Today, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is holding a hearing on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It’s the beginning of what will be a very big fight.

Wall Street and Republicans don’t want CFPB oversight and have made clear their intentions to sabotage this important agency in any way to prevent it from protecting consumers. Since the CFPB requires a permanent director in order to operate with full authority, Senate Republicans see defeating the nomination of Richard Cordray as priority #1 in crippling the Bureau.

We need to keep significant pressure on Senate Democrats to stand unified and use every tool they can to confirm Cordray. And we need to keep grassroots pressure on Republicans to challenge the financial industry’s iron grip on their party and do the right thing for American consumers.

Cordray was picked by Professor Elizabeth Warren to be one of her top deputies in setting up the CFPB. As Ohio’s attorney general, Cordray earned a reputation of being tough on the financial industry. He was among the first attorneys general to take action in the nationwide foreclosure investigation into the mishandling of paperwork and successfully sued AIG, exposing banks’ use of hidden fees and other consumer exploitations.

After you sign the petition, please call your senators’ office to back up the message.

Help us get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau working! Help to confirm Richard Cordray as its director. www.pfaw.org

— Ben Betz, Online Strategy Manager

This will be a sustained campaign that could call for various actions and constituent contacts, but the petition is the way we want to register support for Cordray first and foremost. If we can get enough Americans to sign, we’ll be able to make a splash on Capitol Hill when we deliver the signatures to the Senate

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Final push for NY-09 …Rep. Joe Crowley

09/06/2011 Nativegrl77

House Republicans are investing heavily in an upcoming special election in New York in the hopes of electing another radical right-wing member to their caucus. We cannot afford to let this happen.

Republicans are trying to wrest NY-09 away from Democrats with smears and misleading attacks. Democratic candidate David Weprin is spreading his message that everyday Americans, families and seniors, not millionaires and Big Oil, should come first.

Meanwhile, his opponent is a radical right-winger ready to fight alongside John Boehner and the tea party. He has promised to push for drastic budget cuts and is even on record as rejecting the Republican’s budget and plan to end Medicare because it did not go far enough.

The election is just one week from today. We must immediately raise $25,000 in rapid response funds to help David fight Republican attacks in these final days.

www.dccc.org

David’s opponent may have his deep-pocketed right-wing supporters to help him — and national Republicans ready to swoop in — during the final push before the election, but we are depending on grassroots supporters like you.

Your generous donation will help David with get out the vote efforts and to spread his message about the need to protect Medicare and Social Security. Even just a small gift today could go a long way.

Can you chip in today www.dccc.org

Thank you,

Congressman Joe Crowley
DCCC National Finance Chairy to help give David critical resources in the final days before the special election?

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the 2012 election: our grassroots fundraising program…Julianna Smoot, BarackObama.com

09/06/2011 Nativegrl77

Today we’re launching something that could change the 2012 election: our grassroots fundraising program.

Because you’re one of this campaign’s earliest supporters, we’re counting on you to be a part of it.

Other campaigns rely on powerful special interests to grow, but we’ve rejected that top-down model from the very beginning.

Grassroots fundraising opens up the process of building this campaign to anyone who wants to take the reins, putting the power in the hands of supporters like you who have already chipped in to own a piece of it.

All you have to do to get started is to sign up for your own personal page. You can get creative and customize it however you’d like — from setting a goal for yourself to uploading a photo and telling the story of why you’re getting involved. Then you’re all set to start inspiring people in your networks to step up and support the President.

By the end of the day today, thousands of people will join the first class of 2012 grassroots fundraisers, and I think you should be one of them.

www.barackobama.com

As a 2012 grassroots fundraiser, you can recruit five new supporters or 500. Either way, the people you bring into this campaign will continue to grow it themselves, and wouldn’t be taking that step without you.

If it sounds familiar to you, it’s because that’s the basis of all of our organizing — one supporter reaching out to the next, who reaches out to two more. Before you know it, you’re no longer just a handful of people doing their best to re-elect the President. You’ve helped build a movement.

The people on the other side of the aisle have shown they believe in a very different kind of politics. So much of their strategies involve taking advantage of new ways to get around campaign finance restrictions — even allowing special interests to pool unlimited sums of money from corporations to try to influence the election for Republicans.

We’re better than that. We’re empowering everyday supporters to build this campaign themselves.

In one month, we’ll close the books on this fundraising quarter — and we’ll show that our grassroots network can go toe to toe with anyone.

But that starts with you. Sign up today:

www.barackobama.com

can’t wait to see what you can do.

Thanks,

Julianna

Julianna Smoot
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Congress: -Another day of Republicans avoiding their duty to Americans

09/06/2011 Nativegrl77

Senate Convenes at 2:00pm 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 6^th Circuit with 30 minutes of debate equally
divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley or their designees.
At approximately 5:30pm, the Senate will conduct 2 roll call votes on the
following:
- Confirmation of Bernice Bouie Donald to be US Circuit Judge for the
  6^thCircuit
- Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.1249, the Patent
  Reform bill
At approximately 5:30pm today, the Senate will conduct two roll call votes on the following:- Confirmation of Calendar #109, the nomination of Bernice Bouie Donald, of Tennessee, to be US Circuit Judge for the 6th Circuit
– Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.1249, the Patent Reform bill

5:36pm The Senate began a roll call vote on confirmation of the nomination of Bernice Bouie Donald to be United States Circuit Judge for the 6th Circuit; Confirmed: 96-0

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

6:05pm The Senate began a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.1249, the Patent Reform bill; Invoked: 93-5

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

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

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

10:03 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 2:00 p.m. on September 7, 2011.DISPENSING WITH LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS – Pursuant to section 4 ofH. Res. 375, the Chair announced that no legislative business would be conducted on this day.

10:02 A.M. – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair led the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.APPROVAL OF THE JOURNAL – Pursuant to section 5 ofH. Res. 375, the Chair announced that the Journal of the last days’ proceedings was approved.

10:00 A.M. – Today’s prayer was offered by the House Chaplain, Rev. Patrick J. Conroy.The Speaker designated the Honorable Allen B. West to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.