My baby blanket was green with quilted patches of white squares decorated with frogs. It mostly resided on my bed but I did carry it with me if I ever had to sleep somewhere else. If we went up the road to Granny’s house I had it with me. At some point the blanket was usurped by a yellow Care Bear that I really did carry with me everywhere. In fact, when my brother and I decided to stake out the living room to see if Santa really existed or not, I got us busted by mom because I left Care Bear behind the couch when I went to pee.
As children we often have these talismans of security. They are familiar, comfortable and comforting, and they are very necessary when you are six years old and afraid.
However, the Constitution mandates that you have to be 25 years old to serve in the House of Representatives and the average age of the House of Representatives is 57. These are people that should not need security blankets but apparently they do because yesterday 289 were so scared of orphans, families, and people fleeing a hell hole that they voted for the SAFE Act.
Sadly we’ve all come to expect this kind of reactionary nonsense from the Tea Party controlled House over the years. They seem afraid of black people, Mexican immigrants, Muslims, the UN, nurses with ebola, and really a list so long that if I were to try to even be decently comprehensive it would take up the entire rest of my day, this diary, and your patience.
There are only 234 Republicans in the House which means that 47 Democrats voted, for this fear baiting nonsense. Here is the list of Democrats that voted for the bill courtesy of Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees. (User names must be getting scarce.)
That diary ends with a great sentiment. These people must be shamed.
So I fired off a little Facebook quip to Rep. Polis (CO-2) last night. I’m a pragmatist. I can understand that this might be an issue a Democrat in a right leaning district might support but the guy who is based out of Boulder? Are you kidding me?
Three sentences on Facebook is nothing though. So when I woke up this morning here is what I did and what I want you to do as well. I got on a widely known commerce site, selected a blanket, and shipped it to Polis’ Boulder office with a note attached calling him out for the vote. Send these Democrats a security blanket so that maybe next time they think of running scared from five year-old orphans they’ll have some spine.
Since Representatives make $174,000 a year I doubt they need these blankets. I hope the blanket that will arrive Monday morning at Polis’ headquarters in Boulder will be donated to Syrian refugees. Currently there is a coat and blanket drive run by Embrace Relief going on in the Washington, DC area. He can also choose to donate it to one of the Denver area charities that serve our growing homeless population.
I understand that donating physical goods isn’t the most efficient and effective way to help those in need. However, I also understand that casting a vote that legitimizes fear-mongering is a very powerful way to hurt the refugees. If we can stop Democrats in Congress from pouring gasoline on the fire of ignorance and hate then we should do it.
Harry Reid has already stated that this won’t come up for a vote in the Senate. However, if it plays well with the voters there is no telling what the Senate will do. Make sure that they know it won’t play well. Make sure that Senators know their office will be inundated with bulky and difficult to store blankets if they want to give the GOP fear mongers a helping hand.
Apply pressure. Agitate. Argyle or fleece!
Here are the cowards. I’ll add addresses as I find them. If anyone wants to help me look up the addresses it would be helpful.
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
685 E. Carnegie Dr. Suite 100
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
7126 Pacific Street
Omaha, NE 68106
Ami Bera (CA-07)
8950 Cal Center Drive
Building 3, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95826
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
235 West Roosevelt Avenue
Albany Towers, Suite 114
Albany, GA 31701
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
300 E. Esplanade Drive, Suite 470
Oxnard, CA 93036
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
3100 N. Knoxville Ave. Suite 205
Peoria, IL 61603
John Carney (DE-AL)
233 N King Street, Suite 200
Wilmington, DE 19801
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Steve Israel (NY-03)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Bill Keating (MA-09)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
1644 Walnut St.
Boulder, CO 80302
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
David Scott (GA-13)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Thanks for reading!