Lets draft a letter to Washington

I'm in as well !  ThankYou , kiley

Ladies:  Who is in charge of this letter campaign?  I had a hard time finding it this morning.  I was waiting for someone to come up with a "date" for our campaign and I decided to call my "Senator's"office myself to find out when they are going and returning from Winter break.  What a joke!  No wonder they can't fry a pancake!  After waiting for quite some time on "hold" the lady at his office said they still have not decided the date of their "winter break".  I told her it was December and they still didn't have their dates set.  I didn't believe that so I pressed her for a date I knew they "had" to reconvene whether they wanted to or not.  She said their "reconvene" date has to be 01-23-12.  So I told her if anyone wanted to find them back in office that would be the date to catch them.  She said they have to be back by that date.

Sooooo unless anyone has a better suggestion, I think if we make our mailing date about 01-22-12, all the letters no matter from which part of the US we are sending them should get to the senators between the 23rd - 26th of January 2012.  There is no way we can get them to all get there at the same time unless we take them ourselves and "dump" them at the White House!

I think the best idea is for all the letters to arrive that first week so they can all scratch their heads and ask each other if "they" got all these letters from these women from some cancer group.  The key is to get them talking to each other about our letters, imo.  I was told by the woman on the phone that all the letters go to a source for that purpose so the senators don't have to be in session for people to write to them.  When they return they will be "told" about the letters.  I don't think "they" will ever see our letters but we want them to be stunned by the numbers coming in from "one" group about a certain issue they want resolved.  If we are not consistant with our purpose and what we want, I don't think it will have the same effect on the senators.  We need them to focus and I don't think they can focus on too many things at one time.

So #1:  What should be the MAIN concern of the letters?     

#2:       What DATE are we mailing them?

#3:          WHAT ARE THE MODS GOING TO DO TO HELP US??

Do we all agree that we are ok with signing our names in the letters as members of this group?

I think we will get more attention that they may have thousands of angry women marching on Washington if they are dealing with a large group than if they are dealing with one voter.

Ok, I have tons of other problems that need my attention today so this is it for me.  I hope the rest of you will add your ideas, opinions, and agreements or disagreements with what I have written.  I know what "I" want to do but if I am writing as a member of BCO, I need to comply with what the group wants.  Just don't take too long to get involved, please.  We don't want this to fall by the wayside by hesitating too long and losing those who want to get involved.  

Merilee:  Since you put this ship in the ocean, I especially want to know where you are with this and what are "you" planning for us.  Thanks!

n

Ladies:  For the person who wanted to know how to contact the Mods, all you have to do is find their avator and click on it and send them a PM.  I just did.  I asked them to find this thread and let us know if they could help us.  Now we sit and wait.  If anyone else like Merilee (who came up with the idea) wants to engage the Mods, I hope she will send them a message (if she hasn't already done so, I hope.)   Now I have to do other things.  I do hope when I return to the group, I will get to read more postings helping us get this on the way.

Merilee and Ladies:  I just got a reply from Debbie and the Mods.  She said they got my PM and they will come to check out our thread.  Merilee, since this is your thread, maybe you could communicate with them about what we need from them.  Thanks!

hillck:  Great going!!  We are finally setting this thing in motion.  I think your creating a data base is a fantastic idea and will make it easier on any one who wants to participate.  Now how do we go about getting the word out to all the other members who have not even seen this thread and may want to join up?  Putting a  post on each seperate thread would take a lot of time.  If you know of a quicker way to go about it, please advise and I will be glad to do my part.  This can really be successful as long as we cooperate and all do our part.  I guess I don't have to tell you to "count me in".

Medigal (or whatever you want to call me)

Merilee:  So glad the Mods already contacted you.  However, I am confused about what you posted.

What do you mean by "the exact address to mail the letters to".  We all live in different states and have different senators and reps.  I thought we were going to email to "our senators and reps" so why would we need to get an address from you? 

If you read the post from hillck, I think you will realize that the senators are not going to read all our personal stories.  Our letters will basically get "head counts on a specific issue" and noted that it is a huge breast cancer group writing.  These senators and reps just don't have time to personally read every letter sent to them.  Now if you are planning to send certain letters to other people who you think "might" actually  read them, that is different.  However we are talking about Washington here and I am confused by what you hope to do with these letters.  Thanks!

