Tag Archives: United States

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Ocean Conservation …


Obama Administration Progress on Oceans Conservation

Posted by Julie Randall:

Obama Responds to Ocean Letter

On August 15, Blue Frontier Campaign put together a letter to the presidential candidates signed by 60 ocean leaders calling on them to pledge to protect our ocean by moving forward in four action areas. On September 24, the Obama campaign responded with the following statement:

“President Obama is committed to ensuring that our nation’s vast natural resources are used responsibly, and that we maintain healthy oceans and coasts. By establishing a National Ocean Policy, he made it a priority of the federal government to ensure a proactive approach to improving the conservation of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.”

President Obama is directing additional funding to Gulf Coast restoration to further bring back the fisheries and coastal ecosystems that are still recovering in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill. He kicked off the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades, which is targeting ecological problems such as invasive species, toxic hot spots, and pollution runoff. And his administration is cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, establishing a “pollution diet” for the Bay that will help restore the natural habitat for fish and other wildlife. They have also invested over $1.4 billion in Everglades’ restoration, helping restore tens of thousands of acres that will serve as a sanctuary for native Florida plants and wildlife. Under President Obama, we have created or enhanced more than 540 public coastal recreation areas, protected more than 54,000 acres of coastlines and restored over 5,200 acres of coastal habitat. The administration is also investing more in monitoring our fishing stock in coastal areas in order to have the most accurate data possible on the health of our fisheries. These are significant steps that are helping us improve the health of our oceans and build more robust fisheries.

Read the Executive Order — Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes

Read the Final Recommendations

Visit the National Ocean Council website

Read the FAQs

Read the press release

You can read public comments on the Task Force here.

Read the President’s Proclamation on National Oceans Month

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Lonnie G. Bunch at The NMAAHC


NMAAHC -- National Museum of African American History and Culture

eNews from the National Museum of African American History and Culture Fall 2012

Changing America:

The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963

In 2013, the anniversaries of two key American milestones will be celebrated in a new exhibition,Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963, presented jointly by the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the National Museum of American History (NMAH).
Read more >>

 feature image October 2012
Director Lonnie Bunch

A Message from the Director

2012 marks the seventh anniversary of my return to the Smithsonian Institution as founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). When I started in 2005, the site where the building would be located was not known and there were no collections or funds. Today, I am glad to report that construction has started on the building, which will be located at 14th and Constitution Avenue NW and we have collected more than 18,400 objects and approximately $100 million in donations toward our total goal of $500 million, of which $250 million must be raised from private resources.
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Pullman Railroad Car

From the NMAAHC Collections:

Jim Crow Era Pullman Railroad Car

One of the signature artifacts of the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a classic Pullman-built railroad car that once traveled the rails for the Southern Railway.
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Construction Update

Construction Update

Since the groundbreaking ceremony on February 22, construction of our building on the National Mall has begun and is moving forward. The building’s site is popular with residents and visitors who stop by to view the progress of the 19th museum in the Smithsonian family.
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First Grade Class

First-Grade Class Contributes to NMAAHC

Twenty first-grade students from Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet School in Hamilton Park, Texas, learned about philanthropy, math, and museums as they collected $175 in dimes during Black History Month 2012.
Read more >>
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The Ad That Could Decide The Election


Brave New FilmsDonate
Creating Media That Makes An Impact

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The 2012 election is just a few weeks away. As the polls tighten, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this election might be decided by just a handful of voters! Two of the states in which we have been focusing our efforts are the swing states of Nevada and Colorado. Latinos make up approximetely 15% of the voting population in these states. Our community will have a powerful and deciding voice.
Contribute $8 to help us get our powerful video ad on Latino networks in Nevada and Colorado.
This is why now more than ever, we must do our part to make sure our community comes out in droves and votes in Colorado and Nevada this November 6th.
In partnership with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Campaign For a Strong Colorado and other on-the-ground organizations we have created a powerful video ad that features Latino students, families and workers giving viewers the clear choice of what is truly at stake in this election.
Please donate $8 today and help us get this video on the air and into the homes of Latinos in Nevada and Colorado.
Your contribution for this ad could make the difference in mobilizing our community to the polls. With an election this close every single vote counts!
As a token of appreciation, we will send you our commemorative Cuéntame sticker pictured below, so that you too can spread awareness about the power of the Latino vote this November! Donate Today!

