Many of us ‘ordinary’ citizens could not ignore Michele Bachmann’s call to action to join her and others on November 5th in Washington D.C. to express our concern over the current House version of the health care bill being shoved down our throats.

Close to 1.5 million of us peacefully descended on Washington on September 12th. It seemed nearly impossible to get a decent turnout on such short notice (less than a week). But the response was so huge that they had to move the rally to the West Lawn of the Capitol. An estimated 20 to 45 thousand patriots from all 50 states participated in Thursday’s spontaneous “House Call”. And I would say that each of us probably represented at least ten other people who could not make it there in person.

The no longer main stream media, hollyweirds, congress and the president can pretend to ignore us, ridicule us and dismiss us. That only makes us stronger. And the reality is if they choose to ignore the will of the people, we know who they are, how they vote and we will vote them out. We will have the last word. We will no longer take our citizen responsibilities for granted.

As with any gathering of protesters, you get other groups joining in expressing their right to assemble as well. And the media tends to focus on the few and not the many. The Lyndon LaRouche PAC was there with their Hitler signs. They’ve been turning up at almost every protest and town hall meeting not matter what the issue is since the 1970’s. Heck, they’ve been outside my post office for years. Their signs and literature has their name right on it. That’s NOT us, it’s them. Code Pink and some anti-abortion groups were there as well.

But besides our sheer numbers, there are other major difference between us and them (most other well-known activists).

First of all, we’re not seasoned activists or astroturf. Most of us didn’t even participate in the 60’s anti-war protests. We have jobs, families and social lives and we expect that our elected representatives represent us so that we can enjoy life and not have to protest, read and interpret thousand page bills ourselves. We do not get paid to participate; we make personal sacrifices to be involved. And we didn’t get organized by others; we organized ourselves and some have joined forces with like minded organizations. We’re not sheep and they cannot pull the wool over eyes any longer. This is not about theatrics, this is real.

Secondly, we are peaceful and just want our voices heard. We do not smash windows, set cars on fire and blockade streets. We don’t threaten, intimidate or beat up people that disagree with us.

We recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the National Anthem, listened to some really great speeches about liberty and freedom and chanted “kill the bill”. After the rally, thousands of people lined up outside their representatives offices to speak their concerns in a face to face meeting.

Oh yeah, once again we left the Capitol grounds as spotless as we found them.

There are many great videos on YouTube of the event and here are just a few.



Operation House Call Pledge of Allegiance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9DamlYrvWc

Operation House Call, National Anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJook0xcRLg

Kill The Bill - Washington DC Protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVxQyiDuxb8

Michele Bachman at the D.C. KILL THE BILL Rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHY1tp6JVw4

Kill the Bill: Americans fight healthcare reform
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFZRekpqpk

But I had no idea that this was going on outside Speaker Pelosi’s office. There were a handful of unrelated anti-abortion protesters that pre-planned to tear up pages of the bill and disrespectfully litter her office and the hallways of the Capitol. They were arrested. We were not. There were also Medea Benjamin and her 5 Code Pink members standing with their pants down and their naked butts hanging out of hospital gowns left open in the back. We were fully clothed. Many of us got to actually speak with our representatives, they did not. Also nine pro-pelosi-care supporters were arrested for staging an unlawful sit-in in Lieberman's office. No arrests were reported among our group, but some media outlets are reporting this wrong including CNN and the Huffington Post.

And if you are wondering why people don't watch MSNBC anymore get a load of Keith Olberman's coverage of the day. Please, if you know poeple that still watch MSNBC talk some sense into them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-0qTKNWgoM&feature=related