** 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/ )
--
** 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/ )
Showing posts with label hrc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hrc. Show all posts
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tell the LDS "Church": You Suck!
** HRC **
( http://www.hrc.org/ )
Tell the LDS Church: The burden is on you
Bigoted and ignorant so-called "Leaders" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) entered the political arena and drew the ire of LGBT rights groups when they encouraged members of the Church to play a lead role in the campaign to pass Prop. 8 in California.
Yet, Church leaders have lied out of their assess all along that they're not "anti-gay" or opposed to civil unions and other LGBT rights – they say they're just against marriage for same-sex couples.
Well, our friends at Equality Utah are giving them the perfect opportunity to prove it:
Sign on to HRC's letter to President Monson of the LDS Church – ask him to publicly support civil unions and other pro-equality legislation in the Church's home state of Utah.
( http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/ldsletter/ )
( http://www.hrc.org/ )
Tell the LDS Church: The burden is on you
Bigoted and ignorant so-called "Leaders" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) entered the political arena and drew the ire of LGBT rights groups when they encouraged members of the Church to play a lead role in the campaign to pass Prop. 8 in California.
Yet, Church leaders have lied out of their assess all along that they're not "anti-gay" or opposed to civil unions and other LGBT rights – they say they're just against marriage for same-sex couples.
Well, our friends at Equality Utah are giving them the perfect opportunity to prove it:
Sign on to HRC's letter to President Monson of the LDS Church – ask him to publicly support civil unions and other pro-equality legislation in the Church's home state of Utah.
( http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/ldsletter/ )
Monday, October 13, 2008
Oct 13 2008 -- Fight the Right-Wing Wackos Links of the Day.
** Center for Biological Diversity **
The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, located in eastern Arizona where Mexican gray wolves roam, has proposed a new policy requiring proper disposal of livestock carcasses -- the first time livestock owners would be tasked with responsibility to prevent conflicts with wolves. Please voice your support for this policy.
If not made inedible or removed, the remains of cattle (and sometimes horses and sheep) that died of non-wolf causes serve to draw wolves to nearby live cattle and can habituate them to domestic animals instead of their natural prey -- which in turn can result in the wolves' being killed by the government in retribution.
The new policy would effectively ban the baiting of wolves into preying on domestic animals, and thereby save wolves' lives. "Predator control" killings are undermining recovery of the Mexican wolf, North America's most imperiled mammal, and the proposed change would help the wolf recover.
Preventing wolves from becoming habituated to livestock will also reduce wolf-rancher conflicts while helping wolves resume their ecological role keeping elk and deer herds healthy.
Your email to the Forest Service can help keep the agency resolute, so this provision sticks past the draft stage in the Apache-Sitgreaves Revised Forest Plan that will guide management of this forest for years to come.
--
** No Dirty Gold **
This Columbus Day -- also celebrated around the country as Indigenous Peoples' Day -- please help protect sacred sites from mining.
Canadian Barrick Gold is seeking to expand the Cortez gold mine in Nevada onto Mt. Tenabo, a sacred site to the Western Shoshone nation.
The mine expansion would threaten sacred Shoshone gravesites, disturb ritual grounds and could harm important water sources. To the Western Shoshone people, who were worshipping at Mt. Tenabo long before Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, mining this area is akin to mining the National Cathedral and the Arlington National Cemetery.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has indicated that it would allow this mine expansion, even though it violates the rights of the Western Shoshone, the U.N. Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the recommendations of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Take Action: Tell the BLM to respect sacred sites
--
** Human Rights Campaign **
It's been ten years since 21-year-old Matthew Shepard lost his life after being violently beaten and left for dead along a remote Wyoming road.
His offense? Being himself – a conscientious college student who happened to be gay.
The murder shocked and saddened the nation, but a decade later, federal law still fails to recognize hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In honor of Matthew's life, tell old and senile John McCain and Barack Obama it's time to end the long era of hate.
Tell Obama to continue to support hate crimes legislation and demand sidekick McCain to reverse his out of touch position.
