by Voice4Change Uniting Our Voices –

http://www.voice4change.org

Urgent! Nuclear Weapons Vote This Week!

(September 15, 2003) — In just a few days, senators will vote on an issue of great importance – the funding and development of new, more “usable” nuclear weapons. The senate’s decision could put this country on a perilous road: a US decision to build a new breed of nuclear weapons is likely to spark a new global arms race. North Korea is on the edge of going nuclear, and our government’s support of new nuclear weapons could push them over that edge, with other countries to follow.

We’ve been down this path before. It led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cold War, bomb shelters, the Cuban Missile Crisis, massive instances of thyroid cancer from nuclear testing, widespread fear, and global power structures based on countries’ relative ability to unleash apocalypse. At the core of it, this is an issue of survival.

Early next week, the Senate will take up the issue of funding for a modified nuclear weapon, called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or nuclear bunker buster. This bomb is intended for use against bunkers buried deep within the earth. Funding for a new generation of smaller, low-yield nuclear weapons intended for actual use on the battlefield will also be addressed as part of what’s called “advanced concepts.” The administration wants to build these new nukes despite the fact that our existing nuclear arsenal is capable of destroying the world a few times over.

If you haven’t yet called your senators, do it right now. Find out who represents you at www.senate.gov then call the Congressional switchboard:
1-800-839-5276 OR 1-202-224-3121.
Fax#s are at: http://www.senate.gov.

Here are 4 things you can do:

1. Send an e-mail to your senators: http://capwiz.com/voice4change/issues/alert/?alert id=3414001&type=CO

2. If you haven’t yet called your senators, do it right now. Find out who represents you at www.senate.gov then call the Congressional switchboard: 1-800-839-5276.
Tell your Senators to support amendments that will block funding for new nuclear weapons in the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.

3. Get others to call. Forward this message to your email buddies http://www.voice4change.org/stories/send2friends.a sp?id=030915~pa.asp. Use this flyer: http://www.peace-action.org/home/print/EWflyer.pdf to get friends, family and even strangers to call their Senators too.

4. Drop by your Senator’s office. Register your opinion with your Senators’ staff in person by stopping by over your lunch break or on your way to work. Tell them that funding for nuclear weapons is a dangerous move that will send the wrong signal to the rest of the world. We’ll increase global security by reducing nuclear weapons, not making more.