Two weeks ago, I asked you to help conserve our oceans by asking the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect essential fish habitat in the ocean, and you responded - almost 8,000 people nationwide sent in their comments.

Now, a just-released comprehensive report on the state of our oceans from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy confirms that our oceans are in trouble. The message of the report is clear - we need immediate action to protect and restore our fragile marine ecosystems.

The next step is for governors to submit their comments on the report to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. The Commissioners will then review these comments before finalizing the report and sending it to the President and Congress. This is a landmark opportunity to influence the future of our nation's ocean policy.

Please ask your governor to take advantage of this opportunity to conserve our oceans by supporting aggressive recommendations to protect and restore fragile ocean ecosystems. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

To take action, click here:

Support Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, began a four-month prison sentence April 7th for her actions of civil disobedience at the School of the Americas/WHISC and an ELF tower in Wisconsin.

Kathy and other prisoners at Pekin Federal Correctional Institute are strongly encouraging legislative action in support of House Resolution 4036 introduced by Rep. Danny Davis, (D, IL) on March 25, 2004. The resolution would revive the system of parole for federal inmates. Calls and letters to elected officials seeking their support for this bill are crucially needed. The number of the Capitol switchboard is 202-225-3121.

The effort of the Bush White House and their allies to control the political reality perceived by American voters has reached new lows. Hiding facts from the public are standard operating procedures for the Bush Republican political machine as demonstrated by the Cheney Energy Taskforce cover-up and their manipulation of the 9-11 Investigative Commission. They have no problem with using their powerful allies in the federal courts (like Supreme Court Justice Scalia) to hide their failures and questionable actions from the voters. They have misused the media to gain power and now have their allies in the media to keep needed information from the voting public.

Democrats have been aware of the manipulation skills of the Bush Republican political machine since the 2000 Election Florida Recount. They twisted press images to get illegal votes counted from supposedly military ballots. Some Bush voters admitted to voting twice, some votes seem to be cast after Election Day and hundreds were of so doubtful that they may not have been cast by military personnel.

Please take a moment to register your concern for protecting the Big Darby Creek, a national scenic waterway.  It is a treasure of our natural landscape threatened by unplanned urban development. www.americanrivers.org/takeaction