I Cry Foul

I Cry Foul

Maybe Blogger will think this is a sports comment and let it pass, we'll see.  This shit is UUUgly!

Mining companies are destroying the rainforest. Chip in to stop them.

Costa Rica's rainforests are some of the most amazing places on earth. So when a

Canadian mining company wanted to put an

open pit, cyanide-leach gold mine in the middle of its most pristine forest, Costa

Rica didn't just say no. They said hell, no.

So what did the mining company do?

They sued Costa Rica for $100 million lost profits.

It's the latest strategy in corporate bullying: If a country won't let you do whatever

you want, then sue them for violating "free trade."

But Costa Rica is the tip of the iceberg. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly sued Canada

to increase drug prices. Philip Morris has sued Australia over cigarette warning

labels. The list goes on and on -- and under proposed trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific

Partnership, we'll see an explostion of these kinds of lawsuits.

But fighting corporate bullies is exactly what SumOfUs was set up to do.

 Using the Internet to organize, our worldwide membership has the collective power

to stand up to big corporations, so countries like Costa Rica don't have to face

these corporate bullies alone. Can you donate $25 to help us take on these giant

corporations and win?

Yes, I can chip in $25 to help stand up to bullying by big corporations.

Shortly after Infinito Gold proposed its mine, Costa Rica banned the kind of destructive

open pit mining they wanted to do. And you'd think that would be the end of it --

but because of a so-called free trade agreement between Canada and Costa Rica, many

experts think Infinito Gold will win its lawsuit. If it do, Costa Rica will have

to pay a huge sum of money just because they decided to protect their forests.

Costa Rica is just one example of a growing trend of corporations bullying sovereign

governments -- and it could get a lot worse because of similar trade deals like the

Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

(TTIP) that could affect virtually all of Europe, Australia, Asia, and North and

South America.

So we're fighting back. First, we're blowing the whistle every time a corporation

tries to bully a nation like Costa Rica. Second, we're organizing to block new trade

deals like the TPP and TTIP.

Can you make a donation to help support these efforts?

Can you chip in $25?

Thanks for all you do,

Paul and the team at SumOfUs.org

 SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

I thought the Republican Party stood for "Family Values."  There is a difference in "Family Values" and the values of the 1950's.  Why tear families apart when children tend to do better with two parents?  Why Not allow those parents to stay, pay their taxes, and learn English?

Reform Immigration FOR America

A Badge of Courage to Stand Up for Immigration Reform

Teresa,

There truly is "no place like home." Yet for millions in our community, homes and

families are torn apart due to a broken immigration system. In fact, more than 150,000

children are missing at least one parent who's been deported, and thousands more

face the pain of separation daily. Speaker of the House John Boehner has the power

to change this devastation by bringing an immigration reform bill to the House floor

for a vote. Yet, he remains silent and does nothing out of fear for anti-immigrant

extremists in the Republican Party.

Click here to tell Speaker Boehner that real leadership takes courage.

Since we began this fight, we have seen nothing but inadequate leadership from Speaker

Boehner on immigration reform.

 What started the year seemingly as a step forward with the GOP's introduction of

immigration principles led only to backpedaling just a few days later when the Speaker

claimed that he couldn't possibly put reform on the agenda because he couldn't trust

President Obama to enforce immigration laws.

Meanwhile, our families continue to wait for relief from the terrible threat of deportation,

and for reform that will allow them to stay together. While Speaker Boehner has the

power to end the ceaseless heartbreak of hundreds of thousands by bringing a bill

to the floor for a vote, he continues to sit on his hands out of fear of a small

but vocal anti-immigrant fringe of the Republican Party.

Like the Cowardly Lion from the children's tale "The Wizard of Oz," Speaker Boehner

has the ability to accomplish great things -- yet he lacks the courage to take the

first step.

Click here to send him a badge of courage and help him find the nerve to stand up for reform.

Millions of families are waiting for the threat of deportation to be lifted. They

are waiting for a reform bill that will allow them to live their lives without fear.

Speaker Boehner cannot continue to hide from his responsibilities. He must act quickly

and decisively to help our families. The first step is to stand up against anti-immigrant

extremists and to bring an immigration reform bill to a vote.

You can help the Speaker find his strength.

 Let him know that passing immigration reform is a priority for the American people,

that we support creating a path to citizenship for the undocumented. So let's help

him find his backbone by sending him some courage. Sign the petition and for every

signature we get, we will send Speaker Boehner a badge of courage. Together we can

show the Speaker that talk about immigration reform is not enough -- we demand action!

Help this cowardly lion stand up to Republican anti-immigrant extremists and do the right thing for our community. Add your name to send him some courage today!

With hope,

Donna De La Cruz

Reform Immigration FOR America

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Something which Will Effect Our Futures, I think.

Something we all should be aware of.  I 'm noot sure how much of a democracy we have, but this is NASTY stuff!

Dear MoveOn member,

Do you know what McCutcheon v. FEC is? McCutcheon is

Citizens United 2.0. Remember that

—even if you don't remember anything else from this email. It'd do for wealthy individuals

the same thing

Citizens United

 did for corporations—and money would reign.

Shaun McCutcheon is an Alabama coal tycoon who likes to spread his money far and

wide.

1

McCutcheon's a real-life Raymond Tusk from

House of Cards.

In 2012, McCutcheon managed to spend nearly $300,000 on political campaigns—almost

three times what an individual can legally contribute—by creating his own political

action committee.

2

 Now, in a case he's argued before the Supreme Court—with support from Republican

Senator Mitch McConnell's own legal team—McCutcheon could eliminate some, or even

all, of our country's aggregate spending limits for individuals making political

contributions.

3

This democracy-crippling judgment could come down from the court as soon as next

week.

4

 and why it's so dangerous, check out this 90-second video to get up to speed—and then share it with a friend or two.

A bad Supreme Court decision in this case would practically legalize corruption.

Instead of donating to 18 House races, politician purchasers like McCutcheon and

the Koch brothers could donate to 435.

Check out the video above, and spread the word by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, and email.

Thanks for all you do.

–Mark, Kyle, Matt B., Joan, and the rest of the team

P.S. MoveOn is partnering with Public Citizen and a dozen other advocacy and policy

organizations to pull off more than a hundred rapid-response rallies when the Supreme

Court issues its decision—whether it's next Monday or next month.

Find details for a rally near you.

Sources:

1. "Meet Shaun McCutcheon, the Republican Activist Trying to Make History at the

Supreme Court," The Daily Beast, October 8, 2013

http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=296936&id=91946-9089709-InX1D4x&t=5

2. "McCutcheon Super PAC Already Busts Limits, Rule of the Game,"

Roll Call, October 7, 2013

http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=296937&id=91946-9089709-InX1D4x&t=6

3.

"Meet Shaun McCutcheon, the Republican Activist Trying to Make History at the Supreme

Court," The Daily Beast, October 8, 2013

http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=296936&id=91946-9089709-InX1D4x&t=7

4. "Nationwide Rapid Response Planned for U.S. Supreme Court's McCutcheon Ruling,"

Common Dreams, February 10, 2014

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/02/10-6

Want to support our work?

 MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions,

no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a

long way.

Chip in here.

What We Need to do and What WE CAN SUCCEED in DOING

ppPersonal note, yesterday I made my First Sale from WWW.abilitieslive.com

A necklace I made with coral, black beads, and turquoise lamp work beads.  Working hard to get more on the site, but it's slow, with the blessing of hard working volunteer help.  Still, I have to begin Somewhere and have Finally begun!

Now, I hope the video of tar sands oil, mean meant for export, spilling in a small town is accessible from this site.  This pipeline (Keystone XL) is set to cross a lot of farmland.  Do you think ruined crop land won't result in price rises at your grocery store?

And then there are the victories we are working to win and Winning!  I know this is a Huge post, but please, check it out.

Thank you.

What We Must Do, and What We CAN SUCCEED in DOING

We Love Our Land

200,000 gallons is more than you can imagine.

Last spring, 200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled in the small town of Mayflower,

Arkansas when an Exxon pipeline carrying Canadian tar sands ruptured.

Many people became ill. The stench still lingers in the air. And ten months later,

some families still cannot return home.

The truth is, the residents of Mayflower never stood to benefit from this pipeline

— Americans won't benefit from the Keystone XL pipeline either.

Share this video with your friends so that they know what tar sands crude is doing to American towns like Mayflower.

Click here to watch the video!

http://nextgenclimate.org/mayflower

When tar sands crude travels through our neighborhoods, our communities bear the

risk while Big Oil reaps the profits. Issues like the Keystone XL pipeline affect

every American, but especially those living with this danger in their own backyards.

Share this video with your friends to let them know the risks we run if Sec. Kerry supports the Keystone XL pipeline.

Thank you for sharing this important video,

Josh Burstein

Digital Team

 |

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Photo by

Pembina Institute

 /

CC BY

This, just in the last 3 months:

The “world’s least sustainable corporation” has committed to stop destroying the

rainforest

Three huge clothing manufacturers have stopped torturing rabbits for their fur

The biggest corporate power grab in a generation has stalled in the US Congress,

and is facing growing opposition around the world

The UK government has put plans to sell citizens’ private medical data to corporations

on hold

Our growing community of more than 3 million people played a crucial role in every

one of these victories

 -- and many, many more! It’s been an exciting few months.

Meanwhile, we’re pushing forward in other areas, too. A massive US garden store has

confirmed to us that it's developing a policy on neonics, the pesticides that are

killing the bees. We’ve filed a legal request to fight back in the courts against

Bayer’s attempt to overturn Europe’s ban on these poisons. And more and more companies

are making strong commitments to remove conflict palm oil from their products.

Things are happening fast.

But let’s be clear: The fight against corporate power is a big one. In almost every

country, and on almost every issue, big corporations are fighting against the issues

we care most about. From environmental protection to human rights to economic justice,

corporate power is a huge part of the problem. And until we name it and fight it,

we can’t win.

And that’s why there is huge hope in the SumOfUs community.

 Together, we’re 3 million people strong -- and we hold tremendous collective power

over the corporations that increasingly control our democracies.

Thanks for being a part of it. Towards the next 3 months,

-- Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Executive Director

PS: Get ready for some groundbreaking campaigning in the months ahead to stop the

Trans-Pacific Partnership and challenge giant corporations like Monsanto, as well

as the launch of SumOfUs in German, French and Spanish (with more to come).

Chip in to make it happen here.

Campaign updates

VICTORY!

Saving Tony the Tiger and the rainforest from the “world’s least sustainable corporation”

Tony

After months of organized pressure against Kellogg's and its massive partner Wilmar

International -- a palm oil company that Newsweek named the “world's least sustainable

corporation” -- both companies are taking action to protect the rainforest!

Kellogg’s and Wilmar have both signed commitments to eliminate deforestation from

their supply chains

 in the next two years -- in what the Guardian called a “major success for environment

and consumer groups”.

We played a key role in pushing these companies over the line.

 Here's just a few of the things we did together:

Bombarded Kellogg's with hundreds of thousands of petition signatures and

thousands of phone calls

Worked with organizers in Michigan (where Kellogg’s is based) to pressure executives

on their home turf, generating reams of media coverage

Delivered

 tens of thousands of personal messages to Kellogg’s CEO

, and met personally with the company’s head of sustainability

Put the campaign on investors’ radar, who proposed the issue for discussion at the

company’s AGM to increase the pressure

Helped

publish a report that exposed Wilmar's role in illegal destruction

 of orangutan habitat

Kellogg's commitment raises the bar for other consumer companies

-- who we're getting ready to target soon. And because Wilmar controls nearly half

the world’s palm oil trade,

 this could represent a massive sea change in the industry.

 We’re working with partners to make sure they implement their commitments on the

ground -- groups like Catapult Campaigns, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace

-- all of whom were crucial in winning this campaign, too.

This is great news for Tony the Tiger, and for the survival of Southeast Asia’s rainforests.

It's one of our biggest victories to date as a community -- and a very, very big

deal.

Read More:

Original petition

Press:

Bloomberg

 |

Clean Biz

WE WON:

They stopped torturing and killing bunnies for their fur!

Bunnies

When we saw the horrific video footage showing rabbits screaming in pain as their

fur was torn off at angora farms in China for the sake of “fashion” -- we knew we

had to act.

We got in touch with PETA to put pressure on three clothing manufacturers to stop

production of their angora products -- and they did!

Topshop was the first to topple

, after five days of pressure from SumOfUs members around the world. Not satisfied,

we moved on to

Asos -- who promised to never sell angora on its website again.

 Next, we asked clothing giant Zara to suspend orders of angora -- who were initially

refusing to act.

After a week of pressure, Zara caved!

 SumOfUs members mobilized almost 300,000 petition signatures and thousands of comments

on Zara’s Facebook wall. 330 people signed up to our

Super Bunny Warrior Team

, and over 200 people personally delivered the petition to Zara stores to force them

to act.

Read More:

Original petition

Press:

Daily Mail

 |

Huffington Post

 |

LA Times

HUGE PROGRESS!

