Dear the Honorable Joesph Lieberman
You have very clearly expressed your concren for the cost that have to the government, but as things currently stand, the cost to the people is unbearable.Medical bills are now the leading cause of bankruptcy in the country, in time when unemployment and underemployment are already sky high, and people are in daily struggle to keep their jobs and homes, we already need to worry going bankrupt, we should not have to worry our health and the health of our families, about having to wonder about the cost of keeping a loved one alive.
I don't care about thecost. I will pay any day to save the life of a fellow American, rather as i currently do to send people off to die. We need to take this step as a nation knowing that we have taken a step towards acknowledging that health care is a human right. I have heard complaints from my friends and family around the state, they will be very disapointed by your actions to block this,i will not vote for you in 2012, and will instruct all my friends and family to vote against you as well, We are Indepedants and will vote for any candidate who will gives what we want.We did not vote for Lamont in 2006, we voted
for you. You have already lost the democrats, and you are taking great strides to use your Independent base as well.
Respectfully, Keith A.Sutherland
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This is the letter that i sent Joesph Lieberman.... i will undoubtedly receive an automated email back...but you increase the chances of it even being read at all comment with the subject as "other"
You not need be as brief or as polite as i was...
Listen to Micheal Moore write your politicians..and call them every day (202)224
We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single grower can sell under our two item labels to less than $1 Million US dollars annually. This is our small effort to even the playing field between larger and smaller farms. Research shows that larger farms, particularly those with annual revenues in excess of $1 Million per year have a significant competitive advantage as compared to small family farms. Top 10 Produce LLC will invite socially conscious consumers to play a role by alerting the consumer that our brand provides a strategic advantage in favor of smaller farms, and by reminding buyers that we only license independent growers. 100% of our items have a transparency enabling barcode.
This item level barcode will be scanned by mobile phones to tell the consumer about the farmer, whether the produce is locally grown (including a map showing the location of the farm as compared to their current location based on their cell phone's GPS ), and anything else the consumer is interested to know about that produce item. Consumer reviews of fresh produce will be available to shoppers and chefs alike.
Suggestions are encouraged and welcome, so please share thoughts, concerns, criticisms and questions. We are listening carefully.We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single... more
Concerned to avert global disaster, the pressure group Climate Campers meet in the park to discuss radical solutions which include holding your breath to offset your carbon footprint. Will this prove to be too little too late, or does every little help?Concerned to avert global disaster, the pressure group Climate Campers meet in the... more
Workers Defense Project and community supporters gathered outside Cobra Studios in Austin to protest COBALT COMPANIES for the $20,000.00 in unpaid wages owed to eleven workers who worked on their work site at Cobra Studios Apartments.
In the context of economic downturn, where low-wage workers bear the burden of hard times, Workers Defense Project is calling upon Cobalt Companies to take responsibility for the labor abuses on their work site.
In October and November of 2008, Antonio Melo, Antonio Olvera, Fausto Elias, and 8 other workers worked for a subcontractor of Cobalt Companies to perform masonry work on Cobra Studios Apartments in East Austin. The subcontractor never paid the eleven workers for their work and they are still owed nearly $20,000 in back wages.
The Workers Defense Project has tried to resolve the issue directly with Cobalt Companies and their subcontractors. Cobalt Companies negotiated with PDL and agreed to a payment plan where they would pay $15,000 of wages owed now and $5,000 later. The agreement was drafted, the terms were all agreed upon, and then Cobalt Companies backed out.
Workers, advocates and community supporters urged Cobalt Companies to ensure that Austin development occurs in a way that benefits everyone in the community, including the workers who are building our city.
Cobalt Companies is a local residential and commercial building company that has 30 years of experience working on construction projects in Austin. They specialize in high-end homes, town-homes, and commercial properties that range from half-million to multi-million dollar projects, such as the Cobra Studios.
After much effort and long hours on the part of the Workers Defense Project, ultimately Cobalt Co. lived up to their legal responsibility and made sure the workers were paid their due in a check for $18,000!
This is a Z Graphix Production, Directed by Jason Cato and
Produced by Jeffry Zavala.
Gov. Rick Perry and employees within the state insurance building did not meet the typical sound of 5 p.m. traffic Wednesday.
Instead, some encountered signs adorned with criticism of Perrys policies, drums keeping protestors in rhythm and the voices of construction workers along with members of Austins Workers Defense Project and Californias Laborers International Union of North America chanting, Workers rights are under attack! What do we do? Stand up, fight back!
Project Director Cristina Tzintzún said the defense group organized the event in response to a television interview Perry had at a Construction Expo in late June, in which he stated that [Texas] has enough oversight to keep our citizens safe.
Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the governors office, said the issues scope is wider than Texas alone.
This issue falls under federal jurisdiction and Governor Perry expects the federal government will fulfill its role to keep Texas construction workers safe without burdening Texas employers with duplicative regulations, Frazier said.
According to a recent report by the project titled Building Austin, Building Injustice, 142 construction workers died in Texas in 2007, which is more than any other state in the country. The report also states that 50 percent of workers do not receive overtime pay and that 41 percent go without a rest break.
Tzintzún said that only 77 Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators cover the 10 million workers in Texas. The project states that the International Labor Organization recommended 1,023 investigators be responsible for Texas workers.
Elizabeth Todd, OSHA acting regional director, said the administration will be increasing the number of inspectors in Texas.
We want to raise awareness and reduce the number of construction-related fatalities in the state because we do have a high number of construction-related fatalities, Todd said. If there are unsafe working conditions, we are going to try and go out there and find out.
Tzintzún said the problem lies in construction oversight.
We believe there is a larger problem in Texas of contractors not being held accountable for safe working conditions on the job site, Tzintzún said. Its important that [the Legislature] steps up to the plate by ensuring people dont die needlessly on the job.
The protest also focused on the West Campus construction accident in June at the 21 Rio apartment complex where three construction workers fell to their deaths as a result of a scaffold failure.
Austin Police Department Lt. Mark Spangler said APD obtained a search warrant to investigate the incident.
The areas we are looking at are, Did this accident have a genesis? Spangler said. What caused that equipment to fail? Was it mechanical? Was it human error? Was it an oversight? Thats the full spectrum of what we are looking at.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation and APD will conduct interviews as well as an examination of all equipment used in the scaffolding. The warrant stated negligent homicide as a possibility.
Randy Harris, a member of a laborers union from Illinois, said he was protesting to make the construction worker case a national issue.
Nobody deserves to be hurt or killed at work, Harris said. We want people to be able to go to work, feed their families and go home.
This is a Z Graphix Production, Produced by Jeffry Zavala and Directed by Jason Cato.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
—Jack Kerouac (SPEAK demo – Oct 2006)
So here we are, waiting for the debate between Steve Best and Gary Francione. But the real problem with Francione and everyone who opposes violence or disagrees with Dr. Best’s defense of effective militant direct action is not just about their ideas on animal rights or animal liberation or neo-abolitionism; it’s about their idea of Freedom and the struggle to see it realized. Arguing that violence for animal causes is unjustified is like saying that all the illegal violent animal liberators are evil and should go to jail. In these times of the Patriot Act and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, in these times when corporate-state oppression is expanding globally, in these times when the liberation of a cow/pig/dog/chicken from a concentration camp is considered terrorism and the liberator subject to criminal penalties, whoever does not stand proudly to support this so called “terrorism” is against Freedom and is the enemy of the animal liberation movement. State repression is increasingly harsh, which requires fierce resistance.
So here are the questions: What do Francione’s pacifists believe about ALF prisoners? Are they guilty? What do they think about animal liberators and property destroyers? Should they be in prison? Are they a threat to society?
ALF prisoners are people inside the movement who went one step further (and got caught), risking their lives and freedom just to take the cause of Animal Liberation a step further. It is a duty to those who are a part of this movement to stand proudly on behalf of nonhuman animal liberators. Now more than ever, silence is complicity and everyone who is not clearly supporting violent direct action supports the state’s terrorist oppression.
What do all the peace promoters think about the Warsaw Ghetto? Or about the American Civil War for the liberation of slaves? Or about the struggle to break the back of Apartheid? What would the peace fetishists do if their family members were tortured, mutilated and tragically killed, just because someone considered them commodities? Would they try to educate the murderers? Well, all the imprisoned nonhuman animals ARE our brothers and sisters, and it’s our responsibility to free them by any means necessary, or at least to support those who do. If people argue that violence on behalf of people is justified but that violence on behalf of nonhuman animals is taboo, they are speciesists.
It is illegal to do a peaceful demo outside the house of a vivisectionist puppy killer. Philosophers are considered dangerous to the public and are banned from entering countries for lectures. There are animal liberation advocates imprisoned for just running a web site for fucks sake! It is clear that the global corporate state complex recognizes that its interests are threatened and that it is not willing negotiate on its “right” to exploit nonhuman animals to attain its bloody lucre.
So why are Francione and his dogmatic pacifist followers unwilling to accept that underground militant direct action is advancing the cause of animal liberation? If vegan outreach alone was effective, it would have been proclaimed illegal a long time ago. It seems that the Austrian 10 example wasn’t understood at all. Animal liberation is not only about going illegal...
full article at link! Read it all!Posted by thomaspainescorner on September 5, 2009
By Kostas Alexiou, the Greek... more
MoveOn.org is hosting a photo petition where they want you to use their materials.
MoveOn.org is supposedly keeping the DNC honest. (HAHAHA!) Let's keep MoveOn.org honest.
Ever the wimps, and always taking their marching orders from the DNC, their photo petition is in support of the public option, which leaves insurance companies in charge, mandates that we all buy insurance plans from the private sector even if we can't afford one, and still has us paying premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
Let's use their photo petition for SINGLE PAYER.
Here's the photo that I submit: image
So here's the plan: Make a photo supporting Single Payer, submit it to their photo petition, [see link] and then contact all the people on your lists, and ask them to do the same.
PS: You can totally use MoveOn.org's sign that they have available for you to print out. Just be sure to mention single payer.MoveOn.org is hosting a photo petition where they want you to use their materials.... more
PETTRY BOTTOM, W.Va.—Two people are occupying two treetops at the edge of Massey Energy’s Edwight mountaintop removal site above Pettry Bottom and Peachtree in Raleigh County, West Virginia. At 6:30 a.m., concerned citizens unrolled two banners reading “Stop Mountain Top Removal” and “DEP – Don’t Expect Protection” from their treetop platforms. They are perched 80 feet above the ground, within 30 feet of the mine, and within the 300 feet of blasting. Blasting is prohibited when people are within such proximity.
Nick Stocks, 25, and Laura Steepleton, 24, of Rock Creek, West Virginia, are in the trees. Kim Ellis, of New Orleans, Louisiana and Zoe Beavers, of Hurricane, West Virginia are on the ground below. All protesters are associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice.
“I am sitting in this tree to halt the blasting that endangers the residents of Pettry Bottom and Clays Branch,” Steepleton said. “The people of Pettry Bottom, Clays Branch are living below a land slide waiting to happen and the only barrier between fallen trees, mud, boulders and water and the Pettry Bottom community is a wooden stake and tarp fence. The DEP needs to step in and protect its citizens – not Massey Energy – stop the blasting above Petty Bottom, and end mountaintop removal.”
According to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health publication and multiple cases of citizen documentation, flyrock has been known to land a half-mile from blasting sites. Several homes in Pettry Bottom are within a half-mile radius of the permitted blasting area. A map available from Aurora Lights at http://auroralights.org/map_project/images/maps/hazy/Permitted_MTR_Mines.jpg shows the proximity of homes in Pettry Bottom to blasting on the Edwight site.
Pettry Bottom resident, Carol Beckner, has stated “Me, my husband and both of my children all suffer from respiratory problems, allergies, bronchitis, and really bad headaches, from constantly breathing in coal and silica dust and toxic fumes like diesel fuel and ammonium nitrates.” The tree sitters say they will not willingly descend until blasting ceases above Pettry Bottom, Massey Energy pays the full cost of healthcare and home repair for Pettry Bottom and Peachtree residents, and the Federal Office of Surface Mining commits to supervising the full reclamation of the Edwight mine.
Army veteran and lifelong West Virginian, Zoe Beavers states “I am on this mountain because I believe that every single West Virginian who is proud of being from ‘Almost Heaven’ should take a stand against mountaintop removal. I am here because DEP officials have failed to stop the blasting. I am putting my body and reputation on the line to do their job and stop the blasting. I served in our military so that we can all live in a country that does not exploit and destroy its land and people.”
This is the thirteenth in a series of non-violent direct actions and protests that have brought together Coal River Valley residents, NASA climate scientist James Hansen, students, underground miners, military veterans, concerned citizens and environmentalists from across the nation with the goal of ending mountaintop removal. This is the third protest in two weeks to focus attention on the WV Department of Environmental Protection and their embattled Secretary, Randy Huffman. It also follows days after the leak of DEP biologist Doug Wood’s memo on the scale of environmental degradation caused by mountaintop removal, directly contradicting Huffman’s statements at a senate hearing last June.PETTRY BOTTOM, W.Va.—Two people are occupying two treetops at the edge of Massey... more
During rush-hour commute this morning, two Indigenous Canadian women – Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, and Heather Milton-Lightening – scaled flagpoles in front of the main entrance of Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) headquarters in Toronto, dropping a banner reading “Please Help Us Mrs. Nixon.com” – appealing to the bank to pull its massive investments in Alberta tar sands projects. Supported by RAN, the Ruckus Society, and their Indigenous People’s Power Project, they were joined by dozens of Toronto RAN activists, swarming entrances to ensure every RBC employee heard our appeal Mrs. Janet Nixon, the wife of RBC CEO Gordon Nixon, to lend her strong and influential voice to those fighting to protect Canada’s clean water and respect Indigenous rights by pushing RBC to stop bankrolling the tar sandsDuring rush-hour commute this morning, two Indigenous Canadian women – Eriel... more
The quartet of Christians plan to hide in the 30,000 square kilometres of the Shoalwater Bay military training area near Rockhampton to disrupt joint exercises by the Australian and US armies, navies and air forces, involving about 24,000 troops.
[...]
In the early hours of this morning, the group, calling themselves the Bonhoeffer Four, stole onto the base, knowing that the exercise cannot go ahead while they are loose. They are aligned with a larger Christian group, the Martin Luther King Junior House Church, which is loosely connected with the wider Peace Convergence protest.
The group's namesake, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a great German theologian who was hanged in 1945 for supporting a plot to assassinate Hitler. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd identified Bonhoeffer as his inspiration in a major essay in The Monthly in 2006.
"Our faith is calling us to this," Mr Moyle said. "We have committed our lives to taking seriously Jesus' call not just to be peace lovers but peace makers, and to love our enemies."
He said he didn't know how many groups would try to hide. They had to signal that they were there, with balloons and beacons, which made it harder, but their hiding spot is the size of Belgium.
[...]
"The military are doing invasion training. They have built a model city inside the base with a mosque in the middle, which the Australians are defending against the Americans," he said.
[more at link]The quartet of Christians plan to hide in the 30,000 square kilometres of the... more
19 minute film endeavouring to capture the festive atmosphere and some of the colourful characters of the G20 demo in the City of London on the eve of the G20 Summit. By photohumourist, Paul Treacy. If you like it, please pass it on. Thanks.
Paul Treacy19 minute film endeavouring to capture the festive atmosphere and some of the... more
The Climate Camp arrived at the European Climate Exchange at 12:30 sharp on April 1st. This busy street in the middle of the financial district was buzzing with its normal activity when over 1,000 of us swooped into the city block, sat down on the road, and then quickly popped up our tents simultaneously. Shortly there after came out bunting, kitchens, compost toilets, instruments, and little sound systems – all delivered by bicycles. We did it what we said we would do (again) although people had told us it was impossible. The sun was shinning and we started a busy day of activity at Climate Camp in the City.
