Tag Archives: Brazil

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CAP Action War Room

07/25/2013 Nativegrl77

The Latest GOP Temper Tantrum

Today President Obama gave a major speech laying out a vision for growing the economy from the middle class out. (Watch this space for more on that tomorrow).

The president also used the speech to call out Republicans for having harmful plans or no plan at all when it comes to strengthening the middle class. In particular, the president chided Republicans for the millions of dollars and weeks of time they’ve wasted on dead-end Obamacare repeal votes while failing to lay out a positive economic agenda for the middle class:

Even if you think I’ve done everything wrong, the trends I just talked about were happening well before I took office. So it’s not enough for you just to oppose me. You got to be for something. What are your ideas? If you’re willing to work with me to strengthen American manufacturing and rebuild this country’s infrastructure, let’s go. If you’ve got better ideas to bring down the cost of college for working families, let’s hear them. If you think you have a better plan for making sure that every American has the security of quality, affordable health care, then stop taking meaningless repeal votes, and share your concrete ideas with the country.

Repealing Obamacare and cutting spending is not an economic plan. It’s not.

Unfortunately, 15 Republican senators are not just in favor of pointless Obamacare repeal votes, now they’re even threatening to shut down the government in order to prevent millions of Americans from gaining access to quality, affordable health care.

Meet the Senate GOP’s shutdown caucus:

BOTTOM LINE: Instead of looking for new ways to sabotage the economy and deny health care benefits to millions of Americans, it’s time for Republicans who disagree with the president to lay out their own agenda for strengthening the middle class. Progressives have a plan to grow the economy from the middle class out, it’s time for Republicans to propose something other than the failed trickle-down policies of the past.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Conservatives gear up to keep top women’s rights advocate off key federal court.

Congresswoman says college affordability “is not the role of Congress.”

You won’t believe how much the melting Arctic will cost.

Bill O’Reilly blames civil rights leaders and “black culture” for crime.

This misplaced priorities of cable news.

Congressman doubles down on claim that undocumented youth are drug mules.

Five reasons to raise the minimum wage right now.

Pro-oil state suing oil giants for damage to wetlands.

Brazil’s shockingly high prices.

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Eye on the Amazon: Investors Balking on Ecuador’s Amazonian Oil Auction

07/03/2013 Nativegrl77

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Investors Balking on Ecuador’s Amazonian Oil Auction

Last month Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa issued an apology for the oil spill that wreaked havoc on communities and ecosystems throughout the Amazon Basin. The 420,000-gallon spill flowed downstream to Peru and has impacted at least 32 indigenous communities in the Amazonian province of Loreto, prompting the Peruvian government to threaten legal action. Brazil, worried that the spill will reach its border, has alerted its navy, and Ecuador has hired U.S. company Oil Spill Response to test for contamination in Brazil and Colombia.

What the media narrative has largely missed is that there is an oil spill nearly every week in Ecuador. Just between 2000 and 2010 there were 539 oil spills. So why is this spill gathering international media attention while hundreds of others go unreported?

Read the rest on Eye on the Amazon »

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Weekly Address: Time to Pass Commonsense Immigration Reform

06/09/2013 Nativegrl77

Weekly Address: Time to Pass Commonsense Immigration Reform

In this week’s address, President Obama says that the United States Senate will soon take action to fix our broken immigration system with a commonsense bill, and urges lawmakers to act quickly to pass this bill so that we can continue to live up to our traditions as a nation of laws, and also a nation of immigrants.

Watch this week’s Weekly Address.

TOP STORIES

Brazil: Last Friday, the Vice President and Dr. Biden made the final stop in their three-country trip in Brazil. While in Rio de Janeiro, Vice President Biden delivered a speech about the strong ties between the United States and Brazil.

“The United States and Brazil represent two of the largest, most innovative, dynamic economies in the world today. It is true both of us can continue to prosper whether or not we deepen our economic relations. But imagine, just imagine what these two dynamic economies could do with greater trade and investment for our people, for the hemisphere, for the world.”

#DontDoubleMyRate: Students gathered in the Rose Garden last Friday to hear President Obama echo his sentiment from last year and call on Congress to prevent federal student loan rates from doubling on July 1. President Obama asked the young people to speak out in favor of action on college affordability, as they did last summer.

“You made something bipartisan happen in this town that is — that’s a powerful thing. You guys were able to get Democrats and Republicans to vote for something that was important. So this year, if it looks like your representatives have changed their minds, you’re going to have to call them up again or email them again or Tweet them again and ask them what happened, what changed?”

Mental Health Conference: Health care experts, psychologists, faith leaders, advocates for veterans, and administration officials joined President Obama at the White House on Monday for the National Conference on Mental Health.

The conference was just one part of the Obama Administration’s effort to combat this problem and focused on ways we can reduce the stigma and help the millions of Americans struggling with mental health problems recognize the importance of reaching out for assistance.

