First Lady Michelle Obama honors organizations and individuals making healthy changes in their communities. March 7, 2013.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

How the sequester impacts military families

03/08/2013 Nativegrl77

VoteVets.org

“What that means is the rest of the forces that are now back in the United States will not be able to train. They will be able to do small-level, squad-level training. They will not be able to do platoon-level, company-level, battalion-level training back at their installations. They will not be able to go out to combat training centers, which is what provides them the final readiness certification at the battalion and brigade level.” – Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General Ray Odierno

When Republicans rejected compromise solutions to avoid the “sequester,” they ushered in a series of cuts that promise to hurt military families at home and in the field.

At home, medical care, Department of Defense-run schools, social services like sexual assault prevention and treatment, tuition assistance, child care, and many other programs will get cut.

In the field, operations and maintenance funding (O&M) — which is essentially responsible for readiness and deployment — already faces a $6 billion shortfall, and sequestration could double it.

We have a powerful voice and unique opportunity to stop these cuts. Sign our petition to congressional leadership calling on an end to the sequester and its impact on military families.

http://action.votevets.org/sequester

Nine Republican Senators already defected from a GOP plan to end the sequester, in large part because of the cuts impacting members of the military and their families.

They also rejected a commonsense Democratic plan that would have millionaires and billionaires shoulder a small amount of the burden to avoid sequester.

The issue is at an impasse right now, and our voices are critical to ensure there’s a resolution to the crisis.

Sign our petition to congressional leadership and make your voice heard today.

http://action.votevets.org/sequester

We’ll deliver these petitions early next week and let you know about any responses we receive from legislative offices.

Best,

Jon Soltz
@jonsoltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Stand with Women and Girls … Mercy Corps

03/08/2013 Nativegrl77

Add Your Name!

Dropping out of school to walk miles for clean water. Being forced into marriages as young as eight. Going hungry so a child might have something to eat. Right now, around the world, women and girls are facing impossible choices.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve seen firsthand what happens when women and girls have someone standing behind them: Girls can go to school. Mothers can feed their children. Women can help their whole communities thrive. This International Women’s Day, show women and girls you’re standing with them – add your name to our pledge today.

At Mercy Corps, we’re working around the world to ensure that women and girls have the tools they need to go to school, be protected from violence, and lift themselves and their communities out of poverty.

Help us celebrate International Women’s Day by signing our pledge and standing with women and girls around the world – together we can ensure every woman and girl has the bright future she deserves.

Sincerely,

Dan O'Neill, Mercy Corps Founder

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

9 Popular Progressive Ideas

03/08/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

Progressive = Popular

The president signed the Violence Against Women Act today, which proves Washington can get things done if House Republicans drop their intransigent resistance long enough to allow important bills to come to a vote.

Here’s 9 other popular progressive ideas that should become the law of the land:

Raising the Minimum Wage: In his State of the Union speech, the president called for the minimum wage to be raised to $9.00 an hour. And just this week, two leading progressives, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), introduced legislation to raise it to $10.00 per hour. A poll out yesterday found that 71 percent of Americans back raising the minimum wage to $9.00.
Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases: The Senate Judiciary Committee is working on gun violence prevention legislation as we speak and is expected to advance a universal background check bill to the full Senate as soon as tomorrow. This is a no brainer. Not only would this be the most effective policy to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, it’s supported by nearly everyone. The most recent poll, out just today, finds that 88 percent support universal background checks — including 85 percent of gun-owning households. Other polls have shown support of over 90 percent.
Additional Revenues to Reduce the Deficit: A whopping 76 percent of Americans agree with the president that we need a balanced approach to reduce our deficit, one that includes both spending cuts and additional tax revenues. Just 19 percent back the Republican view that we should reduce the deficit through spending cuts alone.
Job-Creating Infrastructure Investments: A majority of Americans support making investments to repair and replace our deteriorating national infrastructure — investments that could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. In fact, investmenting in our roads, bridges, airports, and other infrastructure was the most popular job creation policy. Unfortunately, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly voted down such proposals in recent years, citing their unwillingness to finance them using tax hikes on the wealthy and corporate special interests like Big Oil.
Pathway to Earned Citizenship: A pathway to earned citizenship is an integral part of reforming our broken immigration system and bringing the 11 MILLION undocumented immigrants already here out of the shadows. Even 60 percent of Republicans support a pathway to earned citizenship, which receives the support of 70 percent of all Americans.
Expanding the Medicaid Program: Two-thirds of Americans favor the part of ObamaCare that calls for expanding the Medicaid program. in order to insure millions of lower-income Americans. The Supreme Court made the expansion voluntary and, thankfully, even many conservative Republican governors are coming around and now support expanding the program in their states.
Marriage Equality: Support for full marriage equality is now a mainstream, majority view. A study out today found that opposition to marriage equality is now concentrated “among a few narrow demographic groups.”
Universal Access to Birth Control: ObamaCare requires health insurers to offer birth control at no additional cost, a policy supported by 70 percent of Americans. This policy is also supported by a majority of Catholics despite continuing opposition by Catholic bishops.
Expanded Early Childhood Education: In his State of the Union speech, the president proposed universal pre-kindergarten for every four year-old and a significant expansion of other early childhood education programs. Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of Americans support making these kind of vital investments in our children — investments which come with significant returns.

BOTTOM LINE: Support for progressive ideas and values isn’t limited to Democrats or the left side of the political spectrum. Most progressive policies enjoy broad, bipartisan support and are simply mainstream views held by a majority of Americans. By contrast, conservatives are clinging to an ideology and views that are seen as extreme and out of touch by a majority of Americans.