Tag Archives: black

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

UPDATE Washington State news… take Action,Call 202 225 3106 THANK Rep.McDermott for signing the Polis/Pingree letter for Pub Opt


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Tonight,2/1/2010 MSNBC’s Ed Schultz and Rep. Jared Polis will talk about the letter from 81 House members calling for a public option.Can you help get to 100 signers by the time the show airs? Click here to ask Rep. McDermott (one more time) to sign today.

News headlines - Grayson, Polis, Pingree

UPDATE On 2/2/2010, I checked the list of Representatives that have signed the Poli/Pingree letter. I am happy to let you all know that Washington States own Jim McDermott has signed on as  a supporter, Please call him and thank him today !!!

2/1/2010

Big news. Thanks to thousands of phone calls from people like you last week, 81 House Democrats signed the Polis-Pingree letter calling on the Senate to pass the public health insurance option through “reconciliation,” which only needs 51 Senate votes.

Tonight on MSNBC’s Ed Show at 6pm EST, Rep. Jared Polis will talk about the amazing resurgence for the public option. On the show, he’ll announce the latest number of letter signers.

Unfortunately, Rep. Jim McDermott hasn’t signed on yet. Can help us get from 81 to 100 signers today by calling him one more time and asking him to sign the Polis/Pingree letter in support of the public option?

Click here to make a call — we give you a script and the number.

Sometimes, it takes a couple calls to do the trick, so you calling again will have a big impact.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Stephanie Taylor, Aaron Swartz, Adam Green, Brian Bills, Natasha Patel, and the PCCC team

P.S. This letter is definitely affecting the “conventional wisdom” in Washington, D.C. On Friday, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote:

Could the public option make a comeback?…a growing number of House Dems are pushing an interesting strategy along these lines that’s worth a look.

To wit: Now that the idea of passing a fix to the Senate bill via a majority vote is being considered, why not revive the public option as part of that fix? A simple majority of Senators favors one, so such a fix could presumably pass via reconciliation.

But more to the point, such a move would make it easier for the Senate bill to pass the House, because it could win over enough liberals — many of whom don’t want to pass the Senate bill — to make it easier to secure the 218 needed for passage.

Can you help the momentum grow? Click here to call McDermott (one more time) today — we give you a script and number.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Cancel Haiti’s $1 Billion Debt …


Although the media’s attention on Haiti is starting to wane, the country is still amidst crisis.

Click here to sign your name

Call on Treasury Secretary Geithner to help cancel Haiti’s $1 billion debt.

The incredible outpouring of concern, aid and assistance coming from all over the world continues to offer hope, but for many of us the question lingers: “What else can I do?”

One important way to help Haitians build a better tomorrow is to convince global creditors to cancel Haiti’s crushing $1 billion international debt. Doing so will help make sure that every possible future dollar goes towards rebuilding a stronger Haiti, not to servicing old debts.

Thankfully, the United States has already forgiven Haiti’s past debts and now only gives assistance in the form of grants. We need Haiti’s other creditors – the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and countries like Taiwan and Venezuela – to follow our lead and do the same.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has the power to help make that happen.

Please tell Secretary Geithner to work to secure the cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure emergency assistance is provided in the forms of grants, not debt-incurring loans. Even before the earthquake hit, Haiti – the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere – faced tremendous challenges. But there was also hope. Recent years have brought a more stable government and tenuous gains in the fight against poverty.

Haiti needs an international effort to make sure that, as it begins the long road to recovery, it is not burdened with un-payable debts. We must also be vigilant that any new aid from the IMF and other sources doesn’t come in the form of loans that would create new debt for Haiti.

It all starts by calling on Secretary Geithner to use his influence to persuade international lending institutions and countries to do the right thing and drop Haiti’s debt.

Take action now.

Thank you for lending your voice,

– The Change.org Team in partnership with ONE



~ my 2cents ...

Cats away … so-called insiders diss our President


REPost from 7/2009

Some things just don’t change…

why do people in the Obama administration seem to wait until he is out of DC to  talk, rant and rave about what is going on? or lack of it … i support what Obama wants to achieve … Republicans are being childish, not planning on helping Americans out, the decision to be the party of no hopefully will backfire.

We the People voted for Obama… the people want change … healthcare, energy and better education

but some democrats in office don’t seem to want to act in our best interest … the Public is not stupid … it will take a long time for change … it took  how long for this crisis to blow up? people need to be reminded … Obama has been in office for 7months…1yr now… anyone with common sense, i guess 1yr later and common sense among the people is over, i thought people would know it will take longer than 7months to see a difference … even now a yr later

fear mongering  is creeping up again and this time it’s on both sides of the isle …  teachers and fire fighters are loosing their jobs … some states are cutting social services .. my state is… any state using this money to balance their budget is why the numbers are not good …

the stimulus package is being held up,now passed, the question is why?and the answer to why the stim was held up? Republicans have decided to kill any bill, thus killing the Obama Presidency.  heard only 7/10% of it has been processed … and most of it going to rural America? i don’t believe that is totally true but what is def true; Officials used that money to plug budget holes

id say that last 90% should be jobs jobs jobs, the grid and the train … or just jobs jobs jobs … 10% is not very good … someone needs to tell me what’s up

It appears like some stuff is going on behind the scenes … who is sitting on the stimulus money if at all … if not tell us the truth …  someone needs to get this stuff straight …

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Washington State … Repower America:: tell your Senator:: Don’t mess with the Clean Air Act


As early as tomorrow, your Senators could vote to block the Clean Air Act’s protections against carbon pollution, carving out a loophole that hands the biggest polluters a clear path to spew dangerous emissions into our air and water.

And, unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that this so-called “Dirty Air Act” was literally written by fossil fuel industry lobbyists.1

We have less than 24 hours before the vote could happen — please help flood your Senators with urgent calls demanding that they vote “NO” on this attack on the Clean Air Act.

Senator Cantwell: (202) 224-3441
Senator Murray: (202) 224-2621

Let them know you’re a constituent and say:

“I urge Senator _____ to oppose any efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act’s ability to limit dangerous carbon pollution. Instead of taking our country a step backwards, I hope you will work to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year.”

Please report your call.

This vote pits the profits of a few companies against the health and welfare of the American public.

The same lobbyist who was invited to help draft the amendment — former Bush administration official Jeffrey Holmstead — represents some of the worst of the worst, including the top three coal-fired sources of global warming pollution in the entire country. What’s more, his clients donated over $50,000 in campaign contributions to the Senator who introduced the proposal.2

This kind of pay-to-play politics must be rejected, and forcefully. Call today and tell your Senators: Don’t mess with the Clean Air Act.

Thanks,

Dave Boundy

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Update from Washington State: SustainableWorks secures Recovery grant.


from the greenforall.org website— filed under:

In May of 2009, we reported on a major legislative victory for clean-energy jobs in Washington, thanks to deep community involvement and champions in the state legislature. Now, the application process for those funds is complete, and a great organization called SustainableWorks won a Recovery grant.

Update from Washington State: SustainableWorks secures Recovery grant.

We have an exciting update from Washington State!

A few months back, we reported on a major legislative victory for clean-energy jobs in Washington, thanks to deep community involvement and champions in the state legislature. 

The Washington State legislation (Senate Bill 5649) paved the way to create thousands of good, green-collar jobs, by designating that funds from the Recovery Act support energy-efficiency retrofit programs.

This ground breaking legislation was passed because of the hard work of leaders in the SoundSpokane Alliance. Green For All worked with community advocates and members of the legislature to ensure that the bill benefited community members and included job quality standards. and

Now, the application process for those funds is complete, and a great organization called SustainableWorks won a Recovery grant. Thanks to SB 5649 and Recovery Act funding, SustainableWorks will expand its work to facilitate energy-efficiency retrofits in moderate-income neighborhood.

SustainableWorks already has experience pioneering retrofit projects in small commercial and residential buildings in Spokane, WA. It has proven that a highly trained workforce, paid family wages, can provide cost effective energy retrofit services. SustainableWorks is now a statewide non-profit pioneering neighborhood-based, large-scale energy efficiency projects.

In addition to this experience, SustainableWorks is a good pick for Recovery funds because it is committed to providing quality jobs and opportunities for new workers to enter the workforce. The program requires that all contractors pay Washington State prevailing wages with benefits to all employees.  It also requires that all contractors use at least 20% apprentices on its projects and that 25% of these apprentices must be new first-year apprentices.  With the support of Electrical Workers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Laborers, Sheet Metal Workers Unions and others, SustainableWorks has agreements to place individuals from underserved communities directly into apprentice programs that usually require a long waiting period.  These unions have demonstrated their commitment to making the building trades accessible to all.

SustainableWorks will require contracted employees to receive extensive training so that its workforce can perform energy retrofit work more efficiently than past models. This, combined with simplifying the process for consumers, will result in a program that can be sustainable for the long haul.

The energy retrofit work SustainableWorks will do with Recovery funds is part of a continuum of programs to help low-income Washington residents reduce their energy costs through energy saving home retrofits. The Washington State Low Income Weatherization program performs free energy retrofits in low-income households.  SustainableWorks will provide retrofits in moderate-income homes that don’t qualify for the low-income program.  It will combine utility incentives and Recovery funding to make certain that the costs for the retrofits are covered up-front with low interest loans, and fully paid for over time with energy savings.  

SustainableWorks is also grounded in a community organizing model that is critical to reaching homeowners who are either unaware of energy savings opportunities or are not pursuing them because of the costs involved.  SustainableWorks can reach these households and help them save energy, organizing one moderate-income neighborhood at a time.

It is very exciting to see the next step in the process, as landmark legislation on the federal and state levels (the Recovery Act and SB 5649) begins to turn into jobs, opportunity, and environmental sustainability for people and communities in Washington State.

For more stories of how the green economy is growing across the United States, see our new Green Economy Roadmap.