No Bankers Coup D'Etat

We are witnessing a bankers' coup d’etat. In the name of saving the economy from a crisis created by their own greed and immense profits, the biggest bankers have taken a country and a people hostage.

“Give us your money and tear up what’s left of your Constitution or we will sink your economy,” is the message from Wall Street and the Bush Administration. “Give us the power and money we demand or you will be left jobless from a new economic depression."

Under the pretext of the banking crisis, the Bush Administration is changing the way this country operates. This is not simply taking trillions of dollars from the people and giving it to the richest bankers to do with as they see fit.

Click here to send your letter to Congress

Congress is poised to vote to give the Executive Branch of government, and specifically the White House’s political appointees in the Treasury Department, the absolute right to take our money and give it to domestic and foreign banks and corporations without any oversight of elected officials, from the courts, or from the people.

The new legislation states: “Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” The Legislation allows the Treasury Department to appoint the same bankers who created the crisis to administer and dictate the use of trillions of our tax dollars.

We will not stand by and let the Bush Administration formalize its vision of a “government of, by and for the richest bankers."

The new system institutionalizes theft on a grand scale. Lehman Brothers bankers will receive $2.5 billion in bonuses after their company went bankrupt last week, but the new dictatorial authority under the White House and Treasury Department has ruled out any relief for the millions of working families who are being foreclosed.

We live in a $15 trillion annual economy. Instead of taking our tax dollars and giving it to the already rich and powerful, these funds should be used provide to decent paying jobs, affordable housing, health care and a good education for our children. There is another way!

Now is the time to hear the voice of the people. A spineless Congress authorized Bush’s illegal war in Iraq and rubber-stamped the Patriot Act. Now they are being herded like sheep again to give the White House and Wall Street dictatorial control over the people’s money.

Send a letter to Your Congressional Representatives
http://votenobailout.org/

Urgent: Stop The $700B Blank Check!

Campaign For America's Future

Within the next 24 hours, we expect Congress will make an historic choice to address America’s financial crisis: Cut the Bush administration a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street OR demand sensible public checks and balances in the $700 billion bailout. Write an emergency letter to Congress now, and tell them: No $700 Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street!

Co-Sign Senator Sanders' Petition to Paulson!

Sign the petition and join the thousands that have already added their names -




Dear Secretary Paulson:
As a representative of the Bush Administration, you have proposed a financial bailout program of $700 billion – over $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. We are appalled that your proposal puts the cost of this bailout on average Americans; that it contains no provisions reversing failed deregulatory policies; that it allows executives at these failed institutions to continue to make exorbitant salaries and bonuses, and that your proposal contains no help for average Americans who themselves are facing severe economic hardships.

While the Administration has quickly rallied to help Wall Street, it has ignored the needs of the declining middle class. Since President Bush has been in office the wealthiest people in this country have made out like bandits and have not had it so good since the 1920s. The top one-tenth of one percent now earn more income than the bottom 50 percent of Americans and the top one percent own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Incredibly, the richest 400 people in our country saw their wealth increase by $670 billion during the Bush presidency.

Having mismanaged the economy for 8 years while continually insisting that, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” the Bush Administration, six weeks before an election, wants the middle class of this country to bail out Wall Street to the tune of one trillion dollars. Meanwhile the wealthiest people, those who have benefited most from Bush’s policies and are in the best position to pay, are being asked for no sacrifice at all. This is absurd.

Any plan to clean up the mess on Wall Street must:

Ensure that middle income and working families are not the ones who are paying for this bailout by
Imposing a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue over five years;
Ensuring that assets purchased from banks are realistically discounted so companies are not rewarded for their risky behavior and taxpayers can recover the amount they paid for them; and
Requiring that taxpayers receive equity stakes in the bailed-out companies so that the taxpayers’ assumption of risk is rewarded when companies’ stock goes up.

Taken together these three provisions will substantially reduce the likelihood that this bailout will end up on the backs of average American taxpayers.


Include a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages. Among many other areas, we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and moving our country from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Further, we must protect our must vulnerable families from the very difficult times they are experiencing.


Repeal the disastrous de-regulatory legislation that facilitated this crisis.
End the danger posed by companies that are “too big too fail,” that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up.
In closing, we believe it is appropriate to act quickly to address any systemic danger to our economy. But that does not mean that we need to give a blank check to the financial sector.

