Don't let Congress put Attorney General Jeff Sessions in charge of mass surveillance
Congress is gearing up to reauthorize sweeping surveillance powers that will grant President Trump and Attorney General Sessions the unconstitutional power to continue to spy on Americans without a warrant.
Email your Representative and Senators.
Hey, Nancy Pelosi, Stop Blocking Impeachment
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says, "Now is not the time to consider articles of impeachment." Impeaching Donald Trump, she says, would be a waste of time because "he's just not that important." Pelosi claims that impeaching Trump would "divide us, not bring us together."
Please sign this petition to Nancy Pelosi.
End Abusive Use of Tasers in U.S. Jails
Urge World to Support the Olympic Truce
Tell Congress: Adopt Policy of No First Use of Nuclear Weapons
Sign the People's Peace Treaty with North Korea
Alarmed by the threat of a nuclear war between the U.S. and North Korea, concerned U.S. peace groups have come together to send an open message to Washington and Pyongyang that we are strongly opposed to any resumption of the horrific Korean War.
Learn more and add your name.
Demand Reasonable Limits on "Russiagate" Investigations
Free Bahrain's Leading Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab
Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab is in prison in Bahrain for 2 years as punishment for speaking to the media about restrictions on press freedom in Bahrain. He's threatened with another 15 years in a separate case stemming solely from Tweets in which he criticized the war in Yemen and the use of torture in Bahraini prisons.
Please sign this petition to the Bahraini authorities.
Join Mikhail Gorbachev's plea to the presidents of Russia and the United States
Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, has issued an urgent plea to Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, proposing a tried and tested means of improving relations between Russia and the United States.
Learn more and add your name.
Stop the coerced sterilization of people in prison
Tell Congress: Keep the Iran Deal
C-Span Video: U.S. Planes Out of Syria
Tell U.S. to Pay Reparations It Promised Vietnam
Impeach Trump before he starts a nuclear war
Thank Athletes for Taking a Knee and Resisting Trump
Tell Congress: Stop refueling famine in Yemen
Saudi Arabia's war and blockade have pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. Saudi-UAE warplanes can't conduct their bombing of Yemen without U.S. refueling.
Email your Representative.
Tell the Harvard Kennedy School: Revoking Chelsea Manning's Fellowship Is Disgraceful
Hold Mike Pence Accountable
While President Trump is being denounced for his vile efforts to whitewash bigotry, threaten nuclear war, remove environmental protections, pardon a racist sheriff, and suppress voting, Vice President Mike Pence is trying to skitter under the radar.
Sign this petition to Pence.
Tell your Congress member: IMPEACH TRUMP!
Demand Huge Federal Action on Hurricane Harvey Now
Tell Congress to reconvene NOW for hurricane victims
Tell Virginia to Take Robert E. Lee Out of the U.S. Capitol
Tell Your Representative in Congress: Impeach President Trump
Push back against Trump's threats of nuclear war
"The government, putting everything on the line, will block war by all means," says the President of South Korea.
Tell him we agree.
Diplomacy, Not Threats, Toward North Korea
Abolish Slavery as Criminal Punishment
No U.S. war planes over Syria
Help Stop the Epidemic of Guard Violence in Prisons
Urge Your State to Follow the Lead of U.S. Mayors in Rejecting Trump Budget
Trump Owes Chuck Jones an Apology
Trump falsely claimed to have saved 1,100 jobs from elimination at a Carrier Corp. factory in Indiana. He insulted on Twitter the union leader who pointed out the falsehood.
Please sign this petition to Donald Trump.
Don't Let Trump Persecute Accused Leaker
Tell Trump and Putin: Negotiate, Don’t Escalate
What happens during the announced meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit could determine the fate of the Earth.
Please sign this urgent petition.
Trump vs. Grand Canyon. Which side are you on?
Tell Trump and Congress: End Cuba Embargo
Tightening restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba is bad for peace, bad for business, bad for U.S. patients deprived of Cuban medicine, and unpopular even among Cuban Americans.
Sign this petition to Trump and Congress.
Brad Pitt and Walter Jones: Right on Afghanistan
Email Your Senators: Trumpcare No, Single-Payer Yes
Tell Media: Stop Ignoring Pence's Culpability
Vice President Mike Pence has established a pattern of false statements, misdirection, and blind obedience to Donald Trump. It is time to aggressively scrutinize his statements and actions.
Sign a petition to major U.S. media.
Impeach Trump Now
Add your name calling for the Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump for violating the U.S. Constitution.
Sign here.
Help make a $15/hour minimum wage happen
Tell Trump to Stop Threatening North Korea
Mass Starvation in Yemen: Ending It Requires Admitting Who's Causing It
Tell Members of Congress: No More Tax Dollars for War in Syria
Implement an anonymity clause for civilians who report crimes
Since Trump’s executive order on Border Security and Immigration Enforcement—signed in late January—an increasing number of immigrant women are choosing not to prosecute violent crimes committed against them out of fear of being detained and deported.
Please email your senators and representative now.
Congress, Instruct the Department of Justice Not to Let Police Departments Off the Hook
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is apparently working to undo federal oversight of systemically criminal, abusive, and racist local police departments.
Sign this petition to Congress.
Tell Your Senators and Representative: Escalating Rhetoric Against Russia Could Lead to Nuclear Catastrophe
Share Masha Gessen's Article "Russia: The Conspiracy Trap" with Your Senators and Representative
End U.S. Warmaking in Syria
Allow Parents the Option to Protect Kids from Military Recruiters in High Schools
Abolish the CIA
We've now had 70 years of government overthrows, election interference, arming of terrorists, kidnapping, murder, torture, lies to justify wars, bribery of foreign officials, and cyber-attacks. Enough is enough.
Please add your name to this petition to Congress.
He's draining the wetlands, not the swamp
Say No to Trump Troops Against Immigrants
We reject as absolutely intolerable the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and the consideration of using major military force as immigration law enforcement against peaceful men, women, and children.
Add your name.
Yes to Carbon Tax, But Do It Right
Tell NPR to Call a Lie a Lie
Make New York City a Zone Safe from Official Bigotry
Tell Congress to Say No to Nuclear Madness
Tell Obama to Release the Senate Torture Report
Four years ago, the Senate Intelligence Committee produced a 7,000-page report that the committee chair at the time, Dianne Feinstein, calls "a total exposé of the ineffectiveness of torture."
Sign this petition to President Obama.
Make Los Angeles a Zone Safe from Official Bigotry
Tell U.S. to Join Syrian Ceasefire
Tell the next president: No more war!
Email your governor and state legislators to oppose Muslim registry, mass deportations
Protect Texas' Eastham Unit Prisoners from Lead and Copper in Water
Block Government Policy of Climate Denial
1) Halt steps aimed at possible purge of fact-based employees at Energy Department. (2) Block nomination of climate change denier Scott Pruitt to head EPA. (3) Block expected nomination of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.
Please add your name to this urgent petition.
Tell Norway to Arrest Henry Kissinger when he speaks at Nobel Peace Prize forum
Block Creation of Neo-McCarthyite Committee
The Intelligence Authorization Act includes a provision that creates a Committee to counter supposed Russian “media manipulation,” “disinformation,” "assassinations," and other covert measures in the United States. The Committee’s mandate is so broad -- in short, anything the President tells them to do -- that any current or future president could easily (and, if desired, secretly) use the Committee to target political enemies, journalists, and activists.
Tell your Senators to vote no.
Tell the Washington Post: “Smearing is not reporting.”
Emergency investigation into the vote counts in the 2016 presidential election in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania
Tell your senators directly -- NO racists, misogynists or religious bigots in the Cabinet
A solution: What to call Trump
STOP The War Supplemental Bill
President Obama waited until after the election to ask Congress for $11.6 billion extra -- outside the huge existing military budget -- for wars.
Say no to more war funding.
Un-Trump The World
The United States has just sent a message to the world, and it is not simply that our people are fed up with our government. (That has long been true and well deserved.) The message is that many of us are OK with racism, sexism, religious bigotry, xenophobia, mockery of the disabled, and viciously blaming the unfortunate for their misfortunes and ours.
Sign your name to help un-Trump this with a different message to the world.
Tell prison administrations: lift ban on SF Bay View newspaper
Prison administrations in several states have banned prisoners from receiving the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, a grassroots paper that has published articles by and about prisoners for decades.
Please sign this petition to prison administrators.
Should nonviolent Native Americans in North Dakota have the legal rights of armed white people in Oregon?
