What the hell does it take?!?

We've had a five-month oil spill that has dumped over 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico and tar balls washing up on beaches in Florida, and still BP plans to claim billions in tax breaks. Meanwhile, Congress can't seem to hike its pants up, tie its shoes and find a real solution. Harry Reid and the Senate gave up.

But we haven't.

Wednesday, we announced a new campaign to end tax giveaways to oil companies. We're ready to take the fight all the way to the doors of Congress if need be.

Chip in $30 to help us meet our goal!

BREAKING: a bailout for BP's oil spil

As the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig continues to spill over 1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf every day, Republicans are demanding less regulation for companies like BP and Transocean while also looking for a taxpayer-funded bailout of BP. Yeah, I'm serious.

After a month of oil spewing into the Gulf, the cost of cleaning up BP's mess is $542 million and counting. But a group of Republican senators led by Lisa Murkowski of Alaska want the company to pay for only the first five days of the cleanup and put taxpayers on the hook for everything else. That's right, Murkowski and her pals want to "Bail out BP."

We need to tell Murkowski and her Senate colleagues that this is not OK. Can you send a message to your Senators that it's time to end offshore drilling and focus on clean energy instead?

Send a message.

Stand Against Racism

The anti-immigrant racism we're reading so much about in Arizona flared into actual violence last week at our own affiliate's offices in Seattle. Marcelas Owens, an 11-year-old member of the group, said "I know we're on the right track because they wouldn't do things like this if we weren't as powerful as we are."

We *are* powerful when we stand together against violence and hate. The march for immigrant rights went forward as planned (see photo above).

Join us in sending a message to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer that real immigration reform doesn't include racial profiling and unjust search and seizure.

Sign the petition.

Sign here to create 1 million local jobs

This Great Recession has had a vicious double impact on local economies:

First, nearly 1 in 10 Americans are out of work. Second, the downturn has starved local governments of resources they need to fix potholes, hire teachers and keep cops on the beat.

But we can solve this problem and make our tax dollars do double duty by investing in public jobs that put people back to work.

President Roosevelt did it during the Great Depression with the Works Progress Administration. And now progressive champ Rep. George Miller has proposed the Local Jobs for America Act to put 1 million people back to work in the same way.

But with Congress just back from recess, we need a BIG show of support to create momentum and get this important bill a hearing. Click here to sign the petition and urge your elected officials to support the bill.

Sign the petition.

Help save 2.5 billion

The $3.8 trillion budget that President Obama announced yesterday gives us a second chance to win the change in priorities we've sought for years.

Last year, TrueMajority members proved that sensible budgets CAN be achieved when we won a huge fight to end wasteful Pentagon projects like the F-22 fighter jet.

That victory saved billions of dollars that can now be used to build schools and restart the economy. This year we have a chance to save $2.5 billion MORE by ending the C-17, another plane we don't need. Tell Congress to stop building C-17s, and other Pentagon toys we don't need.

"Senate votes to end funding for F-22 fighter jet" - USA Today, July 21, 2009

By now you've probably seen the news, but it's worth repeating: after years of work, this month we WON the battle to end the outmoded F-22 fighter jet.

That will free up billions of dollars in tax money, which can be available for projects which truly build America's strength. More importantly, though, the victory has shifted the playing field. Mere days before this historic Senate vote, the conventional wisdom was what it has always been: that you just can't kill a weapons program which defense contractors want. But t hen the program WAS voted down, by an unexpected bipartisan majority of Senators. And in a surprise announcement the very next day Rep. John Murtha, by most accounts the biggest player in the Pentagon pork business, said he wouldn't fight anymore for the F-22 jets.

The point is: the tide we have been swimming against for so long has turned.

The Truth About Healthcare Reform

Dr. Howard Dean has been a physician, a governor, a presidential candidate and the head of the Democratic National Committee. If there is one guy in America who knows what's wrong with our healthcare system and can make sense of the current debate, it's him.

Listen to last night's show with Howard Dean by clicking the play button below.