Visit WomensHistoryMonth.gov to learn about generations of women who’ve made invaluable contributions to society.
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By KRISTI EATON
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — More celebrities are backing an online campaign to raise money so that Native American tribes in South Dakota can purchase land they consider sacred.
P Diddy and Bette Midler are the latest big names to throw their support behind a fundraising effort to buy nearly 2,000 acres of pristine prairie grass in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Three days after the campaign began, P Diddy tweeted: “Help save the Sioux Nation! Click here,” and linked to the website. Midler also lent her voice, tweeting: “Incredible story re the Sioux Sacred Grounds. Donate what you can.”
More than $18,000 had been raised as of Sunday afternoon — $6,000 flowed in immediately after P Diddy’s tweet. The campaign will last through Nov. 30, when the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation must have $9 million in order to purchase the land.
The tribes have raised $7 million so far for the 1,942 acres, which they call Pe’ Sla (pay shlaw), or “old baldy.” There are Sioux tribes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska and Canada.
The property is important to their creation story, and tribal members have long held ceremonies there. When the land was put up for sale, tribal members worried it would be developed because of its proximity to Mount Rushmore.
Landowners Leonard and Margaret Reynolds canceled a public auction of the property earlier this year after tribal members expressed outrage. The Reynolds then accepted the tribes’ bid to purchase the land for $9 million if they have the money by Nov. 30.
The couple has repeatedly said they will not speak publicly about the land sale.
P Diddy and Midler join actor Ezra Miller and hip-hop producer Sol Guy showing their support for the cause.
Miller, who appears in the recently released movie “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” and Sol Guy flew to South Dakota last month to film a nine-minute documentary-style video about the land that is being used as part of the online campaign.
Miller said the three days he spent in South Dakota learning about the land and the Lakota tribes was life-altering.
“From the moment I arrived to the moment I departed, I was struck repeatedly by an unshakable sensation that this land truly carried something unspeakably important,” Miller said in an email interview with The Associated Press. “There is a motion and a beauty out there in those hills that words cannot do justice.”
He said the fact that the Lakota tribes have done Sundance ceremonies on the land for thousands of years is a “magical reality,” and that America has erased too much of the land’s true history.
Sol Guy, whose TV show “4Real” airing on MTV Canada and the National Geographic Channel has taken celebrities such as Cameron Diaz to Peru and Joaquin Phoenix to the Amazon, said he has been busy sharing the information with his various networks to get the word out and is confident the tribes will be successful in raising all the money.
“My first hope is not to demand people to give money,” Sol Guy said. “If they can afford it, great. But I think what’s more important is that people take it in and learn the history and spread the word and have the conversations about it.”
Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who started the online campaign and appeared in the video, said he wants the celebrity endorsements to help raise money, but more than anything, he hopes it will widen the network of people who are thinking about the land and what it means for the tribes.
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whitehouse has uploaded President Obama & Prime Minister Shinawatra Joint Press Conference.
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President Obama & Prime Minister Shinawatra Joint Press Conference
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President Obama and Prime Minister Shinawatra of Thailand hold a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand. November 18, 2012
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Oct 19, 2012 by BarackObamadotcom
Learn more: http://OFA.BO/UFY1XF
President Obama has made record investments in clean energy, and refuses to let polluters play by a different set of rules than everyone else. He’s implementing new standards to keep our air and water clean and our children safe.
Under President Obama’s watch we have more than doubled production of renewable energy from wind and solar, while investing in over 15,000 clean energy projects across the country.
Mitt Romney would cut funding and incentives for clean energy, including ending the tax incentive for wind energy, which could cost 37,000 American jobs. Meanwhile, he would continue providing billions in subsidies to Big Oil companies.
By ThinkProgress
The third and final presidential debate took place in Boca Raton, Florida — the same city where Mitt Romney made his now infamous 47% comments. The candidates will be seated at a desk (like the vice presidential debate) with the moderator, CBS News’ Bob Schieffer.
The general topics of the debate will be:
ThinkProgress will be live-blogging and fact-checking the debate as it happens, but ahead of the debate ThinkProgress’ Ben Armbruster put together five key facts that everyone should know:
1. New reporting finds that protest against anti-Islam video played role in Benghazi attacks. Facts have been lost in the Republicans’ scramble to politicize the attacks in Libya last month that killed three Americans. It turns out that, according to the latest reports, there’s “no evidence” that the attack was ordered by al Qaeda and the attack grew out of a protest against a video disparaging the Prophet Mohammed.
