JUSTICE — PRESIDENT OBAMA DIRECTS FEDERAL AGENCIES TO EXTEND BENEFITS TO EMPLOYEES’ SAME-SEX PARTNERS: Last June, President Obama ordered each federal agency to conduct a thorough review of employee benefits to identify any that can be extended to LGBT employees under existing law. Yesterday, the President released a memorandum announcing that the agencies “have identified a number of benefits,” and they should provide them “to their employees’ same-sex domestic partners [and their children] as permitted by law.” The benefits extension includes credit union membership, hardship transfers, counseling services, family assistance services, access to medical treatment, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. Also as a result of Obama’s June 2009 order, the Office of Personnel Management announced on Tuesday that partners of gay and lesbian federal employees, U.S. Postal Service workers, and federal retirees can start applying next month for long-term health-care insurance. “For far too long, many of our Government’s hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their colleagues enjoy,” Obama said in yesterday’s memo. “This kind of systemic inequality undermines the health, well-being, and security not just of our Federal workforce, but also of their families and communities.” The President also urged Congress to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend the full range of benefits currently enjoyed by Federal employees’ opposite-sex spouses to those of the same-sex.
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Save the Internet …Support Net Neutrality
74 Democratic members of Congress sold you out to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
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Infuriatingly, they signed an industry-backed letter telling the FCC to abandon efforts to protect Internet users by prohibiting big companies from blocking Internet traffic.
Not only is this letter an attack on net neutrality, but by signing the industry letter, these Democratic members of Congress are attempting to drastically undercut the FCC’s ability to make a fast, affordable and open Internet available to everyone in America — they are actually taking a position against the interests of rural and low-income communities.
This is unacceptable.
We need to make sure they know that their constituents and other consumers are paying attention and will hold them accountable when they undermine net neutrality protections.
Click here to automatically sign our petition to the 74 Democrats telling them that you’re upset by their decision to side with the wealthy telecommunications corporations over their constituents.
What this comes down to is a principle known as “net neutrality.” Net neutrality means that Internet users, not Internet service providers, should be in control. It ensures that Internet service providers can’t speed up, slow down, or block Web content based on its source, ownership, or destination.
Of course broadband providers are insisting that we should just trust them and there’s no need for consumers to be protected by net neutrality rules. But we cannot trust AT&T, Verizon or Comcast to protect a free and open Internet any more than we could trust BP to protect the oceans.
Without strong net neutrality rules, we might have to rely upon the good will of large telecoms to protect our access to the diversity of political perspectives. We might have to trust companies like Comcast, which actively and secretly interfered with users’ ability to access popular video, photo and music sharing applications. We might have to trust companies like AT&T, which censored anti-Bush comments made by Pearl Jam’s lead singer during a concert.
A free and open Internet is an important part of 21st Century democracy, but these members of Congress signed a letter that undercut the efforts of the FCC to make sure the Internet stays free and open.
In other words, they decided to stand with wealthy corporations rather than stand up for your interests.
The simple fact of the matter is that powerful companies with a vested interest in this fight like AT&T have armies of lobbyists to push their agenda.
If these 74 Democrats are going to get the message that it’s unacceptable for them to sell out American consumers, it’s only going to be because people like you speak up. So take a minute right now to sign our petition. You can do so automatically by clicking here.
Thank you for standing up for a free and open Internet.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
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What we’re Watching …
Israeli raid debate- Right to Protect or Terror Act?
The UN Human Rights Council wants to set up an independent fact-finding mission to look into what it calls violations of international law
Immigration
Latest news from BP
Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – 02 June. BP today announced that it supports the U.S. government’s decision to proceed with the construction of six sections of the Louisiana barrier islands proposal. The company will fund the estimated $360 million it will cost to construct the six sections. Read the full press release
Deepwater Horizon boom deployment
> View More Videos | YouTube | CG Visual Imagery
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. – Boom is repaired and redeployed off the coast of Alabama by crews with the Environmental Safety and Health Service, May 20, 2010.
Latest Information from Deepwater Horizon
- June 02, 2010
National Incident Commander Admiral Allen directs BP to pay for five additional barrier island projects in Louisiana - June 02, 2010
The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill - June 02, 2010
MEDIA ADVISORY: U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Boat Availability in Dauphin Island - June 02, 2010
AUDIO RELEASE: NOAA Administrator Discussses NOAA Ship’s Research Mission to Spill Area - June 02, 2010
MEDIA ADVISORY: National Incident Commander to provide Deepwater BP oil spill response operational update
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Move Your Money
The big banks on Wall Street — JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — have had an incredible year, getting huge taxpayer bail-outs, making record profits and paying out multi-million dollar bonuses to their CEOs while many of them are still participating in all the highly leveraged activities that caused our housing and credit crisis in the first place.
I’d like to say the good news is that Congress is poised to pass major financial reforms later this month, so the President can sign the bill before the 4th of July. The problem is the bill they’re planning to pass isn’t good enough. Don’t take it from me. Here’s what the New York Times said about it last week:
The financial reform legislation making its way through Congress has Wall Street executives privately relieved that the bill does not do more to fundamentally change how the industry does business.
Despite the outcry from lobbyists and warnings from conservative Republicans that the legislation will choke economic growth, bankers and many analysts think that the bill approved by the Senate last week will reduce Wall Street’s profits but leave its size and power largely intact.
In other words, too big to fail banks will still be too big to fail. It’s time to take matters into our own hands. So today we’re joining the Move Your Money campaign started by the good people at The Huffington Post. Declare your independence from big banks and pledge to Move Your Money to a local community bank or credit union today.
PLEDGE TO MOVE YOUR MONEY TO A COMMUNITY BANK OR CREDIT UNION RIGHT NOW
Community banks and credit unions don’t act like the big banks. Typically, they’re more responsible in how they manage their money, they’re more closely connected to the people and businesses who live near them, and they’re more inclined to make loans they know will get paid back. And your local credit union isn’t going to ask Congress for a multi-billion dollar bail-out either. These are the qualities most people want banks to have.
The idea is simple.
To regular Americans this issue isn’t Left or Right — it just makes sense. If enough people move their money from a big bank to a smaller, more local, more traditional community bank, we can break up the big banks ourselves. By working together, we won’t have to wait for Congress make change happen.
TAKE THE PLEDGE AND FIND A CREDIT UNION OR COMMUNITY BANK NEAR YOU
We can send a message to Congress, the President and every candidate running for office that we don’t trust big banks with our money. But it’s up to us to do it.
Let’s get started right now. Thank you for everything you do.
-Charles
Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America
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ThinkProgress.org
HEALTH CARE — POLL FINDS INCREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS OPPOSING REPEAL OF HEALTH CARE LAW: Just days after Republicans released their third “bill” to repeal the health care law, a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll found that “given the option to name the sections of the healthcare law they would most like to see the GOP repeal, 42 percent [of Americans] said they would leave the bill alone and repeal no parts.” Polling for the new health care law doesn’t show the kind of “bump” Democrats had expected, but the numbers are slowly improving. For instance, according to a May 2010 Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 55 percent of Americans said health reform should have a chance to work, versus 42 percent who said repeal and start over. Just 17 percent thought the health reform bill “would make things better, 36 percent said health care would get worse and 37 percent said it would stay the same.” “In April 2009, those numbers were 22 percent, 24 percent and 29 percent respectively.” Just as Americans are turning against repeal, business groups are showing reluctance to support the conservative agenda. Last month, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) — a conservative group aligned with Republican interests — surprised other business organizations when it joined a state-based lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of health care reform. Immediately after the announcement, business groups of various sizes and ideological persuasions distanced themselves from the lawsuit. “At this time, we have no plans to” join the lawsuit, a representative of the National Association of Manufacturers told The Hill. The Chamber of Commerce also said it would not join the suit and would instead pursue an “aggressive strategy of battling the regulations” of reform. The NFIB is having a hard time persuading smaller, state-based business groups to join their effort. As one article from New Jersey notes, small business groups seem weary of the lawsuit.
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