@Maddow - Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, on the history and recent collapse of unemployment insurance

Haves:  Have Not - Rachel Maddow Show last Friday

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Just In Case You Missed It - The Long Term Unemployed Hit Mainstream Media

Here is what aired on the Ed Schultz Show thanks to the many of you out there who emailed him and let him know about the plight of the long-term unemployed. 

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This was a very quick exchange between Ed Schultz and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).  But just this small amount of coverage is better than what the long term unemployed have not been receiving from mainstream press. This is without doubt, progress and a major leap in the right direction for those who have exhausted benefits.

Everyone, help US Unemployed Blogsite and so many others who are advocating for this keep this story alive by continuing to contact Ed Schultz.  A simple thank you for starters for even covering the story to begin and ask him to please keep asking these Senators the tough questions such as:  when will those who have exhausted benefits see relief? 

As posted previously, it is looking more and more like that relief will be coming in the form of a second stimulus act.  Congress is not going to amend $200 billion (or more) to H.R. 4213 for persons who have exhausted benefits.  At the risk of a reader perhaps thinking that I am rude for saying this, I must tell you politics is something that I personally have followed for a long time - during the Clinton Administration even.  This large-scale amendment has not been through the Finance Committee and they would not hold up the benefits that are scheduled to sunset on June 2, 2010 to wait on any amendment.  Doing so would cause them to miss the deadline again this month and it is just not feasible that route would be taken.

Those who have exhausted benefits are making major breakthroughs in just this past week.  More coverage and signals of action within this past week than in the past two months combined to be exact.

Keep up your work.  Keep spreading the word about the petition at Change.org.  Keep sending off the Senate and Media SOS emails and faxes.  Keep calling members of Congress.  There is a door that is barely hanging on one hinge and with a little more push we can knock that door down.

Tier 5 Advocates Plan Media Blitz Today For All Week Plea To Ed Schultz, MSNBC

Monday, May 24, 2010 an organized effort to contact the Ed Show and inform the show that there is a desperate need for a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension.  Mention the Change.org petition that was formally submitted to Congress.  The full details of the formal presentation of the 99er petition is posted at WorldNewsVine at:  http://worldnewsvine.com/2010/05/99ers-petition-delivered-to-washington/

For those who have not had a chance to read this article, it is the official account from Robert Grone, Editor/Owner of WorldNewsVine.  Please visit that article for detailed information about the 99er petition that was submitted to the Congressional record and will be in the Library of Congress. 

For those who do not know, Ed Schultz is a political commentator on a nationally syndicated radio program and also does a show on MSNBC News.  He's widely respected and it's quite possible his show may have interest in the plight of the long term unemployed.  Tier 5 Advocates are attempting to make an organized plea for assistance.  To help participate, I plan to contact the Ed Show by all methods of contact. 

Contact Information for the Ed Show: 

Website:             http://www.bigeddieradio.com/
Email:                 ed@edschultzshow.com
US Mail:            The Ed Schultz Show, 417 38th St. SW Suite F,  Fargo, ND 58103-2312       

If you are on Facebook, please RSVP to this organized event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119581478079936 so the unemployed who are participating know our numbers who are helping spread this message. 

So far there are 13 confirmed who have RSVP'd and 8 persons who may participate. 

We realize that some of you may be on your last leg and frustration is not the word best used to describe the persons who have exhausted all benefits.  Frustration passed for many a month or so ago.  Please remember, our strength has always been in our numbers.  It was the numbers on that Change.org petition that caused a representative from Change.org to state for the record that the 99er petition is the most popular, truly grassroots petition to Congress ever done that was created by an individual. 

That alone and the increase in signatures daily is news worthy.

You may contact the Ed Show anytime this week.  Telephone may be the strongest way tool we can do. 

Call 1-877-934-6833 (Toll Free)   Call anytime during the day and all week long. 

If for whatever reason you cannot call by telephone, please send an email or regular mail to the address above.  Or contact the Ed Show using all methods of contact if you can!  Have a prepared statement with the facts such as for when they ask why you are calling simply tell them...

H.R. 4213 does nothing for millions of jobless Americans and mention the submitted formal Change.org 99er petition to Congress and no action has been taken on this issue after months of calling, emailing, and faxing members of Congress and the President.  Also please mention the millions in Texas who were excluded from federal funding on the last unemployment extension and you feel that if Congress has the money to send to the unemployed in Greece they should find the money for the unemployed in America.  So many millions of lives in this country depend on a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension.

If nothing else, please feel free to copy and paste that above paragraph and send Ed Schultz an email about this. (Or anyone in the media you see fit).   Feel free to customize the message above however you want and send it off.  Our goal is not to necessarily have a uniform for our message but we should all keep the message on topic and to the point with factual information for the staff of the show to easily verify.

Our strength is in our numbers.  If each and every one of my daily readers can please participate in this we might make a difference to MSNBC.  Do not forget that MSNBC recently covered INAFJ.org.  This media network does have an interest in the unemployed and the cause for a true extension of available weeks for unemployed benefits is very important.  Extreme cases of poverty beckon without Congressional action. 

