Tag Archives: Events

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the FBI and Washington State
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre testified in Congress last year that we shouldn’t expand the criminal background checks system to cover more gun sales because — he claims — background checks don’t work.[1]Well, we’ve obtained key FBI data that shows more than 40,000 reasons why LaPierre and the NRA are just plain wrong.Since 1998, the federal background check system has blocked 40,976 dangerous people from buying guns in Washington State — including more than 6,000 domestic abusers.

And that’s precisely why we want to expand background checks to cover all gun sales here, including sales between strangers who meet online or at gun shows.

Please help spread the word about this important information on Facebook or on Twitter. Sharing this stat with others will help explain why it’s so important we pass I-594, Washington State’s ballot initiative to expand the state’s background checks law.

40,976 gun sales to dangerous people have been blocked.

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If you don’t use Facebook or Twitter, you can still spread the word by forwarding this email to friends and family.

Initiative 594 — on the ballot in Washington this fall — would close loopholes in Washington’s background check law so that a convicted felon or domestic abuser can’t buy a gun at a gun show or on the internet without passing the same quick and easy background check that law abiding citizens do every day at gun dealers throughout the state.

Passing I-594 into law won’t stop all gun violence — but it is the most effective way to make Washington a safer place for our families.

The first step is to make sure our friends, neighbors and family members have the facts about background checks — no matter how hard the NRA’s leadership tries to undermine them. Share the message now: It’s time to close the background check loophole in Washington State.

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Thanks for being part of this important fight,

Meera Bhardwaj
Washington State Organizing Director
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund

1. “Wayne LaPierre, NRA Leader, Opposes Expanded Background Checks,” Huffington Post, January 2013.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

greenpeace and the fight for the Arctic


greenpeaceThe Arctic is a special place: inhabited by creatures like polar bears and whales, full of magnificent vistas, and home to people who maintain the traditions of their ancestors. For millennia, it has remained untouched by oil-drilling or industrial fishing.

But as the ice melts from climate change, that special status is at risk. Multinational corporations like Shell are chomping at the bit to be the first to exploit this amazing area. That’s why I’m asking you to do something a little different for the Arctic in Seattle.

We’re calling for the northernmost, uninhabited areas of the Arctic to be permanently protected as a global sanctuary. This is a big vision, and to make it happen, we need all levels of leaders from around the country to join this call. To make the Arctic matter on the national stage, leaders like President Obama need to know that it really matters in communities around the country.

Your local leaders can make a difference by standing up for the Arctic. But they need to hear from you. So we’re asking you to do something a little different today: start a petition asking your community leaders to sign on to the Arctic Declaration, which calls for a global sanctuary in the Arctic.

Your petition will be hosted on a page maintained by our partners, Moveon.org. We’ve teamed up with them to give Greenpeace supporters a way to start their own community petitions. This partnership with Moveon.org is brand new and we’re really excited about the potential to amplify our grassroots power.

We’re fully invested in making sure you have everything you need to make a big difference in your community for the Arctic. If your petition gets at least 250 signatures, we’ll share it with our Facebook fans in your community. If it gets at least 500 signatures, we’ll email it to everyone on our list in your area.  

Ready to get started? Great! Here’s all you have to do:

Step-By-Step Guide1. Pick a local leader to send your petition to. If you live in a city with a mayor, that is probably your best bet. You’ll need his or her email address, which you can probably find by going to your city’s website. If you don’t have a mayor, another great choice is your state representative, senator, or Assemblyman. Here are your local representatives:

Sen. Jamie Pedersen
Rep. Frank Chopp
Rep. Brady Walkinshaw

2. Go to http://petitions.moveon.org/greenpeace/ to start your petition.  

3. Decide what you want to say to your local leader about why they should support the Arctic sanctuary. You can write your own petition language, or use this language:

 

Name: Protect our Arctic

Text: The Arctic is a truly special place, but it is under threat from rising temperatures, oil drilling, and industrial fishing. We ask that you use your status as a leader to endorse the International Declaration on the Future of the Arctic. This charter demands action on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, climate change, oil drilling, and unsustainable fishing. Learn more at ArcticDeclaration.org, and please sign on today.

