----- Pre-written letter ----- Dear Senator:This week will be as important as any week in our lifetime in determining whether the anti-gun health care bill moves forward. As a result of the mandates in the Senate bill, all my gun-related health data can be dumped into a government database that was created in section 13001 of the stimulus bill. This includes any firearms-related information your doctor has gleaned..... or any determination of PTSD, or something similar, that can preclude you from owning firearms.The vote this week will be on shutting down a Republican filibuster of the motion to bring the bill up -- "cloture" on the "motion to proceed."The Senate and the House have a great tradition of conservative Democrats. The question is whether any conservative or even "moderate" Democrats will remain independent, or whether they will just do whatever their leftist leadership demands of them. In the House, every evidence is that the so-called "Blue Dog Democrats" were nothing but a stable of Pelosi puppets. And the only question was which ones Pelosi would choose to dance at the end of their strings, and which would be allowed to lie crumpled up in the corner. Is this the case in the Senate as well?1) You have demanded seventy-two hours to examine any legislative language -- and a CBO assessment based on final legislative language. You will not get this before this week's vote. The question is whether you were serious.2) You have demanded a bill which does not send the deficit spiraling into the stratosphere. The Reid bill will add over a hundred billion dollars to the deficit, when you consider the $210-247 billion Medicare "fix" Reid is trying to sneak through on separate Legislation (S. 1776). It will add over A HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS TO THE DEFICIT IF YOU DISCOUNT THE PHONY MEDICARE "CUTS." Was your promise worth the paper it was written on?3) You have promised a bill which will not tax the middle class. But the Reid bill will impose enormous costs and taxes -- not only on the middle class, but on the sick and elderly. Did you mean what you said? This is a week in which you will make history. Will you be a hero and a champion? Or a Reid puppet? I have faith that you will live up to your calling.You are being told that this is your chance to "make history." But history seldom rewards cowards who break their word because they are frightened by their "masters."Please, show me and the people who elected you that you are the hero we elected you to be. Vote against "cloture" on the anti-gun health care bill. Sincerely,
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NOTE:
I emailed,called,signed petitions,spoke to Sarah in McConnell off. and Jamie in Reid's off. The
opponents to HCR are busy,please stay aggressive. Continue to email and call.
VAgg
I obtain so much information from my sisters and brothers on OFA. I find it helpful when
calling my neighbors list. It is amazing that so many folks that voted for our President have
forgotten his words that "CHANGE" doesn't come easy and we must want it bad enough to work
with him to make it happen. I will continue to post daily on OFA,...however time making calls,
attending listening events and canvassing go hand in hand with our OFA BLOG. I,like so many
others here have learned how to post and make calls and email our Senators at the same time.
I hope calling a few neighbors daily will be added to that agenda.
I'm making phone calls, sending e-mail messages, connecting with volunteers from the campaign to REMOBILIZE the campaign effort for the passage of real, lasting health care reform THIS YEAR. I am serving as the OFA Regional Lead for part of the 4th Congressional District and the 7th Congressional District in Virginia. Staff will be in state soon, but for this effort it is up to us volunteers to take the reigns and restart the campaign to fix our health care system.
If you have not signed up to host a Health Care Organizing Kickoff meeting for the first weekend of June, please do so.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/create
Even having five friends sitting around your kitchen table for this would work. We will be working on this project all summer and until an acceptable health care reform package is passed and signed into law. We will be canvassing, making calls, and reaching out to our communities. Please reconnect with your campaign friends to INSIST on a new health care system that will provide health care to ALL at an affordable price and allow patients to choose their own care providers.
If you cannot host a meeting, please sign up to attend one.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple?source=sidenav
I have volunteered to serve as a Regional Lead for part of Virginia to assist hosts of the kickoff meetings for the OFA's efforts to support real Health Care Reform. I don't know yet which region I'll be assigned other than my own. I was so fortunate to quickly find a willing volunteer for our group's kickoff meeting so that I can be freed up to work with all of our region's hosts. This is a passionate issue for me. Three members of my family, including myself, are just one layoff notice away from being uninsured and uninsurable due to existing health conditions. My negative experiences with health insurance companies over the past 26 years have caused me to favor a single-payer system. I would like to see the existing for-profit insurance system killed, and a new expanded Medicaid system enacted. I don't believe that will happen, of course, because the health insurance industry has a tight grip on Congress. Unfortunately, the influence and power gained by the insurance industry through the surgical distribution of campaign contributions and other enticements is too huge to defeat. Still, I am hopeful that we can find a way to provide an ALTERNATIVE to private for-profit insurance.
