Tag Archives: United States

WA meet Tami Green, Democratic Party


There’s a lot to be excited about this year –

Tami Green is running for State Senate in the 28th District

Click here and say:
I’m with Tami

We have a great opportunity to unseat one of the most conservative voices in the State Senate.

In his one year in office, State Senator Steve O’Ban has led efforts to allow businesses to deny services to gays and lesbians.

He’s worked to allow insurance companies to deny coverage for basic services, like mammograms, diabetes, and autism screenings.

Our state needs leaders who will move our state forward.

Rep. Tami Green has been representing the 28th District for 10 years. She has a strong record of accomplishment in the 28th District, and she is challenging Steve O’Ban for State Senate.

Will you sign our petition and show your support for Tami Green for State Senate?

Tami Green is a trusted nurse and legislative leader known for her integrity, courage, and willingness to bring people together.

In her 10 years in the Legislature, Tami has earned a strong reputation as an experienced leader who is focused on results.

She is a strong advocate for the values we share. She’s worked to strengthen the middle class, protect our environment, expand access to health care, and protect a woman’s right to choose.

With Republicans in power in the State Senate, we haven’t gotten the results that will help Washington’s working families.

This year, the Republican State Senate majority refused to compromise and failed to pass a Transportation or Capitol Budget. This has killed jobs and hurt our middle class.

Steve O’Ban was in step with the State Senate majority the entire way.

We need to elect leaders who are willing to come to the table, get to work, and do what’s best for our communities and working families.

We need Tami Green in the State Senate. Join us now and sign on as a supporter today.

In solidarity,

Jaxon Ravens
Washington State Democrats Chair

Too much Democracy?


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Georgia Republicans Lament Efforts To Expand Voting Access, Try To Stop Them

As November approaches, Georgia finds itself home to a toss-up Senate race between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue. With such a competitive race, voters are registering at a higher rate than usual and county election boards are taking steps to expand access to the polls. America has one of the worst turnout rates of any developed country in the world, so you’d like to think that everybody would be cheering this news. But some Republican officials are worried that these measures are resulting in the increased participation of minority voters, and that that fact could spell trouble for their own candidates.

Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp is one of these officials. Think Progress’s Josh Israel reports on new audio released by progressive voting rights organization Better Georgia that captures Kemp sharing his frustration over it’s grassroots effort to register minority voters for the election. Here’s an excerpt from the tape:

Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.

Using the power of his position, Kemp plans to fight back. On Tuesday, Kemp launched a “voter fraud” investigation into the voter registration effort, which he says he suspects may have “forged voter registration applications, forged signatures on releases, and applications with false or inaccurate information.” (As a reminder, the problem of voter fraud is essentially non-existent.)

Kemp is not the only one feeling threatened. Just the day before he launched his investigation, another Republican, state senator Fran Millar, complained that voting is too convenient for black people. One of Georgia’s largest counties announced last week that it will allow early voting on a Sunday in late October and will open an early voting location in a shopping mall popular among local African-Americans. Millar penned an angry response, explaining that “this location is dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African American mega churches such as New Birth Missionary Baptist.” When asked to stand by his comments, Millar only got more offensive, writing in a Facebook post, “I would prefer more educated voters than a greater increase in the number of voters.”

BOTTOM LINE: Expanding voting access by increasing opportunities to vote and increasing voter registration is something that deserves to be celebrated in our democracy. Instead, some officials in Georgia, feeling threatened by what might happen if more people exercise their constitutional right, resort to name calling and launching specious investigations that are more likely intended for voter suppression than anything else.

Miami and it’s rising sea


Kayaker Screenshot
Celeste’s story
When it comes to the devastating effects of climate change, Southeast Florida is on the front lines. Their state leaders act paralyzed, but local residents like Celeste aren’t ready to throw in the towel:
“Everyone in the world is watching Miami, and they’re watching to see how we are going to thrive in the face of climate change.”
See the incredible challenges this beautiful coastal city faces and how Floridians like Celeste are fighting to preserve it.

Canada: Home of the Whopper


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Architects of Burger King’s inversion claim it’s not about taxes

Burger King is rolling ahead with its plan to move to Canada. It confirmed Tuesday that it will purchase Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee and doughnut chain, for about $11 billion, one of the biggest foreign acquisitions since 2012.

