Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

What we Accomplished in Wisconsin

Progressives gained two seats in the Wisconsin Senate when Wisconsin voters voted to hold right-wing state senators accountable for their attacks on working families.We changed the game and seized momentum heading into the next battles, and many legislators across the country — especially those in competitive districts — got a message that there are consequences to their overreaching.The successful recalls of Republican Sens. Dan Kapanke and Randy Hopper were in districts where PFAW was very active and PFAW enthusiastically endorsed both Senators-Elect Jessica King and Jennifer Schilling — two strong progressive women who will be strong advocates for working families in the Wisconsin Senate.

Rick Perry: Uniting the Really Far Right and the Really, Really Far Right

Texas Gov. Rick Perry formally launched his presidential campaign this month and quickly shot to the top of national polls, where he continues to dominate. Maintaining his healthy lead by appealing to Tea Party, he recently came very close to accusing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke of treason and has raised new concerns over his previous assertions that Social Security and Medicare were unconstitutional by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and a “monstrous lie.” People For the American Way continued its coverage of the 2012 presidential primaries with a piece by PFAW president Michael Keegan exposing Perry’s cozy ties with the various factions which comprise the Far Right.

‘What You Talkin’ Bout, Willard?’

If you watched TV in the 1980s, you surely remember the show Diff’rent Strokes— which featured the iconic tagline “What you talkin’ bout, Willis?” It was produced by PFAW cofounder Norman Lear’s production company. When Norman heard some of the recent things coming from presidential candidate Mitt Romney — whose first name is actually Willard — it rang a bell.In a piece in Variety, Norman asks Willard Mitt Romney, “What you talkin’ bout, Willard?”

Koch Brothers Sink to a New Low to Undermine Public Education

A new video from our friends at Brave New Foundation — a part of their “Koch Brothers Exposed” series — details the disturbing rise of racial resegregation in one award-winning North Carolina school district. The story goes like this: the Koch-created and funded Americans for Prosperity supported a slate of right-wing school board candidates who ran on a platform that echoed those of 1960’s southern segregationists like George Wallace almost verbatim … they won, and now they are using their power to hurt the public school system by not only erasing the district’s commendable achievements of diversity, but hurting the quality of public education received by all the district’s students.People For the American Way and PFAW’s African American Ministers in Action (AAMIA) program are both incredibly proud to cosponsor the release of this video, and we’re hopeful that we can help shine a light on this latest right-wing attack on public education, racial equality and civil rights.

Watch the video and help spread the word >

Perry, Prayer, Politics and the Presidency

Casual viewers of “The Response,” including some political reporters who don’t pay a lot of attention to the Religious Right, may have watched Texas Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally earlier this month and wondered what all the fuss was about. Most of the time was taken up with prayer and praise music. Few of the speakers seemed overtly political. Nobody used the occasion to endorse Perry’s pending presidential bid.But context is everything, and the context for this event was remarkable: a governor launching a presidential bid by teaming up with some of the nation’s most divisive extremists to hold a Christians-only prayer rally that suggested Americans are helpless to solve the country’s problems without divine intervention. Some media coverage is missing the boat: the issue wasn’t whether it was ok for a politician to pray, or the size of the audience, but the purposes of the event’s planners and their disturbing vision for America.

Pay-Per-View Congress?

Showing a profound disregard for representative democracy and the First Amendment, several Republican members of Congress decided not to hold open-to-the-public town hall meetings for their constituents this August recess and instead, held meetings that required an admission fee — or as Politico put it, “strictly pay-per-view.”

FEATURED VIDEO

Mitt Romney: People Person?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney turned a few heads this month when he told an audience at the Iowa State Fair that “corporations are people.”PFAW responded immediately by producing and running a TV ad in New Hampshire, where the Romney campaign’s focus has been.

