News & Action Alerts
April 28, 2008
Reminder
Seneca 2 Forum
Co-sponsored by the WVSU Political Science Dept.
Wednesday, April 30th, 7 pm WVSU Student Union
An Insider's Story
Veteran CIA Analyst, Ray McGovern
Ray McGovern is one of our country's most respected and informed critics of US foreign policy. During the Reagan Administration, he prepared daily security briefs for President Reagan, Vice President Bush, the National Security Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Cabinet. Later, he served as a senior CIA analyst and prepared the President's Daily Briefs for the first President Bush.
FREE TO THE PUBLIC AND FREE PARKING ON CAMPUS
From Planned Parenthood
Student by day, waitress by night, stressed all the time. And stretching your last $50 to make ends meet.
That's the life of a college student.
Birth control pills or dinner? Pills or a tank of gas? That's the decision college students and low-income women are facing around the country.
All because of an honest mistake.
You can help fix it. Click here.
This is one of those no-brainers.
A legislative error made the price of birth control skyrocket for low-income and college-age women. It was a devastating, unintended mistake, and Planned Parenthood started working immediately to help Congress restore affordable birth control.
From NARAL
What's the latest trend among teen girls? Unfortunately, it's not just Facebook or American Idol. It's the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases.
Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the shocking fact that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a STD. One in four!
Even as the teen STD crisis deepens, the Bush administration continues to funnel millions in taxpayer dollars to dangerous and discredited "abstinence-only" programs that replace lessons about birth control with lies about contraceptive failure.
Now that the House of Representatives has returned to pro-choice leadership, Congress is finally taking action and I hope you do, too.
Please urge your lawmakers to end funding for President Bush's reckless "abstinence-only" programs.
Hillary Clinton for President
After Iowa and New Hampshire, New York and California, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, it’s finally our turn! You can vote early in the Mountain State today.
On the heels of the our convincing victory in Pennsylvania, West Virginia has the opportunity to go out and vote for the one candidate who is ready to lead on day one: Hillary Clinton.
As a West Virginian, I took the chance to vote early today at my county courthouse, and you can too -- any day between now and May 10 at the county courthouse near you. Click here to view your voting location.
Hillary is in this race to win -- no matter who calls for a premature end to this race and no matter how much we are outspent. The people of Pennsylvania made their voices heard and votes count -- and now it's our turn.
We are expecting record voter turnout this year. Voting early is easy, convenient, and you don't have to wait in long lines on Election Day. You can even go vote at the courthouse on May 3 and May 10.
So between now and May 10, I encourage you to buddy up with a friend, a neighbor, a fellow church member, or a coworker and go to early vote for Hillary. Send an email to wvforhillary@hillaryclinton.com if you need a ride to the polls.
Women for Obama
The headquarters are open and volunteers are working tirelessly. Women for Obama are now up and running so if you want to volunteer to become one of the Women for Obama, please contact Allison McJunkin allison_mcjunkin@yahoo.com and she will plug you into the campaign.
She can be reached by phone: 773-318-7574. Sign up here and get involved. Make a difference in your community by becoming a leader for this campaign. Fill out the online form to stay updated on Women for Obama.
From the DCCC
You got a choice to make today.
Do you want a front-row seat to this year's historic election where Democrats finally un-Rove Karl Rove and put an end to the B-Rate Cowboy era?
It all starts in the Wild West in Denver, Colorado at our Democratic Convention and I want you to be there. Do you want to join us?
Well if you do -- all you have to do today is match your last contribution with a gift of at least $35 or more and you will automatically be entered to win tickets, hotel and flight to this year's Democratic Convention in Denver, August 21st-24th.
That's right -- all you have to do is give to the DCCC at least $35 or more and you are automatically entered to win. The more times you give a gift before May 1st of at least $35 or more -- you get another chance to win.
Enter the Match-It-By-May Convention Contest for a chance to win the DCCC's Attend the Convention Contest.
National Popular Vote
Newsletter no. 28 |
April 27, 2008 |
Vermont House Is 17th State Legislative Chamber
to Pass National Popular Vote Bill
75% of Vermont Voters Support a National Popular Vote for President
A survey of 800 Vermont voters conducted April 26, 2008 showed 75%–25% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
By party, support is 86%–14% among Democratic voters; 61%–39% among Republicans, and 74%–26% for Others.
By age, support is almost the same across all age groups. Specifically, support is 78%–22% among 18–29 year olds; 74%–26% among 30–45 year olds; 74%–26% among 46–65 year olds; and 74%–24% among 65-and-older.
By gender, support is 82%–18% among women and 67%–33% among men.
By race, support is 76%–24% among whites, 60%–40% among African-Americans (representing 3% of respondents), 57%–43% among Hispanics (representing 1% of respondents), and 67%–33% among others.
