October 11 – October 18

TOP ACTIONS THIS WEEK

Protect Minority Voters’ Rights on Election Day

by NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund

Sign the Petition »

Defend the Minimum Wage

by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Sign the Petition »

Stop the Yellowstone Bison Slaughter

by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Sign the Petition »

THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG

Voting Rights Violated

Plus: Free Eddy Zheng • Chicago’s Wonder Women • Pink Ribbon Hypocrisy • Abercrombie’s Child Labor • Sidewalk Sitting Ban

Election Day is near, and candidates across the country are busy traversing their districts in yet another election that will likely be decided by voter turnout.

But voting in the United States has never been as easy as simply showing up at the polls – and in some states it’s getting more difficult in ways that disproportionately affect immigrant and minority voters.

The poster child for this trend is Georgia under Republican Governor Sonny Perdue. Just before the 2008 election, the Department of Justice was forced to intervene to block a flawed voter-verification process in the state that inaccurately flagged thousands of Georgia residents as non-citizens, denying them the right to vote.

This election, Georgia is once again planning an extensive new voter-verification process that voting rights advocates say could effectively disenfranchise thousands of citizens. But this time the state hasn’t stopped at its attempt to implement more barriers to voting. Instead, it has also challenged the bedrock provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that requires jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to submit proposed voting changes for federal pre-approval to ensure that they are free from discrimination.

This is part of a disturbing movement of states with a dark history of voting discrimination – including Alabama, North Carolina and Texas – that are proposing newly restrictive voting measures that disproportionally impact minority voters while simultaneously challenging the Voting Right Act’s provision requiring they receive approval from the courts.

We’ve made dramatic progress in reducing discrimination in our electoral system in the four decades since the Voting Rights Act was passed. But there are still reports of irregularities and racially-charged voter suppression in almost every election, and in that context challenges to the most important voting rights legislation ever passed in the United States should concern everyone.

That’s why with Election Day only two weeks away, we’re joining with our friends at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in urging our national leaders to affirm the breadth and depth of the Voting Rights Act and prevent the disenfranchisement of minority voters.

Please add your voice in support of the voting rights of all Americans today.

For more news and commentary on this week in change, see the summaries of your favorite causes below.

Free Eddy Zheng in IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

Eddy Zheng was sentenced to over two decades in jail at the age of 16, in a process language barriers prevented him and his family from fully understanding. Since his release, he has distinguished himself as a leader in prisoner rehabilitation and youth violence prevention, winning the appreciation of the San Francisco mayor and other elected officials. Yet, as a non-citizen, he faces deportation for his ancient crime. Zheng has applied for a governor’s pardon, and you can help him win it. Read more »

Chicago’s Wonder Women in EDUCATION

If you’ve seen the documentary Waiting For Superman, you know that America’s education system is in crisis. What happens when a group of moms take things into their own hands? Since September 15, moms from the South Side of Chicago have staged a sit-in to demand a school library for their children. Chicago Public Schools plans to knock down an old building and replace it with a field, but the moms want to turn it into a community center. Read more »

Pink Ribbon Hypocrisy in HEALTH

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and alcohol companies are asking women to booze it up for the disease. But the irony is sobering: alcohol directly contribute to breast cancer. Will the pink-ribbon labels come clean and tell consumers of the health risks or remain defined by their duplicity? Read more »

Abercrombie’s Child Labor in END HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Despite international condemnation, the government of Uzbekistan continues to remove millions of children from schools across the country and force them to pick cotton in arduous conditions. Sixty-five of the world’s largest apparel brands have refused to buy Uzbek cotton picked by forced child labor. But ironically, children and teens’ clothing companies Abercrombie and Fitch and Gymboree have refused to stand against forced child labor. Read more »

Sidewalk Sitting Ban in END HOMELESSNESS

On Election Day, residents of San Francisco will go to the polls to vote on something called the Sit-Lie Ordinance, or Proposition L. End Homelessness bloggers Rich and Elizabeth Lombino write that homeless advocates describe it another way: discriminatory. If passed, the ordinance will make it illegal to sit or lie on a city sidewalk between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Opponents worry that arbitrary enforcement will mean that people who “look homeless” are forced to move along while others are allowed to stay and rest. Read more »

Have a great week,

– The Change.org Team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Looking at the polls… a message from Rahm

10/19/2010 Nativegrl77

I’ve been looking at the polls and I don’t see a single reason why Democrats can’t retain our strong House Majority with enough support. But time is running out.

