| Weekly Address: Ensuring Equal Pay for Equal WorkIn this week’s address, the President underscored the importance of ensuring equal pay for equal work and highlighted the steps his Administration has taken to expand opportunity and narrow the pay gap that exists between men and women.
Click here to watch this week’s Weekly Address.
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| President Obama at Fort Hood: “Love Never Ends”On Wednesday, President Obama spoke at a memorial service for the soldiers who lost their lives during last week’s shooting at Fort Hood Military Base.
In his remarks, the President explained that we must honor their lives “not in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.” “It’s Nice To Have a Day, But It’s Even Better To Have Equal Pay” The President celebrated Equal Pay Day on Tuesday by doing something only he can: picking up his pen and signing two executive actions to help ensure equal pay for all.
The executive actions President Obama signed will protect federally contracted employees from retaliation if they broach the topic of unequal compensation and will require federal contractors to submit more data on employee compensation, making sure employers take proactive efforts to ensure fair pay for all their employees. Way back in January during the State of the Union address, the President said this would be a year of action, and these executive orders on equal pay are just another reminder that he is keeping that promise. This year marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Baines Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act. President Obama traveled to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas to reflect on the historic piece of legislation and the legacy of the 36th president.
“Because of the Civil Rights movement, because of the laws President Johnson signed, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody — not all at once, but they swung open. Not just blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos; and Asians and Native Americans; and gay Americans and Americans with a disability,” said President Obama. “They swung open for you, and they swung open for me. And that’s why I’m standing here today — because of those efforts, because of that legacy.” The VP, a Navy SEAL, and Man’s Best Friend Vice President Biden met with Trevor, a Navy SEAL, and Chopper, the military dog who saved Trevor’s life, this week. In this episode of Being Biden — the audio series where the Vice President gives you a window into his daily life and shares some of his most memorable experiences — he shares more about that meeting.
Can’t get enough of the Vice President? Check out every episode of Being Biden. There are a lot of government agencies and web sites out there; sometimes it’s hard to keep track. But scattered on those sites are some helpful resources that can make your life easier.
We’ve searched through the .gov websites out there to find some of the tools that you might just find useful. Head to WhiteHouse.gov/Tools and you can find the farmers’ markets near you, determine if a hybrid car will save you money, and much more. As always, to see even more of this week’s events, watch this week’s episode of West Wing Week:
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Sunday Stills … on Monday by National Geographic
| NEWS |
| Rwanda: The Art of Remembering and Forgetting |
| Photograph by David Guttenfelder | ||
| Remembering is a tricky thing. It can release a river of volatile emotions that can drown you in sorrow or shame, and it can also unleash a torrent of vengeful anger. But forgetting is equally treacherous, lest those who were lost died in vain or the crucial lessons learned are not passed on to future generations. Rwandans of all walks of life navigate this complex riptide of emotion every day, each in his or her own way. It is far more art than science. | ||
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| PROOF |
| Discovering the Ocean of Childhood Dreams |
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| Photograph by THOMAS PESCHAK | ||
| Photographer Thomas Peschak documented the remote atolls of Bassas da India and Europa, which are among the last vestiges of pristine seascape in the Indian Ocean. Interest in the rare ecosystem started at an early age for Peschak. “As a kid, I used to dream about the ocean. It was a wild place full of color and life. I pictured dense shivers of sharks ruling over the food chain and herds of turtles paddling through reefs and sea grass. As a marine biologist turned photographer, I have spent most of my career looking for the places I used to dream about when I was little.” | ||
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| VIDEO |
| Life on Mars |
| “If you want to suspend reality for a bit you can really feel like you’re on Mars. You look out onto this arid, red landscape and it really feels like you’ve traveled to a new world.” Photojournalist Jim Urquhart embedded with Crew 138 of the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station for two weeks in March. The crew’s goal is to research and understand what it would be like to live on Mars. | ||
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| THE INNOVATORS PROJECT |
| How to Solve the Coldest Cases |
| Often the stories that physical anthropologist BrunoFrohlich uncovers during his fieldwork involve violence. In Mongolia, he’s pieced together murders that occurred as far back as the Bronze Age and as recently as the 1930s: children strangled, women with necks broken, people with their heads smashed, knife wounds, compound fractures—the details of each killing offering insights into the region’s culture then and now.Some of these investigations would qualify as the coldest of cold cases. But Frohlich’s work is not limited to the distant past. For nearly 30 years, he’s also worked with the FBI and provided specialized, archaeology-based forensic guidance and training to state police investigating homicide and missing-person cases. One such case even inspired the Oscar-winning movie Fargo. | ||
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| PROOF |
| Capturing the Essence of Jane Goodall |
| PHOTOGRAPH BY Michael Nichols | ||
| Photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols has been photographing Jane Goodall since 1989. Nick on Jane: “[She] knew that chimps are a million times more complicated than gorillas. Chimps have been used as human surrogates in biomedical research along with their use in space programs. At the time I came along, there was a 1989 conference about chimpanzees. People were realizing that chimps were in trouble with habitat destruction, they didn’t have rights, and there were a lot of biomedical issues. Who better to be a flagship for chimp issues than Jane Goodall, with her work in Gombe? At that point she was not yet an advocate. It was her time to say: ‘I’m a serious scientist, and here’s the truth about chimps.’ She wanted to prove herself as a scientist.” | ||
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BIG win for tigers, orangutans, and you!
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Share the news with your friends and family |
It’s official. And it’s massive win for Indonesia’s rainforests and the planet.
I almost can’t believe I’m writing this, but after just two short months of campaigning Procter & Gamble (P&G) has officially committed to a ‘No Deforestation’ sourcing policy for its palm oil. This a great step to protect the Indonesian rainforest — home to animals like orangutans and the endangered Sumatran tiger — from future destruction.
Procter & Gamble’s new policy is the direct result of hundreds of thousands of people like you who took their message straight to P&G.
Take a moment to share the good news with your family and friends on Facebook. Or just forward this email.
When Procter & Gamble’s new policy is fully implemented, P&G will trace where its palm oil comes from, and ensure that none of its suppliers are associated with forest destruction.
This a great win — but our work here is far from over. Greenpeace and our allies will be making sure that P&G not only follows through with its commitment, but that it does it faster than its 2020 deadline. We also need many more companies around the world to commit to change their palm oil policies to protect forests. Our goal is to realize No Deforestation worldwide by 2020 — protecting the rainforests of West Africa, South East Asia, and the Amazon.
Today, let’s celebrate the good news together! The power of people made this day possible. Please take a minute to celebrate by spreading the word.
P&G’s new policy is proof that our voices are heard in the board rooms of even the biggest corporations. Companies like Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal — and now Procter & Gamble — have all committed to No Deforestation because of public pressure from people like you.
For a healthy planet, all of us need forests. And to save them, Greenpeace is building a movement of people across the world who are willing to fight forest destruction wherever they find it: whether it’s in their household products, or directly threatening their communities. Together, we can see more victories for forests like today.
Sincerely,
Joao Talocchi
Greenpeace Palm Oil Campaigner
P.S. YOU did it. Procter & Gamble has officially committed to a ‘No Deforestation’ sourcing policy for its palm oil. That means no more destroying Sumatran tiger habitat for Head & Shoulders shampoo! Celebrate and share the good news with your friends on Facebook.
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Take the pledge. Reduce your meat consumption!
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Looking for a healthy alternative to meat? For every Earth Day Sampler Pack, Paleta will donate a dollar to plant a tree through EDN’s Canopy Project.
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Did you know that the meat industry is responsible for about 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? That’s more than the entire transportation sector! The production and distribution of meat doesn’t just consume a lot of energy and cause greenhouse gas emissions, it also requires a huge amount of water—up to 2,500 gallons to produce just one pound of beef. Take the pledge to reduce your meat consumption today! And the problem is getting worse. Over the last 10 years alone, global meat consumption has increased by 20%. So what can we do to help solve this problem? It’s simple—eat less meat! In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, eating just one less burger a week for a year is the equivalent of skipping 320 miles of driving. Join us in pledging to not eat meat one day a week. Thanks for your support. -The Earth Day Network Team
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the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 4/14 ~~ the House
Schedule for Monday, April 28, 2014
The Senate stands adjourned until 2:00pm on Monday, April 28, 2014.
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 5:30pm, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each and with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees.
At 5:30pm, there will be up to 4 roll call votes on the following:
- Confirmation of Executive Calendar #574, Michelle T. Friedland, of California, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit;
- Cloture on Executive Calendar #613, David Weil, Massachusetts, to be Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor;
- Confirmation of Weil nomination; and
- Confirmation of Executive Calendar #648, Katherine M. O’Regan, of New York, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
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Last Floor Action:
1:45:52 P.M. – The House adjourned pursuant to S. Con. Res. 35.
The next meeting is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on April 28, 2014.
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