Update-Fasting for Freedom!

Update-{thinking about the tens of thousands of kids who rely on Head Start nutrition programs who'd be cut off if the budget passes. 157,000 kids up to age 5, who rely on Head Start for nutrition, education and other services could be cut, if the budget passes.1

We need to spread the word about our fast, to help prevent these devastating cuts.

That's why today I'm asking you to raise awareness about the budget cuts through your local media. There are a few ways to do this:

* Write a Letter to the Editor in your local paper. Through the voice of local media, you can reach your Senator or Representative directly and ultimately, help influence their decisions.
* Contact local bloggers and ask them to cover it, or write about it yourself if you blog.
* If you're one of the folks fasting all the way through 'til the budget passes, consider calling your local paper and TV stations and ask them to cover your fast, as well as all the other folks participating nationally.

If you can do any of these things, it can make a big difference. Here's a page with sample letters, talking points, helpful tips and instructions for how to call the media.

http://pol.moveon.org/budgetfast/mediatraining.html?id=26767-17663758-KfqGXwx&am...

Thank you to all 22,275 WOW !!! of you who are fasting. Tomorrow we will be in touch with more ways to stay engage with this fight.
Moveon.org
Figgdimension

I received this letter from the people at Moveon.org today please even if your not religious like me doesn't mean you can't support this good work and Fasting to bring light on the Millions that will suffer and starve from the immoral budget cuts. All along corporations dodge taxes kill their consumers lobby our govt, Banks ruin our economy with risky betting schemes we shell out bailouts they reward themselves with bonuses more than any of us will see in a lifetime.. all this and they in Washington say lets punish the working class and poor and children... That being said here's the letter that has me fasting( although Im not religious) Ill say again I do this for the people in solidarity, here now!
Figgdimension
Moveon.org
We don't have a budget crisis in Washington. We have a moral crisis.

When Congress can seriously debate forcing veterans into homelessness and cutting food aid to pregnant women and children, while giving tax breaks to billionaires, something is very, very wrong.

That's why this morning, I joined, along with the heads of seven other major progressive organizations, in an ongoing fast launched by religious leaders to protest the brutal and unjust budget cuts being debated in Washington.

Those who will go hungry because of these cuts are largely invisible to decision-makers in Congress. By fasting in solidarity, we have an opportunity to make their suffering visible, and expose the immorality of this policy.

Will you join in? You can fast for a day or part of a day, for a meal or a week—whatever you can do.

Please click here to join in.

This began on Monday, when Reverend Jim Wallis and a group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy launched a prayer fast to highlight what they called the "selective cruelty" in the budget debate. As word spread, thousands more folks have begun fasting as well.

I joined today because all week long I've been looking into the eyes of my 2-year-old daughter, and thinking about the hundreds of thousands of kids who will get kicked out of preschool, who will lose access to health care, who will go to bed hungry each night if these cuts pass.

I joined because I keep picturing other parents like me, many of them MoveOn members, who will be left with no way to provide for their families if right-wing Republicans get their way.

I joined because according to my faith and my conscience, letting children starve while giving handouts to giant corporations is wrong, plain and simple. And I feel compelled to speak out.

A number of other MoveOn staff are joining the fast with me this morning. I hope you will too, in whatever way speaks to your conscience.

http://pol.moveon.org/pac/budgetfast/?id=26743-17663758-WsBUkKx&t=2

I grew up reading these words from the Prophet Isaiah and they've returned to me powerfully today.

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

While this cause will speak to all of us differently—to our faith, or to our ethics, or simply through the eyes of our children—it is grounded in our common humanity and a common passion to defend those most in need.

Please join if you can.

Thank you for all that you do,

Justin Ruben
Executive Director
MoveOn.org

PS. If you didn't see it, the most-emailed article on the New York Times website yesterday was food writer Mark Bittman's beautiful column about why he's fasting too.

PPS. Fasting can be dangerous. Those with health issues or concerns that may be affected by fasting should not participate. Anyone unsure or with questions should consult their doctor before participating.