St. Charles Advocacy Topics October 27, 2011

[St. Charles Social Justice]

ST. CHARLES ADVOCACY TOPICS: OCTOBER 27, 2011

I. LOCAL

--I. A. – V.O.I.C.E. ACTION ON OCTOBER 30

II. STATE

--II. A. – VIRGINIA ELECTIONS NOVEMBER 8 – CHECK IT OUT!

III. NATIONAL

--III. A. – TELL CONGRESS TO EAT OFF FOOD STAMPS OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 3

IV. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL

--IV. A -- U.S. COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS/CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
URGE ADVOCACY FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE WITH “SUPER COMMITTEE” AND IN
FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDGET


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I. LOCAL

--I. A. V.O.I.C.E. ACTION ON OCTOBER 30

V.O.I.C.E. (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement)
will hold a public action attended by Sen. Mark Warner and senior bank
executives. The action will be an opportunity to celebrate successes
so far (in Prince William County, where V.O.I.C.E. has worked to
address the foreclosure crisis, and across Northern Virginia) and to
announce plans to ensure that banks put money into a multi-million-
dollar reinvestment fund to rebuild Prince William County.

WHEN: Sunday, October 30, 3:30 – 5:30 pm (Arrive at 2:50 pm sharp.)
WHERE: Freedom High School, 15201 Neabsco Mills Rd., Woodbridge, VA
22191

Please let Elise Cleva (elise...@gmail.com or 703-527-5500 ext. 24)
know if you plan to come and if you would like help finding a ride or
could offer a ride to a few other people from St. Charles.
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II. STATE

--II. A. – VIRGINIA ELECTIONS NOVEMBER 8: CHECK IT OUT!
Elections for Commonwealth and local officials are Tuesday, November
8. Information on absentee ballots (apply in person by November 5; by
(e)mail by November 1); voting locations (some of which may have
changed due to redistricting) and other information is available from
the Virginia State Board of Elections (www.sbe.virginia.gov). For a
quick view of where candidates stand on certain issues, the Virginia
Catholic Conference has published Candidate Response Charts for
contested Senate and House seats at:
http://www.vacatholic.org/documents/ChartSENATEallCONTESTEDRACES.pdf;
and
http://www.vacatholic.org/documents/ChartHOUSEallCONTESTEDRACES.pdf,
respectively

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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR GOVERNOR, AND STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE –
INCREDIBLY EASY WAYS!

- To contact Governor McDonnell, use the following link:
http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact.cfm or

The phone number for Governor McDonnell is (804) 786-2211.

- Find your senator at http://sov.state.va.us/SenatorDB.nsf/$$Viewtemplate+for+WMembershipHome?OpenForm

- Find your representative at http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView,

OR

Go to “Who's My Legislator” icon on the General Assembly website at
http://legis.state.va.us to find or confirm who your delegate or
senator is, and his or her contact information.

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III. NATIONAL

--III. A. – TELL CONGRESS TO EAT OFF FOOD STAMPS OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER
3:
In order to raise awareness of the plight of the 45 million people on
food stamps, Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, in conjunction
with Fighting Poverty with Faith, suggests living off the amount food
stamp recipients receive ($31 a week) from October 27 to November 3
(another or shorter time may be chosen) and asking your Congressional
members to do the same. More information and a sample email are
available at : http://capwiz.com/networklobby/issues/alert/?alertid=55204691.
(Even better: donate money saved to help feed the poor.)

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HOW TO CONTACT THE PRESIDENT AND YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE –
INCREDIBLY EASY WAYS!

To contact your senators and representative, go to
http://actioncenter.crs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ac_homepage or
http://capwiz.com/networklobby/home/ and enter your zip code.

(Both sites have links to additional information about issues.)

You can also reach your senators and representative by calling the
Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121.

To contact the President, go to http://capwiz.com/networklobby/bio/?id=20004&lvl=F

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IV. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL

--IV. A. -- U.S. COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS/CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
URGE ADVOCACY FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE WITH “SUPER COMMITTEE” AND IN
FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDGET
Since the beginning of the budget debates in the current Congress, the
U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has, while recognizing the
need for fiscal responsibility, urged that the budget not be balanced
on the backs of the most vulnerable. USCCB continues to urge
Catholics to write to members of the deficit reduction “Super
Committee”, which is charged with producing a long range solution to
the budget deficit, to protect the poor and the vulnerable, both
domestically and abroad. The “Super Committee’s” work is to be
completed by Thanksgiving, making now an excellent time to contact
committee members. Talking points are available at
http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/take-action-now/capwiz/ under
“Protect our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters”. You can email the
Committee as a whole at:
http://www.deficitreduction.gov/public/index.cfm/contact.

The members of the “Super Committee” are:

Democrats/Republicans Senate Members
• Patty Murray, Washington, Co-Chair
• Max Baucus, Montana
• John Kerry, Massachusetts
• Jon Kyl, Arizona
• Rob Portman, Ohio
• Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania

Democrat/Republican House members
• Xavier Becerra, California
• Jim Clyburn, South Carolina
• Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
• Jeb Hensarling, Texas, Co-Chair
• Fred Upton, Michigan
• Dave Camp, Michigan

While the “Super Committee’s” work is long term, Congress continues to
finalize the FY2012 budget, including the State Department Operations
and Foreign Assistance Budget. USCCB and Catholic Relief Services ask
that you contact your members of Congress and President Obama to urge
they preserve funding for poverty-focused international assistance at
the levels proposed by the Senate in the FY2012 budget. A sample
email is at:
https://secure.crs.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=751


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[NOTE: We encourage you to forward this e-mail to others you think
would be interested. Persons wishing to subscribe may go to the St.
Charles Web site, Social Justice page, by using this link:
http://www.stcharleschurch.org/maillist.htm and following the
instructions found there under Social Justice.]