May 10, 2005

In over 20 cities, CODEPINK activists gathered this past weekend to honor the original Mother's Day call for peace. From the recruitment center in Reno, Nevada and the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC to the Cinco de Mayo carnival in Chicago and the state capitol in Sacramento, CODEPINK was there. Thank you for ALL the ways you spoke out this weekend! (Check out some of the CODEPINK women and men in action)
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=1&url=http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=48

It's another full week and once again, we'd love your help...

* Sailor Pablo Paredes (San Diego, CA) and soldier Kevin Benderman (Ft. Stewart, GA) will go before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq war on Thursday. Join us in supporting these courageous young men by signing the petition urging their discharge. We must do all we can to support dissent within the ranks.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=2&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/codepink/signUp.jsp?key=345

* When John Bolton was nominated to be our UN Ambassador, CODEPINK sprung into action -- disrupting his hearing with banners and exposing the bully he truly is. This week, we have a REAL chance to stop Bolton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes on THURSDAY, May 12. Please take a moment to CALL YOUR SENATOR RIGHT AWAY to say that a UN-basher must not fill this important post.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=3&url=http://stopbolton.org/activist/

* With the violence in Iraq escalating, we urge you to join Counting the Cost, a campaign to make the human cost of the war more visible. On May 15, 2005, people around the country will wear a number representing one of the Iraqi citizens, U.S. soldiers, coalition soldiers, and other international civilians who have been killed in Iraq. You can join a vigil being planned for that day, organize one of your own, or simply spend the day wearing your number and talking to your neighbors about it. Contact http://www.countingthecost.org to sign up for a number.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=4&url=http://www.countingthecost.org

Let's use this week to build on our Mother's Day pledge to bring an end to war NOW.

Dana, Gael, Nancy, Jodie, Medea, Rae, Tiffany and Farida

from Jodie Evans

To America's mothers and grandmothers:

As a Board member of Rainforest Action Network, co-founder of CODEPINK, and most importantly, as the mother of three beautiful children, I am writing to ask you to join me in an effort to reduce our country's oil dependence. If you're like me, you're concerned about how America's dangerous addiction to oil is threatening our national security, producing smog that harms our children's health, destabilizing our climate, and forcing us to pay ever-increasing gas prices. If we don't solve this problem now, then what kind of future are we leaving for our kids?

I am writing to ask you to join me in helping to jumpstart Ford Motor Company, America's biggest gas guzzler. Beginning this Mother's Day and continuing until Mother's Day 2006, we are asking mothers and grandmothers from across the country to help us convince America's flagship automaker to lead us to a clean energy future. Please sign this letter and join us in making the world a better place for our families.

http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=92148

Transportation accounts for 70% of all oil consumption in the United States, and Ford Motor Company has had the worst fuel efficiency for the past five years. Ford Motors lagged behind the industry average on fuel efficiency every year for the past 30 years, and its entire fleet gets less gas mileage than the Model T 100 years ago!

Imagine you lived in a country where American carmakers led the world in efficiency and clean technology. Imagine a fleet of cars that would help to reduce childhood asthma rates and would lessen the likelihood of catastrophic oil spills. When our country breaks its oil addiction, we won't need to drill in the pristine wilderness of Alaska or the Amazon to fill up our gas tanks. We will have a foreign policy that supports democracy, transparency, and human rights everywhere. And, we won't need to send our children to war to stand guard over oil wells half a world away.

We can do this, but we need to work together. Join us and write to Bill Ford, asking him to build clean cars now.

http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=92148

The future of our planet depends on our ability to quickly wean ourselves away from all fossil fuels. A child born today will witness the bleaching of 70% of our coral reefs, the disappearance of almost all North American glaciers, and an endangered species list that outnumbers the ones that are left. In the Amazon alone, up to 87% of all species would be committed to extinction due to climate change within the next forty-five years. Is this the future we choose to leave our children? Lend your voice and help make sure the world we leave our children is better than this.

http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=92148

Please send a letter to Bill Ford today, and pass this alert to other moms and grandmoms. Join us in telling Bill Ford:

· As American citizens and mothers we deserve transportation that doesn't threaten our national security.

· As mothers we have the right to breathe clean air and enable our children to have healthy lives free from asthma and polluted resources.

· As mothers we believe that our children and grandchildren shouldn't have to solve a climate change problem that our generation's leaders refuse to accept.

· As mothers we are concerned about America's oil addiction and Ford's lack of commitment to fuel efficiency and zero emissions vehicles.

Join concerned mothers everywhere in asking Ford to become the first automaker to commit to producing zero emissions vehicles and dramatically increase its fuel efficiency across the board. Let's convince automakers to stop contributing to the problem and become a part of the solution. Come meet mothers from all over the world and post your own story and photo!

http://action.ran.org/ctt.asp?u=2844473&l=92148

Thank you for taking action to help drive Ford to a cleaner, more efficient future. Share this with mothers you know and help connect them to this, a Mother's Plea for the Planet!

