Call to Action, GOP Convention Ad

The GetFISARight.net group is at it again, offering a new way for regular citizens -- for instance, people who don't need staff help to count their homes -- to have a direct impact on the politics of civil liberties: individual sponsorships of cable TV ads, targeted at the Republican Convention. Thanks to saysme.tv, you can run an ad on all major cable news channels in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area between September 1 and 4 for $103 during daytime hours (9am-4pm), and as little as $324 during evening hours. More information about how you can help get the ad on TV is at http://getfisaright.net/ad.

GetFISARight's first ad featured a tombstone for the Constitution. The new ad stars the Constitution as the main player, with the visual featuring a pan over founding documents. One version of the ad takes aim at Republican Senators, who voted unanimously to extend the powers of government to listen to Americans’ phone calls and read their emails without a warrant; another highlights John McCain's strong endorsement of the Bush Administration's wiretapping policies over the last eight years.

It takes 48 hours from purchase to airtime, so don't delay. Here's a way to take a stand for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that GOP convention-goers can't avoid: on their TV sets. Please visit http://getfisaright.net/ad today!

Fight Bush's New Attack on Choice!

Reposted from NARAL Pro-Choice America:

Thanks to the actions of NARAL Pro-Choice America activists, Bush's new, draft regulation removes a concerning provision found in an earlier leaked version, but this new version fails to give assurances that current laws about abortion will not be stretched to cover birth control, too.

Without these explicit assurances, we cannot rest. These regulations still could threaten women's access to birth control.

We have 30 days to let HHS know that the draft regulation must include explicit language clarifying that birth control is not at risk.

Please fill in the form, and send your comment to HHS.

Together, We Can Repower America

Reposted from We Can Solve It:

We must rebuild our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and save ourselves from the climate crisis. To do this, we need to demand that we Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. Meeting this ambitious goal would create millions of new jobs, lead to lower energy costs for families and help America lead the fight against global warming.

More than a million people are standing up for solutions. Please join them and sign our petition today:

“To our leaders: We demand 100% clean electricity in 10 years.”

Signed,

CODEPINK Platform

From CODEPINK:

During the upcoming Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the eyes of the country will be focused on the political future of our nation. Let's not get caught up in the razzle-dazzle of
convention shows, but recognize that real democracy means people organizing from the streets to community forums to electoral politics in a continuum of pressure from the bottom up. Both parties have led us down the path of militarism and neglected our basic needs, impoverishing our communities and endangering our security.

Now is the time to stand up for true peace and security—to demand that our government reverse military quagmires in the name of the war on terrorism; liberate us from the oil companies' polluting agenda and begin a serious offensive for conservation, efficiency and renewable energy; promote good jobs at living wages instead of pursuing cheap labor abroad; and transfer war funds to health care, clean energy and anti-poverty efforts at home and abroad.

Below is our more detailed CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security. Please send it to the leadership of the political parties, to your friends and colleagues. And join us—at the
conventions, during the elections and beyond—as we continue to be vocal advocates for the peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world we want to live in.

Thank you.

CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security

• Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq.


• Redirect war funding and excess Pentagon spendingtoward needs at home, including healthcare, education and rebuilding the Gulf Coast.


• Move from unilateralism and pre-emptive strikes to international cooperation and diplomacy. Start with Iran.


• Seek dialogue with warring parties and increased development assistance to end the fighting and poverty in Afghanistan.


• Respect international law and the sovereignty of other nations, including Pakistan.


• Promote global disarmament, including the disarming of US nuclear stockpiles.


• Promote an equitable peace plan between Israel and Palestine that would leave the Palestinians with a viable state.


• Fight terrorism through police and intelligence efforts and by addressing root causes.


• End torture, respect human rights, and restore habeas corpus.


• Respect the rule of law, uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.


• Hold officials accountable for their abuses of power, using such remedies as impeachment.
  


• Protect personal freedom by rejecting warrantless spying, stifling of dissent, and other affronts to individual liberty.


• Provide universal healthcare through a single-payer, not-for-profit system.


• Replace "free trade" agreements with fair trade deals with other countries that protect workers' rights and the environment.
  


• Implement humane and comprehensive immigration reform that affirms the dignity and integrity of immigrant families.


• Address global warming and oil dependence by raising auto fuel economy, imposing mandatory caps on carbon pollution and investing in public transportation, energy conservation technologies and alternative energy development.



• Protect women's reproductive freedom, including the right-to-choose.


• Ensure equality for lesbians gays and transgender people, including in marriage and military service.
  


• Implement Clean Money public financing of elections, plus free TV/radio time for candidates.
  


• Mandate paper ballots and rigorous audits of elections.


• Break up media conglomerates, diversify broadcasting, expand minority and nonprofit ownership of our airwaves, and provide high-speed community Internet for all.

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Send our CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security to DNC Chairperson Howard Dean and RNC Chairperson Mike Duncan

Forward our CODEPINK Platform to five friends and ask them to send it to the DNC and RNC Chairs

Elect Progressive Candidates at All Levels

From democrats.com:

I pledge to help create a progressive majority in America by electing progressive candidates at all levels - not just the President but also school boards, city councils, and state governments.

Local and state governments have an enormous impact on our lives, and also produce our future national leaders and Presidential candidates.

With the many challenges that the U.S. now faces, it is increasingly important that we elect new, progressive leaders to office at all levels - not just the President.

So we need to look beyond the upcoming election, and build a progressive political movement that will elect an enduring majority. The way to accomplish this goal is to begin locally, where progressive activists can make the biggest difference.

Progressive Majority, an organization committed to recruiting, training and electing leaders willing to stand up and fight for what matters, is asking you to do your part to help.

Take the pledge today to help elect progressive leaders not just to the White House but to your school board, city council, and state government.

Your support and efforts are critical to this goal. Thank you in advance for supporting progressive candidates at all levels.

A Petition To the Next President of the United States: Renegotiate NAFTA

From Renegotiate NAFTA!:

While campaigning, you heard millions of Americans attest to the disappearance of secure industrial jobs, the devastated communities and shuttered small businesses that accompanied that job loss and the growing inequality in wealth and opportunity. You heard the clamor for fair trade instead of unregulated “free trade.” You may even have promised that, if elected, you would renegotiate a treaty that, 15 years after its adoption, is not meeting the social and economic needs of the American people or the needs of most Canadians or Mexicans, for that matter. Campaign rhetoric is not enough; changes are needed in our trade and investment policies. We therefore call upon you, immediately after you take office, to begin renegotiating NAFTA. An overhauled treaty should follow the Principles of Fair Trade , which should also be integral to future trade agreements and the basis for renegotiating existing trade treaties.

Click here to add your name.

Click here to download a printable version.

Anti-contraception regulations foster dishonesty

From The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society:


More than women's health jeopardized

The United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) urges you to immediately communicate with Secretary Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS), about proposed regulations that will negatively affect access to critical health services for men and women.

These regulations, proposed by the Bush administration, require any entity receiving funding from DHHS to certify that it does not discriminate against organizations or individuals who do not want to provide services they consider objectionable.

This may sound reasonable, but would result in the provision of services being curtailed due to ideological positions that may jeopardize a person’s health.

“This may sound reasonable, but would result in the provision of services being curtailed due to ideological positions that may jeopardize a person’s health,” said the Rev. Cynthia Abrams, GBCS director of Alcohol, Other Addictions & Health Care. Abrams issued the call for immediate action in cooperation with Linda Bales, GBCS director of the Louise & Hugh Moore Population Project.

Restrict access to basic care

“These new regulations, coming in the last days of the Bush administration, are intended to restrict access of women to services such as basic reproductive health care, including birth control, and counseling for pregnant women,” Bales pointed out. “The proposed regulations require any entity receiving funding from DHHS to certify that it does not discriminate against organizations or individuals who do not want to provide services they consider objectionable.”

This regulation would open the door for providers of health care to limit the services provided based on ideological positions rather than sound health care, according to Abrams.

‘Far-sweeping definition of abortion’ could result in most forms of birth control not being dispensed.

For example, Abrams said the proposed regulation contains a “far-sweeping definition of abortion” that could result in most forms of birth control not being dispensed if the person dispensing them believes that birth control is a form of abortion.

Undermine ability services

“To accomplish this anti-birth control objective, this regulation undermines the ability of an employer to count on its employees doing the work they are paid to do,” Bales pointed out. “Persons objecting to family planning could seek employment specifically to prevent delivering services.” Abrams said the underlying defect of these regulations is that they institutionalize dishonesty. She said under the proposed regulations a hospital may present itself as a provider of health care and then not be able to provide services because its employees object to some task or another. She added that the same dynamic holds for pharmacies. “In the end, these regulations attack women’s health only as a stepping stone to a much broader and disruptive objective: an attack on honesty and reliability in human relationships,” Bales said. “These regulations have no place in an ethical world.”

GBCS’s UMPower Action Center provides more information about this issue. It also has a sample letter that can be e-mailed or printed and sent to Leavitt.