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Post by TheSquashbuckler on Sept 12, 2004 20:14:27 GMT -5
New Hampshire and Maine are both swing states in 2004. In 2000, they were each decided by less than 5% of the vote, New Hampshire swinging Republican and Maine swinging Democrat. Both states are worth 4 electoral college votes.
It has been talked about before, and with Kerry mounting weak opposition to Bush and the scoundrel leading in the polls for a while, well I say we actually hit the road!
My mom, or poetmom- our newest member on the forum- is willing to drive some pirates up north to see what we can do. Flyers, stickers, maybe even street theater, we need to shake things up. The car seats 7, including my mom and I, so 5 other pirates can fit. Hopefully there will be lots of interest and we can get another car to join in the fleet.
Here are the days my mother could take us, beginning next Sunday:
Sunday, Sept. 19
Sunday, Sept. 26 (until 4:30)
Saturday, October 9
Sunday, Oct. 10
Sunday, Oct. 17
Sunday Oct. 24
Saturday, Oct. 30 (until 3:30)
Sunday, Oct. 31
The election is on Tuesday, November 2nd.
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Post by Pirate Phoebe on Sept 12, 2004 20:59:58 GMT -5
As far as I know I am free all those times (though maybe something I forgot about will come up) and I would like to come.
Maybe it would be more affective if we could go up for the whole weekend and rent a hotel (we could get one room and all sleep in there, to save money, on the floors etc.) and each of us chip in some money.
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Post by Ben on Sept 12, 2004 21:32:44 GMT -5
bleh. here's where i guess i have to deciede if im really willing to do what is essentially working to get kerry elected. i %&%*ing hate 2 party the bs. but kerry is better than bush, even if only by a little.
but i guess i would join you guys if you went. i have my crazy theater schedule to worry about, and i sure as hell am not gonna miss haloween, but i might be able to make it to some stuff.
i don't know how hard it would be since we won't get any chance to scout, but doing more banner drops would be cool. (a lot more fun, and reaches more people than flyering) and a lot more effective than a protest with 7 kids from boston dressed as pirates, especially around halloween. i'm blanking, but if anyone comes up with ideas for cool street theater stuff, that would be cool too.
as for staying up there overnight, i totally agree it would be cool to get more time up there with less driving. but most hotels charge extra for more people, and i dunno how eric's mom feels about sleeping in a room with 6 of us. plus hotels are still kinda pricey, even if we split it. and we'd need to go out for food. i know NH has really good public car campgrounds that are only $5 a person, and have nice bathrooms and showers and everything. i also have enough gear (tents, sleeping bags, etc) for me and at least 2 other people, plus a stove and tarps and such. but thats me, since i'm cheap, and i dont mind camping, even if its kinda cold out.
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Post by Ben on Sept 12, 2004 21:42:04 GMT -5
but alas, the campgrounds are only open till the october 11. and i just realized im not around on the 9th-10. sooo.... going by eric's list of dates, that kills that for me. so never mind all that, unless someone else's parents give us a ride. (my mom hates long drives)
and forgive all of my long, rambling posts, since i've done NOTHING but bike a lot and think about politics (and er, post here) this weekend.
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Post by CaptainLauraD on Sept 13, 2004 10:25:03 GMT -5
Ahoy!
Saturday, October 9
Sunday, Oct. 10
Sunday, Oct. 17
Sunday Oct. 24
I believe these are the dates I am free. I'll double check though. I do agree with Ben that I wouldn't feel comfortable out right campaigning for Kerry so maybe we can do what we were going to do for election day, make flyers etc that say things about not JUST voting but getting active. We can have anti-Bush facts about how he botched the election last year and have calls to get active against Bush and the electoral system. (those facts on another post about the sketchy voting machines could be realyl usefull?) So therefore it can be anti-bush AND pro-direct action, but not outright for Kerry.
I'd be willing to stay overnight in one big hotel room, and maybe we can all chip in money (or use some of the fundraising money) (It will be like a slumber party! We can watch scary movies, and eat junk, and braid each others hair...Okay, maybe not). Or I'd be cool with just going down one day, whichever.
Love and peglegs
Capt'nlaura
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Post by TheSquashbuckler on Sept 13, 2004 16:18:50 GMT -5
taking into consideration when Laura and Ben could go, there isn't any weekend when we could go for two days, plus I don't even know if my mom would be willing to.
I also really hate Kerry, but recently I have become really afraid that Bush will win again. I still don't want to promote Kerry, but I want to make direct attacks on Bush (banners is a good idea). Kerry sucks and hasn't done anything that great, but that is mostly on paper.
I try to remind myself that look, it seems like Bush could have prevented (or at least done more to stop) 9-11, he has started 2 wars which completely destroyed two countries (one war that is endless, the other with tens of thousands dead). 44 million still don't have healthcare, and Bush would never help this. He cut overtime for workers, he has the international gag rule on abortion funding, he wants the govt. to give $$ to faith charities, he didn't stop (and it was Rummy's fault) Abu Ghraib (and the same style has now been reported in Afghanistan). We now have the Patriot Act, Dept. of Homeland 'Security', the Assault Weapons Ban is gone starting today, the deficit is the lowest EVER, over 3 million lost their jobs, free trade is expanding, he hates gays, fucking... jeeze fucking GUANTANAMO BAY....
I mean fuck Kerry, he's a damn sheep and voted for alot of these things (and hasn't said shit on many of the rest) but still... Bush implements my worst nightmare. Sorry for my rant, you all know I hate the two party system and the electoral college, and I know many reasons why Kerry is terrible...
My close buddy Josh asked me yesterday if I thought Bush was going to win the election... I think he is (and so does Josh).
I guess my point is that if Bush wins the election (and like the majority votes for him and all) I will have lost a lot of faith in the people here. Also my point is that my hate for Kerry isn't going to keep me from insulting Bush until my eyes pop out, even if I seem like a Kerry lover.
I think we should advocate getting involved, but absolute #1 for me is to help some people realize that Bush is fucking scum.
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Post by Ben on Sept 14, 2004 17:45:21 GMT -5
agreed, eric.
also, i'm thinking if we want to be at all effective, it might make sense to do several trips, whenever 3 or 4 people can make it up there.
i'm already trying to track down more sheets, again, lets try to think of more good slogans. if people want, i can probably host a banner making thing again. i'm also atarting to think of good ideas for flyers and stickers and look for good ones online.
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Post by TheSquashbuckler on Sept 14, 2004 21:35:26 GMT -5
awesome ben, excellent work. Hopefully we will have money back from the tshirts in time to help buy some sheets/paint or whatever we ened (costumes, photocopies, whatever). I agree that we should make AT LEAST two trips, though I don't want to ask my mom to do more than that, so people should talk to their parents. Right now it looks like the 4 of us, but once Laura sends out the email maybe more will respond. People should talk to their friends who might be interested about this. I have also been doing some looking and brainstorming... I have some good images (but they would only really work on flyers).
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Post by Ben on Sept 17, 2004 17:07:02 GMT -5
and the days go by...
ok, only a few. but what do people think about meeting to make banners and such. next sunday, the 26th perhaps? im not sure, but i think we could use my house again. or that friday or saterday in the late afternoon/night. if anyone has a larger space, where we don't have to either freeze our asses off or get eaten alive by mosquitos outside, that would be very cool.
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Post by Pirate Phoebe on Sept 17, 2004 22:38:42 GMT -5
Sure, if I can, which is probable but not definite.
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Post by TheSquashbuckler on Sept 18, 2004 10:00:04 GMT -5
Sounds good to me, but are we going to have the materials (sheets?) that we need?
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Ahoy
Apprentice Pirate
Posts: 1
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Post by Ahoy on Sept 19, 2004 11:36:05 GMT -5
I realize I may be a a little late in this- I just recently discovered this forum. For anyone who doesn't know, I am Molly, and I go to school with many of the pirates. I was also at the pirate pool partay, pimpin it up.
Anyway, as I said at the meeting I would be quite interested in the swing state trip. I can't go the weekend of the 9th, but any other time would be great. If we have more people than cars, I might be able to convince my mother to give us a ride.
I dont know about the fundraising thing, but people were discussing an overnight stay and I think thats a great idea. Someone mentioned wanting to be able to check out the area before we do anyting, and if we could *somehow* come up with the money to stay overninght I think we could be much more effective. Showing up two days in a row! Making a scene!
But I digress. I want to be more active in this group, since the topic is something I care deeply about. I would love to talk to some people about possible CRAZY WACKY ways to dissent, like street performances and such. If the banner painting happens on sunday, I'll be there.
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Post by TheSquashbuckler on Sept 20, 2004 20:04:41 GMT -5
Hello Molly, you should introduce yourself in the General section so everyone can see!
Below are the two dates that nobody has a problem with (there were three weekends Laura could go, and ruling out the weekend when Molly can't go, these are the two dates left:
Sunday, Oct. 17
Sunday Oct. 24
I am fine with this, though I want to point out to people that these are consecutive Sundays. Also, we can go with different people each time (though I feel it is only right that we include Captain Laura whenever we go since she did have the idea for the group).
Ben: would banner making be for the swingstate trip, the elections (like election day or the day after)?
Assuming it is for the SwingState Trip (SST) then we should do it soon in order to have them done in time for the SST. I don't think I can this weekend (maybe Sunday, but that is pushing it).
The list of people interested, according to this forum, is Phoebe, Ben, Laura, me, and Molly. That's enough people if we all go. Four of us had no problem hanging banners, and we only really needed three. If it stays at that number we can all fit in my car (or if only one more person can come). I think we should talk with Pirate DanArrr, FirstMate Dan, and Pirate Mike particularly because of their involvement with the last banner drop and such to see if they are interested. I can talk to DanArrr at school (so I will).
I also think we should make flyers. I have been talking with Jen Fries, the professional artist who offered us some of her political art for free, and this Friday I am getting some copies of her three peices. I would like to incorporate them if we can.
you can lock us up but you can never keep us down.
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Post by Ben on Sept 21, 2004 17:43:19 GMT -5
this should be good. (hey, that rhymed)
one thing that just occured to me. probably mid-day on sundays is one of the worst times for banner drops and flyering. but there isn't really much we can do about that, other than going during mod break (oct. 9-12) for CSW people. i know i can't make it any of those days except monday the 12th. or we could drop banners after dark on sunday night and hope they don't get taken down before morning rush hour.
do any of you know the NH and ME well?? (my knowledge is limited to the manchester airport and the woods...) i guess the 2 biggest close cities are Manchester and Concord. and if we do go on a sunday, probably either malls or downtown shopping areas will the the busyist. also, dont even know how we would find good overpasses other than by driving around. and on a sunday, we'll have no idea what gets busy during the week. we should probably get maps or look online.
also, for all my looking and thinking, i'm not coming up with any more good banner or sticker ideas. think of ideas for slogans and factoids and such!!!!! please. and research thme if you need facts.
also, in addition to sheets, if anyone has old socks, please try to get them to me so i can make sandbags to weight the banners. ( a few holes are ok, since i've been lining them with plastic bags, but seriously, please, wash them first.)
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Post by Pirate Phoebe on Sept 21, 2004 18:02:04 GMT -5
But but but but boarders have to be back in the dorm by 7pm on Sundays for Study Hours. But maybe since it is a Special Occaison I can get permission to come back by 10pm.
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