Tag Archives: Carmen

Will you Join US?


Will you join me and President Obama in insisting that Congress get busy fixing our jobs crisis—and pay for it by asking millionaires and billionaires like Warren Buffett to pay their fair share?

Tell your lawmakers to start fixing America’s jobs crisis—and let them know you’ll hold them accountable if they won’t.

WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

Jobs are the crisis in America. Our economy will not recover until people get work.

America wants to work. But how hard are you willing to work to create jobs? If you’re willing to go all-out, let your lawmakers know right now.

President Obama understands the severity of America’s jobs crisis. This morning, he called on Congress to get moving on solutions—and to pay for his American Jobs Act by restoring tax fairness. He hit the nail on the head when he said, “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett.”

Thanks to President Obama, our national conversation is moving in the right direction. With the release of the American Jobs Act—and today’s speech—he has come forward with important steps to start addressing our jobs crisis. Now, it’s our job to demand action.

Let Congress know you’re ready to go to the mat in pushing our leaders to create jobs.

Over the coming days and weeks, as part of our America Wants to Work campaign, we’ll be asking for your help to advance a job creation agenda that will:

Rebuild America for the 21st century by investing in the schools, roads, bridges, transit, ports, rail, communications and energy jobs and systems we need to succeed.
Revive U.S. manufacturing and reform our trade policies, so we can export American-made goods and services—and stop exporting good jobs.
Help our cities and states—and the federal government—avoid layoffs that drag down our economy and threaten essential services to communities.
Directly create millions of jobs in local communities, especially hard-hit communities of color. These jobs must pay competitive wages and target distressed communities and must not replace existing jobs.
Solve the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes.
Reform Wall Street so it helps Main Street create jobs.

Tell your lawmakers: America wants to work. It’s time to end the distractions and political brinksmanship that have left working families out in the cold and take bold action to create jobs.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

We will not reduce our demands or accept failure. And we will not accept any schemes to cut Medicaid or Social Security or Medicare benefits in exchange for getting Americans back to work.

To make our case for jobs, we will flood Congress with calls and e-mails. We will take our demands to the streets—and to the front doors of congressional offices. And we will make it clear to corporations, to elected officials and to the press just how many this crisis hurts in our communities, just how much pain is caused by inaction and just how tireless our pursuit of good jobs will be.

Get started today: Let Congress know you’ll be fighting for jobs, and it’s time for members of Congress to join you.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

Our campaign to get America back to work will not stop—it will only grow stronger. We will start by ratcheting up the pressure now. And we will make sure leaders who fail to put jobs first are held accountable in 2012. Because what happens in the coming days and months—and during the next year—will determine the future of America’s working middle class.

Will we work hard enough, starting now and through the next election, to preserve America’s middle class? Or will we fail? It’s up to us.

If you’re ready to work for working people, start by letting Congress know.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

This morning, President Obama outlined the choices our country faces:

“Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes or we ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both. Either we gut education and medical research or we’ve got to reform the tax code so that most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both. This is not class warfare; it’s math.”

With your help, we can create jobs in a fair way. And we can pay for it—as President Obama proposed—by requiring millionaires, billionaires and profitable corporations to pay their fair share to get America back on track.

Thank you for standing with us.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Your action today is only the beginning. Because you know as well as I do that getting Congress to take real action to tackle America’s jobs crisis won’t be easy—it will be supremely difficult to overcome the partisanship and political games.

That’s why I need you to stay with us. We’ll ask you to follow up with more actions—and harder actions—and to rise to the challenge for America’s working middle class.

we only need 12 more people from Washington



Hundreds of straight allies have already stepped up to help us fight the radical right and to protest the anti-LGBT witch hunt they want to start. We’ve extended our deadline to join HRC until midnight tonight because we’re so close to our goal of signing up 2,000 new members – and I know you can help us fight back, Carmen.
We just crunched the numbers, and we only need 12 more people from Washington to join HRC right now to hit our goal. I hope you’ll pitch in.
Stand with us now. Until midnight tonight ONLY, you can join HRC for $20 – a 43% discount – and still receive a cold cup tumbler as our thank-you. We’re offering this discount because we want to be able to count you as a valued member at this critical time.
Still on the fence? Well, the radical right isn’t sitting back on its heels. In just the last few weeks, several of the GOP presidential candidates have signed onto a pledge to support a constitutional ban on marriage equality – and to launch a commission that will investigate pro-equality advocates like you and me for “harassment” of anti-LGBT antagonists.
We can call out disgusting lies like these and fight back, but only thanks to our members. If love is going to conquer hate and tolerance is going to overwhelm prejudice, it’s going to take the true commitment of straight allies at moments just like these.
Take a look at Joe’s note below and then make your membership gift now.
– Ann Crowley, Membership Director, HRC

At Risk for Social INsecurity


National Women's Law Center - Don't Discount Women: Demand Fair Change Not Spare Change

Women and families depend on Social Security. Don’t let Congress cut this critical program.

You know that the budget talks in Washington are heating up. But you may not have heard that Social Security cuts are on the table.

That’s because they’re not talking openly about cutting Social Security. Instead, they’re saying that they are making a technical change in the way the cost-of-living adjustment is calculated for federal programs like Social Security.

But this is a stealth benefit cut that would mean insecurity for all Social Security recipients, especially women. And, because the cut would grow deeper the longer you receive benefits, it would especially hurt women, who live longer than men, rely more on income from Social Security, and are already more likely to be poor.

