Daily Archives: 08/16/2011

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Verizon strike … Jess Kutch, Change.org

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Verizon made billions in profits in just the last four years — but right now, the telecom giant is demanding $1 billion from its own workers in pay and benefit cuts.

Worse, rather than negotiate fairly with their employees, Verizon representatives cut off all negotiations and are refusing to talk.

So more than 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike demanding that Verizon stop its attack on the middle class. If Verizon sees the public and its customers behind the striking workers, the company can be forced back into good faith negotiations.

 Sign the Change.org petition by the Communications Workers of America asking Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam to restart negotiations and stop Verizon’s attack on the middle class.>>   http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-verizon-stop-attacking-the-middle-class?

If $1 billion in cuts is hard to grasp, consider this: Verizon is demanding each of its employees forfeit $20,000 in wages and benefits every year.

Verizon’s executives aren’t forced into outrageous cuts with their workers. In the last four years, Verizon’s top five executives were paid more than a quarter-billion dollars.

While Verizon makes record profits, its workers shouldn’t be made to suffer. Let Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam know you stand with workers against the company’s refusal to bargain. Click here to add your name to the workers’ petition on Change.org:

www.change.org

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jess and the Change.org team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

URGENT: Anti-LGBT McCarthyis​m? … Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign


We’ve come to expect GOP candidates to call for a hateful constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. But we never expected them to support forming a commission to investigate pro-equality advocates like you and me.

I’m not making this up. Several of the GOP presidential candidates have now signed a pledge to appoint “a commission to investigate harassment” of anti-LGBT activists. It’s part of a years-long effort by right-wing groups to protect their mega donors from being held accountable for their hateful views – and it’s picking up speed. Fast.

This witch hunt commission would usher in a despicable era of anti-equality McCarthyism – and it’s a sign of just how radical the right has become. We’re fighting their hate with a grassroots campaign targeting anti-LGBT rhetoric, a media operation to debunk their lies, and a red-state bus tour to promote equality across the nation. But we need 874 more new members to reach our goal of 2,000 by Wednesday if we’re going to pull it off.

 www.hrc.org

Every day, our groundbreaking work in schools and churches advances tolerance and acceptance. Our “Call it Out” campaign is targeting anti-LGBT hatred in local communities across the nation, and all eyes are on Maryland as the next target for marriage equality. We’re battling anti-gay attacks from right-wing zealots and politicians alike, and walking the corridors of Capitol Hill to push for a repeal of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.

But at a moment like this, we need to go big. That’s where our bus tour comes in – and where you can make all the difference.

We started this multi-city tour in the backyard of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City and we’re continuing onward to other red states throughout the Midwest and South where it’s often tough for LGBT Americans to live openly. We’re going state by state to deliver our message loud and clear: There is no community where intolerance is welcome. There is no slur we won’t call out.

And – most importantly – there is no chance we’ll let a hateful fringe tear down all that we’ve accomplished together in the last years, especially in New York where marriage equality is already under attack.

 we can’t afford to cede an inch. But only the support of thousands of straight allies – at a pivotal moment like this – will give us the strength to drive this movement forward.

 www.hrc.org

As we’ve learned time and again – from hate crimes legislation to DADT repeal to New York marriage equality – if we keep standing together, we’ll get to our destination sooner than we think.

Let’s go big,
Joe Solmonese
President

~ Recent Post

Re: Forced confession​s and wrongful conviction​s must end


Recent DNA testing has proven the innocence of 10 Black men who were were only children when they were forced by Illinois police to confess to murders they didn’t commit.

Some of them have been imprisoned for nearly 20 years, but despite the overwhelming evidence, which has even linked the crimes to the real killers, the state of Illinois refuses to recognize their innocence.

If enough of us speak out, we can expose these injustices and force the state of Illinois to do right by these men. Please join us in demanding that State Attorney Anita Alvarez immediately agree to overturn their convictions. It takes just a moment:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/933?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=6

The Dixmoor Five

In the first case, which occurred in October 1992, five Black teenagers, later called the Dixmoor Five, were arrested in Cook County, IL for the sexual assault and murder of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews. Three of the five boys confessed to the crime in exchange for lighter sentences and testified against the others. They’ve since recanted their testimony, with one man claiming that he was tricked into signing a confession by local police.1

A few months ago, DNA samples taken from the victim were tested using modern techniques. The DNA didn’t belong to any of the men accused of her rape and murder — instead it was linked to a convicted rapist and armed robber who was 32 years old at the time.2

In the face of this overwhelming evidence, the State’s Attorney’s office stubbornly downplayed the significance of the DNA evidence and opposed the release of the men.

