Tag Archives: republicans

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture, ~ Recent Post

Class Warfare

09/21/2011 Nativegrl77

This morning, the President proposed the “Buffett Rule,” which would require those earning more than $1 million a year to pay the same share of their income in taxes as middle-class families do.

This proposal makes sure millionaires and billionaires share the responsibility for reducing the deficit. It would correct, for example, the fact that Warren Buffett‘s secretary currently pays taxes at a higher rate than he does.

The other side is already saying it’s “class warfare” — that’s their rhetorical smokescreen for providing millionaires and billionaires special treatment.

As the President said this morning, “This is not class warfare — it’s math.”

The wealthiest Americans don’t need further tax cuts and in many cases aren’t even asking for them. Requiring that they pay their fair share is the only practical way forward. The Republican alternative is to drastically slash education, gut Medicare, let roads and bridges crumble, and privatize Social Security. That’s not the America we believe in — but many in the Republican leadership actually prefer those policies, which explains their refusal to act.

That’s why they’ll say “tax increase” over and over again, trying to muddy the waters and trick ordinary Americans into thinking the Buffett Rule will hurt them. And if we don’t speak out right now, they just might get away with it.

WWW.BarackObama.com

Of course, the Buffett Rule won’t really touch most Americans — only 0.3% of households will even be affected.

And without it, the only way to reduce our debt is to savage the programs that seniors and middle-class families rely on.

That’s exactly what the President refuses to do — in fact, he’s said he’ll veto any bill that changes benefits for folks who rely on Medicare but doesn’t raise serious revenue by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their fair share.

This isn’t just a commonsense approach to cutting the deficit — it’s the only way to make sure we can provide security to people who work hard and play by the rules.

So right now, I’m asking you to say you’ll stand with the President on something that won’t be easy. Get the President’s back today:

WWW.BarackObama.ORG

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Madeleine K. Albright …

09/20/2011 Nativegrl77

Since taking office, President Obama and Democrats in Congress have been focused on supporting the President’s vision for America as an architect of peace, a champion of justice, a defender of international law and a leading economic power.

Republican leadership, on the other hand, wants to obstruct this progress and set President Obama up for failure. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told a reporter last year, his highest priority is to make President Obama a one-term President. We cannot sit back and allow the Republican strategy of delay and obstructionism to succeed.

Now is the time for us to step forward.

House Democrats have set a $1 million fundraising goal by the September 30th Federal Election Commission fundraising deadline.

WWW.DCCC.ORG

Contribute $3 or more before Midnight September 30th and your support will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.

The amount of money Democrats raise will demonstrate to the world our commitment to President Obama’s leadership and provide momentum for our Party.

With your support, Democrats will continue to put Americans back to work, strengthen our economy, invest in education and restore America’s leadership around the world.

WWW.DCCC.ORG

Contribute $3 or more before Midnight September 30th and your support will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.

You can help the President achieve his goals by supporting the DCCC’s Million Dollar Match campaign right now.

Thank you,

Madeleine Albright

P.S. Support the Million Dollar Match before September 30th. Remember, for every dollar you give, your support will be matched by generous Democrats with one dollar of their own. Contribute today >>

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

AFL – CIO

09/19/2011 Nativegrl77

Congress is back, but House Republicans are saying no to creating jobs.Instead, they are rushing to pass legislation that would let the Boeing Co. off the hook for its alleged violations of labor law. They’ve combined this get-out-of-jail-free card for Boeing with vicious attacks on workers’ rights.Hurry: A vote is expected as early as Thursday.

Pop quiz: What would happen if H.R. 2587—a bill that House Republicans plan to bring up for a vote as early as this Thursday—became law?

A. It would eliminate any remedy for alleged law-breaking by the Boeing Co.—which is accused of moving aircraft production away from its Washington Statefacility in retaliation for workers exercising their legal rights—before an ongoing trial can finish.B.It would gut our labor laws, so a company can never again face meaningful punishment for moving jobs to retaliate against workers who engage in perfectly legal behavior.C.It would show that a company with the right politician friends is above the law.D. All of the above.

If you answered D, you’re correct.Please help us stop these attacks on workers—combined with a get-out-of-jail-free card for Boeing—now. Click here to take action.Back in April, the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ rights—took a routine step: enforcing a law that’s been on the books for more than 70 years.In America, no company is above the law.And on some things, the law is clear. For example, a company cannot retaliate against workers for exercising their legal rights by moving their jobs.When Boeing moved aircraft production away from its Washington State facility after workers exercised their legal right to strike, the board did its job: it investigated. And after examining the facts, the NLRB’s general counsel charged that Boeing illegally retaliated against its workers.

Rather than let the NLRB do its job, House Republicans are trying to let Boeing off the hook before their trial even finishes. They’ve already tried to interfere with the NLRB’s investigation and even threatened the agency’s general counsel. Now, they’re trying to pass a bill that both lets Boeing off the hook for alleged violations of workers’ rights and makes sweeping changes to the National Labor Relations Act that would result in serious, harmful changes to jobs and workers’ rights throughout the country.

Urge your representative to stop the partisan attacks on workers’ rights and create jobs for America.

Congress should be finding ways to work with the president to create jobs. But partisanship, led by tea party Republicans, has so dominated our national debate that many of our elected leaders are willing to ruin our economy to grab headlines and attention.

Instead of taking up bills that create jobs, House Republicans are once again pursuing a destructive political agenda. Of the many casualties, workers’ rights have climbed to the top of the list. It’s time for this to stop.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. Here are just two examples of what life would look like for workers under the Republicans’ plan:

If a group of workers walked out of a plant because of unsafe working conditions, the company could decide to move the work and the jobs rather than fix the problem, and the NLRB would be powerless to protect the workers or their jobs.
If a group of women or African Americans joined together to protest race or sex discrimination by their employer, the company could simply transfer the work somewhere else, and the NLRB would be powerless to protect the workers.

Tell your representative that the Republican plans to attack workers’ rights for Boeing are unacceptable—it’s time to start creating jobs for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

AFL – CIO

09/09/2011 Nativegrl77

President Obama took an important and necessary step last night: He started a serious national conversation about how to solve our jobs crisis.Now, Congressneeds to get to work.Tell Congress—particularly congressional Republicans—to stop playing politics and get to work to create jobs.

Did you watch President Obama’s speech last night? He showed working people he is willing to go to the mat to create new jobs on a substantial scale. His speech should energize the nation to come together and get serious about jobs.

We call on Congress to act and look forward to working with the president and Congress on all elements of this proposal. As the president explained, we no longer can delay putting Americans back to work rebuilding our nation’s schools, roads, bridges, transit, ports, rail, communications and energy systems. And we need to help state and local governments avoid layoffs that are dragging down the economy—rejecting the myth that the only way to end a crisis Wall Street started is to punish firefighters, teachers and others who perform critical public services.

Tell Congress: It’s time to get moving on jobs. Start with President Obama’s proposals and then keep going.

The plan announced by President Obama to create jobs is only the opening bid in a national conversation we’ve needed to have for a long time. In the coming weeks and months, we expect to see more proposals from the president and Congress to put America back to work.

President Obama understands this economic crisis was not created overnight, and it will not be solved overnight. The middle class has been under attack for decades. He understands we need to rebuild our economy for the 21st century and rebuild our middle class.

But doing this will require a revolution in the way Washington takes on these questions. Republicans are going to have to stop blocking bills that sustain or create millions of jobs and start offering and accepting credible solutions. As the president explained last night, we can delay no longer.

Tell Congress America wants to work. Add your name, then spread the word to your friends and family.

America isn’t broke—we’re the richest country in the world. We will only go broke if our leaders fail year after year to create jobs and turn our economy around. We can’t let that happen.

Politicians need to recognize that America’s best days are still before us. We cannot accept the disappearance of the American middle class or several more years of crisis-level joblessness. We can and must solve the jobs crisis—and we must start now. Please take action to help us make this happen.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Some politicians claim cuts to our social safety net, deregulation and lower taxes for the rich will fix our problems. But they’re flat wrong. If we continue down this road, it only will destroy more jobs and send us into a vicious downward spiral. Our country is too good and too rich to weaken our commitment to safety net protections such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance.

We don’t have time to waste on the same old failed policies that drove our economy off a cliff in the first place. Tell Congress: Working families will judge our elected leaders by whether they act with integrity and energy to create good jobs now.

To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.

Click here to unsubscribe.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

wiley Wednesday &some News

09/07/2011 Nativegrl77

just anohter rant …

While I am among those who are advocating for Clean Air and the Clean Air Act as well as better EPA rules and regulations I am not among those who have decided to disregard information from the Obama Administration like those who seem to be ignoring the info and pushing more of the same meme about broken promises. I cannot subscribe to the meme of yet another cave or broken promise especially after reading the letter sent to EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson from OIRA administrator, Cass Sunstein. President Obama may have delayed did not block or roll back or compromised his promise to families with illness, kids with asthma and or people with lung, upper respiratory illnesses. Again, I do Support President Obama and coming from a family of asthmatics, i felt i had to look into what is being said and while it is important to maintain regulations that will positively affect our environment, I am not sure that the points being made by you and MoveOn.org considered the 5yr review cycle already in place. The letter that i am basing my comment and feelings states that EPA ruling is usually…. i say usually because apparently the left wants him to change the ruling before the 5 year cycle that it normally is on which is 2013 as stated in the letter below. I am not an expert but i did read the letter and what i read does not even come close to what you and a few other progressive organizations are claiming in my opinion. I would like someone to support your claim or admit that your call to action is because you feel progressives want action now not in 2013, which again is when the policy is set to be on review… again, as scheduled. I do not know about anyone else that supports move on or organizations that are claiming President Obama caved to Republicans when it looks like an attempt to keep the 5yr cycle intact though progressives seem to want what they want when they want. I am confused as to why try to change the policy cycle when in all actuality the policy will need a second vote and my question is why do that? However, with that said and knowing you disagree, there probably will be new information and even more important, new members of Congress who believe in improving the lives of their fellow Americans. Again, I do not believe at this moment that President Obama compromised his mandate but as we have all watched this is one of many things that he will need a better Congress in place to pass legislation on climate change, EPA rules/regulations. I feel our jobs are to vote in better a group of people (Congress) that should want to work for the Middle Class not eliminate it.

If you click on the link below you will find the letter from Cass SunStein. The letter is very honest and does not appear to be as sinister as your email projects out to be. I have to say the tone was offensive and not only prompted my response but I would like more information from valid sources not News Papers or online News sources like blogs that he in fact caved to Republicans and or the corporate world. I might agree that the three reasons used as an explanation sound political yet the 5yr review cycle does comes up in 2013 and I, like everyone else expect President Obama with a Congress that backs him to pass great legislation that will may all our lives improve. I have yet to see a statement from EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson making such negative comments, so, until or unless the EPA Administer puts out a similar statement I have to say no to the call to action after reading the letter explaining why the delay. I have to ask, isn’t it obvious that any legislation regarding climate change is DOA given the Party of No continues to move further and further extreme right, which, if we Democrats get out the vote will change the dynamic with a positive move into the 21st Century and Number One in the Nation again.

Thank you for your time

below is the letter from Cass Sunstein to Lisa Jackson

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/02/letter-oira-administrator-cass-sunstein-epa-administrator-lisa-jackson-o

Other News …

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democratic leaders briefed reporters on Capitol Hill about jobs and the U.S. economy.

More Info »

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Senate Banking Committee considered the nomination of Richard Cordray, who President Obama selected to run the new consumer watchdog agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). A majority of Republican Senators promised to hold up Cordray’s nomination.

More Info »

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Democratic National Convention Committee and the Charlotte in 2012 Host Committee held its official convention kick-off event at the site of the 2012 DNC Convention, the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.