Dear Friend,
If you’re looking for a progressive take on the current political news, ThinkProgress has you covered. Catch up on the biggest stories from the past week that you may have missed:
Why The Individual Mandate Is Not A ‘Massive Tax Hike’ On The Middle Class
Best,
Igor Volsky Deputy Editor, ThinkProgress
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| Our next steps: Educate, mobilize, vote |
| Today, the Supreme Court has let stand the despicable “Papers, please” provision of Arizona’s SB 1070 that allows police to profile individuals based on the color of their skin. The ruling follows last week’s courageous announcement on administrative relief for DREAMers. While the Obama administration endorses positive reform for our families, the Supreme Court decision supports discrimination over equality. It’s time for us to hand down our decision. Now is the time to use the power of our movement to stand up for the only real solution for our broken system: comprehensive immigration reform. How do we do that? Today we are kicking off the RI4A Organizing Project, a national initiative to educate, mobilize, and get out the vote. Read the blog post -> http://act.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/go/1423?t=7&akid=906.164689.Ea5FBW If we do this, we can secure more victories and make comprehensive immigration reform a reality. www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org
www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org |
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Give Health Care to Firefighters Who Battle Wildfires Started by: John Lauer, Denver, CO Right now, wildfires are raging in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. And more are sure to come. I’m a part of a hotshot crew of firefighters. We are on call to go anywhere, at any time to fight fires in our country. It’s intense work, but my crew is like my family and we are all committed to serving our communities. Because wildfire is more common from May to October, most of us are seasonally employed. More than 90% of us return year after year and we often work the equivalent of a full year in 6-7 months. Despite this — and despite putting our lives on the line every day — we still don’t have the opportunity to buy into a government health care plan even at the most basic level. This is because we are classified as temporary workers. I have been a wildland firefighter for 6 years and I still don’t have health insurance, but I’m one of the lucky ones. Just in my own hotshot crew, I’ve seen the damage and suffering this lack of coverage can produce. My godson, Rudy, was born prematurely. Rudy’s dad, a fellow firefighter, was stuck with $70,000 worth of hospital bills that he and his wife couldn’t pay back. All because the federal government won’t allow him to access health insurance. Another crew member’s child, who was born even more recently, required special attention in the hospital and his parents’ are now facing a $40,000 in medical bills. Wildland firefighters face enormous risks in order to serve and protect our communities. In the past 12 years, 179 wildland firefighters have been killed in the line of duty, and the conditions of the firefighting environment have been linked to cancer and permanent lung damage. We want federal legislation that gives us that option, but we know that Congress can be slow moving. That’s why we are asking President Obama to extend health coverage benefits to seasonal wildland firefighters. Baby Rudy doesn’t deserve to be born into debt — his father is a hero. Click here to sign my petition to make sure firefighters have health care. |
The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in Arizona v. United States, the Obama administration‘s challenge to Arizona’s anti-immigration law, SB1070. What they won’t be hearing is what and who has fueled this discriminatory legislation.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is one of the most dangerous groups in the country.
Along with like groups in the John Tanton network FAIR has written and pushed laws like SB1070.
Will justice triumph over racial profiling and discrimination fueled by supremacist and nativist fringe groups?
We need to stand together in this most pressing time.
Take a stand against FAIR! Sign the pledge and show that we will not tolerate justice being trampled by racism!
http://mycuentame.org/justiceoverracism
Be a Seed for Change 
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