If you have not already done so, please sign up to attend a meeting near you or host a meeting yourself.
Chester Campaign For Change Volunteers
ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN HOUSE MEETING
Friday, February 6, 2008
REPORT
We gathered and watched a portion of Katie Couric's interview with the President, and the video with Governor Tim Kaine. We decided to remain warm in our small family room with several of us sitting on the floor instead of going to a larger space in the cold. We set respectful ground rules for discussion, then began to share stories.
SHARED STORIES:
How has the current economy affected your life?
Yvonne - "My 401 K is now a 201 K, I'm retired, and sick!" Jim is a career recruiter and there is no demand for his services because no one is hiring. Sharon and Jim own several rental properties. Their renters cannot pay their rent, so Jim and Sharon have to pay instead. Rick lost his job due to the economy. Christal and Chris both were employed by Circuit City which went out of business last month. Both wage-earners in the family lost their jobs at the same time. The high cost of groceries and fuel have put a strain on everyone's budgets.
How is the economic crisis affecting our community?
Our local school budget has been drastically cut, causing loss of employment, reduction of classes offered, and larger class sizes. The decrease in state funding is causing cuts in services to senior citizens, the disabled and the mentally and physically challenged. Property values are dropping while property taxes are remaining the same or rising. Properties are not selling, and foreclosures are disrupting neighborhoods. Neighborhood home daycare providers are losing their homes to foreclosure, and working parents are left stranded for convenient safe child care. Crime is increasing. Local small businesses are not able to get loans to help cash flow, and banks are not cashing large checks from clients and customers.This causes a cash flow stain on businesses that cannot be sustained. The last mental health facility which serves indigent children in Virginia will soon close due to a budget shortfall. This will leave juvenile detention centers as the only option for housing indigent children in need of immediate mental health services. As people lose their homes to foreclosure or can no longer afford rent, they move in with older generations. Combining several generations into small houses designed for two creates tremendous stress.
What aspects of the economic crisis need to be addressed immediately?
We must:
Create a universal health care system, include alternative and preventive medicine, and eliminate the "donut hole" for Medicare; Stop or slow down foreclosures and give homeowners more time to pay; Stop the distribution of taxpayers' money to banks and instead use that cash to end mortgage foreclosures and invest in small businesses; Get the unemployed back to work. Ideas: Create more jobs for the unskilled and provide training so that the solution will be long-term; Put war veterans to work rebuilding our infrastructure; Employ people doing FDA inspections; Automate medical records to reduce unnecessary duplication of procedures and reduce mistakes; Use this opportunity to create a green energy manufacturing base and create a new greener infrastructure which will increase our securiity and help stabilize fuel prices; and Stop rewarding businesses for outsourcing American jobs.
Why is the economic recovery plan important?
We must not leave this mess for our children and grandchildren to suffer through. We must preserve a strong middle class and help those in financial need. Creating a new bipartisan atmosphere can have a positive psychological benefit to jump-start the economy. Trust must be reestablished. All aspects of the economic recovery plan must be transparent. Repairing the economy will reestablish our good reputation in the world. We can seize this opportunity to establish green energy systems and universal health care. Individually and collectively we must enter a new era of global financial responsibility. We need to return to taking care of what we have and thinking long term instead of short term. We must reduce the income disparity between the extremely wealth and the middle and under classes.
BRAINSTORMING:
How can we, individually and as a group, encourage public support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan?
We must be familiar with the plan ourselves. We can review the Recovery.gov site and share the information and site address with others. We need to insist that the plan is transparent at ALL levels, including locally. We must speak up with friends and neighbors when they misrepresent the details of the plan instead of just letting these comments go by. We can challenge misinformation that is being spread from the pulpits of local churches. We can pass on information about the plan to friends and family by sending facts by e-mail. We can tell people about the my.barackobama.com site We can contact our federal, state and local government representatives to insist on bipartisan constructive action to speed recovery. We can encourage others to do the same and make it easy by composing a sample letter to share.
In what other ways can we work to improve the economic situation of our community?
Sign cards in support of the Employee Free Choice Act so that employees can more easily form unions. Write to US Representatives to support HR676. Push for a single payer health care system. Support local businesses buy buying locally and using local services. Help to stock our local food pantries to help the unemployed weather the crisis. We can run for public office and change public policy. We can establish relationships with our elected officials and those running for office.
ACTION STEPS:
We will contact our elected representatives and urge them to support a new bipartisan atmosphere, to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, and make the distribution of money transparent on all levels. We will encourage others to do the same. WE can call the Organizing For America hotline, 1-888-642-4264 We can stay in touch with what is happening in the future by visiting my.barackobama.com regularly and by communicating with each other through the Chester Campaign For Change Volunteers Facebook group. We can use meetup.com to recruit people to our group.
Submitted by host, Elizabeth Kimbriel
If you want inspiring history everyday listen to Tom Hartmann on Air America from 12-3 p.m. I've read a number of his books, which are both spiritual and socially practical as they educate for enlightened action. But his radio program is a pulpit for democracy and freedom. Today he was describing our at the beginning of the Conservative Movement our American story was stolen.
Through think tanks and manipulation of the news flow, Conservatives changed our idea of government from being us to being an evil them. And then we began to think of the wealthy as being noble and the poor being lazy. Next we found ourselves divided into two warring camps with one side having God on its side and the other in league with the Devil. They stole our story of who we are.
Hartmann points out that America is the only country founded on an idea of freedom instead of a genetically linked people, like the French or Swedes. The Conservatives realized that whomever controls the story of us controls us, so they stole our idea of who we are and changed it into who we are not.
Obama is giving us back our story. Our story is that we are greater than we think we are. Our story is that we are one people, not two parties. Our story is that we are all in this together.
Dear Barack Obama,
The jobless rate went up yesterday to 6.1% nationally with a loss of 84,000 jobs... Here in California that number is even higher on the whole. Los Angeles for example has an 8.1% unemployment rate and the state is at 7.1%. People are loosing their homes. I sympathize cause I've already lost mine and my wife and I are coming out of bankruptcy.
I watch all the news stations and saw you somewhere out in what appeared to be western Pennsylvania talking about the poor jobs report...What I didn't see was a follow-up in that same excerpt, that same couple of sentences, about how you are going to put America back to work. Please tell us. We want to believe!
As you well know this election is close. It might very well be won on 'sound bites' that those not so close to the news cycle will be following... You must be tired, you look tired...I know I would be if I were you but we've got less than 60 days to win this election. I believe in you and what your team will do to take this country back for the people and what you and your team will do to unite the electorate. Please find the strength within and the energy to get more aggressive on the economy. I grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country and lived in the suburbs outside Detroit Michigan as well, two key battleground areas. The people want to believe. You are the candidate of hope and change! Please hit the eonomy harder and lead us all back to greater prosperity.
Sincerely,
A concerned American and a strong believer in you
Sarah Palin is pleasant-looking and has a compelling backstory. In her first prime-time speech, she described herself as a pitbull with lipstick and I agree with her. Look, she did a great job in rallying support from her party, but the real issues have yet to be tackled. All I heard last night was the typical wrap-yourself-in-the-flag and paint-the-other-side-as-scary-and-dangerous talking points that these folks have been peddling for years. The Republican partisans are eating it up, but it remains to be seen if the general public will. My hope is that people will be smart enough to see through the personalities and the rhetoric. Even McCain's campaign manager has said that this race is about personality, not the issues. All the ridicule and personal attacks are designed to deflect and distract Americans from the economy, our two wars, and health care. Hey, it worked in 2004...It's the Repblican's only hope this election year as well.
We've got work to do...Sarah Palin is no wilting flower. She and McCain will do anything to win this election. I just can't sit on the sidelines without personally doing all that I can to rescue my country from these false patriots. Jon Stewart on the Daily Show said something so funny and sadly true the other night...Republicans love the USA, they just hate half the people living here.
