Ben and Jerry (ice cream guys) got arrested with many others at the Capitol
here
This group helped set up the protests
http://democracyawakening.org
And this group
http://www.democracyspring.org/kainewkirk
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/12/democracy_spring_over_400_arrested_at
"
AMY GOODMAN:
The Democracy Spring action comes in a presidential election cycle in
which campaign finance reform, super PACs and dark money have made
headlines.
The Washington Post reports, through the end of
January, 680 corporations had given nearly $68 million to super PACs in
this election cycle—12 percent of the $549 million raised by such
groups. This figure does not include the untold amounts of dark money
contributions to other groups that are not disclosed by the donor or the
recipient."
"
KAI NEWKIRK
There are many steps that Congress could take. We’re calling on them to
take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in politics
and ensure free and fair elections that give us all an equal voice. And
there are four bills, in particular, that we’ve identified—two that deal
with big money in politics and two that will
protect
and expand the right to vote and voter access. One would set up public
finance, a citizen funding of elections, so that anyone can run for
office without raising money from billionaires. Another is an amendment
that would overturn
Citizens United. The third would restore
the damage that was done to the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court,
the Voting Rights Advancement Act. And the fourth, the Voter Empowerment
Act, would do many positive things to make it easier for people to get
to the polls and to be able to vote. And in the wake of Justice Scalia’s
death, there’s a fifth step that we’re calling on Congress to take,
which is to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court who will vote to
uphold the principle of political equality, to end this corruption of
big money in politics and ensure that all have the right to vote.
And what we’re saying is that even though the conventional wisdom is
that Congress won’t do anything with Republican leadership, we don’t
accept that. You know, we feel that conscience demands that we ask what
is right, what is just, what is consistent with our principles as a
country. And the vast majority of the American people—Republican,
Democrat, independent—want change on this. And we’re saying to Congress,
"You can’t just hide. You can’t just be resigned. You can’t just
pretend that we don’t know that you could solve this problem right now.
We’re going to demand that you do so. And if you don’t, you’re going to
have to send hundreds of people to jail, day after day, and expose this
problem and shine a spotlight on it and force yourselves to take a stand
and make a decision." And those who don’t stand with the people, and
stand on the side of corruption, we believe that there will be a growing
political price to pay.
AMY GOODMAN: Kai, have any presidential candidates endorsed Democracy Spring?..."
New York Blocks New Fossil Fuel Pipelines on Earth Day
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2016/0424/Why-New-York-blocked-a-major-natural-gas-pipeline
"The Earth Day announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration marks a
second win for environmentalists in the Northeast. Earlier this week,
the Kinder Morgan Northeast Direct Pipeline, a $3.1-billion northeastern
natural gas project, was put on hold because of “
insufficient contractual commitments” in the New England market."
