I’ve been watching what’s going on in Wisconsin, and it’s just one more example of how extreme Republicans have gotten. In Washington, rather than ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, the GOP is trying to balance our national budget on the backs of those who can least afford it. Now in Wisconsin, they’re launching an attack on teachers, prison guards and other public employees – the very workers who educate our children and keep all of us safe. They’re trying to strip away most of their collective bargaining rights and greatly increase the cost of their health care.

It’s unfair, and it must stop.

This is just the start of Republicans showing their true colors. Democrats are fighting back, but they need to know that we’ve got their back.

Click here to sign our petition. Let Democrats in Wisconsin know that we stand with them against the extreme antics of the GOP.>> https://dscc.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=12FTKLQXgXuKsd84F%2BGYYCjDrP7XIFaG

Republicans are far out of the mainstream, and when they target the very people who teach our children and keep our communities safe, we must speak out as Democrats, and as Americans. Thanks for adding your voice.

Sincerely,

Guy Cecil

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

UPDATE: Wisconsin!

02/20/2011 Nativegrl77

featured pic is from paul baker

Over 75,000 people have signed our letter of solidarity with the workers of Wisconsin. We’re trying to reach 100,000 by Monday — can you click here to sign?

Thanks! — Stephanie

——————————————————————————–

Our previous email:

Thousands are protesting in Wisconsin for days straight! Stand in solidarity with Wisconsin workers — sign the open letter against Gov. Walker’s cuts and intimidation.

(photo via paulbaker)

For the last four days, tens of thousands of nurses, teachers, workers, students, and citizens have protested in front of the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison.

Governor Scott Walker is trying to cut benefits for state workers and take away their collective bargaining rights – and he threatened to call out the National Guard if they protest, a threat that’s still on the table.

And Democratic State Senators boldly refused to show up for a vote — delaying the vote!

We must stand in solidarity with these Wisconsin citizens who are fighting back against the Governor. Can you sign our open letter? (Already, dozens of local and national leaders have joined us.)

Click tell the Wisconsin State Legislature to oppose Walker’s budget and say no to his threat to use the National Guard against state workers!

Click on link to tell Wisconsin to oppose Walker’s budget >> http://act.boldprogressives.org/go/3073?akid=3350.264653.6O9-No&t=4

Thousands have camped out in the capitol building overnight, a scene Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan had to admit was “like Cairo has moved to Madison.”

So far, dozens of local Wisconsin leaders like Patrick Landgraf, President AFL-CIO Local 18 have signed on, and they’re joined by the PCCC, VoteVets, CREDO Action, and Daily Kos, as well as thousands of people from Wisconsin and across the country.

We’ll alert the media to the progress of this letter, as more and more people stand in solidarity against Gov. Walker’s cuts and threats. So please pass this email to others.

Open letter to Gov.Walker http://act.boldprogressives.org/go/3073?akid=3350.264653.6O9-No&t=5

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

Stephanie Taylor, Jason Rosenbaum, Adam Green, and the PCCC team

P.S. I’ve got a guest column in Salon about the history of using military force against workers. Click here to read it when you have a moment. http://act.boldprogressives.org/go/3052?akid=3350.264653.6O9-No&t=6

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Urgent: Tell the U.S. House to End the Budget Insanity …AFL-CIO -repost

02/20/2011 Nativegrl77

Repost …

This week the House will vote on Republican scorched-earth budget cut proposals that would amputate critical government services working families rely on every day. They want to slash education—from Head Start to Pell Grants for college. Cut food safety inspections. Cut job safety inspections. Cut investments in infrastructure. Cut the money to send out Social Security checks. And eliminate hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs.

This week the U.S. House will be voting on extremist budget proposals that essentially would shut down critical services for working families this fiscal year. House Republicans claim it’s deficit control. It’s not. It’s an all-out assault on America’s middle class and naked political payback to CEOs who poured millions into the 2010 elections.

Sign the petition telling representatives to stop wasting time on outrages like this.

>> http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=JwmLLkAvQ9Z2eaO7KyjEHVAYly69wHrp

Then, forward this message to your friends and urge them to sign, too. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Bw132snZIJsEpBwz1ZhVLumJZ0bcS%2BhP

This isn’t “fiscal responsibility” or “deficit control.” It’s a bald-faced attack on America’s middle class as political payback to CEOs who poured millions into the 2010 elections. CEOs don’t like job safety regulations, so the politicians they elected will cut the funding and fire the inspectors. CEOs don’t want environmental safeguards, energy improvements or curbs on health insurance companies, so their politicians will just defund the programs.

Sign the petition. Tell representatives: Get to work creating jobs and reviving our economy and stop wasting time on outrages like this.

Then, forward this message to your friends and urge them to sign, too. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=JwmLLkAvQ9Z2eaO7KyjEHVAYly69wHrp

The Republican proposals would propel us squarely in the wrong direction—toward an America we do not want to be. If we don’t stop this budget insanity now, services ordinary Americans count on could cease for months or fail to function at all in this fiscal year.

