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My family is in prison in the Middle East


My sister Grace and her husband Matt are in prison in Qatar because they were accused of trafficking their adopted children. Sign my petition asking for US officials to pressure the Qatari government to release them immediately.

In 2012, my sister Grace and her husband Matt moved to Qatar with their three children. What started as an exciting opportunity for Matt’s work has turned into a nightmare. My niece, Gloria, died suddenly last year, and Matt and Grace were completely devastated — as any parents would be.

But then things got much worse. The Qatari government decided that since Matt and Grace’s adopted kids are African and have special needs, Matt and Grace must have adopted them to harvest their organs or do medical experiments. So they took the kids away and threw Matt and Grace in jail.

It is ridiculous and insulting that the Qatari government would assume that Matt and Grace couldn’t be dedicated, loving parents just because their children are adopted. Our family is now caring for Matt and Grace’s other two kids while Matt and Grace are stuck in Qatar sentenced to three years in prison. Their trial was just a show that didn’t even include a conviction. Just a sentence.

I started a petition on Change.org calling on US officials to pressure the Qatari government to release Matt and Grace. Please click here to sign my petition and help me get my sister and brother-in-law home to be with their children.

Matt and Grace are two of the most amazing people I know. When they were adopting their kids, they specifically requested high needs children because they wanted to become parents to the kids who needed parents the most. The fact that the Qatari government could see something sinister in that absolutely turns my stomach.

I take solace in the fact that Qatar is vulnerable to international pressure right now, especially since they’re hosting an upcoming World Cup. US pressure has also been very successful in helping American prisoners get released in the past — I know one man got to come home from being unjustly held Nicaraguan prison after his family started a petition just like this one.

It absolutely kills me that when my nephews ask me when Mommy and Daddy are coming home, there’s nothing I can tell them except “I don’t know.” But I hope they’ll come home soon, because their kids miss them so much. I miss them so much. We need them to come home.

Please sign my petition calling on US officials to pressure the Qatari government to let Matt and Grace Huang come home.

Thank you,

Joanne Chin
Los Angeles, CA

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Harrison Ford takes on the Snacks ~~ with Palm Oil


Watch Years of Living Dangerously for FREE right now!
Orangutans

Ran

Have you seen the press around Years of Living Dangerously yet? We’re amazed by what’s happening over at Showtime right now and we think you will be too. Not since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has this much time, talent and money been put into bringing the dramatic reality of climate change into the mainstream.

We’re at a tipping point in our historic effort to end the devastating effects of Conflict Palm Oil on people and the planet, and this kind of primetime, star-studded exposure on the issue has the potential to become a catalyst for major change. But that can only happen if enough people share this gripping program with everyone they know.

To achieve the huge changes we seek, we need to spread the word beyond the choir who already know climate change is the defining crisis of our time, and this new series provides us with a great tool to do just that.

During filming, I walked with Harrison Ford down the snack food aisle of a local grocery store explaining how Conflict Palm Oil is destroying Indonesia’s forests. It was a truly memorable moment in my work as a forest advocate.

Now, I’m thrilled to share this link with you where you can watch our conversation in the premiere episode of ShowTime’s groundbreaking new series on climate change, Years of Living Dangerously—for free—a week before it will air on cable TV next Sunday, April 13th.

The forest team at Rainforest Action Network has been working closely with the show’s producers for many months and we are confident that it has the potential to be the most important, highest profile story on climate change in a generation. This hard-hitting 9-part series – vetted by a team of respected climate scientists—brings together some of the biggest names in Hollywood and investigative journalism to dramatically tell the biggest story of our time to a larger audience than ever before.

Check it out yourself, then make sure every person you know who is on the fence about climate change gets a chance to see this.

The first two episodes, called “The Last Stand, Part 1 and 2,” include the story of how Conflict Palm Oil is wreaking havoc on Indonesia’s lush rainforests while spewing immense amounts of carbon pollution into the atmosphere. And crucially, the story brings the issue home by showing how each of us are connected to this growing crisis and how the actions we take to change corporate behavior can make a real difference.

There could not be a more urgent time for as many people as possible to see this unflinching program and hear the compelling message it contains— help us get this message out to everyone by sharing this video with your friends and family.

 

For the forests,
Lafcadio Cortesi
Forest Program Asia Director
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West Africa’s Ebola outbreak prompts changes in I.Coast cuisine


curi56's avatarHumanSinShadow.wordpress.com

W est Africa’s Ebola outbreak prompts changes in I.Coast cuisine
by Staff Writers
Bouake, Ivory Coast (AFP) April 20, 2014

 

 

West Africa’s first outbreak of Ebola fever is bad news for gourmets in Ivory Coast, but brings respite from the hunter to species sought out for tasty meat but feared to carry the disease.

Late in March, Health Minister Raymonde Goudou Coffie called for her compatriots to stop eating porcupines and agoutis, which look like large river-rats, “until we can be sure there are no risks”.

Bushmeat is known to be a vector of Ebola, the alarming haemorrhagic fever that has claimed at least 122 lives in Guinea, according to a UN World Health Organisation toll on April 17. Liberia, meanwhile, reports 13 deaths.

Hunters and restaurant owners in the central Ivorian town of Bouake are upset that clients have begun to steer clear of the strong taste of…

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Your Cell Bill


Wireless Carriers: #AbolishOverages @ATT, @VerizonWireless and @Sprint!
By John Legere
Bellevue, Washington

In 2013, more than 20 million Americans were hit with punitive overage charges by U.S. wireless companies, and all Americans have known the fear of wireless bill shock. Overage penalties from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint take more than an incredible $1 billion out of consumers’ pockets every year.  It’s time to show these companies that we’re not going to take these outrageous fees lying down anymore.

Traditional wireless plans start with a low monthly fee for a fixed amount of domestic minutes, texts or data.  Once consumers go over those limits – even by a little – they’re hit with dramatically higher rates and extreme penalties.  These plans seem purpose-built to drive customers over that invisible line into massive overage charges.

This is just plain wrong, and it must end.  I’m laying down the challenge to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint to follow T-Mobile’s lead and abolish these overages once and for all.

Sign this petition to #AbolishOverages and send a message to the old guard wireless companies that bill shock and overage fees are no longer acceptable and no longer welcomed in this industry.

 

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