Next week we will deliver petitions on this crucial issue to 22 governors, but need your help to make a big impact. If you live in a coastal state, click on your state below and sign the petition. Thanks to everyone that has already voiced their opinion on this issue. Your help will ensure that we stop our addiction to oil and come up with real solutions to solve our energy problems while protecting the environment.

Alaska, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington

After the Supreme Court reaffirmed US citizens' right to possess firearms, Dick Cheney celebrated by pulling a handgun from his desk drawer and shooting two pigeons and a reporter.

But rest assured that drilling off the coast of Florida or renewing the solar tax credit will not help. The first is a dumb idea that does not help and the second is a great idea that does not help.

This point is well illustrated by two of this week's big Supreme Court decisions - yesterday's gift of $2 billion to Exxon and today's decision declaring, for the first time, that the 2nd Amendment gives individuals the right to bear arms. Neither decision would have happened without the changes in the court in recent years. Elections matter and they matter for decades due to court appointments.

The DC city council contested that the ban was needed to help keep violence and murder rates down. But the measure was challenged by a security guard, Dick Heller. He argued that if he was allowed to have a handgun at work, he also had a constitutional right to have one at home.

The ruling is expected to have far reaching effects on gun laws across the US.
Working Assets/CREDO has long supported the work of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, one of the groups featured on our 2008 donations ballot. In a statement Paul Helmke, Executive Director, reiterates "Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court's decision in the Heller case." Read his full statement here.

The last word goes to Eddie Izzard, British comedian:

"And the National Rifle Association says that, "Guns don't kill people, people do," but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, "Bang!" That's not going to kill too many people, is it? You'd have to be really dodgy on the heart to have that..."

McCain's plan would be a disaster for the environment, a boon for the oil companies, and won't have any affect whatsoever on gas prices. We need real energy policies that protect the environment and consumers. Governor Schwarzenegger has stood strong saying no drilling off California coasts, but he needs to know Californians support him. Nearly 6,000 CREDO members have signed our petition to Governor Schwarzenegger to stop any plan for offshore oil drilling. Join us and say no to McCain's oil disaster. Click here to sign the petition.

Latest polls show Barack Obama leading John McCain by 15 points. The last time Democrats had this kind of a lead was John Kerry over George Bush 4 whole years ago. Oh.

Earth Justice is public interest law firm whose mission is to enforce environmental laws and is a group featured on Working Assets/CREDO's 2008 ballot. Today they hail "a historic moment in Everglades restoration" calling it a "stunning development" and applauding Charlie Crist for his bold leadership (full story here).

Crist has been cited as a possible running mate for John McCain, a recent convert to offshore drilling. Their conversations on preserving the environment should be lively.

I was able to deliver your views in person. I was the second public speaker and read the text of the petition that over 8,300 CREDO members signed online. Thanks to your efforts the CPUC knows that consumers from across the state oppose this destructive proposal. The CPUC will start hearing testimony from industry experts in July and make a decision on the proposal in August. If you are CREDO customer, you can call President Michael Peevey for free at 415.703.3703 and tell him not to allow the utilities to shift $100 million in increases onto residential customers' bills while discounting rates for big businesses.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the prime architect of the capitulation, had announced months ago that no reform would pass unless the White House got its telecom immunity. If you are interested, check out over at the Federal Election Commission's website, whether any telecom PACs have given money to Mr. Hoyer.

Let's help them out. According to Merriam Webster an agency is :

1 a: the office or function of an agent b: the relationship between a principal and that person's agent 2: the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power : operation 3: a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved : (instrumentality communicated through the agency of the ambassador) 4: an establishment engaged in doing business for another (an advertising agency) 5: an administrative division (as of a government - the agency for consumer protection)

"It's number 5! I'll open the box and claim the prize!". Wrong. After deciding they were an agency and subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the OA changed their minds after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a request for records regarding missing White House e-mails, and this decision was upheld by the court earlier this week (full story here).

OA has admitted that it functioned as an agency and processed FOIA requests until August 2007. Although CREW filed its FOIA request in April 2007 - four months before OA changed its position - the court found that OA had no duty to respond to CREW's FOIA request because OA was never an agency in the first place.

Yet more dissemblance from George Bush & Co. Groups like CREW, one of Working Assets 2008 ballot recipients (more here), are invaluable in highlighting their continuing shadowy moves.

Midwestern towns continue to be ravaged by floodwaters, but FEMA is on the job. They're probably sending ice.