Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

When Laura Palmaro was 10 years old, she woke one morning to find that the central vision in her left eye had all but disappeared. She was not ill and had no genetic issues—it was completely out of the blue. When she was 14, the same rare condition struck her right eye, and she began her freshman year of high school legally blind. Suddenly she was forced to depend on other people to read everything aloud, from school assignments to menus. The toughest part, according to Laura, was losing her sense of independence—and not knowing when or how she would get it back.

Laura has since adopted technological solutions to her vision challenges, using a combination of screen-readers and magnification software to read, work and more. Now a program manager at Google, she is following her passion, helping Chrome and Chrome OS teams make their products more accessible. “Technology has truly transformed my life,” she says. “Assistive technology can tear down boundaries, and empower people to find their independence and fulfill their dreams.”

We agree with Laura about the power of technology to change lives. And in order to support more people like her—people who see obstacles as opportunities—we’re launching the Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities. We’re putting $20 million in Google.org grants behind nonprofits using emerging technologies to increase independence for people living with disabilities, and today we’re issuing an open call to identify new areas of opportunity at g.co/ImpactChallengeDisability.

We’re kicking things off with support for two remarkable organizations. Each of these organizations is using technology to dramatically reduce the cost of and access to prosthetic limbs and auditory therapy, respectively—which could be transformative for hundreds of millions of people.

The Enable community connects people who want prosthetics with volunteers who use 3D printers to design, print, assemble, and fit them, for free. This dramatically cuts costs, increases speed of distribution, and meets unmet needs. We’ll support the Enable Community Foundation’s efforts with a $600,000 grant to advance the design, distribution and delivery of open-source 3D-printed upper-limb prosthetics.
Diagnosing auditory challenges can be a struggle in low income communities—the equipment is expensive, bulky and unrealistic, particularly in the developing world. With our support, and a $500,000 grant, World Wide Hearing will develop, prototype and test an extremely low cost tool kit for hearing loss using smartphone technology that’s widely available—and affordable—in the developing world.

The Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities will seek out nonprofits and help them find new solutions to some serious “what ifs” for the disabled community. We will choose the best of these ideas and help them to scale by investing in their vision, by rallying our people and by mobilizing our resources in support of their missions.

But of course, we realize there’s always room to improve our products as well. We have a team committed to monitoring the accessibility of Google tools; and we provide engineering teams with training to incorporate accessibility principles into products and services. That doesn’t just mean improving existing Google tools, it means developing new ones as well. For example, Liftware is a stabilizing utensil designed to help people with hand tremors eat more easily, and self-driving cars could one day transform mobility for everyone.

Historically, people living with disabilities have relied on technologies that were often bulky, expensive, and limited to assisting with one or two specific tasks. But that’s beginning to change. Thanks to groups like Enable and World Wide Hearing, and with tools like Liftware, we’re starting to see the potential for technologies that can profoundly and affordably impact millions. But we’ll all get there sooner if we make it a team effort—which is why we’re launching Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities today. Together, we can create a better world, faster.

Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google.org

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Do Not Track – Consumer Watchdog Bite Back

07/26/2015 Nativegrl77

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

We need to end tax giveaways to the 1%

07/26/2015 Nativegrl77

Tell President Obama: End tax giveaways to the 1%

Petition to President Barack Obama:
“Use your executive authority to direct the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to end tax giveaways to large corporations, multimillionaire hedge fund managers, and the worst of the 1% that will cost America more than $100 billion over the next decade, including the ‘check-the-box,’ ‘earnings stripping,’ ‘valuation discount,’ ‘carried interest,’ ‘Hewlett-Packard,’ and ‘Real Estate Investment Trust’ tax loopholes.”

Add your name:

Dear fellow Progressive,

Just in time for tax day, Senator Bernie Sanders has figured out how President Obama can close massive tax loopholes with a few strokes of a pen, and he needs our help.

In a recent letter to President Obama, Senator Sanders outlined six loopholes that massive corporations, hedge fund managers, and the worst of the 1% use to dodge taxes and avoid paying us back for providing roads, courts, and an educated workforce.¹

Closing all six loopholes would raise more than $100 billion that could be invested in America — and best of all, the president can do it all without Congress.

Tell President Obama: End tax giveaways to the 1%. Click here to sign the petition.

The list of loopholes that the worst of the 1% use to avoid taxes reads like a how-to guide for multimillionaire hedge fund managers and multinational corporations trying to rip off a nation:

The “check-the-box” loophole. Simply by checking one box, companies can claim that an entity it owns should be ignored by the IRS for tax purposes. By giving different stories to different governments, they can transfer profits between subsidiaries tax free. Closing this loophole would raise up to $78 billion over the next decade.²

The “Hewlett-Packard” loophole. Companies are supposed to pay taxes when they bring offshore profits back to America. But if their offshore subsidiaries only provide a short-term “loan” to the onshore parent company, they can dodge the law. At one point, Hewlett-Packard was found to be “borrowing” billions, tax-free.³

