~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Watch this — and then fight for her

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77

Organizing for Action

Ola is the daughter of immigrants and a college student who wants to help cure cancer.
But when a clerical error brought her family’s immigration status under investigation, Ola’s future became uncertain — she didn’t know whether she would be allowed to stay in the United States or for how long.
Watch her story — then sign up to join an interactive livestream of the full 30-minute film, “The Dream is Now,” next Thursday, June 27th, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

This incredibly moving documentary tells the story of four DREAMers who are just like you and me in that they call America home.
Their futures hinge on comprehensive immigration reform.
You’ve got to see this movie. It’ll be 30 minutes you won’t regret.
Ola will be one of several special guests joining us for an online chat after next week’s showing.
Watch her tell her story — then RSVP to join the livestream on Thursday:
http://my.barackobama.com/Watch-Olas-Story
Thanks,
Emmy
Emmy Ruiz Immigration Campaign Manager Organizing for Action

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A snap shot

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77

President Obama Speaks to the People of Berlin

Nearly 50 years to the day after President John F. Kennedy delivered his historic speech to a city divided by the Cold War, President Obama spoke to the people of Berlin about the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Germany, and the values we share.

The Brandenburg Gate has long been a symbol of Germany’s progress, and the President spoke from its east side – something that would have been impossible if not for the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Click here to watch the President’s full speech and learn more about his trip to Germany.

Intellectual Property: A Key Driver of our Economy

Innovation and creativity have always been the foundation of our economy, and effective enforcement of intellectual property rights enables us to promote economic growth, ensure our global competitiveness, and protect the health and safety of our citizens. Today’s release of the Administration’s 2013 Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property Enforcement provides a roadmap for our work over the next three years.

This week is National Small Business Week. The U.S. Small Business Administration, along with agencies across the Obama Administration, are hosting events in five cities.

Across the country, Democratic and Republican state and local officials are speaking out about the need for commonsense immigration reform. This week, we’ll share thoughts from governors, mayors, county executives, state legislators, attorneys general, treasurers and more about why they support immigration reform and how fixing the broken immigration system would impact their communities.

A little more than six months after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Vice President Biden said yesterday that he and President Obama have not given up the fight to reduce gun violence.

And although a minority of the Senate voted down common-sense legislation that would keep our kids and communities safer, President Obama has “moved forward on what was within his power, what executive actions he could take,” the Vice President explained. “Today, I can report that he announced 23 executive actions; 21 of them have been completed or there has been major progress made toward the total completion and that we’re on track to finish the job.”

Click here to learn more about how President Obama is fighting to reduce gun violence.

How Immigration Reform Will Shrink the Deficit

The independent Congressional Budget Office released its score of the Senate’s bipartisan immigration bill, providing even more evidence that commonsense immigration reform is good for the budget and good for economic growth. CBO estimates that fixing our broken immigration system will reduce federal deficits by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, and about $700 billion in the second decade.

President Obama discussed a range of issues in his interview Monday night on PBS, but the National Security Agency was the topic for an extended part of the conversation.

“My job is both to protect the American people and to protect the American way of life, which includes our privacy,” he said. “So every program that we engage in, what I’ve said is let’s examine and make sure that we’re making the right tradeoffs.”

June 16, 2013 marked the four-year anniversary of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since 2009, our three federal agencies have been working together to help communities build stronger regional economies, improve their housing and transportation options, and protect the environment.

This is crazy, Washington!

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Here’s TJ’s number, call them maybe?

Their customers are calling, but Trader Joe’s still refuses to meet with us to discuss ending the sale of meat raised on antibiotics. The grocer says it listens to its customers, so we’re ramping up more calls. Can you call them, maybe?

To save our antibiotics, we can’t just wait for Congress to act. We have to go directly to grocery chains selling antibiotic-raised meat and get them to stop.

So we targeted Trader Joe’s, one of the nation’s most progressive grocers, to lead the way in the fight to save our antibiotics.

But after presenting a half-million of your signatures, sending thousands of emails, postcards and fliers – and running full-page ads in the hometown newspapers where they’re headquartered – Trader Joe’s management still refuses to sit down and talk with us about stopping the sale of this meat.

This is crazy! Now we need a little help from you to convince them.

Make a toll-free call to company headquarters today, and ask them to stop selling meat raised on drugs!

Trader Joe’s prides itself on listening to its customers. Since the company is headquartered in California, we recently put ads in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle asking customers to call company execs and ask them to end the sale of antibiotic-raised beef, poultry and pork. The execs got a LOT of calls!

What did Trader Joe’s do? They dug in even deeper, telling callers they will keep selling meat raised on antibiotics. Pretty unbelievable for a company that claims to listen to its customers. The Pacific-Northwest is a major market for Trader Joes. Your call may be the tipping point.

We’re not giving up until they do. Help us keep the pressure on by making your own quick phone call — and let us know what the grocer tells you.

We’re tackling the overuse of antibiotics in our food animals on every front – including testing meat for drug-resistant superbugs, lobbying in Congress, and pushing industry and the marketplace to stop this risky practice. Join us in making a safer future for your family by making a call now.

Sincerely, Jean Halloran, NotInMyFood.org, a project of Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

~ my 2cents ...

Reality TV …

06/21/2013 Nativegrl77 3 Comments

is it me or is Reality Tv slowly on its way out? im thinkin it’s wishful

i admit i have watched my share of reality tv, and felt no guilt until the ugliness of the Kate+8 came out,won’t even mention the husband’s name,it’s a situation where neither seems grown up enough to take themselves off the air waves, it’s obvious to make ends meet, kate will need to write another book, gotta say listening to her say she has done enough tv to do movies? i was rooting for her til that and her need for a 8diamond ring? wtf Kate … is she really qualified?

another character… the ex-miss or the fallen miss Cali should have known if you make a sex tape, it will get out, how clueless is she, her behavior was offensive and if this is what conservatism is then we are all in for an America that excludes and discriminates. I don’t feel this is what the majority of Americans want. i also question if this is really what she feels conservative family values are all about? just asking

Anyone, supposedly 21 and slightly older on the hills, the city, planet or state are very strange to watch. As a person of colour, the black hills offended me but then so did these other shows claiming to highlight the fashion industry, the city and businesses in their States were definitely one-sided …the fashion district HAS got to have more ppl of colour to offer the show than just the bootlegger right?

and housewives in any state should wrap their shows up and end them, these shows are clearly harmful to the reality families themselves as several are getting evicted from their homes?, dating each others spouse or exes, jail time and several divorces have popped up and out, who wants to see this stuff, really tell me.