Dear Friend,

repost: Why? Where are they NOW ?

It’s been a busy summer here at the White House, with no shortage of exciting and important announcements. In light of this, I’m writing to let you know we will be having more regular updates to this list. During the month of August we find ourselves reflecting and commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963. During that summer the country reflected on the economic and racial equality of others and today we continue to act on that legacy.

This past week the President met with civil rights leaders to discuss securing the Vote for All Americans. Please take some time to read this weekend and share with family and friends.

Best,

Heather Foster Office of Public Engagement

“Securing

the Vote

for

All Americans”

Monday, President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez met with civil rights leaders, and state and local elected officials at the White House to discuss how to safeguard every eligible American’s right to vote in light of the recent Supreme Court decision on Shelby County vs. Holder.

President Barack Obama meets with Civil Rights Leaders in the Roosevelt Room

President Barack Obama meets with Civil Rights Leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating one of the Voting Rights Act’s core provisions, upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.

President Obama acknowledged that for nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans, and expressed deep disappointment about the recent decision. He asked the leaders in the room for their ideas on how to strengthen voting rights, and also encouraged them to continue educating their communities on the Voting Rights Act, and how to exercise voting rights.

We’ve seen much progress towards guaranteeing every American the right to vote. But, as the Supreme Court recognized, voting discrimination still exists. And while the decision is a setback, it doesn’t represent the end of either our efforts to end voting discrimination, or our basic right to vote.

Since the decision, President Obama has called on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls. The Voting Rights Act has been reauthorized repeatedly by wide bipartisan margins in Congress, and signed into law by Republican presidents. In addition, every single American should have an interest in ensuring that every eligible American is able to exercise his or her right to vote. So we remain hopeful that we will find a legislative solution to ensure a fair and equal voting process.

Monday’s meeting was another step forward to protect the vote, and we will continue to do everything in our power to secure this most basic right for all Americans.

Monday’s participants included:

Barbara Arnwine, President & Executive Director, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Napoleon Bracy, Alabama State Representative
Roslyn Brock, Chairman, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Board of Directors
Melanie Campbell, President and CEO, National Coalition of Black Civic Participation
John Echohawk, Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund
Margaret Fung, Executive Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
Trey Martinez Fischer, Texas State Representative
Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League
Mee Moua, President and Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Janet Murguia, President & CEO, National Council of La Raza
Laura Murphy, Director, American Civil Liberties Union
Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta
Thomas Saenz, President & General Counsel, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Al Sharpton, President & Founder, National Action Network
Calvin Smyre, Georgia State Representative
Alan Williams, Florida State Representative

Get Updates

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Cartoon: Jesus rebranded

12/23/2013 Nativegrl77

Cartoon: Jesus rebranded by Mark Fiore
Stephen Colbert defends Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson (possibly NSFW) by BruinKid
The pitchforks are coming out in Europe by gjohnsit
This Texas boy done got hitched! And then everything changed. by skip945
Don’t forget Duck Dynasty’s racist remarks by TomP
This is why Capitalism chose China to be the world’s manufacturer by Keith930
My Facebook note re: Phil Robertson by Jaxpagan
Bill Moyers: The end of democracy by New Minas
Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules major parts of fracking law are unconstitutional by ericlewis0
Bobby ‘Stop being the stupid party’ Jindal defends Duck Dynasty star because Miley Cyrus by Jed Lewison

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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Make history with us

12/23/2013 Nativegrl77

Please accept my sincere thank you for all you’ve done to support this year’s progress towards the grand opening of our Museum.
This year we saw many exciting developments including the installation of two signature objects in the Museum at our Constitution Avenue construction site: a Southern Railway railroad car (segregated) and a 1930s guard tower from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
These objects are examples of the history inside our doors that will be as grand, exciting, and powerful as the building itself. And today, I’m writing to ask you to consider making a special, year-end tax-deductible gift to the Museum.
We’ve come so far:

•	We now have nearly 23,000 artifacts in our collection!
•	Over 58,500 individuals have signed up as Charter Members.
•	The foundation of the Museum has been poured and the structure is beginning to take shape.

All of this growth is proof of the commitment to making sure the Museum opens its doors in just a few short years. We still have a long way to go, and meeting our financial goal is one of our greatest objectives. That is why I encourage you to support us today.
Together we are building a museum where exhibitions and public programs will inspire and educate generations to come. Visitors from the U.S. and around the world will be exposed to the art, the music, the achievements, and the great contributions African Americans have made from the very beginnings of our nation. That is such an important part of our mission — showing how the African American experience is not separate from America‘s history, it is America’s history!
Please make history with us and donate today to make sure this important Museum takes its place in the world-renowned Smithsonian family of museums.
Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Signature

Lonnie G. Bunch Director

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Hydroxatone … but is it really risk free?

