RE:ACTION July/August 2005

The Unforgiven
The Counselor
To join the campaign to convince Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, visit the Family Violence Prevention Fund at endabuse.org or the National Network to End Domestic Violence at nnedv.org. The National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence trains judges, police of?cers, and other professionals to work with victims. Learn more about New York City’s domestic violence courts on the website of the Center for Court Innovation. The Miles Foundation tracks domestic
violence in the military and offers information for victims, survivors, and advocates. In Home Fires Burning: Married to the Military—For Better or Worse (Ballantine Books, 2005), Karen Houppert looks at what is euphemistically known in military circles as “spousal aggression.” For help dealing with an abusive partner, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

Scrimmage on the Border
Humane Borders has set up potable-water stations for illegal migrants crossing the Southwestern desert. The Arizona Daily Star’s website, minutemanproject.com.

Home Sour Home
HomeOwners for Better Building supports stronger protections for new homebuyers. Its website tracks a variety of topics, from the sorry state of Texas home-building to the latest scourge of suburbia, toxic mold. Visit Consumer Reports’ website to read its investigation into shoddy home construction and for tips on how to spot and avoid problems when you buy.

The Business of Poaching
Traffic, a project of the World Wildlife Fund, tracks efforts to protect thousands of threatened species. Endorsed by martial-arts star Jackie Chan, WildAid sponsors antipoaching programs in Southeast Asia. For links to groups working to save wild tigers from extinction, visit forevertigers.com. Two new books further explore the bloody trade in animal parts: Richard Ellis’ Tiger Bone and Rhino Horn: The
Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine (Island Press, 2005) and photojournalist Ben Davies’ Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia (Ten Speed Press, 2005).

Long Road Home
Ry Cooder’s Chavez Ravine (Nonesuch) was released in June. Don Normark’s photographs of the neighborhood’s ?nal days are collected in Chavez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story (Chronicle Books, 1999). For a full Cooder discography, visit the comprehensive fan site ryland-cooder.com.

The Artful Codger
Capital Appropriations
Calculate how much you’d save if you bought your prescription drugs in Canada at Access to Benefits Coalition and the pharma-sponsored Together Rx Access. Keep an eye on lobbyists of all ages at the Center for Media and Democracy’s website, prwatch.org.

Pirates of the Corporation
The International Labor Rights Fund provides more information on the Alien Torts Claim Act, “a vital tool for preventing corporations from violating fundamental human rights,” at laborrights.org.
EarthRights International, which participated in
the suit against Unocal in Burma, is campaigning to stop the Bush administration and its corporate allies from weakening the law.

Pier Pressure
Amigos de Sian Ka´an is trying to protect the
Banco Chinchorro Reserve. Oceana and Bluewater Network are ?ghting the cruise industry’s nasty habit of dumping sewage offshore. You can urge Congress to pass the Clean Cruise Ship Act at stopcruisepollution.com.
 

War Visible
Penny Allen’s “War Is Hell” will be published in World War 3 Illustrated in August. The muckraking website The Memory Hole ?rst published the
photographs of soldiers’ cof?ns that the Pentagon tried to hide. “A Shooting After Nightfall,” Chris Hondros’ disturbing photos of civilians killed by American troops, are at newsday.com. For current stats on the war’s toll, visit icasualties.org. Penny Allen’s “War Is Hell” will be published in World War 3 Illustrated in August; her work has been shown at Portland’s Mark Wooley Gallery.

The Days of Bread and Roses
Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman’s feisty cartoon history Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World (Verso, 2005) features contributions by Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez, Sue Coe, and others. Follow the debate over labor’s
future at labornotes.org and the Service Employees International Union’s unitetowin.org.

The Art of War
Joe Sacco’s stories “Christmas With Karadzic” and “Soba” appear in War’s End: Profiles from Bosnia 1995-96 (Drawn and Quarterly, 2005). Sorry, Sacco fans: He predicts that his next full-length book won’t be out until 2008.