Good evening, kossacks.
I'll make this pretty quick.
As you all know by now, there are approximately 1000 events for healthcare reform being held around the county over the next couple of weeks. There are town halls and rallies and vigils almost everywhere, and there's even a bus tour hitting about a dozen states that femlaw diaired about earlier today. As we've been noting in our daily Rally Reports, some good starting points to find events near you can be found here and here.
Here in the Big Apple, we go big or go home, so we are having the mother of all rallies on Saturday. During the late morning, we will gather at health centers and hospitals throughout the five boroughs and march in groups large and small -- driven by determination and resolve -- to a unity rally in Times Square.
If you don't think that I'm serious about going big or going home, here's just a partial list of the organizations who will be participating on Saturday:
American Run for the End of AIDS (AREA), Asian-Pacific Americans for Progress, Barack Obama Democratic Club, Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, Brooklyn for Barack, Center for Independence of the Disabled NY, Choices in Childbirth, Citizen Action of New York City, Coalition for a District Alternative, Commission on the Public’s Health System, Committee of Interns and Residents SEIU, Communication Workers of America Local 1180, Community Health Care Assoc. of NYS, Community Healthcare Network, Democracy for NYC, District Council 1707 AFSCME, Doctors for America, Doctors for Global Health, Downtown East for Obama, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition, Gynuity, Harlem4, Health Care for All New York, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30, Latinos4Change, Latinos for National Health Insurance, Make the Road NY, Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, MoveOn, NARAL Pro-Choice NY, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National Physicians Alliance, New Space for Women’s Health, New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, Northwest Bronx for Change, NY Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project, NY Democratic Socialists of America, NY Immigration Coalition, NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault, NYC Central Labor Council, NYC for Change, NYS AFL-CIO, Organizing for America, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, Planned Parenthood of New York City Action Fund, Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition, Prospectors for Change, Public Health Association of NYC, Queens County For Change, Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, Rekindling Reform, Reproductive Health Access Project, SEIU Local 32BJ, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, Small Business United for Health Care, South Asians for Opportunity, Tribeca for Change, United Auto Workers Region 9A, Upper West Side Baby Boomers for Obama’s Agenda, Voterbook, WCLA-Choice Matters of Westchester County, Westchester Health Reform Task Force, Women’s City Club of NY, Working Families Party, Young Invincibles
There's been a lot of "debate" and "energy" around healthcare reform lately on Daily Kos. So I thought it would be fun tonight to just invite everyone to a chant-composing, sign-scribbling party for kossacks -- online, of course. Seriously, we are a pretty smart, pretty witty bunch, if I do say so myself, and we always have a lot of fun with words, so who better to help us come up with some bold, captivating, fresh, funny, poignant ideas to make our point on Saturday? After all, it isn't like there is a long history of protesting for healthcare in this country, so we don't exactly have a stock of old canards up our sleeves.
So here are the rules:
Anything goes as long as its a propos and civil
No cursing or vulgarity (well, maybe if it's really funny)
Feel free to design a sign for us (either in pictures or in words) while you are at it. Your creativity will only help to spur ours :-)
Bonus points for pies, ponies and pooties and all the other kossack paraphernalia that dots these pages regularly
Lots of extra credit for bringing tears to my eyes, making me laugh out loud, touching my soul, etc. You get the picture.
And yes, we will be marching and rallying on the day when our beloved Senator Edward Kennedy will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. We are keenly aware of that fact and have adjusted the tenor of our event accordingly. We would love your ideas on chants and slogans to honor him as well.
So that's it and have at it. We've always done great when Markos has asked for t-shirt slogans or when MoveOn has asked for TV commercials and videos. So show me what you've got tonight.
P.S. I hope that some of you get really silly. We could use the brainstorming -- and the break :-)