Daily Archives: 09/20/2011

Too much doubt to execute Troy Davis …Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org


The state of Georgia will execute Troy Davis on September 21 despite powerful doubts about his guilt.Please read on to learn how you can help stop this injustice.

The state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis this Wednesday, September 21 despite major doubts about his guilt.Killing a man who may be innocent is not justice, and more than 92,000 ColorOfChange members have spoken up to say so. But to save Troy, as many people as possible need to speak out.

The fact is, no physical evidence connected Davis to the murder. Seven of the original nine witnesses have recanted, with many saying their testimony was a result of law enforcement pressure. Of the remaining witnesses, one is highly suspect and the other could be the actual culprit in the officer’s murder.

No one should be executed when so much doubt remains about his guilt.  You can help us stop Troy Davis’ execution in five ways:

  1. Sign the petition asking Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm to oppose Troy’s execution: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/chisolm
  2. Send a message to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole asking them to spare Troy’s life: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/troy
  3. Help us tell Troy’s story to thousands of Georgia residents by making a contribution to the effort to buy ads in Georgia media: https://act.colorofchange.org/donate/troydavis
  4. Write a letter to the editor of local and national newspapers: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/speakout/troydavis
  5. Spread the word to others. Forward this email to your friends and family, and share the links to the petition and donation pages on Facebook and Twitter.

Since Troy Davis’ 1991 conviction, numerous facts have emerged that introduce significant doubt as to his guilt. These facts include:

  • All but two of the original witnesses against Troy Davis have signed affidavits recanting their earlier testimony. Most claim that their testimony was coerced by police officers.1
  • Multiple witnesses say that another man — one of the original witnesses against Davis — has claimed to have slain the fallen officer.2
  • The weapon used in the murder was never found. The only physical evidence connecting Davis to the crime was circumstantial — and new testimony disputes Davis’s connection to that evidence.3

In light of this evidence, the Supreme Court granted Davis another chance. But instead of an actual new trial before a jury, which would mean the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is on the prosecutor, he got an evidentiary hearing before a single federal judge where Davis’ lawyers had the burden to meet an impossibly high and undefined legal standard.

Under these difficult circumstances, the judge rejected the new evidence and cleared the way for Troy’s execution. But even he acknowledged lingering doubt, noting that the case against Davis was not “ironclad.”

But “ironclad” is exactly what the evidence should be in order to put someone to death. When the case isn’t ironclad, the process is prone to human error, and innocent people may die. That’s what evidence suggests happened to Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texas man who was executed after being convicted of setting the fire that killed his children. A new review of the case used to convict him shows that Willingham was killed even though there’s no evidence he set the fire. But now it’s too late to do anything about it.4

It will take all of our combined efforts to make sure Troy Davis isn’t the next Cameron Willingham. Please join me and my friends at ColorOfChange.org in asking Georgia officials to save Troy Davis’ life by commuting his sentence to life in prison. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

Thanks and Peace,

– Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 17th, 2011

Help support our work.ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU–your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

References:

1. “Troy Davis – Finality over Fairness,” Amnesty International USA
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/970?akid=2228.1174326.Cllb_a&t=7

2. See Reference 1

3. See Reference 1

4. “The Haunting of Rick Perry,” The New York Times, 6-23-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/958?akid=2228.1174326.Cllb_a&t=9

Committee Hearings …In the House of Representatives


3:00 pm Hearing: Panel on Business Challenges within the Defense IndustryCommittee on Armed Services: Full Committee
3:00 pm Hearing: Human Rights in North Korea: Challenges and OpportunitiesCommittee on Foreign Affairs: Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights 
3:30 pm Hearing: The Proposed Merger between Express Scripts and MedcoCommittee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
4:30 pm Markup: H.R. 2250, EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011,H.R. 2681,H.R. 2937Committee on Energy and Commerce: Full Committee
5:00 pm Hearing: H.R. 2401 – Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011Committee on Rules: Full Committee

President Obama is right …Robby Mook


President Obama just threw down the gauntlet.

In case you just missed the President’s speech from the White House Rose Garden this morning, I wanted to make sure you saw this key quote:

“It is wrong that in the United States of America a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million.

Anybody who says we can’t change the tax code to correct that, anyone who has signed some pledge to protect every single tax loophole so long as they live, they should be called out.”

That’s where you come in

Contribute $3 or more right now to help us call out Republicans who are putting millionaire tax breaks before middle class jobs. House Democrats will match your gift dollar-for-dollar.

WWW.DCCC.ORG

The next 24 hours are critical.

