A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To a Town Hall Meeting
by Ari DavidImagine the glee I felt when I heard that my wonderfully approachable (yeah, right) Congressman, Henry Waxman, was making a rare visit on August 21st to the district he represents. He wants to hear from us, his loyal constituents, at a town hall style discussion at UCLA focusing on the Cap and Trade legislation.
As a citizen, candidate, and voter in Mr. Waxman’s district, I thought that this would be a plum of a chance for Rep. Waxman to hear what’s on my mind.
That is when it got weird.
Firstly, I found out that one had to RSVP to the event to reserve a space. OK, I thought, Henry Waxman’s personal popularity has never been higher and people really want to be around him so his magic can rub off on them. Maybe they expect quite a throng and thus must have crowd control in place to make sure that the event runs smoothly.
I called his office and asked to be put on the list. A staffer told me about the ticketing process, and lo and behold the reservation system was not even being handled by Henry Waxman’s office but out of California State Senator, Fran Pavley’s website. How odd, the headliner, Waxman, is keeping access to the event focusing on his landmark energy bill hidden behind the opening act of a rather anonymous State Senator. I wonder why? Kind of like pitching Bill Smitrovich in “Iron Man “instead of Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrance Howard. Not to knock Mr. Smitrovich’s wonderful rendition of General Gabriel in last years monster film, but it is Robert Downey, Jr. who puts the folks in the seats. What is Mr. Waxman afraid of?
Next, I went to Senator Pavley’s website to follow the RSVP instructions for the event and instead of just having an online page to confirm that I am coming, the page took an “application” for the event and requested certain data about me in the “required fields” such as name, email address, organization, position in the organization and (not required) phone number.
I filled this all in and the page gave me a message that my application was being processed and I would hear back from them shortly.
Ok, so minus salary information and my SS# this was equal to the amount of information I gave on my first credit card application.
In an effort to guarantee a friendly crowd, can Waxman and company be running a voter background check on all applicants to make sure that only high propensity Democrat voters, (i.e. leftist crazies) are let in? I can understand this because NPR reported that the conservative media has been sandbagging Democrats at town halls across the land by sending in wild-eyed “mobs” of conservative God-fearing menopausal home makers to wreak havoc on the meetings by berating legislators for destroying the free market system, liberty, and our medical care system. When Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan did the same during the Bush years it was patriotism, now it’s called mob behavior. Things change fast!
There are many issues at play here. One is that the most powerful elected official from the LA area is either afraid of or smart enough not to face his voters after doing his best to wreck their lives with his two latest pieces of legislation. Another is transparency. When the Democrats took over Congress after the 2006 elections, Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” of the culture of corruption. This theme was repeated when Obama took office and promised a “new age of transparency and government accountability.”
Some accountability this is.
Passing thousand page bills in the middle of the night that no one has or could read, rushing the bills through by claiming how urgent they are and then taking a couple days vacation to find the right photo opportunity for the signing… If anything this is the least transparent and most opaque government American’s have had in generations. We have no idea what the Cap and Trade and the health care bills will actually contain once they are written – other than a bunch of horrible things that will make our lives harder and cost us more money.
In order to counter Henry Waxman’s lack of openness, I decided to hold my own town hall meeting at UCLA on the same day as his.
Mine will be from 12:00PM-1:30PM in the Humanities Building room 169 and I will take an audience of people from all political persuasions and address their questions in an open and constructive way.
We will also have a panel of experts to answer questions the people have on numerous pertinent issues.
I hope that these events provide a contrast between Henry Waxman the ELECTED representative of the 30th district of California who is not representing our needs and myself, the NOT-YET ELECTED representative but someone truly representing the district’s constituents and not afraid of them.
I hope to see you there, and do me a favor: please ask me the tough questions that you would want to ask Congressman Henry Waxman, if you could.
TOWN HALL ON HEALTH CARE
WITH
ARI DAVID
Ari will be holding a town hall discussion for the public and the constituents of the 30th district on the issue of health care reform.
