Looking for practical information, helpful tips and clarification about Colorado and federal health benefits laws? Join the Department of Labor, the Colorado Insurance Division and a representative from the IRS for this FREE seminar!

WHEN: June 17-18
WHERE: University of Denver
Lindsay Auditorium
2000 E. Asbury Ave.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Donate Today: Stand up to outrageous propaganda

05/29/2014 Nativegrl77

Donate Now →

The dirty energy lobby is resorting to desperate scare tactics—spreading misinformation and threatening the public with higher energy prices—all so they can keep dumping unlimited pollution into our air.

Make a donation to our Climate Action Fund today to make sure they don’t succeed.

Outrageous new radio ads, running in 6 key states, claim that EPA’s proposal to limit carbon pollution from power plants—currently subject to NO limits—will nearly double consumers’ electric bill and do little to affect greenhouse gas emissions.

You know better. You know that Americans are already paying the hidden costs of coal pollution while the coal plants get a free ride.

You also know that power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change—and capping carbon pollution from American’s dirtiest power plants is the most significant step we can take to forestall the climate crisis.

The dirty coal industry is resorting to manipulative scare-tactics to pressure vulnerable legislators in tough re-election campaigns to oppose this critical step forward.

Your urgent donation to our Climate Action Fund will send your legislators a different message: Our clean energy future is near, and voters like you are watching to make sure they to stand up for climate action.

A fight this big demands us to go all-in. Are you with us?

Thank you for all your support,
Sam’s signature
Sam Parry
Director, Membership

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Lupus

05/29/2014 Nativegrl77

Lupus Therapies Continue to Evolve

May is National Lupus Awareness Month, a time to think about lupus and the challenges it presents to patients.

Read the Consumer Update to learn about this chronic, autoimmune disease and the promise of future therapies.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Walmart’s Mom Problem

05/29/2014 Nativegrl77

by Sarita Gupta Executive Director Jobs With JusticeAs a working mother, I was shocked to hear how Walmart treats its pregnant workers: when expectant moms reveal their pregnancy to supervisors at Walmart and ask for lighter duties, they often risk being forced to take unpaid leave.

Every day, women make the hard and unfair choice to conceal their pregnancies while working at Walmart. Because they can’t afford risking their job or temporarily losing pay and health insurance, moms-to-be end up performing duties that that their medical providers warn may hurt their unborn babies. From climbing ladders and lifting heavy goods to scrubbing bathrooms with harsh chemicals and being refused frequent bathroom breaks, these women may face unsafe working conditions.

Walmart needs to take the health of pregnant workers seriously. Sign our petition now!

Recently, Walmart took a first step toward changing its pregnancy policy. After expectant Walmart workers, Walmart moms, women’s organizations and supporters from the Jobs With Justice network pressured Walmart to address its pregnancy policy, the company made accommodations for workers if they get a doctor’s note certifying that they have complicated pregnancies.

But as I know firsthand, even uncomplicated pregnancies require safeguards to protect moms and babies. There’s no reason Walmart should force women to risk their health just because nothing has gone wrong with their pregnancy. We need to keep the pressure on Walmart to extend basic accommodations to ALL pregnant associates.

Tell Walmart to fix its pregnancy policy. Add your name to our petition NOW.

As the largest private employer of women in the country, Walmart sets the standard for how women workers are treated throughout the industry and our economy. It’s critical that we raise our voices to protest this pregnancy policy to ensure Walmart isn’t rewriting the rules on how we treat women in the workplace. Women shouldn’t be forced to live in fear or risk their health simply because they want to have a family.

Tell Walmart, it’s time to do better for all Walmart moms!

Thanks for supporting working moms everywhere! Sarita Gupta Executive Director Jobs With Justice

At Walmart stores across the country, many employees are afraid to say they’re pregnant for fear they will lose their jobs. Can you sign a petition to help change that?

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Mel Watt: Enact “Principal Reduction”

05/29/2014 Nativegrl77

Millions of households are at risk of foreclosure.

Tell FHFA Director Mel Watt to help keep struggling families in their homes:

Since the start of the 2008 recession, an estimated 10 million American households have been foreclosed, evicted, or displaced and millions more are still at risk.¹ The brutal housing crisis hit Black people especially hard,² but now there’s a new opportunity to roll back years of destructive federal housing policy, repair the housing finance market, and help struggling homeowners stay in their homes.

Former North Carolina Congressman Mel Watt was recently confirmed as a top federal housing regulator and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). He could help millions of households avoid unnecessary foreclosures by lifting the FHFA’s restriction on a loan modification process known as “principal reduction,”³ — lowering the amount owed to current market value to decrease monthly payments.⁴ This would stabilize local economies by putting millions of dollars back into the hands of homeowners, giving cities more reliable property tax revenues, and ensuring lenders have fewer delinquent loans. But he won’t act unless enough of us raise our voices and demand that he make it a priority.

Please join us in demanding FHFA Director Mel Watt suspend all evictions and foreclosures by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until his administration reviews and changes key policies, including lifting the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s restriction on principal reduction. It only takes a moment.

Since the start of the housing crisis, Black households have lost 53 percent of their wealth,⁵ retirement accounts have shrunk,⁶ and the worst underwater areas continue to be disproportionately located in Black communities. The FHFA was created in 2008 to help homeowners and stabilize the real estate market and the economy — but it has done little to help. Instead the agency has consistently refused to let government-backed lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reduce the principal owed on homes weighed down by “underwater” mortgages,⁷ meaning they now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. If Fannie and Freddie were authorized to make loan modifications such as principal reduction, homeowners could expect lower monthly mortgage payments, making it far more likely that they could avoid foreclosure and eviction.⁸ At least 8 state Attorneys General and 45 Members of the House of Representatives have called for principal reduction and harshly criticized the FHFA’s inaction.⁹

Before his appointment as director of the FHFA, Watt served as a North Carolina congressman for more than two decades, where he tirelessly advocated for struggling homeowners, co-sponsored mortgage reform and anti-predatory lending legislation and promoted affordable housing. Watt was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), serving as the group’s chairman from 2005-2006.¹⁰ In fact, in 2012 Watt was among a group of CBC members and other progressive lawmakers that sent President Barack Obama a letter urging him to enact principal reduction and provide assistance to underwater borrowers.¹¹ Now that he has the power to mitigate widespread suffering in Black communities caused by the housing crisis, we must remind him of his past support for principal reduction and that failure to take action will stain his legacy.

Mel Watt is uniquely positioned to take bold action to address the nation’s underwater mortgage epidemic — and he doesn’t even need Congressional approval to act.¹² But in his first major speech since his appointment, Watt made no commitment and he only indicated that the FHFA was “studying principal reduction right now” in response to a direct question.¹³ Without intervention from the FHFA and Mel Watt, we will continue to see our communities blighted, unable to recover, and suffering devastating economic impacts from this unchecked foreclosure crisis.¹⁴

Join us in demanding FHFA Director Mel Watt issue a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, lift the restriction on principal reduction, keep families in their homes and end unnecessary suffering in our communities. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

Thanks and Peace,

–Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Aimée, Jamar and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
May 28th, 2014

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “10 Million Americans Have Had Their Homes Taken Away by the Banks — Often at the Point of a Gun,” AlterNet, 08-01-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3479?t=7&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

2. “The Great Eviction: Black America and the Toll of the Foreclosure Crisis,” Mother Jones, 08-01-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3481?t=9&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

3. “What Is Mel Watt Waiting For?,” Huffington Post, 05-13-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3482?t=11&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

4. “What Housing Recovery?,” New York Times, 5-8-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3485?t=13&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

5. “Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics,” Pew Research, 07-26-11
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3497?t=15&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

6. “Foreclosure crisis not over for minorities,” CBS News, 06-25-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3496?t=17&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

7. “Liberal advocates want Obama to dump FHFA’s DeMarco,” Washington Post, 03-12-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3483?t=19&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

8. “A Major Lift for Fannie and Freddie,” NY Times, 05-13-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3484?t=21&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

9. See reference 3.

10. “Obama to Nominate Mel Watt to Head FHFA,” The Root, 05-01-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3489?t=23&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

11. “House Democrats press for homeowner help in ‘fiscal cliff’ deal,” The Hill, 02-11-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3490?t=25&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

12. “What Housing Recovery?,” NY Times, 05-08-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3485?t=27&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

13. “Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac won’t reduce loan limits, regulator says,” LA Times, 05-13-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3487?t=29&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm

14. “Underwater America: How the So-Called Housing ‘Recovery’ Is Bypassing Many American Communities,” (.pdf), The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, 05-01-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3498?t=31&akid=3412.1174326.jGfCGm