Tag Archives: MJ

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Stopping Monsanto


CREDO Action | more than a network. a movement.
The USDA can stop Monsanto

No GMO alfalfa.
Take action!
Clicking the text below will add your name to this petition. The petition reads:

I demand the USDA refuse any partial deregulation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa. The Supreme Court acknowledged that the economic risks from genetic contamination, as well as the risk to the environment of gene flow, are real harms. The USDA has a responsibility to protect farmers and consumers and should refuse any requests for partial deregulation.
Click to sign.

Click here to add your name


Although it was reported as a wholesale victory for Monsanto1, the recent Supreme Court decision on “Roundup Ready” alfalfa has actually put food activists in a good position to maintain the ban on Monsanto’s genetically engineered GMO seeds.

The court ruled that the planting of GMO alfalfa is still illegal, but it assigned authority to the USDA to determine whether to allow some provisional planting to go forward as soon as next spring. The responsibility for maintaining a total ban on the GMO seeds — and protecting organic crops from likely contamination — falls squarely on the shoulders of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Tell Secretary Vilsack to stand up to corporate agribusiness and protect organics for future generations. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

The court supported farmers’ claims that the USDA illegally allowed Monsanto to sell its seeds before a full environmental review could be completed, but Monsanto knows that it can use its power within the USDA to speed up the review process. The company has already requested that the USDA permit a so-called “partial deregulation” that would allow some plantings of Roundup Ready alfalfa before we know the full risks.

A landmark element of the recent Supreme Court ruling was its recognition that the USDA must take into account economic harms from genetic contamination of conventional seed by genetically engineered seed — things like the loss of export markets or loss of organic certification, as well as the risks to the environment of this “gene flow” effect. Monsanto wants the agency to ignore those risks and let them plant now.

We can’t let them. Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Peter DeFazio delivered a letter signed by over 50 lawmakers demanding that the USDA not legalize GE alfalfa.2 Over 83,000 Credo members added their voice by calling on their members of Congress to sign on to the letter.

Click here to automatically sign the petition and tell Secretary Vilsack to maintain the planting ban on GMO alfalfa, now and in the future.

Thank you for standing up for safe and healthy food.

Adam Klaus, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

On to the Senate


Organizing for America

Last night, just before 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the House passed Wall Street reform by a vote of 237 to 192. This is a huge victory for our movement — and all American consumers.

Now, there’s just one hurdle left before this historic bill can be signed into law. It must be passed by the Senate — a vote likely to come right after the July 4th congressional recess.

Protecting consumers and holding the big banks accountable is a key piece of the change that all of us fought for in 2008. It’s up to us to bring it across the finish line — making sure every champion in the Senate knows that we’re standing with them, and that those in opposition know that Americans are demanding reform.

Can you take a moment now to write to your senators?

http://my.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVote

Thanks for making it possible,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — A lot of OFA supporters have been passing around this clip from Rachel Maddow’s show about the incredible changes made during the Obama administration. Take a look:

http://my.barackobama.com/MaddowClip

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Texas GOP says gays shouldn’t have custody of children


Sign the petition to RNC Chairman Michael Steele:

What you are about to read is shocking but true.

The 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform says gay people shouldn’t have custody of children.1

It says issuing a marriage license or performing a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple should be punishable by jail time.2

It wants to restore 19th-century Texas statutes outlawing sex between men.3

It’s one thing for extremist groups to spout this type of bigotry. But one of the nation’s two main political parties? That’s taking it WAY too far.

The Republican National Committee is trying to avoid the issue, but a huge public outcry can force them to take sides. Is this really what they want voters to think the GOP stands for as the 2010 elections approach?

At a time when Americans are looking for real solutions to the challenges we face, the Texas GOP decided to focus on propaganda, not policy:

“Homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases.”

“Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should ‘family’ be redefined to include homosexual ‘couples.'”

“We oppose the recognition of and granting of benefits to people who represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally married.”

They’re not just against marriage equality; they’re against basic equal rights. They think it should be 100% legal to fire someone for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Even their word choice shows a possible anti-transgender bias, using the phrases “natural man” and “natural woman.” The list goes on – far beyond the usual Republican talking points on “traditional family values” and even the GOP platforms in other conservative states.

And they don’t stop with attacking LGBT citizens. They also call for evicting the United Nations from the U.S., requiring drivers’ licenses to indicate citizenship, opposing legislation to allow stem cell research, rescinding no-fault divorce laws, reversing Roe v. Wade, and shutting down the U.S. Department of Education.

I want to be clear: HRC is a bipartisan organization. We’ve endorsed Republican candidates for election. So this isn’t about party politics – it’s about deep intolerance that deserves to be rejected.

After you’ve signed, please spread the word to your friends – LGBT and straight, Republican and Democrat – and help us get the word out.

Let’s not allow the national Republican Party to hem and haw their way out of this one.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. The full platform is available here (PDF).

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Official Vote: Choose your favorite planks


Over a million votes already have helped us identify the best ideas for how to rescue our democracy from corporations and lobbyists. Now it’s up to YOU to choose the finalists. Will you help to build the best pledge to combat corporate corruption? Vote by Monday night at midnight.

It’s now or never. In the wake of the BP spill and the Wall Street meltdown, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rescue our democracy from the corporate corruption that led to these disasters.

It’s time for elected officials in Washington to choose sides: Will they do the bidding of corporations and their lobbyists or stand with the Other 98% of us to make government work again? Together we’re creating a tool to put them on the record on this critical question—but we need your help.

The “Stand for Democracy” project has already generated hundreds of ideas that have been rated over 1.3 million times. Now, we’ve got the top tier of ideas, and we a really tough decision to make together. Which ideas should make it into our final platform?

Click here to help choose the winning ideas so we can construct our pledge against corporate corruption in our democracy. Voting ends Monday night at midnight PST.

http://pol.moveon.org/sfd/slate/signup.html?id=21231-9640874-.zBcRQx&t=5

Once the pledge is formed, we’ll ask candidates to endorse it and work with us to take our country back from giant corporations and their lobbyists.

In the face of the ongoing economic crisis and the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we simply can’t sit back and wait for change. We need to be clear on what we’re asking, fight for candidates who are with us, and oppose those who would rather do the corporations’ bidding. That’s just what we’re doing with the Stand for Democracy project.

We’re figuring out how to re-wire American politics to work for regular people again, instead of the 11,000 corporate lobbyists who have taken over Washington, D.C. This grassroots project has absolutely taken off in the last week, with hundreds of ideas receiving over a million votes.

Now, we need your vote so we can package the winning ideas into this high-profile pledge. It needs to reflect your vision for how to take back our country from the forces that have worked to block real reform at every step. Please take a moment to vote on the final slate of ideas for our pledge to combat corporate corruption:

http://pol.moveon.org/sfd/slate/signup.html?id=21231-9640874-.zBcRQx&t=6

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Milan, Anna, Tim, and the rest of the team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

LABOR — TENNESSEE GOP SENATORS BLOCK EFFORTS TO UNIONIZE FEDEX DRIVERS


This week, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) slammed the brakes on a Senate bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), objecting to a change in the House version of the bill that fixes an inequity in labor law that makes it more difficult for truck drivers at Memphis-based Federal Express to unionize than drivers at other shipping companies. Fellow Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) applauded Corker’s effort, pledging to “use every right or privilege I have as a senator to make sure that in the end of the process, the legislation does not include the unfair provisions singling out FedEx that’s in the House bill.” The senators’ effort to prevent what they call an “unfair” provision singling out FedEx labor workers is itself a contradiction because, as Jim Berard, a spokesman for House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) noted, the House language seeks to “treat people who have the same type of job equally under federal labor laws.” FedEx has successfully lobbied for years to remain classified as an airline subject to Railway Labor Act (RLA), a law that is technically supposed to apply only to airlines and railroad companies and stipulates that workers can’t form local unions. CEO Fred Smith — “who raised more than $100,000 for 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain and was George W. Bush’s fraternity brother” — defends this exception, adding, “I don’t intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.” The language that Corker objects to would bring FedEx under the National Labor Relations Act like other shipping companies, such as UPS. Corker announced Wednesday that he will release his hold on the bill after receiving assurances from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that the FedEx provisions would not appear in the Senate bill.