Dear friends,

It may be a new year, but the bloodshed in Gaza this past week is a clear reminder that there's no time to wait to protect human rights in 2009.

Since December 27, these horrific attacks on Gaza have caused over 400 Palestinian deaths and 2000 injuries. Rocket fire by armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, has taken the lives of 4 Israelis and caused several dozen injuries. Amnesty International condemns the violence on both sides and calls on both parties to abide by international law and policies.

The U.S. government cannot continue this lop-sided blame on Hamas for the crisis. Ask Secretary Rice to urgently express deep concern about Israel's disproportional response and its policies which have brought the Gaza Strip to the brink of humanitarian disaster.

Civilians in Gaza, already trapped in disgraceful humanitarian conditions, are victims of Israeli air strikes and intensified attacks. Israeli blockades of humanitarian supplies continue to deny Palestinians the food and medical supplies they desperately need.

A man carries his wounded child into a hospital in Gaza City.

 

 

From the Free Gaza Movement:

"This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq!"

Sign-up below to support Muntadar al-Zaidi! Your signatures will be delivered to the Iraqi Embassy this week!

We, the undersigned, understand and sympathize with the sentiment expressed in the action of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at President Bush, shouting, "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." We, too, feel for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq, thanks to the policies of the Bush administration.

It's outrageous that al-Zaidi could get two years in prison for insulting George Bush, who is directly responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis and 4,200 U.S. troops, and for the displacement of 5 million Iraqis. The one who should be in jail is Bush, not Muntadar al-Zaidi.

We call on the Iraqi government to immediately release al-Zaidi without charges.

SIGN HERE:  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/signUp.jsp?key=3909

TAKE ACTION 

1. Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.

2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or send an email by clicking here.

3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121 or find contact info for your Members of Congress by clicking here.

4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor. To find contact info for your local media, click here.

5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here.

6. Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration by clicking here.

A Hospital Germ on the Warpath

You can take some simple steps to avoid infection

 

 

Grace Voros was 85 and enjoying life, watching her family grow and taking romantic walks with the man she fell in love with 61 years ago, when she took a minor fall. She went to the hospital for an x-ray, where tests confirmed she had no broken bones. But while there, she contracted an infection no one in the family had ever heard about, “C. diff,” and died.

C. diff, short for Clostridium difficile, is raging through hospitals, infecting hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The bacteria contaminate every surface, including bed rails, bed tables, nurses’ uniforms, privacy curtains, faucets and call buttons. When patients touch these surfaces and then pick up food without washing their hands, they ingest the germ. Any patient taking antibiotics who ingests C. diff is in danger of developing severe diarrhea, leading to dehydration, inflammation of the colon and even death.

Routine cleaning isn’t enough to protect you from C. diff. Researchers at Case Western Reserve and the Cleveland VA Medical Center found that after routine cleaning at a hospital, 78 percent of surfaces were still contaminated. To kill the germ, you need to use bleach.

When surfaces are not properly disinfected, the results can be deadly. At Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, three consecutive patients occupying the same room came down with C. diff. One died.

Staffs at many U.S. hospitals are woefully uninformed about what to do. One study reported that 39 percent of medical personnel didn’t know that C. diff could be spread on stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and other equipment. About two-thirds of medical staff were unaware they should clean their hands with soap and water, because alcohol sanitizers don’t kill this superbug.

What can you do to protect yourself? Insist that everyone treating you clean their hands before touching you.

Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating. Do not touch your hands to your lips. Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except your plate. Ask family to bring wipes containing bleach to clean the items around your bed.

When you leave the hospital, assume any belongings you bring home are contaminated. Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family wash; wash with bleach. Regular laundry detergents do not kill C. diff.

If you are visiting someone in the hospital, be careful about eating in the cafeteria or a restaurant where the staff go in their scrubs or uniforms. These uniforms could be covered in invisible superbugs. More than 20 percent of nurses’ uniforms had C. diff on them at the end of a workday, according to one study. Imagine sliding into a restaurant booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or the seat. You could easily pick it up on your hands and then ingest it with your sandwich.

Poor hospital hygiene and lax practices such as wearing scrubs in public are putting all of us at risk. That’s why I founded RID, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, so that other families won’t have to go through what Grace Voros’ family suffered.

SOURCE:  http://bulletin.aarp.org/opinions/othervoices/articles/a_hospital_germ_on_the_warpath_.html

I've been with Greenpeace for more than 17 years, and I've never encountered such a dire situation, much less two at the same time.  Your help is critical to prevent two potential devastating tragedies. PLEASE SIGN OUR PEITION BELOW. THANK YOU!!

Amazon Rainforest

The Brazilian government is threatening to weaken the core legal protections for the Amazon, endangering one of the planet's most important ecosystems that helps balance our climate.  In just the last year, we've lost nearly 3 million acres of rainforest in Brazil alone.  Many of the protections we've won for the Amazon rely on Brazil's Forest Code.  Right now, agribusiness is attempting to influence the Brazilian Congress to weaken the Forest Code.  If that happens, we can expect a dramatic increase in deforestation rates, a significant loss of biodiversity, and a massive impact on global warming as carbon stored in the forest is released into the atmosphere.

Take Action NOW >> The need is dire, and a vote may come as early as tomorrow!

Alaska's Bering Sea

We've been warning for years that the Bering Sea's pollock fishery - the world's largest - is suffering from overfishing.  We've been called everything from crazy to exaggerating for making this claim about a fishery that has been held up as a model of sustainability.  But news this month confirms our worst fears.  The pollock population has plummeted by almost 50% in just one year.  Pollock is the very foundation of the Bering Sea's food chain, feeding everything from the endangered Steller Sea Lion to fur seals.  In fact, baby fur seals are already washing up dead in the Pribilof Islands, and scientists hypothesize that their deaths are caused by starvation.

Take Action >> The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will vote this month to set fishing limits on pollock!

I'll be writing you over the coming month with more ways that you can help us save these amazing places for the wildlife and people who rely on them for survival.  I hope I can depend on you during this crisis.

1. Watch the video 2. Send it to friends and family

The Bush administration isn't about to let democracy or the will of the people stop them from further ruining this country before they leave office. Knowing he can't get his long list of favors to his Republican cronies through Congress, Bush is doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power. These so-called "midnight regulations" will allow factories to pollute more, further restrict women's access to abortion services, cut off aid to needy families in the middle of a recession, and much more -- all without Congress' oversight or approval. It's wrong, it's antidemocratic, but, sadly, it's legal.

When given the opportunity to be "naughty or nice" this holiday season, Bush has clearly opted to go down as one of the naughtiest, most sinister presidents in our nation's history. We've created a satirical spin on the famous poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, in order to show President Bush crafting his last-minute agenda for health care, the environment, civil liberties, and labor practices -- rules that will affect everyone and will be difficult for the next administration to overturn. We are using humor here in the hopes that it both commands people's attention and enables us to shine a light on these all-too-serious midnight regulations.

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4y5sZKdI4

 

 

  Reuters
Friday, December 12, 2008; 12:22 PM

KNX - New Virus Infects Facebook

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/koobface-virus.html

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=omg-koobface-worm-gets-up-in-the-gr-2008-12-05

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4B37LV20081204

 

HI ALL, this link is for real so, please pass it on.. It explains how to get rid of the facebook/myspace virus.
The guy walks you through how to get rid of it... please pass it on.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/Oregon-Coast-Guy/4F01854ADEE049DB853CCEA28E0C1739/killing-the-facebook-virus.aspx

Dear friends,

Thank you for supporting our work for a sustainable, just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Please see the important call below from historian Howard Zinn. He is working with our allies at Jewish Voice for Peace to support the Shiministim - the movement of Israeli conscientious objectors whom AFSC has long supported. They are an important voice of conscience speaking out against militarism and the Israeli military occupation. Right now they need our help and support as they begin to face open-ended jail sentences for refusing mandatory military service.

Please send a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defense to support them today.

Also as the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, please continue to check the AFSC End the Siege on Gaza blog to get the latest news and things you can do to help people trapped in the ongoing and increasing siege.

Peace,

Ron G.

 

 

Dear friends,

$7.76 Trillion.

That is what Bloomberg reports has been committed on behalf of the American taxpayer to bailout America's finance system. This includes spending by the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC. 

- The amount is equal to half the value of everything produced in the United States last year.

- It is $24,000 for every man, woman and child in America. That is nearly $100,000 for a family of four.

- It's nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

- It is enough money to pay off more than half the country's mortgages, but bankruptcies have continued despite the bailout.

We do not even know where all of those funds have gone. The taxpayer is putting up a King's ransom and not being told who is receiving it. We guarantee the debts of banks and are not being told what collateral is provided or who is receiving the funds. Before receiving the bailout funds, Treasury Secretary Paulson promised transparency. But, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke says that such transparency would be "counterproductive." 

All of this money and yet foreclosures, bankruptcy and unemployment are all up; the stock market, consumer spending and housing prices are down. Pouring tax dollars into banks is not working.

We don't know where the bottom is. There is no evidence that the bailout is working and already, as Barry Ritholtz, author of "Bailout Nation," points out, the bailout has cost more than the Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, the Iraq war, the Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget - COMBINED! In fact, the bailout is almost double:

- Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
 
- Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
 
- Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
 
- S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
 
- Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
 
- The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
 
- Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
 
- Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion

- NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
 
TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

You'd think for $7.7 trillion we'd get health care for all, tax relief or free college education! But Americans got none of that. Is this a wise use of tax dollars? Are there better ways to use this money? Will this trickle down approach work this time, even though it has failed in the past?

We're doing two things:

First we are working to break the bailout. Join us at BreakTheBailout.com and pledge to help Break the Bailout. On December 7, we take the first step toward taking back our economy and transforming it into an economy that puts the people's interests first. Pledge today and help build a movement that will stop trickle down Wall Street economics and build the economy from the bottom up.  If you have already pledged - forward this email to your friends, colleagues and neighbors and urge them to get involved.

Second, we will out forward a Prosperity Agenda - a vision of what kind of economy America should have - and we will advocate for it.  We would like your thoughts on what you want out of the economy. We are at a crossroads where a new energy economy is going to be developed. How should it be different than the current economy? Give me your thoughts at KZeese@earthlink.net.

Acting alone, we can achieve nothing; acting together, we can change everything. We need to act together because change is urgently needed.

Dear friends,

The actions taken by a new president during his first few months in office can chart the course for generations to come-now here's your chance to help set the course for America's new direction.

Please join me in asking President-elect Obama to introduce a plan in his first 100 days that will get our economy moving by building a clean energy future.

The clean energy economy is the made-in-America solution to our energy, economic and environmental crisis. It will break our addiction to oil and lower family fuel costs while offering us safer energy choices and creating millions of new American jobs.

Just last week in an address delivered to the Global Climate Summit, President-elect Obama said:

"My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process."

Make sure the President-elect knows, Americans want swift and decisive action to demonstrate his commitment to keeping this promise.

And don't forget to forward this to any friend or family member who might want to add their name too!

 

Dear friends, Thank you for urging the EPA to help reduce global warming pollution. Do you or someone you know use facebook? We built and easy to use tool for your friends and family to submit a message directly from facebook to the EPA. Don't forget to share the tool with all your friends in facebook! For more ways to speak up for wildlife and to stop global warming, please visit Climate Action CenterThanks again, Dominique Burgunder-Johnson Online Grassroots Coordinator National Wildlife Federation alerts@nwf.org Inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.

Urgent Request to Tell the EPA to Stop Global Warming Pollution Dear friends, Last month we told you that the Environmental Protection Agency is asking for public comments on whether greenhouse gases that cause global warming "endanger public health and welfare." NWF believes there is no greater threat to wildlife and people than global warming, but we need you to take action before time runs out. We want to thank the more than 21,000 NWF supporters that submitted comments urging the EPA to take responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases. Now we hope to add your voice to this historic opportunity to stop global warming. In a recent post-election poll, 78% of voters see clean energy as a pathway to revitalize America's economy. The poll also showed 57% of voters said it was important to back candidates who support reducing global warming pollution. And just last week President-Elect Obama released a powerful video statement: "Few challenges facing America -- and the world -- are more urgent than combating climate change," he said. "Many of you are working to confront this challenge....but too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office." Unfortunately, corporate polluters are mounting a strong campaign to keep the EPA from doing their job to protect our country from climate change. This is out of step with the public! Deadline Nov. 28th! Did you know that many scientists believe that up to 40% of wildlife and plants are at risk of extinction by the end of the century if global warming pollution is not significantly reduced? Urge the EPA to take action today! Our goal is to have 35,000 public comments submitted by November 28th. Don't let corporate polluters keep us on the wrong path. Help set the stage for the next Administration to address global warming that will save wildlife and people.