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Want to get involved in Organic issues? Click HERE
CAUSES THAT REQUIRE YOUR IMMEDIATE ACTION
March 25, 2011
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I've been walking for the hungry since 1982. Hunger
is an issue that is very important to me and I've decided to get
involved! I am walking in my CROP Hunger Walk and I need your help. Thank you! Click here to visit my personal page.
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CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events that help children and families worldwide -- and right here in the U.S. -- to have food for today, while building for a better tomorrow. Church World Service works with partners to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice around the world. P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips Street, Elkhart, IN 46515 | 800-297-1516
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Pedro Gutierrez, an Arizona
military DREAMer facing deportation, has been allowed to stay in the
country for one more year. From Pedro and all of us at America's Voice:
thank you.
While we are excited for Pedro, it simply shouldn't take thousands of
faxes and an entire community to save just one talented and committed
young person like Pedro.
We're
collecting signatures for a petition asking the President to stop
deporting DREAMers. Well hand-deliver the petitions to the White House
and we want your name on the list. Will you join us?
Pedro is safe for another year, but we're already hearing about more
cases of DREAMers facing deportation in Georgia, Connecticut and
elsewhere. This has to stop.
While we'll continue to fight for the DREAM Act in Congress and will
continue fighting to stop the deportation of individual DREAMers, it
just makes no sense for the Obama administration to continue arresting
and jailing young people like Pedro who grew up in the United States and
consider this country their own.
Sign the petition now!
Thanks for making a difference,
Adam Luna
America's Voice
March 10, 2011
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February 24, 2011
Rally to Save the American Dream (Find a Rally near you)
Take Action
Call toll-free today at 1-888-218-5931 and tell your state senator:
You are a constituent who wants to see the Senate focus on jobs not anti-worker bills like SB5 that will move Ohio's economy backward.
Ohio's middle class deserves a full and fair debate on legislation affecting workers' rights and the state budget the voices of all Ohioans need to be heard on SB5 before it is brought to a vote.
Thousands of workers and community members converged on the Statehouse yesterday to voice their opposition to Senate Bill 5 and Gov. Kasich's assault on working families and the middle class but they were shut out.
Yesterday, the doors were literally closed to thousands who were rallying in opposition to the bill. And now, theyare even rejecting our emails. That's right: the state legislature is preventing emails being sent by our members from reaching our state senators and representatives.
Call toll-free today at 1-888-218-5931 and tell your state senator:
I am a constituent who wants to see the Senate focus on jobs not anti-worker bills like SB5 that will move Ohio economy backward.
The reason given for locking the doors yesterday? They were
supposedly "over capacity," but this argument holds no water.
It wasn't until Democratic lawmakers threatened legal action that the doors were opened at 4 p.m.
Sadly, this is just another example of the attempts to silence the voices of Ohioans who oppose anti-worker bills like SB 5:
- Because of the partisan games on the part of some members of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee, thousands of Ohioan who want to provide personal testimonials have been shut out of the process.
- Meanwhile, proponents of the anti-worker bill SB 5 have been given substantial opportunities to testify
today at 1-888-218-5931 and tell your state senator:
- You are a constituent who wants to see the Senate focus on jobs not anti-worker bills like SB5 that will move Ohios economy backward.
- Ohio middle class deserves a full and fair debate on legislation affecting workers rights and the state budgetthe voices of all Ohioans need to be heard on SB5 before it is brought to a vote.
In solidarity,
Working America, AFL-CIO
January 22, 2011
Banks seized more than one million homes in 2010 more than ever before. And millions of more families continue to face the threat of foreclosure. Big banks and servicers are not following the rules that require them to modify loans, and there is more evidence every day of their abusive practices and disregard for the law. Attorneys General and bank regulators in every state are now in the midst of investigations into the loan assignment, foreclosure, and modification process. What these regulators do and how they do it is of the utmost importance they have the power to require major changes that will prevent unnecessary foreclosures. But there will also be huge pressure on them from the banks to settle for less, and not make the dramatic changes we need. Write to your AG today and let them know that you and millions of people across the country are counting on them to investigate fully, and to demand solutions that will make a difference. The foreclosure crisis has cost the public billions of dollars, and banks and servicers are not complying with the law or with agreements they made to modify loans. That is why it is so important that the Attorneys General put in place tough new requirements: 1) Mortgage servicers must be required
to work with borrowers to modify loans, and no foreclosures should
begin or proceed while modification review is under way. Borrowers must
be offered sustainable modifications, including principal reduction and
lowered interest rates, and resolutions must last the life of the loan,
and take into account household debts and necessary expenses. The big Wall Street banks whose reckless and irresponsible conduct caused the financial crisis are continuing to act as though they are above the law. Please contact your state attorney general today to speak out for fairness and due process, and help prevent millions more unnecessary foreclosures. SAMPLE LETTER Dear State Attorney General Our communities are being devastated by the foreclosure crisis and the irresponsible and lawless activities of the banks that caused and continue to perpetuate it. I am very encouraged that you have taken on this issue and are investigating servicer and bank misconduct. Too often well intentioned investigations and enforcement actions end up not bringing the real, change that is necessary, and I hope that your investigation will not result in a slap on the wrist for banks and other servicers and a return to destructive business as usual. We need remedies that will help millions more families continue to pay their mortgages and save their homes, solutions that allow homeowners to once again build equity, and solutions that therefore help put our whole economy on a more sound and stable footing. 1) Mortgage servicers must be required to work with borrowers to modify loans, and no foreclosures should begin or proceed while modification review is under way. Borrowers must be offered sustainable modifications, including principal reduction and lowered interest rates, and resolutions must last the life of the loan, and take into account household debts and necessary expenses. 2) Substantial remedies must be put in place for homeowners who have already lost their homes as a result of bank and servicer disregard of the law. Our communities are depending on you for bold leadership. We need solutions that will prevent unnecessary foreclosures and restore stability to our communities and our economy. The stakes for our homes, our neighborhoods and our nation could not be higher. |
Sent by Americans for Financial Reform
1629 K Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 - (202) 466-3311
November 10, 2010 - update - the Scott sisters are free
For sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott, $11 earned them each double life sentences.
Jamie and Gladys were convicted of being accomplices to a 1993 robbery. The teenagers who carried out the robbery served only two years in prison. The judge never explained why the Scott sisters deserved such severe sentences.
Sixteen years later, the Scott sisters are still in prison. And if Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour doesn't intervene, they will die in prison -- all over just $11.
You can get the word out about this horrific injustice. Sign the NAACP petition to Governor Barbour asking him to free the Scott sisters:
http://action.naacp.org/FreeTheScottSisters
When the Scott sisters were put on trial, neither Jamie nor Gladys had a criminal record. But the presiding judge in their trial, Judge Marcus Gordon, has a history of racially biased rulings.
And now, their freedom is becoming a matter of life and death. In prison, Jamie Scott has lost renal function of her kidneys and cannot survive without a transplant. The Department of Corrections has refused to allow tests for kidney compatibility even though numerous volunteers have come forward.
Please, sign our petition today and tell Governor Barbour that 16 years is enough. Nobody should die in prison for an $11 crime:
http://action.naacp.org/FreeTheScottSisters
There is no dollar amount that can be placed on a life. I will not stop fighting for the Scott sisters until justice is restored, and I hope you'll join me.
Yours in the struggle,
Ben Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP
October 31, 2010
Remember Andrew Breitbart? He was the man who used selectively-edited video to paint Shirley Sherrod as a racist, to smear the NAACP, and to accuse the Obama administration of reverse racism. It was all a big, premeditated lie.
Unbelievably, ABC News now plans to have Breitbart participate in their Election Night coverage, despite his history as a deceitful operative who distorts, lies, and race-baits.
ABC's decision is a slap in the face to Shirley Sherrod, to Black America, and to everyone who believes in the value of telling the truth. It's unacceptable. It's why I'm joining ColorOfChange incalling on ABC News and its parent company Disney to drop their plans to include Breitbart now:
http://www.colorofchange.org/abc/?id=1748-378357
The video pushed by Breitbart showed Ms. Sherrod telling a story about how she once was asked for help from a White farmer, and how she didn't "give him the full force of what [she] could do" to help him, because of his race. In reality she was telling the story of how working with that family to save their farm helped her to lose her racial preconceptions.
Breitbart touted the video as evidence that the NAACP and the Obama administration tolerated racial discrimination against White people, saying that it showed Sherrod's "federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions." Breitbart's doctored video and false storyline moved quickly to FOX News, where on-air personalities called for Sherrod's firing. The day that the story became news, Sherrod was forced to resign from her post at the USDA.
The truth is that Sherrod was telling a 25-year old story about her work for a non-profit organization whose mission was to help Black farmers. Discrimination against Black farmers was rampant, and she described how she was first reluctant when approached by a White farmer named Roger Spooner for help (in her speech, Sherrod connects her reluctance to the fact that her father was killed by a White farmer 45 years ago). But after seeing that no one wanted to help Spooner, she worked to save his farm, and eventually became good friends with his family.
Once the full tape was obtained, it became clear what Sherrod was trying to do, and what Breitbart had done. But even after he was exposed, Breitbart refused to apologize, and continued to lie, as well as attack the NAACP and the Obama administration. Sherrod is now pursuing a lawsuit against Breitbart.
All this was actually nothing new for Breitbart -- this is what he does. Posing as a journalist, Breitbart promotes and concocts fake stories and peddles them as news. It was Breitbart who showcased heavily doctored video showing two people posing as a pimp and prostitute supposedly getting services from ACORN (among other accusations). Of course, once it had been determined by legal authorities in several states that the tapes alleging misconduct had been altered and the storyline was completely fraudulent, it was too late: ACORN -- which had a history of registering more low-income African-Americans to vote than any other organization in the country -- had been destroyed.
After controversy began on Friday about Breitbart's participation, an ABC spokesperson confirmed that Breitbart would be participating in the coverage. Then, Saturday afternoon, after criticism grew even stronger from inside and outside the company, the executive producer of ABC News Digital indicated that Breitbart's role might be even more limited. But ABC is still giving him access to their media platform and endorsing him as a legitimate journalist in the process.
We understand how Breitbart operates, but we expect more from ABC. Their decision to have Breitbart participate is shameful and irresponsible. It's important to have opinions from across the spectrum, but you would expect a news organization to at least try to make its platform available to those with some baseline of integrity. In this case, they've sought out someone who has clearly has none -- and whose shenanigans in the Sherrod episode forced almost every major news organization to issue retractions and apologize.
It's not too late for ABC to do the right thing. Please join us in demanding that they do:
http://www.colorofchange.org/abc/?id=1748-378357
Thanks.
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References
Sherrod: Andrew Breitbart is 'a liar', CNN, 7-22-2010
http://bit.ly/dwuqI7
Failing Upward: Breitbart To Be Featured in ABC's 2010 Election Coverage, Media Matters, 10-29-10
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010290035
Source: ABC's newsroom upset with decision to tap Andrew Breitbart, Washington Post, 10-30-10
http://wapo.st/amJMQL
http://wapo.st/cXlorB
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August 26, 2010
Please read:
HOW THE STIMULUS IS CHANGING AMERICA BY MICHAEL GRUNWALD
July 27, 2010
