Ilyse G. Hogue President, NARAL Pro-Choice America |
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Tag Archives: United States Congress
1.4 Million Americans : Want #GunViolence to STOP
Last Thursday in Washington, D.C., I joined 30 OFA volunteers and three
gun violence survivors as they delivered our petition to Congress with
more than 1.4 million signatures — including yours. It was an amazing
day, and a reminder that we’re nowhere near done with this fight.
What impressed me most on Thursday was getting a chance to talk with survivors like Pam Simon, Sami Rahamim, and Lori Haas.
You’ll see in the video that these folks have turned their personal pain
into action, and a force for good. It’s enough to change hearts and
minds.
OFA volunteers got a chance to meet with a few leaders in Congress, like
Rep. Mike Thompson, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, and House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who asked all of us to keep fighting –
and even gave folks a few tips on how to keep the pressure on their
fellow lawmakers.
Senator Reid even tweeted: “Today, we received a petition from over 1.4
million Americans who demand action on background checks. This fight is
not over.”
I am more confident than ever that, if we keep working and making our
voices heard, we can and will win this. The petition delivery was a big
moment — but it’s not the end of this fight.
Watch the video and please, pass it along to anyone else who should see it and ask them to say they’re in, too:
CARE2 : Sequestration , Red Meat and more
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32 men with intellectual disabilities have been awarded over $240 million in damages for severe abuse and discrimination endured while working for over 20…
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If you’re reading this, you’re probably a human. (If you’re not a human, for the love of Thor call me! We’ll win a Nobel Prize!)…
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Weve taken a look at whats actually happened in the two months since sequestration took effect.
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If you’ve been following Care2 lately, you know that too many helpings of red meat, processed foods and dairy products are really bad for your…
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Now is the time to make sure Congress and the world know why our mothers matter.
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Elizabeth Warren has proposed common sense legislation: allow students, who are typically crippled by loan debt, to borrow at the same rates we offer to…
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There’s a reason industry doesn’t love us
Consumer Reports tests your food for serious risks like antibiotic-resistant superbugs on meat, and pushes industry to change. Your donation this week helps us do more of this work, and your tax-deductible gift is matched, increasing your impact!
We’re getting under their skin.
Consumer Reports latest investigation — supermarket ground turkey, and how birds that can be routinely fed antibiotics have more drug-resistant superbugs on their meat — made industry nervous, and made Congress pay attention.
We deluged Congress with more than a quarter-million messages demanding restrictions on antibiotics in food animals. We stood up to industry when they tried to debunk our findings. And we ran a full-page ad in Trader Joe’s hometown newspaper asking the grocer to lead the way and stop selling meat raised on drugs.
Now we need your help to do more! Every $10 you donate this week will be matched with another $5 to help us do more groundbreaking food testing.
As an independent nonprofit, we take no money from industry or government, and have no agenda other than your family’s health. With 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. used by beef, pork and poultry producers so animals can tolerate filthy, crowded conditions, we’re at real risk of losing the effectiveness of our antibiotics.
Your tax-deductible gift will help to research legitimate dangers like drug-resistant superbugs in your family’s food. It will help us push hard to stop these unnecessary risks to your health.
Now, a generous donor has agreed to help us raise more money for research if we can show consumers like you care!Your support today counts more than ever before.
Give your $10 tax-deductible donation, and we’ll get another $5 to do even more work.
If you can’t donate, we understand. But please forward this to friends and family so they can get involved with this important consumer movement. And thank you again for all your support!
Chris Meyer, Consumers Union
Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
the Franks bill is bad for D.C. women
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As we await the verdict in the trial of Kermit Gosnell, Rep. Trent Franks and his colleagues in the House are quietly pushing a bill that could ban abortion after 20 weeks for women in Washington, D.C. – even if the pregnancy puts a woman’s health or ability to have children in the future at risk.1 It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots. A bill like this will block women in desperate circumstances from getting abortion care they need and could force women to seek help from dangerous, back-alley predators like Gosnell. Rep. Franks pushed this bill before, and we managed to beat it. He already has the backing of scores of other anti-choice members of the House and the National Right to Life Committee. pro-choice people like you need to make your voices heard if we’re going to block it again. Even if your lawmaker is anti-choice, we need you to speak out against this bill now. I’m really concerned about what Rep. Franks’ bill could mean for low-income women in our city. Congress bars D.C. from paying for low-income women’s access to abortion care – even for women who rely on the city for their health care. This means that low-income women must find a way to come up with the resources on their own, which is extremely difficult and too often delays them from getting an abortion early in pregnancy. These women don’t even have a lawmaker who can vote to protect their interests. So it’s up to us. Tell your member of Congress that banning abortion at 20 weeks in D.C. is dangerous for women’s health. Rep. Franks may say he is concerned about the conditions that would lead a woman to seek help from someone like Gosnell in the first place. But we know his true motives. Rep. Franks wants to ban abortion. Period. Franks’ bill contains no exceptions for situations where continuing a pregnancy will place a woman’s health or ability to have children in the future at risk. A woman would have to be on death’s door before a doctor could provide the abortion care she needs. Making abortion harder for a woman to get doesn’t actually change a woman’s mind. It only makes it more likely that she’ll consider taking desperate measures. I believe that we can convince enough members of Congress that abortion bans will drive more women to underground, dangerous abortion providers if enough of us speak up. Tell your lawmakers that the Franks bill is bad for D.C. women. Thank you for making choice real for all women,
Ilyse G. Hogue President, NARAL Pro-Choice America 1 – “D.C. Anti-Abortion Bill Introduced By GOP Congressman Trent Franks…Again,” Huffington Post, April 29, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/dc-anti-abortion-bill_n_3180578.html |
Packing and Cracking
Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), American statesman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Easter break is over for Congress so, let the name-calling and games commence because we all know that they are working for the people right? It is time to take Republicans onto the floor of Congress and wipe up the floor with their ideologies.
