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This

Senators Snowe and Collins need to hear from you - plain and simple - women should be paid the same for doing the same job as men. With the end of session looming, time is running out for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.  This important piece of legislation would provide crucial tools for women, enabling them to take action if they are facing wage discrimination in the workplace.  Like I said before - it's simple - women should be paid the same as a man doing the same job as men.  Many people are shocked to hear that the wage gap between men and women persists.  Nationally, women still make just 77 cents for every man's dollar, and in Maine, women do only slightly better - making just only 79 cents to a man's dollar.  For American women of color, the gap is even wider.  In addition to the impact disriminatory pay has, over the long run, on the lives of victimized women and their  families, the practice flies in the face of American ideals of fairness and equal treatment. So speak up - today is national call-in day on Paycheck Fairness - just dial 1-877-667-6650, and simple instructions will direct you to your Senators' offices.  After you are  put through, be sure to tell them the following: •    Your name and address. •    That you are their constituent. •    The House already passed the bill in January 2009. It's time for the Senate to do the same. •    Please pass the Paycheck  Fairness Act this September. Every call makes a difference. So, please take a few moments to call the Senate and ask them to do the right thing - pass Paycheck  Fairness for women and their families!   You can also take action here and send a message telling your

The era that Net Neutrality supporters have long feared is here — major companies have begun divvying up the internet. Last month, Google and Verizon announced a "policy framework" of how the rules for the internet could work in the future. The framework is a disturbing vision for the future. Wireless internet — such as services delivered over smart phones — would be completely unregulated; companies would be free to prioritize their own services — for everything from music to video to chat — over those of competitors. Telecom providers could also do whatever they want with managed services, like Verizon's FIOS, that are offered directly to the companies but use the same wires and bandwidth as the regular internet. Regulators under this new framework would be neutered, reduced to policing a narrow area of consumer complaints with no power over vast swaths of the web. If these new rules are adopted, the regular internet will quickly become a backwater. All the investment and capital funding would go toward building up the managed services and wireless networks where the companies would have free reign to use their market power to make the most money. All of this has enormous implications for all of us — not just as consumers but as citizens. The Internet is quite simply the tool for exercising our First Amendment rights. Not only does it give every one of us access to a worldwide audience, it also allow us to discover and expand our connections to other people, opens new vistas for freedom of

What

Repe

The law (passed in August 2006) was designed to punish landlords and employers accused of renting to or hiring anyone the city deems an "illegal alien."   The ACLU challenged that law in district court and won in 2007.  Today's Third Circuit Decision was a response to an appeal by the city of Hazleton. This decision is especially important in light of the recent proliferation of anti-immigrant sentiment and laws around the country (most noteably, Arizona's SB1070).  Today's unanimous opinion, based on the Supremacy Clause, explains that courts must intervene where "states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress."  The Hazleton law, the court said, was in direct conflict with Congressional intent and therefore, cannot stand.   In a

Tort