Right now, dozens of Democratic House candidates are in the promising — but precarious — situation of trying to maintain a narrow lead in the final 14 days.

You’ve worked hard to carry our candidates to the edge of success. Don’t let Republicans scratch and claw their way back. Midnight tonight is a critical deadline to get money in the door to send out to key battleground races. Even a contribution of $5 can make the difference. But with only 14 days to go we need to get support on the ground now.

Contribute $5, $10 or more before Midnight Tonight to our Two Weeks Out ad buy fund and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by House Democrats.

As a former DCCC Chairman, I know what kind of tough decisions they are being faced with and with just 14 days until Election Day, decisions are being made almost hourly about where to invest our resources. Every single dollar makes a difference.

This year, we have to help them meet a dangerous new challenge as outside shadowy GOP front groups continue to pour money into deceitful and misleading ads.

We can’t have a single regret on the day after Election Day. It’s time to go all in.

Rahm Emanuel

P.S. In these final days, we can’t let a single false attack go unanswered. Every dollar you give will help another House Democrat avoid being crushed by outside group spending. Contribute $5, $10 or more before Midnight Tonight to our Two Weeks Out ad buy fund and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by House Democrats.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

NATIONAL SECURITY Getting Progressive On Afghanistan

10/19/2010 Nativegrl77

Despite being engaged in an intense fight in Afghanistan and still having 50,000 troops in Iraq, this election cycle promises to be the first since 2000 in which national security issues have a small role. In an op-ed in the New York Times on Monday, NBC’s Tom Brokaw wrote, “[N]otice anything missing on the campaign landscape? How about the war?” Brokaw concludes the reason for the wars’ absence is not just because the economy is on the forefront of people’s minds, but because Americans can also opt out of serving in the military and therefore are impacted less by these conflicts. While Brokaw touched on a key point, his conclusion is only half the answer. It is also that both Republicans and Democrats are deciding not to make the wars an issue. Americans after all know how they feel about the wars — they want them to end. This has put the candidates in an awkward position. For Republicans, their long held advocacy of an endless unconditional commitment to both wars is deeply unpopular and is therefore avoided on the campaign trail. While some of the new Tea Party candidates have balked at an endless military commitment, they have provided no alternative approach, leaving many with an utterly incoherent position. For many Democrats taking their cue from the Obama administration, the uncertainty and division over the July 2011 deadline to begin withdrawal from Afghanistan has left them without a clear message. Democratic political consultants have also long guided candidates away from talking about national security issues, but just as in 2006 and 2008, it is past time that progressives argue forcefully for sticking to the timeline for withdrawal. While the economy is clearly the dominant issue in this election, the United States is still sending its children to fight and die in a conflict that increasingly appears to be going nowhere. It is wrong for progressives not to speak up on these issues during the election season, especially when calling for a withdrawal is not only right, but it’s popular.

ENDLESS WAR: Republican leaders, such as Sen. John McCain (AZ), the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin have long argued for an endless commitment to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans are largely opposed to setting a timeline for withdrawal based on the argument that the enemy will “wait us out” — despite the fact that this fear never materialized in Iraq. Regardless, the only argument most Republicans are making on Afghanistan is for staying indefinitely. But they are not making these statements on the campaign trail. The recent Republican “Pledge for America” almost essentially ignored Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not surprising considering the standard GOP position of endless war is deeply unpopular with the American public. Polling clearly shows that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan. A recent CNN poll found that 58 percent of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan. The New York Times/CBS poll found that: “Americans’ assessments of the war are grim. A majority in the Times/CBS News Poll said the United States should not be involved in Afghanistan now, up 15 percentage points since December. And most said the war was going badly, down from its peak but well above the reading in the early years of the war, when broad majorities said it was going well.”

GOP INCOHERENCE: There is currently no Republican counter-plan for Afghanistan and the emergence of Tea Party candidates has only made Republican positions more incoherent. While the issue of Afghanistan is largely being avoided, when it is talked about by conservative candidates much of what is said is completely incoherent. Many Tea Party-backed candidates are instinctively opposed to an endless commitment or engaging in nation-building, but they are also against withdrawing U.S. forces. For instance, on NBC’s Meet the Press last Sunday, Republican candidate for Senate in Colorado Ken Buck was asked about the war in Afghanistan and provided a completely muddled answer. “Well, I, I don’t think we set artificial deadlines. I think that we, we set realistic goals, and, and we try to accomplish those goals. I don’t think we should be nation-building, I don’t think we should be staying there over the long-term,” he said. In four sentences, Buck noted that he is not just against a timeline for withdrawal, but he is also against the mission of building an Afghan state, which is the whole objective of top commander Gen. Petraeus’ counter-insurgency strategy. The Denver Post recently editorialized: “Buck’s critics now call his tap dance ‘Buckpedaling.’ … His position on Afghanistan has morphed so much it’s almost incoherent.” But Buck is not unique. Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell offered similarly disjointed comments in a debate last week about Afghanistan. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele even said that Afghanistan was “a war of Obama’s choosing” despite the fact that it began in October, 2001.

SPEAKING UP: The Obama administration’s troop increase in Afghanistan has not as of yet produced long term results. Bob Woodward’s recent book reveals clear divisions within the Obama administration over the Afghanistan strategy, especially over the interpretation of the July 2011 deadline. While it is common for members of the same party to follow their party’s leader on foreign policy issues, especially when that leader is the President, progressives should take a clear stand on the war in Afghanistan. This Sunday, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who is in a tough political fight and is from a state with a large military population, appeared on Meet the Press and articulated a clear progressive position: “My position is that we ought to begin bringing our troops home in July ’11. And there will be troops there, they’ll have to leave troops there, and I recognize that. But this is the longest shooting war in our country’s history. … [W]hat I want to make clear is that I believe the President needs to honor the commitment that he made to begin bringing our troops home.” Other progressive candidates should follow Bennet’s lead. As Caroline Wadhams of the Center for American Progress wrote, “it is essential that President Barack Obama give this country and the world a clearer sense of how long it will take to draw down American troops in Afghanistan. … [W]e believe ambiguity is becoming counterproductive.”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Google -Official blog

10/19/2010 Nativegrl77

More transparency and control over location

Posted: 18 Oct 2010 11:10 AM PDT

We’ve always focused on offering people the most relevant results. Location is one important factor we’ve used for many years to customize the information that you find. For example, if you’re searching for great restaurants, you probably want to find ones near you, so we use location information to show you places nearby.

Today we’re moving your location setting to the left-hand panel of the results page to make it easier for you to see and control your preferences. With this new display you’re still getting the same locally relevant results as before, but now it’s much easier for you to see your location setting and make changes to it.

Your location setting is now always visible on the left side of the search results page.

We do our best to automatically detect the most useful location, but we don’t always get it right—so in some cases you’ll want to change the setting. At other times, you may want to change your location to explore information relevant to another area. For example, let’s say you’re at work in Mountain View and you’re making plans to see a movie in San Francisco (a common occurrence here at Google). You can change your location to “San Francisco” and search for [showtimes] to find movie listings in San Francisco or search for [restaurants] to find places to eat before the show. Similarly, if you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, you can change the location to “Honolulu” and start exploring the [weather], [hotels] and of course the [beaches]. The location you set can be as specific as a particular zip code or as general as an entire country, but more specific settings generally lead to better search results.

Click “Change location” to specify your location preference.

You used to be able to see and control your location settings, but it was a little clunky. To see your settings, you could click “View customizations” on the results page and to modify them you could click “Change location” next to a variety of search results, such as maps and movie listings. As time has gone by, more and more locally relevant information has come online, whether it’s local business listings or a blog from your hometown. Meanwhile, Google has become much better at presenting this locally relevant content—so it felt like the right time to make this setting easier to find.

The new interface is rolling out now and will be available in more than 40 languages soon. We’re not changing anything about how we use location information to improve search, so it doesn’t change our existing privacy policies. To learn more about our new interface and how we use location in search, check out our help center.

Posted by Mack Lu, Associate Product Manager

~ my 2cents ...

tempest Tuesday &some News

10/19/2010 Nativegrl77

FYI -Washington State ..King5 TV is providing a Voters info show tonight at 7PM so if you are having trouble with I1082, I1098, I1053 and 1100-1107 , Bill52, Res.4220 Res.8225 take some time and tune in.

