this text is a draft of my letter to congressman waxman, mailed july 7. i am getting in the practice of writing my senators and congressmen.

here is a list of relevent campaign to end aids (c2ea) posts:

c2ea: journey to washington

tools for personal activists (that's you & me): links to congress, advocacy groups & political parties

c2ea: letter to senator boxer

c2ea: letter to senator feinstein

c2ea: letter #2 to senator boxer

c2ea: letter to congressman waxman on international needle exchange funding

july 4, 2005

the honorable henry a. waxman
united states house of representatives
2204 rayburn house office building
washington, dc 20515-0530

dear representative waxman,

i used to be your constituent. i am now your neighbor, living with aids in los angeles. i am a member of beingALIVE, the grassroots self-help aids/hiv service organization here, and i publish a blog on the internet called: on the engines of enlightenment: journal of an aids shaman.

thank you for your letter of june 24 to secretary rice addressing the bush administration’s intent to exclude needle exchange programs from the list of “legitimate” programs for which us aids/hiv funding can be used. i find myself ashamed that you must plead with our administration so. to me, to have to ask the administration to include money for a “program that has been credited with significantly reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS” is begging to save lives. how many “extra” dead people does “40%” come out to? who gains from that?

i will be coming to washington, dc in october to march with the campaign to end aids, and i am very excited about it. i hope you will be kind enough to answer some questions i have in that connection.

will you march with us? we will be in washington october 8-12.

what are your positions on our four demands?

• fully fund high-quality treatment and support services for all people living with hiv everywhere in the world.
• ramp up hiv prevention at home and abroad, guided by science rather than ideology.
• increase research to find a cure, more effective treatments and better prevention tools.
• fight aids stigma and protect the civil rights of all people with hiv and aids everywhere.

what are your positions on our four legislative objectives?

• reauthorize and fully fund the ryan white care act.
• keep medicaid strong for people with hiv/aids and all other beneficiaries.
• strengthen the global fight against aids by fully funding the global fund and backing 100% debt cancellation.
• restore and revive effective hiv prevention worldwide based on the best science.

what hope for success can you offer us?

i hope you will have time to look in on my blog, on the engines of enlightenment: journal of an aids shaman. i will have regular postings in it about the campaign to end aids , as well as reports on the road from the car caravan to washington in october. i look forward to your response, which i hope to post on the site.

thank you in advance for your time and attention and support. and thank you for all your work that has gone before—constituent or not, you have always defended my cause.

Sincerely,

richard kearns

richard-kearns@sbcglobal.net

blogsite: on the engines of enlightenment: journal of an aids shaman

http://www.duckspot.com/rk/eoe-5.index.htm