Tag Archives: republicans

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Nine in Ten

04/14/2015 Nativegrl77

Nearly Nine Out of Ten Americans Now Have Health Insurance Thanks to the Affordable Care Act

Some more big health care news is out today that continues to prove that the Affordable Care Act is working. And while some conservatives continue their efforts to dismantle it, others are finally putting people over politics.

Gallup released a survey this morning showing that the uninsured rate among U.S. adults fell to 11.9 percent this quarter, the lowest rate since it started tracking insurance rates in 2008. It is a one percentage point drop from last quarter, and a 6.1 point drop from the middle of 2013, just before the state and federal health exchanges opened for business. That’s a whopping 34 percent drop in uninsured American adults in less than two years.

In addition to this good news, a conservative-leaning state is also taking a huge step in expanding health care for its residents. This weekend in Montana, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill into law, which would make the state the 29th to expand Medicaid and give health coverage to up to 70,000 more Montanans.

While Montana is taking the right step both morally and economically for its residents, Florida is moving backwards. Talks to expand health care there have hit a roadblock, with GOP Gov. Rick Scott completing a flip-flop-flip from being against Medicaid expansion, to being for it, now back to being against it. Florida would benefit more than almost any other state in the nation from the move, but conservatives continue to play politics.

Speaking of conservative elected officials in Florida, those at the federal level are also ignoring the facts on health care. Sen. Marco Rubio, who is officially announcing his candidacy for president today, has consistently advocated the repeal of the health care law. And while it is expected that the 43-year-old Cuban-American will play up his heritage on the campaign trail, the fact remains that Hispanics are one of the demographics that has benefited the most from the Affordable Care Act, and would benefit from closing the coverage gap as well.

BOTTOM LINE: The Affordable Care Act is a profoundly important public policy and the evidence continues to pile up showing its effectiveness in providing health care to Americans. It’s time that all conservative lawmakers at the state and federal level look at the facts and stop playing politics with their constituents’ well-being.

Like CAP Action on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

GM604 Campaign Update April 13, 2015 – Update on “FDA Grant Accelerated Approval for GM604”

04/14/2015 Nativegrl77

GM604 Campaign Update April 13, 2015

Apr 13, 2015 — In this update: 1) Rally – Washington DC, May 11, 2015 2) Welcome New Campaigners 3) Email/call FDA and Congress – Last Chance? 1) Our grassroots campaign has adopted the moniker… Read more

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Wednesday: Join the Fight for $15 in Seattle

04/13/2015 Nativegrl77

Host: Terrance Wise

Where: Seattle University
901 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122

When: Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2015, at 4:30 p.m.

What: We will be standing up, speaking out, and fighting for fair pay at the MASSIVE rallies around the globe for the Fight for $15. It’s time for McDonald’s and billionaire corporations like them to pay workers enough to support their families. It’s time for $15 an hour and union rights. Will you join us?

Maria Tchijov, MoveOn.org Civic Action

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Shot In The Back

04/13/2015 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War Room

Officer Charged With Murder After Video Shows Him Shooting Victim As He Runs Away

A routine traffic stop that ended with a white officer shooting and killing an unarmed black man has become the latest incident to ignite outrage over police-community relations.

South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager was charged with first-degree murder yesterday for the shooting death of Walter Scott after a cell phone video revealed that Slager, who is white, shot and killed Scott, who is black, as Scott ran away. This directly contradicted previous claims by Slager, who stated that the two struggled and it was only after the victim gained control of the officer’s Taser that Slager resorted to using deadly force.

Officer Slager initially pulled over Walter Scott because he had a broken taillight. The shooting is reminiscent of other recent police incidents in South Carolina, such as last September when a state trooper stopped an unarmed black man for a seat-belt violation at a gas station, then shot and wounded him as he reached back into his vehicle to get his ID at the officer’s request.

These tragic incidents only emphasize the mistrust and deeply rooted challenges that exist between police departments and communities of color. But they also highlight important steps that need to be taken. These include the following:

1. Increase the use of body cameras. There’s no question that Slager’s use of force was not justified against Mr. Scott; instead, the question is, what would have happened had there been no video? The shooter lied about what happened until the video proved him wrong. President Obama’s three-year, $263 million package which includes money to increase police officers’ use of body-worm cameras is an important step.

2. Increase the use of special prosecutors in police misconduct investigations. In a brief on how to improve police-community relations, CAP’s Michele Jawando and Chelsea Parsons write that the perception that “local prosecutors have far too great of an interest to protect and justify the actions of local law enforcement” has “led to the erosion of trust.” We need to look no farther than the failure of grand juries to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown or Eric Garner to know that is the case. Independent oversight would be a welcome change in these and other highly charged cases.

3. More federal oversight of police conduct. CAP’s Jawando and Parsons also write that the Department of Justice, despite granting billions of dollars each year to state and local governments for criminal justice, engages in “relatively little proactive activity to shape police practices” in those communities. They should take a more active approach. And there is no better person to lead that charge than Loretta Lynch, the highly-qualified nominee for attorney general who has been waiting for five months to be confirmed while the Senate Republican Leadership refuses to confirm her. It’s embarrassing that 50 years after Selma, Lynch, whose grandfather was a sharecropper and who would make history as the first African American woman to be attorney general, is being held up.

4. Better representation in all levels of government. Also yesterday, voters in Ferguson, Missouri went to the polls in turnout more than double last April’s election and elected two black city council members. Citizens making sure their voices are heard at all levels of government is another critical piece to the process of making sure that elected leaders, law enforcement, and other public servants are representative of the people the serve. That means making sure that the wealthiest and corporations aren’t able to buy politicians, but it also means that voters do their civic duty, too.

There are more steps we should take too. For example, implementing implicit bias training for law enforcement officers and encouraging police departments to take steps to increase diversity in their ranks are important measures to acknowledge differences and work to encourage multicultural perspectives.

BOTTOM LINE: There are proactive steps we must take toward solving the complex challenges of the criminal justice system and police-community relations. The fact that a white police officer has been charged with the murder of an unarmed black man only after a video revealed the officer’s previous lies is another reminder of what’s at stake.