I'm keeping this intro short. We may have lost on Alito, but other issues need our attention and
fast...
Wildlife and Environmental protections are seriously under attack these days. PLEASE take action to help save the ESA and NEPA (details below).
Also, we should be sending letters, faxes and calling about the PATRIOT Act now! We should learn our lesson from the Alito disaster and call early and often!!
Anyway, please do your part. This doesn't take a long time, and we have NO right to complain if we don't do everything possible to prevent these things from happening!!
Thanks to everyone to Recommends and takes action!!
Health Care Issues:
Want to help stop Bush's Health Savings Accounts?? Communications Workers of America (CWA) has a letter you can send to your Representatives! Click here to read the letter and enter your quick info to send it! You can add your own personal stories to make it even MORE persuading if you have time, but if not, at least take 30 seconds to enter your info and send off the form letter. Please.
The AFL-CIO has another letter you can send to your Reps to prevent Health Savings Accounts. Here's the link.
Americans for Health Care also has an action item for you to send to the President regarding health care. So, click here to tell Bush we need real health care reform!
Republican Scandal Items including Illegal Spying and the PATRIOT ACT:
Are you upset about torture and extraordinary rendition? You should be! Amnesty International has a letter you can send to your Representatives, so you can let them know where you stand. Click here to voice your concerns now!
Worried that the President will ignore the McCain Anti-torture bill? Human Rights first has a letter you can send to Georgie demanding that he uphold the torture ban. Click here to send your letter to "the man."
Progress Now Action is concerned about illegal spying just like you are. Click here to join the No-Spy list and ask for protection from unwanted domestic eavesdropping. They'll be delivering the list to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during their upcoming hearings on President Bush's domestic spying programs.
The ACLU wants you to tell your friends about illegal spying. Click here to enter their email addresses and pass along some info about Bush's illegal program. The more people know, the angrier they get, the more likely they'll join us in the fight to stop this illegal program!
The PATRIOT ACT is back! The next extension is until March 10th. Click here for some details and for the link to look up your Senators and Reps phone numbers (although at this point you all ought to have them programmed into your phones!). Call, email, and fax NOW!! Let's not make the same mistake we did with Alito by not calling early enough and often. We have to stop the PATRIOT Act!
Women's Issues:
Walmart is bad for a LOT of reasons...but here's a recap of their latest anti-woman agenda...
· 2 million female employees suing Wal-Mart for gender discrimination
· Pregnant Wal-Mart worker fired in Connecticut
· Massachusetts women suing Wal-Mart for being denied legal medicine
Click here to sign a petition from WakeupWalmart.com and tell Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott to stop Wal-Mart's right-wing war on women and make these legally approved medications available to women.
People For the American Way was one of the few groups that actually fought the Alito nomination. You can reward and help them today by becoming a member. At the moment they are offering membership for as little as a $5 donation. Take them up on it...PFAW rocks!
Supporting Democrats in 2006:
I don't have to tell you what to do here....I just wanted to remind you that you should be supporting our fabulous Dems (and trying to find replacements for the ones that suck).
Protect Wildlife and Pets:
The Endangered Species Act is under attack! Send this letter to your Rep and tell them to protect the ESA!!
I've been touting the ASPCA lately, they have an absolutely excellent action page. Click here to check out all the various federal action items and to find your own state for more specific action items. This site REALLY is excellent. You can also sign up to receive regular emails from them. If you don't want to do that, at least take action on H.R. 3858 . H.R. 3858 would require the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to take people with pets into account following a major disaster or emergency. Click here to let your Representatives know that your pets are part of your family!
American Rivers also has an action item to save NEPA. Click here to send your letter!
Defenders of Wildlife has launched the Virtual March to Leave No Species Behind! Click here to sign up and join the Virtual March! They also have a SUPER helpful website where you can see what your elected Rep's score is on votes for wildlife. You can enter your info and get their score here.
The Grizzly Bear is about to be kicked off the Endangered Species List...even though it is still endangered. Click here to sign the Sierra Club's petition to prevent them from being delisted. This has to be done by February 15th!!
melvin has recently done some truly excellent diaries about the Pombo/Crapo threat to the Endangered Species Act. Read any of those diaries for some great background information, gorgeous pictures, and lots of great links. The most important link is obviously the one that you can click on to Stop S 2110 and Save the Endangered Species Act!
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, "Critical Habitat for the endangered California condor in southern California is at risk of development. The Tejon Ranch Company is currently seeking a blanket "incidental take" permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which would allow it to harm, harass, and even kill endangered condors during construction and operation of its proposed major developments on Tejon Ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains." Click here to send a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking them to protect the California condor!
