Tag Archives: Congress

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Mormon Church and Prop 8: The shocking truth


A shocking new film. A call to action.

Once in a while, you walk out of a movie theater knowing you’ll never be the same.

You’ve probably heard about the Mormon Church’s involvement in California’s 2008 marriage ban. But I think you’ll still be shocked watching the new documentary
8: The Mormon Proposition.

The film uses former church members and leaked documents to make a case for exactly how the Mormon Church evaded the law and orchestrated Prop. 8. It’s a movie you absolutely must see.

And this week ONLY – to bring more resources to the fight for equality – the film’s distributors are offering a DVD of the film as a thank-you gift for any donation to HRC of $75 or more.

No matter how much you give today, you’ll receive a membership to HRC, including one year of our magazine Equality, and 100 percent of your gift will go to supporting HRC’s work to promote equal rights across the country. Any amount will help, but I hope you don’t miss this chance to see the film.

The film notes that while just two percent of Californians are Mormon, 71 percent of the money behind Prop. 8 came from Mormons. What happened? This clip shows how church leaders told members how much to donate, based on their income records – and threatened them if they didn’t give:

In the film, secret documents from a Mormon whistleblower show how the Mormon Church helped create a front group before Prop. 8 (the National Organization for Marriage) and stayed out of the spotlight in California. They show how the Church concealed its involvement in Prop. 8 so egregiously that last month it was still drawing fines for campaign finance violations. Get your copy now »

Those documents also detail an anti-marriage campaign in Hawaii a decade earlier – a blueprint for Prop. 8. There, Church leaders funneled money to a coalition that masked their activities. They hid their faces, opened their wallets, and honed their strategy.

Every single day the Human Rights Campaign is out there with people like you, going up against NOM, the Mormon Church, and other groups with vast resources and hateful agendas. But we’re also building up – making millions of people’s lives better, from hospitals to workplaces, from schools to houses of worship. It’s what we do.

And it’s on behalf of those millions of people, and their simple desire to be treated equally, that we have a message for the Mormon Church: your lies, your half-truths and your bigotry will be exposed.

Thanks for supporting this fight.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. Bruce Bastian, an HRC board member who was raised Mormon and helped work on this film, had this to say: “Although the Mormon Church may be small in numbers where you live, their influence is being felt in very big ways all over this country. I believe every LGBT American should see this film to better understand the war we are in and at least one of our main enemies.” Get your copy now »

Join Now

This link is specific to you, so please make your own gift before you forward to your friends. Having trouble clicking on the links above? Simply copy and paste this URL into your browser’s address bar to reach the donation form:
https://secure3.convio.net/hrc/site/Donation2?df_id=5282&5282.donation=form1

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On to the Senate


Organizing for America

Last night, just before 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the House passed Wall Street reform by a vote of 237 to 192. This is a huge victory for our movement — and all American consumers.

Now, there’s just one hurdle left before this historic bill can be signed into law. It must be passed by the Senate — a vote likely to come right after the July 4th congressional recess.

Protecting consumers and holding the big banks accountable is a key piece of the change that all of us fought for in 2008. It’s up to us to bring it across the finish line — making sure every champion in the Senate knows that we’re standing with them, and that those in opposition know that Americans are demanding reform.

Can you take a moment now to write to your senators?

http://my.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVote

Thanks for making it possible,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — A lot of OFA supporters have been passing around this clip from Rachel Maddow’s show about the incredible changes made during the Obama administration. Take a look:

http://my.barackobama.com/MaddowClip

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Stuck on Stupid: Big Oil Says NO To Green Jobs


Brave New Foundation
Donate

Click here to watch the video

Big oil companies haven’t only destroyed our environment but they are putting Americans out of a job. They work very hard in coming up with new lies and propaganda, trying to convince you that the health of our nation’s economy depends on their well-being. You and I know they are dead WRONG!

We’ve already seen a wave of job losses due to BP’s disaster in the gulf – communities wiped out economically because of their criminal irresponsibility. What they try to hide from us is their obsessive obstruction to a clean energy economy.

Our future lies with the creation of green jobs that will provide for a more sustainable and innovative economy.

Sign this petition to tell Congress that you want them to act on green energy solutions, and that you’ll be in their offices, at their townhalls and on their phones this summer to check on their progress!

It is up to you to spread this message with your friends and family and act today to fight back against all the lies and the propaganda peddled by the oil companies.

Sincerely,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

P.S. Please contribute so we can complete our next videos and keep the momentum going toward achieving cleaner, more independent and progressive America.
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Stand with Obama against Republican obstruction


Reform Immigration FOR America

TAKE ACTION
Tell Senate Republicans:
We can’t wait any longer for immigration reform. Stop holding up the process and hurting families – work on immigration reform, now.

take action
bottom of action box

Just a few minutes ago, President Obama spoke to the nation about immigration. He laid out the ways that our broken system hurts millions of people across this country, and how our nation can’t wait any longer for real reform. The President showed that he understands what this fight is about.

As President Obama said, passing national comprehensive immigration reform is going to take all of us working together. And for too long, Republicans in Congress have been holding up the process. Their unwillingness to even address the issue shows that they’ve ignored real solutions and promoted the politics of fear. But every day that they refuse to act constructively, millions of families suffer.

Tell Republicans in Congress:

We can’t wait any longer for immigration reform. Stop holding up the process and hurting families – work on immigration reform, now.

Click here to send this fax to Republicans in Congress

We need to show the Republican obstructionists that their inaction has had real consequences. Join President Obama in telling Congressional Republicans that the time for obstruction is over.

Thank you,
Marissa Graciosa
Reform Immigration FOR America

PS: After you’ve sent your fax, forward this email to five friends to ask them to fax Republicans in Congress as well!
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Announcing HealthCare.gov …a new consumer website -White House.gov


Posted by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on July 01, 2010 at 05:00 AM EDT

Today, our Administration is launching HealthCare.gov a new consumer website that provides unprecedented transparency into the health care marketplace.  Through HealthCare.gov, individuals will have more control over their health care as informed and empowered consumers.

This “first-of-its-kind” website is simple and easy to use, and provides one-stop shopping access to a wealth of information, including your new consumer rights and benefits under the Affordable Care Act, a timeline of when new programs under the new law will come online between now and 2014 and a new insurance finder that will make it easy to find both private and public health insurance option that works for you.

HealthCare.gov will help take some of the mystery out of shopping for health insurance. For too long, it was confusing to identify your options and compare plans. HealthCare.gov makes comparison shopping easier with a new insurance finder that allows users to answer a few basic questions and receive information about insurance options that could work for them. The site makes a system that thrived on complication and confusion easier to understand.  This kind of transparency helps create informed consumers which increases competition, reduces prices and improves quality.

Here are just some of the basics about what you can find when you visit:

  • Approximately 500 pages of content
  • Data for more than 1,000 insurance carriers  and 5,561 open products (2,030 in the individual health insurance market and 3,531 in the small employer health insurance market)
  • Information on every Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program in the country
  • Information on the Pre-Existing Condition Plan in every state.
  • Billions of choices. Answer a few basic questions, and the site’s insurance finder automatically sorts through a huge catalog of public and private coverage options to help you identify the ones that are right for you (with billions of potential personal scenarios supported).

HealthCare.gov will continue to get even better in the months ahead. In October, 2010, price estimates for health insurance plans will be available online, and the site includes easy ways for users to tell us how we can make HealthCare.gov more helpful and easier to use.

We’ll discuss these and other features of the site this afternoon at 1:00 PM EDT, when the HHS team and I will host a briefing for reporters and the public to discuss the new site. You can watch the briefing by visiting HHS.gov/live. We’re excited about demonstrating this important new tool, and enthused that so many organizations and individuals are already praising the new site.

Here’s what some folks have said about HealthCare.gov:

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
“For the first time, no matter where you live, you can go to one place and compare health plans available in your area. The site is nicely designed.  It’s easy to find information.  It tries to avoid the complicated language that you usually get when you’re shopping for a health plan.  Starting this fall, the site will have more information, like price and quality of service comparisons, which will be a big help for consumers.”

Young Invincibles
“Young adults represent the largest group of uninsured in the country.  Because of health care reform, many of us are about to get insurance for the first time.  This portal will help us and all Americans get the information we need about the benefits now available to us.  Our generation, more than any other, gets our information online and this portal puts it all together in one easy, intuitive site.  It is the kind of site young Americans will use and will come back to as they build their careers and their lives.  We are excited to help spread the word and to finally see our friends and family get covered.”

American Cancer Society
“Healthcare.gov offers consumers something they’ve never had in the health insurance marketplace – a transparent, one-stop site where they can compare benefits and services, and find the insurance options that work best for them.  Reducing confusion about coverage and introducing straightforward information about insurance options has always been a top priority for cancer patients and survivors, and this website will help in a major way. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will be getting the word out to our volunteers and members about this valuable new resource.”

American Heart Association
“This new website, www.healthcare.gov, from the Department of Health and Human Services is a valuable resource for all Americans as they learn more about the health insurance options available to them and about new insurance protections that could help ensure access to needed care for themselves and their families.   For the first time, consumers faced with an array of choices will have a single site to go to help them understand their coverage options.  The American Heart Association will continue to work closely with Congress and the Administration to ensure that heart disease and stroke patients receive the best information available to make informed choices about their insurance needs.”

SEIU
Last year, SEIU members joined in a nationwide effort to win quality, affordable health care for all Americans. HealthCare.gov is an important step forward in ending insurance company abuse – once and for all.  This portal will increase both transparency and access for the uninsured and allow people to find quality, affordable health plans in their states. For the first time ever, Americans will be able to compare health plans and make educated decisions about the type of plan that best suits their needs. With today’s launching ofHealthCare.gov, we’re closer than ever to achieving quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Families USA
 “Families USA applauds Secretary Sebelius for launching a ground-breaking new web site for consumers shopping for health coverage or seeking information about the Affordable Care Act. “Healthcare.gov will allow consumers to make informed choices about their health care coverage and encourage competition and transparency among health insurers. This first-of-its-kind web site will provide consumers with their health coverage options in a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate way. We congratulate the Department of Health and Human Services for creating this online tool in a timely and expeditious manner during the three short months since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Never before have consumers been able to view all their insurance options—including private market plans, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare, and the new Preexisting Condition Insurance Plans—all in one place. Implementing the Affordable Care Act will be no small feat. Americans will welcome a useful, consumer-friendly online resource that is sure to help ease the process as they reap the benefits of this historic legislation.”

National Women’s Law Center
“We’d like to express our appreciation and congratulate the team at HHS on their remarkable efforts to expeditiously implement key pieces of the Affordable Care Act. This week, two more key pieces of the new law come into effect, including the launch of the new web portal. Safe to say that all consumers will benefit from “healthcare.gov” to find helpful information about all available health coverage options. For all people looking for insurance coverage, your new web-based resource that launches this week is a first-of–its-kind one-stop resource that puts users one click away from combined information drawn from many sources about all different insurance options, including but not limited to private insurance, public insurance options for people with low income, as well as the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans. Never before have consumers had available to them such a resource that combined so many different sources of information about different insurance options. As you no doubt know, women are health care decision makers for their families. The new information resources available at healthcare.gov will help millions of women and their families find health coverage options until the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented in 2014. We look forward to the many improvements to come to our health system as a result of the Affordable Care Act.”

AFL-CIO
“Health Care.gov”, the new HHS website, as called for under the Affordable Care Act going , represents a giant step towards shifting control of health choices in the private insurance market from insurance companies to working families. The AFL-CIO applauds Secretary Sebelius and her staff for such creating a user friendly website where consumers can find useful and timely information on health coverage, choice and quality. Nothing in the private sector is its equal. “HealthCare.gov” is an example of public service at its best in the internet age and it delivers on the Secretary’s promise that HHS will be America’s “Helpdesk” for health care decisions. The unprecedented range and depth of information on insurance plans far outstretches what insurers provide or, in many cases, even disclose on their offerings. In addition the balanced information conveys in plain language giving consumers the information that’s usually gets lost in the fine print. The cost comparison information on plans scheduled to be added in October will make the site an even more consumer friendly tool. While the site will be most immediately useful to those without employment-based insurance – the millions of unemployed working families who have lost their health coverage in the economic meltdown of the past two years will find this enormously helpful – it also conveys information about improvements down the road for workers with group coverage by explaining in plain language the multiple benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services