A Message from Gov. Howard Dean

George Bush and his right-wing allies are waging a systematic campaign to roll back a woman's right to choose. And we cannot stand for it.

That's why I am traveling to Washington for the March for Women's Lives on April 25th.

Americans from across the country will converge on the National Mall to stand together and show that we will not let politicians get in the middle of decisions between a woman and her doctor. Join me and represent the Democracy for America grassroots in Washington, D.C. on the 25th:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/dfadelegation

You can also view a special video message that I have recorded with Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Please take a look and pass the link along to your friends:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/choicevideo

This administration has pursued dangerous, extremist policies that put women's lives at risk -- both at home and abroad. Those who care about choice and freedom must stand up and be heard. And we will -- I hope you'll join us in Washington, D.C. on April 25th.

Thank you.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Hey, Democracy for Iowa! 

Here's a great chance to recruit new members, spread the word that we exist and that we are up to some good! 

MoveOn.org has recently published 50 Ways to Love Your Country.  MoveOn will be sponsoring a bookstore event in Iowa City next week. 

The purpose of the event is to provide a town meeting-style opportunity to connect with other like-minded activists, and will include idears for political engagement and voter registration.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21 - 8:00 PM

WHERE:Prairie Lights
15 South Dubuque Street
Iowa City, IA
Tel: 319.337.2681

If you would like to know more about the book, you can click here to see some excerpts on the MoveOn.org site:

http://www.moveon.org/book/

Democracy for Iowa would like to encourage you to attend.  Right now, I'm working up two flyers you can take along: one will be a handout explaining who we are and pointing folks to the daily updates on Blog for Iowa, and the other will be a sign-up sheet that you can then use to enter new members into our database.

I'll post the flyers as soon as I have them done and they've been approved by a handful of "advisors" who want to use them!

Linda

"The Gay Agenda"

Yipes! There it was again - "the gay agenda."

No, this wasn't coming from the God-fearing mouth of the ayatollah Ken Veenstra. ("Jonathan Wilson has made it rather clear that he wants to promote a gay agenda, an agenda of special rights," the state senator from Orange City said during the debate before the senate rejected Wilson for the state board of education because he is gay). This latest came from the keyboard of Rekha Basu, the lone liberal op-ed page columnist who receives a paycheck from the Register.

"They grilled [Wilson] on their key contention," she writes, "that he would promote a so-called 'gay agenda' . . . "

Wow! The attack of the gay agenda, as Village Voice cartoonist Mark Fiore has termed it. This must be some pretty powerful stuff if even liberals are saying it. What could it be?

A Google search turned up a million-plus pages dealing with the gay agenda. Some pages weren't in English! Some referred to other countries! Omigod! It's around the whole world!

And the more I read, the more I realized that this gay agenda was so insidious that even those sworn to protect our family values couldn't save us from this scourge. On the site of the Family Policy Network, a socially conservative Christian organization, came this dire warning about - gasp! - pResident Bush:

"Despite repeated statements about being a Christian and expressing the desire to restore honor to the White House during his 2000 presidential campaign, pResident George W. Bush is advancing the homosexual agenda as much as any other president in history." 

Bush! He's behind it, too? There's no place to run!

But . . . what is the gay agenda? And how can a simple, ordinary Iowan recognize it, no less protect himself and his children from it?

Finally, I found it. There it was, staring me in the face. The Cronus Connection website claimed to have a copy. But the site also contained this ominous warning:

"The Gay Agenda may contain some references that could, may and will offend some people. Please be forewarned that the contents are graphic, and may contain sexual references of the most offensive nature."

Gulp.

But in the interests of The People's Right to Know, I had to click the button that read: "Show Me the Gay Agenda." (I will have you know that I escorted my children out of the room first.)

So I clicked the button. And there it was, the Gay Agenda:

"To live free from persecution -so leave us the **** alone. Thank you for allowing us to educate you."

How menacing can you get?