The Senate may have kicked the DISCLOSE Act to the curb, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has the authority to force publicly-traded corporations to disclose their campaign contributions. How is this possible? Well, all that money those corporations have actually belongs to their shareholders, and the SEC's mission is to protect shareholders. And you might be a shareholder and not even know it, because your employer has enrolled you in a 401(k) pension plan, which may be invested in any number of corporations. Indeed, about half of America's households are shareholders, though not all of them realize that. Public Citizen helps you tell the SEC to force corporations to disclose their campaign contributions.
Meanwhile, ALEC, the notorious "legislative exchange council" that writes right-wing bills for state legislators to use, has lost 30 member corporations as of Friday -- lately including Walgreens, General Motors and (gasp!) WalMart -- but ebay isn't one of them. Does ebay simply not know that ALEC is responsible for the rash of discriminatory "voter ID" laws that could disenfranchise millions of good Americans in the upcoming election? No one knows for sure! But I do know this for sure: a hell of a lot of people use ebay, and that doesn't mean ebay has us by the shorthairs. It means that if enough good folks call ebay and tell them how we feel about their support for ALEC, they wouldn't like the bad PR. Color of Change helps you call ebay and encourage them to dump ALEC.
Finally, the London Olympics are upon us, and Saudi Arabia will allow its female athletes to compete in the Games for the first time ever -- but, at home, still won't let its women drive without "permission" from a male "guardian," who could be a father, husband, or brother. And, as you surely know, driving can greatly enhance your independence -- it gets you to a job, it gets you to the doctor's office, it gets you to the supermarket. Saudi Arabia's women athletes, in fact, actually train outside the country to get as good as they are, because training inside Saudi Arabia is too damn hard when you have to ask a man's permission to go to the freakin' gym. Amnesty International helps you tell Saudi Arabia to enter the 20th century already. (I know what century this is. Let's not give them too much credit.)
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