I find it almost offensive to be asked to make a donation to President Obama's efforts at this point. It is interesting to me that we raised money for his campaign and helped get him elected and now when we need his strength and energy to keep his promises, he needs more money in order to deliver. Health care reform with a public option is being auctioned?
I don't have any more money for you Mr. Obama. I am 62 years old, own my own small business and cannot qualify for health insurance. I need every dime to pay for health care. Because of a pre-existing condition I cannot get affordable coverage. BCBS of NC was very kind to me though. They offered to provide an individual policy for only $3600 A MONTH! But, you want me to send you money to do the job for which you were elected - - - create change that would result in people like me being able to get health care. Don't you see the public option is all that will make that possible?
President Obama, respectfully, you are failing in this area. Miserably. Unnecessarily. You need to do what the strength of your convictions tell you (affordable health care is essential to the well being of all) and STOP LISTENING to Mr. Emanuel. He has the next election on his mind, not my well being or the well being of the citizens. He is business as usual, not new and creative and able to effect change. Please do the right thing, not the politically expedient thing.
You are looking weak and ineffectual. That is not becoming on someone once thought to be strong and confident and powerful enough to get what is best for the people on the table. Were you devious enough to have planned this? Did you put the public option out there as a bargaining chip from the beginning? Are you naive enough to believe that you must have a consensus to get anything passed that looks remotely like health care reform, even if your supporters remain uninsured? Talk and charm are easy President Obama. You are good at both. But, there are a lot of us out here pragmatic enough to no longer be swayed.
Are you willing to sacrifice me as a supporter in order to appease people who dislike you (maybe even hate you) and will never support you in anything? If so, that tells me everything I need to know about your character.
Hello Everyone, This is for real this is not a joke. I received a decision letter from The Social Security Administration tonight that as of July 23, 2009 coincidently that was my birthday that I was no longer entitled to social security disability benefits. Those of you that personally know me know what I have been going through since they stopped my benefits earlier and how my health got worse. You that know me, know how much my work means to me and how hard I work to provide the service that I perform for you guys even though I am Impaired with my disability, I am not able to obtain a normal job due to my disabilities.
Again those of you that personally know me,know that I am not able to obtain a regular salaried or hourly job due to my medical disablities and therefore I am asking for immediate and Extremely Urgent help tonight. You all know me to be an honest person. Therefore I am in great need for immediate donations. Here is my problem again let me explain this email is really from me. Tom Rodgers, As I sit here at my office in Cusseta tonight am I wondering where do I go from here. I have worked so hard to continue to provide services to all of you at the lowest possible prices.. As most of you are aware of I use my disability Income to provide this services to you which I enjoy doing very much it is my life and I Love being able to provide assistance and services to all of you. There is a great need for me in the local area and also a great need for me to be able to operate the website. Not to mention a personal need for me to be able to survive as a human being and to be able to live. T&C Services is what I live for. Well tonight I do not even know if I will receive my Monthly Social Security Deposit Monday August 3, 2009. Therefore I am asking you First to pray for me when you see this email. Second if you have any amount that you can donate please click the PayPal link I will provide in this email or go to my website http://tomrodgers723.community.officelive.com and click the donate button found on the first 6 or so pages under mission statement. I am of course going to file an appeal with Social Security immediately but here's the deal, bills are due now. Please remember that I am serious and not joking I would not send this type of email to you.
I have accomplised a great deal this past seven months by turning T&C Services into a Charitable Community Services with being approved by The State of Georgia Secretary of State as a Registered Charitable Organization, while continually to work on achieving Federal 501(C)(3) Tax Exempt Status. This is in doubt at this moment but I do have Faith and Hope and I will not give up on this as long as I have a last breath. I again would not post this as a joke I am praying that if anyone who reads this and is able to help please do so now by clicking the email link or go to http://tomrodgers723.community.officelive.com. God bless all of you and I will Greatly Appreciate any assistance that you may be able to give.
Thank you for reading this and if you can please make a donation now. Click the link below to make an immediate emergency donation now. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7193218 Thanks, Tom Rodgers Please visit our Website http://tomrodgers723.community.officelive.com
Louisville for Obama Members -
My company is a corporate sponsor of this year's Light The Night Walk to battle cancer and support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). This year's walk is taking place on October 3, 2009 and the Walk in Louisville is going to be held at Waterfront Park.
