Tag Archives: ~ Culture & History

~ my 2cents ...

Personal thoughts 1yr later …


Today …

we have two wars, people in the private and or public sector are not hiring, or limiting the work available, Democrats are the majority, yet they don’t act like it. We have far too many public servants with personal agendas, a new party,called Tea Party or Teabaggers, who, i have had experience talking with, were only a small group, seemed to have put a guy in Congress who states he is a liberal in public but …his website clearly points out his alignment with ultra-conservatives.

An earthquake rocked Haiti and human beings all over the world have come to help, big banks have apologized in public and gave big..big huge bonus money to their people, have been flexing muscles and refusing to lend money to the everyday people that hire folks, insurance companies are inserting millions to fight HCR for all, credit card companies are bashing people with fees, our Supreme Court has caused a problem for our Democracy, reports of at least 12terrorist  attacks have been waged on the US, republicans have held up the Presidents TSA nominee for at least 8months. recently, we came close to having a plane bombed, yet republicans stated days afterward that the nominee has issues, did things that cannot be ignored? twenty years ago, he did something, said he was sorry, DeMint and the rest of the republicans are obstructionist,  democrats have to rise up against this behavior.

i still support the President:  yet, i have some doubt he gets it, actually im willing to say his handlers have been keeping him in the background, letting Pelosi/Reid do somethings, yet those of us on the ground heard the talk, though he says he gets it? does he? the mood around the country is bad, people want bold action, progressives, libs, democrats voted him in because he seemed to want to do some things, your base will be there if you have the courage to move boldly as you campaigned, translate those words into reality, move forward on the rest of the campaign promises that are bold, drastic, transparent and with verve.

Again, it’s definitely time for a change … when will our President get it Repubs want you to fail and have no intention of being bipartisan…

Seven Months ago …

someone decided to throw a verbal teabag at me so i responded …

the teabag crowd was of varying ideals,some good,bad and then the ugly,which is what stood out to me,i am a Obama supporter and have faith that he will get us out of the ditch the house of bush left,it takes dollars,it will go back to the same capitalistic label when it all gets fixed, what i want to know is where were y’ll when the house of Bush sent over 10mil a month off the financial books,our ruined econ happened under the Bush admin, yet everyone out at this march charge Obama? this is a strange response to me and something more is going on,how do they expect to get us out the hole the house of Bush put us in,that wall street,aig and the housing creeps all participating in? i respect freedom of speech but what i saw was fear mongering and hate.  I heard the ppl who were in charge state they want to go back to how things were 100 years ago? that should scare ppl because minorities and women were treated very poorly… ask AL Gerhart what he meant by that?

Four Months ago …

someone said the sky was falling that Marxism was coming to America and we will loose our freedom  …

i find it amusing to see how easy folks seem to throw out labels to describe President Obama’s actions in a time when the jig is up so to speak …
with Wall Street’s creative accounting procedures finally coming to an ugly head … the show.. House of cards by David Faber on CNBC was a cruel reminder and awaking at how greed affects the mind … a truthful documentation of the nasty journey our economy took … by who, for who and how it brought us all down …
and —    if we have to subscribe to labels … call me a Marxist who believes in Socialism at this time ….. We need someone who cares, who is socially responsible and who believes the gap between the haves and have none needs to shrink … school me …what can be wrong with caring for all the people of the US … not just the 2% … especially since that one percent has been wheeling and dealing starting from the house of bush and trickled down to main street … gotta admit it’s time for a change.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A look at Obama’s first year in office …by the numbers


Robert Yoon
CNN Political Research Director        

President Obama was inaugurated one year ago today.

Here’s a recap on his first year, by the numbers:

124 bills signed into law

39 executive orders issued

3 nationally televised prime-time presidential addresses

4 prime-time press conferences

5 press conferences from the White House

20 countries visited
(Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Trinidad, Turkey, United Kingdom)

28 states visited
(Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming)

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Washington State … Repower America:: tell your Senator:: Don’t mess with the Clean Air Act


As early as tomorrow, your Senators could vote to block the Clean Air Act’s protections against carbon pollution, carving out a loophole that hands the biggest polluters a clear path to spew dangerous emissions into our air and water.

And, unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that this so-called “Dirty Air Act” was literally written by fossil fuel industry lobbyists.1

We have less than 24 hours before the vote could happen — please help flood your Senators with urgent calls demanding that they vote “NO” on this attack on the Clean Air Act.

Senator Cantwell: (202) 224-3441
Senator Murray: (202) 224-2621

Let them know you’re a constituent and say:

“I urge Senator _____ to oppose any efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act’s ability to limit dangerous carbon pollution. Instead of taking our country a step backwards, I hope you will work to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year.”

Please report your call.

This vote pits the profits of a few companies against the health and welfare of the American public.

The same lobbyist who was invited to help draft the amendment — former Bush administration official Jeffrey Holmstead — represents some of the worst of the worst, including the top three coal-fired sources of global warming pollution in the entire country. What’s more, his clients donated over $50,000 in campaign contributions to the Senator who introduced the proposal.2

This kind of pay-to-play politics must be rejected, and forcefully. Call today and tell your Senators: Don’t mess with the Clean Air Act.

Thanks,

Dave Boundy

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

CNN video of Haitian moms, daughters creating peaceful march …sing spiriturals


Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com – Haitians sing, chant, march
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Update from Washington State: SustainableWorks secures Recovery grant.


from the greenforall.org website— filed under:

In May of 2009, we reported on a major legislative victory for clean-energy jobs in Washington, thanks to deep community involvement and champions in the state legislature. Now, the application process for those funds is complete, and a great organization called SustainableWorks won a Recovery grant.

Update from Washington State: SustainableWorks secures Recovery grant.

We have an exciting update from Washington State!

A few months back, we reported on a major legislative victory for clean-energy jobs in Washington, thanks to deep community involvement and champions in the state legislature. 

The Washington State legislation (Senate Bill 5649) paved the way to create thousands of good, green-collar jobs, by designating that funds from the Recovery Act support energy-efficiency retrofit programs.

This ground breaking legislation was passed because of the hard work of leaders in the SoundSpokane Alliance. Green For All worked with community advocates and members of the legislature to ensure that the bill benefited community members and included job quality standards. and

Now, the application process for those funds is complete, and a great organization called SustainableWorks won a Recovery grant. Thanks to SB 5649 and Recovery Act funding, SustainableWorks will expand its work to facilitate energy-efficiency retrofits in moderate-income neighborhood.

SustainableWorks already has experience pioneering retrofit projects in small commercial and residential buildings in Spokane, WA. It has proven that a highly trained workforce, paid family wages, can provide cost effective energy retrofit services. SustainableWorks is now a statewide non-profit pioneering neighborhood-based, large-scale energy efficiency projects.

In addition to this experience, SustainableWorks is a good pick for Recovery funds because it is committed to providing quality jobs and opportunities for new workers to enter the workforce. The program requires that all contractors pay Washington State prevailing wages with benefits to all employees.  It also requires that all contractors use at least 20% apprentices on its projects and that 25% of these apprentices must be new first-year apprentices.  With the support of Electrical Workers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Laborers, Sheet Metal Workers Unions and others, SustainableWorks has agreements to place individuals from underserved communities directly into apprentice programs that usually require a long waiting period.  These unions have demonstrated their commitment to making the building trades accessible to all.

SustainableWorks will require contracted employees to receive extensive training so that its workforce can perform energy retrofit work more efficiently than past models. This, combined with simplifying the process for consumers, will result in a program that can be sustainable for the long haul.

The energy retrofit work SustainableWorks will do with Recovery funds is part of a continuum of programs to help low-income Washington residents reduce their energy costs through energy saving home retrofits. The Washington State Low Income Weatherization program performs free energy retrofits in low-income households.  SustainableWorks will provide retrofits in moderate-income homes that don’t qualify for the low-income program.  It will combine utility incentives and Recovery funding to make certain that the costs for the retrofits are covered up-front with low interest loans, and fully paid for over time with energy savings.  

SustainableWorks is also grounded in a community organizing model that is critical to reaching homeowners who are either unaware of energy savings opportunities or are not pursuing them because of the costs involved.  SustainableWorks can reach these households and help them save energy, organizing one moderate-income neighborhood at a time.

It is very exciting to see the next step in the process, as landmark legislation on the federal and state levels (the Recovery Act and SB 5649) begins to turn into jobs, opportunity, and environmental sustainability for people and communities in Washington State.

For more stories of how the green economy is growing across the United States, see our new Green Economy Roadmap.