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R74

10/11/2012 Nativegrl77

$3 million.

That’s how much money the opponents of the freedom to marry are raising to repeal marriage equality in Washington, and fight it in other states. And the National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, has quite a history of using that money to scare and mislead voters about what the freedom to marry means.

And, believe me — NOM is just beginning to drown Washington with campaign cash. Just last night, we learned that they’d transferred ANOTHER $400,000 into Washington.

Please click here to contribute $3 to fight these ads now — if we wait until they’re on the air in Washington, it’ll be too late.

After I emailed you about NOM’s campaign to — and I quote — “protect marriage from Barack Obama and his wealthy homosexual lobbyists”, some of our supporters suggested that I tell you exactly what these $3 million dollars in anonymous donations are going to buy.

In 2008, NOM ran an ad called “Princess” which featured a young girl telling her mom “what she learned in school today” — which was that “A prince can marry a prince, and I can marry a princess!” You know the argument by now: that somehow, allowing all loving couples to marry will upend our schools and threaten religious freedom. It was a lie then and it’s a lie now.

These are the kind of false attacks that we KNOW are coming.

We know, because the same organization, it’s same shadowy anonymous donors, and the same spin doctors that put together this ad are bankrolling — and leading — our opposition in Washington.

It worked in California — but we can stop them in Washington, if you click here to contribute $3 right now.

Sorry to pollute your inbox with this, but you deserve to know.

Zach Silk Campaign Manager Washington United for Marriage

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National School Lunch Week :

10/11/2012 Nativegrl77

Support Our NSLW Campaign:

But a shirtRead on Huffington Post:
“Entrepreneurs, Pissed-Off Parents and the New Standards: An Opportunity for a School Food Revolution” by Kathleen Rogers & Anthony Geraci.

Nothing is more important than our children’s health. Yet, school food often falls short of proper nutritional and sustainability standards.
There’s no better time to highlight the importance of healthy, sustainable school food than during National School Lunch Week: October 15 – 19. And Earth Day Network is here to help.
Check out our National School Lunch Week campaign website to learn more and to see a special video message from the Harlem Globetrotters.
Make a commitment to talk to your kids about where their food comes from and how it affects their health and the environment. Then, ask local school administrators to participate in National School Lunch Week with school-wide observances.
Finally, tell your kids about our National School Lunch Week poster contest, and have them enter to win $100 and other prizes.

Together, we can ensure a bright, healthy and green future for America’s kids.
– The Earth Day Network Team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Jane Doe via Change.org

10/10/2012 Nativegrl77

Verizon will no longer punish victims of domestic violence with cancellation fees. Now Sprint should do the same.

Sign Jane’s Petition

My name is not Jane. I need to keep my real name secret because the man who abused me can’t know where I am — I fear for my safety. But when I was leaving him and needed to get him off the cell phone contract we shared, Sprint put my safety at risk.

The man who abused me is the father of my son. When our baby was just four months old, he watched as his father strangled me and threatened to stomp on my head with steel-toed boots. I left and got a restraining order the next day.

But at a time when I had no job, no steady place to live, and feared for my life and the life of my little one, Sprint refused to let me get my abuser off my cell phone contract unless I paid them $200 — even though the contract was in my name. I had no money, and the man who threatened to kill me could track exactly who I was calling and when.

I was inspired when I saw that another woman started a petition on Change.org asking Verizon to end contract cancellation fees for victims of domestic violence — and she won. So I started my own petition asking Sprint to do the same. Click here to add your name.

When I signed the petition asking Verizon to drop cancellation fees for victims of domestic violence, I was shocked how many other people who signed shared awful stories about Sprint. One woman wrote about how Sprint made her meet her abusive ex-boyfriend in person at the Sprint store before they’d let her cancel her contract.

As for me, I’m still so afraid of my abuser that I can’t even use my real name. But this issue is so important for women like me fighting for their lives, I knew I had to do something.

Cindy’s petition to Verizon made me realize that I am not alone. If she can get Verizon to change its policies to prioritize the safety of victims of domestic violence, there’s no reason Sprint can’t do the same. I know that if enough people sign my petition, Sprint will do the right thing, too.

Click here to sign my petition demanding that Sprint follow in Verizon’s footsteps and end cancellation fees for victims of domestic violence.

Thank you,

Jane Doe USA

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Monument to Cesar E. Chavez

10/10/2012 Nativegrl77

The White House

President Obama Establishes Monument to Cesar E. Chavez

President Obama traveled to Keene, California, to dedicate the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument on the property known as Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz (Our Lady Queen of Peace).
The site is recognized worldwide for its historic link to civil rights icon Cesar Estrada Chavez and the farm worker movement — the site served as the national headquarters of the United Farm Workers (UFW) as well as the home and workplace of Cesar Chavez and his family from the early 1970’s until Chavez’s death in 1993, and includes the Memorial Garden where Chavez is buried.
Read the reactions of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Julie Rodriguez, an Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement.

President Barack Obama views the office of Cesar Chavez before the dedication ceremony for the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, Calif., Oct. 8, 2012. Pictured with the President, from left, are: Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers; Helen Chavez, Cesar Chavez’ widow; Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers; and Paul F. Chavez, Cesar Chavez’ Son and President of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Always low prices. Not always sustainable.

10/10/2012 Nativegrl77

Safeway is offering responsibly fished canned tuna at a lower price than conventional brands like Chicken of the Sea. It’s time for Walmart to do the same.

Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.

Walmart’s own brand of tuna might be low cost. But it comes at a high price to our oceans.
That’s because what you’ll find inside a can of Walmart’s ‘Great Value’ tuna has been caught in the some of the most destructive ways imaginable. These destructive fishing practices unnecessarily kill tens of thousands of sharks, sea turtles, rays and other sea creatures every year.
It doesn’t have to be this way — even for a company as big as Walmart.
Safeway just recently began selling sustainably-sourced tuna under its own label on a national scale. This “Responsibly Caught” Safeway Select tuna also costs less than cans from major companies like Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea. We know it can be done and it’s time for Walmart to do the same thing. Help us send 30,000 messages to the company in the next 48 hours by taking action today.
Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.
Walmart is such a large buyer that it could force the entire canned tuna industry to change. We’re talking about altering industrial fishing practices on the scale necessary to actually save our oceans. It’s what consumers want, and Safeway has already proven that it can be done in a cost-effective manner.
Companies like Chicken of the Sea are blocking progress by wanting to continue with business as usual: yanking tuna out of our oceans by any means necessary and slaughtering anything else that gets in the way.
Walmart has the power to get the tuna industry to clean up its act, but it is going to need to hear from the public first before it does anything.
Destructive fishing practices are one of the biggest threats facing our oceans right now. The use of fish-aggregating devices (FADs) is particularly gruesome.
FADs, which are basically floating objects placed in the ocean, don’t just attract tuna. They attract all sorts of life — including sharks, sea turtles and a bunch of other species. When the ship returns, it scoops up everything that has gathered around the FAD with a net. Hardly anything is spared in this process, and the crews just toss the lifeless remains of whatever they don’t want back into the ocean.
Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and Starkist all catch their tuna in this way.