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ACT! for America People Power Strikes Again! (And Again, and Again…) By Guy Rodgers, Executive Director Not long after Brigitte Gabriel launched ACT! for America, Los Angeles shelved a plan to “map” the metropolitan area so as to better identify the hotspots for likely terrorists and terrorist activity. Why? Because the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in league with the ACLU, organized a demonstration to protest the plan – and there was no opposing voice from the grassroots. Those days are gone. For instance, the Washington Post article below about a proposed Obama administration plan to house some of the Guantanamo detainees in Michigan included this sentence:
We don’t necessarily agree with Barcia’s assertion that the federal government won’t force the detainees on Michigan. But the real point here is that ACT! for America has reached a point where we can organize locally in most areas of the country, when necessary, to make our voice heard on issues like this one.
Everywhere Brigitte and I travel we tell anyone who will listen that patriotic Americans now have a voice and a vehicle to resist the threat of radical Islam, in whatever form that threat takes. The vision Brigitte had when I met her over two years ago has become a reality! We tell them: “Look at what’s happening when we have 62,000 members and 300 chapters. Imagine the people power we’ll have when ACT! for America has 250,000 members, then 500,000, then 1,000,000; and 500, 800, even 1,000 chapters!” This is why you hear us say, over and over again, that the way to defeat the threat of radical Islam is “organized resistance,” and that the bigger the organized resistance, the more victories we will win. And that we need your help to do this. Please email this alert to your friends with a message asking them to log on to www.actforamerica.org and sign up for our emails at the upper right of the home page. If just 10% of our members did so, and signed up one new person, we would add 6,200 members in one day. Help us grow our people power by ACTing today! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004226.html?hpid=topnews Washington Post Detainee Plan Draws Fear, Opposition Residents Decry Idea of Guantanamo Prisoners at Mich. Facility By Kari Lydersen Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, August 21, 2009 STANDISH, Mich., Aug. 20 -- More than 200 people gathered here Thursday to voice their concern that the federal government could transfer detainees from a facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the local prison, conjuring up images of terrorists holding busloads of schoolchildren hostage, firing shots in the church and poisoning the water supply. The meeting was dominated by opposition to the possibility, which surfaced two weeks ago, that the Obama administration would move some prisoners to facilities within U.S. borders, including Standish and Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The town hall meeting was organized by local tavern owner Dave Munson, who traveled to Washington in June to ask legislators about the possibility of moving Guantanamo detainees to Standish's maximum-security prison. That prison is scheduled to close in October if prisoners are not brought in from the federal system or another state. At the time, Munson said he saw the idea as an economic lifeline for the town and the prison, which provides more than 300 jobs. Then he met U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) at a cocktail party and quickly changed his mind. "He told me things that really scared the heck out of me," Munson said. "He told me about soft targets and safe zones, that if they came to this country they would have rights, visitors and friends would come who could be jihadists." Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told those in the crowd that they have much to fear if the detainees are transferred to Standish, a town of 1,500 about 150 miles north of Detroit. But state Sen. Jim Barcia (D), a former five-term congressman, said that the vocal town hall attendees, many recruited from other parts of the state by the group Act! For America, were wrong in insinuating that the federal government would force Guantanamo detainees on them. He said the idea of transferring detainees to Michigan was first floated by Michigan legislators seeking investment. And Barcia said federal officials who toured the prison Aug. 13 indicated they would not send detainees to Standish in the face of intense local opposition. He said legislators and locals who are open to the idea skipped the town hall because "they probably thought they'd be subject to the same behavior we've seen at many town hall meetings about health-care reform." Barcia, who said he had not taken a position on bringing detainees to Michigan, was among state senators who passed a resolution Wednesday demanding that the federal government share information with state legislators and Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) on detainees and their possible transfer. Also Wednesday, Hoekstra refused to sign routine funding requests until the Pentagon releases more information about plans for transferring detainees. In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Hoekstra complained that the department was sharing information with Democratic legislators but ignoring his requests. "Apparently, the Department is providing information only to Members of Congress who it believes are likely to agree with the Administration's policy on this matter," he wrote. Hoekstra, a co-sponsor of the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, which opposes the transfer or release in the United States of Guantanamo Bay detainees, was joined at the town hall by Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America. "These detainees aren't like ordinary criminals. Those hardened criminals [in the Standish prison] do not have global jihadi networks," said Burlingame, whose brother was a pilot on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. She predicted that detainees would assault and throw bodily fluids at guards, plan attacks on tourists and attract suicide bombers to local gatherings. Panelist David Littman, senior economist with the free-market think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy, referred to the detainees as "rubbish." He said that Michigan should import trash from Canada for payment, a long-standing controversial proposal, "yet we have government officials wanting us to take in human trash instead." Many in the crowd blasted Granholm for not opposing the idea of Guantanamo detainees more vehemently. Standish prison guard Dave Horn, 29, wore a homemade shirt depicting Granholm's face with a slash through it and had painted "No More Granholm" and "No Gitmo" on the windows of his pickup truck. "The governor has concerns that have not been addressed, and until those concerns are addressed, she is not in favor of relocating Guantanamo detainees to Michigan," spokeswoman Megan Brown said. Hoekstra is running for governor. Another Republican gubernatorial candidate, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, visited Standish on Wednesday to speak out against Guantanamo detainees. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan, who was not at Thursday's town hall, said the federal government had not made a formal proposal. The corrections department had hoped to contract with California to house their prisoners, but California officials notified Michigan this week that such a plan would be too expensive. Marlan said the department is in preliminary discussions on bringing Pennsylvania prisoners or non-Guantanamo federal prisoners to Standish. Several people at the town hall meeting said they were concerned about Standish's proximity to Dearborn, a Detroit suburb that is home to a large Middle Eastern community. "If we put them in the middle of Iowa, they would stand out if they got loose," said Jeff McQueen, who said that he is a direct descendant of American Revolution fighters and that as a Christian, he considers Muslims "my cousins." "Here, they could go to Dearborn and disappear," McQueen said.
ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure. HOW CAN I TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Send a personalized version of this message to your friends. |
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