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Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture
40 Republicans blocked the Disclose Act
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| They just couldn’t help themselves.
Yesterday, 40 Republican senators blocked the passage of legislation that would counteract the growing influence of corporations in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. The DISCLOSE Act would have helped shed light on the hundreds of millions of dollars corporations and special interests plan to spend to influence our elections this fall — and would have helped ordinary Americans to make their voices more clearly heard in campaigns across the country. Republicans believe that killing the bill and strengthening corporate power gives them a tactical edge, allowing right-wing groups to raise more than ever to help their candidates win. It’s a stark reminder, both of what we’re up against in November and the reason we all need to fight so hard to elect Democrats. Now more than ever, we need people like you on sidewalks and doorsteps, talking to your friends and neighbors about what meaningful reforms like these would mean in their lives — and why it’s so vital that they make their voices heard this fall. Despite the fact that 80 percent of Americans disagreed with the Citizens United decision — which eliminated limits on corporate spending in political campaigns — obstructionist Republicans have sided with the special interests yet again. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hold them accountable for it. Republicans believe the support of the big corporations and the special interests is all they need, but we have a different approach. We’re building a new Democratic Party — one driven by the opinions and support of Americans around the country and focused on grassroots organizing. That’s something Republicans just don’t have: supporters like you. The obstruction of bills like DISCLOSE affects every voter in the country — and we’re all in this together. We need your help on the ground now, helping to make the case to friends and neighbors about the importance of their vote in November’s elections. Please sign up to volunteer today: http://my.democrats.org/DISCLOSEVolunteer Thanks, Jen Jen O’Malley Dillon |
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Announcing: The By the People Fund
$200 million.
That’s what Republican-aligned special interests have pledged to spend on the 2010 election. Just to put that in context, that’s nearly $40 million more than every interest group spent on the 2008 presidential election — combined.
When our administration and this movement decided to take on the special interests, we knew we were making a choice. And the consequences are clear. These groups have fought us at every turn in our struggle for change, and now they’re trying to drown out our voices — and our accomplishments — with their campaign cash this fall.
We’re not going to sit back and let that happen. Today, Organizing for America is announcing the By the People Fund with the goal of getting 3 million citizen donations to fuel our grassroots campaign for the upcoming election.
Can you donate $25 today and help us take back this election from the corporate interests?
With our By the People Fund, we’re going to make a statement this fall — strengthening our grassroots efforts on the ground, focusing on getting first-time voters from 2008 back to the polls this year, and holding the Republicans and their special-interest allies accountable.
We’ve all gone to the mat with these folks time and again — ever since Barack and I took office. And, from the Recovery Act to historic health reform to Wall Street reform, you helped prove we could win those fights.
Now these groups have one goal in mind when it comes to November 2nd — erasing the progress we’ve made together.
By spending an unprecedented amount of cash to support Republicans, they’re doing their best to buy their way back into power. And, if they do, they’ve been clear that they will do everything they can to undo the historic achievements we’ve fought so hard to win.
It’s no wonder that each and every Republican in the Senate on Tuesday voted to allow these special interests to have a greater say in our elections. Their vote will allow these groups to spend millions on campaign ads — and not have to reveal who’s actually behind them.
I’ve been in politics a long time. I’m used to seeing the good guys outspent by interest groups. But we’ve never been outnumbered — and we’ve never been outhustled.
I’m asking you to make sure it stays that way. Will you chip in and help us grow our By the People Fund?