2. Romney harshly criticized Obama’s pledge to send U.S. troops into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden. In 2007, Romney attacked Obama for saying he’d order U.S. forces into Pakistan to kill or capture bin Laden, just like he did in May, 2011. “I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours,” Romney said in 2007. The former Massachusetts governor also said in 2007 referring to bin Laden: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”
3. Iran is not enriching weapons-grade uranium. Iran is currently enriching low-grade uranium (against the demands of the United Nations), but Israeli and U.S. intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency all agree that Iran has yet to decide on whether to build nuclear weapons and enrich to the high grade needed for bomb. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the U.S. and the international community would know if Iran makes that decision and that it would take “a little more than a year” to construct a nuclear device.
4. Romney will increase military spending by $2.1 trillion, with no plan to pay for it. Romneyplans on increasing military spending by $2.1 trillion. One adviser repeatedly dodged questionson how Romney plans to pay for it while another said that Romney would maintain war spending indefinitely to make up the cost. CAP has charted the numbers:
5. Israeli leaders have praised Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security: “I don’t think that anyone can raise any question mark about the devotion of this president to the security of Israel,” said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. “I think under President Obama we have the best relationship on the issue of security. Never were the security [...] needs better met than today under president Obama,” said Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Be sure to tune your browsers and your twitter machines to ThinkProgress tonight during the debate to get all the facts in real time.
A complete timeline of Mitt Romney’s positions on foreign policy.
Romney’s biggest boosters are the architects of the Iraq War.
The voter fraud myth.
No, Mitt Romney is not rigging voting machines, but the GOP is waging a campaign to suppress the vote in Ohio.
Akin campaign doubles down on comparing Sen. McCaskill to a dog.
GOP Congressman questions whether or not selling contraception is even legal.
The gender gap is at an historic high.
Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State says restoring early voting is “un-American.”
Fully 84 percent of Latinos say they are “certain to vote” and President Obama leads Mitt Romney among Latinos by a whopping 71 percent to 20 percent margin.
by jeanfandrews
Deaf suspects are asked routinely to sign the Miranda Warning Waiver affirming they waive their rights. What does this mean? For the police and detective this means that the deaf person understands the six statements of the Miranda and read it with comprehension. When they sign their name on the waiver, this means they waiver their rights to remain silent, seek an attorney before questioning and so on. However, the deaf person may sign their name and have a different view. A deaf defendant who may read at the third grade or below may not be able to read the Miranda. They may put their signature on the document simply to appear cooperative. How can the detective determine if the deaf person understands the Miranda Warning? One way is to have a sign language interpreter present. This rarely happens. Typically, police and detectives relay on written communication and lipreading which are rarely effective for deaf defendants whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL). Two viewpoints–one from the detective or police and one from the deaf defendants. The police and detectives run the risk of having their interrogation and confessions of the defendant thrown out of court or suppressed if they fail to provide for a sign language interpreter. This is not only Federal law but is found in many state statutes as well. What is the answer? More education for detectives and police about the difficulties deaf adults have in comprehending the Miranda.
Ask KFC’s board to take real action to protect the rainforest.  Please email KFC’s Board of Directors today and ask them to cut deforestation out of their supply chain and keep Sumatran tiger habitat standing in Indonesia.  |
KFC recently announced the start of a process to examine where it gets its paper for things like napkins and chicken buckets.
This is a good first step and a sign that the company is starting to take your concerns seriously. But a process alone isn’t going to help save the 400 remaining Sumatran tigers from extinction. What we need from KFC is a global zero deforestation policy to ensure they won’t buy from companies like Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). And now’s the time to ask for it.
CEO David Novak will be the person responsible for whatever policy comes out of this process. It’s up to us to make sure he does what’s needed to save the Indonesian rainforest by developing a global policy that rules out deforestation.
And there is one group of people who can definitely make sure Mr. Novak does just that: KFC’s Board of Directors.
Send a message to KFC’s Board of Directors and ask them to persuade David Novak to cut rainforest destruction out of KFC products. For good.
To make things a bit more interesting we’ve decided to do a little promotion of our own.
If over 30,000 people take this action, we’ll host a livestream event for people around the world and dip the Colonel himself into a tank of one of his own sauces. We think the Colonel needs a wake-up call.
Every message we send to KFC’s Board of Directors matters. This is a critical time for the campaign and your support right now is crucial as the company begins the process of developing a policy. Please email KFC’s Board of Directors today and ask them to cut deforestation out of the company’s supply chain and keep Sumatran tiger habitat standing in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s rainforests are one of the largest in the world. During the last 50 years an area larger than Texas has been destroyed — logged, burned, or pulped — and its products shipped round the planet. Often for things like chicken buckets and napkins.
There’s no need to throw-away one of the most amazing, diverse places on earth.
For the forests,
Rolf Skar Greenpeace Forest Campaign Director
P.S. Want to see the Colonel dunked in a tank full of sauce?
Help us send 30,000 messages to KFC’s Board of Directors by taking action and sharing with your friends.
