I've sent my letter to Casey.  Please help by sending yours, Don has made it
easy for you.  Ray
# 280 January 12, 2007 - A LETTER TO BOB CASEY
It has begun.
Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon where the bull attacks Bugs and knocks him
out of the arena?  And as our urbane rabbit is flying through the air, he
looks back and says: "I suppose you know, this means war."
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, as promised by Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
was brought forward in the House of Representatives in the first 100 hours
of the 110th session-and we won. No cause to celebrate, however. We got 253
yes votes; we need 290 to overcome President Bush's expected veto. We will
have to revisit the 174 "no" votes, and turn at least 37 around. It will be
difficult. But it can be done.
But first we have to get that veto proof win in the Senate. It will take 67
votes. Right now, we can count on 66.
We need one more. and the person most folks consider able to go with us is
Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. He is new, a conservative Pro-Life
Democrat, and he is being hammered by the anti-research lobby. Remember,
those We need to let him hear from us as well.
Our single most useful tool is the persuasive letter, which can change the
lives of millions, one reader at a time.
We need them, lots of them-but today, we only need one.
I would humbly request that you write to Senator Bob Casey: I suggest
contacting him with the letter, sent to all three addresses, and (please)
also a phone call to him.
One way is sooooooo easy.
The following url will take you to his website.
http://capwiz.com/nfib/webreturn/?url=http://casey.senate.gov

When you get there, go to CONTACT, and use the handy-dandy email form. It
makes life very easy. That's one.

Then, please send the same letter, snailmail, (fax is fine) to the following
addresses:

Washington D.C. Office
B-40 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-6324
Fax: 202-228-0604
Harrisburg Office
555 Walnut Street, First Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717-231-7540

Feel free to write (or call) even if you are out of state. The Senate is not
a local matter; it is for America, not just the home state.

Every letter or email you write should have a format something like this:

Your name
Address
City, state, zip
PHONE NUMBER (always include this, if you don't they often will not read it)

Re: Support for Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Dear Honorable Senator Bob Casey:

Please vote "YES" on Senate bill 5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.

Our family supports this bill because: (insert a brief paragraph on your
personal involvement, i.e. you or your loved one has Parkinson's, spinal
cord injury, etc.)

THEN-YOUR KEY ARGUMENT-ONE PARAGRAPH

We hope for your support.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Your Name



Below are five possible KEY ARGUMENTS to build your letter around. (Or you
could tie key sentences from each one into one paragraph-remember, a short
letter will get read; a long one will be skipped over, or ignored
altogether; I speak from years of experience in being enthusiastically
ignored.)

Supporting Senate Bill 5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, is the
only true Pro-Life position. What could be more pro-life than protecting the
lives of our loved ones? Senate bill 5 only allows research to be funded on
stem cell lines made from blastocysts which would otherwise be thrown away.
How much more appropriate to offer hope to men, women, and children at risk?
Family rights demand a yes vote on S 5. No bureaucrat should be able to
block research which could lead to a cure for our loved ones. Our families
deserve access to the best medicines and therapies science can provide.
Suffering people take precedence over a dot of living tissue smaller than
the period on the end of this sentence. Imagine the daily agony a paralyzed
person goes through, the pain a family feels watching their loved one
slipping irrevocably into Alzheimer's, or dying of cancer-we must not lose
this opportunity to ease suffering and save lives.
Health care costs are climbing beyond the family's ability to pay. Why?
According to the Dept. of Health and Human Services, ".people with chronic
diseases account for more than 75% of the nation's $1.4 trillion medical
care costs." These are the diseases which cannot be cured-except perhaps by
stem cell therapies.
Embryonic stem cell research is supported by the American public, and by the
experts as well. Not only do roughly 70% of our citizens support the
research, as well as conservatives such as Nancy Reagan, George Shultz,
Orrin Hatch, and the late President Gerald Ford, but virtually every major
scientific, educational, and medical group which has taken a stand on the
issue. A visit to the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research
(www.camradvocacy.org) brings up a list of 600 organizations which support
the life-enhancing research.
Remember, the only letter guaranteed to have no effect-is the one you do not
send.
By Don Reed, Californians for Cure   www.stemcellbattles.com

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