Petition: Remove In God We Trust from US Currency!

8manderz8:

The United States was founded in 1776, and for 180 years our country’s motto was “E Pluribus Unum,” which is Latin for “Out of Many, One.”  

In 1956, our national motto was changed to “In God We Trust,” in a knee-jerk reaction against ‘godless communism.’ That, and the addition of “under God” in the Pledge of allegiance a few years earlier, were moves made in an attempt to link patriotism with religious piety, to distinguish us from the Soviets.

But here’s the problem - The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment clearly states: 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

By changing our motto and pledge to include the Judeo-Christian concept of God, we blatantly ‘respected’ the Jewish and Christian establishments - a clear violation.

By signing this petition on the official White House website, you can help let our politicians know that being patriotic and being religious are two separate things entirely.  Our founding fathers clearly desired separation of church and state - and to include the Judeo-Christian concept of God in such a way is unacceptable.

CLICK HERE to sign this petition!

Women Being Treated Like Cattle in Illinois

From CREDO Action:

“Just weeks after a similar bill in Virginia was altered in the face of a national outcry, the Illinois House of Representatives is now considering a bill that would coerce women into undergoing an invasive and medically unnecessary procedure known as a transvaginal ultrasound as a part of “informed consent” before having an abortion.¹ At their own expense.

Tell your Representative to vote NO on HB 4085. Click here to send a free fax.

We’re asking all of our members in Illinois — whether their representative is pro-choice or anti-choice — to send this message to their legislator.

Anti-choice legislators who support this bill need to know that their constituents will hold them accountable for their vote. And pro-choice legislators are under tremendous pressure from the right wing — they need to be able to say constituents are overwhelmingly supportive of their decision to vote against this bill.

Your Representative needs to needs to hear from as many constituents as possible that any legislation that attempts to coerce women into having an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound before having an abortion should be defeated.

If this legislation — offensively named the “Ultrasound Opportunity Act” — passes, any woman who refuses to take the state up on this invasive ultrasound “opportunity” has to do so in writing, on a state-provided form that would then be collected and stored by the state. And the state would require clinics and physicians to track and report the number of women who refuse to be violated by the state before having an abortion.²

Fierce opposition is what helped change a similar bill in Virginia, and fierce opposition is what is needed here. Tell your Representative to vote NO on HB 4085. Click here to send a free fax.

This anti-woman bill has already passed the Illinois House Agriculture Committee. Yes, you read that right — the Agriculture committee, because apparently the supporters of this legislation are so regressive in their thinking that they believe they should treat women like cattle. A vote could happen in the full House as early as next week, so we only have a short window of time to flood the House with the message that HB 4085 must be defeated.

This bill is nothing more than another attempt by anti-woman extremists in the states to make it harder for women to access abortion services. If this bill successfully passes the Illinois legislature, other states will be encouraged to begin to introduce equally reactionary bills. We can’t let this legislation pass and set off a chain reaction around the U.S.

Tell your Representative: vote NO on HB 4085.

Click below to send a free fax to your Representative:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/il_ultrasound_fax/

Thank you for standing up for women’s health.

Ali Rozell, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. “Illinois Anti-Abortion Bills Approved By State Agriculture Committee Over Pro-Choice Groups’ Protests,” Joseph Erbentraut, HuffingtonPost.com, 2/24/12.
2. Full text of Illinois HB 4085”

Your Truth Team tipsheet

Hi so I signed up for the “Truth Team” thing by Obama’s campaign. Mostly to get in on the shits and giggles of seeing bullshit pointed out. Kind of like Mitt Romney screwing up by talking about American-made and hometown pride and driving around in an imported fucking car. The point of the Truth Team is to combat lies being perpetuated by opponents but I’m using it to have a laugh at the staggeringly stupid levels of hypocrisy I’m going to be shown. Of course if someone asks me about a thing I will do as the point is and tell them the truth, yeah, but, I think it’s more fun to yuck it up.

At the end of this there was an ad for Obama-themed St Patrick’s shirts because Obama has Irish blood in him (like pretty much every other fucking American LMFAO). But yeah I hate St Patrick’s Day so SKIPPING THAT…

So anyway here’s what they sent me:

“Welcome to the Truth Team tipsheet. You signed up to be part of the team that fights back, and there’s no time to waste.

This is the first of regular updates we’ll be sending with actions you can take immediately to help support the President — to debunk false attacks and make sure folks hear about what we’ve accomplished.

Here’s how it works: We’ll round up the best of our posts and turn them into short items, with Facebook and Twitter buttons [links] after each so you can instantly share them with friends and family as you go down the list. [Also, the links in the items have Twitter, Email, and Facebook buttons.]

