Tag Archives: North Carolina

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Get banks to stop funding coal plants


Two years ago, some of the biggest banks announced the Carbon Principles. Heralded as a new path for the banking industry, The Carbon Principles were supposed to make it “tougher to finance conventional coal-fired plants in the U.S.”

Today, we release our new report  http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gjkLELXGRCm6e1kZE68om7Z7zdTXIu4B examining the implementation and impact of these Principles, and the role that banks play in financing filthy new coal plants. The news is not good.

Our research reveals that, while the broader economy has been shifting away from new coal power plants, the banks signed on to the Carbon Principles are continuing with business as usual in regards to financing dirty coal.

Tell the banks to stop funding coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants provide nearly 50 percent of our electricity and, pound for pound, are the planet’s dirtiest source of energy. Burning coal is the nation’s top source of air pollution and toxic mercury, and is responsible for one third of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions – nearly 2 billion tons per year.

Yesterday, activists paid a well-deserved visit to Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal power plant in North Carolina, which received almost $1 billion in financing from the banks that adopted The Carbon Principles. It’s high time for banks to stop funding climate change.

Demand that the bankrolling of dirty coal be stopped!

We have delivered copies of our report to all the banks this morning. Please join us in telling the banking sector that the Carbon Principles just don’t cut it. Ask the banks to phase out support for all new and existing coal-fired power plants.

For clean air and a healthy planet,

Amanda Starbuck

Energy Finance Campaign

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

N.C. Commissioner James says, “Homosexuals are sexual predators”


Censure Commissioner Bill James for his anti-gay hate speech

Sign the Petition

 

While most Americans celebrated the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Bill James, a County Commissioner in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, used it as an opportunity to bash LGBT people.

“Homosexuals are sexual predators,” James wrote. “Allowing homosexuals to serve in the U.S. military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining U.S. military readiness and effectiveness, not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to.”

It’s not the first time Commissioner James has used his spot on the County Board to promote anti-gay bigotry. During debate over a domestic partnership bill, Commissioner James called homosexuality a “crime against nature” that should be prosecuted by police.

And last year, Commissioner James turned to a colleague whose son died from complications from AIDS, and called the son “a homo.” He then compared homosexuality to alcoholism, and argued that all gay people bring AIDS on themselves.

We can’t let this kind of hate speech by public officials go unanswered – and we have a chance in the next few days to do something about it.

Right now, the rest of the county commission is publicly debating whether to censure James. Condemnation by the commission would send a strong signal that bigotry by elected officers holds no place in our society.

Thousands of people from Mecklenburg and around the country already speaking out. Join them by signing the petition to the Mecklenburg County Board and tell them to censure James for his anti-gay attacks:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/tell_mecklenburg_county_board_censure_anti-gay_politician_who_called_lgbt_people_sexual_predators?alert_id=uezSJFIOjS_SFHrCnDSbP&me=aa

Thanks for taking action,

The Change.org team

 

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Jones, Oliver and Cenac Bus Six People to the Rally — Watch Now


Rally

Welcome to the Sanity Bus 

What do a North Carolina small business owner, a former Miss Georgia contestant and a single mom who owns a pirate ship have in common? They’re all going to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

Going to D.C. on October 30? Don’t forget to check in to the Rally on Foursquare.

Can’t make it to the Rally? Watch it live on Comedy Central — or streaming uncensored online — beginning at 12pm/11c.

Sanity Bus
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Change.org Weekly …Save the Serengeti; Deporting Vietnam Vets; Musicians Boycotting Tobacco


September 20 – September 27
TOP ACTIONS THIS WEEK

Stop the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”

by Center for Reproductive Rights

Sign the Petition »

Help Stop Corporate Polluters

by Alliance for Climate Protection

Sign the Petition »

Constitutional Amendment to end Corporate Personhood

by Joshua Ezekiel

Sign the Petition »

THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG

Save the Serengeti

Plus: Deporting Vietnam Vets • Musicians Boycotting Tobacco • North Carolina’s “Legal Rape” • Children Building Stadiums • “Bumfights” Star Redeemed

There’s a place in the world where global issues like climate change, poverty, threatened indigenous cultures and mass species extinction converge. It’s one of the most recognizable wild places on earth, and it’s in danger of becoming roadkill.

That place is the Serengeti, a World Heritage Site and home to the largest land migration of wildlife in the world.

The people of Tanzania have protected the Serengeti for the role it plays in their culture since the birth of their country. Now their government plans to sever it with a 31-mile, two-lane highway.

For those of us who are used to the six-lane highways stretching thousands of miles across the U.S., one little road might not seem like a big deal. However, this project has been mapped out right across the migration path of over a million wildebeest and other animals.

Wildebeest numbers will plummet if they can’t reach the Mara River in Kenya, impacting the food chain from the top down. Lions and other predators would face a food shortage. Without wildebeest grazing to maintain the grasslands, leading biologists warn that grass fires could destroy the region and turn it into a source of carbon emissions.

Despite the potential for ecological disaster, there has been scant media attention about the planned road. One of the few bright spots is the group Save the Serengeti, which is using Change.org to mobilize thousands of people within Tanzania and across the world to stop the road’s construction.

Join the call for the world community to help Tanzania find a better transportation solution than to build a road directly through one of the world’s natural treasures. Because we won’t have a second chance.

