Archive for petition

VIDEO: Alan Grayson delivers #CancelTheSequester petition signed by 300,000 to John Boehner’s office

alan grayson sequester petition

Go Alan Grayson!

The GOP lives for austerity and strives for cuts to and the eventual elimination of successful programs that so many Americans depend on. Their watchword: Privatize. Their goal: Union busting (Read: Ending Democratic fundraising) and destroying their own government. Their prize: Money and power. They salivate over the prospect of profiting off of the misfortune of others, the needs of their fellow citizens, the public programs that have worked better than their for-profit corporate schemes.

Austerity hasn’t worked overseas, it hasn’t worked here.

Via AusterityNut.com

Via AusterityNut.com

Alan Grayson:

“…End the sequester.”

Washington does not normally see 300,000 people speak as one. I am your legs today, and to some extent I’m your voice, but I’m not the one who matters. What matters is that we work together… In numbers there is strength.”

“…They’re gonna have to listen.”

alan grayson sequester petition 2

Via Wired For Change:

Now we have to make sure that everyone, including the White House, knows that the American people reject all benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.  

In an effort led by Alan Grayson, 31 members of Congress have pledged to vote against legislation that cuts Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare benefits. 

Let’s make sure the White House knows we reject all benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

If 100,000 of us sign this petition, Alan Grayson will deliver it to the White House.

cancel the sequester

VIDEO: “I’m Joe Biden!”… A veep with his own reality TV show?

starring Joe Biden

biden petition reality show

Yes, the above petition actually calls for a Joe Biden reality show… after a fashion:

Vice President Joe Biden has a demonstrated ability to bring people together, whether at the negotiating table or at the neighborhood diner. We, therefore, urge the Obama Administration to authorize the production of a recurring C-SPAN television program featuring the daily activities and interactions of the Vice President with elected officials, foreign dignitaries and everyday American families.

He is so likable, funny, and often bloopery that he’d probably garner enough ratings to boost his show from CSPAN to network prime time after one measly season.

Why, it could even be called, “I’m Joe Biden!”:

(I couldn’t resist.)

When you think about it, there’s no way a Republican good pull this off. They aren’t exactly into that reality thing.

More of Biden’s swearing-in one-liners here.

White House Petition To Recognize Westboro Baptist Church As Hate Group Most Popular Ever

westboro

I’m with Cory, screw the Hate Group designation (don’t know that the White House really has any say in that, maybe the SPLC) and go straight for the money. Neon paint ain’t cheap.

Users of the White House’s “We the People” digital petition platform have flooded the site in support of an effort to officially designate the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group.

The most popular petition was submitted on Dec. 14, the same day as the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., an incident that Westboro responded to by announcing its intent to picket the funerals of the 26 victims, including 20 young children. This plan made them a prime target of hacktivist group Anonymous and eventually drew a well-attended counter-protest to block the church’s followers from disrupting the services.

The individual push has since received the support of nearly 250,000 signees, making it the most popular single petition ever created through the White House initiative. It recently cruised past a call for federal action on gun control, which along with a number of other petitions on the issue of gun rights, drew a response from President Barack Obama last week.

But the quarter-million signature effort to recognize Westboro as a hate group is also getting a boost from two other petitions calling for the congregation’s tax-exempt status to be revoked. Both of those have also crossed the 25,000 signature threshold needed to prompt a response from the administration.

Guess how many people want MSNBC to fire Pat Buchanan… Hint: A lot!

Via

We’ve written post after excoriating post here at TPC about MSNBC’s “Uncle Pat”, yet he’s still a contributor and has been for years…. a despicable bigoted, racist one who keeps shooting off his big mouth in full view of millions of viewers (hide the kids, literally).

MSNBC continues to invite him on, and he continues to offend us because he draws viewers. Why else would they expose us to all that toxicity? It’s all about ratings.

Maybe now they’ll take a hint.

Think Progress is reporting that a whole lot of people are objecting. I do believe I was one of those who signed the petition that was sent to MSNBC president Phil Griffin:

In response, African-American civil rights organization ColorOfChange.org and CREDO Action gathered 275,000 people who are demanding that MSNBC President Phil Griffin fire Buchanan immediately. The ColorOfChange.org petition reads, “Buchanan has a long and consistent history of peddling white supremacist ideology as legitimate political commentary, on your network and elsewhere.”

Nobody is saying Buchanan doesn’t have a right to opine or be on the Tee Vee machine, but when he “broadcasts bigotry and hate to millions” he crosses a very bright line.

Dump him already.

Ohio Gov. Kasich’s anti-voter law suspended

Need some good news? Then I’ve got just the thing for you. Think Progress is reporting that a bill that made it harder to vote in Ohio, one that Republican Gov. John Kasich signed into law, one that made early voting and absentee/election day voters much more difficult, will be suspended.

Score one (even temporarily) for democracy:

Today, however, opponents of Kasich’s war on voting will submit over 300,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office — well over the 231,000 signatures necessary to suspend the law until it can be challenged in a referendum in November of 2012.

This means that the law that Kasich signed would not be effective during the 2012 presidential elections, and that must be driving the GOP crazy, considering it was intended to work against those (mostly early voters) who would likely vote for President Obama.

Elizabeth Warren needs our help: GOP, confirm a director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, let the agency do its work.

I get emails (bolding mine):

Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts Exploratory Committee
 

Laffy,

Do we need more proof Washington’s not working for middle class families? We got it once again this week.

The big banks and their army of lobbyists couldn’t stop the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, so now they are trying to undermine its work, enlisting their Republican friends on the Senate Banking Committee to stop the nomination of Richard Cordray to lead the agency — just to try to slow up the agency from doing its work.

It’s outrageous — and we’ve got to hold them accountable.

I’m starting a petition: Sign on now to call on the Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee to protect the interests of middle class families, to confirm a director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and to let the agency do its work.

The goal of this new agency is to protect consumers by ending the tricks and traps and fine print banks have used to make it hard to understand and compare the costs of mortgages and credit cards. We need to hold Wall Street accountable for issuing the kinds of deceptive loans that nearly brought our economy to its knees in 2008.

I fought hard for these new protections and faced an army of lobbyists to hold the banks accountable. I am proud to have been part of the David vs. Goliath effort that led to the passage of this new agency. I was also proud to help set up the new agency over the past year as an assistant to the President.

We’ve made a lot of progress toward fixing the broken credit markets and preventing the next crisis, but the enemies of reform are at it again.

It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to put the interests of hard working middle class families over the special interests of large financial institutions. We’ve got to speak out and make sure our fellow Americans know the truth.

Sign my petition to Senate Republicans now: Urge them to put the interests of families first and to allow this consumer protection agency to do its work!

We need clear rules to fix broken credit markets, protect consumers, and get our economy growing and creating jobs.

I’ve made my life’s work fighting for middle class families and pushing back against special interests. I know what it means to live one pink slip or one health crisis away from economic disaster, because I did. That’s why I’m working so hard to change things.

But I can’t do it alone. I need you to stand with me today. I need you to make this an issue that the Republicans can’t duck.

Sign my petition to Senate Republicans now: Urge them to put the interests of families first and to allow this consumer protection agency to do its work!

And I’ll make sure the petition and our signatures get delivered to the Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee.

Thanks so much for your help,

Elizabeth Warren

Please sign!

Dear Starbucks: Denounce the Anti-Gay Views of Willow Creek Community Church

Please take a moment to hop over and sign this petition that my buddy Asher Huey (bio here) posted. Thank you:

Starbucks Chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, is speaking at a conference hosted at and sponsored by an anti-gay church. This is unacceptable.

The church that is sponsoring the event on August 11th and 12th has a long history anti-gay persecution. For decades the church was a member of Exodus International, the organization that seeks to cure homosexuality through dangerous conversion therapy. The church split ways with the group, but in doing so stated that it wasn’t a change in belief but a change in focus. The church also has their own “outreach” programs to the LGBT community to spread their anti-lgbt message.

Organizations that attempt to cure people of their sexual orientation are dangerous. They are rejected by major medical organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association.

Starbucks has sought to build an inclusive atmosphere. They have even received 100 scores on the HRC equality index, but earlier this summer there was a dust up when an openly gay employee was the subject of a an anti-gay tirade by a manager and fired in front of customers.

Starbucks should immediately denounce the views of this church, before the CEO speaks at their “leadership” summit.

Willow Creek cut their ties, but they didn’t denounce.

Church officials described the move as a shift in approach rather than a change in belief. Susan DeLay, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek, said the church continues to welcome those who are attracted to people of the same sex.

“Willow Creek has a whole host of ministries for people dealing with these issues, and we would never intend for them to feel sidelined,” she told Christianity Today.

Please sign the petition here.