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Let's Talk About Values. This week we began an important discussion of American values. John Kerry and John Edwards believe in the values that unite us:
Reward hard work
Strengthen families
Tell the truth
And they believe in putting those values to work in our policies:
Reward hard work by fighting for good-paying jobs that let American families get ahead; enforce equal pay laws, raise the minimum wage, and build an America where the middle class is doing better, not being squeezed.
Strengthen families by making health care affordable and accessible for all Americans and giving all our children a first-rate education, with smaller classrooms and better paid teachers.
Tell the truth about the war in Iraq and the faulty intelligence that led us there, the lack of planning and proper equipment for our troops -- and what steps America must take to rebuild alliances, so that no young American is ever put in harm's way because we insisted on going it alone.
"Values are making certain that we respect the existing constitutional rights of Americans and making certain that women ... maintain the right to privacy and the right to choose." - John Kerry
Show your support for John Kerry and John Edwards at a Women for Kerry-Edwards House meeting Saturday July 17th! Click here to find the meeting nearest you.
George Bush And Dick Cheney Are Using "Values" To Divide Us. American families are struggling to pay higher health care and gasoline bills with declining incomes. American young men and women are still under fire in Iraq. Almost 2 million jobs have been lost during George W. Bush's first term and his Medicare drug bill does more for drug companies than seniors. So what does the Bush-Cheney campaign have to run on?
This week they tried a constitutional amendment to take authority over marriage laws away from states -- a move so unpopular the Republican-controlled Congress couldn't find enough votes to move it forward. And a new Bush-Cheney campaign ad accused John Kerry of voting against a bill to protect pregnant women from violence -- even though John Kerry strongly supported an alternative version of this bill that protected pregnant women without trying to reopen the legal framework of the Roe decisions!
Let's be very clear. Protecting women from violence is a value: that's why John Kerry as a prosecutor established one of the first offices to assist rape victims. George W. Bush wants to talk about violence in his ads -- but his budget actually tried to cut the funding for the government's violence against women program!
Fair Play And Equal Treatment Are Values -- But Not In The Bush White House! The Washington Post reports that women in the White House make only 78% of what men do. After examining White House salary figures, The Washington Post learned that: "...of the 17 White House staffers earning $157,000 -- the top of the pay scale this year -- 12 are men."
Maybe this is why George W. Bush ended the Equal Pay Initiative and opposes Democratic efforts to strengthen enforcement of the Equal Pay Act -- because his own White House is a prime offender. Just one more reason why 'W' is Wrong for women! Click here to print out our Top Ten Reasons Why 'W' is Wrong for Women.
Democrats Value The Truth -- But Republicans Punish Truthtellers. This week, we learned that U.S. Park Police Chief Theresa Chambers has been fired by the Bush administration for telling the truth about cuts to her budget. Chambers was suspended last December because she gave honest answers to a reporter's questions about how budget constraints had forced a reduction in police patrols in parks and on parkways around Washington, D.C. -- a fireable offense because, as Slate.com points out, the Bush White House refuses to admit "that it's not putting its money where its mouth is on homeland defense."
Being A Good Steward Of The Environment Is A Value -- Even If Logging Companies Disagree. The Bush administration announced plans to drop a Clinton era rule that protected nearly 60 million acres of national forests from logging, mining or other development. According to the Bush rule, governors who wish to protect areas in their states would have to petition the federal government and ask for such a designation -- with no assurance that it would be granted.
Environmentalists are speaking out in opposition to the Bush change, including Republican Jim Range, chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, who pointed out that the areas at risk "provide important fish and wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities for American hunters, anglers, campers, hikers and others."
Protecting The Rights Of Americans To Vote Is A Value -- And Democrats Will Fight To Protect That Right. Last week we wrote about the latest Republican attempt to disenfranchise minority voters in Florida: a so called "felons list" that turned out to include thousands of names by mistake. This weekend, Jeb Bush's administration saw the light and withdrew the list. But we know we have to stay vigilant.
That's why the DNC's Voting Rights Institute has organized the Promote and Protect Program for Election Day 2004. The VRI will hold legal trainings at the Democratic National Convention on issues including state election law and voter intimidation and suppression tactics masked as ballot security measures.
