Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

what’s going on- the House is in Session 1/7, adjourns until further notice;the Senate convenes 1/25th


CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF JANUARY 7, 2011
112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

1:43 P.M. –

The House adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on January 11, 2011.

On motion to adjourn Agreed to by voice vote.

Mr. King (IA) moved that the House do now adjourn.

1:42 P.M. –

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of January 7.

1:35 P.M. –

The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is subject to the call of the Chair.

12:04 P.M. –

SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES – The House has concluded all anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to Special Order speeches.

Mr. Poe of TX requested the following general leaves to address the House on January 12: Mr. Paul for 5 min.

Mr. Poe of TX requested the following general leaves to address the House on January 11: Mr. Bartlett for 5 min and Mr. Paul for 5 min.

12:00 P.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with further one minute speeches.

11:59 A.M. –

Mr. Cantor asked unanimous consent That when the House adjourns on Friday, January 7, 2011, it adjourn to meet at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 for Morning-Hour debate. Agreed to without objection.

11:32 A.M. –

The House received a message from the Clerk. Under Clause 2(g) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she designates Robert Reeves, Deputy Clerk, to sign any and all papers and do all other acts for her under the name of the Clerk of the House which they would be authorized to do by virtue of this designation, except such as are provided by statue, in case of her temporary absence or disability. This designation shall remain in effect for the 112th Congress or until modified by the Clerk.

H. Res. 27:

Relating to the status of certain actions taken by Members-elect

11:31 A.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by recorded vote: 257 – 159, 3 Present (Roll no. 11).

11:13 A.M. –

The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.

11:08 A.M. –

DEBATE – Pursuant to H.Res. 26, the House proceeded with four minutes of debate on H. Res. 27.

11:05 A.M. –

Considered as privileged matter.

H. Res. 26:

providing for consideration of the bill ( H.R. 2) to repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010; providing for consideration of the resolution ( H. Res. 9) instructing certain committees to report legislation replacing the job-killing health care law; and for other purposes

11:03 A.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by recorded vote: 236 – 181, 2 Present (Roll no. 10).

10:55 A.M. –

On ordering the previous question Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 236 – 182 (Roll no. 9).

9:19 A.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 26.

9:15 A.M. –

Considered as privileged matter.

9:02 A.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches, which by direction of the Chair would be limited to 5 per side of the aisle.

9:01 A.M. –

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Mr. Jackson to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

Today’s prayer was offered by the House Chaplain, Rev. Daniel Coughlin.

9:00 A.M. –

The Speaker designated the Honorable Candice S. Miller to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Hateful leaders take over


Human Rights Campaign


It’s the first full day of the new Congress. Anti-equality leaders now control the U.S. House. Our next challenge begins.

You can power this fight in 2011.

Join

As a thank you, we’ll send you this handy USB car charger for your phone or iPod.

USB car charger

Remember all those anti-gay candidates who ran for office this year? As of yesterday, dozens of them are now members of Congress and the House of Representatives is under their control.

And starting now, the voices of people like you are more important than ever – because if right-wing leaders know how many Americans support equality, they’ll understand the political consequences of their hate.

To ensure they get the message, we’re launching a huge effort in Congress and across the country to stop discriminatory federal legislation and local anti-marriage efforts – through grassroots pressure, rapid-response media, and public education – and to make sure our kids don’t think it’s wrong or evil to be who they are, just because a bigoted member of Congress might say so.

To do it, we need 2,011 people like you to join HRC for 2011 in the next three weeks. That’s just 41 from Washington. Join today and we won’t send you any more notices for the remainder of our membership drive.

We closed last year with a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal victory 17 years in the making. 2011 opens with a new, more conservative, more deeply anti-gay House leadership – helmed by right-wingers John Boehner and Eric Cantor. Together, they tried to stop us from repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” They’ve opposed legislation on hate crimes, employment non-discrimination, responsible HIV/AIDS policy, and relationship recognition. And they just became very powerful.

