Ominous chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. There is a lot of misinformation, misunderstanding and misrepresentation being advanced by corporate interests, health insurance lobbyists and reactionary pranksters creating panic and outrage in a segment of our population that was already nervous about the idea of Change.
Let's help our president fight these smears like we did during the campaign. He has asked for our participation helping him get the country out of the mess it's in. If we want to keep our seat at the table of democracy, as Michelle Obama has said, we must not relinquish it for even a day, because someone with more power, with more money and without our best interests at heart is more than happy to come fill it for us.
President Obama may be the Michael Jordan of politics, but he still needs someone to pass the ball to. Join us in our efforts to pass health insurance reform and help our president in his ongoing efforts to bring Change to America. We started this together. Let's keep going!
Please report any lies about health care reform directly to the White House so that they may have the opportunity to fairly rebut them:
flag@whitehouse.gov
To get involved in Louisiana, contact our state director, Steven Walker at 504-376-3880.
Hi all, I wanted to take a moment to catch you up on the fast-paced developments as we bring CHANGE to Louisiana. There's a lot of info here, but there is much going on and we want to get organized now to be more efficient moving forward. When you have a moment, please look through this micro-newsletter (blog) and see where you want to get involved! Also, please feel free to share this information with others.Thanks!LyndaRegional Lead CD#2504-862-5945ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA - LOUISIANA Obama For America has morphed into Organizing For America (OFA) with a mission to grow our grassroots power. While OFA is a project of the DNC, this is not a party or candidate-driven endeavor. We are focusing on issues. Offices will be set up across Louisiana in the coming weeks. We will be using the groups on http://www.my.barackobama.com (MyBO) as we did during the campaign to communicate with one another, so please make sure you are signed up for a group in your area and that you are set to receive emails (listserv settings) if you would like to be active in OFA. Steven Walker is the new Louisiana director and has been meeting our citizens through a Listening Tour. This is an ongoing tour and you can search for an event in your area on MyBO. If there is not one listed, but you are interested in getting involved, please contact us as we may be able to set up an event with you. At the very least, you can participate in one of our state-wide conference calls. Contact Info for Louisiana State Director: Steven Walker steven.walker@obamaalumni.com 504.376.3880HEALTH CARE REFORM The first topic we are tackling is health care, an issue with which we all have very personal experience. Today, we are not asking for help getting the president's policy passed... we are asking you to help draft the policy. If we are to get this reform passed at all, now is the time and YOUR INPUT is requested. There are a variety of ways you can get involved: 1. Take the pledge. Go to MyBO and sign the pledge saying you stand with Barack Obama in the assertion that we need reform on health care and we need it now. Once you have signed, please share your personal story on this subject with the administration. They will use these numbers and these stories to show our legislators how important this issue is to us.http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/organizingforhealthcarehttp://my.barackobama.com/page/content/healthcarestory 2. Host or attend a health care reform discussion. Starting June 6th and throughout next week, we are asking Louisiana citizens to talk about healthcare. We want your ideas, your experiences, your needs. You do not need to be an expert on policy to host an event... just an expert on your own health care. The event can be simple... meet a couple of friends at a coffee shop, arrange lunch with some co-workers, sit on the porch with your neighbors, or if you're more of a techie, host a free conference call and invite some Facebook friends to join you... whatever would be comfortable to you. Small discussion groups work best. There is an easy-to-follow guide on MyBO that will tell you how to set up your event and how to report the results of your discussion. If you need further help, either Steven or I would be happy to try to provide answers for you.http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoffhttp://my.barackobama.com/page/content/HCkickoffHostGuide 3. Participate in a health care related community service event. On June 27th, and for the week following, OFA will be hosting events across the country in an effort to educate people on how to take control of their own health (like screenings and workshops) as well as to alleviate some of the burden on our healthcare systems (like blood drives and volunteering at VA hospitals). These events will be listed on MyBO in the coming days. We welcome your suggestions and request your initiative in putting together an appropriate event in your area!CHANGE CORPS OF NEW ORLEANS - COMMUNITY SERVICE You may have signed up to be a member of the Change Corps of New Orleans at some point during the first half of this year. You may also have joined us at one of the community service events we have posted on our website http://www.changecorpsnola.org. We are working on the technology to send email blasts and newsletters... and do our best to update our website regularly. We will be working with OFA on their community service events, however there will be events that are not OFA-related as well. We have found networking groups and listserves very effective in getting out notice quickly when we are putting together an event. To get involved with events as they are being organized, we recommend you join us on one of the groups listed below. Our events will also be listed on the Change Corps website, on MyBO and at http://www.usaservice.org (USAservice).
• Change Corps on MyBO http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/FighttheSmearsNewOrleans (Note: The group name changed to Change Corps after the election, but the url address still reflects Fight the Smears.)• Change Corps on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48577924364&ref=ts (Note: This group has been most effective at getting info out quickly if you happen to be on Facebook!)
Having been involved in grassroots animal welfare/rescue/rights for 20+ years, I was one of those people who eagerly and anxiously awaited news on what Barack and Michelle were going to do in regards to adopting a puppy for Sasha and Malia. I was a lead dog, if you will, in pushing the idea that they should adopt a rescue and preferably a shelter dog. I was heartened by Barack's comments that HE really wanted to get a rough and tumble shelter dog. But! as usual I was careful to not just hear what I wanted to hear. I was acutely aware of the other issues President Obama laid out when discussing the new family member.
First, during the campaign, Barack always stated that he had promised the girls a puppy. A puppy. P.U.P.P.Y. Right off the bat, we knew this was going to rule out a whole lot of rescue dogs who tend to be older. This is fair enough for young girls getting their first dog. I got a puppy as a kid, too. There's something about being young and getting a young animal. You can relate to it. And you can grow up together. By the time I was 30, I started liking the idea of adopting adult dogs. They come pre-trained and you miss all that puppy teething, high energy bother.
Secondly, and really importantly, Malia has allergies, so her parents wanted to be sure she had a pet she could be close to and comfortable with. I won't argue whether or not hypo-allergenic breeds truly exist. Let's just agree that some breeds cause less allergic reactions than others. I know, for instance, that I am allergic to some cats. Not many. But occasionally I run across one that just makes me miserable. Anyway, this issue was a key issue in selection of the dog and rightly so. Consider if they chose a dog to find out later that it made Malia sick. One of three things would happen here and none of them good: Malia would have to suck it up and be miserable OR the dog would just have to not spend time with the family when Malia was present OR the dog would have to find a new home. This is a scenario that is not uncommon and all too often the dog ends up in a shelter or a back yard. (In fact, I know animals that were left behind in Katrina because a family member in the evacuation vehicle was allergic.)
Now, because of my involvement with the animal community and my involvement with the Obama campaign, people who are unhappy with the choice of Bo have felt it necessary to take this issue up with me and I have received a range of reactions from "I'm very disappointed" to "Obama broke another promise and killed a shelter dog". Well. As one who was calling for them to adopt a shelter dog, I understand a little disappointment. But I got over that pretty quickly. Look. The little guy, in my mind, IS a rescue. He didn't fit in with his first family, so he ended up with THE First Family. I hear all sorts of conspiracy theories about how this is a set up and the dog was really bred for the Obamas. I don't really buy that, but even if it were true... to harp on that would be to miss our opportunity as members of the animal welfare community. We can scream about conspiracy because we wanted a different outcome or because it feels good, but what message then are we sending when we have the platform to send a message... that this person most of our country really admires tricked us all so he could get a purebred... and if you're going to emulate him, well, then it's your turn to fake a need to get a purebred?
OR shall we point out to people the many things the first family did right in adopting a dog?
They planned ahead and waited to adopt until the family had time to train it and take care of it. They prepared the children for the responsibility that they all would need to share as they welcomed a new family member into their home. They did their research and found a breed that would suit their needs... regarding allergy issues, trainability, disposition, personality, space requirements and energy levels. They didn't go shopping around to breeders, but instead adopted an already 6 month old dog - which means half its puppihood has already passed. And they found the dog through a friend with whom they have a really close personal connection... and who has health issues of his own such that he may not be around for too long.
The standard put on this president for adopting a dog is beyond anything any other president has had to live up to pet-wise. He never promised to adopt a shelter dog, he said he hoped to get one. He advocated against puppy mills and by all accounts, this dog is not from a puppy mill. It appears to be from a responsible breeder. I won't argue whether or not responsible breeders truly exist. We will never get rid of "breeds" altogether. Dog people are forever going to like certain breeds or even need them for utilitarian purposes.
The pet overpopulation problem is not caused by breeders or breed lovers or President Obama. It is caused by unmanaged stray populations, puppy mills, irresponsible breeders and owners who do not spay/neuter their pets for reasons ranging from ignorance to laziness. Period. Dogs and cats are euthanized in the hundreds of thousands in this country because people don't know about the existing holocaust, or don't care, or because they let their animals roam freely thus allowing them to reproduce indescriminantly or land themselves with the dog catcher (which "displaces" whatever dog was previously in that kennel... a euphemism for euthanasia).
The Obamas did their due diligence and did the best they could... and didn't do half bad, I think. Give them a break. They are first time pet owners. They will learn more as they go. Like we all have had to do.
Let's shine a light on all the things they did RIGHT. Let's use this as a teaching moment instead of yet another time that the animal rights folks look like crazy zealots. I've lost enough battles and animals to know the pain of the trade. I face it everyday. But I won't blame our president for that. His family got a second hand dog that won't make their daughter sneeze or itch and made a donation to the Washington Humane Society. End of.
Welcome to your new home, Bo. May you live long and know great love.
Now let's let the president get back to solving this whole war/economy/environment thing... wherein human and non-human animals suffer and die everyday.
Hi Louisiana.Obama For America is now Organizing For America. The goals have shifted from getting Barack Obama elected to helping make sure his presidency is a success, both politically and policy-wise. You are still needed in this effort.Last week, Congress voted to pass our president's 2010 budget. Only 2 legislators from Louisiana helped to make that happen: Senator Mary Landrieu and Representative Charlie Melancon. We need help showing that Louisianan's care about how our members of congress vote.Could you please take a moment and send a letter to the editor of your local paper thanking Senator Landrieu (and congressman Melancon if you are in his district)? There is a great tool on MyBO to help make this really simple:http://my.barackobama.com/page/speakout/ThankCongressBelow I've attached some ideas for letters, but please write from your own heart. And thank you for continuing to support Barack Obama.Best,Lynda Below are a few ideas to guide your letter writing. Visit our website for more additional tips and information http://my.barackobama.com/page/speakout/ThankCongress LTE #1President Obama is talking to us like adults. He doesn’t sugarcoat his message or claim to have the silver bullet. Since taking office, he's encouraged us to be patient and persistent in charting our course - I think his words were, “more ocean liner than speed boat.”President Obama’s budget is big, but it’s a bold and important down payment on our long-term economic recovery here and across the nation.And that's why I applaud my congressional representative for voting in support of the President's plan to put our country back on the path to prosperity - a vote all of us can be proud of.
LTE #2I’m sick and tired of our bubble-driven economy. From the dot.com craze to the housing bubble, I know so many people who have been affected by the constant boom and bust that has made our economy unstable.President Obama’s budget plan takes on the challenges in our healthcare system, public education and energy policy – and aims to make those things operate better and more efficiently for people just like me here in my town.I agree with President Obama that now is the time to make significant investments to help our economy develop in a sustainable way, and provide real growth and services the people on Main Street need. And that's why I applaud my congressional representative for supporting President Obama's plan.
LTE#3I volunteered for President Obama’s campaign, was thrilled to watch his inauguration, and have been following the early months of his presidency.These days, all the pundits seem to talk about is President Obama’s budget plan. Is it too expensive? Is it too ambitious?I am happy to see that President Obama is engaging his supporters - the regular people who elected him to office – to help build grassroots support for his budget blueprint.Making healthcare more affordable, investing in education, and creating a safer, greener energy policy, are the changes we fought for during the election.And that's why I was so pleased to see my congressional representative vote in support of the President's plan and give him the help he needs to put a down payment on a more sustainable, economic future for all of us.
Change Corps of New Orleans is looking for some of our volunteers to help staff the St. Bernard Project's Women's Rebuild in May. Women Business Leaders from across the country will be gathering for this event and helping to rebuild homes in St. Bernard Parish. We would like to send 20 representatives from our organization to participate either for the whole week, or for whatever day (or two) you can commit. We need to provide volunteers' names by mid-April so that they can plan effectively. Below is a tentative schedule for the week:Monday, May 11 Work 8:30-4:30, Lunch PicnicTuesday, May 12 Work 8:30-4:30, Group Dinner @ 7 pmWednesday, May 13 Work 8:30-4:30, Dinner and a PlayThursday, May 14 Work 8:30-4:30, Happy Hour/Awards Ceremony at Tropical Isle on Bourbon St.Friday, May 15 Work 8:30-4:30, Welcome Home Party @ NoonSaturday, May 16 Work 9:30-3:30 Please send a message to lynda@changecorpsnola.org with the days you can volunteer as well as your contact information so that we can make arrangements with you.For more info on SBP, go to:http://stbernardproject.org
St. Bernard Project
8324 Parc Place
Calmette, LA 70043
Today the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and HUD, Shaun Donovan, visited New Orleans to get an update on our recovery from the hurricanes of the last 4 years. At the same time, Brad Pitt was in Washington, DC meeting with Nancy Pelosi and James Clyburn to discuss his rebuilding efforts in the 9th Ward.
The president has already signed a couple of executive orders extending our recovery benefits in Louisiana... and has just named a new, well-respected director of FEMA, Craig Fugate. Additionally, Barack Obama recently met with the King of Zulu, Charles Hamilton, in Washington DC in order to receive his hand-painted coconut from this year's Mardi Gras parade dedicated to our new president.
I am well pleased to see our region, though greatly ignored during the campaign, take a bit of the spotlight these days.
Keep up the good trend, President Obama!
Lynda Woolard
Change Corps of New Orleans
www.changecorpsnola.org
From whitehouse.gov
Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 11:52 am
"We must ensure that the failures of the past are never repeated," President Obama said in a statement today, announcing the extension of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding and his decision to send two cabinet members to the region. Homeland Security Secretrary Janet Napolitano and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan are heading to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans in early March to evaluate firsthand the progress that's been made and assess the region's needs. "The residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast who are helping rebuild are heroes who believe in their communities and they are succeeding despite the fact that they have not always received the support they deserve from the Federal government," the President said. "This executive order is a first step of a sustained commitment by my Administration to rebuild now, stronger than ever." Some important facts:
Words of Wisdom from the highway scribe
*the highway scribe is a blogger... please note, this post was not written by Lynda.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Why is the winter of our winning becoming the winter of our discontent?The media narrative has President Obama denied bipartisan support and schooled in the harsh realities of Washington politics, failing his core constituencies and settling for a plan that is not "stimulative" enough (which "spellcheck" agrees is not a word)."New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman says "Mr. Obama's victory feels more than a bit like defeat."Except that it's a victory.Joan Walsh at "Salon" says Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) "humiliated" the President by accepting and then rejecting his offer to head the Department of Commerce.Except that he'll go back to being one of a minority in the Senate and the President will still be the President with large majorities in both houses."The compromise stimulus is probably better than nothing," she writes. "With its expansion of food stamps and unemployment benefits, its tax rebates for low-income workers, aid to states and cities and billions for infrastructure projects." Sounds good right?"BUT," Walsh continues, "it won't be as effective as a bigger spending bill would have been, and let's hope Obama doesn't come to regret how much he gave Republicans to get so little."and later:"He better have learned that Washington bipartisanship is dead."It has been dead and not fixing it on the first go-round is hardly a failure. Lacking a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, Obama got the support of three senators who do not occupy red meat conservative seats. And they delivered him a stimulus package.Glenn Greenwald, also of "Salon," accuses liberal groups of precipitating this non-debacle by, "subordinating their concern about issues to their support for the party and its leading politician."That leading politician, of course, being the guy we all broke our asses and wallets to get elected: Barack Obama, the guy who renovated the Democratic Party and won states south and west long-treasured by rank-and-filers."During the 2008 election," he noted, "Obama co-opted huge portions of the Left and its infrastructure so that their allegiance became devoted to him and not to any ideas."That's because his Ideas where their/our ideas.Krugman is a brilliant, Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Walsh a darling and charming soldier of progressive forces, and Greenwald a hard-boiled walking left-litmus test who keeps his eye on the issue rather than the personality.But they are not helping things.Each, as a loyal member of the anointed commentariat, is allowing the mass media's narrative focus on stimulus to block out their own sun and bum the rest of us out.Day in day out, the Obama administration is doing what progressives, liberals, leftists, or whatever flag you fly under, had prayed for, but feared never would happen.Every place in government, in ways big and small, whether it's admitting the Earth is getting warmer, cancelling energy industry fire sales offshore and on treasured Western lands, undoing a conservative Supreme Court's ruling by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Law, forestalling foreclosures, or appointing a pro-union Latina to the Labor Department, we see change we dared not dream of in the darkest days of the Bush era.But romps in the House of Representatives are tainted by the fact Obama "failed to garner a single vote," from the GOP, when the failure, of course, is their own.Victories in the Senate are deemed "razor-thin" when 61-37 is something of a trouncing. Or should the scribe remind you of how votes went, say, three years ago under guys with names like Delay, Frist, and Bush?It's razor-thin because the Republican filibuster is an unchallenged daily blessing to a sorely challenged minority, when it should be subject to national derision.The way the Senate operates now, all you have to do is inform the leadership of your plan to filibuster and the altered, more difficult, voting math kicks-in.highwayscribery's suggestion is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) drop the courtesy and force Republicans to sustain their filibuster for real.Reid should obligate them to wear catheters so they can pee while reading from newspapers, and do midnight relays to fresh senators making a spectacle of themselves while delaying the nation's business.(Just a thought).If the Republicans' desire is that they should glue themselves to one another while walking over a cliff, than liberals should be glad of it.They are not insulting Obama or the Democrats. Rather they are flipping a middle-finger at the American people, who are suffering and currently of a unified mind regarding the guy and party they want running things.Those senators and representatives of the GOP, in herding together like hunted buffaloes (which they are), will have a hard time separating themselves out should the public render a negative verdict on their obstinate groupthink, which is very likely.Paul Krugman is much smarter than the highway scribe, who agrees with him and would like to see more money spent on good things for a beleaguered people.But there are doubts and they are legitimate.The package is enormous and backed by the questionable force of an already overheated U.S. Mint. As most Americans are now painfully aware, spending with one hand while borrowing with the other usually triggers a law of diminishing returns.There needs to be a balance and to the extent the opposition party used a scalpel to trim things and orient some of the package toward their own constituents, the system is working the way it was designed to.The stimulus bill represents the largest nonmilitary expenditure on public since the Great Depression and deals a telling blow to Republican dreams of burying forever the New Deal and the idea of government activism.No wonder they are of one mind. What's perplexing, and the reason for this post, is that our joy doesn't match their despair.The president compromised and got nothing for it.But he remembers -- where Walsh, Krugman, and Greenwald don't -- that the idea is to look beyond the other party to the people they represent...and govern for the entire country.We just got through with a guy who governed for one half of the populace simply because he had the votes.His gang's gone. Obama would like a more enduring coalition like the one that lasts for some 40 years after Franklin Delano Roosevelt assembled it.You win big by being big, not petty.This stimulus debate, which has consumed our media's narrow bandwith of attention, at the expense of many other issues, is naught but an opening night performance.As the day-in-day-out business of legislating the country's future unfolds, a filibuster will not serve at every turn nor will its giddy impact on a dwindling Republican base resonate quite so strongly as in the first round.Because the reality will set in on both sides of this national debate.
On the Small Change page of our Change Corps of New Orleans website you will find a new idea every month of how you can make a positive impact on our city.
http://www.changecorpsnola.org/small_change
Following are the entries for the first two months. Please feel free to send us your ideas!
What can I do right now?
FEBRUARY 2009
Throw Me Something, Mister... it's Mardi Gras in New Orleans! Catch all the beads that you can... but wait! Don't throw them away or sit them street-side hoping someone will come along and use them for something. The Green Project will recycle your Mardi Gras beads! Why not organize your office, your restaurant, your class, your dorm, your neighborhood and be the one who collects all those unwanted beads at the end of the season? Then take them down to the Green Project at 2831 Marais Street, New Orleans 70117. For directions, call (504) 945-0240. For more info on the Green Project, visit http://www.thegreenproject.org/.
JANUARY 2009
Last month, Change Corps joined Save Our Cypress and Levees.org in asking home improvement chains to stop selling cypress mulch.
Our coastal cypress forests that provide natural storm and flood protection for the communities on the Gulf Coast are being clear-cut to produce cypress mulch.
The easy way YOU can help with this effort is simply to not buy cypress mulch when you do your gardening. Sustainable alternatives that work well are pine straw and melaleuca mulch. Easy, right?
Get more information:
http://www.saveourcypress.org/
Hello again Agents of Change!
There is finally some word coming out about the transition of the campaign from Obama For America to Organizing For America. It's been a slightly confusing time without any real input from the genius team at the top... but then, they've had their hands full with a few other minor issues.
We have been organizing as best we can here in New Orleans... we know fairly well how to self-manage at this point! Change Corps of New Orleans has a website (www.changecorpsnola.org) and a Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=48577924364&ref=ts) and has been growing steadily. We have held several community service events and have many more in the works. We had a great Inauguration Night Celebration at Tipitina's and are planning an art show for this spring. We have been slow to get information out to people who have signed up to be members... but we are trying to work out a functioning emailing system that will fix that problem. We have also applied to be an active group on Organizing For America which will give us list-serving capabilites so we can communicate with one another. We are also hoping to link up to all the other Change Corps that are springing up across the state and across the country.
It has always been our intention to be a part of Organizing For America and USA Service. We will blend into/merge with whatever they are planning. Our work in the meantime is merely an attempt to keep as many people informed and active as possible as well as to start to build relationships with non-profits and government groups in our region. We are not looking to reinvent the wheel, but rather to push our volunteers out into the community to work with all the great groups who are already doing good works all around us. We hope to help build a network of caring citizens and promote the volunteering opportunities that await each of us in our own back yards.
Please sign up to join us and stay tuned for the exciting news that will be coming to us from Chicago and DC soon. By all means, check on our website often and keep in the loop as we are planning events weekly. We have the chance now to really make an impact on our world by taking care of our own little corners of the universe. We worked hard to see this dream become a reality. Now let's put the energy into keeping it alive.
Be the Change...
http://www.changecorpsnola.org
As Inauguration Day approaches, I know we are all excited. We are about to enter a new era. Our President-Elect has called on us to participate in a National Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day in anticipation of his Inauguration. Can you help us send a message to the next President of the United States that Louisiana has heard him and wants to be an involved partner in his presidency? Please go to http://www.usaservice.org and find an event to participate in over the course of the MLK Holiday Weekend. Or better yet, start an event of your own. Gather folks in your neighborhood to beautify a dirty playground, collect clothing in your office to take to a homeless mission, have a bake sale to benefit your local animal shelter... Look around you and see what your community needs you to do, and then, be the change you wish to see in the world. Make sure you register your event at http://www.usaservice.org so others can join you and be inspired by your ideas. For those of you who plan on attending the Inauguration, remember: the Obamas and the Bidens will spend Monday, January 19th in service to their new home community before the Big Day. Since the service events are going on all weekend, consider participating Saturday, January 17th before your travels.This is a watershed moment. The world is watching. Will Louisiana rise to the challenge?