Moments after President Obama’s speech, Speaker Boehner resorted to his same old Tea Party talking points mischaracterizing the President’s plan to create jobs and ensure that billionaires and Big Oil companies pay their fair share.

We’ve set a goal of raising $1 million from grassroots Democrats before the FEC deadline to show we have what it takes to fight for President Obama’s jobs plan and take on Republicans who put special tax breaks for the wealthy before their constituents back home.

Contribute $3 or more right now to help us call out Republicans who are putting millionaire tax breaks before middle class jobs >>       WWW.DCCC.ORG

Enough with the Tea Party games. If Republicans want to stick to their “my way or the highway” strategy, then it’s up to us to show them the off-ramp.

Robby

Robby Mook
DCCC Executive Director

The Progress Report


What If The Tea Party Wins?

By         Ian Millhiser              on Sep 19, 2011 at 4:32 pm

This weekend, the Constitution celebrated its 224th birthday. Yet, despite the fact that our founding document has served America well for more than two centuries, the Tea Party now wants to cast its principles aside and replace them with a radical anti-government manifesto. Despite the fact that the Constitution has been amended many times to make America more democratic and more responsive to We the People, the Tea Party believes that we have an authoritarian constitution that prohibits everything they disdain and requires nearly everything that they support.

THE END OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE: Last April, the House GOP voted almost unanimously to phase out Medicare and shift crippling medical costs onto seniors and their families. Yet this slow death of Medicare appears downright moderate compared to the Tea Party agenda of simply declaring our entire safety net for America’s seniors unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) claims Medicare and Social Security “contradict the principles of limited, constitutional government that our founders established to protect us.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) mocked President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for calling upon the federal government to provide “a decent retirement plan” and “health care” because “the Constitution doesn’t give Congress any of those powers.” Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who engineered the House of Representatives’ dramatic reading of the Constitution earlier this year, claimed that Medicare and Social Security are “not in the Constitution” and are only allowed to exist because “the courts have stretched the Constitution to say it’s in the general welfare clause.” And Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) believes that Medicare is “a family responsibility, not a government responsibility.”

THE WAR ON WORKERS: The Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution wouldn’t just leave America’s seniors out in the cold, it would force American workers to compete with their adolescent children for sub-minimum wage jobs. Lee believes that we should return to a misguided era when federal child labor laws were considered unconstitutional because the Constitution “was designed to be a little bit harsh.” Perry believes all “national labor laws” including child labor laws, the minimum wage, overtime laws, and laws protecting workers’ right to organize, are unconstitutional. And Justice Clarence Thomas embraces a vision of the Constitution that would eliminate all these laws and take out workplace discrimination laws in the process.

JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG: Sadly, this wholesale assault on workers and the elderly is merely one small part of the Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution. It’s difficult to count how many laws would simply cease to exist if the Tea Party wins its fight to re-imagine our founding document, but a recent Center for American Progress white paper lists not just Social Security, Medicare, and basic workplace protections, but also all federal health care, education and antipoverty programs, federal disaster relief and food safety programs, and most national civil rights laws. In other words, the Tea Party’s agenda is nothing short of a wholesale repeal of the 20th Century, and a return to the era when families mortgaged their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care, higher education was a luxury reserved almost exclusively to the very rich, and rotten meat shipped to supermarkets nationwide without a national agency to inspect it.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

Consumer Watchdog has released an ad based on original ThinkProgress reporting on the relationship between Kaiser Health Plans and California state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D).

The Associated Press reports that a judge has decided to unseal video recordings of last year’s landmark trial on the constitutionality of California’s same-sex marriage ban.

ThinkProgress spoke with Bob Newman, the California Christian Coalition leader, who explained why his group is pushing to repeal the gay education law passed earlier this year. Newman said he opposes the effort crack down on bullying because some bullying is part of the “maturation process.”

In the latest attempt to privatize education, Ohio Republicans are considering a bill that redirects money for children in low-performing public schools to fund private school tuition.

Corporations want tax cuts, arguing the extra cash will be put to “productive use,” but instead companies are hoarding a record amount of cash.

Bad policy and poor investment in our future is what kills jobs, not automation or new technologies.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is against middle class tax cuts, but he thinks taxing millionaires is “class warfare.”

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) was for taxpayer-funded renewable energy projects before he was against them.

