Monthly Archives: October 2011

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AFL – CIO


400,000 JOBS

 
President
Obama has called on the Senate to pass the Teachers and First
Responders Back to Work Act. This bill would create or protect nearly
400,000 education jobs while preventing the layoffs of thousands of
police officers and firefighters.Tell your senators to pass the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act now.

There were 51 senators who supported the American Jobs Act last week—a majority. It should have passed the Senate.

But even as outrage against an economy stacked against the 99 percent
spreads like wildfire across America, Congress continues to fail
workers, again and again. Last week Senate Republicans blocked
progress for workers with procedural maneuvers—and prevented the
American Jobs Act from getting a vote at all, in spite of majority
support.

This shows just how powerful the 1 percent is—the richest Americans want
tax cuts for themselves at all costs, even if it means cutting vital
public services for the rest of us.

But President Obama hasn’t given up on jobs. And neither have we.
He’s called on the Senate to pass pieces of the American Jobs Act. The
first piece is the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, which
would create or protect nearly 400,000 education jobs while preventing
the layoffs of thousands of police officers and firefighters.(1)

Tell your senators to pass the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act now.

Most of us can’t afford to replace police on the beat with our own
private security guards—and who wants to live in the kind of society
where we would need to? The vast majority of us rely on the government
to provide education for our kids. And all of us—even the top 1
percent—need firefighters if our homes are burning.

What doesn’t Congress get? What’s so controversial about the
Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act? Republicans have
supported bills like this in the past. This bill should have
overwhelming bipartisan support.

Let’s make sure every senator knows we won’t let favored treatment for the 1 percent—like sweetheart tax breaks for Wall Street
bankers—cut teachers, police and firefighters from our communities.
Working families have far more votes than millionaires and we deserve
and rightfully demand a society that works for the 99 percent.

Tell
your senators: Let’s get this done. It’s time to get America back to
work, starting with our teachers, firefighters and police officers.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann

Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

(1) http://democrats.senate.gov/2011/10/17/fact-sheet-teachers-and-first-responders-back-to-work-act
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No child should be afraid to go to school …Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign


It’s more evident than ever: discrimination and hate aren’t reserved for far right politicians and pastors.

Last month at The Master’s School outside Hartford, CT, a model student told school administrators she was a lesbian – and was immediately told to withdraw.

And just last week in New Jersey, a special education teacher publicly tore into gays and lesbians in a hideous tirade on Facebook, calling homosexuality “a perverted spirit.”

It’s all happened in the last few weeks around National Coming Out Day, a time to encourage openness – not intimidation, discrimination, or hatred.

If incidents like these make you want to stand up and say “No more!” you’re not alone. Since we launched our new Call it Out campaign, HRC supporters have written hundreds of thousands of letters holding people accountable for discrimination. To ramp up our efforts – from the airwaves to red state communities to the halls of Congress – we need 500 new members to donate in the next 5 days.

Join HRC now and fight back against the hatred polluting our classrooms and our communities. Help us reach the ambitious goal of 500 new members in just 5 days.

WWW.HRC.ORG

, we’ve made remarkable progress together in the last few years. From repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to boosting awareness of bullying, to winning marriage equality in New York – our movement has only grown in its victories.

But opposition to LGBT rights continues, and it isn’t relegated to the far-right fringe. You and I are up against mainstream, powerful organizations like the Catholic Church, whose top U.S. bishop just sent a letter to President Obama threatening a “national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions” if he continues to stand up against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.

I won’t stand for these damaging attacks, and I know you won’t either – certainly not when lives and livelihoods are at stake. I’m counting on you to help us:

WWW.HRC.ORG
* Demand school policies that protect students, just as we did this week when HRC supporters like you sent 49,619 letters to The Master’s School asking that they adopt a non-discrimination policy;
* Continue to push New Jersey school officials to investigate teacher Viki Knox for her anti-LGBT Facebook rant;
* Mobilize red-state communities to fight for equality and help stop bullying through our “On the Road to Equality” national bus tour; and,
* Grow our Welcoming Schools program, which helps school communities embrace family diversity and reject harmful bullying and name-calling.

