Tag Archives: United States

My opponent, who is now raising tens of thousands of dollars a day through his appearances on right-wing radio and television, and thanks to his endorsement by Sarah Palin, has offered a textbook case of waffling. The subject is Roe v. Wade.

For those who wish to see waffling in its barest form, you can watch the four-minute video here. For those who prefer straight talk on this issue, please consider contributing to my campaign.

Here is a partial transcript of the back-and-forth between my opponent, Sean Bielat, and the editorial board of the Gatehouse newspapers:

BIELAT: “Roe v. Wade has been in effect since before I was born so it’s a moot point.”

EDITOR: “So do you choose to answer the question.”

BIELAT: “I think I did answer.”

EDITOR: “But we’re looking for your personal view. Or do you pass?

BIELAT: [SILENCE]

See the entire video for more dodging and squirming. In terms of waffling, it is a textbook case.

Because of my opponent’s stand on this issue, he has won the endorsement of an anti-choice organization, which is spending considerable money this election in an effort to defeat me.

If you would like someone in Congress who speaks frankly about this and many other issues, I would be grateful for your generous contribution to my campaign.

Barney Frank

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A message from Speaker Pelosi

10/23/2010 Nativegrl77

Less than two weeks from today, the American people go to the polls. House Democrats are under attack from secret money from corporate special interests that favor shipping American jobs overseas, turning Social Security over to Wall Street, and turning Medicare over to the insurance companies.

According to news reports, these secretive special interest groups have spent more than $42 million on television ads that have aired more than 100,000 times attacking me. But this election is not about me; it is about the middle class.

Republicans want to privatize and cut Social Security and Medicare, give tax breaks for the wealthy, and send jobs overseas. Democrats want to preserve Social Security and Medicare, cut taxes for the middle class, and “make it in America.”

Please make a generous contribution to my campaign today. Your contribution will make a difference. It allows me to continue helping House Democrats facing special interest attacks from groups that are angry at the progress we have made for the American people.

We cannot wake up with a single regret that there was more we could have done to protect our Democratic House Majority.

Please contribute today so we can help courageous House Democrats fight back.

Onward to victory.

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Sarah Palin hates this website

10/22/2010 Nativegrl77

RepubliCorp.

That’s our new name for the shadowy network of corporate front groups who’re spending millions to sway the election—and the Republican politicians they’re buying.

RepubliCorp prefers to operate in secrecy. So we decided to do a little public relations for them. We created this website, www.RepubliCorp.us, and this spiffy promotional video.

Check ’em out and pass ’em on.

Because the more light we can shed on the corporate interests trying to swing this election, the more we’ll help the progressives they’re targeting. And because during a dark time, a little humor never hurts.

www.RepubliCorp.us

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Robin, Marika, Duncan, and the rest of the team

PS. Remember—next time you’re talking about all those secretive groups spending millions to buy Congress, they have a name: RepubliCorp.

~ Recent Post

The beginning of the end of the war on drugs?

10/22/2010 Nativegrl77

Stand in support of California’s landmark proposition to reform marijuana laws.

The phrase “war on drugs” conjures up images of DEA agents locking up big-time drug King Pins. But the reality is much less glamorous and a lot closer to home. Over 700,000 people were arrested in the United States in 2009 just for possessing marijuana — not selling or buying it.

Police waste valuable resources targeting non-violent marijuana consumers in communities across the country, while thousands of violent crimes go unsolved. After decades trying to make America “drug free,” marijuana is easier for kids to get than alcohol. The “war on drugs” is a massive failure. Yet we waste $40 billion every year fighting it.

But California has a game-changing proposition on its ballot in November. Proposition 19 would make marijuana available to adults over 21 in California and make that state the first to regulate, tax and control marijuana. If passed, Prop 19 could be the tipping point we need to wind down our country’s failed “war on drugs.”

The vote is less than two weeks away – take action now and stand in support of Prop 19 and the reform of marijuana laws today.

With a devastating economic downturn and increasing violence associated with criminal drug cartels, Americans are beginning to realize that prohibition has failed, and taxing and regulating marijuana is just smarter policy. Political strategists originally thought Prop 19 was a long shot, but public support has recently grown as mainstream organizations have joined in support and a grassroots movement has begun to build.

The state’s biggest union – SEIU – has come out in support of Prop 19 along with the California NAACP. Reflecting the position of many, the President of the state NAACP recently said, “I am not advocating for a higher use of drugs. I am advocating for it not to be a crime.”

It’s time for an honest debate about our country’s marijuana laws – and with Prop 19 we could actually make real progress toward reform. National opinion polls show growing support for legal access to marijuana for both medicinal and other responsible uses. It’s time for public policy to catch up.

Please stand in support of the movement to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana today.

Thanks for taking action,

The Change.org Team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Bringing ultra high-speed broadband to Stanford homes …Google-Official blog

10/21/2010 Nativegrl77

Posted: 21 Oct 2010 09:06 AM PDT

Earlier this year we announced our plans to build and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of American communities. Since then, a team of Google engineers has been hard at work experimenting with new fiber optic technologies. And following a series of tests we’ve run on Google’s campus, we’re excited to announce the next step in our project.

We’ve reached an agreement with Stanford University to build an ultra-high speed broadband network to the university’s Residential Subdivision, a group of approximately 850 faculty- and staff-owned homes on campus. Through this trial, we plan to offer Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second—more than 100 times faster than what most people have access to today. We plan to start breaking ground in early 2011.

To be clear, this trial is completely separate from our community selection process for Google Fiber, which is still ongoing. As we’ve said, our ultimate goal is to build to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, and we still plan to announce our selected community or communities by the end of the year.

Stanford’s Residential Subdivision—our first “beta” deployment to real customers—will be a key step towards that goal. We’ll be able to take what we learn from this small deployment to help scale our project more effectively and efficiently to much larger communities.

Why did we decide to build here? Most important was Stanford’s openness to us experimenting with new fiber technologies on its streets. The layout of the residential neighborhoods and small number of homes make it a good fit for a beta deployment. And its location—just a few miles up the road from Google—will make it easier for our engineers to monitor progress.

We’re excited about this beta, and we look forward to announcing our selected community or communities for Google Fiber in the coming months.

Posted by James Kelly, Product Manager