White men win big at the Emmy’s

Other recent Progress Reports

Sep 16, 2011: WWJD? Not Let The Uninsured Die

Conservative Christians Rebuke Tea Party Extremists ThinkProgress traveled to Liberty University, one of the most conservative Christian universities in the country,  earlier this week to cover a speech by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Following Perry’s speech, we asked students to comment on the shocking moment during this week’s GOP presidential debate when the Tea Party [...]

Sep 15, 2011: The Return of the Job-Killing Republicans

Dr. No Jobs Last month, it was Rep. John “Job Killer” Mica (R-FL) whose extreme anti-worker agenda shut down the Federal Aviation Administration. After being dogged by accusations of killing jobs thanks to a successful campaign by the Communications Workers of America (the union fighting to organize workers at Delta Airlines), Mica cried uncle and the House [...]

Sep 14, 2011: Survey Says: Americans Want A Jobs Plan

More Reviews Are In: The American People Want a Jobs Plan Last week, we showcased some positive reviews of the president’s jobs plan from independent economists. Today, we look at the positive reviews of the plan from the American people. Here’s the rundown. What do people care about? J-O-B-S 65 percent told CNN that they’d [...]

Sep 13, 2011: Let Him Die?

Will the 2012 Candidates Maintain Their Silence About Tea Party Extremists? If you watched last night’s GOP presidential debate, you were treated to the shocking spectacle of the Tea Party crowd cheering on the death of someone who didn’t have health insurance but required intensive care for six months. Watch the shocking video: Rep. Ron [...]

a message from Al Gore


You made yesterday a success.

In the months that went into planning 24 Hours of Reality, I saw firsthand the passion and energy of our Climate Presenters, staff and partners around the globe who are calling attention to the climate crisis and working to solve it.

Yesterday, I was honored to see your passion and your energy. I can’t thank you enough for making 24 Hours of Reality a global success.

By the time our chairman, former Vice President Al Gore finished his presentation, the 24 hour long event had 8.6 million views.

I am incredibly proud that so many people around the world participated, but it’s also important to remember the individual actions it represents. There are countless stories of impressive grassroots mobilization. A company in Tel Aviv hosted a watch party at their headquarters. A group of graduate students in Athens, Georgia rented out a popular local movie theater. People across the world joined hands to say: Climate change is real, it’s happening now and the time to act is now.

But this is just the beginning. There are important actions you can take today:
Request a presentation. There are more than 3,000 trained Climate Presenters around the globe. Organize an event and invite a Presenter to come to your community.
Go local: Team up with our partners around the world and help solve the climate crisis. Visit our website to find a partner organization near you.
Moving Planet: On September 24, hit the streets with 350.org for a global day of action. Find an activity near you.
Check our comprehensive video library to watch highlights from 24 Hours of Reality.

It is up to you to continue to stand up for reality and share the truth about the climate crisis. We will succeed because we must. Thank you,

Maggie L. Fox
President and CEO
The Climate Reality Project

Congressional Budget Office


Will you Join US?


Will you join me and President Obama in insisting that Congress get busy fixing our jobs crisis—and pay for it by asking millionaires and billionaires like Warren Buffett to pay their fair share?

Tell your lawmakers to start fixing America’s jobs crisis—and let them know you’ll hold them accountable if they won’t.

WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

Jobs are the crisis in America. Our economy will not recover until people get work.

America wants to work. But how hard are you willing to work to create jobs? If you’re willing to go all-out, let your lawmakers know right now.

President Obama understands the severity of America’s jobs crisis. This morning, he called on Congress to get moving on solutions—and to pay for his American Jobs Act by restoring tax fairness. He hit the nail on the head when he said, “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett.”

Thanks to President Obama, our national conversation is moving in the right direction. With the release of the American Jobs Act—and today’s speech—he has come forward with important steps to start addressing our jobs crisis. Now, it’s our job to demand action.

Let Congress know you’re ready to go to the mat in pushing our leaders to create jobs.

Over the coming days and weeks, as part of our America Wants to Work campaign, we’ll be asking for your help to advance a job creation agenda that will:

Rebuild America for the 21st century by investing in the schools, roads, bridges, transit, ports, rail, communications and energy jobs and systems we need to succeed.
Revive U.S. manufacturing and reform our trade policies, so we can export American-made goods and services—and stop exporting good jobs.
Help our cities and states—and the federal government—avoid layoffs that drag down our economy and threaten essential services to communities.
Directly create millions of jobs in local communities, especially hard-hit communities of color. These jobs must pay competitive wages and target distressed communities and must not replace existing jobs.
Solve the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes.
Reform Wall Street so it helps Main Street create jobs.

Tell your lawmakers: America wants to work. It’s time to end the distractions and political brinksmanship that have left working families out in the cold and take bold action to create jobs.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

We will not reduce our demands or accept failure. And we will not accept any schemes to cut Medicaid or Social Security or Medicare benefits in exchange for getting Americans back to work.

To make our case for jobs, we will flood Congress with calls and e-mails. We will take our demands to the streets—and to the front doors of congressional offices. And we will make it clear to corporations, to elected officials and to the press just how many this crisis hurts in our communities, just how much pain is caused by inaction and just how tireless our pursuit of good jobs will be.

Get started today: Let Congress know you’ll be fighting for jobs, and it’s time for members of Congress to join you.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

Our campaign to get America back to work will not stop—it will only grow stronger. We will start by ratcheting up the pressure now. And we will make sure leaders who fail to put jobs first are held accountable in 2012. Because what happens in the coming days and months—and during the next year—will determine the future of America’s working middle class.

Will we work hard enough, starting now and through the next election, to preserve America’s middle class? Or will we fail? It’s up to us.

If you’re ready to work for working people, start by letting Congress know.   WWW.AFLCIO.ORG

This morning, President Obama outlined the choices our country faces:

“Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes or we ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both. Either we gut education and medical research or we’ve got to reform the tax code so that most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both. This is not class warfare; it’s math.”

With your help, we can create jobs in a fair way. And we can pay for it—as President Obama proposed—by requiring millionaires, billionaires and profitable corporations to pay their fair share to get America back on track.

Thank you for standing with us.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Your action today is only the beginning. Because you know as well as I do that getting Congress to take real action to tackle America’s jobs crisis won’t be easy—it will be supremely difficult to overcome the partisanship and political games.

That’s why I need you to stay with us. We’ll ask you to follow up with more actions—and harder actions—and to rise to the challenge for America’s working middle class.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is officially over …Jim Messina, BarackObama.com


Today, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is officially over.

Gay men and lesbians in the military no longer have to hide who they are, and the servicemembers who were discharged under this policy can re-enlist.

This is one of the administration’s signature achievements. Countless Americans fought hard to end this law over the course of nearly two decades, and President Obama is proud to have signed the repeal.

But today’s news isn’t just a policy promise kept — it’s a personal promise kept to the thousands of people who needed and deserved this change.

I want to share a video the campaign put together about some of the people affected by this law: four stories from men and women who served in the military during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

You should watch the video and share it with everyone who cares about fairness and equality in America.

Before my current job, I was in the White House working on getting this done, and I can honestly say that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is one of the greatest things I have ever been or ever will be a part of. I think about it every time I walk into my office, where I keep one of the pens the President used to sign the bill.

It’s a reminder that — as broken as Washington is and as long as change can take — people and organizations can do amazing things when they work together and never waver from the vision that unites them.

Watch four people say what today means to them — and let us know what it means to you:

http://my.barackobama.com/dadtvid

There’s a lot more to do in the months ahead. But today is one to savor.

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Andrew Breitbart Encouraging Violence Against Liberals


A cry for attention, a moment of insanity or just a guy getting caught on tape doing what he does best -being an extreme teapublican. Isn’t this worthy of a visit from the FBI … just asking

a message from Madeleine K. Albright …


Since taking office, President Obama and Democrats in Congress have been focused on supporting the President’s vision for America as an architect of peace, a champion of justice, a defender of international law and a leading economic power.

Republican leadership, on the other hand, wants to obstruct this progress and set President Obama up for failure. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told a reporter last year, his highest priority is to make President Obama a one-term President. We cannot sit back and allow the Republican strategy of delay and obstructionism to succeed.

Now is the time for us to step forward.

House Democrats have set a $1 million fundraising goal by the September 30th Federal Election Commission fundraising deadline.

WWW.DCCC.ORG

Contribute $3 or more before Midnight September 30th and your support will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.

The amount of money Democrats raise will demonstrate to the world our commitment to President Obama’s leadership and provide momentum for our Party.

With your support, Democrats will continue to put Americans back to work, strengthen our economy, invest in education and restore America’s leadership around the world.

WWW.DCCC.ORG

Contribute $3 or more before Midnight September 30th and your support will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.

You can help the President achieve his goals by supporting the DCCC’s Million Dollar Match campaign right now.

Thank you,

Madeleine Albright

P.S. Support the Million Dollar Match before September 30th. Remember, for every dollar you give, your support will be matched by generous Democrats with one dollar of their own. Contribute today >>