Get busy people

More ways to stop Stupak here,  here,  here, and here. (Still wondering why we are in reactive mode - did nobody see this coming?)


Another one from Credo - they'll send a coat hanger if you sign the petition. Coat hangers FTW!

Tell Walmart to cut the crap with demerits for sick employees. Enough already. Gah!


Tell the U.N. to appoint a special representative to hold groups accountable for gender-based violence. That is, stop the rapes NOW.


Reduce, reuse, recycle. Check out why here.

Take a News Alert Survey at the ASPCA and enter to win a Flip Video camera (I have one - they are super cool). 

Ban dog and cat fur imports to Canada here. Yes, you read that right. Ewwww.


Asst. Majority leader Dick Durbin has a poll on the public option floating around. Fill it out here if so inclined.

Stupak petition

Click here to sign onto an open letter from 40 Democratic Congresswomen that says the Stupak amendment cannot stand and they will NOT vote for it on a conference report.

Healthcare Vote

The vote in the House is coming up soon. Hopefully, you've been making calls, sending emails, etc. Either way, click here to send a petition via MomsRising urging your Reps to do the right thing.

Darfur

From Save Darfur Coalition:

In a live webcast event on Tuesday, November 10th Save Darfur Coalition President Jerry Fowler and STAND Student Director Layla Amjadi will sit down with Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration and NSC Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs Samantha Power to discuss the administration's plan for Sudan and ask them your questions.

Submit your question for Scott Gration and Samantha Power today.

The White House and the State Department are partnering with the Save Darfur Coalition and STAND to launch this live webcast. Dubbed "Ask U.S.," this event is an opportunity to have an active dialogue between the advocacy community and the Obama administration on its policy for Sudan.

This is your opportunity to ask Scott Gration and Samantha Power tough questions about the implementation of the new U.S. Sudan policy.

Ask your question by 5:00 pm this Friday and reserve 3:00 pm Tuesday, November 10th to watch the live webcast and see if your question is asked.

Stuff to keep you busy

Another petition to sign to get rid of Joe Lieberman here.

From TerraPass: "Another trivially easy thing you can do to end climate change" here.

Help stop child sex trafficking here.

Demand safe drinking water in schools here.

Sign a petition on polar bear habitat preservation here.

Find your Reps. phone numbers here and start calling in support of true health care reform.

Stand on the side of love and sign the petition for Full Equality here.

End the aerial wolf hunts in Alaska here.

No brainer of the week

Lieberman MUST go. His removal is lloonngg overdue and now he

has indicated he plans to join with Republicans to filibuster any health care bill that contains a public option. Alone, the Republicans don't have the votes for a filibuster. So by joining with them, Lieberman would be tipping the balance of power in order to sink health care reform.

 Click here to tell the Democratic Caucus it is time to take a stand:

"Any senator who filibusters the public option does not deserve a chairmanship and should be removed from his or her post."

Scholastic needs schooling: UPDATED

Sweet!

Scholastic Books just responded to the petition you all signed on Change.org criticizing the company for excluding a book from their popular books fairs simply because one of the characters had two lesbian mothers. I'm happy to say that because of the collective strength of the 4,000 people who signed the petition, Scholastic has reversed their decision to exclude the book – Lauren Myracle's Luv Ya Bunches – and has released a statement affirming the dignity of gay and lesbian parents. 

This is a great victory achieved in 48 hours, and it was only possible because of all of you who signed, advocated for, and spread the petition. Scholastic Books is one of the largest educational publishing outfits in the country, and this sends a clear message to children and parents everywhere that there's absolutely nothing wrong with two men or two women raising a child. 

From Dana at Mombian:

Most of us with young children in public school know about Scholastic Book Fairs. Many of us remember them from our own childhoods. Now comes news that Scholastic has banned a book from the fairs because one of the characters has lesbian moms...

Scholastic has asserted that they are not censoring the book, but are carrying it in their Book Clubs. That is true, as the original School Library Journal article reported. SLJ also reported, however, “The company sent a letter to Myracle’s editor asking the author to omit certain words such as ‘geez,’ ‘crap,’ ’sucks,’ and ‘God’ (as in, ‘oh my God’) and to alter its plotline to include a heterosexual couple.”

The author did change some of the language, but noted,

A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.

So, click here to tell Scholastic Books to stop censoring gay-friendly books.