This is good news in Minnesota!
Please let legislators who supported this effort know how much you appreciate their effort. We now have our Move to Amend legislation in the Minnesota House, HF 3650, and in our Minnesota Senate, SF2404! We have also picked up an important co-author in the Minnesota House, House Minority Leader, Representative Paul Thissen. Please continue to encourage your MN Senators, and Representatives, to continue their efforts to act on behalf of the will of the people of Minnesota! 70% to 90% of Minnesotans favor this effort! Thanks to all of you who have contacted your state senator and representative asking them to support the “We the People” bill. If you have not it is still important that each one hears from constituents that it is critical that this bill is passed.

Here is that legislation - House File 3650:
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF3650&version=latest&session=89&session_number=0&session_year=2015

To find out who your representative and senator are go to this link -http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

This link also has their email address and phone number.
Samples letters and a fact sheet are on our webpage at: www.movetoamend.org/minnesota.
It is very important that we know how your senator and representative will vote on this bill. If she/he is not in favor of it, please let us know the reason for taking that position. Report your actions and results of your actions at:
 minnesota@movetoamend.org.

If your representative is Rep. Dehn, Rosenthal, Bernardy, or Thissen or your senator is Senator Marty, Carlson, Clausen, Jensen or Dahle, please thank them for sponsoring the bill.

Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries!

“We’re in danger of handing young people a situation that’s out of their control,” said James E. Hansen, the retired NASA climate scientist who led the new research. The findings were released Tuesday morning by a European science journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. The basic claim of the paper is that by burning fossil fuels at a prodigious pace and pouring heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, humanity is about to provoke an abrupt climate shift. Living in Minnesota will be impacted as well.

Specifically, the authors believe that fresh water pouring into the oceans from melting land ice will set off a feedback loop that will cause parts of the great ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to disintegrate rapidly. What do we know to be true about Global Climate Change? These answers will help:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/28/science/what-is-climate-change.html

Should we not be listening to our best scientists? They have been right about a lot of things...DDT, Ozone, gravity, light, Earth-Moon relationship, Earth-Sun relationship, germs, viruses, polio, eclipses, northern lights, sunspots, the number of hearts in a human, distance to planets and stars, airplanes, going to the moon, atoms, artificial limbs, computer technology, the relationship to smoking and cancer, etc. Or, should we be listening to those who profit from Global Climate Change, and those who have been manipulated by them?

The politician who eventually does get elected as president, and those who do get elected as your/our representatives, will have more of an impact on the lives of your/our children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews than they will on you or I. For those who have ben thinking of taking a break from FB, this may be a good time as it will only get worse for the next few months. So far, the impact of social media on our election process is not looking good! Unfortunately, advertising works. Test marketing works and most all of the media airtime has been purchased by those who want to influence how the average person votes. If they can convince a generation of citizens that smoking is not harmful to their health, that beverages, particularly water, is better wrapped in plastic, that human caused global climate change is not something our generation needs to deal with, than swinging an election is child's play!

WHICHEVER POLITICAL PARTY FIRST RECOGNIZES JUST HOW SOLIDLY THE PEOPLE ARE BEHIND UNDOING "CITIZENS UNITED", WILL DO JUST FINE! ANY POLITICAL PARTY CHOOSING TO IGNORE THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, WILL DO SO AT THEIR PERIL!

FORGET THE CAUCUSES, FORGET THE PRIMARIES, THE KOCH BROTHERS HAVE SPOKEN! The Koch Brothers’, spending more for the 2016 election, more than both parties’ spending, have decided to narrow the field of candidates! No Democrats, and just three Republicans, are now your choices! They are speaking. They have spoken! Isn’t this “Money is the same as free speech” wonderful!

Hundreds of conservative donors recruited by the Kochs gathered over the weekend for three days of issue seminars, strategy sessions and mingling with rising elected officials. These donors represent the largest concentration of political money outside the party establishment, one that has achieved enormous power in Republican circles in recent years.

Now the Kochs’ network will embark on its largest drive ever to influence legislation and campaigns across the country, leveraging Republican control of Congress and the party’s dominance of state capitols to push for deregulation, tax cuts and smaller government. In 2012, the Kochs’ network spent just under $400 million, an astonishing sum at the time. The $889 million spending goal for 2016 would put it on track to spend as much as the campaigns of each party’s presidential nominee.

Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas — took part in a candidate forum on economic issues. They were the only ones invited!

The Kochs are longtime opponents of campaign disclosure laws. Unlike the parties, their network is constructed chiefly of nonprofit groups that are not required to reveal donors. That makes it almost impossible to tell how much of the money is provided by the Kochs — among the wealthiest men in the country — and how much by other donors.

As the three senators addressed the audience of rich donors — effectively an audition for the 2016 primary — they dismissed a question about whether the wealthy had too much influence in politics. At times they seemed to be addressing an audience of two: the Kochs themselves, now among the country’s most influential conservative power brokers.

Mr. Cruz gave an impassioned defense of his hosts as job creators and the victims of unfair attacks by Democrats, while Mr. Rubio suggested that only liberals supported campaign finance restrictions, so as to empower what he said were their allies in Hollywood and the news media.

