Tag Archives: United States Congress

~ Culture & History

Tell the USDA to ban all sales of Lion Meat … Cheryl Semcer


Change.org
                          I started a petition this summer asking a restaurant to stop serving lion meat, and won. Now I’m calling on the USDA to ban all sales of lion meat.                       
      Sign My Petition

I never imagined the impact I would have when I started my first petition on Change.org asking a restaurant in Kansas to stop serving lion meat. But I won with the help of other Change.org users!

I still wondered if the sale of lion meat was happening in other places, and who was letting this happen.

It turns out there are a lot of problems with lion meat: it’s not only bad for lions, but also humans. The origins of lion meat are nearly untraceable, with some of it coming from farms where they’re raised for circus entertainment, their hides, and slaughter. Killing lions for human consumption also falls between the cracks of federal agency responsibility, and therefore the meat is rarely inspected. Since the processing goes unregulated, lions aren’t even protected by humane slaughter laws.

It’s unbelievable to me that any restaurant would be allowed to sell lion meat — especially when the meat is potentially unsafe. Thats why I started a new petition on Change.org, this time calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to ban the sale of all lion meat. Click here to sign!

Lion meat isn’t regulated by the USDA or the Food and Drug Administration — even though it’s often deceitfully marketed this way. This lack of clear oversight makes it nearly impossible to trace the origin of lion meat and how it’s processed.

And to make matters worse, experts say that serving lion meat at restaurants in the U.S. could further drive the dwindling wild population into extinction.

Restaurants market lion meat because it’s shocking — but the government shouldn’t be allowing a gimmick like this that could decimate the lion population and make people sick. My petition asking a local restaurant to stop serving lion meat won — and was widely covered in the media. By showing popular support for a ban on all lion meat, I believe the USDA will be forced to listen.

Sign my petition now asking the United States Department of Agriculture to ban the sale of lion meat.

Thank you for your support.

Cheryl Semcer

Hoboken, New Jersey
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Expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.


a repost from 12/2013

Expand Social Security, Medicare, the ACA and Medicaid. Don’t cut them.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have lifted many Americans out of poverty and provided health and retirement security for millions of seniors and people with disabilities. When its health coverage takes effect next month, the Affordable Care Act is about to become the fourth pillar of American health and economic security.

But our work isn’t done. Please join Health Care for America Now and USAction and tell Congress: We should be expanding our social safety net, not cutting it.

For years, Republicans have been intent on trimming Social Security and Medicare benefits even as medical costs have skyrocketed and savings and pensions have been whittled away. In 25 states GOP leaders have attacked the Affordable Care Act’s critically important expansion of Medicaid, preventing millions from getting the health care they need. They make the ridiculous argument that we can’t afford health security. We are the richest nation on earth, and we can afford to make sure everyone has something as basic as health care.

Will you write to your representative in Congress to say we can boost benefits for seniors and ensure these life-saving programs last for generations to come? We can do this if Congress has millionaires pay their fair share into Social Security and if drug companies stop ripping off Americans.

Tell Congress: Expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Don’t cut them.

Thanks,

Will O’Neill Health Care for America Now

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The funds are there…they just might get spent on something else


Planned ParenthoodWe were beginning to think it might never happen, but the Washington State legislative session has finally come to a close.

Here’s the good news: The budget includes enough money to fund fair access to birth control for all Washington women!

But here’s the bad news: The Senate Republican Majority refused to include a line item directing the State Medicaid office to spend that money on equitable access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC). Instead, the lowest-income women in Washington could still end up with unequal access to the best contraceptives available, even though the money is there

WA LARC 2015

The fight’s not over!

It is both unfair and wrong-headed to deny Washington women fair access to birth control, and we aren’t backing down.
Governor Inslee has the power to change this, and he needs to hear from you about it.
We are fortunate to have a governor who agrees that all women should have access to a full range of reproductive health care services. Now it’s time for him to exercise his leadership and direct the state Medicaid agency to ensure equitable access to LARCs.
Your activism got us to this point and now we are so close to the finish line! Without your hard work, we would not have the funding in the budget in the first place.

With your help once more, we’ll make sure Governor Inslee knows it’s critical that he take the final step.



Thank you for taking action,
Jennifer Allen
Director of Public Policy
Planned Parenthood Votes Northwe

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Floating coffins


 Avaaz's profile photo
Dear friends,The most persecuted peoples on our earth are right now taking to ‘floating coffins’ to flee violence and seek sanctuary for their families. But instead of responding with humanity, our governments are closing their doors, letting them starve and drown at sea.

The Mediterranean and Andaman Seas are becoming graveyards.

Burma is driving the Rohingya out, and thousands of families are drifting helplessly at sea, forced to drink their own urine because Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia had turned them away. Syrians and Africans risk drowning every week off the coast of Southern Europe, braving the terrifying crossing as their last hope to escape torture, hunger, and traffickers.

We are facing the biggest refugees crisis since World War II, but so far governments have let them die in a climate of rising xenophobia. Now it has reached a crisis, and our community has a unique chance to jam the culture of fear with a wave of compassion.

If we each chip in a small amount now, we’ll help fund rescue operations at sea; build an Avaaz refugee team to assist those missions and resettlement, and create effective lobby cells to get leaders to open up borders; and launch ads to counter the racism.

Together we can help rescue refugees, and rescue our shared humanity.

Unless we act fast, 2015 could become the year of the boat people!

Pledge to urgently launch the Avaaz refugee campaign — Avaaz will only process your donations if we raise enough to start saving lives:

To pledge another amount, click here.
Avaazers have already kick-started this campaign in the UK. The government has only allowed in 143 Syrians out of the 4 million refugees! In response, over 1,000 Avaazers have joined forces to challenge this disgraceful policy by offering to help refugees resettle, and calling on their local councils to give homes to 50 Syrian refugees each. Already 4 councils have agreed and with our pressure, we hope many more will too.

But this isn’t just a UK and Syria problem. It is a crisis of humanity when our planet’s most vulnerable are treated as criminals and left to die. Here’s a five point plan of the most critical actions Avaaz could take if we raise enough together:

  1. Support organisations that are bravely rescuing the refugees at sea.
  2. Launch Flotillas for Humanity with more private boats to assist rescue operations.
  3. Build an Avaaz refugee team to lobby governments, the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to push for effective search and rescue operations, and increased numbers of refugee places.
  4. Support local groups in Europe and South East Asia to provide assistance to refugees arriving in reception centres, and into communities.
  5. Run hard hitting billboards and newspaper ads to counter the culture of xenophobia.

30 thousand refugees could drown in the Mediterranean this year. These families are fleeing terror and misery, and their choice to board a boat may be the only choice they have. Let’s join forces to stop these tragedies at sea. Pledge now:
Our community is one of the only in the world with millions of citizens in both the countries from which these families are fleeing and the countries they are seeking help. We have already funded extraordinary work to tackle Ebola and humanitarian work in Nepal. Now let’s take on this emergency and catalyse change with acts of inspired love and inspired bravery.

With hope and determination,

Alice, Ben, Oli, Diego, Mais, Emily, Dalia, Ricken and the Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Myanmar Muslim migrants abandoned at sea have been ‘drinking their own urine’ to survive  (The Independent UK)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/myanmar-muslim-migrants-abandoned-at-sea-drinking-their-own-urine-to-survive-after-thailand-refuses-boat-entry-10249854.html

Syria Refugee Regional Response (UNHCR)
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

Mediterranean migrants: Details emerge of deadly capsize (BBC)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32399433

Lost at sea, unwanted: The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘boat people’ (CNN)
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/19/asia/rohingya-refugee-ships-explainer/

Stranded Rohingya migrants say: ‘We’re dying on board’ (Al Jazeera)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/stranded-rohingya-migrants-dying-board-150517130244345.html

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what a successful Presidency looks like

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The following sponsored message was sent to you by AlterNet on behalf of DCCC:

To be sure the numbers have shot upward

This is what a successful Presidency looks like:

President Obama Took Office
(January 2009)		 Today
7,949 The Dow Jones Index 17,573
7.8% Unemployment 5.8%
-5.4% GDP Growth 3.5%
9.8% Deficit GDP % 2.8%
37.7 Consumer Confidence 94.5

In 6 years under President Barack Obama, we’ve made incredible progress as a country.

Often in the face of incredible obstruction, the President has continued to fight for us and lead us forward.

Will you add your name now and say that you’re still standing with President Obama in his final two years in office?

Sign your name to say you’re standing with President Obama:
http:// action.dccc.org/i-stand-with-obama