Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Ismael Estrada AC360° Producer Editor’s note: Watch Anderson Cooper 360° Monday beginning at 10 pm ET to learn more about the allegations against Arpaio. (CNN) — Make no mistake about it: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is tough on crime. The popular lawman has built a reputation for taking a strong-handed approach to those who break the law in his county. Whether it’s a DUI, a violent crime or being an undocumented immigrant: commit a crime … Read More

via Anderson Cooper 360

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

How to earn the resentment of the Right

10/10/2010 Nativegrl77

Thanks to all of you who responded to my recent email and who have given generously to my campaign.

My Republican opponent – a Tea Party favorite – just boasted to the Wall Street Journal that he had received $400,000 in contributions during the month of September from out-of-state people seeking to remove me from Congress because the right-wing regards me as such an irritant.

For those of you who have not yet given but would like to support my fight against the right, I will be truly grateful for your help.

It pains me to say that modern elections cannot be fought without money, and until we change that system, good candidates will have to count of the generosity of many thousands of engaged Americans in order to have a chance against powerful, richly-endowed, right-wing forces.

Thank you for joining the battle. I hope it will be some compensation to you for your generosity to know that some of the most obnoxious — and dangerous — people in the country will very much resent you for doing so.

Barney Frank

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Job Tracker …

10/09/2010 Nativegrl77

Search Working America’s Job Tracker to find corporate traitors in your area.

Every day, more U.S. workers are told “You’re fired!” Not because they did something wrong—and not because the work they do isn’t needed anymore—but because their jobs are being shipped overseas.

So our friends at the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate Working America created Job Tracker—a website that exposes which companies are guilty of outsourcing our jobs. Just enter your ZIP code, and Job Tracker will find corporate traitors near you.

Search your area for companies that have sent jobs overseas, risked the safety and health of workers or violated their rights.

When we see the plant near us closing or mass layoffs in the next town over, it’s hard to know the disturbing scope of the problem—after all, corporations don’t want to publicize unpopular, anti-worker actions, and the government doesn’t track every job lost to outsourcing in one easily assessable place.

I was shocked to learn from Job Tracker that 13 companies right in my area are outsourcing jobs, and a shocking 6,515 companies have safety and health violations! Want to know what things are like in your community? Get the stats on greedy companies near you, and report any missing companies you know about.

By making this information public, Working America is putting greedy CEOs on the defensive. For the first time, working people have one place to see the real impact of outsourcing, bad trade deals and currency manipulation. Every corporate traitor Working America exposes—and every company you and your friends, co-workers and family add—makes a stronger case for holding corporations accountable.

So check out Job Tracker, and if any companies are missing, tell us about them. We’ll research your submissions and add them to the site when we verify the information.

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. Corporations aren’t going to stop moving jobs out of America unless we force them to stop. That starts with compiling concrete information on just how much corporate greed is costing America’s workers. Check out Job Tracker, and help us take the first step by shining a light on outsourcing, safety and health violations and labor law violations.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Washington Democrats are Counting on YOU

10/09/2010 Nativegrl77

I know you are getting tons of emails. The truth is November’s election is in a little over three weeks and it all comes down to the actions we take right now to get out our message and turn out Democrats to the polls.

The margins of victory have no room for error for any Democrat to sit on the sidelines. If you care about the progress we have made for America, we must act now. Here are the three best ways you can get involved to help retain our Democratic Majority in November:

Sign up to Volunteer — We can put you in touch with a local campaign in your area who needs your help now, on the phones, knocking on doors and passing out literature. We urgently need volunteers on the ground. We know exactly which voters we need to target. We just need folks to make it happen.
Ask your friends to Volunteer — Post a link on Facebook, tweet it out, or simply press forward on this email and send to ten friends. Every committed Democrat needs to get involved and we are counting on you. The Republicans are counting on Obama Democrats to stay home — let’s prove them wrong.
Can’t volunteer? Donate! — Outfitting a grassroots campaign organizer with a kit costs $28 dollars – contribute that today and it could mean that one more campaign has one more volunteer who has the resources it will take for victory on Election Day. $100 could cover production of over a 1000 door hangers. We urgently need your support.

It’s all come down to these final three weeks.

We cannot wake up on November 3rd regretting we didn’t do more. I need you in this game. Stand with Speaker Pelosi and President Obama and let’s prove the Republicans wrong. They have underestimated us before but let’s show them this is their biggest miscalculation of all.

Onward to Victory,

Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Washington State: Meet Dino Rossi …updated

10/09/2010 Nativegrl77

Running for U.S. Senate, Washington

Dino Rossi is a Republican candidate in the primary for the U.S. Senate in Washington. He is real estate investor who previously served as a state senator and twice ran for governor of Washington.

In the 1990s, Sen. Rossi developed a relationship with one of Seattle’s biggest real estate developers, Michael Mastro. In 1997, when Sen. Rossi was serving in the state Senate, he purchased a building from Mr. Mastro. Two of Sen. Rossi’s fellow investors were Washington state lobbyists, David Ducharme and his father, Richard Ducharme. Mr. Mastro loaned the threesome $2 million to purchase the $2.5 million property. Separately, Sen. Rossi borrowed $50,000 from Mr. Mastro for the purchase, which he did not report as required on his financial disclosure forms. Mr. Mastro was also a donor to both of Sen. Rossi’s campaigns for governor. In 2008, Mr. Mastro’s multimillion dollar empire crumbled after it became apparent he had been promising untenable returns to investors.

listen as Rossi dodges questions about unemployment 2010

Sen. Rossi’s relationship with the Ducharmes continued long after they sold the building they had purchased from Mr. Mastro. While still a state senator, Sen. Rossi turned to the pair once again and convinced them to invest in a bank that he had started. Sen. Rossi invested at least $75,000 of his own money in the bank and made David Ducharme CEO. In 2009, the bank came under investigation for “engage[ing] in unsafe and unsound banking practices relating to its strategic and capital planning, credit underwriting, credit administration, concentration risk management, and liquidity management.” David Ducharme is currently working to secure enough capital to appease federal regulators.

Following his defeat in the 2004 gubernatorial race, Sen. Rossi started the Forward Washington Foundation. Sen. Rossi used the foundation to pay himself $75,000 a year while traveling the state giving speeches but little else. Sen. Rossi treated the foundation much like his own campaign committee, but he didn’t have to abide by campaign contribution limits or disclosure laws. The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) opened an investigation into the foundation but Sen. Rossi stepped down as president before the investigation was complete and declared his candidacy for governor. The Commission later ended its investigation because of insufficient evidence.

In his run for governor in 2008, Sen. Rossi was supported by the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW). The BIAW spent $6.9 million largely to promote Sen. Rossi and criticize his opponent throughout the race. A complaint filed with PDC alleged that Sen. Rossi violated state law by coordinating fundraising with the BIAW, failing to register as a candidate in a timely manner, exceeding contribution limits and failing to disclose contributions. After an investigation, the PDC eventually cleared Sen. Rossi of any wrongdoing, but its final report revealed how closely the BIAW skirted the law in promoting his candidacy. Sen. Rossi’s close relationship to the BIAW shouldn’t have come as any surprise, though; Richard Ducharme is a former lobbyist for the BIAW.

Source: CREW

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Dino Rossi running for US Senate and questions as well

below is a vid from 2008 about abortion