--
** EarthJustice **
Endosulfan is a dangerous pesticide in the same family of chemicals as DDT, the notorious pesticide that was banned in 1972 because it poisoned people, wildlife, and the environment. Like DDT, endosulfan is a serious threat to people -- especially farmworkers and children. The European Union and many other countries have already recognized this danger and have banned endosulfan's use.
Endosulfan has been found in our food and water supplies and due to its high mobility it has even been detected in remote national parks, on Mount Everest, and in the Arctic! Despite these risks, EPA continues to permit endosulfan's use in agriculture.
The EPA is now deciding whether it should adopt stronger protections to keep endosulfan off of our food and out of our environment. Chemical companies are fighting to keep endosulfan on the market. Don't let the voice of industry be the only one that the EPA hears. They need to hear from you too!
The deadline for submitting public comments to the EPA is October 20th. Add your voice to the call from thousands of others to demand that EPA protect people from endosulfan today! Sign the petition!
--
** The Wilderness Society **
Colorado's rich and diverse roadless forest lands are home to many imperiled species such as the Canada lynx and cutthroat trout. Thanks to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more than four million acres of Colorado roadless areas are now protected from new logging activities and oil and gas drilling.
But the Forest Service has issued a proposal to roll back some of these protections, exposing vital wildlife habitat and key recreation areas to development.
Help us ensure this proposal does not move forward, and that Colorado's wild roadless heritage remains protected. Click here to take quick, effective action!
The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, located in eastern Arizona where Mexican gray wolves roam, has proposed a new policy requiring proper disposal of livestock carcasses -- the first time livestock owners would be tasked with responsibility to prevent conflicts with wolves. Please voice your support for this policy.
If not made inedible or removed, the remains of cattle (and sometimes horses and sheep) that died of non-wolf causes serve to draw wolves to nearby live cattle and can habituate them to domestic animals instead of their natural prey -- which in turn can result in the wolves' being killed by the government in retribution.
The new policy would effectively ban the baiting of wolves into preying on domestic animals, and thereby save wolves' lives. "Predator control" killings are undermining recovery of the Mexican wolf, North America's most imperiled mammal, and the proposed change would help the wolf recover.
Preventing wolves from becoming habituated to livestock will also reduce wolf-rancher conflicts while helping wolves resume their ecological role keeping elk and deer herds healthy.
Your email to the Forest Service can help keep the agency resolute, so this provision sticks past the draft stage in the Apache-Sitgreaves Revised Forest Plan that will guide management of this forest for years to come.
--
** No Dirty Gold **
This Columbus Day -- also celebrated around the country as Indigenous Peoples' Day -- please help protect sacred sites from mining.
Canadian Barrick Gold is seeking to expand the Cortez gold mine in Nevada onto Mt. Tenabo, a sacred site to the Western Shoshone nation.
The mine expansion would threaten sacred Shoshone gravesites, disturb ritual grounds and could harm important water sources. To the Western Shoshone people, who were worshipping at Mt. Tenabo long before Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, mining this area is akin to mining the National Cathedral and the Arlington National Cemetery.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has indicated that it would allow this mine expansion, even though it violates the rights of the Western Shoshone, the U.N. Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the recommendations of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Take Action: Tell the BLM to respect sacred sites
--
** Human Rights Campaign **
It's been ten years since 21-year-old Matthew Shepard lost his life after being violently beaten and left for dead along a remote Wyoming road.
His offense? Being himself – a conscientious college student who happened to be gay.
The murder shocked and saddened the nation, but a decade later, federal law still fails to recognize hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In honor of Matthew's life, tell old and senile John McCain and Barack Obama it's time to end the long era of hate.
Tell Obama to continue to support hate crimes legislation and demand sidekick McCain to reverse his out of touch position.
--
** EarthJustice **
Endosulfan is a dangerous pesticide in the same family of chemicals as DDT, the notorious pesticide that was banned in 1972 because it poisoned people, wildlife, and the environment. Like DDT, endosulfan is a serious threat to people -- especially farmworkers and children. The European Union and many other countries have already recognized this danger and have banned endosulfan's use.
Endosulfan has been found in our food and water supplies and due to its high mobility it has even been detected in remote national parks, on Mount Everest, and in the Arctic! Despite these risks, EPA continues to permit endosulfan's use in agriculture.
The EPA is now deciding whether it should adopt stronger protections to keep endosulfan off of our food and out of our environment. Chemical companies are fighting to keep endosulfan on the market. Don't let the voice of industry be the only one that the EPA hears. They need to hear from you too!
The deadline for submitting public comments to the EPA is October 20th. Add your voice to the call from thousands of others to demand that EPA protect people from endosulfan today! Sign the petition!
--
** The Wilderness Society **
Colorado's rich and diverse roadless forest lands are home to many imperiled species such as the Canada lynx and cutthroat trout. Thanks to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more than four million acres of Colorado roadless areas are now protected from new logging activities and oil and gas drilling.
But the Forest Service has issued a proposal to roll back some of these protections, exposing vital wildlife habitat and key recreation areas to development.
Help us ensure this proposal does not move forward, and that Colorado's wild roadless heritage remains protected. Click here to take quick, effective action!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Oct 01, 2008 -- Fight the Right-Wing Wackos Links of the Day.
** Human Rights Campaign **
How would you expect top officials in the administration to prepare for a Senate hearing? By reviewing studies and data, or going to the movies?
If you picked the latter, apparently, you'd be right.
Last week at a Senate hearing on equal family benefits for LGBT federal workers, the Bush Administration's Howard Weizmann cited the plot of the Adam Sandler movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," about two men who pretend to be gay, as evidence the program would be scammed.
What next? Education policy drawn on the wisdom of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?
The American people deserve policies based on facts, fairness, and logic, not fictional scenarios designed to sell a ticket and get a laugh. Using a Hollywood comedy to justify opposing fair compensation is a new low even for this administration.
The day after the hearing, Weizmann was still at it, telling the Washington Post his "Chuck and Larry" example "is not farfetched." Click here to remind him that lowbrow Hollywood comedies are meant to get a laugh, not drive policy decisions.
Tell Mr. Weizmann public policy shouldn't be based on Hollywood comedies.
--
** Center for Biological Diversity **
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species.
The new regulations would:
- Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act;
- Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight;
- Limit which effects can be considered harmful;
- Prevent consideration of a project’s contribution to global warming;
- Set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to participate – or else the project gets an automatic green light;
- Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects.
We must stop Kempthorne from fatally crippling our nation’s most successful wildlife law.
Tell Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne what you think of his destruction of the Endangered Species Act.
--
** Save Biogems **
If the Bush administration gets its way, Wyoming's spectacular Fortification Creek Area will soon be sacrificed to a massive drilling scheme.
We need your immediate action to halt this destructive plan in its tracks. The deadline for submitting comments on the plan is October 7!
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
right away and tell the Bureau of Land Management to reject this proposal, which would allow as many as 600 coalbed methane wells in the heart of Wyoming's remaining wildlands.
The Fortification Creek Area -- containing over 42,000 acres of public wildlands -- represents the last pristine oasis in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which is already blanketed by coalbed methane wells.
Most importantly, the Fortification Creek region provides critical winter range and calving grounds for an isolated prairie elk herd of only 230 animals. If adopted, the Bush administration's plan has the potential to decimate the entire elk population.
The Fortification Creek Area is also home to pronghorn, bobcats, mountain lions, and over 200 species of migratory birds. Opening these lands to gas drilling would spoil a pristine water source for wildlife, cause irreversible soil and vegetation damage, and destroy outdoor recreational opportunities.
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
and urge Bush administration officials to protect Wyoming's Fortification Creek Area before these pristine wildlands are lost forever.
How would you expect top officials in the administration to prepare for a Senate hearing? By reviewing studies and data, or going to the movies?
If you picked the latter, apparently, you'd be right.
Last week at a Senate hearing on equal family benefits for LGBT federal workers, the Bush Administration's Howard Weizmann cited the plot of the Adam Sandler movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," about two men who pretend to be gay, as evidence the program would be scammed.
What next? Education policy drawn on the wisdom of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?
The American people deserve policies based on facts, fairness, and logic, not fictional scenarios designed to sell a ticket and get a laugh. Using a Hollywood comedy to justify opposing fair compensation is a new low even for this administration.
The day after the hearing, Weizmann was still at it, telling the Washington Post his "Chuck and Larry" example "is not farfetched." Click here to remind him that lowbrow Hollywood comedies are meant to get a laugh, not drive policy decisions.
Tell Mr. Weizmann public policy shouldn't be based on Hollywood comedies.
--
** Center for Biological Diversity **
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species.
The new regulations would:
- Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act;
- Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight;
- Limit which effects can be considered harmful;
- Prevent consideration of a project’s contribution to global warming;
- Set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to participate – or else the project gets an automatic green light;
- Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects.
We must stop Kempthorne from fatally crippling our nation’s most successful wildlife law.
Tell Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne what you think of his destruction of the Endangered Species Act.
--
** Save Biogems **
If the Bush administration gets its way, Wyoming's spectacular Fortification Creek Area will soon be sacrificed to a massive drilling scheme.
We need your immediate action to halt this destructive plan in its tracks. The deadline for submitting comments on the plan is October 7!
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
right away and tell the Bureau of Land Management to reject this proposal, which would allow as many as 600 coalbed methane wells in the heart of Wyoming's remaining wildlands.
The Fortification Creek Area -- containing over 42,000 acres of public wildlands -- represents the last pristine oasis in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which is already blanketed by coalbed methane wells.
Most importantly, the Fortification Creek region provides critical winter range and calving grounds for an isolated prairie elk herd of only 230 animals. If adopted, the Bush administration's plan has the potential to decimate the entire elk population.
The Fortification Creek Area is also home to pronghorn, bobcats, mountain lions, and over 200 species of migratory birds. Opening these lands to gas drilling would spoil a pristine water source for wildlife, cause irreversible soil and vegetation damage, and destroy outdoor recreational opportunities.
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
and urge Bush administration officials to protect Wyoming's Fortification Creek Area before these pristine wildlands are lost forever.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
July 15, 2008 -- Your Fight the Right-Wing Wacko Links of the Day.
** Natural Resources Defense Council **
Oil companies and their allies in Congress claim that drilling in America's oceans and coastal areas would help solve the energy crisis and have proposed ending the 27-year moratorium on new offshore drilling. But offshore drilling would neither solve our energy needs nor significantly lower gas prices. Instead, drilling would harm America's economy, health, oceans and coasts.
Proponents of offshore drilling claim it would reduce gas prices, even though the Department of Energy has determined that it would not significantly do so. Oil companies currently have 5,500 offshore leases they are not drilling, and with 80 percent of the untapped oil in offshore areas already open to development, they do not need access to more areas to increase supply. And while the U.S. oil industry says it wants even more access to sensitive ocean areas to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries. This proposal is simply a way to give oil companies unfettered drilling access to our oceans and coastal areas.
In addition, opening up additional offshore areas to drilling poses real threats to our ocean and coastal ecosystems and economies. Offshore drilling creates toxic waste products that contaminate fish and marine life. Offshore wells emit air pollutants that are known carcinogens, cause respiratory problems and worsen global warming. And current cleanup methods can only remove a small fraction of oil spilled in marine waters, where it is toxic for most species.
America needs real, long-term solutions for the energy crisis, but oil companies and their allies are not delivering them. We need to use less oil by improving energy efficiency and utilizing renewable energy. In doing so, we can achieve energy independence, fight global warming, and jump-start our nation's economy
Tell Congress not to allow drilling off our coasts
--
** Senator Barbara Boxer **
Recently, running contrary to every shred of common sense, President Bush lifted the presidential moratorium on drilling for oil off our precious coastline. And now he wants Congress to lift the moratorium as well.
In the final months of his failed presidency, George Bush wants to give the oil companies a huge gift that threatens our coasts, our economy, and our jobs -- while not doing one single thing to lower gas prices.
Tell my colleagues in Congress to stand firm: Sign my petition to the House and Senate leadership, urging them not to lift the Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling!
--
** Human Rights Campaign **
Former Senator Jesse Helms (widely known racist, sexist, homophobic right-wing pig), the notorious author of dozens of measures attacking GLBT and HIV-positive people during his years in the Senate, died on July 4 (Good riddance!). Unfortunately, the legacy of discrimination against HIV-positive people he helped to create lives on in a law that bars nearly every foreign person with HIV from entering the United States. That's right – with very few exceptions, an HIV-positive individual cannot come to the United States for any reason, be it to visit, work, study or become a legal resident.
It's an embarrassment and an outrage. And at long last, we have a chance to bring it to an end.
Ask your Senator to stand up against bias and ensure that the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants is repealed.
--
** Democrats.com **
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has become much too friendly with Pastor John Hagee, the same man who preached that Hitler was only doing God's bidding.
Tell Sen. Lieberman to immediately withdraw his commitment to deliver the keynote address at Hagee's Israel Summit on July 22.
Oil companies and their allies in Congress claim that drilling in America's oceans and coastal areas would help solve the energy crisis and have proposed ending the 27-year moratorium on new offshore drilling. But offshore drilling would neither solve our energy needs nor significantly lower gas prices. Instead, drilling would harm America's economy, health, oceans and coasts.
Proponents of offshore drilling claim it would reduce gas prices, even though the Department of Energy has determined that it would not significantly do so. Oil companies currently have 5,500 offshore leases they are not drilling, and with 80 percent of the untapped oil in offshore areas already open to development, they do not need access to more areas to increase supply. And while the U.S. oil industry says it wants even more access to sensitive ocean areas to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries. This proposal is simply a way to give oil companies unfettered drilling access to our oceans and coastal areas.
In addition, opening up additional offshore areas to drilling poses real threats to our ocean and coastal ecosystems and economies. Offshore drilling creates toxic waste products that contaminate fish and marine life. Offshore wells emit air pollutants that are known carcinogens, cause respiratory problems and worsen global warming. And current cleanup methods can only remove a small fraction of oil spilled in marine waters, where it is toxic for most species.
America needs real, long-term solutions for the energy crisis, but oil companies and their allies are not delivering them. We need to use less oil by improving energy efficiency and utilizing renewable energy. In doing so, we can achieve energy independence, fight global warming, and jump-start our nation's economy
Tell Congress not to allow drilling off our coasts
--
** Senator Barbara Boxer **
Recently, running contrary to every shred of common sense, President Bush lifted the presidential moratorium on drilling for oil off our precious coastline. And now he wants Congress to lift the moratorium as well.
In the final months of his failed presidency, George Bush wants to give the oil companies a huge gift that threatens our coasts, our economy, and our jobs -- while not doing one single thing to lower gas prices.
Tell my colleagues in Congress to stand firm: Sign my petition to the House and Senate leadership, urging them not to lift the Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling!
--
** Human Rights Campaign **
Former Senator Jesse Helms (widely known racist, sexist, homophobic right-wing pig), the notorious author of dozens of measures attacking GLBT and HIV-positive people during his years in the Senate, died on July 4 (Good riddance!). Unfortunately, the legacy of discrimination against HIV-positive people he helped to create lives on in a law that bars nearly every foreign person with HIV from entering the United States. That's right – with very few exceptions, an HIV-positive individual cannot come to the United States for any reason, be it to visit, work, study or become a legal resident.
It's an embarrassment and an outrage. And at long last, we have a chance to bring it to an end.
Ask your Senator to stand up against bias and ensure that the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants is repealed.
--
** Democrats.com **
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has become much too friendly with Pastor John Hagee, the same man who preached that Hitler was only doing God's bidding.
Tell Sen. Lieberman to immediately withdraw his commitment to deliver the keynote address at Hagee's Israel Summit on July 22.
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