Posted on 11/07/2003 10:26:42 AM PST by Gopher Broke
Dear MoveOn Member,
In June, twenty thousand MoveOn members interviewed each other by phone to help us explore the values underlying our work together. One striking theme emerged: the deep concern Americans have with the Bush administration's attacks on our cherished liberties, in the name of security. Since June, we've been looking for a powerful way to respond to this clear mandate, and when former Vice President Gore asked us to co-host a policy address on Freedom and Security, we jumped at the chance.
You are invited to view this important speech on Sunday, November 9 at 2pm EASTERN by web cast, or on Link TV. In Washington DC, this event will be attended by local MoveOn members and by members of our partner in this effort, the American Constitution Society. Unfortunately, all seats for the event are filled. But we encourage you to tune in this Sunday, at 2pm Eastern, by going to:
http://www.moveon.org/gore/webcast.html
The program will be broadcast live on Link TV, the national television network available on DIRECTV (channel 375) and DISH Network (channel 9410). C-SPAN will likely broadcast the speech as well, as long as another news event doesn’t supercede the speech on Sunday.
In this, his third major speech on the Administration's response to terrorism, Mr. Gore will describe the Administration's assault on our civil liberties as un-American and will charge that the Bush/Ashcroft attack on the Constitution is actually a smokescreen that obscures the Administration’s fundamental failure to meaningfully protect our national security, and that their efforts have weakened rather than strengthened America.
In August, Mr. Gore delivered a speech sponsored by MoveOn that opened a space for other leaders to speak out against the Bush Administration's deliberate use of false impressions to mislead the nation on war, taxes, the economy and the environment. That speech did nothing less than shift the terms of the national debate, and we expect this speech to have as big an impact.
Again, here are the details:
Al Gore Speaks on Freedom and Security Sunday, November 9, 2:00 pm Eastern Webcast: http://www.moveon.org/gore/webcast.html Broadcast: Link TV and possibly C-SPAN
See you there.
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack The MoveOn.org Team November 7th, 2003
PS: We're cosponsoring this event with the American Constitution Society. ACS is a national organization of law students, lawyers, academics, judges, and policymakers committed to restoring the values of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, equality, and access to justice to their rightful, central place in American law. ACS is leading a rapidly growing movement to counter the Federalist Society and other promoters of today's dominant conservative vision of American law and public policy. Visit ACS at: www.acslaw.org
Link TV broadcasts to more than 21 million US homes a 24-hour mix of documentaries, international news and critical issues not covered by mainstream media. For more information on rebroadcast times go to www.linktv.org.
________________
I do try to catch their "Mosaic" when I want to see what the middle east media is saying about something.
Now THAT's a way to get a diversity of opinion ;-)
> -----Original Message-----
From: xxx
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 2:57 PM
To: Nadler, Jerrold
Subject: Keep Bush Accountable
Dear Congressman Nadler,
The arrogance of this administration is costing us friends the world over.
It is time Congress stood up to this gang of brigands and stopped them in their tracks.
You and your colleagues in Congress are responsible for ensuring that our tax dollars are used well. But President Bush is demanding another enormous blank check.
Congress must withhold the $87 billion requested by President Bush until he dismisses the team responsible for the quagmire in Iraq -- starting with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld -- and ends the U.S. occupation of Iraq by transferring authority for rebuilding to the United Nations. Sincerely,
xxx
xxx 68th Street
New York City, NY 10023
________ This is an important constituent communication initiated through MoveOn.org
The Response
Thank you for informing me of your opposition to President Bush's request for an additional $87.5 billion in funding for the war and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, H.R. 3289.
I appreciate your taking the time to share your views.
I am pleased to inform you that I voted against this bill when it was brought to the House floor for a vote on October 17, 2003. Unfortunately, the bill passed the House by a vote of 303 to 125.
As you may know, H.R. 3289 would provide $87.5 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $64.7 billion for the U.S. military, $18.6 billion for Iraq relief and reconstruction, and $1.2 billion for Afghanistan relief and reconstruction.
Last spring, Congress approved a $63 billion supplemental appropriation for the troops in Iraq, which will fund military personnel and operations through next May. I voted for that appropriation because I felt that, regardless of whether or not we should have invaded Iraq, we are there now and cannot afford to allow Iraq to slide into civil war and disorder.
However, Members of Congress have yet to receive any information detailing how those funds have been spent. Additionally, we have not learned of realistic plans to share costs and the burdens with other countries, and to prevent a nationalist guerilla war against us by demonstrating to the Iraqi people that we are running an international reconstruction, not an American occupation.
I could not support this newest supplement appropriations bill, given the Administration's obvious failure to plan for the realities of post-war Iraq, and its refusal to make good faith, adequate proposals to share the power and the burden of the reconstruction of Iraq. Our soldiers continue to die and the United States taxpayers continue to carry almost all of the burden of paying for the cost of cleaning up the mess in Iraq.
We know now that the Bush Administration misled us when it asserted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that it was developing nuclear weapons, that it had somehow cooperated with al-Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks, and that it posed an imminent threat to this country. I believed then, and I believe now, that the war in Iraq has diverted resources and attention away from the war waged against the U.S. by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups-a war which poses a very real threat to our safety and security.
I find it offensive when members of the Republican party label those unwilling to give the President a blank check as unpatriotic.
I voted against the President's request to go to war last October, believing it to be a mistake. However, now that we are in Iraq, we must be committed to helping the people of Iraq rebuild. The money appropriated last spring for the military and reconstruction efforts will do just that. I do not believe that it is necessary to pass another spending bill to blindly follow the Bush Administration, at the expense of the American taxpayer.
I believe we need to pass a funding bill that accounts for the American taxpayer's money, protects out troops, and shares the burden with other nations.
Please be assured that I will continue to work with my colleagues to encourage the involvement of an international coalition to share in the cost and rebuilding of Iraq.
Thank you again for conveying your views. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I may be of assistance on this or any other matter of concern.
Sincerely,
Jerrold Nadler
Member of Congress
I think he's the guy with the lock-box.
Actually, there are at least three Al Gores. I know, I saw each one at a different presidential debate.
They all sweat like a pig though....
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