Sincerely,

Senator Bernie Sanders

Citizen Co-Signers (that's us!)

Urgent: Stop The Bush Bailout!

The Bush administration is trying to ram this through in only 72 hours by claiming there will be dire consequences if we don't pass the bailout exactly as written. Once again they're using fear to scare Congress and the American people into submission. We have to stop them.

http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/switchboard.php

Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights

The United States government recently bailed out some big Wall Street banks. Now it’s time to help consumers – people across the country who’ve been fleeced by predatory credit card practices during two decades of “anything goes” policy in Washington. While the large financial corporations on Wall Street are being bailed out of a mess that they created for themselves, millions of consumers on Main Street are still drowning in a sea of debt.


On July 31, 2008 the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, H.R. 5244, passed through the House Financial Services Committee despite vigorous opposition from the credit card industry. The industry is still fighting this bill, but we can pass it next week.

The entire House of Representatives must vote on this bill next week – before it adjourns for the year. You can help to make sure it does!

Please CALL your representatives today to ask them to vote FOR the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, H.R. 5244, without any amendments that would stall or weaken the bill.


As the New York Times said, “The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would help rein in some of the worst abuses.” Specifically, H.R. 5244 would:


• Stop unjustifiable interest rate increases on existing balances.

• End bait-and-switch contract clauses.

• Apply the consumer's payment proportionally between high and low rate balances.

• Stop "double cycle" billing, which requires consumers to pay interest on debts they've already paid off.

• Give the consumer a chance to set a fixed credit limit and avoid over the limit fees.

• Prohibit the granting of credit cards to consumers who are younger than 18 years-of-age.

Please take a moment out of your busy schedule - right now - to call your representative and tell them to support the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights - without any amendments.


If you can’t call, then please personalize the letter below and insist that your Representative support legislation to stop the most predatory practices of credit card companies.
http://action.citizen.org/t/1153/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25964

PRO-DEMOCRACY GROUPS CALL ON DEBATE COMMISSION TO MAKE SECRET CONTRACT PUBLIC

For Immediate Release

September 18, 2008

Contact: George Farah (617-828-8296)

http://www.opendebates.org/makecontractpublic.html

Washington, D.C. – Ten pro-democracy groups – Open Debates, Common Cause, Fair Vote, Judicial Watch, Democracy Matters, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Rock the Debates, Personal Democracy Forum, Reclaim Democracy, and Essential Information – call on the Commission on Presidential Debates to make public the secret debate contract negotiated by the Obama and McCain campaigns.

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) of the McCain campaign and Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) of the Obama campaign have negotiated a detailed contract that dictates the terms of the 2008 presidential debates, including who can participate and the structure of the debate formats. The Commission on Presidential Debates, a private corporation created by the Republican and Democratic parties, has agreed to implement the debate contract. In order to shield the major party candidates from criticism, the Commission on Presidential Debates has refused to release the debate contract to the public.

“In denying voters access to critical information about our most important political forums, the Commission on Presidential Debates is more concerned with the partisan interests of the two major party candidates than the democratic interests of the voting public,” said George Farah, Executive Director of Open Debates.

“In a sound democracy, it is vital that voters have full access to information, including the rules that govern influential presidential debates, in order to hold the candidates accountable and to make informed choices,” said Bob Edgar, President of Common Cause.

“The partisan, corporate-funded Commission on Presidential Debates should be replaced with a non-partisan, publicly-funded Citizens’ Debate Commission that will operate transparently and champion the public interest,” said Rob Richie, Executive Director of Fair Vote.

The Commission on Presidential Debates was created by and for the Republican and Democratic parties. In 1986, the Republican and Democratic National Committees ratified an agreement “to take over the presidential debates” from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters. Fifteen months later, then-Republican Party chair Frank Fahrenkopf and then-Democratic Party chair Paul Kirk incorporated the Commission on Presidential Debates. Fahrenkopf and Kirk still co-chair the Commission on Presidential Debates, and every four years it implements and conceals contracts jointly drafted by the Republican and Democratic nominees.

A copy of the 2004 debate contract negotiated by the Bush and Kerry campaigns is available at: http://www.opendebates.org/news/documents/debateagreement.pdf

Help Protect Idaho's Buffalo Gulch

A cyanide gold mine proposed in Buffalo Gulch

A cyanide heap leach gold mine is proposed on public lands in Idaho's Buffalo Gulch. This area, administered for all Americans by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), lies in the South Fork Clearwater watershed.

A cyanide gold mine proposed where it's illegal to pollute
Both the South Fork Clearwater and Buffalo Gulch are listed as impaired 303(d) streams under the Clean Water Act. This means that Idaho Law and the EPA require that no further degradation occur in either of these drainages.

The mine threatens local drinking water and fisheries
Many local residents depend on Buffalo Gulch-fed springs and wells for their drinking water.

The project could negatively affect treaty rights and public recreation, as fishing in the South Fork Clearwater River is important both culturally and economically.

And since the completion of Dworshak Dam, which blocks native fish migrations between the Pacific Ocean and North Fork Clearwater River, the South Fork has gained added significance as a rare, local, anadromous fishery. Westslope cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, threatened bull trout, Chinook salmon, and steelhead inhabit the area’s waters.

TAKE ACTION
The BLM is now taking public comment on the mine proposal. Please write the BLM and tell them that pure water is more precious than gold.


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/676/t/572/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=249

Be a "Pollworker for Democracy"

This year, you have an amazing opportunity to ensure a fair election, protect the right to vote, and get paid for doing so. How? By becoming a pollworker.

That's why CREDO Action is proud to sponsor the "Pollworkers for Democracy" project - a nonpartisan effort to get more people involved in protecting our elections - in order to support our democracy. We'll provide you with information to supplement your pollworker training, and also a system to report and track any problems on and before Election Day.

Your county still needs pollworkers for the November 4th general election. By signing up as a pollworker, you can support our democratic system...and get paid!

Click here to sign up to become a pollworker.

http://act.credoaction.com/event/events/index.html?id=&action_id=11&rc=dems

This is America. We don't jail journalists here.

Jailing journalists is unacceptable in a democracy. But that's exactly what is happening at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Award winning journalist and host of "Democracy Now" Amy Goodman was arrested by St. Paul police while covering a protest outside the Republican National Convention. Though clearly identified as press, Goodman was charged with "obstruction of a legal process and interference with a 'peace officer.'" Two of her producers were arrested for "suspicion of felony riot."

This video is upsetting, but you deserve to know what's really going on.

Goodman and her producers were released last night. (An AP photographer was also arrested and released). But the charges are still pending.

This story has been virtually ignored by the mainstream press. The cable channels are providing extensive coverage of events related to the Republican National Convention, but there has been a virtual news blackout on the arrest of Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now team.

Americans deserve to know that journalists are being jailed for trying to do their jobs. E-mail CNN President Jonathan Klein and NBC News President Steve Capus today (NBC News controls MSNBC) to demand coverage of this brutally important story.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/?r=1376&id=796-834353-WjrLCJx

Safe Energy For the Gulf: Hold the Line on Fish-Killing Machines

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals pose a threat to commercial and recreational fishing in the Gulf. Despite the fact that Gulf Governors have vetoed the development of any further open-rack vaporizer, or open-loop systems, which would run Gulf seawater through radiator-like racks, energy companies continue to try to gamble with our marine wildlife to increase their profits.

The TORP Bienville LNG terminal is currently seeking a permit to use 127 million gallons of Gulf water a day to vaporize imported natural gas. The drastic temperature change, and physical damage caused by the process would destroy billions of fish eggs and larvae by the day. While the terminal is proposed for 63 miles off the Alabama shore, it is close to critically important, marine wildlife reef habitat.


Alternatives to open-loop terminals exist and are supported by fisheries experts at the federal and state level throughout the Gulf. Take action today to tell the Coast Guard, the Department of Transportation, and Alabama Governor Bob Riley to allow only fish-friendly technology.



http://action.healthygulf.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25392

Don't Buy Big Oil's Land Grab

Did you know that oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of leases that they aren't even drilling? Which kind of makes you wonder: Why are Big Oil and its allies suddenly desperate to get their hands on the last few places that are still protected -- our natural treasures, wildlife refuges, and pristine coastlines? They wouldn't use the concerns caused by high gas prices as an excuse to grab it ALL, would they?

Big Oil and its allies would like you to think that more drilling will ease your pain at the pump, but that's not the truth.

