Entries from June 2008 ↓

Courtesy of Puma SusyT, here’s a one-eyed kitten named Jackson, who looks askance at all these declarations of “Unity.”

Be wonderful to each other. Tomorrow is another day!

Details on the Unity Protest HERE.

Had I represented twenty thousand voters in Michigan, that political editor would not have known nor cared whether I was the oldest or the youngest daughter of Methuselah, or whether my bonnet came from the Ark or from Worth’s.- Susan B. Anthony

Attribution: Anthony said this c. 1873, reacting to an editorial in a Kalamazoo, Michigan, journal which focused on her appearance, ridiculing her age (53) and her style of dress.  [source]

GO TO UNITY NEW HAMPSHIRE TOMORROW WITH A SIGN THAT READS, “THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS A HOUSE DIVIDED”

Political speech need not be loud to be profound. It need not be a dramatic show by tens of thousands to be effective. The only requirement for political speech to change the government and our civic life is that it be public.

Look for a minute at the anonymous woman in the photograph above. Look at her very small sign and her homemade donation basket. Look at the boys and men who surround her. What is her point? Why is she standing there? She is ALL ALONE. Why doesn’t she just go home where no one will ridicule or harass her? If she goes home no one will humiliate her clothes, her hat, her face, her weight, her age, and her intelligence. 

She was dismissed by the press; ignored by the Party; and ridiculed and harassed by her neighbors and strangers on the street. And yet she still still showed up on the street that day with a silly sash, a decorated basket, and a very small sign.

The response she received for her solitary gesture was at best indifference and dismissal, at worst harassment and humiliation. But the response she received then is irrelevant now. Across the nearly 100 years since this woman took her very small sign to the street, her gesture changed from insignificant to profound. 

Her lonely stance in a public place, along with a thousand others like it on a thousand separate streets, forced the country to face and eventually admit that it was divided. To acknowledge in the courts and in the state houses that there could be no unity in civic life when fully half our citizens had no voice in government.

So, don’t be ashamed of being alone, of making solitary gestures with hand-made signs. Don’t be afraid of being ridiculed or harassed. Followers follow leaders only after the hecklers and the harassers have lost their voices and their credibility. 

GO TO UNITY NEW HAMPSHIRE TOMORROW WITH A SIGN THAT READS, “THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS A HOUSE DIVIDED”

If there are 50, 10, or even 5 citizens with signs, we will be less alone than the lonely, protesting citizen above.

Will be busy for a few hours but near the computer. Overnight Cats coming up in a bit and another day of Action tomorrow!

We’ll keep this Skeptical Bouncer Cat up overnight to keep the bad guys away. Be wonderful to each other; tomorrow is another day!

Quote for the evening comes from one of my favorite all-time books, Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey. The motto of the Stamper clan, the Oregon logging family at the center of the novel:

“NEVER GIVE A INCH.”

The finger gesture, courtesy of JoeBen Stamper’s dismembered hand, I leave to your imagination.

So, Pumas, today is another day. Do you think today will be the day that our leaders will, you know, lead? They got us into this mess. The party divided, perhaps permanently. Democratic leaders accusing Democratic voters of being racists just because they happen to live in certain states. Democratic leaders writing off entire states and entire classes of people as being irrelevant and unwelcome in their ephemeral “new coalition.”

You may be wondering, just WHO is not welcome in the Democratic Party these days? You may be asking yourself, am I not welcome anymore?? Let’s try to make a list to help us all find out. You have been told you’re not needed anymore by Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Donna Brazile, and Barack Obama if you are a member of any of these groups: the working class, the poor, the old, the sick and uninsured, immigrants, gay and lesbian people, Florida residents, union members, grandmas, Appalachians, women, rural people, small business owners, Michigan residents. Are you a member of one of these groups? I’m betting you are. You are probably a representative of SEVERAL of these groups. I am. And we’ve all been told, No thanks! We don’t need you in “our” party anymore.

Geez! Who’s left in the party? And why is that poor donkey all alone?

Click on this link to our Action Center and Daily Growl for today’s Action. Huge thank-you to Dragonfly for pulling this action together and to ElainePuma and MarylandPuma for their help. Send your letter and then come back and in comments tell us where you fit in among the unnecessary. Are you a gay union carpenter in rural Michigan? How about an immigrant Grandma who runs a small business and can’t afford health insurance for your employees? Maybe you’re sick and politics just isn’t funny anymore.

THE LEADERSHIP HAS SPENT THE LAST FOUR MONTHS TELLING PEOPLE LIKE US THAT WE ARE NOT DEMOCRATS. THAT WE DON’T MATTER TO THE PARTY ANYMORE. 

None of this is funny. Selecting a nominee using Network Marketing tricks, and trying to dupe the electorate into believing this is just a special season of American Idol is not funny.

Everything is upside down this summer. At first it seemed like a joke. That the leadership would actually try to force such a disastrously incompetent candidate on the party? It was almost funny! There’s an old saying that comedy equals tragedy plus time. This election, the DNC is demonstrating that sometimes tragedy equals comedy plus time.

Please consider contributing to Puma PAC. All of our funding is used for our political activities and comes in small donations from individual contributors like you. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Learn more here.

UPDATE JUNE 25 AT 8:42AM: Here’s the clip of our interview on Fox and Friends this morning.

UPDATE 6/25/08 AT 9:58AM: If you did not receive a “subscribe” email from join@pumapac.org, and you would like to receive emails from Puma PAC (the Daily Growl and other updates) PLEASE click on this link to to join the PAC and start getting our announcements (not many, we promise). This system should work very well at keeping us all connected, but will take a day or so to fine tune. Thanks very much for all you are doing to make our PAC stronger and more effective every day. CLICK HERE TO JOIN.

Paid for by P.U.M.A. PAC, People United Means Action (http://blog.pumapac.org). Not affiliated with any candidate or candidate’s committee.

This little kitten is carrying her favorite friend. His name is DNC. I hope she doesn’t drop him!

Remember Pumas, tomorrow is another day!

DAILY TALKING POINT 6/24/08: BARACK OBAMA STANDS FOR NOTHING AND NOBODY BUT HIMSELF. HIS CAVE ON THE HOUSE’S FISA COMPROMISE PROVES THAT HE WILL BETRAY THE WISHES AND INTERESTS OF HIS OWN CORE CONSTITUENCY IN ORDER TO GET ELECTED.

It may take more than a band-aid, but we’re here to help!

Today’s ACTION is to send a band-aid to Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean to let them know that we are prepared to do everything we can to fix our party, heal the divide, and reunite for ALL Democrats in ALL 50 states.

1. Copy and paste this message into your own document
2. Sign it with your First Initial, Last Name, County/State, and Puma PAC underneath
3. Grab a bandaid and paste it to the letter
4. Mail it to any or ALL of the addresses at the bottom of the post.

This Band-aid Will NOT Heal the Democratic Party, but we’re here to help!

Mission Statement

There will be no unity in the Democratic party until the voices of the 18 million voters who support Hillary Clinton are heard and heeded. Until the voices of Pumas are once again listened to by the leadership of the Democratic party, we will be guided by defiance. We will treat insult with uprightness and will meet disdain with disdain. We will not be bullied, brainwashed, or bossed into falling in line.

We are motivated to action by our shared belief that the current leadership of the Democratic National Committee has abrogated its responsibility to represent the interests of ALL democrats in ALL 50 states. They are misleading our party and aim to mislead our country into nominating an illegitimate candidate for president in 2008. 

Your Signature and this disclaimer at the bottom:

Puma PAC, People United Means Action (http://blog.pumapac.org. Puma PAC is an unconnected political action committee; unaffiliated with any candidate or candidate’s committee.

ADDRESSES:

HOWARD DEAN

Howard Dean, Chairman / Democratic National Committee/ 430 S. Capitol St. SE / Washington DC 20003  Fax: 202-863-8174  or email: HowardDean@dnc.com 

NANCY PELOSI

Hon. Nancy Pelosi / Office of the Speaker / H-232, US Capitol / Washington, DC 20515 

OR 

Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker / 235 Cannon House Office Building / Washington, DC 20515-0508  

OR EMAIL SPEAKER PELOSI at

americanvoices@mail.house.gov  OR sf.nancy@mail.house.gov OR http://www.house.gov/pelosi/ OR info@nancypelosiforcongress.com 

(If you are using email, grab a band-aid  graphic off the net) 

If you have any problem downloading or copying this letter, please email marylandpuma@gmail.com for the PDF.

ACTION UPDATE 6/24/08 AT 1:15PM: IF YOU ARE IN THE DC AREA, PLEASE JOIN THIS PROTEST ON THURSDAY, JUNE 26TH AT THE MAYFLOWER HOTEL: Rally Thursday, June 26, in front of the Mayflower Hotel in DC to protest the meeting of Clinton and Obama with Clinton’s fundraisers. If any of you can go please do…. remember BHO acts as though he does not need us… yet he wants our money! (Wear black, bring signs that read “Free Hillary,” “Don’t take her $$,” Or “Retire her debt!” (h/t goanderson)

Paid for by Puma PAC, People United Means Action (http://blog.pumapac.org). Puma PAC is an unconnected political action committee; unaffiliated with any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Here’s to a great start to a week to remember! An excellent Monday ACTION DAY thanks to Shorttermer and Marylandpuma, and everyone who sent in those FLIP-FLOPS! Keep it going tomorrow, because as you know — Tomorrow is another day!

Remember to visit the ACTION CENTER and use Trish’s amazing new database tool to find and research ALL the elected officials in the USA. Every time I click on the ACTION CENTER link I find that PA4HILL08 has made it even better! Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the birth of a movement!

Mother-cub overnight cats tonight to remind us of where we came from. We are a movement comprising millions. From influential bloggers like Riverdaughter and Lambert, to activists Will Bower and Diane at JustSayNoDeal, to voters like Utahpuma, Sandipuma, DaddysDarlin, and Jeremy. And all of us.

This isn’t about any one of us. It is about how all of us — united by our common love of our country, our party, and the principles of democracy — can reshape the landscape of our common civil life so that it once again feels like home to ALL of us. That is what the Democratic party is supposed to stand for. Until our party once again stands for that vision of unity and inclusion, WE will stand for it.

PUMA PAC FUNDRAISING

ROAR!

to raise our first $100,000 for advertising and spreading the word about the PUMA PAC Movement BEFORE the Convention in August! WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR HELP! Please consider making a commitment to contribute $50 between now and August 10th so we can get our message out to the rest of the country. You can contribute it all in one fell swoop, or parcel it out in weekly installments.

IT IS UP TO YOU!

If you can commit to contributing $50 in the next two weeks days to Puma PAC so we can amplify our voice of Protest to the DNC,

PLEASE click on the link below to make your donation now!

Puma PAC is an unconnected political action committee (PAC) registered with the Federal Election Commission and with the IRS as a 527 organization. We are completely grassroots. All of our funding comes from individuals in small donations. All contributions are used to fund our political activities. They are not tax-deductible. Thank you very much for contributing to Puma PAC.

Paid for by P.U.M.A. PAC, People United Means Action (http://blog.pumapac.org), and not authorized by an candidate or candidate’s committee.

Puma PAC had its first official exposure in the mainstream media this evening. Update: we’re on Youtube now. 

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UPDATE JUNE 23, 2008 AT 10:23AM: QUICK! The Will Bower interview is up at Huffington Post. Puma comments needed immediately. Get the message out — get into scuffles. Be fearless and firm! We are NOT coming back in November to legitimize an illegitimate candidate and an invalid process. Puma comments NEEDED — click HERE!

Good Morning Pumas, today is a new day!

In honor of the start of Summer, let’s send the Obama Movement some appropriate footwear. They’re going to be doing a lot of walking this summer. Visiting your hometown, asking you for support, begging you for money. Their feet will be getting tired and sore. We may not have any votes or money to give them, so this is the least we can do.

Grab a pair of flip-flops (old or new, doesn’t matter) and mail them to the Obama campaign:

and, send a second pair to Howard Dean at the DNC: