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Emma Ruby-Sachs- Avaaz.org

05/16/2013 Nativegrl77

We win many victories together — like on bees last week. And now any one of us can start a campaign, by ourselves, in minutes. German beekeepers started a petition that got noticed by citizens across the country, then the media, then the government. Start your petition now on any issue that you care about — and it could be shared with thousands:

We win a lot of victories together, but any one of us can get the ball rolling all by ourselves. Remember that huge win we just had on bees?

Well a big part of it was due to a campaign *started* by Avaaz members!
The German vote was crucial to Europe deciding to ban dangerous pesticides. When a group of German beekeepers heard that Germany was likely to vote no, they used our new community tool to start their own petition. Soon over 150,000 people had signed from across the country, their petition had caught the eye of the media and, together with Avaaz staff, they delivered their call to the government!
A day later, Germany switched its vote — helping to pass the Europe-wide ban and save our bees. All it took was a few minutes to start a petition on an issue these amazing beekeepers cared about. And you don’t have to be a beekeeper or an expert or a campaigner to do the same — just click below to get started:
http://avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/
Starting a campaign is quick, but the impact can last for years. And there are no limits on what issue to choose — it could be saving a park from destruction, animals from being mistreated, citizens from corrupt politicians, anything.
Plus, if the petition gets enough support on its own, the staff at Avaaz could pick up the campaign, add strategic advice and even send it to a wider list of members. We’ve got tonnes of tips and advice to help you along the way — all it takes is to get started, share your passion and you can be on your way to winning on any issue – local, national or global.
Forward this email along now to people you know who could also use this tool to change the world — or click here to start an Avaaz petition of your own:
http://avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/
Our amazing community of more than 21 million people has already changed so much. We are transforming the way the world works by bringing people power to decision-making everywhere. Now, by investing in the campaigns that our fellow Avaaz members are all running around the world, we can take our community to the next level.
With hope,
Emma, Alex, Emily, Christoph, Oli, Wen, Caroline and the whole Avaaz team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

CUNY Honors The International Youth Association (TIYA)

05/16/2013 Nativegrl77

TBI_Header_(1).jpg

The Black Institute’s (TBI) subsidiary organization The International Youth Association (TIYA) will be honored at CUNY’s first annual Murphy Institute Scholarship fundraiser. The Co-Founders Alden Nesbit and Mikhel Crinchlow will participate in a pre-event symposium where they will present their organizing plan for the immigration reform campaign as well as future campaign plans.

Thursday, May 16, 2013 Click here to go to the event page.

For years several grassroots black-immigrant rights groups have been advocating for immigration reforms pertaining to Caribbean and African communities including family reunification, a pathway to citizenship for temporary status holders and affordable fines and fees associated with new citizenship. The International Youth Association (TIYA) has been instrumental in organizing the youth effort to be heard in the debate and has called for widespread changes to be made to the current Immigration Reform compromise.

This awards ceremony and symposium is a celebration of TIYA’s work but there is still so much more work to be done. TIYA believes our communities will not thrive under the current compromise because of the DREAM Act provision, backlog and triggers, and the elimination of the Diversity Visa Program. This first attempt at Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a valiant effort. But, it is clear that there is a lot of work ahead. Immigration Reform cannot be comprehensive nor common sense if it is exclusive and unfair.

Goals of The International Youth Association for the Outcome of Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

Comprehensive reform of Immigration policy to include protections for recruited immigrant professionals and their children (e,g, an expedited pathway to Green Card status, a special category that includes recruited professionals from non-STEM disciplines, etc.).
Fulfill the promises of citizenship, education and job opportunity to recruited immigrant professionals and their families, including “aged-out” immigrant children.
End the criminalization and detention of immigrants, and implement safeguards to protect against racial profiling and ensure due process for all immigrants.
Reunite families torn apart by current Immigration policy by expanding benefits to include extended family, and altering the current DACA guidelines to allow children up to the age of 20 to enter the US.
Lessen the economic burden caused by current Immigration policy by investing resources and decreasing processing fees.
Expand the focus of the Immigration reform discourse to include the needs of Black immigrants and their children, who are often marginalized and ignored. This includes amending the language of the DREAM act to include children of immigrant professionals, and allowing the voices of Black immigrants to be heard.

Please help support our Organizing and Immigration Work. The gift that you give today will help our small but effective staff work to shed light on the issues that plague Black communities; empowering our men, women and children to speak out against injustice, maltreatment, ineffective government, poor public policy, inadequate and inefficient social service programs, and poor working conditions. Any amount you can give will help further our mission.

Please make a tax deductible donation or become a monthly Sustainer TODAY.

https://theblackinstitute.nationbuilder.com/make_a_donation

The Black Institute http://www.theblackinstitute.org/

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Obsessed

05/16/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

37th Time’s the Charm?

Tomorrow, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will once again vote to repeal Obamacare. If this sounds familiar it is because it is the 37th time — yes, that’s 3-7 — that House Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare.

This obsession has not come for free, either in terms of time nor money. One estimate pegs the cost to taxpayers of these 37 repeal attempts at some $55 MILLION. What could we do with that same $55 MILLION? Here’s four ideas:

1. Restore cuts from sequestration to Title X family planning programs and Title V maternal and child health services. The National Women’s Law Center calculates that a 5 percent cut to the budgets of each program will reduce them by $15 million and $32.5 million, respectively. Rather than voting to repeal a bill that expands women’s access to preventative services, the House could use the money to expand them.