Think about what America will be like with no occupational safety and health inspections or investigations of workplace fatalities and disasters. No National Labor Relations Board elections to enable working men and women to have a stronger voice on the job, collectively bargain, or choose whether to form a union. No certainty about when the Social Security checks will arrive.

This isn’t about deficit control. It’s about legislating working America out of the way of limitless corporate profits.

Stop this budget insanity. Sign the petition. Tell representatives: Get to work creating jobs and reviving our economy and stop wasting time on outrages like this.

Then, forward this message to your friends and urge them to sign, too. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Bw132snZIJsEpBwz1ZhVLumJZ0bcS%2BhP

The budget madness isn’t limited to the federal level. In state after state, Republican legislators and governors whose election campaigns raked in the corporate contributions are ignoring the job crisis and playing politics-as-usual with the lives of working families. They’d rather take modest pensions and collective bargaining rights away from public employees than win them for working families struggling without. Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin is so determined to make people with decent middle-class jobs suffer and end collective bargaining for public employees that he’s told the National Guard to be ready in case working people strike or rise up.

Wow.

And if that’s not extreme enough, a Missouri state senator, Jane Cunningham (R), proposes ending the ban on employing children younger than 14 and limiting the hours children may work.

Don’t let the budget insanity go any further. Let’s stop it now.

Sign the petition. Tell representatives: Get to work creating jobs and reviving our economy and stop wasting time on outrages like this.

Then, ask your friends to sign, too.

Thank you for taking action.

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann

Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the top 10 shocking, crazy things Republicans have proposed in recent weeks.

02/20/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

It might seem hyperbolic to say that Republicans have declared a war on women.

Sadly, it’s not.

Just take a look at the top 10 shocking, crazy things Republicans have proposed in recent weeks. If you think this constitutes a war on women, please share this email far and wide—forward it, and post it on Facebook and Twitter.

I wish I could say these were the only examples of the Republican war on women. But it’s just a sampling, and more is sure to come—unless we raise a ruckus and call them out. So please, share this email today.

Thanks,

Kat

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP War on Women >> http://pol.moveon.org/waronwomen?id=26180-17809870-Uv5x3Rx&t=3

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women’s access to abortion care, they’re actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven’t.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to “accuser.” But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain “victims.”

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids’ preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn’t enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can’t make this stuff up).

Please share this email today. Just click the links to post on Facebook and Twitter.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell Obama: Veto attacks on EPA funding

02/20/2011 Nativegrl77

Call the White House: President Obama must tell Congress he’ll veto attacks on the Clean Air Act Call now. Obama can stop attempts to block EPA funding. Take action!

Call the White House at (202) 456-1111.

Sample script: ” Hi, my name is… and I am calling to ask President Obama to uphold his commitment and tell Congress he will veto any legislation that strips the Clean Air Act of its authority to limit climate pollution. ”

Congress will likely pass a Republican spending bill that puts the Clean Air Act on the chopping block.

Their proposed continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through the fiscal year includes massive cuts to the EPA, and blocks the Clean Air Act’s authority to set limits on carbon pollution.

Top administration officials have said, as recently as two weeks ago, that Obama would veto any bill that takes away the Clean Air Act’s climate authority. 1 But Congress needs to hear it directly from the President.

Can you call the White House and ask President Obama to tell Congress he’ll veto any spending bill that undermines the Clean Air Act?

Here’s the number to call and a sample script:

Number: (202) 456-1111 (Lines close at 5 pm EST)

Script: “Hi, my name is… and I am calling to ask President Obama to uphold his commitment and tell Congress he will veto any legislation that strips the Clean Air Act of its authority to limit climate pollution.

On Tuesday, the Obama Administration issued a statement that the President would veto the spending bill if it undermines “critical priorities” or “national security” 2 — but didn’t indicate if the Clean Air Act’s climate authority was included as a deal breaker.

The President needs to explicitly affirm this commitment ASAP.

To avoid government shutdown, the final bill must be passed by March 3rd. And as the House debates this bill, Senate Democrats are already working on their version.

While a much different bill will likely emerge from the Senate, the inclusion of provisions to defund the Clean Air Act is a possibility. Conservative and coal-state Democrats like Jay Rockefeller are actively working to delay the EPA’s climate authority, and more progressive Senators facing re-election, like Sherrod Brown and Debbie Stabenow, are still on the fence.

If Obama doesn’t draw a line in the sand, Senate Democrats could cave. But if the President makes his support explicit, he’ll encourage Senate Democrats to stand up for the Clean Air Act, and can veto the law if they fail to do so.

Please call the White House and urge the president to make explicit his commitment to veto attacks on the Clean Air Act.

Thanks for working to protect clean air.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager

CREDO Action from Working Assets