President Obama Speaks …


May 19, 2012 by    

President Obama discusses the reforms to Wall Street that he put in place to protect consumers and make Wall Street play by the same set of rules — and calls on lawmakers to finish implementing these reforms so that we can prevent excessive risk-taking and help create an economy that is built to last.

May 18, 2012 by    

President Obama announces a new alliance between government leaders and private sector partners to reduce hunger and lift 50 million people out of poverty by investing in Africa‘s agricultural economy. May 18, 2012.

Campaign 2012 – Barack and Biden


DCCC Campaign Plan 2012

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Because of your unprecedented support, we’ve put 75 Republican seats in play — and we’re not done yet. We need to win 25 seats on Election Day – 25 weeks from today – to win a Democratic Majority in the House.
If not, it’ll be 2 more years of these radical Republicans obstructing President Obama’s agenda.

Check out our 2012 Campaign Plan, then sign up to volunteer today!

Download a PDF of the campaign plan here: http://dccc.org/Campaign-Plan-PDF

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Whether it’s talking to your neighbors, sharing the facts on Facebook or Twitter, or making phone calls across the country, we rely on your grassroots activism.

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Help Senator Mikulski(D-MD) get the Paycheck Fairness Act passed


Ladies, put your lipstick on, square your shoulders, and get ready to do battle. This calls for a revolution!”

That’s what Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said on the floor of the Senate during the successful fight to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. And now she needs our help for the next battle over equal pay — passing the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In the coming weeks, we expect a Senate vote on this vital legislation so we need you to contact your Senators today

Please tell your Senators to show their support for equal pay by co-sponsoring the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by updating the nearly 50-year-old Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their own wages to coworkers.

No law prohibits employers from penalizing and even firing employees just for TALKING about their salaries. By leaving workers in the dark, workers are prevented from ever learning they are experiencing pay discrimination in their workplace.

Please take two minutes to tell your Senators to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act and support equal pay.

Your Senators need to hear from you now! The last time the Senate voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act, in 2010, it fell just a few votes short of moving forward. Women and their families can’t afford for that to happen again.

Thanks for taking action today.

Sincerely,

Fatima Goss Graves Vice President for Education and Employment National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please donate $10 today to support the Center’s work to eliminate the wage gap and press for other policies critical to women and their families.

VIDEO: We Are Not ‘Garbage’ … Axel Caballero from Cuéntame


Few industries have a greater impact on neighborhoods, residents, workers’ rights and environment than the waste and recycling industry. Their drive for profit has left a trail of abuse, neglect and indifference and in some instances – death. Enough is enough, the community is standing up and saying: We are not garbage!
Watch this moving and powerful video and send a message to public officials that they must act now!
One of the worst offending companies is American Reclamation. A company that represents precisely what is wrong with this industry across the country – with dozens of health and safety violations that have resulted in official investigations. Even so, these companies are on the brink of securing major city contracts.
We must show that we stand behind our recyclers. They are listening right now. So leave or send your comment and we will deliver it to the appropriate official!
Together we can change the course.

Yours, Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team.

Media Matters for America : FOX , Conservatives and Gridlock


REPORT: Who? Media Turns Its Back On Experts Who Blame GOP For Political Gridlock Thomas E. Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, are well-respected centrist congressional experts who are often cited by the media. But their recent conclusion that Republicans are responsible for political dysfunction — laid out in an April 29 Washington Post op-ed and their recently released book — has been largely ignored, with the top five national newspapers writing a total of zero news articles on their thesis. Read More

Fox Drums Up Misplaced Outrage Over Possible Presidential Apology To Pakistan Fox’s Brian Kilmeade suggested that it was wrong for the Obama administration to have considered apologizing for an accidental deadly military strike against Pakistani troops by U.S-led forces. Fox is reporting that Obama will not apologize, but even if he were to do so, such an apology would hardly be the first time a U.S. president has apologized to a foreign nation. Read More

“Unhinged,” “Deranged”: Conservatives React To Joe Biden’s Speech About The Middle Class With Scorn And Ridicule Conservatives have seized on Vice President Biden‘s remarks during an Ohio campaign speech about the issues facing the middle class, characterizing Biden as “unhinged” and “deranged,” and claiming the administration is perpetuating “class-warfare.” But with tax levels for the wealthy at historic lows set against the stark contrast of middle-class wage stagnation and reduced economic mobility, there is every justification to be passionate about the issue. Read More

Fox News Finds Another Poll To Distort — Its Own Fox News is attempting to downplay and discredit its own poll, which found that if the election were held today, voters would re-elect President Obama by a 7-point margin. This is hardly the first time Fox has tried to distort poll findings to advance a certain narrative. Read More

Josh Mandel said WHAT?


