Older blog entries for proclus (starting at number 2074)

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...

Syndicated 2013-04-06 05:37:00 (Updated 2013-04-06 05:37:16) from proclus

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

Syndicated 2013-04-06 05:15:00 (Updated 2013-04-06 05:15:35) from proclus

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/

Syndicated 2013-04-05 20:42:00 (Updated 2013-04-05 20:42:52) from proclus

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!

donate

Syndicated 2013-04-05 20:28:00 (Updated 2013-04-05 20:28:12) from proclus

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!

Syndicated 2013-04-04 17:58:00 (Updated 2013-04-04 17:58:09) from proclus

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/

Syndicated 2013-04-01 18:38:00 (Updated 2013-04-01 18:38:01) from proclus

Defund the F-35 now

The F-35 joint strike fighter, which we have affectionately named the “Fiasco 35,” has been a disaster since production began in 2001. Twelve years later, the costliest weapons system and the single most expensive item in the 2013 Pentagon budget has yet to fly a single combat mission.

The F-35 program has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, has been grounded twice, does little to address 21st century threats and is still nowhere near completion. Tell Congress: stop funding the F-35 fighter jet program now.

http://action.usaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=513&track=taf

Syndicated 2013-03-31 03:55:00 (Updated 2013-03-31 03:55:57) from proclus

Second Amendment: Action Alert

I just took action on this issue and thought you might find it interesting too.

Click on this URL to take action now http://capwiz.com/gunowners/utr/2/?a=62548606&i=123663952&c=

If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.


-------------------------------------
Powered by Capitol Advantage, LLC
http://www.capitoladvantage.com
"Connect and Be Counted"
-------------------------------------

Syndicated 2013-03-30 08:44:00 (Updated 2013-03-30 08:44:45) from proclus

Much belated Valentines wishes

Hope that you enjoy this bit of verse. Be sure and pass the hugs around!

I love you!, some verse by Michael L. Love

Love, I am in a love lockdown.
It's love hate.
I say love you, not boy love.
I am fated to love you.
I want to say I love her.
I want to be your love guru, bad love.
Don't hate that I love you.
Don't say that I love money.
I want to play a lady gaga love game to you,
and say love sayings to you.
I will send you a love sms,
so that you will know that it is pure love.
I want to be in your love horoscope.
You have me in a love lock down.
It's not guy love.
It's not dvd love.
I want your love today.
Let's ride the rock of love bus.
It's not love and hate.
Be my computer love.
I love money 2.
Be in my love horoscopes.
We will be famous love,
and a love saying,
and cute love quotes,
love etc.
I'm in a love lock down.
It's skinny love.
It's your birthday love.
We will write the love definition,
and famous love quotes,
and sayings.

It's not love vs money,
or sad love quotes.
We should be the definition of love,
and famous love quotes.
You are my rock of love.
I love saying I love you,
but it is unrequited love,
bon iver skinny love,
e cards love.
We were love 2007,
and love inc,
and love shayari.
It was funny love quotes,
the dream of love vs money.
You are on my bratz love meter.
This is a real chance at love,
ashley rock of love,
and famous love poems.
I mean inspirational love,
the love letters of great men,
not love dvds,
or love ecards,
or love my flash.
We had sayings about love,
taya rock of love.
Write love poems for her,
and love sonnets.
It's valentines day love.
We need a free love calculator,
and a real chance of love girls.
To love and die,
for love 21,
is a free love test.

Write love poems for the one you love,
and you will need a true love calculator,
not an online love calculator,
to calculate your love.

Get me to the love calculator.

by Michael L. Love Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/

Syndicated 2013-03-21 17:57:00 (Updated 2013-03-21 17:57:29) from proclus

Keep GE Salmon Off Our Tables

Keep GE Salmon Off Our Tables: Tell Supermarkets, Food Companies, and Seafood Restaurants to Reject GE Salmon!

SIGN NOW: http://bit.ly/KeepGeSalmonOffOurTables

Center for Food Safety (CFS), along with Friends of the Earth and a coalition of thirty consumer, food safety, fishing, environmental, sustainable agriculture, parent, public health and animal welfare organizations, have launched a national Campaign for GE-Free Seafood. Over the last month, we’ve sent letters to the nation’s top grocery stores, seafood companies, and seafood restaurants asking them to commit to not sell genetically engineered fish should it come to market.

Some of the biggest grocery stores in the U.S. have already replied, stating that they will not sell genetically engineered salmon in their stores, including: Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Marsh Supermarkets, Aldi, and PCC Natural Markets! Additionally, over 200 chefs and restaurants have signed CFS’s Pledge for GE-Free Fish stating that they will not intentionally purchase, sell, or serve genetically engineered salmon in their restaurants. Together, these supermarkets and restaurants are showing that they care about consumers and sustainable fisheries. But there are a lot more companies yet to sign!

Since the FDA has stated that it will likely not require GE fish to be labeled, consumers will have no way of avoiding the fish at the market unless companies make clear to consumers where they stand on the issue.

Help urge these companies to take a position rejecting GE salmon!
SIGN NOW: http://bit.ly/KeepGeSalmonOffOurTables


SIGN THE PETITION: http://bit.ly/KeepGeSalmonOffOurTables

Syndicated 2013-03-21 17:20:00 (Updated 2013-03-21 17:20:41) from proclus

2065 older entries...

New Advogato Features

New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.

Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.

If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!