Imagine you are being hunted and there’s no place to hide.

Help save animals like this zebra from the cruelty of canned hunts.

You can’t run because you’re fenced in. But chances are, you won’t run anyway. You trust those who hunt you. After all, they feed you and give you water – you depend on them to survive.

Then one day, a day like any other, the people you trust arrive with your food. But this time, there’s a stranger with them.

A sudden shot rings out. Then another. You never saw it coming. There’s no chance of escape. You are slaughtered without pause – so long as you remain an attractive trophy for their wall, the pain and length of your death is of no concern to your killer.

This is the life of a canned hunt victim. Canned hunting, in which tame, captive animals are shot within enclosed areas, represents a particularly cruel and unsporting form of trophy hunting. And it must be stopped:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M6489082174914477994955&iEvent=32742

Canned hunts take place on "hunting preserves" or "game ranches". Clients of these ranches pay to kill a captive animal, violating the general "fair chase" standards of the hunting community itself. Some of these animals are drugged, tied to a stake or even murdered defenselessly in cages. This is no hunt – it’s a slaughter.

Many of these ranches deal in exotic animals, from African lions to zebras. The supply of these hunted animals often comes from unaccredited zoos and illegitimate sanctuaries, which desire baby animals to attract visitors. When the animals grow up, they are sold to dealers who provide research labs and hunt ranches with their latest victims.

Worse still, exotic animals crammed into these enclosed areas contract diseases more easily than free roaming animals. Chronic Wasting Disease and other illnesses that jeopardize the health of native species can spread to the surrounding areas.

Luckily, something can be done. With your help these exotic animals no longer have to be condemned to a certain death.

The Captive Exotic Animal Protection Act of 2004, a bill that will help stop the inhumane and unsporting practice of killing animals in canned hunts, has been introduced in Congress. We need your help to make sure it passes:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M6489085174914477994955&iEvent=32742

Please email your Senator
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M6489086174914477994955&iEvent=32742
and ask them to cosponsor this bill. IFAW has succeeded in helping to ban canned hunts from eleven provinces in Canada, and now we need your help to make sure this cruel practice comes to an end in the U.S.

For the Animals,

Fred O'Regan
President and CEO

P.S. To animal lovers, a canned hunt is the cruel and inhumane killing of an animal simply for a trophy. To hunters, a canned hunt is a violation of fair chase and a blight on the image of their sport. Please help us stop this unnecessary slaughter. It takes only seconds to email your Senator. Every voice makes a difference:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M6489087174914477994955&iEvent=32742

To: All concerned citizens, scientists, engineers and public policy makers

Re: Call to action to urge California to revise EMF policy

We urge you to send an email, fax or mail letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) right away. Next week, August 19, this state government body will meet to consider whether to revise its current EMF policy (see statement below).

The current EMF policy was initiated in 1991 and it states,

"At the issuance of this investigation, the scientific community had not yet isolated the impact, if any, of utility-related exposures on public health.

This statement is outdated, based on more recent scientific findings and recent policy positions. This policy should be revised to reflect public health policy positions taken by the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Services and the U.K. National Radiation Protection Board. In 2002, the IARC (Agency on Research on Cancer) took the position that electrical and magnetic fields (60 hertz frequency radiation) are a known possible carcinogen (Class 2 - like tobacco and lead) based largely on epidemiological data showing an association between power lines and childhood leukemia. Also in 2002, a major EMF report, prepared by the California State Health Department, was released. This $7 million report was commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission and was paid for by the ratepayers.

The report indicates there are links between power lines and childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gerhig's disease and miscarriage.

Although only 1 to 2 percent of all Californians live close to transmission lines and 10% of all Californians live close to distribution lines, random phone surveys by DHHS have found that more than 40% of those responding perceive a health problem related EMFs from electrical power lines.

Credible scientific evidence backs up their concerns.

Your help is critically needed to call for the CPUC to revise its current EMF policy. Full protection from hazardous exposure to EMFs from electrical utilities afforded by all Californians, including utility workers and residents of homes located close to high-powered electrical lines, who are among those most at risk.

Points to make in your communications are:

1. The CPUC should reopen the "OII", (means rulemaking proceeding and investigation) and consider revising the current CPUC EMF Policy Statement.

2. The CPUC should formally invite the State Department of Health and Human Services staff responsible for the State EMF report through the DHHS Secretary to attend the August 19 hearing and make a presentation.

Letters should be addressed to the five CPUC Commissioners and sent to:

CPUC State Headquarters
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California 94102
Phone: 415 703.2782; Fax: 415 703.1758
Commissioners:
Michael R. Peevey, Chairman, email: MP1@cpuc.ca.gov
Carl Wood CXW@cpuc.ca.gov
Geoffrey Brown GFB@cpuc.ca.gov
Loretta Lynch commissionerlynch@cpuc.ca.gov
Susan P. Kennedy SK1@cpuc.ca.gov


Sincerely,

Libby Kelley
Executive Director
Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
libbykelley@energyfields.org
http://www.energyfields.org


For more Information:

California State Health Department EMF Report
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/deodc/ehib/emf/RiskEvaluation/riskeval.html

280 Corridor Concerned Citizens
http://www.280ccc.org

SF Examiner article
http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/071604op_editorial

Public Utility Commission EMF Policy Statement
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/Environment/emf/emfopen.htm
(Adopted 1991, amended 1993) California

In response to public concern about Electric and Magnetic Fields and a lack of scientific evidence that either confirmed or denied a causal link between EMFs and health effects, the Commission began Investigation I.91-01-012. The purpose of the investigation which opened on January 15, 1991 was to determine the Commission's role in mitigating health effects, if any, of EMFs created by electric utility power lines and by cellular radiotelephone facilities.

By this investigation, all interested parties were notified that the Commission would take appropriate action on EMFs in response to a conclusion, based on scientific evidence, which indicates that a health hazard actually exists, and that a clear cause and effect relationship between utility property or operations and public health is established.

At the issuance of this investigation, the scientific community had not yet isolated the impact, if any, of utility-related exposures on public health. In the absence of a final resolution of the question of such impact, other jurisdictions and agencies have concluded that the best response to EMFs is to avoid unnecessary new exposure to EMFs if such avoidance can be achieved at a cost that is reasonable in light of the risk identified. Thus, if at a future time a health risk is determined to exist, government will have acted responsibly and rationally to avoid unnecessary exposure to that risk.

Interested parties were invited to comment on specific EMF issues identified in the investigation. In response to this invitation, comments were received from twenty-three independent organizations and individuals.

The commenters provided substantial variation in their EMF concerns, opinions, and recommendations. However, there was a consensus that EMF issues involving electric utilities and telecommunications utilities should be addressed in separate proceedings. There was also a consensus that a working group of interested parties should be established to define near-term research objectives and to develop interim procedures to guide the electric utilities in educating their customers, in reducing EMF measurement levels, and in responding to potential health concerns.

Consistent with the consensus expressed in the comments, the investigation was bifurcated, with the power frequency phase proceeding first. Respondent electric utilities identified in the investigation were Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Pacific Power and Light Company, San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), Sierra Pacific Power Company, and Southern California Edison Company (Edison). Of the named respondents, only PG&E, SDG&E, and Edison actively participated in this investigation.

Stemming from the Investigation (I.91-01-012) and subsequent meetings of the EMF working group, the Commission adopted Decision D.93-11-013 that takes seven interim steps to address EMFs related to electric utility facilities and power lines. The Decision also designates the California Department of Health Services (DHS) as a program manager for EMF research and education programs.

Decision 95-11-017 addresses the cellular phase of the Commission's EMF investigation, which considers the Commission's role in mitigating health effects, if any, of Radio Frequency (RF) radiation generated by cellular utilities within the Commission's jurisdiction. It is noted in this decision that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has exercised preemptive authority over states with regards to cellular handsets and utilities. For issues regarding the siting of wireless telecommunications facilities, please see the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

On May 12, 1997, the California Department of Health Services (DHS) filed a petition to modify D.93-11-013, pursuant to Rule 47 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. On December 3, 1997, the Commission issued Decision 97-12-027 in response to the petition.

For more information about the technical and health-related aspects of EMFs, visit the Department of Health Services EMF Web Site or contact:

For more information about the CPUC's EMF Policy, contact Wendy Maria Phelps, e-mail: wmp@cpuc.ca.gov


Informant: Don Maisch

http://www.tompaine.com/action/#001353

August 10, 2004

The No-Spy Pledge

Tuesday 9:23 AM

It's a monitored world out there—and we're not just talking about the federal government and security agencies. Private-sector institutions—like banks, big-box retailers, car rental companies and pharmacies, to name a few—are increasingly collecting private information from customers. That information can then be siphoned off by the government for security purposes—without the customer even realizing it. Join the ACLU and ask the companies you deal with every day to take the no-spy pledge and refuse to participate in this data collection unless legally required. ACT NOW: http://www.aclu.org/privatize/

Anti Hartz 4 - Demos nächsten Montag, Orte und Uhrzeiten:

09.08.2004 - 16:00 Uhr in Rostock auf dem Universitätsplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Pößneck auf dem Pößnecker Markt
09.08.2004 - 18:30 Uhr in Haldensleben auf dem Marktplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Gelsenkirchen auf dem Preuteplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Köln vor dem Hauptportal Kölner Dom
09.08.2004 - 17:30 Uhr in Dessau auf dem Schlossplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:30 Uhr in Osterburg auf dem Marktplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Quedlinburg auf dem Marktplatz
09.08.2004 - 19:00 Uhr in Gera vor den Arkaden
09.08.2004 - 17:00 Uhr in Jena beim DGB
09.08.2004 - 19:00 Uhr in Nordhausen am Rathaus
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Aschersleben auf dem Holzmarkt
09.08.2004 - 18.00 Uhr in Dresden Altmarkt vor Kreuzkirche
09.08.2004 - 19:00 Uhr in Dortmund vor der Reinolikirche
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Halberstadt auf dem Fischmarkt
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Magdeburg am Domplatz
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Stollberg ab Herrenstraße 22
09.08.2004 - 18:00 Uhr in Leipzig auf dem Willy-Brandt-Platz
09.08.2004 - 17:00 Uhr in Braunschweig auf dem Kohlmarkt
09.08.2004 - 15:00 Uhr in Hannover am Hauptbahnhof
am 16.08.2004 in Hoyerswerda,auf dem Lausitzer Platz, um 17.°°

Nachricht von Ernst u. Silvia Amrhein

The Bureau of Land Management has proposed to lease another stunning, wild Colorado landscape for oil and gas development. This time it's South Shale Ridge in western Colorado, part of the citizens' proposal for Colorado wilderness.

This proposal to lease violates a three-year BLM promise that it would thoroughly consider the best information, including a recent wilderness inventory and two years' of hard work by citizens, before deciding to lease. The agency has released an environmental assessment of the proposal for public comment. The deadline is Thursday, August 12. Please take a moment today to let the agency know that you want this deserving wilderness protected!

You can take immediate action from
http://ga1.org/campaign/southshale/wd8ks5xr4ixibx

Take Action!

Tell BLM to choose protection, not Big Oil profits for western Arctic

Another Spectacular Wild Place Goes on the Energy Auction Block

Over the past two years, the best predictor of where the Bush administration’s energy leasing frenzy will strike next is matchless beauty or world-class wildlife values. Or both. This time, it’s both.

The administration now proposes to lift nearly all restrictions to drilling in a 4.6-million-acre area in the western Arctic, in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The area supports extraordinary wildlife populations that, in turn, have supported Alaska Native people for thousands of years. We have only until Monday, August 23, to register our opposition to this appallingly bad idea. And we need your help. Please tell the Bureau of Land Management that this is no place to sacrifice to oil and gas development...

http://ga1.org/campaign/NPRA/wd8ks5x4pixbb6

I just received this in my inbox.

Geraldo Cienmarcos


ADA equals Americans with Disabilities Act. Bear in mind that AIDS is covered under ADA. Has been for a long time. Poor people depend on the act for their survival and to help defray the costs of medication.

Anybody who voted for Bush and Company in 2000 should be ashamed of themselves. They should be required to wear an arm band with a scarlet B .

bye,
Gary the Grouch


"Page 14 of the 2004 Texas State Republican Party Platform reads:
Americans with Disabilities Act - The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases [ie, AIDS], substance addiction, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, *homosexual practices* and mental stress, thereby reducing abuse of the Act."


Texas GOP Platform Calls for Dismantling of the ADA

Targeting People with Disabilities During an Election Year

ADA Watch Action Alert
http://www.ADAwatch.org

(August 3, 2004) Your action is urgently needed to contact President Bush and the Texas Republican Party and tell them to reverse their call for an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which would eliminate protections for millions of citizens with disabilities.

Action Alert

Texas GOP Platform Calls for Dismantling of the ADA
Targeting People with Disabilities During an Election Year

(August 3, 2004) Your action is urgently needed to contact President Bush and the Texas Republican Party and tell them to reverse their call for an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which would eliminate protections for millions of citizens with disabilities.

The platform goes after those that are currently the most disenfranchised citizens in our country – children with learning and behavioral disabilities, individuals with HIV, and those with mental disabilities. (Congress, of course, already thought about coverage of people with mental disabilities and infectious diseases when they passed the ADA – at the time there were proposed amendments to exclude people with mental disabilities & HIV that were soundly defeated.)

Furthermore, the GOP platform politicizes the ADA, a nonpartisan law, by trying to associate it with hot button issues and seeking to “exclude” categories such as “homosexual practices” that are NOT – and never were – covered by the ADA

Page 14 of the 2004 Texas State Republican Party Platform reads:

Americans with Disabilities Act – The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, homosexual practices and mental stress, thereby reducing abuse of the Act.

The entire document is available online in PDF at: http://www.texasgop.org/library/RPTPlatform2004.pdf

What You Can Do:

- Use the information below to contact President Bush (whose own father signed the ADA into law), the Platform Committee Chair, and the Republican Party of Texas.

- Tell them to take this divisive and bigoted proposal out of the Texas Republican Party Platform!

- With the ADA being weakened in the courts, with growing waiting lists for mental health services, and with millions of Americans with disabilities needlessly forced to live in institutions, ask them why they are targeting some of America’s most disenfranchised citizens during this election year…

President George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, US 20500
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461

Mr. Kirk Overbey, Chair of Platform Committee
6306 Leatherwood Cove
Austin, Texas 78759

Republican Party of Texas
900 Congress, Suite 300 Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: 512.477.9821
Fax: 512.480.0709
E-mail: info@texasgop.org
http://www.adawatch.org/TexasAction.htm

DEUTSCHE SPRACHWELT

http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de

- PRESSEMITTEILUNG -

Rechtschreibreform: Abschaffung bei Springer und Spiegel ist gut für die Sprache

Erlangen, 6. August 2004 ­ Die Entscheidung von Springer und Spiegel, die Rechtschreibreform aufzugeben, wird von der DEUTSCHEN SPRACHWELT herzlich begrüßt. "Heute ist ein Tag der Freude für die Sprachgemeinschaft", erklärte der Schriftleiter der Sprachzeitung, Thomas Paulwitz: "Die Vernunft siegt. Lesefreundlichkeit und Ausdruckskraft der deutschen Sprache werden durch diese mutige Verlegerentscheidung gestärkt." Jetzt müßten weitere Verlage nachziehen. Die Leser würden es ihnen danken. Die Kultusminister sollten nun endlich auf die weitere Verordnung der mißlungenen Reform an Schulen und Behörden verzichten.

Seit fünf Jahren müssen viele Zeitungsleser unter den Unsinnigkeiten und Unstimmigkeiten der Reform leiden. Bisher hatte es als einzige Tageszeitung die "Frankfurter Allgemeine" gewagt, wieder zum Bewährten zurückzukehren. Der "Spiegel" verriet am 2. August, daß sich weitere große Zeitschriften- und Zeitungsverlage überlegen, das Abenteuer Rechtschreibreform zu beenden.

Die DEUTSCHE SPRACHWELT ermuntert alle Verlage, der Meinung von 77 Prozent der Deutschen zu folgen, die laut Emnid-Umfrage die Reform ablehnen. "Mit jeder Zeitung, die auf die anerkannte Schreibweise umstellt, rücken wir der Rechtschreibeinheit näher", glaubt Paulwitz. Die Zeitungsverlage könnten mit ihrem Mut den Ministerpräsidenten und Kultusministern die Entscheidung erleichtern, die Reform zurückzunehmen.

Jahrelanges Widerstehen und Argumentieren hätten sich gelohnt, so Paulwitz.

Bei der Sprachzeitung ist man stolz auf den Erfolg des Widerstandes gegen die Rechtschreibreform, der bisweilen als Kampf gegen Windmühlen verspottet worden war. Die DEUTSCHE SPRACHWELT hat den Protest, den zahllose Bürgerinitiativen tragen, immer unterstützt. So verbreitete sie zum diesjährigen Welttag des Buches eine Resolution, in der sich zahlreiche Prominente wie der Schriftsteller Siegfried Lenz, der Schauspieler Manfred Krug oder Altbundespräsident Walter Scheel für die Rücknahme der Reform aussprachen. Die Sprachzeitung erneuert außerdem ihren Aufruf, über den zu Jahresanfang zahlreiche Zeitungen berichteten und in dem sie fordert, im 175. Geburtsjahr Konrad Dudens das Rechtschreibchaos zu beenden. Ein wichtiger Schritt zur Wiedervereinigung der Schriftsprache ist getan. Der "Vater der Rechtschreibung" würde sich freuen.

Zur Pressemitteilung:
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/berichte/pm-2004-08-06.shtml

Resolution für die Rechtschreibeinheit:
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/archiv/resolution.shtml

Weitere Mitteilungen zur Rechtschreibreform:
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/berichte/pm-2004-07-28.shtml
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/berichte/pm-2004-04-22.shtml
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/berichte/pm-2004-03-06.shtml
http://www.deutsche-sprachwelt.de/berichte/pm-2004-01-02.shtml

The mayor and residents of the Village of Pemberton, British Columbia are fighting to prevent Weyerhaeuser from logging in a critical watershed that overlooks the village. The Mayor and members of the City Council are taking a hard line with the logging company--even vowing to "sit on the road in front of the trucks" if the Weyerhaeuser plan goes ahead.

Despite such outcry including letters of protest sent to the company by the Pemberton's Mayor and City Council, Weyerhaeuser is moving ahead full steam. "No. It does not" said Bernice Patterson, a spokesperson for Weyerhaeuser told the Question when asked if community objection would affect Weyerhaeuser's intention to log the mountain.

Fortunately, there is still time to help Mayor Warner and the people of Pemberton. "It is not a done deal. They still have a 60-day public review period to go through," said Tara Wilson, communications officer for the Ministry of Forests to the Question. "The district manager determines whether (the logging) will go ahead and that is not complete."

Click the link below to contact Weyerhaeuser CEO Steve Rogel. Your message will also be copied to Paul Kuster at the BC Ministry of Forests; Walt Cowlard, Manager of Weyerhaeuser's Timberland near Pemberton; and Dan Bane, CEO of Trader Joes's, a national customer of Weyerhaeuser.

http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=48890

What makes the mayor's convictions so compelling is that they are coming from a woman whose family is supported by the logging industry. While she supports the forestry industry she views a critical difference between sustainable and unsustainable logging. In an interview with the Whistler Question, Mayor Warner states plainly that "We consider the risk to our community values as very high compared to the limited timber values that exist in Timber License"

Weyerhaeuser wants to log a watershed that is habitat to abundant wildlife and forms the scenic backdrop to Pemberton's tourism. The area the company wants to log is located above a school and residents argue that noise from helicopters, trucks, and heavy industrial activity would be a major disruption not only to the school but to work, tourism, and day to day living in the area. From a scientific standpoint, the watershed is home to numerous species and the toil is too delicate and mossy for effective tree planting.

Mayor Warner argues that the company cannot log the mountain because it classifies as a "category 2" no-extraction zone. She and others are demanding geotechnical, creek assessment and wildlife habitat reports that the feel will prove the area is unfit for logging. In an interview with CBC Radio, Warner said she will do everything she can to stop the Weyerhaeuser from logging the watershed.

Residents are demanding that the company speak to plans on access, integrated water and fuel management, industrial noise, and First Nations concerns. Please help us raise their voices.

Sincerely,

--Jess, Sharon and Brant
The RAN Old Growth Team
July 29th, 2004

P.S. If you'd like to make a diference for the people of Pemberton, go to http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=48890

A group of concerned Canadians has launched a petition calling for a moratorium on the user of the Taser stun-gun by Canadian police forces. Please join your voice with ours and sign the petition. We would also appreciate if you could distribute this message as widely as possible to your contact lists.

Thank you for your assistance.

Click here for the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/Tasergun/petition.html


Informant: Chris