But we don’t intend to just play defense.

We can’t – and won’t – stop fighting to make sure all people get to marry the person they love, raise kids together, and have a family that’s protected by the same laws as everyone else. That’s why we’re working to repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, fight for marriage equality in the states, and ensure the freedom to marry for ALL Americans, gay or straight. Help now »

We can’t stop working to reduce bullying in schools or in communities of faith. We can’t stop getting corporations to improve their policies for LGBT employees. And we can’t stop exposing hateful groups like the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). This week, we forced NOM to release its tax returns and found that 75 percent of its funding comes from just five big donors. You can help »

And we cannot give up fighting for a fully-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In 29 states, you can still be fired for your sexual orientation. In 38 states, you can be fired for your gender identity. Fired – just for being who you are. That has to end. Help get there »

Political pundits may say it’s an uphill battle. But those same pundits said we couldn’t repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Winning new battles for equality will take all the creativity and tenacity we brought to bear in that effort. It will also take significant resources – especially given the massive funding right-wing groups have at their disposal.

That’s why we need you. Over 85 percent of our funding comes from people like you, NOT from foundations or grants – so stand with us in 2011 and make a real difference in the civil rights battle of our time.

There’s one thing that won’t change in 2011: We’ll still rely on you, and you’ll still make amazing things possible.

Let’s fight together,

Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. If you’ve already put a check in the mail or given to HRC through some other method, please accept my deepest gratitude. If you haven’t yet contributed, I hope you’ll consider making a gift now. Your gift is critical to maintaining our fight against hate and bigotry in all its forms.

Join

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Moving forward in 2011 …Brave New Films


Happy New Year Activists!

Here at Brave New Films, we are always looking for ways to share our content with the widest audience possible. In 2010, you were all very helpful in sharing our videos on Facebook and in 2011 it is very important to keep up the good work.

In addition to sharing our videos on Facebook, we need you to help spread the word on Social Bookmarking websites, namely: Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and CurrentTv.

You will be able to easily help us out by “voting up” our videos on these sites so that more people will see them!

To get started, it’s easy to do:

1. If you do not have an account on these websites, please take a few minutes and sign up for FREE. We have been using these sites for years and they do not share your information with third parties. (The links to these sites are below)

2. When we release a new video, I will send out a message to all of you and include a DIRECT LINKS to our video on each of these sites.

3. All you will have to do is log in and click on the links to “Digg” and “Vote Up” our video. I do this for each of our videos and it take about 2 minutes.

That’s it! With your help, we are able to spread the word about these important issues.

Here are the links to the sites for you to sign up:
http://digg.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.reddit.com/
http://www.current.com/

If you have any questions, I will be more than happy to help out.

Once you sign up for these sites, head over to the Citizen Activists wall and let me know that you have signed up.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129038640447204

Thanks for all that you do!

Chris Johnson
New Media Associate
Brave New Films

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

First Test …


One week from today, the new Republican House Majority will attempt to take a giant step backwards for our nation by holding a vote to repeal the health reform law that protects Americans from insurance company abuses.

This is our first test of how grassroots Democrats will respond to the Republicans’ disgraceful attempt to roll back our progress for America’s middle class families. We must hold House Republicans’ feet to the fire for taking government funded health care for themselves while voting to deny it to American families.

That is why we urgently need your support to raise $100,000 in grassroots contributions to hold Republicans accountable before their shameful vote on Wednesday.

Contribute $5, $10 or more today to help us respond to the Republicans’ shameful vote to take away quality, affordable health care from the American people and put insurance companies back in charge.

In the weeks since last November’s election, grassroots Democrats have not missed a beat in our effort to regain the Majority in 2012. Thanks to you, we surpassed our December grassroots goal by raising over $250,000. I cannot thank you enough.

