Wisconsin Republicans know they went too far in their attacks on unions and middle class families — so they’re changing election laws to protect themselves.

With six Republican State Senators facing recall, the right-wing Republican majority forced through a new voter ID law that would disenfranchise students, the poor, and the elderly — all groups who vote Democratic — ahead of this summer’s elections.

This is just another Republican attack in their war on working families. That’s why we’re building a people-powered campaign to beat them. We’re putting staff on the ground to organize volunteers, knock on doors, make phone calls and run radio and TV ads featuring real Wisconsin families.

Their campaign is fueled by big corporate money. But our campaign is fueled by grassroots volunteers and small contributions from thousands of DFA members. We can’t afford to wait any longer to start building our campaign. We need to hit the ground running and we can’t do it without you.

http://act.democracyforamerica.com/go/769?akid=851.1480546.vsV5iY&t=1

This Republican attack on their constituents’ right to vote is shameful not just because it’s wrong, but also because it’s so blatant.

They’re not only requiring college students to bring a photo ID — they’re requiring them to bring recent tuition receipts if they’re using a college ID.

They’re not only imposing new residency requirements on voters — they’re also not providing any time or money to local offices to educate voters on the new laws.

Republicans are scared — that’s why they’re launching this attack on people’s voting rights. They know that they crossed a line and that they’re in for a tough fight this summer. Please contribute today and help send a clear message to right-wing Republicans in Wisconsin and across the country — attack the middle class and you lose.

http://act.democracyforamerica.com/go/769?akid=851.1480546.vsV5iY&t=1

Thank you for everything you do.

-Kristina

Kristina Powell, Finance Director

Democracy for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Don’t Discount Women -Demand Fair Change, Not Spare Change

05/24/2011 Nativegrl77

Demand Fair Change, Not Spare Change

Take Action: Tell your Senator TODAY to say NO to budgets that cut supports for women and families to give tax breaks to millionaires.

www.nwlc.org/fairbudget

This week, the Senate is expected to vote on two budget proposals that would devastate women and their families while putting trillions of dollars in the pockets of corporations and the wealthy. Both the proposals — one passed by the House Republican majority (introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)) and one introduced in the Senate by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) — would hurt women and families at every stage of their lives.

We need your help to keep these damaging proposals at bay. Ask your Senator to vote NO on these types of harmful budget proposals!

www.nwlc.org/fairbudget

Both the House Republican budget and the Toomey budget:

•Cut, then cap, Medicaid. Seniors would lose long-term care services, women with disabilities would lose crucial services, and millions of vulnerable women would lose their health coverage.

•Cut, then cap, other core safety net programs, such as SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), which are especially important to women and children.

•Slash funding for other critical programs like child care, Head Start, education, Pell grants, women’s preventive health care, domestic violence prevention and much, much more.

•Give trillions of dollars in new tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations by cutting tax rates for millionaires and corporations on top of permanently extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest.

In addition, the House Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it, forcing seniors in the future to pay substantially more for less coverage. Sen. Toomey did not include this proposal in his budget, because it focuses on just the next 10 years — but the Toomey budget makes even deeper cuts to Medicaid and non-defense programs over the next 10 years than the House-passed budget.

Sincerely

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

BREAKING: Why I’m on a smokestack in Chicago

05/24/2011 Nativegrl77

Community activists in Chicago are fighting for their lives right now against Edison International — the giant utility company that owns the city’s two coal-fired power plants.

Pollution from the Fisk and Crawford plants prematurely kills 42 people every year. That human cost is paid entirely by the communities who live in the shadows of these two aging plants. You won’t find it on Edison International’s bottom-line.

But Chicagoans are fighting back. And Greenpeace is supporting them. That’s why I’m on the smokestack at the Fisk power plant today taking action with other Greenpeace activists. We’re sending a simple message to Edison International: Shut down these plants and quit coal.

The corporate bottom-line for Edison International says that they can’t make money on these plants if they can’t poison the local community for free. Simple as that. It’s why they’re fighting city efforts to reduce toxic pollution and it’s why they really can’t afford the bad publicity right now. Which is why it’s so important you speak out.

Join us and tell Edison International CEO Ted Craver to shut down Fisk and Crawford.

www.greenpeaceusa.org

What’s happening in Chicago isn’t unique. It plays out again and again every day in communities just like yours from Texas to Colorado to Pennsylvania. In fact, coal is costing Americans up to an extra HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS every year. Meanwhile, companies like Edison International are making a killing.

It has to stop and it’s why what these community activists in Chicago are doing is so important.