When I saw Josh Mandel call Sherrod a “liar” the other day, well, I was stunned.
As Sherrod’s research director, it’s my job to separate fact from fiction in this campaign. I know a liar when I see one. And I see a lot of them lined up against us.
Special interests have spent nearly $6.6 million on attack ads. We need your help to fight back with the truth. Please click here to help our No Fear Fund reach $1 million in May.
Ohioans deserves the truth. They deserve to know that Josh Mandel hired unqualified cronies to manage the people’s money as treasurer. They deserve to know that he refuses to take a position on Sherrod’s bill to help protect Ohio workers from China’s illegal currency manipulation, or on a bill that would stop student loan rates from doubling.
And they deserve to know that the guy calling Sherrod a “liar” was featured in a Washington Post piece titled “New Frontiers in Political Dishonesty.”
But I’ve seen way too many races where the lies get heard and the truth never comes out. I won’t let that happen here. And I need you to help me.
Please make a contribution to our No Fear Fund today so we can reach $1 million in May — and let’s get the truth out there.
Thank you for standing with us,

Evan Peterson Research Director Friends of Sherrod Brown
PS: One more thing. Will you forward this email to a few friends? Help us make sure Ohioans hear the truth about Mandel.

AAUW: Earth To Congress


AAUW Action Network
Earth to Congress: Women are Breadwinners Too!

Take Action!

It’s time to do something about unequal pay

Last month, Wisconsin repealed its Equal Pay Enforcement Act. In the run-up to that vote, a state legislator said:

“You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious.”

Oh, really?

Women aren’t breadwinners? And it’s okay to discriminate because women are expecting to be taken care of? So much so that Wisconsin doesn’t need a strong fair pay law?

Sorry, pal; Wisconsin DOES need better fair pay laws — in fact, women across the nation need stronger fair pay laws. We need the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 797).

In the next few weeks, we expect a vote on this important bill. The vote could come at any moment, so we need you to contact your Senators today. Tell your senators to support fair pay: Cosponsor and support the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 797)!

The Paycheck Fairness Act would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their own wages to coworkers. Without this bill, employers can penalize and even fire employees for talking about their salaries. This egregious practice leaves workers in the dark, preventing them from ever finding out about pay discrimination in the workplace.

So send a message today to help make unequal pay a thing of the past! To send a message, visit AAUW Two-Minute Activist or click on the “Take Action” link in the upper right hand corner of this email.

Tweet this alert!

Remember: You can always help strengthen AAUW’s efforts to fight sexual violence and assault by making a tax-deductible donation to AAUW’s Public Policy Fund!

Double your impact! Forward this action alert to friends and family.

In the Library “Dreams from my Father … A story of Race and Inheritance by Barack H. Obama


The #1 New York Times Best Seller by Barack Obama

Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego.
Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has died in a car accident. The news triggers a chain of memories as Barack retraces his family’s unusual history: the migration of his mother’s family from small-town Kansas to the Hawaiian islands; the love that develops between his mother and a promising young Kenyan student, a love nurtured by youthful innocence and the integrationist spirit of the early sixties; his father’s departure from Hawaii when Barack was two, as the realities of race and power reassert themselves; and Barack’s own awakening to the fears and doubts that exist not just between the larger black and white worlds but within himself.
Propelled by a desire to understand both the forces that shaped him and his father’s legacy, Barack moves to Chicago to work as a community organizer. There, against the backdrop of tumultuous political and racial conflict, he works to turn back the mounting despair of the inner city. His story becomes one with those of the people he works with as he learns about the value of community, the necessity of healing old wounds, and the possibility of faith in the midst of adversity

Dreams from My Father … A Story of Race and Inheritance 

the Progress Report: Trayvon Martin


The Latest on the Trayvon Martin Case

By         ThinkProgress War Room              on May 18, 2012 at 4:59 pm

Ten Pieces of New Evidence

Last night, state prosecutors released a large amount of evidence — including 183 pages of documents and numerous multimedia files — related to their murder case against George Zimmerman. Here are ten notable pieces evidence that were just made public:

1. Two days after Trayvon Martin’s death a woman called the police to say that George Zimmerman has “racist tendencies” and is “fully capable of instigating a confrontation.”

The woman refused to identify herself.

2. PHOTO: Trayvon Martin’s can of Arizona Iced Tea

According to the police, Martin’s body was under the yellow tarp in this photo.

3. The lead police investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter.

“The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and waitied the arrival of law enforcement, or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialogue in an effort to dispel each party’s concern.” The lead investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter notwithstanding the fact he believed it was Zimmerman, not Martin, yelling for help on the 911 tapes.

 

4. PHOTO: The gun George Zimmerman used to shoot Trayvon Martin.

5. One witness was “adamant that there was no physical fighting at the time the gunshot rang out.”

6. PHOTO: New picture of George Zimmerman the night of the shooting

7. Trayvon Martin’s father initially said he did not believe his son was the one calling for help on the 911 tapes.

8. Zimmerman’s neighborhood watch program in the community newsletter

“Help keep our community safe…Call George Zimmerman.”

