Financial Crisis Relief programs to break even & saved the Automakers!!!

U.S. government programs designed to stem the financial crisis starting in 2008 will break even in the long term.

Republicans in Congress have criticized the bailouts, which started under Bush in 2008 and continued under President Barack Obama starting in 2009. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney supported aid for banks while opposing help for automakers.

Priorities USA !!!!

We believe the stakes for protecting our country’s core values have never been higher.   

Any agenda that rewards only the wealthiest few Americans at the expense of middle class Americans is UNAMERICAN...

• Jobs and the Economy: We support meaningful job legislation that will build the foundation for our future prosperity by investing in infrastructure, clean energy and American innovation.
• Taxes: We oppose the “Romney Rule” whereby millionaires pay a lower tax rate than many middle class Americans. We believe tax cuts should not favor corporations, millionaires and billionaires, placing a crushing burden on the American middle class. 
• The Judiciary: With two possible Supreme Court appointments at stake, we cannot afford a Republican president who will appoint leaders with an anti-choice, anti-gay rights and anti-middle class agenda.
• Income Inequality: We oppose the permanent extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and support economic policies rooted in fairness and opportunity.
• Education: We believe education is the most essential investment in our future. We oppose efforts to slash America’s commitment to its future by gutting education. We support policies that strengthen our public schools, support community colleges and make higher education affordable for the daughters and sons of all working Americans.
• Health Care: We support the Affordable Care Act and oppose attempts to repeal it. We support the requirement that health insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions. We support allowing parents to carry coverage of their adult children until age 26. We support shrinking the “Donut Hole” for prescription drug costs, and the other consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act, and will oppose efforts to roll back these hard-won consumer protections.
• Medicare: We believe in strengthening the existing Medicare system, and staunchly oppose the proposed Republican destruction of the system outlined in the Republican/Ryan budget.
• Right to Choose: With the Republican effort to defund assistance at the federal level, we stand for continuing the program which provides critical health services for women across the country.
• Environment: We believe that protection of our air, our water, our Earth is a national priority that requires a national commitment. We oppose the radical right-wing agenda to abolish the E.P.A. and allow corporate polluters to write their own rules of the road. We oppose giving big oil tax subsidies and oppose allowing oil companies to drill in America’s most precious and fragile ecosystems.
• Climate Change: We believe in science. We therefore accept and embrace the overwhelming international scientific consensus that the earth’s climate is warming and that human-generated pollution is a central cause. We support efforts to limit the pollution that causes global warming.
• Energy: Republican energy policies left Americans more dependent than ever on Middle East Oil, while allowing our lead in clean energy technology to erode and, in some cases, even disappear. We are committed to energy independence. We are committed to clean energy. We are committed to American leadership in the clean energy jobs of the future.
• Social Security: We oppose the Republican-proposed privatization of the system, which would make it far less sound and secure for future generations. We believe in strengthening the current system by reform in a sustainable fashion.
• LGBT Issues: We believe in freedom, in equality, in dignity for all Americans. We vigorously oppose divisive right-wing attempts to divide the American family and to besmirch the Constitution with amendments that would single out gay Americans for discrimination. We support gay and lesbian service members who risk their lives for our freedom, and we oppose any attempt to discriminate against them by reinstating “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

Hong Kong....time for a great leap forward => Democracy

Leung Chun-ying, a former property surveyor, pledged to address Hong Kong’s wealth gap and demands for universal suffrage as the city’s next chief executive after winning a poll in which only one in 5,900 people could vote. 

A 1,193-member panel of Hong Kong billionaires, academics and professionals chose Leung over two other candidates to lead the city for the next five years. Crowds outside the election venue protested the lack of democracy in the former British colony, with one waving the colonial-era flag and others holding signs opposing China’s ruling Communist Party. 

Leung, 57, will help shape the city’s economy and relationship with China through 2017, when Beijing has pledged to allow Hong Kong to elect its own leaders. He must also address anger over rising living costs spawned by an influx of money from mainland China and surging property prices that have made Hong Kong the world’s most expensive place to buy a home. 

“Rule of law, human rights, integrity, lack of corruption and press freedom are all part of our life,” Leung told reporters after his selection. “This election has helped build a foundation for universal suffrage in 2017.”

USA: The People Win Today!!! Congress fought for their constituents' interests.

