Tag Archives: United States

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Help Fill a Stadium: AFL – CIO 2/5


When the NFL Players Association (NFLPA)—the AFL-CIO union that represents all professional football players, past and present—suggested a plan for the labor movement to fill a football stadium with unemployed workers, members of the military and children, I got really excited and pledged our support right away.

What could be better than giving the gift of football to folks who may not be able to afford to go to a game while times are tough?

We’d like your help to fill a football stadium with unemployed workers, members of the military and children for the NFLPA Texas vs. The Nation game.

This very special game attracts hundreds of NFL scouts and personnel. It features draft-eligible college seniors who are poised to be our next professional players.

Each ticket to the game costs $10 to buy. But the NFLPA has generously agreed to match 100 percent of our donations. Thanks to this match, every $10 you donate will buy TWO tickets for unemployed workers, military veterans and children.

Please pitch in $10, $20 or $40—and give the gift of two, four or eight football tickets to unemployed workers, members of the armed services and children.

If you can make it to San Antonio, for the game, you also can buy tickets to attend the game yourself.

This is going to be a great game featuring the football stars of tomorrow. Top college seniors with ties to the state of Texas will take on top seniors from across the nation. The five-year-old all-star game is making its debut in San Antonio this year, after previous games in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

We’ve been talking to local nonprofits—and they’re really excited about your support. Military bases are already on board, too. But we need you. If the union movement is going to fill the stadium in San Antonio, it’s going to take thousands of small donations.

It takes only 30 seconds of your time and as little as $10 to help.

Please donate a ticket or two—and have your donation doubled—so San Antonio football fans who are unemployed, and others who can’t afford to come, can attend.

The AFL-CIO and the NFLPA are hosting a special football game in San Antonio. Can you make a small donation to help fill the stadium with unemployed workers, military veterans and children?  Click on link below …

http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=3KsQnNNHbmQ8TPTZyJhYTH2Wytbgu75H

Donate a ticket for just $10 and the NFLPA will match that donation—so you’ll make it possible for TWO unemployed workers, military members or children to attend the game.

If you can make it to the game in San Antonio on Feb. 5, even better.  Learn more and buy tickets.                                                                          http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=TTP2MZFya3nsSUuWKUeP3H2Wytbgu75H

 

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann

Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. If you’re interested in attending the game yourself, click here to learn more and click here to buy a ticket

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Congress – both Chambers back in Session … observe total hrs spent in the Republican led House of Representatives


The Senate Convenes at 10:00amET January 25, 2011

 Following any Leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

The Senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15pm to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Roll call votes are possible during Tuesday’s session. Senators will be notified when any votes scheduled.

The Senate is in recess until 8:30pm.

 Senators are asked to gather in the Senate chamber at 8:30pm and at 8:40pm proceed as a body to the Hall of the House of Representative for President Obama’s State of the Union address.

Upon dissolution of the joint session, the Senate will adjourn until 9:30am on Wednesday, January 26.

 Unanimous Consent:

Adopted H.Con.Res.10 >> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:H.Con.Res.10 : providing for a joint session of Congress to receive a message from the President.

Adopted S.Con.Res3 >> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:S.Con.Res3 :concurrent resolution honoring the service and sacrifice of Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, a native of Hiawatha, Iowa, and the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

———————————————————————————-

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS

LEGISLATIVE DAY OF JANUARY 25, 2011

112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

8:36 P.M. –

JOINT SESSION – The House convened in Joint Session with the Senate for the purpose of receiving an address from the President of the United States on the subject of the state of the Union.

8:35 P.M. –

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of January 25.

2:33 P.M. –

The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 8:35 P.M. today for the purpose of receiving in a joint session with the Senate the President of the United States.

2:31 P.M. –

The House received a communication from Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader. Pursuant to Section 114(b) of the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development Act (2 U.S.C. 1103), Ms. Pelosi appointed the Honorable Terri A. Sewell of Alabama to the Board of Trustees for the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development for a term of six years

2:30 P.M. –

Ms. Foxx filed a report from the Committee on Rules on H. Res. 54.

H. Res. 49:

providing Capitol-flown flags for recipients of the Medal of Honor

2:29 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 424 – 0 (Roll no. 21).

2:22 P.M. –

Considered as unfinished business.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – The Chair announced that the unfinished business was the question of adoption of a motion to suspend the rules which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.

H. Res. 38:

to reduce spending through a transition to non-security spending at fiscal year 2008 levels

2:21 P.M. –

The title of the measure was amended. Agreed to without objection.

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 256 – 165 (Roll no. 20).

2:13 P.M. –

On motion to recommit with instructions Failed by the Yeas and Nays: 184 – 242, 1 Present (Roll no. 19).

1:49 P.M. –

The previous question on the motion to recommit with instructions was ordered without objection.

1:48 P.M. –

Mr. Bishop (NY) moved to recommit with instructions to Rules.

The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.

12:42 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H. Res. 38.

Rule provides for consideration of H. Res. 38 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Bill is closed to amendments. The resolution provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Rules shall be considered as adopted. All points of order against consideration of the resolution are waived.