Watch >

And if you have not done so already, please add your name to our petition to Gov. Romney telling him that he’s wrong, corporations are NOT people >

News & Blogs

Anonymous Attacks Against LA Progressives

This summer, an organization called Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) finds itself the target of dozens of baseless public records requests instigated by an anonymous right wing entity apparently seeking to intimidate and harass the organization.LAANE has long fought for policies to raise wages, protect the environment, and enhance community input on new box stores. In other words, they have gotten in the way when giant corporations have put profit maximization over the rights of workers, consumers, and communities. Perhaps that is why they now find themselves the subject of an extensive fishing expedition for public records that can be taken out of context and demagogued ad nauseam.

Darrell Issa’s Two Hats

Rep. Darrell Issa’s ties to big business run deep, and as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, Issa has functioned quite efficiently as an arm of a Wall Street lobbying shop. He has demanded that government regulators back off from applying new rules to Goldman Sachs, and he has fought tooth-and-nail to deny the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and its yet-unconfirmed director Rich Cordray, any significant means to protect the public from fraud and abuse by the financial industry.

Michael Keegan in Politico’s The Arena: Should disaster aid be conditional?

Republicans in Congress never even suggested “pay as you go” for two wars and massive tax cuts for the rich under George W. Bush, but they are now willing to withhold urgent aid from American communities in crisis in order to prove some point about their new found budget orthodoxy. Republican budget brinkmanship over the debt ceiling cost the country its top credit rating; let’s hope brinkmanship over emergency spending funds don’t cost Americans in storm-damaged states their homes and livelihoods.

Taking it Back to 1987, Mitt Romney Teams Up with Judge Bork

Mitt Romney yesterday announced the members of his campaign’s legal advisory team, which will be led by none other than Robert Bork.This is interesting because Judge Bork’s views of the law and Constitution were so extreme that his 1987 Supreme Court nomination was rejected by the Senate.

People For the American Way aired a TV spot about Bork at the time…

Anti-Gay Groups Rally To Defend Anti-Gay ‘Charity’ Group

A campaign spearheaded by LGBT rights and women’s rights groups Change.org and AllOut.org, encouraging companies to drop their ties to the Charity Give Back Group (formerly the Christian Values Network), unsurprisingly has the Religious Right up in arms. The CGBG “operates a sort of online mall, donating a portion of each purchase to religious nonprofits,” Michelle Goldberg explains. “Among them are conservative organizations like Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, Promise Keepers, and a number of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.”

ACLU DNA, Lead Paint, and the Judges who Made it Through GOP Obstruction

As we like to remind people often, the current GOP senate has been shameless in its enthusiasm for obstructing judicial nominees just for the sake of obstruction. For instance, a PFAW memo on August 2 reported that of 24 nominees then waiting for confirmation votes, 21 had been voted through the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recorded opposition. Instead of sending through at least the unopposed nominees in a voice vote and moving on with its business, the Senate decided to keep these potential jurists off the bench for as long as possible despite the pressing problem of unfilled judicial seats leading to slowed down justice. Ultimately, 4 of those nominees were confirmed by the Senate before it left for its August recess, and 20 remain waiting. (The Washington Postthis morning lamented that such “gamesmanship is not only frustrating but also destructive”)

DFA working to protect Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid

08/31/2011 Nativegrl77

On Friday, we asked DFA members to vote on which Republican to target next with our new TV ad exposing the Republican attacks on Medicare, Social Security and education.

It was close, but the winner was clear: Republican Eric Cantor.

Now, we’ll hit him hard across his Virginia district before he heads back to Washington after Labor Day. You told us what to do. Please help make it possible by contributing $5 to get the ad on the air.

As of this morning, we’ve raised $30,000 for in-districts ads, but — to have a lasting impact and send a strong message — we need your help to raise at least $50,000 by Monday morning.

We’re holding Republicans accountable and hitting them where it hurts most — back home in their congressional district.

Please contribute now to make it happen.

Thank you for everything you do.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America
Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

News on immigration …Katherine Archuleta, BarackObama.com

08/31/2011 Nativegrl77

I wanted to make sure you saw the news: President Obama announced a common-sense policy change that will make our immigration system fairer and smarter. I’m proud to support it, and I hope you are, too.

Under the administration’s guidance, immigration courts are going to focus on deporting people who have been convicted of crimes or who pose a security risk. This means that the courts will focus less on “low-priority” cases — like young people who were brought here as small children and know no other home, or veterans and military spouses.

