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This Valentine’s Day, send your heart to the Horn of Africa. While many of us are showered with affection this time of year, 1.5 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are surviving only because of the compassion you’ve shown them. We’ve accomplished so much already with your support. But the fight is far from over. Carmen, you can help deliver lifesaving food, clean water and vital medical supplies to families in the Horn of Africa and others in urgent need around the world. Make a donation today in honor of a loved one, and send them a special Mercy Corps Valentine eCard to commemorate your gift. In some regions, the rain has started to fall, but it has often brought more devastation instead of relief. Roads that deliver critical food and supplies are flooded and impassable, and contaminated water is fueling the spread of diseases like cholera. Although most media attention has moved on, the crisis persists — millions are still in need. Every day, children and families are still going hungry. With your support, Mercy Corps can help families recover and rebuild, by providing job training and small business grants, and helping farmers boost their crop yields through drought-resistant seeds. Together we can offer long-term solutions that will help keep families alive — and help them thrive in the future. Please send your heart to the Horn of Africa today, by making a gift in honor of your loved one. Your compassion will change lives — in the Horn of Africa and around the world. Sincerely,
Dan O’Neill Founder |
Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture
WA State – Support Jay Inslee FOR Governor … Building a Working Washington
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Dear Supporter,
If there’s one state I believe can turn its economy around, that can harness an innovative and creative vision for the future, it’s our state. We are uniquely suited to build a new economy that raises the quality of life for middle-class families for generations to come — and that’s because our state has a unique blend of innovation and values not found anywhere else. We create. We invent. We build. This is our first major policy proposal, but it won’t be our last. Over the weeks and months to come, this will be the trailhead as we chart a path to Building a Working Washington. I want to know you’re standing with me. Read my plan, Building a New Economy for Washington, today and then sign on as a citizen endorser. Washingtonians are at a crucial point in our history. We are still trying to recover from this recession. We are in an international competition for jobs. The middle class is being squeezed like never before. For the first time, parents are facing the prospect of diminished opportunity for their kids. It’s a wake-up call, and I refuse to let it go unanswered. My plan takes into account these challenges, the potential we have right now to take steps in the right direction, and the opportunity we have to build on Washington’s innovative past and grow industries of the future like clean tech. We accomplish this by focusing on existing industry clusters where Washington already can — or has the potential to — out-compete national and international competitors. Then we examine what is standing in the way of growing these industries further, what competition we face from out of state, and what changes we can make that will immediately make Washington more competitive to keep existing jobs while creating new ones. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read my plan and let me know you’re with me. Read my plan, Building a New Economy for Washington, today and then sign on as a citizen endorser. In the coming year, we have a choice. We can choose to go small, and tinker around the edges, and suffer from the same tired economic results. Or we can choose a different approach — a bold, innovative, forward-thinking approach — led by someone who isn’t afraid to think outside the box, be independent, and take the difficult, but right, path. Together, we will build this new economy. It will take hard work, but that is in our state’s history — and in our future. I’m committed to this fight. I hope you are too. Read my plan today, and join me. Very truly yours, |
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a message from greenpeace
A decade of progress protecting the Amazon rainforest is in serious trouble.
The Brazilian agribusiness lobby is on the offensive. They’ve already used their influence to limit the government’s ability to enforce laws out in the field. Now they have their sights set on a new Forest Code bill that would provide amnesty to forest criminals, severely weaken protections for the Amazon and open up a section of forest larger than the state of Minnesota to possible deforestation.
This bill would spell disaster for the Amazon rainforest if passed. It’s already made its way through the Brazilian Senate and now it’s up to President Dilma to decide whether or not it becomes law. Now is our chance.
President Dilma cares about Brazil’s global reputation and wants to be a leader. Let her know that the world is watching and urge her to veto the new Forest Code bill before it’s too late!
Our goal is to get 30,000 Americans to join their allies in Brazil in speaking out against this law before she makes her final decision. That could be any day now in the coming weeks.
On the campaign trail, President Dilma stated that she wouldn’t sign a law that grants amnesty to forest criminals or reduces the size of protected areas in the Amazon. Politics are the same everywhere. And just like in the US, it is going to take massive public pressure from inside and outside Brazil to overcome special interests and make sure that President Dilma keeps her word.
The situation is so urgent that we’re sending our new flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, to Brazil later this month to help out. She’ll be leaving Florida and setting sail for the Amazon to support the campaign directly.
Brazilians have made it clear they don’t want this — about 80% oppose the bill. But this isn’t just a Brazilian issue. Amazon rainforest destruction has global consequences.
Greenpeace, along with other groups in the Amazon and allies within the Brazilian government, have made huge strides in the last ten years when it comes to protecting the Amazon. We can’t afford to let big agribusiness win this one.
President Dilma needs to hear from you…send her a message now.
For the forests,
Daniel Brindis Greenpeace Forest Campaigner
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Foreign NGO Employees in Egypt Deserve Fair Trials!
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Millions disenfranchised … Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org
More than 55,000 ColorOfChange members have demanded that corporations stop suppressing our votes. Can you help us get to 75,000 by signing the petition now?