Friday, August 21st
Noon – 1:30 pm
Humanities 169, UCLA Campus
405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles
Enter UCLA Campus off of Hilgard and park in lots #1, #3 or A
Map of UCLA http://maps.ucla.edu/campus/
Please come and join in this informative discussion with the next Congressman of the 30th district!
www.tinyurl.com/aridavidforcongress
“The first unintended victim of almost every government program is common sense. I would like to bring some common sense back to our political sphere.” - Ari David
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76 Comments
"Some Pig"
Cap and Trade is the biggest organized crime racket in history.
If you believe the world is going to die because of carbon emmissions, cap them. But what does trading imaginary credits do?
Answer: Make people rich.
you hit the nail on the head; public servants acting like royalty.
It's because we give them too much power.
pigman! from Seinfeld
Mr. Waxman is always right and the rest of America are always wrong, just ask him.
I don't take swipes either but all I'll say is this article should have been titled, "A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To Jim Henson's Creature Shop."
My comment about standards for displayed pictures is undergoing approval, or not.
My personal obsevation is that Waxman's picture surely is obscene, if not downright pornographic to a really warped mind.
Almost makes me wish I was in CA so I could drop by. I'll make sure Diebold casts my vote for you six times.
From Mr. David's facebook page:
"It is not the government that grants us freedom, this comes from our creator but it is the people and our laws that grant the government a limited set of responsibilities in order to preserve our freedom."
The essential belief of limited government is expressed in that statement. All actions of a government official should be based in that belief. Representative Waxman has demonstrated time and time again a profound disregard for this belief, such as recently when he put worth an ultimatum for health insurance providers to disclose their compensation to management.
Rep Waxman has proven that he has forgotten (if he ever understood it) that he is a servant, not a tyrant allowed to issue mandates to private enterprise at his whim.
Good Luck, Mr David. I live in the midwest, but if I could I would be knocking on doors in your district, to rid the House of at least this one tyrant, Waxman.
I love that episode and you're right, he would do great there.
Doesn't it sound like he's requiring more information to just come to one of his meetings than he does for people to vote for him in the first place?
Doesn't it sound like people have to provide more information to go to his meeting than they do to vote for him in the first place. Something seems off about that.
Someone I generally regard (who leans left) came out with a weird comment the other day. He was saying our current society doesn't respect authority (which I agree with), but as an example, he cited the way the voters are treating their elected representatives at the town hall meetings. The venue was such that I had to let it go, but I so wanted to say, but the representatives work for the voters! We're the authority in that scenario! In a way, though, he's right–the elected representatives don't respect our authority over them.
That'll do Pig…That'll do.
Common sense?!
I'm sorry, but you're never gonna get anywhere with that gibberish.
" Rep Waxman has proven that he has forgotten (if he ever understood it) that he is a servant, not a tyrant allowed to issue mandates to private enterprise at his whim. "
Here, here. Good luck indeed, Mr. David. If you're lucky enough to oust this jerk – I hope you're strong enough to abide by that same thought once you've been there a while.
A very novel idea Mr. David, keep up the good fight.
The blue states never cease to amaze me. Why do they keep electing these same fools?
Henry Waxman isn't smart enough to be a communist…
But he certainly can pass as the proverbial 'useful idiot'…
when will they understand that they work for us? ugh.
Waxman looks more like a rat than any genuine rodent I've ever seen.
Plus, we the tax payers and we the consumers get to pay the bill.
Interesting how many people attack the man's looks, is it because they can't intelligently attack his statments?
No offense, Ari, but you guys elected this bozo. I mean if you trashed your neighbor's apartment/house every Friday evening and he invited you over for Sunday dinner every Sunday, would you really have any respect for him? This is how Waxman feels about you. You might make noise, but you still vote him back in office. So why would he listen to you?
When Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan did the same during the Bush years it was patriotism, now it’s called mob behavior. Things change fast!
The Left believes that all of us adoring throngs will believe whatever they say and still love them. So now that Ms. Pelosi and others are getting a dose of their own medicine, it does not taste so good. That is why they do not want to be part of the Socialized Medicine program that they are currently trying to shove down our throats.
