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Supporting Community-Led Environmental Monitoring It started as a rainbow sheen on the surface of the turbid waters of the mighty Aguarico River, but within hours it turned into a thick layer of crude oil that stuck to the bottom of canoes, accumulated in stagnant inlets, and smeared the rocky shores of indigenous villages for miles downriver. It was July 2nd, and a Petroamazonas pipeline had ruptured, spewing thousands of barrels of crude oil into the Aguarico River. When would the company stop the spill? How poisoned is our water? When will it be safe to bathe, wash clothes, and fish in our river? Will the company clean up the spill? These were the questions on the minds of many of the Cofán, Siona and Secoya people who live downriver from the ruptured pipeline. But there was silence. |
Monthly Archives: July 2014
a message from Gov.Inslee … Washington is cutting carbon
“This is not some distant problem of the future. This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now.”
These were the words of President Obama on Tuesday as his administration released the National Climate Assessment, a landmark report written by over 250 scientists and government officials that confirms something we’ve known for a while: Man-made climate change is real and is already altering our lives and our planet.
But this report doesn’t just warn us about the problems facing our planet in general — it specifically warns that Washington is now facing greater wildfire risks, a reduced water supply, and significant damage to our shellfish industry due to ocean acidification.
We’ve heard warnings like these for far too long, yet failed to act. But as I said on Tuesday, “This challenge is significant, but it is matched by tremendous opportunities.” That’s why, last week, I announced an executive order to limit carbon pollution and asked you to help stop climate change before it’s too late.
Thousands of Washingtonians have heeded the call and signed a petition, in just the last week, to declare that they support this executive order and demand bold action to address the climate crisis.
As our movement grows stronger, we know the opposition is watching. With the release of Tuesday’s report, there should be no doubt that now is the time to join us, and show them that we’re not backing down.
Very truly yours,
Jay Inslee
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the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 7/18 ~~ the House
Republicans tell Women, Hobby Lobby is not just a Corporation but People too & MORE important than their Health Care CHOICES 56-43
The Senate stands adjourned until 2:00pm on Monday, July 21, 2014.
Following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 5:30pm, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each and with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders, or their designees.
At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session and vote on confirmation of the following nominations:
- Executive Calendar #849 Julie E. Carnes, of Georgia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit
- Executive Calendar #789, Michael Anderson Lawson, of California, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization
- Executive Calendar #537 Eunice S. Reddick, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Niger
We expect a roll call vote on the Carnes nomination and voice votes on the Lawson and Reddick nominations.
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Last Floor Action:7/17
3:16:48 P.M. – The House adjourned pursuant to a previous special order.
The next meeting is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on July 18, 2014.
| 11:00:03 A.M. | The House convened, starting a new legislative day. | |
| 11:00:22 A.M. | The Speaker designated the Honorable Thomas E. Petri to act as Speaker pro tempore for today. | |
| 11:00:41 A.M. | Today’s prayer was offered by the House Chaplain, Rev. Patrick J. Conroy. |
| 11:01:38 A.M. | The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved. | |
| 11:01:43 A.M. | PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair led the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. | |
| 11:02:04 A.M. | The House received a communication from the Honorable Bill Shuster, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Mr. Shuster notified the House that on July 16, 2014, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure met in open session to consider resolutions to authorize 27 prospectuses, including 24 alteration projects, two construction projects, and one project design, included in the General Services Administration’s FY2014 and FY2015 Capital Investment and Leasing Programs and transmitted copies of the adopted resolutions. | |
| 11:03:12 A.M. | The Speaker announced that the House do now adjournpursuant to a previous special order.The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on July 22, 2014. |
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Israel-Palestine: This is how it ends
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Dear friends,
 As more innocent children are killed in a new round of violence in Israel-Palestine, it’s time to take definitive non-violent action to end this nightmare. Our governments and companies aid, trade and invest in the status quo. If we call on key businesses to stop financing those responsible,, we can help make the cost of conflict too high to bear — join the call:
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A new round of violence in Israel-Palestine has already killed over 180 people including 36 children. It’s not enough just to call for another ceasefire. We need to end this decades-long nightmare by taking definitive non-violent action.
Our governments have failed — while they have talked peace and passed UN resolutions, they and our companies have continued to aid, trade and invest in the violent status quo. The only way to stop this hellish cycle of Israel annexing Palestinian lands, daily collective punishment of innocent Palestinian families, Hamas firing rockets, and Israel bombing Gaza is to make the economic cost of this conflict too high to bear.
