It’s about jobs. You know that the most urgent deficit facing this country is the jobs deficit. It’s time for Congress to do its job and pass a plan that creates jobs for the millions of Americans who are desperately looking for work.

We expect the Senate to vote tonight on whether to allow debate to begin on President Obama’s jobs plan. It couldn’t be more timely or important. Last week, we got some news about the job market, and it’s not a pretty picture. Women gained just 4,000 of the 103,000 jobs created last month. The main reason? Cuts in funding for public services are disproportionately eliminating jobs held by women. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, women have actually lost jobs and their unemployment rate has risen.

President Obama has introduced a plan, the American Jobs Act, to put women and men back to work. Yet some Senators may block the plan from even being considered!

You can help. Tell Congress it is time to stop cutting jobs and start creating them! Please call 1-888-659-9401 TODAY and ask your Senators to support the American Jobs Act.

Please call 1-888-659-9401 today. When connected to your Senators’ offices, please tell them:Your name, where you are from, and that you are a constituent.
That millions of Americans are desperately looking for work and need Congress to act quickly on the American Jobs Act.
That you support paying for the Act’s investments in job creation by making millionaires pay their fair share of taxes and oppose paying for them with further cuts in funding for public services that will destroy more jobs and create greater hardship.
Once you place your call, please call back to be connected to the office of your other Senator.

The American Jobs Act would keep teachers and first responders on the job, invest in rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, provide job training, create incentives to hire the long-term unemployed, provide subsidized employment for disadvantaged workers, extend emergency unemployment benefits, and prohibit discrimination against jobless workers. And it fully funds these urgently needed measures in a progressive way, by levying a surtax on incomes above $1 million.

Please call 1-888-659-9401 today and ask your Senators to support the American Jobs Act. Tell them Americans can’t afford to wait any longer.

Thank you for all you do!

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please help us continue to advocate for policies that protect and improve economic security for women and their families by making a generous donation today.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Trader Joe’s …Amanda Kloer, Change.org

10/11/2011 Nativegrl77

Trader Joe’s: Sell slave-free tomatoes

A remarkable number of major supermarkets, restaurants and food service companies have joined farm workers to fight wage theft, widespread sexual harassment — even slavery — in Florida’s tomato fields. But not Trader Joe’s.

Burger King, Subway and others are on board, paying $0.01 more per pound of tomatoes to the farm workers who pick them and guaranteeing their tomatoes are slave-free. But Trader Joe’s, despite their progressive image, refuses to follow suit.

The Student Farmworker Alliance has started a petition on Change.org calling on Trader Joe’s to sell only slave-free tomatoes. The Florida tomato season starts in October, so getting an agreement from Trader Joe’s in the next few weeks would be a huge victory. Will you sign the petition to get Trader Joe’s to join the Campaign for Fair Food and sell slave-free tomatoes now? http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-trader-joes-to-sell-slave-free-food

More than, 1,000 cases of real-life slavery in Florida’s tomato fields have been investigated by the Department of Labor in the past 10 years. In these cases, workers were housed in overcrowded shacks on the fields, paid poverty-level wages, had their identification documents taken away and were robbed of their wages by employers who fabricated debts to keep them working.

Trader Joe’s works hard on its image and prides itself on responding to customers’ preferences. If enough customers (and potential customers) tell Trader Joe’s they’ll only buy slave-free tomatoes guaranteed through the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Campaign for Fair Food, it will have to join.

Sign the Student Farmworker Alliance’s petition to get Trader Joe’s to make sure its tomatoes are slave- and abuse-free by joining CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-trader-joes-to-sell-slave-free-food

Thanks for being a change-maker,

Amanda and the Change.org team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Alabama

10/11/2011 Nativegrl77

Seal of Alabama Last week, a US district judge in Alabama ruled on HB56, the anti-immigrant measure that allows police to detain anyone without documentation, and forces public schools to confirm every student’s immigration status.

