Debbie Wasserman Schultz ..Dear Ralph

August 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Dear Ralph,

In 2005, Florida became the first state to pass a “Stand Your Ground” law, which justifies a person to stand and fight wherever they are, rather than walk away from danger. Since then, more than 30 other states have passed similar laws.

These laws don’t make us safer. Florida has seen the devastation that results from Stand Your Ground. We’ve seen families ripped apart and watched as the death tolls rise.

Stand Your Ground isn’t justice. It only leads to more violence.

Republican state legislators in Florida have agreed to “review” the Stand Your Ground law — but review isn’t enough. Right now, we have a chance to turn up the pressure on Florida Republicans to repeal Stand Your Ground altogether.

I’m joining with my colleague Rep. Carolyn McCarthy to spark a grassroots movement in support of repealing Stand Your Ground. Let Florida Republicans know that you’re with us. Add your voice to mine and thousands of others today. 

Eight years of Stand Your Ground has shown us the damage it causes to families. And it’s time for it to end.

Thank you for joining me.

Debbie

 

Filed Under: Gun Violence, Social Security, Supreme Court, The U.S Senate, Whitehouse, Women's Rights Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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

August 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

   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. 

 

Filed Under: America Economics, People, Social Security, Student Loan, The U.S Senate, The Voice of America, Unions, Women's Rights Tagged With: , , ,

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

August 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

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.

Filed Under: Food Stamps, Gun Violence, Medical care, OIL, People, Planet Earth, Social Security, Student Loan, Supreme Court, The U.S Senate, The Voice of America, Truthout, Uncategorized, Welfare, Whitehouse Tagged With: , , ,

Monthly update Hide Details From Ann Kirkpatrick Kirkpatrick For Arizona

August 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Dear WesterlyPost.com

Thank you for taking the time to read this monthly update. I want to keep my supporters

informed about what I have been working on – such as creating jobs and building strong

infrastructures for a stable economy throughout CD1!

Historic water-rights agreement 

In late July, I joined White Mountain Apache Tribe Chairman Ronnie Lupe, former Sen.

Jon Kyl and many other tribal and federal leaders as history was made for Congressional

District 1 when U.S. Interior Secretary Jewell signed the final approval enacting the White

Mountain Apache Water Rights Settlement. This was the very first bill I introduced in

Congress – it passed in 2010. It guarantees water rights for the WMAT plus $200 million

for construction of a new water system and an additional $78.5 million for fish production

, lakes, irrigation and other water projects! I grew up on the White Mountain Apache Nation

and my family had to boil our water on the stove before we could use it. So I know how much

it means to folks in this region to finally have safe, clean drinking water.

Student-loan rate compromise reached

I’m pleased to report that on July 31, the House passed HR1911, which mirrored the

Senate’s compromise legislation that restores lower student-loan rates and prevents

growing debt. This passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and it should help

students and families in our district and across the U.S.!  I’d like to thank all of those

students at NAU, U of A, Central Arizona College and across

our district who joined me in calling on Congress to act. Your voices made a difference!

Job Creation and Strong Infrastructures in AZ01

Job creation is one of my priorities because our district and state are still recovering

from the great recession, and we need to get folks back to work. I am committed to

efforts that create good-paying jobs so we can help revive the middle class.

We have already secured a number of important grants for infrastructure, education

and entrepreneurship across our district. These grants infuse our local economies

with critical funding that creates and saves jobs as well as builds a stronger

infrastructure to help these areas grow and thrive.

Here are a few examples of grants we obtained in July:

  • A $740,000 Rural Development loan for lodging rehabilitation in Pinetop-Lakeside
  • will not only save local jobs but create new ones in the construction industry! Helping
  • revitalize this hotel will help the local economy for years to come.
  • A $600,000 award to Northern Arizona University’s College of Engineering, Forestry
  • and Natural Sciences to provide scholarships to support academically talented students
  • with financial need after transferring from community and tribal colleges.
  • A $417,600 grant that provides funding for the Eloy Municipal Airport to conduct an
  • airport drainage study and rehabilitation of the taxiway.
  • A $136,590 grant to the Holbrook Municipal Airport to improve the outdated runway
  • lighting system to enhance the safety during low-visibility conditions.

Top 5 race to watch in the Southwest and first opponent

Things certainly are heating up on the campaign trail!

Last month, we were listed on Rothenberg’s ‘Top 5 Races to watch in the Southwest.’

Click here to read the entire article. 

We also got our first opponent, Adam Kwasman, who will be running in CD1 for the

Republican Party’s nomination. Having served for only a few months as a state legislator,

this far-right, extremist candidate is virtually unknown in most of our district, so let me

introduce him!

  • He is far to the right of Governor Jan Brewer and spent months attacking her
  • bipartisan effort to expand Medicaid.
  • He fought to keep tens of thousands of Arizonans from accessing health insurance.
  • He was the campaign manager for failed Tea Party extremist Jesse Kelly, who
  • famously said he “would love to eliminate” Social Security.

You and I both know someone like this is wrong for Arizona and wrong for CD1!

Thank you for reading through this month’s update! I want to keep you as informed as

possible. Please click here to follow my campaign onFacebook or Twitter!

Sincerely,  Ann Kirkpatrick

Filed Under: Food Stamps, Gun Violence, Medical care, OIL, Planet Earth, Social Security, The Voice of America Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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

June 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
“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

 

Filed Under: Food Stamps, Gun Violence, Medical care, People, Planet Earth, Social Security, Student Loan, The U.S Senate, Truthout, Uncategorized, Welfare, Whitehouse Tagged With: , , ,

The Bernie Buzz News from the US Senate 1984 in 2013

June 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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.
Filed Under: Food Stamps, Gun Violence, Medical care, People, Planet Earth, Social Security, Student Loan, The U.S Senate, The Voice of America, Truthout, Uncategorized, Welfare, Whitehouse Tagged With:

“Truthout” runs on a frugal budget The Truth is Not Cheep!

June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This is a news letter we like to read. We ask our reader to help them stay in business…Getting at the Truth is not Cheep or free..Please Donate

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Filed Under: Food Stamps, Gun Violence, Medical care, Planet Earth, Social Security, The U.S Senate, Truthout, Uncategorized, Welfare

On May 21, the U.S. Senate blocked an amendment to reinstate $4.1 billion for food stamps.

June 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
An Email Forwarded by Walkswithfriends.

Walkswithfriends, please join Daily Kos and the Campaign for America’s Future by signing our petition to the 28 Senate Democrats who last week voted to cut food stamps—demanding they put low-income families ahead of corporate welfare. Click here to sign.

On May 21, the U.S. Senate blocked an amendment to reinstate $4.1 billion for food stamps.

But we can’t just blame GOP obstructionism. Twenty-eight Democratic senators joined all voting Republicans in putting corporate welfare for a handful of crop insurance companies ahead of low-income families struggling to make ends meet, by voting down this amendment.

As House Republicans push even more draconian cuts to food stamps, now is the time to take a stand. Please join Daily Kos and the Campaign for America’s Future by signing our petition to the 28 Senate Democrats, demanding they put low-income families ahead of corporate welfare.

Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos
Filed Under: Food Stamps, Medical care, Social Security, The U.S Senate, Welfare
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