Hey Kossacks! Are you going to be anywhere near Scranton, PA on Wednesday September 2, 2009?
Come and join us as we read the entire contents of H.R. 3200 in our continuing fight for real healthcare reform.
We're all taking turns reading more than 1,000 pages of the proposed legislation, which will likely take about 11 hours, beginning early Wednesday morning and ending with a candlelight vigil from 7:30-8:30 p.m.
I hope you can join us as we make history and show, indeed, that we have read the bill.
So I sat across from an elderly man at a townhall meeting last week. His wrinkled hands held some similarly worn papers. They were folded and dog-eared and scribbled on, like papers that have seen a lot of action over time.
These papers, this elderly gentleman told me, showed the truth about the healthcare bill. These papers showed the death panels, and the "communist plot" organized by the Obama administration that would ruin the country.
How did he know this? Not by reading the bill himself, but because lots of "big lawyers" had read it and told him the "truth" about the bill.
When I asked him who the "big lawyers" are, he mumbled some words, but nothing that sounded like a name to me. "You know - the lawyers," he said.
So he sat there in the crowd, armed with the "truth," fighting against me getting the healthcare I can afford.
Well, guess what? I hope he can handle the truth, because I plan to be standing on Courthouse Square in Scranton on Wednesday, serving it up to him over a microphone, with dozens of other people. Courthouse Square is right in the middle of downtown Scranton, at 209 N. Washington Ave.
I am hoping you can join us and be one of those helping to read the bill. If you are anywhere near Scranton on Wednesday, please come by and lend your support as we make history!
Stop, look, and listen to health bill
A group of Northeast Pennsylvanians will take turns reading the more than 1,000-page piece of proposed legislation on Wednesday. Organizers believe it will take about 11 hours to read the bill, beginning at 10 a.m. The reading will conclude with a candlelight vigil from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m
While the reading is going on, the organizers are encouraging attendees to discuss health care under a tent being set up. Information on health care, as well as free ice coffee and ice tea will be available under the tent.
Oranizers have already gotten some national press and so far have about 38 readers from all walks of life. The organizers still could use all the support they can get - it's a heck of a long document. The event can use any other type of support you can give too - sign holders, people to distribute literature and demonstrate a good show of support for this event. If you are anywhere nearby, please try to attend.
In northeastern Pennsylvania, where USA TODAY reporters spent some time last week sitting in on town halls (see story here), a group of local actors is working to ensure everyone can answer the question with a resounding "yes." The group is staging an 11-hour reading of the House health care bill on the steps of the county courthouse in Scranton.
"Nobody even knows what's in this bill. Even the legislators don't know what's in the bill," said Greg Korin, a 54-year-old actor from Luzerne, Pa., who is helping organize the reading. "The best way to really inform people what's in the bill (is) to just sit 'em down and read it to 'em."
Many Kossacks might know of my little boy through my diaries written over the campaign season, of his courage and stamina while walking in the rain asking for votes for his hero, Barack Obama.
He's nine-years-old now, and went to a townhall with me last week, hosted by Rep. Chris Carney (Blue Dog of PA's 10th district).
Before the townhall, organizers for Wednesday's public reading of H.R. 3200 recognized my son from the campaign trail, and asked him if he'd like to read a section of the bill.
That was a big request for a nine-year-old, and he worried that he'd have to read it during the townhall, as he really didn't understand the request at first.
But later, we talked about it and I explained that if he agreed to be a reader, he would be reading words that were maybe big or confusing, but the people who are reading them are trying to help others understand the words better.
While my son loves to read, keep in mind that he's only been doing it for about three years, if that long. So to stand up before people and read words he's never seen before is a big challenge. After we talked, he looked up at me and said,
"Will this help you and other people get healthcare?"
I answered that it will indeed, help.
"Then I'll do it," he said.
So we contacted the organizers and signed up.
For 15 minutes on Wednesday, my little boy will stand up before a lunchtime crowd on Courthouse Square and read a part of the public option section of HR 3200...
To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.
We'll be practicing from now until then.
I am so humbled by this little boy and his courage to do what he thinks will help other people, and his country. I hope, if you are anywhere near Scranton on Wednesday, that you will come by and join him.
If you want to participate in any way, please contact the organizers asap at Roxiep9@aol.com.