Thank you Moderators,  Kiley

Merilee:  For those of us who are going to use Email, we just go to the websites of our senators and reps, and Obama, and send it to their email addresses.   I guess the White House address can be used for all snail mails if the senators and reps use it for their mail.  I think I will go to my senators etc. webpage and see where they have their snail mail sent.  Just curious.

gardengumby:  I don't know about the others but I think your bullet points covers the main things I want done.  It's also short and concise and will get their attention more than going into long details. I was just reading about the best ways to write your Senators and reps and it made it clear the letters should stick to "one" issue.  I think the three points you bring out covers the "one issue" we all want to see happen.  The issue is still "Healthcare" related.  Thanks for giving me a way to write my letter in a shorter way but covering everything I want noticed.  Their aides can probably list the three and show how many emails and letters have come in about the same concern.

I could not take part in an "email" march due to my own health problems and physical limitations but for those who can, it would be a great idea.  This is so exciting to see so many like yourself popping in with such great ideas!  I do hope many more will see the thread and join in.  Thanks!

I absolutely agree with gardengumby on the 3 factors... Count me in !!!

Ok one more idea for even more attention - there is a way for us to DUMP the letters on the same day.  For about $17 we could all send our letters overnight using the United States Postal Service.  Since the regular carriers do not take the overnight letters, it seems logical that a good bulk of them would end up on the same truck.....if delivered to the same address on the same day.  We could all go to our post offices on the 22nd and they would all arrive on the 23rd?  For $17 I would love to see their faces.  We could all "pink up" the overnight envelope, or put a saying on it - all the same?

Good Morning Ladies!  Today is Saturday and everyone should stay home and work on this campaign with us.  That includes the Mods.  This is just in case some of you still work at jobs and can't post on weekdays.  We need more posters joining us so if you are posting on another thread, please tell them to check this thread.  The Mods so far don't have a way for us to get a general message out to "all" the posters about the campaign so it's up to us to get the word out.  Merilee, you don't get to take weekends off since you came up with this idea.  So this is a good time for you to share all the additional info you got when you were not sleeping last night.  Leaders "don't" get to sleep! 

Seriously, should I go do all the other things I need to do today and forget about this campaign until Monday or is any one going to post more info I need to know?    I am eager to see the template and the sample letter the Mods are supposed to give us. If it is not what I want to say, I'll just use those 3 bullets "garden" shared and come up with my own "short" letter to send.  Mine will go Email and I do like the 1/23/12 date.

BTW, Sandy:  Are you a "worker bee" and going to be sending a letter or just going to "cheer"?    Odie:  I take it that "count me in" means you plan to send a letter.   Welcome to "all" of us willing to join Merilee on this exciting hopefully "successful" campaign.

Will check in periodically today to read all the other posts helping with the campaign.  Thanks!

Medigal 

Hillck:  Why does Medicare for All have to be the "main focus"?  That is what I want because I think the "Cure" by 2020 is not a reality.  Why can't we have all 3 issues mentioned in the letter.  It is just a matter of getting their people to take a tally of how many people are writing about "what" issues.  If they can't accept "Medicare for All" we have a hope they will come up with basically some other type of healthcare for all. When I wrote my personal letters to them in the past, I always gave them a choice.  I don't care if they don't allow Medicare buy-ins as long as they come up with some type of affordable healthcare insurance for ALL people.

We need to compramise here and not let our individual desires put a hold on our participation, imo. As  Merilee stated, we can use their template or come up with our own. 

Frankly, I will not use a letter which "justs" makes the Cure the only point.  We need to reenforce getting the Pre-Existing in the letter because without that, we can all just drown.  So, I am still for adding all 3 items to our letters.  I hope you will stick it out with us if Merilee and the majority decides to go with all three points.  This is not a time for us to pull out because our issue can't be dominant.  You have too much to add which can help make this campaign a success so don't bail now.  We can and will work out any differences and I am sure Merilee probably feels the same.  Note, she did post it should include fighting for a cure.  We all want that but some of us want the other issues also.

Hillck:  It's "because" I know the GOP is trying to repeal Obama's Healthcare Bill that I have been pouring my own personal letters to them and Obama.  If they get swamped with thousands of emails and/or letters letting them know how desperately we "need" a Healthcare Bill which provides affordable insurance for everyone, they just "might" decide it is BAD politics to trash what Obama already gave us or give us something even better.  They need to know how important it is to us.

I am very eager to see what templates and anything else the Mods come up.  I would also like to know if Merilee has any actual number count on how many have actually agreed to participate.