Tag Archives: CW

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

End Payday Lending …


BudgetEconomyMarket your loan as a one-time quick fix, charge 300-400% interest, and dig borrowers into a hole they can’t climb out of – it’s the payday lenders’ business model. We’re talking about an industry that generates 75% of its $3.4 billion in annual revenues from borrowers who get stuck in a long-term cycle of debt. “You borrow money to pay for the money you already borrowed” is how President Obama described the routine in a speech at Lawson State College in Alabama last week. Loan fees usually end up exceeding the amount of the original loan. (Car-title lenders play a similar game, to the tune of close to another $5 billion in annual revenues.)

But now, finally, there’s a real chance to end this debt trap. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the agency conceived by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and created in response to the financial and economic meltdown of 2008 – is preparing to regulate abusive payday, car-title and installment lending, and it has put out a promising first look at the rules it has in mind.

Send a resounding message to the CFPB and Director Richard Cordray: End the debt trap. Tell lenders to issue sound loans that people can actually afford to repay.

Now that we have seen a rough outline of the Bureau’s thinking, the real battle begins. The initial proposal, while strong in some ways, includes worrisome gaps that could allow triple-digit-interest lenders to skip the essential process of verifying a borrower’s ability to repay. We need the CFPB to close this loophole before it puts out a final rule. Meanwhile, payday and car-title lenders will be fighting back hard – pushing to make the rules weaker or narrower, and doing all they can to undermine the authority and funding of CFPB itself.

Experience in the states tells us to demand strong, evasion-proof rules. State after state has tried to crack down predatory small dollar-loans, and too often the lenders have figured out a way to keep their abusive business model going. We must not allow that to happen again.

Tell the CFPB to leave no loophole unclosed: no “seal of approval” for triple-digit interest debt trap loans.

Together we have won and defended a CFPB willing to take on tough jobs like this one. Together we can keep pushing, and end the payday and car-title debt trap once and for all.

Sincerely,

Lisa Donner
Americans for Financial Reform

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Indiana: Here’s what you can do


SeattleNighttime3Indiana’s new “religious freedom” law is wrong. It is wrong to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, and it is wrong to use religious freedom as a justification for institutionalizing discrimination.

That’s why, today, I signed a directive instituting a state-funded travel ban to the state of Indiana.

This is the right thing to do. Will you take a stand for equality, and lend your support to this action?

Stand with me. Sign my petition, and show your support for Washington’s travel ban to Indiana today.

I’m proud to have Washington join cities, states, organizations, companies, and individuals across the country in opposing this hateful law.

Washington state stands for equality. Our own courts, at the request of the state attorney general, recently ordered a florist to pay a fine for discriminating against a gay couple — the same activity that Indiana’s law allows.

Sign my petition today: Stand in support of my administration’s travel ban to Indiana!

I invite any companies or organizations who oppose this law to bring their business to Washington. We are open for business for all.

Very truly yours,

Jay Inslee

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Ashley Schaeffer Yildiz, Rainforest Action Network


Rainforest Action Network
Quaker_Brand_Jam350x426.jpg

Two dozen activists stormed a grocery store in San Francisco to convince Quaker, and its parent company PepsiCo, to cut Conflict Palm Oil.

The activists re-branded shelves displaying Quaker brand items to warn customers that Quaker products may contain Conflict Palm Oil. We need your help to amplify this call to action!

PepsiCo, and its brand Quaker, spends huge amounts of money on advertising every year, trying to convince moms and dads that Quaker is a brand that we can trust, yet they are unwilling to spend a few extra pennies to help save orangutans from extinction and keep children out of slave labor conditions.

Will PepsiCo fix the gaps in its palm oil commitment and take action to help save orangutans and keep children out of slave labor conditions? With your voice, it will.

Post a message on Quaker’s Facebook page today:
“Quaker, families don’t want to eat Conflict Palm Oil. Spend a few extra pennies on every package to cut Conflict Palm Oil, save orangutans from extinction and keep children out of slave labor conditions.”

After two years of people like you taking action, PepsiCo is finally starting to pay attention and its top decision makers are deciding now whether to actually address these problems. That is why YOUR voice is needed right now.

With your help we can generate a storm on Quaker’s Facebook page and drive home the message that now is the time for this snack food giant to cut Conflict Palm Oil once and for all.

Take a moment to raise your voice now.

Ashley_SY_Headshot.png
Ashley Schaeffer Yildiz
Responsible Food Campaigner

P.S. Want to step up your game? Activists across the country are taking action in person at grocery stores across the U.S. Sign up here to join them and take your social activism into your community.”

http://www.ran.org/
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Leila Deen, Greenpeace


greenpeaceThis is outrageous. Yesterday, the Obama administration announced a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and then followed that up by approving Shell’s climate-killing plan to drill in the Arctic.

This is a setback, but we’re not giving up. Right now, six volunteers aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza are tailing one of Shell’s drilling rigs across the Pacific, and across the city of Seattle, where Shell’s Arctic fleet is set to dock, concerned residents are mobilizing. And people all over the world are standing up against Shell.

If we don’t come together now, Shell WILL drill in the Arctic this summer.

Give today!
Please give today to protect our future from oil spills, climate change, and more. Help us reach $15,000 by April 15!

Donate Today

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety

FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety March 2015 p2


USFDA_footer

03/27/2015 04:58 PM EDT
Best Foods Inc. 75 Midvale Rd Edison, NJ 08817 is recalling its 7 ounce packages of Deer Brand Raisin Golden because they contain undeclared sulfites. Consumers who have severe sensitivity to sulfites run risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product.
03/27/2015 07:23 PM EDT

Aurora Products, Inc. is expanding its voluntary nationwide recall of certain lots of NATURAL WALNUTS and TRAIL MIXES CONTAINING WALNUTS, because they have the potential to contain Salmonella 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.

03/25/2015 03:29 PM EDT
Due to receiving a recall notice from its organic spinach supplier because of possible Listeria monocytogenes exposure, La Terra Fina is recalling the products outlined in the chart below. Following its voluntary recall of Organic Spinach Dip last Friday, La Terra Fina is expanding the recall to include these products that were manufactured on the same production equipment on the same day as the Organic Spinach Dip and are being recalled out of an abundance of caution.
03/24/2015 06:32 PM EDT
Twin City Foods, Inc. of Stanwood, Washington is recalling the following products because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
03/24/2015 09:40 PM EDT  This recall is based on a recall notice from one of Superior Foods, Inc., organic frozen spinach suppliers that Superior Foods, Inc., may have received organic spinach with the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
03/24/2015 11:15 AM EDT
Hayward, CA. Carmel Food Group today issued a voluntary recall of certain Rising Moon Organics frozen Ravioli items, because of possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes.
03/23/2015 09:51 PM EDT
Blue Bell Ice Cream of Brenham, Texas, is recalling three 3 oz. institutional/food service ice cream cups- chocolate, strawberry and vanilla with tab lids because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
03/23/2015 07:15 PM EDT Stock Yards Meat Packing Co., Inc., a Tucson, Ariz. establishment, is recalling approximately 2,149 pounds of roast beef due to misbranding.
03/23/2015 02:50 PM EDT
Amy’s Kitchen, Inc. is voluntarily recalling approximately 73,897 cases of select code dates and manufacturing codes of the products identified on Attachment A. This recall is based on a recall notice from one of Amy’s organic spinach suppliers that Amy’s may have received organic spinach with the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
03/23/2015 01:08 PM EDT
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is recalling approximately 12,540 packages of Wegmans Organic Food You Feel Good About Just Picked Frozen Spinach, 12 oz. (UPC 77890-32932) due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The product was sold in the frozen food department of the company’s 85 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts between January 27 and March 21, 2015.
03/22/2015 11:36 AM EDT
Nutiva, an Organic Superfoods company, has initiated a voluntary product recall of the following O’Coconut™ products after being notified by supplier that samples of a raw material in this product have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. “We are choosing to voluntarily recall three of our O’Coconut items as a precautionary measure to provide the safest products for our customers,” states John Roulac, Nutiva’s CEO.
03/20/2015 03:15 PM EDT
Van Lang Foods, a Countryside, Ill. establishment, is recalling approximately 232 pounds of pork potstickers and chicken dim sum due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen.
03/21/2015 09:41 AM EDT
Texas Star Nut and Food Co., Inc. of Boerne, Texas is voluntarily recalling Nature’s Eats Natural Macadamia Nuts, Lot Code #31435001, 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. 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
03/21/2015 09:20 AM EDT
La Terra Fina is issuing a voluntary recall of its Organic Spinach Dip due to a potential health risk from Listeria exposure. The recall of product available in Bay Area Costco stores is a precaution.

Boa Vida Imports Recalls Pork And Beef Products Imported From An Ineligible Country Without Benefit Of Import Inspection Boa Vida Imports, a New Bedford, Mass., establishment, is recalling approximately 385 pounds of pork and beef products imported from Portugal because this country is not eligible to export meat products to the United States.

03/21/2015 03:59 PM EDT Aurora Products, Inc. is conducting a voluntary nationwide recall of certain lots of NATURAL WALNUTS and TRAIL MIXES CONTAINING WALNUTS because they have the potential to contain Salmonella 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.

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Expands Recall on Organic Garlic Powder Due to Possible Health Risk

03/18/2015 03:28 PM EDT  Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc., a Lakewood, Colorado based natural grocery chain, is expanding their recall of Natural Grocers brand Organic Garlic Powder to all lots as the product has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Consumption of products containing Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
03/18/2015 04:20 PM EDT
First Source, LLC of Buffalo, New York is voluntarily recalling 3,276 plastic tubs (6 oz.) of Wegmans Organic Walnut Halves & Pieces because the product may 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.