Wow, so many well-known folks are on the West Coast this week! The President and Mrs. Obama will be holding rallies to move America forward on the left Coast reinforcing what folks should already know; Vice President Biden and President Clinton all in town to show solidarity to move America forward. The 2008 Presidential elections was only the beginning of what will be a long journey leading Americans not only into the 21st Century but a country we can all say works for everyone not just a select few, or for the extreme and or willing to throw everyone under the bus to regain power. It is important that we all realize even though Republicans refuse to admit it is that what happened to the US was a non-partisan reality. The Republican Tea Party chose in my opinion to abuse Americans and misuse their power of authority on the floor of Congress with filibusters, the 60-vote rule, stalling, blocking, and making the Senate scale back on Job Bills, putting in Amendments that no one would vote for to get legislation thrown out. After getting the facts, I cannot understand why anyone would want them to take over or part of Congress with all that they have done or to be more accurate what they have not done while supposedly representing “We the People.” We need people in Congress that will work not just for the people but allow the governing party to do just that; govern. But with comments from the likes of a Michael Steele who feels bipartisanship is overrated, that is in fact the way folks should behave in Congress when the impact of any crisis happens, it is their job to come together to make the corrections needed. If anyone out there is still undecided after 20 months of NO from the Republican Tea Party then i just do not know what to say.

I do know that the current topics of conversation by Politicians and cable heads are hot and when Congress comes back will create more conflicts among all who should be proud to represent all the people not just your state and stop behaving like children who continually have tantrums until they get their way. The American public is very tired of it and maybe it is not the way to govern but if needed i say to the left to the left

Today, my rant is about those issues like abortion, religious freedom just lying in wait until after the November elections and while some Politicians have edged over to bring up these topics those on the right who belong to the birther crowd demanding or questioning the validity of our President they are demanding people stay out of their personal lives. odd. The fact is, this do as we say not as we do Political Party has my blood boiling as the comments, complaints and vile talk about our President’s background, history and earlier behavior became major discussion on every type of media you can imagine. These same people who call themselves Republicans, Tea party and or libertarians continue to feel they are above the questions and not be held accountable, questioned or treated just like the President. These same people have accused President Obama of withholding information from the public yet they get offended when asked to provide more information please because they are running for public office. I feel their constituents deserve to know, the public and Americans deserve to know how these people will vote on issues of religion…will their beliefs dictate to how the vote and impact our constitutional rights. If you are listening and are paying attention conservatives and some conservadems are pushing the discussion of women’s rights, religion, race and gender preference up to the surface to rile their base but what has me confused is why is it mostly conservatives, mostly southern men who still have a need to control women and their bodies or healthcare needs in the year 2010. It’s bad enough that women on the Republican side mostly extreme tea party members say they are fiscal conservatives and want less government in their(our) lives yet topics like abortion, stem cell research/experiments and religious freedom have them not just flustered but their undies are in a bunch. I could not vote for a woman who feels I have no right to choose because they are pro-life because no one chooses an alternative options just because and if nothing else having a safe procedure is better than having a woman be desperate enough to take actions that would put her life at risk. It is my body and The Hyde amendment should be enough for folks on the right. I always want to scream hey, stay out of my life but here I am sounding off the alarm because they will be working on making it harder for women to have the right to choose will Congress comes back. Though we are in 21^st Century the ideology is barbaric and because the old school dogma crosses the line it solidifies how elitist the comments and behavior from Republicans as of late. If you live under a Republican State or conservative ideology, which promotes a class system, that feels they want government out of their lives but not the people they represent or practices systematic discrimination or blatant hate, you should think about the impact repealing, replacing and eliminating will have on his or her own families, friend’s co-workers. The idea that some Republicans want to go back to a time when women and people of colour had no rights sounds silly but before you laugh, take some time and listen closely.

just when I thought, we were all moving into the 21st century

-sigh

Other News …

**Shots fired at the Pentagon today,yesterday the history of the military museum was shot at -not word if they are tied

**Reports that 6-8000 construction jobs will start up with in the next few months/years throughout Oregon and Arizona

**Tax credit/rebates and appliance ends 12/31 -first come first serve

**French citizens continue to protest the increase in retirement age

**Homes in foreclosure …ask for all the documents on your home

CSPAN …