[Rhodes22-list] Politics - Community Organizing

Sat Sep 6 08:57:18 EDT 2008

Brad,

Hey, I'd go for that beer and smokes for votes thing. What a great idea!!

Rik

Ayn Rand was a prophet - - it isn't my fault

Brad Haslett wrote:
> Rik,
>
> Here's what IowaHawk (blogger) and candidate for POTUS has to say in
> defense of "community organizing".
>
> Brad
>
> --------------
>
> When America's Communities Need Organizing, America's Community
> Organizers Will Be There to Organize Them
>
> By David Burge
> Presidential Candidate
> Professional Community Organizer
>
>
> Organizing community youths: Dave's passion
>
> When I listened to the snarky and demeaning and condescending remarks
> of former beauty pageant loser Sarah Palin at the Republican National
> Convention Wednesday night, I could scarcely believe what I was
> hearing:
>
>     "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community
> organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
>
> Ooo-oooh, Caribou Barbie makes a funny, hardee-har-har. Well yuk it up
> now, little miss former junior college baby machine, because your
> sarcastic attempt to belittle America's community of hardworking
> professional community organizers is about to backfire -- big time.
> Because, for your information, I am America's community organizer
> community.
>
> By now most of you know I am a candidate for President of the United
> States. What you may not know is that for the past 4 months, I have
> also been a proud member of Campaign For a Better Humanity, a
> non-profit community outreach program I created with a joint grant
> from Johnson County Community Services and the Iowa State Work Release
> Program.
>
> What do community organizers do? As you know, Americans today are
> struggling with problems. These problems include rising unemployment,
> energy cost, alienation, animosity, corporations, and increased death.
> Like no other time in our history, Americans are staring into an abyss
> of a hellhole of helplessness. And this is where community organizers
> like me come in and provide needed solutions. Specifically, America's
> community organizers:
>
>     * reach out and work with communities in various ways.
>     * liaison with, and for, community agencies for service within
> affected areas.
>     * fight to make a difference.
>     * raise awareness.
>     * deal with community issues.
>     * raise awareness in the community of how we are making
> differences about undealt-with issues .
>     * when necessary, refer inquiries to outreach coordinators.
>     * Help coordination agency administrators identify and address
> outreach opportunities.
>     * model timetables and conceptualize benchmarks.
>     * issue guidelines for poster contests and interpretive dance festivals.
>     * Gather voter registrations, win valuable prizes.
>
> And that's just the beginning. Let me give you some specific examples
> of how community organizer organizations like CFBH are making a
> difference right here in Majestic Oakewoods, a subdivision off exit
> 242. As you know, in the year since I moved here my community has
> experienced a rash of crime, despair, and abandoned homes. To address
> these community problems, I reached out to local groups of disaffected
> dropout youths who were struggling with unemployment. During a
> rap-session kegger at my home, I spoke with them about ways they could
> get involved with the community and help protect the environment.
> Together we organized an innovative free community bicycle / metal
> recycling program. I am proud to say that it has been so successful
> that our private sector partner, Kyle's Salvage, has encouraged us to
> create an expanded free community car program.
>
> I am also proud to report that my outreach efforts have also helped
> get local disadvantaged youths involved in the community through
> politics. We met with local elected officials and showed them how
> successful programs piloted by ACORN in Chicago and Milwaukee could be
> adapted to keep local youths off the streets. The result is CFBH's
> wildly popular Beer and Smokes for Votes program.
>
> But it's not just young people who benefit through community
> organizing efforts. For example I also make frequent visits to
> Whispering Acres, the senior assisted living center across from
> Hy-Vee. Like many elderly people across America, the residents there
> often struggle with forgetfulness and confusion. As a community
> organizer, I listen to their concerns and boring, meandering stories
> about the Depression. Then, when they eventually fall asleep, I help
> by checking their mail and storage areas and medicine cabinets to see
> what needs organizing. If they suddenly wake back up, I enjoy helping
> them fill out various legal and financial forms, and voter
> registrations. I'm proud to say that through efforts like these, many
> of these seniors have come to think of me as family. And dude, I mean
> totally convinced.
>
> So yes, Sarah Palin, you igloo-dwelling ignoramus, I am a Community
> Organizer - and damned proud of it. And I will be proud to bring my
> community organizing skills to the White House while you snowmobile in
> shame back to your stupid Alaska podunk moose meth lab. Speaking for
> America's dedicated community organizers and the hundreds of millions
> of Americans whose very lives depend on us -- we will not sit here
> while you badmouth the United States of America.
>
> Oh, and Sarah? Call me.
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Rik Sandberg <sanderico1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Brad,
>>
>> Sounds like something Obamarama would think is just great.
>>
>> Maybe instead of teaching these kids to hang out on street corners
>> demonstrating (bitching) he could teach them the value of a job. That
>> would be doing something really constructive for the country.
>>
>> Speaking of demonstrating, did you see they damned near had a riot down
>> near the Excel Center last night. Damned fool war protesters haven't
>> figured out yet that our boys are starting to come home already, I
>> guess. What a bunch of maroons.
>>
>> Rik
>>
>> Ayn Rand was a prophet - - it isn't my fault
>>
>>
>>
>> Brad Haslett wrote:
>>     
>>> Does this sound like a good use for your tax dollars?
>>>
>>> http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=305420655186700#
>>>
>>> Remind me to tell the story sometime (if I haven't already done so)
>>> about the HUD crime prevention grant audit I did one time while
>>> working for a CPA firm.  If people understood how "community
>>> organizers" really work and how they are funded, there would be a
>>> bounty on them.
>>>
>>> Brad
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>>>       
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