Thank you to everyone who participated in the Health Care Reform meeting yesterday in Bend. What a great response! For such a beautiful day with so many other fun things going on in Central Oregon, we were happy to see over 45 people in the Brooks Room.
We followed the general guidelines provided by OFA for the meeting. After overcoming a few technical difficulties, we watched President Obama's welcoming video with a message from the spokesperson for OFA. Rob Cohen walked us through a power point presentation that gave some historical background of the current U.S. health care ‘system.' We broke into groups and shared our own health care stories. When we came together again, several people shared stories from their groups. Finally, we held a brainstorming session to plan our community service event for June 27th.
Here are some of the ideas we talked about:
The majority in attendance committed to participate in our event on June 27th. A steering committee was formed to pursue these ideas and come up with an action plan. Volunteers are: Mike Schmidt, Marjorie Lickley, Jim Davis, Loye Dice, Ray Miao, Ed Lee, Rob Cohen, Mary Ann Hart, Gwenn Wysling, Patty Pachtman and Linda Mathison.
Just keeping you all informed of the progress of lack of on our OFA project, "Made in Linn County"
The buy local and community service project, "Made in Linn County" is moving forward again.
We have a grant writer, Toni Reynolds who moved recently from Maryland and is a strong Barack Obama support. We have a Lawyer that will help up with forming a non-profit group. The decision to go non-profit we believe will open many doors for us.
In the beginning, we were overly sensitive to those around us which caused delays. These delays caused us to ask questions about our mission and it helped remind us where we want to go with this project. Loyd and I have pondered this deeply and we cannot be all things to all people. Of course we will try to be all things while we remain focused on our goals of community service. We wish to educate and awaken the conscience of the people of the benefits of buying local and helping our local economy, but more than that, we want to create a sense of community. I have a cassette tape from Dennis Waitley, LOL, now I am dating myself, anyway, Dennis said, " Courage means to keep working a relationship, to continue seeking solutions to difficult problems, and to stay focused during stressful periods." Do we have courage, I not sure how one defines that but we do need to remain focused on our mission. Our mission, we will be changing our mission statement within the next week to recognize our neighbors. Although we will have the boundaries of Made in Linn County to remain unique and somewhat identifiable, we are also going to recognize and support our neighbors.
I just wanted to post this, cuz I'm always looking for way to still have hope for real healthcare reform that will work for my children and myself...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Private-sector-signs-on-for-cnnm-15194800.html
I'm never sure what is going on in DC, but I can hope that we are making progress.
We had a get together meeting last night for OFA in Albany. Our circle is relatively small but expanding. Afterall, Rome was not built in a day, but with each new active participant, one's effort is multiplied. Our next OFA project will be to divide the name and phone numbers I have of people that volunteered during the last election campaign and divide them up in groups of forty. These volunteers have volunteered in the past once so the list is a filtered list in that sense. We are going to call those volunteers and ask them if they would like to get regular OFA updates and request their emails...our lists are basically names and phone numbers. Those who wish to keep their emails private we will be asking them if the would like to be part of a phone tree and call five other people for OFA events. I will be creating a form to assist us when we call for our circle to approve. We should be start calling within a week or two and have a new list of those who wish to be active.
Regards,
Ed
Yes Made in Linn County is still alive. We are meeting again on the 27th of this month. We had some curve balls thrown our way in illness and also people's schedules. Plus, the Linn County Democrat Headquarter will probably need to move to make way for a barber shop. Loyd Henion and I will be getting together for lunch tomorrow and will be discussing both topics. We have some community merchants to discuss our plans and hopefully we will make those contacts before the 27th. We will have an agenda by the 27th as we get some more diesel in this train! One of our objectives will to assign task and report on those results. We started out this project this way, but I got sick and basically missed our last meeting, other than a token drop by. My wife had contacted some flesh eating bacteria and needed my attention, but all is well and tomorrow night I will be writing a new update and hopefully by Tuesday night I will send emails to those who were present in our organizing meeting over a month ago. Weds, Thurs, and Friday I will be training in Portland on a new ARC Flash Software for work.
Catching up, looks like the weekend will be busy!
Ed :-)
April 18, 200911am - 5pm
Saturday April 18, 2009
There will be an Earth Day Fair and Procession of the Species Parade which starts at 11am on Louisiana and runs along Bond and Wall back to Troy Field. The parade will end at Troy Field with the traditional drum circle in front of the stage.
ACTION ITEMS FOR CENTRAL OREGONIANS:
Congress voted last week to approve President Obama's budget along straight party lines. It was a big test not only for President Obama, but for our entire movement. Take just a few minutes to call our Senators and let them know how much we appreciate their crucial votes.
Let Congressman Walden know how disappointed you are that he did not support a budget that tackles the long-term challenges to our prosperity.
Rep. Gregg Walden (R-OR-02)
CALL: 202-225-6730
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
CALL: 202-224-5244
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
CALL: 202-224-3753
Deschutes County Town Hall Meeting
Residents of Deschutes County are invited to attend an open forum Town Hall Meeting with Senator Ron Wyden to ask questions and voice their concerns. Senator Wyden has been holding town halls in each Oregon county every year since 1996. The event in Bend is town hall number 509.
Date: Monday, April 6, 2009
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Bend Elks Club
63120 Boyd Acres Rd. (Off of Empire Blvd)
SAVE THE METOLIUS
A pivotal public hearing for saving the Metolius will be on April 7th at 3:00pm in our Capitol in Salem. (Hearing Room E)
This is our chance to show members of the Legislature that the Metolius is a special place worthy of strong protection. We need them to pass HB 3100 in order to protect against two proposed large scale developments that truly threaten the Metolius as we know it.
Any help you could provide to get lots of people to the hearing would make a tremendous difference. Some of the potentially swing legislators aren't personally familiar with the Metolius and don't necessarily realize that a lot of people from all over Oregon view it as a treasure. We have a great deal of support from many legislators, but as of now the final vote looks to be very close. It could well hinge on the strength of our collective voices.
THANK YOU for all of your work!!!!
-Jonathan Manton
541 729-2923
For information about the American Recovery and Revitalization Act and how it can be tapped to grow the green economy please note the following websites:
· The federal government's ARRA website is: http://recovery.oregon.gov/
· Oregon State's ARRA website is: www.recovery.gov
· The Oregon Department of Energy's direct ARRA website is: www.oregon.gov/energy/Stimulus2009.shtml
The Oregon Green Jobs Initiative, spearheaded by 3EStrategies, now has a bill number -- HB 3300. HB 3300 would require the Oregon Workforce Investment Board to prioritize its focus on green jobs and to develop a comprehensive green jobs development strategic plan to be presented to the Oregon Legislature in early 2010.
The Oregon Employment Department has identified a green job as one that provides a service or creates a product in any of the following categories:
-Increasing energy efficiency;
-Producing renewable energy;
-Preventing, reducing or mitigating environmental degradation;
-Cleaning up and restoring the natural environment; or
-Providing education, consulting, policy promotion, accreditation, trading and offsets, or similar services supporting any of the other categories.
Upcoming Event:
Green Building: The New Economy and the Future of the Building Industry with Jason McLennan, at COCC, 5:30pm, Sunday April 12
For links to more information on these events, visit:
3EStrategies Events Page
It is an awesome day in Oregon today. The canvassing was slow today, but we had short notice. It would have been nice if in the beginning we were give 3-4 weeks to organizing an effective pledge project canvas activity, but it is what it is...
Whelp, I was taught many years ago that you have controllables and uncontrollables. You cannot do anything intitally about the uncontrollables for they are out of your hands, so one must focus on what they can control or make an impact. A very exciting thing happened today to me...more than I can express in writing. I found several people that understood the problem in Albany and are excited about helping OFA to be successful whenever they can. One young man was going to drop everything and start canvassing his neighborhood right at the moment. I told him I wish we could have connected a couple of weeks ago! Gosh, this really, really picked me up emotionally...I was on autopilot gathering pledges. I am not a big baby, but I like company and team work. Don't every sell short a single act of kindness or what another's enthusiasm can bring to the table--yee haw. Good things come to those who are patient.
To make a long story short, if we cannot control the short notices, then we need to adapt. Here in Albany were are going to organize a rapid response team for OFA activities. All of us have strengths and weakness which can include available time for one project or another. We are going to identify in this organizational meeting what resources are available so we can work seamlessly on projects. If we have a flat we will have a spare to continue on our projects to be effective--we will also create a hotline among ourselves.
We are meeting at Ed and Paula's house and we will report back on how this all turns out but Ed is excited and back baby. Yes We Can!
Peace!
We had our "Made in Linn County" organizational meeting Wednesday night.
We anticipated that those who may have been working on their own projects for organizing small businesses would feel threatened, that was not our mission or intention. A point to consider is the community at large has never heard of these groups. They presented their philosophy as that of a web and they were networking together, which is a good thing for them. Our intention was transparency, we were a group of the community and for the community, and we embrace their hard work…I am not saying their effort was not for the community by all means, it just was not being presented that way at this point. Some of theses people are just trying to survive in this business climate. There were lessons and positives from the meeting. One important positive was those who felt threaten in the beginning, felt much less threaten by the end of the meeting...we need allies not enemies.
The good new is the "Made in Linn County" organization has caught the attention of many. Hopefully we continue down that path. One of the missons of Made in Linn County is one of keeping dollars recycling in the local community. Our mission is not to promote any one person or business financially. It is about the health of a community. For an example, let us say you have a community of 20,000 families that spend $150.00 during a holiday season, that is not unreasonable, right? You take 20,000 families at $150.00 and that becomes 3 million dollars of stimulus money for that community. The bonus, according to the American Business Alliance and others, is when you spend the dollar locally on products made locally using local labor; you can multiply the effect of that dollar spent by a factor of three. Therefore, what this means it would take 9 million dollars of stimulus money injected in the community to get the same affect to the bottom line of the people in that community if the products were imported and sold by large non-local chain stores.
There is another bonus of having a business alliance and that is the size of your footprint. United businesses could get involved with the local government and could have the same consideration of bending policy. Maybe the same consideration of a K-Mart or some similar entity. Small businesses are closer to the pulse of the community and their input is worth consideration, but if these small businesses are strung out on a string, they have smaller footprints than an alliance and most of the small businesses do not have time to attend local economic developmental meeting. They are just trying to survive and their time is everything. When you have an Alliance, you can have a task group can decided upon to represent the whole.
There is also the environmental impact of buying local. You do not have transportation costs in both machines and fuel. I read recently that it takes about 80 calories of energy for every one calorie in a Tomato grown in Peru to make it into your salad at the dinner table. We are not being good stewards of this planet of ours,,,but I totally understand that most small businesses are just worried about making it from one season to the next. I just thought it would be worth mentioning.
The Albany as industrialized as it is have many people that want to make a difference to the local economy, jobs, and the environment. I believe that we in Linn and our sibling Benton County can be the mustard seed for change in Oregon.
Time to go to work and then a panic planning for the canvassing tomorrow, I have had divided attention this time around. For those who pray, I can use a prayer, but not for me…for the cause that change begins in each of us and then spreads. I am sure there are people out there much more talented then myself and we need their help.
Peace :-)
This is an email I sent out, so instead of writing it over I am pasting it here...hope that is ok :-)
This canvassing has come at a very busy time for me. Loyd and I have been working hard in making our project for "madeinlinncounty.org" a successful one. As the OFA representative for the Linn County Democrats, I have been called to support the president in another project and these two projects are overlapping in my time and energy. I also work at a job too that is demanding to bring home the bacon. I will be making calls to former volunteers from the presidential campaign and quess what, we are hosting this project!
All of us spend a lot of time electing a President to the White House in Washington to work for us. We achieved that, but our journey continues. I am asking you to help me pledge support for our president this coming Saturday, March 21 by canvassing the Albany area. You as Democrats in Linn or Benton County who were not part of the “Obama People” as it is has been called, have an opportunity unite with us to be one people because we are one people. There are no secrets, and I have always tried to be transparent to all of you. Good gravy, I have even share with you my strengths and weaknesses (writing is one of them). Therefore, if you can make the time we will be meeting at the Two Rivers Market area at 12:00 noon next to the Linn County Democrat’s Office. There will be a brief training and a video. This time I will let the pairs of you select on a map, which are you area canvassing, and if you have a cell phone please bring it so we can keep track of everyone. The plan is to have an introduction, canvas for three hours and then a follow-up. If you cannot canvas that long it is ok, we still need you and together we show our support for our elected president.
I am sorry my communication has been spotty lately. My wireless connection is not working for my laptop and the only other communication I have, when I am not home, is my iPhone. I do have big clumsy fingers so trying to write emails is laborious with my iPhone:-) I will have solutions for these problems relatively soon...umm, problems with the internet connection, not my clumsy fingers :-)
Thank You,
Ed Ebbs
PS - If someone can help be make calls this week still, call me at (541) 570-2976 :-)
PPS - Made some edits...sorry, there are more errors out of time to fix them all without re-writing the whole thing!!
It doesn’t surprise me that Rush Limbaugh says he wants President Obama to fail, or, more precisely, “I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation.” Limbaugh is self-absorbed, and makes money by being provocative. Unlike our elected leaders, he does not need to think about the greater good of our country’s prosperity. He is interested in his own prosperity. And good enough for him. That is the capitalist way. The American Way.
It also doesn’t surprise me that members of the Republican Party feel stuck between not wanting to offend Limbaugh and his followers and not wanting to sound like they bear our new president ill will in seeing his efforts fail. Which do you support – a bully who can hurt you if you stand up to him, or the people who elected you?
What does surprise me is that no one is defining what failure means. Has anyone asked if “wanting Obama to fail” means 10% unemployment? 15%?
Does failure mean more foreclosures? How about a Dow at 5000?
I wonder if Obama failing means another trillion or so dollars paid to banks. Or is it buying auto companies, Or letting them go bankrupt and adding even more to the unemployed?
I wonder if those who listen to and agree with Rush Limbaugh think this kind of failure is ok, if it proves that conservative ideology is superior to other views.
Of course, I am one of the lucky ones who still has a job, so I can afford to think about these things.
Those who are not so lucky may also wonder: With all the crises we face as a country, why would you want any president to fail?
Ok, we gathered together with a common goal of electing Barack Obama to the White House as President of the United States of America…and we made a difference that history will note for coming generations, although being noted in history was not a motivator for us, we were looking for hope and change. We were looking for someone that would listen to the people and be a President for the people, something that past administrations lost touch with.
Since the election, we have had various activities. Most of us were participating in a day of giving during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Some of us have been organizing and participating in other activities this year, and participation dwindling for some to what was dear to their hearts or meaningful for them personally. Am I right or close?
What about having some fun, what about an activity that everyone can relate too? What do you all think about having a summer celebration in the form of a potluck! Many of you have not seen each other since you were active during the campaign. All of us have something in common, right? Many of us never saw the other shifts of volunteers because of our work schedules. Let us do something as a family of volunteers, something fun. It would not have to be a potluck, maybe a picnic, a swimming party, a get together at a lake; raid the coast, LOL, a caravan to the coast would be cool!
Ponder this and come up with some ideas…something each community could do as get together to share and learn about each other, to have some fun as a family :-)
~Peace
In times of need and crisis we can draw on a storehouse of knowledge laid down over many generations.
Our ancestors displayed both noble and ignoble behavior.
These traits are part of our history.In times of crisis these traits or qualities can come to the surface. Dormant wisdom was already noted in deep antiquity in stories, adventures, quests and myths.
Times of danger and crisis were times of heroes and heroines who emerged from obscurity in service to the greater need.
We are in such times today.
Just look around you and you can see ordinary people achieving extraordinary things.
These forces of hidden wisdom emerge when noble, virtuous, and selfless qualities of heart and soul are ignited by recognition of the desperate needs being faced by family, community, nation and our planet.
The over mental, linear and intellectual concentration can result in a loss of access to these hidden forces available to us.
To tap into this reservoir of wisdom and slowly become part of its rhythm requires clear thinking, a quiet calm mind and a heart that embraces the common good selflessly.
Tap into the heart of wisdom for real CHANGE.
Tomorrow night we are headed to Sweet Home in East Linn County to share what is going on in West Linn County. This is a form of transparency in effort to reinforce that we are neighbors and in that sense family.
My part in this meeting is to talk about OFA and our project "Made in Linn County". This project has change a little...we are going to first start with the buy locally part of the project while remembering the other part is the moral conscience of community developing a formula to care for those who are without and how to care for those who have lost their jobs and in need food and shelter.
John F. Kennedy once said, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”
Change begins with each of us, but for change to happen we need to do something...
Peace,
We are making progress with our "Made in Linn County" project. The website is madeinlinncounty.org and it is very basic, we will need a web master that is much more talented than I am, but we will do the best we can. The site will eventually provide links within the community. Kind of a on stop shopping for what is going on in the community for our family within the community. Egads! we need a editor, I have passion in my heart but I am not a gifted writer. It seems my brain(s) and fingers get disconnected sometimes, and all of those thoughts get scrambled so it just does not make sense to anyone else. I know we have gifted writers and maybe retired journalist with in the community?
Again, anyone interested in helping to establish a "Made in Linn County" organization, we need you! Even if you are slightly curious, join us on March 18, 2009 at 6:30 pm, the Two Rivers Market, 250 Broadalbin Street in Albany, Oregon. The meeting will be next to the Linn County Democrats office and across for the Albany Visitor Center.
On March 11, 2009 the Linn County Democrats along with myself representing OFA (OFA for the Albany area) are meeting in Sweet Home in East Linn County to share what is going on in our community and around the state. We will also share our plans for the "Made in Linn County" organization.
Sigh, need sleep,
PS - The (s) part of "brain(s)" was a joke :-)
Peace and Transparency :-)
CENTRAL OREGON FOR CHANGE ONLINE CALENDAR LAUNCHES
In an effort to find an easy way to let folks know about events, important actions, meetings and opportunities for making real change a reality, we are putting together an online calendar.
If you would like to list something in the calendar, please send a short description of your event (50 words or less is best), the time, location and any other important information, such as links to more detailed info, to kymberli4change@gmail.com. Check the calendar often -- as some actions need to happen very quickly, such as making immediate phone calls to legislators to express views and concerns on pending legislation. Now, you can stay on top of how you can be an ongoing part of making change happen!
You can view the ‘centraloregon4change’ calendar from any web browser using this link: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=centraloregon4change%40gmail.com&ct.
Fired Up and Ready To Go -
Kymberli Colburne
Kymberli4change@gmail.com
OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN IN CENTRAL OREGON:
Become involved in your community, volunteer for a city or county committee. Committee openings are advertised in the newspaper or call the city or county and ask about what openings are coming up. Put your best foot forward, learn about what the committee does before you interview or apply. You will learn, meet new people and perhaps have fun.
Judy Clinton
317-8472
METOLIUS RIVER UPDATE
Leaders from across of the state are working diligently on proposals to protect and preserve the Metolius River. The Land Conservation and Development Commission (“LCDC”) recently issued a second draft proposal to designate the Basin and a buffer zone as an Area of Critical State Concern. Under this proposal, an agency management plan would prevent large scale developments, including both destination resorts that have been proposed. LCDC will make a final recommendation to the legislature some time in March. The legislature can accept, amend, or reject LCDC’s plan. Meanwhile legislation is forthcoming which will accept the LCDC’s recommendation to create an Area of Critical State Concern and ensure that no development in or near the Basin will adversely affect the Metolius, its tributaries, fish and wildlife. Jonathan, Central Oregon LandWatch, and a host of other conservation-oriented organizations are likely to urge strong support for this legislation. Once it is finalized and announced publicly, there will be lots of opportunities to contact key legislators to express your opinions.
Stay tuned! And contact Jonathan (541) 729-2923 (jmanton2008@gmail.com) any time with questions, concerns, or comments.
Deschutes County Voters Ballot Deadline Tue March 10th
As March 10 nears and the voters of Deschutes County decide whether or not to retain the Local Rule that seeks to reduce additional nitrate inputs into the groundwater and local rivers, we encourage voters to review the information provided by the U.S. Geological Service and Deschutes County prior to making their decision. Two good sources are: http://www.deschutes.org/cdd/gpp/ and http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3103/. A ‘Yes’ vote on March 10 would retain the Local Rule and help protect the Little Deschutes and Deschutes Rivers from nitrate pollution. A ‘No’ vote would repeal the Local Rule.
Notice of Organizational Meeting
of the Deschutes County Democratic Central Committee
The MARCH Organizational meeting of the Deschutes County Democratic Central Committee will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at Bend's Community Center, 1036 NE 5th Street, Bend, Oregon.
Social time will begin at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is expected to run from 7 to 9 p.m.
Please feel free to contact Craig Wilhelm, Vice-Chair, Executive Steering Committee, at craig.wilhelm@gmail.com or 541.633.7878
if you have any questions regarding attendance.
We look forward to seeing everyone there!
PTAC (Public Transit Advisory Committee) public hearing on proposed elimination of all weekend BAT (Bend Area Transit) and DAR (Dial-a-Ride) service, fare hikes and route changes will be held at City Hall, 3:30 to 5:30 pm, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. More info at www.bendareatransit.com and 317-3039. This is a good opportunity for people to express their concerns about BAT service cuts.
RECOMMENDED READING
For a better understanding of where we are economically and why a BIG stimulus is necessary, H. Joe Cornett of Prineville recommends an excellent book by Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist, Professor of Economics at Princeton, and columnist for the NY Times. The Book, "Return of Depression Economics", is actually an update of his earlier 1999 book reviewing the 90s economic crisis in Asia. In the earlier book Krugman predicted the possibility of our current crisis. Check out his blog at http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
We have a domain "www.MadeInLinnCounty.org".
This domain has been registered, but there is no website yet. I can develop a web page out of necessity, but I am hoping someone will show-up that loves to make web pages and it is dear to their heart. We are meeting again before March 18th to develop some flip charts and have discussions on a loosely defined mission, scope and objective.
There is now a core group of four working this project, but after March 18th we will need multiple disciplines to be successful. We want to be a community organization for the community by the community. We do need more than people who make products; we need creative ideas on organization and other related things. We have talked about a map of the "Made in Linn County" businesses. Maybe a news letter? We would need an editor and a group of people to help with that. Maybe the Albany Democrat would allow us to put our newsletter as an insert in our local paper. We have talked about a community ran outlet store. I am not sure where this is going to lead us and what path we take because this is for our community and we need our community to be successful. If our national economy continues to spiral downward, we might need to shrink our world to make ends meet. If someone has some bare land that they are willing to donate, we might need to develop a community garden. May this could include helping local farmers with their products in exchange for produce for a community co-op to help the less fortunate. We need to think out of the box for our community. (We need someone who can write better than I can!)
I need your help to get the word out, for all of us.
Again: We are meeting at the Two Rivers Market on March 18th at 6:30pm. The Albany Democrat should have this on their community calendar. The address is 250 Broadalbin Street in downtown Albany.
My name and number is: Ed Ebbs (541) 570-2976, please call after 5:00 pm.
We are taking the next step in our "Made in Linn County" project.
So...anyone interested in helping to establish a "Made in Linn County" organization and store, join us on March 18, 2009 at Two Rivers Market, 250 Broadalbin Street in Albany, Oregon. This meeting is next to the Linn County Democrat's office at 6:30 pm.
We spoke last night with the newly formed Arts Guild in Linn County and there seems to be a lot of interest within the community. The Arts Guild would be one of many disciplines of the "Made in Linn County" project.
I have made this a Hosted Event here on my.barackobama.com and the Arts Guild is putting a listing on Craig's List. I will be also contacting the Albany Democrat and local Radio Stations.
See you there maybe?
We will be serving cookies and punch!!
Be Well :-)