just another rant …
The things on my mind while Congress took nine days off; hopefully members of Congress have heard their constituents voices about Gun Safety, keeping ACA intact, reproductive rights safely in the hands of Women and their families, ending the Sequester, Paycheck Fairness, Immigration and Medicare/caid just to name a few. Lest we forget that Republican Governors continue to pass, ridiculous Family Values bills while squashing social service programs
I also hope the constant racial comments by people voted into Public Office, which, sadly is slurped up by people who seem to be listening and following like lemmings not only affects people of colour. It shows the World how primitive we truly are while our constitution, civil and human right achievements seem like documents and sensibilities with absolutely no value or power. The public needs to stay informed; elections suffice it to say have consequences. The fact is midterm elections are just as important as the National Elections … especially in years when gerrymandering or as they say when redistricting goes into full effect that lumps, separates, destroys diverse communities and robs some of their voting rights allowing more extreme tea party members onto the Congressional floor
In December 1975, the Congress passed Public Law (P.L.) 94-171. This law requires the Census Bureau to make special preparations to provide redistricting data to the 50 states no later than April 1 of the year following a census (so April 1, 2011, for the 2010 Census). P.L. 94-171 specifies that within 1 year of Census Day, the Census Bureau must send each state the small-area data the state will need to redraw districts for the state legislature.
P.L. 94-171 sets up a voluntary program between the Census Bureau and those states that wish to receive population tabulations for voting districts and other state-specified geographic areas.
Under this program, those responsible for the legislative apportionment or redistricting of each state may devise a plan identifying the voting districts for which they want the specific tabulations and submit it to the Census Bureau.
Beginning in 2005, the Redistricting Data Office of the Census Bureau met with state officials in 46 states. These meetings explained the timeline and programs available for the 2010 Census, providing states the time to prepare and allocate resources in advance of the census. The states also provided the Census Bureau with valuable feedback on census program planning.
The 2010 Census Redistricting Data Program is a five-phase program. During Phase 1 (2005–2006), the Census Bureau collected state legislative district boundaries and associated updates to tabulate legislative districts. This phase also included an aggressive 2010 Census communications plan, with visits to state capitals, to make sure the states were informed and prepared for the upcoming census.
Phase 2 (2008–2010) consisted of the Voting District/Block Boundary Suggestion Project (VTD/BBSP) in which states received TIGER/Line® shapefiles and the MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) to electronically collect voting district boundaries, feature updates, suggested block boundaries, and corrected state legislative district boundaries. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are voluntary programs that include a step where the state verifies the submitted data.
Phase 3 constitutes the delivery of the data for the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau will deliver the geographic and data products to the majority and minority leadership in the state legislatures, the governors, and any designated P.L. 94-171 liaisons. Once bipartisan receipt of the data is confirmed, the data will be made available online to the public within 24 hours through the American FactFinder. For this census, the P.L. 94-171 data will include population counts for small areas within each state, as well as housing occupied/vacancy counts.
After the Census Bureau provides the data, the states will begin their redistricting. States are responsible for delineating their own congressional and legislative boundaries and their legislatures. Legislatures, secretaries of state, governors, and/or redistricting commissions carry out the process.
Go to census.gov for the complete article …
Republicans on the floor of Congress continue to stall, block, scale down bills, and or add nasty amendments no one could vote for in good faith while providing misinformation and misinterpretation to the public any chance they can. We the People cannot afford to vote for politicians who put Political Party over doing the Peoples business; though Republicans would have the public believe it is in our best interest. Remember Speaker Boehner said his maim concern was jobs jobs jobs among other things… the question is how many jobs bills did Republicans bring to the floor, how many Senate jobs bills were rejected and last how many awful amendments were attached. Yes, biased, but I don’t think it’s in the best interest of Americans to side on the party of no; people need to make the effort to listen to what and how bills are handled by Republicans.
We need and must move into the 21st Century if we plan to get back on track and to do so Republicans must accept that PBO won a second term has earned the right to govern … Americans … 53% of us said YES to his ideas, policies and desire to move forward.
For your information or as wiki states, “Gerrymandering is effective because of the wasted vote effect.
So, what do Packing and Cracking mean to you …
- Packing opposition voters into districts (concentrate as many voters of one type -( maybe party&race ) means they already win and by …
- Cracking the remainder among districts where they are moved into the minority (increasing votes for eventual losers), the number of wasted votes among the opposition can be maximized. Similarly, with supporters holding narrow margins in the unpacked districts, the number of wasted votes among supporters is minimized.
The Etymology
First printed in March 1812, this political cartoon was drawn in reaction to the state senate electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favour the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists. The caricature satirises the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a dragon-like “monster.” Federalist newspapers editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry‘s last name.
Resources: Census.gov
and Wiki
Ask five friends to sign this petition
In 2009, my schoolmate Greg Robinson was in the backseat of a car returning home from a basketball game when someone with a gun opened fire. He died shielding his young cousins from gunfire.Greg wasn’t a gang member — he was a 14-year-old who wanted to play basketball. He was quiet and kind, and that year, he was the 28th student in the Chicago public school system to be killed.Since then, I’ve been fighting for common-sense gun legislation to honor Greg’s memory and to help prevent this kind of violence from happening again. I added my name to OFA’s petition to Congress demanding action on gun violence – and you have, too. Thank you. But our voices aren’t enough on their own. So please, forward this email to five friends right now and ask them to add their names, too:Right now, I live in Georgia for school — and last month I watched my new senators both vote against expanding background checks for gun sales. It was disappointing and disheartening. All I could think about was the kids back in my neighborhood in Chicago. We have an acronym: LIFE — living in fear everyday.
But bullets don’t come with name tags. No one intended to shoot Greg, or his little cousins. On your walk to school or on your way home, you couldn’t help but be afraid that it could happen to you.
That’s why I’m not giving up just because we lost one vote. As a country, we can and should make it harder for bad guys to get their hands on deadly weapons. To me, it’s just common sense.
Ask five friends to sign OFA’s petition to Congress to demand action on universal background checks for gun sales, and take one big step toward making our communities safer:
Thank you.
Ronnie Ronnie Mosley
Morehouse College Class of 2013
Superbugs in Turkey
Consumer Reports finds superbugs in turkeyIf you haven’t read our new study, you can do that here and get tips on how to avoid antibiotic-raised meat. And if you want antibiotics to work when you need them, tell Congress to stop the mass feeding of drugs to animals.
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Talk about making a difference!
Consumer Reports latest food investigation – this time supermarket turkey, and how birds that can be routinely fed antibiotics end up with more bacteria on their meat that’s resistant to drugs – is making waves.
Our findings made dozens of headlines this week, and got the food industry’s attention. In just two days we sent more than 150,000 messages from consumers like you to Congress demanding it pass a bill restricting the use of antibiotics in food animals.
And lawmakers are taking note. Says bill sponsor Rep. Louise Slaughter: “Another study, another confirmation that we are throwing away one of the greatest achievements in medical history: the development of the antibiotic.”
Join the movement to save our antibiotics. Send a message today to your Congress members to stop mass feeding drugs to food animals!
An astonishing 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used by beef, pork and poultry producers so healthy animals can plump up faster and tolerate crowded, unsanitary conditions. This daily use of antibiotics kills off those bacteria vulnerable to drugs, leaving immune ‘superbugs’ to flourish and spread to animals, the environment, and eventually, us.
Consumer Reports study confirms what other studies have found: Meat from conventionally raised turkey, chicken, cows and pigs – which can be fed antibiotics – have bacteria that are more resistant to antibiotics than meat from animals not raised on drugs.
Help us make this more than just another study. Push your members of Congress to take common-sense action to stop the spread of superbugs. Ask them to support a bill to preserve antibiotics by phasing out mass-feeding of drugs to food animals, restricting their use to sick animals.
Read our investigation and get tips on how to avoid antibiotic-raised meat.
We’re tackling this important issue on many fronts – including asking progressive grocer Trader Joe’s to lead the way and stop selling antibiotic-raised meat. Join us as we work together to make sure your family has effective antibiotics when they need them!
Sincerely, Jean Halloran, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
HCAN
Last week, Congress took rapid action to end furloughs of government air-traffic controllers that had inconvenienced air travelers.
That’s fine. But they didn’t do a single thing to end the sequester’s across-the-board cuts that are hurting more and more people every day. Nope. The GOP won’t budge unless it helps them and the wealthy special interests.
Let’s be honest: The only reason these Senators and Representatives acted so quickly is they didn’t want to be inconvenienced on the tarmac as they flew home for the weekend. They don’t care about the workers at the Federal Aviation Administration – just folks who can afford air travel.
What about the poor and elderly? Kids who can’t go to Head Start? Doctors and cancer patients who rely on Medicare? With the Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, they’re out of luck.
Health Care for America Now is joining the Campaign for America’s Future to tell Congress to repeal the sequester – all of it, not just the parts that affect the wealthy.
Members of Congress have heard from their campaign contributors who like to fly. Now they need to hear from Medicare recipients, from seniors who have lost Meals on Wheels, from parents whose kids can’t go to Head Start anymore and from health care supporters who want the Affordable Care Act to continue moving forward.
Write to your congressperson today and tell them to repeal the whole sequester.
Thanks,
Will O’Neill Health Care for America Now
