Months ago I commented: OFA needs to start sending the message that what was started with Barack Obama's election must be continued - his election was not a silver bullet where with one perfect shot he would fix politics. EVERY election is important and has consequences.
I also commented that I was very upset with the new tactic by those who want to discourage Barack Obama's supporters e.g. supporting the fringe and tea-partyers with lies and exageration to activate their base to come out for the midterm elections. The prediction is for this midterm to be like other midterms e.g. only the disgruntled participate.
I hear people are getting discouraged because nine months have passed and President Obama has not brought the change he promised. Remember he said: change is about us not him. Look at how he has been treated by members of both his party and the opposition. Lobbying money is stronger than anything we have except our numbers. We can't help him if we do not vote to support him every chance we get. This is how we create change! Without us he has little power to accomplish anything on his own. In Congress both members of our party and the other party must know we support him and will turn out for him when asked.
Now I sit at home waiting for tomorrow night when I expect to hear how President Obama's election was a fluck because the change he brings is not the change WE wanted and this is why his support is falling. Tomorrow's win by Republican's mascarading as Conservatives will embolden them to work even harder against him and any change he may attempt.
I also hate being misused by the Democratic Party! We are bombarded with emails for support and solicitation constantly. We should be treated as an asset that can be exhausted and used when we are really needed which is exactly the same concept we are trying to communicate about our troops and war.
Its too late to ask you to go vote with me tomorrow but I ask you to not let another election go by without going to the polls.
Thank you.
Dear President Obama,
Please use diplomacy, the Navy and Air Force in Afganastan. We need to isolate them. They hate us but this is not worth so many American lives. Maybe destroy all the popey fields, the production went up from 14% to 90% of the worlds supply during the Bush era. Please do not send more troops, bring most of them home. Vice President Bidens ideas on this are correct. Please support the Iranian revolution, the green party as much as you can. Please help are inner cities. Please inforce immigration policies. We are becoming an older country, we need to be one, we need to be America. You have done a great job in turning the economy around, the number 1 issue in the election. I can't think of 1 good reason we need troops on the ground in Afganastan. We must protect and build our homeland, and our trade safety. We need to focus on making sure the terrorists don't get in the USA, or if they are in we stop them. If you need to read my emails, or listen to me talk I don't mind if thats what it takes. lets focus on America, and who is an American? Let freedom ring and the right to persue happyness. If you are Gay, you should have equal rights. If you hunt you should be able to hunt, but the right to bear arms doesn't include assult riffles and hand guns. We need to educate, build great roads, trains, bridges,ect. We need health reform but America wants to here about other serious issues. Thanks, don't let me down. Game of 1 on 1?!!
Many of us secrectly wondered, “If we help you will you forget?”
We wondered what we were getting into because you came out of no where like a shooting star. We were inspired by your willingness to admit you didn’t have all the answers and that you may make mistakes. Some of us have forgotten you said you would work hard to correct them as they came to light. Many have also forgotten you are not a dictator and there are several people with whom you consult, who have a say in the decisions you make and that you just can’t go off on some tangent “all willy-nilly.”
No Mr President, you have to be careful with every step you take and every word you say. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and still had time to be a father to this nation.
Sasha and Malia are the luckiest girls in the world, because with everything already on his plate their Daddy took time out of his day to give words of encouragement to millions of kids who may not have had anyone to do that for them. I live in one of the districts where it was decided your message wasn’t important enough to interrupt the school day. Some were given an excused absence so they could be taken out of school and view it off campus, but you had to give them prior notice and I was concerned as to what they would miss.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE US CONGRESS
Heed this or enjoy your last term in US Congress
We, the people, DEMAND that a strong condition-free PUBLIC OPTION be included in whatever Health Care Reform legislation you enact. We will be watching your actions closely, so, keep the following in mind before casting your vote. Make it count for all Americans :-
Health Care Reform is MEANINGLESS if:
1. There is no Public Option ( with clear path to SINGLE PAYER, No Co-ops, No Triggers ).2. Everybody is not covered. (Without Exception)3. Coverage can be denied based on “Pre-existing” conditions.4. It does not contain Patients’ Rights.5. Strict Regulations are not imposed on insurance plans.6. Affordability and costs to consumers, as well as providers, are not addressed.7. Accessibility, delivery and quality are not maintained and/or improved.8. There’s NO oversight from medical, financial and national security perspectives.9. Profit motive is NOT REMOVED.10. Innovation, Research guidelines and funding are not addressed.
Health Care For Patients, NOT For Profit because Health Care For Profit is Health Care DENIED.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should an insurance middleman come between a patient and his/her doctor - especially, if the insurance middleman stands to gain from it.
Insurance and Employers have no business being in Health Care. They contribute nothing towards it
Liberal's can use this myth-information (part 2; 08/13/09)
Although I respect what President Obama is doing by being so professional and walking his talk as he calls to our better nature; I think that liberals could start health care myths and rumours of their own. One very easy annoucement is that Republicans intend to cut the social programs of social security and medicare to reduce the deficit. They will be keeping tax cuts and enacting a new capital gains tax cut. They will be eliminating these programs to pay for the tax cuts.
Truth: Medicare is Not Safe Even With No Action (part 1; 08/09/09)
Many of those who are so vocal at town halls appear to be in the social security age group. They don't want their medicare "touched" by government. They don't want the program that works for them changed. The truth is that there is no "status quo" in the future for social security or medicare. Combine the numbers of those who will be eligible for social security with the ever increasing costs of health care and the truth about the government deficit becomes clear that it will increase one way of the other: health care reform with an increase now or do nothing with an impact later. I can hear the demonstrations of the future talking about how providing health care for my mother is putting a debt on the heads of my children. This is the message that is not being addressed.
Town Mauls (part 2)
I realized that the 47% against health care reform contains the 45.7% that did not vote for President Obama in 2008. They do not want the change that the majority (54.3%) voted for. They were against the stimulus and are now yelling for "less government invovement" in healthcare. They believe the economy can only be fixed through "tax policy" and are also firm believers in the doom that comes from a large government deficit. They are the other side and will be out demonstrating on anything the President does that they consider as "change". We do need to listen to them but we can't let them prevent us from taking action.
I think that we should give them the opportunity to ask questions but we can't let them prevent us providing information. Perhaps we should actively call them on their shut down actions e.g. let them speak: challenge their incorrect information and ask them what they are proposing as an alternative. When they can't offer counter proposals ask them why they think nothing is the better option?
Shock and Awe Town Halls: base activation for 2010 (part 1)
I am very upset with this new tactic by those who want to discourage Barack Obama's supporter. I hear that elected republicans are supporting this action because it will activate their base to come out for the midterm elections. The prediction is for this midterm to be like other midterms e.g. only the disgruntled participate. OFA needs to start sending the message that what was started with Barack Obama's election must be continued - his election was not a silver bullet to fix politics. Every election is important and has consequences. Lets start by looking at incumbants who are most vested in the status quo.
Believe it or not, the reality of the situation in Cambridge is not race-based. It is about a personal sense of being disrespect and the response to them. This is the teachable moment. Race obscures the reality of the dynamics of the situation that happens in the US every day e.g. forced acceptance of authoritarian demands made by some individuals in public safety. Hypervigilance is defined as abnormally increased arousal, responsiveness to stimuli, and scanning of the environment for threats. Too many public safety employees come into situations primed to respond and reacting to individual responses in a negative way.
Perhaps the training we should be giving our public safety officials is sensitivity to and management of their own physiological state while being in the midst of an emotionally charged situation.
Why is government so inefficient? Because the “other side” (determined by the party in office) refuses to allow any division/department/program to be funded in order to operate adequately. The President asks for so much money to fund a program. The House and Senate each write a bill with their own pet projects in it. Then they reconcile the bills to get one that both can sign. During this process dollars are changed, removed, and added, yet the almighty anxiety of the “deficit” gets dusted off and trotted out. There was a time when business was better than government but that was years ago. That was before the decade of self-interest dawned on the US.
Now health care providers and insurers look more and more like the government e.g. pushed to do more with less. Add to that the fact that those at the top of government want to live the life of luxury like corporate leaders. They too who want more and more. Government employees used to get better benefits than the private because they earned less. Today our government leaders want more pay and the best benefits. Does it really matter who takes our money and gives us little value in return? I hate paying for either corporate executives or elected officials to live a life I won’t ever see. I prefer to give my money to the government to share among more like me than to businesses whose primary mission is greed and whose power is our purse.
Until we change ourselves those we elect to government we will not change anything because those at the top like it this way! We must stop accepting unchallenged incumbants and poor business practices.
Look at this example of government waste (I'm using very rough estimates but as my mother said: take care of the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves): Take Mike Pence who stated on C-span that the cost of his health insurance benefit is over $1,000 a month. The cost of a family health plan at my company is $800.00. Take the $200 difference times the 534 in congress (434 representatives and 100 senators) times 12 months. This is a measly $1,281,600 per year that my taxes are paying for individuals to have better benefits than me. Why not review the costs of health care benefits imbedded in our government and make them more like those of the common citizen?
Harry and Louise in 2009: Where is the picture of the crowded exam room with Maud lying on the bed, the doctor sitting beside the bed on a stool, and Harold standing off to the side looking concerned. On one side is Harold’s employer, his arms are around Harold’s shoulders. Standing next to the employer’s is his health insurance agent. The agent’s arm is around the employer’s shoulders. The agent is speaking to Harold. “Do you really want the government in here with us?”