Read through this week’s news, then do something about it:

#1 ROMNEY FLIPS ON EARMARKS
This morning, Mitt’s up with a new ad in Michigan slamming Rick Santorum for supporting earmarks. The thing is, before he ran for president, Mitt Romney was a pretty big fan of earmarks himself. In 2002, he requested “hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid” for the Salt Lake City Olympics. He did it as governor of Massachusetts for the Big Dig project too, saying “I’d be embarrassed if I didn’t always ask for federal money whenever I got the chance.” Call him on his hypocrisy while the story’s still breaking:

Twitter link.

[No fucking surprise here because these pseudo conservatives just LOVE to waste taxpayer money on patriotism (and Christian-oriented) shit.]

#2 SANTORUM’S BIG BUDGET PLANS
This week, after President Obama released his 2013 budget plan, Rick Santorum called it “preposterous, not only in overall funding but in priorities.” But a closer look at Santorum’s plan shows he’d cut taxes for the wealthy, raise taxes for some families with children, and slash Social Security and Medicare under the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan. Here’s the best part: Santorum’s plan won’t balance anything — it actually adds to the deficit. Preposterous, indeed. Fight back:

#3 RUBIO’S CONTRACEPTION PLAN
In response to President Obama’s decision that all women should have access to contraception, free of cost, Senator Rubio introduced a bill that would let any organization, religious or not, sidestep this rule, putting a woman’s access to contraception at the whim of her employer. His solution for women who still would like it? Pay for it themselves, or find somewhere else to work. Folks need to hear what the GOP’s trying to do. Pass it on:

Twitter link.  

(lol so like instead of repealing what Obama put forth we’ll just paint over it?? Yes we need to waste more paper. No I’m not going to point out the obvious bullshit of trying to stop contraceptive care in the first place because it’s been beat to death. Just laughing at the paper olympics.)

#4 “LET DETROIT GO BANKRUPT”
When it comes to the auto recovery, Romney and Santorum continue to argue that a “managed” bankruptcy would’ve been better. Romney’s famously said “Let Detroit go bankrupt,” and Santorum would’ve preferred an industry “meltdown.” This week, GM posted its largest profit in its history, and last month, it reclaimed its title as the “World’s Largest Automaker.” 1.4 million jobs were saved under the auto recovery. They’re refusing to admit that the recovery’s working, and it’s time to call them on it. Show that we will:

Twitter link.   

(While I agree that the government shouldn’t be bailing large swaths of people, if I recall the auto industry did repay all its loans and yes it is doing just fine. However whether that’s due to the bailouts or not is arguable I would guess, but regardless they’re completely fine and maybe a meltdown might’ve taken them longer to bounce back from than a simple loan.)

And now for Good News…

#5 KEEPING HIS WORD ON HATE CRIMES
As a senator, Barack Obama co-sponsored hate crime legislation because he believes that “…nobody in this country who should suffer violence because of who they are, what they look like, what they believe in, what faith they worship.” As President, he kept his word, signing the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to strengthen protection against crimes based on race, color, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or gender. This is a promise kept. Spread the good news:

Twitter link.   

(Okay this one’s just stupid because he did that a long fucking time ago so you know he can’t cling to that. There’s not a lot of promises he’s kept and while it’s understandable that he’s had a lot of shit to go through uhm there’s no doubt he’s been pussyfooting around other related issues like DADT, ENDA, SNDA, and DOMA. He also promised, like Bush, to formally and politically acknowledge the Armenian genocide, if I recall correctly, and he has yet to do so.)

#6 RECOVERY ACT ANNIVERSARY
Three years ago today, President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law. Since then, more than 70,000 small businesses were able to receive loans to get started or stay on their feet. We put together a short video on the story of Bill, one business owner who has benefited from the Recovery Act. Pass it on:

Twitter link.

(Eh no still don’t like government loans. The loaning business is a tricky one and can hurt a lot of people and lose a lot of money. What should be done instead is regulations to keep regular loaners from scamming people, not risking taxpayer money in investing in small businesses that may or may not make it. Or, hey, have the option to donate to a specific grant, instead of doing it mandatory, that way people can choose what business to participate in loaning to and the only people risking their money are people who choose to do so and choose how much.)  

Every day from now until November, there will be misleading news stories, attacks, and flat-out lies about the President’s record. It’s our job set to them straight — and nothing works better than the truth, backed by sound sources.

Fight back by spreading the word today.

