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.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Google … In the White House

04/03/2012 Nativegrl77

by whitehouseon Apr 2, 2012

Members of the Google Art project and the Google Street View team recently came to the White House to create a new way for people to tour the White House. Take a look at the process that went into creating a 360 degree virtual walk through of the White House public tour.

A New Way to Tour the White House

In their continuing effort to make the White House more accessible, President Obama and the First Lady have teamed up with the Google Art Project. People all over the world can now take a 360-degree tour of the White House’s public rooms. The White House is the only building in the world that is simultaneously the home of a head of state, the executive office of a head of state, and is regularly open to the public for tours.More

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

EPA takes critical first step to tackle global warming … Union of Concerned Scientists

04/03/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

EPA Takes Critical First Step to Tackle Global Warming

Big news! On March 27 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft standards that will limit carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act. Carbon pollution from power plants contributes to global warming, endangering our health, our environment, and drastically altering our climate. By placing the first ever nationwide limits on carbon pollution from new power plants, these historic standards are a critical step to reducing the effects of global warming and protecting public health.

WWW.UCSUSA.ORG

Unfortunately, these standards are already under attack. Several members of Congress have introduced legislation that would block or delay these historic standards, and the Obama administration is facing intense pressure from dirty energy companies, who are spreading false claims about their impact on our economy. It is clear that these dirty energy companies care more about protecting their bottom line than protecting our health and environment from the effects of global warming.

To ensure that the EPA finalizes strong standards this year, we need to generate a record-setting number of supportive comments to the EPA and show support at in-person public hearings around the country.

We have a team of UCS Climate Ambassadors—scientists, economists, health professionals, and concerned citizens like you—who have volunteered to attend the EPA’s public hearings to represent you and the tens of thousands of Americans who care about reducing carbon emissions. They will hand deliver your comments to EPA officials and personally testify at EPA hearings on the importance of limiting carbon pollution from new power plants.

Tell the EPA that you support its efforts to make power plants take responsibility for their contribution to global warming by reducing carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Submit Your Comment Today! WWW.UCSUSA.ORG

Sincerely,

Chrissy Elles
Outreach Associate
UCS Climate and Energy Program