Newsflash:
PDA, Allies March Against Fracking in Maryland More than 100 "Fracktivists" rallied for clean air and water outside the Democratic Governors Association meeting in Maryland yesterday. Concerned about the controversial practice of extracting methane gas from shale rock formations known as hydraulic fracturing or "Fracking", Progressive Democrats of America, Food and Water Watch, MoveOn, Progressive Neighbors, and Progressive Cheverly members and others gathered to hear speakers and then matched chanting outside the high-level meeting. Read the Full Story
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Responds to President Obama’s Call for AUMF Repeal, Introduces Legislation Creating Greater Oversight of Drones Washington, D.C.— Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) released the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech focusing on drone warfare and national security. In advance of the speech, Congresswoman Lee introduced related legislation, The Drones Accountability Act. Read the Full Story
Obama Heckled During Speech On Drones, Gitmo (VIDEO) President Barack Obama was heckled during a speech at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Read the Full Story
IMF Sounds Warning on U.K. Austerity LONDON—The International Monetary Fund urged the U.K. government to counter the effects of its austerity program by raising spending on infrastructure projects to avoid long-term damage to the nation's growth prospects. Read the Full Story
Congresswoman Lee Introduces “No More Ghost Money Act” Washington, D.C.— Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced the No More Ghost Money Act of 2013. The bill would prohibit illegal payments to foreign officials and would require a report to Congress on payments made by the CIA to employees, officers, and elected officials to foreign entities. Read the Full Story
Reject pipeline's jobs pipe dreams President Barack Obama knows the dangers of not going far enough or fast enough to stop the climate crisis. History will celebrate his decision to lead us toward a clean energy economy that solves climate change and creates long-term, sustainable jobs for Americans. Read the Full Story
An Answer to Unemployment: A Jobs-for-All Bill | Commentary Act would boost employment now for the many who need it, eliminate residual joblessness even in times of prosperity It has been five years since the financial crisis struck, and progress in putting the unemployed back to work still lags, with no end in sight. Read the Full Story
How America Became a Third World Country The streets are so much darker now, since money for streetlights is rarely available to municipal governments. The national parks began closing down years ago. Some are already being subdivided and sold to the highest bidder. Reports on bridges crumbling or even collapsing are commonplace. Read the Full Story
Child poverty is the real scandal Washington is descending into another silly season. Let’s end this diversion of dust and smoke as partisans hype mock “scandals” for political profit. Read the Full Story
Inoculating Our Children Against Fear and Hatred "Ewww. Don't do it, Patrick. Don't do it. Dogs pee here." A woman was giving my husband a hard time because our 10-month-old son had dropped his banana on the ground. Patrick picked it up, licked it and was about to hand it back to our boy. Seamus grabbed for it eagerly and scarfed it down. A minute or two later, he was grunting for more. Read the Full Story
Pentagon officials ask Congress to shift $9.6B The Pentagon wants Congress to shift $9.6 billion of this year’s Defense Department budget toward expenses for the Afghanistan war, transportation and other items. Read the Full Story
Syria: the threats, costs, claims and lives What the civil war in Syria has exposed is that the massive political and social transformation, and real regime change under way is led by people themselves. US military involvement serves only to escalate the destruction. Read the Full Story
image PDA, Allies March Against Fracking in Maryland
image Congresswoman Barbara Lee Responds to President Obama’s Call for AUMF Repeal, Introduces Legislation Creating Greater Oversight of Drones
image Obama Heckled During Speech On Drones, Gitmo (VIDEO)
image IMF Sounds Warning on U.K. Austerity
image Congresswoman Lee Introduces “No More Ghost Money Act”
image Reject pipeline's jobs pipe dreams
image An Answer to Unemployment: A Jobs-for-All Bill | Commentary
image How America Became a Third World Country
image Child poverty is the real scandal
image Inoculating Our Children Against Fear and Hatred
image Pentagon officials ask Congress to shift $9.6B
image Syria: the threats, costs, claims and lives
Tuesday, 05 February 2013 17:58

ERA 2013 Action Campaign Gains Momentum - White House Petition Passes 20,000 Signature Mark

Written by  Tammy Simkins, ERA 2013 Action Campaign
ERA 2013 Action Campaign Gains Momentum - White House Petition Passes 20,000 Signature Mark

The new push to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) continues to grow as word spreads about the effort to get the Obama Administration to take a stand on the issue of equal rights for women. The ERA 2013 Action Campaign and its partner, ERA NOW, seek to gather 25,000 signatures on an official White House petition to trigger an official response from the Obama Administration, now needs only 4600 signatures by February 9th.

Women and men across the national and around the world are realizing that without a Constitutional amendment, women not only do not have equal rights, but also have no Constitutional protection against laws that discriminate against them solely because of gender. Ninety years after the initial introduction of the ERA in 1923, three more states and removal of the deadline are all that is needed to make full ratification a reality.

Supporters of the ERA 2013 Action Campaign include a growing number of organizations: the National Council of Women's Organizations and its ERA Task Force; National Organization for Women (NOW); UnitedWomen.org; Alice Paul Institute; Leage of Women Voters of New Jersey, Equal Rights Alliance, Inc; United for Equality, We are Woman, Rock the Slut Vote and dozens of other associations.

This latest effort to ratify the ERA is a direct response to the legislative War on Women by Federal and State lawmakers across the nation, who continue to introduce and pass laws that not only do not serve women, but actively obstruct access to women's basic healthcare services and legal protections. Recent examples include laws threatening access to birth control, placing almost insurmountable obstacles to the Constitutioally-protected right to obtain a safe, legal abortio and failing to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which protected women against domestic violence.

The War on Women is continuing in 2013 -- Federal legislation has already been introduced that would defund Planned Parenthood, a provider of basic healthcare services to women across the country and state legislation that would criminalize a rape victim seeking an abortion as "tampering with evidence" has been introduced in New Mexico. These are just two examples aong many at the Federal and state levels that are offensive to women.

Women cannot rely on their elected representatives to pass laws that do not discriminate against them, or that afford them the equality we would all like to believe we enjoy in the 21st century. That's why this effort to enshrine the principles of equal rights and protections for all - regardless of gender - in the Constitution is so essential.

The deadline to reach 25,000 signatures is February 9, 2013 at 11:59 PM EST. We urge everyone who agrees that women and girls deserve the same rights and protections that men and boys have under the Constitution to sign the Official ERA Action White House petition at http://wh.gov/P6gP and share the petition link with all your friends, family and social networks. Anyone 13 years of age or older from any country can sign so feel free to shar with your sons and daughters.

Tonight  PDA Radio will host a special show at 7pm ET called The Women's Room - Getting Active for the ERA. Join Roberta Francis co-chair of ERA Task Force of the National Council of Women's Organization, Renee Davis, Executive Vice President of Programs for UniteWomen.org and Tammy Simkins, ERA Action 2013 petition originator to talk about the next steps in moving the ERA forward.

Read 589 times Last modified on Tuesday, 05 February 2013 18:04
Published in Featured News
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