WOW! Were we cooking!  (And in more ways than one.)
-----
TODAY: Hope you too will be out supporting the  Granny Peace Brigade -

    Rittenhouse Square, 18th & Walnut
    Wed. August 2nd from 5 to 6:30. 

Bring a  hat and water!  We will supply flyers, petitions to sign and music.

Become an honorary "Granny Peace Brigade"  member.  All ages are welcome.  Contact: zonnie2@msn.com
In Peace & Solidarity,
Marlene Santoyo
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Free showing of SIR! No Sir!

        Wednesday, August 2nd
        District Council 47, AFSCME Union Hq., 1606 Walnut - 3rd Floor auditorium, Philadelphia 6:30pm-9pm
The Film that shows you the resistance in the Armed Forces to the Vietnam War. If you ever wanted to end a war.......
Please join us for a discussion with 5 Vietnam and Iraqi combat Vet after the film.

__________________________________________________________


  WakeUpWalMart.com is coming to Philadelphia this week!    

Please join us for an important community meeting in Philadelphia this Wednesday, August 2nd at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be the third stop on our 2006 national "Change Wal-Mart, Change America" bus tour.     The tour is an exciting and unprecedented national bus tour going to 19 states, 35 cities in 35 days with 1 mission - to change Wal-Mart and change America for the better.     Be a part of history. Join us for an exciting community meeting in Philadelphia.

Where: Arch Street Friends Meeting House (320 Arch Street)
When: Wednesday, August 2nd at 7:00 PM
With: Pat Murphy, candidate for U.S. House
 
Jim Dean, director, Democracy for America
Paul Blank, former national political director, Dean for America
Chris Kofinis, former senior strategist, Wes Clark for President
____________________________________________________________


Join the United Students Against Sweatshops, CWA District 13,
Local 13000, Local 13500 and Jobs with Justice and demand that
Verizon "Break the Wall" and let workers organize!


What: Rally and March Against Verizon Union Busting

When, Friday, August 11 12:00 - 1:00

Where: Rally will begin at the Verizon Wireless Store, 1700
Market St. march to Verizon Business Store, 1700 Arch St.

Workers at Verizon Wireless (VZW) lack basic workplace rights
and receive inadequate health and retirement benefits. When they
have tried to organize to fix these problems, VZW has conducted
a campaign of illegal firings, threats, intimidation, and worker
surveillance and has even shut down Northeast call centers and
moved them to "right to work" states.

Pledge not to buy Verizon Wireless, or pledge to switch your
cell phone carrier.
http://www.jwj.org/vzw_pledge.htm

For more than a decade, Verizon Wireless has shown total
disregard for labor law and the rights of workers to a voice in
the workplace and to a fair contract. Workers at VZW who want a
union voice have been fired and laid off, harassed and
intimidated by supervisors, required to attend "captive
audience" meetings and mandatory anti-union training. Call
centers that had a growing number of union supporters were shut
down between 2000 and 2004, putting 2,000 people out of work in
MA, NY, and NJ. Verizon Wireless has refused to abide by the
agreement it made with CWA to remain neutral in union organizing
efforts in the Northeast and is instead using endless litigation
to prevent employees from making use of the agreement. There are
numerous complaints of labor law violations pending against
Verizon Wireless.

The contrast between Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless,
which supports full employer neutrality and card check, couldn't
be clearer. At Cingular, where there is true neutrality, more
than 17,000 workers have joined CWA just since July 2005, when
those agreements went into effect at what was AT&T Wireless.
It's clear that when fear and intimidation are removed from the
workplace, workers choose a union voice. That's what is
happening at Cingular and that's exactly what would happen at Verizon Wireless.

Take the Pledge Now! 
http://www.jwj.org/vzw_pledge.htm

===============
NATIONAL ACTION:


ACTION ALERT: TELL SENATORS TO OPPOSE BAIT AND SWITCH MINIMUM WAGE
PASSED BY THE HOUSE


The House of Representatives voted July 29 for a bill that:

-- CUTS THE PAY OF SOME MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS while raising the pay of
others at an unacceptably slow rate.

-- GIVES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TAX CUTS TO WEALTHY HEIRS to fortunes
from
Wal-Mart and other low-wage businesses.

To make matters worse, more tax cuts for the nation's richest heirs will
translate into:

--  MORE BUDGET CUTS in health care, education, environment, community
economic development and other vital services and infrastructure.

--  Hundreds of billions of dollars in INCREASED NATIONAL DEBT to be
paid by working families in the future.

House bill HR 5970, The Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of
2006, slowly raises the federal minimum wage to $5.85 an hour on January 1,
2007, $6.55 on June 1, 2008, and $7.25 on June 1, 2009. In those three years,
inflation will shrink the long-overdue raise.

HR 5970 cuts the minimum wage for tipped workers in seven states. Under
current federal law, employers can pay tipped employees as little as
$2.13 an hour if tips bring their pay to at least $5.15.

HR 5970 undermines the Fair Labor Standards Act. As the Economic Policy
Institute explains, "HR 5970 is the first time in history that the
federal government has acted to put a ceiling on minimum wage levels, rather
than establishing a national floor from which the states can make improvements."

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Call Your Senators Toll-Free, 800-459-1887* and tell them:

Vote NO on HR 5970 and any legislation that undermines the Fair Labor
Standards Act and holds minimum wage workers hostage to budget-busting
giveaways for BillionHeirs.

*The toll-free number directs you to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard - call
twice; first ask for one of your Senators, then the other.

The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American Friends
Service Committee, a Quaker organization whose work for social justice, peace,
and humanitarian service includes campaigns for a moral budget and a fair
minimum wage (www.afsc.org/economic-justice/).  AFSC welcomes groups to
circulate and use the toll-free number in support of nonpartisan budget
goals and without linking the alert to a website soliciting donations or
actions which may be used to support partisan lobbying or work.

RESOURCES

Let Justice Roll, States With Minimum Wage Above $5.15 Federal Rate
http://www.letjusticeroll.org/stateminimumwagechart.html

Economic Policy Institute, House-passed minimum wage bill cuts wages for
tipped employees in seven states by as much as $5.60 per hour, 7/31/06
http://www.epi.org/printer.cfm?id=2446&content_type=1&nice_name=pm114

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Comparing the House Minimum Wage
and Estate Tax Proposals: Who Benefits and By How Much?, 7/28/06
http://www.cbpp.org/7-28-06tax2.htm

United for a Fair Economy and Public Citizen Congress Watch, Spending
Millions To Save Billions: The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the
Estate Tax, April 2006
http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/EstateTaxFinal.pdf

*** PLEASE VISIT WWW.LETJUSTICEROLL.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION ***

_______________________________________________________________

*Middle East Crisis: Urge Congress to Act*

"There is something fundamentally wrong with a war where there are  more dead children than armed men.... It has to stop," said Jan  Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, this  week. FCNL is urging Congress and the president to call for an  immediate cease-fire and to stop shipping precision guided bombs to  Israel.

Take Action at http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8942001

Read more: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=36