The overall results in Vermont (and the breakdowns by party, age, gender, and race) are very similar to previous polls taken in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, and Missouri and previous national polls. For example, a national survey conducted by the Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University showed 72% support nationwide, 73% support among Democrats, 60% among Republicans, and 73% among independents. These (and other) polls (and additional details about these polls) are available on our web site above.
Worker's Memorial Day
Today is Workers Memorial Day—a day to honor workers killed and injured on the job. Every year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are hurt or become sick because of their work.
It's long past time for workplace protections to be updated and strengthened for the 21st century. We need Congress and the next president to put the safety and lives of workers first.
Tell your senators and representative to act now and pass the Protecting America's Workers Act today.
To learn more about Workers Memorial Day, click here. And read the 17th edition of our “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” report here.
News for Real
Weekend Smiles Division
Can't figure out what's up with the economy? Subprime... credit crunch etc? This is as good an explanation as you'll get -- and it's funny too. Laugh through the tears at this video here.
No Surprises Here
Laugh of the Day: "McCain calls Obama insensitive to poor people"
Loan Industry Fighting Rules on Mortgages
By STEPHEN LABATON
One common industry criticism of the plan to put in place tougher regulations is that tighter rules could make many mortgages more expensive.
Pushing the Single-Payer Solution
By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate
Posted on April 24, 2008, Printed on April 26, 2008
As the media coverage of the Democratic presidential race continues to focus on lapel pins and pastors, America is ailing. As I travel around the country, I find people are angry and motivated. Like Dr. Rocky White, a physician from a conservative, evangelical background who practices in rural Alamosa, Colo. A tall, gray-haired Westerner in black jeans, a crisp white shirt and a bolo tie, Dr. White is a leading advocate for single-payer health care. He wasn't always. READ MORE >>
Worth the Read
Don't Call Me a Protectionist
By SHERROD BROWN
April 23, 2008
It's easy to play bumper-sticker politics with trade. But it gets us nowhere.
When Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton came out against the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) in the run up to Ohio's presidential primary last month, they also spoke about U.S. trade policy generally. They mentioned problems with China's currency, toxic toys and contaminated food, and communities wrecked by plant shutdowns and lost jobs.
But conservative economists and a lot of newspaper editors heard only "NAFTA" and saw only "protectionism."
Our country deserves a real debate on trade, not a debate where labeling one side protectionist is game, set and match.
The supporters of our trade policy rarely mention our exploding trade deficits. In just 15 years, our annual trade deficit has mushroomed to over $800 billion from $38 billion in 1993. With Mexico, our trade surplus evolved into a $90.7 billion trade deficit. With China, our trade deficit jumped to $250 billion today from about $22 billion. President George H.W. Bush once estimated that a $1 billion trade deficit represents 13,000 lost jobs. Do the math.
One country's deficit is another country's surplus. Our annual trade deficit helps fuel the growth of government-owned investment funds overseas. Free traders rarely mention these funds even as they proliferate.
Nonetheless, today, five governments control more than $2 trillion that they use to buy stocks and other assets in America and other countries. So far, the funds controlled by the People's Republic of China and the United Arab Emirates have been passive investors. So far.
Advocates of free trade rarely want to debate the fact that unregulated trade with China has recently allowed toys with lead paint, contaminated toothpaste and poisonous pet food into this country. We take for granted our clean air, pure food and safe drinking water. But these blessings are not by chance: They result from laws and rules about wages, health and the environment. Trade agreements with no rules to protect our health, the environment and labor rights inevitably create a race to the bottom and weaken health and safety rules for our trading partners and for our own communities.
But cheerleaders for current U.S. trade policy, while mostly shrinking from a debate about the issues that matter to middle-class America, insist that those of us who want more trade - but trade under a very different set of rules - are protectionists.
I guess it depends on what you want to protect.
Eight times I have taken an oath of office to "support and defend" the United States. My colleagues and I commit ourselves to protecting our nation "from all enemies, foreign and domestic." That includes protecting our neighborhoods from unsafe products. And, yes, that also means protecting our workers and businesses from unfair competition.
The Colombia Free Trade Agreement is being shopped around Congress by an
overzealous White House. Let's put aside, for now, the debate about rewarding a country that has done little to stem the tide of rampant labor abuses and human rights violations - including dozens of murders.
Let's focus on the merits of the agreement. Supporters sell it as a free-trade agreement, a great opportunity for American companies because it eliminates tariffs on our products. If that were true, the agreement would be a few lines long.
Instead, we have a trade agreement that runs nearly 1,000 pages and is chock full of giveaways and protections for drug companies, oil companies, and financial services companies, and incentives to outsource jobs now held by Americans.
NAFTA. The Central American Free Trade Agreement. China. Now Colombia. We have a pattern in our trade policy that aims to protect special interests, but betray our workers, our environment, and our communities.
Let's stop accusing one another of being protectionists. And let us agree that U.S. trade policy - writing the rules of globalization to protect our national interests and our communities - is worthy of a vigorous national debate.
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