In
this Issue:
Reexamine our Priorities after Katrina
 As the
waters of Katrina recede what is revealed is so repugnant
that we are in grave danger of averting our eyes without
learning our lessons. For the first time in his public
life, President Bush has finally acknowledged possible
failures by his administration. It is a start, and I commend
him for expressing a willingness to accept responsibility
rather than continuing to talk about the “blame
game.”
Nothing
about this is a game, and, God knows, there is enough blame
to go around. The Federal government, churches and the
private sector are throwing millions of dollars at the
recovery effort. Hope for Peace & Justice,
together with the Cathedral of Hope has donated nearly
$30,000 plus 1,000 meals and truck loads of supplies, clothes
and food. Such generosity is enough to restore my hope
for humanity. My great fear, though, is that in a few weeks
our thoughts and attention will turn elsewhere and the
deepest and hardest challenges revealed by this tragedy
will go unanswered.
Tell Washington to Change Priorities
Draining the city of New Orleans, rebuilding
the levees, and preventing this from happening again may
be the easy part. Addressing the social issues that turned
a natural disaster into a national shame will require much
more courage and determination. First, we must begin by
acknowledging that we live in a country where more of our
citizens live in abject poverty than any of us want to
imagine. I actually agree with the President. This wasn’t about race. It
was about class. Yes, the overwhelming majority of the poor
who were abandoned were African Americans, but it wasn’t
the color of their skin that motivated the neglect. It was
the absence of their money. Those who could not evacuate
the city or who got left behind in nursing homes to drown
in their beds were overwhelmingly and shamefully poor. Race
is certainly a factor when it comes to poverty in this country,
but the bottom line is almost always the almighty dollar.
Last
year, the Bush Administration’s
military expenditure was $455 billion. The United States
accounts for almost half the global total for military spending
and more than the combined total of the 32 next most powerful
nations. In 2003, U.S. spending stood at $405 billion, 47
percent of the world’s total. For the past five years
the military portion of our Gross National Product has increased.
Now, it should be noted that these figures do NOT include
the war in Iraq. That has been handled by a special appropriation.
Enough is Enough! Send a letter to Congress!
What does it say about our soul as a nation
when we can continually find more and more money for war,
but not for the elderly, health care, education, the environment,
or for other issues that ought to be the priorities of a
civilized nation? Do we REALLY need to spend seven times
what the next nation spends? After seeing the response to
hurricane Katrina, do you really feel more secure than you
did before 9/11?
Contact
your Senators and Representatives to tell them that you
expect them to reexamine the priorities of our government
because the current ones do not reflect your values. Then,
forward this email to as many people as possible. If we
all work together, perhaps Katrina can be a call to conscience
for our nation. Let’s do
what we can to make it so.
Click
here to tell Congress, “Reset
our Priorities!”
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Related Information
These organizations provide amazing information
and insight into the current priorities of our government
and the growing need to change them.
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Business
Leaders for Sensible Priorities
Mission Statement: Increase funding to meet the needs of our children and children
around the world (at no additional taxpayer expense) by reducing money spent
on cold war era weapon systems and other Pentagon programs that are not needed
in the post-Cold War world. [On
the Web] |
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National
Priorities Project
The National Priorities Project (NPP) offers citizen and community groups tools
and resources to shape federal budget and policy priorities which promote social
and economic justice. NPP is a nonpartisan and nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. [On
the Web] |
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National
Health Care for the Homeless Council
The mission of the National Council is to help bring about reform of the health
care system to best serve the needs of people who are homeless, to work in alliance
with others whose broader purpose is to eliminate homelessness, and to provide
support to Council members. [On
the Web] |
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“The
Other America” by Jonathan Alter
Newsweek September 19, 2005
Katrina reminded us, but the problem is not new. Why a rising tide of people
live in poverty, who they are – and what we can do about it. [On
the Web] |
Click
HERE to tell Congress to change National Priorities!
Join the H4PJ Texas
Marriage Coalition
Since the launch of the H4PJ Equality Coalition, staff and
volunteers have been working diligently to build a faith-based
coalition to stand against the discrimination of Proposition
Two.
In order
to defeat the discriminatory and overly-broad amendment,
our coalition will require a monumental effort and level
of commitment. Our opponents are well organized, better
funded, and have enticed our state’s
leadership into believing that discrimination is a sure
way to guarantee a successful reelection.
In fact, just last week, Governor Perry met with several
hundred conservative pastors in San Antonio and Houston to
discuss how they could register 300,000 voters as part of
their effort to get Perry re-elected.
Join
the Marriage Coalition today!
H4PJ has made great strides at identifying progressive people
of faith; however, our efforts alone will not be enough.
It
will be people like you that will make the difference
on Election Day.
It will be people like you who will talk
to your friends and family about this issue.
It will be people like you who will register to vote.
It will be people like you who will Covenant
to Vote making a solemn promise to vote.
One day, because of people like you, we will be able to
wake up, thankful that it was Texas that said no to discrimination.
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