Message From Progressive Politics Alerts At Care2
President Bush is facing mounting pressure this week from G8 leaders and global citizens to acknowledge the primary role the United States plays in the climate change crisis, both as part of the problem - we're the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide - and as a critical part of the solution. Climate change topped Thursday's agenda at the summit, but Bush made it clear before even arriving in Scotland that he was opposed to any Kyoto-style agreement that set mandatory limits on global warming pollution. Clearly, leadership is not going to come from our president, so it has to come from us: http://www.care2.com/go/z/25703

We can no longer sit idle while our president tells the world that the facts on global warming are inconclusive. The facts are mounting, the science is clear, and the crisis is grave. The Arctic is melting, sea levels are rising, and our wildlife and ecosystems are threatened with fundamental and rapid changes they are unprepared to handle. So what do we do? The U.S. government needs to act. And we the people need to stand up and speak for our planet. Earth to Bush and Congress: Climate change is real, and the time to act is now! Here's the first step: take our pledge to fight global warming, and we'll send your signature to Congress in time to show the world that while Bush lags in environmental leadership, the American people are stepping up and demanding action. Sign the pledge today: http://www.care2.com/go/z/25703

P.S. Rebecca Y at Care2 & ThePetitionSite was preparing this message early yesterday as news of the terrible bombings in London came across the radio. All of us who care about the very real impact of climate change on people and our planet are deeply affected and saddened by such violent acts. We can't let them deter us from our goals, but we can offer our condolences to victims and survivors, and resolve to continue working to make our world abetter and more peaceful place.

AND ABIT OF NEWS TO START YOUR WEEKEND

PREPARING FOR A BATTLE SUPREME
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement has sparked a battle that could last for months. In a roundtable discussion, progressive and conservative lobbying groups discuss the scary road ahead.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/23363/

A BLACK ROBE OF HER OWN
Michael Dorf, FindLaw.com
Does the gender of the new Supreme Court Justice matter? Justice O'Connor seemed to think so.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/23366/

RHYTHM AND BULLSHIT? THE SLOW DECLINE OF R&B
Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters
Has R&B lost its soul? Or have Clear Channel, Radio One, AOL Time Warner and Viacom ripped its heart out?
http://www.alternet.org/story/23384/

WE CANNOT FAIL AFRICA AGAIN
Mary Riddell, The Guardian [UK]
Everyone has an image of Africa. Mine is of a woman called Aker. I met her in Sudan, in 1991, at a staging post somewhere on the road between famine and oblivion. Her sister had died along the way, she said, and her husband had fled. But she had carried on, past the silvery, baked corpses of camels and goats, with two babies in her arms. One was her sister's orphaned child, the other her son.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0707-26.htm

G-8 SUMMIT: U.S. TRIPS UP CLIMATE AGREEMENT
Sanjay Suri, Inter Press Service
Jennifer Morgan from the environment watchdog group WWF said that ”thanks to George Bush; we were not able to move forward.” The wording on science in the communiqué ”does not move us one way or another,” she said. ”They talk of cutting emissions, but do not say by when, by how much, or even what kind of emissions.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0708-01.htm

A LOOK IN THE MIRROR FOR AMERICA
Derrick Jackson, Boston Globe
Worse, this denial of death, in a war that did not have to happen, is sure to fuel the very terrorism we say we will defeat. The innocents in the so-called war on terror are always ''our" citizens or the citizens of our allies. The only innocent Iraqis are those killed by ''insurgents." Our soldiers clearly did not intend to kill innocents. But this posturing of America as the great innocent, when everyone knows we kill innocents ourselves, is likely only to make us look more like the devil in the eyes of a suicide bomber.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0708-20.htm

WHY LONDON, WHY NOW?
Patrick Doherty, TomPaine.com
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0707-31.htm
That post-9/11 narrative said that America was attacked because "they hate our freedoms." This turned out to be the first of many lies that paved the way to our current strategic disaster. In fact, America was attacked because Al Qaeda hated our policies in the Middle East and, given their relative inability to strike effectively at either the Saudi or Israeli governments—their main enemies—they struck at those governments' primary sponsor, the United States. Yet that simple narrative, "because they hate our freedoms," constructed carefully by the White House communications team, laid the foundation for the war on Iraq and the expansion of the war on terrorism well beyond the justifiable and proportionate retaliation on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Americans believed Al Qaeda was targeting the United States because we stood for democracy, when, in reality, they hated us because we massively supported oppressive regimes in the Middle East.

The People's Email Network - Supreme Court Action ALERT
The first thing that our Congress needs to understand is that we the people are NOT going to accept ANY so-called "conservative" replacements for retiring Supreme Court justices. The last time our president checked the bank balance of his political capital it was already OVERDRAWN, with some of his lowest approval ratings ever. The overwhelming majority of the American people do NOT want our country to lurch even slightly more to the right, let alone appoint another ideological extremist. We will accept nothing LESS than a centrist, and it's up to our senators to demand that as the representatives of our true mandate that they go to the wall, to enforce an end to this slippage into a corporate police state. It is not a victory to lose yet more ground. Please tell your senators to make it very clear to the president that the intimidation party is over. http://www.usalone.com/supremecourt.htm

Please take action NOW! Forward this email to everyone you know, and encourage its posting on blogs and websites.

WE ARE HALFWAY THERE!
[Message From The Peace Alliance Team]

Now over 220 Congressional Districts in 41 States with Team Leaders. Sign-up to be a Team Leader, or find one in your community. We are pleased to announce that as of Monday July 4th, we have congressional district leaders in over half the districts in the U.S. Our ultimate goal is to have a Congressional District Team Leader, along with an active group of citizens, in all 435 voting congressional districts (plus the 5 non-voting districts.) We have reached the halfway mark in just five months, more quickly than we anticipated.

Thank you to everyone who has signed on to organize in your district, you have brought us swiftly towards meeting our goal! Your commitment and effort are paying off by raising awareness and garnering support all across the nation.

Join a Local Effort and/or Become a Leader ... If you have not done so already, please visit our website at http://www.thepeacealliance.org/organize to find out how you can either get involved in a local group, or become a team leader in a district that does not have one. If you know someone who lives in an district that is not represented, please contact them and encourage their support. We need your help to reach every district in the country.

The more people we have organizing around the country, the more powerful our efforts will be in Washington D.C. at our annual conference (Sept. 10 - 12). As the bill is re-introduced, we want to be able to tell members of congress that citizens in every corner of America are getting active to support this landmark legislation, and taking a stand for the cultivation of a real and lasting peace. Help us reach our goal of 300 by September 11th. Visit www.thepeacealliance.org/organize and get active now.