Hold Wall Street Accountable! Occupy Our Homes Week of Action, May 18-25

Via OccupyOurHomes.org and OccupyWallSt.org:

Over the last few years, homeowners and residents around the country have taken a stand against the banks and fought foreclosures and evictions. The growing network of Occupy Our Homes supporters have signed petitions, made phone calls, and showed up to events to help families stay in their homes. Dozens of homeowners around the country have won their fights, but the crisis is far from over.

Communities have been destroyed as millions of families have already lost their homes to foreclosure, while millions more are underwater on their mortgages. The big banks are bigger and more powerful than ever. To date, no high level Wall Street executives have been prosecuted for their crimes, such as mortgage fraud and predatory lending. US attorney general, Eric Holder even admitted recently that in the administration's eyes, the banks are not only ‘too big to fail,’ they're now ‘too big to jail.’

As a new housing bubble fueled by Wall Street speculation is forming, it's clear that the financial industry didn't learn their lesson from the last mess. It's more important than ever for us to take action to demand meaningful relief for homeowners and prosecutions for the criminals at the top. Only through the power of thousands of organized homeowners taking action in the streets can we make the Attorney General and the President listen. Occupy Our Homes, the Home Defenders League, and others are joining fed-up homeowners who are ready to demand action-- join us the week of May 20th.

Over the next two months, Home Defenders from across the country will have an opportunity to tell their stories and fight back. Some will travel to Washington, DC the week of May 20th to make their voice heard directly at the Department of Justice. Join the fight! Sign up now to fight in your city. Scholarships will be available to attend the Department of Justice Action in Washington DC.

Click here to sign up

Via OccupyWallSt.org, Via Save Wįyąbi Project

Thursday, February 28, 2013

10:00am EST

Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on their version of the Violence Against Women Act, which excludes protections for Native American women. Native women are more likely to be victims of violence than any other ethnic group in the United States. This is unacceptable.

We will be marching and round dancing in front of the House of Representatives to demand justice and safety for our sisters. 10AM on Thursday February 28, 2013, starting at the Capitol South metro station. Please join us.

Please use #VAWA #1BillionRising #SaveWiyabiProject for twitter hashtag support and spread the word!

From Nicko at the Sunlight Foundation:

After more than four years of work from volunteers and a full-time team at the Sunlight Foundation we're immensely proud to launch the full Open States site with searchable legislative data for all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Open States is the only comprehensive database of activities from all state capitols that makes it easy to find your state lawmaker, review their votes, search for legislation, track bills and much more.

If you're interested in your state lawmaker, you'll be able to get notifications for their actions, a map of their district, voting records, committee assignments, campaign finance records from Influence Explorer, local news articles and contact information. If you're curious about a particular piece of legislation, Open States allows you to check on its status, find the sponsors, break down votes, view bill text and all supporting documents. Our powerful search capabilities allow you to find similar topics across states and view overview pages for each state, chamber and committee.

Open States: Discover Politics in Your State

President Barack Obama thanked supporters Sunday evening during a candlelight inauguration gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., commending them for their commitment to "the basic notion that when we put our shoulders to the wheel of history, it moves."

From the President's remarks:

"As I look out on the room, we’ve got people from every walk of life, every corner and nook and cranny of this country, every state, every city, every suburb -- people who have invested so much heart, soul, time, money, energy. One of the things that made this campaign unique was the degree of investment and ownership people had in this common project of ours, because you understood this was not just about a candidate; it was not just about Joe Biden or Barack Obama. This was about us, who we are as a nation, what values we cherish, how hard we’re willing to fight to make sure that those values live not just for today but for future generations."

"All of you here understood and were committed to the basic notion that when we put our shoulders to the wheel of history, it moves. (Applause.) It moves. It moves forward. And that’s part of what we celebrate when we come together for Inauguration."

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Former "ER" star Noah Wyle was among 100 protesters arrested on Capitol Hill Monday during a demonstration urging Congress not to cut Medicaid. The AP reports that the protesters were affiliated with ADAPT, a disability rights organization.

Wyle, who was a regular on the long-running popular NBC hospital drama until 2005, has been active with a number of causes and organizations, from Doctors of the World to the Worldwide Wildlife Fund. He also served as a spokesman for Cover the Uninsured, an organization pushing for health insurance to be provided to the more than 40 million Americans, including children, who are without coverage.

Wyle is the second "ER" actor to be arrested in D.C. for a good cause recently. In March, George Clooney was arrested at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy.

Occupy protestors from San Diego, California are stuck at the Amarillo Greyhound station as of Saturday night after they say the bus driver kicked them off because he didn't approve of the Occupy movement.

On their way to DC for a rally, they say he called them "you people" and said they were not welcome in DC or anywhere else.

Quite an uproar on Twitter over the situation. Police were on the scene in Amarillo, heard complaints and took the bus driver's name.

After local news arrived, the manager of Papa John's pizza supplied them with pizza for dinner, and some supporters have offered to try to get airline tickets for the rest of the journey. As of early this morning, the 13 stranded occupiers were on a new bus and back on their way.

[Via News Channel 10 KFDA]