Bailout BP ?

06/01/2010 Nativegrl77

BP is the world’s fourth largest corporation, raking in $239 billion last year alone. If BP was its own country, it would be the 33rd biggest economy in the world.¹

But unless Congress acts now, taxpayers will get stuck paying almost all the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because of an old law that limits oil industry liability for spills to a paltry $75 million.² Instead of investing in schools, health care, or clean energy, we’ll get stuck bailing out BP.

Twenty-three senators have signed onto legislation to make sure the oil companies pay more—but not Senator Maria Cantwell.³

Can you call Sen. Cantwell right now? Tell her that BP should pay the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and urge her to co-sponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s the number to call:

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSWA_2&cp_id=1372&id=20796-9640874-1rHLmAx&t=2

The BP oil spill is now being called the worst oil spill in U.S. history.⁴ An enormous toxic dead zone is spreading out from the spill, and the sensitive marshlands on the coast are being destroyed. Birds, sea turtles, whales and other marine life are all in harm’s way.

BP is absolutely responsible for the disaster. They cut corners on safety, bought off the regulators, and told Congress and the American people that there was no way a spill like this could happen.⁵

The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act would raise the cap on Big Oil’s liability for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion.⁶ The truth is, there shouldn’t be any limit on the oil industry’s liability. There’s truly no excuse for senators not to support at least this much.

Call Sen. Cantwell today and urge her to cosponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s where to call:

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSWA_2&cp_id=1372&id=20796-9640874-1rHLmAx&t=3

–Steven, Kat, Milan, Amy, and the rest of the team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

ThinkProgress.org

06/01/2010 Nativegrl77

CONGRESS — HOUSE APPROVES COSTLY WEAPONS PROGRAM THAT PENTAGON DOESN’T WANT, CUTS PROGRAMS FOR LAID OFF WORKERS: On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a major jobs bill that extended popular unemployment benefits and tax credits. Although the bill will have a positive impact on the American workforce, it is worth noting that conservatives successfully weakened it before final passage. They scaled down the bill from its original version, which extended jobless benefits through the end of the year and included Medicaid assistance to states and expanded COBRA health insurance subsidies for jobless workers. These bolder provisions were jettisoned following intense negotiations with congressional conservatives who demanded that the bill be made cheaper. However, as the House was demanding that a popular jobs bill be made less costly, it did manage, in a separate bill authorizing Defense Department funding for 2011, to approve a second engine for the F-35 fighter that both the Pentagon and the White House didn’t even want. An amendment stripping the engine funding from the defense authorization bill unfortunately failed by a 193-231 vote. Defense Secretary Gates has suggested to Obama that he should veto the defense bill. As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo concludes, “Can you imagine another agency coming before Congress, expressly asking that a particular program be cut because it’s unnecessary, and having that request denied? It’s a completely absurd situation.”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Men, you’ll want to eat celery after reading this!

06/01/2010 Nativegrl77

Men, eat your celery!

Sunday May 16, 2010

From Jolinda Hackett, your Guide to Vegetarian Food

This is one of those news stories that is really only peripherally related to vegetarian food, but I still just can’t help but share it.

A couple of doctors decided, for some reason, to study celery. Or perhaps they were trying to figure out how to pick up chicks (the real reason they went to med school, perhaps?). At any rate, these doctors have discovered that the real way to pick up chicks is not contained in aftershave, lifting weights, cheesy pick-up lines or even in chocolate and roses. No, the real secret to making men attractive to the opposite sex is in celery. That’s right, celery.Apparently, celery contains a natural steroid. Eating celery causes men to release more pheromones right away, which women can detect. There are, um, other benefits mentioned in the article as well.

And, to avoid making this point too heteronormative (and to use a five-dollar GRE word), no word on whether the celery pheromone boost will help out our gay and lesbian friends. But eating healthy always seems to help when it comes to looking and feeling good, so I suppose it can’t hurt!

Article link: Celery ‘makes men more attractive’

Monday in Congress …Not

06/01/2010 Nativegrl77

The Senate Convenes: 2pmET June 7 2010

The Senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

At 4:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the following nominations:
– #730, Audrey Fleissing, of Missouri, to be US District Judge for the Eastern District of MO
– #731, Lucy Koh, of California, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of CA
– #759, Jane Magnus-Stinson, of Indiana, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of IN

At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations in the order listed. After the first vote, the succeeding votes will be limited to 10 minutes each.

The next meeting in the House: 2pmET June 8 2010