WEEK IN REVIEW
May 6, 2005
To the Moms of America: Happy Mother's Day!
This week we salute the mothers in our country who find a way to balance work and family needs and to raise healthy children with strong values in families of all types and sizes. Here's to you!
This Mother's Day the Bush administration has sent out gifts you won't find at your local greeting card shop. The Bush White House continues to promote their scheme to privatize Social Security that will cut benefits for middle class mothers by up to 32 percent through price indexing. This is not good news for the 24 million women who receive Social Security benefits. Women also make up 58 percent of seniors receiving Social Security, and without the program, 53 percent of all senior women would live in poverty. Mothers also rely upon the protections afforded through disability and survivor's benefits, which would also be cut under the Bush plan.
KEEPING TABS ON OUR TAXPAYER MONEY
No doubt you've seen recent media coverage of the President's national tour to lobby Americans for his proposal to privatize Social Security. The Washington Post reports millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on high-tech media oriented events to promote these proposals. The Bush administration is not concerned about the millions of taxpayer dollars it spends freely to promote its privatization scheme -- but it has been critical of the funds spent by groups who oppose them. Recently, the White House sent a letter to the AFL-CIO, cautioning the union not to spend employee pension funds to challenge the President's plan (which the AFL-CIO has not done). Coincidentally, the AFL-CIO has been on the forefront of discussing the benefits Wall Street stands to gain under the President's privatization plans.
There are reports that taxpayers could also be paying for upcoming promotions from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to communicate a dire financial situation for the agency's programs. The New York Times reports that an internal SSA strategic communication plan will include not just speeches and public events but radio, television and print media. Sounds like something with a heavy price-tag. And taxpayers recently learned from the Associated Press that when the Bush reelection campaign kicked off in 2003, SSA polling language was changed "to determine when the public thought the federal retirement program would go broke and whether people knew anything about Bush's plan to let workers invest part of their Social Security payments in private accounts." The poll was another beneficiary of taxpayer dollars.
The Bush administration should take a dose of their own medicine and put the taxpayer's money to the rising debt they plan to pass on to the next generation instead of funding it's propaganda machine.
KEEPING OUR JUDICIARY FAIR AND INDEPENDENT
Democrats are standing up to protect your voice in Congress and to keep our judiciary fair and independent. We need to protect our rights by stopping a handful of Bush nominees with records that put them far outside of the mainstream. Republicans aren't satisfied with the 95 percent of Bush nominees who have been confirmed. So they plan to eliminate the filibuster, a 200-year-old Senate tradition that protects the voice of Americans represented by the minority party. The GOP wants to push through every single Bush nominee, no matter what their records look like. It's a grab for complete control over every branch of our government; the destruction of the checks and balances that make our democracy strong. Raise your voice and join the fight today! Use our talking points below to help spread the word.
http://www.democrats.org/action/
Join the women who are standing up to the Republican power grab. Sign the DNC petition today!
http://www.democrats.org/action/200503150001.html
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper calling on your Senator to oppose the GOP abuse of power. Write your letter here!
http://www.democrats.org/action/200504070001.html
Call your Senators today to tell them you support a fair and independent judiciary and that you oppose the change in Senate rules. Click here for contact information and then tell us about your call!
http://www.democrats.org/officials/
And talk to your friends and neighbors! Here are the facts:
The Senate has approved 95 percent of Bush's judges, with Democrats blocking only a handful whose records place them far outside the mainstream.
Republicans want to break the rules and turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for the President.
Republicans want to end a 200-year tradition and upset the checks and balances that have kept our democracy strong.
Bush and the Republicans want to pack the court with judges who will roll back equality, liberty, and individual rights of all Americans.
By a margin of 2 to 1, Americans oppose Republican attempts to change the rules.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES RHETORIC ON SUPPORTING OUR MILITARY
Our men and women in uniform keep our nation safe, and their families make great sacrifices on our behalf. Democrats believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that our troops have the resources they need to carry out their mission, wherever they are serving. Responding to a record of neglect and campaign rhetoric from Washington Republicans, Democrats are working to increase our military strength, and to create a Guard and Reserve Bill of Rights to protect and promote the interests of our dedicated citizen soldiers and our veterans.
It was none other than then-candidate Bush in 2000 who criticized a Democratic administration by saying "So let's get something straight right now. To point out that our military has been overextended, taken for granted and neglected, that's no criticism of the military. That is criticism of a president and vice president and their record of neglect." [Bush, 11/3/00]. And then candidate Dick Cheney commented frequently about problems with recruiting, retention and morale - stating the military was in trouble due to those factors and that President Clinton and Vice President Gore were responsible. So in the words of our esteemed President, let's point out that our military has been overextended, taken for granted and neglected and that's no criticism of the military. That is a criticism of the Bush administration and it is a record of neglect.
Current reports from our military leaders show that recruiting is down. In fact, the Army missed its third straight recruiting goal. Repeated reports from the Pentagon state that troops are stretched too thin to deal "with other potential armed conflicts" and military leaders are openly stating the Army is stretched to a stress point. Our military families and service members need our support.
While President Bush and the Washington Republicans continue the campaign rhetoric that they support our troops, their leadership on military needs has fallen woefully short and the Republican leadership is to blame. The Republican Party has misplaced the American priorities of keeping a commitment to our military families.
Democrats are fighting to ensure military families and service members' voices are heard - through a GI Bill of Rights that includes supporting our servicemen and women with equipment and appropriate compensation, supporting the military families who support our servicemembers and honoring all veterans with benefits that reflect their sacrifice. To learn more about the GI Bill of Rights, click here.
DEMOCRATS TAKING THE LEAD
DNC Unveils New National Democratic Lawyers Council
Calling all legal professionals and law students! The DNC has formed a National Democratic Lawyers Council to provide an ongoing organization of volunteer lawyers and law students who will work with the Party at the national, state and local levels on a broad range of issues. In 2004, lawyers across the country volunteered at the state and local levels in unprecedented numbers to work with the Democratic National Committee. Over 17,000 lawyers worked in the weeks before and on election day to make sure all eligible voters had the right to vote and to have their votes counted, and to ensure that Americans weren't intimidated or harassed at the polls.
Governor Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, has committed to ensuring that the Democratic Party at every level has access to lawyers and law students dedicated to our shared goals-most important among them being a completely open and fair election process that is respectful of the rights of all Americans. Are you a legal professional and want to get engaged in the Council network?
Email the DNC Voting Rights Institute director Vincent Fry at fryv@dnc.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
George Stephanopoulos: You have said that the out-of-control judiciary, and this was in your last book "Courting Disaster" is the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than al Qaeda, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War?
Evangelist Pat Robertson: George, I really believe that.
From ABC's This Week' Sunday May 1, 2005
To the Moms of America: Happy Mother's Day!
This week we salute the mothers in our country who find a way to balance work and family needs and to raise healthy children with strong values in families of all types and sizes. Here's to you!
This Mother's Day the Bush administration has sent out gifts you won't find at your local greeting card shop. The Bush White House continues to promote their scheme to privatize Social Security that will cut benefits for middle class mothers by up to 32 percent through price indexing. This is not good news for the 24 million women who receive Social Security benefits. Women also make up 58 percent of seniors receiving Social Security, and without the program, 53 percent of all senior women would live in poverty. Mothers also rely upon the protections afforded through disability and survivor's benefits, which would also be cut under the Bush plan.
KEEPING TABS ON OUR TAXPAYER MONEY
No doubt you've seen recent media coverage of the President's national tour to lobby Americans for his proposal to privatize Social Security. The Washington Post reports millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on high-tech media oriented events to promote these proposals. The Bush administration is not concerned about the millions of taxpayer dollars it spends freely to promote its privatization scheme -- but it has been critical of the funds spent by groups who oppose them. Recently, the White House sent a letter to the AFL-CIO, cautioning the union not to spend employee pension funds to challenge the President's plan (which the AFL-CIO has not done). Coincidentally, the AFL-CIO has been on the forefront of discussing the benefits Wall Street stands to gain under the President's privatization plans.
There are reports that taxpayers could also be paying for upcoming promotions from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to communicate a dire financial situation for the agency's programs. The New York Times reports that an internal SSA strategic communication plan will include not just speeches and public events but radio, television and print media. Sounds like something with a heavy price-tag. And taxpayers recently learned from the Associated Press that when the Bush reelection campaign kicked off in 2003, SSA polling language was changed "to determine when the public thought the federal retirement program would go broke and whether people knew anything about Bush's plan to let workers invest part of their Social Security payments in private accounts." The poll was another beneficiary of taxpayer dollars.
The Bush administration should take a dose of their own medicine and put the taxpayer's money to the rising debt they plan to pass on to the next generation instead of funding it's propaganda machine.
KEEPING OUR JUDICIARY FAIR AND INDEPENDENT
Democrats are standing up to protect your voice in Congress and to keep our judiciary fair and independent. We need to protect our rights by stopping a handful of Bush nominees with records that put them far outside of the mainstream. Republicans aren't satisfied with the 95 percent of Bush nominees who have been confirmed. So they plan to eliminate the filibuster, a 200-year-old Senate tradition that protects the voice of Americans represented by the minority party. The GOP wants to push through every single Bush nominee, no matter what their records look like. It's a grab for complete control over every branch of our government; the destruction of the checks and balances that make our democracy strong. Raise your voice and join the fight today! Use our talking points below to help spread the word.
http://www.democrats.org/action/
Join the women who are standing up to the Republican power grab. Sign the DNC petition today!
http://www.democrats.org/action/200503150001.html
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper calling on your Senator to oppose the GOP abuse of power. Write your letter here!
http://www.democrats.org/action/200504070001.html
Call your Senators today to tell them you support a fair and independent judiciary and that you oppose the change in Senate rules. Click here for contact information and then tell us about your call!
http://www.democrats.org/officials/
And talk to your friends and neighbors! Here are the facts:
The Senate has approved 95 percent of Bush's judges, with Democrats blocking only a handful whose records place them far outside the mainstream.
Republicans want to break the rules and turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for the President.
Republicans want to end a 200-year tradition and upset the checks and balances that have kept our democracy strong.
Bush and the Republicans want to pack the court with judges who will roll back equality, liberty, and individual rights of all Americans.
By a margin of 2 to 1, Americans oppose Republican attempts to change the rules.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES RHETORIC ON SUPPORTING OUR MILITARY
Our men and women in uniform keep our nation safe, and their families make great sacrifices on our behalf. Democrats believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that our troops have the resources they need to carry out their mission, wherever they are serving. Responding to a record of neglect and campaign rhetoric from Washington Republicans, Democrats are working to increase our military strength, and to create a Guard and Reserve Bill of Rights to protect and promote the interests of our dedicated citizen soldiers and our veterans.
It was none other than then-candidate Bush in 2000 who criticized a Democratic administration by saying "So let's get something straight right now. To point out that our military has been overextended, taken for granted and neglected, that's no criticism of the military. That is criticism of a president and vice president and their record of neglect." [Bush, 11/3/00]. And then candidate Dick Cheney commented frequently about problems with recruiting, retention and morale - stating the military was in trouble due to those factors and that President Clinton and Vice President Gore were responsible. So in the words of our esteemed President, let's point out that our military has been overextended, taken for granted and neglected and that's no criticism of the military. That is a criticism of the Bush administration and it is a record of neglect.
Current reports from our military leaders show that recruiting is down. In fact, the Army missed its third straight recruiting goal. Repeated reports from the Pentagon state that troops are stretched too thin to deal "with other potential armed conflicts" and military leaders are openly stating the Army is stretched to a stress point. Our military families and service members need our support.
While President Bush and the Washington Republicans continue the campaign rhetoric that they support our troops, their leadership on military needs has fallen woefully short and the Republican leadership is to blame. The Republican Party has misplaced the American priorities of keeping a commitment to our military families.
Democrats are fighting to ensure military families and service members' voices are heard - through a GI Bill of Rights that includes supporting our servicemen and women with equipment and appropriate compensation, supporting the military families who support our servicemembers and honoring all veterans with benefits that reflect their sacrifice. To learn more about the GI Bill of Rights, click here.
DEMOCRATS TAKING THE LEAD
DNC Unveils New National Democratic Lawyers Council
Calling all legal professionals and law students! The DNC has formed a National Democratic Lawyers Council to provide an ongoing organization of volunteer lawyers and law students who will work with the Party at the national, state and local levels on a broad range of issues. In 2004, lawyers across the country volunteered at the state and local levels in unprecedented numbers to work with the Democratic National Committee. Over 17,000 lawyers worked in the weeks before and on election day to make sure all eligible voters had the right to vote and to have their votes counted, and to ensure that Americans weren't intimidated or harassed at the polls.
Governor Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, has committed to ensuring that the Democratic Party at every level has access to lawyers and law students dedicated to our shared goals-most important among them being a completely open and fair election process that is respectful of the rights of all Americans. Are you a legal professional and want to get engaged in the Council network?
Email the DNC Voting Rights Institute director Vincent Fry at fryv@dnc.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
George Stephanopoulos: You have said that the out-of-control judiciary, and this was in your last book "Courting Disaster" is the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than al Qaeda, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War?
Evangelist Pat Robertson: George, I really believe that.
From ABC's This Week' Sunday May 1, 2005
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 6:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home