This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study, which was prepared at the request of the chairman and former ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, documents changes in the level and distribution of hourly wages received by workers in the United States between 1979 and 2009. It also reviews the leading explanations for changes in the supply of, and demand for, workers with different sets of skills as well as the role of labor market institutions in affecting wages. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this study does not make any recommendations. A related CBO study published in October 2009 analyzed trends in the distribution of annual earnings (Changes in the Distribution of Workers’ Annual Earnings Between 1979 and 2007); a forthcoming CBO study will examine trends in the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell eBay to stop selling puppy mill dogs

02/17/2011 Nativegrl77

Tell eBay to shut down its sales of cruelly treated puppies and all live animals

“Puppy mills” are large-scale commercial operations where dozens of dogs are kept in small cages for their entire lives, forced to give birth to litter after litter until they’re no longer fertile, at which point they’re usually killed. Puppy mills are unsafe, inhumane, and produce thousands of puppies with serious health problems every year.

Now, puppy mills have found a national vendor: eBay. www.change.org

A few years ago, eBay had plans to sell animals via online auction. Responsible breeders would never sell dogs via online auction, so this would ha ve resulted in the site becoming a haven for puppy mills. eBay users and anti-cruelty activists spearheaded — and won — the fight to prevent eBay from selling live animals.

But now all that’s changed.

Despite eBay’s claims that it “do[es] not condone unethical treatment of animals,” eBay now allows puppy mills to sell dogs in its classified section.

This practice enables flagrant cruelty to dogs, and it has to stop. Tell eBay to shut down its sales of cruelly treated puppies and all live animals.

Puppy mill dogs spend their entire lives in small wire cages, without companionship, and often without vet care, exercise or shelter from the elements. As far as puppy mill owners are concerned, the dogs have one purpose: to supply the pet trade.

The USDA recently admitted that they’ve failed to effectively monitor commercial breeders and puppy mills. When it comes to sites like eBay Classifieds, it’s even worse: Breeders who sell directly to customers online aren’t subject to any USDA regulations.

The best chance we have to shut down puppy mills is to hold vendors accountable.

Click here to tell eBay to shut down all live animal sales immediately: www.change.org

Thanks for taking action,

Judith and the Change.org Team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

$500,000,000,000

02/17/2011 Nativegrl77

According to a new groundbreaking report from Harvard, coal is costing Americans up to an extra HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS every year.

But it’s what’s behind the dollar amounts from the report that really matters. We’re talking about kids with asthma, mothers taking time off of work to take care of sick relatives, communities turning into cancer clusters, climate change…the list goes on and on.

Back in Washington, however, our elected leaders are being pressured by the deep pockets of the coal industry to take away the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate coal-fired power plants. Saying it will cost Americans too much money. Nothing could be further from the truth. Coal will cost us even more if the EPA loses this ability.

That’s why we are going to personally deliver a copy of the Harvard report to both of your Senators along with signatures from the people they’re elected to represent in Washington. We won’t let them ignore or pretend they don’t know about the extra half a trillion dollars coal is costing all of us every year or how their constituents feel about it.

Pleas join us by adding your name to our petition right now and we’ll make sure it is included in the delivery to your Senators. http://us.greenpeace.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=775&s_src=taf

This report marks the first time ever that all of the effects during the lifecycle of coal — from mining to burning in coal-fired power plants — have been accounted for and the results are staggering. The hundreds of coal-fired power plants across the country are driving these effects. Which is why Greenpeace is launching a new campaign this year that will take the fight directly to these dirty polluters.

Bridgeport, Connecticut is home to one of these plants. And Greenpeace activists were there today to send a simple message — “Shut it down. Quit coal.” It’s a message we’ll be repeating over and over again at plants everywhere. It’s the same message we’ll be delivering to your Senators along with the report. Sign the petition today and let’s make sure the Senate defends the EPA’s ability to protect us from the true cost of coal.

Quit coal,

Kelly Mitchell

Greenpeace Coal Campaigner

P.S. We’re going to collect these petitions up until March 1st. So be sure to forward this around and get your friends involved.

http://us.greenpeace.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=775&s_src=taf

~ Recent Post

Bankrate.com

02/17/2011 Nativegrl77

Here are stories published today.

How to lower credit card interest rates | 2011-02-17

Getting lower credit card interest rates is no easy task, but you can do it yourself. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/lower-your-credit-card-interest-cost.aspx?ec_id=brmint_newsalert_20110216

3 tricks to pay down credit card debt | 2011-02-17

Paying credit card debt is a major undertaking. Here are some tips to help you organize your attack. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/get-started-on-that-credit-card-debt.aspx?ec_id=brmint_newsalert_20110216

Credit freeze requires advance thaw | 2011-02-17

A credit freeze is a security measure against identity theft, but has its disadvantages. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/credit-freeze-requires-advance-thaw.aspx?ec_id=brmint_newsalert_20110216

5 downsides to prepaid debit cards | 2011-02-17

These cards offer a payment solution for the unbanked, but they have their drawbacks. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/5-downsides-to-prepaid-debit-cards-1.aspx?ec_id=brmint_newsalert_20110216

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Science and health under attack: Stop the Dirty Air Act today

02/17/2011 Nativegrl77

For more than 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has used the Clean Air Act to save lives, protect human health, and safeguard our environment.

But now, this critical piece of legislation is under attack, as is the very science upon which it is based.

“I have said many times, and there was a report a couple of weeks ago that in fact you look at this last year, it was the warmest year in the last decade, I think was the numbers that came out. I don’t – I accept that. I do not say that it is man-made.”

— Representative Fred Upton (R-MI)

This is part of a well-coordinated, well-funded war on science—backed by opponents looking out for their own interests in an effort to obstruct progress on important environmental and human health protections.

We need your help. Please urge your representative to stand up for science and the health of our families by opposing efforts to undermine the Clean Air Act.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/big_picture_solutions/clean-air-act.html

The Clean Air Act was created to regulate dangerous pollutants and to implement a science-based method for the EPA to identify and address new threats to human health. In 2009, after conducting an exhaustive scientific review, the EPA concluded that global warming emissions threaten public health and welfare.

We cannot allow our elected officials to senselessly reject the EPA’s scientific assessment that global warming emissions endanger the public. Nor can we allow them to roll back the hard-fought human health and environmental protections we’ve won in the last few years! Please take action today.

Amidst the inflammatory rhetoric of media personalities and polarizing politics found in our national and state capitols these days, it’s becoming harder and harder to find leaders who are willing to stand up for science and for practical solutions to America’s energy and climate challenges.

Please urge your representative to say no to this attack on science and human health by supporting efforts to protect the EPA’s authority to reduce global warming emissions.

Sincerely,

Kate Abend

National Field Organizer

UCS Climate and Energy Program