Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act #hcr #aca

The United States Supreme Court, in a complex 5-4 decision, spanning 193 pages, has upheld the Affordable Care Act. June 28, 2012, Decision

Woodie Guthrie's Yiddish connection -- Great Barrington MA Sun 6/24, 3-5 PM

Just a reminder - this weekend at THE GUTHRIE CENTER!

HOLY GROUND
WOODY GUTHRIE'S YIDDISH CONNECTION

WITH SPECIAL GUEST, NORA GUTHRIE

Sunday, June 24, 2012
3:00 - 5:00p

The Guthrie Center
2 Van Deusenville Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230

Ticket price: $25.00
Call The Guthrie Center for tickets at 413-528-1955

Nora Guthrie reveals Woody’s relationship with his Jewish mother-in-law, Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. The program includes a presentation of rare photographs, music excerpts, writings, and artwork that illuminate their personal and creative relationship. Rare home movies of the Guthrie family are a highlight of this very special program.  The Guthrie Center | Presented by The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires

Stay connected with the Centennial Celebrations! Centennial Website & Woody Guthrie Song of the Day | Friend us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | WoodyGuthrie.org | Woody's Online Store

Save the Atlantic bluefin tuna

Longline fishing, overfishing and all around poor management almost wiped out the Atlantic bluefin tuna in the 1970s. Even with recovery efforts underway, their numbers remain stubbornly low. We need to enact a a strong management plan that will save this great fish from extinction » The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is taking comments on a host of ideas to manage bluefins. But many of their ideas not only fail to protect the fish, they'd actually undercut protection efforts already underway. We've already seen that the quotas and other soft policies aren't doing enough. It's time for the agency to take a hard line against the aggressive fishing practices that caused the problem in the first place. Tell NOAA you want strong, serious protections that will save the Atlantic bluefin tuna » Thanks for taking action! Emily V. Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team Save Atlantic Bluefin Tuna: Enact Strong Protections    Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AGr4v/zMai/bG0_u

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Say NO to Rush Limbaugh disparaging Dolores Huerta and women in general

I think we all can agree that Dolores Huerta, the UFW's co-founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation is an exemplary role-model of a good American. Dolores has spent her life sacrificing to advocate for workers, immigrants, and women's rights. She has a fierce determination to help the impoverished and make the world a better place. She has received numerous awards for her courageous community service and fittingly enough on May 29th President Obama awarded her the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was a very proud moment for all who believe in the power of nonviolent social change. However, nationally syndicated talk show host Rush Limbaugh showed his true colors by using this award as an excuse to go on the attack against women—again—by disparaging Dolores receiving it. On Russ' May 30th Show he said, "The Presidential Medal of Freedom is now being rendered meaningless. It's just a political award. That's all it is. It's been politicized. It's another great tradition, institution down the tubes. " Not only that but he insultingly said, "As a young adult, Huerta taught school—though she never had an education degree—until 1955, when, as a single mother of seven children—she now has eleven—she launched her career as a political activist. " How typical of Rush. Scorning Dolores for being a single mother instead of recognizing that this amazing—and college educated woman—raised a remarkable family (Dolores’ children include a doctor, lawyer, teacher, chef, artist, executive director, etc) while pursuing a fierce determination to help people. Please help us teach Rush Limbaugh that disparaging women is not the status quo--a lesson he should have learned back in March from the backlash he’s faced for branding law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute,” and more recently in his personal attack on journalist Tracie McMillan's while commenting on her book on the food industry when he referred to her as an “authorette.” Angie's List—a popular source for information about local businesses—is a sponsor for the Rush Limbaugh show. Not only that, they pay for Rush to personally voice them over the air. E-mail them today and tell them that this is not acceptable. They should not be advertising on a show that disparages women. Please send your e-mail today. It will take you just minutes to help, but that help can have an enormous impact. http://action.ufw.org/stoprush After you take action please share this campaign with your friends and family. You can send them an e-mail, post this campaign on your Facebook and/or Twitter page by clicking here or going to http://action.ufw.org/page/share/stoprush

Check out our website at: www.ufw.org and keep up with the latest news. Check out the UFW's Social Networking pages. Click to visit our Facebook Fan Page, Facebook Cause, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace,and Care2 pages. Please link to us and become our "Friend" and follow us on Twitter too! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for the UFW List Serve. United Farm Workers,  P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531, http://www.ufw.org

