Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:23:59 GMT
From: "Union of Concerned Scientists Action Network" <escramble('action','ucsusa.org');">>
To: "Theresa J. Steed" <escramble('Quechick007','yahoo.com');">>
Subject: Tell the fast-food industry to hold the antibiotics!
  

Hold the Antibiotics!

Dear Theresa J. Steed,

 Tyson Foods recently announced it will produce all of its fresh chicken without antibiotics—selling it in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label. As the nation’s largest producer of chicken, Tyson is setting an important precedent for protecting public health.

The time has never been better to urge U.S. fast-food companies to follow Tyson's lead and establish strict antibiotic use policies with their meat suppliers.

Currently, an estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs in
the United States are used in the feed and water of healthy animals—a practice with serious consequences for human health. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop resistance to these drugs. When humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed will no longer work.

Sign our petition to the nation's top fast-food companies urging them to help end this dangerous practice.

Tyson Foods recently announced it will produce all of its fresh chicken without antibiotics, selling it in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label. Tyson has set an important precedent by protecting the health of their customers. Now is the time for fast-food companies to establish strict policies against nontherapeutic use of antibiotics by their meat suppliers.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing crisis in public health. The miracle drugs that once easily conquered bacterial infections are failing to work at an
alarming rate, and scientists have linked this phenomenon to the overuse of important human antibiotics in animal agriculture. It is time for the animal agriculture industry to adopt a more responsible approach to the use of medically important antibiotics in order to slow the rise in antibiotic resistance.

As a large buyer of meat products, your company has a unique ability to sway the practices of your suppliers. Tyson's announcement that it will convert nearly half of its facilities to raising chickens without antibiotics makes clear that reductions in antibiotic use are feasible.

I urge you to demand that your meat suppliers not use medically important antibiotics for animals that are not sick. With your company's insistence, your suppliers will end this dangerous practice.

Sign this Petition!
Instructions:
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What's At Stake:
Most antibiotics produced in the United States are added to the feed and water of animals being raised for human consumption. These antibiotics are not intended to treat sick animals, but to accelerate growth and prevent diseases caused by overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on animal factories. This overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture has serious consequences for our health. As bacteria develop resistance to these drugs, doctors are forced to prescribe antibiotics that are more costly and have more serious side effects. And even these more powerful antibiotics are losing their effectiveness to treat disease.
 
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 "Theresa J. Steed" <escramble('Quechick007','yahoo.com');">>
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:02:21 -0700
Subject: Congress, Do Better!
From: "PFAW's American Way" <escramble('alerts','pfaw.org');">>
 
August 10, 2007   
 
 
Renew your membership with PFAW

PFAW remains at the forefront of the progressive movement. And a strong progressive movement is the only thing that can ensure our elected leaders serve the public interest.

Help us reaffirm for all Americans the rights and liberties that have been continuously undermined by this administration. Renew your membership today.

White House officials are evading Congressional subpoenas with erroneous claims of "executive privilege."
Congress must cite them for contempt!

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 Passes House -- Help Move it in the Senate!

 Spread the word by forwarding this Alert!

Stay informed by subscribing to PFAW Action Alerts!
 
In this issue:

1. Checks, Balances and the Rule of Law

2. Fair Elections in 2008

Checks, Balances and the Rule of Law: Are These Foreign Concepts?

Let's get right into it. In the final days and weeks of Congress before adjourning for the August recess, there were some positive steps taken, but there were some pretty egregious missteps as well. Here we go...

Independent Judiciary

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-9 to send the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to the full Senate for a vote. Southwick has a record that's hostile to civil rights, plain and simple. The Senate should approach
EVERY Bush nomination with severe skepticism after witnessing the damage done by Roberts and Alito in the disastrous 2006-07 term of the Supreme Court, but apparently that skepticism, coupled with the clear concerns Southwick's record raises, was not enough to keep Dianne Feinstein from joining the Republicans on the Committee to send this nomination to the floor.

Sen. Feinstein's hope that Southwick will uphold civil rights and act in Americans' best interest was an inadequate reason to support the nomination. One would think that the confirmations of Roberts and Alito taught senators that when it comes to federal judges, they should err on the side of caution. This is a lifetime appointment. Hoping for the best is not sufficient.

We hope you will join us in pressuring all senators to do the right thing for the country and REJECT the confirmation of Leslie Southwick.

On a positive note, the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
The bill would correct one terrible recent 5-4 decision by the Roberts-Alito Court. Because the decision was based on an interpretation of a federal statute, and not the Constitution, Congress has the chance to fix the decision by clarifying the statute to protect future victims of pay discrimination.

We need a strong showing of support in the Senate to pass this bill, and stiff backbones by members of both chambers in the face of a veto threat from the White House.

If you haven't seen People For's videos of Lilly Ledbetter discussing her case, or signed our petition to Correct the Court, please do so now at:

Ignoring Subpoenas and Lying to Congress: Just Another Day for the Bush Team

We've asked you to join us in urging Congress to hold White House officials in contempt for ignoring subpoenas on claims of "executive privilege" that
Congress has already deemed illegitimate. The showdown started with White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers withholding testimony and documents vital to the U.S. Attorney purge investigation. Karl Rove and his deputy, J. Scott Jennings, were subpoenaed to testify on August 2. Rove did not show up. Jennings did, but refused to answer questions.

These officials are completely undermining our system of checks and balances. Congress must assert its authority and HOLD THEM IN CONTEMPT.

And we would be remiss if we didn't mention that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have finally given Congress its "last straw." In his last appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his testimony directly contradicted previous testimony by other DOJ officials and it was clear as day to anyone watching -- and to the senators on the committee, who did nothing to hide their frustration -- that the Attorney General,
though testifying under oath, was not forthcoming in his testimony.

Some senators have called for a special prosecutor to launch a formal investigation of Gonzales as a corrupting agent of the Justice Department. People For remains committed to seeing Gonzales removed from office (something we have been pushing for many months), and we support any efforts to uncover and rein in the flagrant abuses committed by the attorney general.

Congress Endorses Bush's Assault on Civil Liberties

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that gives teeth to critical constitutional due process and privacy rights by checking the executive's authority to spy on Americans, has been effectively gutted. A new law, passed by the House and Senate, expands the administration's ability to secretly spy on Americans' communications without a warrant. And it even gives oversight responsibility to the very people conducting this surveillance!

The New York Times and Washington Post editorial boards, as well as our good friend Kos, got it right: Congress caved in. The defection of 16 Democrats in the Senate and 41 in the House proved that even a Democratic-majority Congress can be a dangerous rubber stamp to an executive branch run amok.

You may read articles about this legislation that mention a six-month sunset provision -- an expiration date on the law. What you might not read is that there's an exception to that provision that allows directives given by the attorney general to stay in force even if the bill expires. So effectively there is NO sunset.

We need real leaders in Congress to rectify this mistake without delay. Sen. Russ Feingold gets it, and so does Speaker Pelosi, who has said she will be pushing for corrective legislation as soon as Congress reconvenes next month. Checking the president's power to spy on Americans without a warrant must be one of the first orders of
business Congress takes up after the recess.

You can weigh in here: http://www.pfaw.org/go/NoWarrantlessSpying

Fair Elections in 2008

When Congress comes back from recess, members won't have much time to act to protect the 2008 elections. They must move quickly to pass measures that will stop voter suppression and improve the security and reliability of voting machines.

In late June, the House passed the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act. The bill does exactly what the name implies: prevents, through stiff penalties, groups and individuals from misleading or harassing voters to keep them from the polls. The need for this legislation is evidenced by extreme instances of voter suppression seen in recent elections, particularly by right-wing groups targeting minority voters. The Senate version of the Deceptive Practices bill, sponsored by Sen.
Obama, is scheduled for mark-up in the Judiciary Committee shortly after recess.

One week before Congress adjourned for recess, it looked like Rep. Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 811) might be down for the count. There had been some controversial changes made in committee to the bill (which had not been without controversy from the beginning). But a deal was struck and the bill lives!

You may have heard some mixed reviews of this bill, which addresses many of the flaws with voting machines (both electronic and not electronic). Here is the bottom line: This bill is our best shot to change the unacceptable status quo before voters go to the polls in 2008. If passed, it WILL protect voters in 2008. We hope you join us in supporting the Hoyer-Holt compromise on H.R. 811 and will join us when Congress returns in pushing for its passage.

The clock is ticking on both of these legislative efforts. Congress must act
swiftly, for the sake of voting rights and fairer, more secure, more accessible elections in 2008. You can take action on both measures here:

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 escramble('quechick007','yahoo.com');">
Subject: Restore Worker's Rights to Provide for Their Families!
From: "Breeana L., Care2 Action Alerts" <escramble('actionalerts','care2.com');">>
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:45:49 -0700 (PDT)
 Sign Today >> Tell a Friend >>  Unsubscribe >>

 Every Worker Deserves the Right to Provide for Their Family

Hi Theresa J.,

Lori
Gay is a registered nurse at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, where she estimates spending about 10 minutes a day filling out an assignment sheet for the next shift of nurses. Because of this – she cannot join a union.

"I am in charge of the pencil," she laments.  But that's enough for her employer to say that she is a "supervisor," and therefore ineligible to join a union.

Stop the supervisor scam! Sign today >>

Lori is not alone. She is one of potentially millions of workers whose right to join a union was stripped away last year in a court decision granting companies leeway to reclassify workers with even minimal supervisory duties as "supervisors."

Thankfully, there's a bill in Congress that will stop this "supervisor scam."  Write to your members of Congress now and ask them to co-sponsor the RESPECT Act >>
With the new policy, the Bush-appointed majority of the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) has robbed workers in nearly every industry of their right to form or join a union. Nurses, quality control inspectors and retail employees are just some of the potentially millions affected who need unions to secure better working conditions.

It's disheartening that the very agency that is supposed to protect a worker's basic right to form a union took away those rights. Only Congress has the power to restore them. Take Action >>

Thank you for taking the time to make a difference today.

 Sincerely,
Breeana L.
Care2 Campaign Team

P.S. Now you can create and sign Care2 petitions on Facebook! If you are a Facebook user, please add the Care2 Petitions application, and promote it to your friends. If even more people sign Care2 petitions, we can have a bigger positive impact.

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