Keep in mind that one of the very few Absolutes in life is that All Politicians lie. "ALL"
Sometimes, nature plays tricks. Look at The duckbill platypus. Let's stick a bill on a groundhog and let it waddle around. The good congressman is obviously an experiment gone awry.
I am in no way related to this waxman dolt! You can see from my sig that I have full rights to the name so my lawyer will be contacting Mr. Waxman shortly.
This is the only time I wish I lived in CA so I could attend this Town Hall.
That's too bad Waxman ran into a brick wall which is why his nose looks like it's trying to sniff the back of his head. Honestly – all of that stimulus money he's let pass through his hands and he can't scrounge enough of it to hire a doctor to make Waxman stop looking like Michael Jackson?
Then again, if I had a nose like a citizen of Whoville (thank you, Barkerman), I wouldn't want my constituents to look at me either.
Nice turn around! Make sure to invite the invitation-less who turn up to speak with Waxman to join yours
I live nearby but am not a constituent of the 30th, but would attend if it were a Saturday instead of Friday, a work day for me. It makes me think that Waxman intentionally scheduled his "townhall" on a Friday so even more of his entitlement-addicted leftists would go through his vetting process and attend (though it does smack of conspiracy theory). Although he does want a choir to preach to (to whom to preach?).
Good luck, Ari.
It is because he was one of those breed whose physical repulsiveness happens to match that of his character.
It is because he is one of those breed whose physical repulsiveness happens to match that of his character.
Yes you will have to show ID to get in. But he is totally against ID to vote, go figure.
Sounds fishy.
Personally he looks like some of the rat people I've fought in World of Warcraft…google "Kobold" to see what I'm talking about.
Every time I see the book "Who Moved My Cheese?"
I think of Waxman's rodent charm…
I will trade.
Waxman looks like the old Phantom of the Opera…..I'm going to have nightmares for a week now….
He's Piglet's evil twin.
No. It's because his "statements" are beneath contempt. Besides,
it's fun for conservatives to make fun of odd-looking dems for ar
change hearing endless attacks on the Palin's (MILF supreme) looks…
I live in the 35th, Maxine Waters district. Apparently she is not having a Town Hall Meeting. I guess that is as transparent as you get.
He's always reminded me of the Local Shop keeper from League of Gentlemen. He's just as creepy.
FPPC may have something to say about this work being done in Senator Pavley's office. Not exactly state business.
Me, too
Still wouldn't trade Colorado living
i kow what you mean, it's competely out of line. It would be like making fun of Rush Limbaugh for being fat.
Waxman needs to turn his records over to us so we can inspect them the way he wants to inspect the insurance companies who are not paying for the ads to support Obamacare. Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you. Does Waxman not know that the Union is irrelavent. Union vs Seniors………………………..who ya gonna call?
A very smart an impressive campaign kickoff Mr. David. There were two priorities on my political wish list for the comming elections cycles in Cali – Carly Fiorina & Meg Whitman – and now…Ari David makes three. There may yet be hope for the Left Coast. Make noise, make news, just don't stop making SENSE!
In contradistinction to the alien from Waxilon 5, you sir, are a brave man. There are more than enough committed "young Democrats" on the UCLA campus alone to make your town hall look worse than Arlen Spector's. And being UCLA, or what my parents used to call "The Little Red School House" you'll likely get a few screaming communists, trotskyites and anarchists to go with them.
Best of luck.
[...] is the story that Ari wrote for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood. All of the information about the event is there, just scroll down. Here is the information for [...]
We'll be with you in spirit, Ari, but I haven't got this bilocation thing worked out between LA and Seattle yet.
barkerman,
Noo need to feel bad about commenting on Waxman's features. He sure is hard to look at.
Just to catch everyone up, they are no longer "public servants". They are the rulers. Yeah, you can have another election sometime, but they will win it. Doesn't matter who votes or how often; they'll win it.
You'd best be advised to learn this as soon as possible. This is the change we voted for.
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BatPig
Hmm…. I don't usually take the snarky swipes at somebody's physical traits… but I have to ask:
Is it just me, or does Waxman look like a citizen of Whoville in that picture?
That said: I'm so tired of our PUBLIC SERVANTS acting like royalty. We make me sick.
Good luck Mr. David.
Waxman has always reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode where doctors are trying to alter a womans looks so that she can fit into society – and at the end it turns out that the doctors and 'socially acceptable' people look like pig people and she's perfectly normal. Yea, he would do great there.
I live here in CA and I have no idea why.
I live here in CA and I have no idea why.
It's not like our state is kicking ass or anything.
"Interesting how many people attack the man's looks, is it because they can't intelligently attack his statments?"
You are so right. All of these comments and not one of them attacked any of his positions on the issues.
Ask him about his scare tactic letter he sent to the 52 health insurers who don't support Obamacare. It's amazing how they can continue to villify companies that still employe American workers. The health scares that they talk about are the exception not the rule. I know lots of nurses working for health insurers who bend over backwards to help people. But still we vilify them. Here's another dirty little secret, while Obama continues to villify Wall Street firms, they continue to ship jobs overseas. One company has an hr person who was told to "see what jobs we can move to Mumbai ASAP" and these are good jobs. Won't be long until we are all on unemployment which is what they want anyway. If you work in the private sector and Obama has not villified your sector yet, just wait til it hits you-it will unless you gave Obama and ACORN a lot of $$$$$$$$
I resent that. I didn't vote for this smuck but I am stuck with him because of the useful idiot syndrome so prevalent in the San Fernando Valley. I am backing Ari this time and I hope he wins! I can't stand to look at someone so Liberally ugly on both the inside and the outside. Waxman's days as a politician are numbered this time.
Ari! Smooth Move! I think you will get a better crowd, better questions, give stronger answers and probably more will attend your Town Hall than the gnome Waxman's. See you there!
Mr. David,
Thank you for running against this man who thinks he's better than the rest of us commoners. When you get elected, please remember (and remind all those in office) that politicians work for us & that you represent the people of your district, as well as the rest of us throughout this great country. Please don't let us down. God bless you & God bless America!
LOL! He's easily attackable any way you slice it! He's ugly and a leftist loon, AT THE SAME TIME! Is he gay? That would be three strikes!
Kinda like Bwabawa Sweisand…
Dude, don't insult Babe.
OK I have a question, I heard that when Michael Jackson died they lost his nose…..did we find it and what does Henry Waxman have to do with it?
From down here in Poway, YOU GO!!! I love reading your articles here at Big Hollywood. If I lived up there I would totally be campaigning for. I hope you kick Waxman's sorry butt.
Good luck Mr. David. You can save some energy by getting rid of Henry’s vacuum cleaner. He can have one his interns walk him around the room holding him by his feet using those impressive nostrils to suck up the dust a debris, …think green!
Send us a half dozen absentee ballots, we can help that way : )
"I hope that these events provide a contrast between Henry Waxman the ELECTED representative of the 30th district of California who is not representing our needs and myself, the NOT-YET ELECTED representative but someone truly representing the district’s constituents and not afraid of them. "
It's very interesting that most of these elected officials are NO longer working in our best intrest. If officials like Henry Morgan Waxman can no longer work in the interests of his constituents, than these are grounds to recall him! Or he can just be replaced by any of the fine candidates running against him when his seat is up! Just ask yourself, Can you afford Crap and Tax Bill?
Because guys like Waxman keep bringing home the — uh — bacon.
Oh, I feel bad about that.
How can conservatives get the leftists out of office in "Blue" states? That is what I want to know. The day we learn how to do that is the day the United States might have a chance to survive for another 100 years as a free country. The 60s radicals changed things and there has to be a way to change them back.
Not to pick on Henry "Get-your-nose-off-the-glass" Waxman too much but this bit from Iowahawk is the best!
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/page/70/
Who-ville…. that is great…… very funny. I gather the reason why Waxman, wants to make it a little harder to get a spot in his town hall is simple…He wants to be able to say that he held a town hall meeting! and escape any controversy if one should arise….. these willy dems are a crazy bunch….
Well…
Between them, Pelosi and Waxman have the right amount of cosmetic surgery. It just needs to be distributed better.
Awesome website…
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