Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Monday’s Top Ten


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10 Important Stories From The Weekend You Don’t Want To Miss

Catch up from the weekend with these ten stories:

1. Paul Ryan’s Honesty Problem: How He Just Exposed The GOP’s True Obamacare Intentions. The GOP Golden Boy inadvertently admitted that the GOP doesn’t agree insurers should be prohibited from discriminating against the ill.

2. Why The Government Just Threw Down $225 Million On Hybrid Electric Trains. The 32 hybrid electric-diesel trains will not only save money, but also reduce the carbon pollution that causes climate change.

3. Louisiana Is On It’s Way To Passing Significant Abortion Restrictions. The bill, which went forward without any debate, would impose restrictions similar to those that shut down a number of clinics in Texas.

4. Three Key Takeaways From Saturday’s Historic Afghan Elections. Nearly seven million cast votes over the weekend in Afghanistan’s presidential election. Here’s what you need to know.

5. The Roberts Court Just Endorsed Many Of Nixon’s Most Corrupt Campaign Finance Schemes. Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion in McCutcheon v. FEC defines the word “corruption” so narrowly that it is practically meaningless.

6. Major New Poll Finds That Obamacare Is Lowering The Number Of Uninsured. The percentage of Americans without health insurance has fallen from 17.1 percent to 15.6 percent, the lowest point since Barack Obama took office.

7. Maryland’s State Legislature Passes Minimum Wage Increase to $10.10. A top legislative priority for Gov. Martin O’Malley, the bill now heads to his desk to be signed into law.

8. Chemical Valley: The Coal Industry, The Politicians, And The Big Spill. The New Yorker magazine’s Evan Osnos investigates what happens when a state becomes so “business-friendly” that it harms its own people.

9. Grover Norquist Is Attempting To Influence Missouri’s Consideration Of A So-Called ‘Right-to-Work’ Bill. The bill, which significantly undermines collective bargaining rights, has bipartisan opposition in the Missouri House. Meanwhile, Speaker Tim Jones does the bidding of national conservative groups who support the bill like ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, and Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.

10. The Ethics Of NBC Letting George W. Bush Be Interviewed By His Daughter. “So congratulations Dad, this is pretty exciting!”

Ahead this week:

The Senate votes on whether to extend long-term unemployment insurance tonight. Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day. And this week the House GOP sees if they can wrangle enough votes to pass their own budget.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Jess McIntosh, EMILY’s List


A vast majority of women serving in Congress today are there because they won tough open primaries. So, when an elected official retires or moves up to higher office, EMILY’s List jumps on the opportunity to get a pro-choice Democratic woman to run for that seat.

So you’ve read all the news stories about the waves of House retirements, right? Well so have we. Watch our behind-the-scenes strategy briefing about some EMILY’s List women currently trying to fill those seats by competing in open primary races:

Thanks for watching,

Jess McIntosh
Communications Director, EMILY’s List

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

NOAA … Stop midrange sonar & explosive testing


Stop the testing of midrange sonar and testing of explosives in the Pacific Northwest.

Petition by Mary Powell

To be delivered to Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Mark Matsunaga Public Affairs Officer, National Marine Fisheries Services/ NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington, Governor Sean Parnell of Alaska and 2 other targets (click here to see more)

Petition Statement

The Naval Pacific Fleet should not be allowed to test a midrange sonar system damaging to threatened and endangered marine mammals in an area extending from Alaska to Northern California, including the inland waters of Washington. Additional training and testing should be curtailed until the cumulative effects of their activities have been studied in this already very stressed ecosystem.

There are currently 7,457 signatures. NEW goal – We need 7,500 signatures!

 Sign the petition 

Petition Background

The inland waters of the Eastern North Pacific particularly Puget Sound and the Salish Sea are experiencing stress already and the science and governmental action needed to prevent or remediate problems is not being supported. The Navy’s EIS admits that Midrange sonar testing is damaging to threatened and endangered Dolphins and Whales who are dependent on the use of sonar for hunting. The Navy already conducts hundreds of explosive tests and training exercises in the test area with potential for ingestion of pollutants, entanglement, physical damage, and stress on the entire marine environment. These stressors can be cumulative and have widespread affects on the whole ecosystem besides threatened and endangered mammals. The Environmental Impact Statement can be viewed at: http://www.nwtteis.com

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Thoughts and prayers


After yet another horrific tragedy in Fort Hood this week, we here at the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility would like to offer our thoughts and prayers for all of those affected by this terrible event.

But we know all too well that our thoughts and prayers aren’t enough — we have to offer something more. It is times like this that we are reminded that only together can we address gun violence in our communities, here in our state and across the nation.

Fort Hood Needs More than Our Prayers

We in Washington State are standing together and taking the first step in addressing this problem: We’re going to bring I-594, which would apply existing background checks to all firearm sales in Washington, to the ballot in November.

Take a stand. Join us. Become part of the solution at our Ju‌ne 2‌n‌d event — just click here to RSVP.

In the face of these tragedies, we need to join hands and work together to make our state safer — and we can’t do it without you.

Thank you,

Zach Silk
Campaign Manager
Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility