H.R. 2600/S. 1206, the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, would break up so-called "too big to fail" banks "so that their failure would no longer cause a catastrophic effect upon the U.S. or global economy without a taxpayer bailout," per S. 1206's summary. And during the time it takes to break up these too-big-to-fail banks, the bill would also prevent them from getting handouts from the Federal Reserve and keep them from engaging in certain securities trading -- so that these banksters don't pollute the economy with their lust for risk, in addition to distorting the economy with their size. Don't believe any hype from right-wingers that only bankers understand the economy and government should just stay out of it. Virtually everyone in America understands full well what the banks did to our economy with their risky financial "instruments" in 2008. The only people who don't understand that, generally, are people who have a lot invested (financially or emotionally!) in seeing any efforts to rein in the big banks fail. But if we don't rein in society's most powerful members, we fail, and eventually our civilization will die. It's really that simple. Hence CREDO helps you tell your Congressfolk to break up the big banks, and thus keep our economy and our jobs safe. We could call that real security.
Meanwhile, you may have heard that the Montreal City Council -- responding to a brutal mauling of a resident of a Montreal suburb this past June -- has passed a law banning pit bulls (and, indeed, many dogs that aren't pit bulls but that look more or less like pit bulls) from the city. But on Wednesday, a Quebec Superior Court judge suspended enforcement of that law indefinitely, pending further judicial review -- which doesn't strike the law from the books, but merely gives pit bulls a reprieve that'll probably last a few months. So now is not the time to celebrate; now is the time to press our advantage, which this Change.org petition aimed at the Montreal Mayor and City Council helps you do. The Montreal City Council bylaw would not only outlaw further breeding or adoption of pit bulls within city limits, but would ban such dogs from showing up in city shelters, which is effectively a death sentence for them. And for what? To demonstrate that you've "done something" about a brutal death? And we shouldn't even be considering the question of whether scientific evidence exists to suggest that pit bulls are more violent than other species of dogs -- though of course it doesn't, and if you still think it does, you need to remember that dozens of scattered anecdotes about pit bull attacks over the decades still don't constitute science.
UPDATE. I originally said the Quebec judge indefinitely suspended the pit bull ban yesterday, but he did so on Wednesday. Error corrected above.
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