http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/10/09/watch-stars-ask-public-to-vote-yes-gmo-labeling-with-prop-37/



Danny Devito, Dave Mathews, Emily Dechanel, Bill Maher, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten use some reverse psychology to say that you don’t need to know what goes into your food. So what that China, Japan, Europe and other countries require foods with GMOs to be labeled. In America, we can’t handle that kind of information so best to let the companies worry about our health and for us just to trust them. Sounds like a good health plan, right? Yeah. Not so much.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/opinion/to-combat-modern-slavery.html?_r=0

NYT Editorial

To Combat ‘Modern Slavery’

Published: October 1, 2012 (online), October 2, 2012 (print edition)

Though much remains to be done, the Obama administration has begun meaningful new initiatives against human trafficking — a worldwide injustice that exposes more than 20 million poor and vulnerable individuals, especially women and children, to exploitation and degradation. The most notable of these is a strong executive order aimed at ending human trafficking activities by government contractors and subcontractors.

The order ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/25/executive-order-strengthening-protections-against-trafficking-persons-fe ), signed by Mr. President Obama on Sept. 25, contains an array of simple but potentially game-changing provisions that will help enforce the government’s existing zero-tolerance policy. These new rules forbid all contractors from charging new employees recruitment fees that often lead to indebtedness to loan sharks, misleading employees about living conditions and housing, denying access to passports or failing to pay transportation costs so employees can return home.

This should be the first of several steps to bolster the attack on a scourge that Mr. Obama described as “modern slavery” in a passionate address on the issue last week at the Clinton Global Initiative ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/25/remarks-president-clinton-global-initiative ). Among other things, Mr. Obama should put the weight of his office behind a bipartisan bill in Congress, the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act. The bill would strengthen the administration’s executive initiative by embedding into law safeguards against substandard wages, abusive working conditions and sexual and labor exploitation. It would also impose criminal penalties and create other enforcement tools beyond the scope of an executive order.

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That list should also include another critical measure to fight trafficking, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This statute, which also has significant bipartisan support, was enacted in 2000 and reauthorized in 2003, 2005 and 2008. Central to the nation’s anti-trafficking efforts, it aids in the prosecution of traffickers, imposing stiff penalties. It also offers important services and benefits to help victims rebuild their lives.

Regrettably, the bill’s reauthorization has been stalled in the House by political wrangling over a separate issue of victims’ reproductive rights. Continued delay on this bill would hurt victims and send a terrible message to the world. If he is re-elected, President Obama will have the enhanced political muscle he will need to break the logjam.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on October 2, 2012, on page A30 of the New York edition with the headline: To Combat ‘Modern Slavery’.

O’Brien turns to accredited research conducted in Europe that confirms the toxicity of America’s food supply, and traces the relationship between Big Food and Big Money that has ensured that the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world to allow hidden toxins in our food–toxins that can be blamed for the alarming recent increases in allergies, ADHD, cancer, and asthma among our children.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/31/wall-streets-war-on-the-cities/

Weekend Edition Aug 31-Sep 02, 2012

Why Bondholders Can’t – and Shouldn’t – be Paid

Wall Street’s War on the Cities

by MICHAEL HUDSON

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/24/headlines#9245

HEADLINES: September 24, 2012

Obama: Change Comes When "People Are Mobilized"

Campaigning over the weekend in Virginia, President Obama told supporters that the change he has pledged in Washington will only come with the mobilization of ordinary Americans.

President Obama: "You can’t change Washington just from the inside. You change it from the outside. You change it because people are mobilized. You change it with the help of ordinary Americans who are willing to make their voices heard, because the decency and the goodness and the common sense of Americans. We don’t want an inside job in Washington. We want change in Washington. And from the day we began this campaign, we’ve always said that change takes more than one term or even one president, and it certainly takes more than one party. It can’t happen if you write off half the nation before you even took office."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021391665

President Obama Rally in Virginia: "What kind of inside job is he talking about?" (Video):

Excerpt of Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Woodbridge, VA
G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium
Woodbridge, Virginia

12:14 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Now, yesterday, I made this same point at a town hall in Florida. I said, one thing I've learned is that you can't change Washington just from the inside. You change it from the outside. You change it because people are mobilized. You change it with the help of ordinary Americans who are willing to make their voices heard because of the decency and the goodness and the common sense of Americans. That’s what moves the country forward. (Applause.)

Now, for some reason my opponent got really excited. He rewrote his speech real quick. (Laughter.) He stood up at a rally, proudly declared, "I'll get the job done from the inside." (Laughter.) What kind of inside job is he talking about? (Applause.) Is it the job of rubberstamping the top-down, you're-on-your-own agenda of this Republican Congress? Because if it is, we don’t want it. (Applause.) If it's the job of letting oil companies run our energy policy, we don’t want it.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: If it's the job of outsources writing our tax code, we don’t want it.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: If it's the job of letting politicians decide who you can marry, or control the health care choices that women should be able to make for themselves, we'll take a pass. (Applause.)

We don’t want an inside job in Washington. We want change in Washington. (Applause.) And from the day we began this campaign, we've always said that change takes more than one term or even one President, and it certainly takes more than one party. It can't happen if you write off half the nation before you even took office. (Applause.)

In 2008, 47 percent of the country didn’t vote for me. But on the night of the election, I said to all those Americans, “I may not have won your vote but I hear you voices, I need your help, and I will be your President.” (Applause.) And for everybody who is watching, or anybody here who is still undecided, I don’t know how many people are going to vote for me this time around, but -- (applause) -- hold on -- but I’m telling the American people I will be fighting for you no matter what. (Applause.) I will be your President no matter what. (Applause.) I’m not fighting to create Democratic jobs or Republicans jobs, I’m fighting to create American jobs. (Applause.)

I’m not fighting to improve red state schools or blue state schools, I’m fighting to improve schools in the United States of America. (Applause.) The values we believe in don’t just belong to workers or businesses, the 53 percent or the 47 percent, the rich or the poor, the 1 percent, the 99 percent -- these are American values. They belong to all of us. (Applause.)

Virginia, I still believe we’re not as divided as our politics suggest. I still believe we’ve got more in common than the pundits tell us. I believe in you. I still believe in your capacity to help me bring about change. And I’m asking you to keep believing in me. (Applause.)

I’m asking for your vote. And if you’re willing to stand with me and work with me, we’ll win Prince William County. We will win Virginia. We’ll finish what we’ve started, and we’ll remind the world why the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth. (Applause.)

God bless you. God bless the United States.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/22/voter-id-laws-gop-college-student_n_1791568.htm

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The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University has a student voting guide that includes information for each state. ( http://www.brennancenter.org/content/student_voting/ )

And the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is supplementing its election protection hotline with a smartphone app that provides voter registration, registration status verification, polling place information, voting rules and contact information for election protection staffers. ( http://www.866ourvote.org/ )