We are passing this along:
We Will Not Be Thrown Under the Bus!
On January 13th, Not Under the Bus, the premier women’s health care campaign from the Women’s Media Center, is asking women everywhere to take action against the discriminatory, anti-choice language that exists in both the House and Senate health care bills. These bills would effectively roll back women’s health care coverage in the area of reproductive rights. It is up to all of us to make sure we don’t get thrown under the bus by politicians in Washington.
Here’s how you can TAKE ACTION on Wednesday, January 13th:
Tweet: Take Action today with @NotUnderTheBus. Demand that women’s rights be protected in #HCR: http://bit.ly/7u15IG #underthebus
Post our video to your Facebook page, Blog, or status:
Donate your Facebook Status to raise awareness:
“Today is Take Action Day with NotUnderTheBus.com. What are you doing to demand pro-choice, fair health care? http://bit.ly/7u15IG Take Action. Write an op-ed, call your Senator, and sign a petition. Demand that women’s rights be protected in health care reform.”
Sign and Share Our Petition: Tell lawmakers in Washington to keep women’s health care safe, fair and covered and urge them to strike any anti-abortion amendments from the final bill. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/do-not-throw-women-under-the-bus
Category Archives: Action Alerts
Governor’s Tax Commission — Why Help The Already Wealthy??
The Governor’s tax commission – called COTCE – is proposing a “flat tax.” Peter Schrag begins his LA Times op-ed today, A flat-wrong flatter-tax plan, by writing,
The most obvious thing about the big, complicated tax reform scheme that will go to the Legislature this week is that millionaires would save an average of $109,000 a year.
Exactly. When you understand your mission as helping the wealthy, as COTCE everything about this commission makes it appear they have done (the plan also eliminates the corporate income tax), what does that say about what is in store for the rest of us?
Hannah-Beth pointed this out the other day, in COTCE Parsky Commission: Even More Tax Breaks for the Wealthy,
Contact the Governor, Senate President Pro tem Darrell Steinberg and Speaker Karen Bass and tell them:
NO MORE GIVEAWAYS TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE MOST AT THE EXPENSE OF
THE REST OF US. NO TO THE COTCE COMMISSION REPORT THAT CONTINUES TO
PUSH ITS RIGHT-WING AGENDA BY GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE
MOST AND PUTTING THE BURDEN ON THOSE WHO HAVE THE LEAST.What we need is a tax system that is fair, places the most
responsibility on those who have the most so that all Californians have
the opportunity to get the best education possible; be safe in their
homes, schools and on the streets; are able to access quality,
affordable healthcare and live a life of dignity and respect,
regardless of their financial circumstances.Urge the Legislature to take up a tax reform package that
incorporates the ideas and principles recommended to the COTCE
Commission (which were thrown aside by Parsky and his wealthy cronies)
but which would make the system fairer, promote jobs, protect the
environment and reflect a 21st Century economy.For information on contacting state elected officials click here.
Let’s do what she suggested! For information on contacting state elected officials click here.
COTCE Parsky Commission: Even More Tax Breaks for the Wealthy
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Governor and his cronies pull another one on the people of California. While the economy created by the Bush “free-marketeers” has sent the country on an economic free-fall; while California sees its unemployment rate hit over 11% and while the number of Californians that have seen their incomes fall below the federal poverty level has increased to over 20% of the population, a report approved by a Governor’s commission is recommending that we give a $14 Billion tax break to the wealthiest Californians.
The COTCE Commission (about which we’ve been blogging for the past few weeks) came up with its report Monday, September 14th. With unmitigated gall and indifference to the plight of California’s hard working yet struggling middle-class and minimum-wage earners, multi-millionaire and Chair, Gerald Parsky has pushed through a set of proposals that will result in a boondoggle for the rich and an increase in burden to the rest of us. Added to this insulting charade, Parsky has snuck into the series of recommendations, a last minute play by Commissioner and right-wing think tanker, Michael Boskin, a proposal that calls for opening up the coast for new oil leases. And by the way, Mr. Boskin serves on the Board of Exxon/Mobil, something he has failed to disclose while making this last-minute end-run around the Commissions own rules. (Of course, with Parsky in cahoots, the rules have only applied to the progressive proposals which Parsky and buddies have buried).
