Your 5 Minute Activist Links for May 5, 2008

** Public Citizen **
Legislation to protect us from defective and dangerous products is on the move.

With your help, we recently pushed the House and Senate to pass legislation that will make consumer products safer. Now we're heading to the finish line. Today, members of the House and Senate will begin negotiating differences in the legislation they passed and writing a final bill.

You can make a difference - by urging Congress to produce the strongest possible bill to protect consumers.
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** Center for Biological Diversity **
A February 2008 study funded by the National Park Service documented extensive chemical contamination in 20 western U.S. parks. Researchers found that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like the pesticide endosulfan are threatening park ecosystems and wildlife health. Alarming levels of these chemicals were found in some of America's most seemingly pristine areas, including Rocky Mountain and Glacier national parks along with 18 other western parks from Texas to the far northern reaches of the Arctic.

POPs are among the most dangerous compounds ever produced. POPs persist in the environment, build up in body fat of animals (including humans), and travel the globe on air and water currents. Some of the human health effects now linked to POP exposure include cancer, learning disorders, impaired immune function, reproductive problems, and diabetes. Many POP pesticides, such as DDT and chlordane, have been banned for years in the United States.

Endosulfan is one dangerous POP pesticide still being used in this country, currently under review by EPA. Leaders in Congress should press for a ban of endosulfan and other POPs still in use that are contaminating national parks and threatening wildlife.

Add your name to the petition below to be delivered to the leaders of the committees in Congress charged with protecting our national parks and wildlife.
Tell Congress: Protect our Parks and Wildlife From Pesticides!
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** John Kerry **
Over a week ago, the New York Times published a major investigative article, detailing a secret Pentagon program the Times said was designed to recruit and cultivate the "military analysts" you see on the major news networks in an attempt to create coverage favorable to the Bush Administration's policy in Iraq.
The Times described an extensive program, with dozens of television analysts involved, some of whom had extensive business ties to the Defense Department -- in fact they called it "an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks."

Since that story ran, there's been a virtual news blackout, and we haven't gotten any closer to finding out the real story.

You can change that. I sent a letter to the Government Accounting Organization requesting an investigation, and I'd like you to show your support by virtually "co-signing" the letter with me. Only with an overwhelming display of grassroots energy can we put this story in the spotlight and press for answers.
Click here to co-sign the letter with me:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pentagonpundits
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** ACLU **
In February, the House of Representatives heard the demands of voters like you and stood up to Bush administration demands for expanded surveillance powers and immunity for big phone companies that broke the law. But now, House leadership is on the precipice of caving in and handing over everything the President has demanded.

Your representative must hear that there will be a major backlash if he or she caves on FISA. Let your representative know you're watching.