12:41 P.M. –

Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 43.

H.R. 366:

to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes

12:39 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.

12:35 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 366.

Considered under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Graves (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.

H. Res. 53:

electing certain Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives

12:33 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection.

Considered as privileged matter.

H. Res. 49:

providing Capitol-flown flags for recipients of the Medal of Honor

At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.

12:18 P.M. –

DEBATE – The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H. Res. 49.

Considered under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Latham moved to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution.

12:17 P.M. –

The Speaker announced that votes on suspensions, if ordered, will be postponed until a time to be announced.

The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received a message from the Secretary of the Senate on January 25, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. stating that that body had agreed to H.Con.Res. 10 without amendment.

12:03 P.M. –

ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches which by direction of the Chair, would be limited to 15 per side of the aisle.

H. Res. 52:

electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives

12:02 P.M. –

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection.

Considered as privileged matter.

12:01 P.M. –

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Mr. Poe of TX to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

12:00 P.M. –

Today’s prayer was offered by the House Chaplain, Rev. Daniel Coughlin.

The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of January 25.

10:33 A.M. –

The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 P.M. today.

10:01 A.M. –

MORNING-HOUR DEBATE – The House proceeded with Morning-Hour Debate. At the conclusion of Morning-Hour, the House will recess until 12:00 p.m. for the start of legislative business.

10:00 A.M. –

The Speaker designated the Honorable Tom McClintock to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

The House convened, starting a new legislative day.

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CONGRESS: Ryan’s Radical Vision


Republicans announced last Friday that Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee, will deliver the GOP‘s response to President Obama’s State of the Union address tomorrow. According to reports, GOP leaders chose Ryan because he is supposedly a “champion of slashing government spending.” The seven-term Wisconsin congressman gives Republicans a “chance to emphasize their core message: government spending must come down to reduce the nation’s annual deficit and long-term debt.” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Ryan — who has been given “stunning and unprecedented” power to shape the budget — is “uniquely qualified to address the state of our economy and the fiscal challenges that face our country.” Ryan is known as the GOP’s numbers guy in the House, and he laid out last year what he calls a “Roadmap” to fiscal health. But as the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein notes, “The more they elevate Ryan, the more they elevate Ryan’s Roadmap. And that document is a timebomb for them.”

PRIVATIZING ENTITLEMENTS: Ryan’s Roadmap puts Americans on the path of privatizing entitlement programs, such as Social Security. The plan boasts about “the creation of personal investment accounts for future retirees” that are “the property of the individual.” (Emphasis in the original document). “Individuals will be able to join the investor class for the first time,” the Roadmap says. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that “the Ryan plan proposes large cuts in Social Security benefits — roughly 16 percent for the average new retiree in 2050 and 28 percent in 2080 from price indexing alone.” It “initially diverts most of these savings to help fund private accounts rather than to restore Social Security solvency.” CBPP also notes that the Roadmap “would eliminate traditional Medicare, most of Medicaid, and all of the Children’s Health Insurance Program” by creating a private voucher system that won’t keep up with the cost of health care. By 2080, under Ryan’s plan, the Medicare program would be reduced by nearly 80 percent below its projected size under current policies. CBPP summed up Ryan’s plan: The Roadmap’s cuts “would be so severe that CBO estimates they would shrink total federal expenditures (other than on interest payments) from roughly 19 percent of GDP in recent years to just 13.8 percent of GDP by 2080. Federal spending has not equaled such a low level of GDP since 1950, when Medicare and Medicaid did not yet exist, Social Security failed to cover many workers, and close to half of the elderly people in the United States lived below the poverty line.”

MIDDLE CLASS TAX INCREASES: Citizens for Tax Justice found that Ryan’s Roadmap would raise taxes on 90 percent of taxpayers and drastically lower them for the richest Americans. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently reported that the rates for the middle class would be higher than those for the rich under Ryan’s plan. “Middle-class families earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year would see their average tax rate jump to 19.1% (from 17.7%) under this plan — an increase of $900 on average,” EPI says, while at the same time, “Millionaires would see their average tax rate drop to 12.8%, less than half of what they would pay relative to current policy.” As EPI’s Andrew Fieldhouse concluded, under the Roadmap, “a long tradition of progressive taxation would be abandoned; millionaires and Wall Street bankers would pay significantly lower tax rates than middle-class workers. … Income inequality would soar.” In another giveaway to the rich, the Roadmap calls for a total repeal of the estate and corporate taxes and would introduce a national sales tax. Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) said this idea “would eat up a much larger percentage of total income for poor and middle-class families than wealthy families” because the former “spend most or all of their income on consumption,” while “high-income families are able to save much more of their income.” Ryan’s plan claims federal tax revenue will be 19 percent of GDP, but the Tax Policy Center found last year that his proposal would only bring in “approximately 16 percent of GDP, which amounts to a $4 trillion revenue shortfall over ten years.”