UK government not selling private medical records to corporations -- for now

NHS

Alarmed by a plan that would have seen British citizens' private medical records

sold to corporations, we sprung into action this month.

SumOfUs joined with 252,000 UK members to spearhead growing opposition to the proposal.

Our staff team was meeting with top officials this week when they announced that

they were delaying the scheme for six months.

 They were feeling massive pressure -- SumOfUs’ campaign had already been featured

in the biggest UK newspapers, we’d commissioned an opinion poll that demonstrated

that 65% of the UK public were opposed to the scheme, and we were working with our

partners 38 Degrees to build a mass opt-out system for our members.

We’re staying engaged so we can feed in our views to any consultation process that

might emerge from the wreckage of this proposal. And we'll be watching closely to

see whether NHS England will make real changes to the scheme to address our privacy

concerns. If they don’t, then we’re ready to spring into action.

Read More:

Original Petition

Press:

The Independent

 |

The Telegraph

STOPPING THE TPP:

A corporate lobbyist’s wildest dream

TPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership

(TPP) is called a trade deal, but it’s really a massive corporate power grab

that would make it easier for corporations to sue our governments when they act to

protect our environment or health. And so we’ve launched a major campaign to stop

it.

In the US, Obama has been pushing for “fast track” authority to allow him to negotiate

the sweeping deal without input from Congress. But after SumOfUs members joined with

other groups and made

almost 8,000 calls to their representatives, key lawmakers including Senate majority

leader Harry Reid and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi came out against fast track

authority -- a major blow to the TPP.

This fight isn't close to over, but we've got momentum on our side. Now,

we’re working to build major opposition in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere in the

12-country block to kill the TPP.

 If just one key country stands up and rejects the TPP, the whole deal could fall

through -- and we think our community has got what it takes.

Read More:

American call-in

 |

Australian Petition

Press:

Reuters

 |

The Guardian

STILL BUZZING: Strong progress for the bees

Bees

Bayer is determined to keep selling its killer-pesticides for profit -- whatever

the cost to the bees. It’s still pushing ahead with a ridiculous lawsuit against

the EU’s two-year ban on the pesticides that are behind the global bee die-off.

Well two can play at that game. Tens of thousands of us chipped in to defend the

ban in the European courts against Bayer

 -- and the court is currently considering our case. The stakes are high. If Bayer

wins, it would be a huge setback for the bees -- making it much harder to push other

countries to ban these dangerous pesticides. But with science on our side, we’re

quietly confident we can silence Bayer’s legal threats.

Meanwhile, thousands of SumOfUs members in the US and Canada joined up with Friends

of the Earth and others to deliver a Valentine’s message to big garden stores Home

Depot and Lowe’s -- asking them on the phone and in stores to “show the bees some

love”. After the national media covered the story,

Home Depot has contacted us to let us know it's developing a policy on neonics.

 It’s a positive sign -- but we’ll keep up the pressure until it commits to remove

bee-killing pesticides from its stores, and we're working to push other retailers

to action, too.

Read More:

Contribution page for lawsuit

 |

Valentines call-in

Press:

Ecowatch

 |

NBC

VICTORY!

 Winning workers’ rights from the 4th richest man in the world

We Won

A company owned by the world’s 4th richest man, Warren Buffet, was threatening to

throw 200 low-wage rail workers on the streets when they came together to demand

decent wages. BNSF, a railroad company Buffet owns, planned to fire its subcontractor

if its workers went on strike for decent wages.

Union-busting is always wrong, but it’s especially disappointing coming from Buffet,

who’s become famous for speaking out against inequality. But

 after we spoke out against Buffet's hypocrisy, the railroad backed down and the

workers got a fair contract and a raise.

Read More:

The original petition

Press:

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America

TAKING THE FIGHT TO ITS OWN BACKYARD:

Joining Monsanto’s concerned shareholders to call on the bio-giant to tell the truth

about GMOs.

Monsanto

Monsanto is known as the biggest bully around -- so we decided to find some friends

and fought it in its own backyard.

Thousands of us chipped in to so we could take action with concerned shareholders,

who simply wanted the bio-giant to come clean about the risks of GMOs at the company's

Annual General Meeting. With your help, we were able to:

Secure advertising in Monsanto's home town of St Louis, Missouri, so that shareholders

hear our message

Send organizers to St Louis to raise a media storm outside the shareholder meeting

and deliver 160,000 signatures to Monsanto

Buy a small, strategic stake in Monsanto so that we can speak out as shareholders

ourselves.

Our shareholders failed to win the vote to demand Monsanto come clean this time around.

But we know it is scared. Monsanto even planted pro-GMO advocates to speak out against

transparency (who in their right mind is against being open with the data on GMOs?).

But we built invaluable strategic partnerships that will help us fight Monsanto in

the future -- from spreading harmful GMOs, to introducing terminators seeds, to its

butterfly killing pesticides. We are as determined as ever to keep fighting Monsanto.

Read More:

Original petition

Press:

NPR

 |

Reuters

Onwards!

As you can tell, this has been a busy 3 months! We're not just winning campaigns

-- together, we are building a movement strong enough to take on corporate power.

Thank you for being a part of it.

To keep up our momentum and make sure that corporations continue to hear our voices,

would you consider

becoming a donor in order to help our movement grow

?

We are still a tiny organization, so we depend on members like you to keep us going

-- especially since we don't take any money from corporations or governments. SumOfUs

is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions -- and we really can't do it without you.     

donate

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3.

|

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Stand Your Ground Against

Stand Your Ground?

I hate this law.  After the first murder of an unarmed black teenager I learned about this law in Florida.  And it felt to me like a justification for killing people we fear.  Basically I feared it meant open season for killing young African American and Latino men.

Am I immune to fear?  Of course not!  Would I be scared if a group of young black men began calling me names and surrounded me?  Of Course.  Would I be scared if a group of young white men began calling me names and surrounded me?  Absolutely!  I'm scared when Any man, or any woman  I don't know approaches me on the street.

In St. Louis there were times when I was afraid.  Once I was spit on and trash was thrown on me by a bus mostly filled with black teenagers.  Once a man who sounded black followed me shouting "Hey honky, hey whitey".  I just kept moving and figured out later that I was receiving a bit of what they had been given.  Did that make it right?  No, but it made such incidents understandable, especially since I was only frightened, not physically harmed.

I was groped by a Latino man I couldn't get away from once.

But my torturers were just like me, white and Native people of mixed heritage.  So shall we play the race card and say it was the Indian blood?  Bullshit.

I still try to treat any stranger respectfully unless they  show me I need to get the hell away from them Now, by verbally or physically threatening me.

In neither of the "Stand Your Ground" cases in Florida did the young black  man killed start a fight by verbally or physically threatening the white man who shot them.

One man on NPR this morning made the point that you can't Expect kids to act like 45 year-old adults.  When I was younger I played music Loud and was called names for it along with my friends.  That music frightened adults.  But this has never been and is not now a reason for killing.  I understand terror and the rage it can provoke too well.  But I Can't understand the social immaturity of either those who would pass a law allowing murder on the basis of fear or of those who kill on such a basis.

Under the right circumstances I and anyone else can be afraid enough to do horrible things.  And That is Exactly why I and everyone Else needs Laws to Protect those we might harm for no reason except our own ignorance and Fear.  "Stand Your Ground" is just the Opposite kind of law!  It says, "Go ahead, give in to your fear, it's a terrible world out there, so kill what you fear if you Feel it Might hurt you."

Neither wearing a hoody nor playing lound music is a reason to lose a young life.  I have had many white neighbors who did Exactly what those kids in Florida are said to have done.  When asked, they turned down their music.  When they thought no one was paying attention, they cranked it back up again.  Some of these neighbors were kids and some were adults.

New Subject:  Have you ever been to a blasted or open pit mining site?  I have.  It feels like death, no birds, no plants, broken rock, I've heard it looks like the moon!  Trees are the lungs of the Earth, giving us oxygen, soaking up carbon dioxide, helping to bring rain.  Animals are often the food poor people depend on when lack of money and our changing climate ruin their gardens or cause them to eat beans two or three times per day, when they have them.  Animals die from the same diseases we do when drinking or wading in poisoned water.  You and I are over 90% water.  We All have to work to Share what is left on Earth, still much beauty.

Mountain Top Removal creates Jobs, so does Building Nuclear Weapons and Smuggling Guns, do any of them make the kind of world we want to live in?

Poisoned rivers are only one partof the coal industry's effects on West Virigina

--

Coal companies are blowing our mountain to rubble with financing from Wall Street

banks like PNC.

Tell PNC to stop financing extreme forms of mining that wipe away the wilderness

and poison mountain communities.

Sign the Petition

Wall Street banks like PNC are trying to wipe our mountains off the map.

In a desperate rush to squeeze more profit out of dwindling coal seams, coal companies

are turning to an extreme form of mining known as mountaintop removal. It’s exactly

what it sounds like:

Appalachian mountains are being blown to pieces with heavy explosives.

It’s not just wild forests and mountains that are being destroyed.

As heavy metals and arsenic leach into water supplies, communities are being poisoned.

 Children in Appalachian coal mining communities are 42% more likely to be born with

birth defects and have a life expectancy that is almost 5 years lower than the national

average.

PNC says it’s “a leader in eco-friendly development” but it’s financing some of the

worst perpetrators of mountaintop removal and

profiting from the destruction.

Tell PNC to divest from companies that practice mountaintop removal coal mining.

These children, and their communities, are running out of time.

 Every single day, PNC-funded projects are blasting the mountains and contaminating

the water. And every day more people are getting cancer and other illnesses. Junior

Walk, now an adult, tells of the experience of growing up in an affected Appalachian

community:

When they started pumping the liquid coal waste into the abandoned coal mines above

my home when I was a little child, my family’s water soon turned blood-red and smelled

like sulfur. If you ran a bath, you had to step out of the room for a minute or so

before you got in. Of course we didn’t drink it, but we still had to shower in it,

wash our dishes and clothes in it, and sometimes cook with it. We thought if we boiled

it, that it’d be alright because it stopped smelling. But it turns out that ain’t

the case.

We can’t let PNC fund disease and destruction any longer. Ask PNC to stop funding companies that practice mountaintop removal.

In 2010, PNC responded to pressure by introducing a policy of not providing funding

to individual mountaintop removal projects, or providing credit to coal producers

whose primary extraction method is mountaintop removal.

And yet, in 2011, PNC provided loans for 4 of the 5 largest coal companies.

These 4 companies account for 47% of all mountaintop removal coal mining. The policy

amounted to nothing.

But we know that PNC care what the public thinks of it. And we know that the will

is there to change.

In April, a quarter of PNC shareholders voted in favour of a proposal calling on

PNC to evaluate its financial risk of funding carbon intensive practices such as

coal mining.

 In terms of shareholder activism, that is huge. If we put enough pressure on PNC

to divest from mountaintop removal mining projects, we could have a tremendous impact

on the communities and landscapes of Appalachia. Let’s stand up to the big banks

and let them know we put people before profit -- they should too.

Thanks for all that you do,

Hanna, and the rest of us at SumOfUs.org

**********

More Information:

PNC defends coal business loans, says they help economy

, Triblive, 25 April

PNC Shareholders' Meeting Slammed With Environmental Protests

, Allegheny Front, 26 April

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3.

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Check Out the SALE at abilitieslive

Check out the SALE on abilitieslive.com!

I can't Stand this weather any longer, (though of course we all will). Today it's raining, turning the remains of the snow into solid Ice and by tonight it may be freezing rain.

  So I'm declaring a Spring Sale at WWW.abilitieslive.com

Some dolls have been marked down $10 or more!

You will also find both vintage and my hand made jewelry.

Coming soon will be doll clothing for 14 to 18 inch dolls.  Please tell any friends who like, or whose children have these larger dolls.

Also look in future for more 11.5 dolls!

Thank you.

Good News, People

Good News, People!

WOW--less than 24 hours after we launched the petition to stop AOL CEO Tim Armstrong

from cutting worker benefits while blaming pregnant women, Armstrong issued an apology

and reversed the cuts!

1

In just a few hours, more than 40,000 UltraViolet members spoke out to make sure

a multi-millionaire CEO was held accountable for corporate greed, and we sent a clear

message to other companies that when women are attacked, we won't stay quiet.

One of the two mothers blamed for a cut in benefits because of her "high-risk pregnancy"

even spoke out, saying, "for longer than I can bear to remember, we were too terrified

to name her, to know her...my daughter is nothing short of a miracle...having her

very existence used as a scapegoat for cutting corporate benefits was one indignity

too many."

2

And it's an indignity that, together with brave AOL employees who spoke out, we didn't

let go unnoticed. Thank you for raising your voice. It made a difference.

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Malinda, Adam, Gabriela, and Holly, the UltraViolet

Team

Sources:

1.

AOL CEO sorry for 'distressed babies' remark; reverses retirement plan

, Reuters, February 9, 2014

2.

My Baby and AOL’s Bottom Line

, Slate, February 9, 2014

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.

Much Worse than Bad Business

If Blogger would let me I'd have titled this post something like "Nasty Business" or UUGGLLYY!  But since that wasn't possible, please see below.

Much Worse Than Bad Business!

I Don't make a habit of asking Anyone to donate money which we all need and few of us have.  But I believe this Could be our future and it's Very ugly!  I do not donate online to anyone, you can write this organization to learn other ways, such as check, money order, etc.

A secret global trade deal being negotiated right now would let corporations sue

our governments to overturn any law they say hurts their profits.

The TPP must be stopped.

 So we're aiming to raise $100,000 to launch an emergency campaign to block the TPP

before it's too late.

Can you chip in?

Donate now

It's a corporate lobbyist's wildest dream -- a huge global trade deal that would

let corporations like Monsanto sue our governments if they passed laws to protect

the environment or keep life-saving medicine affordable.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has to be stopped.

This month, tens of thousands of American SumOfUs members and friends have called

Congress to demand it rejects a bill to give President Obama "fast track" authority

to sign the TPP -- and support is starting to fall away.

But it's not enough.

In the US, corporate lobbyists are pushing hard for Congress to approve. Elsewhere,

 governments are facing no scrutiny as they get ready to sign away our democratic

rights

 to make laws that protect the public interest. Unless we do more, we may lose this

fight.

That's why our community is stepping up. This week,

we're getting ready to launch a major effort to stop the TPP in its tracks

 -- and with your support, we're not going to stop fighting until we've won.

Can you chip in to help us launch the first steps of our campaign and start working together to stop the TPP and save our democracy?

We can't talk about all our plans yet, but we're already looking to:

Target key countries that can stop the TPP -- like Australia and Canada -- and make

sure that citizens hear about the TPP before it's too late

Call out consumer companies who have access to the negotiations and are helping write

the deal -- rights our elected representatives don't even have -- and demand they

come clean on what they know

Organize constituents to contact their representatives -- to make sure the TPP is

something that governments have to answer for

Work with lawyers to submit Freedom of Information requests for governments to come

clean on the deal

Offer rewards for officials who are willing to do the right thing and let the public

know what's in the TPP

Take out advertisements in key national media highlighting the threats the TPP poses

to our democracies

The corporations behind the TPP know the public won't like what's in the deal. That's

why the full contents are still secret -- only high-level government negotiators

and the 600 corporate lobbyists have access.

But we know enough to know that the TPP has to be stopped -- and enough to know how

we can stop it with your help.

Can you chip in to help fund our campaign to stop the TPP and protect our democracies?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is called a trade deal, but it is really a corporate

wish-list aimed at attacking everything from environmental protections to affordable

medicines to internet freedoms. Worst, it

 gives corporations impunity from governments or citizens that want to reign in their

power.

In fact, it is probably the most important international treaty you’ve never heard

of. The TPP is being negotiated between the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan

and other Pacific countries -- making it nearly global in scope.

There's lots wrong with the TPP, but the unaccountable systems it would set up to

allow corporations to sue governments are one of the most frightening.

If it is signed, future laws designed to protect consumers, our health, and our environment

could be overturned in secret courts

 by corporations that claim the laws harm their profits -- and there is nothing we

or our elected governments could do to stop them.

We need to do a lot more to make sure we stop this treaty -- and we need your help

to do that.

If you can, please chip in to take a stand for democracy and against the TPP, and fund the fight to stop this corporate power grab.

Thanks for all you do,

Paul and the team at SumOfUs.org

 SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Take Action Now

The epidemic of sexual assault in the military is chilling, and it's one of the most

pressing issues facing our service men and women today.

Over the last year, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has worked tirelessly on this issue,

and so have members of this community — including you. You've written letters, you've

called your Senators, and you've urged lawmakers to pass these vital reforms. This

fight has been long, and it's not over yet.

The Senate is set to vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act early this week. We need to make sure our lawmakers know we haven't given up on our service men and women.

We haven't forgotten about them, and we won't stop until the reforms they so desperately

need are put into place.

Tell your Senators — Do not filibuster the the Military Justice Improvement Act and support its final passage.

In 2012, there were an estimated 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the military.

But of those, only 3,000 were reported. Why? Because our service men and women do

not have confidence in the current military justice system.

The Military Justice Improvement Act works to instill that confidence by making sure

the decision to prosecute sexual assault cases is made by independent, trained military

prosecutors — not commanders.

Our men and women in uniform can't wait any longer — Senators, pass MJIA.

It's time our service men and women had a military justice system that is worthy

of their sacrifice. With your help, we're going to help make sure that they do.

Thanks for keeping it personal,

Thao Nguyen

Campaign Director

This Is Personal

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All content © 2013 National Women's Law Center

11 Dupont Circle NW, #800

Washington, DC 20036

I don't need convincing, how about you?

Dear fellow MoveOn member,

Opposing a minimum wage hike, blocking unemployment insurance, cutting food stamps,

keeping millions from accessing Medicaid .... I believe these positions are part

of

a concerted effort to keep struggling folks down that represents nothing less than

a war on the poor and working class.

Click here to see what I mean:

The first step toward solving a problem is understanding it. So if, after you watch

this video, you agree with me that it all adds up to a war on the poor and working

class,

please share the video with your friends.

Together, we can build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest

1%.

Thanks for playing an active role in our democracy.

–Robert Reich

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AOL's multi-millionaire CEO blamed the healthcare costs of two pregnant women for

his decision to cut benefits for the entire staff.

 Demand that he apologize immediately for his incredibly offensive comment and restore

benefits to AOL's staff.

click here

Click here

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, just had a staff-wide conference call to announce drastic

cuts to benefits. He viciously blamed the cuts on two female employees who had recently

had difficult pregnancies covered by the company's health plan.

1

WHAT?!

The cut was made a day after AOL announced 2013 had been

"its most successful year in the last decade" with revenues of $2.3 billion

.2 Tim Armstrong himself made $30 million

 from a patent deal with Microsoft (how's that for a bonus?)

3

 and in 2012 his annual

salary was quadrupled to $12.1 million.4

 Yet, two pregnant women justify cutting benefits across the board?

It is wildly inappropriate for a multi-millionaire CEO who heads a corporation earning

record revenue to make a greedy move cutting benefits and then blame pregnancy.

If we let Tim have his way, then other CEOs can slash benefits with the same sexist

justification.

 We need to send a message to corporate America that women will fight back and speak

up for their rights at work.

Will you sign the petition demanding CEO Tim Armstrong apologize for blaming pregnant women for AOL's greedy move and then restore benefits to employees? Click here to sign.

Not only are Tim Armstrong's comments horribly offensive and inappropriate,

 they are also incredibly untrue

. A co-director of the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance

at the Kaiser Family Foundation confirmed that the

costly pregnancies would have no effect at all on higher insurance costs

. And he refuted the claim that Obamacare is costing AOL $7.1 million, as Armstrong

claimed.

5

Women face enough discrimination in the workplace as it is--lower salaries, far fewer

management opportunities, and a loss of salary when an employer doesn't provide paid

sick days or maternity leave.

6 And

pregnant women face even MORE discrimination

, as a recent report highlights.7

 The last thing we need is to also carry blame for getting pregnant and expecting

health insurance from a rich employer not to leave us bankrupt.

But get this--

Tim Armstrong is also set to appear next week at a conference that aims to "reset

the agenda for women in the workplace in the 21st century."

8

We really wish this was a joke.

But because it's not and this is the kind of discrimination women in the workplace

still have to face in the 21st century, it's up to us to

gather thousands of signatures that will keep this story in the media spotlight and

force AOL to respond or face a public relations nightmare

.

Can you demand that AOL CEO Tim Armstrong apologize for blaming pregnant women for

benefit cuts and restore benefits?

Click here to sign the petition.

Thanks for speaking out.

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Malinda, Adam, Gabriela, and Holly, the UltraViolet

team

Sources:

1.

AOL CEO Blames Workers' Costly Pregnancies, Obamacare for 401(k) Cuts

, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, February 7, 2014

2.

AOL Shares Rise On Revenue Growth

, Forbes, February 6, 2014

3.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Made $30 Million From That Microsoft Patent Deal

, Forbes, April 9, 2012

4.

AOL CEO Says Obamacare Forced Company To Reduce 401(k) Benefits

, Huffington Post, February 6, 2014

5. Ibid

6.

A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back From The Brink

, The Shriver Report, January 12, 2014

7.

Pregnant Workers Face Routine Discrimination, Report Says

, Huffington Post, June 19, 2013

8. Ibid

Want to support our work?

 UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions

go a long way.

Chip in here.

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