The “Real Estate Investment Trust” loophole. Real estate investment trusts are like mutual funds for real estate, and they don’t pay corporate income tax. But all sorts of companies, from private prisons to casinos, now claim to be real estate investment trusts in order to dodge taxes.⁴

The “carried interest” loophole. Wealthy investors pay hedge fund managers billions to manage their money. But this loophole allows those fund managers to pretend that their income is actually a capital gain from selling investments — and capital gains are taxed at a far lower rate. Closing this loophole would raise up to $18 billion.⁵

The “earnings stripping” loophole. CREDO members have fiercely fought corporate inversions, where big U.S. companies merge with a smaller foreign company to avoid paying taxes. The Treasury Department has already cracked down on one tax dodge related to inversions, and closing the other, the “earnings stripping” loophole, could raise up to $13 billion over the next decade.⁶

The “valuation discount” loophole. If wealthy parents put a restriction on selling a company before transferring it to their children, it is considered less valuable and so they pay less in taxes — even if that restriction is then removed or ignored. The IRS could overlook these meaningless restrictions and raise up to $18 billion over the next decade.⁷

Tell President Obama: End tax giveaways to the 1%. Click here to sign the petition.

The Internal Revenue Service created the first three loopholes by accident, with administrative rulings that had unintended consequences — and President Obama could easily order the IRS to fix its mistake. The other three could be closed if the Treasury Department used its existing authority to call hedge fund managers “service providers” and issued new rules under the tax code.⁸

The Obama administration has likely held off on making these changes in order to meet Republican demands that any new investments be “paid for” by closing a loophole. But with a new, right-wing Congress adamantly opposed to any new spending or tax increases, the time for bargaining chips is over. President Obama needs to know that if he takes a bold stand in favor of tax fairness, Americans will stand with him.

Tell President Obama: End tax giveaways to the 1%. Click below to sign the petition:

http:// act.credoaction.com/sign/sanderstaxloopholes_alt/

Thank you for speaking out,

Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

“Sanders Asks Obama to Close Six Egregious Corporate Tax Loopholes,” Sanders.Senate.gov, March 3, 2015.
“Potential Executive Actions to Close Tax Loopholes,” Budget.Senate.gov, Retrieved April 6, 2015.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Roadless forests under attack–help stop new coal mining on roadless lands!

07/26/2015 Nativegrl77

Our roadless forests are under attack!

A thicket of aspen in the Sunset Roadless Area. (Ted Zukoski / Earthjustice)

Arch Coal just got the go-ahead to bulldoze for dirty coal in one of our pristine roadless national forest areas.
Help us fight back!

Arch Coal is at it again.

On April 6, the Forest Service announced it was paving the way for the second-largest coal company in the United States to bulldoze across thousands acres of pristine roadless forests in order to mine up to 350 million tons of coal.

When final, this deal will allow Arch Coal to reap huge profits while adding hundreds of millions of tons of climate pollution to our atmosphere—all at the expense of thousands of acres of beautiful, wild and public roadless forest.

I’m furious. And today, I’m asking for your help.

We’ve successfully stopped Arch Coal in the past. We can do it again.

Will you help us stand up to dirty industry with a gift of $5 or more?

As someone who has hiked in the Sunset Roadless Area for over a decade, I can tell you that this land is beautiful, and it provides important habitat for wildlife such as black bears and rare lynx in addition to beaver ponds, aspen stands, and giant spruce.

But unless we fight back and win, Arch Coal will soon turn this special place into an industrial zone of drill pads and roads—destroying wildlife habitat and valued recreation and hunting areas—all to benefit a single corporation.

Additionally, burning the 350 million tons of coal the company would extract would dramatically undercut efforts to slow the pace of climate change.

My team and I are determined to protect this critical habitat and ensure vital long-term protections for our other national forests…but we need your urgent gift today to see this and other difficult legal battles through.

For decades, Earthjustice has taken the lead to fight dirty energy and protect roadless forests across the country, but today we need your help.

We’ve stopped Arch Coal before. Help us win once again.

Thank you,

Ted Zukoski
Attorney
Earthjustice, Rocky Mountains Office

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

30,000 for infrastructure jobs

07/26/2015 Nativegrl77

Click here to sign the petition.

Americans need jobs. America’s roads and bridges are in crisis. And our communities need more high-speed Internet and clean energy.

All of these problems have the same solution: We need big ideas that invest in America’s infrastructure and create jobs.

Today, I’m introducing the Rebuild America Act — a bold trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that is endorsed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the AFL-CIO, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Some in Congress will be fearful of a proposal this big. I need your help to show my colleagues and the entire political world that the American people are not afraid of big ideas, are not afraid to create the millions of jobs we desperately need, and are not afraid to rebuild America.

Can you sign the petition saying Americans want a big infrastructure jobs program? Click here to sign.

I met with the PCCC team last week to discuss infrastructure and other big ideas. And I’ll need your activism to push big ideas like this to the center of the national debate.

When the Progressive Change Institute did a national poll this month, major investment in infrastructure was popular by 71% to 18%. That’s a bipartisan landslide.

The public enthusiasm for big ideas is inspiring, and Congress needs to hear about it.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Senator Bernie Sanders