Updates!

Hello Friends,
It has been some time! Lots of excuses, none of them good enough really. A LOT has happened since I spoke with you last so a brief catch-up is in order!

-I have met with some folks at the Knox County Democratic Party, and to say it went well is an understatement! I had nothing less than a blast with these folks! We spent a little over an hour together, got acquainted, and talking about how to reach out to folks in Knox County. I think they received me and what I want to do very well. They were more than generous with their offerings of support/resources/assistance. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but I think this is moving in an excellent direction! Not only is this going to help me create and operate the Knox County Young Dems, but it will benefit the blog by me being able to speak on some authority on the happenings in Knox County. I will update as things become official, but this is the most exciting and energized I have been about this since I first thought of getting involved in politics!

-I need to re-think the site and how to operate it both for Political Lefty followers and Knox County Young Dems. I am still at the drawing board with this, and am welcoming suggestions.

-I have made the Knox County Democratic Party monthly newsletter! Reading that statement doesn't sound as significant as when I think about it, but I feel this is huge! I went to put the newsletter up on the blog, but alas it wasn't fitting right, and it was almost 2AM, so I have postponed that project. But regardless, I have been put out there as the official contact for any interested young Dems in the county, and it IS EXCITING!

I think that is about it. I have a few topics that I have had folks suggest discussing here (ENDA, AZ Immigration Law) which I will be happy to get to in good time. This must be it for now! Stay tuned though, more to come!

Tea Party Protesters Trying to Explain Why Theyre Against Obama

Wall Street Reform

Hi Folks!
Sorry its been a while. We have been having laptop troubles that I think are (finally) behind us! Lots going on, but I thought I would get this out right away. This is a link to get letters to republican congresspeople about how unanimously voting against the Wall Street Reform is detrimental to the progress of this Nation. To stand on the side of people LITERALLY taking money from the government, and to defend companies like Goldman Sachs is not only abhorring, it is offensive. So hop over here and let these people know that were not going to stand for this in our congress! If the crazys in the tea party can make some noise while making no sense, dont think we cant do the same thing with logical thinking and philosophy!

Send A Letter to Republican Congressmen and Women

John Kasich's Facts

There is a new website out that I think we all should check out. It is simply called Kasich Facts. It is a website that outlines Kasich's details of what he is saying about his time with Lehman Brothers versus what his income tax statements are saying. Just as an aside, he made almost $400,000 is bonuses from LB the year they filed for bankruptcy...yikes. There are also details about his proposed tax plan (he want to eliminate state income tax by the way), and clips of video of him being quoted saying some rather interesting things. I wont divulge too much of what is on there, because I think you should go and check it out yourself. Happy reading!

Beware of the Dorks

That's really the best they could come up with? After a momentous moment in American History last Sunday night-the passing of the Healthcare Reform in America, some person or persons decided to let the city and county know just how they felt about Barack Obama and his supporters: we're Dorks.

Thats really the best you have? Dorks? You realize that the whole world is watching right now for things like this. And now thanks to one or more less than educated persons, Mount Vernon, Ohio has been put on the map as the town that has dorks spray painted on the Democratic Headquarters window. Well played people! Since the passage of this bill, there has been horrible things going on, including bricks thrown through the windows of at least four Democratic House Representatives, threatening emails, voice mails, and even envelopes of white powder sent to one Representative in New York. I am by no means challenging these people to step their game up and get more violent. That's the last thing this debate needs is more people showing how they feel with violence. But really, you have to look at this and laugh. I can only guess the intelligence level of the person(s) involved with this. I have a strong guess they are not active with the Knox County Republicans, in fact I would be surprised if they have done anything in politics before this incident. Its simply small town, small minded people doing small minded things. Its really silly, childish, and disgraceful all at the same time. True democracy is allowing people to speak their minds, even when they dont necessarily agree with you. But anyone that promotes violence or damaging property, in any shape or form (including the spray painting of dorks), to me holds little to no merit in what they are saying and lessens the cause to which they are supporting. So thank you, classless fools of Mount Vernon, for proving to us that we DO need to get our message out to fight the ignorance that will never go away. But who's going to listen to a bunch of  dorks anyway, right?

David Plouffe In Columbus this Thursday!

A copy of an email I just received. What a huge opportunity to meet a man that had such a great role in President Obama's history to the White House!

Friends,

David Plouffe, Campaign Manager for President Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, will be in town this Thursday to thank supporters for their hard work on health care reform.  We’re excited to invite you to join us at 3:00 this Thursday at Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters (340 East Fulton St in Columbus) for a chance to meet Mr. Plouffe and to discuss the importance of what we accomplished, as well as what lies ahead.

If you’d like to attend, simply reply to this email with your name and the names of any fellow supporters who will attend with you.  And please feel free to forward this invite to your friends, club members, and others who might like to attend.  See you on Thursday!   

Sincerely,

Scott T. Surovjak

Next Generation Democrats

Ohio Democratic Party

Cell: (614) 397-1574

Email: scott.surovjak@ohiodems.org

A Day of History

The passing of the Healthcare bill is being compared to in size of significance the likes of Social Security and Medicare. This has been a momentous day for the history of our country. For the first time since our inception everyone will, without excuse, be able to have the health insurance they need to life a healthy life. I wont delve into the hot-button issues here, I think that is being done enough everywhere else. I will say I dont think this bill is 100% perfect-but I know of few pieces of legislation that are. I think this bill will fix many problems that our HC industry faces in this country and hopefully get us on the right track with taking care of our citizens. I dont pretend to know the entire contents of the 2200 pages of the bill. I do know that the face of my colleague at work who realized that her son, who was disqualified because of a pre-existing condition, and who needs monthly treatments at a children's hospital for a disease he has, will now not empty her entire savings account, to me made this all worth it. 
For people to not have to go bankrupt paying medical bills, get preventative care they need, and to not have to worry if they have to pay the medical bills or buy their groceries is a very good thing. 
I think this is also far from over. I know that ring wing radicals will do everything they can (including violence, bigotry, name calling {all of which we have already seen} as well as vandalism {see link below} to try and get the people that passed this bill out of office.) I really cant see how the dems will be able to make their case about the huge significance of this bill given the fact that most of it doesnt go into affect before the November election. It is going to be a very interesting 8 months leading up to the November election, and regardless of how you feel I hope you all are getting involved locally to help fight for your cause. Just please, do it with dignity, class, and respect and leave the craziness and wacko actions to people somewhere else. 


Finally, a very disgusting thing happened today in my hometown. The local County Democratic office window was vandalized with the word "dorks" spray painted across it. While this is many things-disgusting, childish, and immature among them, here is an article that found a good way to make us laugh about it. I leave you with the article.


Knox County Vandalism the Result of Gang Activity