Tag Archives: United States

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The Plan …Steve Israel


The numbers are in! Thanks to you, we narrowly beat out our Republican counterparts in July and maintained our advantage year-to-date.

 Make no mistake: you’re driving our success. Over a quarter-million of you have made a contribution this year to help us take back the Speaker’s gavel from the reckless Tea Party Congress.

 I’m pleased to report we’re ahead of schedule in our drive to win the Majority. We’ve laid out our campaign plan in our “Drive for 24” Grassroots Investor Report. Download your copy here >>http://www.dccc.org/page/m/1d63c960/1b9dd8ab/425abfe1/4e0cedc9/2048910014/VEsH/

 Some key stats I wanted to make sure you see:

  We only need 24 seats to win the House.
  The math is simple: There are 61 seats President Obama won now held by Republicans – including 18 districts won by Senator Kerry in 2004. If we win 10 of 18 Kerry-Obama seats and 15 of 43 Obama-only seats, that’s 25 seats, more than enough to win the Majority:

But we won’t stop there. We are also targeting seats that John McCain won in 2008 to put Republicans on the defensive across the country.

 In each of these races, we are aggressively holding Republicans accountable for their wrong priorities. Thanks to your support, this month we launched our “Accountability August” campaign holding 44 Republicans accountable for their bad budget choices.

Our message is breaking through. Voters are fed up with Republicans playing political games with our economy and their plans to end Medicare.

 The latest polls show a serious case of buyer’s remorse:

Gallup poll (August 12th): Democrats lead Republicans in the generic ballot by 7 points (51-44).
PPP poll (August 10th): Independent voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the Republican Majority in the House (68 disapprove/20 approve). If the election was today, PPP thinks Democrats would win the House.

 One more stat: We have all-star recruits running in 45 Republican and open districts throughout the country. That’s well ahead of where we thought we’d be at this point. Our goal is to put at least 60 Republican seats in play when all is said and done.

 Read more about our campaign in your Grassroots Investor Report >>  http://www.dccc.org/page/m/1d63c960/1b9dd8ab/425abfe1/4e0cedc9/2048910014/VEsE/

 More than the how, it’s the why we are doing this.

 We’re fighting to create jobs. We’re fighting to protect the rights of women, workers, seniors, and the middle class. Republicans are fighting to end Medicare to pay for more tax breaks for Big Oil and right-wing special interests. Simply put, the Tea Party agenda is not working for middle-class Americans.

24 seats puts us back in charge so we can create jobs, protect Medicare and Social Security, and out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

 Thank you for everything you do to make that possible.

 Steve Israel
 DCCC Chairman

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Outrage … Nancy Pelosi


Republicans have just launched a dishonest new TV ad campaign in multiple districts across the country attacking Democrats who are standing strong for Medicare and seniors. Reports say the GOP has spent over $500,000 on this ad campaign of misleading attacks so far.

 Now, after weeks of avoiding constituents who are outraged with their votes to destroy Medicare while preserving tax cuts for billionaires and Big Oil, House Republicans are set to return to Washington in a matter of days.

We must raise $500,000 before the August 31st FEC (Federal Election Commission) deadline to show that grassroots Democrats are united and committed to holding Republicans accountable for their reckless Tea Party agenda.

Contribute $3 or more before the August 31st FEC deadline and your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.  www.dccc.org

 We cannot let Republicans get away with selling out our seniors and the middle class. Stand with me today and help us win back our House Majority.

 Thank you,

 Nancy Pelosi
 Democratic Leader

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We can’t let them get away with it


Dirty coal power plants are causing children asthma attacks and their parents heart attacks – all while leaking toxic chemicals into local tap water. This is simply unacceptable.

Up to 34,000 people – many children – are killed by pollution from coal plants every year.  At one plant in Portland, PA 30 people die prematurely a year!

Right now, owners of obsolete, dangerous coal plants around the country – like the one in Portland – are considering spending billions of dollars to keep these killers open. With an aggressive campaign right now, we can rally communities and shut the plants down. Can you help?

Please donate by midnight tonight  to help shut these worst-of-the-worst plants down. We need just 14 donations to reach our goal of $34,000 – one dollar for every coal-related death we must stop.

A drunk driver that kills one person faces justice. But what does a company whose pollution kills 30 children and adults get? Four years to slightly reduce its pollution – and a free pass to keep killing hundreds even after its facelift. I’m not ok with that.

What’s worse, it’s children who pay the highest price. The Portland coal plant alone causes five hundred asthma attacks a year. Right now, somewhere in Pennsylvania, one of those children with asthma is struggling to breathe. We don’t know her name, but we know she’s one of hundreds and could be the next victim if we don’t act now. Fight back >>

Just a few weeks ago, the owners of the half-century-old plant in Portland began reviewing whether to spend up to half a billion dollars to keep the plant open and continue to spew toxins into the air and water. We need to act now before they make a final decision.

