Tag Archives: politics

National Congressional Call-In Day

Posted on December 4, 2006 | Leave a comment

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Remember National Congressional Call-In Day TODAY – Monday, December 4th

Members of Congress return to Washington, DC, today, Monday, December 4, to discuss their legislative priorities for the new session. Let’s greet them with a flood of phone calls, because many still don’t understand that the troops need to come home from Iraq — NOW!  Even Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, has said “We’re not going to do anything to limit funding or cut off funds.”

We can’t let the new Democratic leadership sit back on their hands and refuse to take responsibility for the Iraq war. YOU can help us send this message to Congress. Here’s what to do:

– Call the Congressional Swithboard at 202.224.3121 and ask for the office of your Representative or Senators.

– Ask to talk to the foreign policy advisor. If he or she is not there, ask to leave a voicemail.

– Once you have them on the phone, use these talking points:

1. This election was about the Iraq war, and we want a change!

2. I insist that Congress act immediately to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq NOW! This includes limiting funding ONLY to withdrawal.

3. The US needs to pursue regional diplomacy for Iraq’s future. It is the only way that the Middle East can find a way out of the chaos the US has created.

4. Congress has the power to end the U.S. occupation in Iraq and if it fails to do so, we will hold them responsible for the continued violence in Iraq. 

Please make 3 phone calls: to your Representative and to each of your Senators. Call the Capitol Switchboard TODAY at 202.224.3121 and help us ensure that a withdrawal from Iraq will be a top priority!

PS. Don’t forget to email us at Action@VotersForPeace.org to let us know who you speak to and if you get a response.

Sincerely,

Linda Schade
Executive Director
VotersForPeace.US

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Getting messages out

Posted on December 2, 2006 | Leave a comment

The Deseret News today has an article about a woman in a wheelchair stopping traffic on a highway to call attention to the lack of health insurance her husband is able to get for treatment of a medical condition. Medicare won’t pay for the treatment that he needs.

Police met the woman and her supporters at the intersection of the protest and compromised on escorting her around the intersection with her signs.

I had to cringe, however, at this:

….traffic speeds on Bangerter are too high in early evening hours to ensure Landers’ safety and that she would more effectively call attention to her story if she told it to a nearby newspaper reporter.
If she had wanted to stay on the sidewalk and hold a sign, officers said, they had no problem with that.
“I’ve tried everything else,” Landers said with tears in her eyes.

Uh, we all know that the media does not cover everything and when this woman says she has tried everything, I believe her. I’ll bet she has written letters and contacted newspapers and this was a desperate measure on her part.

And guess what – it made the news.

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Cottonwood Mobile Home Residents Story – continued

Posted on November 30, 2006 | Leave a comment

I’ve been following the saga of Cottonwood Heights Mobile Home Residents facing eviction from their homes due to development of the land on which their homes sit.

KUER Radio’s site has this piece from September that I imagine is still relevant (for donations)to help displaced residents with the costs of having to move:
Mobile Home Owners Move to Make Way for Development

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, UT (2006-09-18) Children, the elderly, and the working poor – all residents of the 50-year-old Meadows Mobile Home Estates in Cottonwood Heights are faced with moving out of their mobile homes to make way for a new upscale development. But most of the families don’t have the money to move.
Tax deductible donations to the Meadows Relocation Fund can be made to the Community Action Program in Salt Lake City or deposits can be made at any JP Morgan Chase Bank in the Meadows Relocation Fund account.

Salt Lake Community Action Program
764 S 200 West Salt Lake City, Ut 84101 (801)359-2444 (801)355-1798 (f)

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Protesting the Center Formerly Known as “Delta”

Posted on November 30, 2006 | Leave a comment

People unhappy with the new name for the Delta Center, home of Utah’s Jazz Basketball Team, gathered in front of the building tonight to protest the recent name change. “Energy Solutions Arena” is the new name of the facility. Many Utahns are unhappy with a Utah icon being named after a nuclear waste facility.

Is this what Utah really wants to be known for?

HEAL Utah organized tonight’s event. Durign the press conference, a boycott was been called against all enterprises of Larry H. Miller, Jazz owner and supposed pillar of the community.

Here is a list of Miller’s holdings: Continue reading →

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New York Town Adopts Sweatfree Policy

Posted on November 29, 2006 | Leave a comment

Nov 16, 2006 (New York State Labor-Religion Coalition) — NEW PALTZ ADOPTS SWEATFREE POLICY —

On November 1, 2006 the Village Board of New Paltz, New York (pop. 6,000+) adopted a new sweatfree purchasing policy for apparel and textiles as allowed by New York state law. The Village of New Paltz has some of the oldest houses in North America and was founded in 1678. Its Village Board is led by two Green Party activists, Mayor Jason West and Deputy Mayor Rebecca Rotzler- a National Green Party Co-Chair who also led the effort to pass the sweatfree ordinance.

New Paltz’s new policy establishes a sweatfree advisory committee staffed by the Village Treasurer to implement the policy. This Advisory Committee is also charged to recommend possible membership in the new national sweatfree consortium. Apparel and textile contract information will be made public and the outside parties will be allowed to comment on companies. Contractors and subcontractors who violate the policy, such as being untruthful about actual labor standards, can be fined $5,000. New Paltz joins Suffolk County, Long Island as the second New York jurisdiction to successfully enact a sweatfree ordinance. New York City enacted a sweatfree law in 2001 that was opposed successfully to the New York Supreme Court by Presidential Candidate and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

SweatFree Purchasing Policies

To see which of the following policies require factory disclosure, go here.

Sweatfree procurement policies adopted in the United States as of October 2006:
States: 6
Cities: 35
Counties: 10
Dioceses: 4
School Districts: 117
Individual High Schools: 3
Total: 174

CALIFORNIA
State of California
City of Los Angeles – [Report, Ordinance]
Los Angeles Unified School District – [Report, Motion]
Port of Los Angeles
City of San Francisco – [Sweatfree Ordinance, Fair Trade, Organic]
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District

COLORADO
Jefferson County Open School

ILLINOIS
State of Illinois
Oak Park and River Forest High School

MAINE
State of Maine [2001 law, 2006 law]
City of Bangor
City of Biddeford
City of Orono
City of Scarborough
City of Portland Public Schools
City of Bangor Public Schools

MASSACHUSETTS
City of Boston
City of Fall River

MINNESOTA
City of Minneapolis
Minneapolis Public School District
Saint Paul Public School District
Stillwater Public School District

NEW JERSEY
State of New Jersey
Archdiocese of Newark
City of Camden
City of Clifton
City of Deptford
Township of East Brunswick
City of Neptune
City of Newark
City of Redbank
Bergen County
Cumberland County
Essex County
Gloucester County
Hudson County
Mercer County
Middlesex County
Passaic County

NEW MEXICO
City of Albuquerque

NEW YORK
State of New York – [language renewed in 2006, Apparel, Sports Equipment]
Albany Diocese
Buffalo Diocese
Rockville (Long Island) Diocese
Village of New Paltz

109 school districts, including:
Albany City School District
Averill Park Central School District
Brentwood Union Free School District
Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District
Bethlehem School District
Central Islip United Free School District
Edinburg Common School District
Guilderland Central School District
Jordan Elbridge Central School District
Lansingburgh Central School District
Newburgh City School District
North Colonie Central School District
Northport-East Northport United Free School District
Patchogue-Medford United Free School District
Rondout Valley Central School District
South Colonie Central School District
South Glens Falls Central School District
Three Villages Central School District
Troy City School District
Voorheesville Central School District

NORTH CAROLINA
City of Durham

OHIO
City of Bedford Heights
City of Berea
City of Brookpark
City of Elyria
City of Fairview Park
City of Lakewood
City of North Olmstead
City of Parma
City of Toledo
Cuyahoga County

PENNSYLVANIA
 State of Pennsylvania
City of Pittsburgh Ordinance (Dec 2004), Proclamation (July 2006)
Northampton County

RHODE ISLAND
City of Providence

VERMONT
Brattleboro Union High School

WASHINGTON
City of Olympia

WISCONSIN
City of Madison – [Resolution, Report, Ordinance]
City of Milwaukee
County of Milwaukee
Milwaukee Public School District

Visit the Worker Rights Consortium website to see the list of affiliate colleges and universities.

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Peace Sign Christmas Wreath “Symbol of Satan”

Posted on November 27, 2006 | Leave a comment

Christmas peace sign causes subdivision stir

By Robert Weller
The Associated Press

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Some residents of Pagosa Springs, Colo., object to this… (Lisa Jensen/The Associated Press)

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Posted on November 22, 2006 | Leave a comment

Holly Mullen has an interesting piece in today’s Salt Lake Tribune on the newly named Delta Center in Salt Lake City (now the Energy Solutions Arena).

There is a poll on her page for folks to vote on a nickname for the arena.  People  have been having lots of fun with this.




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New Arena Name
What should Utahns nickname Larry H. Miller’s newly christened EnergySolutions Arena?

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Glow in the Dark Park
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The Tox Box
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Nuclear Winner Stadium
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Nukeback Mountain
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Meltdown Manor
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The Fallout Shelter
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Plutonium Palace
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Radium Stadium
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The Glow Dome
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“Energy Solutions Arena”

Posted on November 21, 2006 | Leave a comment

The Delta Center has a new name: Energy Solutions Arena.
EnergySolutions Arena — Former Envirocare provides new name for Delta Center
Arena’s new name a winner, Miller says:Critics have no shortage of nicknames

This came to my desk from HEAL Utah:

EnergySolutions is no longer just an eyesore in the West Desert. As of this afternoon, the sports arena you’ve known for 15 years as the Delta Center will be known as the “EnergySolutions Arena.”

Now every time you take your kids to a Jazz game, see a concert, or simply drive through downtown Salt Lake, you can be reminded that your state is home to the largest commercial nuclear waste dump in the nation. Dan Patrick on ESPN sports radio is already calling the renamed arena “The Dump.”

In its latest attempt at rebranding, EnergySolutions has branded Utah, for the world to see, as the nation’s nuclear waste dump.

EnergySolutions can spend how it wants the untold millions it makes off dumping the nation’s unwanted waste in Utah, but this is a slap in the face to Utahns who are uneasy about their state being known as the nation’s dumping ground. And Larry Miller, who admitted he was in “nuclear kindergarten” before being educated by EnergySolutions, could certainly have sold out to a company with a better image for the state of Utah.

But don’t be uneasy, Larry Miller says, because his company and EnergySolutions share a lot of the same ideals. And EnergySolutions’ president Steve Creamer is only looking forward to the day when his company’s name is on the lips of every fourth grader in Utah. Continue reading →

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Poll Says Utahns Favor War as Priority

Posted on November 21, 2006 | Leave a comment
This is scary……

War should be focus for Bush, Utahns say

Deseret Morning News

      A majority of Utahns say the war in Iraq should be the top priority for President Bush and Congress, according to a new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll.
     

Sixty-three percent of 416 residents in the statewide poll ranked the war in Iraq as a “very high priority,” pushing it ahead of four other issues, including the economy, Social Security, health care and immigration reform.
      The poll, which has a margin of error of 5 percent, asked respondents to rank the five issues on a 1-5 scale, with 1 meaning a very low priority and 5 being a very high priority for Bush to pursue.
      While Social Security had the lowest percentage of respondents ranking it as very high priority — 35 percent — it squeezed past immigration reform in overall importance. Immigration reform’s overall ranking dipped slightly because of the higher number of respondents — 7 percent — who ranked it as a very low priority.
      Economy and health-care reform ranked slightly higher on the priority list, with 40 percent of respondents listing health care as a very high priority and 37 percent ranking the economy very high.
      Only 4 percent of respondents gave the war in Iraq a very low priority.

Photo
Deseret Morning News graphic

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Getting ready for the Utah legislative session

Posted on November 19, 2006 | Leave a comment

I’ve updated my Politics Handbook (link is also at the bottom of left links sidebar).

On that page is a link to 2007 Utah Legislative Session News.

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