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House Republicans just caused the shutdown of the entire government. Not only that, they did so because their priority is to deny healthcare to women and families, and because they want to let your boss decide whether you have coverage for birth control. Enough is enough. It’s time to take back the House from the extreme GOP and replace these guys with pro-choice Democratic women. Women who will step up, govern, and fight for policies that actually help women and families.
Luckily we have an opportunity to really put these guys on notice: 2014 is right around the corner, and we have an opportunity send these guys packing. It’s our time to take back the House. If you agree that it’s time to restore sanity to Congress, EMILY’s List needs your voice. If you want to help us fight over the next year to replace these guys with pro-choice, Democratic women, we need you behind us. If you’re fed up with the House GOP, and want to do something about it, you need to join us. 2014 may seem far off, but these House GOP Members need to know that their seats are not safe. EMILY’s List knows that early support for women candidates is critical. We have to be there for women candidates, right from the get-go. If we want to take back the House, we need to act now. Sign up to learn how you can help us take back the House, and restore some sanity to Congress. Thanks for all you do! Bob Fertik |
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It’s Time to take back the House….
Dear RALPH,
Outraged by the Government Shutdown
Ralph —
3,083,897.
Outraged by the government shutdown, that’s how many phone calls DFA members have pledged to make to voters in 2014 to defeat Republicans and take back the House of Representatives from Tea Party extremists. And the number is surging with each day the shutdown continues.
217,324.
That’s how many DFA and Daily Kos supporters have signed on to a petition asking 21 moderate House Republicans to buck John Boehner and sign a “discharge petition” that would force a vote to end the shutdown — and could prevent the impending debt ceiling disaster.
30.
That’s how many Republicans could lose their seats because of the shutdown, according to Sam Wang, a Princeton professor called “one of the best poll aggregators out there” by Paul Krugman. Wang’s analysis of recent polling shows that the GOP would lose the House “if the election were held today.”
Republicans made this mess, gambling on our future to force an ideological point that the majority of Americans continue to reject. Let’s make sure they learn a lesson.
Thanks for all you do,
Eden
Eden James
Political Director, Democracy for America
just like humans!!! Are you Smarter that a Monkey? Maybe Not.
Take action to protect our communities from nuclear waste!
Dear Ralph,
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Take action to protect our communities from nuclear waste! Leslie March and her mother in 1955 |
I first learned about “atomic waste” in my high chair; I grew up in the fifties in Washington State and my grandfather frequently had business at the Hanford Reservation (now the most contaminated nuclear waste site in North America). I remember my mother arguing with him about the dangers of nuclear waste: she was concerned about the health of the Columbia River; he trusted that the plant would be safe.
But my mother was right: the tanks containing highly radioactive waste are leaking, and the Columbia River is at risk.1
The reactors at Hanford are now closed. But when I discovered that another nuclear reactor (the same kind used at Fukushima) now operates within miles of the Columbia River, I was motivated to take action to protect the river, and began organizing in my community. I was dismayed when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently relicensed the Columbia Generating Station for another 20 years — even though they don’t have a solid plan for storing the waste safely.
Our records indicate that you’ve taken [0] Sierra Club actions with this email account — but this is the perfect opportunity to make your voice heard.
The courts are now requiring the NRC to have a moratorium on licensing until they do an environmental impact statement on the radioactive waste. Now we have a chance to protect the river by demanding that the waste be stored safely.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now developing new rules for the long-term storage of highly radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear reactors. These rules will determine whether or not your state becomes a transportation route for thousands of shipments of highly radioactive waste on super-trucks, or a storage site for some or all of the 70,000+ tons of radioactive waste.
We have a very unique opportunity to have a say in how our country handles radioactive waste from nuclear reactors in the future. If we don’t step up and comment, we will have lost our ability to protect our grandchildren, and many generations to come, from the deadly dangers of radiation.
Thank you for everything you do for the environment,
Leslie March, Sierra Club Nuclear Program Volunteer Lead
P.S. After you’ve taken action, pleaseforward a copy of this messageto five of your friends and family. Or spread the word on your social networks with the share buttons below.