We know it works — when EU countries just advised their companies not to invest in the illegal Israeli settlements it caused an earthquake in the cabinet, and when citizens successfully persuaded a Dutch pension fund, PGGM, to withdraw, it caused a Foreign Ministry internal crisis.
This can save lives, not just now, but for years to come. History tells us that raising the financial cost of oppression can pave a path to peace. Click to call on key businesses to uphold the law and stop financing the violence — if we all take smart action now and turn up the heat, we can turn the calculation of the extremists and warmongers profiting from this misery upside down:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/gaza_this_is_how_it_ends_31/?biEWLbb&v=42506
In the last five weeks three Israeli teenagers were murdered in the West Bank, a Palestinian boy was burnt alive, an American kid was brutally beaten up by Israeli police, 200 Palestinian kids are behind bars, and now 36 Gazan kids have died in Israeli air strikes. This is not the “middle east conflict”, it’s becoming a war on children and innocents.And we are becoming numb to this global shame.
The media makes out like this is an intractable conflict between two equal warring parties, but it is not. Palestinian extremists’ senseless attacks on innocent civilians must be condemned and ended but the root of the conflict lies elsewhere — in the historic dispossession of the Palestinian people. Israel occupies, colonizes, raids, and controls the water, the trade, and the borders of a legally free and sovereign nation that has been recognised by the United Nations, and its military is one of the most powerful in the world. In Gaza, Israel has created the largest open-air prison in the world, and then blockaded it. Now as bombs fall, the families literally have no way to get out.
These are war crimes and we wouldn’t accept that anywhere else. Half a century ago Israel and its Arab neighbours went to war and Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Occupying territory after war happens all the time. But no military occupation should turn into a decades-long tyranny which only fuels and benefits extremists who use terror to target the innocent. And who suffers? The majority of loving families on both sides that just want freedom and peace.
Calling for companies to withdraw investments from Israel can seem to unfairly punish Israel’s people. But we know that the majority of Israelis want peace and security, just like their Palestinian neighbours. And yet their government pushes war and violence that big tech and weapons corporations profit from while everyday citizens on both sides suffer. Like extremists in Hamas, Israel’s government has its own extremists that will only be silenced by seeing the financial costs to their call for war.
British G4S provides extensive security equipment that runs the Israeli occupation. Huge European funds like the Netherlands’ ABP invest in Israeli banks that fund Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. France’s Veolia builds and runs transport for Israeli setters illegally living on Palestinian lands, sustaining a system of segregation. Massive banks like Barclays invest in suppliers of Israeli arms and other occupation businesses. And Caterpillar provides bulldozers that are used to demolish Palestinian homes and farms. If we can create the biggest global call ever to get these companies to pull out, we will show clearly the world will no longer be complicit in this bloodshed. The Palestinian people are calling on the world to support this path and progressive Israelis support it too. Let’s join them:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/gaza_this_is_how_it_ends_31/?biEWLbb&v=42506
Our community has worked to bring peace, hope, and change to some of the world’s toughest conflicts, and often that means taking difficult positions to address the root cause. For years our community has looked for a political solution to this nightmare, but with this new round of horror unfolding in Gaza, the time has come to turn to sanctions and disinvestment to finally help end the horror for Israelis and Palestinians.
With hope and determination,
Alice, Fadi, Ben, Laila, Anna, Jo, Nell and the entire Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION:
Israel-Gaza conflict: 80 per cent of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes are civilians, UN report says (The Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelgaza-conflict-80-per-cent-of-palestinians-killed-by-israeli-strikes-are-civilians-un-report-says-9606397.html
These are the names of 21 children killed in Gaza (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/09/these-are-the-names-of-13-children-kill…
Palestinians: Most Gaza dead are children, women, elderly (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.604443
UN independent expert calls for boycott of businesses profiting from Israeli settlements (UN)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43376#.U7_ynqhMrRI
12 more EU countries warn against trade with Israeli settlements (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.603030
Caught on Tape: US Teen Allegedly Beaten by Israeli Police (ABC News)
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/caught-tape-us-teen-tariq-abu-khdeir-allegedly-24449873
Israelis, Palestinians Pro Peace Process, but Not Hopeful (Gallup)
http://www.gallup.com/poll/161456/israelis-palestinians-pro-peace-process-not-hopeful.aspx
Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry
http://www.whoprofits.org/
Be a Seed for Change 
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