Everybody Knows with Dr. Bob and Dan-o

Today, there is a new and real threat to voters, this time coming from touchscreen voting machines with no paper trails and the computerized purges of voter rolls. Please join Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King III and investigative reporter Greg Palast in signing a petition protesting the Floridation of the 2004 election.

See www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993 for additional information.

MoveOn.org is organizing a campaign to defeat Bush and the Republicans in 2004. The Republicans are already well under way in their re-election effort, we need to get started too. Read the MoveOn.org campaign letter and consider signing on to the campaign.

To sign up, click here: www.moveon.org/pac/newpres/

MoveOn will keep you updated when opportunities for action come up.

Harald T. Nesvik, a Right-wing Norwegian Member of Parliament, has nominated U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and (court-appointed) U.S. President George W. Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize for their "decisive action against terrorism". Sign the following petition if you agree that Bush and Blair should NOT receive a Nobel Prize Nomination: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/302184339

Years of litigation between the states and tobacco companies resulted in a $200 billion payment to prevent people from smoking and cut health care costs associated with tobacco use.

Yet, many states have already spent a large portion of the tobacco pie, and not on tobacco prevention -- it's being spent to fill the state budget deficit!! Between 2000 and 2002, over the $21 billion of money was released, but only 5% ($1.5 billion) was spent on anti-smoking efforts.

The funny thing is, studies keep showing that smoking programs cut state costs AND tobacco use.

Regardless, governors across the country continue to dip into tobacco funds and close anti-smoking programs down. To keep tobacco money where it belongs, sign this petition: www.care2.com/go/z/6145

Community Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS) has had a large influx of refugees of many faiths and nations to the Columbus area in May and June and are in urgent need of the following:
  a.. faith groups or service organizations to work alongside a family their first few months in America, assisting them to navigate the services here and providing their initial material needs
  b.. volunteers (with trucks or vans) to move donations to newly arrived families
  c.. material donations in GOOD condition only: of critical need are kitchen or dining tables & chairs, beds, lamps, dressers, laundry detergent. Also needed are kitchen wares, bathroom toiletries, linens, bedding (especially pillows-only new), TV's, fans
  d.. office assistance to handle client's phone calls, appointments, and some filing If you are able to help in any of these area, please contact Kimberley Kreeft, CRIS, 1110 Morse Road, Suite 216, (614) 840-9634, kk_cris@yahoo.ca

Your donation will be matched!

The Central Ohio Sierra Club has a generous donor who will match all donations up to $2500 for the lawsuit about the city's sewers. Legal and expert fees are expensive. Benefits from the litigation are exponential compared to the cost. Columbus has agreed to spend half a billion dollars because of the Sierra Club's work. The Sierra Club needs your support to make sure this money is not misspent! Their lawsuits can redirect the spending of billions. Make your generous, tax-deductible check out to: The Sierra Club Foundation, and mail to: Ken Johnsen, COG Treasurer, 6760 Hayhurst St., Worthington, OH 43085. Thank you!

Governor Taft always hears from groups like ours when we are displeased with his decisions to execute convicted murderers.  As you are all aware, a couple weeks ago, he granted clemency to Jerome Campbell on the recommendation of the Parole Board.  Michael Manley suggested that we bombard the Governor with letters of thanks and encouragement for his decision in that case.  It might not be a bad idea to write to the Parole Board as well.  Addresses follow:

Gov. Bob Taft:  Governor.Taft@das.state.oh.us

Ohio Parole Board
1050 Freeway Drive North
Columbus, OH  43229
614-752-1200

Thanks!

Toni Nijssen
Secretary, COTSE

Nearly half of all Americans live in areas where, according to the American Lung Association, the air is at times literally unsafe to breathe because of high levels of smog. In 1997, the EPA adopted new rules to reduce dangerous levels of smog, but an unsuccessful court challenge by industry delayed the rules, which still haven't taken effect.

Now, an amendment to the massive transportation bill currently being considered by the U.S. Senate could delay these rules even further and weaken current transportation conformity rules in the Clean Air Act that help prevent highway projects from worsening air quality in areas with smog problems.

With childhood asthma rates at an all time high, we need the Senate to put America on the road to cleaner air. Please take a minute to ask your senators to defend the Clean Air Act and remove proposals that would weaken clean air protections from the transportation bill. Then, ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

How will you commemorate the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year? SpeakOut to prevent such atrocities from ever being repeated! Help prevent the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons!

Join us at:
International SOS: SpeakOut at STRATCOM
No New Weapons of Mass Destruction!
August 1-3, 2003 Omaha, NE

Senior officials in the Bush administration who have proposed the production of a new generation of nuclear weapons have scheduled a meeting to discuss plans for nuclear proliferation at US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) during the first week of August 2003. We are going to be there to say NO! Join us!

How can your organization participate in this international protest of weapons of mass destruction?

* Visit our website at www.sos2003.com and download flyers and other informational materials
* Endorse International SOS: SpeakOut at STRATCOM
* Co-sponsor International SOS: SpeakOut at STRATCOM
* Nominate and Sponsor speakers for the rally

Senate bill 1046, if passed by the full Senate, will go a long way to reverse most of the FCC's recent egregious media deregulation rulings. Again, if left to stand, these recent FCC rulings will lead to further consolidation on the part of big media, negatively impacting the independent media community. Thanks to the efforts of AIVF members and concerned citizens nationwide, this bill passed through the Senate Commerce Committee and now requires additional cosponsors to push the bill onto the Senate schedule for a vote.

We are hoping that Senator Mike DeWine and Senator George Voinovich will sign on the co-sponsor this bill.