Moving Ideas Newsletter

Read the transcript from an online discussion with experts about brutal murders of women in Guatemala in recent years and learn what you can do to stop it.

A group of 22 diverse and prominent NGOs joined forces, urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reverse the Bush Administration’s negotiating tactics that could sink UN reform efforts.

The National Council of La Raza is appalled by the “Border and Immigration Enforcement Act of 2005” (H.R. 4437), a bill introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Instead of providing a comprehensive, effective approach to immigration problems, the bill is a laundry list of mean-spirited and intrusive provisions concocted by the most radical immigrant restrictionists in Congress.

A proposal to immunize the drug industry from legal accountability for death, disability or sickness caused by the use of pandemic flu vaccines and pharmaceuticals would be a gift to industry, but bad medicine for consumers, Public Citizen said.

In this issue: House and Senate to Attempt Passing a Final Bill Cutting Aid to Poor; More Tax Breaks for Wealthy Approved by Congress; Labor-HHS-Education Bill Must Clear One Last Hurdle; and Congress Approves, President Signs, Final Housing Appropriation Bill.

In this issue: Hill Negotiators May Exclude Medicare Managed Care Plans from Payment for Performance Systems; MedPAC Releases Draft Recommendations for Changes in Medicare Payments; Only 660,000 Okayed So Far by Social Security Administration for Low-Income Drug Benefit; and more.

In this issue: More than 1.5 Million of 1.8 Million New Food Stamp Participants Were in States Hardest Hit by Hurricane Katrina; Homeless Hurricane Victims Say FEMA Is Not Helping; Spike in Heating Bills to Hit 5-Year Record; state reports; and more.

Update 01/05/06: After approving the bill outlawing torture of U.S. detainees last Friday, President Bush issued a ''signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. The Boston Globe reported that the White House and legal specialists say that this means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions. Learn more and get involved in the fight for the humane treatment of U.S. detainees and detainees around the world.

New Strategies to Shift Federal Spending Priorities Away from Unnecessary Military Spending and Towards Social Needs BEN COHEN of True Majority (and of Ben and Jerry’s fame) will share his multi-year marketing plan that includes a legislative agenda (and he’ll also share free ice cream!). GREG SPEETER, executive director of National Priorities Project (NPP), will share NPP's resources and additional strategies to advance the effort. When: December 15, 10 a.m. - noon Where: Center for Community Change 1536 U Street, NW (between 15th and 16th Streets, NW) Washington, DC Nearest Metro Stop - U Street on the Green Line, (U and 10th Streets, NW) or Dupont Circle on the Red Line (Q Street entrance, an 0.8 mile walk) We encourage people who attend CHN's regular meetings, as well as other religious, racial justice, environmental, labor, peace and national security groups, to attend this event. We hope you can join us in this important conversation.

with Amy Kincaid If you’re in a fundraising rut, this course is certainly for you. Here's an opportunity to acquire new information, trade fresh ideas and test how they might work in your organization. Topics of this class will cover the latest trends in foundation and individual giving; two adaptations of the classic fundraising pyramid; philanthropy in communities of color and an innovative grassroots approach to establishing endowments. Additionally, participants can look forward to learning about what two foundations for public schools are doing on the internet, resources to develop earned revenue and social ventures as well as information on the best new books, sites, and blogs that can help improve fundraising in your organization. December 156:45-8:45pm

Over the past year, a debate over moral values and politics has grown increasingly prominent and divisive. Since 2003, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has been exploring how women think about values and politics, particularly in religious organizations. IWPR’s research finds that many religious progressives are committed to a set of moral concepts that include responsibility for the well-being of others and interconnectedness with the most disadvantaged in society. IWPR has convened a Working Group on Women’s Public Vision, made up of women leaders in politics, religion, social justice, and feminist organizing, who are working to promote women’s perspectives in conversations about values and politics. The group is also working to build stronger connections between religious women activists and feminist movements. Although the two groups share many goals, they only rarely collaborate. There is potential for collaborations that will help build a strong, new movement of women from diverse backgrounds. Talk with Amy Caiazza and Rita Nakashima Brock about the rift between religious women activists and feminist movements, how we can bridge this rift and how issues of race, ethnicity, and class both contribute to the rift and point to ways to overcome it. Thursday, December 15, 2005: 1 – 2 PM EST Ask a question now!

The Fourth Estate is withering under an unprecedented "White House assault designed to intimidate, smear and discredit investigative journalism."

This report details how under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is slowly dismantling its flagship environmental information tool: the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

This report demonstrates that a majority of employers aggressively use both legal and illegal anti-union tactics during union representation elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

This guide, written by New Jersey Policy Perspective Research Director Mary E. Forsberg for the Association for Children of New Jersey, is designed to help people better understand the process by which New Jersey decides how to spend almost $30 billion a year.

Five encouraging stories about what it takes to sustain education reform efforts over time in the face of multiple pressures and changes in district and municipal leadership.

This country lost three million good-paying manufacturing jobs between 2000-2004, a phenomenon often blamed on productivity growth. This analysis shows that the ballooning trade deficit is an important factor in the sharp decline of manufacturing jobs over the last four years.

This report synthesizes the last 10 years of findings from P/PV's and other researchers' work to address one of the most demanding challenges facing today's after-school programs -- how to create and manage programs that stand the best chance producing specific, policy-relevant outcomes.