Tag Archives: Mitt Romney

“Corporations are people, my friend.”

Take a guess. Is this:

A. a line from eerie new sci-fi flick starring Christopher Walken
B. a statement by Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney
C. a typical morning self-affirmation by oil & gas industry CEOs

The answer is B. Mitt Romney made this statement with a straight face in front of both public and press at the Iowa State Fair last year. And if you’ve heard about the infamous Citizens United ruling, then you know that the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.

Do you think that “corporate personhood” is best kept in the world of science fiction? Ready to fight back? Good. So are we! Join us this week on the anniversary of Citizen’s United in letting corporations and their political allies know that democracy is for the people. Real people. We The People.

Understanding Citizen’s United

Trying to understand the many frustrating complexities of “corporate personhood” and its role in the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling could drive some people to want to just crack a beer and watch Simpsons reruns all night long. Do not fear. We’ve got a cartoon here (from the brilliant people who brought you The Story of Stuff) that makes understanding Citizens United a snap.

Take Action on the Anniversary of Citizen’s United

This Friday and Saturday, you will have a historic opportunity to challenge corporate power on the anniversary of Citizen’s United. Join us in the streets at events in San Francisco and Minneapolis or find an action in your town!

January 20 Join RAN at Occupy Wall Street West in San Francisco
January 21 Join RAN in the Twin Cities
Find an Action in Your Town

President Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline

Great news! President Obama has just rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. Thanks to all of you who were part of the grassroots opposition to this massive pipeline. Against huge threats from Big Oil, President Obama stepped up to defend the health of the American people and our climate. Join us in thanking the president and encouraging him to continue the fight for our green energy future.

Levi’s Takes a Stand for Rainforests

RAN is pleased to announce that denim giant Levi Strauss & Co. has implemented a new paper policy in its operations around the globe. This makes Levi’s the latest company in an ever-growing list of major corporate customers to exclude supplier Asia Pulp & Paper for its human rights abuses and blatant rainforest destruction. Kudos to Levi’s for taking a strong stand to protect forests in Indonesia and around the world.

Bankrupting America on Tumblr

From fees to foreclosures to coal financing, Bank of America has got zero love these days. In fact, we thought BoA deserved its own shiny new website to track the vast amounts of ire it’s garnering from people across the country, so RAN and The New Bottom Line are bringing you Bankrupting America on Tumblr. This blog features BoA’s foibles, follies, and clever pushback from people who’ve had enough (like the activists who modified every BoA ATM screen in San Francisco in a single night). If you’ve got a juicy video, photo, news story or personal account about Bank of America, we want to hear about it. Submit your story today!

Great Moments in Stupid Chevron PR

Now that Chevron has been found guilty—again —for intentionally dumping a massive amount of toxic oil waste in the Ecuadorean Amazon, the company has become particularly desperate to explain why it refuses to take responsibility. We’ve remixed some of the most ridiculous excuses Chevron spokespeople have made over the years into a magnum opus of Great Moments in Stupid Chevron PR. Check out the video, then submit your own brilliant ideas for Chevron’s next stupid excuse!

Field Report: The High Stakes of Palm Oil

To understand how palm oil—an ingredient in more than 50% of household products in the U.S.—really affects the people, ecosystems, and animals on the ground in Indonesia, read this latest field report from RAN forest campaigners Lafcadio Cortesi and Ashley Schaeffer. These two traveled deep into the jungles of Borneo to document the tragic impacts of palm oil plantation expansion on some of the most beautiful primary rainforests in the world.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Sign our petition. It says: “I like leaders who hire people.” … AFL – CIO

01/18/2012 Nativegrl77

Former corporate raider and presidential hopeful Mitt Romneyrecently said “I like being able to fire people”—and his record as a corporate raider backs that up.He supports laws that attack workers’ rights and make it easier to fire people.Sign our petition. It says: “I like leaders who hire people.”

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney—who killed thousands of jobs as a corporate raider—recently said he “likes being able to fire people.”

Romney’s record as a corporate raider backs up his words: He supports laws that attack workers’ rights and make it easier to fire people. Laws like the so-called “right to work” bill being considered in Indiana that targets collective bargaining, robbing workers of union protection.

If Indiana’s so-called “right to work” bill passes, the state’s unions no longer will stand between corporate raiders like Mitt Romney and many of the workers they like to fire to boost short-term profits. And it will become much harder for everyday workers to improve their wages, benefits and retirement security.

If you agree with the AFL-CIO that our leaders need to work together on an agenda that actually creates jobs—and stop following the lead of corporate raiders like Mitt Romney—add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

In 2011, we saw the beginnings of a new democratic movement for economic justice. We had the most solidarity I’ve seen at any time during my career in the labor movement. We shifted the debate. And we’ll keep doing it.

But to translate this movement into lasting change, politics matter. Not just who we elect for president, but our choices at the state and local levels, too.

America wants to work—and it is politics as usual, not economic obstacles, standing in the way of putting people back to work. That’s why we’re promoting a job-creating agenda in statehouses around the country this year, focusing on priorities like:

Making sure state tax dollars are used to keep jobs in that state and in America.
Buying state-made and American-made goods—so we create jobs in our communities and in America.
Stopping corporate tax loopholes and tax breaks for millionaires—so our states no longer are starved of the revenue they need for critical services.

Please make sure your lawmakers—from the statehouse to the White House—know where you stand. Add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

Even though ruthless, corporate-backed attacks on workers continue, make no mistake: Our message—the message of the 99%—is taking root. Many politicians haven’t caught up yet. But they will. They’ll have to. Because people all across the country are saying our economy and our democracy are out of balance. They’re saying it’s time to create jobs for every person who wants to work—jobs that can support our families and that can support our dreams.

Sign the “I like leaders who hire people” petition. Make sure our leaders know you expect them to build a better America—and drop the attacks on working families.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

AFL – CIO … Is Newt Gingrich right?

01/13/2012 Nativegrl77

“You have to ask the question: Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and walk off with the money, or is that in fact a little bit of a flawed system?”
—Newt GingrichHere are words you won’t hear from me very often: I agree with Newt Gingrich.As Mr. Gingrich recently pointed out, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney “looted” companies, leaving behind “broken families and broken neighborhoods.” That’s not the kind of capitalism that built America.If you agree that job creation is a critical part of capitalism—and that unions are a critical voice to stop job-killers like Mitt Romney from taking over our democracy—then sign our petition.

While I agree with Mr. Gingrich’s point about the kind of capitalism that works for working people, it’s unfortunate that both Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney are on the wrong side of most issues that matter to working people.

For example, they are both on record in support of so-called “right to work” legislation, like the bill that’s being considered in Indiana. This misnamed bill has nothing to do with “rights”—and it has terrible consequences for people’s work.

If “right to work” passes, Indiana’s unions no longer will stand between corporate raiders like Mitt Romney and many of the workers they like to fire to boost short-term profits. And it will become much harder for everyday workers to improve their wages, benefits and retirement security.

Like leaders who focus on policies that will get people hired into good, family-sustaining jobs? Sign our petition.

America wants to work—and it is politics as usual, not economic obstacles, standing in the way of putting people back to work. With your help, while the federal government is stalled and caught up in an election-year circus, we’ll focus on a job-creating agenda in statehouses around the country. Our priorities include:

Making sure state tax dollars are used to keep jobs in that state and in America.
Buying state-made and American-made goods—so we create jobs in our communities and in America.
Stopping corporate tax loopholes and tax breaks for millionaires—so our states no longer are starved of the revenue they need for critical services.

Please make sure your lawmakers—from your statehouse to the White House—know where you stand. Add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
P.S. Be sure to share this on your Facebook and Twitter pages

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Your part of the State of the Union- from … Jeremy Bird, BarackObama.com

01/10/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

On Tuesday, January 24th, President Obama will give his State of the Union address.

Can you have a few people over to watch?

All it takes is a little bit of time to prepare and some enthusiasm for bringing people together.

Making sure everyone watches the speech, and has the opportunity to connect as President Obama lays out his agenda for the next year, is an important part of our campaign plan.

How about it? Can you be the person who hosts the party in your community to watch the State of the Union?

These parties are easy to put together. You’ll be able to decide how many people you can comfortably host, and we’ll provide you with tools to promote the event. We’ll talk you through what to expect and how to prepare for that night — including a conference call with other hosts beforehand to share tips and ideas.

This requires a basic commitment from you, but no previous experience doing this kind of thing — even if you’ve never hosted an event like this before, the campaign staff will make sure you have the tools and resources you need to make your party successful.

A party in your neighborhood is one big way to energize the campaign where you live. We’re aiming to have thousands of parties like it across the country.

But it will only happen if someone steps up to make it happen. Sign up here if you can host:

http://my.barackobama.com/Host-a-SOTU-Watch-Party

Thanks for all you do,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bird
National Field Director

http://www.barackobama.com/jobs?source=footer-nav … Obama Biden campaign jobs

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

01/04/2012 Nativegrl77

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