Please help Kerry push his agenda for our children!

Here is the letter from him




Thanks to you, our Kids First health care bill has more than half a million citizen co-sponsors. By signing our Kids First petition, you have given voice to our values. And this week, America will hear your call for health care loud and clear as I travel the country in support of Kids First.

Today I'm heading out on a week long tour to shine a national spotlight on the health care crisis facing the children of this country and build support for our Kids First Act.

As you know, 11 million children are living without health care and the number is growing.

Yet, while I was preparing for my trip, the House of Representatives led by Tom DeLay, voted to slash funding for health care for children from low income families. I'm not going to stand for this - and I know you won't either.

It's another example of how Washington Republicans are completely disconnected with the values that are important to the American people. Together we must hold them accountable and let them know that cutting kids' health care is just plain wrong.

As I travel from Seattle, to St. Paul, Baton Rouge and Miami, I will be holding town hall meetings and talking with doctors, parents, children, nurses and other health care providers - as well as members of Congress - to highlight what lack of health insurance means in a child's life.

It means little or no preventive health care, more illnesses, untreated conditions, undiagnosed learning disorders, less time in school with diminished ability to succeed, lower earnings as adults and heavier lifelong dependence upon social services.

Through our Kids First Campaign and with the support of the JohnKerry.com grassroots community, we have made real progress already:

We successfully recruited over a half a million virtual co-sponsors of the Kids First Act.
We used our "Give Voice to Our Values" hotline to gather personal stories from thousands of people across the nation.
We published an online map so that people could click and listen to stories from their own state.
We've gathered the support of a wide array of endorsing organizations including leading health care professionals, teachers, unions, citizen groups and more, and every week new organizations are joining us.
Now, we take it to the next level.

First, we'll barnstorm the country to demand help for kids living without insurance.

I will be posting daily updates on my meetings and the progress I am making at:


http://www.kidsfirstact.com

I urge you to get the latest on this critical initiative here.

But there is something else you can do.

I'm writing today to ask you to help us reach one million citizen co-sponsors for this essential legislation by the end of May.

You can help do this by forwarding the Kids First Petition to your family, friends, and neighbors. Ask them to visit http://www.kidsfirstact.com and sign it as soon as possible.

Together, we'll put the pressure on the Republican leaders to act - or to admit that they just don't care enough to act.

None of the work we do together in the days and weeks ahead will be more important than the challenge we face - the challenge of helping 11 million children get the health care they need - the health care they deserve.

Thank you for continuing to stay involved and for helping to build public support for this most critical campaign.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P. S. Not that you need any more proof that the Washington Republicans only care about protecting their own interests, but just last week, Tom DeLay pushed through his own self-serving agenda, while cutting Medicaid benefits by $10 billion.

Yet, another prime example of why Americans need to know what is going on in Washington and why together, we must raise awareness about the impact these misguided acts are going to have on our children.

HELP FUND THE KIDS FIRST TOUR




Paid for by Friends of John Kerry, Inc.

A friend of mine (in North Carolina) got a call last week from a man purporting to be calling on behalf of John Kerry and this group. He tried to get her to donate over the phone and give out her credit card number. My friend was suspicious because he had no interest in discussing the issues or politics with her at all and was just pushing her into making a phone donation. She refused to donate by phone and he promised to send her a pledge card, but she has not gotten anything after almost a week. Seems like I had heard about there being a scam of this kind.

Has anyone else heard about phone solicitations?

really ask for money. He want's signatures to pass his bill to provide healthcare for children.

I told them, send it through the mail or email. I do not wish to negotiate in a crisis oriented way with ANYONE on the phone these days, whether it is Kerry, Howard Dean or Greenpeace! Our phone is busy enough, and it is on a list to ban adverts. But all your friends call you and plead.

Sending Kerry money after we exhausted what we had for last year's election--it just seems to me to be an organizing tool, to run for President in 2008.

Anyway, YES, they called and called and called, until they got me. So did the DNC.

One possibility: Somebody is scamming using Kerry's name, either to get money illegitimately or to discredit Kerry and his email list.

Another possibility: The service being used to make the phone calls sucks swamp water through a straw.

And another: Those with good experiences are being contacted by actual activists, while those with bad experiences are getting these telemarketers for hire.


I suspect it is the second one. Whatever company their using to make the calls needs to be replaced. The callers aren't up on the issue, and it sounds like they're being paid per donation, considering the hard sell.

I haven't come across any of these scams (yet)
It explains a lot about the attitude here today.

in his name.
What do you think?

I just got it on Saturday and was called about a week ago. I had no problem getting them to answer questions, and very little pressure to donate on the phone.

BAY BEES?

Honestly, this is the kind of half assed, patchwork bullshit that will keep our obviously broken health care system just the way it is for a while longer.

No more half measures! No more plans that only take care of ONE SEGMENT of us! No more neglecting the people who work for a living!

a small step in the right direction is better than nothing!

Considering the political climate and how outnumbered the Dems are in Congress, getting health care for the most vunerable in our society may be all we can hope for at the moment.

I don't quite get your point of view. Why the "all or nothing at all" mentality. Isn't something better than nothing? Would you rather go several more years with nothing, or have something now for at least one segment of our society.

In football terms, I'd rather put points on the board than go for it and miss.

When you show these parents how simple and right it is to have health coverage for their kids, it's only a matter of time before they realize they should have it too.

I swear some people just live in a cocoon. We tried to pass a universal health bill in Oregon, it failed 60-40. In Oregon. It's not easy to convince people.

would be happy to just get their kids covered......

Just sayin'...

NGU.

"Push his agenda" has a negative sound to it, whereas "help care for our children" sounds more positive.

Mea culpa!
:think: