Tag Archives: stimulus

Change.org

Tell the US Soccer Federation: Don’t shut down Women’s Professional Soccer

The Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league — home to World Cup stars like Hope Solo and Abby Wombach — could be completely disbanded. Change.org members and fans around the country have just 4 days to save it.

The US Soccer Federation, the governing body for the sport in America, is planning to withdraw it’s top accreditation from the league for having fewer than 6 teams (two recently shut down because of financial hardship during the recession, though expansion is expected next year).

If US Soccer strips the WPS of its “Division 1” status, the league loses key support and credibility, almost undoubtedly leading to full collapse.

Alex Sahlen, a defender for the Western New York Flash, is feverishly trying to save her sport, and her petition on Change.org has already attracted 10,000 signatures. But with US Soccer making a final decision on December 5th, there are just days remaining to amp up the pressure.

Please sign Alex’s petition to save women’s pro soccer in America.

US Soccer’s stated mission is to “make soccer a preeminent sport in the United States,” so they are very sensitive to public opinion. If 20,000 of us stand with Alex, we can make sure the governing body knows that a key part of that goal is making sure that women’s soccer thrives.

Abby, Hope, Alex, and the players, coaches, and owners of the WPS know that building a women’s sports league during a recession is an uphill climb. But the fan base is slowly building, and new TV contracts may be on the way. The league could still fail, but it’s up to you to help give them a fighting chance.

Click here to sign Alex’s petition to save the Women’s Professional Soccer league:

http://www.change.org/petitions/support-womens-professional-soccer-wps-remaining-a-sanctioned-league

Thanks,

– Shelby Knox and the Change.org team

P.S. Thousands of people are changing the world through petitions on Change.org every week. Here are some that need your support now:

D.C. college student Katie Breslin is petitioning to get Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) kits and trained staff in every D.C. hospital so no sexual assault survivor is turned away without treatment.
Grey2K is petitioning Skechers not to air a new commercial filmed at the the Tuscon Greyhound Park, which has a long record of dog abuse.
Two men in Cameroon were just sentenced to five years in prison for the “crime” of being gay. Now petition starter Stephane Koche is asking Cameroon’s president to drop the charges and let the men go free.
At one school in Massachusetts, students have to carry neon cards in the lunchroom to receive their free or reduced price lunch. Jennifer Kalvinek’s daughter is being bullied for carrying her card, so she started a campaign to get the school to implement a better system.
Leslianne Bouchard is a disabled teacher in California who qualifies for a program to help save her home from foreclosure — but First Mortgage Corporation refuses to let that happen. Leslianne’s daughter is fighting the bank to let her mom keep her home.

Click here to start your own petition.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Campaign 2012

12/02/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Who will win the GOP nomination?

It doesn’t matter.

There has NEVER been a more extreme field of candidates.

Renew your 2012 membership now to help us reach our $250,000 goal and stop extremism from defeating the American Way.

As a member of People For the American Way, you know as well as I do all that’s at stake with the upcoming elections, and that 2012 will be an absolutely critical year for our country.

Our nation has already begun what I believe will be one of the most pivotal presidential elections in American history.

That is why I’m asking you, Carmen, to help People For the American Way be prepared now and have the biggest impact possible in this critical presidential election year.

So please renew your 2012 membership early with a contribution of $49.00, $65.00, $115.00 or more today to help us reach our $250,000 year-end goal.

Our nation is facing a potential sweeping right-wing takeover. This is no exaggeration. With dishonest extremists like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain vying for the GOP nomination, and the possibility of a Radical Right-controlled Congress, Supreme Court, and White House, you and I should be very concerned.

So much of what you and I care for is at stake, but you can help us prevent a right-wing victory next year by renewing your membership for 2012 now.

The threats to the issues you and I hold dear are not idle speculation. If you’ve watched any of the GOP presidential debates, you know that these extremists are quite open about their plans for radically changing America.

They want to roll back civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, and recent hard-won progress toward equal rights for gays and lesbians… they block every effort to help the economy and the middle class to protect tax breaks for corporations and the richest 1%… and they seek to undo both separation of church and state AND the separation of corporation and state.

Say “no” to their plans by immediately renewing your membership for 2012 early with a generous donation to our year-end campaign. YOU can help us reach our $250,000 goal and support PFAW’s efforts to beat the right wing in the 2012 elections.

Your membership contribution will finance our opposition campaign in the coming elections as well as our ongoing efforts to battle right-wing legislation on Capitol Hill, and our many other campaigns to fight the increasingly extremist Far Right movement.

Thank you in advance for your continued support, I’m confident you’ll help us close out 2011 strong and be ready for the battles that 2012 brings.

Sincerely,
Michael Keegan

P.S. The Tea Partiers and right-wing extremists have committed themselves to an unyieldingly rigid conservative orthodoxy … tax cuts for the wealthy without compromise, deregulation without common sense, and social conservatism without an ounce of compassion or respect. We cannot let them win. Renew today.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Senator Maria Cantwell

12/02/2011 Nativegrl77

Some Wall Street banks think they can get away with anything.

Wrecking the economy with reckless gambling? Abusing the foreclosure process to put more homeowners out on the street? Raising fees on consumers whenever they want? To them, it’s all part of the game.

That’s why we have to be ready for anything in this campaign. Maria has fought her entire career to hold Wall Street accountable, and powerful special interests are determined to defeat her. They’ll say anything. They’ll spend whatever it takes. And it’s up to us to fight back.

Will you help strike a blow against these special interest groups by making a contribution of $5 or more to help Maria fight back today?

For years Maria has been working to hold Wall Street accountable to the people – voting against the Wall Street bailout, cracking down on speculation in oil markets, toughening restrictions on derivatives trading, and fighting to make the financial reform bill stronger and more progressive.

But some of the worst offenders on Wall Street are also some of the most powerful special interests in Washington. And they are determined to get rid of one of the Senate’s champions for accountability and sound regulation.

Maria can’t win this fight alone – we all need to stand together against the big banks and their attacks. Please click here to make a contribution today!

Fueled by huge money from Wall Street special interests, shady right-wing attack groups will do everything they can to defeat Maria. But these special interests can’t beat us if we stand together.

Please click here to contribute now.

Thanks for helping Maria stand up to Wall Street.

– Chris

Chris Gregorich
Campaign Manager
Friends of Maria

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Further to the right on immigration

12/01/2011 Nativegrl77

It seems the longer the GOP race drags on, the more extreme the candidates get.

In fact, at a debate last week Mitt Romney placed himself further to the right on immigration than any presidential candidate in recent history.

He said he would deport all undocumented immigrants — including grandparents and families who have been in the United States for over 25 years, belong to local churches, pay their taxes, and in some cases have even defended our country in the military.

I’m sure it won’t be the first or last time the GOP candidates use immigration and Hispanic families as political props to score points with the far-right base.

That’s why we need to stand up and fight back every time they do. Don’t forget, we’re all in this together — and we prosper when we stand united.

Join us and say you’ll stand up for Hispanic families in this election and fight for sensible immigration reform.

The thing that makes Mitt’s statement even more troubling is that a mere five years ago — when the politics of immigration among GOP voters were quite different from today — he was singing a different tune, saying that the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country “are not going to be rounded up and box-carred out.”

In an interview yesterday he was reminded of his old talking points, but rather than attempting to moderate his stance, he actually doubled down on his current position.

So why the change of heart? It’s simple, according to Mitt’s 2008 Iowa State Director, Doug Gross. Gross said that while campaigning in Iowa before the caucuses, Mitt began to realize the so-called “political implications” of his stance and switched his position as a result.

“Political implications” shouldn’t be the determining factor in the lives of 11 million people.

But now Newt Gingrich — on the heels of being accused by the right of being compassionate — came out this week in support of a new South Carolina law, similar to the one passed in Arizona, that allows police to demand the immigration status of anyone they pull over.

And Rick Perry recently trotted out the endorsement of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-titled “America’s toughest sheriff,” who’s been known to organize armed, volunteer posses in his county to round up undocumented immigrants to deport.

As the primaries get closer, there’s no way of knowing where the GOP candidates will stop in trying to out-extreme each other when it comes to illegal immigration.

But I can tell you this: We’re going to fight back every time one of them sells out Hispanic families to try to improve their standing in the polls.

Join us today:

http://my.democrats.org/Stand-up-for-Hispanic-Families

Thanks,

Juan

Juan Sepulveda
Senior Advisor for Hispanic Affairs
Democratic National Committee

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Is Congress about to put you out of work?

12/01/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Watch the Video | Send Our Video to Your Elected Officials

Now that the deficit committee failed, war profiteers are scrambling to undo automatic cuts to their profit margins. They’ve re-launched their propaganda campaign focusing on jobs, but our new video exposes the truth: military spending is a job killer. If Washington, D.C. stops automatic cuts to the military budget at the expense of other programs, it will be a disaster for the economy.Send our video to your elected officials and make sure they understand the consequences of failing to make real cuts to the military budget.Super-wealthy war profiteer CEOs rely on massive Pentagon budgets for their wealthy lifestyles. They and their allies in the Pentagon are using huge lobbying budgets in an unprecedented economic fear campaign to convince Congress that war spending is some kind of grotesque jobs program. Nothing could be further from the truth.As our video shows, military spending costs jobs compared to other ways of spending the money. Protecting war budgets at the expense of other job-creating programs will mean more jobless people than virtually any other possible budget plan.Help us put the truth in your elected officials’ hands. Our toolwill let you push your senators and congressmen to do the right thing, despite the war industry’s propaganda push.This is an uphill battle, and we need your help. Please send our latest video to your elected officials now so they understand that military spending costs jobs.

Sincerely,

Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

P.S. We continue to fight the war profiteers’ propaganda, but doing so with hard-hitting videos like this is expensive. After you send the video to Congress, please consider making a donation to support War Costs.