The effects have been both immediate and devastating: schools across the state are already reporting many Hispanic children absent, for fear of their families’ undocumented statuses being discovered. Crops are rotting in the fields because of the sudden shortage of migrant workers. One local framer warned, “There won’t be no next growing season.”

The Center for American Progress compiled comments from business leaders, academics, legal experts and Alabamians on HB56. One of the most powerful responses came from Professor Silvia Giagnoni of Auburn University at Montgomery, who said:

“It is sadly ironic that the same day a federal judge upholds major sections of the Alabama immigration law — the most restrictive in the nation — the state also receives an ‘A’ on its educational work in teaching civil rights history. It’s ironic because this comes at a time when the most retrogressive forces in Alabama claim a victory, although it is unclear to me against whom.”

Congress’ decision not to act on the federal level and pass comprehensive immigration reform means that states like Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Alabama can now legislate discrimination — and other states could soon follow their precedent. This moment must be used as a wake-up call for the entire country to rededicate ourselves to passing national reform. Keep checking the blog as we write more on how our movement is taking action.

UPDATE: A federal judge refused to block the law Wednesday afternoon. We will continue to update as more news comes in.

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Stop anti-immigrant laws from coming to Washington …Marissa Graciosa, Reform Immigration FOR America

10/11/2011 Nativegrl77

Stand up for Alabama families under attack

Schoolchildren in Alabama are hiding. Immigrant families are fleeing the state. Alabama passed an anti-immigrant law so extreme that it is scaring students from attending school, and would allow indefinite detention for those stopped by the police to ask for immigration status without proper paperwork. And a federal judge just approved it.

This is an all-out assault on immigrant families, and it’s not isolated to Alabama. Congress’ inaction on federal immigration reform has left the door wide open for this racist and inhumane legislation, in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and now Alabama. These states aren’t waiting for Washington to do something. They’re writing their own policy, with anti-immigrant leaders holding the pen.

Alabama launched an assault on its immigrant communities — and we must not let these disgraceful actions stand. Take the pledge now to stand with Alabama families against these unjust practices.

A massive outcry of individuals supporting Alabama communities now will send a wake-up call to Washington: we need comprehensive immigration reform now, before other states follow this devastating example. We need your voice to deliver our message to families in the state that the entire country is watching.

Click here to learn more http://act.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/go/1271?akid=758.164689.TCzbeK&t=4 and to pledge your solidarity with Alabama families against the state’s injustice and demand Congressional action on immigration reform.

Thanks for all that you do,

Marissa Graciosa
Reform Immigration FOR America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

AFL – CIO

10/11/2011 Nativegrl77

This week already is shaping up to be huge, with actions everywhere
demanding good jobs for working families, paid for with fair taxes for
millionaires and Wall Street.Occupy Wall Street protests, which really took off over the weekend, will continue in cities from coast to coast. And the AFL-CIO America Wants to Work national week of action starts today.This is a not-to-be-missed moment to get out and attend an event in your community.We’re sponsoring a wide variety of activities, from vigils to teach-ins
on college campuses, demonstrations outside job-outsourcing corporations
and press events. In many places, we’ll join the Occupy Wall Street
protests that have sprung up and are growing, from Hawaii to Washington, D.C.Working people will come together in hundreds of events through Oct. 16 to demand action from Congress to promote a real jobs creation agenda and real shared sacrifice from Wall Street and the rich. Find an event near you.And college students across the country will gather on Wednesday, Oct. 12, for a live national teach-in with events on campuses from 7–8:30 p.m. EDT. Find a teach-in location near you here. Or, watch it live Wednesday night at: http://go.aflcio.org/teachin.Whatever you do this week, don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of something big. Here are some ways to get involved:

Find an America Wants to Work event near you here. To share our week of action on Facebook, click here.
Find an Oct. 12 America Wants to Work teach-in location near you here. Or watch it live from 7–8:30 p.m. here.
Find an Occupy Wall Street event near you here. You can share Occupy Wall Street events on Facebook here.