Ask the operator to do a quick Google search on all of the persons on the Internet mentioning the need for a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension.  Mention the fact there are many blogs and this need has been reported by many news outlets.  Remember, you are not alone by taking this act of courage to contact the Ed Show. 

Do whatever you need to do to make the case and plea for a Tier V Unemployment Extension

There are many more participating who just have not had a chance to RSVP to the event yet or who do not have a Facebook account.  We have seen different names on multiple forums pledge to participate.  Please readers, make some noise this week.  You will also see this same organized effort on all of the unemployment blogs today because we all realize that our strength is our numbers to make an impact. 

Do not forget when mentioning to the Ed Show that Tom Coburn, the Republican Senator from Oklahoma promised the long term unemployed an additional 4 weeks of assistance (totaling 103 weeks) back in March and also said that number would be extended even further.  This quote was all over the Internet and MSNBC reported on this.  Yet, Senator Coburn will not introduce the legislation for this and Congressional leaders are letting millions of Americans slip further into poverty. This quote is real, to the long term unemployed who still cannot find work that comment counted as a promise yet the jobless who have exhausted all tiers need this assistance as an emergency.

iNAFj.org Takes Message Straight To Mainstream Press In Buffalo Yesterday

Check out this story from the Dylan Ratigan show.  Also, CNN reported on this organization recently as well.  They were able to get their message heard via billboard and the President's visit to Buffalo, NY. 

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Tier 5 Unemployment Activists May Have The Ear Of MSNBC

Dated May 8, 2010, MSNBC wants to hear from the long term jobless.  According to MSNBC, they want information for an upcoming story on the long term unemployed. 

Tier 5 Unemployment Activists, we may have the ear of a mainstream news source. 

(If not, we have the opportunity to give them an ear full). 

Please spread this around, MSNBC wants to hear from you!

Here is the link to MSNBC:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37000773/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Please Send MSNBC A Media S.O.S.

Media S.O.S. Campaign Starts - Main Street Needs A Bailout

IT IS TIME TO SEND OUT A MAINSTREAM MEDIA SOS

The long term unemployed have now went through the process of sending M-A-Y-D-A-Y faxes to all target members of Congress.  Do you want to give those members of Congress the opportunity to ignore that massive campaign without any mainstream press coverage?  Are we going to allow Tom Coburn to declare that we will get an extension to 103 weeks and extend it even more and then allow Senator Max Baucus say that he believes 99 weeks is enough and there is hardly any mainstream press coverage? 

US Unemployed Blogsite does not believe this is the right thing to do.  Too much time and effort has gone into this cause to allow it to be untouched by the larger audiences that will apply the heat to Congress for that "political will".  When you consider that the one Senator who promised more weeks has voted against the extensions and then you consider the other Senator who said 99 weeks is enough has voted for the extensions - it really proves the point that these people in Washington are saying one thing to the camera and doing another on the Senate floor.  Enough is enough.  They all need to walk the walk if they are going to talk the talk.

If you are sitting there thinking to yourself, "what good will that do?”  Think again please.  Ask yourself again how in the whole wide world this effort could possibly hurt the cause.  If you do not get that job you wanted but doesn't exist today, do you have anything better to do?  The pressure needs to be mounted if Congress needs that "political will".  Remember, the unemployed only represent 9.7% of the United States population. 

Millions of other Americans need to fully know the plight of the long term unemployed because mainstream is failing to report the issue.  If you are employed and not in this nightmare, you may be more inclined to believe the news story that Congress is actually doing an unemployment extension (or has recently already done an unemployment extension and things are fine until June) and not care about the detail that Congress only changed the dates available for existing tiers.  There is still an unemployment crisis in this country and the larger media outlets need to be reporting the whole story.   

Let's not allow mainstream media to report another half-truth unemployment extension story without mentioning the need for Tier 5 Unemployment Extensions!

You can send whatever message to the respective news outlets that you want.  However, for the purpose of saving time, US Unemployed Blogsite has prepared a sample message you can send.  Just copy the text and paste it into the comment boxes for each mainstream news outlet.  Comment boxes do not always leave enough room for space so let's keep the message simple, respectful, and to the point.

Now, if we can send a fax.  We can surely send out an email.  It only takes a few minutes to type an email out and if there is a message pre-prepared it can only take seconds.  We are also going to need help from other sources.  We need the help from the media outlets such as WorldNewsVine, Gather, MLive.com, and the Examiner to help spread awareness to this cause.  We also need to spread this cause by comment forums that already exist.  Everyone who is unemployed who wants to participate in this campaign needs to have access to this opportunity to send a Media S.O.S.

Here is a sample message you are more than welcome to copy/paste (or write your own):
(If in some boxes the message may be too long to fit. If so, simply edit it however you wish.  Just make sure you include the dire need for Tier 5 Unemployment - If I had only three words I could say as an SOS it would be "Tier 5 Unemployment").