Call for the Federal Government to Protect Voting Rights
Suspend the Weapons Transfer Program that authorizes local U.S. police departments to get military equipment
Congress: Don't keep Wells Fargo's dirty money
Members of both political parties in both houses of Congress have had harsh words for Wells Fargo following exposure of its latest scam. No member of Congress, however, has returned Wells Fargo's campaign money.
Let's change that!
No More Cluster Bombs Ever
Stand in Solidarity with Prisoners Striking for Human Rights
A multi-state prison strike has been organized to address a number of prison injustices, such as toxic work conditions, extreme heat, insufficient access to healthcare and contaminated drinking/bathing water.
Show solidarity.
Override the Veto: Let 9/11 Victims' Families Sue Saudi Arabia
Tell Colin Kaepernick you support his brave stance for racial justice
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did not stand for a playing of the national anthem. He explained: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way."
Support him.
Stand with Chelsea Manning on hunger strike
Imprisoned Iraq war whistleblower Chelsea Manning has announced that she is going on hunger strike to protest years of bullying and harassment by the U.S. military, and to demand basic respect, humane treatment, and access to needed healthcare related to her gender transition.
Show your support!
Make the FBI Stop Spying on Activists
Petition to Open Up the Presidential Debates
We deserve 4-way debates. We will deliver this petition and your names and comments to ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Broadcasting, PBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Univision, and Telemundo.
Sign this petition.
Urgent: Chelsea Manning is being charged for her own suicide attempt
If convicted of these bizarre "administrative offenses," she is facing indefinite solitary confinement for the rest of her prison term (another 30 years).
Sign this petition.
Stop Supporting – and Start Punishing – Saudi Arabia
We call on the governments of the world to stop providing Saudi Arabia with weaponry, and to boycott, divest from, and implement sanctions against that country until the Saudi government ends its military aggression and abuse of human rights.
Sign this petition.
Move Away from Nonstop War. Close the Ramstein Air Base.
Tell the Norwegian Government to Let Edward Snowden Come to Norway
Raise the Qualifications for Prison Guards Nationwide
Impeach and Prosecute Tony Blair Now
No to Missile "Defense" Sites in OH, MI, NY
Let It Bern. Continue to the Convention.
Appeal from U.S. to World: Help Us Resist U.S. Crimes
Remove Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC Chair
Don't let TV networks suppress the vote on Tuesday
Chris Matthews recently declared that on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. Eastern time, MSNBC and other TV networks plan "to announce that Hillary Clinton has now gotten over the top," something not actually possible until July.
Tell TV networks not to suppress the vote.
Be Like Maine: Dump Superdelegates
Stop retaliation against whistleblowers in Bosnia
Make Voter Registration Automatic in Your State Too
Disarm, Don't Destroy the Middle East!
Michelle Alexander's message on presidential race
Tell Hillary Clinton to Give Saudi Arabia's $10 Million to Peace Organizations and the People of Yemen
Clinton waived restrictions on selling weapons to governments that "donated" heavily to her family foundation.
Sign this petition.
The DNC has finally gone too far
Put a Progressive on the Supreme Court NOW
Ask Hillary Clinton to donate the $675,000 from Goldman Sachs to help the homeless
The Trans-Pacific Partnership can and must be stopped now.
Tell Hillary Clinton to stop lying about her Iraq vote
Tell Hillary Clinton to Stop Lying About Single-Payer
We demand a federal investigation of the killing of Tamir Rice
Tell the Clintons to give their $25 million in speaking fees to good causes
Urge Congress to pass the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act
Rahm Emanuel Should Resign Now
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel oversaw the withholding from public view -- for more than a year -- of a video of a police murder of a teenager.
Demand his resignation.
Stop the $1.29 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia
Protect Paris and World from Greatest Danger
Mark Zuckerberg, Stop Your "Charity" Scamming
Stop Saudi Arabia before it kills again
Insist Paris tragedy not be exploited for more war
Tell world leaders: kick fossil fuel industry out of climate policy
Make Voter Registration Automatic in Your State Too
Tell the Center for American Progress to disinvite Netanyahu
Stop Supporting – and Start Punishing – Saudi Arabia
We call on the governments of the world to stop providing Saudi Arabia with weaponry, and to boycott, divest from, and implement sanctions against that country until the Saudi government ends its military aggression and abuse of human rights.
Click to add your name.
Our State Can End Homelessness Too
For updates on how to support CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, sign up with RootsAction
CNN: Add a progressive journalist for Tuesday's debate
At the CNN-sponsored Republican Party debate last month, one of the three panelists CNN selected to question the candidates was conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. But at Tuesday's upcoming Democratic Party debate, CNN is planning to include not a single progressive advocate among its panel of four questioners.
Add your name and comment for us to deliver to CNN.
Tell Obama We Want Serious Action on Climate Before Paris
The United States must make a radical redirection of priorities to protect the climate between now and the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris between November 30 and December 11, 2015.
Tell Obama We Want Serious Action.
Support Pope's call to end arms trade
No Weapons For Israel
We just avoided a potential war with Iran. Why would we now give Israel weapons it needs to start a war with Iran and more weapons to continue oppressing the Palestinians?
Sign the petition to President Obama.
Time to defend our net neutrality victory
Tell the DNC it's time for more debates
Bernie Sanders, Speak Up: Militarism and Corporate Power Are Fueling Each Other
Tell Congress: Support Diplomacy Not War With Iran
A war can be avoided if Congress simply lets the agreement stand that has been reached between Iran and the United States and five other nations.
Email Congress here.
Urgent Petition in Support of Chelsea Manning's Human Rights
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is now facing the serious threat of “indefinite solitary confinement” in prison at Fort Leavenworth.
Take action here.
Arctic Drilling Is Insane
Tell Congress to Defend Iran Deal
Stop fracking where our food is grown: California
Tell Obama: No More Wall Street Insiders at the SEC
Tell President Obama to nominate SEC commissioners who aren’t afraid to be tough on Wall Street criminals.
Sign and phone here.
Make College Free
The United States has the money to make college free, as some other nations do.
Email Congress here.
Bring down the killer flag... of poverty
Do Iraqis care which president bombs them?
Tell Your Rep. What You Think of His/Her Vote on Fast Track
Human Experimentation Requires Prosecution
Stop the TPP by making it public
Tell U.S. and German Governments to End Mass Spying, Killing
Join Webcasts With Whistleblowers
Participate individually or as a group in a public webcast / phone call with whistleblowers and their supporters.
Join Matthew Hoh, David Swanson, Trevor Timm, Tim Shorrock, Sam Husseini, Marjorie Cohn, William Binney, Kirk Wiebe, Jeff Cohen, Robert McChesney, Kevin Gosztola, and Marsha Coleman-Adebayo.
PATRIOT Act to end, if Congress lets it
A Chance to Provide Support for CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling
There were many things wrong with the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling: Selective prosecution. Nothing but circumstantial evidence. Conflicting testimony from CIA witnesses. And much more. If you'd like to provide some badly needed assistance via the Sterling Family Fund -- "to help Jeffrey's family ease the ongoing financial burdens they face" -- please click here.
Tell SEC Chair Mary Jo White to stop the flood of dark money
Tell Senate to Discuss Military Spending Bill in Public
Wonder why Big Brother likes "USA Freedom Act"
Don't "develop" the Grand Canyon
Teaching Does NOT Go Better with Coke
As strong supporters of teachers and teachers' unions, we are distressed that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is partnering with Coca-Cola.
Read why and take action.
Don't Let Congress Stop Taxing the 1%
Make Voter Registration Automatic
Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Repeal the PATRIOT Act
A new bill bill would end the mass surveillance of U.S. citizens under the PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act, restoring instead the use of the Fourth Amendment's requirement of a warrant for any search.
Please email your Representative and Senators.
Needed: Life-Saving Medicines from Cuba
|
No More Student Debt for Anyone Ever
Senators, We don't want a war on Iran
Ask Your State Legislature to Rein in Corporate Election Dollars
No More War Weapons for Police
We Can Ban Fracking Where We Live
Governor Cuomo of New York has declared a statewide ban on fracking. Local citizen-led initiatives in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, and California have banned fracking.
Let's ban it everywhere!
Tell Congress to skip Netanyahu’s speech
Why keep Saudi funding of 9/11 secret?
Giant Jumbotron. Your Voice.
Please support this CIA whistleblower.
Progressive Caucus Pushing Toward War?
Wear the Change You Want to See
Tired of the Bushes and Clintons?
Shareholders United: Ask Your State Legislature to Rein in Corporate Election Dollars
No to Republibama Government
The White House and Republicans are talking up the NAFTA-on-steroids Trans-Pacific Partnership, an escalated war in Iraq and Syria, and the elimination of internet neutrality.
Join us in rejecting this agenda.
We Support James Risen Because We Support a Free Press
Release the Torture Report Now!
Sign the petition to Sen. Mark Udall: If you enter the torture report into the Congressional Record, we'll have your back.
Add your name.
Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
No to Silencing Prisoners' Speech
Pennsylvania is setting a dangerous precedent that we all need to speak out against and put a quick stop to.
Please sign this petition.
Deal with depleted uranium
Tell Congress to End the New War
Cut the Military, Save the Climate
A petition to the world's governments gathering at the United Nations to discuss climate on the International Day of Peace.
Please sign and add comments.
Local Police with War Weapons: End This Now!
James Risen News Conference on C-SPAN
Arming the World as Never Before
Tell Congress: Shame on You
Overturn Citizens United. Save Democracy.
A half billion more for WHAT?
President Obama has requested another half a billion dollars to arm and train "appropriately vetted" fighters in Syria to help them kill better.
Join in saying No.
Big Step Toward Solving the Housing Crisis
Bankers and their flunkies in Congress are still trying to blame affordable housing for Wall Street's self-induced collapse of six years ago. We need to let Mel Watt, the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, know how many of us support expanding affordable housing.
Email Mel Watt now.
You can launch a whistleblower movement -- now
Stop revolving door between Human Rights Watch and U.S. Gov't
Close Police-Spy "Fusion" Centers that Violate Our Rights
In at least 78 locations around the United States, the military, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, local police departments, private contractors, and commercial business interests have set up joint operations centers that routinely violate our rights by spying on nonviolent activists.
Let's close the fusion centers.
War, War, War, Peace, and War --Obama
Drone Kill: A memo doesn't make it legal
Outrage: FCC Set to Kill Net Neutrality
Urge Laborers' Union to End Support for Tar Sands Pipeline
Secret TPP Meetings Advance Internet Censorship
Say No to Plastics Poisoning Us
Estrogenic chemicals -- as dangerous as BPA and worse -- are used in plastics found in water bottles, baby bottles, and all kinds of food containers.
Let's do something about it.
Hold the Hypocrisy
We'd love it if we could cheer for the U.S. government's denunciations of Russian belligerence in the Ukraine, without the oppressive weight of the string of illegal U.S. wars.
Join the anti-hypocrisy movement now.
Police Power Out of Control
Mr. President, Mr. Attorney General, Hands Off Edward Snowden!
The U.S. government should make an ironclad commitment to fully respect Edward Snowden's legal rights to seek political asylum, and to not engage in abduction or other foul play.
Your name can go on the petition right now.
Move the Money Out of the Military
Covering up torture must end. Now.
We're Overlooking a Top Cause of Death
Alzheimer's is a leading cause of death but we don't adequately fund research of its causes or cures. Terrorism is not a leading cause of death but we massively fund militarism that increases it.
It's time for a different national defense.
New Push for Single Payer Healthcare for All
Mr. President, Hands Off Edward Snowden!
Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall of Hypocrisy on International Law
President Obama has denounced Russia for a “breach of international law” with its military intervention in the Crimea. The Russian intervention deserves criticism. But let’s be clear. The message from the White House is: Do as we say, not as we do.
Cut NSA, CIA, raise Social Security
Amazon: Don't give customer info to the CIA
Is the President Allowed to Kill Anyone He Wants?
Earth's Future in the Friday News Dump
Help shut off NSA's electricity
Honor Pete Seeger, Stop Fracking
Washington Post: Readers Deserve Full Disclosure in Coverage of CIA
The Washington Post should be honest with readers about a big conflict of interest: The newspaper's new owner Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon -- which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA.
Please sign this petition to the Washington Post.
People Who Brought Us Iraq War Want a New War
If you liked the Iraq war you're going to love the Iran war! Claiming that yet more damaging sanctions are needed to bring Iran to the negotiating table, familiar faces from wars past are sabotaging an agreement already negotiated with Iran.
Let's stop this madness right now!
Court Backs Internet Censorship: Open the Internet Now!
Stop arming the Iraqi government's assault on Fallujah!
Judge to Sentence Nonviolent Protesters of Nuclear Weapons
Stop Coddling Big Tobacco: Obama's New Year's Resolution
Peace on earth should include Afghanistan
Tell Karzai to Keep Saying No to 10 More Years
Like the Iraqi government before him, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to agree to an ongoing occupation with U.S. forces immune from prosecution for crimes.
Let him know that we support that stand.
Open CIA Files on Mandela
Iran War Promoters Want Your Silence
Bernie Sanders for President in 2016?
Stop Feinstein's phony bill and NSA abuses
Switzerland Shows U.S. How to Handle CEOs
Climate Justice Now
The Philippines emits 0.9 metric tons of carbon per capita. The United States emits 17.6. But the people of the Philippines are now enduring the terrible results of the strongest storm ever measured.
Climate justice now!
You can help "affordable college" idea catch fire
McPay Your McWorkers McNow
What Do They Do to Whistleblowers Who Are Already in Prison?
Take action for Syria: humanitarian aid
We stopped the missiles, but we haven't stopped the guns flowing into Syria from the U.S. government under the label of "military aid." And we haven't sent humanitarian aid at nearly the levels required. More people are at risk of death and suffering because of this aid failure than were likely to be killed by the missiles.
Email Congress, the President, and the United Nations now!
Texas Fracker Invades Canada
Secretary of State Kerry: Reinstate Edward Snowden's Passport
CNN's Pro-Nuke Propaganda
Arming the World for Peace?
If You Cut Social Security, You Should Leave Congress
Here's our new message to House members and senators: If you agree to any cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits, we will begin looking for your replacement.
Click to send this message now!
Not Another Year in Afghanistan
Tell Google: Don't be Evil With ALEC
Don't Destroy Pagan Island
The U.S. Marine Corps has found a rich and beautiful island, falsely called it "desolate and uninhabitable" (despite the fact that many species live there, including homo sapiens), and proposed to make it a live-fire bombing range.
Click to stop the bombing range before it starts!
Fukushima Crisis Demands Global Take-Over
Encourage Obama and Rouhani to Talk
Now let's stop "lethal aid" to Syria
One State Moves from War to Peace Economy -- So Can Yours
Prevent an Attack on Syria Now
Don't Let NSA's 4th Amendment Violation Center Open
Create Peace Pact Holiday August 27th
Our holidays include Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Flag Day, Patriots Day, Yellow Ribbon Day, Independence Day, Military Spouses Appreciation Day, Iraq-Afghanistan Wars Day (yes, Congress created this).
If you think another holiday should be included, please add your name:
Chelsea Manning's Nobel Peace Prize
Snooping and Snitching
This summer, no news about surveillance has been more disturbing than revelations about the U.S. government's Insider Threat Program.
Learn more and help stop it.
Truly Affordable College: Let's Bring Oregon's Solution to 49 States
Vote Could Curtail NSA Spying This Week
A vote in the full House is expected later this week (probably Wednesday!) on Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to substantially curtail the NSA's domestic spying regime.
Email your Representative now!
Prisoners' massive hunger strike needs your help now
Stop Student-Loan Sharks
Doubling interest rates is a disgrace. The solution goes beyond undoing this latest damage.
Take action here!
Thank NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden
Media want war in Syria. We don't.
Here we go again. Only 11% of the U.S. public wants the U.S. providing weapons to the Syrian opposition. Corporate media outlets are working to change this admirable outlook.
Push back now.
TPP: Terrible Plutocratic Plan
Unacceptable: Obama Keeping Reporter in Prison in Yemen
A journalist is in prison in Yemen at insistence of President Obama. His only crime is journalism.
Free him now!
Justice for Furkan Dogan
Israeli commandos stormed the ships and killed eight Turkish citizens and 18-year-old U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan aboard the Mavi Marmara.
It's time for an investigation!
Tell Obama to Enforce the Civil Rights Act
De-Fund the CIA
Lies about Iraq. Cash to corrupt Afghanistan. Drone wars waged in secret. Blowback endangering us all.
De-fund the CIA now!
If Press Loses Freedom, Democracy Is Sunk
Don't Koch the L.A. Times
Henry Kissinger, defender of "freedom and democracy"?
Investigate Monsanto's Takeover of USDA
Tell Amnesty Int'l: Have a Single Standard on War
Some human rights groups, especially Amnesty International, seem to have forgotten to oppose all violations of human rights -- by all sides -- in war.
Please sign this petition to Amnesty.
Nominees for Worst Government Official
There's tar sands all over your Facebook
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's new advocacy group FWD.us is running TV ads in support of the tar sands pipeline.
Tell him to stop here.
