Kate Bigam is the Press Secretary at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. This piece was originally posted on the RACblog.

Congress is officially on recess, but it won't be an easy vacation - for them or for us. As Members of congress gauge their constituents' views on a range of issues, from health care reform to climate change, we at the RAC are hard at work ensuring that you have the tools you need to make your voice heard.

If you've been following the news, you know that health care reform is the hot-button issue of the moment. Today, we're excited to increase the volume of our support for universal health care by launching JewsForHealthCareReform.org, a website that provides supporters of universal health care with the resources and tools necessary to add their voices to the growing chorus of people of faith speaking out for reform. The site includes fact sheets on the health care system, Jewish texts on health care mandates, and action alerts containing pre-written letters to Congress contact in support of reform.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

Have you ever thought about taking action on climate change and wondered, "Does my voice really matter?" If so, then today is your day!

Read more »

First posted at RACblog. Rabbis interested in joining the final day of Rabbi Saperstein's fast can sign up RSVP here.

Today I find myself once again fasting for Darfur. My first fast for Darfur, which I did only a few days after being arrested with Representative John Lewis, four other members of Congress, and leaders of Darfur advocacy groups, was undertaken to underline the urgency of the suffering in the internally displaced persons camps in Darfur after President Bashir had expelled over a dozen aid groups from the region.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

Troy Davis has faced a rollercoaster of results this past year in his attempts to present evidence of his innocence to the state of Georgia. After the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied his second petition to make the case for his innocence in court last month, Davis's lawyers filed a petition with the Supreme Court for an original writ of habeas corpus.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

So, we have a nominee in the pipeline. Now what? The confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice does not happen overnight. In fact, it takes an average of 72 days for a nominee to go from being named to being confirmed.(If your knowledge on the judicial nominations process is a bit rusty, check out the RAC's one page summary of the nominations process and the ways that you can have an impact.)

The next major landmark in the process will be the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on Judge Sotomayor's nomination.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

"Environmental protection and economic growth are inimical interests." That is a common refrain, but one that is simply untrue. The current debate over climate and energy policy is proving (hopefully once and for all) that we can be good stewards of our natural resources and spur economic recovery and long-term growth at the same time. That's why business leaders representing firms from Google to Duke Energy to Nike are calling for strong and progressive climate and energy policies, including a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Why would private, profit-driven firms support climate policies that would increase the price of fossil-fuel energy? Smart businesses know that a cap on carbon is good for the long-term health of our nation and our world (and the health of their consumers!), and ultimately good for their bottom line.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

On Monday, May 25th, officials from North Korea claimed they had conducted a nuclear test, leading to widespread condemnation and forthcoming additional sanctions.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

The waiting game continues. President Obama has not yet announced his pick for the Supreme Court and various press reports have indicated that he is still in the process of making a decision. So, the national dialogue continues about what qualities and qualifications are necessary in a Supreme Court Justice. One of the most provocative (and interesting) conversations has been about President Obama's insistence that empathy is an essential characteristic that he will look for in the next Supreme Court Justice. This statement sparked a debate that not only questions whether the ability to empathize should be valued but also struggles to define empathy and identify its connotations.

The dictionary.com definition of "empathy" is "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another." In other words, the ability to stand in someone else's shoes.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

Today's speech by President Obama laying out his plan for closing the detainee center at Guantanamo Bay was a masterful example of the power of political theatre, in all the best senses of that term. I was honored to be in the Rotunda of the National Archives to hear the President speak.

As at any theatre performance, even before the performers take the stage, you take note of the set. By choosing to speak at the National Archives, flanked by the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, the President's embrace of the rule of law was dramatically reciprocated; he was, in turn, embraced by our most fundamental laws.

Read more »

Today, Rabbi David Saperstein published a piece on the HuffingtonPost about the controversial DC School vouchers pilot program (poetically titled by voucher proponents in Congress, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP)) and why the Reform Movement has been actively opposing it. This program has been a hot topic in the District and in the Congress with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (the committee that oversees the District of Columbia) holding a hearing on it just yesterday. The hearing was unfortunately (though not surprisingly) voucher-biased as both the committee's chairman, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Ranking Member, Senator Susan Collins, are fans of the program. Video from the hearing and transcripts of those who testified is available here.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post ran a piece with short statements from major opinion leaders about the program, on both sides of the issue including DC public schools' Chancellor Michelle Rhee, former DC Mayor Anthony Williams, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, former Virginia Congressman and original sponsor of the OSP Tom Davis, and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. It provides a good overview of this complicated issue (though it seems just a bit heavier with pro-vouchers arguments) so I highly recommend checking it out.

First posted at RACblog.

It's always an exciting moment when the four main streams of American Judaism - not to mention a dozen other national Jewish organizations from the JCC Association to the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education - join together as part a single unified initiative. That is exactly what happened when the RAC's Rabbi David Saperstein, Jesse Paikin of the URJ Camps Department and I represented the URJ this week at a meeting of more than 40 leaders from across the broad spectrum of the organized American Jewish community for the first national Jewish Sustainability Conference.

On May 11 and 12, we gathered at the incredible Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center outside Baltimore for two days of learning, workshops, and discussion on sustainability. This complex and often misunderstood terms has many implications but, at its core, sustainability means creating communities that meet the basic human needs of all of their members by rethinking and often limiting both what we take from the natural world and the by-products that we put into the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the public spaces we enjoy together. We came to understand how the American Jewish community can unite around the goal of building safer, healthier communities for ourselves and our children based on these fundamental principles. The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), a program of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, organized and sponsored this historic gathering and is poised to lead the way toward a more sustainable Jewish community following the Conference.

Read more »

Rabbi David Jay Kaufman is the rabbi at Temple B'nai Jeshurun in Des Moines, Iowa. All views expressed are his own. This post originally appeared at RACblog.

There is a false perception that AIPAC is somehow an organization of the political right. Anti-Israel groups have worked hard to give people that false impression. Many in the Jewish community see AIPAC also (wrongly) as an advocate for the Israeli political right. In many ways, Jewish peace groups are responsible for that falsity. One need only look at the depth and breadth of the AIPAC Policy Conference to see the dramatic error in those false conceptions of AIPAC.

AIPAC is a bi-partisan organization seeking to maintain and strengthen the bonds of friendship between the United States and Israel. It does not advocate for or against specific policies of the nation of Israel. AIPAC's lobbying agenda this year included three things, all of which were sponsored by leading Senators and Representatives from both parties.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog. Special thanks to Legislative Assistant Rachel Cohen for her contributions to this post.

This weekend, you can help set a world record AND build a more equitable and environmentally sustainable global economy simply by taking a coffee break. A Fair Trade coffee break, that is. On and around May 9th, join activists and concerned global citizens to celebrate World Fair Trade Day by indulging in a cup of Fair Trade coffee, chomping on a Fair Trade chocolate bar, or giving Fair Trade flowers to a loved one. To learn more about the World's Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break, check out their website for tips on planning an event (even tips on making sure that your event- like Fair Trade coffee- is environmentally conscious) or finding one near you.

Read more »

This post originally appeared at RACblog.

Last week the Crack the Disparity Coalition held its second annual (and last) lobby day seeking to reform the egregious crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity.

Read more »

First posted at RACblog.

When most Americans think about environmentally progressive parts of our country, coastal states like California, New York, and Oregon are probably the first that come to mind. Yet, the movement for clean energy and environmental protection is growing across the country, especially in the Midwest. Iowa was in the news again last week (after its Supreme Court successfully upheld marriage equality earlier in the month) when President Obama celebrated Earth Day at the Trinity Structural Towers plant in Newton, a small town struggling through the economic downturn.

Trinity is helping revive Newton by putting Iowans to work building parts for wind turbines. President Obama highlighted Trinity, and the work going on all across the state of Iowa, as a model for clean energy economies built by green jobs, the key to both solving the climate crisis and revitalizing the economy.

Read more »