[1] “Hanford Nuclear Reservation Tanks Leaking Radioactive Waste Underground, Governor Inslee Says,” AP/Huffington Post, February 22, 2013.
Fukushima Radiation, Global Change, Food Security and More: CSU Event Tackles One Health Challenges
FORT COLLINS – Radiation scientists at Colorado State University are the first representatives of an American university to have entered the shuttered exclusion zone surrounding the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan to collect samples of soil and plant material for analysis of radioactivity.
The investigative trip in June was a rare scientific opportunity after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 triggered a nuclear meltdown and release of radioactive material, causing the world’s worst nuclear disaster of the new millennium.
The sample collection – expected to take a year to fully evaluate – involved scientists from the University of Tokyo and Fukushima University and resulted from a partnership between CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and some of Japan’s top universities and health institutions. The project will be the focus of a presentation on Oct. 3 called “Radiation Risks and the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Measurements and Myths,” featuring two Japanese researchers who accompanied CSU scientists in the evacuated zone.
The presentation is part of a three-day conference at CSU called the International Colloquium on Global One Health, highlighting compelling research projects with problem-solving potential at the confluence of human, animal, and environmental health. CSU’s radiological work with Japanese collaborators is but one example of the burgeoning One Health scientific movement.
“The samples we collected are precious,” said Georg Steinhauser, an assistant professor in the CSU Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences and one of five people in the Fukushima investigative party. “I’d compare the material we got to moon rock in the field of planetology.”
Recent leaks of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi into the Pacific Ocean have alarmed scientists and citizens alike. At the same time, there are unanswered questions about levels of radioactivity in soil and plant matter, and the potential impact on people, animals, and the environment, said Thomas Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences and another member of the research team.
Johnson called the Fukushima calamity “the most important radiological event of the new millennium,” and its inclusion in the One Health colloquium exemplifies CSU’s collaborative teaching, research, and outreach on pressing international problems.
Much of this One Health work – on issues including global environmental change, infectious disease, business sustainability models, food security, and wildlife conservation – will be highlighted during more than a dozen panel discussions and presentations during CSU’s fourth international colloquium.
All the presentations are free and open to the public, and all are set in the Lory Student Center on campus. For a complete list of sessions, visit http://www.international.colostate.edu.
“The International Colloquium on Global One Health is a wonderful example of how to facilitate cross-campus dialogue on a critically important topic,” said Jim Cooney, CSU vice provost for International Affairs.
The CSU event precedes the second Global Risk Forum One Health Summit, set next month in Davos Switzerland. The summit will convene a brain trust of scientists and policy makers to identify urgent issues and interdisciplinary problem-solving strategies on the broad issues of human, animal, and environmental health; agriculture; and food safety and security.
“With its expertise in these fields, CSU is uniquely positioned to build a substantial One Health program and to make significant contributions to help feed the world while enhancing animal, human, and ecosystem health,” said Mark Stetter, an organizer of the CSU event who is a veterinarian and dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The annual colloquium is just one reason CSU President Tony Frank will travel to Washington, D.C., in November to receive a 2013 Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization, which recognizes excellence in integrating international education across all aspects of college and university campuses. The award is conferred by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
The colloquium presentations include:
Tuesday, Oct. 1
3-4:30 p.m.
• Opening Plenary: Global Disease Threats: Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites – Oh My!
5-6:30 p.m.
• One Cure: International Cooperation to Advance Cancer Radiation Therapy for Humans and Animals
• Why Global Corporations Care About the World: The Evolution of Sustainability from an Add-On to a Business Imperative
• Clean Water, Health, and Ecosystems
Wednesday, Oct. 2
2:30-4 p.m.
• Linking Human, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Wellbeing: The Care of Big Cat Conservation in India
• Health Impacts of Global Environmental Change
• One Health and the Built Environment: Healthy, Thriving Places that Leave a Positive Legacy
4:30-6 p.m.