Pressure-Cooker and Cluster Bombs
Vieques 10 Years After the Bombing
Tell Congress: Defend Social Security or Else
Revoke Obama's Nobel Peace Prize
We Can Keep Saturday Mail Service
The U.S. Postal Service stops for nothing, and Congress won't halt Saturday mail beginning August 1st unless we allow it.
In 2006 Congress gave the Postal Service a mandate to pre-fund 75 years of future retiree health benefits over a 10-year period, a mandate endured by no other government agency or private company.
Ask your members of Congress to cosponsor bills that end the mandate now.
Can solitary confinement be torture? Even George Will says yes.
Congress Wants to End Online Privacy.
Are You in the 7 Percent?
Let Another Nation Declare War for U.S. -- Seriously?
Tell Bayer to stop killing bees
Repeal the "War on Terror"
After more than 11 years the Authorization for Use of Military Force -- the congressional resolution that launched the "war on terror" -- has not been repealed.
Now there's a bill to repeal it.
Unacceptable! Senator Profits from War and Post Office
Senator Dianne Feinstein's numerous apparent conflicts of interest are clear grounds for an Ethics Committee investigation.
Help get it started now!
Budget Debate Needs an Intervention
How to Tell if John Brennan Is Lying
Everybody Against Austerity
In solidarity with the Coalition of Resistance in Europe, we in the United States stand shoulder-to-shoulder prepared to nonviolently resist an agenda already more advanced on our own shores.
Everybody against austerity say so here!
Change the Medicare Eligibility Age to Zero
Free John Kiriakou
In 2007, John Kiriakou was the first former CIA officer to publicly acknowledge that the CIA was waterboarding people. The retribution for that act of whistleblowing began immediately. Now Kiriakou is finally going to prison for 30 months for the act of telling an author the name of someone to interview, even though the name was already known and Kiriakou's prosecution has made it better known.
Ask President Obama to pardon or commute Kiriakou's sentence now!
Justice for Aaron Swartz
We mourn the loss of Aaron Swartz. And we ask you, as members of RootsAction, to join us in working toward the two key goals that have just been put forward by Demand Progress, the kindred organization that Aaron founded.
Join us in demanding justice for Aaron!
If Exxon Really Wanted to Help
Obama: I Have a Drone.
Over 50,000 of us have already signed the petition to ban weaponized drones, and more organizations are joining us all the time. But President Obama has only increased the drone killings since his reelection.
We need to turn the drone presidency around.
The Nominee from CitiGroup
Jack Lew, the President's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, supported the creation of NAFTA and the deregulation of banks, and has supported similar strategies ever since, without apology or admission of error.
Tell your senators to reject Jack Lew now.
Tell Obama to Tell Karzai It's Over
Afghanistan's president should hear a clear message from the president of the United States: We don't want to do any more killing in your country.
Let him hear from us now!
Life in Prison for a Poem
Filibuster: End it, don't mend it!
Peace on Earth Should Include Afghanistan
Six Months Trapped in Embassy
Choose: Social Security or Pentagon pork?
Enough vagueness. We want gun control.
Bring in Member Number 200,000
Last year, RootsAction was born. Now, close to 200,000 activists have signed up for our email activism alerts. We're already a political force to be reckoned with -- and we're just getting started! Please sign up here and encourage your friends to do the same.
UPDATE: We passed 200,000 on December 15, 2012.
Out of Afghanistan: Congress Hears Us
Outrageous: Keystone XL conflict
Truth or Military Consequences
No tax dollars for bombing civilians
What about the climate cliff?
Stop an Obama "Grand Bargain"
Take Useless Missiles Off High Alert
Worst Corporation in the World
Senators Don't Have to Be Gutless
Make Your Progressive Vote Count for President
Tell TSA to Keep its Hands to Itself
Join Shirin Ebadi Opposing Any Attack on Iran
Italy 1, CIA Torturers 0
After years of appeals, Italy's high court has upheld the conviction of 23 Americans (22 CIA officers and one military official) for the offense of kidnapping a man off the street in Milan on February 17, 2003, and shipping him to Egypt to be brutally tortured.
Please thank Italy and urge Italy to request extradition.
Explain Nukes to Congress
Open the Presidential Debates
Oppose Any Attack on Iran
The danger of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran -- either before the election or later -- is real and horrifying. It is crucial that we voice our opposition before it is too late. I urge you to add your name to my own and to ask your friends to do the same. We've been helping to prevent this attack for years, and we must not give up now.
Join Daniel Ellsberg opposing attack on Iran
Summary Execution Is Not Due Process
Rising Oceans, Retreating President
Free Pussy Riot
For the “crime” of performing a song against Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church, three women in the Pussy Riot band -- Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova -- have each been sentenced to two years in prison.
Please take action now!
Tell 12 Governors Not to Block Medicaid
Let's Save Jeju Island
A coordinated international campaign is trying to save South Korea's beautiful Jeju Island from destruction. The World Conservation Congress 2012 is being held on Jeju Island -- while just four miles away, in the island's Gangjeong Village, construction is beginning on a massive new naval base to be used by the U.S. But Samsung, the primary contractor for base construction, is sponsoring the World Conservation Congress (WCC), which is pretending all is well.
Demand that Samsung halt construction and the WCC oppose the base.
Thank Ecuador. Shame UK.
Over 14,000 of you asked Ecuador to grant asylum to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. That nation's embassy in Washington publicly and favorably acknowleged your support, and Ecuador's government has granted asylum. But the UK has threatened to raid the Ecuadorean embassy in London where Assange is now.
Ecuador deserves the world's thanks, and the UK our outrage.
NBC Invents War-o-tainment
NBC has created an entertainment show that breaks new ground. "Stars Earn Stripes" will be co-hosted by retired U.S. general Wesley Clark. NBC is promoting the show during its Summer Olympics telecast as the next big sporting event. But the sport it's exhibiting is war.
Demand a more accurate picture of war.
Asylum for WikiLeaks Founder
Tell Obama and Congress: No Compromise on Social Security and Medicare
State Dept. Must Review Decision on Visas for Afghan Peace Volunteers
Judge Rules Govt. Must Stop Global Warming
Following decades without useful action by our government to address global warming, a group of young people in the iMatter Movement are suing on behalf of their entire generation. And there's hope -- thanks to a judge in Texas.
Demand action from President Obama.
Resist Fracking and Mountaintop Removal
Senate Hearing: Amend Constitution to Get Money Out
Abolish Tuition, Forgive Student Debt
Student loan debt is now deeper and broader than credit card debt. It's over a trillion dollars. We could make public colleges free for roughly what we continue to waste each year on the "Bush tax cuts" for the wealthy or for about 7% of what we spend each year on the military.
Let's fix this problem.
We Got Hakim a Visa. Ali and Abdulhai Need Them Too.
Together with our allies, we flooded the State Department with emails asking them to grant a visa to Hakim, a leading peace activist in Afghanistan. When Hakim re-applied, the U.S. Consulate reconsidered his case and granted the visa. But Hakim is a mentor to the Afghan Peace Volunteers. When he visits the United States, at least two of those youth should come with him.
Let's get them visas too.
Why He Didn't Shake Hillary's Hand
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met a young man in Laos who had lost his hands to a cluster bomb. She's investing in a new embassy but not in cleaning up the cluster bombs, and she's working against the treaty that bans them.
Please ask her to do better.
Congress Set to Waste 57% of Our Taxes
Military NASCAR Ads May Be Ending
Let Afghan Peace Activist Visit U.S.
UPDATE: We won! Hakim has been granted a visa! Thank you to everyone who helped!
Please join us in asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to let a leading Afghan peace activist visit the United States, where he intends to discuss alternatives to violence.
Encourage the granting of a visa to Hakim.
We Say No to Humanitarian Imperialism in Iran & Syria
We say No to U.S. or NATO warfare in Syria -- and No to U.S. or Israeli attacks on Iran. Intervention in either nation now will cause enormous human suffering, make reform more difficult, and quite possibly escalate into regional or global conflict. We reject this latest push for "humanitarian" imperialism.
Sign the petition. Let's build an enormous list of people who say No to war no matter what lipstick is applied to it.
Let Vermont Show the Way on Healthcare
The Supreme Court's ruling upholding the healthcare mandate will help some people in the short term -- including those with pre-existing conditions and people under 26. But it also means continuing with a malfunctioning profit-driven system in which we pay twice what other nations do for healthcare, receive inferior care, and enrich private health insurance corporations. Vermont's government has legislated a single-payer system of healthcare for all. But Congress has imposed obstacles on states that want real reform.
Tell Congress and the President to take away the barriers, allowing Vermont to succeed.
Obama Trade Deal Worse Than NAFTA
As a candidate, Obama promised to renegotiate NAFTA, the trade deal that has undermined workers and the environment. Now leaks of negotiations with eight Pacific countries reveal Obama's intention to out-NAFTA NAFTA.
Let's stop this deal before it starts.
Message from Robin Hood to Jamie Dimon
Jamie Dimon received a pay package of $23 million last year as C.E.O. of J.P. Morgan Chase. Dimon is about to receive a flood of emails from Robin Hood, announcing the launch of a new campaign with a huge coalition behind it.
Send him one more right now!
Ban Weaponized Drones From the World
Let's Get Bradley Manning the Nobel Peace Prize
Nancy Pelosi: Which Side Are You On?
Let States Create Single-Payer Healthcare
Canadians got universal, nonprofit health insurance one province at a time. Several U.S. states are trying. But the 2010 healthcare bill protected insurance company profits by making it harder for states to act. Rep. Jim McDermott is drafting legislation that would allow states to provide their people with universal health coverage and save money -- by cutting private insurance companies and their profits and bureaucracy out of the picture. Ask your Representative to back the "State-Based Universal Healthcare Act."
Don't Legalize Propaganda, Prosecute It
For as long as the United States government has sought to deceive foreign nations for its own ends, it has been legally forbidden from aiming propaganda at the U.S. public. A bipartisan group of Congress members slipped a repeal of that ban into the military authorization bill that passed the House. Every new war or "intervention" or "targeted killing" is packaged in lies. The answer is not to throw up our hands and legalize these abuses. The answer is to prosecute them.
NATO Is Not Welcome Here
NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was set up 63 years ago to "contain communism" in Europe. It's a cold war relic whose time has long past. NATO has lost its reason to exist if it ever had one.
New Bill Ends All Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Our government isn't failing to address global warming. It's aggressively making it worse by giving at least $11 billion per year to some of the most profitable corporations on earth.
Tell Congress to end fossil fuel subsidies now.
Leaving Afghanistan by Staying
President Obama has signed an agreement with President Karzai to keep a major U.S. military presence in Afghanistan through the end of 2014, and to allow a significant unspecified military presence beyond that date, with no end date stipulated.Rep. Barbara Lee has a bill for withdrawal now. Tell Congress to back HR 780.
Tell Congress to back HR 780.
Obama spoke of a transition to Afghan control, but we've heard that talk for a decade. He talked of fighting al Qaeda, but the U.S. has not been fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and has admitted for years that there is virtually no al Qaeda presence there.
Demand Probe of Rupert Murdoch
For decades, Rupert Murdoch has been the most powerful media mogul on earth – anointing, manipulating and intimidating political leaders across the globe, including U.S. presidents.
Headquartered in the U.S., Murdoch’s News Corp. owns dozens of American outlets including Fox News, Fox Broadcasting, Wall Street Journal and New York Post. His outlets are powerful opinion-shapers; no one pushed harder for the Iraq invasion than Murdoch and his media.
The Senate Commerce Committee has oversight of American business and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While British broadcast regulators today investigate whether Murdoch is fit to hold a broadcast license in England, the American FCC shows no interest in Murdoch’s fitness to possess 27 U.S. TV licenses.Urge Senate Commerce Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) to initiate an investigation of News Corp. corruption and law-breaking.
Punish Bush and Cheney First
The United States Congress is outraged because Russia appears to have imprisoned, tortured, and murdered a whistleblower. Meanwhile George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney are selling books in which they openly confess to the crime of war and all that comes with it, including lawless imprisonment and torture.
Tell Congress to punish Bush and Cheney first!
Freeze their assets. Ban their travel. Impeach them, convict them, and remove their pensions while banning them from ever again holding federal office. Censure them. Expose the evidence. Refer criminal prosecutions to the Department of Justice.
Your Taxes Enrich the Rich, So Does Obama
One hundred years ago today, the unsinkable Titanic was sailing confidently toward the iceberg. Today our government is rearranging deck chairs, while billionaires build underground luxury condos in which to survive any disaster.
Income inequality has grown more rapidly under Obama than under Bush, according to the latest IRS data. Raising taxes on billionaires to the same rate paid by working people ("the Buffett rule") would be a start, but keeping our country afloat is going to require taxing billionaires far more heavily than working people.
Tell President Obama and Congress to change course.
Kids Sue to Force Government Action on Global Warming
Following decades without useful action by our government to address global warming, youth, through the iMatter Movement, are now suing on behalf of their entire generation.Their federal law suit, which faces a critical hearing on May 11th, argues that our atmosphere is a public trust held for both present and future generations.
Ask President Obama to meet with the youth and scientists who are seeking nothing less than to save the world.
States vs. Citizens United
Montana has taken a stand against the legalization of bribery more commonly known as unlimited corporate election spending. If Montana succeeds in defying the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, the other 49 states will be able to do the same.Ask your state's Governor to stand up for Montana.
Our Taxes Pay For What?
In Obama's proposed 2013 budget, military spending will become 57% of discretionary spending. This drains our economy, endangers our country, strips our civil liberties, demolishes our natural environment, and kills many people, including innocent civilians.
War is illegal under the Kellogg-Briand Pact, in most cases under the U.N. Charter, and under the U.S. Constitution when not declared by Congress. War has become the most heavily funded criminal enterprise ever known.
Tell the President and Congress to move the money to more legal and moral activities.
Every Empire Leaves Afghanistan
The Obama Administration and NATO are seeking a treaty that would keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan indefinitely as "support." But a recent CBS/N.Y. Times poll found that 80% of the U.S. public wants all troops home by the end of 2014 or sooner (47% want all troops home sooner).
There's a bill in the House of Representatives that would speed it up to RIGHT NOW. The bill has 70 cosponsors.
Let's add 30 more.
New Nuke Plants Can Be Stopped
Nuclear power plants barely re-produce the energy required to create and run them, yet they burden us with horrible risks.Nuclear plants don't have public support and they can't make it in the "free market" because nobody other than the government will guarantee loans or subsidize their insurance.
Help stop the only two new nuclear plants in line for construction.
Tax Super PACs at 99%
Across the political spectrum, Americans agree that the Citizens United decision, allowing unlimited corporate spending on elections, has been a disaster – and that the Super PACs doing most of that spending should be banned.
But there is an immediate fix that RootsAction learned of from our friends at BradBlog. Congress or our states could tax Super PAC donations heavily. When this country was in deep depression in the 1930s, President Roosevelt proposed taxing income above a high level at 100%, and achieved 94%. We propose taxing donations to Super PACs by as much as 99% – in the name of the 99% of us lacking voices in pay-to-play politics.
Tax Super PAC donations at 99% starting now.
Universal Healthcare Without Individual Mandate
If the U.S. Supreme Court rejects the individual mandate for healthcare this summer (and even if it doesn't), we should be aware that this was never a real solution and that something better is available. We should make Congress and our state legislatures aware now.
Tell them single-payer healthcare is the way.
Don't Iraq Iran
A full page ad in yesterday's Washington Post quotes former top U.S. military officials opposing an attack on Iran. But Israel’s conservative government wants an attack, ...and President Obama's speech at the AIPAC conference on Sunday was highly praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A military attack on Iran would be disatrous for Iranians, Israelis, the region and the world -- perhaps even worse than the Iraq invasion. This time, unlike a decade ago, let's heed informed voices of restraint and not the frenzied voices of war.
Obama Offers to Cut Social Security, Medicare
The Washington Post revealed this weekend that the White House has a current offer "still on the table" to make billions of dollars of cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Democratic Leaders in Congress, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, grudgingly agreed to the deal, according to thePost.
Obama should veto any budget that does not increase taxes on the wealthy. But missing from the entire budget discussion is the existence of absurdly bloated military spending.
Military spending takes over half of discretionary spending and is protected by the silence of both parties and the media. Military spending hurts the economy, rather than boosting it. Military spending makes us less safe, destroys the environment, erodes civil liberties, concentrates presidential power, blocks progressive initiatives, and kills large numbers of people.And polls show the majority of Americans want military spending cut.Tell Obama, Reid, and Pelosi to cut the military instead of human needs.
16 Murdered in Afghanistan -- End the War Now
Sixteen civilian men, women, and children were murdered in the latest atrocity that forms part of the larger atrocity that is the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Enough. End it.
Although U.S. troops put him in power, Afghan President Karzai can no longer defend night raids, drones, helicopters shooting children, or U.S. troops waving Nazi flags, urinating on corpses, or burning Korans.
Tell President Obama to get the U.S. military out of Afghanistan now.
Afghanistan: Even Newt Gets It
Even a lifelong war hawk and interventionist like Newt Gingrich sees there's no victory in Afghanistan. He recently commented that the Afghan people "have spent several thousand years hating foreigners -- and what we have done by staying is become the new foreigners."
Although U.S. troops put him in power, Afghan President Karzai can no longer defend night raids, drones, helicopters shooting children, or U.S. troops waving Nazi flags, urinating on corpses, or burning Korans.
Tell President Obama to get the U.S. military out of Afghanistan now.
Special Forces Gone Wild
Special Forces operate outside of any declaration of war, authorization to use force, or standard of international or domestic law. They don't ask permission from us or our Congress. Funding for Special Forces is not cut in the White House budget proposal. Instead President Obama wants big new bases built for them in Afghanistan and in the United States.
Enough is enough. It’s time to scrutinize and cut funding for Death Squads.
Students Not Eating Till Workers Get Paid
For a week and a half, students have refused to eat. They started with 12 students, and their numbers have grown (now including a varsity football player). They say they are hunger striking until UVA's president and "Board of Visitors" agree to a living wage policy.
The students, workers, faculty, and community allies have carefully laid out the economic, legal, and moral case, and found that something more is needed to change the policy. UVA is sitting on a $5 billion endowment and refusing to budge.
The students are refusing to eat. Ask President Sullivan to do the right thing by emailing her below and by phoning her at 434-924-3337.
Stop New Nuke Construction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has just approved construction and operating licenses for two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, the first U.S. approval of new nuclear power construction in 34 years.
Tell Congress and the President to block new nukes now.
In the last 34 years, the argument against nuclear power has only grown stronger -- given Chernobyl and other disasters, and great advances in wind and solar. Nukes are too expensive . . . and too risky. According to the NRC's own staff, the design approved for Georgia could produce a catastrophic core meltdown if hit by an airliner or earthquake. The marketplace so beloved in political rhetoric will neither fund nor insure nuclear plants. The Georgia nukes are subsidized by $8.3 billion in loan guarantees from federal taxpayers, who also subsidize insurance coverage for the private corporations that own and operate all U.S. nuclear plants. *
Correction: a photo had previously been published in this space earlier did not depict Fukushima. This image is the correct one.
President Obama Backs Constitutional Amendment
President Obama has now said that he supports a Constitutional Amendment "if necessary — to place reasonable limits on all such spending." It is necessary, and the only reasonable limit is a complete ban. The airwaves are public: TV and radio time should be provided free to candidates.
Campaigns can be publicly funded, as H.J.Res. 100 provides for. If Obama is serious, he and Congress must advance this agenda in legislation, not just talk.
Let's work hard to make 2012 the year in which corporations are stripped of the legal personhood that makes it legal for them to buy elections and politicians.
Let's Get Bradley Manning the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is supposed to go to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
Join us in telling the Nobel committee that Bradley Manning is that person.
Don't End Afghan War Sooner, End It Now
The Obama administration is now talking about possibly ending U.S. combat in Afghanistan in 2013. That's progress.
President Obama has roughly tripled the number of U.S. troops and mercenaries in Afghanistan. In 2009 he promised a big withdrawal would come in mid-2011. It didn't. Then the big date became 2014. Now the plan is to get down to twice as many troops as Obama started with, by mid-2013, and to switch from combat to "training." That's movement in the right direction. Now is the moment to demand an end to this war.
End Corporate "Personhood"
Let's work hard to make 2012 the year in which corporations are stripped of the legal personhood that makes it legal for them to buy elections and politicians.There’s good news: Last week, Montana's Supreme Court upheld a ban on corporate election spending. Los Angeles and New York have just joined the list of cities urging the rest of the country to join Montana. And several bills have been introduced in Congress to amend the Constitution.
Click here to tell your state legislators AND your representatives in Congress that you believe it’s time to end corporate personhood.
Lockheed Has More Rights Than You
The "puppet masters" pulling the strings in Washington are not all on Wall Street. Some of the biggest are to be found in the neighborhood of the Pentagon.
Tell Secretary of "Defense" Leon Panetta to stop doing the bidding of corporations.Secretary Panetta is protecting powerful military contractors by obstructing the public demand for serious cuts in military spending, which has doubled in the last decade.
Pressure mounts: Stop Obama Backroom Bank Deal
A sweetheart "settlement" between the White House and big banks guilty of mortgage fraud hasat least been delayed. Now that a new investigation of the banks has been announced, we need to increase our pressure -- especially when President Obama, in his State of the Union, is still blaming borrowers for taking out loans they couldn't afford. We can’t let the big banks off the hook. Tens of thousands of us have already contacted state Attorneys General to block a White House/banker sweetheart deal.
France Shows the Way - Tax Wall Street
News from France: Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy announced this weekend that he would take the lead in introducing a Financial Transaction Tax in his country.Referring to the tax as a “moral issue” and blaming deregulation and speculation for the global economic crisis, Sarkozy has said financial traders must “repay for the damage they have caused.”Sign here to call on President Obama to show the same leadership in the U.S. by pushing for a tax on Wall Street transactions.
Romney: Release your tax forms
ABC News has reported that Mitt Romney is hiding millions of dollars in a secret account in the Cayman Islands, “a notorious Caribbean tax haven.”
He's also proposing a tax plan that would radically transfer more wealth to the wealthy, even more than current tax policy.
We might get some insight into Romney's devotion to the public good, as opposed to the exclusive good of multimillionaires, by examining his own tax history. But he refuses to make his tax forms public.
Tell Mitt Romney to make his tax forms public now! Not in April.
Cut College Costs, Forgive Student Loans
In this wealthiest of countries, the soaring cost of tuition even at public universities is a national disgrace. In many European countries, college education is basically free. If our country’s wealthiest individuals and corporations were appropriately taxed (some of the most profitable U.S. corporations pay no taxes at all), and if military spending were reduced to merely three times the next biggest spender on earth, our “deficit crisis” would disappear and we could invest billions in education. The cost of a college education is ruining thousands of lives (contributing to bankruptcies and foreclosures) and is weakening our nation. Ignorance is not strength.
Take Action
Prosecute Wall Street, Not Patients
Federal prosecutors are wasting precious resources on medical marijuana while ignoring real crimes. While the number of Wall Street bankers prosecuted for the massive fraud that crashed the global economy remains at exactly zero, the U.S. Department of Justice has just raided scores of marijuana growers and dispensaries in states where medical marijuana is legal. Some of the raids even targeted those regarded by local officials as "law-abiding models."California's attorney general and the governors of Washington and Rhode Island are pushing back, and so can we.
Take Action
I Stand with Bradley Manning
Having been severely mistreated as a military prisoner, Bradley Manning is finally, after 18 months, being tried through an extremely biased military process that denies his basic rights. The accused Wikileaks leaker is further charged with having acted with the intention of aiding a foreign government against the United States, but every scrap of evidence shows that, on the contrary, Manning's intention was to accomplish exactly what he has accomplished – informing the public about official crimes.
Tell the U.S. Military and the media we want charges against Manning dismissed!
Veto Imprisonment Without Charge or Trial
The Senate "compromised" away your Constitutional right not to be imprisoned without charge or trial. Your voice is needed more than ever.
The Senate's so-called compromise in the “Defense” bill simply states that this new law will not change existing law. Yet this new law's language is far worse than existing written law and the White House view of existing law is worse still. We must demand a veto of this bill more loudly than ever. The meaningless compromise on perpetual detention was reached after the Senate rejected the Udall amendment stripping out the offending language and a Feinstein amendment that would have allowed trial-free imprisonment only for non-U.S. citizens.So far, almost 13,000 of you have joined the call for a veto of this dangerous bill.
We cannot accept our government allowing the President and the military to lock people away in violation of our Constitutional rights.
Take Action
Hit Wall Street Where It Counts
When reckless trading on Wall Street crashed the global economy, American taxpayers bailed out the big banks to the tune of $4.7 trillion. Today, Wall Street is booming. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo executives are earning as much as they did before the financial crisis. In 2010, the CEOs of these three banks made $52 million dollars combined. Yet on Main Street, family incomes are tanking, job creation has stalled, and 42 million people are living in poverty -- more than at any time in the last 50 years. We have done our part, now it’s time for Wall Street to do more – through a tiny sales tax on each Wall Street trade. It's called a financial transaction tax (FTT).
Take Action!
Prosecute Pepper-Spraying of Peaceful Students
University of California Davis police broke the law when they pepper sprayed nonviolent students. This kind of act amounts to torture.
Tell the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute this pepper spraying.
Take Action
Stop Senate War Agenda Today
The U.S. Senate is likely to consider a Defense Authorization Act that wastes $682.5 billion on war preparations and on wars including Afghanistan, where we killed six more children on Thanksgiving.The same bill adds dangerous new provisions that authorize presidents to launch numerous wars without Congressional declaration and to indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens without charge.
Senator Mark Udall of Colorado will introduce an amendment stripping out the expanded war and imprisonment powers. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon has introduced an amendment that would ask President Obama to stop waging war in Afghanistan more quickly than December 2014.Tell your senators to support these two amendments.
Take Action
Cut College Costs, Forgive Student Loans
In this wealthiest of countries, the soaring cost of tuition even at public universities is a national disgrace. In many European countries, college education is basically free. If our country’s wealthiest individuals and corporations were appropriately taxed (some of the most profitable U.S. corporations pay no taxes at all), and if military spending were reduced to merely three times the next biggest spender on earth, our “deficit crisis” would disappear and we could invest billions in education. The cost of a college education is ruining thousands of lives (contributing to bankruptcies and foreclosures) and is weakening our nation. Ignorance is not strength.
Take Action
Hidden History of Veterans Day
Originally called "Armistice Day," Veterans Day began in 1918, celebrating the end of World War I and the idea of ending all war. A 10-year campaign launched that year and by 1928 had legally banned all war making.
Tell Congress and the President to read the pact that outlawed war.
Take Action
Why Do Corporate “Persons” Pay No Taxes?
Many wealthy corporations, like many wealthy individuals, pay lower tax rates than the rest of us.
A new report finds that during the past three years, GENERAL ELECTRIC paid a tax rate of negative 45%. Among 30 major corporations paying negative taxes (they are richer after taxes than before, often receiving rebate checks) were WELLS FARGO and VERIZON. It’s time to tell these three corporations to pay up.
Take Action!
Do Right by Scott Olsen
The violent police assault on Occupy protesters in Oakland left Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen in critical condition with a cracked skull and hundreds of others injured and sick. This is unacceptable. It’s time for Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to do the right thing. Because of public pressure, including from RootsAction, she is allowing Occupy Oakland protesters back in the public plaza -- for now. But the Mayor, Police Chief and Oakland City Administrator must answer for the larger issue of the abuse of power, excessive force on unarmed protestors, and our right to free speech and assembly under the First Amendment.
Take Action!
1st Amendment is our Permit
On the morning of October 14, Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated when New York authorities beat a last-minute retreat from clearing Liberty Plaza – as hundreds of labor and other activists rushed to defend the square.
But on that same morning, dozens of state troopers in riot gear cleared out Occupy Denver protests. In cities across the country, Occupy protesters have faced police violence, arrests and forcible removal.
The authorities say we don’t have the proper permits to occupy public spaces. Our permit to occupy is the First Amendment. Sign the following statement and spread the message and video.
Take Action!
Super Committee vs. Medicare
Verizon Now Spies On Us For Profit
Big Brother is here, and his name is Verizon. This company is now selling information about you to other companies -- information including your recent online activity, web browsing history, purchases made, gender, age, interests, and physical location via GPS.
Verizon spends millions on corporate propaganda, but they "forgot" to advertise this policy change. Now it’s up to us to spread the word. Verizon says that you can opt out of having this data shared, but opting out is not an acceptable practice when it comes to privacy. The standard until now has been to require that people opt in before their information is shared. If Verizon succeeds, it seems inevitable that other wireless and Internet companies will follow their path to make a buck off you.
Take Action!
Police Brutality vs. First Amendment
Early this morning, I watched more than 500 riot police descend on the peaceful protestors of Occupy Oakland with tear gas, bean bag rounds and the booming Long Range Acoustic Device. There were dozens of arrests. And Oakland isn't alone. Occupy movements are under assault in many cities. Tolerating the violation of our First Amendment rights in one place endangers them everywhere else.We must have a national movement to defend our First Amendment rights. Sign the petition.
Take Action!
I Support These Protests
The Occupy movement is history-making. Starting today, tent cities are up in Freedom Plaza in D.C. Over 15,000 of you have signed the statement, "I Support These Protests". Let’s send a strong message of support to protesters in DC who are pushing to bring war dollars home.
Take Action!
Build a Better Budget
Building a budget that works for all of us is a matter of priorities. And to drive the point home, we invite you to Build a Better Budget, a game we developed with The National Priorities Project and USAction.
In eleven simple steps, you can create a U.S. budget using real numbers in proposals from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the current budget or House Republicans.
Near the end, the budget game encourages you to submit your own ideas if even the Progressive Caucus proposal doesn't go far enough to make a better U.S. budget.
Begin the game now.
Take Action!
Save the Post Office from GOP Sabotage
The U.S. Postal Service is our most trusted government agency. It provides universal service to all Americans – rich or poor, urban or rural. It receives not a penny in taxpayer subsidy.
And it faces destruction – thanks to Republicans in Congress, acting for huge corporations through a manufactured “Shock Doctrine” crisis.
This is an attack on unionized public workers like the attacks on teachers and state workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Help save the post office by forcing a vote on HR 1351, a bill cosponsored by 211 Congress members -- almost half the House of Representatives.
Take Action!
Challenging Wall Street
Beginning this past weekend, thousands have dug in for a long-term protest on Wall Street. They come with a simple demand - pay your fair share. The President has proposed higher taxes on the wealthy, but only grassroots activism can get the job done.Add your voice to the chorus of those camped out on Wall Street.
Tell Congress and the President that we want to end corporate subsidies and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, build a stronger social safety net, and make public investments in jobs and infrastructure. The majority of Americans want it, and what’s more there are lots of bills gathering dust that could make this happen.
Take Action!
70 Reps Say: END WAR$ NOW
Seventy members of Congress have signed a short letter to the 12-member "Super Committee" (on debt/budget) calling for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby "saving more than $1.8 trillion from current law spending levels over ten years." The bipartisan letter concludes: "Before we ask American families to pitch in more, let's bring our troops home -- and, in the process, our tax dollars home."
If you agree with these 70 Congress members, sign below to tell the Super Committee.
Take Action!
End War First
Among other promises, candidate Obama promised to end the Iraq War as soon as he was elected. Yet, President Obama may extend the Iraq War past this year and the Afghanistan War beyond 2014. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey has drafted a letter to the Super Committee documenting savings of $1.8 trillion over 10 years if the wars are ended.
Sign our letter urging the President and members of Congress to co-sign Representative Woolsey's letter.
Take Action!
How to Create 29 Million Jobs
Redirecting a fraction of our military spending to education, green energy, healthcare, and tax cuts would create a job for every unemployed or underemployed person in this country (29 million of them) as well as for those losing war industry jobs during this conversion. Such a shift would leave the military with more funding than it had 10 years ago. Tell Congress to create more jobs.
Take Action!
Cut the Deficit, Tax Obama's CEO Friends
Ten FOOs (Friends of Obama) ran corporations with nearly $27 billion in profits last year. The 10 FOOs took home roughly id="mce_marker"60 million in pay -- an average of id="mce_marker"6 million per person last year. And their companies paid negative $5.4 billion in taxes. That's right: we paid them.Budget problems? Tax these guys and their companies!
Take Action!
Create Jobs - It's the Law
This year's State of the Union address was only the second since 1948 by a Democratic president that did not mention poverty or the poor. And the President and Congress haven't promoted a bold jobs program.
Tell the President and Congress to create jobs now.
Take Action!
Stop the Tar Sands Pipeline
Right now, scientists and activists, movie stars and mothers are the only thing standing in the way of a 2,000-mile-long pipeline to transport highly corrosive, toxic crude oil from Canada straight through America's heartland. They are there to stand up for safe drinking water and sensible policies to deal with global warming.President Obama alone can single-handedly approve or prevent this environmental danger. Tell him that America doesn't want the Tar Sands Pipeline project.
Take Action!
Let big oil/coal pay for hurricane damage
Evidence is growing that fossil fuel industries exacerbate many so-called natural disasters. Until we can tax those industries to pay for their damage, the least we can do is end their dependence on welfare. Tell Congress to fund hurricane and earthquake relief by ending these subsidies.
Take Action!
Balance the Budget on the Backs of Billionaires
Cutting human needs must be off the table, and taxing billionaires on it.
Tell every Progressive Caucus member that we expect them to stand by that commitment when it comes time to vote. We want billionaires to pay their fair share, so that programs we need, and have paid for, can be left undamaged.
Take Action!
Stop the Super Congress Before it Starts
Last week's disastrous debt deal sets up a separate Kangaroo Congress, which can slash Medicare, Social Security and other necessities without repercussion. Even worse? It only requires a majority of seven out of twelve members to set our national priorities for years to come, and it's accountable to no one.
Sign our letter to end the Super Congress TODAY.
Take Action!