The Englewood Five

Two-and-a-half years later, five more Black Cook County teenagers, known as the Englewood Five, were taken into custody for the sexual assault and murder of a 30-year-old woman named Nina Glover. In this case, five juvenile confessions resulted in the convictions of four teenagers (aged 14-18 at the time). While one teenager wasn’t convicted, the other four received lengthy prison sentences. Recently, DNA extracted from the victim was matched to a now deceased serial rapist and murderer — a man who has a history of preying on women and strangling them.3

The State has argued that any DNA match in this case would be inconclusive due to the lifestyle of the victim, who was known to engage in prostitution. However, the semen found in the strangled body of Ms. Glover is from a man that the Cook County State’s Attorney‘s office has long believed was responsible for two strangulation-murders of prostitutes and violent assaults of at least five others.4

The Common Thread

The thread that connects both these cases? The teenagers were incarcerated as a result of confessions we now know were forced by police. Eight of the 10 teenagers confessed to police during intense and coercive interrogations, and six of the now grown men are still in custody.

Coerced confessions play a part in almost a quarter of all wrongful convictions nationwide.5 Even the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that teenagers are particularly susceptible to falsely incriminating themselves during questioning from police and should not be subjected to harsh interrogation tactics.6

Coercive interrogation practices must come to an end. Ensuring the release of these men wouldn’t just help correct a gross injustice — it would send a message to law enforcement that they can’t get away with forcing teenagers to confess to crimes they didn’t commit, and that this practice compromises the entire public’s safety.

Please join us in demanding that Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez agree to vacate the convictions of these young Black men, and when you do, ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/933?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=8

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
    August 16th, 2011

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU–your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/205?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=10

References:

1. “DNA evidence links man to 1991 murder, may clear 5 convicted in case,” Chicago Tibune, 04-15-11
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/929?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=12

2. “State’s response to petition for relief from judgement,” Circuit Court of Cook County, 04-29-11
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/931?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=14

3. “Man convicted in 1994 rape, murder pins hopes on advanced DNA test,” Chicago Tribune, 03-25-11
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/930?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=16

4. “State’s motion to dismiss request for post-conviction DNA testing,” Circuit Court of Cook County, 01-19-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/932?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=18

5. “Understand the Causes,” Innocence Project
 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/934?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=20

6. “Supreme Court case J.D.B. v. North Carolina,” Supreme Court opinion, October, 2010
“http://act.colorofchange.org/go/928?akid=2117.1174326.QFte7W&t=22

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

pro forma Sessions … until 9/2/2011


The Senate will meet on the following dates and times for pro-forma sessions only with no business conducted:

– Friday, August 5th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 9th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 12th at 12:00pm,

– Tuesday, August 16th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 19th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 23rd at 2:30pm,

– Friday, August 26th at 11:15am,

– Tuesday, August 30th at 10:00am,

– Friday, September 2nd at 10:00am;

When the Senate convenes at 10:00am on Friday, September 2nd, it will adjourn until 2:00pm on September 6, 2011. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business until 5:00pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will be in Executive Session to consider Calendar #109, Bernice Bouie Donald, of Tennessee, to be United States Circuit Judge for the 6th Circuit with 30 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley.

The next roll call votes will be at 5:30pm on Tuesday, September 6th. The first roll call vote will be on confirmation of the Donald nomination. The 2nd will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R.1249, the Patent Reform bill

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

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF AUGUST 16, 2011
112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

11:34 A.M. – The Speaker announced that the House do now adjourn pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of H.Res. 375. The next meeting is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on August 19, 2011.

11:33 A.M. – The Speaker laid before the House a message from the President transmitting a notification of the continuance of the national emergency with respect to the lapse of the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended. – referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed (H. Doc. 112-49).

NOT DISPENSING WITH LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS – Pursuant to section 4 of H.Res. 375, the Chair announced that legislative business would not be dispensed with on this day.

11:32 A.M. – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG – The Chair led the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.JOURNAL APPROVED – The Chair announced that pursuant to section 5 of H.Res. 375, the Journal of the last days’s proceedings was approved.

11:30 A.M. – Today’s prayer was offered by Reverend Susan Kirlin-Hackett, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Lake Stevens, WashingtonThe Speaker designated the Honorable Jim Jordan to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.