Please donate $25 or more today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/ByThePeople
Thank you,
Vice President Joe Biden
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IMMIGRATION: Arizona’s D-Day
Ninety days after it was signed into law, Arizona’s new immigration law — SB-1070 — is set to take effect tomorrow. U.S. Ninth District Judge Susan Bolton is currently considering some of the seven lawsuits brought against the law along with a request by federal government that she approve a federal injunction of the law. Last night, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) announced that she expects a ruling within 24 hours. Much is at stake. As one law professor pointed out, if the law is struck down, it will take the “wind out of the sails” of local efforts to pass immigration laws. If it isn’t, Bolton’s decision will “unleash more copycat legislation.” Both sides are bracing themselves for implementation. National and local organizations are preparing a state-wide demonstration that will kick off today with a vigil in several cities. Demonstrators are set to descend on the Arizona state capital without their papers and “dare law enforcement in Phoenix, Arizona, to put SB-1070 to the test.” The U.S. attorney for Arizona is encouraging those who believe their civil rights have been violated to contact the FBI. Meanwhile, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is “setting aside space” in his tent city for more undocumented immigrants as local law enforcement gears up to enforce SB-1070. And while most Americans support Arizona’s immigration law, they also think its looming implementation tomorrow will “increase discrimination against Hispanics while not necessarily making a dent in the [immigration] problem.”
LEGAL BRAWL: Beginning a couple weeks ago, Bolton started hearing arguments filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, civil rights organizations, clergy groups, a researcher, and a Tucson police officer over whether Arizona’s new immigration law should take effect. University of Arizona law professor Jack Chin explains that Bolton will have to weigh the likelihood of success of the lawsuits challenging the law, judge who will suffer “irreparable harm,” and look at the “balance of hardships.” Bolton has the options of issuing a temporary injunction, blocking parts of the law, or doing nothing. So far, Bolton has dropped only a few hints as to how she will rule. During the hearings, she suggested that the part of Arizona’s law that requires immigrant residents to carry immigration documents “may not pass constitutional muster.” After challenging her assessment, the defense conceded, stating, “I didn’t have the feeling I persuaded you last week either.” Bolton also questioned a sentence in SB-1070 that requires police to verify the immigration status of arrested inmates before releasing them along with a separate part of the law that allows police to arrest anyone they believe has committed a crime that would make them removable from the country. However, Bolton did make one thing clear: she will not invalidate the whole law, but may halt the enactment of a handful of its sections. SB-1070 supporters are fighting back. Attorneys for the Arizona governor asked a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit, insisting that the federal government’s claim is based on “hypothetical scenarios.” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever have also hired lawyers to fight lawsuits against SB-1070 and pursue countersuits against the Obama administration.
WINNERS AND LOSERS: As the SB-1070 legal battle rages on, a growing list of stakeholders is taking shape. A local Arizona TV news station recently discovered that “two of Brewer’s top advisers have connections” to private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Paul Senseman, Brewer’s deputy chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for CCA and his wife continues to lobby for the company. Chuck Coughlin, who leads her re-election campaign, chaired her transition into the governorship, and is one of the governor’s policy advisers, also happens to be the president of HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, which lobbies for CCA. Brewer’s connections to the CCA are significant because the company currently bills $11 million a month to the state of Arizona to house immigrant detainees, and if SB-1070 is successfully implemented, its profits would soar as it would take responsibility for imprisoning immigrants arrested by Arizona police. Brewer herself, who has essentially built her campaign around the law, has also benefited from signing off on SB-1070 in terms of her local popularity. So far, Brewer has raised over $1,104,935 just for her legal defense fund. However, Brewer’s star may not shine forever. Arizona public schools are experiencing a drop in enrollment which could account for a drop in millions of dollars of federal funding. Arizona’s Office of Tourism is reporting a $12 million loss in canceled hotels and reservations. Attendance has also been dropping at several local churches serving largely to Hispanics, and as the Arizona Republic points out, “fewer attendees means less in the collection plate.” In the end, embracing the law also carries the risk of permanently alienating the critical Latino vote.
RIPPLE EFFECT: The rest of the Western hemisphere is watching Arizona closely. The Reform Immigration for American campaign reports that “there are twenty two copycats [laws] waiting to see which way the wind blows on states’ ability to preempt federal immigration law.” In Utah, one state lawmaker is prepared to introduce copycat legislation as early as the second week of August. Gubernatorial candidates in states like Florida, Colorado, and Georgia have made campaign promises to pass similar laws based on the presumption that SB-1070 is constitutional. Meanwhile, tensions on the issue are high. Activists argue that SB-1070 has contributed to a fresh round of discrimination such a surge of hate crimes in Staten Island and the disturbing release of a “witch-hunt” list of the names of 1,300 suspected undocumented immigrants by Utah citizen vigilantes. The white supremacist National Socialist Movement has also entered the debate and will demonstrate in downtown Knoxville next month as a show of support for a tougher state immigration law. On the other side of the border, Latin America is keeping a close watch. Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru have all filed motions to join Mexico’s legal brief supporting the lawsuits of the U.S. government and advocacy groups. Mexico is additionally preparing for the implementation of Arizona’s new immigration law. Expecting a surge of deportees, the Mexican government has also added more workers to its consulate in Phoenix and migrant shelters have added more beds. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission plans on sending inspectors to U.S. border crossings to monitor deportations and ensure deportees are treated properly.
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willful Wednesday &some News
Today, The President meets with a group of small business owners to discuss the economy and urge Congress to pass support for small businesses then delivers a statement to the press at 2pmET and ends his evening at a DNC finance event.
We are now one day away from finding out if SB1070 will become law, a huge amount of use who can say we know people who have been subjected to “reasonable suspicion” but never told by a police officer that we have the right this now SB1070 is a law; giving the police the authority to act like ICE and right to racially profile legally. This is an unbelievable thing happening in the 21st Century and throws us all back a few years when you think about what civil rights…wrongfully detained…paper please should not be happening in a state that originally started out being owned by people of colour …It is just offensive to think this solves the real issue and that is a system started by employers decades ago willing to pay little or nothing to people looking for work across the border…this continued for decades and needs a solution but it should be comprehensive not a seemingly opened ended law like SB1070.
Yesterday …on the floor of the Senate, Republicans voted No for cloture 57-41 on Campaign finance reform, which means the bill will not even get debated but Republicans voted Yes to giving up more money to fund a War our President inherited but will draw down in 2011. The other thing Republicans managed to do was to strip the bill of things that would have helped so many people… late Thursday, the Senate stripped $1.2 billion for the claims from an emergency spending bill, along with $3.4 billion in long-overdue(14 years) funding for a settlement with American Indians who say they were swindled out of royalties by the federal government and the Senate refused to pay the $1.2billion settlement ( 20 years) to Black Farmers;originally settled in 1999.
The vote to fund the War in Afghanistan clearly was a disappointment to progressives. The problem i have and wonder is anyone else confused about whose side progressives are truly on lately because in 100 days, the November elections will be upon us and sometimes the noise from our own party has me thinking everyone is either nutty or more willing to engage in that circular squad folks talk about and that is wrong for democrats to be involved in. The notion that most of the ones who have a platform state they are challenging the President, holding this President accountable. I do not see it quite like that because challenging someone does not include threats of throwing a person or in this case the President under the bus. Is this an attempt to scare the President into being a puppet that only does what his base wants him to do not what might be good for Americans. It really seems some are smiling at him while predicting his fate for 2012 if he forgets his base. Senator Bernie Sanders stated, the progressives who worked the hardest to get him elected; and yes that comment is upsetting to me as a democrat who worked hard like other democrats and those of us of colour who may not consider themselves progressives worked hard support this President in high numbers.
Considering the state of our nation and most if not all the 53% voted for more transparency in government -it will not happen because Republicans are the Party of No
At the end of the day, you have to stay true to what you believe in. Those that support this President should not run away from a fight just because there might be some trouble. We are in a moment when we need to push our Congress to pass legislation the President offered up in his campaign. I have to say Senate democrats need to stop complaining about his leadership, and get theirs in control. It is beyond me to think any sane person would vote against Democrats. We all must think of the what the future will look like if Republicans grab control with all the vitriol coming from the right; people of colour, women who like having the right to choose, family members who are gay and or are in the military with lack of resources mental or financial could be left behind big time. The list above is just part of a whole that Republicans are willing to throw under the bus…yes i say that a lot…it is true. We may not all agree on funding any War let alone the one that our President feels is the right war but by contrast Republicans choose to fund a war but not fund its own people and that has to make some people worry. I actually understand the reason we are in Afghanistan but like everyone else, it is time to get out. It is possible that the 37mil will give this President a chance, and then as promised, the drawn down begins in 2011 and should be kept in place unless the environment changes and the drawn down be done sooner. It is not lost on me that Russia was unable to get anything done …it is an area that is ancient and terrain impossible. The fact that we had to have a general step down based on some questionable ethics could mean a change of plans even though the commander in chief many not tell us things were learned from the breach of ethics.