So the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will be reviewing the current deportation caseload, clearing out low-priority cases, and making sure they don’t get into the system in the first place — keeping the focus on cases that will make our country safer. It’s a smart, strategic change. And it will make a difference.

But more comprehensive change requires Congress to act. And we’ll need to build momentum for this fight by raising awareness and demanding action on immigration reform. That starts with getting the word out to our friends and family about this important policy change.

Pass the News on …

The Republican presidential candidates are carbon copies of the congressional Republicans who have blocked common-sense change at every turn.

In last week’s Republican debates in Iowa, the candidates talked about walls, as if higher and longer fences could magically resolve this complex issue.

President Obama and the majority of Americans know that the real answer is much more complicated. That’s why he’s directing our immigration courts to focus on the cases that keep our country safe.

There’s a lot more we can do to improve our broken immigration system. President Obama will need us to keep up the pressure on our members of Congress to make that change happen.

Today’s announcement represents important progress that the President can make right now.

Thanks,

Katherine

Katherine Archuleta
National Political Director

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Congress: in pro forma Session … out until 9/6

08/30/2011 Nativegrl77

The Senate will meet on the following dates and times for pro-forma sessions
only with no business conducted:

– Friday, August 5^th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 9^th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 12^th at 12:00pm,

– Tuesday, August 16^th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 19^th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 23^rd at 2:30pm,

– Friday, August 26^th at 11:15am,

– Tuesday, August 30^th at 10:00am,

– Friday, September 2^nd at 10:00am;

When the Senate convenes at 10:00am on Friday, September 2^nd, it
will adjourn until 2:00pm on September 6, 2011. Following any Leader remarks,
the Senate will be in morning business until 5:00pm with Senators permitted to
speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will be in Executive Session to
consider Calendar #109, Bernice Bouie Donald, of Tennessee, to be United States
Circuit Judge for the 6^th Circuit with 30 minutes of debate equally
divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley.

The next roll call votes will be at 5:30pm on Tuesday, September
6^th. The first roll call vote will be on confirmation of the Donald
nomination. The 2^nd will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed
to H.R.1249, the Patent Reform bill.

*******************************************************************************************************

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF AUGUST 30, 2011
112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

11:04 A.M. – The Speaker announced that the House do now adjourn pursuant to sections 3 and 4 ofH. Res. 375. The next meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on September 2, 2011.

11:03 A.M. – DISPENSING WITH LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS – Pursuant to section 4 ofH. Res. 375, the Chair announced that no legislative business would be conducted on this day.

11:02 A.M. – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair led the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.APPROVAL OF THE JOURNAL – Pursuant to section 5 ofH. Res. 375, the Chair announced that the Journal of the last days’ proceedings was approved.

11:01 A.M. – Today’s prayer was offered by Reverend William George, S.J., Archdiocese of Washington, Washington, DC.

11:00 A.M. – The Speaker designated the Honorable Steve Stivers to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

August …Jason Rosenbaum, DSCC Director of Online Communications

08/30/2011 Nativegrl77

We need to win August. Let me tell you why.

Every single month is a separate fundraising battle with the GOP. Winning these battles means we pick up momentum, and more races get funded. Losing these battles means momentum is lost, and we won’t be able to fund enough races. Pretty simple.

But does that matter now, in late August? You bet it does. Losing a monthly fight will allow Republicans to attack early, taking potentially competitive seats off the map right now. Imagine if Barbara Boxer’s first Senate run had ended before it started because a flood of unanswered attack ads drove her out of the race.

If we win every monthly battle, we can protect future progressive champions and current champions like Sherrod Brown, and make sure President Obama sees four more years. If everyone joins in and we can raise $55,000 in the next three days, it should be enough to win August.

And besides, wouldn’t beating the GOP to end the summer be worth $5? Click here to help make it happen.

Each month is a competition, plain and simple, us vs. the Republicans. Help win August.

Best,
Jason

—
Jason Rosenbaum
DSCC Director of Online Communications