Election Day is just one week away! I see this year’s election as being a crucial one for the future of our Country. George Bush and the Republican Majority in congress have led our country far away from our American Ideas. Our continued involvement in Iraq is only making conditions more and more grim for the people of Iraq and for the United States as well. October has set a record for the most US military personnel to die in one month since the start of this futile war; we have passed the one hundred service people dead. Estimates vary from ten to one hundred times as many non-Americans who die from the insurgency as well as in clashes with our forces. There is no functioning government in most of the country, and our presence is only fanning the fires of insurgency and instability.

These last six years have seen a great assault on human rights in this country; the president has led us into invading the privacy of our own citizens, overturning constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, limiting access to habeas corpus for non citizen detainees, and overturning of the Geneva Conventions against torture of those who we hold as prisoner. The founders of this country would shudder to see what has happened to the Bill Of Rights in the past six years, particularly since September 2001. None of this has made us any more safe from terrorists; our policies have only bred more terrorism in the world, and created more enemies for the United States.

It is time to throw out all of the scoundrels in Washington! I know we run the risk of electing new scoundrels who also become captive to the same special interests as the old ones, but in the short run at least a vote for Democrats is a vote for change. Here in Connecticut Joe Lieberman has got to go. He is not the same Democrat that Connecticut first elected in 1988. He could not carry the Democratic primary, but is still running as an independent candidate and polling indicates that too many Republicans and independent voters are planning to elect him. Ned Lamont may not be the best that this state has to offer, but he is far and above the others on the ballot. A vote for Lamont is a clear vote for change in our Iraq policy; it is a clear vote for restoring civil rights, and probably a reasonable vote for those concerned about a better health care system.

There is no explaining why incumbent Governor Jodie Rell is holding onto her lead in the governor’s race. I haven’t understood how the citizens of this state can elect an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature and then consistently elect Republican governors. Rell was part of the Rowland administration, she either is incredibly stupid not to have know what was going on, or willingly turned a blind eye to the corruption in Rowland’s government. The fiasco of hiring a contractor who got paid millions and millions of dollars to do defective work on I-84, and then hiring inspectors who couldn’t see the defectiveness while they collected their millions of dollars in contract money from the state proves she should be turned out of office at once. Mayor John DeStefano would be a breath or fresh air in the governor’s office, and would bring new and creative ideas and a commitment to bettering the lives of the working class and the impoverished and oppressed.

VOTE THE REPUBLICANS OUT! I am Terry Davis and I wrote and approved this message; no one else has approved, endorsed or paid for it!

A much happier note than the angry one I just posted. We visited our daughter and her family last week and took some darling pictures of our now eight month old Granddaughter. If you would like to see some of them click on this link http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/revtdavis@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/11c4re2&.src=ph&.tok=phTPkqFBNaIZzuxI

Reading the front section of the Hartford Courant this morning was a particularly painful experience. It seems that Americans have no regard for the rights of individuals; that we allow the president and the congress to take away these rights without protest. The president just signed the law that he had proposed essentially taking away every right that non citizen detainees might have under common law, under the Geneva Convention, or under any basic standards of human dignity. Every member of congress who voted to allow such an egregious attack of human freedom should be voted out of office. The principle of Habeas Corpus has been an established part of British law since 1215 (remember the Magna Carta from your civics class) and is guaranteed in the US Constitution, but is now denied to non US citizens, while torture is allowed.

A second headline caught my eye and made me sick. Former Rep. Gerry Studds who died recently left behind a spouse who is ineligible to receive his rather substantial death benefit. The former congressman was legally married in the state of Massachusetts, but his spouse was of the same sex as the former congressman and thus ineligible to receive his benefits under federal law.

One of the cars which is regularly parked in the Church parking lot (not mine) has a bumper sticker saying "Worst US President Ever" a sentiment with which a majority of us seem to agree (a recent poll showed that a majority of those polled thought the present president was the worst in their lifetime). But what of the congress that passed this idiotic Defense of Marriage Act? Another reason to vote against the whole bunch of scoundrels except for the minority who have bravely stood up for human rights in the face of both opposition to or indifference concerning such rights. Shame on us who have tolerated this assault on our freedom.

The founders of this country rose up against King George and his minions, it is time we did the same against President George and all those who support his dangerous policies!

I had two impresive evenings last week. On Wednesday Kathleen and I were invited to an interfaith Iftar. For Muslims the Iftar is the daily meal breaking the fast during Ramadan. The event was held in the Legislative Office Building and we were a few minutes late. When we came in on the third floor we could hear the chanting of the Koran echoing through the five story open atrium in the LOB. We had addresses by the president of the Harmony Foundation, a Muslim group dedicated to interfaith understanding and by Dr. Reza Monsor. They and everyone who spoke were intent on explaining that they represented the mainstream of Islam, that the terrorists and insurgents were not representative of what Islam stands for. There were prayers by Jewish and Christian leaders from Hartford Seminary as well as Muslim prayers. As the sun was setting we saw people placing table cloths and prayer rugs on the floor behind the speakers and near the food buffet that was being set out. Kathleen at first thought we were going to eat picnic style on the floor, and then we realized that they were for the traditional prayers for breaking the fast and all the Muslims assembled in this area for the prayers, then delicious Turkish food was served.

I certainly learned more about Islam, and Remadam in particular. They had some beautiful slides of Islamic architecture, mostly Mosques, as well as people at prayer in some of the holy places. It seems traditional during Ramadan for Muslims to often have the Iftar as a communal meal rather than to break the fast family by family at their homes. We also discovered that there were many more to which non Muslims were being invited as well; and that different groups sponsored these meals each featuring different cusine, while we ate Turkish food another would feature African food, another Asian.

The second event was the big ICEJ event promoting a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). There were hundreds of people assembled at the First Church of the Living God. We heard moving testimonies from Luz Santana, Yairaliz Arroyo and Dorothy DelValle about how the federal EITC has made their lives easier and why taking the next step to enact a state EITC will continue to uplift the working poor.

Ned Lamont, Mary Glassman and Mayor Perez added their voices of support for a state EITC. But the highlight of the evening was the very spirited and passionate address by Rev. James B. Walker who brought the audience to their feet.

We collected hundreds of signatures on our petition and forged relationships with our many co-sponsors. It was probably the most inspiring meeting that ICEJ has sponsored in its history.

On Thursday we are traveling to Mount Laurel, NJ to see Sabrena and Arthie and our now 8 month old granddaughter Hannah.