Tennessee passes important material support for terrorism law!
Friday, 10 June 2011
Dear Harold,
It was a contentious legislative battle.
Islamic organizations and leaders, aided by blatantly dishonest reporting by The Tennessean newspaper, pulled out the stops to try to defeat the bill. Some even claimed, quite falsely, that the bill would make it illegal to practice Islam!
But in the end, the bill passed overwhelmingly, with bi-partisan support, in both the Tennessee House and Senate.
The law closes a gap in Tennessee’s prevention of terrorism legislation, passed back in 2002.
And, significantly, the law prohibits the use of religious doctrine to justify acts of terrorism or provide material support to designated terrorist organizations.
We in the national office of ACT! for America were proud to provide “air cover” to help our chapters, members, and their coalition allies on the ground in Tennessee. We sent out numerous emails, both to our Tennessee members and nationally, providing timely information and calls to action.
But it was the ACT! for America organization on the ground in Tennessee, working closely with other grassroots organizations, that made this victory a reality.
Spearheading this “ground effort” was Joanne Bregman and the leaders and volunteers of the Middle Tennessee chapter of ACT! for America, in partnership with Bobbie Patray and Eagle Forum activists.
But they were not alone.
Countless ACT! for America volunteers worked hard to make this victory possible. Bill Warner, with the Center for the Study of Political Islam; the Tennessee Freedom Coalition; and the 9/12 organization; all played important roles.
We commend Senator Bill Ketron, House Speaker Pro Tem Judd Matheny, and their staffs, for standing fast against the vicious and dishonest onslaught that was leveled against them.
The passage of this law is just the latest example of how ACT! for America is successfully applying the equation Guy Rodgers discussed in his email yesterday:
Vision + Strategy + Organization = Victory
Today, ACT! for America has 160,000 members and nearly 580 local chapters.
Just imagine how many victories, and how big those victories will be, when we have 500,000 members and 1,500 chapters!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make sure you receive all of your messages from ACT for America. Addactforamerica@donationnet.net to your address book as an approved email sender. If you found this message in your "Bulk" or "Spam" folder, please click the "Not Spam" button to notify your provider that these are emails you want to receive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
Posts