President Obama said:

“Too many Americans who struggle with mental health illnesses are still suffering in silence rather than seeking help, and we need to see it that men and women who would never hesitate to go see a doctor if they had a broken arm or came down with the flu, that they have that same attitude when it comes to their mental health.”

Meeting with the President of Chile: President Piñera of Chile met with President Obama on Tuesday for a bilateral meeting. The two leaders affirmed their commitment to economic growth, job creation, transparency, human rights, and the rule of law.

“Chile has been on a remarkable growth trajectory over several decades, and the progress that it’s made in terms of strengthening its economy, pulling people out of poverty, establishing a strong manufacturing and industrial and service base, its strong exports sector are all proof of the talents of the Chilean people but also Chile’s embrace of democracy and human rights and a market economy. And as a consequence, Chile has become not only a leader in the hemisphere but also a leader in the world.”

Ravens Visit the White House: On Wednesday, President Obama congratulated the 2013 Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens at the White House. The President spoke of the struggles the team faced throughout the season and how they recovered and brought the Lombardi Trophy back to Baltimore. He also praised the team’s commitment to giving back to their city.

“This year, Baltimore won’t just be seeing the Ravens on Sundays or Monday night or Thursday night…You’ll see players spending their Tuesdays – normally their only day off during the season – visiting hospitals and senior centers, and day after day, you’ll see a team that loves Baltimore as much as Baltimore loves the Ravens.”

During their visit, the Ravens also shared some of their favorite ways to stay healthy with Let’s Move!

National Security Team: On Wednesday, President Obama announced the departure of Tom Donilon, former National Security Advisor, and appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice as his replacement. To replace Ambassador Rice in New York, the President nominated Samantha Power.

ConnectEd: The President boarded Air Force One on Thursday and flew to North Carolina where he visited Mooresville Middle School. After touring the school, the President announced ConnectEd, a new initiative that will connect 99% of America’s students to high-speed internet within 5 years.

Following his announcement, the White House invited students from schools in Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania to join the National “Show and Tell” Google+ Hangout. Students and administrators from these schools demonstrated how they are using the internet and technology in their classrooms.

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Plant trees to fight poverty

11/19/2012 Nativegrl77

Last month, Earth Day Network made a major commitment through the Global Poverty Project: We’re going to plant 10 million trees in impoverished areas around the world in five years. And we need your help to make it happen.

For every dollar you donate, we’ll plant one tree.

Why trees? Trees reverse the impacts of land degradation and provide food, energy and income, helping communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also filter the air and help stave off the effects of climate change.

With the reality of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and more frequent and violent storms and floods, tree cover to prevent devastating soil erosion has never been more important.

Donate today to plant trees where they’re needed most.

It’s the world’s poor whose health and livelihoods suffer the most from the effects of environmental degradation. But while those in poverty bear the brunt of these environmental problems, they contribute very little to the problems’ causes. That’s unjust, and we have to do something about it.

You can do something about it through your generous donation to plant trees in the areas of the world where they’ll do the most good for the most vulnerable populations.

The planet is losing nearly 15,000,000 hectares of forest each year. Through our Canopy Project, Earth Day Network has been working tirelessly to reverse this devastating deforestation by planting millions of trees in places like Uganda, Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and more.

These trees are not only healing the planet, they’re mending local economies and improving the quality of life for those living in extreme poverty. But we have to do more. Please consider contributing to this critical effort today.

Thanks for all your support,

Kathleen Rogers
President, Earth Day Networ

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We’re Telling Another Side to Monsanto’s Story … UCS

08/15/2012 Nativegrl77

Monsanto’s advertisements tell a wonderful story, but unfortunately, there’s a catch: Their claims are often exaggerated, misleading, or downright false. Help us share the other side of the story.

We’re Telling Another Side to Monsanto’s Story

Right now, the Monsanto Company is spending millions of dollars on ad campaigns and lobbying to convince you, and decision makers in Washington, that it is “improving” agriculture. UCS is setting the record straight—and we need your help.
We’re launching our own set of ads to tell another side to this story. Our tagline? Monsanto is failing to improve agriculture.
Our analysis has found that Monsanto’s pesticide-promoting, genetically engineered approach has led to new agricultural problems while doing little to feed hungry people and help farmers cope with drought. We’ve also shown that modern, science-based plant breeding and farming practices can achieve such goals more cost effectively than genetically engineered seeds.
While we don’t have the same advertising budget as Monsanto, we do have dedicated supporters like you who value agricultural policies based on objective, science-based analysis over profit-driven attempts to maintain the status quo.
Will you join us in fighting back against Monsanto’s ad campaign by sharing our ads on Twitter and Facebook? (And if you’re not on Twitter or Facebook, you can help spread the word here.)