Yours,
Jodie Evans
Co-founder, CODEPINK
Boardmember, Rainforest Action Network

Mother's Plea for the Planet is sponsored by Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, Code Pink, and the Raging Grannies.

Nachdem wochenlang in Sachen Nebeneinkünfte nichts mehr zu hören war, kam nach Beginn der Campact-Aktion wieder Bewegung in den politischen Prozess. Die Rechtsstellungskommission des Ältestenrates trat mehrmals zusammen und wird sich nach Campact-Informationen noch ein letztes Mal am 12. Mai mit dem Thema Nebeneinkünfte befassen. Danach soll der rot-grüne Vorschlag in den Bundestag eingebracht werden. Durch Ihren Druck wurde der Vorschlag verbessert: Er enthält nun eine weitere Einkommensstufe in Höhe von 1.000 €. Damit können Abgeordnete mit geringfügigen Einkommen von denen mit hohen Nebenverdiensten unterschieden werden.

Innerhalb weniger Tage haben sich über 1.300 Menschen an der Campact-Aktion beteiligt. Spiegel-online, heise.de und taz berichteten:
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/politik/0,1518,350058,00.html
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/58287
http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/04/07/a0074.nf/text

Voraussichtlich am 12. Mai wird auch "Panorama" im Ersten um 21.45 Uhr über die Campact-Kampagne und den Stand der Dinge in Sachen Nebeneinkünfte von Abgeordneten berichten.

Wenn Sie noch nicht die Campact-E-Mail an die Mitglieder des Ältestenrats verschickt haben, holen Sie dies doch gleich nach.
Klicken Sie hier: http://www.campact.de



Lobbyismus entschärfen – Nebeneinkünfte veröffentlichen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/516946/

ActForChange and Working Assets are proud to bring you an urgent alert from CARE2, the largest online network for people who Care2 make a difference. This urgent action calls on the Canadian government to end the cruel and senseless seal hunt, the largest deliberate slaughter of marine mammals in the world.

I urge you to take action below in support of ending this tragic hunt. Together, we are making a difference.

Jennifer Willis
Director, ActForChange.com

Stop Canada's Cruel and Senseless Seal Hunt!
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hfYq0IEmZM0PD50ybV0Ex

Nearly 1 million baby seals will be clubbed or shot to death in Canada in just three years. Shockingly, the hunt is subsidized by the Canadian government!

Click here to take action!
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hfYq0IEmZM0PD50ybV0Ex

Every winter, Northwest Atlantic harp seals migrate to Eastern Canada to give birth and mate. Following their birth in late winter, mothers leave in search of mates, while the pups remain helpless and vulnerable on the ice until they can swim and catch their own food. It's during this time when they are most vulnerable that they are mercilessly slaughtered for their pelts!

Hunters armed with clubs and rifles will bludgeon to death hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals. About 96% of the seals killed will be less than three months old and more than 40% may be skinned alive!

Canada's seal hunt is the largest deliberate slaughter of marine mammals in the world. But the killing of baby seals doesn't make sense economically or ecologically, nor is it sustainable. It's simply a tragic slaughter of defenseless animals that benefits a small minority of boat captains armed with big ships, snowmobiles and even personal helicopters. This isn't about small town survival or tradition, it's an industrial killing machine for profit.

But Canada wants the media and public to believe that no one cares about the innocent blood spilled each year across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This year's hunt will continue until the industry reaches its quota of 319,500 seals. That's why we must raise a public outcry.

Please tell the Canadian government that you do care and that this practice is unacceptable. We must show the Canadian Parliament that the rest of the world will no longer stand for this cruel and senseless hunt!

Click here to take action!
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/hfYq0IEmZM0PD50ybV0Ex

Please forward this newsletter to your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!

The People's Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty is a nationwide petition drive spearheaded by the Climate Crisis Coalition, which includes a broad coalition of environmental, religious, and human rights organizations. Rainforest Action Network joins Ross Gelbspan http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/02/16/gelbspan/, climate prophet and author of The Heat is On and Boiling Point, and other climate protection advocates calling on the United States' immediate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and subsequent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent.

Stand up and be counted!
Click here to sign the online petition

http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org/

http://www.stoppt-softwarepatente.de

Am Besten alle mitmachen!

Wenn Software derart patentierbar wird, bedeutet dies, dass nur ein Hersteller eine Textverarbeitung machen darf, allen anderen wirds untersagt....

nur als Beispiel...


So haben wir kleinen Entwickler keinerlei Chancen mehr innovative Produkte zu entwickeln, kundenspezifische Datenbanken zu entwickeln und so wird die Markt- bzw. Machtkonzentrationen noch immenser werden!


Bernd Schreiner



Eine neue Richtlinie der EU-Kommission soll die Patentierung von Software ermöglichen. Microsoft, Adobe & Co haben entsprechend Druck gemacht. Sie wollen sich der Konkurrenz vieler kleiner Softwareschmieden entledigen. Tausende Arbeitsplätze stehen damit auf dem Spiel. Softwareprojekten wie Linux und Firefox würde der Boden entzogen. Für uns als Verbraucher würde Software teurer, weniger innovativ und qualitativ schlechter werden.

Das EU-Parlament hat den Vorschlag der Kommission bereits einmal abgelehnt. Ende Juni / Anfang Juli sollen die Parlamentarier ein zweites Mal darüber entscheiden. Eine erneute Ablehnung ist möglich, aber keineswegs sicher. Nur wenn genug Menschen den Abgeordneten den Rücken stärken, werden sie sich den großen Softwarekonzernen widersetzen. Zusammen mit Attac-Deutschland startet Campact deshalb die Kampagne "Stoppt Softwarepatente!"

Mehr im 5-Minuten-Info
http://www.campact.de/stopptswp/5minuteninfo

Das EU-Parlament kann die Softwarepatente noch zu Fall bringen. Im Juli wird entschieden. Stärken Sie den Abgeordneten den Rücken, damit sie sich den großen Softwarekonzernen widersetzen!
Zur Kampagnenhomepage: http://www.campact.de/stopptswp/home


Aktion: Überzeugen Sie die deutschen EU-Parlamentarier!

Mit der Aktion "Parla-Watch" wollen Campact und Attac die Entscheidungsfindung in Sachen Softwarepatente im Europäischen Parlament transparent und für Sie beeinflussbar machen. Stärken Sie den Abgeordneten den Rücken, damit sie sich den großen Softwarekonzernen widersetzen

Schreiben Sie an alle Parlamentarier, die noch nicht zu Softwarepateten Stellung bezogen haben! Fordern Sie diese Abgeordneten auf, sich umfassend zu informieren und schon jetzt gegen Softwarepatente Stellung zu beziehen. Klicken Sie hier: http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/send2mepgray

Schreiben Sie an alle Parlamentarier, die sich bisher noch nicht entschieden haben! Weisen Sie diese Abgeordneten auf die vier notwendigen Eckpunkte einer Neuregelung hin und bitten Sie sie sich dafür einzusetzen. http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/eckpunkte
Klicken Sie hier: http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/send2mepyellow

Schreiben Sie an die Parlamentarier, die der EU-Richtlinie zu Softwarepatenten zustimmen wollen! Fordern Sie die Abgeordneten auf, ihr Vorhaben zu überdenken und eine Veränderung der Richtlinie einzufordern. Diese sollten sich an den vier Eckpunkten orientieren, für die sich das Europaparlament in der ersten Lesung 2003 ausgesprochen hat. http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/eckpunkte
Klicken Sie hier: http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/send2mepred

Recherchieren Sie die Antworten von Parlamentariern!
http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/mepbyname

In einer Übersicht haben wir alle 99 deutschen Europaparlamentarier und deren Meinungsäußerungen zum Thema Softwarepatente zusammengetragen. Recherchieren Sie die Positionen der Abgeordneten zum Thema "Softwarepatente". Klicken Sie sich ein
http://luki.campact.de/stopptswp/mepbyname

Noch ist die Position vieler EU-Parlamentariern unklar. Wenn Sie Antworten von Abgeordneten erhalten, leiten Sie uns diese bitte an info@campact.de weiter. Hiermit können wir die Übersicht weiter ergänzen.

In den ersten Tagen haben sich bereits über 2.000 Menschen an der Aktion beteiligt. Spiegel-online, taz und heise.de berichten ausführlich:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/politik/0,1518,353834,00.html
http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/04/29/a0146.nf/text
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/59107

Today is Earth Day and this year the environmental community is taking an exciting new step to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. On Monday, a diverse group of leaders with backgrounds in national security, job growth, faith-based stewardship, and the Western way of life came together to speak out against our dependence on fossil fuels and the importance of investing in renewable energy NOW!

This Earth Day you can become a part of this growing movement to Re-energize America by visiting our website at http://www.ReenergizeAmerica.org and signing our pledge to reduce our dependence on oil now!

Reducing our dependence on oil isn't just an environmental issue, it's an American issue. By signing this pledge you’ll be joining some interesting allies, including not just environmentalists, but also national security experts, ranchers, labor leaders, and religious leaders.

This diverse group of constituencies understands that the best way to reduce our dependence on oil is to harness clean, renewable energy sources and alternative energy technologies here at home, and to vastly improve energy efficiency. Expanding our energy choices will stimulate innovation, create jobs, strengthen our national security and stop global warming.

Tweeti Blancett, a sixth generation rancher from Aztec, New Mexico who spoke at Monday's event said "we must form an alliance with farmers, ranchers, conservationists, hunters and fishermen, liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats to Re-Energize America."

This Earth Day, it’s time to put American ingenuity back to work developing clean, safe, and efficient energy right here at home. We have the technologies to produce cars that burn less gas, generate electricity from wind and sun, clean up power plants, create appliances and entire buildings that use less power, and create new markets for American farmers by growing biofuels. Click here to sign the Re-energize America pledge to help make these ideas reality! http://ga3.org/ct/ApAwcv71Umex/

Please help us spread the word about this growing national campaign to Re-energize America; forward this email to your friends, family and co-workers!

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Katelyn Sabochik
Online Campaign Manager
info@saveourenvironment.org