The camp was a means to demonstrate our extreme frustration with the failure of our government, and the rest of the G20 governments to address the real cause of climate change – our economic system. This system is dependent on infinite growth, on the production and consumption of more and more stuff, forever and ever. As seductive as this economic model might be for those in a position of privilege, this system is unsustainable in the long term. We cannot have infinite growth while reliant on a planet with finite resources. This economic model is unsustainable and being unsustainable means that it will eventually collapse; and while financial collapse is painful, ecological collapse is terminal.
And so the stakes could not be higher for activists setting up camp today at the European Climate Exchange, one of the global epicenters for ‘emissions trading’. Climate change is just one indicator of the multiple geo-physical limits that we are now hitting. These limits are creating multiple ecological crises. And so while there was poetry and music at the camp, there was also a full day’s worth of workshops on everything from ‘Trading our way into Trouble’ on carbon trading, to ‘Techno fixes’ on the problems associated with some new ‘green’ technologies, to the history of direct action and social change in the UK and beyond.
Around late afternoon word got around that the Royal Bank of Scotland’s windows had been smashed and there was trouble on nearby streets. Climate Camp had our own way of expressing our disgust with the inexcusable actions perpetrated by the Royal Bank of Scotland, with a credit card flier with chief executive of RBS Fred Goodwin’s name on it. When some of the so-called ‘black block’ spilled over to our camp, the police used a tactic of ‘kettling’ the camp to keep us all from leaving the block we occupied. No one could leave the camp at all for several hours until just after eleven. About 1am police moved in on the camp and removed the 400 or so campers who had been determined to spend the night. We may not have been able to stay the full 24 hours, and but we are pleased to say that we made space for debate on the most important threat to life on this planet - climate change and the fact that carbon trading is not an effective solution.The Climate Camp arrived at the European Climate Exchange at 12:30 sharp on April 1st.... more
A NASA climate scientist reckons direct action and protest may be the only way to make any progress in the fight against climate change as he says; doing it the democratic way "isn't working."
He said, money is speaking louder than votes in some democratic countries and governments are reluctant to rock the boat and curb carbon pollution.
Are policy-makers not acting urgently enough on global warming?
James Hansen reckons so and speaking to the Guardian newspaper, he added; "peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we're running out of time."A NASA climate scientist reckons direct action and protest may be the only way to make... more
Images from the day that 3000+ people shut down the capitol power plant for the afternoon to say yes to a clean energy future for all of us. www.capitolclimateaction.org
many of these photos taken by Matt Stern www.flickr.com/stern_mattImages from the day that 3000+ people shut down the capitol power plant for the... more
A reflection from an organizer about the VICTORY yesterday bringing thousands to engage in mass civil disobedience to shut down the coal plant that powers congress for the afternoon, sending a strong message for clean energy solutions to our twin economic and climate crises.A reflection from an organizer about the VICTORY yesterday bringing thousands to... more
we did. thousands and thousands of people converged on the capitol power plant, engaging in mass civil disobedience to shut it down for the afternoon, sending a national demand for clean energy solutions for all our communities across the country. thought it would be a fitting ending to Acting Up to see the victory declaration. check it out.
Its the morning of our protest, and there is a blizzard outside. People are asking if its still on. IT IS! Just means we tell our grandkids about trudging uphill in both directions in ten inches of snow....and thats one of the reasons why they live in a healthy and safe world, with clean energy, climate justice, and self determined communities.Its the morning of our protest, and there is a blizzard outside. People are asking if... more
Its the night before the largest mass-action to solve the climate crisis in history. Lets do this. www.capitolclimateaction.orgIts the night before the largest mass-action to solve the climate crisis in history.... more
FIRST VICTORY! House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced that they are going to convert the Capitol Power Plant off coal - so did we win? Is our protest still on? Where do we go next?
Watch for an exciting twist into the build up to the largest demonstration and civil disobedience to solve the climate crisis in history. www.capitolclimateaction.org
"Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, its a hammer to shape it." - Brecht
We're about to shape a clean energy economy in this country in 4 days with the largest civil disobedience on climate in us history, the capitol climate action.
Check out our arts space, with Greenpeace students making hundreds of flags, banners, and placards for the action!"Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, its a hammer to shape it." - Brecht
We're... more
