Tell Pharmacy Chains to Stop Discriminating Against Women!
In as many as 20 states, pharmacies can refuse to fill women's prescriptions for contraception, including the morning-after pill.
When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience.
Join NARAL Pro-Choice America in telling our nation's biggest pharmacies (Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen's, and Eckerd's) not to stand between a woman and her physician.
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/pharmacy_petition
Help Stop the Seal Hunt
At this very moment on the ice off of Canada's east coast, harp seals are giving birth to their offspring. In a ritual that has been repeated for thousands of years these seals migrate through arctic waters from Greenland to Canada's coast coming to rest on the winter sea ice and their temporary breeding grounds.
With the birthing now underway it is only a matter of days before the Canadian government signals the beginning of what may be the biggest seal hunt in history. 350,000 seals will die this year as part of a three-year government program to kill a million seals.
Greenpeace is calling on the Prime Minister of Canada to intervene immediately and stop the hunt before it begins. Take a moment right now and tell Prime Minister Martin that there is no justification of this hunt and its time Canada exercised some common sense when managing complex marine ecosystems.
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=1701&s=gen
Aim for Mars!
The proposed U.S. national space policy would direct NASA to shift its focus from low Earth orbit to the human exploration of the solar system. Robotic trailblazers, such as Spirit and Opportunity now on Mars, can prepare the way, but they cannot replace the human explorers that will one day walk the canyons and plains of the Red Planet.
For over 30 years -- since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon -- human explorers have been restricted to circling their home world. Now is the time to direct our vision to other worlds. It is time to Aim for Mars!
The Planetary Society is leading the drive to redirect human space endeavors through this bold new vision. You can take action today to ensure that the vision becomes reality.
http://www.planetary.org/aimformars/index.html
Defend Iraqi Workers' Rights
Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, workers there have faced intolerable conditions: massive unemployment, grossly inadequate compensation in the few jobs that can be found, and harassment of organized labor by the occupying forces. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has arrested labor leaders repeatedly and ransacked union offices -- and, unbelievably, is enforcing Saddam Hussein's anti-union laws.
Twenty-five members of Congress, led by Rep. Sam Farr (CA), have signed a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CPA Administrator Paul Bremer calling on the CPA to provide jobs or income to Iraqi workers, pay a living wage, and allow Iraqi workers to exercise internationally recognized labor rights.
Urge your Representative to endorse the concerns raised in the letter by sending the message at the link below.
http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/global/iraq/labor.html
People Selling Animal Parts on eBay
Domestic and wild animals are being equally abused. Please help stop this!
We need help from as many of you and your friends as possible. Many of our Protect R Wildlife members search eBay for animal supplies almost daily, and while searching under pet topics, wildlife topics, etc. we have found numbers of sellers with puppy tails, raccoon hands, opossum pinkies, one man had dog paws as key chains! Also a teenager was selling dead cats, several people are calling themselves a taxidermist and are selling frozen wildlife or chopping animal's feet off for coat hooks. Many of these people have been stopped by locating where they're from and contacting the local SPCA's.
Ebay needs a better system of spotting cruel sales submissions before they go to the list, rather than have individuals and groups find the animal items and complain. Usually the item(s) are already sold by the time something is done about it and the sellers just keep changing their identity!
The only way to stop this once and for all is to sign this Petition to Ebay and ask for the sale of any dead animals, animal parts and even furs be stopped.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/627023326
Protect the Environment by Helping Families Across the Globe
The need for increased family planning assistance has never been greater. This year, world population will grow by more than 73 million people, and a billion people will be added to the world's population through 2015 - most of them in the world's poorest and most environmentally vulnerable countries. This population growth will only exacerbate many environmental problems, including air and water pollution, loss of birds, other wildlife and their habitat, fisheries depletion, and climate change. Audubon and our partners in conservation know these are global problems that transcend national boundaries. That's why we continue to educate the general public and encourage the U.S. Congress to adequately address these issues, specifically adequately funding. One very big way they can do so is to increase funding international family planning programs, which help educate families, train health workers, and supply commodities.
International family planning is a win-win, improving the ability of people to manage their lives and their natural resources more sustainably, which in turn helps protect birds, other wildlife and our environment. Last year, Congress did not provide nearly enough funding for international family planning programs. We need your help to reverse this trend by encouraging your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative to support the highest funding levels possible for voluntary international family planning programs for FY06.
Audubon supporters across the country took this action last year, which led to a modest increase in funding for these programs. We'll need that support again in order to do even more this year! Just click on the link below and help make a difference for the environment, birds, other wildlife, and women and their families across the globe!
http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/summary.asp?subject=359&flow=2
Save Asian Elephants from an Untimely Death
You may be the last hope for nine Asian elephants!
The highly endangered Asian elephant is one of the most majestic, intelligent animals in the world. Several Australian and New Zealand zoos plan to import nine elephants from their native Thailand in order to attempt to breed the elephants in captivity. But captive born elephants have a 60% lower life expectancy than wild elephants.
Is placing the Asian elephant behind bars the best way to protect it? Consider the facts:
In the wild Asian elephants have home ranges of between 10-800 square kilomentres. The elephant enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Australia is smaller than an average football field.
Elephants in the wild have up to six calves, compared to just one in captivity.
Up to 25% of Asian elephant births in Europe and North America are stillborn, versus just 2.2% in the wild.
Deprived of their habitats and family, a zoo elephant is much more likely to suffer from stress, infertility, boredom and weight problems. No matter how hard they try, zoos cannot meet the complex needs of these highly intelligent and social creatures.
Help protect these graceful creatures by letting the Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage know there is a better way.
Tell him there is no conservation benefit to captive breeding programs for elephants. There's still time to keep these elephants out of zoos, but we must act quickly.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/503168163
Equal Treatment Under Social Security
One of the things that is currently being lost in the debate over whether or not to privatize Social Security is that same-sex couples are left out of this program and treated as strangers under the law. There is no guarantee that changes to the program will treat GLBT families fairly.
Tell President Bush and Vice President Cheney that what really needs to be reformed about Social Security is its unfair treatment of same-sex couples.
http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/social_security/
Protect Freedom of Conscience
The Peace Tax Fund Bill is a matter of conscience. While it would not immediately impact the level of military spending, passage of the Bill would have these distinct advantages:
The Peace Tax Fund Bill would restore freedom of religion as protected in the First Amendment to those taxpayers whose religious or moral convictions forbid participation in war, whether physical or financial. This "first of the freedoms" is the cornerstone of a democratic society.
Each publication of instructions accompanying income tax forms for 160 million taxpayers would include information about the availability of conscientious objector status. This would be a tremendous educational opportunity. Just as provisions for conscientious objection cause those in the military to weigh their consciences, so too would the Peace Tax Fund.
The Peace Tax Fund Bill would be a meaningful step towards raising the national consciousness about misplaced military priorities. The level of usage of the Peace Tax Fund would be reported by Congress each year, and would serve as a measure of the nation's conscience regarding the inhumanity of war.
It will be a watershed event for religious and civil liberties when a major military power acknowledges its citizens have a just claim to freedom of conscience which has been denied. In addition, it will greatly facilitate the passage of similar legislation in other countries.
The Peace Tax Fund Bill is a win-win proposition. Conscientious objectors would be guaranteed the current military percentage of their income tax would be used only for life-affirming purposes.
The government would receive more revenue from increased participation in the payment of income taxes and would spend less on the cost of forced collections.
Conscientious objection to killing in war holds a historically and legally unique place in our nation. It is like no other issue. The plight of those who object to military taxes on the basis of deeply held and universally recognized teachings is on a higher moral plane than objections based on mere political, social or economic preference. As such the Peace Tax Fund Bill would not open the door to other exceptions.
Take action to support the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill.
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncptf/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=391
Stop Caterpillar Bulldozer Sales to Israeli Army
Hold Caterpillar accountable for the criminal use of its products by the Israeli army.
Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish more than 12,000 Palestinian homes; to uproot 385,000 Palestinian olive trees; to kill Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, as she nonviolently tried to prevent the razing of a Palestinian home; and to build a 25-foot-high wall and fence that will confiscate about 40 percent of the territory of the West Bank. In Rafah in May 2004 alone, Israel bulldozed the homes of thousands of Palestinians.
Urge the Caterpillar board of directors to stop selling bulldozers to Israel.
http://www.progressiveportal.org/cat.html
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