No, it's not your imagination. There really are a lot more hawks, falcons and other raptors passing overhead these days.

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We may not think of the common California turkey vulture as a raptor, but Alan Fish explains that they are part of that same avian family.

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The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory studies raptors that are migrating or stay year long in the Marin Headlands near the golden gate. San Francisco bay has the largest amount of raptors west of Texas. 

The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory has demonstrations and observation information on their website , or call 415-331-0730 for more information.

 From dogs to pigs to chimpanzees, The Animal Legal Defense Fund represents an interesting and unusual array of interests.

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Stephen Wells explains why roadside zoos are an area of interest to the ALDF, and how they found a way to sue one such zoo that did not treat its animals very well.

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Issues involving animals are a growing area of American law, one where the Cotati-based Animal Legal Defense Fund is actively involved.

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The Animal Legal Defense Fund, or ALDF, has worked to protect the rights of animals since 1979. Executive Director Steven Wells, has been working with the organization for 9 years. During that time, one of his priorities has been establishing  student ALDF  chapters at law schools nationwide. To view the ALDF website click here.

The Michael Vick dog-fighting case exposed a short-coming in the applicable law in Virginia, one that the ALDF helped the state legislature to address.

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Now in its 32^nd year, Project Censored finds there is still no shortage of important news that isn't being covered by the major commercial media.

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Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

• #1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
• # 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
• # 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
• # 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?
• # 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets
• # 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
• # 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
• # 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
• #9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify
• # 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture
• # 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
• # 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
• # 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
• # 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
• # 15 Worldwide Slavery
• # 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
• # 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
• # 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
• # 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
• # 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
• # 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option
• # 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid
• # 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
• # 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror

Project Censored Associate Director Mickey Huff summarizes story #24:

 

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• # 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

 These stories and more are included in  Censored 2009 , the new addition to  Project Censored annual review of important, overlooked journalism worldwide. To view the book, along with previous editions, click here .

To visit the Project Censored website which has a listing of their ongoing lecture series click here.