Rise Against battles Bush administration over suicide hotline

Rise Against has contributed its recent single "Ready To Fall" to a public service announcement for suicide prevention hotline 1-800-SUICIDE. According to Punknews.org, the hotline has been in danger of losing all its federal funding after refusing to turn over the identities of callers to the Bush Administration. The hotline was ordered to disregard its own strict privacy policy after coming under the control of the administration's Health and Human Services Agency. Although a compromise was eventually reached to safeguard callers' privacy, the hotline has still not received its allotted funding and now faces financial problems.

The non-profit hotline has taken calls from more than two million people seeking help and counseling.

The Bush Administration has interfered with the hotline before, trying to get it to remove all references to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, as well as provide "faith-based" religious counseling.

The Take Action! Tour, which this year features the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, will also raise money for the hotline.

More information can be found at Save1800Suicide.org.

"Ready To Fall" comes off Rise Against's latest album, The Sufferer and the Witness. The album's new single is "Prayer of the Refugee." The band will hit the road with My Chemical Romance next month.
Submit the above story to:

Del.icio.us   Digg   reddit   StumbleUpon   Facebook