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[UPDATED] Stop #Beck - Visa

[Update] Here is the response I received to my email...

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding Visa’s advertising.

As a brand that was built on the trust and respect of its consumers, Visa values input from the people who use our products every day. Feedback such as yours is vitally important to our business.

We have forwarded your comments regarding the Glen Beck Show to our media-buying team. You can be assured that your views - along with those of your fellow consumers - will be taken into account as we plan for the future.

Again, thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts on this important topic.

Regards,

Visa Webmaster

Today we are contacting Visa, here is my email...

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am writing to ask you to discontinue your sponsoring of Glenn Beck. He spreads hate, incites and encourages anti-government sentiment and encourages race baiting. These practices negatively impact your customers, Glenn Beck is bad for your business.

Do the best thing you can for your business and discontinue your sponsorship of Glenn Beck.

Thank you

Please contact Visa with me and help Stop Beck!

UPDATE:
You can also contact Visa directly at 415-932-2564. This number is monitored Monday - Friday 9am-8pm EST. Thank you to an Anonymous commenter for the information.

Contacting Sponsors of Glenn Beck's-Chattem Companies

My email to Chattem Companies regarding their sponsorship of Glenn Beck's Fox News Network program.

Dear Consumer,

Let me start by telling you how much we appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts about our advertising. Chattem has been in business for over 125 years, and in that time, we have learned to listen to our consumers above everyone else. It is through feedback such as yours that we attain a real time understanding of the sensitivities and concerns of consumers. I will forward your comments to the appropriate department for review.

Again, thank you again for taking the time to contact us.

Sincerely,
Susan Shell
Consumer Affairs Representative


Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 5:43 PM
To: Consumer Affairs
Subject: Your Sponsorship of Glenn Beck

I am contacting you to ask that you discontinue your company's
sponsorship of Glenn Beck on Fox News Network. Glenn Beck spreads hate
& bigotry against the very people who purchase your many products. It
is not good business to sponsor his vile hatred.

If you would like to join in our fight to stop the spread of bigotry and hatred br Glenn Beck, you can contact Chattem Consumer Affairs by following this link.

Thank You

Now Watching StopBeck.com

Please visit and support StopBeck.com Free speech is one thing, but hate is quite another, lets put an end to Beck's hate. Contact his remaining sponsors and tell them to stop supporting hate and bigotry. Click on the post title or follow this link and start contacting sponsors!

Thank you for your support!

[UPDATED] Note to Senator Amy Klobuchar

I composed this note to Senator Amy Klobuchar upon hearing that she had mailed a letter stating she does not intend to sign the letter to Harry Reid in support of Reconciliation and the Public Option. I'm sharing the contents of that letter in the hope it will inspire you to also compose a note to Senator Klobuchar encouraging her to sign the letter and support the Reconciliation and Public Option. Feel free to copy my note if you wish.

I have heard you will not sign the letter in support of the Public Option. I would like to ask you to reconsider. The Public Option is supported by a majority of Americans and its potential for cost savings is important. As you know the cost of health care for Minnesotans, as well as the rest of Americans, is skyrocketing. We need to revamp our health care system and that revamp needs to include a strong public option. Please take time to think about this issue again and reconsider your position. Join your fellow Senator Al Franken and sign the letter in support of the Public Option & Reconciliation.

Thank you for your time.

You can locate Senator Klobuchar's website by clicking on the header to this post or go straight to her email form by clicking here.

UPDATE 2/18/10:
This evening in my email I received a response from Senator Klobuchar, I have pasted it in its entirety below...

February 18, 2010

Thank you for contacting me about health care reform. Knowing your views is important to me as I work to ensure that Americans have affordable, high-quality health care choices. Many of you have written to me in the past and I want to take a moment to update you on the status of the health care reform legislation.

As you know, I am committed to enacting reform that will provide stable coverage and lower costs for Minnesota families, businesses, and individuals. Health spending in our country currently accounts for more than one-sixth of our economy. It is imperative that we act to make the system cost-effective, proactive and stable. As Congress works toward solutions to rising health care costs, I will continue to push for a bill that includes strong cost reforms, protections against insurance company abuses, comprehensive Medicare coverage and debt reduction.

This past fall health care reform legislation passed in the House of Representatives. The Senate passed its version of the health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, at the end of December. The Senate bill includes incentives to increase access to primary care doctors, especially in rural areas; provides extensive tax credits to small businesses to purchase health care plans for employees; bans insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions; fixes the "donut hole" by giving seniors better coverage for their prescription drugs; and includes provisions to combat Medicare fraud. If enacted, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office indicates that the Senate bill would reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion and extend the solvency of Medicare by nine years.

Currently, procedural options for the bill include having the House of Representatives pass the Senate health reform bill with changes and send it back to the Senate for a vote, or begin work on passing a revised bill. Among the changes I would like to see are eliminating the "Nebraska deal," improved protection for middle-class taxpayers, and making sure there is more transparency as the process continues.

While we continue to consider this legislation, I will work to ensure any version ultimately passed by Congress includes measures to benefit our state. I fought hard to ensure that the Senate bill included specific provisions to provide better health care for Minnesotans. Minnesota has consistently provided higher quality care, yet our health care providers are reimbursed for their services at a disproportionately low rate. To address this problem I worked to make sure that my bill to create a "value index" within the Medicare reimbursement system was included in the Senate bill. This provision would reduce costs by rewarding high-quality, cost-effective results, rather than paying procedure-by-procedure.

I was also able to ensure that the Senate bill reduced the original fee on medical devices - an innovative industry critical to our state's economy - by $18 billion and I worked to secure additional Medicaid dollars for the state of Minnesota. The Senate bill also includes the EARLY Act, a bill that I introduced to provide increased support and awareness to young women about the risks of breast cancer.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. One of the most important parts of my job is listening to what the people of Minnesota have to say to me. I am here in our nation's capital to do the public's business and to serve the people of our state. I hope you will contact me again about matters of concern to you.

Sincerely,
Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator

The response doesn't actually address my concerns, in fact it really skirts my whole email and just tells me what Health Care Reform she supports. The question of the letter to Harry Reid isn't even addressed in her response. Perhaps YOU can get a better response from her. Please email Senator Klobuchar and ask her to sign the letter to Harry Reid in support of a Public Option and using Reconciliation to pass it. Hurry, email her today!

There's still time to save Health Care Reform

Reconciliation in a legislative process is defined as follows:

A legislative process in the United States Senate intended to allow consideration of a contentious bill without the threat of filibuster.

Bold Democratic Representatives have authored a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid encouraging him to use reconciliation in passing Health Care Reform with a Public Option. But we still need your help. Contact your Representative and tell them you support a Strong Public Option. Follow the link, fill in your Name, Address & Zip Code then follow the instructions to call your Representative and voice your support!

You CAN make a difference, call your Representative today!

Winter Stock Photos

Had some fresh snow today so I bundled up and got a few new Stock Photos from my backyard. I've uploaded them to my deviantART account and you can preview them in the slide show at the bottom of this page.

Hope someone can use them and please share with me, what you come up with!

Thanks for looking!

My iPhone Apps

I've had my iPhone for about 2 months. Shorter than most but long enough to have accumulated a fair amount of "apps" along the way. I've decided to share with you some of the apps I have downloaded and tell you my thoughts on them. If you enjoy this article, please let me know in the comments and I will do more like it.

Best Buy Best Shopper
We were recently shopping around for a new LED television so I downloaded this little gem as an aid to watch prices at Best Buy, where we planned on making our purchase. The app let me know any time the prices on the televisions we were watching dropped or went up, as well as the lowest and highest those prices reached in a period of about the past couple months. What were my results? The app enabled me to purchase my new television at the lowest price in recent history so it's purpose was achieved. Were there any negatives to this app? We were also able to get a surround sound bar with our television in addition to getting it at the lowest historical price. How is this a con? We stumbled upon this deal because we had very good timing, the app did not list this additional purchase incentive. Not really much of a negative but maybe more like a way to improve it in future updates.

Twittelator
I tried many different Twitter apps when I got my iPhone. Many were good but one stood out to me and I now use it exclusively, Twittelator. I like Twittelator because in addition to letting me view the tweets of the people I follow as other common Twitter apps do, it also allows me to view tweets in which I am mentioned, Tweets that are directly and exclusively to me and, best of all, the new Twitter Re-tweets. What else do I like about Twittelator? Smileys. When communicating online and especially when you are limited to 140 characters, words can be easily misunderstood, smileys help communicate intention and emotion. Smileys are to the written word as body language is to verbal communication. I love smileys. Of course its got more options too, like it allows you to manually tweet what you are listening to in the iPod app. Even better, it also allows you to tweet a picture either from your media library or via an impromptu snapshot. Very cool feature. What are its cons? If it has any cons, I haven't found them yet. I love this app!

On the chance that you don't care for my app reviews, I'm going to limit these first reviews to two. If you enjoyed these reviews and want me to write more, please leave a comment and let me know. I know most people don't leave comments on the blogs they read but I do and would really like to hear what you think of my posts.

Thanks for visiting!

We MUST Pass Health Care Reform!

Reconciliation in a legislative process is defined as follows:

A legislative process in the United States Senate intended to allow consideration of a contentious bill without the threat of filibuster.

Health Care Reform is in jeopardy. Although the Democrats have the largest majority in decades, they no longer have the magic filibuster proof 60 votes. But all is not lost. Representatives Jared Polis and Chellie Pingree have authored a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid encouraging him to use reconciliation in passing Health Care Reform with a Public Option. But we still need your help. Contact your Representative and tell them you support a Strong Public Option. Follow the link, fill in your Name, Address & Zip Code then follow the instructions to call your Representative and voice your support!

You CAN make a difference, call your Representative today!