The President says the nation’s thoughts and prayers are with those who lost a loved one during Friday’s tragic shooting in Newtown, CT.

Watch President Obama’s weekly address.

President Barack Obama tapes the Weekly Address in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Dec. 14, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Facts matter. Don’t let media pundits subvert science.

Chip in and become a member to defend science.

As Hurricane Sandy was wreaking havoc on the East Coast, commentators on Fox News repeatedly claimed that the storm had “nothing to do with climate change.”¹

Hurricane Sandy’s impact was undeniably worse because of rising sea levels caused by global warming—but because our opponents are desperate to keep science out of our political discourse, they tried to hide this fact from you and me. That’s not just misleading. It’s dangerous.

Fox News is willingly, and with full knowledge of their errors, denying science. We don’t say things like that lightly. We’re scientists, so we ran the numbers and found that 93 percent of Fox News Channel’s coverage of climate science was misleading or outright false.²

We need you to help set the record straight. Your support will allow us to reach out to reporters and editors across the country in 2013, so we can share the scientific facts and advance policies that will help protect and prepare our cities and states for the impacts of climate change.

Don’t stand by while science is under attack by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity. Become a UCS member today, and together we’ll show the media and policy makers that facts matter.

Sea levels could rise up to 3.3 feet in the next 80 years.³ Most Americans are connecting the dots between our changing climate and the extreme weather we’ve seen in recent years—from forest fires to flooding from intense storms—and this is our moment to make sure the conversation continues.⁴ But very powerful and cynical interests are trying to keep the public in the dark.

Many Americans unquestioningly accept what they hear on TV or through the internet as undisputed fact. That’s why we’re out there fighting misrepresentations of global warming in the popular media. We have relationships with reporters from New York City to Toledo to Sacramento, and they look to us as a trusted source of facts to counter the distortions and hysteria whipped up by climate deniers.

It’s also why we’re leading the charge on some of science’s most promising solutions to the challenges of our time: cutting harmful pollution, investing in the rapid expansion of renewable energy, and protecting our cities from sea level rise.

Pitch in to become a UCS member today and stand up for science-based solutions to our planet’s most pressing problems.

Together, we are very publicly taking on the media moguls and pundits who spread misinformation. Our groundbreaking report about Fox News and the rest of News Corporation was picked up by outlets across the country, and we backed it up with tens of thousands of signatures calling them out for their distorted coverage. Members of the UCS community power these kinds of campaigns—and we can’t win without you.

The fact that you’re reading this email means you aren’t afraid to take on powerful interests when objective science is on our side. A healthy planet, a safer world, the wellbeing of our families—that’s what’s at stake here. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Kevin Knobloch President

1. http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/10/31/fox-hurricane-sandy-has-nothing-to-do-with-glob/191018 2. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_contrarians/news-corporation-climate-science-coverage.html 3. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0625/Sea-levels-rising-on-US-East-Coast-much-faster-than-global-average-video 4. http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2012/04/19/poll-most-americans-now-link-extreme-weather-to-climate-change/

The last thing you need this holiday season is the dangerous game of chicken some in Congress are playing with your financial future. 

Only weeks remain before $500 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts kick in. These drastic, across-the-board cuts are in the things that keep your family safe and secure each day, but they do little to dramatically reduce the deficit.

We just sent 200,000 of your messages to the President, your Senators and Representatives so they know your priorities in this tax-and-spend battle. Our only job is to fight for you, and your tax-deductible gift today makes sure we keep fighting.

Give $7 now. And if you can give a bit more for those who can’t, we’ll get everyone heard!

Consumers like you make our economy work. So why should you shoulder an unfair burden in an economic plan designed to fix our nation’s long-term finances?

Unless a fair plan is reached, you may wind up being told your retirement health care benefits could shrink or that you have to pay more for college. And that you can count on fewer food inspectors, toy safety testers, or air traffic controllers. Or that Wall Street and credit card companies don’t need as much oversight.

The reality is, these are your tax dollars. How your money is spent should be your priorities, not corporate lobbyists and faceless conglomerates. Your tax-deductible donation keeps us on top of the latest proposal, supports our email actions to your lawmakers, funds our toll-free hotlines so you can speak directly to your elected official.

Your year-end, tax-deductible donation keeps us working for you, no one else.

Times are tough so if you can’t give, please continue to support our work by forwarding this to friends and family. We are the most trusted voice of consumers because of support from people like you.

Thank you, Chris Meyer Consumers Union, Policy and Action from Consumer Reports