The World Wildlife Fund also has a letter you can send to Stop S 2110 and Save the Endangered Species Act. Once you take action on that, you can forward the action to friends and family and you can also use the links on the right hand side of the page to take action on several other items. The WWF also has a letter you can send asking your Reps to cosponsor the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act. Big pooties need our help!!
The Union of Concerned Scientists also has a letter you can send to Stop S 2110 and Save the Endangered Species Act. If you're a biologist, or working towards an advanced degree there's an additional step you can take to help save the ESA. Their home page has other action items as well.
The Sierra Club needs some contributions to aid in their own fight against the Crapo threat to the Endangered Species Act.
Here is a petition you can sign to help put a stop to aerial killing of wolves in Alaska. The details about the program:
Alaska's wolves won a temporary reprieve when a state court recently ruled against the state's aerial gunning program. But Alaska's Board of Game has already taken emergency action to reverse the court's decision, and as of January 26th, the state was once again able to issue aerial gunning permits for wolves.
Twenty-four wolves have been killed this season alone. More than 400 wolves have been killed over the past 3 winters and the new plans target approximately 400 more. Aerial gunning is a brutal practice.
Marksmen can gun down wolves from the air that are easy targets against the fallen snow. Or they can run the wolves to exhaustion, then land and shoot them at point blank range.
Help us put an end to Alaska's aerial gunning programs once and for all. Tell Interior Secretary Gale Norton to do her job and finally enforce the Federal Airborne Hunting Act.
Environmental Issues:
The Wilderness Society has an action item for you! Click here to send a letter to help save some of Utah's best wild places, as well as save the Wyoming Range. Of course, clicking on that link will also give you details as to what it is you're saving:-)
National Environmental Trust has a letter you can send to help save our last untouched forests. To help reinstate the Roadless Rule, click here.
During the SOTU address President Bush said that he wanted us to use alternative energies. He specifically said he wanted us to use Nuclear power. Well, as Greenpeace notes,
There have been more than 100 near misses at nuclear power plants since the Three-Mile Island accident in 1979. Since September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration has done nothing to prevent the same type of attack on a nuclear power plant. Nuclear energy is NOT the answer. It's time for the U.S. to make the switch to renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.
So,
click here to send Georgie a letter and tell him that nuclear power is
NOT the right alternative!
Union of Concerned Scientists is also concerned about Georgie's nuclear power plans. Click here to send their letter too! This one goes to your Congresspeople asking them to deny funding to this plan.
League of Conservation Voters also has a letter related to Bush's energy plans. Click here to find that letter and send it along!
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a letter for you to send to your reps regarding the Climate Stewardship Act (HR 759). H.R. 759 would reduce overall U.S. carbon emissions--one of the leading causes of global warming. Click here to send your letter asking your Rep to cosponsor this bill!
Exxon Mobile sucks. They won't pay their dues to the fishermen who suffered tremendous loss after their oil spill in 1989, they won't stop trying to drill in ANWR, they won't invest in clean energy alternatives, and they continue to make record profits each quarter! I'm sure many of you already know that they announced over 10 Billion (yes, with a B) in profits last quarter, and yet we're still paying high prices at the pump! Email their CEO by clicking here!
Voting Issues:
Everyone here knows how important voting is, but even more important is making sure your vote actually says what you want it to say, and that it counts! Vote Trust USA has an Action Alerts page. There's a federal action item for everyone, as well as some specific state items! If you're concerned about voting in this country, you should be taking action and getting updates from Vote Trust USA.
Other Issues (including internet privatization):
Update: You could change the following email to be one of thanks since Michael Griffin has addressed this issue.(DarkSyde talked the other day about NASA scientists being censored when it comes to talking about the facts on global warming. Environmental Action, a site introduced to me by another FAB Dkos member (thanks Stafford!!), has an action item regarding the gag on these scientists. So, click here and send a letter to Michael Griffin, the President's hand-picked NASA Administrator, telling him to stop censoring scientists!)
Human Rights first also has an action item related to Darfur. Click here to ask Bush and Kofi Annan to Help Organize a Peace Envoy for Darfur!
Internet Freedom is under fire! Free Press has a letter you can sign. Here's what they say:
The CEOs of the largest cable and telephone companies are hatching a scheme that would give them control over what content you can view and what services you can use on the Internet. Their plan would do away with the principle of "network neutrality" and shut down the open roadway we've come to expect on the Internet.
Sounds like a real money-maker for them! Anyway,
click here to send your letter to your Congresspeople and the CEO of your internet provider.
Common Cause also has a letter you can send to all the CEOs of the telecom corporations. Tell these CEOs to stop trying to privatize the internets!
To read more about the plans to privatize the internets, read this article from The Nation! Don't stop with just sending the above letters either. Send letters to your Congresspeople as well!!