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

Is the Economic Well being of America tied to the Middle Class.

   The economic well being of America is closely tied to the American Middle Class. Without the income of the middle class America has begun its current slide and decline.

When did this begin? When we graft the economic history of the last 25 year side by side with the history of the American Unions it become clear how closely they are hooked together. Where there was growth in Union membership there was an equal growth in the Middle Class of America. And so it must follows where ever there is a trend in the economic health up or down so goes America’s total economic health picture. 

 Why does a healthy middle class closely follow the growth of the American Union? The largest percentage of the American Middle Class was known to be Union members. And a huge percentage of small businesses were started by Union workers had earned higher pay and benefits until they had enough money and good credit to start those small business.

When we the American’s people began to buy into the notion that Unions were hurting America, we also believer those right to work laws were causing wages to stagnate. Nothing was further from the truth.  Twenty to twenty-five years passed and very few employees have gotten an increase in wages and most worker have lost ground and lost health package. We began to decline in mass.  It was always held over your head that: “Employer could always find someone to take you job and work for less” While we were being  told that “right to work laws” would be help us all get higher paying jobs with the notion that “more profit meant more jobs”. Right to work laws only helped the American people begin the slow protracted slide into the current decline that again is headed in the direction of Americas living under a Feudal economic system exactly like the dark ages of Europe.

Now we understand that Trickle Down theory so wonderfully talked about by the wealthy has turned out to be another nail in the coffin heads down the fast tracks to the hole we are in now.

Why didn’t we understand that it was the unions that built the middle class by fighting for a living wage; let’s not forget about weekends off, a 40 hour work week, a total health benefits package and much more. Unions put an end to many forms of discrimination and help create a safer work place.  In hind sight paying union dues was not such a burden as it is was a total benefit package. In hind sight it all is so simple to understand. We now work for less and get less Wages went down or stayed stagnant and profits sky rocketed while the Middle Class all those people that did the actual work that built this country paid the bulk of taxes. Jobs that pay a living wage always turn into more spendable cash which makes the America economy work. 

 

Westerly Post Wants You to Sample our Favorite Blog – Truthout!

Truthout

Life at Louisiana’s Toxic Sinkhole: An Eco-Disaster Continues With No End in Sight

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: A year after a toxic sinkhole caused by one of Texas Brine’s salt caverns either drove neighborhood homeowners in Louisiana out of their houses or left them with ongoing health issues, citizens come to grips with a never-ending eco-disaster and a company planning to expand operations.

Read the Article

The Courage of Bradley Manning Will Inspire Others to Seize Their Moment of Truth

John Pilger, Truthout: The achievements of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and the remarkable young people of WikiLeaks, are unparalleled in their ability to inspire a future generation of truth-tellers.

Read the Article

State-Sanctioned Rape in Texas: Business as Usual

Candice Bernd, Truthout: From police officers performing illegal body cavity searches on women to rape and sexual assault in county jails and prisons, it’s clear that misogyny is running rampant in Texas law enforcement.

Read the Article

If a Business Won’t Pay a Living Wage, It Shouldn’t Exist

The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program: “A living wage isn’t just something corporations owe their workers, it’s something corporations owe America. If a corporation won’t pay a living wage, then it shouldn’t have the right to exist. Period. End of story.”

Read the Article

Broad US Terror Alert Mystifies Experts; “It’s Crazy Pants,” One Says

Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers: Counterterrorism experts are questioning recent security measures that US officials are enacting in an incongruous set of nations.

Read the Article

The Missing Discourse in Immigration Reform

Erika L. Sánchez, Truthout: The immigration reform bills presently under consideration ignore how US policy has caused Mexican immigration and the economic benefits of making citizenship more easily accessible.

Read the Article

Judges’ “Mitigation of Damages” Doctrine Harms Injured Employees

Ellen Dannin and Ann Hodges, Truthout: Judicial amendment of the NLRA violates public and personal rights by denying wrongfully fired employees remedies to make them whole.

Read the Article

On the News With Thom Hartmann: One in Eight Are Defaulting on Their Student Loans, and More

In today’s On the News segment: ALEC is holding its annual conference in Chicago; one in every eight who have taken out student loans are in default on their debt; Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott is preparing to kick minority voters off the voter rolls; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

The Third Carbon Age: Don’t for a Second Imagine We’re Heading for an Era of Renewable Energy

Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch: For all President Obama’s talk of a green technology revolution, we remain deeply entrenched in a world dominated by fossil fuels.

Read the Article

Egypt Under Empire: Dancing Between Dictatorship and Democracy

Andrew Gavin Marshall, The Hampton Institute: Real democracy in the Arab world is not in the American interest.

Read the Article

Protesters Condemn ALEC’s Push to Privatize Public Education

Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network: Six people were arrestedMonday when protesters descended upon the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago to push back against the impending visit of ALEC.

Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change by Salon.com

Few people can explain gas and oil drilling with as much authority as Louis W. Allstadt. As an executive vice president of Mobil Oil who ran the company’s exploration and production operations in the western hemisphere before he retired in 2000. In 31 years with the company he also was in charge of its marketing and refining in Japan, and managed its worldwide supply, trading and transportation operations. Just before retiring, he oversaw Mobil’s side of its merger with Exxon, creating the world’s largest corporation  Go to Salon.com to read full story.http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6694/p/salsa/web/tellafriend/public/?tell_a_friend_KEY=8848  Ellen Cantarow, Truthout: Louis Allstadt was the executive vice president of Mobil Oil Corporation for 31 years. Now the former big oil advocate is speaking out about the dangers of fracking. Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change

“House votes to resume deporting young DREAM Act immigrants” — Fox News, 6/6/2013

“House votes to resume deporting young DREAM Act immigrants” — Fox News, 6/6/2013

Dear Ralph,

We’re in the middle of the immigration reform debate in Washington, and the opening act by extreme House Republicans is to vote in favor of deporting 1.36 million children and young adults who call America home.*

We call these kids “DREAMers” after the proposed law, the DREAM Act, that would give them a shot at becoming a citizen of the only country they’ve ever called home. They were brought to this country by their parents when they were very young. Most of them don’t remember living anywhere else.

America truly is their home — and Republicans want to deport them. 

It is outrageous for us to punish DREAMers for choices their parents made decades ago. These kids are full of potential, but forced to live in the shadows because of their undocumented status. They deserve the chance to earn their citizenship by contributing to our communities.

When you boil it down, this fight is about keeping families together. I will keep fighting for the DREAM Act to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform package.

Thanks for reading, and for fighting alongside me on this important issue.

Debbie

 

The Bernie Buzz News from the US Senate 1984 in 2013

The Bernie Buzz - News From the US
 Senate
June 22, 2013
1984
1984
The National Security Agency secretly obtained telephone and Internet records on millions of innocent Americans using a controversial law called the USA Patriot Act. Bernie was among a small minority of House members who voted against the law in 2001. Now that the secret is out about the staggering scope of the surveillance, he wants Congress to reconsider what it did. Under Bernie’s “Restore Our Privacy Act,” authorities would have to establish a reasonable suspicion based on specific information to secure court approval to monitor a specific suspect. “We can effectively combat terrorism without sacrificing the civil liberties and constitutional protections which make us a free nation,” he said. “I believe that most Americans do not want to live in an Orwellian society where everything you do is recorded.”
Jobs, Not
 Jail Jobs, Not JailSenate leaders on Friday agreed to add a Bernie provision to an immigration reform bill that would put young Americans to work through summer and year-round jobs programs. Bernie argued that getting young Americans off the streets and into jobs was the least Congress should do in a bill that allows college students from around the world to take jobs that young Americans would otherwise perform. “Let us put our young people into jobs, not into jails,” he said.
Help for
 Seniors and Taxpayers Help for Seniors and TaxpayersBernie chaired a hearing Wednesday of his Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging on how programs like Meals on Wheels not only reduce hunger and poverty among seniors but cut Medicare and Medicaid outlays for much more expensive nursing home and hospital care. “The simple truth is that we can feed a senior for an entire year for the cost of one day in a hospital,” he said. Bernie is helping to lead the fight to significantly increase funds for the Older Americans Act.

A Lover’s Spat Set to the Lyrics of 17 Beatles Songs

A Lover’s Spat Set to the Lyrics of 17 Beatles Songs

Posted: 22 Jun 2013 12:35 AM PDT

Those of us who spent hours sitting in front of the record player with our dads’ Radio Shack recorders, striving to duplicate the hilarity of Dickie Goodman’s novelty hit 1975 “Mr. Jaws,” will find much to appreciate in the staged spat above.

Musical pranksters Collective Cadenza raided the Beatles’ catalogue for seventeen songs to drive the narrative of a suspicious wife confronting her philandering husband. Which hussy sent him that passionate text? Lady MadonnaJuliaMichelleEleanor Rigby seems to have more comic potential than a tired ageist dig, and given their high production values, I’m mystified that the creators shied away from hiring a realistically hot plumber.

Perhaps I’m over-thinking things. It’s a lark, that’s all. Don’t expect Shakespeare, and you won’t lose sleep wondering why they failed to include “;I Am the Walrus.”

Related Content:

Peter Sellers Reads The Beatles’ “She Loves You” in Four Different Accents

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza and Other Misheard Lyrics for Your Listening Pleasure

Ayun Halliday had a girlish crush on Paul, then switched to George, before wising up and going with John. Follow her @AyunHalliday

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