It’s hard to believe, but just three years ago, people with HIV were banned from entering the United States. You couldn’t visit a loved one, and becoming a citizen was out of the question.

Thanks to the hard work of HRC activists like yourself, we finally overturned the 22-year ban, and now we’ve arrived at another big moment: the return of the International AIDS Conference to the United States.

The conference unites the world’s most prominent activists, researchers, and policy makers to chart a path forward on HIV/AIDS.

And as the conference gets underway, The AIDS Memorial Quilt will also return to Washington, DC – serving once again as a powerful reminder of loved ones lost to HIV/AIDS and as a potent signal of the work left to be done.

You can help mark this historic occasion by submitting a quilt panel to remember those lost to HIV/AIDS. Click here for instructions on how to submit your own panel, which we’ll put on display at our headquarters.

Just as we have in the past, HRC will host a portion of The AIDS Memorial Quilt – along with your panel – at our national headquarters in Washington, DC. If you’ve already submitted a panel in the past and would like it displayed at HRC this summer, let us know here.

HRC is also bringing experts together for a discussion titled Addressing Stigma in Transgender and other HIV-Vulnerable Communities prior to the conference kickoff.

The return of the International AIDS Conference to the U.S. marks the beginning of a new era of progress on HIV/AIDS. The travel ban might be gone, but fear, stigma, and misunderstanding remain.

All around the world and here at home, there are still far too many new cases and too many lives shattered by this disease. The conference and the poignant tribute of The AIDS Memorial Quilt will serve to connect important thought leaders and bring attention to this still-critical issue.

HRC is honored to be a part of it all, and I hope you’ll help us mark this important event.

Learn more about submitting a panel to The AIDS Memorial Quilt now. We’ll display your panel at HRC’s headquarters in Washington, DC. When you send it in, you’ll be joining with world-leading researchers, activists, and policy makers to help turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.

25 years ago, The AIDS Memorial Quilt helped inspire a movement that stemmed the tide of the epidemic. Now we need to revive that same spirit to meet these remaining challenges.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Still fighting,

Joe Solmonese President

P.S. Volunteers for the International AIDS Conference get free access to sessions and a whole lot of other great opportunities. To apply to volunteer or to learn more about the Conference click here.

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the Affordable Care Act helps Women and their Families

04/11/2012 Nativegrl77

I bet you get calls, emails, or texts from friends and relatives all the time. But isn’t it nice to get something from them in the mail?

Here’s a way you can put something meaningful in your friends’ mailboxes, in much less time than it takes to sit down and write a letter.

For the Women’s Week of Action, people are sending postcards to their friends and family about some of the ways that the Affordable Care Act helps women.

Can you send an “Our health, our vote” postcard — or a few — about the Affordable Care Act to people you know?

It won’t cost you a stamp, or a trip to the post office. You can do it all from the site. Just click the link, pick one of three messages that are ready to be plugged into your postcard, enter your friend’s address, and hit send. It takes less than two minutes.

When your friend sees that postcard among their junk mail and bills, they might just smile and feel happy to have gotten some mail from you.

And it’ll get them thinking about how far we’ve come with health reform, and how many women are going to be living healthier lives thanks to having more access to preventive care, or not losing coverage for themselves or their kids because of a pre-existing condition — to name a thing or two.

It’s a small gesture that takes no time at all. But the more people know about what health care reform actually does, the more they care about protecting it.

And if they’re not already involved in this campaign, that postcard will make them think about joining you.

So send some postcards today, and help get the word out on women’s health for the week of action:

http://my.barackobama.com/Send-a-Womens-Health-Postcard

Thanks,

Kate

Kate Chapek National Women’s Vote Director Obama for America

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

warmed up Wednesday &some News

04/11/2012 Nativegrl77

BBG Communications and BBG Global offices are located in San Diego, CA. They provide a variety of telecommunication services such as digital lines, high speed Internet, Intranet, public telephony, teleauditor, worldwide long distance calling, and zero plus calling at credit card only payphone stations Germany and other countries. BBG Global’s website owns and operates 350,000 pay phones in airports, train stations, and hotels in more than 30 countries.

Reports are that the cost of using BBG Communications has been a problem for quite some time.Now, US troops have decided to fight back. Americans must join in and demand justice for all who have been affected; we can do this.

When Specialist Reynald Matias was heading to Afghanistan with his Army unit late last year,their chartered flight stopped to refuel at Leipzig-halle Airport in Germany.During a brief layover, he called his wife in Tacoma, Wash.,using his debit card on a pay phone in the terminal’s troops-only transit lounge. His wife, Crystal, asked, “What are they charging you?” He did not know, so she told him to hang up. A few days later she got the answer: $51 for what she estimated was a 2minute call. “Military pay isn’t up there, “she said. “It really hurt us.” Another Soldier, Sgt.Corder, said he was billed $41 last year for a 3-second call in which he left a message on the family’s answering machine. The Sargent’s lawsuit was first written about last fall by Army Times and newspapers in Texas.
It is time for BBG Communications & BBG Global to stop taking advantage American Soldiers who are already under such stress fighting in defense of the U.S. Now, their families are subjected to financial distress; this is completely unacceptable. Complaints from service members have reached the United States Transportation Command and the Leipzig airport.

However, press officers state they have no control over the pay phones.
It is time for Americans to Stand with & Speak Up for our Troops, who have taken an oath to support and defend the U.S. with their lives..