LESS REVENUE, MORE DEBT: Despite raising taxes on 90 percent of Americans, the federal government will lose $2 trillion in revenues over the next 10 years under Ryan’s plan, according to CTJ. “It’s difficult to design a tax plan that will lose $2 trillion over a decade even while requiring 90 percent of taxpayers to pay more. But Congressman Ryan has met that daunting challenge,” CTJ wrote. Looking at the most optimistic figures, the Roadmap won’t balance the budget until at least 2063 and it won’t reduce federal debt for decades, exceeding 100 percent of GDP before starting to come down. While proposing drastic cuts to entitlement programs, Ryan said he wants to reduce discretionary spending — which includes such expenditures as education, homeland security and other defense spending — but he has no idea what programs to cut. “I can’t tell you the answer to that,” he said earlier this month. However, anticipating the plan’s unpopularity, GOP leadership isn’t publicly embracing Ryan’s plan but at the same time, it appears willing to allow it to go forward. During the midterm election campaign, the GOP dropped Ryan’s Roadmap from its “Pledge to America” scheme and as the conservative National Review noted last week, “praise for the Wisconsin Republican comes easy and often, full-scale endorsement of the roadmap less so.” But while Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said last week that he supports only “elements” of the plan, he said yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press that “we need to embrace” its direction. And last year, Boehner wouldn’t endorse the Roadmap, but at the same time couldn’t name any specific part he disagreed with. But if Boehner dislikes Ryan’s plan so much, it’s unclear why he made him chairman of the House Budget Committee and gave him new and unprecedented powers to unilaterally set spending limits instead of subjecting those limits to a vote on the House floor. Speaking of Ryan’s new power, Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said, “Unfortunately, the House GOP is reverting back to the same arrogant governing style they implemented when they last held the majority and turned a surplus into a huge deficit.”

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

Do you want to know about progressive culture and the arts?


 

 

The creative juices of artists, and the energy of the larger universe of culture offers us some positive messages at a time when many of us feel very frustrated about the state of the world.

As we at AlterNet tell stories of America and the changes we want to make, we invite you to sign up for AlterNet’s new Culture and the Arts newsletter, launching this week.

We all know the power of art. As our Washington editor and jazz singer Adele Stan writes: “In most successful movements for social change, artists are in the vanguard. In many cases it is their soundtrack, their visual sensibilities, their literature that comes to define a particular movement in the popular imagination. Think of the civil rights movement and the role played by music. Recall the anti-war movement of the 1960s, propelled by rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic art.”

What should you expect in our expanded coverage? As our cultural editor, and savvy music writer and critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd tells us: “We’ll critique and celebrate the important ways our political views manifest in the larger scheme of film, music, visual art, books, performance, television and beyond.” We know that a well made documentary can capture a powerful reality and be profoundly moving. And even a You Tube clip at the right moment can mobilize tens of thousands to a cause they care about.

Now more than ever we need to direct a laser-sharp focus on the culture and the arts that reflect, define and forge our progressive views into the future. AlterNet has always covered culture, but not with the emphasis it deserves. Now, we are going the extra mile.

We’re sure you will appreciate the diversity, breadth and depth of or future coverage, so please sign up for our newsletter, which will feature the best of our coverage from week-to week.

Cheers,

Don Hazen

Executive Editor and Publisher, AlterNet

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Fix Gun Checks …


In 1968, two extraordinary leaders were gunned down by assassins: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy.

Today, I was joined by Martin Luther King III and survivors, family members and friends of the victims of the shootings in Tucson, Virginia Tech, and Columbine, along with people affected by the nearly three dozen gun murders that happen every day but never make the headlines.

We came together to ask Washington to fulfill a promise made 43 years ago after the King and Kennedy assassinations. Back then, Congress passed legislation to prohibit felons, drug users, and the mentally ill from possessing guns.

Years later, Congress added a background check system to strengthen our existing gun laws. But the flaws in this system have been exposed again and again, first in the massacres at Columbine and Virginia Tech, and now in Arizona.

I’m writing to ask you to join me in calling on Congress and President Obama to fix our broken background check system before another tragic shooting claims more innocent lives.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FzBNpda3aMV6BCgg0tFvZBx3t7JWQYiV

Please sign the petition and tell Congress it’s time to stop dangerous people from buying guns.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yJ3mnrfZDvN2XDsv8Ok5kBx3t7JWQYiV

Every day in America, 34 people are murdered with firearms. They’re often humble and quiet people — the kind of Americans that King and Kennedy tirelessly championed.

In fact, since 1968 more than 400,000 Americans have been killed with guns. But Congress can fix gun background checks and stem the tide of violence by taking two critical steps:

Get all the names of people who should be prohibited from buying guns into the background check system.

Require a background check for every gun sale in America.

These common sense reforms will save the lives of thousands of Americans each year. That’s why 550 Mayors from across the country are calling on Congress to take action right now.

Tell Congress that we need a genuine, credible background check system for all gun sales:

www.FixGunChecks.org 

We can’t afford more gun murders because of the flaws in our background check system.

Thanks for helping to stop these senseless shootings,

Mayor Michael Bloomberg