~ Culture & History

Tell the USDA to ban all sales of Lion Meat … Cheryl Semcer


Change.org
                          I started a petition this summer asking a restaurant to stop serving lion meat, and won. Now I’m calling on the USDA to ban all sales of lion meat.                       
      Sign My Petition

I never imagined the impact I would have when I started my first petition on Change.org asking a restaurant in Kansas to stop serving lion meat. But I won with the help of other Change.org users!

I still wondered if the sale of lion meat was happening in other places, and who was letting this happen.

It turns out there are a lot of problems with lion meat: it’s not only bad for lions, but also humans. The origins of lion meat are nearly untraceable, with some of it coming from farms where they’re raised for circus entertainment, their hides, and slaughter. Killing lions for human consumption also falls between the cracks of federal agency responsibility, and therefore the meat is rarely inspected. Since the processing goes unregulated, lions aren’t even protected by humane slaughter laws.

It’s unbelievable to me that any restaurant would be allowed to sell lion meat — especially when the meat is potentially unsafe. Thats why I started a new petition on Change.org, this time calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to ban the sale of all lion meat. Click here to sign!

Lion meat isn’t regulated by the USDA or the Food and Drug Administration — even though it’s often deceitfully marketed this way. This lack of clear oversight makes it nearly impossible to trace the origin of lion meat and how it’s processed.

And to make matters worse, experts say that serving lion meat at restaurants in the U.S. could further drive the dwindling wild population into extinction.

Restaurants market lion meat because it’s shocking — but the government shouldn’t be allowing a gimmick like this that could decimate the lion population and make people sick. My petition asking a local restaurant to stop serving lion meat won — and was widely covered in the media. By showing popular support for a ban on all lion meat, I believe the USDA will be forced to listen.

Sign my petition now asking the United States Department of Agriculture to ban the sale of lion meat.

Thank you for your support.

Cheryl Semcer

Hoboken, New Jersey
Black History

the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 10/01 ~~ the House


all_male_panel_congressmenABC

The Senate stands adjourned until 9:30am on Thursday, October 1, 2015.

Following Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour with the time equally divided, with the Republicans controlling the first half and Democrats controlling the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R.2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2016, with the time until 1:45pm equally divided between the two Leaders or their designees. At 1:45pm, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.2029.

WRAP UP

Roll Call Votes

  1. Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2016; not invoked: 50-44.

Legislative Business

Passed H.R.2835, Border Jobs for Vets.

Passed H.R.1624, Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act.

Adopted S.Res.276, designating the week beginning October 18, 2015, as “National Character Counts Week”.

No Executive Business

===============================================================

Last Floor Action:
 2:32:07 P.M. – The House adjourned pursuant to a previous special order. The next meeting is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on October 2, 2015.

5manpanelonBControlHouse Floor Activities
Legislative Day of October 01, 2015

 Last Floor Action: 9/30
 9:14:59 A.M. -H. Res. 449
DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 449.
2:32:02 P.M. Mr. Flores moved that the House do now adjourn.
2:32:06 P.M. On motion to adjourn Agreed to by voice vote.
2:32:07 P.M. The House adjourned pursuant to a previous special order. The next meeting is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on October 2, 2015.

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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Virginia’s “ultrasound bill” a repost from 2012


Last week, I told you Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was getting ready to sign the “ultrasound bill,” an atrocious proposal that would force all women considering abortions to get ultrasounds and require their doctors to ask if they’d like a picture.

Well, he signed it.

We didn’t stop the bill this time, but we did make sure the entire country knew exactly what was going down in Virginia.

There are still 450 other bills on birth control and abortion in state legislatures across the country. With a far-right faction of the GOP holding a majority in many of them, it’s unclear how many we can stop. But let me just say this: We need to be prepared to win in November.

As long as women’s rights are being attacked, we’re going to keep fighting back — in Congress and in the states.

Say that you’re ready to stand with Democrats as we stand up for women. Add your name today.

We’re taking on this fight both nationally and in the states. In Virginia, that meant helping to fund the state party’s rapid response communications team — they pushed back on the ultrasound legislation, supported the Democrats who opposed it, and publicized peaceful protests of it at the capitol. That work helped put this bill on the national radar.

Right now, New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, and many other states are considering similar legislation.

The Texas legislature is in the midst of a bitter fight to eliminate state support for a wide range of women’s health services. They’ve already eliminated two-thirds of their funding for women’s health, closing more than half of the state’s Planned Parenthood and other clinics. And now they’re voting to reject aid for the Medicaid Women’s Health Program. They claim they’re doing this to fight abortion, but what they’re actually doing is denying hundreds of thousands of women access to basic health care.

Clearly, this fight is about more than abortion and birth control.

I won’t stop speaking out across the country about a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, and Democrats in the states won’t stop pushing back against these bills.

I hope you won’t stop fighting either.

Support the fight state by state and nationwide. Stand with the Democrats today:

http://my.democrats.org/Stand-for-Women

Thanks,

Debbie

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chair
Democratic National Committee

politics,pollution,petitions,pop culture & purses