Pass The President's Jobs Bill Clean - Now
Those seven words are the message we need to convey to the beltway denizens who need to hear it. President Obama has asked for our help to get Americans back working and I propose that we can give him that help in a way that will also help the post office keep working. It will cost us each only a little bit of money, but if this idea catches on it could have a big impact. This is not an email or fax or text or voice campaign. I'm talking old school. Let's go all Ben Franklin on their asses:
To find out more, join Ben and I as we hitch up our breeches and jump the curlicue.
What we have in mind is this:
That's right. 29 cent prepaid postal cards.
You can order a pack of 10 for $3.20 ($1 s/h) right here and in a couple of days your local mail deliverer will bring them right to your door. Since they have the postage printed right on the cards, there's no other expense. Ben reminded me there is the cost of gum arabic and iron vitriol and the labor involved in gathering oak galls (which I admitted I didn't already have a store of) in order to make some ink, so then I had to explain the modern ink pen, and that led to so many questions that I was forced to show him google on my laptop and that's where he is now. I will say that after he got the concept of the back button, he took to google like a born millennial.
Getting back to PTPJBC+N, the blank back of the postal card is the perfect place for the message the President has asked us to help him deliver. My idea is that it simply say:
Pass The President's Jobs Bill Clean. Now.
Then, all you need do is decide who the recipients will be and get addressing. Having found a quite wonderful website for contacting congresscritters, I did a little cutting and pasting and have come up with the following list. I'm hoping, through your participation in the poll and the comments, that we can come up with a consensus group of senators and representatives that really need to get this message. So here are the names and snail mail addresses for a bunch of the usual suspects. Help me whittle them down to the ones who most need to receive a bunch of mail:
Members of Supercongress
Co-Chairs:
Senator Patty Murray
The Honorable Patty Murray
United States Senate
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4701
Representative Jeb Hensarling
The Honorable Jeb Hensarling
United States House of Representatives
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4305
SuperDems:
The Honorable Max Baucus
United States Senate
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2602
The Honorable John Kerry
United States Senate
218 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2101
The Honorable Xavier Becerra
United States House of Representatives
1226 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0531
The Honorable James E. Clyburn
United States House of Representatives
2135 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4006
The Honorable Chris Van Hollen, Jr.
United States House of Representatives
1707 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2008
SuperReps:
The Honorable Jon Kyl
United States Senate
730 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0304
The Honorable Rob Portman
United States Senate
338 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3504
The Honorable Pat Toomey
United States Senate
502 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3802
The Honorable Dave Camp
United States House of Representatives
341 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2204
The Honorable Fred Upton
United States House of Representatives
2183 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2206
House and Senate Leaders:
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
United States House of Representatives
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0508
The Honorable Harry Reid
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2803
The Honorable John A. Boehner
United States House of Representatives
1011 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3508
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
United States Senate
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1702
Pres Candidates in Congress:
The Honorable Ron Paul
United States House of Representatives
203 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4314
The Honorable Michele Bachmann
United States House of Representatives
103 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2306
The Honorable Thaddeus McCotter
United States House of Representatives
2243 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2211
Anti-Job Blue Dog Dummies:
The Honorable Tom Carper
United States Senate
513 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0802
The Honorable Jim Webb
United States Senate
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4603
The Honorable Mary Landrieu
United States Senate
431 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1803
The Honorable Heath Shuler
United States House of Representatives
229 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3311
Selected Tea Party Lunatics:
The Honorable Joe Wilson
United States House of Representatives
2229 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4002
The Honorable Joe Barton
United States House of Representatives
2109 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4306
The Honorable Louie Gohmert
United States House of Representatives
2440 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4301
The Honorable Steve King
United States House of Representatives
1131 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-1505
The Honorable Ted Poe
United States House of Representatives
430 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4302
The Honorable Pete Sessions
United States House of Representatives
2233 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4332
The Honorable Jim DeMint
United States Senate
167 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4002
The Honorable Mike Lee
United States Senate
316 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4403
The Honorable Rand Paul
United States Senate
208 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1703
Just So They Don't Feel Left Out:
Eric Cantor
The Honorable Eric Cantor
United States House of Representatives
303 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4607
Paul Ryan
The Honorable Paul Ryan
United States House of Representatives
1233 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4901
Fancy.
Now I know there are probably more than several kossacks who have scanned this diary and are wondering if I'm gonna mention the non-timely method of snail mail postal cards as not being the best way to help the President out. 'Seriously, Calbraith,' I imagine them getting ready to type, 'several days wait to get the cards in the mail, several days in the regular mail and then the hold up at whatever anthrax sniffing outfit they use in DC these days to check incoming mail? WTF, dude?'
Well remember, we're also trying to save the freakin' post office here and all those thick of night, through sleet and hail civil servant jobs. And this bill is not likely to come up for a vote in the next two weeks, so I think it's okay if the message takes a wee bit to arrive.
I'm sorely tempted to add yet another curlicue here -- I mean I got Ben Franklin in the house! But I'll refrain.
Anyway, take the poll or leave a comment with your picks and to let me know if you're up for this. In solidarity with the beleaguered post offices around the country that are in danger of being shut down, you can go here to find the closest one on the "study" closure list, when you're ready to mail, to see if it is close enough to drive over and give them a little business. We're losing up to six in my very rural county.
One other thought I had was a good name for the jobs bill. I think the Dems should call it the Barack Obama Employment Helping National Economic Recovery Act. The BOEHNER Act for short. That way John will be voting against himself, as well as the rest of America, if he wants to keep hating on President Obama.
Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Oddly enough, Ben has found a recording of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant on YouTube, which he's now listening to. So I'll close by paraphrasing Arlo:
And the only reason I'm writing you this diary is cause we know the President is in a tough situation, in fact we're all in a tough situation,and if you're in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's fill out these postal cards with 'Pass The President's Jobs Bill Clean. Now.' on the back and drop them in the mail. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and ignore him. And if two people, two people do it, they may think they're both communists and ignore both of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine three Common Terns postal cards landing on John Boehner's desk at the same time? They'd think it's moveon.org. And can you imagine fifty cards a day, I said fifty Common Terns postal cards a day being walked in to John Boehner's office and dropped on his desk? My friends, they may think it's a movement. And that's what it is, the "Pass The President's Jobs Bill Clean. Now. Movement" and all you gotta do to join is order up some of those postal cards right here.