Help- is there a fake "moveon.org." SS letter going around?

I just received a forwarded copy of a supposed MoveOn request to sign a Social Security petition - "Tell Congress to protect Social Security."

Two things: 1) my brother is apolitical, leaning toward accepting Fox crap, if
anything

2) the format of the letter doesn't look right, and I haven't even
received it yet, which is odd since I worked with MoveOn in
Ohio

Can anyone help me with this? if it is true, and my brother has seen the light - HALLELUJAH!!

if so, what was his take on it?


i'm pretty sure i rec'd one recently, off to check on it.

dp

was it from Tom Matzzie? i have a copy of it.

That's what concerns me - looks like a fake, and I'm thinking something may have gotten into his mailbox, pulling addys and hooking them up to bogus letters.

This MoveOn note ended with the phrase "Thanks for helping out with this."

No sigs, headers, etc. ike the usual stuff.

From: "Tom Matzzie, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>

(This was in my 'No Spam' file because of the volume of political stuff I get (I leave it there), so don't have my own web address to verify where it came from, but will release it if you need it.

To: XXXXXXXX
Subject: Tell Congress to save Social Security
Date: Jan 13, 2005 12:13 PM
George Bush and Republican leaders have made phasing out Social Security – through privatization and massive benefit cuts – their top priority for 2005. We want to deliver 200,000 signatures to Congress to let them know that the American people oppose gutting Social Security. Sign now:

Click to Sign

Dear MoveOn member,
Social Security is the crown jewel of progressive government -- a singular achievement that has reshaped what used to be penniless old age. Now George Bush and Republican leaders have made phasing out Social Security as we know it through privatization and massive benefit cuts their top priority for 2005.

Even House Republicans are skeptical about the scheme. According to a recent Washington Post article, as many as 40 Republican members are considering voting against it. So the final vote is likely to be extremely close, and Bush and the Wall Street firms that stand to make billions are pulling out all the stops. According to some reports, they're raising up to $100 million for advertising to apply pressure.

Bush started his publicity blitz on Tuesday, and now the clock is ticking for House and Senate members to state their position. We need to send them a message before it is too late. Let your members of Congress know that you want them to protect Social Security by signing our petition at the link below:

http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/

Edited for clarity.

Dear friend:

George Bush and Republican leaders have made phasing out Social Security through privatization and massive benefit cuts their top priority for 2005. Members of Congress are choosing sides over the next couple of weeks.

We need to make sure they choose correctly now before a massive election-style campaign by George Bush and the Wall Street interests gets to them including what might be a $100 million TV ad campaign.

MoveOn's trying to gather 200,000 signatures to present to lawmakers when they return after the inauguration. You can sign the petition now at:

http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/

Social Security is a complicated issue, but the basics are really pretty simple. MoveOn has put together a fact-sheet at: http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/facts.html

Thanks for doing this.

and the web address is the same one i have to pass on to friends to sign on.

are you a member of MoveOn? if so you would have gotten a message to generate your sig on the petition link.


kudos to your bro, maybe he's seen the light :)

dp

Dear MoveOn member,
Social Security is the crown jewel of progressive government -- a singular achievement that has reshaped what used to be penniless old age. Now George Bush and Republican leaders have made phasing out Social Security as we know it through privatization and massive benefit cuts their top priority for 2005.

Even House Republicans are skeptical about the scheme. According to a recent Washington Post article, as many as 40 Republican members are considering voting against it. So the final vote is likely to be extremely close, and Bush and the Wall Street firms that stand to make billions are pulling out all the stops. According to some reports, they're raising up to $100 million for advertising to apply pressure.

Bush started his publicity blitz on Tuesday, and now the clock is ticking for House and Senate members to state their position. We need to send them a message before it is too late. Let your members of Congress know that you want them to protect Social Security by signing our petition at the link below:

http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/

Our goal is to deliver 200,000 signatures on a petition to Congress when they return after the January 20 inauguration. That is a big goal in such a short time but we know that you can help make it happen by forwarding this alert to your friends, family and coworkers.

In pushing this issue, Bush is working out of the same play book that he used for the war in Iraq. First, he's manufacturing a crisis, by grossly distorting the scale of the threat. Then, when Americans are convinced that the problem is clear and imminent, he'll propose a reckless solution -- privatization -- which just happens to help a lot of his corporate friends.

And of course, the gap between Bush's rhetoric and the truth is enormous. Social Security is a complicated issue, but the basics are really pretty simple:

Social Security provides monthly benefits to some 44 million Americans who are retired, disabled or the survivor of a deceased parent. It provides most of the income for older Americans -- some 64 percent of their support. It has lifted generations of seniors out of poverty.

Social Security is not in crisis. That is an outright lie perpetrated in order to create the urgency for radical changes. Under conservative forecasts, the long-term challenges in Social Security do not manifest themselves until 2042. Even then Social Security has 70 percent of needed funds. That shortfall is smaller than the amount needed in 1983, the last time we overhauled Social Security. George Bush's Social Security crisis-talk is an effort to create a specter of doom -- just like the weapons of mass destruction claim in Iraq.

Phasing out Social Security and replacing it with privatized accounts means one thing: massive cuts in monthly benefits for everybody. Social Security privatization requires diverting taxes used to pay current benefits into privatized accounts invested in risky stocks. Without that money, Social Security benefits will inevitably be cut -- some proposals even cut benefits of current retirees. These benefit cuts are inevitable, since diverting Social Security money into privatized accounts means less money to pay current and future benefits.

Every serious privatization proposal raises the Social Security retirement age to 70. That might be fine if you're a Washington special interest lobbyist but it is incredibly unfair to blue-collar Americans with tough, physical jobs, or for African Americans and Latinos with lower life expectancies.

Privatization means gambling with your retirement security. There is probably an appropriate place for a little stock market risk in retirement planning -- but it isn't Social Security. Privatization exposes your entire retirement portfolio to stock market risks -- and the risk that you'll outlive any of your savings at retirement. You can't outlive your Social Security benefit.

So who does benefit? Wall Street. Giant financial services firms have been salivating for decades over the prospect of taking over Social Security. Wall Street would make billions of dollars in profit by managing the privatized accounts -- money that would come directly from your benefits.
So far, the Democrats are united in the cause of protecting Social Security. If the Democrats are going to show some real backbone we need to back them. Show your support by signing the petition at the link below:

http://www.moveon.org/socialsecurity/

And after signing the petition, please help debunk the misinformation that's circulating by forwarding this email on to your friends and family.

Thanks for all you do.

--Tom Matzzie and Eli Pariser
MoveOn.org
January 13th, 2005

P.S.: For more information, here are some good resources:

Campaign for America's Future on Social Security
http://www.ourfuture.org/issues_and_campaigns/socialsecurity/index.cfm

The Social Security Network by The Century Foundation
http://www.socsec.org/

"The Iceberg Cometh" by Paul Krugman. The New York Times. January 11, 2005 (registration required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11krugman.html?ex=1263272400&en=a6842a621ebe11ad&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

"Bush Launches PR Campaign to change Social Security" by Richard Benedetto and Judy Keen, USA TODAY January 11, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-11-bush-social-security_x.htm?csp=34

That's the sort of thing Moveon does all the time. Your text of the letter contains a link to the moveon.org website, so read what they have to say there.