[Jacob-list] Re: Jacob-list Digest, Vol 11, Votes in Washington

[Victoria da Roza]

Just a few comments on written letters to reps.  My
daughter worked in the Clinton White House and with
the Senate Enviro. Comittee and had friends in many
other areas of the govt., several additional years on
the local staff level and here is how it works.  If
you e-mail or sign a prewritten note from an advocacy
group that you just sign your name to, it will be
marked in by an intern as pro or con on a counter...no
one will actually read it past if it is pro or con. 
If you actually take your time to write a handwritten
note explaining your ideas, it will go to the next
level where an assistant will actually read the note
and send you back one of several standard paragraphs
on a machine outlining the Senator's/Reps. stand on
the issues.  The handwritten notes go on another tally
and are noted pro and con.  If there is something
unique in your views that feeds into the
representative's arguments, it is noted also to maybe
be included in testimony or to swing someone else's
view during negotiations for votes.
   Anyone in Washington gets thousands of pieces of
correspondence everyday!  So to actually have an
influence, use a handwritten note and express yourself
thoughtfully/uniquely...,not just the same old
arguments.  They figure if you have put so much effort
into it, then you must really care.  One thoughtful
handwritten note can outweigh all the e-mail and
standardized postcards/petitions combined.
   Is this right?  I wish it were different but this
is how it works.  Seeing your reps. at local meetings
also makes quite a difference...again, if you take
your own time to do it then they feel you really care
enough to pay attention to your ideas.   Now if you
are a constant negative thorn, they will dismiss you
too as a chronic crank.  I know it was an eyeopener
for me when she was there....not quite what I learned
in high school Civics class...do they even have that
class anymore?  Victoria

--- jacob-list-request at jacobsheep.com wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. (no subject) (Susan J Martin)
>    2. Re: New USDA mandatory program (ARTHUR
> PARTRIDGE)
>    3. Re: New USDA mandatory program  (Susan
> Nielsen)
> 
> 
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 21:33:23 -0400
> From: "Susan J Martin" <stcroft at ptd.net>
> Subject: [Jacob-list] (no subject)
> To: "Sheep E-mail List" <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
> Message-ID: <014b01c5c628$1d3bb190$97c89818 at Ultra>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I agree, Linda, that bright yellow or whatever color
> tags do not enhance the looks of our beautiful
> sheep.   I always opt for black and small whenever
> possible.  
> 
> Sue
> 
> Stonecroft Manor
> "The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep...They
> all shout and sing for joy!"     
> Psa. 65:13
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 19:38:45 -0700
> From: "ARTHUR PARTRIDGE" <aztreaz at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Jacob-list] Re: New USDA mandatory program
> To: "jacob-list" <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
> Message-ID: <410-22005953023845812 at earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> --Neal wrote:
> >We need to keep in mind that small farms are just
> as likely to be vectors
> in the spread
> >of Avian Influenza and Foot and Mouth disease as
> are large ones. This is
> the spark
> > that has accelerated the move toward universal ID.
> =============
> This is very true.  I was surprised at the amount of
> support for this
> program on the International sheep-list.  The bird
> flu is a great concern
> and there is an interest in monitoring the poultry
> farms, big and small; in
> order to prevent a world-wide pandemic of Avian
> Influenza.  Looks like I
> might have to implant microchips in my 70+ birds
> (chickens, ducks, geese,
> and peafowl) and do all the necessary paperwork.  In
> the Orient wild ducks
> are one of the primary carriers of the virus.  How
> are we to monitor the
> wild bird population?  I also see a lack of funding
> for this program,
> especially in the enforcement of it.
> Cathy Partridge
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:59:22 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Susan Nielsen <snielsen at orednet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] New USDA mandatory program
> 
> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
> Message-ID:
> 
>
<Pine.LNX.4.44.0509292036160.8602-100000 at lab.oregonvos.net>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 Neeets at netscape.net wrote:
> 
> > So you understand.  WE all can not be on the house
> or senate floor...
> > only certain people are allowed to BE THERE
> whispering and doing
> > bidding for the rest of us.
> 
> No, no, no! That is just not the way American
> citizen activists go to
> work.
> 
> My Representative and at least one of my Senators
> (the other one prefers
> not to acknowledge people of my ilk, but I think he
> knows me anyway) know
> me well enough to greet me by name at community
> meetings. They know my name
> when it comes into their mailbox. They know I am a
> member of their
> constituency and that I care how they vote. And
> that's how we get "good
> people working on it" in Washington. They are our
> people, and if we do not
> take the initiative to tell them how we feel, we
> have no one whispering
> or doing our bidding. Just hoping for it won't get
> it done.
> 
> How hard is it to get the ear of these people? Not
> hard at all. Go to
> your community town halls and meetings. If you are
> shy to stand up and
> speak, go prepared with a letter, and give it to the
> Senator's or
> Representative's assistant, who is there just for
> that purpose. Identify
> yourself each time, and before long they will smile
> in recognition when
> they see you. Does it take some time? Yes. Is it
> important? Yes, indeed.
> It's the foundation of the way our republic works.
> 
> You do not have to be rich. You don't have to be
> important. You make your
> own importance when you walk in the door. A few
> years ago I learned that
> the office of then Senator Mark Hatfield had a
> formula for the value of
> a letter written by a constituent. This was in the
> days before email, so
> the figures have probably changed since then, but at
> the time the value
> of a letter written was reckoned to be equivanlent
> to 14,000 unspoken
> opinions in the district. I thought that was a
> pretty good return for the
> price of a postage stamp. I also thought it was a
> shameful quotient:
> that my one voice was the equal of so many people
> who did not bother to
> raise theirs.
> 
> The rules are:
> 
> First, educate yourself. Don't belive everything you
> read or hear. These
> days, with the internet, it takes only minutes to
> find the source material
> and make sure what you have been told is correct.
> 
> Second, think about it before you write. Once you
> know the facts, form
> your own opinion.
> 
> Third, write it. The forum of America is the postage
> stamp, the email
> letter, the chair in a room in a public school
> townhall meeting. Write
> reasonably and explain yourself. Don't panic, don't
> harrangue. Just
> explain.
> 
> Fourth, note how good that made you feel, and do it
> agian.
> 
> Oh, so sincerely,
> 
> Susan
> --
> Susan Layne Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      
> |"...Gently down the
> 
=== message truncated ===


Victoria
Castle Rock Farm
Jacob Sheep & Nigerian Dwarf Goats
www.castlerockfarm.net


		
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