The bottom line is this: More oil drilling will not lower gas prices or create energy independence - it will only make the world's richest oil companies richer.

Check out our map showing how much of our country Big Oil already has.

Average Americans are being squeezed by high energy prices, and the oil companies are taking advantage to push their long-term drilling agenda. They have been spreading a map full of lies though the Internet.

Help us counter their propaganda -- pass this map and the truth along to your friends and ask them to pass it along too.

http://www.sierraclub.org/bigoil/map.asp

Tell McDonalds to be a Leader and Not a Laggard!

Mc Donald's is the biggest of the 11 Fast Food Junkies buying their paper packaging from Southern forests. We know that McDonald?s is in the process of completing their latest Corporate Social Responsibility report and we know that it will include new language about an environmental paper packaging policy.

What we don?t know is whether McDonald?s will step out as a corporate leader with a policy that supersizes their commitment to protecting forests and increasing the post-consumer recycled content of their packaging and packaging efficiencies like right-sizing and light-weighting.

We need to make sure that their commitment is truly sustainable and not just greenwashing. Tell McDonalds CEO Jim Skinner that Southern forests are too important to be wasted for fast food packaging!


http://dia.dogwoodalliance.org/da/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25345&t=nwTemplate.dwt

Support the TRADE Act

The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act, cosponsored by fair trade champions Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), was introduced on June 4, 2008 with over 50 House and Senate original cosponsors! This landmark legislation sets forth in concrete, detailed terms a progressive vision for good trade agreements in the future and criteria to renegotiate existing failed pacts like NAFTA and the WTO.

Fifteen years of the NAFTA/WTO model has led to massive job loss, downward pressure on wages and the loss of nearly 300,000 family farms. It's given broad, expansive new rights to foreign corporations to challenge our environmental and public health standards and flooded the U.S. with unsafe imported food and products. And it has devastated developing nations, where millions of family farmers have been forced off their land, and where poverty, despair and desperation-driven mass migrations have grown.

The TRADE Act lays out in detail a new path forward for U.S. trade policy to achieve societal goals such as good jobs, safe food and promotion of basic human rights, healthy communities and environmental protection.

What you can do:
We now need as many representatives and senators as possible to publicly support this bill by signing on as cosponsors. Write your members of Congress now and urge them to cosponsor the TRADE Act!

To use the Global Trade Watch contact form, click here: http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24836

For more information:
Available here: http://www.citizen.org/trade/tradeact/


http://www.citizen.org/trade/tradeact/

Allow Testimony or Face Impeachment!

Tell President Bush that he must allow executive branch officials to testify or he will face impeachment
On September 26, congressional oversight may be dead. The Constitution that has served our nation so well since 1789 may be hopelessly and forever diminished. Our federal government and, in turn, our nation may never be the same.

Those are the stakes.

In order for our government to function, we must have checks and balances. In order to prevent a president from assuming king-like powers and to ensure that all presidents are held accountable for their actions, Congress must have effective congressional oversight ability. And, of course, our presidents must respect that power.

George W. Bush does not.

It is time to put an end to this defiling of our Constitution. The U.S. House of Representatives has set September 26 as a target date for adjournment. By that time, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and Josh Bolten must comply with the congressional subpoenas they have been issued – and which a federal judge has ordered them to follow.

If they do not, then George W. Bush must be impeached and removed from office.

If he is not removed from office, Congress will have established a standard under which a president may deny Congress’s investigative power without penalty. That simply cannot happen.


Please take a moment to speak for your nation at this link:

salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25316

Do Not Pass Go. Go Directly to Pass223.com

Do you have five minutes to help bring the U.S. Senate into the 21st century? Do you have a phone? Are you at your computer? (If you're reading this, you probably are.) Then we've got a favor to ask. The Senate is considering a bill -- S. 223 -- that would require senators to disclose their campaign contributions electronically, just like the House and presidential candidates have been doing for years. The Sunlight Foundation, CRP and other transparency advocates have been pushing hard to get this bill passed this session, and we now have more than 40 co-sponsors of the bill. We need your help to get it passed into law.

http://pass223.com/

Want Some Basic Human Dignity with that Burrito?

The Nation Peter Rothberg on 07/29/2008 @ 12:48pm

In recent years, Taco Bell and Burger King have foolishly resisted efforts by activists to marginally raise the piece rate they pay tomato pickers only to eventually buckle under the pressure of well-deserved bad press. Chipotle Mexican Grill seems to have learned nothing from their lessons.

Although Chipotle, the expanding Colorado-based restaurant chain formerly owned by McDonald's, touts its fair treatment of animals and its locally-sourced organic avocados, its colorful, interactive website neglects any mention of the fair treatment of farm workers. While CEO Steve Ells boasts about his "Food With Integrity" brand, he has ignored countless letters and petitions from all over the country, asking for an extra penny per pound for his tomato pickers.

Migrant pickers typically work ten to twelve hour days, earning a piece-rate of about forty-five cents for each thirty-two pound bucket of tomatoes. Work is never guaranteed, there is no health care, and no overtime pay. The average annual income for a farm worker is $10,000.

Or take this snapshot of the average workday of a Florida tomato picker (with credit to the fine blog, The Pump Handle):

*4:30am: Wake-up. Prepare lunch in your trailer.
*5:00am: Walk to the parking lot or pick-up site to begin looking for work.
*6:30am: With luck, a contractor will choose you to work for him for the day. The job may be 10 to 100 miles away.
*7:30am: Arrive at the fields and begin weeding or waiting while the dew evaporates from the tomatoes. You are usually not paid for this time.
*9:00am: Begin picking tomatoes--filling buckets, hoisting them on your shoulder, running them 100 feet or more to the truck and throwing the bucket up into the truck. Work fast because you must pick 2 TONS of tomatoes in order to earn $50 today.
*Noon: Eat lunch as fast as you can, often with your hands soaked in pesticides. Return to work under the smoldering Florida sun.
*5:00pm: (sometimes later, depending on the season): Board bus to return to Immokalee.
Between 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm: Arrive in Immokalee and walk home.


(And the next day, get up and do it all again. Photos here)

Surely a company that took over $1 billion in annual sales last year can afford a modest raise request. Instead, Ells has tried to side-step the issue by looking to purchase tomatoes from places other than Florida.

Galvanizing the grassroots organizing by and for the Florida tomato pickers is the same group that led the successful fights against Taco Bell and Burger King -- the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), founded in 1993 as a "community-based worker organization" with members from diverse backgrounds, in low-wage agricultural jobs throughout Florida.

On Friday afternoon, August 8th, the CIW along with hundreds of members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) will be in Denver at Chipotle's corporate headquarters to demand that the restaurant chain work to ensure fairer wages and more humane working conditions for farmworkers. If you're in the Denver area, please join what should be a large and powerful action. if you're not, see what you can do to help the campaign, which has garnered the attention of Congress, with lawmakers earlier this year calling for the Government Accountabilty Office to launch an investigation into working conditions.

CIW's website is filled with details on the demonstration, sample letters to Steve Ells, and other ways that you can do something for some of the poorest and hardest working people in America, including urging Chipotle customers to print out this letter and hand it to the manager at your local Chipotle restaurant. The CIW has gone up against Goliath before and won. With dedication and solidarity, this fight can also be won.

Co-written and researched by Mica Schlosser.



http://www.thenation.com/blogs/actnow/340332/

14 Wolf Pups Executed in Alaska

Soon after Alaska's Board of Game approved the killing of all wolves in an area near Cold Bay, state officials illegally killed 14 wolf pups after gunning down their mothers -- yet another grisly chapter in the Alaska’s out-of-control wolf slaughter.

Please make an emergency donation to help save the lives of Alaska’s wolves and fight the barbaric policies of the Board of Game.

Here’s what happened: State wildlife agency personnel staked out a known wolf denning site -- a practice that is illegal under Alaska law -- and, using helicopters, they gunned down 14 adult wolves from the air, part of an effort to boost caribou populations in Southwest Alaska.

When they landed, they found the 14 helpless pups in the nearby dens -- just weeks old -- and methodically shot each one in the head. 28 wolves gunned down in all.

Please donate now to help save Alaskan wolves from Alaska’s out-of-control Board of Game.

Alaskans are now moving to end the Board of Game’s barbaric aerial hunting of wolves through a ballot measure.

On August 26th voters can pass this ballot measure and ban this awful practice before another deadly season begins.

We are helping Alaskans for Wildlife, a coalition of local grassroots activists, hunters and citizens who secured the 55,000 signatures to put this measure on the ballot. Already, they have reached thousands of voters across the state with their hard-hitting mailings.

Please help us raise $80,000 by August 7th so that we can help Alaskans for Wildlife reach 125,000 voters with mailers like the one on the right -- and end barbaric aerial hunting.

We’re up against wealthy groups like Safari Club International who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat the ballot measure.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has even signed off on a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to justify the state’s barbaric wolf slaughter from the skies.

Your support is crucial to combat this million dollar campaign.

On August 26th, Alaskans can end the wolf slaughter from the skies. With your help, we can win for the wolves.


https://secure.defenders.org/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=6465&autologin=true&s_einterest=C4&s_Affiliate=C4akwolf_&s_src=4JY08WDCSAW&s_subsrc=4JY08WDCSAW_EJG08D1&JServSessionIdr010=wyrsxdup42.app25a

TELL CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP TO PASS A STRONG TOY SAFETY BILL
Congressional Leadership needs to hear from you, instead of the industry, on the Product Safety Bill. As the two bodies decide the fate of the final bill, it’s a crucial time to make your voice heard.

http://www.uspirg.org/action/product-safety/toy-safety-bill?id4=ES

It was more than a year ago that we first began to see the reports about the millions of toys recalled for toxic lead and other hazards. The news was shocking, and we weren't alone in calling on Congress to take swift action to protect our kids.

But more than a year later -- despite the outcry, despite the clear need for reform -- Congress hasn't delivered a bill to make toys safer.

And you won't believe what's holding it up now: ExxonMobil, the world's richest oil company, is standing in the way. Why? The company wants to kill a provision that would ban toxic phthalates from plastic toys. ExxonMobil just happens to be one of the largest manufacturers of that chemical.

Unbelievable.

Please sign our letter to the congressional leadership. Tell them to stand up to ExxonMobil and deliver a toy safety bill that really protects our kids:

After 45 million children's products were pulled from store shelves in 2007, I can hardly believe that we're still waiting for Congress to act.

Earlier this year, both the House and Senate passed a version of a bill to improve toy safety. But now, as the final bill is being hammered out, ExxonMobil has joined forces with the toy industry and the chemical industry in an all out attempt to weaken this bill.

And with precious little time left to pass a strong bill -- Congress will recess in August -- ExxonMobil just might get its way. That is, unless we can keep the pressure on Congress to deliver the strong toy safety bill they've promised

Let Olympic Sponsors Know You Want Positive Change

We are asking people all over the world to voice their concern to Olympic Sponsors over the Chinese government's continual support of atrocities in Burma.

Please send an email to the corporate Olympic Sponsors and ask them to use their leverage with the Chinese government to urge political change of their policy towards Burma. The Olympics should not be tainted. Let them know that if China's policy does not change than you are planning on boycotting all Olympic merchandise and purchasing of their merchandise during the Oylmpics.


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1189/t/5102/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23631

League of Women Voters ~ Stand Up and Fight for Civil Liberties

Before Congress left for the Independence Day recess, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a bill that would seriously threaten the civil liberties of all Americans. The Senate is poised to act on this same bill when it returns from recess on July 8.

We need you to encourage your Senators to keep protecting civil liberties by opposing legislation that would authorize warrantless wiretapping of American citizens without judicial protections and would grant immunity to telecommunications companies for possible illegal eavesdropping!

Tell your Senators to oppose H.R. 6304 and limit the ability of government agencies to obtain information about Americans without the appropriate judicial constraints. While the intelligence community needs the authority to track terrorists abroad, this can and should be done without threatening our civil liberties.

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Senator now, by phone or by email, and tell them to stand up for civil liberties and vote against H.R. 6304. Tell them that warrantless wiretapping of Americans is unacceptable in a democracy. Remind your Senators that retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies is wrong. To contact your Senator by email simply enter your zip code in the box above.

2. Send this alert to other concerned citizens - your grassroots network, your friends and coworkers. Encourage them to contact their Senators today!

BACKGROUND

Learn more about what the League has done to protect civil liberties.

Sign up to receive Action Alerts directly by email. Don't miss an opportunity to take action! It's easy to sign up and the League will never share your email with others: http://takeaction.lwv.org/lwv/mlm/signup/.


http://capwiz.com/lwv/issues/alert/?alertid=11573871&type=CO