• Global One Health Leadership: Research and Training Opportunities
• Food Safety and Security: The Sustainability Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People
Thursday, Oct. 3
1:30-3 p.m.
• Redefining How We Communicate About Health in the 21st Century: The Role of One Health
• Radiation Risks and the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Measurements and Myths
3:30-5 p.m.
• Concluding Plenary – Operationalizing One Health Globally and Locally
The International Colloquium on Global One Health is sponsored by the CSU Office of International Programs, Office of the Vice President for Research, and College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Reporters: Friday, September 27, 2013, Jennifer.Dimas@ColoState.EDU
Colorado State University Gustafson Gallery Features ‘Journey to Sustainability: Artisan Development’ Exhibit
| For Immediate Release Monday, September 09, 2013 Contact for Reporters: FORT COLLINS – A new exhibit in Colorado State University’s Gustafson Gallery features contemporary apparel and home décor products designed and developed using artisan handcrafted textiles from Guatemala and Peru. The exhibit, “Journey to Sustainability: Artisan Development,” features work produced by faculty and senior design students in the Department of Design and Merchandising and runs through Nov. 15. The exhibit opens with a reception 4:30-8 p.m., Sept. 12 in Room 318 Gifford Building, 502 W. Lake St.Cultural textile artisans in Guatemala and Peru seek economic sustainability through access to the global marketplace. The goal of many artisans is to produce income that will allow them to live in their remote villages and educate their children. The products developed for the exhibit are all examples of items which appeal to the U.S. consumer and utilize hand-woven textiles and embroidery. “One of the challenges for artisans is that they weave or embroider cloth very well based on their knowledge passed down for many years, but they don’t necessarily have the expertise to create products that are appealing and affordable. We are taking fabric that the artists have created and designing products that are marketable and sustainable, for example, wall hangings, placemats, framed art, apparel, pillows and jewelry,” said Carol Engel-Enright, faculty member in the Department of Design and Merchandising and doctoral candidate in the School of Education. The concept for the exhibit was developed by Engel-Enright and Bonie Shupe, senior apparel and merchandising and art major. Apparel and merchandising students Averie Floyd, Cori Hibbard and Geri Nichols-Park have also designed products for the exhibit. Engel-Enright’s research is focused on design entrepreneurship and social enterprise. During her doctoral studies, she traveled with a team of MBA students from CSU’s Global Social Sustainable Enterprise, or GSSE, program to Guatemala to meet with artisans and assist the weavers and embroiderers in developing their art into commercially viable products. Engel-Enright is co-founder of Vivodec, a new social enterprise in the New Enterprise Venture Accelerator in the Colorado State College of Business, with business partner Crystal Martin, a graduate from the GSSE program. Vivodec assists artisans with textile designs and then combines the weavings with sustainable materials in home décor products made in the U.S. In Guatemala, Vivodec partners with Maya Traditions Foundation which supports 180 Maya backstrap weavers in entrepreneurial development. Vivodec also uses hand-embroidered textiles from Maya women supported by Friendship Bridge which provides microfinancing and business development education. Shupe interned with Clothroads, a Loveland-based cultural textile e-commerce business. Clothroads creates opportunities for supporting indigenous textile artisans worldwide and has provided many of the Peruvian textiles for the exhibit. She was introduced to the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco in Peru. The center was established to aid the survival of Peruvian Inca textiles and weaving traditions. Shupe is currently interning for the center, teaching design fundamentals of color and product design to support the artisans in developing innovative products. The Gustafson Gallery is part of the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising in the Department of Design and Merchandising, College of Health and Human Sciences. The mission of the Gustafson Gallery is to foster educational engagement among students, faculty, alumni, and the Colorado community through exhibitions that exemplify creative exploration and scholarly inquiry in the discipline of apparel and merchandising. Gustafson Gallery hours are 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free. -30- |
Colorado State University Professors to Discuss High-Tech Archaeology at “Anthropology Connections”