Edison International can make this change. They’ve already done it in California where their local subsidiary has become the largest purchaser of renewable energy among American utility companies and has plans to phase out ALL coal power by 2016.

Chicago deserves the same. Every community affected by a dirty coal-fired power plant deserves the same. That’s why Greenpeace is working and will continue working with communities across the country to make sure that coal companies like Edison International are no longer allowed to poison people for profit.

You can help support these communities by sending a message to Edison International CEO Ted Craver today. Let’s quit coal.

Sincerely,

Kelly Mitchell

Greenpeace Coal Campaigner

P.S. Please forward this to your friends and family

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Education: The Billionaires Who Want To Privatize Our Schools

05/24/2011 Nativegrl77

There is a vibrant debate going on about how to improve our system of public education. While there is reasonable debate about various reforms, there has historically been one right-wing policy which Americans have opposed — giving students taxpayer-subsidized school vouchers to use at private schools, which undermines and undercuts the public education system. Between 1966 and 2000, vouchers were put up for a vote in states 25 times, and voters rejected the program 24 of those times. Yet despite this historic unpopularity, voucher programs are exploding across the United States, with legislators from Pennsylvania to Indiana to Wisconsin championing the scheme. So what’s responsible for the current shift? A handful of billionaires, corporate-backed foundations and non-profits, and Political Action Committees (PACs) are using their influence to set up front group after front group, determined to spread voucher progra ms across the country, taking aim at the heart of our public education system. It is up to Americans to educate themselves about this assault on public education and defend our public schools.

PRIVATIZING EDUCATION, NOT HELPING OUR KIDS: Voucher advocates, who often refer to their movement as about “school choice,” say that the purpose of pushing their programs is to ensure that “low-income families can access the best schools for their children.” Yet the historical record of vouchers shows that there has been little to no improvement in student achievement among kids who attended private schools with vouchers versus those who attended traditional public schools. The longest-running voucher program in the country is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Started in 1998 “in response to the low academic performance of African-American students, the voucher program survived legal challenges and now serves some 20,000 low-income students in 111 non-public, mainly religious, schools.” Yet the latest state test scores, released in March, show that students in Mi lwaukee’s “school choice program performed worse than or about the same in Milwaukee Public Schools in math and reading on the latest statewide test.” Additionally, the voucher schools had a student body with far less special education children — only “1.5 of voucher students are in special education, while in the public schools, the figure is about 19 percent.” Shortly after the release of state data on Milwaukee’s voucher program, a University of Arkansas study was released that found that “voucher-school students in Milwaukee” were “achieving lower levels of reading and math proficiency than students in Milwaukee Public Schools.” The much-touted Washington, D.C. voucher program, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), got similar results, despite claims by right-wing legislators and former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee that it improved student performance. The Department of Education’s 2010 final report on OPS found that there was “no statistically significant overall impact of the Program on reading or math achievement after at least four years.” Yet despite these failures, conservatives continue to push vouchers. Joseph Bast, the president and CEO of the Heartland Institute, may’v e explained the real thinking behind vouchers in 2002, saying, “The complete privatization of schooling might be desirable, but this objective is politically impossible for the time being. Vouchers are a type of reform that is possible now, and would put us on the path of further privatization.”

RAPID EXPANSION: Despite the lack of evidence that they actually comprehensively improve our education system, voucher programs are exploding across the country, as newly-elected conservative legislators are drawing up voucher schemes and signing voucher legislation into law. Two weeks ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) set off “a new era for education in Indiana” when he signed into law one of the most expansive school voucher laws in the country, opening up a huge fund of tax dollars for private schools. A few days later, the Wisconsin state Assembly vastly expanded school vouchers, freeing up tax dollars even for private religious schools. GOP legislators in the Pennsylvania Senate say they have the votes to pass a sweeping voucher bill of their own. And on Capitol Hill, House Republicans successfully revived Washington, D.C.’s voucher system after it was killed off two years ago. Meanwhile, school choice movements in Florida, Kansas, and elsewhere continue to make progress in advancing legislation friendly to vouchers. This rapid expansion of voucher programs is perhaps unprecedented in recent history. One major defeat for vouchers occurred in Tennessee, where the state Senate passed sweeping voucher legislation yet the House decided to table it, wanting to study the effect of v ouchers elsewhere before diving into untested waters. “We have a lot of reform going on. We have made an extreme amount of changes in education,” said Richard Montgomery (R), urging caution and studying the effects of vouchers elsewhere before passing any legislation.