12/23/2013 Nativegrl77

This is a personal product review, maybe a warning and most definitely a rant/complaint … “free”

So, I was reading something online, when out pops an ad for Hydroxatone. I have seen this product before and though I have by passed it many many times before I thought at $1.99 sample is not bad … Who knew that either the original ad doesn’t actually give all of the fine print information, read it wrong or sump thin. I admit that the original contact was a third party, which takes you to a website that has huge font features and pictures. I have to say, I did not listen to that logical gal on my shoulder saying don’t do it was held down with the thought of a moisturizer that says it’s an anti-wrinkle cream with an SPF15 … hmmm. It took a week and the wrinkle cream showed up including some toner and for some reason it included a second shipment of eye cream …hmmm all for just $$$ – uh. definitely red light, alarm, watch out signal but I figured I would just send it back or cancel … the terrible horrible very bad experience begins with the operative word cancel. I used to pride myself for reading all the directions loopholes wacko directions and that did not stop me. I called to cancel and of course they tried to sell more offer more options, while giving additional discounts I had enough to last forever please cancel … ok, says the customer service person and I ask can I just cancel the eye cream because I really didn’t want it … uh, no you need to do them separately. So, the eye cream comes and while I didn’t want it, cancelling it was anything but easy risk free because the customer service people I had to deal with were hard core nasty we’ve got your cc number kind of folks and we will use them. I spoke to three people and English was not only a problem, it was used to manipulate my repeated requests to speak to a supervisor to which I was told there was none available then someone got on the phone and was just or even more nasty, stating send it back. The nasty customer service person says it’s not free it’s risk free and we will charge you if you don’t send it back because you paid only for shipping&handling. This product is really worth $279 and they opted to ignore the 3rd party ads that say try it out FREE. These roughnecks tell me, you have 30 days to try it out. What? That is not what the 3rd party ad says. I was told that if I keep the product my cc would be charged because canceling means sending it back. I was then given the RMA number and told; now that you have cancelled you have 2weeks to get this back to our company. What? I said uh, you know it’s the holidays right the idea that it will get there , then I was told oh just take it to USPS pay to send it back everything will settled. The cost to send this back will be more than the s&h … so, they still make $$ from unhappy customers! Dang, I just got screwed and now apart of a large group of folks complaining about the process, though the company is not suffering a bit.

I have no idea if the product works or not, though they asked me several times, as if you are supposed to see a difference in 2weeks. I can honestly say that it was creamy/oily, smelled bad and saw no difference but I also had no bad skin reaction either, which is a good thing. If there are folks out there who bought in and decided to go the distance, let me know what you thought. I give them two Thumbs down for extremely BAD Customer Service and a nasty gesture to them all for what seems like a bait and switch set up. I looked them up and while there seemed to be plenty of consumer complaints they are rated high … that surprised me but it was more like the women complaining weren’t satisfied with the effort the company put forward to solve the issue… don’t be fooled …that is a part of their script.

I love products, this will not stop me from trying others but this gal is going back to Neutrogena for a while until or if I find more “samples” to try and review , including customer service people who hopefully aren’t or trained to be cowboys.

Yes, you need to make up your own mind … read the fine print of course. Now, I belong to a group of folks of approximately 200 having had negative experiences either with the product or those who call themselves customer service representatives or the next level after the product reaches your home … just saying

Black History

the Senate CONGRESS 12/23 the House

12/23/2013 Nativegrl77

The Senate will meet for a pro forma session only with no business conducted at 11:45am on Friday, January 3, 2014.

Additionally, only if the Senate does not receive a message that the House has adopted S.Con.Res.30, the adjournment resolution, the Senate will meet on the following dates and times:

– Tuesday, December 24^th at noon

– Friday, December 27^th at noon and

– Tuesday, December 31^st at noon

Schedule for Monday, January 6, 2014

The Senate will convene at 2:00pm on Monday, January 6, 2014. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.1845, the Unemployment Insurance Extension Act with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

At 3:00pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to resume consideration of Executive Calendar #452, the nomination of Janet Yellen, of California, to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System with the time until 5:30pm equally divided and controlled in the usual form prior to a vote on confirmation of the Yellen nomination.

At 5:30pm, there will be 2 roll call votes:

– Confirmation of the Yellen nomination and

– Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.1845, the Unemployment Extension Act.

=====================================================

Last Floor Action:12/19
11:05:00 A.M. – The Speaker announced
that the House do now adjourn pursuant to H. Res. 438.

The next meeting is
scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on December 23, 2013.

10:00:32 A.M.		The House convened, starting a new legislative day.
10:00:48 A.M.		The Speaker designated the Honorable Fred Upton to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
10:01:06 A.M.		Today’s prayer was offered by Reverend Eugene Hemrick, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
10:02:01 A.M.		The Chair announced that pursuant to section 6(a) of H. Res. 438, the Journal of the last day’s proceedings was approved.
10:02:11 A.M.		PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Mr. Denham to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
10:02:58 A.M.		The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received a message from the Secretary of the Senate on December 20, 2013 at 3:07 p.m. stating that that body had passed H.R. 3343 and H.R. 3487, and had agreed to S. Con. Res. 30.
10:03:33 A.M.		The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received a message from the Secretary of the Senate on December 20, 2013 at 9:50 a.m. stating that that body had concurred in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3304, had passed S. 1614, H.R. 623, H.R. 767, and H.R. 2319; and agreed to H. Con. Res. 71. The message further announced appointments to the United States-China Economic Security Review Commission.
10:04:30 A.M.		The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received a message from the Secretary of the Senate on December 19, 2013 at 11:37 a.m. stating that that body had concurred in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.J. Res. 59.
10:05:12 A.M.	S. 1614	Mr. Denham asked unanimous consent to take from the Speaker’s table and consider.
10:05:12 A.M.	S. 1614	Considered by unanimous consent. S. 1614 — “To require Certificates of Citizenship and other Federal documents to reflect name and date of birth determinations made by a State court and for other purposes.”
10:05:41 A.M.	S. 1614	On passage Passed without objection.
10:05:45 A.M.	S. 1614	Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
10:05:59 A.M.		The Speaker announced that the House do now adjourn pursuant to H. Res. 438. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on December 26, 2013.