This makes Burger King one in a string of corporate deserters in recent years. According to new data provided by the Congressional Research Service, 47 companies have inverted in the last decade, including at least seven this year alone. These companies are able to dodge US taxes by moving their headquarters, but not their operations, to countries with lower corporate tax rates. So called “inversions” may save the companies a few bucks, but they could cost the US taxpayer tens of billions of dollars.

The Deal: Founded in Miami in 1954, Burger King operates more than 7,000 locations in the United States, but only 300 in Canada. In 1964, the Canadian fast food service Tim Hortons was founded in Ontario and now has more than one store per 10,000 Canadians. Burger King will shell out $11.4 billion for the coffee shop, but both will actually be controlled by 3G Capital, a Brazilian-US investment firm. According to the Wall Street Journal, Alex Behring, who is currently Burger King’s executive chairman and a managing partner at 3G Capital, will head the new company.

Although America has a top corporate tax rate of 35%, numerous multi-national corporations do not pay that much. Instead, U.S. corporations paid an average of 12.6%, according to the Government Accountability Office. Burger King also does not pay the top corporate tax rate, but has a tax rate in “the mid- to high twenties” according to Mr. Behring. While Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz doesn’t “expect there to be meaningful tax savings,” Canada’s federal corporate tax rate is 15%.

Moving Forward: Burger King should reconsider its own bid for the company. Since the news broke, the public has denounced this newest corporate deserter. #BoycottBurgerKing is now commonplace on Twitter and Burger King’s Facebook was littered with comments threatening to never return. Senator Sherrod Brown added to that chorus: “Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders.”

When Walgreens announced its purchase of Alliance Boots, a European pharmacy, it received similar criticism, and it has since said that it will stay headquartered in the United States. They decided that paying their fair share was more profitable.

BOTTOM LINE: When more and more American companies move out of the U.S., ordinary Americans end up footing the tax bill. Companies employing the process of inversion are taking advantage of U.S. taxpayers and cheating the system, to the detriment of our workers and our economy. It’s beyond unpatriotic and it’s time for them to stop.

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Hard to Resist


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More GOP-Led States Are Moving To Expand Medicaid

A successful first open enrollment period with 8 million enrollees. The uninsured rate at a record low 13.4 percent. Insurers clamoring to join state exchanges for next year. Health insurance premiums for 2015 beating expectations. The successes of the Affordable Care Act are clear.

Supporters of the law in competitive races have taken notice, and are increasingly running on, not from, the ACA. But they are not the only ones acknowledging the changing political landscape; the ACA’s opponents have also seen it, and are taking action. In particular, some GOP-led states who have been putting politics over people by opposing Medicaid expansion are now taking steps to accept it. Here are some of the latest to change their tune:

Pennsylvania: The Keystone State will become the 27th state, and the 12th Republican-led state, to expand its Medicaid program in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. The Obama Administration announced last Thursday that it had granted a waiver and reached agreement with the state to provide health care coverage to 500,000 low-income residents through private insurance. Gov. Tom Corbett (R), the deeply unpopular Pennsylvania governor, has previously fought against expansion but trails in his re-election bid by 25 points while 59 percent of voters support expanding Medicaid.

Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslem indicated late last week that the state will likely submit a Medicaid expansion plan this soon. “I think we’ll probably go to [the Obama Administration] sometime this fall with a plan … that we think makes sense for Tennessee,” Haslem said. While he did not comment on any further details, the move could mean health coverage for 162,000 Tennesseans.

Wyoming: After initially rejecting Medicaid expansion that would provide health insurance to 17,600 low-income Wyoming residents, Gov. Matt Mead has now said he is now in negotiations with the Obama Administration to find a way to expand the program next year. The LA Times reports that “the reason for Wyoming’s wavering is clear: It’s money.” The state stands to save $50 million per year by expanding. Meanwhile, Wyoming hospitals are losing $200 million per year by treating people who lack insurance.

Another thing for these states, and all other conservative-led states who continue to deny health care to their low-income residents, to consider: they are sending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to other states who are expanding Medicaid, and receiving nothing in return.

BOTTOM LINE: As candidates who support the ACA increasingly embrace it on the campaign trail, conservatives nationwide are downplaying their opposition to the law. In the latest sign, more conservative states are finally changing course by pushing forward with Medicaid expansion to provide health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income working people and save billions of dollars.

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