An email forwarded from an old and dear but green as alge friend


"Dear Friend,


No one voted on Election Day to destroy the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. But President Bush is now claiming a mandate to do exactly
that.


Congressional leaders are pushing for a budget bill that would turn
America's greatest sanctuary for Arctic wildlife into a vast, polluted
oil field. The U.S. Senate has already passed a budget resolution that
would open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.


But to complete its assault on the refuge, Congress must still pass
two different budget measures. We urgently need your help to prevent
passage of any final budget agreement that includes Arctic drilling.


Please go to the NRDC Action Fund website
(http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/redfor...p=2&item=52387)
right now and send a message telling your U.S. senators and
representative to reject this sneak attack on the Arctic Refuge.


And please forward my message to your friends, family, and colleagues.
We must mobilize millions of Americans in opposition as quickly as
possible.


Don't believe for a second that the president is targeting the Arctic
Refuge for the sake of America's energy security or to lower gas
prices at the pump.


President Bush knows full well that oil drilled in the Arctic Refuge
would take ten years to get to market and would never equal more than
a paltry one or two percent of our nation's daily consumption. Simply
put, sacrificing the crown jewel of our wildlife heritage would do
nothing to reduce gas prices or break our addiction to Persian Gulf
oil.


But if the raid on the Arctic Refuge isn't really about gas prices or
energy security, then what is it about?


It's the symbolism.


The Arctic Refuge represents everything spectacular and everything
endangered about America's natural heritage. It embodies a million
years of ecological serenity . . . a vast stretch of pristine
wilderness . . . an irreplaceable birthing ground for polar bears,
caribou and white wolves.


It is the greatest living reminder that conserving nature in its wild
state is a core American value. It stands for every remnant of
wilderness that we, as a people, have wisely chosen to protect from
the relentless march of bulldozers, chain saws and oil rigs.


And that's why the Bush administration is dead set on destroying it.


By unlocking the Arctic Refuge, they hope to open the door for oil,
gas and coal giants to invade our last and best wild places: our
western canyonlands, our ancient forests, our coastal waters, even our
national monuments.


This is the real agenda behind the raid on the Arctic Refuge and the
entire Bush-Cheney energy plan: to transfer our public estate into
corporate hands so it can be liquidated for a quick buck.


Please go to the NRDC Action Fund website
(http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/redfor...p=2&item=52387)
and tell your senators and representative they have no mandate to
destroy the Arctic Refuge. Then please be sure to forward this message
to as many people as you can.


And thank you for speaking out at this critical time.


Sincerely,


Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund

"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do
so would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their
methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of
regaining power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well
please. The problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long
that, as a group, they themselves are no longer sure of their goals.
They are a collection of wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a
grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some want a Socialist, secular-humanist
state, others the repeal of the Second Amendment. Some want same
sex/different species marriage, others want voting rights for trees,
fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and complete
subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture that
walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political
correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view
the competing factions of Islamic fundamentalists. The latter hate
each other to the core, and only join forces to attack the US or
Israel. The former hate themselves to the core, and only join forces
to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr