Wed- 1/2: Resisters – Mark your calendars! This government isn’t going to fix itself!

Photo: SEIU’s volunteer caravan to Tijuana to deliver supplies & medical care to refugees. Members of Indivisible Ventura and DSA joined in…

One thing we’ve all discovered after Trump was elected, was just how much a bunch of committed volunteers could accomplish. Last year, IV & friends ran a (3)-precinct polling place, citizenship fairs, voter registration drives and postcard campaigns. Looks like we were just warming up…

Jan. 3rd – Join in! Our Women’s March isn’t going to plan itself either!

Women’s March Planning Committee (Event is on Jan 19th, see below), Ambrosia by Caffrodite Cafe, 1987 E. Main, Ventura

Jan. 7th – Start your Martin Luther King “Day of Service” work early!

Continue reading “Wed- 1/2: Resisters – Mark your calendars! This government isn’t going to fix itself!” →

Fri – 12/28: #TrumpsShutdown – “There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money…”

Quote from Donald J. Trump.

#TrumpsShutdown will cost us billions…

trump promise Government shutdowns hurt people, causing financial disruption for government employees and financial disaster for contract workers. They are also expensive for the rest of us. The shutdown of 2013 was estimated to cost taxpayers more than $2.5 billion. In 2017, analysts projected a government shutdown would cost the U.S. economy $6.5 billion per week. Add that into the $210 million already spent on Trump’s pre-election troops-at-the-border photo-op, and you get a picture of the taxpayer dollars wasted on his ineffective, immoral and environmentally disastrous fever-dream of a border wall.

Memory Lane: For those who think this country should be run like a business, Trump filed for 6 bankrupcies, destroying employee retirement funds and small businesses. “It’s called OPM. I do it all the time in business. It’s called other people’s money. There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money because it takes the risk — you get a good chunk out of it and it takes the risk.” Continue reading “Fri – 12/28: #TrumpsShutdown – “There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money…”” →

Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.

Let’s Make Everyone Count!
Homeless Point-In-Time Count, Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Why: This effort helps to better understand who is homeless in Ventura County and gain access to state and federal funding.
What: Volunteers canvass the community in pairs and collect survey data through interviewing homeless persons or reporting observations.
Who: Volunteers must be 18 years or older and have the ability to walk distances in designated locations. A smart phone/device will be needed to download the “Counting Us” app for the survey. More information will be shared during the training.

Please register online at http://www.volunteerventuracounty.org/need/detail/?need_id=388508 and spread the word!

or…

Join Indivisible Ventura’s team! Email us here with your name, email, phone #, and preferred shift on Jan. 22nd, either [6 am-12 noon] or [11am-5pm]. Tell us if you’re signing up with a friend. The morning shift always needs more people (6 am!!!), so please indicate if you’re flexible.

Training time options: Continue reading “Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.” →

Fri – 12/21: Ring the phones off their desks!

Action #1 – Add (1) backbone and a cup of support to your legislators today.

No compromise. No deals. No fear. No wall.

Remind your senators that this is a non-negotiable issue.

For those legislators who don’t care about the the lives of people or the environment, remind them that they can be replaced. (See “last election”) Call them.
For those who do, remind them that they speak for us. Give them your backing to do the right thing. Give them your courage to stand up to the opposition and possibly to their friends. Call them.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [____] to stand firm against any legislation that funds an immoral, ineffective and environmentally devastating border wall. Continue reading “Fri – 12/21: Ring the phones off their desks!” →

Thurs 12/20: Keep calling on Trump’s folly.

fol·ly /ˈfälē/: a costly ornamental structure with no practical purpose

No compromise. No deals. No fear. No wall.

More information on why and how to contact your legislators, go here.

(Good article on cost and effect of wall from Cato Institute (!))

“For the full 1,000 miles, Trump’s 30-foot wall (with a 10-foot tunnel barrier) would cost $31.2 billion, or $31.2 million per mile, according to the best estimate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers. Two other estimates placed the construction cost of the wall in the $25 billion range. An internal Department of Homeland Security report from February 2017 concluded the project would cost $21.6 billion for “a series of fences and walls” along 1,250 miles of the border. And these are solely upfront construction costs. They don’t include ongoing maintenance, which has accounted for roughly half of the price of the existing barriers over a decade.”

Wed – 12/19: The Resistance stands up.

There was a choice…

The GOP has been working hard to erode or destroy long-standing democratic institutions that do not serve them. For the midterms, they disenfranchised every potential Democratic voter they could with oppressive voter ID laws, under-equipped polling places and wandering mail-in ballots. After the election, lame-duck GOP legislatures began stripping powers from incoming Democratic governors and attorney generals. Our side is rightly angry and New Jersey Democratic legislators decided that they too could play zero-sum politics, by proposing to embed gerrymandering into the state constitution.

The resistance had a choice: silently watch the flames of this “burn-it-to-the-ground” power play by Democrats as payback for what the GOP richly deserved or stand up for American values of fairness and decency and stop this action.

The Resistance stopped it.

Action #1 – Another choice. Despite its bipartisan support, say “NO” to “The Israel Anti-Boycott Act”.

Continue reading “Wed – 12/19: The Resistance stands up.” →

Wed. 12/19: We’re sure Bob has a really good reason for obstructing this bill that helps Native women…

Action – Ask your representative to cosponsor and vote “YES” on Savannah’s Act

Savanna’s Act (S.1942 /HR 4485) is a bipartisan bill named afer Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a pregnant Fargo woman who was abducted and killed last year in a baby-snatching case. Continue reading “Wed. 12/19: We’re sure Bob has a really good reason for obstructing this bill that helps Native women…” →

Wed. 12/19: Deadline for comments on oil drilling in a pristine and perilous area filled with endangered animals – EXTENDED to Jan 4th! What’s not to write about?

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has extended the public comment period re 2019 Beaufort Sea oil & gas lease sale. Due to disruptions caused by the Nov. 30 Anchorage-area earthquake, the comment period will now end Jan 4, 2019, 11:59pm EST

Update 12.20: Additional resources under “Resources on Endangered Animals”

Continue reading “Wed. 12/19: Deadline for comments on oil drilling in a pristine and perilous area filled with endangered animals – EXTENDED to Jan 4th! What’s not to write about?” →

Tues – 12/18: It’s time for a holiday postcard to send to your legislators!

Who doesn’t love a festive holiday postcard?

Print out four at the same time on thick paper, in color or black & white.
Send one to your senators and your representative. Thank them for the good things they did this year. Everybody likes to be thanked.
Send the last one to thank a legislator you admire or to one who needs a reminder to be good next year. (Don’t worry! Those who deserve a lump of coal know where to get it.)

Continue reading “Tues – 12/18: It’s time for a holiday postcard to send to your legislators!” →

Mon 12/17: Three actions today.

Two proposed rules changes close out today and some continued support for your legislators to do the right thing.

Those of us who aren’t scientists may feel we’re not qualified to write about methane pollution, or offshore oil drilling. Not true. Skim through the postings below to get an understanding of what’s being proposed. Stop and look at the links that interest you and reference them in your posts if you wish.

Your comment can be broad-brush : America’s reputation, our economy, government corruption, unbridled corporate power and greed, the environment, the future. Or just one aspect that affects you deeply: your air, your water, your joy, your health and the health of those you love.

There are no wrong answers. The only wrong action is letting this administration think that we don’t care enough to stop them.