We need 500 new members to help us create a better world where fear and hate are no longer the dominant discourse – and we need you in the next 5 days. Join us now.

 WWW.HRC.ORG

Your gift today sends a powerful message. This is very much a battle worth fighting, and I’m so grateful to count you among our supporters.

Thank you for being part of this movement,

Joe Solmonese
President

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#occupywal​lstreet bumper stickers …Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America

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One of the most powerful things about the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it’s leaderless. No one person or organization controls it, drives it or can take credit for the movement that’s continuing to build everyday. Most importantly, that also means no one person or organization can stop it.

That’s why big corporations and their right-wing allies are freaking out. They’re scared of the movement that’s sweeping the country because they know it’s real. It’s organic. And it has the power to win because it’s clear we’re not going away until change happens to improve the lives of the 99%.

Here at DFA, we know that it’s not our job to try to take over this movement or take credit for its work. We’re here to help grow and support the work that people across the country are doing organically. So, when thousands of DFA members started writing in to ask us to make “We are the 99 percent” bumper stickers so they could show their support, we knew we had to do it.

Get your FREE “We are the 99 percent” bumper sticker right now.

You can put these stickers wherever you want to show your support for this incredible movement — on your car, in your window, on your laptop…

Whether you’re in a city with a occupation or, better yet, in an area where there isn’t one — you can use our stickers to show people everywhere that this is a movement with huge national support. We can show them exactly what the 99 percent looks like.

So, sign up to get your free sticker right now, or get a pack of 10 for $10.

Help support and grow the occupation — Get a free “We are the 99 percent” sticker today.

Thank you for everything you do.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America

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Last Chance: Make the Health Care Law Work Better for Women …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center


Over the past few months, you helped us send nearly 15,000 messages to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make sure ALL women get birth control without a co-payment through the health care law.

We need your help again. HHS is deciding how key parts of the health care law will work and is accepting comments from the public until the end of the month. Join us in telling HHS how to improve the way the health care law works for women!

There are three things HHS can do right now that are crucial to women’s health:

: Include strong consumer protections to make it easy for women to enroll in high quality, affordable health care plans that meet their needs.
: Simplify the rules for insurance plans that cover abortion so women can choose the health plan that’s right for them.
: Maintain strong, enforceable standards to protect women against discrimination.


We need your help! Tell HHS to move women’s health forward by including these three important provisions in the implementation of the health care law.

The new health law has already helped millions of women: insurance companies are prohibited from dropping patients when they become sick and can no longer limit the amount of money they will pay for benefits over a woman’s lifetime, and women can get no-cost preventive health care like mammograms and pap smears.

We will continue to work with you to make sure that we keep this important law strong for women and their families.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your support allows us to continue to improve the health care of women and their families, as well as work on many other critical issues. Please consider making a contribution today.

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Test your knowledge: Take the Mitt quiz …Brad Woodhouse, Democrats.org

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The Mitt Romney who’s running for the Republican presidential nomination has said he would sign legislation to end Medicare as we know it, slash Social Security, and repeal health care reform as one of his first acts in office.

But over the years, Mitt Romney has supported expanding access to health care, protecting a woman’s right to choose, and investing in infrastructure  — just like the kind in the Recovery Act that brought us back from the brink of a depression.

It’s one thing for a politician’s positions to evolve over time. It’s another to flip back and forth over the course of a 20-year political career based on what office you’re running for and where.

And that’s exactly what Romney has shown: He has no core convictions or values. With him, it’s all just politics.

It makes you wonder — which Mitt would we get in the White House?

And which Mitt would we be relying on to make decisions on behalf of millions of Americans, during a crisis, or as commander in chief?

So we took a hard look at his record, everywhere he’s stood on the issues, and put it all together in the form of a new site,  www.WhichMitt.com

We can’t predict exactly how Mitt would govern as president, but you can take the quiz to test how well you know his track record to get an idea — and perhaps learn a little more about the man some are calling the Republican front-runner.

Which Mitt do you know?

The answer may surprise you:

http://www.WhichMitt.com

Thanks,

Brad

Brad Woodhouse
Communications Director
Democratic National Committee

P.S. — After you check out the quiz, pass this note on to your friends and family, and challenge them to beat your score.