Tips for Letter Writing

pstrongGet Your Anti-War Voices Heard!/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pFrom: People for the American Way/p p URGE OUR LEADERS TO CAREFULLY CONSIDER RESPONSES TO TERRORISM/p pLike all Americans, we continue to struggle with the aftermathbr / of the September 11 terrorist attacks. We grieve for thebr / victims and their families and we salute the courage and heroismbr / that so many people have shown. We applaud the efforts ofbr / political leaders at all levels who have sought to bring thebr / nation together. /p pLegislation is now being drafted at the state and federalbr / levels aimed at bringing the perpetrators of these attacks tobr / justice and at preventing such acts of terror from occurring inbr / the future./p pWe, too, are committed to these goals. At the same time, webr / remain committed to protecting the fundamental civil libertiesbr / of all Americans. In order to do so, we ask that you take thebr / following action./p pACTION:/p pCall or write the president and your federal and localbr / legislators and tell them that now, more than ever, it isbr / crucial that they protect the fundamental civil liberties of allbr / Americans./p pACTION PLAN:/p pOver the past week we have become increasingly alarmed by thebr / willingness of some of our elected officials to supportbr / legislation that would erode the liberties and freedoms that arebr / at the core of American life. In many states and in Congress,br / sweeping legislation has been proposed -- and, in a fewbr / instances, already passed -- that could severely limit ourbr / liberties and freedoms. More may be on the way. Publicbr / hearings must be held to guarantee that good intentions do notbr / yield unintended consequences. Only then should votes be held./p pPassage of the federal hate crimes legislation now pending inbr / Congress is essential to prosecuting those who would perpetratebr / these crimes./p pHelp defend the civil liberties that are fundamental to ourbr / democracy. Write to President Bush, to members of Congress andbr / to your local legislators. Implore them to slow down, to fullybr / examine all legislation with public hearings, to guard yourbr / civil liberties and to pass hate crimes legislation./p pFor a list of your elected officials with complete contactbr / information, visit Project Vote Smart:br / br /a href="http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml" title="http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml"http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml/a/p pPresident George W. Bushbr /br / The White Housebr /br / Washington, D.C. 20500/p p Senatorbr /br / United States Senatebr /br / Washington, D.C 20510/p pRepresentativebr /br / United States House of Representativesbr /br / Washington, D.C. 20515/p p***TALKING POINTS ***/p pInclude the following points in your letter:/p p1. All decisions should be made in a manner consistentbr / with: the Constitution and Bill of Rights; principles of abr / democratic society and an accountable government./p p2. Individuals should not be targeted solely based upon theirbr / race, religion, ethnic background or religion. We supportbr / passage of the strengthened federal hate crimes legislation nowbr / pending in Congress./p p3. Though perhaps unintended, sweeping legislation that isbr / enacted quickly often has far-reaching and damagingbr / consequences. In this case, these consequences could severelybr / damage our rights and liberties. We support full publicbr / hearings at which proposals are carefully considered./p p4. We cannot allow this terrorist attack to erode the libertiesbr / and freedoms that are at the core of the American Way of life,br / and that have been a model of democracy for the world./p pABOUT PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY / SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION/p pPeople For the American Way organizes and mobilizes Americansbr / to fight for fairness, justice, civil rights and the freedomsbr / guaranteed by the Constitution. PFAW monitors the Religiousbr / Right at the local, state and national levels, lobbies forbr / progressive legislation, and helps build communities ofbr / activists./p pPeople For the American Waybr /br / 2000 M Street, NW Suite 400 br /Washington, DC 20036br /br / a href="http://www.pfaw.org" title="http://www.pfaw.org"http://www.pfaw.org/abr /a href="mailto:pfaw@pfaw.org"pfaw@pfaw.org/a br /br / 1-800-326-PFAW br / 202/467-4999br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p