Your Fight the Right Activist links for June 16, 2008

** Greenpeace **
Last year, millions of toys were recalled from China because of lead contamination. But lead isn’t the only toxin in our children’s toys. Millions of vinyl toys—from rubber ducks to teething rings—are contaminated with toxic chemicals called phthalates. Phthalates aren’t there by accident—toy makers use them to make the vinyl soft and flexible—despite growing evidence that it also makes them toxic. And when kids put these toys in their mouths, the toxic chemicals can leach out and enter their tiny bodies.

Fortunately, Congress has the opportunity to make toys safer for children. A new piece of legislation is making its way through Congress that would ban the use of Phthalates. They have no place in children’s toys, especially since safe alternatives exist.

Take action by writing to your member of Congress and urging them to support the strongest version of this legislation. Together, we can make the planet a safer place for our children.
--

** Human Rights First **
William Haynes, the former General Counsel of the Department of Defense, once advised the Bush Administration that waterboarding and death threats were "legally available" options.

Haynes will go before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow. The members of that committee have a unique opportunity to question him on the administration's interrogation policies.

Ask the Senators to demand answers!
--

** BioGems **
The Bush administration has released a plan that would put vast swaths of the Tongass rainforest -- America's largest national forest -- on the chopping block. The new scheme opens 2.3 million acres of pristine forestland to clearcutting and roadbuilding -- threatening many of the undisturbed old-growth stands that form the wild heart of the Tongass. This ancient rainforest is a haven for grizzly bears, thriving salmon runs, bald eagles by the thousand and the elusive Alexander Archipelago wolf. Since taking office, the administration has repeatedly attempted to hand over the Tongass and our other remaining unspoiled forests to industry logging, mining and road-building -- but again and again, we've staved off these attacks on our natural heritage.

Tell the Bush administration to protect the extraordinary wild habitat of the Tongass National Forest.
--

** Natural Resources Defense Council **
Most scientists are now warning that global warming could eliminate the polar bear's summer sea-ice habitat by 2040. Without dramatic cutbacks in global warming pollution, Alaska's polar bears could face extinction by 2050. Yet the Bush Administration's new plan to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act will do nothing to reduce global warming pollution or stop oil development in the heart of polar bear habitat.

Tell the Bush Administration to close the polluter loopholes and give polar bears full-fledged protection as an endangered species.

Your Fight the Right Activist links for May 22, 2008

** Wilderness Society **
The Bush administration is moving at breakneck speed with plans to drill and destroy some of the most stunning wilderness areas in Utah.

The architects of these plans believe they can sneak this land grab past us in their waning days of power.

Please take urgent action. Protect 11 million acres of pristine public lands from sprawling oil development and off-road vehicles (ORVs).
--

** Earth Justice **
After months of stalling, the Bush administration's recent decision to list polar bears as a "threatened" species -- while failing to provide any real protections for these magnificent Arctic animals -- rings pretty hollow.

The Polar Bear Seas Protection Act, introduced last week by Representatives Jay Inslee and Maurice Hinchey, seeks to protect these critical polar bear habitats until essential environmental impact questions are answered and the Department of the Interior clearly designates critical, protected habitats.

Tell Congress that you support creating real protections for polar bears!
--

** International Fund for Animal Welfare **
Whales are not saved. Although commercial whaling has been banned for more than two decades, Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to fire harpoons into these gentle creatures. More than 30,000 whales have been killed since the 1986 ban on whaling. You can help make the world a safer place for whales by protecting one of the largest whale habitats.

IFAW will be campaigning vigorously to convince IWC members to approve the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary. But we can’t do it alone. Please sign the petition now to help create the sanctuary.
--

** BioGems **
Two proposed mining schemes could despoil the Canadian headwaters of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park -- one of the wildest places in North America and part of our Greater Rockies BioGem.

We need your urgent action to block these disastrous proposals, which would pollute the pristine Flathead River with contaminated waste and threaten the outstanding fish and wildlife of Montana's Glacier National Park.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
and urge the Canadian government to prohibit industrial mining activities and coalfield developments in the headwaters of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Your Fight The Right Wing Wackos for May 12, 2008

** BioGems Defenders **
Right now the U.S. Senate is considering legislation (S. 2834) that would permanently protect a spectacular stretch of wildlands in southwestern Utah. But the bill doesn't go nearly far enough and we need your help to make it stronger -- before the Senate casts its vote!

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction
and tell your senators to oppose S. 2834 unless its flaws are fixed.
--

** Oxfam **
Natural resources shouldn't be a burden on the poor.

Yet in many countries around the world, revenues from natural resources are propping up dictators, fueling conflict, and deepening poverty. But you can help change that today.

Instead of allowing payments from oil, gas, and mining companies to their host governments to be made in secret, the EITD Act would require both American and foreign companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to publish these financial transactions as part of their annual filing.

Ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure (EITD) Act.
--

Your 5 Minute Activist Links for April 28, 2008

** Free Press Action **
Recently, the New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon campaign to infiltrate the media with pro-war propaganda.

The scheme reaches all the way to the Bush White House, where top officials recruited dozens of "military analysts" to spread favorable views of the war via every major news channel -- without revealing they were working from Pentagon scripts and often lobbying for major military contractors.

Spreading "covert propaganda" is illegal under federal law. Congress must investigate these military pundits and their ties to the Bush administration, defense contractors and our national news media.

Tell Congress: Investigate the Propaganda Pundits.

** Public Citizen **
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's cousin and closest political advisor has just been arrested for connections with murderous right-wing paramilitaries! This development can sink Bush's proposed Colombia NAFTA expansion. Write your representative today and urge him or her to oppose the outrageous Colombia FTA.

** Amnesty International **
In April 2004, the Chinese journalist Shi Tao used his Yahoo! email account to send a message to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Disturbingly, Yahoo! provided information to the government for his prosecution.

Enough is enough. Companies like Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft have sacrificed international human rights standards, and their own corporate missions, in pursuit of new and lucrative markets. Act now to end the censorship of the internet, ask your Representative to support H.R. 275, the Global Online Freedom Act.

** BioGems **
If the Bush administration and a Denver-based natural gas company get their way, Utah's remarkable Nine Mile Canyon may soon be transformed into a massive industrial zone.

We need your immediate action to halt this destructive scheme in its tracks. The deadline for submitting comments on the plan is May 1!

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction
right away and tell the Bureau of Land Management to reject this disastrous proposal, which would put more than 800 new natural gas wells in the Greater Nine Mile Canyon area -- home to the greatest concentration of rock art sites in America.

Your 5 Minute Activist Links for March 13, 2008

** The Wilderness Society **
The BLM is busy greasing the skids so big oil companies can commercially develop more than two million acres of oil shale and tar sands in the West, no matter that the technology is unproven and may not be commercially viable for decades.
At risk: places like the spectacular Roan Plateau in Colorado and the San Rafael Swell in southeastern Utah, renowned for its spiraling sandstone cliffs and rugged solitude.
Help The Wilderness Society stop this misguided plan.

** BioGems Defender **
Tell the Monkey King Bush administration to protect sensitive wildlands in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah for future generations and promote cleaner sources of energy instead.

** People Over Profits **
Read about how scum-sucking car dealers screw people over with Binding Mandatory Arbitration Here.
Now Tell Congress to Support HR. 5312 and have them stand up for car buyers!

** Public Citizen **
For too long Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson has used his position to weaken regulation meant to protect the environment. The latest abuse of his position was his denial of California's request to set greenhouse gas emissions standards for motor vehicles.
Tell Congress to remove EPA administrator Johnson!

Your 5 Minute Activist Links for Feb 28, 2008

** Defenders of Wildlife **
Send a message to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and tell them to adopt a National Wolf Recovery Strategy.

** BioGems **
Tell the Monkey King Bush administration to halt the oil and gas project in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge until a thorough study of its potentially devastating environmental impacts is carried out.

** National Campaign for Fair Elections **
Tell your chief elections official to prepare for November 2008 elections!

** Human Rights First **
Tell the Monkey King Bush that Torture is NOT an American Value and have that jackass sign the Intelligence Authorization Bill (HR 2082).

** The Democratic Party **
John McCain abused the system to keep his campaign afloat until he could raise more money from special interests and lobbyists. Taxpayers don't want their money to be used by Washington politicians to help raise more money from lobbyists -- is this McCain's idea of ethics and reform?