This message is a Media S.O.S from the long term unemployed - Main Street needs a bailout and the long-term unemployed need your help. For too long the issue of high unemployment has plagued this country.  We, the unemployed, have lost our jobs due to no fault of our own and still cannot find work and we need your help due to lack of jobs.  We need a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension from the United States Federal Government and we need your journalism and coverage of this issue to urge members of Congress to muster the "political will" for action.  As you know, there are many districts, counties, and states with double-digit unemployment numbers and Congress has neglected those who have exhausted the maximum amount of 99 weeks.  There are not enough jobs for every unemployed American and millions have lost their safety net and millions more will lose this vital assistance in months to come if action is not taken.  Your media coverage of this issue should be simple.  All you need to do is Google "Tier 5 Unemployment".  You will see the efforts of those advocating for a Tier 5.  You will see other news sources such as WorldNewsVine, Gather, Examiner, DailyKos, HuffingtonPost, The LA Times and many others who have already reported on the need for a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension.  However, you will not find your report.  We are asking you to take up this cause and educate your viewers to this problem and please understand that the unemployed are without a safety net and there are not enough jobs for every American and Congress is not taking action.  Neither Democrat, nor Republican members of Congress are willing to help the millions without hope.  Will you help tell the story to larger audiences of Americans who may not be aware that we are at or below poverty and Congress is not taking action?  Millions of Americans are depending on the staff of your network to do the right thing and cover the need for this unemployment extension.  The extension for filing weeks recently done by Congress does nothing for the longest-term unemployed who are in dire straits right now and are being ignored.  Please help by reporting on this issue.  Not reporting or under-reporting on this issue does not cure the problem.  It only seems to make the issue fester. 

There is no need to sign your message. Most mainstream sources use a comment box for your Name and E-Mail. Nothing else is required but a few seconds of your busy day. Please visit the contacts below and write your own message or just copy and paste the message above.  Do it for yourself, your friend, your neighbor, or anyone you know who is unemployed. Do it for your country. If the jobs do not exist then the unemployed deserve attention from the United States Government. The power of the mainstream press has always informed the American audience and the long term unemployed who have exhausted benefits are just as important of a story as any other story on mainstream news today. Mainstream media needs to be covering this story.

Target Contact ABC'S "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3428174  (This is a very quick and easy form to fill out, please send it off).

Target CBS News, "Face The Nation"  http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback
/fb_news_form.shtml?tag=ftr  (Another easy form to fill out, very simple.  From the drop-down menu choose the option for "Face The Nation" (just for the sake of having a dramatic impact on one mailbox).  If you want to target more shows, go for it.  Just have your copy/paste ready and it should be a breeze to do. 

Target Contact NBC - MSNBC "Meet The Press":  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/  (Once again, another form that has a drop-down to choose "Meet The Press".  We want to flood one particular source.  If you want to send the same message to other sources, by all means.  It would not hurt one thing.

Target Contact FOX News Sunday:  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html  (Yes, I know.  However, one cannot look at their ratings and not declare them as mainstream. Additionally, one of their frequent guests, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) declared in March that long-term unemployment extensions were going to be extended to 103 weeks and then even further. This link has a list of email addresses.  Email Fox News Sunday at:  fns@foxnews.com.  Just another quick copy/paste job.

Target Contact CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html  (The form found at CNN.com is just a plain "Contact Us" Form.  It will get to the right people if they want to do a story on it.  CNN also has a Sunday political show called State of the Union with Candy Crowley.  The person(s) who sort these emails will redirect them to the appropriate department.)

I realize that there are scores of you out there who are exhausted (mentally and physically).  I understand your frustration due to the inaction of government.  I also understand those who may feel this effort would be in vein because you feel that progress has been made enough that eventually the mainstream press will cover this story.  Please consider the possibility of what will be in vein if Congress continues to fail to act and please take a few minutes to send a quick message to the larger media outlets.  All Americans need to hear from us. 

They need to be reminded that we pay taxes on unemployment compensation and they need to know we matter.  They need to know that the economy will free-fall as more and more lose their safety net.  They need to be reminded that it is the simple fact that there are not enough jobs for every American that the long term unemployed still cannot find meaningful work.

I cannot tell one single one of you out there to do this because we are a free country but I sure as hell can beg you and hopefully motivate you to take action.  This is needed.  This is called "earned media".  This is our rights to free speech.  This is our need for the Federal Government to act.  Most importantly, this is the livelihood of each and every unemployed person and their families and no one out there is getting rich from unemployment compensation. 

Please spread the word about this SOS. 

Don't You Think Main Street Needs A Bailout?
Here's a great contact sheet provided by Tier5.webs.com: http://tier5.webs.com/nationalmedia.htm

Open permission to distribute:  Please copy this post or your summary as many places as you can.  No material posted is copyright.  US Unemployed Blogsite gives expressed consent for this message to appear on any forum with or without it's entirety for the sole purpose to educate the American public on the need for a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension.  The Editor encourages the redistribution (in part or full) to any and all sources of journalism which are not currently reporting on this story and the sources who are already reporting on this story and helping their fellow citizens.