2. Double the Department of Justice’s budget for sexual assault services, which has currently been authorized a $50 million budget. The program gives money to states so that they can support rape crisis centers and other nongovernmental organizations that provide direct intervention, core services, and other assistance to the victims of sexual assault. Current funding is inadequate, as some states receive less than $300,000 and many programs lack the resources to meet victims’ needs.

3. Grant a request for $50 million to train 5,000 new mental health professionals as part of a new initiative to expand mental health treatment and prevention services. This proposal came in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to address gaps in the mental health system.

4. Help states implement paid leave policies. President Obama included a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund in his 2011 budget to provide start-up support for states that want to enact paid leave for workers. More than 40 percent of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, heading to work when they or their family members experience an illness, but this funding could help give them a better option.

In terms of time, this calculation from the New York Times shows why this is one of the most unproductive Congresses in history:

That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way.

The real cost, of course, comes in terms of the more than 100 MILLION Americans who would be harmed by the GOP’s obsession with taking away their health care benefits, including:

129 MILLION Americans with pre-existing conditions who will once again be at the mercy of the insurance companies.
105 MILLION Americans would see lifetime limits on what their insurance company has to cover, which Obamacare banned, put back in place.
71 MILLION Americans, including 34 MILLION seniors, who are currently eligible for no-cost preventive care, including mammograms and birth control.
18 MILLION middle-class Americans who will receive a tax credit averaging $4,000 a year starting next year.
17 MILLION children with pre-existing conditions who today, as we speak, cannot be denied coverage.
13 MILLION consumers who received more than $1 BILLION in rebates last year because of an Obamacare rule requiring insurers to spend 80 percent of premiums on actual medical care would no longer be eligible for such rebates because insurers would no longer be held to such a standard.
6 MILLION young adults who are currently able to stay on their parents’ insurance — 3.1 MILLION of whom were previously uninsured.
6 MILLION seniors who are receiving discounts — more than $6 BILLION worth so far — on their prescription drugs thanks to Obamacare.

In addition, repealing Obamacare would increase the deficit by more than $100 BILLION over the next ten years and eliminate new resources to fight fraud. These fraud fighting efforts have recouped $4.2 BILLION just this past fiscal year from those seeking to defraud seniors and taxpayers.

BOTTOM LINE: The GOP’s obsession with taking away health care benefits from more than 100 MILLION Americans is a waste of time, a waste of money, and harmful to the tens of millions of Americans already benefiting from Obamacare.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Honoring Our National Peace Officers and more

05/16/2013 Nativegrl77

The White House

Watch the first “We the Geeks” Hangout on today, May 16, at 2:00 p.m. EDT on WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House Google+ page.

Photo of the Day: Honoring Our National Peace Officers

Yesterday, President Obama spoke at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service, an annual ceremony honoring law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the previous year.

The President said that the 143 officers honored “exemplified the very idea of citizenship — that with our God-given rights come responsibilities and obligations to ourselves and to others.”

President Barack Obama greets audience members during the National Peace Officers Memorial Service, an annual ceremony honoring law enforcement who were killed in the line of duty in the previous year, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. May 15, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Will they listen to what the science says?

05/15/2013 Nativegrl77

Union of Concerned Scientists

For decades, coal dominated American energy. Now that’s beginning to change.

With many of the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants due for retirement, our nation is at a crossroads: do we invest in renewable energy, or do we keep generating electricity by burning fossil fuels that are not only expensive but threaten our planet?¹

We’ve launched a campaign to make sure we head down the right path. Our groundbreaking Ripe for Retirement report identified 353 of the worst, most out-of-date coal-fired plants, and since its publication, 45 of the plants we named have been slated for closure!

We’ve mobilized thousands of UCS supporters to contact key power companies, urging them to switch to cleaner, renewable sources of energy. It’s working, but we’ve got to do more. With over 300 plants left to close, we can’t let up.

www.ucsusa.org

The fossil-fuel industry wants you to think that wind and solar aren’t dependable or economical, but we know the truth: renewable energy is already powering homes and businesses across the country—and we’ve only just begun to see the benefits.²

With your support, we’ll move past fossil fuels to a clean energy future. Together, we can make clean energy a reality by:

Protecting and expanding state-based clean energy policies. We’re inspiring voters and lawmakers to support requirements that utility companies generate a certain amount of their electricity from renewable sources. Since March, we’ve delivered 40,000 letters to over 4,000 state lawmakers nationwide!
Building momentum to cut the nation’s projected oil use in half. We’ve developed a realistic, science-based plan that shows how we can cut our dependency on oil in half in just 20 years. Now we’re getting thousands of people working to support our strategies—meeting with concerned citizens and officials, producing videos and webinars, and mobilizing scientists to educate the public and policy makers.
Fighting to make nuclear power safer. In March, we released our latest nuclear safety assessment while Congress began working on a comprehensive nuclear safety bill. Dozens of news outlets across the country covered it, ensuring that lawmakers heard about the critical issues at stake.

We’re building momentum for a clean energy future—the wind is at our backs. The question is: will we forge ahead with science, or accept the misleading claims that fossil fuels can’t be beat? It’s up to us, Carmen, and we can’t turn back now.

www.ucsusa.org

When we work together, we get tough things done. We’ve won critical whistleblower protections for government scientists, helped craft game-changing vehicle emissions standards, and pushed companies like Pfizer to stop funding the anti-science Heartland Institute.

I hope you’ll stand with us today so we can pull out all the stops to win this next fight.