Women can’t afford cuts to Social Security benefits because:

  • The average Social Security benefit for women 65 and older is just $12,000 per year.
  • Without Social Security, half of women 65 and older would be poor.
  • This cut would especially hurt the oldest and poorest beneficiaries, who are overwhelmingly women.

Women and their families shouldn’t bear the brunt of deficit reduction—and time is running out. Tell your Members of Congress and the Administration that Social Security and programs vital to low-income families must be protected – and millionaires and corporations must contribute to any deficit reduction plan. Demand Fair Change, Not Spare Change™ in the budget debate.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Want to know more about this stealth Social Security benefit cut? Check out our blog.

Near Extinction​: Only 400 Sumatran Tigers Left


Only 400 Sumatran tigers are left in the world.

Javan Tiger (~1930’s)
Bali Tiger (~1970’s)
Sumatran Tiger (?)

In Indonesia, only the Sumatran tiger remains – and there are just 400 parents and cubs left.

Fewer tigers than sheets in a ream of paper. There are no tigers to spare Carmen. And there’s no time to spare if we want to save them.

In 1930, there were three subspecies of unique, majestic tigers found in Indonesia. Today, two of them are extinct – and the last one is in real trouble.

They need our help now. Please make an urgent donation to help save them.

 www.greenpeaceusa.org

The Sumatran tiger is classified as “critically endangered” – on the brink of extinction and barely hanging on.

They’ve lost 93% of their habitat because companies like Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) are destroying their forest homes. Tigers are left to roam barren tracks where they are easily slaughtered by poachers for their body parts or shot by the people moving in.

To fight back, we need your help to expose the massacre, pressure corporations to cut ties with APP and fight on the ground to save these last remaining Sumatran tigers.

We can’t wait another day – not when we’re dealing with a population of only 400 tigers. If we don’t act now, every one of these beautiful animals will soon be dead.

Since Greenpeace takes absolutely no money from corporations or governments, we depend entirely on you to power our independent and hard-hitting campaigns. Will you help save these 400 Sumatran tigers?

Please help us raise $50,000 in the next 9 days to make it possible. We need just 100 gifts from supporters in WA to reach our goal.

http://us.greenpeace.org/site/R?i=EaKi7m_j37L57NsL_LaZpQ..

Without you, the tigers don’t stand a chance. Without your action, APP will continue lining its pockets with profits, poachers will continue shooting these tigers and reselling their body parts in places like China, and these last Sumatran tigers will just be collateral damage.

But together, we can stop them.

With the financial help of supporters like you, we’ve already put the squeeze on APP, convincing major companies like Nestle, Kraft and Unilever to stop buying products linked to rainforest destruction. Now APP is running for cover, claiming that they’re actually conservationists in a series of new, bogus ads.

We’re ready to put the nail in APP’s profit coffin by running ads across the country to expose the companies that do business with them, flooding them with calls and letters, and continuing to fight on the ground to protect Sumatran tiger families – but we need your support to make all of this happen.

Please give these last Sumatran tiger families a future – before it’s too late.

Together we’ve rallied to overcome seemingly insurmountable problems and won victories to protect the planet – and I know we can do it again to save the Sumatran tiger.

Together we are powerful, together we make a difference.

 Rolf Skar
Greenpeace Senior Forest Campaigner

P.S. We need just 100 supporters like you to donate from WA to meet our goal.  Please donate right now via our secure website or by calling 1-800-722-6995.

The real scoop on …Groupon


So did you catch the Super Bowl?

You might be surprised that the staff at Rainforest Action Network had our eyes glued to the game. Actually, the post-game. Okay, really just the post-game ads.

Why? The folks at Groupon (you know, the online coupon people) ran a post-game Super Bowl ad where Elizabeth Hurley talks about the problem of deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest.

If you haven’t seen the ad yet, don’t get excited about the rapid evolution of Super Bowl ads. Liz also talked about her need for a Brazilian wax: “Not all deforestation is bad.” Painful, I know.

The part we’re excited about is that the ad directs viewers to Groupon’s Save The Money campaign where you can save money by giving money to RAN. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tPaxzQs%2FrS9X8bzY0G6QO2tLL4WBA8kG  

That’s right, when you give $15 Groupon will turn it into $30. Poof! It’s magic. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hB9HFHRKENECygth1bjE3GtLL4WBA8kG  

Since Groupon started out as a platform for social change (called The Point), even though they run a multimillion dollar coupon cash cow and made some seriously flawed Super Bowl ads, they still have hearts and want to do good in the world.

Why do we need YOU to jump on this? Groupon uses group buying power—or in this case, group giving power—which means it takes 1000 wonderful people like you giving $15 to “activate” the deal or we don’t get a dime. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Bupkis. 

  http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mAExMwa0shGfAc2KQ1QUv2tLL4WBA8kG 

That’s why you’ve got to give today, and then tell ALL your friends!

Once the deal tips, Groupon will double donations up to $100,000, which means more awesome RAN actions to protect rainforests, defend human rights, halt climate change and kick corporate butt.

If you’re the kind of person who wants your money to make the biggest impact possible, now’s the time—Groupon it!

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2B4DJhTQJmjZwq7DG1W3m%2BmtLL4WBA8kG

For the planet,

David Taylor

Online Director