ProgressNow Nevada

Mitt Romney doesn't know the purpose of public lands

2012-02-03T18:01:27Z

When asked if he supported transfering some of the public land managed by the United States government back to the state of Nevada Mitt Romney told the Reno Gazette-Journal editorial board "I don't know why the government owns so much of this land. So I haven't studied it, what the purpose is of the land."

So the guy who wants to be the chief decision maker on what happens to our public lands has no idea why they exist or what they're for.

Wonderful.

Besides the fact that our public lands pump $1 billion into our state economy, creating jobs and state revenue, they're also some of the biggest quality of life enhancers we have.

Romney goes on to say "But where government ownership of land is designed to satisfy, let's say, the most extreme environmentalists, from keeping a population from developing their coal, their gold, their other resources for the benefit of the state, I would find that to be unacceptable."

Yes, because what Nevada needs is another champion for Big Mining, an industry so powerful in Nevada that until last year it had the right to sieze your property if it thought there was material worth mining under it.

Party Platforms - Our Chance to Make a Difference (Republican Caucus)

2012-02-02T17:41:13Z

One of the most important parts of the caucus process is the chance to introduce planks into the party platforms. These are the standards that the party will hold up as their ideals for both their members and elected officials.

This Saturday, February 4 is the Republican Party caucus and our chance to make a difference.

Find your caucus location using the tool here.

The Republican Party Platform Plank Process

To submit a plank for the party platform you must attend the caucus meeting (February 4, 2012. Start times vary by county. Clark County starts at 9:00am, Washoe County starts at 10:00am). At the meeting an informational packet will be handed out that includes an email address for the county party platform committee. You can then submit as many plank proposals as you would like to the platform committee, but they must be done by sending them to this email address.

After the planks are submitted the platform committee will hold two public hearings where proposed planks are discussed. Then at the county party convention the platform committee will submit a report on the proposed planks. A comment period will take place, followed by a vote of the entire convention membership on the proposed planks.

If the plank receives enough votes it will go to the state party convention. There will be another round of public discussion at the state convention. During this process anyone who is a member of the state convention can propose an amendment to the plank. The plank will then be voted on by the convention at large.

Suggested Planks

Below is a plank suggested by ProgressNow Nevada focusing on helping homeowners in Nevada who are facing foreclosure. Feel free to print it out and bring it to your caucus where you can introduce it.

Download and print the ProgressNow Nevada suggested policy plank.

For other suggested progressive policy planks visit the caucus page on the Nevada Values Coalition website.

PNNV GOP Platform Resolution

Most pols can at least fake it...

2012-02-01T22:13:54Z

John McCain may have had seven, or was it eight, homes. But he could sometimes come across like W. who the average person would want to have a beer with.

Mitt Romney is so stuck in war mode from his carpetbombing of Newt Gingrich in Florida, that he can't even fake support for the middle class.

For Romney, it's as if he wants to be president of the hedge fund managers who've filled up the Super PAC doing his talking.

How else to explain a guy who doesn't get real Americans on any level. He wants to let banks take over homes so that the market can bottom out and investors can buy up the properties for renters.

He likes to fire people who don't provide him good service. And today, he said:
"I'm not concerned about the very poor. They have a safety net."

You've got to be kidding. Romney probably thinks the safety net is some kind of padded room of luxury for the extremely poor.

I'd love to see him walk one day in the shoes of an actual middle income person, let alone a poor one.

I don't know anyone poor who doesn't work. And as to that elusive safety net.

Here in Nevada legislators try to save budget face by cutting hole after hole into ours. On the federal level, Romney would support the Ryan budget, which eviscerates funding for low-income programs.

Not only does Romney not get it, at all. Even if you think he thinks there's a safety net, he has no idea what that net is.

Anyway, more the reason to go see him this evening at Brady Industries. And, take a moment to see Romney for yourself at our project: http://ForecloseRomney.com

No to SOPA

2012-01-19T17:56:17Z

Yesterday, many online sites blocked out their content to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. And that's why this blog post is up a day later.

It's a noble effort, on paper, to take on pirates.

But how does downloading music equate to the noted rape and pillaging in the 16th century? Maybe Disney wants to protect its Pirates of the Caribbean series, but while I love Capt. Jack Sparrow as much as any woman, it's not fair to put Wikipedia, Google and Tumblr on the chopping block so the Mouse Inc., et al, get a bigger payday.

I prefer to read Wired online, to create websites on Tumblr and get some quick basic facts from Wiki and Google.

"Under the current wording of the measures, the Attorney General would have the power to order ISPs to block access to foreign-based sites suspected of trafficking in pirated and counterfeit goods; order search engines to delist the sites from their indexes; ban advertising on suspected sites; and block payment services from processing transactions for accused sites," Wired reports.

SOPA is simply a sop to big corporations at the expense of the First Amendment.

Party Platforms - Our Chance to Make a Difference

2012-01-18T18:15:31Z

This Saturday, January 21 is the Democratic Party caucus and our first chance to make a difference.

Find your caucus location using the tool here.

The Democratic Party Platform Plank Process

To submit a plank for the party platform you must attend the caucus meeting (January 21, 2012 starting at 11:30am in all locations). At the caucus meeting you must submit your plank in writing to the chairperson at your caucus location. It can be written on any sheet of paper, but to make things easier we've provided a blank version of the official plank submission form (click here to download).

Voting then takes place at your caucus location, the county party convention, and the state party convention to determine if your plank will become part of the party platform.

Suggested Planks

Below is a plank suggested by ProgressNow Nevada focusing on helping homeowners in Nevada who are facing foreclosure. Feel free to print it out and bring it to your caucus where you can introduce it.

Download and print the ProgressNow Nevada suggested policy plank.

For other suggested progressive policy planks visit the caucus page on the Nevada Values Coalition website.

Help for Nevada Homeowners

Check back next week for information about the Republican Party caucus process and how to introduce policy planks in that process.

Wishing you happy holidays

2011-12-21T23:48:01Z

The craziness of the holiday season is upon us. We just wanted to wish you a joyous holiday and a very happy new year.

Occupy Congress Day 2 Video and Pictures

2011-12-07T22:47:41Z

Day 2 of Occupy Congress included thousands of the 99% breaking up into groups and using different routes to march through the city to get to K Street, the lobbyist epicenter of Washington D.C.

Here's video from the occupying of Senator Heller and Representative Heck's offices in DC. A group of Nevadans made the trip all the way to DC to speak with Heller and Heck, but neither could find five minutes in their schedule to meet with constituents.

This was in hour four of the six hour occupation of Dean Heller's office. The TV in the office was tuned to MSNBC so we were able to watch coverage of Occupy Congress as we were occupying congress.

Pictures from Day 1 and Day 2:

Day 1 of Occupy Congress: Photo Gallery

2011-12-07T13:47:45Z

Check out pictures from Day 1 of the Occupy Congress actions taking place this week.

A group of Nevadans spent over six hours sitting in the offices of Senator Heller and Representative Heck, but neither one could find five minutes in their shedule to meet with us.

Guest Post: Why I'm at #99inDC

2011-12-07T05:48:09Z

I have always been very involved in politics, government, and take care to be an informed voter who is aware of what the policies are that shape my life (especially those that involve our ability to change in a changing world to grow and adapt and remain a front runner from healthcare to green energy to job creation and superior education that will keep the USA number one!).

This has been slipping away from us for far too long. And now as a parent I see our county torn apart by wars, bankrupted by 30 years of supply side economics, lack of investment in our own infrastructure and education, poor paying jobs, an economic top heavy scale with tax codes and too much deregulation and unbridled criminal capitalism that rewards far too few while systematically shrinking the middle class to the status of "working poor" and higher education for middle or lower incomes that has become so expensive that only the rich can afford it.

A healthcare system broken by for profit greed driven incentives that reward insurers for turning away the sick and a "managed care system" that cherry picks among the healthy and pushes the healthy people into high deductible H.A.S. plans that essentially are only adventurous to the health and the young who can bank their pre-tax dollars into the HAS account and not have to use these policies right away.

Sick people like me? Financial disaster!

I had a pretty work life until my own life and health deteriorated in my 40s due to the premature arthritis, degenerative disk disease, fibromyalgia, goiter on my thyroid and worsening clinical insomnia, agoraphobia, and complications from last surgery. I could no longer perform the functions of my job after years of taking care to learn more outside of work by becoming HIAA certified, got my life and health license, took courses in medical coding, medical ethics and the law, and group health insurance business.

Now I'm collecting my OWN social security and disability insurance the age of 45 and Medicaid as secondary since 2009, so I fight for preservation of these. I am a champion for real health care reform which is single payer

I fight for the end of the unfair trade policies, the end of 20 years of Reaganomics and the END of money in politics, lobbying, and the corruption in influence it has had over everything. The destruction of our economy and country is unprecedented!

This sick economic approach that protecting tax cuts for the top 1%, keep funding wars and cutting our domestic economy is going to grow the economy is insane as this is an exact repeat of the disastrous policies that lend to the crash of 1929!

We need to investments not cuts!

I am tired of my husband working 11:00pm-7:00am whenever he is told to and if he refuses he can be fired!! Also, he does not get half clocked out meal no matter how many hours he works because no union and nobody says anything for fear they'll be fired!

Teresa Van Remortel
Green Bay, WI

Teresa Van Remortel traveled all the way from Green Bay, WI to be at Occupy Congress. Her last job before her health deteroriated to levels that prevented her from working was as an office manager at a skilled nursing facility. She spent six hours in Senator Dean Heller's office with Nevadans waiting to speak with the Senator. Heller did not meet with his constituents.

Take Back The Capitol happening this week!

2011-12-05T22:00:24Z

Check back here all week for updates as the 99% descend by the thousands on Washington D.C. to take back the People's House.

More information on the actions taking place this week can be found here: http://www.99indc.org

The Walking Dead

2011-10-31T15:45:25Z

Tomorrow when most of us recover from Halloween, something even scarier is coming to town.

The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to ply its hatred of gay people by protesting at UNLV and Clark High School.

The infamous troupe of Kansans celebrated the deaths at the Reno Air Races and the victims of the IHOP shooting in Carson City.

This is no laughing matter for us, so we're heading to Clark High School tomorrow to stand up for our community in the wake of these unwelcome guests.

Join us if you can.

The End of the Iraq War

2011-10-24T16:30:30Z

President Obama is keeping his promise to end the Iraq War -- he's bringing our troops home and allowing the Iraqi people to take charge of their own destiny.

CNN coverage

Much like almost the entire war itself, the troop withdrawl announcement seemed to barely register with the general public. It was a one day blip on the news radar, but the weekend seems to have already washed it clean from the headlines.

They're here....

2011-10-17T20:55:39Z

Well, some of them are. I'm talking about the GOP candidates for president. You can tell when they're in town because of that giant sucking sound coming from the wallets of millionaires and big corporations.

Mitt Romney is here to raise money at the Red Rock Country Club and to go on CNN tomorrow and tout his jobs' plan that protects the people who donate to his campaign.

On Wednesday, Rick Perry does the Texas steakhouse thing only the Fertittas apparently decided Red Rock Station is more upscale than their property more fitting of a fund-raiser for a Texan.

That's why we're hitting the Strip tomorrow to protest the debate. All we're hearing from these candidates is more corporate welfare and crazy ideas like eradicating Medicare and cutting our safety net at a time Nevadans are suffering.

If you can, join us at 2 p.m. on the sidewalk outside of The Venetian, the casino owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Last we checked he was 16th on the Forbes list of richest folk.

Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m.

New York Times stands against out-of-state concealed guns

2011-09-22T23:50:16Z

The editorial staff of the New York Times gets it: the federal government should not be forcing Nevadans to honor concealed weapons laws from other states.

In an editorial, the NYT joins the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (which includes Michael Bloomberg and our own Carolyn Goodman) in calling for the rejection of the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

The proposed National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011 would shred those standards and the public safety judgments behind them, creating a locked-and-loaded race to the bottom in which states with strict requirements, like New York, would be forced to allow people with permits from states with lax screening to carry hidden loaded guns.

Take action today to keep Nevadans from being forced to honor the concealed weapons permits from places like Texas or Alaska.

Sign the petition!

Read the full New York Times editorial.

Big Oil vs. Grandma

2011-09-02T20:19:11Z

We've had enough of Big Oil and Gas Corporations grabbing billions of tax subsidies at the same time they're making $70 billion in profits.

So we put up a little billboard in downtown Reno to call attention to a very strange question. Why are we even considering cutting Grandma's Medicare when Big Oil and Gas are laughing all the way to the bank.

Here's a look at yours truly with the billboard.

We did a press conference Thursday outside a Shell station charging $3.79 for regular unleaded. Premium was just under $4. Royal Dutch Shell has seen its profits rise 77 percent this year, and you know the executive is going to cash in a seven-figure bonus later this year.

Big Oil's enabler, Dean Heller, has voted five times to protect the dirty industry's tax giveaways. I guess that's how you vote when Big Oil and Gas give you close to $100,000 in campaign contributions.

So, a huge thank you to our fabulous Reno members who helped pay for the billboard. Now if only we can get Congress to stop making Nevada seniors pay for the tax breaks to Big Oil.

If you want to see the billboard in person, it's on South Virginia Street at Hillcrest Drive.