Obama table in Madison: June 21 Edition (ninth one in 2008)

zulchzulu

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Sun Jun-22-08 11:32 PM
Original message

Obama table in Madison: June 21 Edition (ninth one in 2008)

Edited on Sun Jun-22-08 11:55 PM by zulchzulu

It was the ninth Farmers Market Obama table for this year and was a very pleasant, warm Solstice day with lots of people from all over the globe walking along and choosing from all kinds of locally grown, baked, crafted and political flavors. The Obama table is one feature to many at what the New York Times mentioned "The Dane County Farmers' Market in Wisconsin is now recognized as the largest in the nation, and is still growing."

The night before the tabling, I made sure the weekly war scorecard was updated and visible.

Here's this week's ever growing sad news:

Weekly War Scorecard

Cost of Iraq Occupation:
(running total):
$530,598,374,041
- $4,681 per household.
- $1,721 per person.
- $341.4 million per day

American Deaths:
4,097

American Wounded:
30,333

Iraqi Body Count:
1,241,159

As of June 21, 2008 at 12:00AM

Sources:
www.iraqbodycount.net
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths....
www.defenselink.mil
www.antiwar.com/casualties
www.costofwar.com

It was finally a fantastic day to be tabling. Very little wind, no chance of rain and everyone was in a great mood.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of bumper stickers, it was time to be tactful with handing them out. That's right... people now had to do the "Terrorist's Jab", aka the fist slam than was described by Fox News as some secret handshake when Michelle Obama shared their moment when he won the nomination.

Let's just say that most people laugh and gladly make the greeting before walking off and into the busy market. We make them sign up on the email list too. Given that we at the Obama table are presently doing it on our own time and on our own dime, the least people can do is sign up.

As for stickers, some homemade Avery labels are very popular but many people want the official Obama stickers and buttons. There were at least a dozen families with up to five people who wanted stickers (and in many cases have a few on paper for later) that have made the supply get low. It's a good problem to have actually.

What has been interesting is that there are a number of other tables near the Obama table that have fantastic, dedicated people there week after week. There's a United Nations table, a PFLAG table, an AIDS Network table, a NARAL table, some adoption tables and others. Next the Obama table is one for Pancreatic Cancer. The woman who takes care of it lost her mother in 1999 to the disease and it's amazing for her efforts and sad to hear people come up and share their stories.

While all these tables surrounding us are busy, we are doing our best to spread the message and get people registered to vote.

There were a few Freepers who wanted to stop by and express their hate or ignorance. It's gotten to the point where all we do is be overly friendly and smile enthusiastically and wave. That scares them off, although they are usually practically running away.

There were, as is usually the case, many people from around the World who stop by to express their support for Obama and hope he gets elected. I assure them that he will.

The absolute best thing that happened after the long day was when Tammy Baldwin (my representative) stopped by to ask for a sticker. I thanked her for her support and reached for a hidden Obama button for her (they do like hot cakes). She had supported Hillary Clinton, but was now supporting Obama. If you've read this OP so far, I would ask that you go check out her site and possibly contribute (www.tammybaldwin.com).

Gobama!