Now we need your continued support to hold Republicans accountable for their misplaced priorities by voting to repeal health care reform rather than focus on creating jobs for America’s middle class. Every dollar you contribute will be used to keep the pressure on Republicans through hard-hitting ads, fact-checks, petition drives, Rapid Response efforts, and so much more.

Contribute $5, $10 or more today to help us respond to the Republicans’ shameful vote to take away quality, affordable health care from the American people and put insurance companies back in charge.

The world is closely watching our commitment to protecting all of our historic progress for America’s middle class families. Let us begin right now by holding the new Republican majority immediately accountable for trying to repeal health care reform.
Nancy
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader

P.S. We cannot remain silent as Republicans shamefully vote to take away quality affordable health care from the American people. Please urgently contribute before our Wednesday deadline to hold them accountable and send a powerful message of strength to the media.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Call Sens. Cantwell and Murray: Jimmy would be proud


The Senate is getting ready to vote on a crucial reform to end the abuse of stalling tactics in Washington. So we need to make sure our senators hear right away how important this reform is to voters at home. Can you call Sens. Cantwell and Murray today and ask them to support rules reform and end the abuse of filibusters?

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Senator Patty Murray
Phone: 202-224-2621


Remember when Jimmy Stewart takes the Senate floor in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington“ and refuses to cede it until he’s made his point? That’s how filibusters are supposed to work: A principled senator would stand up in the light of day to stop the majority from doing something bad.

These days, though, filibusters—the procedure that the minority party in the Senate uses to block a majority favored bill—don’t work that way. All it takes is one anonymous objection from a single senator to trigger a filibuster. In fact, in the 1960s, only 8% of all bills were blocked by a filibuster—but since 2006 that has ballooned to more than 70%.1

Now, Senators Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley are pushing for rule changes that would end the abuse of the filibuster. Those changes could come up for a vote as soon as this week. So we need to speak out right away to show how important this reform is to voters at home. Can you call Sens. Cantwell and Murray and ask them to support rules reform to end abuse of the filibuster?

Here’s where to call:

Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441

Senator Patty Murray
Phone: 202-224-2621

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSWA_2.FSWA_1&cp_id=1515&id=25709-9640874-OU6kWHx&t=3

This vote is not about ending the filibuster or crushing minority rights in government. It’s about returning our government to a more democratic and transparent process.

In the last two Congressional terms Democrats have had to overcome more than 275 filibusters—the most in history.2

Here’s what the New York Times says is on the table for rules reform:3

“No lazy filibusters. At least 10 senators would have to file a filibuster petition, and members would have to speak continuously on the floor to keep the filibuster going. To ensure the seriousness of the attempt, the requirements would grow each day: five senators would have to hold the floor for the first day, 10 the second day, etc. Those conducting the filibuster would thus have to make their case on camera. (A cloture vote of 60 senators would still be required to break the blockade.)

“Fewer bites of the apple. Republicans now routinely filibuster not only the final vote on a bill, but the initial motion to even debate it, as well as amendments and votes on conference committees. Breaking each of these filibusters adds days or weeks to every bill. The plan would limit filibusters to the actual passage of a bill.

“Minority amendments. Harry Reid, the majority leader, frequently prevents Republicans from offering amendments because he fears they will lead to more opportunities to filibuster. Republicans say they mount filibusters because they are precluded from offering amendments. This situation would be resolved by allowing a fixed number of amendments from each side on a bill, followed by a fixed amount of debate on each one.”

Please call Sens. Cantwell and Murray today and ask them to support rules reform to end abuse of the filibuster.

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Michael, Ilyse, Peter, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “A nuclear Senate,” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205631&id=25709-9640874-OU6kWHx&t=4

2. Reform and the Filibuster, New York Times, January 2, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205632&id=25709-9640874-OU6kWHx&t=5

3. Reform and the Filibuster, New York Times, January 2, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205632&id=25709-9640874-OU6kWHx&t=6

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