Debt Deal: Time to turn our anger into political action
Congress just passed a disastrous budget deal that fails to tax the rich, end any wars, or protect Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. One hundred and seventy-five Republicans and 95 Democrats, including professed progressives and members who had publicly opposed this kind of deal, voted for it. 95 Democrats had the decency to vote "No." We need to thank them and encourage them, as even darker days may lie ahead.They all need to know that you are watching. We've prepared a custom email based on how your Representative performed.
Take Action!
We've Been Dealt a Bad Hand
The debt deal does not tax the rich or even allow temporary tax cuts on the rich to expire. Nor does it defund any wars. Yet it requires cuts of $2 trillion now and $2.5 trillion over a decade.
Join RootsAction as we demand that the new 12-member commiittee empowered to cut spending put corporate subsidies and taxes on the weathly on the table.
Take Action!
Time to Do Right -- Protect Social Security
We've created an easy to read scorecard showing which members of Congress have publicly committed to protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid from cuts. Now is the time to demand that they make that basic commitment.
Take Action!
Never Mind the Ceiling - Raise the Floor!
Sign the letter to your Congressman: Raising the debt ceiling does not worry me. Like most Americans, I favor taxing the rich, ending the wars, and cutting military spending. Problem solved. What does worry me is the human suffering, already increasing in our country, which the deficit obsession risks radically expanding.
Take Action!
Impeach Clarence Thomas
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been very busy accepting gifts from organizations that file briefs before the court, attending political fundraisers, ruling on suits in which he or his wife have a conflict of interest, and hiding income. No wonder he hasn't had time to ask a question from the bench in five years. Ask your U.S. Representative to move to impeach him.
There are three names Clarence Thomas should have in the top of his mind, if there's room: 1. Thomas Porteous. This federal judge was impeached in 2010 for charges of corruption and was removed from office. 2. Samuel Kent. This federal judge was impeached in 2009 for charges of sexual assault and abuse of power. He resigned. 3. Alberto Gonzales. This U.S. Attorney General resigned after Congressman Jay Inslee introduced -- and dozens of his colleagues agreed to cosponsor -- the following bill:
"Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors."
Take Action!
Obama Can Be Made to Withdraw More Troops
The majority of Americans want the war in Afghanistan ended. President Obama promised a "significant" withdrawal this July. But what he announced on Wednesday amounted to withdrawing about 1 percent of U.S. personnel in July (10,000 withdrawn over six months from a total of 200,000 troops and contractors). A White House spokesperson told a conference call of reporters on Wednesday that public opinion plays no role in such decisions.
Can public opinion play any role in Congressional decisions? Obama cannot keep so many troops in Afghanistan so long if Congress refuses to pay for it. In recent weeks, the House has twice passed measures barring the use of funds for U.S. warmaking in Libya. Now before both houses is the 2012 "Defense Appropriations" bill which would dump over $100 billion into wars including Afghanistan.
Enough is enough, and Obama's "drawdown" is not enough!
ASK CONGRESS TO DENY WAR FUNDING
Take Action!
Mr. President, Wall Street's Dollars Can't Vote
President Barack Obama, holding the previous record (in 2008) for campaign funding from Wall Street, is out to set a new mark in 2012. With unemployment, foreclosures, and health expenses shattering the lives of millions, Obama is pursuing cuts to human services and massive spending on wars. How will that win an election? Perhaps by raising enough Wall Street funding to purchase every advertisement on every television network.
Sign an open letter to the President right now that tells him we'll be thinking for ourselves, and reminds him that our government was formed in the name of We the People, not We the Wall Street.
Take Action!
US Mayors Say: Bring War Money Home!
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has just done something it hasn't done since Vietnam, passing a resolution that supports efforts to speed up the ending of our current wars and calls on the President and Congress to "bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs." Ask Congress and the President to listen.
Take Action!
We Will Never Accept Unconstitutional War
Update! We won! Congratulations to all of us.
The U.S. Constitution placed the power to make war in the hands of elected representatives in Congress. The founders feared giving war powers to an individual. Their decision leaves us, the people, to compel our Senators and Representatives to accept their responsibility.
On May 26, the U.S. House amended the Defense Authorization Act of 2012 to state that its passage in no way authorizes the current war in Libya, and to prohibit the introduction of U.S. ground troops into Libya. We must insist that the Senate uphold those amendments next week.
At the same time, the House rejected amendments that would have limited or ended U.S. warfare in Afghanistan, and rejected an amendment that would have stripped Section 1034 from the bill. That section is perhaps the most fundamental change to the structure of our federal government that has ever appeared likely to pass through Congress, as it would effectively give the power to make war to all future presidents. We must demand that the Senate remove Section 1034.
Take Action!
Prosecute BP for Manslaughter?
The U.S. Department of Justice is considering whether to prosecute BP for manslaughter in the explosion that killed 11 workers on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico last year. BPcould also be charged with deliberately understating the magnitude of the resulting oil gusher in an effort to limit the impact on its stock price. Click here to email the Justice Department to request equal justice for all.
Bin Laden's Death: Time to Rein in Empire
Bin Laden's death should be a time of reappraisal, not celebration. Much has been lost since the 9/11 terror attacks – beyond the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians and nearly 6,000 U.S. soldiers. A decade of war and occupation has helped push U.S. society to a breaking point: in debt, divided, with an unprecedented assault on social services and public employees coast to coast. It's time to rein in empire.
Take Action!
No To Eternal Worldwide War
The "Defense Authorization" bill now before Congress pours $118 billion into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and dumps another $553 billion into the military. But wait, there's more. You might say HR 1540 is the worst bill that ever stood a chance of passing Congress because of Section 1034. This section gives presidents from here on out virtually limitless power to make wars and to lock people in prison -- maybe the worst change ever made to our federal government. Next week the Senate must get rid of it.
Take Action!
Afghanistan War Forever? No, We Can't!
For the past year and a half, the President has promised to begin withdrawal this July.
"I'm confident that the withdrawal will be significant. People will say this is a real process of transition; this is not just a token gesture," President Obama said on April 15th. Now the military is leaking word that 5,000 troops and contractors might be withdrawn in July, or 2.5% of the total.
Tell the President that's not enough.
Take Action!
Tax Wall Street -- for Jobs!
What better way to finance good green jobs for millions of unemployed Americans than to tax the Wall Street juggernaut that created this economic disaster in the first place?
That’s not just a good idea -- it could be the law. The “21st Century Full Employment & Training Act” (H.R. 870), just introduced by Congressman John Conyers, is a brilliant legislative remedy for two ills that afflict our society -- massive unemployment and speculative profiteering that keeps widening the gap between the rich and the rest of us.
The 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act is an idea that will work for all of us. Please sign this letter to your representative.
Take Action!
Mr. President: Stop Pushing Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is a dangerous dead end. The reactors melting down in Japan prove that “safe nuclear power” is an oxymoron. President Obama’s continuing support for nuclear energy -- even as Japan faces environmental devastation -- is appalling. Technologically, no country is more advanced than Japan. Nuclear power is not safe there, and it is not safe anywhere. Sign this letter demanding an energy future that puts an end to nuclear power.
Bring Our Libya War Dollars Home
Without the authorization of Congress that the Constitution and the War Powers Act require, the President has taken the nation into yet another war.* Best case predictions are that U.S. military action in Libya will cost over $1 billion; one Republican senator says it may have already hit that mark.**
With teachers, nurses and essential services being cut at home, can our country afford another war?
Tell Congress to curtail Libya War spending.
Spain: Please do what the U.S. won't. Prosecute torturers.
If you've wanted to be part of a powerful effort to bring Bush-era officials to justice for their crimes, now is your chance.
Sign this letter and join our national campaign to reach out to the people of Spain, whose courts are considering prosecuting six of Bush's lawyers under international law. We have until March 1 to build public support in the United States and in Spain.This letter will be delivered to Spanish consulates on Valentine's Day with the message:
"Please do what the U.S. won't. Prosecute torturers."
Take Action!
Time for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street
The fight in Wisconsin is just downstream from the Wall Street swindle. It isn’t really about deficits. And it certainly isn’t about teachers or civil servants being too well paid! It’s about power. The corporate right is trying to exploit the economic crisis to make the rich still richer.
It’s time to say “No” -- time to make Wall Street pay its fair share. The time has come for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street.
Take Action!
We Oppose the War in Afghanistan
Our leaders won't end the war in Afghanistan unless millions of us say "no more." Today, Daniel Ellsberg challenges the "false claim...used to justify U.S. troop casualties, vast military spending, countless foreign deaths and illegal acts." More Choose jobs, education and healthcare over endless warfare—take action now.
Take Action!
|
|