What happens t‌omorrow afternoon could determine who has more power in our state — 80% of Washington‘s citizens, or a tiny group composed of the national NRA leadership and the local gun lobby.

Last week, after the secretary of state released the language that we will use on our petitions to ensure that Washington gets to vote on requiring anyone buying a gun to pass a simple background check, that tiny group of ideologues filed a lawsuit to change it.

So we have to go to court t‌omorrow afternoon — and the judge’s decision on how we word the ballot title could be the difference between passing a measure that 80% of us support, or letting the NRA leadership and the gun lobby have their way.

Help us win the first battle of this campaign by contributing $3 to fight for fair petition language!

I know, it doesn’t seem like much, but the wording of a petition will matter A LOT when voters decide if they want to help us get on the ballot.

With fair wording, it’s going to be up to the voters to make their own decision — and we have a great change to make our state a lot safer.

With unfair wording, the NRA leadership and the gun lobby can scare a lot of voters who support criminal background checks away — and who knows what could happen.

We can’t afford to take that chance. Contribute $3 today to help us fight for a fair chance!

That’s all we ask for — a fair chance to let the voters decide.

And it all starts t‌omorrow.

Thanks again,

Zach Silk

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A better tomorrow means less Tea in Congress

07/11/2013 Nativegrl77

In March of 2010, a Gallup Poll report stated that if a vote from We the People for Congress were taken right now it would result in 47% voting for Democrats and 44% Republicans. My response, if this is true, organizers definitely need to get prepared for November 2010. That the numbers were this close because the Democrats have not gone big bold and progressive as most of us want. Well, we all know what happened and granted the process of changing policy and or making better laws are not easy or pleasant but it should not be the reason for changing your attitude or your vote solely for hating the process. The bills that are being considered or waiting in the Senate, could improve the lives of the many rather than a select few and we need to get beyond the status quo Republicans seem to have claimed as the best way to gain back Congress. I don’t know about you but what I hear and see just makes it clear that Republicans like Speaker Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell do not represent America… period. We need Senator Reid to find the will not only be tough but remember this is not just a historic moment for everyone it is the opportunity to move America into the 21st Century. The people spoke in 2008 and again in 2012 with 53% voting for Barack Obama for a 2nd term. Now, it’s time for Congress to stop acting out earn their pay and do the right thing.

The fact is while Congress ignores passing legislation the Sequester is moving into the living rooms of families all over the country … invisible to those on tv from commentary reporters or journos offering entertainment judgments advice as well as conservative politicians who we call public servants seemingly acting extreme … are bad actors

The Media continues to speculate or re-enforce the negative and mocking President Obama’s so-called improbable agenda of climate change, immigration overhaul as well as stating that Democrats are wavering on a vote that could quite possibly bring all that is Democratic down. It is at this moment that the Democratic Party should be willing to create change that has been needed for quite some time and like the President has stated…

My question for you voters is … if not now when, because we may never get this chance for a long time if ever.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A Whiter Shade of Fail

07/11/2013 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War Room

The House GOP’s Epic Miscalculation

“A whiter shade of fail,” is how Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman described the latest efforts to deny the numerical and political reality that the GOP is in “a demographic death spiral,” as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) put it, unless the party gets behind comprehensive immigration reform in order to help get right by Asian and Latino voters.

It’s clear that some House Republicans are looking for an excuse, any excuse really, to get out of passing immigration reform with a pathway to earned citizenship. Some say they don’t have many Latinos in their gerrymandered conservative districts, so there’s no personal political benefit to them but there is potential political risk in the form of a primary from the right. Others, however, have seized on a recent analysis that purported to show that the GOP doesn’t actually need to improve its standing among minority voters if it simply manages to magically find and turn out “missing white voters.” And voila, there’s an excuse for the GOP to continue the status quo of alienating nearly every demographic segment outside of its increasingly old, increasingly white base.

Unfortunately for the GOP, this analysis was all wrong. In a post entitled, “No, Republicans, ‘Missing’ White Voters Won’t Save You,” Alan Abramowitz and Ruy Teixeira run through the numbers explaining just how wrong this “missing white voter” theory is. You should read the whole thing, but here’s their conclusion:

So: GOP phone home! Your missing white voters have been found, and it turns out they weren’t really missing. They were simply sitting out a relatively low turnout election along with a large number of their minority counterparts. They may be back next time if it’s a higher turnout election — but then again so will a lot of minority voters. Bottom line: your demographic dilemma remains the same. The mix of voters is changing fast to your disadvantage and there is no cavalry of white voters waiting in the wings to rescue you.

The New Republic’s Nate Cohn offers additional analysis underscoring that there is no easy way out of the GOP’s demographic dilemma. Indeed, he writes that since the GOP’s gains among white voters have been concentrated in the South and Appalachia, not battleground states, current trends among white voters actually “would cement the Democratic edge in the Electoral College.” Cohn concludes, “the GOP has a tough road ahead.”

Finally, a new round of polls out today shows that voters want immigration to be addressed this year and that several House Republicans in swing districts could face a serious voter backlash if immigration reform fails.

BOTTOM LINE: There’s no easy way out for the GOP. If House Republicans decide to kill immigration reform with a pathway to earned citizenship, their chances of staying a national party with the possibility of winning the White House are likely to die along with it.