Until next time,

Stephanie”

Important List of Links

These are the places and people I usually receive my updates and news and petitions and such from. Feel free to contribute to them in some way, even if it’s just nabbing a free subscription to their emails/posts!

I’ll organize these for once.

Petition Sites:

• Change.org
• Avaaz
• We the People
• ThePetitionSite
• SignOn
• Watchdog

LGBT-Related:

• The Human Rights Campaign
• The Courage Campaign
• Equality Illinois
• Truth Wins Out
• Faith in America
• GetEQUAL
• Freedom to Marry
• AllOut
• GLSEN
• The Trevor Project

Gender/Sex and Reproductive Rights:

• NARAL Pro-Choice America
• List of intactivist sites/blogs
• Planned Parenthood Action Center
• FOREGEN
• The Foreskin Restoration and Intactivist Network
• We Are UltraViolet
• EMILY’s List
• Feminist Majority Foundation
• Center for Reproductive Rights
• Sex Informative
• STFU Pro-Life!
• Who Needs Feminism?
• Laci Green
• National Women’s Law Center
• Who Needs Sex Education?
• Stand Up for Down There

Misc Political Sites:

• CREDO Action
• Demand Progress
• Care2
• AMERICABlog
• Democracy in Action
• MoveOn
• Fight for the Future
• The Progressive Slate
• CARE
• StudentsFirst
• SumOfUs.org
• Think Progress
• ConsumersUnion
• Your Anon News
• Encore Careers
• Southern Poverty Law Center

Misc Tumblr Blogs:

• Think Progress
• Planned Parenthood Saved Me
• Care2 Petitions
• Your Daily Fossil
• Planned Parenthood
• Celebrating Foreskin (NSFW)
• Vaginas of the World (NSFW)
• Stand Up for Healthcare
• Girly Juice (NSFW)
• Fuck Yeah Kinky Devil (NSFW)
• Consumers Union
• The Trevor Project

deviantART Links:

• Gender-and-Sex
• Unification-Party
• DemocraticArtists
• The Shelter Project
• NGB-ProChoice
• EndCircumcision

Twitters to Follow:

• HeyPP and PPFAQ
• HRC
• PPact
• NOH8Campaign
• GayRussians

Other Useful Resources:

• POPVOX
• Contact your state legislators (and various other branches)
• Contact your federal Representatives
• Contact your federal Senators
• Contact your governor
• Contact the president or vice president
• Contact the Democratic Party
• Contact the Republican Party (bottom of every page)
• Contact the Green Party
• Contact the Libertarian Party
• Contact the United Nations

That’s all I can think of.

People in, Corporate Sponsors Out

From Avaaz:

“It’s unbelievable. The G20 — the most powerful summit of world governments — meets tomorrow to discuss the global economic crisis, and who is sponsoring the meeting? Banks and corporations!

No wonder the site of the meeting — the French city of Cannes — is completely locked down to any ordinary citizens, while banks and large corporate CEOs have all access passes to tell our governments what to do.

Corporations and banks have captured our governments, winning vast bailouts after helping to create the crisis. Now they are buying their way into the very meeting that could decide the world’s financial future. Together we can persuade summit President Nicolas Sarkozy to cancel the sponsorship — let’s build a massive public outcry that causes a media firestorm and forces Sarkozy to kick out the corporate sponsors and clean up the G20. Sign the petition and forward widely:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/occupy_g20/?vl

The line between corporate power and responsible government has steadily blurred, undermining our democracies and our economy. Politicians take money from corporations for their campaigns, make policies that reward them when in office, and then take high-paid jobs with them after they leave. It’s corruption, plain and simple.

Now Société Générale, a French bank that received a public bailout and has a vested interest in Europe’s financial policy, is an official sponsor of the summit. Insiders have told Avaaz that this bank and 20 other corporations have paid large sums of money in sponsorship for a seat at the table of our governments.

The only way to get policies that protect jobs, tackle speculators and guarantee a fair future for us all is to kick back against the lobbies and prise our leaders away from corporate interests. Let’s tell Nicolas Sarkozy and the other leaders that their future depends on ditching the sponsors now and agreeing to no more corporate capture of our governments. Sign the petition and send to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/occupy_g20/?vl

The global economic crisis resulted in large part from reckless banks that were no longer regulated effectively by governments because of the control banks exert over our leaders. This corporate capture of government is the major threat today, both to democracy, and to an efficient and fair economy. Across the world, people are taking to the streets to take back our democracies. In the next 24 hours, let’s start with the G20.

With hope and determination,

Alex, Maria Paz, Emma, Ricken, Morgan, Wissam and the rest of the Avaaz team”