| Contact for Reporters: Tony Phifer Tony.Phifer@colostate.edu Colorado State University Professors to Discuss High-Tech Archaeology at “Anthropology Connections”FORT COLLINS – Colorado State University professors Christopher Fisher and Stephen Leisz will discuss the rapidly changing face of archaeology and the use of modern technology in the search for ancient civilizations at “Anthropology Connections.” The 90-minue presentation, titled “Archaeology from the sky: Using LiDAR and other remote sensing data to better understand ancient cities,” is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in Room 103 of CSU’s Behavioral Sciences Building. The talk, followed by a question-and-answer period, is free and open to the public. “We’re really in the midst of a scientific revolution – a paradigm shift, if you will – as it relates to archaeology,” said Fisher, an assistant professor of anthropology. “For a very long time, archaeology was time-consuming and difficult, with a low probability for actually finding what you were looking for. All of a sudden, with the advent of LiDAR and other aerial technologies, we are well beyond the scope of where we’ve ever been.” LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) creates a three-dimensional point cloud that documents everything between the surface of the landscape to the top of the canopy. By filtering this point cloud researchers can essentially remove dense forest cover to reveal the architectural features and human constructed landscapes that lie below. LiDAR has only recently been used in archaeology of tropical environments. Fisher, working with Leisz, first used LiDAR in 2011 to aid in the mapping of a large ancient city in central Mexico, which had been initially documented in 2009. The city, part of the pre-Hispanic Purépecha (Tarascan) Empire, is believed to have held as many as 30,000 residents and thousands of architectural remains, including pyramids, roads, buildings, and the first documented ball court in the region. Fisher and Leisz are also part of a team using LiDAR to reveal lost cities and landscapes in the Mosquitia region of Honduras, long rumored to contain the remains of Ciudad Blanco, the legendary lost “White City.” For more information and to RSVP to the presentation, contact Jaime King atJaime.King@colostate.edu. -30- |
Amazing: People power beating the NRA in Colorado
| This is it, Ralph. Tuesday is election day in the NRA recalls of two Colorado Democrats and both races are neck-and-neck. Can you chip in $3 to Democrats John Morse and Angela Giron, the two Democrats targeted by the NRA, to help the get out the vote in these final two days?
The NRA pushed for these recalls. They flooded these races with big money attack ads, kicking in $350,000 according to their last spending report. They said that winning in Colorado would cause a “wave of fear” to wash across state legislatures nationwide—paralyzing any new gun laws at the state level. But then something amazing happened. The Daily Kos community stepped up and, with the help of 12,906 contributors nationwide, we’ve almost matched the NRA dollar-for-dollar in these races. Democrats are leading three-to-one in the early voting period, but election day turnout is expected to be anemic and both campaigns are getting ready to make their final get out the vote expenditures. Simply put, these elections could come down to just a few votes on either side. Help beat the NRA in their own recalls: Chip in $3 right now. Keep fighting, P.S. We have a chance to beat the NRA’s big moneyed attacks with two people-powered campaigns. We can send a message that America is ready for common sense gun legislation—and we’re not afraid of the NRA anymore. So please chip in $3 now. |
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Surgeon. Teacher. CEO. Athlete. Nurse. Congresswoman.
Dear Ralph,
Surgeon. Teacher. CEO. Athlete. Nurse. Congresswoman.
We are the women that help build America — and we’ve come a long, long way.
On this date in 1920, after more than half a century of fighting for our rights, the 19th Amendment passed Congress, asserting a woman’s right to cast a ballot.
We call this Women’s Equality Day. It’s a day to remember the long road we’ve traveled. And perhaps more importantly, a day to reflect on the battles that still lie ahead to achieve true equality.
Women in Florida still earn just 80 cents for every dollar men earn. We’re still fighting to stop discrimination, protect a woman’s right to choose, and expand access to affordable, quality health care.
There are many right-wing factions, in Washington and across the country, looking to turn back the clock on women’s rights. But I am committed to keeping this country on a track forward — and I am proud to have you on my side.
Thank you for all that you’ve done.
Debbie