If you are interested in attending the Convention Legal Training, email Vincent Fry. If you are interested in being a part of the Voting Rights Institute voter protection team please fill out our volunteer form.
Working together, we will ensure free and fair elections!
Democrats Taking The Lead
Women For Kerry-Edwards! On Saturday, July 17, gather your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues for Women for Kerry Action Day. As an action meeting host, you will help increase our volunteer network and build an organization to elect John Kerry in your community. You will also have the chance to participate in a conference call with a campaign VIP, who will discuss the importance of the women's vote and why John Kerry is the candidate for women and discuss ways to increase our volunteer network and get involved with the grassroots efforts.
To help you with your event, we will provide you with step-by-step instructions and all the tools you need to make your party a success. This year we will elect John Kerry as our next President, but we need your help to do it.
Sign up today to host a Women for Kerry-Edwards house meeting!
Reaffirming Our Values: The Democratic Platform. Last week, the DNC Platform committee met in Miami, Florida to reaffirm the Democratic Party's historical commitment to America's families, particularly to women and children. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro chaired the Drafting Committee, and Platform Co-chairs Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (OH), Governor Tom Vilsack (IA), Education Commissioner Susan Castillo (OR) and Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa (CA) led the Platform Committee meetings. From stronger enforcement of Equal Pay laws and Title IX and expanding the Family Medical Leave Act to ending domestic violence, expanding access to health care, and supporting a woman's right to choose, the Committee upheld the Democratic ideals and values that support American families.
The platform will be voted on at the Democratic National Convention and will be available online soon. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Women's Leadership Forum. You've heard about the craze, witnessed the enthusiasm, and now can join the exploding trend of Americans cutting out CARBs, for good!! No, we're not talking about food here, we're talking about the necessity to remove Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, and Bush from the White House. Start by joining the Women's Leadership Forum at the Democratic National Convention, where WLF is hosting a No "CARB" Lunch Reception in Boston on July 26th. For more information visit our website or contact the WLF at 202.488.5014.
Republican Quotes Of The Week.
"First of all, to be clear that people should be free to enter into their relationships that they choose. And, secondly, to recognize what's historically been the situation, that when it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter left to the states."
- Lynne Cheney contradicting husband Dick Cheney on why she opposes the White House sponsored "Federal Marriage Amendment", which the Senate defeated this week. July 11, 2004
"It's part of the values debate that's very deliberate...one impact of a high-profile vote on gay marriage could be to keep voters in the GOP column on cultural issues who might otherwise be inclined to shift on the economy or the war."
- GOP consultant Frank Luntz, explaining why the FMA was brought to the Senate floor, July 13, 2004
In Darfur, Sudan, 1,000 people are dying every day, and that number is rising. Over one million black Africans have been bombed and burnt out of their villages, and their crops and water supplies destroyed by Arab "Janjaweed" militias. The Government-backed Janjaweed surround the refugee camps and block life-giving food and medicine getting through. Anyone leaving is raped or killed.
The US Government estimates that 370,000 human beings are already dead or certain to die of starvation in these extermination camps. Up to 1 million could die within the next few months.
As people of faith and members of the human family, we cannot let this horror continue. Our government's response so far has been slow and weak. Only an immediate international humanitarian intervention to protect the people of Darfur and ensure aid gets to them will stop the slaughter. Click below to send a fax to Congress telling them to vote for the bi-partisan House and Senate Resolutions demanding the US take these actions to stop the genocide in Darfur:
www.faithfulamerica.org/darfur.htm
We must act now. The people of Darfur need a miracle, and are praying for it. We must ask ourselves whether we are the instruments through which that miracle can happen.
www.faithfulamerica.org/darfur.htm
The faith community has mobilized to address this moral outrage. Daily, peaceful protests at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC have echoed protest tactics used against Apartheid in South Africa. Religious leaders, celebrities and political leaders are being arrested each day in acts of civil disobedience, including Reverend Bob Edgar, Congressman Charlie Rangel, and actor Danny Glover.
Blessings,
The FaithfulAmerica.org Team
For more information on the crisis in Darfur, or to get involved in activism in your community, please visit www.darfurgenocide.org