Monthly Archives: September 2012

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Voter ID


Republicans are working hard to suppress your vote. Mitt Romney and Paul RyanCan you contribute $12 today to the Emergency Black Voter Fund? Join Us

 

Last week 2,260 delegates from all 50 states elected Mitt Romney to represent their party in this election. Yet at the same time the Republican party is talking about freedom and American values, it is doing everything it can to make it harder for Black folks to exercise their right to vote.1

In Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted has eliminated weekend access to polls, an option that was exercised by Black voters in past elections.2 In Pennsylvania, Republicans pushed through a law requiring specific forms of restrictive photo identification to vote, a constraint that systematically pushes Black and low-income voters out of the system.3 In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has overseen a sweeping voter purge that has erased hundreds – if not thousands – of lawful citizens from the voter rolls.4

That’s why we’re launching an Emergency Black Voter Fund. Can you chip in $12 a month until election day, to create a fighting fund to help make sure that these attacks on our right to vote don’t go unanswered. Can you spare $12 a month?

http://act.colorofchange.org/pledge/emergency_recur_donate

With your help we will register thousands of new Black voters and prepare them to have everything they need to vote on Election Day. We will also launch rapid response media campaigns in key states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio to fight back against conservative attempts to make it harder for Black folks to vote.

The Republican machine has invested millions to keep us from voting.5 This will take significant resources, which is why we don’t have a minute to lose. We need your help to get these plans off the ground. Can you chip in $12 a month from now until election day to help turn these plans into reality?

http://act.colorofchange.org/pledge/emergency_recur_donate

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, Dani, Matt, Arisha, Charlene and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team     September 1st, 2012

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://www.colorofchange.org/donate

References

1. “Republicans Boast About Voter Suppression in Tampa, but the Ground Is Shifting,” The Nation (Blog), 08-29-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1759?t=7&akid=2614.1174326.U3rkmV

2. “Equal voting processes for Ohio counties may still be unfair for voters,” WKSU, 08-16-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1703?t=9&akid=2614.1174326.U3rkmV

3. “Shocker: PA Judge Upholds Voter Disenfranchisement Law, Setting Up Chaos Like 2004 in Ohio,” AlterNet, 08-15-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1760?t=11&akid=2614.1174326.U3rkmV

4. “How Governor Rick Scott Is Preventing Eligible U.S. Citizens From Voting In Florida,” ThinkProgress, 05-23-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1761?t=13&akid=2614.1174326.U3rkmV

5. “Many states’ voter-ID laws, including Pennsylvania’s, appear to have tie to same U.S. group,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 08-15-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1762?t=15&akid=2614.1174326.U3rkmV

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The stakes for clean air, clean water, and clean energy jobs …


Here’s something Mitt Romney actually joked about with pride — and plenty of scorn — while formally accepting the Republican nomination for president of the United States:

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet.”

And the crowd went wild.

It is nothing short of terrifying to imagine a party that openly mocks climate change taking back the White House.

The contrast between our candidate and theirs couldn’t be any clearer.

President Obama has more than doubled the amount of electricity we get from wind and solar over his first term — and his plans for wind power are expected to help grow the wind industry to support 100,000 jobs by 2016. Both Romney and Ryan want to kill the wind production tax credit, which could come at the expense of 37,000 American jobs. Oh, but they would keep giving $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil every single year.

And just this week, while President Obama’s administration finalized historic fuel economy standards to double our vehicles’ mileage by 2025 and cut carbon pollution from vehicles in half, the GOP adopted a platform that could kill investments in clean energy, and calls on Congress to prohibit the EPA from moving forward with new greenhouse gas regulations.

Surprise, surprise — according to the Los Angeles Times, the platform “was written at the direction of the Romney campaign,” making it heavily influenced by Big Oil interests.

So there you have it — the stakes for clean air, clean water, and clean energy jobs couldn’t be higher. Make sure your friends and family know what we’re fighting for:

Thanks, and stay tuned.

Buffy

Buffy Wicks National Operation Vote Director Obama for America

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Order Your Free Copy of 4 Basic Steps to Food Safety at Home


Each year millions of people get sick from food illnesses. Clean, cook, separate and chill to keep food from spoiling and causing people to get sick.

Download and order your free copies of 4 Basic Steps to Food Safety at Home

Find more food safety publications at Publications.USA.gov

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Palermo Workers Union


This past weekend we hit the three month mark since we began our strike for a safer workplace and voice on the job at Palermo’s Pizza.I’m not going to lie. It has been hard, at times, to keep the strike going over the past three months. But the recent actions outside more than 50 Costco stores all over the country and the thousands of emails and calls that have been generated to Costco have re-energized us.We can win this with your help. To say thank you and to keep your energized for the fight ahead, we wanted to share this new video from one of the Costco actions some of us attended recently.

Watch the video and share it with your friends here.

Your support forced Palermo’s CEO Giacomo Fallucca to meet with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumkalast Friday to finally begin a dialogue to resolve this issue for workers and Palermo’s customers.

But Fallucca is still refusing to meet with us, reinstate fired workers or recognize our union.

Fallucca and Palermo’s representatives claim they create a family atmosphere in the workplace. I’m not sure about you, but firing long-term employees for organizing to improve their workplace and then refusing to meet with them isn’t what I’d call a family atmosphere.

Let’s show Fallucca what people working together for justice can really do. Let’s keep the pressure up.

Click here now to watch and share our new video:

http://go.aflcio.org/palermosvideo

In Solidarity,

Orlando Sosa
Organizing Committee of the Palermo Workers Union

P.S. Can you help us keep the strike going by contributing $3 or more to our strike fund? Click here to donate online now.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Creating Media That Makes An Impact What’s more likely, voter fraud or a bee sting?


beesting2.JPG

 

Are you as furious as we are about the efforts to roll back the clock and take away people’s right to vote? It has us mad, but sometimes satire and humor is the best way to reach people.  So take a look, have a laugh, and then use video to spread the word.

Voter disenfranchisement is a very real issue that could affect more than 20 million voters this year. We have partnered with our friends at NAACP to create a video that will help people understand how absurd the claims of those who want to limit voting rights are. Take a look at “A Dangerous World” and pass it on to your friends to stop the limiting of citizens’ rights.

In 2011 there were 24 new laws and 2 executive actions restricting the right to vote in 19 states.* There is proposed legislation in 33 states right now that will further limit minorities, youth and senior citizens from voting.  We have a chance to change people’s thinking on this issue. Watch the video then send it to your friends, family, and co-workers. Let’s make sure everyone realizes how ridiculous the claims are and how devastating laws around voter ID and voter disenfranchisement will be to our country.

Thanks for your support.

Best,

Robert Greenwald

PS – If you are a member of CREDO, please go to their page and vote for our Rethink Afghanistan project.