Power Past Coal

100 Days of Action to Expose the True Cost of Coal, Plug into New Power
Join dozens of groups across the United States between January 21st to April 30th for 100 Days of Action to Power Past Coal! From Appalachia to Arizona, from the Dakotas to Washington DC, we’re united to share the stories from communities impacted by coal, and to begin working on a truly clean and just energy future.

Take action. Tell your story. Join the movement.
Starting on January 20th, the new president and congress will have a unique opportunity to tackle one of the biggest justice issues in the United States today: Coal.
The whole life cycle of coal is costly, dirty and deadly, from mining, to dumping coal waste to global warming. The communities that coal impacts are some of the poorest places in the US; we need new green jobs in these communities and new energy options for America.
Each day, from January 21st to April 30th, one or more communities will make a call for us to power past coal – from its destructive mining practices to its dangerous waste disposal. Citizens across the US will gather with each other and organizations, small and large, to work for clean energy, to tell their truth about coal, to keep false solutions that include coal out of climate change legislation, and stand in solidarity with communities impacted by coal.
Our actions will tell the story of the new power we are building — the power of the grassroots joining together to Power Past Coal.

http://powerpastcoal.org/

End Israel's Attacks on Gaza

Send a letter below to the President, State Department, and your Members of Congress demanding 1) an unconditional and immediate cease-fire; 2) complete access of humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip and a lifting of Israel's siege; and 3) accountability for Israel's misuse of U.S. weapons as required by the Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/t/2439/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26379

GAZA EMERGENCY: Stop the Killing NOW!

Join CODEPINK by signing our call for a US-backed ceasefire in Gaza.

We will deliver it to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice next week.


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1788

GAZA: STOP THE BLOODSHED, TIME FOR PEACE

With over 280 dead and continued shelling of civilians in southern Israel, now is the time to issue a demand to world leaders that the spiraling violence that has characterized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must come to an end.

Sign the petition below calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza - and for peace to be achieved between Israel and Palestine in 2009.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/?cl=161484073&v=2605

Sign Our Open Letter to President-Elect Obama; We Need a Change in Israel/Palestine Policy

As of this writing, Israeli Air Force attacks today on the occupied Gaza Strip killed an estimated 200 or more people and injured hundreds more. These Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip, which has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life.

While the scope of civilian casualties in today's attacks is not yet clear, it is unmistakable that Israel carried out these attacks with F16 fighter jets and missiles provided by the taxpayers of this country. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F16's. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and "bunker buster" missiles.

In short, Israel 's lethal attack today on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active military and political support of the United States . Therefore, we need to take action to protest this attack and demand an immediate cease-fire.

1. Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire...

2. Contact the State Department...

3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress...

4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor...

5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it...

6. Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration..


http://www.endtheoccupation.org/form.php?modin=137

Now, Is The Crucial Time; You can make a difference!

A New Year's Message From IAC Founder Ramsey Clark

Dear friends,

We are at a crucial historic juncture.

We cannot sit back and expect that change will just happen now. In order to make real change, people must be mobilized and organized. Otherwise, all of the hopes for a new direction can be quickly diverted.

The International Action Center (IAC) is unique. Its role is recognized worldwide and here in the U.S. This is because the IAC provides—for activists and political movements—a bold, independent voice that is so needed today.

Flouting the mandate of the people of the U.S. who want the troops withdrawn and this horrific war ended, the U.S. government has just imposed a new "Status of Forces" Agreement on Iraq which would keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops and mercenaries there for the next three years (at the cost of $12 billion a month)!

While the entire Bush program has been repudiated, the atrocities and illegal imprisonment continue at Guantanamo. U.S. missiles rain down on villages in Pakistan, killing civilians, and they, together with NATO weapons, increasingly hit children, women and men in Afghanistan--where tens of thousands of U.S. troops could likely be sent. Bellicosity continues towards Iran and other nations in the Middle East. NATO is expanding which raises the danger of new confrontations with Russia in Georgia, the Ukraine, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

The military budget continues to grow at a gargantuan rate, far surpassing that of any in U.S. history, diverting massive funds and depriving millions here of needed health care, housing, and education, while infrastructures deteriorate, and thousands hard-hit by hurricane disasters have been abandoned by the government.

The spiraling economic meltdown means millions of people are losing their jobs and homes while states implement massive and harsh cutbacks in vital social programs. Yet trillions of dollars in "bailouts" are handed over to the banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions of wealth.

But there is reason for hope--there is opposition to the wars abroad, to the violations of civil liberties and basic rights abroad and at home, including the terrible witch hunt on immigrants, and to the sweeping economic attacks on poor and working people as the policy-driven greater concentration of wealth and growth of poverty intensifies. And millions of people feel hope because of the historic election of an African-American man.

It is critical that organizing grows on every front. In order to make real change, it takes mobilizing and strong, independent and decisive actions.

The International Action Center (IAC) is well-situated and long-experienced to be a major organizing force in this period. The IAC has been a consistent, determined and independent voice and major mobilizing center against U.S. wars, sanctions and military interventions for 17 years, since the first Gulf War. This principled organization of activists has courageously held protests, meetings and forums across the country, opposing U.S. aggression against Iraq, Iran, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Palestine, Somalia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Bolivia, Panama and Korea.

IAC organizers have produced many books--translated into several languages—for the public, scholars, and anti-war protesters here and worldwide, while providing a center and resources for a new generation of activists. The People's Video Network has produced many politically-educational videos, while building an alternative media network.

The IAC has taken on struggles against racism, bigotry, injustice and more--from standing with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors in their still unmet quest for justice, to supporting immigrants' rights, opposing the death penalty and challenging military recruitment.

And now, in this crucial time of economic crisis and hardship, the IAC, which is fiercely committed to a Peoples' Agenda, has helped launch and organize campaigns against home foreclosures and evictions, utility shut-offs, mass transit rate increases, and for healthcare.

The IAC looks forward to a new year of struggle against war and political, social and economic injustice!

Our New Year's Resolution for 2009 must be to organize together tirelessly to end the occupation of Iraq, to stop a new war against Iran or any nation, and to stop incessant provocations against Islam, Venezuela, Russia, Bolivia, Cuba and others. We must work to promote international friendship and respect for humankind and to oppose the policies of domination, globalization and war.

We invite you to join in the new year of activism with the IAC and to support its vital work.

You can make a difference!

Visit http://www.iacenter.org/

Call Time on Global Greed

The past few months have seen one of the most significant financial crises in North American and European history, a crisis caused by a greedy, reckless and unregulated economic system which has been biased against the poor for decades. The spiralling levels of inequality and instability created by the current economic system have created enormous social and environmental problems.



Once again, the fall-out of this crisis will have a detrimental impact on millions of ordinary people in the UK, and billions of people in the poorest countries of the world. But while those that created the crisis have been bailed out (bonus intact) with unprecedented sums of taxpayer money, the poor in developed and developing nations have received nothing.

Let’s call time on global greed. The same systems that create poverty here – unfair trade rules and tax systems, debt burdens, privatisation and attacks on welfare spending – also create poverty in the developing world.

Only a system which works for the poorest of the world will ensure a just, sustainable and prosperous world for all of us.

It’s time for a radically different economic system which reduces inequality, creates jobs, puts people before profit, ensures a sustainable environment, and puts eradicating poverty at its heart. We need a ‘green new deal’ that will revolutionise the economy :

A major recovery plan that puts people and the environment at its heart, in particular which enables countries to better feed, clothe, educate and protect their people
Effective regulation of the financial system, including just tax, debt and trade rules
A new and democratic set of institutions to govern this economic system
This fundamental global reform needs to be agreed democratically, with the poorest of the world having a full and equal say over the future economic system. In particular this system cannot be agreed at the meeting of the 20 most powerful countries in the world (G20) on 15 November. The UN, as the only organisation with such a mandate, must be empowered to lead a process of comprehensive reform of the financial and economic system which involves all governments and civil society, in an open manner.

Help us take action - sign the petition to Gordon Brown

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/Call%20Time%20on%20Global%20Greed+4635.twl

Action Alert: Bolivia’s Amazon Riches to Be Plundered for Oil

President Morales must be encouraged to live up to his grand rhetoric, and end his government's hurried measures to decimate massive indigenous rainforest protected areas and their biodiversity and climate values, in a manner eerily reminiscent of the capitalistic system against which he rallies...NOTE: This is a protest, not a petition, sending emails to many real decision makers on matters vital to the Earth.

http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=bolivia_rainforest

How To Be an Ethical Consumer Without Breaking the Bank

There are many affordable ways to spend your hard-earned cash in accordance with progressive values.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/113496/

Tell Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart to Stop Selling Cypress Mulch

Cypress forests are the best natural storm and flood protection for the Gulf Coast, and they provide important habitat for wildlife, including endangered species...Cypress trees take a long time to grow, and changing ecological conditions mean many of them will never regenerate once cut.

http://action.healthygulf.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5892

Take a Stand for Survival

At the UN Negotiations in Poland, youth from around the world are demanding that their countries' delegations commit to making a climate treaty that "safeguards the survival of all countries and peoples."


This message needs to be heard--please take a stand for survival by signing the survival pledge...

http://action.350.org/o/1879/t/8474/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1777

No Secret Pardons for Bush Administration!

Tell Congress to pass a Pardons Disclosure Act to prevent President Bush from issuing secretive, blanket pardons to members of his administration


For eight years, we have been forced to sit by helplessly as President George W. Bush and top members of his administration eviscerated the Constitution, broke federal laws, and defied the will of Congress.


Now, President Bush is poised to give each and every one of his accomplices -- from Dick Cheney to Karl Rove to Alberto Gonzales -- a full pardon, ensuring that they will never receive the punishments they deserve for their activities. Worse, Bush may issue a preemptive “blanket” pardon, covering all officials within his administration without disclosing either the names of the officials involved or the crimes for which they are being absolved.


Congress can, however, stop this most objectionable action before it occurs. The American Freedom Campaign has proposed a Pardons Disclosure Act, which would force the president to specifically name any political appointees for whom pardons are granted along with the crime or crimes for which they are being pardoned.


Please tell your representatives in Congress to support a Pardons Disclosure Act, by filling out your information below and clicking on “Send My Message!”


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26316

Media Still Letting Bush Lie on Iraq Inspectors

ABC, WaPo fail to challenge president's misinformation

12/2/08

In a December 1 interview with ABC anchor Charles Gibson, George W. Bush gave a grossly erroneous history of the run-up to the Iraq War--a false version of events that Gibson failed to challenge and the Washington Post glossed over the following day...It is troubling that Gibson would not challenge Bush on this fundamental misrepresentation of reality--and that the Post would let Bush's lie go unreported.

ACTION: Ask ABC and the Washington Post to clarify--and fact-check--Bush's statements on the prelude to the Iraq War.

For details, go to:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3657

Our Ultimate Chance. Big Auto's Last Chance.

...There are 3 things we need to ask our representatives in DC to demand from the auto industry if they are to take $25 billion of our tax dollars.

1. We will not pay if you pollute!
The Big 3 (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) must commit to being the most fuel-efficient fleets on the planet. Mandate a fleet-wide fuel economy of 50 mpg by 2015.

2. Give us clean options!
Each of the Big 3 (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) must commit to producing 1 million Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) by 2012 and 3 million PHEV’s by 2015.

3. Create green industry!
Commit to retooling the entire industry to produce these vehicles and lead the way into a new green economy.



http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/703/t/6396/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=384

MASSIVE WAVE OF IMPRISONMENTS IN BURMA/Send a Message to UN Secretary General

Nearly every day, Burma's military dictator Than Shwe is sending dozens of human rights activists to long terms in prison. Those sentenced to many years behind bars include poets, actors, comedians, students, journalists, volunteers who helped victims of Cyclone Nargis, hip-hop artists, and members of the political party of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. These sentences are the biggest news to come out of Burma in a long time, and we have been posting all the news about the arrests on our blog.
More importantly, we are working around the clock to galvanize a strong international response. Here is some examples of what the Burma movement has done so far:
We are pressing the United Nations Security Council to convene an immediate, emergency meeting on Burma in order to impose an international arms embargo on Burma's military regime


Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kay Bailey Hutchison, leaders of the United States Senate Womens' Caucus on Burma -- which includes all the women in the U.S. Senate -- issued a demand for the arrests to stop


Our members have sent thousands of messages to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him to travel to Burma and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in Burma (mystifyingly, the Secretary General has done basically nothing about this crisis -- so keep sending those messages)


We have been providing the news media with round-the-clock updates on those sentenced to long prison terms in Burma. There have been thousands of news articles on the arrests


A coalition of 40 organizations sent a letter to the leaders of the Southeast Asian countries urging them to demand the release of all Burmese political prisoners at the upcoming ASEAN summit on December 15th in Thailand. This meeting represents a strong opportunity for Asian leaders to tell the Burmese military regime that the sentencing of political activists must stop


Members of parliament from all over Asia are galvanizing a strong effort (more on this coming soon...)


Many world leaders are preparing a major push to free all political prisoners in Burma (more on this coming soon...)


Our allies throughout the world have successfully pressed the governments of the United States, the UK, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany, Canada, and the European Union to condemn the arrests
We have much more work to do and you are going to see some even bigger actions in the weeks ahead, but we wanted to let you know some of what we are doing. And, we wanted to thank you because none of our work would be possible without your support.
Sincerely,

Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, Jacqui Pilch, Michael Haack


Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma:



http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1189/t/5102/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1407

Take Action: Help Save America's Fisheries

We can reverse the economic and environmental disaster of overfishing.

That's the encouraging conclusion of Oceans of Abundance, a new report by two dozen scientific, economic, political and environmental leaders.

By widely deploying a fisheries management program called "catch shares," we can make fish more abundant and fisheries more profitable—for generations to come.

You can support this vision for better fishery management.

Send an email today: Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to adopt the recommendations from our Oceans of Abundance report.


http://action.edf.org/campaign/oceans_of_abundance

Get Started with Community Investing

You and your institution can have a social impact with your investments. Community Investing provides resources and opportunities for
lower-income communities, along with competitive financial returns.

This website contains what you need to add Community Investments to
your portfolio, and helps you choose from many high quality options in this expanding asset class.


http://www.communityinvest.org/

Let’s do it right! Restore the wetlands. Protect the people.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers is still dragging its feet when it comes to restoring the wetlands destroyed by MR-GO. In fact, the Corps says it will take at least two years to even come up with a plan! Click here to comment on the MR-GO draft plan and tell the Corps to get to work fixing the wetlands.

http://action.healthygulf.org/t/6826/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26195

Convict Bush/Cheney

Please add your name as an individual or organization to a petition demanding impeachment if Bush pardons himself or his subordinates by registering / logging in, and then signing the petition.

How to indict Bush, Cheney, et alia, at the state or local level for murder or attempted murder.

How to make a citizen's arrest of a war criminal.

How to contact the International Criminal Court.

How to pass local resolutions and ordinances.

How to stop false pardons.

Other law suit possibilities.

Play our theme song by Pat Scanlon.

Buy an ARREST BUSH Shirt.

Watch video of September 2008 conference in Andover, Mass.

Coming soon: Mandamus: How you can ask a judge to order a prosecution, and how we can all do so on the same day in a national action. It's been tried in Minnesota with this writ, yielding this refusal.

Coming soon: How to use a state initiative to create an independent prosecutor.

Coming soon: How to prosecute international crimes in Florida and other states that allow common law criminal prosecutions.


http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=taxonomy/term/15

URGE MEDIA TO ARCHIVE ALL EXIT POLL RESULTS

Please take action to urge the media to report the unadjusted exit polls for the 2008 election.

Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International will again conduct all exit polling in 2008 for the National

Voters should be provided with the unadjusted exit polls and if adjustments are made to the final polls they should be explained publicly. Major media outlets are urged to archive all of the interim exit poll results to allow independent analysis later. Election integrity advocates must push for greater transparency since large-sample exit polls can and should be used be used to audit vote totals.

When the U.S. government audits the vote in a foreign country, the tool of choice is always a large-sample exit poll, which will identify problems in the vote totals. Yet, in the United States, even with the documented problems we have had in voting , our own government does not use the best tool available.

News and political divisions of the major networks must plan to archive all of the preliminary exit poll results since the overall survey will quickly be adjusted by the vendor to match the published vote totals, and will thus no longer be useful as an audit of the integrity of the vote totals.

The letter demands that the unadjusted exit polls be made public, that the preliminary exit polls be archived and that any adjustments be explained so that the National Exit Poll can be used as a tool to audit the election results.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1331/t/6410/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26158