BILLIONAIRES VS. OUR SCHOOLS: This rapid expansion of voucher programs is not occurring simply because of some grassroots uprising. A small clique of wealthy individuals and their foundations are pushing these pieces of legislation. The most prominent of these individuals are Dick and Betsy DeVos, the power couple who inherited their fortune from billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, Sr. In a speech before the Heritage Foundation in 2002, Dick DeVos explained that conservatives should start referring to public schools as “government schools” instead to undermine public support for them. The DeVos family has poured millions of dollars into the school choice movement, launching a variety of front groups, including but not limited to Children First America, the Alliance for School Choice (ASC), Kids Hope USA, and the American Federation for Children (AFC). AF C spent $820,000 — the seventh-largest single PAC spender during the election — in Wisconsin during the last election, a huge sum which included $40,000 donations to each of several Republicans who were elected and then proceeded to champion radical voucher legislation. Its clout was strong enough to bring Govs. Scott Walker (R-WI) and Tom Corbett (R-PA) together with former D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee together for a school choice event in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the organization’s sister organization, ASC, handed out gigantic grants to school choice organizations across the country, effectively hiding the DeVos’s role, granting $530,000 to the “Black Alliance for Educational Options” in Washington, D.C., for example. ASC is funded by powerful right-wing and corporate ideologues, thousands of dollars from Charles Koch, and hundreds of thousands of doll ars from the Jaquelin Hume Foundation, the brainchild of an ultra-wealthy California businessman who helped bring Ronald Reagan to power. Meanwhile, the Bill and Susan Oberndorf Foundation, set up by an investment firm fortune couple, has been siphoning money off to school choice groups across the country. In 2009, it gave $376,793 to AFC and $50,000 to the Brighter Choice Foundation. At a recent education panel, Bill Oberndorf was credited with giving “tens of millions” of dollars to the school choice movement, and called the Indiana voucher law the “gold standard” for what should be done across America. Americans have to arm themselves with the facts to avoid that fate.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Congress: the Republican led House love fest w/Bibi @11am -the Senate deals with S.1038

05/24/2011 Nativegrl77

The Senate Convenes at 10:00amET May 24, 2011

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 3pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume the motion to proceed to S.1038, a bill to provide for the extension of expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act until June 1, 2015 with the time until 5pm equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Votes:

75: Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.1038, a bill to provide for the extension of expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act until June 1, 2015;

Invoked: 74-8

There will be no further roll call votes during today’s session.

Unanimous Consent:

adopted S.Res.195, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS

LEGISLATIVE DAY OF MAY 24, 2011

112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

9:40 P.M. –

The House adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on May 25, 2011.

On motion to adjourn Agreed to by voice vote.

Mr. Bartlett moved that the House do now adjourn.

9:30 P.M. –

SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES – The House resumed Special Order speeches.

Ms. Foxx filed a report from the Committee on Rules on H. Res. 276.

8:41 P.M. –

SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES – The House has concluded all anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to Special Order speeches.

8:39 P.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with further one minute speeches.

H.R. 1216:

to amend the Public Health Service Act to convert funding for graduate medical education in qualified teaching health centers from direct appropriations to an authorization of appropriations

8:38 P.M. –

Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 1216 as unfinished business.

On motion that the Committee rise Agreed to by voice vote.

Mr. Guthrie moved that the Committee rise.

8:26 P.M. –

Mr. Guthrie raised a point of order against the Weiner amendment Mr. Guthrie stated that the amendment violated clause 10 of rule XXI by increasing mandatory spending. The Chair sustained the point of order.

8:21 P.M. –

DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with debate on the Weiner amendment under the five-minute rule pending reservation of a point of order.

Amendment offered by Mr. Weiner.

An amendment numbered 1 printed in the Congressional Record to add a new paragraph providing that provisions of the bill shall not take effect until the date that the Comptroller General of the United States determines there is no primary care physician shortage in the United States.

8:20 P.M. –

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Foxx amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Pallone demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the Foxx amendment until a time to be announced.

8:02 P.M. –

DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole continued with debate on the already pending Foxx amendment.

8:01 P.M. –

The House resolved into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for further consideration.

Considered as unfinished business.

H.R. 1540:

to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes

7:58 P.M. –

Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 1540 as unfinished business.

6:48 P.M. –

GENERAL DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R. 1540.

The Speaker designated the Honorable Steve Womack to act as Chairman of the Committee.

House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 269 and Rule XVIII.

Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 1216 and H.R. 1540. Measure will be considered read. Bill is closed to amendments. The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate and waives all points of order against consideration of the measures. The rule provides one motion to recommit H.R. 1216 with or without instructions. The rule also provides that after general debate on H.R. 1540, the Committee of the Whole shall rise without motion and that no further consideration of the bill shall occur except pursuant to a subsequent order of the House.

Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 269.

H.R. 1216:

to amend the Public Health Service Act to convert funding for graduate medical education in qualified teaching health centers from direct appropriations to an authorization of appropriations

6:45 P.M. –

Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 1216 as unfinished business.

On motion that the committee rise Agreed to by voice vote.

6:44 P.M. –

Mr. Guthrie moved that the committee rise.

On agreeing to the Cardoza amendment Failed by recorded vote: 182 – 232 (Roll no. 337).

6:37 P.M. –

On agreeing to the Tonko amendment Failed by recorded vote: 186 – 231 (Roll no. 336).

6:29 P.M. –

On motion that the committee rise Failed by recorded vote: 14 – 397 (Roll no. 335).

6:02 P.M. –

Mr. Weiner moved that the committee rise.

3:55 P.M. –

DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with debate on the Foxx amendment number 7 under the five-minute rule.

Amendment offered by Ms. Foxx.

An amendment numbered 7 printed in the Congressional Record to to prohibit the use of funds provided for graduate medical education from being used to provide abortion or training in the provision of abortion. Additionally, funds would not be provided to a teaching health center if the institution discriminates against individual health care entities that refuse to provide abortion under go training in the provision of abortion, or offer referral for abortion services.

3:54 P.M. –

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Cardoza amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced the noes had prevailed. Mr. Cardoza demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.

3:42 P.M. –

DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with debate on the Cardoza amendment number 9 under the five-minute rule.

Amendment offered by Mr. Cardoza.

An amendment numbered 9 printed in the Congressional Record to require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the extent of physician shortages in areas with significant shortages. The study should also examine the effects of expanding and establishing new medical graduate programs as directed by the health care overhaul law on the number of physicians were the funding not rescinded by the bill

3:41 P.M. –

POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Tonko amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced the noes had prevailed. Mr. Tonko demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.

3:33 P.M. –

DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with debate on the Tonko amendment number 2 under the five-minute rule.

Amendment offered by Mr. Tonko.

An amendment numbered 2 printed in the Congressional Record to conduct a study of the number of primary care physicians that would be trained as a result of the funding provided in the health care overhaul law compared to the number of physicians that would be trained should funding be eliminated or rescinded.

2:43 P.M. –

GENERAL DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R. 1216.

2:42 P.M. –

The Speaker designated the Honorable Ted Poe to act as Chairman of the Committee.

House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 269 and Rule XVIII.

2:41 P.M. –

Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 269.

H. Res. 269:

providing for consideration of the bill ( H.R. 1216) to amend the Public Health Service Act to convert funding for graduate medical education in qualified teaching health centers from direct appropriations to an authorization of appropriations; providing for consideration of the bill ( H.R. 1540) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes; and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules

2:39 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by recorded vote: 238 – 181 (Roll no. 334).

2:31 P.M. –

On ordering the previous question Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 233 – 179 (Roll no. 333).

1:13 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 269.

Considered as privileged matter.

1:10 P.M. –

PRINTING OF PROCEEDINGS IN RECORD – Ms. Foxx asked unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Congressional Record of today. Agreed to without objection.

H. Res. 274:

electing a Member to a certain standing committee of the House of Representatives

1:09 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection.

Considered as privileged matter.

S. 990:

to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes

1:06 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.

1:01 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 990.

Considered under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Graves (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

1:00 P.M. –

The Speaker announced that votes on suspensions, if ordered, will be postponed until later in the legislative day.

12:46 P.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches which by direction of the Chair, would be limited to 15 per side of the aisle.

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of May 24.

12:16 P.M. –

The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:45 P.M. today.

JOINT MEETING – The Speaker announced that the Joint Meeting was dissolved. The House remains in recess until approximately 12:45 p.m.

10:58 A.M. –

JOINT MEETING – The House has reconvened in Joint Meeting with the Senate to receive an address by His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of May 24.

10:05 A.M. –

The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The House will reconvene in Joint Meeting with the Senate for the purpose of receiving His Excellency Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. The next meeting is subject to the call of the Chair.

10:02 A.M. –

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Ms. Ros-Lehtinen to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

10:01 A.M. –

Today’s prayer was offered by Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn, The Conservative Synagogue, Westport, Connecticut

10:00 A.M. –

The Speaker designated the Honorable Eric Cantor to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.