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This is it.

We're just one day away from change.

Find or confirm your polling location, then share this video with friends and family to make sure they vote too.

And it's not too late to volunteer -- you can make a big difference in these final, crucial hours. Find out how.

On October 3rd, the sequel to the movie Zeitgeist, entitled Zeitgeist: Addendum, was released. I *urge* you to watch it. And if you haven't seen the original Zeitgeist movie, you really must watch that as well. They get a bit heavy, but even if you break them up and watch them in parts, you *must* see these films.

Zeitgeist

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Zeitgeist: Addendum

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www.zeitgeistmovie.com

okay so i only watch britain/america's got talent on youtube, but it's safe to say that britain owns our asses. for those of you who live under a rock and haven't seen the paul potts videos from last season, i strongly suggest you watch them. only in britain would you find a mobile phone salesman who has a secret talent of singing opera so well it makes you cry. the last video is from his first appearance on the show. anyway, the first two videos are from this season and are just plain awesome.

excerpt of a cynical convo between my sister and i, on the topic of greenwashing.


rachel: like those Chevron ads telling us how green they are....
rachel:no one cares if they're "ride a bike to work green" or "drive a hybrid escalade green"
me: i bet a hybrid escalade gets worse gas mileage than a normal car
rachel: much worse
rachel: but, better than a regular escalade!
rachel: so they're doing good for the enviornment!
me: anything's better than that
rachel: duh
rachel: a minor change over a meaningless base
me: i'm waiting for the hummer hybrid
me: i can just see the ads now
me: a hummer driving through a field of daisies
me: driving away from a smoke-emitting factory
me: oh and the lady driving it has a puppy in her lap
me: and possibly a back seat full of kittens
rachel: is it a chihuahua in a leather prada purse?
me: no, silly, it's louis vuitton
rachel: oh yeah i forgot prada is so 2003
me: duh

I have alarming news. The Matthew Shepard Act – whose passage in the Senate and House required months of effort – is now in serious jeopardy of not making it to the President's desk.

The hate crimes legislation we've fought for has reached its final step before being sent to President Bush, but some lawmakers are working to derail it. Right now there is a very real danger that the Matthew Shepard Act won't even make it to the President for his signature or veto. If that happens, we could lose months or years of progress.

We likely have less than a week to act. Tell your lawmakers the Matthew Shepard Act must not be abandoned by the Conference Committee next week.

How can a hate crimes victory be so close and yet still so much in jeopardy?

Here's what's happening: Senate leadership employed a commonplace strategy with this bill. They calculated that the only chance of the Matthew Shepard Act surviving Bush's veto pen was if it were attached to a "must-pass" Department of Defense bill. But now that House and Senate are reconciling their versions of the DoD bill, it is under attack from anti-GLBT conservatives against hate crimes legislation, as well as progressive, pro-equality lawmakers who oppose some of the bill's provisions for the war in Iraq.

We cannot let the Matthew Shepard Act be abandoned when we have come so close to getting it to the White House! We only have a matter of days before Congress is back in session and the final decision is made. This issue is especially timely right now. Last week, the FBI reported that hate crimes rose nearly 8% last year.

You know how hard we've worked to pass the Matthew Shepard Act. Since April, hundreds of thousands of HRC supporters like you have bombarded Congress with letters and phone calls. You've enlisted friends in the fight, written to local papers, passed out postcards at events. You've given time and you've given financial support.

Don't back down now – not if you care about the safety of GLBT Americans.

Ask your Senators and Representative to make sure the Department of Defense bill passes with the Matthew Shepard Act included.

Thank you, again, for your ongoing commitment to equality and justice.

Warmly,
Joe Solmonese
President
Human Rights Campaign