“As concerned global citizens, we stand in solidarity with these indigenous nations and urge you to immediately stop plans for new oil drilling in Ecuador’s rainforests!”Add your name:

Jaime Vargas, an Ecuadorian tribal leader, stood proudly in the howling wind and rain to send us this urgent plea: “Big Oil will stop at nothing to destroy our sacred rainforest home. But with your help we can save it!” ^[1]

Jaime and his Achuar people are guardians of a spectacular land teeming with one-of-a-kind plants and animals. But Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, is racing to sell off the Achuar’s rainforest home and the neighboring Yasuni National Park to greedy international oil companies.^[2]

The president is determined to put profit ahead of his own people — even though they’re still suffering from Chevron’s decades-old oil disaster. ^[3]

More than 1 million people have stood up to save Ecuador’s threatened rainforests ^[4] — now it’s time for the SierraRise community to join the fight. Let’s stand with Jaime and all Ecuadorians and flood the president’s inbox with 50,000 messages!

Tell Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa: The world is watching — protect the irreplaceable Amazon and halt all plans for oil drilling!

Big Oil can’t be trusted to operate safely in the rainforest. For three decades, Texaco, now part of Chevron, dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the beautiful Ecuadorian Amazon. ^[5]Thousands of people are still suffering a plague of deadly cancers and devastating birth defects.^[6]

This land is not only crucial for wildlife, but also to the seven vibrant indigenous communities that call it home. Jaime says it best: “For us, the indigenous people, the rainforest is life. There we are in touch with everything.” ^[7]The Amazon can’t afford another deadly oil disaster like Chevron’s.

Last November, hundreds of everyday Ecuadorians protested the proposed oil drilling. President Correa and his government, feeling the pressure, shut down Pachamama, a local nonprofit fighting the oil drilling, stifling his people’s free speech. ^[8] It’s clear — President Correa is feeling the heat.

Carmen, will you stand with Jaime and his tribe to save the Ecuadorian Amazon from another Big Oil catastrophe?

In it together,

Ashley Allison
SierraRise Senior Campaigner

P.S. Five signatures are even more powerful than one — after you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends, family, and colleagues!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Get breastfeeding support and supplies without extra costs

08/26/2014 Nativegrl77


	Something to be pumped about!

	Check out our easy-to-use guide on the health care law’s breastfeeding benefits and share with the parents in your life today.

From diaper duty to sleepless nights, new parents have enough to worry about. But there’s one thing they shouldn’t have to stress over — paying extra costs for breastfeeding support and supplies.

Do you know someone who’s breastfeeding — or will be soon? Send them our easy-to-use guide on the health care law’s new breastfeeding benefit.

Thanks to the new law, breastfeeding supplies and support are now available in many private insurance plans without costs. Our toolkit will make sure parents can take advantage of this benefit.

With our toolkit, you can get the facts on the breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling in the health care law and the tools you need to help you get this coverage. The toolkit includes details on how to call insurance companies as well as step-by-step instructions on how to file an appeal if an insurance company denies coverage.

We want to make it easy for parents to get the breastfeeding support they need so they can focus on what’s most important: their families.

Share our easy-to-use resource with the parents in your life.

Breastfeeding benefits both parents and children, reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in adults and asthma, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and leukemia in children. Women who breastfeed have also reported psychological benefits such as close bonding with their infants. And with the health care law, breastfeeding support and supplies have never been more affordable.

Thanks for everything you do to ensure women and their families get comprehensive and affordable health care.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Need extra help using our breastfeeding toolkit? Contact our CoverHer hotline at 1-866-745-5487 or CoverHer@nwlc.org for help.

~ my 2cents ...

Washington State Legislators and Boeing need to DUMP ALEC –

08/26/2014 Nativegrl77

a repost from 12/2012 ~~

Given the havoc we all know the American Legislative Exchange Council has created on so many levels effecting our past and present; we all know that we need to make sure companies DUMP ALEC for a better Future. If Coca-Cola, Kraft and Pepsi-Co among others can … so can our State Representatives and Senators.

John Nichols wrote in an April article … Don’t Just Pressure ALEC’s Sponsors, Name and Shame ALEC Legislators – a good read

Below is a list of some Washington Legislators with & without associations with ALEC …

Demand that they sever their ties to ALEC Now !

Washington State Representatives …

— Representative Jan Angel, 26th District, Port Orchard, Republican

Committees: Education, Transportation, Rules and Local Government.

— Representative Matt Shea, 4th District, Spokane Valley, Republican – Front office states they absolutely support ALEC

Committees: Labor & Workforce Development, Judiciary,Transportation and Leadership

— Representative Charles R. Ross, 14th District, parts of Yakima County, Republican

Committees: Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member

— Representative Barbara Bailey , 10th District, Island County and portions of Skagit and Snohomish counties, including the cities of La Conner, Oak Harbor, and Stanwood, Republican

Committees: Health and Human Services Task Force Member

— Representative Joe Schmick, 9th District, Colfax, Republican – Front office states that Rep.Schmick feels the info RE:ALEC is not accurate

Committees: Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member

Representative Kevin Parker, 6th District, Spokane, Republican

Education Task Force Member

Representative Mike Armstrong, 12th District, Chelan and Wenatchee, Republican

Committees: Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member

Representative Bill Hinkle, 13th District, Cle Elum, Republican — Retiring

Committees: Health Care and Wellness, Agriculture & Natural Resources, Ways and Means

Washington State Senators …

Sen. Don Benton (R-17), Vancouver, ALEC State Chairman and International Relations Task ForceMember
Sen. Val Stevens, (R-39), Arlington, ALEC International Relations Task ForceMember — Retiring
Sen. Linda Evans Parlette (R-12), Wenatchee, ALEC Civil Justice Task ForceMember — No active association with ALEC
Sen. Joseph Zarelli (R-18), Ridgefield, ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task ForceMember — Is on the homeland security div of ALEC
Sen. Michael Carrell (R-28), Lakewood, ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
Sen. Pamela Jean Roach (R-31), Auburn, ALEC International Relations Task Force Member
Sen. Doug Ericksen (R-42), Ferndale, ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
Sen. Janea Holmquist (R-13), Newbry, ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member — Not considering dumping ALEC
Sen. Brian Hatfield (D-19), Raymond, ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member –Is NOT a member of ALEC
Sen. Randi Becker (R-2), Eatonville, ALEC Education Task ForceMember — Is a member of ALEC
Sen. Mike D. Hewitt, (R-16), Walla Walla, ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task ForceAlternate
Sen. Jerome Delvin(R-8), Richland – –Is aware of the public demand to sever ties but will not be dumping ALEC

Washington State Constituents appreciate and respect legislators who have made the choice to DUMP ALEC

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Ed Markey …

08/25/2014 Nativegrl77

The Republicans are getting serious about this fall’s campaign. My opponent has joined forces with GOP candidates up and down the ticket, and they’ve opened a command center on the outskirts of Boston.

Back in 2008, our country suffered the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. It happened because deregulation allowed Wall Street to turn into a big casino. Huge financial firms made bad bets — and they lost — damaging the economic welfare of the American people.

The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill, passed 4 years ago this month, went a long way to put the reins back on out-of-control Wall Street risk-taking.

But today, Dodd-Frank is in trouble.

House Republicans are trying to strip the teeth out of Dodd-Frank. If that happens, Wall Street could go right back to the practices that brought our nation to the brink of disaster.

We have one week until our pre-primary filing deadline, and we’re aiming to raise $25,000 by then. Republicans are getting organized and running hard, and we need to respond — make a $5 contribution and help us hit our goal.

The Tea Party has control in the House.

The Tea Party is able to push legislation through the House that puts Wall Street’s wishes before the needs of Main Street families.

We can’t let that happen to the Senate, too.

In July, MassLive: Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey join Democrats in pushing bill to address Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling granting religious exemptions to health care law

WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Supreme Court decision granting companies the right to cite religious beliefs in denying health insurance coverage for things like birth control, Democrats in the U.S. Senate are wasting no time fighting back. On Wednesday, the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act introduced in the Senate was co-sponsored by dozens […] More »

Resource: Ed Markey’s site and fundraiser for Ed http://www.edmarkey.com

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

ColorOfChange.org

08/24/2014 Nativegrl77

Profiting from Michael Brown’s death is not okay.

Tell GoFundMe: Take down the Darren Wilson fundraisers, and return all profits immediately.

The online fundraising platform GoFundMe is profiting off racially-motivated donors, some of whom are celebrating the police killing of Michael Brown.

Join our campaign demanding that GoFundMe return these profits and take down the Darren Wilson fundraising pages. It only takes a moment.

In the past week, a fundraising effort has been started to support Darren Wilson, the officer responsible for the police killing of Michael Brown.

They were so successful with their first page, that they’ve started a second page, raising over $300,000 so far. And GoFundMe takes 5% of every donation processed, meaning the company has made more than $15,000.

Take a look at some of the donor comments below. (1) They will make your blood boil.

“Waste of good ammo. It’s my privilege to buy you a replacement box.”

“I thank all Police…protecting normal Americans from aggressive and entitled primitive savages.”

“Black people can be their own enemy and I am not white…He was shot 6 times cause the giant wouldn’t stop or die. Evil people don’t die quick”

“Let this ‘GoFundMe’ serve as an example to all cops in America: The general public will support you, especially if you pull the trigger on violent criminal thugs.”

That last comment is chilling, and not just because it indicts and criminalizes Black youth like Michael Brown. But because it lowers the social and financial costs of killing Black men and boys. That’s the most insidious impact of this fundraiser. It sends the message that you will be supported in the aftermath of taking Black life.

We’ve seen this before. Racist right-wingers flocked to George Zimmerman’s defense in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin murder, creating a climate of sympathy for perpetrators of violence against Black teens.

GoFundMe is the world’s #1 personal fundraising site and if we can push them to take a stand against the Darren Wilson fundraisers, it will send a strong signal. That it’s not okay to fundraise on behalf of the shooter in the aftermath of a police killing. That it won’t be tolerated, at least not on the largest and most popular platforms.

Add your name.

After a public outcry on Twitter, GoFundMe has taken down the hateful comments listed above, but the pages are still up. (2)

The thing is: simply hiding the comments is not enough. In fact, it may even do more harm because it hides the real motivations behind this type of fundraising drive.

GoFundMe’s own terms of service prohibit “items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance, or the financial exploitation of a crime.” If Darren Wilson is charged, then it would stand to reason that this fundraiser is in violation of these terms, specifically “financial exploitation of a crime.” (3)

GoFundMe should return any money it has made from Darren Wilson fundraising pages, and take them down right away. Profiting off the killing of Michael Brown is not okay. Profiting off of racially-motivated donors is not okay.

Right now, as the entire country is paying attention, we can pressure GoFundMe to end this disturbing fundraising effort.

Tell GoFundMe: Don’t profit from donations to Darren Wilson, and take down the fundraising pages immediately.

Thanks and peace,

–Arisha, Rashad, Matt, Bhavik, and the ColorOfChange team
Sources: