Defenders of Democracy

Received the following via email... posting here as requested:

Hi Peter,

I love the blog you have set up for Dave and would love it if you could post the following as an entry. I posted it as a comment but think it needs more presence.

Hello Patlak Supporters and Defenders of Democracy

We hope you are all energized after the amazing speeches from the Democratic National Convention. Please tap into that energy and help us on Saturday.

If you live in the Miami area we need your help tomorrow to stand up to the Bush Administration and defend families and freedom.

We are gathering outside of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's office to protest the new Cuba policy. Dave has gone on record saying it is an un-American, unjust and inhumane policy. The travel restrictions and remittance limitations don’t hurt Castro. They hurt American families here and their families still in Cuba. It redefines what family means. Aunts, uncles and cousins don't count. It puts a price tag on families and limits how much money a Cuban- American can send back to family still struggling on the island. And it forbids Americans from visiting their family every year. Instead, Americans can only visit family every three years. Imagine if you had a family member ailing or dying and you couldn’t rush to their side because you had already been back once in the past three years. Is this the land of the free?

Do you cripple a foreign dictatorship by punishing Americans? No.

Do you topple a regime by redefining families? No.

Not one special license has been issued permitting travel back to Cuba since the policy went into effect. What has happened is that now Cuban-Americans are forced to defy the law, travel to a third country and fly on a Cuban carrier back to the island. Castro winds up making money where he didn’t before. The same applies to remittances and care packages including family photos.

Cuban-Americans who were born in this country or arrived after 1980 are registering Democrat, and this policy affects them directly. As Democrats we must all stand together. As Americans we need to fight social injustice.

So we are protesting outside of the office of one of the most strident backers of the new policy. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Please join us and stand up for families, freedom and fairness.

The protest begins at 11am. We will meet at 10:30am and distribute post cards to protestors that we will collect and deliver in person to the publisher of the Miami Herald. The office is located at 9210 SW 72nd Street, Suite 100 Miami, Florida 33173

Please look for David Jordan or anyone wearing a Patlak for Congress T shirt.

Thanks,

Jody Finver
http://www.patlak.org/
Stand Up For Democracy. Volunteer. Contribute. Vote.