Tennessee's Statewide Senatorial Blitz -- The Orange State Uprising

[Fly by night]

I wanted to give DUers a brief report on today's Orange State rallies to encourage Senators Frist and Alexander to join the bandwagon (at least 24 House members and 6 Senators SO FAR, according to DU and Olbermann) to reject the Ohio electoral votes. Here in Nashville, in the warm drizzle, we had a three hour long event, which included interactions with the staffs of our two Republican Senators, and colorful and communal rallying with our group composed of the young and old; Black, White and Asian; Green, Democrat, Republican and Libertarian; oldster protesters and newbies -- all united for free, fair and verifiable elections. In addition, we accomplished some good communication with the Nashville general public on two of the busiest streets in the city and were part of the efforts of other folks around the state who showed up at our Senators' offices everywhere at the same time to deliver their signed petitions also. Here's a link to a great article (with many great pictures) by Chris Lugo that is already posted on the 'net at the Tennessee Independent Media Center:

http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4027/index.php

When you visit the link, scroll down the home page for articles on two more of our Gatherings, both on the steps of the State Capital.

We did have a bit of a dust-up at Frist's office with a carload of young men who mistook our rally for an anti-war protest. (You can always tell young men full of testosterone -- you just can't tell them much.) Fortunately, the late-day distractions with the youngsters didn't detract from the three hours. We even had good interactions with those kids and left them with some election fraud handouts that they accepted from us. We also got them to agree that free and fair elections are something we all should support. The scuffle even brought out six Metro cop cars briefly which added to the street theater (and we got to educate some cops on the rules of public protest at the same time).

I still have emails to send and calls to make and faxes to send -- all aimed at DC. We handed in six pages of signatures on our petitions in Nashville and similar petitions were submitted in Jackson, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Blountville. Plus we have individuals collecting signatures on the petitions and faxing them in themselves from across the state. (Please PM me if you want a copy of our petition so you can sign it with your family, friends and co-workers and fax it in to your Senators' offices early tomorrow morning.)

Alexander's numbers are: voice: [phone], fax: [phone].
Frist's numbers are: (voice) 202-224-3344, (fax) 202-228-1264.

While I haven't heard from everyone yet, Chattanooga had a good experience and the ralliers there were well received by the public as they walked several blocks between the Senators' offices there. And Jackson probably did the best job -- several hundred signatures from four rural counties, and meetings with their Representative's staff as well as with the Senators' staffs. (Way to go, Diane.)

Perhaps the best moment for me today was when one of the people who was with me meeting with the Senators' staff people asked a staffer directly: "Tomorrow, will our Senator be standing with the Republican Party or will he be standing on principle?". And the (honest) answer from the staffer was: "I don't know."

Now to go call/write/fax. Repeat. Call/write/fax. Repeat.

Let's keep shouting loud, Orange Staters. Vote Free or Diebold.

Peace out. Bernie
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FIRST THINGS LAST: KEEP CALLING, EMAILING AND FAXING SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES TONIGHT AND ALL MORNING TOMORROW. PHONE CALLS WILL BE BEST -- MAKE THEIR PHONES MELT DOWN AND HAVE THEIR EARS RINGING WHEN THEY STEP INTO THE CHAMBERS TO VOTE.

This afternoon, Representative John Conyers delivered a 100 page report on the Ohio election theft to all members of Congress. This 100+ page report is available to download as a pdf:

http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report....

It looks like we have at least 24 Representatives and six Senators willing to reject the Ohio electoral votes. But we need more -- we need to create such momentum that Bush will be denied a second unelected term. So please use the following links to contact Senators and Representatives. Contact as many as you can. Our efforts are paying off. Email them tonight and/or call them tomorrow.

http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

[Fly by night]

1. One kick before back to emailing (only 15 Dems and 48 Repugs to go)

[Vidar]

2. Good job. Thank you.

[Woodstock Liberal]

3. Tennessee Rocks!

Thanks for the update and all the hard work.

[Clark2008]

6. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

Tennessee does, indeed, rock. We just have to get the Freepers away from the controls.

[Fly by night]

4. One more kick (then time to finish up emailing for the evening)

[Fly by night]

5. Kick

[zann725]

7. Wow, what a post! Thanks much for all the effort and encouragement!

If all of us are doing half as much as you are, we WILL put this over-the-top! And I DO believe we will!

Keep up the stellar work!

[cry baby]

8. I didn't hear about it or I would have been there, too. I'm in

Franklin. Go glad a this red state has great people like yourself and the others that were there. Thanks to you from me!!!!

[politicasista]

9. Go Tennessee!

Not bad for a red state. :)

[Fly by night]

10. We're not a red state -- we're an Orange State n/t

[GetTheRightVote]

11. Thank you TN for joining in on the fight for election fraud, we love you

:kick:

Kicking just for you......

[emlev]

12. Yes, Live Boldly or Diebold, Senators!

Thanks for your great work!

[Fly by night]

13. Sleep!! Sleep!! We don't need no steenkin' sleep!! (Yes, we do.)

Gotta get up early tomorrow to have the phones ringing when the Senators arrive. Nighty night, ya'll.

[Fly by night]

14. The report from Jackson on our Orange State Uprising

"Well, we delivered about 150 signatures to the two senator's offices! The staff was cordial enough and said they would fax them to the Washington Office. Frist's contact person said he is "on his way to India now by the way."

"Anyway, we didn't get any 'press' but they did seemed sort of surprised and somewhat condescending to say the least.

"While we were in the 'neighborhood' we took a copy of the signatures to Congressman John Tanner's office too. He's not Henderson County's congressman, but since he's the only Washington Democrat in West Tennessee outside of Memphis, we visited him too.

"Bernie, you and I know we're facing a brick wall, but, just in case something does blow big when Boxer signs this, I think we need to be ready to hit the streets with orange ribbons and we should be calling and emailing the radio and TV stations to cover this and especially pestering AirAmerica Radio(Al Franken's group), CNN, MSNBC, . If it takes Howard Stern to get some focus on this, so be it.

"I'm preaching to the choir. We'll stay in touch. Thanks for all your inspiration. I actually felt like I was doing something useful for the first time in this whole sickening mess.

Sincerely, Dian Brown"

[Fly by night]

16. And the report from Chattanooga

Hi Bernie,

"Very happy to say all went well today. Short notice, so only had 19 signatures on petition, but delivered them.

"I was joined by wife, 2 college daughters, and 3 yr old granddaugher, plus a young man we met last nite at Dem MeetUp. With our orange signs, I believe we made a favorable impression getting lots of encouraging smiles as we walked the Chattanooga streets between the Senators' offices and were treated nicely by the high security in Federal Bldg, too!

"Young lady in Alexander's office kindly recieved our petition and slipped it under door of closed Frist office.

"Seems taketennesseeback yahoo group is mostly Nashville people. So I see a need here in Chattanooga to form a group for fast response to issues when they come up like this to be able to get word out very fast.

"Thanks so much for your efforts. By the way I did receive calls of thanks myself from some who could not attend, too."

[Fly by night]

18. and the report from Blountville

For Blount county, Lee called both Senators offices in DC this morning. Lee delivered a petition to their local offices with 13 signatures. Patricia had a wonderful petition with many more signatures in Knoxville and I encourage her to elaborate.

[Fly by night]

19. More from Chattanooga

"I was unable to attend the gathering downtown. I gathered signatures in my neighborhood and on the internet. I faxed the petition at the appropriate time, so it would arrive along with those being hand delivered.

"I spend the rest of yesterday calling and emailing Senators. They must have been getting THOUSANDS of calls.

"Senators Clinton, Reid, Byrd had very open friendly office staff and seemed open to my comments. Senator Clinton and Byrd have lawyers on the ground in Ohio going through the testimony from hearings. Both Senators are considering all evidence.

"I couldn't get through to Sen. Boxer, I emailed and faxed. I was told she did this morning sign and C-SPAN should be covering the debate at 1pm, EDT I would think.

"I hope this helps. It seems we had a productive day....if Sen. Boxer did indeed sign, we should all take the time to thank her. She is a warrior hero.

Warmly,
Robin

[Helga Scow Stern]

15. Makes me wish I lived in Tennessee! n/t

[mordarlar]

17. Thank you...

:toast:

[RollergirlVT]

20. may your life be blessed

with longevity, peace and happiness!

[Fly by night]

21. My cover letter to four middle Tennessee U.S. Representatives

With a little more than an hour to go before the Congress debates the electoral vote, I wanted all of you to see the cover sheet that I sent when I faxed our petitions to Jim Cooper, Bart Gordon, Lincoln Davis and (yes) the "lacquer-haired Repug Homecoming Queen" Marsha Blackburn this morning. I hope I expressed the sentiments of our group as intended.

Thanks for everything all DUers have done and are doing. I am humbled and honored to "know" all of you. Bernie
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Subject: Petition to Overturn the 2004 Presidential Election Theft

Attached are petitions which were given to the Nashville offices of Senators Alexander and Frist yesterday. I am sending the petitions to you four because some of your constituents were among the signers.

Yesterday, all of you were given a 100 page document from Representative John Conyers which details the vote suppression, voter intimidation, voter disenfranchisement and election fraud which occurred in Ohio to give George Bush another unelected term as our President. Ohio represents just the tip of the iceberg of a nationally coordinated, multi-faceted plot to violate state and federal voting rights laws. None of you still have the luxury of stating publicly that there is no evidence to reject the Ohio electoral votes. If you continue to do so, you betray your ignorance, your laziness or your co-conspiratorial role in this election theft.

It is my understanding that at least 24 Representatives and six Senators will stand in a few hours to oppose the Ohio electoral votes. I would be proud to be able to say that there are principled, courageous, intelligent and patriotic Democrats and Republicans representing Tennessee who will also stand. Will you be one of the Congresspeople who will stand to protect our democratic principles and save our country. I certainly hope so. If you do not, no honest man or woman will ever be elected to high office in the United States again and our country will remain in the hands of the criminal cabal which controls the reins of state.

It's your choice – do the right thing. Or we will all suffer the consequences.

Bernard H. Ellis, Jr., MA, MPH
( www.bernardellis.com )

[Fly by night]

22. Kick in celebration of strong women and men in the Congress