Anti-Choice Bill Moves To The Senate - PLEASE HELP STOP IT NOW!
Anti-choice Senate leader Bill Frist is determined to score political points with the right-wing's conservative base by pushing for a Senate vote on the deceptive "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" before Congress recesses. It should come as no surprise that anti-choice lawmakers support the so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which is intended to threaten the legal basis of the right to choose. Anti-choice Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has conceded the bill's true purpose: "They say it undermines abortion rights. It does."

What is disturbing is that anti-choice legislators are exploiting real human tragedies for their own political gain. Nobody disputes the fact that any criminal act that robs women and their families of a hoped-for future child is tragic and intolerable. But instead of passing consensus legislation to punish such crimes and protect a woman's right to protect herself and her pregnancy from violence, this bill's sponsors are co-opting this important issue to advance their own far-right agenda. Please take action to urge your Senators to vote against this dangerous and deceptive bill - click here:
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/uvv_senate_0304/b7e33u4pj6mbi7

You can take action on this alert either via email (please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/uvv_senate_0304/b7e33u4pj6mb17

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this:
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/uvv_senate_0304/forward/b7e33u4pj6mbi7
We encourage you to take action by April 2, 2004


Inspired By Dennis Kucinich, Steps For Peace Walk Across America To End February 29th
http://www.kucinich.us/walkfordennis/walkfordennis.php

Minnesota: Kucinichs Showing May Be Tribute To Wellstone
PIONEER PRESS
by Bill Salisbury
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/politics/8099742.htm

Message from MoveOn.org on Bush's First Ads Exploit 9/11

In the months after the attacks on September 11th, President Bush told reporters that he had "no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue." But the campaign ads he revealed today use imagery of Ground Zero and of a fire fighter's funeral to argue for his re-election. 9/11 family members are furious about it. The New York Daily News covered the story this yesterday morning:

"It's a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people," said Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin tower attacks. "It is unconscionable." . . .

Firefighter Tommy Fee in Rescue Squad 270 in Queens was appalled. "It's as sick as people who stole things out of the place. The image of firefighters at Ground Zero should not be used for this stuff, for politics," Fee said.

The whole article is online at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/170291p-148587c.html

If we don't tell President Bush now that exploiting our national tragedy for partisan political gain is off-limits, we can expect far more of this in the months ahead. The best way to put Bush on notice is by filling the nation's editorial pages. If we all write our local papers, Bush will understand just how inappropriate his ads are. Writing a letter to the editor doesn't actually take very long – you can do it in ten minutes or less. Writing a letter that's short, sweet, and to the point is the best way for you to get it published. We've added some tips and some talking points below. Once you've written, please let us know at:
http://www.moveon.org/pac/bushltes.html?id=2423-2148547-d2cGPAhB2WX8TnbqMD2Tog

Here are some points you could mention in your letter:

* Bush told us he wouldn't use 9/11 for political purposes. As reported by the Associated Press on 1/23/03, President Bush said "I have no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue." Now he's doing precisely that.

* Our tragedy is being exploited. By using 9/11 imagery, President Bush's re-election ads cheapen a profoundly significant event that killed thousands and hurt all of us.

* Just two weeks ago, the Bush/Cheney campaign attacked the notion of "playing politics with national security." As reported in Newsday on 2/20/04, Bush-Cheney spokesman Kevin Madden responded to charges that the White House has overtly politicized 9/11 by saying "I can't believe [they] said that. They are playing politics with national security."

* Bush still won't testify in front of the 9/11 commission. As the Daily News reported, many family members are especially upset because President Bush still refuses to meet with the whole 9/11 commission, which was set up to determine what went wrong in the lead-up to the attacks.

* The political use of 9/11 is a major part of the Bush re-election strategy. The 2004 Republican Convention is scheduled for the first week of September, timing which, according to the New York Times (4/22/03), "will allow Bush to begin his formal campaign near the third anniversary of Sept. 11."

Working together, we can make sure that Bush and the nation knows that these ads are over the line.

P.S. Many of the citations and quotes in this alert were collected first by the Center for American Progress in their Progress Report, online at:
http://www.progressreport.org

It Ain’t Over ’Til…..
March 4, 2004

The Cleveland Plain Dealer asked Kucinich today what part of ‘it’s over’ he didn’t understand. Kucinich responded: "The part that says that we're still in Iraq, that says there are 43 million Americans without any health insurance, the part that says we lost 3 million manufacturing jobs, that we've got a front-runner who basically has taken NAFTA and the WTO off the table. And the part that says, last I checked, this is still a democracy."

Kucinich told the Plain Dealer his continued presence gives a forum for important ideas in the Democratic Party. "There are critical differences within the Democratic Party which have to be aired, and they really reflect on whether or not the Democrats can win the election in November," he said. Kucinich warned against ending the debate now and taking it outside of the Democratic Party. “It will be assumed that Democrats may not care about these things," he said.

"It might be true that any Democrat could get 49 percent of the vote right now. The question is, how do you get that other 2 or 3 percent that takes you over the top?" Kucinich said. "And that's why my value to this race could end up helping to save the day."