For more on this disgraceful waste of taxpayer money, see CalBuzz series on this Commission including the article by Jean Ross’ in Monday’s Cal Buzz.
It’s time to fight back. These “recommendations” were supposed to be in the form of a consensus report. However, Parsky and company dropped that idea like a lead balloon when they realized that the progressives weren’t about to agree to yet another giveaway to the rich while California’s education, infra-structure, health care, public safety and human safety-nets have been torn to shreds by more and more tax breaks to the rich and loopholes to multi-national corporations. So when all bets were off, Parsky decided to go for the gold (although he himself is reputed to be worth hundreds of millions himself) and produce a lop-sided set of proposals that would only keep a corpse from laughing at their outlandishness.
This report shouldn’t see the light-of-day and should be relegated to the trash heap where it belongs. But the Governor is going to try to may hay with it so it’s up to us, the people of California, upon whom the burden of giving away yet more to those who have the most already, must rise up. Taxes are supposed to be about fairness and investment in the programs and services that benefit the community.
Contact the Governor, Senate President Pro tem Darrell Steinberg and Speaker Karen Bass and tell them:
NO MORE GIVEAWAYS TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE MOST AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF US. NO TO THE COTCE COMMISSION REPORT THAT CONTINUES TO PUSH ITS RIGHT-WING AGENDA BY GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE MOST AND PUTTING THE BURDEN ON THOSE WHO HAVE THE LEAST.
What we need is a tax system that is fair, places the most responsibility on those who have the most so that all Californians have the opportunity to get the best education possible; be safe in their homes, schools and on the streets; are able to access quality, affordable healthcare and live a life of dignity and respect, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Urge the Legislature to take up a tax reform package that incorporates the ideas and principles recommended to the COTCE Commission (which were thrown aside by Parsky and his wealthy cronies) but which would make the system fairer, promote jobs, protect the environment and reflect a 21st Century economy.
For information on contacting state elected officials click here.
Let’s take back our state and create a future that is fair to ALL Californians, not just the wealthy.
Contacting California Elected Officials
Here are ways to contact your California elected officials:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
1st Floor, State Capitol, Sacramento 95814
Tel: (916) 445-2841
Email: Send
email to Governor
Your Elected Representatives in California — California League of Women Voters. (See also their Suggestions for how to be most effective when contacting your elected officials.)
California State Legislature Zip Code Search by zip code — enter your zip code and you get contact info for your Assembly Member and Senator
Your Legislature by zip code — a different page to enter your zip code and you get contact info for your Assembly Member and Senator
Find Your California State Legislative Representatives using your address — enter your address and get contact info for your Assembly Member and Senator
Assembly Member List — lists the office addresses and phone numbers of Assembly Members
Senator List — lists the office addresses and phone numbers of State Senators
Project Vote Smart’s biographies of California Elected Officials
ACTION ALERT – STIMULATE CALLS SUPPORTING THE STIMULUS
After the Presidential election we at Speak Out California were rejuvenated and renewed in the hope and expectation that the divisive politics of Republican extremism were
over. Sadly, it is clear that they are not and so we must re-commit
to our values and Speak Out loud and clear.
Please join us in our first action-alert of 2009 with as many clear
and strong voices as we can to say to our new President and the Congress:
WE WON this election, now let’s get to work putting our nation and
our state back on track!
Thanks to Rush Limbaugh, US Senators report the calls they are receiving
about the Stimulus Package are running 100 to 1 against passage. Our voice needs to be heard. And thanks to California right-wing talk radio,
Republican legislators think the public supports their sabotaging budget talks.
We
need to step up!
ACTION: Tell California’s US Senators that you support the stimulus package and tell
California Republican legislators that the Democrats have agreed to cut after cut
and they just can’t cut any more — now they need to agree to raise revenue! Details below.
The Stimulus Package
Get Out The Vote!
Election Day is just hours away now, but that is still plenty of time to get out and talk to more voters, reminding them to go to the polls or turn in their absentee ballots on Nov. 7.
Throughout the state, the Democratic Party and the California Labor Federation are organizing volunteers to support progressive candidates and get the word out about the good, the bad and the ugly on statewide propositions.
>> Click here to find a labor office near you!
>> Click here for a list of Democratic Party field offices!
