Photo via casperr of mindoca
In just one week the Congressional district working period ends and our representatives head back to DC. This is going to be our last chance to tell them face to face not to drop the 20 year window of opportunity and get real healthcare reform done. Grassley and Enzi are using the supposed grassroots uprising against healthcare reform as a excuse to back away from getting it done. The teabaggers are organizing and coming out in full force. The forces of reform need to show we are strong and we have been doing a great job recently.
Today we had lots of great rallies and townhalls, I'm going to try to do a quick recap of them and give you info on more events to attend.
If you do ONLY ONE THING for health care reform this summer, you need to GET OUT THERE and attend a rally!
Keep reading below the fold for events near you and find out how you can stand up and be counted in support of real health care reform!
When the August Congressional working period started reformers got caught flat footed by the teabaggers who the media blew way out of proportion. Now average Americans are coming out to townhalls and rallies and letting the voices of America be heard loud and clear in favor of real healthcare reform including a public option!
Just today we had lots of events going on around the country. Here is a quick recap.
Rallies:
NYC:
3,000 rallied for healthcare reform in Times Square. Casperr and bria have great photo diaries of the event, lots of Kossacks there!
Austin
Over 2,000 came o2,000 came out in Austin. Kath25 posted some pictures and updates on Twitter and will be posting more tomorow here on DailyKos.
Portland:
Portland, Oregon came out strong to rally for healthcare reform and hear Wendell Potter speak. Check out Anima's diary for more.
Raleigh:
More than 1,000 came out in Raleigh, North Carolina to support reform.
Fargo:
Over 500 turned out in Fargo, five times as many as the teabaggers turned out.
Townhalls:
NH-1:
Carol Shea-Porter held a townhall, reformers vastly outnumbered the teabaggers. dkulju has photos in a diary.
CA-12:
Jackie Speir had a townhall with California Condor in attendance, check out that great diary.
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Town Hall Meetings This Weekend:
Keep the momentum and the pressure going. The teabaggers will be coming out to all of these in full force, make sure the American people are represented.
Find a Town Hall near you, stand up and be counted, and make it clear that there are more of us who desperately need reform than want it to fail. FireDogLake has a fantastic Town Hall Tracker keeping abreast of events. Click Here to find a Town Hall near you!
Here's just 2 of the dozens of events that you can find on the Town Hall Tracker:
Houston: Gene Green
Tuesday, Sept 1st
6:30 p.m.
Pasadena Public Library
Wilton, CT: Jim Himes
Sunday, August 30th
3:00 p.m.
Wilton Town Hall
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HCAN Rallies Through September 4th
Healthcare for America Now (HCAN) a coalition of unions, MoveOn and a lot of other progressive groups is doing lots of work organizing rallies for healthcare reform. There are over 2000 HCAN events scheduled right now! That means there must be something near you. If you can't make it out to a town hall, head out to one of these rallies and make sure you show that the American people are for reform! Click Here to search HCAN's website.
Here are some examples of upcoming events:
Tuesday, September 1st
Fresno, CA
Let's Get It Done Health Care Rally
5:00 p.m.
Amtrak Station
Columbus, OH
Rally For Real Health Care Reform
7:00 p.m.
Location TBA
Wednesday, September 2nd
Hartford, CT
Health Care Can't Wait Rally
4:30 p.m.
CIGNA Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
Congressional Send Off Rally San Francisco
5:00 p.m.
San Francisco City Hall
Denver, CO
Health Care Can't Wait Rally
6:30 p.m.
Confluence Park
Thursday, September 3rd
Houston, TX
Let's Get It Done: Health Insurance Reform Now Rally!
6:30 p.m.
Houston City Hall Reflecting Pool
Atlanta, GA
Georgia Rally For The Public Option
12:00 p.m.
Georgia State Capitol
Portland, ME
Health Care Can't Wait Rally
11:00 a.m.
Rep. Pingree's Office
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OFA Organizing Events Near You!
Organizing for America is also hard at work to engage citizens and make sure we all have a voice in health care reform. Head over to my.barackobama.com and find an event. Click here to search for meetings, phonebanks, sign-making parties and more near you!
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We won't get real reform without getting active. So much great work is being done around the country, find something happening near you and get involved. The chance for healthcare reform only comes once every 19.5 years. This is no time to stand on the sidelines. As Paul Wellstone said
I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines.
(Have an event for the Rally Report? Email us (with the link, please) at RallyReport(at)gmail.com. You can also send us links to photos or video or your local blog reports about events for us to highlight.)
And if you want to get updated about future action diaries like this join Netroots for Healthcare. It's time we get involved and win! The stakes are too high not to.
Via Anima