I'm asking all of you in Louisville for Obama to join our walk team and raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or if you are unable to walk in this year's fundraiser tell others about the event or if possible make a donation to our team.
To join our team go to My Team's Light The Night Walk Home Page and then go to the "Walk With Us" link at the top of the page. To make a donation follow the same link and the process is self-explanatory.
I encourage you to go to the website and read about the great work that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is doing to battle cancer and support families in their battle with the disease.
I hope to see you at the Light The Night Walk on October 3rd down at Waterfront Park. If you are unable to make the walk a donation of any amount is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Craig
T&C Services, Tom Rodgers is now registered with the State of Georgia Secretary of State Charitable Organization. We are in compliance with the state of Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act of 2008.
You can be assured any donations will be used to support our mission to provide services to the needy citizens of The Chattahoochee Valley.
Please visit our website for more information, http://tomrodgers723.community.officelive.com
Thanks,
Tom Rodgers
I am asking you all to spread the word that everyone can do their part in your local communities by making a donation of $1 at a time.
I would like to ask all of you to make a donation of $1 each month to help me with my non-profit community services agency.
Please send $1 each month to Tom Rodgers,T&C Services PO Box 968 Cusseta, GA 31805-0968 706-464-6546 email me at TomRodgers723@hotmail.com.
Please visit my Website at http://tomrodgers723.community.officelive.com
I am writing for a very special reason. "A Boy Needs Our Help America" and I know we can do something!!!
Please read this boys mother's journal and find a way to help them. I work with a family member and this touched my heart and an authorization number should not be a reason this boy should not be getting the treatment he needs.
I have emailed the president's team and now I am putting it out for America. Here is Kyle's website.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kylewahl
Now lets do what we can for them.
Melissa Langridge
hometracker@comcast.net
We may all have issues with the reasons we're involved in a Middle East war, but I think most agree that our soldiers are doing the best that they can and that they and their families are bearing the heaviest burden. President Obama will do everything he can to expedite the return of our troops, but for those who are still serving away from home, there's something we can all do to help connect them with their families.
You can provide these soldiers with a calling card so that so that every military member in Iraq can make a free 20-minute phone call home. If you have an old cell phone kicking around the house or office, you can recycle it in exchange for a calling card for soldiers serving away from home.
The Obama campaign raised prodigious amounts of cash from millions of small donors, like me, a little at a time. Those $25 and $50 requests, submitted through the internet and available almost immediately, collectively provided immense clout to ultimately elect President-elect Obama.
The amount of money spent for this purpose is obscene, but as shocking as it was, it is the expectation of our times.
What if the same machinery were used to provide a collective assault on such things as relief for starving Sudanese children? Or to drop a "cash-bomb" on the American Red Cross for a disaster like Katrina? And so many other worthy charities.
Congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama and Vice President Elect Joe Biden!
What drove him to stand up for us is a combination of some good in his life along with some bad, resulting in one remarkable man - because he tells us that we are remarkable too. We all came together because we are in this together.
I look forward to everyone speaking up for their causes - Yes We Can all help each other and Yes We Should.
My cause? - Newborn Screening
Just as the campaign tried to confuse us with words so too does Newborn Screening due to several types offered. What's the difference in the types offered? Well it depends on where you live. Each State has their own guidelines and "small print" - http://genes-r-us.uthscsa.edu/nbsdisorders.pdf - "Which disorders are screened in my State" should not even exist - all babies, everywhere should be tested as soon as a condition can be tested for. If you are pregnant or know anyone who is PLEASE urge them to visit the site above and do whatever is necessary to have EVERY test done that we know about. We are the caretakers of all future children and we will benefit from the good we do for them.
I know Brack Obama can relate to early screening after losing his Mom at such an early age. We can start the screening earlier and prevent so much pain, hardship and unnecessary cost to families. Obama had the most incredibly easy site to donate money so I would suggest a government web site to handle donations for causes.
My own personal experience is my beautiful grand daughter Mc Kenna who was diagnosed with MCAD which is a Fatty Oxidation Disorder. http://www.fodsupport.org Her condition required her to be fed a low fat diet every four hours at birth. Had we not known of the condition and what to do we could have made bad choices for her by simply feeding her the wrong foods. In the following you will read of a child who could become retarded or die by simply drinking milk.
Newborn Screening is the process of testing and screening newborn babies for certain potentially dangerous conditions. If these conditions are caught at birth, the child in question can be saved from potentially disasterous consequences. For example, a lab may discover that 1 in 40,000 babies tested has an inability to break down sugars within milk. Such a child can potentially die or become retarted should they be given milk in regular quantities. By screening children for this condition at birth, one can easily avoid this consequence by changing the diet of the child. This is one of many conditions which are tested for. Newborn Screening is still a relatively young science. In the state of Ohio, all children are screened at birth and their blood samples are sent to a central state lab. The cost appears as a nominal charge on the parent's hospital bill (20 to 30 dollars) and few would dispute it's worth. In contrast, developing countries are often hard pressed to screen a sizable portion of their newborn children. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume that for a given lab, 1 in 3000 children have a condition which will lead to retardation if left undiscovered and the cost of the test is $10 per child. This means that preventing a particular child from retardation is $30,000. While few would dispute the worthiness of this expenditure, the practicality of obtaining such funding in some developing countries means that many such children are not screened. The above example is very simplistic, but helps to illustrate the economics behind this discipline. In reality, each lab tests for different conditions as different ethnic groups have varying incidence rates. Some conditions are more serious and some are harder to identify. Methods and instrumentation vary as do the costs involved and the process of collecting samples. It is hoped that sharing common experiences through this site will help improve the overall science, as well as promote the science to those not already involved.
I cast my election ballot six days ago. But I just donated again to the campaign -- one more time, to tell them that I want my voice heard through my selected spokesman, Barack Obama.
Here's the note I sent along with my donation:
We are close to the wire and McCain continues to stump and fabricate untruths (lies!). Barack and Joe have to be able to continue to push back with our positive messages that will carry us into the future as a united country. That is why even on this Saturday before election day Tuesday, I will opt to send a donation and cook in tonight or do my own pedicure/manicure (or maybe I will just consider it a self imposed luxury matching fund donation). If we all continue to do whatever we can between now and Tuesday, a lot will get done!
Surely you heard McCain spend precious time complaining about Obama's decision not to take public financing during one of the final debates. This marks the first time in like forever that the Republicans have not been the presidential campaign swimming in cash while the Democratic ticket ran out of money. And boy is the RNC cranky about this right now!
There's increasing chatter in the media about the historic fundraising success of the Obama Campaign but the campaign's ongoing approach is to avoid getting sucked into diversionary conversations. And this surely would be one of those conversations. The campaign's mission is razor-sharp focus on Americans' top priorities: the economy, healthcare and Iraq.
The media has not been footnoting where the money came from and what the Obama Campaign contribution rules are. I think this information is noteworthy, especially for people who are not aware of the no-money-from-special-interests commitment that has been a pillar of the grassroots movement to elect Senator Obama from the get go:
1. Obama is adamant about not being beholden to special interests. He holds the vision of an Obama presidency, put in the White House by the American people, working for the American people. Period.
2. Of the $600+ million raised to elect Senator Obama, the average donation is $86 [CNN 10/27]. This means that the overwhelming amount of this money came from ordinary Americans contributing their $10, $25 or $50+. This is money few of us could afford but we bought "a piece of this campaign" knowing that we can ill afford to not have Obama leading us come January. Additional funds (only second to the groundswell of response from ordinary Americans) have come from countless fundraisers such as those hosted by Bill Clinton, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, and countless more concerned Americans who could afford to do so.
3. When you donate online (mybarackobma.com), as have most donors, these are the rules:
Last week I sent out an email entitled,"Obama Leads in KY Donations." The article referred to how Barack is beating "that one" in donations received. We have fifteen days left before election day, but money is still needed because there will more ads and campaign stops. In fact, Bill Clinton is scheduled to come to Kentucky to campaign for Barack.
If you have not already donated to the campaign this month, please do so today on my fundraising page: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/preview/main/Lizforobama
Let's make sure we do all we can to guarantee that Barack will be our next President. Thanks for all you've done so far.
Obama's campaign has snowballed into a force that the opposing campaign has a hard time reckoning with. But don't let apparent victory lull us into complacency. We need the financial resources to secure our victory in the battleground states of North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Florida. It's not just about getting the numbers to win. The more votes that we garner the bigger the mandate for Obama to implement the policies that will bring about the change he has promised.
I hereby pledge to match the first $5 of every donation up to a total of $50 from the first 10 donors who contribute to this effort. You are, of course, free to donate as much as you like up to the limit allowed by federal law which is $2300. Please donate and thank you for your support!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/donate4victory
Have you heard the latest smear? Now, McCain's criticizing us for having raised "too much" money. See here:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081019/ap_on_el_pr/mccainCan you believe that guy? I mean, in the past few elections, it's always been the Republicans who have raised way more money. I seem to recall that Bush raised $300,000 in 2000, 3 times what Gore raised, all because he had some of the wealthiest voters imaginable. Now, we have this grassroots effort to raise money. If you're like me you've been donating $20, maybe as little as $5 at a time, when you can afford it, and it's not been easy in this economy. But, I for one keep donating because I really care about these elections. I'm really tired of seeing Bush tear down this country, rip up our Constitution and attempt rape on Lady Liberty. I'm livid! I want a president who will respect our Constitutionand actually do what's best for the people for once. What does McCain think we should do, just not donate? I'm sure he'd like that.
But, what's going on here is framing at it's nastiest. Most Americans vote based on character, rather than on policies. McCain's frame is that Obama is dishonest. We need to reframe this. For more on framing, see framing guru and UC Berkeley linguist George Lakoff's article here:
My wife, a staunch Democrat, mentioned tonight how much Obama is spending in his campaign. "Do you know how much he spends every day?" she asked.
"I don't know, 10 million?" I said.
"4 million dollars." she answered.
"Advertising's expensive."
"But think of all those people who could use the money." she added. "It's a little hypocritical to be 'for the middle class' when you're spending millions of dollars every day on advertising."
"But that's the Bush model. Obama just outspent what Bush spent" I said, referring to the record Obama just broke in media spending. "How else do you explain how he got elected, and then re-elected? He owned the media. But instead of getting money from big companies, Obama is getting his from -"
"From us," she interjected. "And do you know how much he earned last month?" She didn't wait for a reply, "150 million. One-Hun-dred-and-fif-ty-million Jim!"
"But it's from us. We're the special interest this time around. Not big oil, or the NRA or whoever else backed Bush." I said. "Do you want him to suspend his campaign today and say he's giving all of his money to the poor and middle class? It won't help much at all in the scope of things. And - he'll likely not get elected, if Bush's media policy has any truth to it."
"Yeah, well it's still a lot of money that could be used in other ways." She was frustrated. She wants to like Obama, and even shook his hand a few weeks ago at a rally in Charlotte. But she's surrounded by the Right all day at work - and I think they're getting to her.Her armor is cracking a little. She says she agrees with a lot of what McCain supports. And it's not like he's a really bad guy, I mean, he's a hero and a great American. But I can't bring myself to vote for another Republican - and I sincerely believe Obama has the wisdom and decision making skills necessary to run the country, and the communication skills to help change how we interact with one another both here at home, and with people and nations all over the globe.
But 4 bills a day is a lot. "What about the leftover?" I asked my wife who had now worked herself into some stress thinking about the whole thing.
"What leftover?" she said.
"Ok, let's say he has 200 million banked. Do you think he's going to try to spend all of it? Even if he has a huge lead? Even if it's just wasted media buying? If so, that would not be good. Not good for people like you who see tons of money being thrown away on advertising, to normal people everywhere who donated to his campaign. What about if they tried to salvage some of it? What if they said, We will end our successful campaign with a healthy surplus. But instead of trying to return a portion of it to the millions who invested in their country by donating to our campaign, we're setting up 100 4-year scholarships per year for 10 years so these students get a full-ride.'"
"Now that would be something," she replied - a little less stressed about it. "It would prove Obama can walk the talk."
Now let's ask the Obama camp about how they intend to manage any surplus?
But where is my receipt?
Go Obama! I've got 2 of your tee-shirts and have made 2 donations from what my disability income can afford.
The thought of the Republican ticket winning this race is scarier than the W/Cheney marriage.
http://transpolitical.blogspot.com/2008/09/hrc-lcr-gop-not-glbt.html
reprint from TransPolitical blog: 9/9/08
“I don't know about the rest of you, but I am absolutely furious about this. Not only is this inequitable, it's fuckin dismissive and disrespectful.” — Steven Driscoll, National Stonewall Democrats Board Co-Chair
Can anybody tell me why HRC had such prominence with the Obama Campaign once Hillary was officially out of the race? They even proffered their own handpicked trans person, a relative unknown to the trans community itself that they brought onto the business council, to be the campaign’s transgender steering committee member. And this for what support they’ve shown?
As Andrew Sullivan noted at the time Hillary dropped out, HRC’s own board of directors had given to the following presidential candidates’ campaigns:
