Tell the FDA: No BPA in food packaging

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Elijah Zarlin, CREDO Action" <act@credoaction.com>
Date: Mar 24, 2012 8:12 AM
Subject: Tell the FDA: No BPA in food packaging
To: "Daniel A. Stafford"

The science is clear. BPA is dangerous. It's time for FDA to stop allowing BPA to be used in our food packaging. Send a message to the FDA before its March 31st decision. The FDA decides on March 31st if it will ban BPA in food packaging. Dear Daniel, The toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) was recently banned in California from being used in baby bottles and sippy cups. But thanks to the lobbying of the American Chemistry Council and other chemical manufacturers, BPA continues to be allowed in food and beverage packaging including the lining in most canned food and soup. The FDA can put a stop to it. The agency will decide on March 31st whether or not to continue allowing bisphenol A (BPA) to be used in food packaging. It needs to stand up to industry pressure and protect us from this dangerous chemical. Tell the FDA: No BPA in food packaging! BPA is a hormone disruptor that has been linked to a long list of serious health issues, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, early puberty, miscarriages and brain and heart disorders.1 It's so ubiquitous, it's even used in things like store receipts and plastic bags, and it is estimated that BPA can be found in 90% of our bodies.2 FDA's deadline comes in response to a formal petition filed in 2008 by the Natural Resources Defence Council. FDA failed to respond, and finally in December, a federal judge said it must make a final decision on BPA in food packaging by March 31st.3 Early last year, FDA admitted that BPA use raised "some concern," reversing a long maintained position that BPA was safe in low doses, as evidence mounted rapidly of BPA's health risks, which in addition to increased propensity for some diseases, include infertility and behavioral problems in children. The science on BPA is clear, and its health impacts are far reaching, and deeply concerning. BPA isn't safe to be used in food packaging and the FDA needs to take action to protect us from BPA: http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5542065&id=37220-2914033-UZtP%3Dkx&t=7 Thank you for fighting to keep us safe from toxic chemicals. Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets 1. "A Survey of Bisphenol A in U.S. Canned Foods," Environmental Working Group, March 2007 2. "High BPA levels found in at least 90% of moms-to-be," USA Today, October 11, 2010 3. "FDA agrees to determine safety of BPA," Washington Post, December 7, 2011 Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter © 2012 CREDO. All rights reserved.

Courageous action in Chicago

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Lenore Palladino, MoveOn.org Civic Action" <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
Date: Mar 23, 2012 1:46 PM
Subject: Courageous action in Chicago
To: "Daniel A. Stafford" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

We need a massive wave of direct action to challenge the 1%. That's why tens of thousands of us are participating in nonviolent direct action trainings nationwide. There's a 99% Spring action training in Chicago on Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012, at 10:00 AM. Will you join in? Attend a Training

Dear MoveOn member,

This spring, every corner of our movement is working together to pave the way for a huge wave of direct action—the 99% Spring.

That's why right now we're organizing a massive effort to train 100,000 people—in the course of just one week—on how to take nonviolent direct action in spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. We'll be preparing ourselves to join an unprecedented series of actions planned nationwide to confront corporate power holders, end tax giveaways to the 1%, fight the influence of money in politics, and more. If you've never taken action before, now's the time—the stakes are so high.

It's a bold vision, but it can work if huge numbers of us join in.

The first step is to go to a 99% Spring action training. There's one in Chicago on Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012, at 10:00 AM. Can you join in?

Yes, count me in!

Right now, our movement is using direct action more and more, and we're uniting to take it to the next level during the 99% Spring because we need fundamental change in this country.

Our economy is broken. The 1% are amassing more wealth and influence than ever and far too many of our leaders refuse to do what it takes to make the system work for the rest of us. We're in an election year, but instead of listening to the 99% and proposing solutions, we keep hearing politicians talk about more spending cuts and tax breaks for the 1%.

We have to make our call for change louder, bolder, and impossible to ignore.

If we do, we'll transform the political landscape in America. We'll see cable news filled with reports every day about people standing up to the 1%. Stories of people flooding the streets demanding fundamental change in our economy, of Wall Street executives confronted face-to-face by everyday people demanding accountability, of politicians forced to explain why they refuse to fight for the 99%.

That's the vision for the 99% Spring—it's up to all of us to turn it into a reality. The first step is coming together in unprecedented numbers to train and prepare ourselves for action. The trainings will be a fun, interactive experience where you'll not only learn new skills, but also meet other people in your area who want to take action and stand up for the 99%.

Will you participate in the 99% Spring action training in Chicago on Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012, at 10:00 AM?

Yes, I'll be there!

More than 1,000 MoveOn members nationwide have already volunteered to help run the trainings. They've been coached by master trainers and have been working for weeks in partnership with local groups to prepare the events.

It's like nothing we've ever tried before, but the response has been amazing because progressives everywhere understand that we can't afford to let our families and our communities suffer under a broken system any longer.

Together, we can do something amazing this spring.

Thanks for all you do.

–Lenore, Joan, Robin, Carrie, and the rest of the team

Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 5 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.

334,682 people like MoveOn on Facebook. Can you help get to a million? Like MoveOn on Facebook

---

This email was sent to Daniel A. Stafford on March 23, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

US Supreme Court will hear Arizona’s SB 1070

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Donna De La Cruz, Reform Immigration FOR America" <info@reformimmigrationforamerica.org>
Date: Mar 23, 2012 2:06 PM
Subject: US Supreme Court will hear Arizona's SB 1070
To: "Daniel Stafford" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

A week of action to stand with immigrant families Daniel, You and I have witnessed the fallout from the current patchwork of state immigration laws: while we win victories in California and Illinois, we face devastating moral and humanitarian crises in Alabama and Arizona. A stance must be taken at the federal level to ensure that we can move forward to reform our immigration system as an entire nation. Next month, the US Supreme Court will take on Arizona's extreme anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. The impact of the Supreme Court's decision on SB 1070 can't be overstated. For all those who have fought back against this racist law for nearly two years, this could be the moment our government declares once and for all that state-sponsored hate and racial profiling will be not be tolerated. While the justices debate, we will be in the streets and online across the country, calling for justice and equality under the law for all immigrant families. We are planning for a week of action with national and grassroots partners, to make sure the court knows that the entire country will be following their decision. I'll be writing more soon about all the ways you can get involved. If you or your community is planning events around the Supreme Court case, reply to this email and let us know. Simply put, Arizona's SB 1070 is un-American – and we will unite to act for justice for all. Stay tuned for more details. With hope, Donna De la Cruz Reform Immigration FOR America PS: As part of the week of action, national allies will be launching an exciting project to encourage thousands of eligible individuals to start the process for naturalization. If you want to learn more about this project, please sign up for more information.       Get Involved at RI4A.ORG      Why Reform?      Donate You're receiving this message because you signed up for Reform Immigration for America email communications. No longer interested? Unsubscribe.

Big Oil Tax Subsidies -- End Them Now!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "The Wilderness Society" <c+tws@trusted-sender.convio.net>
Date: Mar 23, 2012 2:21 PM
Subject: Big Oil Tax Subsidies -- End Them Now!
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>

Dear Daniel, Tell the Senate to vote Yes on the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act! Are you feeling the pain at the pump? I know I am. Watching the numbers quickly speed by as I'm filling my tank makes me think that there has to be a better way. Fortunately, there is. We need clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet, taxpayer money that could help develop clean energy flies away in tax breaks to filthy-rich oil and gas corporations. What is the issue? This Monday, your Senators will cast a vote on oil subsidies. The Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act (S. 2204) would remove $4 billion of Big Oil's unnecessary tax breaks, and focus on finding clean energy alternatives. The planet — and your pocketbook — need your help to support this bill. Why is it important? Big Oil took in $4 billion in unnecessary tax breaks last year. The $4 billion in tax breaks could have gone to finding clean alternatives to paying $4 a gallon at the pump. Oil companies made $137 billion in profits last year. They make an additional $200 million every time the price of gasoline goes up a single penny. Big Oil doesn't need relief from pain at the pump. We do. Monday's bill will help support Clean Energy alternatives — not Big Oil tax breaks. You can help Act now! The vote will occur Monday afternoon. Tell your Senators to vote YES on the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act (S. 2204) Sincerely, David Moulton, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs The Wilderness Society 202.833.2300 1615 M St, NW, Washington, DC 20036 www.wilderness.org Unsubscribe

York PC 112: Rag Radio On Sustainable Housing

Rag Radio main page: http://www.koop.org/RagRadio

Rag Radio 2012-02-10 - "Sustainability Through Salvage" w/ Brad Kittel, Builder of "Tiny Texas Houses" (February 10, 2012)

• 50:041 Rag Radio 2012-02-10 - Brad Kittel

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Brad Kittel, who has developed an entire philosophy around the concept of “sustainability through salvage,” builds “Tiny Texas Houses” that are “99% pure salvage.” Some as small as 125 square feet, the houses come wired for electricity and outfitted for plumbing, and include a shower and toilet and a loft for sleeping. Kittel, who trains people to do "salvage mining," says "we have the power to create solutions to our global problems by the simplest of choices we make each day."

Brad Kittel set out 30 years ago from Florida "on an adventure to write the great American novel." After a stop in Las Vegas, “eating out of dumpsters and finding things to sell in flea markets” to buy parts to fix his converted 66-passenger school bus, he ended up in Austin, Texas, where he started buying up and restoring condemned boarded-up houses. In 1997 he started Discovery Architectural Antiques in Gonzales, Texas, which has over 130,000 square feet of inventory, and, utilizing that inventory, started building his “tiny houses” -- which are made with “100% American grown and mined materials…with zero carbon footprint.” Kittel hopes his houses "will last for at least another century," and he believes "that there are enough building materials sitting around on the ground to build much of the next generation of housing."

Host and Producer of Rag Radio: Thorne Dreyer; Engineer and Co-Producer: Tracey Schulz. Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run community radio station in Austin, Texas, in association with The Rag Blog (theragblog.blogspot.com) and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Underwriting announcements and recorded music have been removed from this podcast. Running time: 50:05.


This audio is part of the collection: Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Rag Radio with Thorne Dreyer
Date: 2012-02-10
Keywords: Rag Radio; Thorne Dreyer; Roger Baker; Brad Kittel; Sustainability; Salvage Mining; Tiny Texas Houses

Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States

Individual Audio Files

Audio Files	VBR MP3	Ogg Vorbis
Rag Radio 2012-02-10 - Brad Kittel	45.8 MB	28.2 MB

Have you seen this?

From: "Maggie L. Fox, Climate Reality" <info@climatereality.com>
Date: Mar 22, 2012 2:11 PM
Subject: Have you seen this?

Dear Daniel, Did you see our latest video about teaching climate change denial in our schools? If not, join the 456,925 people who saw this video and watch it here: http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/heartlandvideo Tens of thousands signed our petition telling an oil-and-coal-funded organization to cease and desist its plans to send a "curriculum" about climate denial into our children's classrooms. And you shared this powerful video that is spreading far and wide. But the fight isn't over. The Heartland Institute is growing more aggressive in pushing this curriculum. I need to ask for your help. Donate $5 to help The Climate Reality Project fight to keep paid-for climate denial out of our schools. Oil and coal companies will stop at nothing to deny that climate change is a reality. Recently, it was revealed that the Heartland Institute -- an ideological group with industry funding -- wants teachers to be their mouthpieces for climate denial. This is simply unacceptable. Our science classrooms should teach science. What they shouldn't do is spread a fossil fuel company's propaganda. Fortunately, Corey Husic, a high school student in Pennsylvania, asked the Heartland Institute to cease and desist its plans for a climate denial curriculum. Nearly 30,000 of you joined Corey by adding your names to his request. And here's what's most important: We need to make sure the Heartland Institute's plans are widely publicized all over the country -- so that not a single teacher is fooled into adopting their so-called "curriculum." That's why we created a powerful video, "Heartland Department of Education," to bring their agenda into the light of day. Our video has already received widespread attention and nearly 460,000 views. Climate change is real and happening now. But we can't get to work on solving this crisis if the deniers succeed in spreading their distortions, mistruths and propaganda -- into the media, into our daily life, and into our children's schools. Today, I'm asking you to help us keep up the fight. Contribute $5 to help The Climate Reality Project fight back against well-funded interests that deny the science of climate change. Thanks for all you do, Maggie L. Fox President and CEO The Climate Reality Project

Click here to unsubscribe. ©2012 The Climate Reality Project. All Rights Reserved.

Wall Street Confidence Trick: The Interest-Rate Swaps That Are Bankrupting Local Governments

Wall Street Confidence Trick: The Interest-Rate Swaps That Are Bankrupting Local Governments

Wednesday, 21 March 2012 00:00 By Ellen Brown, Truthout | New Analysis 

Far from reducing risk, derivatives increase risk, often with catastrophic results. -Derivatives expert Satyajit Das, Extreme Money (2011).
 
The "toxic culture of greed" on Wall Street was highlighted again last week, when Greg Smith went public with his resignation from Goldman Sachs in a scathing op-ed published in The New York Times. In other recent eyebrow-raisers, LIBOR rates - the benchmark interest rates involved in interest-rate swaps - were shown to be manipulated by the banks that would have to pay up; and the objectivity of the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) was called into question, when a 50 percent haircut for creditors was not declared a "default" requiring counterparties to pay on credit-default swaps on Greek sovereign debt.

Interest-rate swaps are less often in the news than credit-default swaps, but they are far more important in terms of revenue, composing fully 82 percent of the derivatives trade.

"How the swaps were supposed to work was explained by Michael McDonald in a November 2010 Bloomberg article titled "Wall Street Collects $4 Billion From Taxpayers as Swaps Backfire":

"In an interest rate swap, two parties exchange payments on an agreed-upon amount of principal. Most of the swaps Wall Street sold in the municipal market required borrowers to issue long-term securities with interest rates that changed every week or month. The borrowers would then exchange payments, leaving them paying a fixed-rate to a bank or insurance company and receiving a variable rate in return. Sometimes borrowers got lump sums for entering agreements."

Banks and borrowers were supposed to be paying equal rates: the fat years would balance out the lean. But the Fed artificially manipulated the rates to the save the banks. After the credit crisis broke out, borrowers had to continue selling adjustable-rate securities at auction under the deals. Auction interest rates soared when bond insurers' ratings were downgraded because of subprime mortgage losses; but the periodic payments that banks made to borrowers as part of the swaps plunged, because they were linked to benchmarks such as Federal Reserve lending rates, which were slashed to almost zero.
In a February 2010 article titled "How Big Banks' Interest-Rate Schemes Bankrupt States," Mike Elk compared the swaps to payday loans. They were bad deals, but municipal council members had no other way of getting the money. "

Full Story: http://truth-out.org/news/item/8016-wall-street-confidence-trick-the-interest-rate-swaps-that-are-bankrupting-local-governments

Less than one week to reach one million

Dear friend,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to approve genetically engineered salmon, which would be the first genetically engineered animal on supermarket shelves in the United States. The salmon is engineered to produce hormones year-round that cause the fish to grow at twice its natural rate. But without labels, we'll never know.

We need to speak out now, because there's less than one week left until the FDA must respond publicly to a petition calling for labeling of genetically engineered foods -- and we need to make sure the FDA knows how ordinary Americans feel about this issue before that deadline.

That's why I submitted a comment to the FDA demanding that genetically engineered foods be labeled. And in about 30 seconds and with just a few clicks, you can join me. Will you tell the FDA that you support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods too?

http://www.JustLabelIt.org/take-action?track=sotaf

Please, click on that link and contact the FDA today. They need to hear from more people like you and me.

Thanks!

Daniel

 
________________________________

This message was sent to Daniel A. Stafford by Eric Schlosser and Gary Hirshberg from the SignOn.org system. MoveOn.org Civic Action sponsors SignOn.org, but does not endorse specific campaigns or the contents of this message.

York PC 112: Google, The Obama Administration, And Hydrogen Quietly Starting To Clean Up...

Google has been operating a municipal wastewater recovery and recycling system to cool its Douglas County, Georgia data center for the past couple of years without much fanfare, up until last week when its facilities manager decided to post a video about the system on googleblog. The short post unleashed a flood of snickering and potty references across the blogosphere but really, Google has barely scratched the surface of wastewater’s emerging role in the clean energy future.

There's more. Much More.

Full Story: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/03/google-reclaims-wastewater-for-energy-efficient-cooling-system/

All the best, if you work and vote for it,

Dan

"Nobody Voted"

From: "Adam Green, BoldProgressives.org" <info@boldprogressives.org>
Date: Mar 21, 2012 3:20 PM
Subject: "nobody voted"

---

Daniel,
Last night was not fun.
In Illinois, progressive congressional candidate Ilya Sheyman lost to Brad Schneider by 8% -- 47% to 39% -- while other candidates got 14% of the vote. Honestly, a lot of people were scratching their heads asking, "What happened?" The best answer came this morning from someone close to the campaign: "Nobody voted."
PCCC members put thousands of dollars and volunteer hours into this race in support of a true progressive champ -- and that was absolutely the right thing to do.
Ilya ran a credible race, PCCC members made his campaign even stronger, and many political insiders thought he would win. Ilya remains a progressive rising star and it's likely he will be a member of Congress someday.
But we wanted to give you the facts as we know them, run down some things we don't know yet, and share our thoughts on the future. Here's what we know...

• Voter turnout was unexpectedly low. It was predicted that as many as 60,000 people would vote. In fact, 32,866 people showed up -- throwing off models used to target key voters. 
• Our polling with MoveOn -- and polls by others, not publicly released -- showed that "likely voters" supported Ilya. 
• Last night's election was a success for progressive messaging. Following Ilya's lead, Ilya's opponent plastered the word "progressive" on his ads and literature, claimed he was not a Blue Dog (even though he is), and adopted much of Ilya's rhetoric about protecting Social Security and Medicare. Last night was a victory for those trying to imitate progressives.
• Ilya's main opponent used the final few days to spread things that were blatantly untrue, but possibly persuasive -- such as literature implying President Obama (the hometown favorite) endorsed him. 
• The Republican presidential primary dominated the Illinois news coverage in the final days, making it less likely that media would debunk lies in the congressional race.
• Ilya's campaign had by far the best grassroots volunteer operation, including 600 volunteers in the district and PCCC members nationally making over 30,000 phone calls. (See video here.)

Here's what we don't know...

• Why was voter turnout so disastrously low? 
• In a low turnout environment, why didn't the superior grassroots operation win? 
• Was the polling off? Our pollster offers some thoughts here. (It could also be that "likely voters" didn't show up.)

Here's what we do next...

• Learn lessons for the future. We have a great team of data analytics staff -- as does Ilya's campaign. Together, we will be scouring the election data and analyzing whether people who the campaign most expected to vote actually voted. We will share these lessons with progressive candidates in competitive races right now.
• We will redouble our efforts to elect bold progressives like Elizabeth Warren and Eric Griego. Together, we won our first big House primary in 2010, helped save progressive Rep. Raul Grijalva that year, and won two big recalls in 2011. Nothing would be more counter-productive than using last night's loss as an excuse to stop fighting for progressive candidates who run credible campaigns. The next big race is Eric Griego, a progressive state senator running for Congress in New Mexico, where voting begins in 6 weeks. And Elizabeth Warren's Senate race continues to be a top progressive priority in 2012. If you agree that we need to redouble our fight to elect progressive candidates, chip in a symbolic $2 to Elizabeth Warren and Eric Griego's campaigns today.

Thanks for reading this long email, caring deeply about our country, and being a bold progressive.

-- Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Neil Sroka, Amanda Johnson, Michael Snook, Ethan Jucovy, Karen Oelschlaeger, Kristiane Skolmen, Jeff Budd, Dheeraj Chand, Jordan Krueger, Forrest Brown, Jason Rosenbaum, TJ Bateman, Jake Conarck, Matt Wall, Tyler Ross, Megan Gean, Taylor Sappington, Caralyn Hamel, Andrew Mayersohn, Robyn Swirling, Conor Kennedy, Drew McConville, and James Ploeser (the PCCC team)

---

Want to support our work? PCCC's Draft Warren campaign was named The Nation's "Most Valuable Campaign of 2011" and Politico called us "The Energizer Bunny of the Left"! And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in $3 here.

Paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (www.BoldProgressives.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the PCCC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

York PC 112: PDA's Tim Carpenter & The Nation's John Nichols At YTDO's Annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner...

You can view some of the photos here: http://gallery.me.com/rtracy3#100334&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=30

All the best, if you work and vote for it,

Dan

Fixing our broken eavesdropping law

From: "ACLU of Illinois" <acluofillinois@aclu-il.org>
Date: Mar 21, 2012 11:49 AM
Subject: Fixing our broken eavesdropping law

Tell your Reps: no one should be arrested for recording police in public

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Action Alert Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself

Protect First Amendment Rights Share it:   Illinois' eavesdropping law is unconstitutional. Urge your Rep. to support House Bill 3944! TAKE ACTION Dear Daniel, The drumbeat for reform has been relentless. The momentum is building. In recent months, a number of developments have come together to create conditions for fixing our state's broken eavesdropping law – specifically the provision that allows for civilians to be arrested and prosecuted (for a felony) if they audio record a police officer doing his or her duty in a public place. Tell your state representative: No one should be arrested for audio recording a police officer in public. The ACLU of Illinois is challenging this law in federal court because it violates our First Amendment rights to speech and petition and because it makes Illinois an outlier among other states. In recent months, two Illinois state courts have ruled this part of the eavesdropping law is unconstitutional. Now, the Illinois House is set to consider House Bill 3944, sponsored by State Representative Elaine Nekritz, to permit the audio recording of police officers engaged in their public duties in a public place. The bill passed out of Committee in February and now is poised to be voted on by the full House at any time! We need to keep up the pressure to change this law: Contact your state representative today. Sincerely, Colleen Connell Executive Director ACLU of Illinois

HELP US PROTECT FREEDOM. JOIN THE ACLU Connect with the ACLU: Facebook • Blog • Twitter • YouTube

We value your privacy. Read our Privacy Statement online. © American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois · www.aclu-il.org 180 N. Michigan, Suite 2300 · Chicago, IL 60601 · (312) 201-9740