Tag Archives: Congress

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Karen Deal, WA Democrats: Voting Rights Act


WethepeopleHistory has taught us: Our government is stronger if every voice is heard.

Sadly, today in Washington, that’s just not happening. Injustice in our election system means many communities, especially communities of color, aren’t being fairly represented by government.

Democrats have introduced the Voting Rights Act, which empowers local governments to fix these problems. You and I know voters deserve a government that truly represents them, and so do our state’s newspapers — Editorial boards across the state have voiced support for the Voting Rights Act. 1

But State Senate Republicans are taking a page out of the playbook of national Republicans. They’ve blocked this bill.

Not only that — Senator Slade Gorton is back. He’s re-entered the public sphere, using his authority and influence to lobby State Senate Republicans to ignore the public outcry and vote “no” on this bill.

Every voter should feel like their vote makes a difference, creating a government that is accountable to all people. We need to fix our broken election system — We need to pass the Voting Rights Act.

Send a message to Slade Gorton and State Senate Republicans: Demand that they pass the Voting Right Act today.

Karen

1 http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/legislature-should-enact-voting-rights-act/, http://www.theolympian.com/2015/03/11/3618019_voting-rights-act-deserves-a-vote.html?rh=1, http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/apr/04/editorial-washington-voting-rights-act-offers/ 

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Better Than Billionaires


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Automatic Voter Registration Allows More Americans’ Voices To Be Heard

“Who’s your billionaire?” Now more than ever, any serious presidential candidate needs to have an answer for this question. Over the weekend, we found out who the answer for Senator Marco Rubio is: Norman Braman, a billionaire auto dealer from Miami.

Braman isn’t just supporting Rubio’s White House bid to the expected tune of $10 million; he has been a key figure in Rubio’s professional and personal life for many years. Here is the New York Times report:

As Mr. Rubio has ascended in the ranks of Republican politics, Mr. Braman has emerged as a remarkable and unique patron. He has bankrolled Mr. Rubio’s campaigns. He has financed Mr. Rubio’s legislative agenda. And, at the same time, he has subsidized Mr. Rubio’s personal finances, as the rising politician and his wife grappled with heavy debt and big swings in their income.

To state the obvious: The increasing influence of big money in politics from donors like Norman Braman, the Koch Brothers, and others, drowns out the voices of everyday Americans in the political process. There are a number of ways to combat this threat to democracy; one big target for reformers is to overturn the judicial decisions like Citizens United that have opened the floodgates to unlimited spending on elections. That is a critical fight.

Here is another important way to make it easier for all citizens to have their voices heard: make voting more accessible. One of the most progressive methods for doing that is called Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), a system by which states would integrate information from existing government databases — such as departments of motor vehicles, the Postal Service, revenue agencies, and others — to compile and update the voting rolls with information that they already collect. Oregon just became the first state in the country to implement this type of system, and it expects to add 300,000 people to voter rolls as a result.

Now, a new report from the Center for Popular Democracy outlines some of the transformative impacts AVR would have across the country. If Automatic Voter Registration were adopted in all states, it would potentially result in 55 million new voters added to the rolls.

AVR would result in the registration of currently underrepresented communities as well, including approximately:

  • 17 million new Black and Latino registrants
  • 31 million registrants under age 45
  • 29 million registrants with an annual income of $50,000 or less

While most voting rights news focuses on the concerted efforts by conservatives to suppress the vote, especially among disadvantaged communities, automatic voter registration is gaining momentum. California, which just advanced its own AVR bill late last month, could be the next state to take this important step.

BOTTOM LINE: With our campaign finance laws continuing to loosen, millionaires and billionaires will only increase the amount of influence they exert in our political process. But there are important steps being taken to counter them: policies like automatic voter registration would register millions of voters, raise voter turnout, and make our democracy healthier and more representative of its citizens.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A License To Kill


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As Florida Governor, Jeb Bush Pioneered The Nation’s First “Stand Your Ground” Law

This Friday, Jeb Bush is scheduled to address the National Urban League, one of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organizations. He is going to be on the hot seat – and deservedly so. As Governor of Florida, Jeb worked hand in hand with the NRA to pioneer the nation’s first Stand Your Ground law, brought to national attention when George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin. The results, detailed in a new CAP Action report, have been devastating. Here are a few of the findings outlined in the report:

1. Since the passage of the law, Florida’s gun homicide rate jumped above the national average – and has stayed there. In the 6 years prior to the law‘s passage, the rate of gun homicides in Florida was 3.7 per 100,000 residents, below the national average rate of 4 murders per 100,000 residents. After Stand Your Ground was passed in the state, the average gun homicide rate jumped to more than 4.5 murders per 100,000 residents in Florida while going down nationwide. In the two years following the enactment of the Stand Your Ground law, the number of gun-related homicides in Florida increased by more than 200 cases.

2. Florida’s Stand Your Ground law appears to have a disparate impact on black communities. A study by the Tampa Bay Times of nearly 200 Stand Your Ground cases in Florida found that defendants seeking to avoid criminal liability for a homicide by mounting a Stand Your Ground defense were significantly more likely to be successful if they killed a black victim than a white victim. In fact, from 2005 to 2012, defendants who raised a Stand Your Ground defense in Florida were 24 percent more likely to avoid criminal liability for a homicide if they killed a black victim.

3. The impacts of Stand Your Ground have translated to an additional 600 homicides per year across the country. Within one year of Gov. Bush’s signing, 21 other states had introduced the legislation and 13 had enacted expanded self-defense laws. A 2012 study by researchers at Texas A&M University found that Stand Your Ground laws led to more homicides: States that enacted such laws saw an 8 percent increase in homicides, which translated to an additional 600 homicides per year across all states with these laws. National Urban League’s own 2013 study found that in states that enacted Stand Your Ground laws between 2005 and 2007, the rate of justifiable homicides increased by 53 percent.

A new op-ed drawn from CAP Action’s report and written by Ben Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP, highlights how Florida’s Stand Your Ground law poses an even larger threat in Florida because the states gun laws are so weak. In fact Florida’s gun laws remain so lax that George Zimmerman, who in addition to shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, was arrested for assaulting a police officer, the subject of a domestic violence restraining order, arrested 3 times for domestic violence, and threatened to kill a man during a road rage incident, is still permitted carry a gun in Florida.

BOTTOM LINE: America has Jeb Bush to thank for Stand Your Ground. And as research continues to suggest, America has this NRA-backed law to thank for hundreds more gun homicides every year and a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

 

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety ~ July 2015


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07/31/2015 02:18 PM EDT

John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (JBSS) announced today that it is voluntarily recalling Fisher brand chopped walnuts packaged in 10 ounce plastic bags because some of these products may be contaminated with Salmonella.

07/31/2015 02:18 PM EDT

John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (JBSS) announced today that it is voluntarily recalling Fisher brand chopped walnuts packaged in 10 ounce plastic bags because some of these products may be contaminated with Salmonella.

07/24/2015 09:54 PM EDT

Moses Lake Professional Pharmacy is voluntarily recalling human and veterinary sterile compounded drugs which are unexpired to the consumer level due to lack of sterility assurance. The company has not received any reports of product contamination or adverse events to date, and is issuing this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution following a recent inspection which identified an issue with sterility assurance.

07/24/2015 10:23 PM EDT

Nature’s Variety has announced a voluntary recall of their Instinct® Raw Chicken Formula for dogs with a “Best By” date of 04/27/16 because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

 

Brown Packing Recalls Veal Products Due To Possible E. Coli Contamination
Brown Packing Company, a South Holland, Ill. establishment, is recalling an undetermined amount of beef (veal) trimmings that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC).

07/21/2015 05:29 PM EDT
July 20, 2015 -Osamu Corporation of Gardena, CA is recalling all of its frozen tuna (loin, saku, chunk, slice, and ground market forms) sourced from one processing plant in Indonesia because the Minnesota Department of Health Investigators found samples of this product from one retail location in Minnesota to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.  Persons developing these symptoms should seek medical attention.
07/21/2015 05:29 PM EDT
Osamu Corporation of Gardena, CA is recalling Frozen Yellow Fin Tuna Chunk Meat (Lot #68568) sold to AFC Corporation of Rancho Dominquez, CA sourced from one processing plant in Indonesia because the Minnesota Department of Health Investigators found samples of this product from one retail location in Minnesota to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

 

07/21/2015 01:27 PM EDT
The Natural Dog Company, Inc. of Windsor, CO, is recalling its 12oz bags of 12″ Tremenda Sticks pet chews because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the product and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

 

Recall Notification Report (Salad Products)
Huxtable’s Kitchen, Inc., a Fife, Wash. establishment, is recalling approximately 778 pounds of salad products due to misbranding.

07/16/2015 01:15 AM EDT Aspen Foods, A Division of Koch Poultry Company, a Chicago, Ill. establishment, is recalling approximately 1,978,680 pounds of frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken product that may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis.
07/15/2015 07:15 PM EDT  Murry’s, Inc., a Lebanon, Pa. establishment, is recalling approximately 20,232 pounds of gluten-free breaded chicken nugget product that tested positive for Staphylococcal enterotoxin.

Homemade recalls Pickles and Sauces because of possible health risk 07/14/2015 09:31 PM EDT Homemade of Leavenworth, Washington is recalling pickle and sauce products because they may have been improperly produced. Washington State Department of Agriculture routine sampling discovered that a bottle of Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles had a pH level high enough to allow the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Required records were not available to support that safe processing guidelines were followed on all sauce and pickle products produced at Homemade.

07/10/2015 03:50 PM EDT  Maya Overseas Foods Inc. of Maspeth, NY, is recalling approximately 8000 lbs. of Cashew Split because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
07/07/2015 09:48 AM EDT Stella & Chewy’s is voluntarily recalling some of its products due to concerns of a possible presence of Listeria Monocytogenes. The recall was prompted by a positive test confirming Listeria monocytogenes in Chewy’s Chicken Freeze-Dried Dinner Patties for Dogs, 15 ounce, Lot #111-15, during routine surveillance testing by the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

Barber Foods Recalls Stuffed Chicken Products Due To Possible Salmonella Enteritidis Contamination Barber Foods, a Portland, Maine establishment, is recalling approximately 1,707,494 pounds of frozen, raw stuffed chicken products that may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis.
Note: This news release is being reissued to expand the July 2, 2015 recall to include additional products. Details were also updated to reflect a change in poundage, epidemiological information and distribution area.

07/10/2015 11:15 PM EDT Gourmet Culinary Solutions, a Statham, Ga., establishment, is recalling approximately 495 pounds of turkey sausage products that are part of a frozen entree that also contains French toast sticks and peaches. The entrees may be contaminated with foreign materials.
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07/07/2015 11:15 PM EDT  Bassett & Walker International, Inc., a Toronto, Canada, establishment, is recalling approximately 1,540 pounds of beef lip products produced in Australia that were not presented at the U.S. point of entry for inspection.
07/02/2015 05:07 PM EDT  Whole Foods Market is recalling Cherry, Blackberry and Peach pies produced and sold in four retail stores in the Southwest Region, which includes TX, OK, LA, and due to undeclared egg. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to egg run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products
07/02/2015 05:35 PM EDT Boulder Dog Food Company, L.L.C. is voluntarily recalling the Turkey Sprinkles (3 oz.) with a “Best By” date of “05/18/16, 05/28/2016 and 05/30/2016”, a Lot Number of “743”, and a UPC Code of 899883001224 because the product has the potential of being contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the product, and there is risk to humans who handle the product, especially if the handler does not thoroughly wash his or her hands after having contact with the Product or any surfaces exposed to the product.
07/03/2015 07:15 PM EDT Lombardi Brothers Meats, a Denver, Colo. establishment, is recalling approximately 26,975 pounds of tenderized steak and ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7,

Fsis Issues Public Health Alert For Frozen Raw Stuffed Chicken Products Due To Possible Salmonella ContaminationThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert due to concerns about illnesses caused by Salmonella that may be associated with raw, frozen, breaded and pre-browned, stuffed chicken products.

07/01/2015 05:27 PM EDT  Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets Inc., a Lakewood, Colo., based natural grocery chain, is recalling one lot of Natural Grocers brand Caribbean Nut & Fruit Mix as the product contains macadamia nuts that have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
07/01/2015 09:30 AM EDT FDA is taking action against 16 prescription drugs labeled to relieve ear pain and swelling because they are unapproved and haven’t been evaluated by FDA for safety, effectiveness and quality. Parents and other consumers still will have many other options for treating ear pain.  Read the Consumer Update to learn more.
06/29/2015 06:33 PM EDTv Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. is initiating a voluntary recall of a limited quantity of Atkins Chocolate Candies – 5 ct. cartons – UPC code 637480075558 – because it may contain sachets of Atkins Peanut Candies. A small quantity of Atkins Peanut Candy individual sachets has been inadvertently placed into outer cartons for Atkins Chocolate Candies – 5 ct. sachets.
06/29/2015 03:12 PM EDT
Rocky Mountain Foods, Inc. is voluntarily recalling certain lots of Island Fruit and Nut Trail Mix packaged under the Free Range Snack Co. Brand and certain lots of bulk Macadamia Nuts due to possible Salmonella contamination. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
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what a successful Presidency looks like

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The following sponsored message was sent to you by AlterNet on behalf of DCCC:

To be sure the numbers have shot upward

This is what a successful Presidency looks like:

President Obama Took Office
(January 2009)		 Today
7,949 The Dow Jones Index 17,573
7.8% Unemployment 5.8%
-5.4% GDP Growth 3.5%
9.8% Deficit GDP % 2.8%
37.7 Consumer Confidence 94.5

In 6 years under President Barack Obama, we’ve made incredible progress as a country.

Often in the face of incredible obstruction, the President has continued to fight for us and lead us forward.

Will you add your name now and say that you’re still standing with President Obama in his final two years in office?

Sign your name to say you’re standing with President Obama:
http:// action.dccc.org/i-stand-with-obama