February, 09 2010, 10:10am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director,mike@pdamerica.org,Alan Minksy, PDA Executive Director:,alan@pdamerica.org
Brownbaggers Not Teabaggers! Vigils Against War Funding Spread Across Nation
WASHINGTON
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) organized "brownbag" lunch
vigils against war funding at noon on Wednesday, January 20th, at the
district offices of 22 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
On
February 17th, PDA will be joined by CODEPINK, AfterDowningStreet,
Democrats.com, the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, and
United for Peace and Justice in holding brownbag vigils outside (or
inside) at least 36 congress members' offices.
Brownbaggers
are demanding commitments to vote against more money for war. Slogans
on their posters include: "Healthcare not Warfare," "Corporations out
of Politics," "Bailout Main Street not Wall Street," and "Brownbaggers
not Teabaggers".
Vigils have been
planned in the following districts: AZ-5, CA-6, CA-9, CA-10, CA-18,
CA-22, CA-23, CA-40, CA-42, CA-45, CA-46, CA-48, CA-50, CA-53, FL-9,
FL-10, FL-17, ID-01, IN-9, MA-1, MA-2, MA-3, MA-10, MI-9, NY-18, NY-28,
OH-13, OH-17, PA-02, PA-7, PA-15, WA-2, WA-3, WA-6, WI-3, WI-7. These
are almost all at noon on Wednesday the 17th, but a few are at odd
times, so check the details: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/mtglist.asp?formid=meet&eventtypename=Brown%20Bag%20Lunch%20Vigil
Brownbaggers
are asking members of the House to publicly commit to voting No on any
bills that fund wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen, and to
publicly urge their colleagues and the House leadership to make the
same commitment. As lesser steps in the same direction, PDA is
encouraging congress members to cosponsor HR 2454, calling for an exit
strategy from Afghanistan, and HR 3699, prohibiting any increase in the
number of U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Congress members'
commitments are tracked at https://defundwar.org
"We
have to choose between jobs and wars," said PDA's national director Tim
Carpenter. "The American people are on one side, but our so-called
representatives in Congress are on the other. The Supreme Court is busy
increasing corporate control of our elected officials. We need to be
busy enforcing the people's control before it is too late."
"Without
wasteful war and military spending," said PDA's deputy director Laura
Bonham, "we could have healthcare, jobs, housing, education, retirement
security, environmental sustainability, diplomacy and foreign aid. No
longer will we take seriously anyone's claim to support these things
while voting to fund more war."
Learn more about Brown Bag Lunch Vigils here: https://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
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