Please Sign This Petition And Spread It Widely!!

Amazing. Please go to the Official White House web site (that's right, the one in Washington, DC) and sign the death penalty abolition petition. Right here

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Two things you can do about the murder of Dr. George Tiller

"Tiller the Baby Killer."

That's how FOX News host Bill O'Reilly referred to Dr. George Tiller who was murdered in cold blood Sunday while he attended church.

Tiller's crime? He provided healthcare to women. Including abortion.

Salon.com reports that FOX's "O'Reilly Factor" has featured attacks on Dr. Tiller on no less than 28 episodes:

"He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O'Reilly on June 8, 2005; "a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida," he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union," said O'Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006.

What happened Sunday was devastating. And it might not have happened if it wasn't for the hate mongering of Bill O'Reilly and others.

There are two things you can do.

1. Sign our petition to Bill O'Reilly. Ask him to take responsibility for creating an atmosphere in which the assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes as no surprise. And tell him to stop spreading hateful rhetoric which encourages violence against doctors who provide reproductive healthcare for women.

2. Make a donation to Medical Students for Choice in honor of Dr. George Tiller. We must lift up a new generation of doctors who are willing and able to provide reproductive healthcare to women.

Please help out on this. Please spread this widely.

Wow! It's Growing!!

The Petition to have Attorney General Holder review all of the pending death penalty cases and to require prosecutors not to seek death in them, a step that would save about 50 lives, has grown to 231 signatures. Hurrah!

I'm leaving it up for the month of March. After that, I'll take it down and send it to the Attorney General. Wouldn't it be excellent to send 700 signatures on March 31, 2009?

To do that, I'm going to need your help. You know what to do. Please do it.

Close Gitmo!

Tell President-elect Obama to close Gitmo on 1/20/09. Here's a petition. You know what to do.

Stand Up And Oppose Pastor John Hagee

From Monday, July 21 through Thursday, July 24, Pastor John Hagee will be in Washington, D.C. to lead the national gathering of his infamous Christians United For Israel. The CUFI conference is studded with rightwing zealots and features workshops like "Radical Islam: In Their Own Words," led by neo-conservative Daniel Pipes and former right-wing Senator Rick Santorum; and "The Basics of The Arab Israeli Conflict," led by representatives of the pro-occupation David Project and StandWithUS and Gary Bauer, president of anti-choice, homophobic American Values.

Unbelievably, the Anti Defamation League (ADL), the supposed bigotry watchdog, has not condemned Hagee for his anti semitic, anti gay, anti Muslim rhetoric. To the contrary, ADL has given him a free pass. In fact, in a recent letter to Hagee, John Fox, president of ADL wrote, "We wholeheartedly support your efforts to eradicate anti-Semitism, including its historic antecedents in the Christian community. We especially appreciate your extraordinary efforts to rally so many in the Christian community to stand with Israel." This is utter, embarrassing nonsense.

As a result of ADL's unprincipled behavior, Jewish Voice For Peace and others have condemned the conference and are calling on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to stand up against Hagee's pervasive bigotry and to condemn his statements.

A very brief review of just some of Hagee's views, and ADL's supposed responses to them, make it clear that he is a virulent anti-semite, staunchly anti-gay, and completely anti-muslim, and that ADL should be forcefully condemning him. But they're not. Hagee's statements are obvious:

The anti-Christ is gay and Jewish. source
ADL has said, "the statement ... that the Antichrist, who is evil incarnate, is Jewish, borders on anti-Semitism at best and is anti-Semitic at worst." This is a remarkably tepid condemnation of a statement that is appallingly racist.

Jews control the federal reserve. source. ADL has said, "The charge that "Jews control the Federal Reserve" is a classic example of the hatemonger’s paranoid-style exploitation of legitimate concerns — in this case, the nation’s economy. Moreover, the wide appeal of this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory among all kinds of extremists strikingly demonstrates how the agendas of otherwise opposing hate groups meet on common ground: the scapegoating of Jews."

God caused the devastation of NOLA by Katrina to stop a scheduled Gay Pride parade. source, source.

"Those who live by the Qur'an have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews... it teaches that very clearly." source.

ADL's mission statement proclaims that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all." To repeat, "all forms of bigotry" and "protects civil rights for all." What am I missing here?

Don't Hagee's statements about Jews, the GLBT community, and Muslims in general qualify as forms of extreme bigotry? Why am I having to ask this question?

What to do: Please sign the petition at Jewish Voice for Peace urging ADL to condemn Hagee.

Please spread this petition widely.