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“We Do Not Wish to be Slaves on Our Own Lands”


Rainforest Action Network
My name is Adelbert Gangai. I am from the Maisin tribe and work with the nine tribes from the Collingwood Bay region of Papua New Guinea. Our culture is intrinsically entwined and our livelihoods are entirely dependent on the primary forest that surrounds us.
But recently there is a threat that the palm oil company KLK will destroy the subsistence life style we have maintained since time immemorial by attempting to illegally develop over 100,000 acres of our customary lands against our will. Fortunately, KLK has a weak spot—HSBC Bank is one of KLK’s principal bankers. Will you take a moment to tell HSBC to use its influence to pressure KLK to stop expanding on our lands?
Our chiefs issued a rare joint communiqué in 2010 voicing the consensus of the residents of Collingwood Bay—who total over 7,000 people from 326 clans in 22 villages scattered across our coastline—that we do not wish to have industrial palm oil plantations established on our land under any circumstances.
Will you stand with us and send a message today to HSBC—a key banker of KLK—asking it to use its influence to urge KLK to stop these misguided plans before this controversy escalates into a full blown conflict?
RAN sponsored a colleague from Collingwood Bay and myself this past month to bring our case to the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Sumatra. Thanks in large part to the pressure generated by over 12,000 RAN supporters like you, who took action to demand that KLK meet with us and that the RSPO finally take steps to address the formal complaint we filed more than a half a year ago, progress was made on both fronts.
Thank you for making this an issue that KLK and the RSPO can no longer ignore. But no real commitments have yet been made and right now, large earth moving equipment and a KLK barge containing palm oil seeds still sits just off our coastline. The anxiety this has created has driven members of our community to establish a blockade between the ship and the access route to our land.
We would now like to ask our friends and partners in the international community to take up our call and increase the pressure on KLK by asking one of its key bankers, HSBC, to use its leverage with KLK to push for a total withdrawal from our territory. For good.
We have witnessed what has happened to other communities in Papua New Guinea and around the world whose lands have been over-run by industrial palm oil plantations. They have been marginalized and become slaves on their own land. We do not wish this for the people of Collingwood Bay.
Our communities have fought and won against multinational corporations trying to develop our lands before. With your help, we will prevail in preserving this special place once again.
Thank you so much for your support,
Adelbert Gangai

Thank you,
Adelbert Gangai             Collingwood Bay
Black History

the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 12/05 ~~ the House


beaseedforchangestickersGREEN

The Senate will convene at 2:00pm on Monday, December 9, 2013.

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 4:00pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S.1197, the National Defense Authorization to allow the Chairman and Ranking Member to provide a status update on the bill.

 At 5:00pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider Executive Calendar #327, the nomination of Patricia Ann Millett, of Virginia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, post-cloture.  There will be up to 30 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form. At 5:30pm, all post-cloture time will be expired and there will be a roll call vote on confirmation of the Millett nomination.

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

Last Floor Action:
2:49:45 P.M. – The House adjourned
pursuant to a previous special order.

The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00
p.m. on December 9, 2013.

Last Floor Action:
9:15:37 A.M. -H.R. 3309
GENERAL DEBATE
– The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R.
3309.

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

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Does Dogma Destory Our Oceans


Oceans are being put at risk by anti-government dogma. We need all federal agencies to be fully involved in ocean planning efforts to ensure coastal communities are prepared for natural disasters.
            Please sign the petition today! Don’t Let Dogma Destroy Our Oceans

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Degrading black professors

2 Comments

Depicting a black professor as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor was just the beginning. Sign my petition calling on California’s attorney general to investigate systemic racism at UCLA.

Dr. Christian Head was a respected surgeon at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). But because he is black, Dr. Head was the target of blatant discrimination — including a public presentation that featured an image depicting Dr. Head as a gorilla being sodomized by his white supervisor.

Dr. Head fought back. After more than 100,000 people signed a petition supporting him on Change.org, his lawyers were able to secure a landmark settlement from UCLA. But Dr. Head was far from the only faculty member to experience racism at UCLA. 

In fact, a shocking new study reveals that the problem is extremely widespread. As a national board member of the NAACP who lives in Los Angeles, I am abhorred that a prestigious public university like UCLA would turn a blind eye to the systematic degradation of its non-white faculty members.

That’s why I started a petition on Change.org calling on California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, to launch an investigation into racism at UCLA to determine if civil rights laws have been violated and to recommend solutions. Click here to sign my petition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the recent campus-wide study of racism at UCLA — led by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno — said that UCLA regularly ignored complaints about discrimination and retaliation. One Latino professor reported being called a racial slur by a colleague in front of his students. He says he was told that reporting what happened to him would only “cause more trouble.”

Since UCLA refuses to take action to address systemic racism on campus, it’s time for Attorney General Harris to step in. 

As a strong woman of color in California leadership, Attorney General Harris is uniquely positioned to take swift and decisive action to address UCLA’s pernicious culture of discrimination. I know that if thousands of people sign my petition, Attorney General Harris will respond, just as a petition created key pressure to enable Dr. Head to win his settlement from UCLA.

Click here to sign my petition calling on Attorney General Harris to launch an investigation into systemic racism at UCLA. 

Thank you,

Ron Hasson Los Angeles, CA

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Back on Offense


After a trying two months, the new and improved HealthCare.gov had more than a million visitors yesterday and is functioning well for most people, enrollment is surging, nearly 1.5 MILLION Americans have been newly found eligible for Medicaid, and the GOP plan still consists of repeal and “we’ll see.”

Here’s today’s top health care stories:

  • 18,000 Enroll Through HealthCare.gov on Monday: Just under 27,000 people signed up for plans through HealthCare.gov during the entire month of October, but some 18,000 people enrolled through the revamped website in just 24 hours on Monday.
  • California Republicans Use Taxpayer Funds on Fake Obamacare Website: In attempt to sabotage the law and convince individuals not to enroll in coverage, California Republicans have rolled out an anti-Obamacare website designed to mimic the state’s exchange website. California Assembly Republicans built the site with taxpayer funds and bill it as a “public service.”
  • GOP Health Care Plan Is Repeal and ‘We’ll See’: When asked today whether Republicans would finally,  after 4.5 years of attacking Obamacare, offer their own alternative, Speaker Boehner’s response was merely, “we’ll see.” Republicans continue to call for repealing the law, which would now take away health coverage from the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have enrolled in the past two months and eliminate benefits that millions of other Americans have enjoyed for years.
  • Nearly 1.5 MILLION Americans Found Eligible for Medicaid: A new report out today from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that nearly 2.5 MILLION applications for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) were submitted in October and nearly 1.5 MILLION low-income Americans were found to be eligible for coverage.

BOTTOM LINE: Obamacare is working and it’s here to stay.

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