The Reading Eagle
Has a 200 word limit and prints letters from the same person no more than every 30 days. When you write, include your name, address and daytime phone number. Send the letter to: letters@readingeagle.com , FAX: 610-371-5098 or mail: Letters to the Editor, Reading Eagle, P.O. Box 582 , Reading , PA 19603-0582 .

The Morning Call
Has a 250 word limit and the same policy for letters from the same person. Include the same identifying information and send the letter to: letters@mcall.com or mail: Letters to the Editor, Morning Call, Box 1260 , Allentown , PA 18105.

The Kutztown Patriot
Editor is Niki Murry: nmurry@berksmontnews.com
Tel: 610 562 7515
Fax : 610 562 4644
302 State St. Hamburg , PA 19526

If you want to write a letter or are asked to write one and don't have a hot idea,
a basic message is below.

NEED A GOOD TOPIC?
(CLICK HERE) AND READ A LETTER FROM JOHN KERRY ABOUT HEALTHCARE IN THE U.S.

• Pick one of the topics – Iraq , Social Security or health care
• Start your letter by referring to an article just printed in the paper about the topic (include its title and date).
• State the opinion.
• Finally, illustrate your point with local or personal information.

Sources for progressive positions are: www.democracyforamerica.com (Howard Dean's website)
Ted Kennedy's “A Democratic Blueprint for America 's Future” at www.senate.gov/~kennedy
A quick way to get facts for your letter is to do a search at the New York Times website, www.nytimes.com .

Basic Message for Letter to the Editor

America is supposed to do what's right. Being the richest nation on earth, we have protected our citizens with Social Security and other safeguards against poverty because it was right. Being the most powerful nation on earth, we have used our military force to achieve peace and for self defense because it was right. But the agenda of George W. Bush and the right-wing Republican majority in Congress is immoral and wrong.

They are pushing privatization of Social Security. They are seeking to destroy the system's fundamental purpose, which is to provide a guaranteed government pension. The only guaranteed beneficiaries of privatization are Wall Street brokers. This is immoral and wrong.

The Bush doctrine of pre-emption is immoral and wrong. Led by George W. Bush, the U.S. invaded Iraq , a sovereign nation that posed no immediate threat to our country. The Iraq war has killed over (CLICK HERE FOR EXACT NUMBER) troops, wounded (CLICK HERE) and killed an estimated 100,000 Iraqis – for nothing. This is immoral and wrong.

More than 45 million Americans are without health insurance. For those with insurance, the cost is rapidly rising. The U.S. is the only major country in the world without a national health plan. Establishing one is the right thing to do for our citizens and it's overdue. In the face of this need, George W. Bush inherited a surplus of over $200 billion, cut taxes mainly for the wealthy, wasted nearly $200 billion on the Iraq war and ran up the federal deficit up to (CLICK HERE FOR EXACT NUMBERS) over $400 billion. This is immoral and wrong.

Democratic elected officials and the American people must speak out and fight to restore the legacy of our greatest leaders – Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy – by preserving Social Security, getting the U.S. out of Iraq and providing health insurance for all Americans. We must regain our pride as Americans by doing what is moral and right.

Dear Phila,
This is personal. As I traveled across the country last year, I learned a lot about the dreams, hopes, fears and frustrations of the American people. Nothing touched me more than the parents I met who feared that illness would strike a child who is uninsured.

A sick child is always a worry. A sick child that you can't get help for is a parent's worst nightmare. Helping the 11 million children who have no health coverage isn't even on the radar screen of the Bush administration and the Republican leaders in Congress. But, we're going to put it there.

It is totally unacceptable that, in the greatest country in the world, millions of children are not getting the health care they need. That's why this week I introduced the Kids Come First Act. Help me push through the Republicans' political roadblocks and take care of the 11 million children without health insurance.

Please co-sponsor my Kids Come First Act by clicking here: http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst

The Republican leadership will try to prevent this essential legislation from ever seeing the light of day. Help me gather one million co-signers for the Kids Come First Act, and we'll force them to act or to admit that they just don't care enough to act. Here's why it's so important to do something now:

In the Senate, I am working hard to convince my colleagues to co-sponsor this vitally important bill. But, the most important co-sponsors - the ones who can help push this legislation through a Republican Congress and the Bush White House - are the hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists in the johnkerry.com community. If you haven't done so already, please sign our Kids Come First petition and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors: http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst

To date, nearly 300,000 Americans have signed our Kids Come First petition. Our goal is to top 500,000 before President Bush makes his State of the Union Address on February 2nd. We'll build from there until we stand one million strong. We've got to put getting our children the health care they need at the top of our national agenda. It won't be easy, but we will never relent until we find a way to make sure Kids Come First.

The Bush administration wants to ignore the fact that children without health care translates into needless pain and suffering for millions of American families. But you and I won't let those children be ignored any longer.

Making sure that Kids Come First is the right thing to do. What's more, it makes no economic sense to leave millions of American children uninsured. Immunizations, annual visits to a pediatrician, dental care, and screening for vision, hearing, and developmental problems are all long-term money savers for the health care system as a whole.

And investing now in the health of our children is truly what is key to saving our Social Security system and the long-term financial solvency issues facing Medicare. The health and productivity of the next generation's workforce is what will contribute most to saving these systems, not whether or not we privatize accounts or means test the benefits.

I hope you will take a moment to review this essential proposal -- and I hope you will act to encourage everyone you know to sign our Kids Come First petition now.

As you read this, President Bush is on a health care swing through Ohio. In the midst of photo ops and canned speeches, he is offering no genuine solution to the fact that 11 million American children have no health insurance. You and I must work to provide the ideas and leadership that are missing from the White House and the Republican leaders of Congress. And we have to work day in and day out to mobilize America to cover every child.

Thanks for standing with me in this essential undertaking.
Sincerely, John Kerry
P.S. You can read a summary of the Kids Come First Act here: http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/billsummary.php

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