4. You’ll be asked to say why you’re starting this petition. You’ll want to keep this short, but it’s a good way to tell your friends and neighbors why this is important to you. If you get stumped, here’s a sample:

“The Arctic is an amazing place, home to whales, polar bears, and other amazing creatures. We need to act now to protect it for future generations.”

5. Once you start your petition, you’ll be given options to share it on email, Facebook, and Twitter. This is the important part — your petition will only be effective if you do everything you can to make sure your friends, family, and neighbors see it, sign it, and share it. And be sure to use the exact link that MoveOn sends you in an email. Note: MoveOn will only send you emails to help promote your petition.

 

Start your petition for the Arctic now.

So far, five million people around the world have stood up for the Arctic, and over 500 leaders have signed on to the Arctic Declaration. We’ve won some big victories, including temporarily stopping Shell from drilling, but there is still much to do in order to protect the Arctic once and for all.

The time is now to take the campaign to our communities, and you can take the first step by starting a petition in yours today. 

For the Arctic,

Ben Smith
Greenpeace USA Senior National Organizer

P.S. Your leaders need to know that people in your community care about the Arctic — start a petition today!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell MSNBC: Correct Abby Huntsman’s False Social Security Attacks


cafemaillogo

 a repost
In March, TV viewers were subjected to more anti-Social Security rhetoric, this time from Abby Huntsman, co-host of MSNBC’s “The Cycle” and daughter of millionaire and former Republican presidential candidate John Huntsman.Her talking points ranged from misleadingly used life expectancy data to claims that there would be “nothing left” in Social Security for her generation. The two solutions Huntsman offered were to either cut Social Security benefits by 20 percent or to raise the retirement age to 75.Click here to join us in demanding that MSNBC issue an on-air correction.Huntsman’s are the same talking points dreamed up by right-wing think tanks and used time and time again by politicians and Wall Street billionaires who are trying to create a phony generational war, pitting young against old.

When Huntsman says that our options are to either cut benefits or raise the retirement age (which is simply another form of a benefit cut), she ignores that today Social Security can pay out 100 percent of benefits through 2033 and 75 percent of benefits through 2087.

The simplest solution to the problem that Huntsman overstates is to ask millionaires and billionaires to start paying into Social Security at the same rate as the rest of us. This would not only allow Social Security to pay out 100 percent of benefits owed for the next 75 years, but could also result in a benefit increase by as much as $800 per year for the average recipient.

Please join us today by calling on MSNBC to issue an on-air correction to Huntsman’s false claims.

We won’t stand by and allow right-wing talking points to serve as legitimate evidence for the need to cut our earned benefits.  Stand with us as we fight to expand, not cut Social Security!

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,


Roger Hickey

P.S.: Our own Richard Eskow took apart Abby Huntsman’s commentary in this “Dear Abby” letter on OurFuture.org. Perhaps MSNBC could invite Richard to balance Huntsman’s extreme views?
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

“A Good Partner, an Equal Partner, and a Partner for the Long Term” ~~ POTUS


whitehouse2President Obama spoke to a crowd that included 50 African leaders, at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington, D.C. The Business Forum was part of the historic three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit — the largest event any U.S. President has held with African heads of state and government.

The President highlighted Africa’s impressive economic growth, and made clear that America will be a partner in its success — “a good partner, an equal partner, and a partner for the long term.”

It Only Takes Three Minutes to See Why We Must Act on Climate Change

When it comes to climate change, the facts are in. Watch as President Obama’s Science Advisor Dr. John Holdren explains — in less than three minutes — how climate change is making America’s wildfires more dangerous and why we must act now.

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Remembering James Brady: “A Legend at the White House”

On Monday, former White House Press Secretary James Brady passed away in Alexandria, Virginia at the age of 73. The President, the Vice President, the current Press Secretary, and 11 former Press Secretaries honored a man that the President referred to as a “legend at the White House.”

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