CARE USA Says Thanks

I have exciting news to share!

In 2007, you helped us educate Congress and President Bush about HIV and AIDS, and the earmark that requires one-third of all global HIV prevention funding to be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs. This one-size-fits-all restriction ignores the daily reality of millions of women and weakens CARE's ability to help vulnerable people avoid HIV infection.

You played an important role by drawing attention to this issue and encouraging your representatives to support legislation to overturn this flawed policy.

On December 26, President Bush approved a provision that gives the president the flexibility to support effective HIV prevention programming and to ignore the abstinence-until-marriage restriction.

This is a significant victory and we want to thank you. Your voice made a difference.

While this is a step forward, we're not done yet. We will need your support later this year when Congress considers current legislation regarding HIV and AIDS. Help us hold Congress accountable for a strong new law that addresses the social, economic and cultural reasons that make people, especially women, vulnerable to HIV.

As a member of the CARE Action Network, you understand the importance of reaching out to legislators during critical times throughout the year to make your voice heard in Washington. Your vital outreach helps educate policymakers and the public about problems facing the world's poor and helps CARE communicate effective solutions that can give hope and health to millions.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2008. Together, we can raise our voices in support of policies that help people lift themselves out of poverty and claim a brighter future for their families.

Best wishes for a happy new year! We'll stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Giulia McPherson
Legislative Communications Coordinator
CARE USA

Port Phillip Bay Cyber Action

Dear friends

At the beginning of February dredging will begin at Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne, Australia) by Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster, putting marine life in the bay at risk.

The southern waters of Australia, including Port Phillip Bay, have the highest diversity of marine species anywhere in the world.There are 5,000 species in the bay, 90% occur nowhere else on Earth and many have never been fully studied.
Blue Wedges, who are taking on the developers in a Federal court case to be heard on 10 January 2008, and Friends of the Earth Melbourne need your support.

Please visit our website at http://www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/port-phillip-bay to send an email to Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett (ex lead singer of environmental rock band Midnight Oil), who approved the project in late December 2007.
It only takes 2 minutes and could help put a stop to this damaging project.
Please forward this message to your contacts and ask them to take action too.

Thanks for your support

Debra Broughton
Friends of the Earth International