Call to Action

Let's get moving!

Quote from Despair Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves:

I do not believe the wicked always win. I believe our despair is a lie we are telling ourselves. In many other periods of history, people, ordinary citizens, routinely set aside hours, days, time in their lives for doing the work of politics, some of which is glam and revolutionary and some of which is dull and electoral and tedious and not especially pure – and the world changed because of the work they did. That's what we're starting now. It requires setting aside the time to do it, and then doing it. Not any single one of us has to or possibly can save the world, but together in some sort of concert, in even not-especially-coordinated concert, with all of us working where we see work to be done, the world will change. And we have to do it by showing up places, our bodies in places, turn off the fucking computers, leave the Web and the Net – and show up, our bodies at meetings and demos and rallies and leafletting corners.

Because this is a moment in history that needs us to begin, each of us every day at her or his own pace, slowly and surely rediscovering how to be politically active, how to organize our disparate energies into effective group action – and I choose to believe we will do what is required. Act. Organize. Assemble. Oppose. Resist. Find a place a cause a group a friend and start, today, now now now, continue continue continue. Being politically active is for the citizens of a democracy maybe the best way of speaking to God and hearing Her answer: You exist. If we are active, if we are activist, She replies to us: You specifically exist. Mazel tov. Now get busy, She replies. Maintain the world by changing the world.

Read then entire essay at http://www.alternet.org/story/19867. See Michael Moore's take on the same subject - Put Away Your Hankies!: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092204W.shtml. More on Politics: http://valoriez.blogspot.com/2004/01/politics.html

Action Item: Alert the Senate Judiciary Committee to Reject the Nomination of Thomas Griffith to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

In the next four years, Americans can expect to see lifetime appointments to many of the vacancies in our country's highest courts including, potentially three vacancies in the Supreme Court. ...A progressive judiciary is key to securing the safety and equality of our loved ones. ...

Now is the time to act to help defeat an extremist judicial nomination. President Bush has nominated Thomas Griffith, General Counsel of Brigham Young University, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, widely considered the second most important court in the U.S. after the Supreme Court. As a member of the 2002 Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, Griffith not only supported the Commission recommendations that would have reduced opportunities for women and girls, but he also opposed Title IX which since 1972 has been instrumental in expanding opportunities for women and girls in education and sports. Griffith's opposition to Title IX, which seeks to compensate for societal discrimination against women, puts into question his ability to enforce and expand civil right's law. Griffith's stance on the separation of church and state is equally troubling. According to Alliance for Justice, "His (Griffith) record indicates that he believes that the rule of law is based in faith and that lawyers should work to build a religious community."

Write your Senators to oppose Griffith's confirmation. You may find your senators' email address and telephone number at http://www.senate.gov. More information here: http://www.capwiz.com/pfaw/issues/alert/?alertid=6653076


Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin