I'm about to have my sixth health care event on Saturday. It's been a long hard trip, but well worth it! People really want to talk about their ideas about health care, and I'm happy to be a sounding board for them, guiding them to Obama's 3 principles or even single payer. This Saturday we're going to stand on a corner and get people to sign on to the 3 principles, hand out information including information about contacting congressmen, and just TALK to people. I've gone canvassing twice. Everyone wants to talk about health care and I'm ready to be there for them to do it. Once we stop they have all had deep and meaningful thoughts about health care: they'll never think about it the same way again. And it's all the thoughts they had in their heads all along!
Go canvassing, people. Sponsor house meetings. We had two where we watched health care movies such as "Sicko." Call people on the phone! Yeah, we won in November, but the real work is going on now!!!
"THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!!!!!!!" Those were the words echoing in my mind as me and my two canvassing buddies walked home from our canvassing for health care.This is what democracy looks like. We all felt empowered by our ability to express our opinions, our stories and our feelings about health care and be listened to by kind neighbors who felt empowered to tell us about their concerns and hopes about the health care system in our country.
I've had two health care canvassing events at my house, and I'm going to do it EVERY WEEK until we get a decent health care plan. This week we're not canvassing but watching Michael Moore's "Sicko." I think I'll take the people who come to canvass for 3-4 houses just to help them get their feet wet.
I'm hosting a health care kick-off event on June 6. It's funny but my across-the-street neighbor contacted me about having an event where we would talk about universal health care months ago, long before Obama started encouraging us to have and go to these events. We're focusing on information, so we're watching a video about healthcare systems around the world (not Michael Moore's "Sicko" but something kind of like it). Then we'll talk briefly (one minute each) about Canada, Massachusetts and the SUSTINET legislation in Connectitut (where we are), which is a universal health care plan for our state. After all that we'll share stories and get people working.
I think the main "work" I want to encourage is having everyone write to their congressmen. Our congressmen need to be emboldened to be radical with what they will support, and getting lots of "radical" letters supporting a public health care plan will help them move away from the donations they get from the insurance companies, etc. etc. I will also mention the possibility of canvassing and making phone calls. I hope that both those things actually happen!
Time to admit that I'm a college professor teaching Russian language and literature. I'm very involved in that culture and when I went to Moscow for a month this summer I noticed how much support there was for Obama there.
In fact I brought a bunch of Obama t-shirts as gifts and everyone I gave them to said the same thing, "Oh, the new president!" That felt good at the time because I knew we had a steep, steep road ahead of us working for the general election.
Look at this.
Yes we can! Yes, yes, yes!
Isn't this just great news everyone? We are everywhere, even in Alaska!!!
From Raymond and Celia Demers--- On Thu, 10/2/08, Raymond & Celia Demers <camproyola@charter.net> wrote:
From: Raymond & Celia Demers <camproyola@charter.net>Subject: Fw: Pics. of Biggest Rally in Alaska's historyTo: "Adrian John Demers" <ademers@student.umass.edu>Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008, 8:23 AM Subject: Pics. of Biggest Rally in Alaska's history All,Thankfully there are many, many very intelligent, thinking people up North! [The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchoragetalk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally 'a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,' and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing 'socialist baby-killing maggot' haters.It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high. So, if you've been doing the math Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say. the idea Psssst...pass it on!
Subject: Pics. of Biggest Rally in Alaska's history All,Thankfully there are many, many very intelligent, thinking people up North! [The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchoragetalk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally 'a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,' and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing 'socialist baby-killing maggot' haters.It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high. So, if you've been doing the math Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say. the idea Psssst...pass it on!
Subject: Pics. of Biggest Rally in Alaska's history
All,
Thankfully there are many, many very intelligent, thinking people up North!
[The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchoragetalk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally 'a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,' and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing 'socialist baby-killing maggot' haters.It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high. So, if you've been doing the math Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say.
the idea Psssst...pass it on!
Well I just passed the 1900 mark for total phone calls made for this campaign (including the primary and general election). I was telling everybody I had made "over" 2000 calls during the primary, but the website says I made 1704. Well, that's pretty close to 2000, and I was just guessing anyway. I'm up to 1926 now!
I don't think i'll be able to do another 1704 for the general election. There's just not enough time! My goal is one thousand, and with 40 days left that seems doable (20 more a day).
I have two main comments. First is that the Obama machine in my state is very relaxed (read: lazy), and I'm sure they aren't following up on all the people I'm finding through my "neighbor to neighbor" calling who want to volunteer for the campaign, so I started telling people about www.barackobama.com and telling them that if they want to make a road trip to a battleground state or make the phone calls they can set that all up through the site.
Second is that I love the old ladies. Last night I called a woman who was 90 years old and she's an Obama supporter. Then I called an old lady who was 80 who could barely talk but was also voting for Obama. Today an 82 year old lady told me she was for him. The younger ones hang up on me when I identify myself as volunteering for Obama, but the real old ones are for him. I think it's wisdom. It must be wisdom.
I just got off the phone from making 66 calls for Barack Obama: 25 calls to a Battleground state (New Hampshire) and 41 "neighbor to neighbor" calls to known Barack supporters in my state asking them if they want to volunteer.
It feels good to have made those calls, and I want to encourage everyone to GET ON THE PHONE!!!!!!!
People to people contact makes all the difference. We are behind in the popular vote (still ahead in the electoral college run-down, thank God), but we all need to do ALL WE CAN to help our man get elected. I remember how everyone was pumped to call for the primaries. Well, folks, this is the big one: time to get even more pumped up. I'm fifteenth in successful calling in my state. That's pathetic. If we Obama supporters were doing our duty, I would be 150th or even 1,500th. For New Hampshire calling I'm 24th. That's super-pathetic because I only got through to 3 people. I should be 240th or 2,400th. The people I talked to in New Hampshire were two for McCain and one for Obama, so we have our work to do!
Yes we can, but no we can't if we don't start calling!
I see my last blog post was about calling Kentucky and Oregon, posted on May 20! Well, we won the nomination Barack is our candidate, and with my 1704 calls for the primary (I thought I had hit 2000, but close) the first thing I do is go and make more calls.
Today I made about 15 "neighbor to neighbor" calls to other people in my state. (Unfortunately most of them are in another area code, which made it long distance calls for me. Having a calling card really reminded me of all the calls I made for the primaries!) I got through to four Obama supporters and asked them about the kinds of volunteering work they might want to do. One woman said she wouldn't make phone calls and we talked for a while about how she felt sorry for me doing it. That was nice because I do hate making phone calls, but ANYTHING for Barack Obama. Everyone gave me lots of moral support because they are all known Obama supporters. I'm not looking forward to making cold calls for the general election (but I'm going to do it: anything for Barack Obama), and calling known supporters is a nice way to break back into calling mode.
So get on the phone everyone! We all need to do all we can to help this campaign!!!
I just got off the phone from making 25 calls to Kentucky. The last five were on my phone bill because both my calling cards wore out.
The second card I had to punch in the PIN each time. I am so dyslexic, between calling the access number, and then the PIN, and then the person's actual phone number it's a miracle that I get through at all.
I am a real pro at calling by now. I figure I have probably made over two thousand calls for Barack Obama. At first it's hard: it's embarrassing, it makes you nervous, it's even kind of painful in a way. After a while though you don't even feel it. That's the stage I'm at now. (I still don't like doing it: but anything for Barack Obama!)
Now at Real Clear Politics they have Obama down in Kentucky by an average of 29%, but today I was calling Louisville. I talked to seven or eight people and every single one of them was voting Obama. In my previous calls to Kentucky Obama had the advantage. You know, I really feel that you get a sense of the vote by calling. I can always tell how the state's going to go by the reaction to my calls. So Kentucky looks good. We might not win, but I just bet we'll do better than 29% down! Keep praying.
I'll call Oregon later. They're in the Pacific time zone and I'm in the Eastern, so there's a lot of time to be calling them. (In fact I can't start calling them for another hour.) They have mail-in only voting and it's not when the ballot was postmarked that counts: The ballot has to be in by eight o'clock tonight, which means that people will have to bring them to their local official ballot drop-off sites. So I'll be encouraging people to take their ballots over to one of those sites. I'm from Portland, Oregon and I did a search of where the ballot drop-off sites are for my old address. The closest one was a public library about two miles away. I hope I can talk people into doing it! Wish me luck.
I hope everybody reading this can commit to making some calls today. It's not really so hard and it is a good way to have an influence on the outcome of these primaries. You don't have to just sit and hope, you can actually do something!
Yes we can!
Whew! I just made my 25 calls to Kentucky for today. Yesterday I got through to 4 people with 3 of them being Obama supporters. Today I got through to 3: one "not interested," one politely saying she was voting for Hillary, and one BIG BIG Obama supporter! I guess if you total up the two days it's still 4 to 3 in our favor.
I almost want to write about how hard it is for me to dial the phone. When I was young I had real trouble dialing it (mild dyslexia combined with a hatred of phones). That still shows up now sometimes as I make calls for Barack, but Obama is worth all sorts of pain for me! I'm a believer.
I'll call Oregon this evening as I did last night. That was just leaving messages. I didn't get through to one person. I'll call later tonight so as to get more people home.
So I hope everybody reading this can commit to making some calls for Barack. Yes, it's a drag and a pain, but it's the one way we can influence the outcome of these elections, so it is worth it.
Wow, I just got off the phone with 25 calls to Kentucky. I left lots of great messages and talked to four people including three Obama supporters!!! The other guy said he had made up his mind but didn't offer to tell me who he was voting for, so I assumed he was for Clinton.
This is a great average for Kentucky, so now I'm pumped like I was for Indiana, where I saw great potential and called like crazy. (Last week I made about 70 calls to West Virginia, but that was pure pain and not very inspiring.) I am going to call Kentucky every day now.
Tonight I'll give myself a treat and call Oregon. I'm from there and I love to talk to people from home with the special way they talk to you and everything. They are also like 100% Obama supporters.
I sure hope everybody reading this commits to making some calls! It's hard at first, but you get used to it fast, and it's the one way we can have a real effect on the outcome of these races.
OK, so I just made 25 calls to Indiana. I have a rule that I have to make all the calls I can on any given days: some days that number will be 81 and some days it will be zero. Some days I just make 5 calls and feel I've reached my maximum for that day.
I have been pretty good though about doing at least 25 (20 when that was how many they assigned you) per day.
The thing is both today and yesterday have really felt like 5-10 call days, but I promised to the campaign on one of the blogs on Friday that I would make 25 calls on both Saturday and Sunday. So, even though I was getting really burnt out at around 7 I forced myself to do 25 on both days! So, yes, It is possible to force yourself, and when it's for such a good cause it's worth it!
Today I decided to break the monotony by doing 10 to Indiana, 10 to North Carolina and 5 to West Virginia. Well, I got calling to Indiana, and it didn't look to good: lots of hang ups or "I'm not interested." I hope Barack Obama realizes when we all sign up for this phone calling thing we are signing up to get dissed on a regular basis. Maybe he feels that he gets dissed a lot as well so doesn't feel that much sympathy for us. That's probably what it is. And when you think about it, we aren't getting dissed personally. It's about him. Ugh!
So things were looking bad in Indiana, so I decided to stick with it. They need my help in Indiana, I figured, so I did all my 25 calls there. I identified two Obama supporters. One of THEM hung up on me too after she told me she was voting for Obama. I just looked at the polls on "Real Clear Politics." Indiana doesn't look too good for Barack. It looked great last week but has recently gotten worse for us.
I hope everyone reading this can commit to making at least 5 calls to Indiana. Every call you make is a call that wouldn't have happened otherwise, and we're going to win this thing one vote at at a time!
Oh Indiana! One of the supporters I talked to told me that not only he but all his family are voting for Barack. He said he's voting on election day and will just see how it plays out. I told him I had high hopes for Indiana.
I feel so good. I made 25 calls to Indiana from work (using a calling card and on my own time, let's be clear about that), and then I came home and made 10 calls to Oregon. Calling Oregon is a treat for me. I'm from there and am now living in Hartford Connecticut, so it's like calling home for me; and the fact that people are so gunned up about Obama also helps! Boy do they love him out there. I call there a lot and I have only talked to Obama supporters! Not even any undecideds!
I was surprised no one in Oregon was answering at around 4:00 p.m. their time, so I left a lot of useful, positive, cheerful and very sweet messages on answering machines. Remember we are Obama for these people. I wasn't so surprised that no one was home in the middle of the day in Indiana. I think I leave very positive messages that will sway people: they won't change minds but they will sway and plant a seed. That's how I see it. The only person I caught at home was a pregnant woman in the middle of six months of bed rest. She was undecided and told me that she has a lot of time to research the candidates. I'd say she does! We talked for a long time about her bedrest, and we laughed a lot together. I think just having a friendly conversation with an Obama volunteer will lean her toward our side.
You know folks, every little bit does really count! I hope all the people reading this commit to doing some calling. It doesn't have to be a lot. It can be 10, 5, 3, or even one call. Just think every call you make would have been a call that wasn't made if you hadn't done it!
Wow! I got off work and decided to make 25 calls to Pennsylvania before I take off to go home.
IT FEELS GOOD!
Make those calls, everyone!
Well after a break of a week or two it looks like I'm back to calling for Barack Obama every day. Yesterday I did 25 calls to PA, and today I made 31.
I was in the middle of my calling list when the time on my calling card wore out, so I went with my husband to Penny's to get glasses: 4 pairs of glasses today for $250! I love the glasses I picked out! On my way back I picked up another calling card at Walgreens.
Now I like the Walgreens cards because they have PIN-less dialing and you can start dialing the phone number the second you make a connection BUT, but before the phone starts ringing you have to listen to "Because of recent regulatory changes we charge universal service fees." That makes me furious because they are trying to get you to think that government regulation is making them charge you these extra fees, when you know that they wanted to charge them and the government regulations let them do that. So I listen to that with the receiver out in front of my face, so I can just barely hear it.
And since I had made 6 calls before taking off to Penny's, I decided I would make 19 after getting back to make a total of 25, which is the standard number they give. (I call Oregon a lot and they've been assigning 50!) So I made my 19 calls. After 5 or 6 I started thinking that maybe it was time to quit, but I kept going, pushing myself a little. Then at 19 I just felt like I was on a roll so finished the list of 25.
My number today is 31! I know I keep saying this, but we all need to call as much as we can. Some days it will be 5 calls and some days it will be fifty. Some days it will be no calls and some days it will be a hundred! I feel so good about those extra six calls to PA.
I see I haven't written a blog posting for two weeks.
I have to admit I've been a little tired of working for Barack Obama, plus I'm in a period at work where I'm super-busy, so I haven't been doing much for BO in the last week or two.
But I just finished making 25 calls to Pennsylvania, and it feels real good. After three calls I was getting kind of nervous and almost decided to end it there. I have had days where I make only around 5 calls, but three would have been a record. Well, I just kept plugging and managed to finish my call list! My fingers even got tired to dialing the phone by the end, but I pushed through and did it!
I hope everyone reading this will commit to making at least some calls today and every day until the Pennsylvania primary. Every call you make is one that wouldn't have been made otherwise, and we're going to win this one vote at a time!
