Action

Tell PBS: Don't Abandon Hard Hitting Journalism.

Not My Chamber Members of the US Chamber of Commerce are hard right-wing Republicans. Don't do business with them.

INSURERS FUNDED CHAMBER ATTACK ADS <http://bit.ly/4qf8SI%20>, reports National Journal’s Peter Stone: “Just as dealings with the Obama
administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of
the nation's biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money
into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly
modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress. That
money, between $10 million and $20 million, came from Aetna, Cigna,
Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plans, UnitedHealth Group and
Wellpoint, according to two health care lobbyists familiar with the
transactions. The companies are all members of the powerful trade group
America's Health Insurance Plans. The funds were solicited by AHIP and
funneled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help underwrite tens of
millions of dollars of television ads by two business coalitions set up
and subsidized by the chamber. Each insurer kicked in at least $1
million and some gave multimillion-dollar donations. ‘There's no
question that AHIP has quietly solicited monies from their members which
were funneled over to the chamber for their ads,’ said a source. The
total donated by the health insurers, according to one estimate, was as
much as one-quarter of the chamber's total health care advertising
budget. A spokesman for Kaiser said it contributed funds to AHIP last
year for positive ads on health care reform, and that AHIP has told the
insurer that none of its monies were sent to the chamber.”

WikiLeaks: uses the internet to publish secret documents that someone thought should be made public.

15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now

The Life You Can Save A call to action and a book by Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton.

Donors Can Now Make Tax-Free Gifts from Their IRAs
 

Congress has re-authorized legislation that allows donors to make charitable gifts from their IRA accounts during tax years 2008 and 2009 without incurring income tax on the withdrawal. If you are age 70 1/2 or older and are required to take minimum withdrawals, this may be a great way to make a gift to one or more qualified charities. For more information, visit our legacy planning section.
 

Volunteer

USA Service

Ban Cluster Bombs

111 nations gathered recently to ban horrific weapons known as cluster bombs, the United States was conspicuously absent.  Once again, President Bush came down on the wrong side of international peace.

These bombs are one of the most disgusting practices that the U.S. military engages in, and it kills children.

The next President could change that.  I've asked Obama, McCain and the rest to do the right thing and sign the ban.  Will you join me by asking them, too?  It only takes a minute...

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1493/t/2765/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2214

Cluster bombs are designed to open in mid-air, dispersing hundreds of smaller ?bomblets.?  The resulting blasts kill indiscriminately, spraying over an area roughly the size of three football fields. Approximately 30% of ordnance from each bomb will fail to explode on impact, creating virtual minefields that will kill and maim innocent civilians for decades to come--many of them children.

One US commander reportedly refused to use cluster munitions in Iraq, citing mortal danger to his troops.  If knowledgeable soldiers are at risk, what will be the fate of an 8-year-old child who, indulging her natural inclination to explore, stumbles upon a small, colorful metal ball in the sand?

111 nations, representing 2/3 of the world's population have acted. Thousands of Americans are encouraging the next President to do what's right and sign the ban.  Join us...

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1493/t/2765/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2214

Thanks!  

Take action now to stop more corporate media consolidation.

Doubleday just released Bill Moyer’s new book entitled “Moyers On Democracy.” An excerpt from it is printed here; it ends with this paragraph:
 

I wish I could say that journalists in general are showing the same interest in uncovering the dangerous linkages thwarting this democracy. It is not for lack of honest and courageous individuals who would risk their careers to speak truth to power--a modest risk compared to those of some journalists in authoritarian countries who have been jailed or murdered for the identical "crime." But our journalists are not in control of the instruments they play. As conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and networks, and profit rather than product becomes the focus of corporate effort, news organizations--particularly in television--are folded into entertainment divisions. The "news hole" in the print media shrinks to make room for advertisements, and stories needed by informed citizens working together are pulled in favor of the latest celebrity scandals because the media moguls have decided that uncovering th! e inner workings of public and private power is boring and will drive viewers and readers away to greener pastures of pabulum. Good reporters and editors confront walls of resistance in trying to place serious and informative reports over which they have long labored. Media owners who should be sounding the trumpets of alarm on the battlements of democracy instead blow popular ditties through tin horns, undercutting the basis for their existence and their First Amendment rights.
 

Jimmy Carter writes in his book "Our Endangered Values" (starting around page 120).

"The International Committee of the Red Cross reported registering 107 detainees under eighteen, some as young as eight years old. The journalist Seymour Hersh, reported in May 2005 that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had received a report that there were "800-900 Pakistani boys 13-15 years of age in custody." The International Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the Pentagon have gathered substantial testimony of torture of children, confirmed by soldiers who witnessed or participated in the abuse." ...

"Physicians for Human Rights reported in April 2005 that "at least since 2002, the United States has been engaged in systematic psychological torture of Guantanamo detainees that has "led to devastating health consequences for the individuals subjected to" it. The prisoners' outlook on life was not improved when the Secretary of Defense declared that most of them would not be released even if they were someday tried and found to be innocent. "...

In spite of this activity, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act  Military Commissions Act last month that:

• Let the President or even the Secretary of Defense declare anyone- even US citizens - an "unlawful enemy combatant".
• Deny court review for prisoners who are not US citizens - an 800 year old right (habeas corpus) that is enshrined in the US Constitution.
• Strip the US courts of jurisdiction to hear or consider habeas corpus appeals  
• Prohibit any person from invoking the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights in any US court
• Gut the War Crimes Act, giving immunity to civilians who ordered or tolerated the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere since 9/11. Violations of the Geneva Conventions are no longer criminal offenses under US law.

A Call to resist the war in Iraq.

From Care2.com, Inc.
275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 150
Redwood City, CA 94065
http://www.care2.com

Other Campaigns you can participate in:

• Center For Constitutional Rights  
• Blow the Whistle on Martin. Save Net Neutrality.
• FCC Official Hearing in Harrisburg
• Make Net Neutrality the Law
• Make Net Neutrality the Law
• Michigan Senators: Save The Internet!
• Protect Internet Freedom in Michigan       
• Bring Home the FCC
• Bust Big Radio Payola
• Defend Net Freedom Now!
• Don't Let Ma Bell Monopolize the Internet
• Sign the Petition -- Don't Let Congress Ruin the Internet
• Television's Dirty Secret
• Television's Dirty Secret

Let them know what you think.

Find and contact your representatives

Fair's Media Contact List

Associated Press: http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact.html

The New York Times: http://nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#b

The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/mediacenter/html/about_contact.html

National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/contact/

CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/08/01/eveningnews/main15218.shtml

NBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Reference/story?id=54216

CNN http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-contactus,0,1439615.htmlstory

Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/placead/chi-contactus,1,3223097.htmlstory?coll=chi-navrailhome2-nav&ctrack=1&cset=true

Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/contact_us/

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