Action Alert: Stop the START Treaty; Next Goal SSM

AFA of PA ACTION ALERT

December 20, 2010

Issues  (check corresponding number in ‘Details’ and ‘Action’ Sections)

1.)     Stop START!

2.)    Homosexual Lobby’s Next Target – Marriage

Details

1.)     Remember last Christmas Eve when the Senate rammed through the ‘health care’ bill at 7:15 a.m.?  Well, the lame duck session continues to limp along this week leading up to Christmas, and the results have been disastrous.  Now President Obama and Senator Reid are determined to ram through the START Treaty for ratification.  This is a strategic nuclear arms limitation treaty between the United States and Russia that could seriously undermine our national security. The vote to ratify must be a 2/3 vote and it only takes place in the Senate as per Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution.

To put this in perspective — Never before in America’s history has a president asked a lame-duck Senate to vote on a treaty.  Don’t forget a good number of these politicians were voted out of office on November 2^nd!

But there are other problems!
a.) Six Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requested the New START negotiating record in May of 2010. But as recently as December, the Obama administration has insisted that the Senate does not need the negotiating record. The record could help resolve ambiguities about any limitations on U.S. missile defenses and help Senators cast an informed vote. There can be no real “advice and consent” given on a treaty without this record.

b.)  The Senate was misinformed about the Obama deal with the Russians.  A recently released State Department report indicates that the Obama administration attempted to negotiate a Ballistic Missile Defense Cooperation Agreement with Russia last spring.  This contradicts public statements by Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates. One of the primary concerns about New START is its potential to limit U.S. development of missile defenses and this contradiction is cause for great concern.

2.)  As homosexual activists grabbed the trophy of repealing the ban on homosexuals in the military and placed it on their mantel Saturday, they immediately shifted gears and have announced their next goal is “full equality – gay marriage.” They announced the formation of a new national group – Equality Matters – which is setting up a “communications war room for gay equality.” Click here for more information.

Action Steps

1.)     Vote on START may come as early as Tuesday!  Message – “Vote ‘No’ on New START Treaty.”  Call the following Senators in addition to Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Bob Casey, Jr.:

Olympia Snowe – 202-224-4254
Scott Brown – 202-224-4543
John McCain – 202-224-2235
Bob Corker – 202-224-3344
Lamar Alexander – 202-224-4944
Johnny Isakson – 202-224-3643
Thad Cochran – 202-224-5054
Lisa Murkowski – 202-224-6665
Bob Bennett – 202-224-5444
Judd Gregg – 202-224-3324

2.)     Pennsylvania still lacks a Marriage Protection Amendment.  Our Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) could be overturned by a court order even as Iowa’s was last year.  Currently a real threat looms as Maryland and New York are poised to legalize same-sex marriage.  All it would take is one Pennsylvania “gay couple” crossing the state line into one of these two states, getting “married” and coming back here demanding that PA recognize their “marriage.”  A lawsuit challenging DOMA would ensue and the matter would end up in the hands of the PA Supreme Court.  Can they be trusted to make the right decision?  To help get the attention of our state legislators about the need for a strong Marriage Protection Amendment, please sign our online petition.  Click here.