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

Fri Sep 30 18:27:01 EDT 2005

Hi All.
This is scary stuff to me and I have a suggestion/question.
If communities of small farmers started to work together to lobby, would we 
have more of a voice?  I have worked with students on letter writing 
campaignes in the past, and organization is key.
Mass mailings are helpful, and a system by which we can inundate our 
"leaders" with our opinions seemsto be needed here.
I have to admit...faced with implanting my 10 Jacobs with chips and 
registering them with the government, I will have to think hard on how much 
I can do to conform and therefore continue.
Unless, of course, I am deemed to become a national threat.
And, fyi....there is a bill to stop all graduate study financial aid as a 
means to assist Katrina relief efforts. As a teacher, graduate student at 
Harvard and small sheep farm owner, I think we need to start to be heard, 
somewhere.
Any New Englanders want to connect to make ourselves heard??
Sara
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Victoria da Roza" <castlerockjacobs at yahoo.com>
To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 2:25 PM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Re: Jacob-list Digest, Vol 11, Votes in Washington


> 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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