Speaking of Ethics… Well, the root word…ethic can be transformed into many usages. by definition ethic: a set of principles of right conduct, a theory or a system of moral values ,then we move into ethics, is a general study of the general nature of morals and of specific moral choices, rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession -ethical: being in accordance with the accepted principles that govern the conduct of a profession.
It is with the definitions and descriptions listed above my problem with the word ethics used by cable heads on what seems like a daily basis. If Charles Rangel has unacceptable behavior which has not only become media fodder but is going through an investigation why haven’t the member of Congress dealt with the crap that Enzi, Stanford, who left his post to go to Argentina by lying with no one in charge did not get into trouble…why?
Other News …
**Macy’s continues to be a problem for it’s workers due to possible unfair hiring practices. the union is asking people to call the Tacoma location and ask them to stop
**The BP oil disaster moves into 100 days
**France declares war against Al-qaida
**The Blago jury went into deliberation and will have to go through 7weeks of testimony
**NH GOP senate front runner has been unmasked …Kelly Ayotte is being backed by Sarah Palin. apparently, not the best thing because even a conservatives newspaper wrote a negative article and the Sept 14th Primary may have a surprise winner
C-SPAN …
Hearing on Consumer Online Privacy
Hearing on Moratorium and Small Business
Hearing on Oil Spill Impact on Tourism
Report: Minority Communities Most Affected by Recession
Speakers at today’s National Urban League convention in Washington discuss the group’s annual report on economic and racial disparities, which finds that the recession has negatively impacted minority communities more than the rest of the nation.The “State of Black America” convention marks the civil rights organization’s centennial. Participants in this year’s conference include Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), and NAACP President & CEO Benjamin Jealous.
Former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) is also expected to address the group, one day before a House committee is scheduled to hear ethics charges against him.
U.S. Envoy Expected to Discuss Leaked Afghan War Documents
A House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing was scheduled to hear today from the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, about American civilian aid to the region. The topic may now be overshadowed by questions regarding more than 91,000 leaked documents related to the war there. Some of the documents, made public Sunday by the website WikiLeaks.org, disclose possible support for al Qaeda and Afghan insurgents by Pakistani intelligence services. Ambassador Holbrooke has previously criticized the relationship between Pakistani officials and the militants. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah will also appear at the hearing to discuss aid programs managed by his agency. A recent audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found significant challenges to the sustainability of U.S. aid programs in the war-torn country.
Hearing: LIVE on c-span.org at 10am ET
WSJ: Leak Sets Off Effort to Control Damage NYT: Pakistan Spy Service Aids Insurgents… WikiLeaks.org: Afghan War Diary Afghan Aid Audit SIGAR Press Release Commission to Assess Deficit Causes and Solutions
The presidential commission charged with finding bipartisan solutions to lowering the nation’s trillion-dollar budget deficit is meeting for the fourth time since April.The 18-member commission is hearing from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Barry Anderson, who recently served as head of the Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). They will discuss the fiscal outlook for the United States and global economy.
The commission is co-chaired by former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff and Senate candidate Erskine Bowles (D-NC). Its non-binding recommendations are due in December.
Cmsn. Meeting: NOW on c-span.org 
Fiscal Commission Website First Cmsn. Meeting (4/27) Second Cmsn. Meeting (5/26) Third Cmsn. Meeting (6/30)
Be a Seed for Change 
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