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Speak Truth To Power: truthteam Updates … Stephanie Cutter, BarackObama.com

04/09/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

I wanted to make sure everyone on the Truth Team saw this, because it’s exactly why we started this group.

What you see in this video is what we’re up against from here until November 6th.

Check it out, and then pass it on:

If you feel inspired, pitch in to help fund our team’s work, and everything we do.

There’s only one way to make sure none of Romney’s false attacks stick, and that’s by calling him out on it every time:

http://my.barackobama.com/Tipsheet-April7-Video

Thanks for your help in doing that.

If you feel inspired, pitch in to help fund our team’s work, and everything we do.

American Energy Alliance, a Big Oil front group led by a former Koch Brothers lobbyist, is out with a new ad claiming that President Obama actually wants to raise the price of gas. You can’t make this stuff up — but they do!

We debunk their ad in our first two tips this week. Check them out, along with a few other hot topics, then pass them on.

#1 Big Oil’s new ad attacking President Obama
In a battleground state ad, the American Energy Alliance is falsely claiming that President Obama is actively trying to make gas prices higher. Why would they want to tear down the President? Because he’s working to end the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies. And because he’s working with automakers to nearly double fuel economy standards by 2025, which will save families over $8,000 at the pump over the life of their car. What others would call a smart, commonsense move, they’re calling “government invention at its worst.” It’s pretty clear that this front group is looking out for only one set of interests — their own. It’s up to us to make sure they don’t succeed at misleading Americans. Pass this postalong:

#2 Infographic: Big Oil gets a hand from… Mitt Romney
This week, we also dug in a little on where the GOP candidates stand on Big Oil. Mitt Romney’s front and center in supporting them — he would protect their $4 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies, and his new tax plan would’ve granted them even more in tax breaks, to the tune of $2.7 billion in 2011 alone. He would even give free rein to oil speculators by repealing Wall Street reform. We crunched the numbers and created this infographic. Check it out, and make sure others see it, too:

#3 Video: Romney lies about the President on fiscal responsibility
What’s the easiest way to show someone’s lying? Their words vs. the truth, back-to-back. Check out this videofeaturing Mitt Romney’s attempt to twist the President’s words about fiscal responsibility, followed right up by exactly what the President said.

#4 Keeping his Word: Manufacturing
Vice President Joe Biden is back on the campaign trail and recently spoke with factory workers in Davenport, Iowa, saying, “I come here today with a very, very simple message: Manufacturing is back.” We noted the occasion with a videoabout how President Obama kept his word from four years ago when he said, “To those who think that the decline of American manufacturing is inevitable or that manufacturing has no place in the 21st century economy, we say right here and right now that the fight for manufacturing’s future is the fight for America’s future.” A report yesterday shows American manufacturing expanding for the 32nd consecutive month. Watch the video, then ask your friends to check it out, too:

The President and Vice President have been fighting to bring back
manufacturing jobs — though Mitt Romney said the President was “out of touch” for suggesting that young people pursue these jobs. But when we take a lookat Mitt Romney’s jobs record, we can see that he’s shipped jobs overseas, and even chosen to invest some of his money there. So before he tries again to tout his jobs record at Bain Capital or as governor of Massachusetts, fight back — with the facts:

#5 Five times Romney’s flunked on foreign policy
Mitt Romney has exhibited a significant lack of knowledge when it comes to foreign policy. From saying he’d like to continue to stay in Afghanistan when most Americans disagree, to calling Russia our “number one geopolitical foe,” we put together his top five foreign policy blunders. Pass them on:

#6 What happens if we repeal Obamacare
To cap off the two-year anniversary of Obamacare, we put together a videohighlighting what would happen if any of the leading GOP candidates got their way and repealed it. Watch the short video, then share it with friends and family. This is one thing we need to make sure people know:

Before I sign off, just one more thing. As you probably saw from the number of emails in your inbox last week, we faced a major fundraising deadline on Saturday — our first big test of 2012. We’ll report back after we crunch the numbers, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who chipped in to support the campaign. And, of course, thanks for all you do as members of the Truth Team.