Remember, it is now too late to mail absentee ballots. If you still have one in your possession, you’ll have to drop it off sometime before Tuesday to your county registrar, or to any polling place on Tuesday.
>> Click here to look up your county elections office, and to find your polling place!
Voting is your chance to have a say in who represents you and what laws govern you. Don’t let this opportunity to participate in your democracy pass you by!
Let’s Housebreak Big Corporations
Last week, Speak Out California launched its newsletter as our way to thank you for your interest and commitment to ensuring our state pursues its progressive agenda and that we succeed in bringing our vision to the people of California. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s here, and you can go straight to the action alert as well. We hope you’ll sign up to receive each edition and urge your like-minded friends and colleagues to do so as well.
The battle lines in the political world have never been more clearly drawn than they are today. With the tragic success of the neoconservative, big corporate take-over in many parts of the country, we in California know that now is the time for progressives to take action and re-assert our vision of democracy, fairness and justice for the rest of the country to see and emulate. With the legislature in its last month of session, there are many key progressive bills that give us the opportunity to lead yet again, in bringing forth meaningful and powerful change for our state and nation.
In our newsletter we call it the Housebreaking of Big Corporations. We’ve identified half a dozen important measures that we believe will help clean up the messes big corporations have made in their pursuit of nothing other than profit—creating greenhouse gases (energy companies and manufacturers) to death and destruction (firearm manufacturers and dealers) to healthcare reform and protecting the integrity of elections themselves. (For the explanations of these six bills, check out the action alert for a brief summary of each).
Sign the Progressive Pledge
Make a statement about the future of California by joining the hundreds of Californians who have already signed Speak Out California’s Progressive Values Pledge.
After gathering thousands of signatures from around the state, we will deliver this petition to Gov. Schwarzenegger and our other elected leaders in Sacramento to demand they focus on and commit to a broad and positive vision for California by crafting and implementing solutions to the real problems we face: poverty, the economic squeeze on the middle class, a crumbling health care system and struggling public schools and universities.
This is a positive way to channel your frustration with Governor Schwarzenegger, President Bush and their right-wing agenda. Sign the Progressive Pledge now, and please forward the link to everyone you know in California who shares this vision for our state.
Temporary Setback for AB 2097
AB 2097 was put on Suspense by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill will have a second hearing on Wednesday May 24th where its fate will be determined by the Chair of the committee, Assemblymember Judy Chu. Send a letter to the Appropriations Committee now!
This crucial piece of legislation will require that all technical details, including the computer source code (written by software programmers) of computerized vote tabulating systems by publicly disclosed by June 30, 2007. Read more about AB 2097.
One Step Closer to Restoring Voter Confidence in California’s Voting System!
With a vote of 5-0, Open Source Software for Elections, AB 2097 by Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg passed out of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, on Tuesday April, 18. This crucial piece of legislation will require that all technical details, including computer source code (written by software programmers), of computerized vote tabulating systems be publicly disclosed by June 30, 2007.
Why the need for AB 2097? There has been very little testing of current electronic elections systems. Independent testers even with limit access have found serious flaws in the current systems. AB 2097 will allow the public more access to scrutinize elections software and machines. If passed, it will ensure California won’t find itself in legal battles over elections fraud as seen in Ohio and Florida in past elections. This vital piece of legislation will save California from lengthy and expensive legal battles if the results of an election ever challenged.
Please remember to thank these five members that supported AB 2097:
Assemblymember Betty Karnette:
Assemblymember.Karnette@assembly.ca.gov
Assembleymember Johan Klehs:
Assemblymember.Klehs@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember Mark Leno:
Assemblymember.Leno@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember Lloyd Levine:
Assemblymember.Levine@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember Tom Umberg:
Assemblymember.Umberg@assembly.ca.gov
In a surprising change of heart the two Republican members, Assemblymember Mark Wyland and Assemblymember Michael Villines, abstained which indicates growing for support for the measure. Please contact them and urge their support for this important voter protection legislation.
AB 2097 is an important step in securing the validity of California Elections, and allowing the public more access and input of current and continuously evolving voting systems. AB 2097 is now on its way to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Now is the time for people to SPEAKOUT. We will provide you with an action alert as the measure gets closer to a vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee so that you can let the members of that committee know Californians want a reliable, verifiable, trustworthy, and affordable voting system.
Stay tuned for more to come!