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/alec
You can read the email below for more information on how corporations are suppressing the votes of Black folks, other minorities, and young people through an organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Please take a moment to add your voice and ask your friends and family to do the same. Thanks!
– Rashad
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Major corporations are helping suppress the votes of Black folks and other minorities through a right wing group called ALEC.
Please join us in demanding that they stop:
For years, the right wing has been trying to stop Black people, other people of color, young people, and the elderly from voting for partisan gain — and now some of America‘s biggest companies are helping them do it.
These companies have helped pass discriminatory voter ID legislation by funding a right wing policy group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Voter ID bills linked to ALEC have already passed in seven states,1 and similar voter ID bills have been introduced in 27 other states.2
Supporters of discriminatory voter ID laws claim they want to reduce voter fraud (individuals voting illegally, or voting twice). But such fraud almost never actually occurs, and never in amounts large enough to affect the result of elections.3 What is clear is that voter ID laws prevent large numbers of eligible voters from casting a ballot, and could disenfranchise up to 5 million people.4
ALEC’s voter ID laws are undemocratic, unjust and part of a longstanding right wing agenda to weaken the Black vote. Major companies that rely on business from Black folks shouldn’t be involved in suppressing our vote. Please join us in demanding that these companies stop funding ALEC:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/alec
ALEC’s right wing agenda
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a behind-the-scenes group whose membership consists of legislators and corporations who work together to push legislation that benefits their interests. ALEC crafts model legislation, which its member legislators then introduce in statehouses across the country, without mentioning its corporate ties. The group has written legislation to impose harsher criminal penalties on juveniles, to privatize education, and to break unions.
ALEC is funded in part by the Koch Brothers, the same family that funds the radically conservative tea party. It also receives funding from large corporations, many of which are household names.
“Voter fraud” and discriminatory voter ID laws
Supporters of discriminatory voter ID laws say they’re needed to stop “voter fraud.” The fact is that voter fraud rarely occurs, and when it does occur it does not happen at a scale that would change the outcome of an election. The kind of voter fraud addressed by the ALEC voter id bill happens as infrequently as death by lightning.5
Over and over again, the myth of widespread voter fraud is used to justify stronger restrictions on voting and voter registration (like voter ID laws), as well as voter roll purges. It has also been used to attack organizations which register large numbers of low income and minority voters, by painting simple mistakes made during registration drives as organized efforts to commit voter fraud. These kind of made up scandals have helped the right wing convince the public that voter fraud is real and voter ID laws are necessary to protect the integrity of elections.
The truth is that voter ID laws are discriminatory — Black people, Latinos, the elderly, students, people with disabilities, and the poor are all less likely to have the photo IDs necessary to vote under these laws.6 For example, if you’ve recently moved because of foreclosure or some other economic circumstance, you’re more likely to have recently ended up in a new state which won’t accept your out of state driver’s license. If you don’t have a car, you’re less likely to have a driver’s license in the first place.
In many states, it can be expensive and time consuming to secure the proper ID. Even when the ID itself is free, it often requires supporting documents like a birth certificate which cost money to achieve. There are already stories of voters who have been eligible for years struggling to navigate a frustrating bureaucratic maze in order to vote. Requiring ID to vote amounts to a modern day poll tax. And that’s the real purpose of voter ID laws – they are an important part of the modern effort to suppress the votes of groups that usually vote against right wing politicians.
These laws are part of a long history of voter suppression directed at Black folks and other underrepresented groups. No longer is the Black vote suppressed through violence, intimidation and literary tests. It’s now suppressed through laws that make it burdensome and difficult for many Black folks to vote.
Corporate-backed voter suppression
Some of the companies supporting ALEC may simply be unaware that the group is involved in voter suppression. Others might think that voter suppression will benefit their political interests, and hope that they can get away with supporting it because so few people have even heard of ALEC.
We’ve started reaching out to these companies to make sure they know what they’re supporting, and to demand that they stop. Adding your voice to this campaign will help us convince these companies that continuing to support ALEC will hurt their reputation with consumers. We hope that many of them will simply do the right thing and stop supporting ALEC. If they don’t, we’ll be prepared to shine a spotlight on them and make sure the world understands what they’re involved in.
Please take a moment to join us in standing up to corporate-backed voter suppression. And please ask your friends and family to do the same. It takes just a moment:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/alec
Thanks and Peace,
— Rashad, James, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team December 8th, 2011
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. You can contribute here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/donate
References
1. “New Evidence of ALEC Connections in All Successful Voter ID Legislation,” Campus Progress, 09-08-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1065?akid=2356.1174326.HucObH&t=8
2. “First, show your face,” The Economist, 09-17-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1066?akid=2356.1174326.HucObH&t=10
3. “The Myth of Voter Fraud,” Washington Post, 03-29-07 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1067?akid=2356.1174326.HucObH&t=12
4. “GOP, ALEC Could Make It Harder For 5 Million To Cast Ballots,” Mother Jones, 10-3-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1068?akid=2356.1174326.HucObH&t=14
5. See reference 3.
6. “Citizens without proof,” Brennan Center For Justice, 11-2006 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1069?akid=2356.1174326.HucObH&t=16
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