Today, the U.S. Senate voted on a number of bills that will have tremendous impacts for America's wildlife. Thanks to advocates like you who have been keeping the pressure on Congress to fight for their constituents' interests instead of Big Oil’s, we are happy to be able to report some big wins for wildlife today:

* Keystone XL Pipeline: REJECTED!
This amendment would have overturned President Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline--bypassing the environmental review process and giving Congress unprecedented authority to hand out a permit for this dangerous project. The pipeline would put endangered whooping cranes and critical resources at risk of toxic oil spills and drive a rapid expansion of habitat-destroying tar sands operations that could put the lives of thousands of wolves and other wildlife at risk. 

* RESTORE Act: PASSED!
The RESTORE Act ensures that Clean Water Act penalties collected from those responsible for the BP oil disaster be dedicated to Gulf Coast restoration--a big win for brown pelicans and other wildlife impacted by the spill. This historic amendment also includes significant authorization and funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the National Endowment for the Oceans, both essential programs to protect key wildlife habitat and natural resources. 

* Arctic Drilling: REJECTED!
This amendment would have opened new leases for oil and gas drilling in pristine Arctic wilderness--putting ringed seals at needless risk of potential oil disasters, while boosting Big Oil's billions of dollars in profits. It would have also drastically expanded offshore drilling into vast new areas of our coastline, including the Atlantic Ocean, the California Coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico and Bristol Bay in Alaska. 

Thanks to all of you that sent messages, made calls, and spread the word to your friends over the last month--your voices for wildlife were heard loud and clear!

Judicial Nominations at critical decision point; act now to ensure our Democracy works with three strong branches of government!!!

It is clear from recent cases that no matter the issue—health care, immigration, environment, marriage equality, consumer protections, ethics—the judiciary will continue to play an increasingly important role in the lives of hardworking Americans as well as in the success of the progressive legislative agenda. Every issue progressives fight for ends up in the courts. If you’re a progressive and you care about any progressive issue, who is on the courts matters to you.  

Current Nominations Battle
More than half of the U.S. population currently lives in a community with a courtroom vacancy. Today there are 20 judicial nominees who are awaiting a simple up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate.  Unfortunately, most of these nominees have been waiting months for a vote, with the judicial work of the American people going undone. These 20 nominees:

Enjoy broad Democratic and Republican support:

• 13 were approved unanimously by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee
• 5 received with just one “no” vote
• 2 were approved on party line votes

Would fill court vacancies in communities across the entire country:

• 10 of the 20 would fill a “judicial emergency
• 10 are represented by states with at least one Republican Senator

Are diverse:

• 9 are women
• 10 are minorities (2 Hispanic, 4 African American, 3 Asian American, 1 gay)

Have been waiting far longer for a vote than any previous nominees:

• At this point in George W. Bush’s term, Circuit Court nominees waited an average of 28 days from Committee approval to Senate vote. President Obama’s nominees have waited an average of 139 days.
• At this point in George W. Bush’s term, District Court nominees waited an average of 22 days from Committee approval to Senate vote. President Obama’s nominees have waited an average of 100 days.

Key Message Points:
Americans must have equal access to a fair hearing in court, and obstruction by Republicans is preventing that from happening.

• Unprecedented republican obstruction in Washington has left us with over 80 vacancies on the federal courts, leading to a backlog of cases that undermines our system of justice and makes it impossible for most Americans to have their case heard in a timely manner.
• The Senate is failing in its Constitutional duty to advice and consent to nominees to fill the nation’s courtrooms.
• It is time to put aside the partisan bickering, get rid of the anonymous ‘holds’ that Senators can place on a judicial appointment, and fill these critical vacancies so Americans can have their voice heard in court.

Americans want a system (including the judiciary) that works fairly for everyone and not just the already privileged few.

• Americans don’t like a system (especially a court system) where corporations and the wealthy have better access and a different set of rules to play by than everybody else. Instead they want a system where everyone can get a fair shake.
• Americans – across the political spectrum and across the income spectrum – consistently say that “having the laws apply equally to everyone” is the most important right included in the Constitution, and the right that’s most at risk today.

For more information and materials on Judicial Nominations - please feel free to visit the websites below.

Alliance for Justice | Judicial Selection Project

Center for American Progress | Legal Progress

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights | Judicial Nominations

People for the American Way | Fair and Just Courts

National Council of Jewish Women | BenchMark Judicial Nominations Campaign

US Supreme Court rules in favor of Bribery & Corruption ...Equal Justice Under Law ... unless your rich then we'll write the laws that favor you

The Montana Supreme Court, voting 5-2, said Citizens United didn’t apply to the state in part because of bribery and other types of corruption that infused politics there before the law was enacted in 1912.

At the time the law was enacted, “the state of Montana and its government were operating under a mere shell of legal authority, and the real social and political power was wielded by powerful corporate managers to further their own business interests,” the Montana court majority said.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock, a Democrat, defended the law, saying it “has safeguarded the republican form of government in Montana for a century from the scourge of political corruption.”

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a century-old Montana ban on corporate campaign spending, signaling the justices may reinforce a 2010 ruling that allowed companies to donate unlimited amounts to influence elections. 

The high court yesterday put the Montana law on hold until it announces whether it will review the measure, which is being challenged by two nonprofit corporations and a family-owned business.

The case would test the 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That decision, which divided the court 5-4 along ideological lines, allowed corporate spending as long as companies don’t directly coordinate with candidates.

America in the year 2012 = 13 million living below the poverty level

The conditions aren't sanitary; they're unhygienic at best. But those who have been unable to maintain a job or those who simply can't make enough to afford rent have resorted to these uncomfortable living conditions.

Poverty has become a painful reality for those hit hard with the economic downturn over the past couple of years.

If you've passed through the town of Ann Abor, Michigan, perhaps you also noticed an untidy mini-housing establishment of about 30 tents in the woods nearby.

Those woods have become home for local residents who can no longer afford the cost of rent due to joblessness or extreme wage-cuts.

Imagine a home without heat, electricity, or toilets...

Black mould plagues these people on a regular basis, tainting their bodies, clothes, and bedding.

For at least 5,000 desperate Americans – out of the 47 million living below the poverty level – this is the best home they can get in these tough times; singles, couples, and families alike.

According to Panorama, the latest tent-city trend has popped up in at least 55 cities throughout the United States.

One of the largest tent-homes houses approximately 300 individuals in sunny Florida. New Jersey and Portland now harbor some sizable tent communities as well.

With recent budget cuts affecting a great deal of some of America's poorest residents, there has been too much pressure on homeless shelters to let everyone in.

Because of the increase in homelessness, city residents generally run these tent camps with help from a local charity group.

Census data reveals that America hasn't seen poverty like this in more than 50 years. Years of high unemployment has caught up with ordinary Americans all over the nation.

Right now, there are at least 13 million unemployed Americans.

The scariest part of this story is that many of these desperate, homeless tent-dwellers were very recently living comfortable lives as part of America's middle-class...they were good, honest, hard-working people.

Almost half of all Americans lived in households that received government benefits in 2010! Why? Becasue the Middle-Class is being destroyed...

Almost half of all Americans lived in households that received government benefits in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. The share climbed from 37.7 percent in 1998 to 44.5 percent in 2006, before the recession, to 48.5 percent in 2010. 

The trend reflects the expansion of the safety net. When the earned-income credit was introduced in 1975, eligibility was limited to households making the current equivalent of up to $26,997. In 2010, it was available to families making up to $49,317. The maximum payout, meanwhile, quadrupled on an inflation-adjusted basis. 

It also reflects the deterioration of the middle class. Chisago boomed and prospered for decades as working families packed new subdivisions along Interstate 35, which runs up the western edge of the county like a flagpole with its base set firmly in Minneapolis. But recent years have been leaner. Per capita income in Chisago excluding government aid fell 6 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis between 2000 and 2007. Over the next two years, it fell an additional 7 percent. Nationally, per capita income excluding government benefits fell by 3 percent over the same 10 years. 

Rick Santorum, who won 57 percent of the vote in Chicago County in the Republican presidential caucuses last week, has warned of “the narcotic of government dependency.” Newt Gingrich has compared the safety net to a spider web. Mitt Romney has said the nation must choose between an “entitlement society” and an “opportunity society.” All the candidates, including Ron Paul, have promised to cut spending and further reduce taxes.

The Republicans will turn your sons into slaves and daughters into prostitutes.  Vote wisely, the 1% see you merely as a cost function. 

THINK for YOURSELF!!!