Tag Archives: vote

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Buy nukes or feed the hungry?

09/02/2010 Nativegrl77

Tell the Senate: Reduce spending for the nuclear weapons complex.

$55 billion.

That’s how much the U.S. spends each year maintaining its nuclear arsenal. That’s also what it would cost to provide 350 million people worldwide with clean drinking water. Or help 30 million children survive past their 5th birthday.

But instead of relieving the suffering of millions around the world, the U.S. continues to spend billions on nuclear weapons and systems. Even though the Cold War era is over, leaders in Washington keep asking for more funding for new nuclear weapons every year, and taxpayers foot the bill every time.

We need to reassess our priorities.

There is a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) that calls for the U.S. and Russia to agree upon reductions in the size of their respective nuclear arsenals. But before that happens, START must be ratified by 67 votes in the U.S. Senate.

Tell your Senators to phase out our nuclear arsenal and pass START now >

The issue isn’t just the exorbitant expense of nuclear weapons – it’s their inherent instability. With the U.S. and Russia maintaining thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert and nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan, the elimination of nuclear weapons is more urgent than ever.

With the continued development of a nuclear arsenal, the U.S. is helping make sure nuclear weapons continue to threaten the people of the world with catastrophic possibilities. Building and maintaining nuclear weapons means there are production sites all over the world that are vulnerable to terrorist attack or to theft of weapons or weapons-grade materials.

Getting New START through the Senate is not going to be easy. Some senators still want to continue to invest billions of dollars in new nuclear weapons production facilities in exchange for a “Yes” vote on ratification.

Tell your Senators to ratify the new START agreement without preconditions or billions in new funding for the nuclear weapons complex >

If we don’t speak out and take action for a world free of nuclear weapons, who will?

Thank you for taking action,

The Change.org Team

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Save the girls …

09/02/2010 Nativegrl77

Nearly three million young girls are at risk of female genital cutting this year. Stop this human rights abuse now.

Across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the following scene is replayed over and over: A girl, often between 4 and 12 years old, is held down by three or four women while all or part of her external and internal genitalia is cut off.

Complications from this brutal procedure can include severe hemorrhaging, infection, long-term difficulties with intercourse and childbirth, and even death.

Female genital cutting (FGC) reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do all she can to encourage the governments of the countries where this practice takes place to put a stop to it >

More than 100 million women and girls worldwide are affected by different forms of cutting. Infibulation is the most severe form, where some or all of the external genitalia are cut, leaving only a very small opening for urination and menstruation.

The practice of female genital cutting is hard to talk about. But ignoring it only guarantees more suffering, and leadership from the United States would go a long way in urging the countries where FGC occurs to end this human rights abuse.

Nearly three million young girls are at risk of female genital cutting this year alone. Please take action and help save these girls from a lifetime of pain and suffering >

Thank you for taking action,

The Change.org Team

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wacky Wednesday &some News

09/01/2010 Nativegrl77

President Obama starts Middle East peace talks in the other Washington today and later today he will be traveling to Milwaukee with labor secretary Solis.

As some parts of the US moves into Autumn weather other parts are suffering awful hurricanes and or heavy rains creating flooding. I am hoping those who usually say they will stay put opt in to being evacuated. There are reports that mandatory evacuations have been ordered in N.C.

Last night the President announced the combat in Iraq has ended and though some are still there he was able to get this thing ended a little early. It was a moment to give facts numbers and tie in to something that helped hurt our current economy and he did. The idea that libs are not happy with this President is getting on my nerves. They cannot be satisfied with the fact that the combat was ended so please stop beating him down for not wanting to bring the last guy or administration up on charges …it ain’t going to happen. If we could just thank all our troops who served, make sure they all have medical and are among those who are able to take advantage of HR1586 and move on to solve our economic problems. It just annoys me to hear libs burn the President with all the negative rhetoric because they need in my opinion to focus on what is News to the Americans instead of what they did not get out of voting for this President. I believe a lot has been achieved but libs are again participating in that circular squad -it is reckless and will hurt our cause. Come on -give him credit for getting things despite Republicans despite the daily name calling and labeling we should not expect this President to come out and battle with each and every negative thing said about him. There are reports that folks representing big corporations are now switching sides because our President supported the need for financial reform. Those who tell us raising taxes would be a job killer are in control of Banks that should loan to neighborhood lenders by don’t and can only be translated into a clear threat. Those of us regular folks who supported and voted for Obama need to stand up to the BS being shoved onto us by both the libs and the folks on the right. I am a democrat who believes it will take years to get the US economy back on track because the votes of No screwed us from getting it done sooner and has now slowed down the effort to next to zero .

The continued slow down of our economy is because of the Political Party of NO -do not be fooled …we needed large sums of money thrown at a big problem but when Bills got to Senate Republicans they were able to stall them, block them or scale them down to something that seems like a band aid now. It is apparent that the projection of 8% unemployment was given with the info they had at the time. It did not include Banks withholding funds from small business, Wall Street being unwilling to cooperate and Republicans doing everything to ruin this President including throwing their own constituents under the bus …

Other News …

The first face-to-face talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since 2008 will begin today, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with President Obama in the White House. Expectations are low, but U.S. officials are hopeful they can at least get the two sides to agree to a second round of talks next month.

Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus said yesterday that the Taliban is expanding its presence across the country even as U.S. and coalition forces close in on insurgent strongholds. “Levels of attacks have gone up and that’s a manifestation of us increasing our resources substantially and taking away safe havens,” he said, “And when the enemy’s safe havens are threatened they fight back.”

And finally: Former GOP House Speaker and current FreedomWorks chief Dick Armey told the Texas Tribune that he’s not interested in being the leader of the Tea Party movement because he’s too busy caring for his goats. When asked if he would step up to lead the movement, Armey replied, “Oh, no, no, no, no. I’ve got 34 goats that depend on me daily. I couldn’t be away that long.”

Presidential Address On U.S. Combat Troop Withdrawal From Iraq

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen (Ret.) Briefing on Gulf Oil Spil

Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 2010 Air Safety Forum

92nd Annual American Legion National Convention

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GreenPeace September newsletter

09/01/2010 Nativegrl77

monthly newsletter, September

Action needed to help save sea lions!

You can help protect the world’s largest sea lion, the Steller sea lion of the North Pacific, by telling the National Marine Fisheries Service to adopt the protective measures they have identified as needed for the species to survive. After years of delays and undue industry influence, NMFS released a Draft Biological Opinion (BiOP) on Steller sea lions on August 2nd.

This new BiOp finds that commercial fishing is the most likely cause of sea lion declines in the western Aleutian Islands and their failure to recover in other areas. Fishing fleets are catching too much of the fish Steller sea lions need to eat for their survival. Take action and let the agency know you support their own conclusions and urge them to move forward and give Steller sea lions the protection they need.

Be the Change!

The Greenpeace Organizing Term is our semester-long program for students between the ages of 18-24. Through our exciting combination of classroom workshops, group work, one-on-one feedback from staff, and campaign-related travel, students are prepared to make an impact. We want smart, visionary, passionate, and community-minded students who are ready to be change-makers on their campuses.

For more information, to share this with your favorite students, or to apply TODAY for our Spring 2011 semester in San Francisco, check out the application page or email us at: got@wdc.greenpeace.org. The Spring 2011 deadline is October 15th, so apply or forward this to a student you know today!

10.10.10

Greenpeace is teaming up with 350.org, 10:10, and a global coalition of folks doing something about climate change to create a global day of action: the 10/10/10 Work Party. Help us make October 10th the biggest single day of action against global warming that the world has ever seen by signing up today!

Over 1,000 Work Parties are already planned. Find one in your area and RSVP today or add an event of your own. Don’t wait.

Ship Expedition

We’re nearly a month into our Gulf Oil Spill Impacts Expedition. See where we’ve been and follow along as we continue to support independent research into the effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.

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Don’t let Texas oil companies rewrite environmental laws

09/01/2010 Nativegrl77

Send Valero a message: Hands off our nation’s best climate change law.

Send a message to Valero’s CEO

Your message to Valero CEO Bill Klesse:

I will be boycotting all Valero Energy owned and supplied gas stations until you drop your funding of the ballot initiative that will destroy California’s landmark clean energy and air pollution law, AB 32.

With the Senate’s failure to pass an anti global-warming bill, legislation on the state level is currently our most direct answer to saving the planet.

California already passed one of the toughest anti-global warming laws in the world (AB32) back in 2006 — and its regulations will start being phased in next year. But not if a bunch of oil companies in Texas have their way. Texas oil companies Valero and Tesoro have spent $3.5 million to fund Prop 23 in California; a deceptive initiative that, if approved by voters this November, will effectively reverse AB32.

If these Texas Oil Companies succeed in rewriting California’s global warming laws, it won’t just hurt California’s effort to curb harmful carbon emissions — it will be a giant step back for nationwide efforts to fight global warming. So we need to tell Valero that their continued support of this proposition is going to cost them, too.

Send a message to Valero C.E.O Bill Klesse that you will boycott Valero gas until his company stops funding Prop 23. Your message will be immediately delivered to him.

We started this campaign in California in April with our friends at The Courage Campaign, but since then, Valero has upped the ante. With only two months until the election, they just gave another $3 million to fund the attack on AB32. There’s no telling how many more millions Valero will dump into this effort before November — but if we create a groundswell of national pressure, we can force them to reconsider their support. So we’re taking this boycott national.

The Senate climate fight made clear that dirty energy companies have far too much power in Washington. And now that the Citizens United case has opened the door for more corporate money in our elections, the best way to stop dirty energy from having an even bigger impact on ballots nationwide is with direct, public pressure that will be noticed by corporate executives and shareholders alike.

This type of pressure just made a big difference after Target donated $150,000 to a group backing anti-gay candidates. With Valero leading an attack on the strongest climate pollution reduction act in the country, we need to show them that their support isn’t just bad for the environment — it’s also bad for business.

Send your message to Valero CEO Bill Klesse telling him you’ll be boycotting Valero gas and spreading the word to your friends.

Then, don’t buy gas at Valero. Valero and Tesoro operate gas stations under the following brands. Boycott all of these locations: