SIGN THE LRE PETITIONS!

Environmental protection in the Silicon Valley needs increased oversight, so LRE has created NEW ONLINE PETITIONS to make it happen! - TAKE ACTION! by signing these ONLINE PETITIONS - Signing these petitions aims at strengthening wildlife protections by shoring up habitat at; a) 1333 Lawrence Expressway in Santa Clara, California; b) the Lake Terrace apartments in Santa Clara, California; and c) the Peterson Middle School field in Sunnyvale, California.

The Santa Clara Valley is a near environmental dead-zone due to unchecked development, and you can help change this - TAKE ACTION! by signing these ONLINE PETITIONS - thank you!

TELL CONGRESS NOT TO CAVE IN TO FEAR

As the tide turns against his Attorney General and his NSA wiretapping program, the president has launched a “fear offensive” — a desperate push to change the laws that govern spying. On Saturday, President Bush told Congress that if it doesn’t gut the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) this week, the Democrats will be putting our nation at risk in a “heightened threat environment.”

The president’s proposal to “modernize” FISA is audacious, manipulative, and a direct assault on the checks and balances that Congress has tried and so far failed to restore. Shockingly, it looks like Congress and its Democratic leadership are about to cave in and give the President what he wants - TAKE ACTION!: Tell Congress NOT to cave in to fear!

We must make it clear to every member of Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike — that we won’t allow timidity and political calculation to win out over justice and the rule of law. Your representative needs to hear from you today: Tell Congress NOT to cave in to fear - Then, ask your friends and colleagues to call as well.

Bush lied by omission when he called on Congress to "modernize" FISA. In his Saturday radio address, he said, “this important law was written in 1978, and it addressed the technologies of that era. This law is badly out of date — and Congress must act to modernize it.”

What Bush conveniently failed to mention is that FISA has been updated more than 50 times since 1978, including multiple times since Bush was elected president, to keep up with changes in technology and the needs of the intelligence community. What President Bush is proposing is not an update or even a modernization — it’s a complete overhaul that will strip Americans of their rights - Your phone call is critical: Tell Congress NOT to cave in to fear.

The FISA “modernization” bill is actually an administration power grab — expanding the National Security Agency’s access to all of our international telephone and email communications — regardless of any known connection to terrorists. And the plan rubberstamps the illegal warrantless wiretapping program the Bush administration has been engaging in for the past six years.

The president is lying to the people, spinning his proposal as a modest reform to allow spying on calls from one foreigner to another foreigner. But the White House has repeatedly rejected bipartisan legislation to do just that. The administration won’t be satisfied until it’s torn down FISA’s sensible legal safeguards. President Bush wants to monitor every U.S. citizen’s calls and e-mails, without a warrant or any court oversight — whenever you call or e-mail with someone overseas - Please call right now: Tell Congress NOT to cave in to fear.

The Bush administration has lied and deceived the American people since 2001 to get what it wants. It’s time for our allies in Congress to stand up to an administration that will try anything to push its agenda.

Many members of Congress regret voting to pass the PATRIOT Act in 2001 under a climate of fear. They need to be reminded to vote their principles and not give in to fear-mongering.

With your help, the ACLU is standing strong. Please, stand with us today as we call on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to stand up to the Bush administration, protect our privacy and stop rolling back the rule of law. It’s time to start defending the Constitution.

OKLAHOMA FLOOD THREATENS ANIMALS' SAFETY

The recent, severe flooding in Miami, Okla., has endangered numerous pets unable to escape the high waters, contamination and chaos brought by the onslaught of rain. American Humane’s Red Star Animal Emergency Services team is on the scene, helping animals stranded in the storm or requiring temporary shelter during their families’ sudden relocation - TAKE ACTION! - You can help the animal victims of this flood by donating today to the American Humane Association, which mobilized over the Fourth of July holiday to lead the devastated area’s animal rescue activities. In hazardous conditions, emergency workers piloted a fleet of rescue boats to save dozens of companion pets trapped in submerged homes. They are also helping the local shelter process a continuous, large influx of animal intakes and manage an emergency shelter in an outdoor covered space.

STOP SHELL!- OIL AND WILDLIFE DO NOT MIX!

The Bush Administration is opening the back door to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by allowing Shell to start drilling off its spectacular coastline this month - NRDC needs your immediate help to go to court, slam that door shut and throw away the key - Because if we don't, we'll be leaving the Arctic Refuge and its wildlife vulnerable to a disaster that could be more devastating than the Exxon Valdez. Click here to donate and stop Shell - It would take just one oil spill on the icebound Beaufort Sea that borders the Arctic Refuge to create a long-term toxic waste site. That's because the oil industry has no proven method for cleaning up oil in icy water! Shell is planning to start its exploratory drilling within weeks -- We need your immediate support to wage and win this federal case in defense of the Arctic Refuge and the wildlife that depend on it for survival. Click to stop Shell - A worst-case spill in the Beaufort Sea sends shivers down the spine of anyone who knows the appalling record of toxic spills by Big Oil in the Arctic - And make no mistake: an oil spill off the coast of the Arctic Refuge is all but assured. The Bush Administration's own experts have predicted that drilling in the Beaufort will lead to at least one oil spill - That spill would likely spread into the migratory routes of the endangered bowhead whale...blanket the shores of the Arctic Refuge where polar bears give birth...and impact hundreds of thousands of migratory birds - The death toll of oil-soaked and poisoned whales, seals, polar bears and shore birds would be unimaginable - There's still time to stop this disaster in the making, but NRDC is going to need your most generous support right away. With your financial help, we can win this case -- because the Administration's approval of Shell's drilling is a brazen violation of our country's environmental laws - Please stand with me right now in defense of the Arctic Refuge:

TAKE ACTION! - Click to stop Shell

LIVE EARTH

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms - TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels - TAKE ACTION! @ http://liveearth.org/

SAVE THE WHALES!

This summer, under the sea -- and out of the view of the American public -- the Navy will unleash a dangerous two-year onslaught of deadly sonar in sensitive whale habitat off Southern California's coast. We've got to stop it. And with your support, we will. Click to donate.

NRDC is racing to court to block the Navy's next sonic assault unless and until it agrees to take steps that will prevent whales from being needlessly killed. The Navy's mid-frequency sonar, which will be blasted during 14 naval training exercises, is so intense that it drives whales to panic and causes their organs to hemorrhage. Whales around the world have stranded themselves on beaches -- their ears and brains leaking blood -- following their encounters with high-powered sonar.

The Navy's next onslaught will take place in and around California's Channel Islands -- home to dozens of species of whales and dolphins, including the endangered blue whale -- the world's largest mammal. This onslaught is a flagrant violation of our nation's environmental laws! But we can't hold the Navy accountable to those laws without your support.

Please help NRDC go to federal court in the next 30 days and block the coming sonic barrage by making a tax-deductible donation right now.We will demand that the Navy take simple, common-sense measures to protect defenseless marine mammals -- measures that will not in any way jeopardize America's military readiness.

Thanks to your past support, we've won major courtroom victories against the Navy's sonar systems before. But we can't take on the Pentagon again -- the biggest and most powerful government agency on the planet -- without your help.It is urgent that we raise new funds to fight this case. That is why I am rushing you this alert. I know that you care deeply about whales and would want to join us in coming to their defense.Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution and help stop the next deadly sonar bombardment before it starts this summer ~ Sincerely, Frances Beinecke - President of NRDC

(Other coastal states are watching this case closely to see if the Navy can get away with flouting our nation's laws. So when you TAKE ACTION! and help NRDC win this case, you'll be helping protect whales along all of America's coastlines)

SAVE THE PRAIRIE DOGS!

Prairie dogs are an important part of ecosystems on the American Plains. So why is the U.S. government trying to use your tax dollars to kill them? Tell the Forest Service to stop the prairie dog massacre, before it starts...

Last fall, more than 35,000 activists like you sent comments asking the Forest Service to stop the massacre of tens of thousands of prairie dogs on our National Grasslands.

Prairie dogs provide food for eagles, hawks, badgers, swift fox, endangered black-footed ferrets and other Great Plains predators. Prairie dog burrows provide shelter for burrowing owls, salamanders, black-footed ferrets and many other creatures.

But the Forest Service wants to use your tax dollars to poison and kill tens of thousands of these furry critters and destroy the vital habitat prairie dogs create in our National Grasslands.

Tens of thousands of prairie dogs could be poisoned and killed -- but it’s not only these tunneling critters that stand to suffer. Because so many other creatures depend on prairie dogs for survival -- from burrowing owls to badgers, swift foxes to snakes -- the entire grassland ecosystem is at risk.

Help stop the Forest Service plan to poison and kill tens of thousands of prairie dogs. Help protect the balance of life on the American Plains.

After a similar rule change in 2005 allowed poisoning in National Grassland areas bordering private land, more than 70,000 prairie dogs were killed. Poisoning now occurs each year in these areas near private land, killing thousands of prairie dogs annually.

Now, the Forest Service is proposing to make it easier to poison and kill prairie dogs anywhere on three public grasslands. They’re even targeting an area in South Dakota’s Buffalo Gap National Grassland called Conata Basin -- key habitat for the recently reintroduced swift fox and our nation’s most important recovery area for the endangered black-footed ferret.

TAKE ACTION! - don’t let this dangerous proposal see the light of day -- write the Forest Service now!