Freeing the Xingu #amazon #indigenous #eco #humanrights #rivers

Español | Português | Deutsch | More Seeing the majestic Xingu River being dammed is heartbreaking; this morning, there was hope. Today's daring grassroots action to "free the Xingu" was one of the most inspirational acts of resistance I have witnessed in 15 years as Amazon Watch Executive Director. As I photographed overhead from a helicopter, hundreds of people used their bodies to spell out what they have demanded for decades: Stop Belo Monte. I was overwhelmed by the symbolism. Protesters dug a channel through the earthen coffer dam, restoring the flow and "freeing" the mighty Xingu. They erected crosses in honor of hundreds of people murdered for defending the Amazon, yet there they were standing up for their river and their people. As long as they resist, we will continue to stand by them. Already over a million people around the globe have rallied behind this effort. Can the defenders of the Xingu count on you, too? For the Amazon, Atossa Soltani Executive Director Stay informed about our work

Jim Crow 2.0

Click here to sign your name: "Block Florida's racist voter purge program immediately." Sign the Petition!

According to a prominent Friday Tampa Bay Times editorial, Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott is "standing between Floridians and their right to vote as U.S. citizens." He's the new George Wallace—the Alabama governor who defied the federal government in order to deny African Americans their rights as citizens 49 years ago this month.¹
Gov. Wallace was the face of the original Jim Crow. Now, Gov. Scott is the face of Jim Crow 2.0, as he refuses to halt his Latino-targeted voter purge, in defiance of federal law and a Department of Justice order.
Gov. Scott's racist voter purge began nine months ago when Florida's Division of Elections began challenging the rights of 180,000 voters based on bad information, and with the election drawing nearer, it's coming to a head right now. When the Department of Justice called on Florida to end the program, Gov. Scott responded this past Wednesday that they would continue despite warnings that they may be in violation of federal law.²
Attorney General Eric Holder can block Gov. Scott from illegitimately kicking Floridians off the voter roll. Attorney General Holder has the authority to sue the state and block the purge because of the harm it does to Latino voters. He must act today to ensure that the courts strike this program down before it's too late—and we lose another election. 
Will you sign our petition to Attorney General Holder? It says "Block Florida's racist voter purge program immediately." We'll deliver it to the attorney general at the Department of Justice headquarters in D.C. next week.

Click here to add your name.

We've got to stop Gov. Scott and other state Republicans from stealing this election for Republicans. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 5 million votes will be suppressed this election, largely targeting people of color and youth, who tend to vote Democrat.³
So, the 537 Florida votes that elected George W. Bush in 2000 are now 5 million votes across 34 states suppressing the vote, which will elect Mitt Romney, along with a Republican House and Senate. Five million votes—if we don't stand up now, it'll be incredibly hard to win.
Thanks to analyses by The Miami Herald and other news outlets, we know that Democrats and Latinos were most likely to be targeted by the program.⁴ They've shown that Rick Scott's plan seeks to disenfranchise key blocs of Obama voters and threatens to tip a close election to Mitt Romney.
And beyond being a potential violation of the law, the racist voter purge is unpopular. Fifty percent of Floridians disapprove of the governor's program—a higher percentage than want their basketball team to win in the NBA Finals.⁵
While Florida's program is the worst, it's not the only state finding new ways to suppress votes. With racially stained voter ID laws that disproportionately impact people of color and low-income voters, we need the Department of Justice to be forceful and clear in its defense of voting rights everywhere. It's time to make an example out of Florida so vote suppressors everywhere know that if they come for our rights, there will be consequences.

Click here to call on the attorney general to block the Florida voter purge.

MoveOn members always stand and fight when people in power threaten democracy. This year, the combination of big money flooding into our elections and coordinated voter suppression tactics mean that we've got to fight harder than ever before.
The next move is ours, and we're going all-in. We're preparing a public ad assault on the governor, using highly visible tactics to call this voter purge what it is: a racist attempt at disenfranchising Latino voters.
Thanks for all you're doing to step up.
–Garlin, Emily, Victoria, Elena, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Governor, halt the flawed voter purge," The Tampa Bay Times, June 8, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276266&id=43469-17439865-Wc0lc9x&t=5
2. "Florida Voter Rules Assailed By Judge, Justice Department," Bloomberg, June 1, 2012 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276073&id=43469-17439865-Wc0lc9x&t=6
3. "Voting Law Changes in 2012," Brennan Center for Justice, October 3, 2011 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274212&id=43469-17439865-Wc0lc9x&t=7
4. "Hispanics, Democrats biggest groups on Florida's list of potential noncitizen voters, analysis shows," Tampa Bay Times, May 13, 2012 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276072&id=43469-17439865-Wc0lc9x&t=8
5. "Florida miscellany," Public Policy Polling, June 8, 2012  
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276267&id=43469-17439865-Wc0lc9x&t=9
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