Time to protect bees in the U.S.

Great news for bees! In a historic vote, the European Union (EU) passed a continent-wide restriction on the use of bee-harming pesticides.

Here in the U.S., policymakers have yet to step up. And with beekeepers in this country reporting record-breaking bee losses this year — up to 40% or more — action to protect honey bees is more urgent than ever.

Join me in keeping the pressure on EPA to protect bees: http://action.panna.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=13289

Protect Michigan Wolves and Speak Up for Your Rights

Wolverines -- large and fierce members of the weasel family -- rapidly ascend snow-covered mountains, travel many miles a day, and are known to fight bears and wolves over their prey. These critters are tough -- but sadly no match for climate change, which is shrinking the snow cover they need for survival.

Climate change, along with trapping and habitat loss, is forcing wolverines to scratch and claw for their survival -- there are fewer than 300 left in the wild. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently only proposing to list wolverines as threatened -- allowing many of the threats to their survival to persist.

Fish and Wildlife needs to create a plan to protect wolverines -- including the full protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Please take action now to tell the Service to protect wolverines before it's too late.

Take action here: http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY= 13292.

The online #spying bill is back - #cispa #stopcispa #cispablackout

The Bill of Rights shouldn???t stop protecting our civil liberties when we go
online. But the House just passed -- for the second session in a row -- the
"Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" (CISPA), which strips
Americans of their constitutional rights when it comes to communications that
we exchange over the Internet.

CISPA is a dangerous ???cybersecurity??? bill that would give corporations more
power to obtain so-called ???threat??? information (such as from private
communications of users) and to disclose that data to the U.S. government
without a warrant. That means corporations could simply send your online
communications and other data directly to the National Security Agency (NSA)
without court order.

Tell your senators: Say no to online spying bill CISPA. The Bill of Rights
still apply online. Click the link below to sign the petition.

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/cispa_privacy/?referring_akid=a99021718.29884...

Pressure-Cooker and Cluster Bombs

Pressure-cooker bombs and cluster bombs are both extremely cruel -- shredding human flesh to produce maximum pain, injury and death. We can stop the U.S. government using cluster bombs in our name. http://bit.ly/178rh64

Stop Frankentrees From Invading Southern Forests

A silent threat is facing the forests of the American South. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering allowing genetically modified eucalyptus trees for commercial planting in the forests of Texas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Help prevent these Frankentrees from taking over -- protect the heritage and the future of our forests.

Genetically modified, cold-tolerant eucalyptus plantations would create “green deserts” because these foreign-adapted trees don’t support our native plants and animals. In fact, eucalyptus trees are harmful to native wildlife -- and they’ve already become invasive in California and Florida.

Eucalyptus trees suck up more water than the forests that evolved here, which threatens creeks and rivers and the endangered freshwater species that live in them. Eucalyptus also produce a sticky gum that can asphyxiate songbirds and glue their beaks shut. Naturally toxic, the species hurts beneficial insects that birds depend on for food. Adding insult to injury, eucalyptus trees are explosively flammable and known to increase the risk of forest fires. Converting native forests into eucalyptus plantations for pulp and biofuel will worsen drought and speed climate change.

Please take action now and tell the feds to ban genetically engineered trees and reject the request to deregulate genetically modified eucalyptus.

Take action here: http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY...

Protect the Diamond Darter

A small, shimmery fish from West Virginia urgently needs your help. The diamond darter -- aptly named for the sparkling reflections it casts -- is easily one of the most endangered fish in the world. In the past 30 years, fewer than 20 of these translucent fish have been spotted. And new threats from mountaintop-removal coal mining and fracking could quickly push this very rare fish to extinction.

The diamond darter once swam in the rivers of Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia – but today it survives only in a 22-mile section of the Elk River in West Virginia, where it faces dire threats from the energy industry.

In 2012 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to protect the diamond darter under the Endangered Species Act with critical habitat. Now the energy industry is opposing the darter's protection, even though both federal and state biologists have acknowledged that the diamond darter needs Endangered Species Act protections in order to survive.

West Virginia's coal mining doesn't threaten just this rare fish: Numerous scientific studies have linked pollution from coal mining to increased incidence of disease in nearby human communities. Protecting habitat for the diamond darter will help protect drinking water for people.

Don't let Fish and Wildlife bend for misguided pressures and private interests. Take action now to help protect the diamond darter.

Take action here: http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY...

Do you know about this GMO salmon thing?

AquAdvantage by AquaBounty could become the first brand of genetically modified (GMO) frankenfish coming to your grocery’s seafood case - but opposition from supermarket chains could help us stop it.

Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have already agreed to boycott the fish, but none of the other supermarket chains like Kroger, Safeway, Target, and Walmart -- which account for the vast majority of supermarkets under various brands -- has commented yet.

Tell national supermarket chains: No frankenfish for me. Join the campaign for GMO-free seafood and refuse to sell genetically engineered salmon. Click the link below to sign the petition.

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/grocer_gmo_salmon/?referring_akid=7267.2988458.BEjwlM&source=mailto1

Tell Congress: Defend Social Security or Else

Send an unambiguous message to your representative and senators: If you vote to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, I will oppose your re-election.

http://bit.ly/16HfOtW

Michael L. Love

Here is a current photo.

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/

Michael L. Love

Here is a current photo.

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/

Tell President Obama: Don't cut Social Security and Medicare benefits

Dear Friend,

According to the New York Times, President Obama is poised to propose
cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits in the budget he’ll
unveil on Wednesday.

It’s really hard to fathom why the president is working so hard to
preemptively cave on these core issues. There is nothing smart, tough
or pragmatic about proposing policies that will push more seniors into
poverty. And this is especially the case when the proposed policies
are deeply, deeply unpopular.

Cutting benefits is opposed by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
And if the American people really wanted a president who would start
to dismantle our Social Security system or cut Medicare benefits, it’d
be Mitt Romney in office, not Barack Obama.

Tell President Obama: Benefit cuts are wrong, and they’re not what we
voted for. Click the link below to sign the petition.

http://credo.actionkit.com/sign/obama_budget?referring_akid=7245.2988458.LfsH...

Keystone Pipeline Threatens Songbirds

Dear Friend,

I just sent comments to the Obama Administration urging a more thorough
review of the environmental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline. I hope
you will read the alert from the National Audubon Society below and
join me in taking action.

AUDUBON ACTION ALERT

The State Department recently released a draft environmental review of
the Keystone XL pipeline plan, citing little environmental impact.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The review is woefully inadequate, ignoring the massive
impacts from tar sands operations in Canada that are destroying
millions of acres of boreal forest so important to many of our
songbirds. The report further finds that building the pipeline will
have little impact on climate change--even though the pipeline
would increase emissions so much it would be like adding 4.6 million
cars to the roads.

Now, alarming reports are coming from Arkansas on a pipeline break
that is releasing thousands of barrels of this same kind of thick,
dirty oil into waterways that feed nearby Lake Conway and the town of
Mayflower, AR. Oiled birds and other wildlife in the area are being
treated, with many more expected to succumb to the toxic oil. The
Arkansas incident is the second spill of Canadian tar sands oil in a
week. On March 27, a mile-long Canadian Pacific train hauling Canadian
crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 30,000 gallons about 150 miles
northwest of Minneapolis. These two incidents are a stark
reminder that transporting this oil across the U.S. is just asking for
trouble.

**Take Action**

Submit your comments now on this draft environmental review. Comments
are due April 22. It's critical that we challenge the weaknesses in
this draft with respect to impacts on wildlife, habitat, water quality,
and climate change:
http://www.audubonaction.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&...

FROM FOREST TO WASTELAND

The Keystone XL pipeline would drive the expansion of tar
sands development in Canada, which is turning vital bird habitat in
the boreal forests into an industrial wasteland of open-pit mines,
smokestacks, and toxic waste ponds.

In addition, Keystone would accelerate the global climate
crisis. In a May 2012 op-ed in The New York Times, NASA climate
scientist James Hansen wrote regarding Alberta oil sands extraction,
"If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for
the climate." He argued, "We need to start reducing
emissions significantly, not create new ways to increase them."

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO ACT

Fortunately, the environmental review is still in draft
form. We have an opportunity right now to make sure the harmful
effects from tar sands development on birds, habitat, and climate
change are included in the final review, before President Obama makes
his ultimate decision on whether to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to
be built. Comments are due by April 22.

**Take Action**
Send in your comments today. We need to be sure this environmental
review tells the whole story of the Keystone XL pipeline and the great
damage it will cause to birds, wildlife and habitat, and our efforts
to curb climate change:
http://www.audubonaction.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&...

Sincerely,

Mike Daulton
Vice President, Government Relations
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audubon
1200 18th Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036
audubonaction@audubon.org

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
http://www.audubonaction.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=uSZT54UkIn_CX1xkwXbkVQ&id... If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.
If you no longer wish to receive email messages sent from your friends on behalf of Audubon, please follow the link below: http://www.audubonaction.org/site/TellFriendOpt?action=optout&toe=97d2db6729d...

Michael wants you to take action on "Protect Conservation Programs That Preserve Pennsylvania’s Waterways and the Chesapeake Bay!"!

Michael Love has just read and signed the petition: Protect Conservation Programs That Preserve Pennsylvania’s Waterways and the Chesapeake Bay!

You can view this petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/720/559/958/

Message from Michael Love:
-----

Hi, I signed the petition "Protect Conservation Programs That Preserve Pennsylvania’s Waterways and the Chesapeake Bay!". I'm asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 5,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts.

-----

ThePetitionSite.com provides tools and empowers individuals to make a difference and effect positive change through online activism. Get connected with the causes you care about, take action to make the world a better place, and start your own petition at http://www.ThePetitionSite.com!

ThePetitionSite.com is powered by Care2, the largest and most trusted information and action site for people who care to make a difference in their lives and the world. www.care2.com

Now is the time to push the limit! #2a #nra #tcot #tgdn #gunrights #molonlabe #guncontrol

Save your gun rights. Use the NAGR fax tool. Let's send a million faxes!

http://nagr.org/emergency_fax_petition.aspx?pid=2b

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/

ANOTHER gun control "deal" in the works

proclus@gnu-darwin.org has sent you a personal message: Here is a great action! ---------------------

Dear GNU-Darwin Action Group, In less than 4 days, U.S. Senators return to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The show-down battle over our gun rights is upon us -- things are heating up RIGHT NOW! NAGR staff has been dispatched to Capitol Hill to deliver million of petitions OPPOSING gun control. And hundreds of thousands of EMERGENCY Fax Petitions signed by NAGR members yesterday are beginning to light up fax machines in Senate offices today. If you've already signed your EMERGENCY Fax Petition urging your U.S. Senators to OPPOSE the motion to proceed on S. 649 and SUPPORT the Rand Paul-led filibuster -- Thank you! But if we're going to win this fight, it's vital every friend and family member you know who supports our Second Amendment rights also signs their EMERGENCY Fax Petition. Please click here to forward the petition. But if you have yet to sign your EMERGENCY Fax Petition, please click here to do so right now. Dudley has laid out in plain terms the onslaught gun owners are facing -- please read his analysis below. -- Ashley R From: Dudley Brown [dudley.brown@nationalgunrights.org] To: Ashley [ashley@nationalgunrights.org] Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2013 12:36 PM Subject: ANOTHER gun control "deal" in the works Word out of Washington is that Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn is now the “linchpin” gun control negotiator on Capitol Hill. He’s working feverishly with gun-grabbing Senator Chuck Schumer and weak-kneed Republicans like Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley on a “deal” that would greatly expand federal background checks -- key to Barack Obama’s gun control agenda. This showdown you and I have been gearing up for could be less than one week away. The Senate’s two-week recess will be over. They’ll be back into session. And President Obama’s gun control schemes WILL be at the top of the Senate’s agenda. GNU-Darwin Action Group, the very first procedural move Harry Reid makes could very well be decisive . . . and supposedly “pro-gun” Members in BOTH parties will be complicit. Without your action today, I’m afraid the Senate fight could get out of control and be lost before it’s even begun. *** SO PLEASE DO NOT DELETE THIS EMAIL OR JUST THINK YOU CAN GET TO IT LATER *** THE MOST critical period in the fight to protect our Second Amendment rights is happening right now. And I can promise you will not get all the facts from the national media. After I explain the situation, I’m going to ask you to sign an EMERGENCY Fax Petition to your U.S. Senators. I hope you’ll not only agree to sign them, I hope you’ll forward them to as many pro-gun family members and friends as you can. As you’ll see, these petitions urge your U.S. Senators to “Stand with Rand” and STOP any bill from coming to the Senate floor that’s designed to serve as the vehicle for President Obama’s anti-gun agenda. You see, while anti-gun members of the national media pretend they don’t know what’s going on in Washington, D.C., the gun-grabbers’ Senate strategy is hardly a secret. Senator Reid’s plan is to bring an innocent-sounding gun-related bill to the floor to clear the 60-vote filibuster hurdle to bring a bill to the floor. This vote on a mundane, harmless “carrier bill” is the KEY vote. Once debate begins, so will the deal-making. Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer and all the rest will force votes on amendment after amendment to see just how draconian they can get the ultimate bill to be -- and still clear the 60-vote threshold needed for ultimate passage. That means things could get out of control -- AND FAST. Any number of outrageous anti-gun amendments could be offered, including: *** FULL-SCALE NATIONAL GUN REGISTRATION under the guise of “universal background checks.” The only way for this radical scheme to be enforced is for every gun and every gun owner in America to be registered with the federal government. And you and I both know, gun registration is just the first step to CONFISCATION; *** CITIZEN DISARMAMENT under the guise of so-called “mental health restrictions” handing government officials the ability to strip U.S. citizens of the right to buy or own firearms on a whim -- and without any adjudication. Already, hundreds of thousands of military veterans have fallen victim to similar state level schemes. And former Surgeon General Steven Galson estimated that 46.4% of Americans experience some sort of mental illness during their lives! To the gun-grabbers, disarming up to 50% of the American population within a year or two’s time sounds like a dream come true. *** ANTI-GUN ATF WITCHHUNTS under the guise of stopping “gun trafficking” dramatically ramping up penalties on Americans who sell firearms to “prohibited persons” -- if the seller “should have known.” The legal definitions of both of these phrases is so vague, they’re an anti-gun ATF agent’s dream come true. This scheme is designed to get gun owners to start screaming FOR a national gun registry because ultimately the only way you’ll be able to protect yourself from ATF goons is to get prior federal approval for every gun transfer. GNU-Darwin Action Group, that’s not even close to the end of it! By the time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s horse-trading and vote-trading is through, I’m afraid we could even see the Feinstein Gun Ban attached as an amendment. That’s why I’m counting on you to sign your EMERGENCY Fax Petition TODAY! You see, the good news is, for a little over a week now, Senator Rand Paul has been circulating a letter around Capitol Hill saying he’ll filibuster any gun legislation Senator Harry Reid plans to move to the Senate floor for “debate.” If Senator Paul can get 40 Senators to stand with him, the fight is over and no gun bill will be able to break through Senator Paul’s logjam. The Obama administration has already made it clear it opposes Senator Paul’s move . . . So the decision your Senators have is to Stand With Rand -- or President Obama. GNU-Darwin Action Group, I HATE the fact I even have to write you this email. After all, there are 45 Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Virtually all claim to support our gun rights. There’s more than a handful of Democrats who claim to support our gun rights, as well. But only four Senators have so far pledged to Stand With Rand -- Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK). The rest are sitting on their hands -- trying to decide how they’ll vote. After all, they don’t want to be painted as “unreasonable” by the national media. In fact, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is even writing his own “carrier bill” to help Harry Reid along! And deal-cutting GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he can’t wait to see it. After all, what’s the harm in voting for some little harmless watered-down bill? Never mind you and I are virtually guaranteed to get kicked in the teeth with one of the worst anti-gun bills you and I have seen in decades . . . The politicians couldn’t care less about that. All politicians care about is not getting the blame when they face reelection if and when you and I get steamrolled. And they think they can get away with it too . . . because the NRA -- with a wink and a nod -- is DEAD SILENT. Sadly, the NRA hasn’t yet lifted a finger to urge U.S. Senators to Stand With Rand. But GNU-Darwin Action Group, regardless of what the NRA does -- if U.S. Senators think they’ll get away with greasing the skids for President Obama’s anti-gun agenda -- they’ve got another thing coming. With your help, the National Association for Gun Rights is prepared to turn up the heat on EVERY U.S. Senator and make one thing crystal clear . . . A VOTE TO PROCEED TO DEBATE ON ANY ANTI-GUN CARRIER BILL -- NO MATTER HOW MUNDANE -- IS A VOTE FOR GUN CONTROL. PERIOD. But there’s no time to waste. The clock is ticking. You and I have exactly one week to turn the heat up on the U.S. Senate before they go back in session. I want every Senator to come back to D.C. to a MASSIVE stack of petitions sitting on his or her desk. That’s why I need to flood the Senate with EMERGENCY Fax Petitions from good folks like you -- and why I’m asking you to forward this petition to every pro-gun friend and family member you have. GNU-Darwin Action Group, there’s one more thing. If at all possible, please agree to your most generous financial support today. Please. Every penny you can. Perhaps you can afford $20? The more you can give, the more Second Amendment supporters nationwide I can contact . . . The more TV ads I can run . . . The petitions I can generate . . . . . . The better the chance you and I turn back this anti-gun assault. But I know $20 is a lot. If it’s just too much, please agree to $10 or $5. Please. Make no mistake, this fight is about to get hot and heavy. I’m doing everything I can, but I’m counting on you to stand with me. Please sign your EMERGENCY Fax Petition today urging your U.S. Senators to Stand With Rand and refuse to allow any anti-gun “carrier bill” to the floor that’s designed to serve as a vehicle to ram through Barack Obama’s anti-gun agenda. And if you can, please agree to a generous contribution of $20, $10 or $5 TODAY! Please act at once. For Freedom, Dudley Brown Executive Vice President P.S. You and I have less than a week until the Senate goes back into session. Senator Reid’s plan is to bring an innocent-sounding gun-related bill to the floor to clear the 60-vote filibuster hurdle to bring a bill to the floor. This vote on a mundane, harmless “carrier bill” is the KEY vote. Once debate begins, so will the deal-making. Please sign your EMERGENCY Fax Petition urging your U.S. Senators to “Stand with Rand” and STOP any bill from coming to the Senate floor that’s designed to serve as the vehicle for President Obama’s anti-gun agenda. And if you can, please agree to a generous contribution of $20, $10 or $5 TODAY! The National Association for Gun Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens' organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Constitutionally protected right-to-keep-and-bear-arms through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to anti-gun legislation. The National Association for Gun Rights' mailing address is P.O. Box 7002, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. They can be contacted toll-free at 1-877-405-4570. Its web address is www.NationalGunRights.org Not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense. To help the National Association for Gun Rights grow, please forward this to a friend. To view this email as a web page, please click this link: view online. Help fight gun control. Donate to the National Association for Gun Rights!

Support The Student Loan Fairness Act (H.R. 1330)!

Hi,

I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama which says:

"Total outstanding student loan debt in America has passed the $1 Trillion mark.

Exceeding credit card and auto debt, it is the only kind of debt that actually increased during the "Great Recession."  And the problem only continues to worsen.

Reclaim the American Dream for more than 37 Million student loan borrowers - Support the Student Loan Fairness Act  (H.R. 1330)!"

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan-6?source=s.icn.em.mt&r_by=985589

Thanks!

Sample letter against #Maryland #guncontrol - #2a #molonlabe #nra #tgdn #gunrights #tcot

Please feel free to use this as you like.

Maryland gun control measures should be opposed. They will do nothing
to prevent gun crime or violence. It is insulting to put the
fingerprints of law-abiding gun owners side-by-side with criminals in
state & federal databases. Measures like the magazine limits and gun
ban provisions will do nothing to prevent gun crime or violence.
Maryland gun ban provisions are arbitrary restrictions of protected
rights. Maryland is exploiting public hysteria to promote knee-jerk
and ineffective proposals. These ill-conceived Maryland gun control
and gun ban proposals should be set aside. Maryland mental health
provisions are already adequate. There is no good argument for
ineffective measures that limit people's rights. Maryland provisions
do not make adequate consideration of the injustice of mental illness
stigma. Former mental health patients must make application to the
same people who think that no one should have guns. These outrageous
proposals will not pass as federal legislation, and Maryland will bear
the legal cost of defending unconstitutional laws. Registration &
background checks are failing at the federal level. It is wrong to
place undue burdens on the exercise of protected rights. It is wrong
for Maryland lawmakers to unload their responsibilities onto the
courts. Defend our rights.

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/