Dec 20, 2008 -- Fight the Right-Wing Wackos Links of the Day.

** Human Rights Campaign **
( http://www.hrc.org/ )

After eight years of treating gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans like second-class citizens, George W. Bush is about to leave office. Send him your own personal retirement card celebrating this historic occasion.

Send Bush a Retirement Card!
( http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/bush_retirement/ )

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** Human Rights First **
( http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/ )

In the summer of 2007, thousands of people in Burma took to the street to peacefully protest the military junta's decision to raise fuel prices. The protests were led by students, Buddhist monks, and other activists. On September 26, 2007, the regime cracked down on the protesters, raiding pagodas and beating and killing demonstrators.

Many of the protest organizers, as well as bloggers, actors, and poets who wrote about the events, have been detained since then. During the month of November 2008, at least 215 human rights defenders and other activists were sentenced to prison terms as long as 68 years following sham judicial proceedings.

Lengthy detentions are nothing new in Burma, where the junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council, holds more than 2,000 political prisoners. But the large number of convictions in just a few weeks, the excessive sentences, and the transfer of at least 136 prisoners to Burma's remotest prisons indicate a systematic effort to crush opposition in any form in advance of promised reforms in 2010.

Please join us in demanding that the Burmese junta immediately overturn these lengthy sentences and release these activists, as well as all others unjustly imprisoned in Burmese jails.
( http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Nilar/ )