Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Action Alert … change.org


Don’t Let Texas Rewrite History

If you thought that decisions made by the Texas State Board of Education don’t affect you, think again.

Led by right-wing ideologues, the Texas board recently gave preliminary approval to a plan that would radically change what children across the country learn in history class.

The ultra-conservative majority on the board — many of whom are explicitly anti-science and believe that the United States is a “Christian nation” — took the curricula proposed by teachers and made over a hundred changes, questioning the separation between church and state and diminishing the role of women and minorities.

But it gets worse. Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to the Texas curricula will find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a stand.

We can’t allow a small group of extreme ideologues on the Texas State Board of Education to re-write history. Click here to tell textbook publishers to stand up to Texas extremists.

Children who use textbooks conforming to the new standards will not learn anything about the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson or his thoughts on the separation of church and state. When they learn about the Civil War, they’ll have to study Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address alongside Abraham Lincoln’s. And when they study the civil rights movement they’ll have to learn about the “unintended consequences” of affirmative action and Title IX.

In a particularly glaring rewriting of history, when reading about Joe McCarthy students will be told that he was right all along about communist infiltration into the U.S. government.

This is outrageous. We will have failed our children and imperiled our future if we cannot teach accurate history. We can’t let far-right ideologues co-opt our educational system.

Click here to tell the textbook publishers: Don’t let Texas rewrite history.

Thank you for standing up for the American educational system.

– The Change.org Team in partnership with CREDO Action

 Click here to sign your name

The job of textbook publishers is to educate our children, not indoctrinate them.

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

TGIF news and cspsan.org live-stream


It’s Friday,  thank goodness and it definitely has been a damn good week for We The People; nothing even remotely feels  like Armageddon as suggested by John Boehner or Eric Cantor.  It was raining the wind was blowing and while our weather in the 206 did change … The Political Party of NO did everything they could to stop change, to stop having Americans move into the 21st Century with an opportunity for good health, to stop being denied or be discriminated against, to have relief because your student will be covered under  your insurance until the age of 26; the right has said this is a welfare program… College is not cheap; people lose everything in some cases from having to pay out of the nose because of the lack of good health care coverage or no coverage at all;  small businesses will be able to get tax credits for hiring and maybe afford to provide health care too.

Oh yeah, these are bad ideas even novel … wonder why no one else thought about or tried to improve the lives of Americans … oh wait; Presidents in the past have tried but no one was able to until now.  The HCR bill is not perfect but it can be adjusted. It’s time for the middle class to re-enforce the ideology of the Democratic party.   The new law of the land is just a beginning of change we can all believe in.  It’s change that is also the beginning of what  53% heard, listened and voted for.  We not only will expect it to continue We The People must participate in keeping this change happening by calling when we need to push Democrats to push forward into the 21st Century, sign Petitions to show the numbers that continue to support climate change, stop out-sourcing,  education, energy and green jobs for all projects.  The change we voted for will not be easy, it will not get done just by the President we need to rise up; voice our opinions shut down the negative noise of Republicans. The party of NO has now seen what change looks like and they will continue to from now on.

Updates as needed

Other News …

**More needy college students will have access to bigger Pell Grants, and future borrowers of government loans will have an easier time repaying them, under a vast overhaul of higher education aid that Congress passed Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.AP

**The price of a Movie Ticket will be going up today

**British Airways is warning of a 2nd round of strikes starting at midnight 3/26/2010

**UPDATE 3/26/2010 South Korea navy fires in direction of N.Korean at an unidentified vessel and now a SKorean ship is sinking by possible torpedo stricke **On 3/25/10 SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea’s military warned South Korea and the United States on Friday of “unprecedented nuclear strikes” over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country.

Senate adjourning until April 12 without extending unemployment benefits after Sen. Coburn blocked efforts Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/25/republican-senator-blocks-unemployment-insurance-insists-democrats-pay-for-spending/#ixzz0jIcvopJS

**A 6.2 earthquake in Chile today no word of injuries yet

**Sarah Palin is campaigning for McCain today in Arizona; and as far as the show on Discovery channel? i vote to BOYCOTT it

CSPAN.org … live-stream


U.S. & Russia agree to new arms treaty. The White House announced today that it has reached an agreement on a new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) between Russia and the U.S. Pres. Obama will be joined by Sec. of State Clinton, Sec. of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen at today’s White House press briefing. The agreement will be signed on April 8 in Prague.

Census Director Discusses 2010 Census. With the U.S. 2010 census underway, Census Bureau Dir. Robert Groves joins the Washington Journal to discuss how the census is conducted and evaluated. On Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the agency had already received 20 percent of the distributed forms. Those figures suggest this year’s census is set to match or surpass participation rates from 2000, said officials.

House Passes Senate Changes To Health Care Reconciliation Bill. On Thursday, the House passed the Senate changes to the Reconciliation Bill by a vote of 220 to 207. The bill will now go to the President for his signature. Earlier, the Senate passed the Reconciliation bill by a vote of 56 to 43.

Counterterrorism and National Security Focus of Events.  A panel at the Center for Strategic and Int’l Studies will discuss their recent report on counterterrorism efforts. The discussion focuses on national security reform and lessons learned from the attempted Christmas Day bombing. Also today, the Heritage Foundation will gather policy experts to analyze the success rate of terrorist de-radicalization programs in which select detainees from Guantanamo Bay were sent abroad.

watch CSIS: From Earlier
visit CSIS visit The Heritage Foundationwatch Heritage Foundation: From Earlier

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Our Congress in action … the Senate/House


The Senate Convenes: 9:30am

Morning Business until 12:30pm with the time equally divided and controlled between Senators Stabenow and Coburn or their designees

Unanimous Consent:
Passed HR4957, FAA Extension Act (extends to April 30, 2010; current extension expires March 31, 2010).

Passed S.3162, a bill to clarify the health care provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that constitutes minimum essential coverage.

Passed HR4621, the Prevent deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act.

Passed HR4573, Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act.

Passed H.J.Res. 80, 65th anniversary of the Blinded Veterans Association.

Adopted S.Res.117, 80th anniversary of the Daughters of Penelope.

Adopted S.Res.412, designating September 2010 as “National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month”

Adopted S.Res.427, designating the first week of April 2010 as “National Asbestos Awareness Week” (with Baucus amendment to the preamble).

Adopted S.Res.471, recognizing the University of Southern Mississippi.

Asopted S.Res.472, a resolution in recognition and support of “National Safe Digging Month”.

Adopted S.Res.473, supporting the designation of April as “Parkinson’s Awareness Month”.

Passed S.3191, Satellite Home Viewer (10 year extension)

VOTES …


CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS … believed to be on Easter Holiday, back April 12

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Thursday news …


Today, President Obama will be in Iowa to talk about Health care Reform and what it means to Americans.  This is a week that we can all be so proud of even if  Republicans have decided to not only act with malice but are adding to the drama of getting through the Peoples business. It’s obvious that after Senator McCain announced that Republicans would no longer work with Democrats… like a little kid;  they decided to invoke a little used rule that allows them to shut-down the Senate Chamber completely; which shuts down any and all business of the People. The Senate usually convenes at noon; this rule if not agreed to by unanimous consent stops all Senate business at 2pm.

Late into the evening, Republicans managed to find 2 minor language violations that would send the health bill back to the House.  In what can be considered a long day and night of deflecting attempts to kill the bill, language and provisions  regarding 16 lines about Pell Grants to low income students were deemed a glitch by Democrats. And while Democrats first thought they could just delete the measure; GOP found and were obviously looking for something to kill this bill, managed to find a couple of elements that violate the “Congress budget rules,”  The two provisions are expected to be formally removed from the bill on Thursday. Manley said “he expected the Senate to approve the measure without them and send it to the House. He said Senate leaders, after conversations with top House Democrats, expect the House to approve the revised measure.” After a long night of listening to one silly amendment after another and two minor issues; the Senate scheduled passage of the health bill for Thursday afternoon and they plan to finish this fix-it part before the Easter recess; they only need 215 to pass it this time; reports of a 2pmET Senate final vote and The US House will vote Thursday evening. stay tuned.


In other News …

The Senate will pass the measure around 6pmET; they need only 215 votes as a Republican has retired… updates will be coming if needed

Senator Rangel will be the last to speak at the final vote

DADT …huffington post reports The new guidelines, which go into effect immediately, are considered a stopgap measure until Congress decides whether to go along with President Barak Obama’s call for a repeal of the law.

Senator Wyden states that the HCR lawsuits on mandates are moot as the States can opt out

A 6.1 Earthquake rocked the Philipines/Capitol today no word on injuries yet

Officials have asked women to stop using baby slings at this time as there have been incidents

Toyota will face federal hearing and maybe a class action lawsuit

Obama seeks 2.8billion for Haiti

Senate Passes bill to send billions to local governments for local construction and infrastructure projects and welfare programs.

Senate passes bill to set nutritional standards for food in schools

reports that a lone Republican reached out to Dems regarding Bank Reform has been abandoned by R.Party leaders.

Russia and the US agree to began reducing the number of Nukes from 2200 to 1500, though 67votes are needed to pass this.

and what’s on CSPAN.or live-stream …

C-SPAN's Video Library

Health bill returns to House, GOP cite two minor provisions.  Last night, Senate Republicans found two minor provisions related to Pell grants that violate Senate procedure. The provisions must be removed from bill, and then returned to the House for passage. The Senate is expected to hold a final vote today on the bill.Senate Passes Reconciliation bill House to vote later.  The Senate has passed the Reconciliation bill by a vote of 56 to 43. The legislation now goes back to the House for a final vote because two provisions in the bill were taken out of the legislation by the Senate. The House is expected to vote on the bill this evening.

Committee grades Tarp’s mortgage modification program. TARP Inspector Gen. Neil Barofsky testified before a House Oversight & Govt. Reform Cmte. about his latest report on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The report audits the Treasury Department’s foreclosure prevention efforts and lawmakers are questioning the strength of the program.

Fed’s Emergency Programs Focus of HearingThe House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing titled “Unwinding Emergency Federal Reserve Liquidity Programs and Implications for Economic Recovery.” Fed. Chair Ben Bernanke will testify to the Committee on unwinding the Fed’s emergency programs. Testimony by economic academics and experts will follow the Chairman’s appearance.

watch Hearing on Fed Liquidity read REUTERS: Fed exit fraught with dangers read Hearing Witnesses List
read Chair. Bernanke’s Prepared Testimony

Senate Cmte. Examines Fiscal Year 2010 War SupplementalDoD Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the Senate Appropriations Cmte. on additional funds needed for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war supplemental is an estimated $33 billion for fiscal year 2010 to support various missions, including the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan last year.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Mission, History & Earth Hour 2010 …


About Earth Hour

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010.
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