By GottaLaff
So who's going to wave bye-bye? Heather, you, and I are thinking alike: Blue Dog ConservaDems and Joe Lieberman would give us housecleaning of the expected kind. But are we overlooking some less obvious defectors?
By GottaLaff
- Description:
- AMERICANS NEED TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON IN NUMBERS HERETOFORE UNSEEN TO DEMONSTRATE OUR SUPPORT FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES WE STILL BELIEVE IN AND WANT TO SEE OUR PRESIDENT & REPRESENTATIVES FIGHT FOR.
Feel free to go to the Facebook page and add any input you may have.
- We're now on twitter: http://twitter.com/March4Change and, we have an email address for those who are so inclined:
March4Change@gmail.com
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IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE -THIS FRIDAY - PLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING SHOWS/ORGS WITH THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE
"March for Change We Still Believe In - Jan 15th, 2010"
and language to this effect:
On January 15th, 2010, Americans will gather, peacably, on the DC Mall to show our continued support for the progressive agenda our POTUS campaigned on. We voted for President Obama b/c we hoped for more from our government: more compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.
On January 15th, 2010, we will stand in opposition to the voices of fear, ignorance, and hate that have, thus far, garnered virtually all the attention of the main stream media and skewed the debate over issues that are far to important to ALL Americans. We've written and phoned our Representatives in the House and Senate. We've remained a diligent, anonymous, but silent majority. Now, is the time for America to see our faces and hear our voices.
info@rainbowpush.org
vfped@veteransforpeace.net
http://www.now.org/chapters/fl.html
rachel@msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533
Countdown@msnbc.com
firedoglake@gmail.com
--If you live in any State within a day's drive of DC - PLEASE DO YOUR UTMOST TO DISSEMINATE INFO & RALLY SUPPORT FOR THIS UNDERTAKING!
--LOCAL EFFORTS - If you'd like to participate by organizing something within your own community, PLEASE DO SO!!! Use the same techniques that have brought you to this group - only on a local level. Once you numbers grow, contact the local media with a press release a week or two prior to Jan 15th. We'd rather see you in DC but we understand if it's too far or costly for some to travel. BTW - organize carpools or pool resources to charter buses, rent minivans, pay for gas.
--A member suggested that those of us who will be in DC wear something to represent those who are unable to attend (e.g. a pin or flower or what have you). GREAT IDEA!
I suggest we ALSO wear something that demonstrates our solidarity with the POTUS and with one another so . . . . break out and dust off your "old" Obama gear to show support for him BUT ALSO wear an armband (any suggestions besides an armband?) to signify our solidarity with one another.
Midge Hough [Laffy Note: My posts about her can be found here, here and here] lost her daughter-in-law, Jenny, and unborn grandson due, in part, to lack of health care insurance. Midge contacted me yesterday and expressed her support for our effort. [...] Please watch the grievous inhumanity she suffered at the hands of those who oppose the health care reform our country so desperately needs.
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I understand that letters to congress and phone calls work. Been there, am doing that. But in today's political environment, perception and image (TV to be precise) are everything. When's the last time you tuned into your nightly news of choice to see a story about the millions of letters Americans have sent to our reps demanding serious healthcare reform? But I'll bet a months salary that you've seen stories re groups of sorely, uninformed, Tea Baggers in the last couple of weeks. And, whether we like it or not, these images drive the news stories and the national discourse on issues like Healthcare, the Environment, Energy, Education, and so on.
We need to show our numbers, our vigor, and our commitment to REAL, SUBSTANTIVE, AND FUNDAMENTAL (not incremental) CHANGE in a way that will capture the national media's attention and call attention to our discontent. This astroturf, right-wing, TeaBag movement has been successful in creating the misperception that "Millions" of Americans are fed up with Gov't (specifically Obama). THE REALITY, however, is that many more of us voted for our President because we hoped for more from our government. More compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.
If a conservative, Dick Armey lead and Glenn Beck fueled, astro-turf, movement can conjure up 50,000 to "protest" in DC, how many more democrats, could a true grassroots movement deliver to DC in a show of support for the policies our candidate campaigned on?
I KNOW WE HAVE IT IN US AND THE APPARATUS FOR ORGANIZING AND COORDINATING SUCH AN EVENT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE. IF YOU FEEL THIS A WORTHY CAUSE LET IT BE KNOWN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY ACROSS THE COUNTRY - THAT ON JANUARY 15, 2010, THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S INAUGURATION, AMERICANS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY WILL DESCEND ON WASHINGTON DC IN THE STRONGEST SHOW OF SUPPORT EVER FOR A SITTING PRESIDENT & THE POLICIES WE SENT HIM TO FIGHT FOR.
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WHAT WE FOUGHT FOR & WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN
I'm urging everyone (and I'm doing it here in SWFL) to contact friends, organizations (e.g. democrat clubs - those at local Institutions of higher learning, local federal congressional reps, local chapter of ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA, MOVEON, NOW, GLAAD, AFL-CIO, NAACP, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK, VETERANS FOR PEACE, THE ED SHOW, OLBERMAN, MADDOW, Air America, etc) locally, regionally, or even nationally, please feel free to share the idea of the March for Change We Still Believe In.
We are, all of us individually, sparks in this and together we can create bonfires all over the country. Take the baton, run with it, pass it on, and keep us all posted!
By GottaLaff
A document has emerged suggesting that Obama had taken more public, liberal stands in the past than had been revealed in the digging of reporters and opposition researchers over two years of campaigning, the latest of several pointing to a rightward shift as he moved into national politics.
In a 1996 questionnaire filled out for a Chicago gay and lesbian newspaper, then called Outlines, Obama came out clearly in favor of same-sex marriage, which he has opposed on the public record throughout his short career in national politics.
“I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,” Obama wrote in the typed, signed, statement.
There was no use of “civil unions,” and "no compromise whatsoever," the Windy City Times story today notes.
On another questionnaire the same year, Obama said he would support a resolution in support of same-sex marriage.
The editor of the Windy City Times, Tracy Baim, just found the document this week. I'm curious to see what P.E. Obama will say about this particular "change" when the inevitable confrontation takes place.
Oh please oh please oh please oh please!
PRINCETON, NJ -- Two-thirds of U.S. adults today perceive that the influence of religion in American life is waning, while just 27% believe it is rising. This represents a sharp decline in the image of religion compared with only three years ago, when 50% thought its influence was on an upswing, and marks one of the weakest readings on the influence of religion in Gallup's five-decade history of asking the question.
The percentage of Americans saying religion, as a whole, is increasing its influence on American life was 50% in April 2005, 39% in May 2006, 34% in May 2007, and 30% in May 2008. The 27% recorded in the new Dec. 4-7 Gallup Poll thus marks a continuation of the recent downward trend.
(snip)
Indeed, this measure of public perceptions about religion has been quite volatile over the forty-plus years of its existence, with shifts in perception often corresponding to major political events.
(snip)
Given this historical context, it is possible that the recent decline in perceptions that religion is increasing in influence is partially a result of the decline of Republican political strength throughout President George W. Bush's second term, a trend that was punctuated by the election of Democrat Barack Obama last month.
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