This Website shows the truth:

Ted Cruz says: #1.  “I will never get — nor do I want — money from the DC lobbyists”

is a flat out lie.  It is not a misstatement, it is a complete and total falsehood.

Point #2 : “After winning Iowa the Washington cartel is most certainly more determined than ever defeat me”.  Again, look at the truth:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/02/02/seriously-how-can-ted-cruz-supporters-defend-this/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/politics/kochs-plan-to-spend-900-million-on-2016-campaign.html?_r=0

When someone asks: "What's the the big deal? This is a bid deal!

It helps explain why Cuban citizens have a healthier, and longer, lifespan than American citizens, and Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than America. This is true while the average American makes ten times more than the average Cuban ($30,000+ per year compared to $3,000- per year). Does this image help explain that incongruence? It does for me! Should anyone be making this kind of money off of American's health insurance? We must end Citizens United now! https://movetoamend.org

https://movetoamend.org

OUR "CORPORATE CITIZENS" ARE, AGAIN, SHOWING THEIR TRUE STRIPES!

This is all so "Over the top."! Despite the U.S.Federal Government's rescue-and hundreds of millions of dollars $$$$$$$ in tax breaks, over the last several decades, Johnson Controls said on Monday: "We are renouncing our U.S. corporate citizenship by selling ourselves to Tyco International, based in Ireland."  This was done solely to reduce it's tax bill even further than it has been, dropping an additional $150,000,000 in taxes that it, otherwise, would have paid! If any individual tried this type of a tax evasion/scheme, they would go to jail for most of the rest of their lives!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/dealbook/a-tidal-wave-of-corporate-migrants-seeking-tax-shelter.html?_r=0

HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF!  - DO YOU REMEMBER THIS POEM?

(I'm glad there are some willing to speak out today!)

"First They Came for the Jews"
By Pastor Niemoller

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

IN TODAY’S WORLD, THIS IS HOW THINGS GET DONE!  PROGRESS, IN PARIS, IS POSSIBLE!

Bill Gates, Robert Redford, Michael Bloomberg, even Pope Francis, are now playing as much of a role in what governments do as any politician. The one thing these people have to cajole, and manipulate countries, and businesses, to get on the right track, is the power of the purse. They have the money! It’s a good thing as major corporations, such as Koch Refinery and Shell oil, are using their billions to try to sway public opinion to do nothing at all, to convince the public that human caused global climate change is not even a problem, that it is a hoax!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/energy-environment/bill-gates-takes-on-climate-change-with-nudges-and-a-powerful-rolodex.html?_r=0

U.S. HAS LONG HISTORY OF INTOLERANCE, WHY STOP NOW! 

But let’s make this only the beginning and move to eradicate other past and current ethnic groups who stand ready to do us harm!
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/national-view/3897077-local-view-us-has-long-history-intolerance-why-stop-now

DO YOU KNOW what a "Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich": is? You can bet that every multinational corporation in America does. Not all corporations are as much of a freeloader as about 25% of them are, as much as those who use this scam are: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/28/business/Double-Irish-With-A-Dutch-Sandwich.html?_r=0

WHAT: THE PARIS CLIMATE SUMMIT!

WHEN: Events are starting today, and will continue. Most events are this weekend.

WHY:   The Paris Climate Summit March was to be one of the largest marches ever!They cannot march in Paris, but we can show our support by marching around the world.

HOW: Find an event near you, below, and participate as best you can…walk….share this with others…be part of the solution! Do!!!!!

http://350.org/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAm-CyBRDx65nBhcmVtbIBEiQA7zm8lZoXYpqjkb0YZpXF4zP4-XG2gCM83CXHWvAUXxU4xjoaAmh78P8HAQ

Why do too many leaders, and individuals, deny the overwhelming research, all of the scientists who are dedicated to the study of our climate, and the impact of various elements, the largest of which is the human factor? Just as the cigarette corporations, of the 40's, 50's, & 60's, they knew the damage of their product decades before the general population did and those corporations went about to test market their products, and the doubt about the use of their products!

BE AFRAID......BE VERY, VERY AFRAID!

Fear is emotional and not always logical.

The current effort to close our United States boarders to all Muslims, to all Syrians, just as,  before the  election in 2014,  they tried to use fear to attack President Obama administration’s efforts with Ebola. 

They were predicting massive disease. They wanted to close our boarders to all Africans, even eliminating any air travel to Africa!  The current price of gas, fuel oil, and propane, dramatically, points to the fallacy of the major Republican predictions related to a 2nd term for President Obama. Republican’s predicted, and would have been gleeful if they were correct, that:

1.            Gas prices would shoot through the ceiling to $5.45 per gallon by this time and then to       $6.60 by the end of his 2nd term. Oops!

2.            Unemployment will bottom out at 8% and then climb. Oops!

3.            The Stock Market will have collapsed by this time. Oops!

4.            The entire U.S. economy will collapse by end of President Obama’s term. Oops!

5.            American’s won’t enroll in the AHA, the Affordable Healthcare. Oops!

6.            Health care insurers won’t participate in the AHA. Oops!

7.            The AHC won’t reduce the % of uninsured in America. Oops!

8.            Ebola policies were going to cause massive disease throughout the United States. Oops!

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/01/3607416/4-things-2015-obama-reelected/

These are the actual quotes, the actual predictions of Republicans about Obamacare, The Affordable Healthcare Act. Every one of their predictions did not come to pass even though they have done everything in their power to make their predictions come true!

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05/07/independent-study-finds-republican-prediction-obamacare-wrong.html

This is how selling fear can work! Be afraid....be very, very afraid!

THIS SHOULD BE A NO BRAINER – ACTUALLY IT IS A “KNOW” BRAINER!

Why do some U.S. citizens, particularly those in the middle class, continue to vote against what has been proven, time and again, to be against their own best interest? It is usually do to a very successful campaign of fear by the Republican Party, and their super PACs, dark money, lobbyists, and PACs.

1.       Under Democrats, the economy grew, on average, 4.35 percent per year; under Republicans, only 2.54 percent.

2.      Over the whole period, the economy was in recession for 49 quarters; Democrats held the White House during only eight of those quarters.

3.      Private-sector employment is eight million people higher than it was when Barack Obama took office, twice the job gains achieved under his predecessor.

4.      Every candidate with a real chance of getting the G.O.P. nomination is claiming that his tax plan would produce a huge growth surge — a claim that has no basis in historical experience.

5.      Historically, the economy has almost always done better under Democrats, compared to the G.O.P.

6.      Personal disposable income has grown nearly 6 times more under Democratic presidents

7.      Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown 7 times more under Democratic presidents

8.      Corporate profits have grown over 16% more per year under Democratic presidents (they actually declined under Republicans by an average of 4.53%/year)

9.      Average annual compound return on the stock market has been 18 times greater under Democratic presidents (If you invested $100k for 40 years of Republican administrations you had $126k at the end, if you invested $100k for 40 years of Democrat administrations you had $3.9M at the end)

10.   Republican presidents added 2.5 times more to the national debt than Democratic presidents

11.   The two times the economy steered into the ditch (Great Depression and Great Recession) were during Republican, laissez faire administrations

https://www.princeton.edu/~mwatson/papers/Presidents_Blinder_Watson_July2014.pdf

A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS, a majority of most every self- identified group in America, yes this includes Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Green Party members, have wanted congress to take action on gun control. Over 90% of Americans want there to be tighter restrictions on sales of guns (rummage sales, online sales, and gun shows), and sales to those who are proven to be incompetent, or suffering from mental disease. Yes, this majority includes a majority of NRA members! WHAT IS THE COLLECTIVE RESPONSE OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS?

A SUPER MAJORITY of every self-identified group in the United States (moderates, conservatives, liberals, Independents, Green Party Members, Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians) already exists! We must continue to help everyone understand that our representative democracy has become a plutocracy/oligarchy, that some refer to as a corporatocracy, through the use of Dark Money, LLTs, Super PACs, and Citizens United. Multinational Corporations are not people and their money is not speech! The people must continue to become informed, educate others, and act to Move To Amend our Constitution to put the focus back on the people…..not just on profit!

Starting week three of school, we are now up to "X"!

SEE WHERE MEMBERS OF THE 112TH CONGRESS, AND THE 111TH CONGRESS HAVE GONE HERE:https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=Z
Dick Armey. Tom Daschle. Tom Foley. Trent Lott. Once, these politicos ranked among Congress' most powerful members. Today, they share another distinction: They're lobbyists (or "senior advisors" performing very similar work). You can check our former Minnesota politicians as well!

https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=Z

MANY OF US CONSIDER OURSELVES "ENVIRONMENTALISTS" BUT  DON'T CARE WHAT COLOR THE LIFE BOAT IS!

Our generation is the first generation to experience the effects of Global Climate Change. Our generation may be the last generation that can do something about it!
We listened to climate scientists about the ozone hole problem and are on a path to repairing that damage. In today's world we are, instead, listening to the, energy corporation created, "climate change doubters,and deniers " while we sit on our hands and do, virtually, nothing about the problem. WHERE ARE YOU ON THIS SHIP?

ONE WEEK OF SCHOOL IN, we moved down the alphabet!Why do multinational corporations invest millions/billions of dollars in electing politicians that they hope will listen to them? Why do multinational corporations invest millions/billions, in passing legislation, that they hope will be favorable to them, such that our government does little, or nothing, to regulate proven environmental concerns?Why do multinational corporations invest millions, and billions, to prevent legislation that might address the wealth gap, and income disparity, in our country?Why? BECAUSE IT WORKS!

Whatever happened to it being illegal in our country for a newspaper, to be owned by a radio station, to be owned by a television network?Whatever happened to a “Monopoly” being illegal in our country?Whatever happened to “equal time” on broadcast radio and television?Whatever happened to “Conflict of Interest”?The Supreme Court’s 2010 radical decision, Citizens United, to legally identify multinational corporate rights to be the same as an individual citizen of the United States, is part of what happened. The Citizens United concept that multinational corporate money is the same as our free speech is part of what happened! Corporate spending to elect candidates, pass legislation, even write the legislation, is what happened!