Last year President Obama instructed the Department of Labor to update the overtime earning rules so that anyone making less than $47,000 a year would be eligible for overtime pay. Thousands of Americans spoke up to help make sure that the rule was passed. But now, Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) is working to pass a bill that would delay this rule and stop millions of people from getting fully paid for the work they do. Congressman Schrader wants to delay the start of the new overtime law and get rid of the language that would automatically increase the threshold for who's eligible for overtime, which would leave working people behind because their wages won’t rise with inflation. This is one of the major reasons we needed to have this rule passed in the first place, but now Schrader wants to remove this important fix. Families are counting on this to make sure they can make ends meet. We have to speak up now to make sure that we protect this provision for the millions of women, men and children who stand to benefit from having more money in their pockets and more time with family.

As residents of this area we all have our rights to have more choices and should let other internet companies into this area to offer better service!

and more from the Post Star... Congdon often erupts in shouts and insults of other board members. He also interrupts them and leads the board into tangential arguments that generally last 30 minutes or more. “These fights are terrible,” board member Gina LeClair said. “Who wants to be represented by the yelling and screaming we have at our meetings? I don’t think people want to say, ‘Heck yeah, that’s my town!’” After months of such behavior, a line appeared to be crossed at Tuesday’s board meeting. Twice, Congdon and Kusnierz stood as they confronted each other, both seemingly ready to throw a punch. Other board members were openly critical of Congdon, telling him to calm down and saying he throws temper tantrums. Even the public seemed to feel that enough was enough. People in the audience repeatedly tried to derail arguments, first by coughing loudly and finally by shouting, “Stop!” Van Tassel said the supervisor’s problem is “ineffective communication.” “If we could better understand his position, we could probably work better with him,” Van Tassel said. But instead, Congdon skips meetings or doesn’t offer his input and then criticizes the decisions after the fact. He angrily denounced the board’s choice for building inspector but had skipped the meeting at which they made the decision. He also recently criticized the decision to clean the Sandbar Beach bathhouse for one last season rather than demolishing it. “That should have been aired before, not after the fact,” Van Tassel said. “Be involved early on. Don’t always be criticizing after the fact.” The four board members have now banded together and are working to do the work that was often previously done by the supervisor. They are doing research, meeting with employees, talking out ideas with attorneys and developing legislation. “We’re hoping to handle things Gardner doesn’t want to work with,” LeClair said. The process is slower, but it’s working. “We may not always agree, but we always come to a solution,” LeClair said. “It’s wonderful. It’s never been as smooth as it is now.” Van Tassel stressed that the board members will work with Congdon if he wants to work in a collaborative, non-combative way. “We’re going to just move forward and we hope that he’s part that,” Van Tassel said. “We are fully committed to do that with or without the supervisor.”

Echoing critiques made by Bernie Sanders and supporters of his presidential campaign, 14 progressive organizations are urging the Democratic Party to scrap the superdelegate system, which they say "undermines representative democracy." The groups, including Democracy for America, National Nurses United, The Other 98%, and Progressive Democrats of America, outline their concerns in a letter, which was obtained by Politico, to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the DNC Rules Committee, and the delegates to the Democratic National Convention. They're calling on the party to take action to get rid of the system that allows state party elites and elected officials to back the candidate of their choosing when the committee convenes in Philadelphia July 25-28. Read the whole article at Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/07/14/name-democracy-progressives-urge-dnc-ditch-superdelegates

The fact that This permit was denied is an outrageous attempt to silence democracy, from the very man who has woken the People to restore real democracy back where it belongs - to each & every one of us.

We, the "Moms Strong" of California have seen our sons and daughters harmed by "just pot". Our young California minds need protection from the harms of marijuana given currently to anyone for any condition. My own gifted college student Mel, enrolled in 2011 in a top California public university, fell from the Dean's List due to psychosis. He obtained a medical marijuana card for insomnia in 2013 by dialing a provider via phone and was never even seen by a doctor. Not warned about the possible side effects of using today's potent marijuana, he was in a car accident caused by an unexpected THC influence, Mel begged me for help to quit using this drug. After a 28 day rehab stay, Mel is recovering slowly with appropriate medical attention and support. Many more similar stories from real parents can be read on this website: http://momsstrong.org/ Our young minds in California need to be protected from the harmful effects of marijuana. Prop 64 allows 21 year olds to use recreational marijuana. How will our college and universities regulate this on campus? And our high schools? Who will police the K-12 children already struggling student performance. Our young people's health, education and well being should be our top priority. Review and consider joining the list of opponents at: http://theygotitwrongagain.org/about/

On July 15, there was an attempted military coup in Turkey. During the attempted coup, the White House put out a statement that said: "The President and Secretary [Kerry] agreed that all parties in Turkey should support the democratically-elected Government of Turkey." [1] Turkey's main opposition parties condemned the coup attempt. [2] It's a crucial principle of a just foreign policy that when there is an attempted coup against a democratically-elected government, the United States should oppose the coup and support the authority of the democratically-elected government against the attempted coup, regardless of whether the democratically-elected government threatened by an attempted coup is a purported "U.S. ally" or purported "U.S. adversary," "pro-U.S." or "anti-U.S.," regardless of whether we like or dislike the democratically-elected government in question or its policies. The United States government has violated this principle many, many times in the past, but that's no excuse for violating it in the future. "Supporting democracy," if it's real and not merely a slogan to mask other agendas, is like opposing torture: if it's a principle, then it applies every time. This principle is crucial for preventing coups, because when an attempted coup is unfolding, there is very likely to be some group of people demanding that we reserve judgment, that we not be "knee-jerk," that we wait and see whether the coup is "good" or "bad." This happened in Egypt in 2013 [3], in Honduras in 2009 [4], in Venezuela in 2002. In addition to being unprincipled, this demand that we reserve judgment on a coup can be very harmful because there is usually a narrow window to stop an attempted coup. By the time everyone who was demanding that we reserve judgment has to admit that in fact, this coup is a "bad coup" like all the others, it's usually too late to stop the coup, the coup has already been consolidated. This happened in Egypt in 2013 and in Honduras in 2009. Just as we rely on the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution to help us stop a rush to war "before all the facts are in," we rely on the principle that "coups are bad" to stop coups from being consolidated "before all the facts are in." The attempted coup in Turkey was defeated. But this is a "teachable moment" - coups are bad, regardless of how we feel about the democratically-elected government that someone is trying to overthrow - and we should use this moment to nail this principle to the wall for all time. Thank President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry for standing up against the attempted coup in Turkey by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/15/readout-presidents-call-secretary-john-kerry 2. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-15/turkish-premier-says-elements-of-army-attempt-to-seize-power 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-egypts-misguided-coup/2013/07/04/64bd121c-e4b4-11e2-a11e-c2ea876a8f30_story.html 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/wikileaks-honduras-state_b_789282.html

This petition is being sent due to the lack of urgency and pressure being applied to the Peoples Republic of China to release an innocent U.S. citizen.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the export of animal pelts. The Service has illegally failed to evaluate the export program, resulting in the trapping and killing of native and endangered species. Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, environmental law firm whose expert attorneys are dedicated to defending the wildlife of the American West. WELC attorneys filed suit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May.

One year ago, on July 17, 2015, Eric Garner, was killed by numerous police. The murder was recorded on camera. His words, "I can't breathe" were heard around the world and further compelled the movement for justice in our country. But the Department of Justice investigation has not yet resulted in charges against the officer who took Eric Garner's life. As the anniversary approaches, it is important to note that Erica Garner, Eric's daughter and her family have not had any closure. Activist Erica Garner was invited to the ABC's Presidential Town Hall with the promise that her voice would be heard—that she and other family members who have lost their loved ones to police violence would be able to ask the important questions our country must face in order to heal. But ABC broke its promise, and denied the invited family members of police violence the opportunity to speak. The Garner family grieves along with the families of Mike Brown and all other victims of police violence. They deserve to speak and air their grievances just as the families of the fallen Dallas officers and police authorities had a chance to do. Their lives matter and the town hall with the President of the United States was a disrespectful step backwards for all the families working to achieve justice. This is why we say #BlackLivesMatter.

We have all been deeply affected by the racial tensions ongoing since the time of slavery. Our country needs the Truth and Reconciliation program to heal the PTSD that has been passed down for centuries, and to educate the communities of both victim and perpetrator as to how trauma and PTSD is healed. Tutu set up a panel of nonjudgmental empathic listeners to hear the trauma stories, which began a healing process that has led to forgiveness and reconciliation. The program is deep and wide and needs to be studied in-depth to be implemented in the way Tutu chose, which has been successful in its scope and application. Just imagine what it would be like to live in this country without the tragedies caused by racial tensions, to be free of the fear, hatred and violence, to experience forgivness, reconciliation and unity for the first time ever!

Our family loves Annie's Mac and Cheese! But we need more cheese for our mac and cheese because sometimes there are a few on the side that don't get enough cheese. But if you go into a different box to get the cheese from *that* box, then that box won't have enough cheese, and on and on until you end up with an empty box. If Annie's makes individual cheese packets, then we can have as much cheese as we need in our mac and cheese and not end up with an empty box. --Kennedy, age 9