WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON JOE? -- CLERGY DELIVERS PRAYERS

THE PUBLIC OPTION – WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON JOE?

On one side is the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, FPN [Fox Propaganda News], the tea baggers, and the far right that have spread lies and spent millions of dollars for lobbing and media ads to defend the status quo and profits of large corporations.

On the other side are the religions leaders - Labor, civil rights groups and community organizations - A majority of Connecticut and people in the U.S. - the AARP and the American Medical Association. They are fighting for working people and the disenfranchised in American for the basic human right of health care for all.

So it is decision time Joe, WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? You did the right thing by voting to allow debate to go forward on health care reform. We hope your heart, conscience and commitment are with working people and the disenfranchised. Vote YES on health care reform with a strong public option.

[The Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care prepares to deliver hundreds of prayers to Sen. Lieberman asking for his support for the public option at his office in Hartford, CT.]

On Tuesday, November 24, religious leaders representing multiple faiths delivered hundreds of personal prayers from constituents of Senator Joe Lieberman calling upon him to support healthcare reform with a strong public option.

[Photo above: Chaplain Bilal Ansari of the Muhammad Islamic Center of Greater Hartford is holding the prayer cards to be delivered to Sen. Lieberman. Only a delegation of five from the Interfaith Fellowship was allowed to go into the lower lobby of the office building to deliver the cards to a Lieberman staff member. The media and participants had to remain outside.]

Chaplin Bilal Ansari said, "We will not give up on those who are desperate for affordable health care. We will keep praying for Senator Joe Lieberman because we believe that a man of conscience will see that the public option is essential to achieving a health care system that works for those in need."

THE VIGIL ON NOVEMBER 15

On Sunday, November 15, over five hundred people from across Connecticut gathered outside the senator's Stamford home for a candlelight vigil organized by clergy and congregants from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Unitarian Universalist congregations. During the interfaith service, hundreds of people wrote personal prayers to the Senator urging his support for a public health care option.

However, when rabbis, priests, and imams attempted to deliver the completed cards, they were turned away on order of building security that had been directed not to accept any offerings. And when a neighbor residing in Senator Lieberman's building who attended the vigil tried to deliver the prayer cards, she was turned away as well. So the Interfaith Fellowship went to Sen. Lieberman's office on Nov. 24 to deliver those prayers. [For details of the vigil outside of Sen. Lieberman's home see blog entry below - Nov. 16th "Health Care Vigil..."]

Other photo's of the Nov. 24 event in front of Sen. Lieberman's office follow: [Click on photo for full screen]

Posted by Tom Connolly