I was so struck by the total disconnect of the Republican speakers, delegates and convention-goers as to the real makeup of the American people as a whole. I can safely say, that of those shown tonight, I only saw about 1% diversity in that crowd. The Republican attendees and speakers were almost all middle-aged to old white men and their wives. They look identical, with a few more white women thrown in there, to the crowd that was seen when Nixon was nominated. Contrast that visual not only to the extraordinary diversity of the Democratic convention, but of the vast diversity in America as a whole. The Republicans do not represent America at all - they physically and literally represent the older, white men and a few token women. Their only female speakers have been wives of older, white rich men. The visual contrast between the Democrats at their convention last week and the Republicans at theirs this week is mind-blowing to me. And the Republicans are somehow now trying to convince everyone that THEY represent real change?
Another total shock for me was seeing Joe Lieberman praise Sarah Palin to the hilt. She has virtually the total opposite opinion on every single social issue than Lieberman. I knew he would praise McCain, but Palin??? Also, he totally lied when he said Obama has never reached across party lines to sponsor and enact legislation. He has obviously gone all-in with the Republicans in outright lies about Obama.
I guess continuing their theme tonight, they should just have military personnel marching up and down the Republican aisles recruiting volunteers to fight all the wars that McCain will surely get us into. Trouble is, there were only probably 10 people young enough in that crowd eligible. I guess (actually, I'm fairly certain, if McCain is elected, we will once again have the draft), so he'll make sure all our young people are fighting somewhere. As expected, they are totally piling on the POW and military service theme in another covert attempt to make people afraid for our lives unless we elect an ex-military man and his assault weapon-toting, no-nothing VP (oh, I forgot - she has been in charge of the Alaskan National Guard for 18 months which right there makes her eminently qualified to be VP/POTUS). God help us all if Barack is not elected. Not only can we expect more of the same, but much, much worse on every single issue I can think of.
Why don't we just skip ahead and make the US a Christian neo-con theocracy and get it over with? I'm afraid that is exactly where the Republicans want to take us. And they wave signs that read, "Country First". They're not the "Country First" party. McCain's VP choice and the Republicans full-throated endorsement of her shows me that they are the "Neo-con, Religious Right Party First".
As I said, God help us all.
With the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP, we are witnessing an extraordinary surge of creative ways to shore up her experience quotient in order to avoid being asked in a debate, "Where's the beef?" While the efforts swing wildly from the sublime to the ridiculous, one of the best I've seen and perhaps the most revealing is "Conservative credentials trump experience." (Just aside for a moment, would we ever here a liberal say, "Liberal credentials trump experience?")
So lets look a little deeper into this thought process. First there seems to be a joining at the hip between conservative and religion as "conservative" in this usage is obviously elevated above mere political convictions. This is like saying faith trumps experience, or God trumps experience. (I'm reminded of the finger game where rock trumps scissors.) And this trump card is being played on the political game table from Palin's conservative hand that so far shows Guns, Abortion, and Creationism as the only face cards. Until more is revealed, these are the only credentials we have so far upon which to base our argument that conservative credentials is the trump card.
But lets take a look at the meaning of "credentials," since so much weight is being attached to them. First, credentials mean that one looks at reality through a particular set of iron clad convictions, and that you dare not flip-flop if you don't' want to have those credentials become a burning tire around your neck. So no matter what comes up on the river of life, you experience life from and through your past convictions. Everything you think and do is constrained by your conditioning, which are your credentials. You can't change. We are all held hostage by our credentials and our convictions.
Now here is the problem. Life IS change. Life is changing faster than we can barely tolerate, given that we all have our convictions of how things should be. So why do we want a leader that can't change, that can't adapt and find new policies that fit the new world? Why do we want a leader that when stuck in the mud just keeps spinning the wheels deeper and deeper? Credentials, no matter of what kind, won't allow us to find a creative way out of the mud. When we are imprisoned by our credentials, we keep doing the same thing hoping for a different result.
When we value credentials over experience, we value image over substance, fear over courage, and security over freedom. We take refuge in our credentials, our labels and self images. We find a safe harbor among like minded credentials. Credentials are the uniform of our tribe. They are the flags under which we march to war. Credentials tell us who we are. Credentials try to control our experience and keep us safe from life's change and challenge. But are we real? Only experience can tell us that.