We’ve seen what’s possible when we fight on the ground to expose the truth, mobilize local communities, and unite national opposition with grassroots action. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the dirty coal plant in Salem, Mass and the Beckjord plant in Ohio announce shut-down plans – though we’ll keep fighting until they close their doors for good.

We can and must stop the coal industry from taking our children’s lives and their futures – but we need you to step up before midnight tonight.

Please help end the Portland plant’s reign of terror and stop other deadly plants like it. We need just 14 gifts from Washington to reach our goal of $34,000 – one dollar for every coal-related death we can prevent when we quit coal. Deadline: midnight tonight.

Coal-fired power plants kill in many ways ranging from coal ash to toxic emittants to being the biggest source of man-made CO2 emissions. But the coal industry has given millions in campaign contributions to buy a free pass – and leave children and families paying the cost of their dirty business.

If we have the strength to act urgently, we will save lives. Are you in? We have this moment to do right by our planet and right by our children.

Join me in quitting coal,

 

Philip Radford, Greenpeace

P.S. Please make your donation by midnight tonight on our secure website or by calling 1-800-792-6995. We need just 14 donors from Washington to step up.Thank you

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Obama Administra​tion provides some relief to immigrant communitie​s


 

DHS’s announcement:
 All current deportation cases to be reviewed

 For the past few months, you’ve called and petitioned the White House and the Department of Homeland Security asking for them to show some courage and protect our immigrant communities. Our demands have been heard and the Administration has taken a step in the right direction to fixing our broken immigration system.

 Yesterday, senior administration officials announced that all 300,000 cases currently in deportation proceedings will be reviewed by DHS, one-by-one, in an effort to focus purely on “high-priority” cases of criminals and individuals who pose a serious threat to the US. Cases deemed “low-priority” will be completely removed from the case log and, non-criminal immigrants once facing deportation, will have the possibility to obtain work permits.

 The announcement is the first pro-immigrant procedural change that will provide some relief to DREAMers, LGBT spouses, victims of domestic abuse, and other non-criminal immigrants currently in deportation proceedings.

While the announcement is complicated, we’ve summarized the procedural changes DHS has announced they’ll make.

 This is an important step in the right direction. We urge the Administration to enforce this policy vigorously and follow it through to its full logical and moral conclusion: suspend deportations of all those who work hard every day to create better lives for themselves and their families.

 Congrats on this victory, and thanks for all you do,

 Marissa Graciosa
 Reform Immigration FOR America

 
Click here to learn more about these policies and share with friends and family.
 
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Kristjan Loftsson plans to kill whales. You can stop him.


Kristján Loftsson will be deciding any day now whether or not his company will be killing endangered fin whales this year.

Loftsson is the CEO of Iceland’s only fin whaling company. What he has his eye on is the market situation in Japan. You can make sure that he has much bigger concerns than the market in Japan.

www.greenpeaceusa.org

Because of Loftsson’s flaunting of the international moratorium on commercial whaling and thanks to pressure from tens of thousands of Greenpeace supporters, President Obama’s Commerce Secretary recently declared that Iceland is undermining the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

This ruling was an important first step and clears the way for President Obama to end fin whaling in Iceland by imposing strong economic sanctions. This is our chance to end the Icelandic fin whale hunt for good.

You’ve already gotten the Commerce Secretary to act, now keep the momentum going and get the President to follow his lead. Our goal is to send 15,000 messages to the President in the next 48 hours. I know we can do it.

Help keep Mr. Loftsson’s whaling fleet off the ocean by sending a message to the President today urging him to impose strong economic sanctions on Iceland for its illegal whaling. There isn’t much time.

www.greenpeaceusa.org

President Obama has an amazing opportunity here to stand up and be a champion for the whales. Together we can make sure he takes it.

Iceland has been doing this for years and it’s clear that they aren’t going to stop until the rest of the world shows some leadership and makes them stop. That’s precisely what the President can do right now by following the recommendations of his Commerce Secretary and imposing strong economic sanctions on Iceland — and more specifically on Loftsson’s company that also sells fish products in the US — if they continue their illegal fin whale hunt.

Fin whales are already listed as endangered. The population can’t stand one more of these hunts. It needs to stop now.

Take action today and help save endangered fin whales.

www.greenpeaceusa.org

For the whales,

 

Phil Kline
Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner

P.S. Economic sanctions against Iceland will do more than just stop their illegal fin whale hunt. They will send a message to the other whaling countries that the U.S. is serious about enforcing international law to save the whales. Make sure the President does the right thing by taking action today.