Personal Voices: Setting The Record Straight
ALTERNET
by Michael Moore
http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18423

Important Message From ACT FOR CHANGE Activism

End Insurance Discrimination -- Pass the Wellstone Mental Health Parity Bill Contributed by Wellstone Action

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act would close loopholes in federal law by requiring group health plans to stop using arbitrary limits on mental health parity benefits different from those used with medical and surgical benefits. With 69 co-sponsors, this legislation is sure to pass if brought to a vote, but Senate leaders have reneged on their commitment and are blocking the bill from a vote on the floor of the Senate. Click here to take action! http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eYbO0FFlNw0KkY0lyT0A1

It's up to us to keep the pressure on those key senators that have the power to allow a vote. Ask your senators to contact Senators Gregg and Frist and tell them to bring the Wellstone legislation to a vote.

No More Corporate Tax Holidays -- Make Corporations Pay Their Fair Share

While April 15 is no tax holiday for millions of individual American taxpayers scrambling to get their returns in, it might as well be for many U.S. corporations. At a time of exploding Federal deficits and unmet public needs, we cannot afford corporate tax evasion. Recent reports from the General Accounting Office show that more than 60% of large U.S. corporations paid NO federal taxes from 1996 through 2000, and in today's weaker economy, tax receipts from companies have fallen even steeper -- corporate taxes now account for a mere 7.5% of overall federal tax receipts, the lowest rate since 1983. For a comparison, during WWII corporate taxes accounted for about 40% of federal tax receipts. Fortunately, there are two easy solutions that do not even involve raising tax rates -- better enforcement and closing loopholes. Click here to take action! http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eYbO0FFlNw0KkY0lyV0A3

The IRS estimates that the U.S. Treasury may be losing billions of dollars each year due to aggressive tax avoidance, and it's time to make corporations pay up. Individuals shouldn't be the only ones to get a tax bill due this April 15. Urge your representatives to get tough on corporate tax cheats and close the "Bermuda Triangle loophole" by supporting the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act (HR 737) and increasing the funding and authority of the IRS to get tough with corporate tax cheats through a substantial increase in audits and other enforcement measures.

An Important Message From Democrat Candidate Dennis Kucinich

Hi everyone ... this is Dennis ... there is a lot at stake at this moment. The President has said that he intends to stay the course in Iraq. That course is one, which will increase the number of deaths and injuries, not only to our troops but also to many innocent people in Iraq, ultimately making Americans less safe at home and less welcome around the world. If we continue on this course, spending upwards of $200 billion in Iraq, America will continue to sacrifice a domestic agenda that is already failing to provide sufficient funding for education, health care, housing, job creation, veterans, and environmental protection. People ask me why I continue to run for president when the nomination's already been decided. Someone has to be offering alternatives to keep our troops in Iraq from an indefinite future. Someone has to say that the Democratic Party must offer a course of action, which will enable America to connect with the world community, stop the waste of our precious tax resources, stabilize Iraq, and bring our troops home. Someone has to be the voice for universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care so universally supported, and so desperately needed.

Someone has to say that NAFTA and the WTO must be replaced by trade structures, which enshrine ethical principles of workers rights, human rights, and environmental protection. Someone has to say the PATRIOT Act must go. The nomination's been decided. Now we must decide what we stand for as a party. If we offer real choices, real alternatives, show how people will really win something when they vote Democrat, we will win in November. I'm pledged to that outcome. We cannot, and we must not, let our party sink into indecision and indifference on matters of war and peace, as we prepare for the November elections. That is why I will continue on this campaign, and that is why you are needed too. I can continue doing what I'm doing as long as I have your help. Our campaign has had amazing success over the last year in keeping alive hopes of millions for peace, for health care, for fair trade, for renewal of our civil liberties. We recently once again made our fundraising goal for the 4th consecutive quarter.

Help keep alive the debate about Iraq. Help keep alive the hopes of people for a single-payer, national health care system. Help keep alive workers' rights, human rights, and environmental quality principles and trade agreements. Help keep alive the efforts to repeal the PATRIOT Act. Help keep alive the progressive movement inside the Democratic Party. The next few weeks are crucial, as we wind up the primaries and caucuses, draft a Democratic Party platform, and prepare for the convention. There is a lot at stake in this moment. Please help us bring forth the best that is in all of us. Thank you so much.

Voters Need Quality News to Make Informed Decisions in a Democracy Tell the FCC to Require Broadcasters to Air Election News

A coalition of citizens' groups, including Common Cause, Alliance for Better Campaigns, Media for Democracy, and MediaChannel.org, has been formed to request that the Federal Communications Commission ensure that TV broadcasters better fulfill their obligation to serve citizens by offering at least three hours per week of programming about important local issues, candidates, campaigns, and elections. This may not sound like much, but it's actually an eternity in the world of broadcast television, where mayhem and fluff dominate and issue-based news is neglected. And stations would not be allowed to relegate this programming to the middle of the night. Broadcasters, with their eyes on maximizing profit at the expense of democracy, will fight this proposal with an army of lobbyists. They want to continue serving news consumers a diet of mayhem and fluff; even at election time, when getting real news about our communities matters most. What broadcasters have forgotten is that they're broadcasting for free over publicly owned airwaves. It's a broadcast spectrum that's worth tens of billions of dollars. And they're getting to use it for free, courtesy of you and me, the American taxpayers. It's time we got something in return. If you want to send the FCC a fax or you'd like to customize the message to the FCC, click here: http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=380807&l=499