Tuesday Rapid Response: 2,000 U.S. dead in Iraq

The following media action alert was sent out yesterday to the Oregon branch of the Rapid Response Network.

Oregon Report — Monday, October 24, 2005

1. 2,000 American dead in Iraq
2. Democrats standing up to R. domination of religious voters

1. 2,000 American dead in Iraq

U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000

And check out, from the Wall St. Journal no less: Majority of Americans now feel Iraq war was wrong: poll

Here is a preview of the noise machine response to this milestone—from an email to the media giving them advice on how to cover it: Military: 2,000 dead an artificial mark
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, director of the force's combined press center, described the number as an "artificial mark on the wall."
"I ask that when you report on the events, take a moment to think about the effects on the families and those serving in Iraq," Boylan said in an e-mail. "The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."
Um, yeah. Our agenda is to fight effectively against terrorism, and to end the waste and carnage in Iraq.
Key message (from yesterday’s
As long as U.S. and other foreign troops remain in Iraq, the insurgency will continue.

Contact your elected representatives
letters@news.oregonian.com
Or contact your local paper
Drop a quick line to national media

2. Democrats standing up to R. domination of religious voters

On the front page of today’s Oregonian Metro section: "Democrats cast for faithful to join their fold"
Neel Pender, executive director of the state Democratic Party, stressed that the party remains a "big tent" that welcomes all faiths as well nonbelievers. But he acknowledged that Republicans have enjoyed a near monopoly on faith-based voting. "They have worked very hard in creating this image that you cannot be a Christian or a person of faith and be a Democrat," Pender says "That is offensive and absurd." ….
… David Crowe, founder and executive director of Restore American, a group based in Lake Oswego that works at getting more fundamentalist Christians to become politically active. The Democratic Party has little to offer voters who hold to rigorous standards of right and wrong on moral issues, he said.
"Until (Democrats) change their platform and their commitment to a pro-choice position and to a homosexual agenda, to redefining marriage and redefining morality, they can forget it," Crowe says. "It's a pipe dream."
This quote is a stunning, textbook example of the right-wing distortion of true moral values.

Please share your thoughts:

letters@news.oregonian.com
harryesteve@news.oregonian.com
Or contact your local paper

Never give up.
_____________________________________
Oregon RR is a group of volunteers dedicated to advancing the principles of
balance and truthfulness in the media.
www.rapidresponsenetwork.org/web.py/or/

To contact us:
or@rapidresponsenetwork.org