Tag Archives: civil rights

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VoteVets opposes arming the Syrian rebels


VoteVets.org

Almost one year ago, we asked VoteVets supporters to write their Members of Congress urging them to oppose military intervention in Syria.

Over 50,000 of you did.

I listened to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night with great interest, and believe he made a compelling case for the pursuit and destruction of ISIS.

But, once again, VoteVets cannot support sending arms to Syrian rebels that many reports continue to suggest are still fighting alongside some of the same groups we fought against in Iraq, and are even reportedly entering into truces with ISIS. (1) (2)

Additionally, to think that training and providing equipment to the Free Syrian Army is a decisive course of action in Syria is flawed. The United States has spent $25 billion to train and equip Iraqi Security forces (3) which were overrun by ISIS earlier this year. $500 million in arms and training to a less effective force only guarantees, at best, a stalemate that is passed to the next president. Or, worse, potentially obligate even more U.S. forces in the region at a later date.

We don’t oppose using force to attack ISIS, but the idea of utilizing the Free Syrian Army to carry the load in Syria is unrealistic.

As one of the final advisors out of Northern Iraq, I fully supported President Obama’s efforts to hold the Kurdish line and protect the slaughter of tens of thousands of Yezidis on Mount Sinjar. I applaud efforts to be more inclusive of country’s Sunni minority in a new, post-Maliki government in Iraq.

But we risk making some of the same mistakes in Syria we made during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq, and today, I cannot support that.

Tell me what you think:

http://action.votevets.org/thoughts

Adding to this, it’s important to note just how tall of an ask this is of the American people, and those who serve, in light of recent efforts by some in Congress to block money meant to improve veterans’ health care, education, and job training.

The cost of war doesn’t end when the last soldier returns home, or missile system is sent to an enemy of our enemy. Any money Congress authorizes to expand our operations into Syria should be matched by an investment in the care of those who have fought our previous wars.

Thanks for sounding off,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org

 

 

(1) http://www.ibtimes.com/us-backed-moderate-group-syria-signs-truce-isis-reports-1687662

(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/isis-deal-syria_n_5814128.html

(3) https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/510200061137911808

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Support the CFPB ~~~ Lisa Donner, Americans for Financial Reform


The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is doing invaluable work to make the markets for credit cards, mortgages and other financial products and services fairer and more transparent. And once again, the financial industry is going all-out to block those efforts.

The industry’s latest threat involves a proposal to make the CFPB’s complaint system more useful and user-friendly by giving consumers the right to include the specifics of their complaints in a searchable public database.

Please join us in telling the CFPB: Don’t back down from your proposal to let consumers share their stories publicly.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the CFPB’s complaint system, and more than 30,000 cases have already resulted in monetary relief. Complaint data also helps the CFPB detect and respond to broader patterns of industry error or misconduct. The complaint system could be far more valuable, though, if consumers had the option of publicly describing their bad experiences. That way, consumers would be able to learn about the experiences of others and make more informed choices, and financial companies would have an added incentive to compete by actually trying to satisfy their customers, not by trying to put something over on them.

But financial companies, just as they fought the creation of the CFPB in the first place, are fighting its complaint proposal tooth and nail – through the press, through lobbying, and through a highly deceptive advertising campaign in which the industry falsely claims that businesses would not have an equal right to post their responses.

That’s why we need to fight back.  Urge the CFPB to stand firm and help consumers share their experiences and hold big banks accountable.

Speak up today, because the big banks are working feverishly hard to take away our chance to speak up in the future.

Thank you for your continued support for real financial reform.

Sincerely,

 

Lisa Donner
Executive Director
Americans for Financial Reform

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Tell the Senate


 

Tell Your Senators to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act

Tell the Senate to vote YES on fair pay for women. It’s essential that we support economic fairness for women and families, including closing the wage gap, raising the minimum wage, and making education and health care more affordable.

Take Action

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UCS … Demand no more global warming victims


It’s pretty common these days to hear my friends and family members complaining about global warming—but it’s not just the weather they’re complaining about any more. One friend had to evacuate her town with her small boys in tow to flea this season’s wildfires. Another had to abandon a coastal cottage that had been in his family for generations because of rising sea levels. A grandparent stranded in a heat wave. Global warming is affecting all of us every day. And unless we take immediate action, both to help communities prepare for the consequences but also to reduce climate emissions, these stories will become more frequent, and more dire. —Karla

UCS reports highlight global warming consequences for American West.
Two new reports from UCS experts demonstrate just how serious the climate risks are for the great American West and the people who live there. Hotter, drier conditions brought on by global warming are contributing to more large wildfires and longer wildfire seasons. And in the Rocky Mountains—home to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks—these conditions are having severe impacts on the region’s forests—as drought, wildfires, and tree-killing insects that thrive in hotter temperatures are producing potentially irreversible effects. READ MORE

Ask a Scientist

“My husband and I live in the American Southwest and are very concerned about its habitability in the future due to worsening drought and rising temperatures. We are especially concerned about where our children and grandchildren will be able to live and prosper. Are there any regions of the country that might emerge unscathed from the effects of climate change?”—J. Winkeller, Gilbert, AZ.

I empathize. Climate change is now part of everyday reality, and no place in the United States—or the rest of the world, for that matter—is unaffected. Even if we were able to completely switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources right now, the climate will continue to warm in the coming decades. The National Climate Assessment recently examined the current and projected impacts of climate change on different regions of the country. READ MORE

 

Science in Action
protect western forests Protect Rocky Mountain forests before it’s too late!If we do not act now, the forests of the Rocky Mountains will continue to die as they face the severe consequences of climate change. Urge your elected officials to allocate the resources necessary for forest managers to address the current effects of global warming and implement steps that can make our forests more resilient.
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Canada: Home of the Whopper


By

Architects of Burger King’s inversion claim it’s not about taxes

Burger King is rolling ahead with its plan to move to Canada. It confirmed Tuesday that it will purchase Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee and doughnut chain, for about $11 billion, one of the biggest foreign acquisitions since 2012.

This makes Burger King one in a string of corporate deserters in recent years. According to new data provided by the Congressional Research Service, 47 companies have inverted in the last decade, including at least seven this year alone. These companies are able to dodge US taxes by moving their headquarters, but not their operations, to countries with lower corporate tax rates. So called “inversions” may save the companies a few bucks, but they could cost the US taxpayer tens of billions of dollars.

The Deal: Founded in Miami in 1954, Burger King operates more than 7,000 locations in the United States, but only 300 in Canada. In 1964, the Canadian fast food service Tim Hortons was founded in Ontario and now has more than one store per 10,000 Canadians. Burger King will shell out $11.4 billion for the coffee shop, but both will actually be controlled by 3G Capital, a Brazilian-US investment firm. According to the Wall Street Journal, Alex Behring, who is currently Burger King’s executive chairman and a managing partner at 3G Capital, will head the new company.

Although America has a top corporate tax rate of 35%, numerous multi-national corporations do not pay that much. Instead, U.S. corporations paid an average of 12.6%, according to the Government Accountability Office. Burger King also does not pay the top corporate tax rate, but has a tax rate in “the mid- to high twenties” according to Mr. Behring. While Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz doesn’t “expect there to be meaningful tax savings,” Canada’s federal corporate tax rate is 15%.

Moving Forward: Burger King should reconsider its own bid for the company. Since the news broke, the public has denounced this newest corporate deserter. #BoycottBurgerKing is now commonplace on Twitter and Burger King’s Facebook was littered with comments threatening to never return. Senator Sherrod Brown added to that chorus: “Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders.”

When Walgreens announced its purchase of Alliance Boots, a European pharmacy, it received similar criticism, and it has since said that it will stay headquartered in the United States. They decided that paying their fair share was more profitable.

BOTTOM LINE: When more and more American companies move out of the U.S., ordinary Americans end up footing the tax bill. Companies employing the process of inversion are taking advantage of U.S. taxpayers and cheating the system, to the detriment of our workers and our economy. It’s beyond unpatriotic and it’s time for them to stop.

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