Animal Fighting Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate—Take Action!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - 3:45pm

We are thrilled to share with you that on Monday, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), David Vitter (R-LA) introduced the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act in the U.S. Senate.
This legislation, which is also being considered in the House, would make it a federal offense to attend an organized animal fight and impose additional penalties for bringing a child to a fight.
The Senate passed identical legislation during the last session of Congress, so we have high hopes that it will do so again—but we need your help! The bill didn’t become law last year because it stalled in the House, even with over half the House supporting it. We need to remind all Members of Congress that protecting animals from barbaric fighting ventures is important to their constituents.
Ask your two U.S. senators to support and cosponsor this important anti-fighting legislation! Please visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to send a quick email to your senators—as well as to your representative in the U.S. House—urging them to make this the year that we finally close a major loophole in our federal animal cruelty law.

VICTORY! Senate Confirms Richard Cordray as Director of the CFPB!

Thanks to overwhelming activism from consumers like you the Senate voted 66-34 to confirm Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

Some lawmakers had refused to consider any nominee unless changes were made to the CFPB that would weaken its ability to protect consumers. A deal was reached today and a bipartisan group of Senators voted to move forward on the confirmation. Today, led by Senator McCain, the Senate reached a reasonable compromise and consumers have won a hard fought victory.

Again, thank you to the thousands of Consumers Union activists that took action and joined us in the fight for consumer protections. Your calls, emails, and lobbying efforts made a difference!

Protect Endangered Rhinos from Poacher Gangs

• author: Care2.com
• target: Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of India's Environment and Forests Ministry
• signatures: 51,663

51,663

50,000

Kaziranga National Park turned into an arena for bloodshed recently when a gang of armed poachers fought off park rangers for several hours in India to kill an endangered rhinoceros. This was the thirteenth atrocity of its kind in two months, the result of a recent surge of poaching in the area.

Tell Minister of India's Environment and Forests Ministry, Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, that the government cannot continue to ignore this threat! Get park rangers the adequate funding and support they need to protect endangered rhinoceroses.

One-horned rhinoceroses were on the brink of extinction only twenty years ago. Two-thirds of their global population inhabit the Kaziranga National Park, where illegal activity occurs at the expense of ranger's safety and the lives of rhinos. If the government fails to check these poachers, many believe the rhinos are on the path to extinction.

Tell Minister Natarajan to help these endangered animals, heighten the security in Kaziranga National Park!

Schools Send Kids Home With Fat Letters September 4, 2013 by Patricia-Anne Tom

In hopes of conquering a growing childhood obesity problem, schools in 19 states are weighing kids, measuring their body mass index, and sending notes home with students informing parents whether their kids are "healthy" or "overweight." But these "fat report cards" have created a firestorm among parents, who say such letters can harm kids' self-esteem and potentially trigger eating disorders, ABC News reports.
Officials say the measurements are useful in tackling the childhood obesity problem where kids spend 50 percent of their time — in school. BMI readings are "the best means we have to determine whether a child's weight is healthy or unhealthy," says Dr. Lanre Omojokun Falusi, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician.
Yet critics of the program say BMI readings are not always accurate, such as when a child has a lot of muscle mass, which increases their weight. Nor are BMI readings helpful, they say, when kids are entering adolescence, and receiving a number about weight can add to a child's stress.
"Their bodies are changing . . . And then they get this number that says, 'Oh, you know, you're not the right number.' It's just a horrible way to start womanhood," says Shannon Park, a mother of a 9-year-old and 13-year-old daughter. Many parents would like to see the weigh-ins, and subsequent report cards, banned from schools. But in the meantime, parents can notify their schools that they want to opt out of the weigh-ins. Does your child's school conduct weigh-ins — and do you find them appropriate?