For more news and action from the world of change this week, see the summaries from your favorite causes below:

Deporting Vietnam Vets in IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

Valente Valenzuela has lived in the U.S. legally since childhood and received a Bronze Star for bravery in the Vietnam War. His brother, Manuel, also served honorably. Now, under zero tolerance immigration law, the decorated veterans face deportation for crimes from years ago, crimes that most likely resulted from war-related post traumatic stress disorder. Not only will 62-year-old Valente be sent back to a country he left over half a century ago, he’ll lose all veterans benefits and the ability to continue attending PTSD counseling. America cannot so callously turn its back on immigrant veterans who sacrificed for the red, white, and blue. Read more »

Musicians Boycotting Tobacco in HEALTH

The main sponsor of Indonesia’s largest music event, the Java Rockin’land Festival, is one of the country’s leading tobacco companies. The pressure is on for the headlining acts, including The Smashing Pumpkins and Wolfmother, to follow in the footsteps of Alicia Keys and Kelly Clarkson and refuse to continue their Indonesian tours unless tobacco sponsorship ends. But will they? Read more »

North Carolina’s “Legal Rape” in WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Welcome to North Carolina, where rape is legal! If you consensually begin having sex in the great state of North Carolina, want to stop, and your partner forcibly restrains you to continue having intercourse, even causing injury, well, too bad. Women’s Rights blogger Alex DiBranco reports that due to a 1979 state Supreme Court decision, a woman gives up all control of her body upon penetration and cannot withdraw consent. Recently, a young woman found this out the hard way when her rape case was dropped. Read more »

Children Building Stadiums in END HUMAN TRAFFICKING

In India, child labor is not uncommon. But even in India, child advocates were horrified to learn construction managers have been bribing poor parents to bring their children to dangerous work sites to build stadiums for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The result? Children as young as three have been seen working in dangerous piles of rubble on a construction project that has already killed at least 45 people, including a two-year-old girl. It’s time to tell the Commonwealth Games Federation that child labor is not sporting. Read more »

“Bumfights” Star Redeemed in END HOMELESSNESS

One of the men featured in the infamous “Bumfights” videos of the early 2000s is clean and sober and filled with regret. Rufus Hannah, a 50-something homeless man, published a memoir this month. He says he can’t forget the day in 2001 that a 17-year-old cameraman paid him in alcohol to beat his friend until the man had a broken ankle and was carried off in an ambulance. How could he? He has “Bum Fight” tattooed across his knuckles. His redemption story is not just uplifting, writes End Homelessness blogger Josie Raymond. At a time when violence against the homeless is increasing, it’s also vital. Read more »
Have a great week. And remember: voter registration deadlines occur in many states at the end of the week – so make sure you’re registered today.

– The Change.org Team
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Racists make good TV


Have you watched cable news lately? The Tea Baggers are everywhere!

The Tea Party is news because they’ve won a few upset primaries — but let’s be honest — that’s not the only reason they’re getting wall-to-wall coverage.  Honestly, that weirdly racist tinge makes for good TV. Bizarre, wide-eyed accusations of the President and hilariously misspelled signs demanding an English-only country will drive up news ratings. I don’t mind, though. People should know about these extremists.

But the best-kept secret of 2010 is that progressives have won primaries up and down the ballot all across the country — way more than Tea Party. That’s right — Progressive challengers have beat out fabled “Mama Grizzlies” in state after state.

Just this week, progressive champion Ann McLane Kuster won a landslide victory in New Hampshire. Earlier this year, progressives won big upset victories in Pennsylvania with Joe Sestak, in North Carolina with Elaine Marshall and in Kentucky with Jack Conway — and that’s just in U.S. Senate races.

But DFA doesn’t just support Senate candidates. We support progressives up and down the ballot in all 50 states. In fact, 67 percent of all DFA-endorsed candidates won their primaries this year. 67 percent! That’s a great record and we couldn’t do it without you. We depend on small contributions from DFA members to make it happen.

Contribute $10 right now and keep beating the Tea Party this November.

With the 2010 Democratic primaries over, just take a look at the work we did together this season:

  • 43 primary endorsements
    • 15 federal
    • 28 non-federal
  • 67.4 percent of endorsed candidates won their primaries
    • 60 percent of federal candidates won
    • 71.4 percent of non-federal candidates won

We didn’t just endorse candidates who we were sure-things or had big names, either. We endorsed local candidates like Toni Preckwinkle in Chicago. She was a reformer running against a corrupt incumbent for Cook County Board President. It was a tough fight, but she ran a grassroots campaign and scored a landslide win in the primary.

We endorsed winning candidates in tough primaries in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and a whole lot of other states. That’s the DFA strategy at work — electing progressive in primaries across the country to take our country back with people-powered campaigns.

The DFA Strategy worked for progressives in the primaries — Contribute $10 now to finish the job in November.

Can’t get enough? Here’s a few more numbers from 2010 primaries. We endorsed four U.S. Senate candidates, 11 U.S. House candidates, three gubernatorial candidates, four candidates running for other statewide office, 16 candidates for State House or State Senate, and five candidates for county or municipal offices — across 24 states.

That’s 43 candidates total — 29 wins — and we couldn’t done it without you.

Now that the primary season is over, all the focus is on winning in November and finishing the job. We must defeat Tea Party Republicans everywhere and we can’t do it without your support.

Contribute $10 today and beat the Tea Baggers in November.

Come November 3, the only reason the Tea Party should be on TV is for losing a lot of elections.

Working together, we’re going to make that happen. Thanks you for everything you do to move America forward.

-Arshad

Arshad Hasan, Executive Director
Democracy for America

Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.