Tag Archives: Iowa

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

This race is officially on — Jim Messina, BarackObama.com


2012

Friend —

These Republican candidates spent in some cases more than a year — in Mitt Romney‘s case seven years — campaigning in Iowa to be the next president.

But tonight, GOP voters there couldn’t decisively get behind anyone.

Who exactly leads the Republican race going forward isn’t clear, but we do know two things:

1) The extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory. No matter who the Republicans nominate, we’ll be running against someone who has embraced that agenda in order to win — vowing to let Wall Street write its own rules, end Medicare as we know it, roll back gay rights, leave the troops in Iraq indefinitely, restrict a woman’s right to choose, and gut Social Security to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and corporations.

2) We’ll be facing an onslaught of unprecedented spending from outside groups funded by corporations and anonymous donors. In Iowa alone, so-called “super PACs” spent $12.9 million on almost exclusively negative ads. These groups will turn their fire even more directly on us in the weeks ahead to prove that their candidate is the most anti-Obama.

This race is officially on — and if we want to win, the only way is to out-organize them on the ground.

Sign up to volunteer your time now, and one of our organizers in your community will give you a call by the end of next week to talk about how you can help.

Many observers still think Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. If he is, we will be prepared. But it’s curious that no one can really explain how, when or why the 70-plus percent of Republicans saying in polls and in Iowa that Mitt Romney’s not their candidate will suddenly come around.

So the path ahead for Romney — or whichever of the Republican candidates is going to emerge from this process — is sadly and starkly very clear: to run even further to the extreme right, and make even more dangerous promises that threaten not only the progress we’ve made but the fundamental fabric of American society.

We also know that candidates who take these extreme positions can, in the right circumstances, win not only a primary but also a general election in just about any state.

Just ask the Tea Party senators from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and the Tea Party governors in Florida and Wisconsin.

Watching the circus on TV, it’s tempting to think it’s almost funny — but this is not a joke.

We’ve got to be ready.

What you decide to do next will determine which kind of politics wins this election:

http://my.barackobama.com/After-Iowa

More soon.

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Campaign 2012 …


Friend —

People have been sending around two videos here at headquarters this morning, and I thought you’d want to see them, too.

This first one was posted to YouTube almost exactly four years ago. It’s Barack Obama’s “closing argument” to Iowans the night before the caucuses in 2008.

It’s pretty incredible to see candidate Obama talk about what President Obama ultimately did. He makes four specific promises — on reforming health care, making college more affordable, ending the war in Iraq, and putting us on the path to energy independence — all of which today, four years later, are promises kept.

Check it out here: http://my.barackobama.com/Caucus-Video

Barack Obama's closing argument: Iowa 2008

The second video is from yesterday — posted by the New York Times reporters on the ground in Iowa.

It’s a sneak peek into the “the best-organized presidential campaign in Iowa.” Spoiler alert: It’s not Mitt Romney. Or Ron Paul. Or Rick Santorum.

You can watch that here: http://my.barackobama.com/Caucus-Ground-Game-Video

The best-organized presidential campaign in Iowa

Both these videos are pretty near and dear to my heart. I was the campaign’s Iowa caucus director in 2008, and I know how hard people are working there right now, opponent or no opponent.

That’s why I want to thank you for opening this email — especially because I know you’ve been pretty bombarded with messages from us lately.

All the work we do here at headquarters or (more importantly) in the field in places like Des Moines and Ankeny and Council Bluffs in Iowa ultimately relies on someone like you deciding to open an email, click on a link on Facebook, or visit BarackObama.com.

Those tiny decisions are what lead to conversations about the campaign, donations that fuel the work we’re all doing, and volunteers turning out at campaign events across the country.

So, thanks for that, and for everything you’ve done.

A new chapter in the story of 2012 starts with what happens in Iowa tonight. Most of us will watch what happens on TV — but as you do, remember that the end of this story is up to you and what you decide to do in the days and weeks ahead.

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Battleground States Director
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Call AG Rob McKenna: Hold Wall Street crooks accountable


Original Post on 12/01/2011

Call Attorney General Rob McKenna: Hold Wall Street criminals accountable!

Call your Attorney General and demand criminal penalties for unscrupulous mortgage servicers.

Call Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna at (360) 753-6200.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna has a chance to make sure some of Wall Street’s biggest criminals don’t get away with cheating millions of foreclosure victims. But we need you to make a call right now.

Less than a month ago, the lead Attorney General in a 50-state investigation of the mortgage industry, Tom Miller of Iowa, promised a group of foreclosure victims and their advocates that the investigation would “put people in jail.”1

This was in response to revelations from Congressional hearings and news articles documenting pervasive abuses by mortgage servicers — the companies that collect the mortgage payments, impose late fees, negotiate loan modifications and initiate foreclosures.

But now AG Miller has changed his tune, calling the investigation “inherently civil,” not criminal.2 And just last week, when AG Miller once again met with foreclosure victims, he refused to repeat his pledge to prosecute those responsible.3

Call Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna now and demand criminal penalties for Wall Street’s worst — unscrupulous mortgage servicers. Here’s the call info and a sample script:

Attorney General Rob McKenna — (360) 753-6200

SCRIPT: “I am a resident of Washington and I am watching the foreclosure fraud investigation very closely. I want to make sure that the Attorney General reaches as strong a settlement as possible with the banks. The settlement must include principal reduction for millions of homeowners and imposes criminal penalties on those who broke the law.”

It’s clear that AG Miller and the other 49 Attorneys General are being pressured by the big banks to agree to a settlement that lets them off the hook. But we can’t let them get away with cheating millions of Americans. We need to fight back.

That’s why we’re teaming up with our friends at National People’s Action for a national call campaign targeting the attorneys general of every state. Join thousands of activists across the country in calling your state’s attorney general to demand that Wall Street’s biggest criminals are held accountable for their crimes against foreclosure victims.

Call Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna now and demand criminal penalties for corrupt mortgage servicers.

Attorney General Rob McKenna — (360) 753-6200

Thank you for fighting back against criminal Wall Street banks.

Mark Anthony Dingbaum, Campaign Manager

CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. “‘We Will Put People in Jail’ — AG Tom Miller,” YouTube.com, 12-14-2010

2. “Foreclosure Deals to Start With Big Lenders, Iowa Says,” Margaret Cronin Fisk and Prashant Gopal, Bloomberg.com, 01-03-2011

3. “Groups say Iowa AG Retreats From Promise To Be Tough On Robo-sign Banks,” Yepoka Yeebo, The Huffington Post, 01-27-2011

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Cage-Free Egg McMuffins …Stephanie Feldstein, Change.org


Change.org
 
 
 

A shocking undercover video released on Friday reveals gruesome and scary conditions in the production of McDonald’s Egg McMuffins.

Tell McDonald’s to stop torturing chickens and switch to cage-free eggs

 

The video is hard to watch. Chicks’ beaks are seared off. Male chicks are tossed in plastic bags to suffocate. Hens live out their entire lives in wire battery cages, packed wing to wing. And dead chickens are left to rot in the cages that serve as living quarters for remaining chickens. Outside of these standard operations, staff members are shown swinging a bird around by its feet and crushing a chick alive.

Mercy For Animals is the group that carried out the undercover investigation. Now, it has started a petition on Change.org to get McDonald’s to abandon these kinds of cruel and inhumane practices altogether by going cage-free. Will you sign Mercy For Animals’ petition to get McDonald’s to commit to purchasing 100% cage-free eggs in the US?

Right after the video aired on Friday, McDonald’s cut ties with Sparboe Farms, whose facilities and staff in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado are documented in the investigation. But cutting ties with Sparboe Farms won’t end the torture of chickens for Egg McMuffins. The kind of abhorrent conditions at Sparboe are actually standard among battery cage egg suppliers. The only way McDonald’s can guarantee its eggs aren’t produced in the same conditions is to go 100% cage-free.

And McDonald’s has already done this for their locations in Europe, where McDonald’s eggs are already guaranteed to be 100% cage-free.

With the mega fast-food chain dropping Sparboe Farms, it’s clear that the public outcry generated by Mercy For Animals’ investigation is having a big impact. Now is the time to push McDonald’s to take real, meaningful action to distance itself from all battery cage eggs and not just move to another battery cage egg supplier. Tell McDonald’s to publicly commit to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/urge-mcdonalds-to-stop-torturing-hens-for-egg-mcmuffins

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Stephanie and the Change.org team

P.S. People are taking action on important issues using Change.org everyday. Please check out these urgent petitions that need your support:
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

News on immigratio​n …Katherine Archuleta, BarackObama.com



I wanted to make sure you saw the news: President Obama announced a common-sense policy change that will make our immigration system fairer and smarter. I’m proud to support it, and I hope you are, too.

Under the administration’s guidance, immigration courts are going to focus on deporting people who have been convicted of crimes or who pose a security risk. This means that the courts will focus less on “low-priority” cases — like young people who were brought here as small children and know no other home, or veterans and military spouses.

So the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will be reviewing the current deportation caseload, clearing out low-priority cases, and making sure they don’t get into the system in the first place — keeping the focus on cases that will make our country safer. It’s a smart, strategic change. And it will make a difference.

But more comprehensive change requires Congress to act. And we’ll need to build momentum for this fight by raising awareness and demanding action on immigration reform. That starts with getting the word out to our friends and family about this important policy change.

Pass the News on …

The Republican presidential candidates are carbon copies of the congressional Republicans who have blocked common-sense change at every turn.

In last week’s Republican debates in Iowa, the candidates talked about walls, as if higher and longer fences could magically resolve this complex issue.

President Obama and the majority of Americans know that the real answer is much more complicated. That’s why he’s directing our immigration courts to focus on the cases that keep our country safe.

There’s a lot more we can do to improve our broken immigration system. President Obama will need us to keep up the pressure on our members of Congress to make that change happen.

Today’s announcement represents important progress that the President can make right now.

Thanks,

Katherine

Katherine Archuleta
National Political Director