UU Justice News –July2007

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

Martin Luther King Jr. (in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail)

This issue has news and information you and your congregation can use to make justice. For more information, contact Gwen Winston, Network Coordinator, at or call 248-233-6162. ContactRandy Block, Network Manager, at or call 248-549-5170. Please duplicate the attached copy of this newsletter for others.

IN THIS ISSUE:

  1. AUTHOR OF ‘SICK” AVAILABLE TO SPEAK AT UU CONGREGATIONS
  2. RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR UU VIEWING & DISCUSSION OF “SICKO”
  3. GET UU STATE BUDGET CRISIS ACTION POST CARDS IN THE MAIL!
  4. MEET IN FLINT ON JULY 29TH TO HELP PLAN FALL JUSTICE SUMMIT
  5. JULY26TH MUUSJN STEERING COMMITTEE
  6. ACTION ALERT: LEVIN-REED AMENDMENT TO END THE IRAQ WAR
  7. UU CHURCH TAKES PUBLIC STAND ON DECLARATION OF PEACE
  8. SHOULD MUUSJN REQUEST HUUD TO BE OUR FISCAL SPONSOR?
  9. MLHS FOOD STAMPACTION ALERT
  10. BUC GETS PUBLICITY ON MUUSJN WEBSITE: YOUR LINK REQUESTED!

AUTHOR OF ‘SICK” AVAILABLE TO SPEAK AT UU CONGREGATIONS - Through its partnership with the Michigan Universal Health Access Network, MUUSJN is pleased to offer your congregation a dynamic speaker on our health care system. Contact Jonathan Cohn, the Senior Editor of The New Republic, an Ann Arbor resident and author of the book “Sick”, at 734-997-8985. For more information on “Sick”, please read the attached book review.

RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING & DISCUSSION OF “SICKO” –Here’s a project for your Social Justice Committee! Invite members of your congregation to a showing of Michael Moore’s new movie “SICKO” and hold a discussion afterwards at a local restaurant.Doing a press release on this activity would let the public know that UU’s care about health care reform. To obtain a copy of an “Interfaith Guide to Watching SICKO” go to the Faithful Reform In Health Care website: MUUSJN is a partner with this new interfaith health advocacy organization.

GET UU STATE BUDGET CRISIS ACTION POST CARDS IN THE MAIL! During June, MUUSJN mailed the attached advocacy post card and a fact sheet to justice leaders in Michigan UU congregations. There is still time to send a message to your State Senator and Representative: “Don’t Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Poor”! Read the attached MUUSJN action alert for talking points on the moral need for new revenue in the FY 2008 budget. To request post cards, contact Randy Block at 248-549-5170.

MEET IN FLINT ON JULY 29TH TO HELP PLAN FALL JUSTICE SUMMIT – Michigan UU’s are on the move! The MUUSJN Steering Committee has agreed that we will hold a Summit for UU Justice Leaders on October 27th. This will be an opportunity to share inspiration from our congregations, visions for the future and to formulate justice action plans. You are invited to help us plan this event. Join us from 2-4 p.m. at the UU Church of Flint, located at 2474 S. Ballenger Highway. For more information, contact MUUSJN Network Coordinator Gwen Winston at 248-233-6162.

JULY 26THSTEERING COMMITTEE CONFERENCE CALL – The next meeting of the MUUSJN Steering Committee will be held 7- 9 p.m. Thursday, July 26thby Conference Call. To participate, call1-800-371-8200. When requested, enter access code 584107. We would like to have two people from each Michigan UU congregation on the Steering Committee. To learn who represents your congregation or for more information, contact Randy Block at 248-549-5170.

ACTION ALERT: LEVIN-REED AMENDMENT TO END THE IRAQ WAR - The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next week on a Levin-Reed amendment to set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq within 120 days. Please call Senators Stabenow and Levin via the Congressional Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 to let them know we must end the war now. Consider signing the following on-line petition

MUUSJN continues to support a Declaration of Peace resolution passed at last year’s General Assembly that calls for an early end to the Iraq War.

UU CHURCH TAKES PUBLIC STAND ON DECLARATION OF PEACE – Denise Hartsough, representing the Community Church of Southwest Michigan, in June reported: “Randy, I’m pleased to report that the Kalamazoo Gazette printed a letter to the editor yesterday (6/18/07) signed by our minister, Rev. Jill Terwilliger, Board President Ken Peregon and Lyn Bartley, Faith in Action Committee member. The letter explains that (our church) has endorsed the Declaration of Peace Campaign of the UUA and lists what that campaign calls for.”

SHOULD MUUSJN REQUEST HUUD TO BE OUR FISCAL SPONSOR? Several UU’s on the MUUSJN Steering Committee have expressed their support for a proposal that the Network request that the Heartland Unitarian Universalist District (HUUD) serve as our fiscal sponsor instead of seeking to become a non-profit organization. Becoming a non-profit organization or having a fiscal sponsor are required by the UU Service Committee and other organizations in order to receive grants and allow contributions to the Network be tax deductible. Birmingham Unitarian Church, which currently serves as our fiscal agent, plans to end this service in Spring 2008. To express your views on whether we should become a non-profit organization or seek a fiscal sponsor, contact Randy Block at by July 17th.

MLHS FOOD STAMP ACTION ALERT – The Michigan League for Human Services, highly respected for its leadership on issues affecting low-income Michigan families, has requested that MUUSJN let its members know that phone calls or e-mails need to be sent ASAP to Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick and Congressman Sander Levin or their staff on behalf of funding improvements in the Food Stamp program. The message: Let the Chair of the Agriculture Committee and House Democratic leaders know it’s imperative that Food Stamp program improvements approved by the Nutrition subcommittee be fully funded. Don’t make harmful changes to Food Stamps in President Bush’s 2007 Farm Bill. Call Congresswoman Kilpatrick at 202-225-2261 or Congressman Levin at 202-225-4961. For more information, see attached document on the Food Stamp Program in Michigan.

BUC GETS PUBLICITY ON MUUSJN WEBSITE: YOUR LINK REQUESTED! Visit the MUUSJN website () to see pictures of a creative and enjoyable justice committee fundraiser held at the Birmingham Unitarian Church. We request that your congregation include a link to the MUUSJN site that has links to all Michigan UU congregations with a website.Forward information about your congregation’s justice events to Randy Block, for posting in this newsletter or on the MUUSJN website calendar of events: Please include the name of the event and the date, time and place.