Together we can make an impact.

Yours, Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team.
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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Mitt Has A Plan For Women


by

                Mitt Has A Plan For Women

During last night’s debate, Mitt Romney sure had a lot of opinions about women in the workplace. He seemed to think he was connecting with women voters. Do you agree?

Here’s the transcript of Romney from last night:

I had the — the chance to pull together a Cabinet and all the  applicants seemed to be men. And I — and I went to my staff, and I said,  how come all the people for these jobs are — are all men?

They  said, well, these are the people that have the qualifications. And I  said, well, gosh, can’t we — can’t we find some — some women that are  also qualified?

And — and so we — we took a  concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could  be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of  women’s groups and said, can you help us find folks? And I brought us  whole binders full of — of women. I was proud of the fact that after I  staffed my cabinet and my senior staff that the University of New York  in Albany did a survey of all 50 states and concluded that mine had more   women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.

Now,  one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of  that team was because of our recruiting effort, but number two, because I  recognized that if you’re going to have women in the workforce, that  sometimes they need to be more flexible. My chief of staff, for  instance, had two kids that were still in school. She said, I can’t be  here until 7:00 or 8:00 at night. I need to be able to get home at 5:00  so I can be there for — making dinner for my kids and being with them  when they get home from school. So we said, fine, let’s have a flexible  schedule so you can have hours that work for you.

I don’t know about you, but I’m insulted.

Related Stories:

Mitt’s Misogyny on Full Display During Debate

Top 10 #BindersFullOfWomen Responses

Top 5 Obama Punches from Debate 2

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Did you hear … that some members of Congress plan to cut Social Security?


National Women's Law Center
Have you heard about the plan to cut Social Security? If you haven’t, here’s what it looks like:
Step 1: Talk about the plan behind closed doors
Step 2: Claim to not be cutting Social Security benefits, just adjusting the Consumer Price Index
Step 3: Keep the public in the dark with technical language such as “chained CPI”
Right now this is EXACTLY what some members of Congress are doing. They’re looking for additional programs they can cut to reduce the deficit, and Social Security is on the table. They’re looking at a stealth way to cut Social Security benefits: by switching the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment to a new measure of inflation, the chained CPI.
The chained CPI would cut Social Security benefits by reducing the annual cost-of-living adjustment — and the value of benefits — every year. These cuts start small, but get deeper every year. The older you get, the deeper the cut from the chained CPI.
That’s why we need your help to educate the public. Will you help share this important message? The image below explains what these cuts would really mean.
Infographic - Stealth cuts to Social SecurityPlease spread the word!

Why are we so worried? This stealth plan to cut Social Security would be a triple whammy to women:

  1. Since women live longer than men on average, they would face deeper cuts in their Social Security benefits.
  2. Elderly women rely more on income from Social Security, so these cuts would represent a larger share of their total income in retirement.
  3. Since older women are already more economically vulnerable, these cuts would leave many of them unable to meet basic needs.

We are worried about women like Jeannette, from Medford, Oregon. She worked her whole life, up until she was 73, but has no pension. Her only income, apart from a little help from her adult children, is her Social Security check. She described to us how she manages.
“I’m a very frugal person. Always have been. I don’t have cable…that’s a luxury. I shop for food very carefully, too. I can’t afford meat anymore, but every once in a while if I see a great bargain, I’ll splurge on a small piece of meat. There’s a special discount cheese that I like. I make very thin slices…. I’m careful about keeping my clothes in good condition. I know that I don’t have the option to buy new ones.”
Jeannette’s story is not unique. She is one of millions of women who rely on Social Security to survive. And she can’t afford ANY cuts to her Social Security. And this is exactly why we need your help.
Please help spread the word by sharing our new graphic today.
Sincerely,
Joan Entmacher Joan Entmacher Vice President, Family Economic Security National Women’s Law Center   

P.S. Do you or a loved one have a Social Security experience that you can share? Add your story to our storybank! Stories help our advocacy efforts by putting a face on programs that make a difference in women’s lives.
P.P.S. Please help us continue to advocate for policies that protect and improve economic security for women and their families by making a generous donation today.