Tag Archives: politics

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The White House

08/16/2014 Nativegrl77

New Commitments to Improve College Opportunity

Following a meeting with community college leaders on Tuesday, the Administration announced several developments in our efforts to expand college opportunity for all.

Yesterday, White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford took Maker Camp campers on a virtual field trip of the White House Kitchen Garden, and answered questions about what it’s like to cook for the First Family and for special guests of the White House.

A new White House report released on Tuesday looks at the progress businesses and communities are making in raising the minimum wage for millions of workers. In fact, since the President first called for a minimum wage increase in 2013, 13 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to increase their minimum wage, which will benefit about 7 million workers.

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Chart of the Week: Job Openings Hit a 13-Year High This Summer

American business owners advertised 4.67 million jobs in June, the highest number of openings since February 2001 — a clear signal that the economy is strengthening.

On Friday, August 1, President Obama signed a bill into law that again made it legal for consumers to unlock their cell phones. It marked the very first time a We the People petition led to a legislative fix.

Yesterday, President Obama updated the nation on two issues that he’s been monitoring closely over the past several days — America’s military operations in Iraq, and the situation in Ferguson, Missouri.

Victory! End female genital mutilation in the US … Jaha Dukureh via Change.org

08/14/2014 Nativegrl77

In June a petition was presented … If you click on the links you can read the complete article on how this petition helped make change in July. ~Nativegrl77

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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is not a faraway practice — it happens even in the United States. Please join me in calling on President Obama to conduct a study on the state of FGM in America so that no other girls are subjected to this atrocity.

Sign Jaha’s Petition

Warning: This email is about Female Genital Mutilation and may be upsetting for some readers.

When I was a baby in Gambia, I was subjected to a practice known as Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM. My genitals were cut and sewn shut. The sutures had to be reopened when I was 15 and forced into an arranged marriage in America. I escaped that marriage, and now I’m fighting to make sure that no other little girl ever has to experience the horror of FGM.

FGM is a terrifyingly common practice — the World Health Organization estimates that more than 125 million women alive today have been cut. The experience is devastatingly painful, not just when it happens but for years afterward. The physical and emotional scars last for life.

The US has strong laws on the books to stop FGM, but those laws aren’t being enforced. We know that people are breaking the law to cut girls in America or illegally take them to be cut in other countries, but we don’t know how widespread the problem is or what concrete steps can be taken to solve it.

I started a petition on Change.org calling on President Obama and the Deparment of Health and Human Services to conduct a study about the current state of FGM in America so that steps can be taken to stop this atrocity. Please click here to sign my petition.

In some ways, I’m lucky that I was only a baby when I was cut. Some girls are much older. They’re told they’re going on vacation to visit relatives, but really, they’re being taken away to be attacked and mutilated by their own families.

I have an amazing daughter of my own, and I cannot stand by while this happens to beautiful little girls just like her. Just like it happened to me.

I know that public pressure from petitions works to highlight the issue of FGM — just recently, a petition in the United Kingdom prompted their Minister of Education to issue warnings about FGM to schools all over the country. I know that with similar pressure in the US, we can tackle this horrible problem here and make sure we’re protecting little girls across America.

Please sign my petition calling on President Obama and HHS to conduct a study about FGM in America so that the laws preventing it can actually be enforced.

Thank you for standing with women like me.

Jaha Dukureh
Atlanta, Georgia

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

WATCH: Our first television ad … Wendy Davis

Image 08/12/2014 Nativegrl77

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

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

08/11/2014 Nativegrl77

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

08/09/2014 Nativegrl77

President 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.

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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