9. VIDEO: Trayvon Martin buys Skittles and an iced tea at 7-11 minutes before his death.

10. AUDIO: Witness says Zimmerman repeatedly bullied him at work, targeted him with racist jokes.

The man, who is not identified by name, says that Zimmerman relentlessly bullied him at work.

Zimmerman, according to the witness, targeted him because he was Middle Eastern. He repeatedly called the man a “fucking moron” and mocked him using the voice of “Achmed the terrorist.” Zimmerman’s stories about the man would involve “bombing,” “I’ll kill your family” and other “jokes” about “Middle Eastern stuff.” According to the man, this went on “for days and days.”

Some critical evidence, however, was not disclosed. All of Zimmerman’s statements to the police, for example, were exempt from disclosure at this time under Florida law.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

Two weeks after endorsing former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s candidacy, Newt Gingrich, who had attacked Romney’s record at Bain Capital, is no longer “mad” that Bain killed jobs.

A new report finds that media have largely ignored centrist congressional experts’ conclusion that Republicans are responsible for political dysfunction.

A Washington Times columnist says that gays and lesbians “are even worse than the radical Islamists.”

Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Justin Amash (R-MI) found themselves the target of vicious Republican attacks for introducing an amendment to limit the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects in the United States.

House Republicans wouldn’t let D.C. congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton testify at a subcommittee hearing yesterday in her district on banning abortions after 20 weeks.

The GOP-controlled House held 191 votes to weaken environmental protections in just one year.

Documentary proof that conservative pseudo-documentarian James O’Keefe is a fraud.

62,000 people with preexisting conditions would immediately lose health insurance without Obamacare.

Other recent Progress Reports

May 17, 2012: REVEALED: The Racist GOP Campaign To Smear The President

A Shameful Effort by Republicans to Divide Our Country A front-page New York Times story today exposed a shocking $10 MILLION racist campaign to smear the president that was prepared by GOP operatives and was merely awaiting final sign-off from a politically active right-wing billionaire. The campaign was to focus on the president’s previous ties to Rev. [...]

May 16, 2012: You Won’t Believe The GOP’s Latest Assault on Women

House GOP Passes Rollback of the Violence Against Women Act In a show of bipartisanship that is basically unprecedented these days in the dysfunctional U.S. Senate, the Senate recently reauthorized and expanded the Violence Against Women Act on an overwhelming 68-31 vote. (Unfortunately, 31 male Republican Senators still voted no.) Today, instead of passing this [...]

May 15, 2012: Do You Want a Repeat of the Financial Crisis?

JP Morgan Loss Shows Why We Need Tougher Rules On Wall Street You’ve probably heard by now that JP Morgan Chase lost a whopping $2 BILLION on a single bad bet in just a matter of weeks.  What you may not have heard is that JP Morgan, and its CEO Jamie Dimon, have been among [...]

May 14, 2012: GOP Doubles Down On Anti-Gay Agenda

Opposing More Than Just Marriage Equality Over the weekend, a top Republican pollster put out a memo urging Republicans to recognize the magnitude of the rapid change in public opinion about LGBT issues and start supporting a least some rights for gay people.  And today, Gallup reported that societal acceptance of gays and lesbians is [...]

Safeway to hero: you’re suspended


Change.org
                          Safeway suspended Ryan Young after he defended a pregnant women from being beaten — ask them to reinstate him now.                       
      Sign Doug’s Petition

C -

What would you do if you were in a grocery store, you turned into an aisle, and you saw a man beating his pregnant girlfriend? Would you run for help? How long would that take? Would it be too late by the time security arrived?

Ryan Young worked at the meat counter of a Safeway supermarket. Reports say that when Ryan saw a customer push and kick his pregnant girlfriend last month, Ryan stepped in to stop the beating.

According to the press, Ryan’s actions earned him praise from his local police chief, but not from his employer. Instead of treating Ryan like a hero, Safeway claimed Ryan should have called security and suspended him without pay while it investigates the “altercation.” Pending the results of that investigation, Ryan could be fired for good.

Doug Castro is a security guard who shops at the Safeway where Ryan works, and he believes Ryan did the right thing by intervening. That’s why Doug started a petition on Change.org asking Safeway to lift Ryan’s suspension and give him backpay for the income he lost during his involuntary time away from work. Click here to sign Doug’s petition.

Ryan says one reason he felt so compelled to intervene is that he’s an expectant dad himself — his wife is 5 months pregnant. “We’re expecting a child,” Ryan says. “I’ve been suspended for just about a month now without pay for doing something I feel was right, that police said was right.”

Indeed, local Police Chief Ron Langford told reporters, “In my mind, in this case Ryan did the right thing.”

The police have already turned over security footage of the incident to prosecutors so that the man who beat his girlfriend can be charged, yet Ryan has been suspended for almost a month with no income. Doug believes that if thousands of people sign his petition, Safeway will bow to public pressure and put Ryan back on the job.

Click here to sign Doug’s petition demanding that Safeway bring back Ryan Young, an employee who was suspended after defending a pregnant woman.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Tim and the Change.org team