Tag Archives: Southwest Voter Registration Education Project

Ok, what is that?

12/23/2014 Nativegrl77

By Adrienne LaFrance 21 hours ago

In this age of big surveillance and miniature satellites, there is an idea that—once we are able to track everything around us—the magic and mystery of the universe will be replaced with data, knowledge, and understanding.

Yet it often seems like the deeper we get into the world around us, the more we realize how little we actually know. A mountain of data may promise us answers, but first you have to sift through the questions.

The latest evidence: A YouTube video that’s circulating and shows what looks like a human figure standing on the surface of the moon.

Sure enough, go to Google Moon and find the coordinates (27° 34′ 12.83” N, 19° 36’21.56 W) and you’ll see it, too. Here’s a screenshot I took (I added the red arrow):

Google Earth/NASA

It’s been a generation since humans ruled out the possibility of life on the moon—let alone a giant humanoid just chilling on the lunar surface. So, uh, what is that thing? NASA, which has checked the image against its trove of images from the same location, is shrugging it off.

“We have other images that do not show any imperfection so most analysts believe the image reflects nothing more than a tiny piece of debris on the lens,” spokesman Robert Jacobs told me. (And in a follow-up email: “Believe me, if there was a man on the moon, we’d be recounting our own astronauts to make sure we got them all back from Apollo and then telling everyone else!”)

Fair enough. The rational explanation, after all, is quite often the best one.

And yet there’s something about the image that lingers. In a vast landscape of shameless Photoshopping and Internet hoaxes, and at a time where most people have long since given up on the Loch Ness Monster and the Cottingley Fairies, there’s still that little tug of wonder—misplaced, though it may be.

Just think: We can zoom in on actual photographs of the actual moon from our unbelievably sophisticated handheld computers. But it’s the smudge of dirt on a camera lens that makes people marvel at the depths of what we still don’t know.

Read Wait, Is That a Human on the Moon? on theatlantic.com

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Weekly Address: America’s Resurgence Is Real

12/20/2014 Nativegrl77

Weekly Address: America’s Resurgence Is RealIn this week’s address, the President reflected on the significant progress made by this country in 2014, and in the nearly six years since he took office.

This past year has been the strongest for job growth since the 1990s, contributing to the nearly 11 million jobs added by our businesses over a 57-month streak. America is leading the rest of the world, in containing the spread of Ebola, degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL, and addressing the threat posed by climate change. And earlier this week, the President announced the most significant changes to our policy towards Cuba in over 50 years.

America’s resurgence is real, and the President expressed his commitment to working with Congress in the coming year to make sure Americans feel the benefits.

Watch the President’s Weekly Address now.

Top Stories

A Look Back at 2014As 2014 winds down, President Obama stopped by the press briefing room in the White House yesterday to offer his thoughts on what the past year has meant for the country.

“I said that 2014 would be a year of action and would be a breakthrough year for America,” he said. “And it has been.”

If you missed the President’s news conference, check it out here:

READ MORE

Charting a New Course on Cuba

The United States and Cuba are separated by no more than 90 miles of water, but an ideological and economic barrier has hardened between our two countries for the past 50 years. On Wednesday, however, President Obama announced historic new steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba.

“Today, America chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past so as to reach for a better future — for the Cuban people, for the American people, for our entire hemisphere, and for the world,” he said.

Take a deep-dive into the President’s historic actions at WhiteHouse.gov/Cuba-policy.

On Monday, the President traveled to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey to offer his thanks to the U.S. military members and families stationed there and across the world for their service to our country.

“The message I’m here to deliver on behalf of the American people is very simple,” he said. “It’s just to say thank you.”

The President also marked an important milestone: After more than 13 years, we are finally bringing a responsible end to America’s war in Afghanistan.

When the President took office, we had nearly 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the end of this month, we’ll have fewer than 15,000 in both countries. Over the course of six years, we have brought home 90 percent of our troops. And this month, Afghans will take full responsibility for their security.

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Tell Congress: No expiration date for clean energy

12/02/2014 Nativegrl77

No Expiration Date for Clean Energy

Unless Congress acts now, more key tax incentives for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean vehicles will expire at the end of the year. Meanwhile, fossil fuels will continue to profit from permanent subsidies that are not available to clean energy.

Take Action Today!

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When veterans like me come home from war

12/02/2014 Nativegrl77

VoteVets.org

After returning from Iraq, transitioning back to civilian life was a real challenge.

I struggled with anxiety, depression and an aversion to crowded areas. And while I have always found peace in the outdoors, it was never more evident than when I returned home. My road to recovery was not just spent in VA offices, but also on hiking trails and the cold water streams in some of our country’s national parks.

That’s why I eagerly testified before Congress last week in support of a bill that would allow all veterans with any disability rating FREE access to national parks for life.

For many veterans, the financial cost of accessing these parks is a prohibitive barrier to spending time alone, or with friends and family, hiking, rock climbing, rafting, camping, or just decompressing. But Congress is considering legislation to change that.

Can I count on you to send a message to your Representative telling them to support the bill granting free access to our national parks for veterans with any disability rating?

Sending a message using our tool will deliver it straight to your reps office, and it would mean a lot to the many veterans — including thousands of VoteVets members — who are counting on passage of this bill.

There’s also science to support why this legislation is important.

Last year, a University of Michigan study found that “Veterans participating in extended outdoor group recreation show signs of improved mental health, suggesting a link between the activities and long-term psychological well-being.”

This issue has bipartisan support in the notoriously partisan House of Representatives, and taking a moment to write your Representative today can push it across the finish line.

http://action.votevets.org/national-parks

Thanks for making your voice heard on this issue.

All the best,

Garett Reppenhagen
Iraq War Veteran
VoteVets.org

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This Month’s Jobs Numbers

11/17/2014 Nativegrl77

Sunday, July 06, 2014

You might be seeing a lot of news about the economy creating more jobs.

That’s because at the beginning of every month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a report on our country’s general employment situation for the previous month — and this month’s showed good news.

What’s it all mean, and why should you care?

There’s still much more to do to keep moving forward, but we’ve put together a few key points about how our economy is doing generally. Take a look — and if you learn something new, pass it on.

Our country hasn’t seen this kind of job creation since the 1990s — and we’ve been adding more than 200,000 jobs a month for five months straight.

The 1.4 million jobs added in the first half of this year are the most in any half since 1999. What’s more, this is the first time since September 1999-January 2000 that we’ve seen total job growth above 200,000 for five straight months.

Auto sales in June are also the highest they’ve been since mid-2006 — before the financial crisis.

Let’s not forget that the American auto industry is continuing to bounce back — adding 18,000 jobs this past month for a total of 463,000 jobs added since Chrysler and GM came out of bankruptcy in June 2009.

Meanwhile, we’re continuing to produce more oil at home than we’re importing from overseas.

In addition to doubling renewable electricity generation from sources like wind and solar, last October something big happened: For the first time in nearly two decades, we started importing less foreign oil than we were producing at home.