Tag Archives: black

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Oil rig worker warned of BP danger


As Americans heard Judge Martin Feldman rule against the President’s moratorium today,  one has to wonder why people on the Gulf Coast cannot wait while safety checks are done, possibly demand relief wells be dug and or any 500thouand dollar safety feature be on all questionable wells… why wouldn’t a Judge want these wells checked and or adjusted before letting the lives of workers be at any more risk

the BP whistle blower talks about his experience  … we all need to ask ourselves is it possible that  Corporations like BP are willing to risk life and the environment against Profits; does this include Judge feldman

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Momentum!


Hi

If you signed the petition …

Thanks again for signing our petition demanding Wall Street accountability. In the past week, thousands of PCCC members have called Congress — and it’s paying off: we’re winning.

We’ve gotten reports behind the scenes that one Congressman who is trying to water down reform is feeling heavy pressure as a result of the PCCC’s petition signatures, phone calls, and online ads — even convening a conference call with local constituents to “respond” to the PCCC’s campaign.

Can you help our momentum continue by calling Senator Patty Murray and asking them to fight for strong Wall Street reform today? Click here.

News outlets are reporting the tough provisions we’ve been fighting for are likely to make it to the final bill. But the New York Times just reported:

As Congress rushes this week to complete the most far-reaching financial reform plan in decades, the banking industry is mounting an 11th-hour end run.

Industry lobbyists — and sympathetic members of Congress — are pushing for provisions to undercut a central pillar of the legislation, known as the Volcker Rule, which would forbid banks from using their own money to make risky wagers on the market and would force them to sell off hedge funds and private equity units.

Sen. Murray is going to be a key vote. Lobbyists want her to kill provisions that keep Wall Street from gambling away your bank deposits on risky schemes.

Can you call her and insist on strong Wall Street reform this week? Just click here.

Already thousands of people have called. Please add your voice today.

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

— Aaron Swartz, Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Shaunna Thomas, and the PCCC team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A message for OFA from the President


Organizing for America

President Obama recorded a message for OFA supporters to update us on the crisis in the Gulf and why it’s critical that we establish a new foundation for energy in this country.

Watch the President's update.

See the message:

http://my.barackobama.com/CleanEnergyUpdate

Thanks,

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

UNDER THE RADAR ECONOMY — WHILE TEXAS CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY NEW FAR-RIGHT TEXTBOOKS, RICK PERRY STILL RESISTS FEDERAL AID


UNDER THE RADAR

ECONOMY — WHILE TEXAS CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY NEW FAR-RIGHT TEXTBOOKS, RICK PERRY STILL RESISTS FEDERAL AID: For the past year, far-right members of the Texas Board of Education have been overhauling the state’s textbook standards. The changes include “pushing for inclusion of more…Confederate glorification,” renaming the Atlantic slave trade the “Atlantic Triangle Trade,” and raising doubt about climate change. However, the Texas Observer now reports that, with the state facing “a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion in 2011,” the “money isn’t going to be there” for the state to buy the new books. The books with the new science standards “would have cost $400 million, and the Legislature is already expecting a bill of $888 million for textbooks already ordered.” To ensure that students can still be exposed to “proof, supposedly, of evolution’s fallibility,” the Board is trying to secure funding for special “supplements for science classes from fifth grade through high school.” Ironically, though, the legislature’s biggest obstacle to securing the revisionist textbooks is right-wing Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), whose constant compulsion has been to oppose federal funding. At the beginning of June, he refused to let Texas compete for Race to the Top funding for education reform because he falsely claimed the program would weaken the state’s school standards, an allegation refuted by fellow Republican governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia. The Houston Chronicle earlier this week lamented Perry’s stubborn “grandstanding” despite the clear need for education support in the state. Texas now faces a daunting $18 billion shortfall for the next two-year budget cycle, amounting to 20 percent of the total budget, but Perry misguidedly insists he can find enough spending cuts to create balance. He is even blustering about rejecting supplementary Medicaid funding from Congress that would greatly help address the state’s fiscal woes. Last year, he tried to reject the stimulus money that proved key to balancing Texas’ budget, insisting, “We can take care of ourselves,” before the legislature intervened and secured relief.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Official Vote: Choose your favorite planks


Over a million votes already have helped us identify the best ideas for how to rescue our democracy from corporations and lobbyists. Now it’s up to YOU to choose the finalists. Will you help to build the best pledge to combat corporate corruption? Vote by Monday night at midnight.

It’s now or never. In the wake of the BP spill and the Wall Street meltdown, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rescue our democracy from the corporate corruption that led to these disasters.

It’s time for elected officials in Washington to choose sides: Will they do the bidding of corporations and their lobbyists or stand with the Other 98% of us to make government work again? Together we’re creating a tool to put them on the record on this critical question—but we need your help.

The “Stand for Democracy” project has already generated hundreds of ideas that have been rated over 1.3 million times. Now, we’ve got the top tier of ideas, and we a really tough decision to make together. Which ideas should make it into our final platform?

Click here to help choose the winning ideas so we can construct our pledge against corporate corruption in our democracy. Voting ends Monday night at midnight PST.

http://pol.moveon.org/sfd/slate/signup.html?id=21231-9640874-.zBcRQx&t=5

Once the pledge is formed, we’ll ask candidates to endorse it and work with us to take our country back from giant corporations and their lobbyists.

In the face of the ongoing economic crisis and the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we simply can’t sit back and wait for change. We need to be clear on what we’re asking, fight for candidates who are with us, and oppose those who would rather do the corporations’ bidding. That’s just what we’re doing with the Stand for Democracy project.

We’re figuring out how to re-wire American politics to work for regular people again, instead of the 11,000 corporate lobbyists who have taken over Washington, D.C. This grassroots project has absolutely taken off in the last week, with hundreds of ideas receiving over a million votes.

Now, we need your vote so we can package the winning ideas into this high-profile pledge. It needs to reflect your vision for how to take back our country from the forces that have worked to block real reform at every step. Please take a moment to vote on the final slate of ideas for our pledge to combat corporate corruption:

http://pol.moveon.org/sfd/slate/signup.html?id=21231-9640874-.zBcRQx&t=6

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Milan, Anna, Tim, and the rest of the team