Until next time,

Stephanie

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Reject the radical Republican budget … Democrats.org

04/05/2012 Nativegrl77

Yesterday our President had a few choice words for the radical Republican budget championed by Rep. Paul Ryan. He called it “so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal.”
From Medicare to Social Security, health care to education, the GOP is ready to cut to the bone some of our most basic government services — while not asking for a dime more from the wealthiest Americans.
President Obama called it what it is: “A Trojan horse… Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.”
This isn’t just Paul Ryan’s budget — it’s also Mitt Romney‘s platform.

Let’s fight it. Add your name alongside mine to reject the Ryan budget. WWW.democrats.org

Here’s just a few of the things that would happen to Americans with the budget the GOP is backing.
Medicare? They’d throw it out the window, and give seniors a voucher that would amount to the second-cheapest health care plan in their community. Education? This plan would lay off thousands of teachers nationwide, and drastically cut financial aid — actually making college more expensive than it currently is. Investments in clean energy? Cut by a fifth.

WWW.democrats.org
In the President’s words: “Gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training, research and development — it’s a prescription for decline.”

Perhaps even more telling are the things they’re fighting to protect: four billion annually in taxpayer-funded subsidies for giant oil companies that don’t need it; increases in defense spending completely beyond what the Pentagon even asked for; and even more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
So let’s break it down. This budget isn’t for the 98% of Americans making under $250,000 a year.
Who is it for? It’s laden with special interest kickbacks and protections to keep the status quo going for those on top.
Yesterday, the President said he’s going to fight against this budget until the other side starts listening. It’s our job to back him up.

WWW.democrats.org
Send a strong message to Ryan and the Republicans pushing this budget. Reject it outright today:
Thanks,
Patrick

Patrick Gaspard
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

About 3,000 Americans die from food-borne illnesses each year.

04/05/2012 Nativegrl77

The USDA wants to cut corners and risk putting unsafe chicken on the market and on your kitchen table with their new “dirty chicken” rule—all to save a quick buck. Meanwhile, billionaires and corporations are getting tax breaks. It’s shocking.

Click here now to sign the petition against the “dirty chicken” rule.

I hope you don’t mind a little salmonella and E. coli in your chicken. Because if the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gets its way, chicken contaminated with disease, feathers and other really disgusting stuff could be on its way to your dinner plate within the year.

We count on USDA inspectors to help us keep our families safe and healthy. But the USDA wants to save money by throwing about 1,000 of them out of work.

Hurry: Sign our petition against the “dirty chicken” rule today, and tell the USDA inspectors they can count on us, too.

About 3,000 Americans die from food-borne illnesses each year. But instead of doing more to protect our families, the USDA is taking budget cuts out on the inspectors we need. Not only would about 1,000 get the boot—the inspectors who keep their jobs would be told to inspect 175 chickens per minute. That’s more than three chickens per second!

Working people like us, and like USDA inspectors, take pride in our work. We work hard and make a difference. USDA’s “dirty chicken” rule would take that away while endangering our families.

Sign the petition against the “dirty chicken” rule TODAY.

This week, food inspection workers (members of the AFGE) rallied outside the
USDA to oppose this frightening measure—but a rally alone won’t stop this plan. We need massive public pressure.

This new inspection system for poultry slaughter plants is another example of attacks on everyday working people while billionaires and corporations are getting tax breaks. And this time, it’s putting our kids and families at risk while taking jobs away from people we count on. It’s shocking.

Tell the USDA you won’t settle for dirty chicken. Sign the petition today.

Only by standing together can we save the jobs of hundreds of federal workers who we count on to protect our families.

Thanks for the work you do.

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. In his new book, Rebuild the Dream, Van Jones, a former Obama White House adviser on green jobs and an award-winning human rights activist, maps out how to turn Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s and the American Dream into reality.

Click here to learn more and order your copy.

~ Recent Post

Save The Bees … Corinne Ball, Change.org

04/04/2012 Nativegrl77

EPA: Ban the pesticide that’s threatening American bees with extinction

Sign Susan’s Petition

Here’s the buzz: American honey bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and the government knows why.

Scientists say a pesticide called clothianidin, made by chemical giant Bayer, is strongly linked to the rapid decline in bee populations. When exposed to the chemical, bees get lost: they are literally unable to find their way home back to the hive and drop dead from exhaustion.

Susan Mariner uses her backyard garden to grow extra fruits and veggies for her family and teach her children where their food comes from — and in the past few years, she’s seen the decline in bees firsthand.

When Susan heard about the recent studies linking this specific chemical to the widespread death of the bees who pollinate our food, she started a petition on Change.org to get the chemical banned. Click here to sign Susan’s petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency to ban these bee-killing pesticides ASAP.

One-third of the U.S. food supply relies on honey bees. Without bees to pollinate crops, many essential (and favorite) foods are at risk, including apples, squash, tomatoes, strawberries, almonds, and even chocolate.

Several countries, including Germany and France, have already banned clothianidin. And after the bans, bee populations began to rise again.

But in the U.S., clothianidin is used on millions of acres of crops and American beekeepers report losses of up to 90% of their bees. Many worry that their hives won’t survive another season. Sign Susan’s petition urging the EPA to save the bees and immediately end the harmful pesticide’s use.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Corinne and the Change.org team

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

68-year-old veteran killed in his home …by Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.

04/04/2012 Nativegrl77

Below is an email from Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., whose father, a 68-year-old veteran of the U.S. Marines, was killed in his home by the police in White Plains, NY, on November 19, 2011. Kenneth created his petition on SignOn.org, a new site that allows anyone to start their own online petitions. You can read more about his father’s death here.

We demand justice for Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a 68-year-old veteran killed in his home by police. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., was killed in his home by police.

Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., was killed in his home by police.

Sign the petition

Dear MoveOn member,

On November 19, 2011, my father, 68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., was shot and killed in his home in White Plains, New York.

My father was a 20-year veteran of the Westchester County Department of Corrections and proudly served the United States of America as a Marine. He stood about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and he suffered from a heart condition.

The events that led to his killing began around 5 a.m., when his medical alert device was accidentally set off, sending a call to the City of White Plains Department of Public Safety. Everything that happened after that was recorded by an audio device installed in my father’s home as part of his medical alert system.

When the police arrived at my father’s home, he and the staff for his medical alert service told them that there was no medical emergency and asked them to leave. And yet they insisted that my father let them into his home, banging loudly on my father’s door for over an hour. On the recording, the police can be heard calling my father a “nigger.”

Ultimately they broke through his apartment door and first shot him with a Taser. He was wearing nothing but boxer shorts when the police began their assault against him. Shortly after that, he was shot with two 40-caliber rounds and killed.

My family is asking the Westchester County District Attorney to bring a criminal indictment, and we call on the United States Department of Justice or the New York State Attorney General to prosecute this as a hate crime.

Will you sign our petition? Click here to sign and please share with your friends:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=273615&id=38418-17809870-UNjravx&t=3

The petition says:

This petition is regarding the upcoming grand jury hearing in the case of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an unarmed elderly black citizen who was shot to death by the White Plains Police Department.

This case not only brings into question the policies and practices of this department; but it is an open question whether it was inevitable, particularly in light of the audio tapes and video tapes witnessed by Mr. Chamberlain’s family members and attorneys where racial slurs and expletives were used before ultimately shooting him twice in the chest and killing him.

It is imperative that those tapes be made available to the grand jury, and that all other evidence be presented as well. I am concerned that secrecy so far—for example, the names of officers involved have not been released—bodes badly for transparency in this case as it moves forward. Nor am I aware of any public statements about the case from elected officials calling for openness.

Members of Mr. Chamberlain’s family and community—and a much wider circle of people who need to know there is fairness in the criminal justice system—seek reassurance that, no matter what the verdict, the process has been open, honest, and just.

We, the undersigned, implore Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to no longer allow police misconduct, brutality, or criminality to happen in this community and ask that these officers be indicted and charged with murder and civil rights violations.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=273615&id=38418-17809870-UNjravx&t=4

Thanks!

–Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.

The text above was written by Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., not by MoveOn staff, and MoveOn is not responsible for the content. This email was sent through MoveOn’s secure system, and your information has been kept private.