Posted by Ryan.Gaba on 05/16/09
Last updated 05/16/09

What a great day!  We have been keeping our eye on the weather all week.  It was supposed to rain this morning, but that didn't phase us.  Nino, Michelle, Justin, Eric, Bob, Dan and I all had a plan to educate the people of New Lenox about the secrecy of the Federal Reserve System and the solution in H.R. 1207, and we did!  This was also the first Will County C4L organized event and I feel it was a huge success.  We started the Will Co C4L off with some education and political activity which are the items that need to be addressed to accomplish the C4L's mission.  A special thank you goes out to my friends from up north.  Thanks for making the trip!

Our team petitioned the 19th voter precinct in New Lenox.  Of the people who answered the door, 92 of them were comfortable signing a petition in support of H.R. 1207.  There were 551 ballots cast from the 19th precinct for the November 2008 election.  I'll leave the math and speculation to you readers, but I have a feeling a large portion of voters in this area are going to be paying a little closer attention to how Debbie Halvorson feels about transparency over the Federal Reserve come election day, especially if there is some sort of currency crisis going on, as we are seeing signs of now.  I would estimate that <50% of people where home, 75% of people I talked to signed the petition.  The houses that did not answer received a H.R. 1207 brochure tucked under their door mat to make them aware of this historic legislation.

Rep. Halvorson, I'll be dropping by this week to let you know how your constituents feel about your week long consideration of your support for transparency and accountability over monetary policy.

Thanks again to everyone who showed up.  It was wonderful meeting you all!  Hope to see some more new faces at this weeks Welcome Meeting.

Posted 05/16/09 Justin Kapacinskas Des Plaines, IL

The HR 1207 Petition Tour really rocked in New Lenox. Thanks to Ryan who did a great job organizing this petition drive (the maps and the planning you did to identify the areas to petition were terrific). And thanks to Bob, Eric, and Dan! You guys rock! We got some good responses today and I thought that many residents of the 11th Congressional District were receptive to the information (many of them quite compellingly so). It's clearly time for Congresswoman Halvorson to explain her position on transparency for the Federal Reserve to her constituents in the 11th Congressional District. We had seven Patriots working on the project today. Just imagine if we could get 20 people targeting an individual area with petitions for HR 1207. Well that's just what I want to do in the 6th Congressional District (Peter Roskam) and in the 14th Congressional District (Bill Foster)--in addition to the great work that the folks in those areas are already doing. Illinois can become a shining example for the country (in this small regard)! How many signatures will be enough for our representatives to clearly and unequivocally respond to our petitions? Several hundred? A thousand? I'm prepared to keep working on this project to Audit the Fed until grassroots political pressure is brought to bear on any Representative in Illinois who stands in the way, through inaction or otherwise, of transparency for the Fed. 165 cosponsors. Let's keep the momentum going!

Posted 05/16/09 Ryan.Gaba New Lenox, IL

Thanks for the great comment Justin. I am with you all the way!

Posted 05/16/09 lisaw Momence, IL

Thanks, one and all. You guys are really inspiring!

Posted 05/17/09 bobjones68 Schaumburg, IL

Most excellent dude!

Posted 05/18/09 peflynn New Lenox, IL

Ryan, It might be a good idea to remind everyone one more time by email about Wed. Pat

Posted by Ryan.Gaba on 05/12/09
Last updated 05/16/09

I have recently sent out messages and phone calls to all of the members in the Campaign for Liberty who are located in Will County.  I expressed my interest in getting together for a Welcome meeting and a lot of you sounded interested.  As of now, I plan to hold the meeting Wed. May 20th, 6PM at the Pilcher Park pavilion located next to Gougar Rd in New Lenox.  I posted the details to the County calendar.  Now, the set of pavilions I would like to meet at is at the back of the park so it would be easiest for everyone to use this location instead of the official Park address.

In order to keep up with events that we are going to participate in, everyone needs to check your daily or weekly digest emails, specifically under the Events section.  If you do not recieve the digest emails I would suggest you sign up for it in the settings under "My Dashboard" when you are logged in.  If you don't have an account here, please sign up and get plugged in.

Posted 05/13/09 lisaw Momence, IL

I will try to make this meeting, Ryan. Thanks for arranging it.

Posted 05/14/09 PappySr Joliet , IL

I will try to attend this meeting.

Posted by Ryan.Gaba on 05/09/09
Last updated 05/16/09

As Lisa mentioned, Debbie Halvorson is now "considering" her support of H.R. 1207.  So we must keep up our calls, letters and visits to her offices, but we also definitely need to do everything else we can to let her know how the average constituent feels about transparency and accountability over the Federal Reserve.  So I am organizing a petition drive in New Lenox for Saturday, May 16th at 9:00 AM.  Anyone is welcome to attend.  I will have the coffee, doughnuts, slim jims, clip boards, petitions, maps, and pens available so all you need to bring is yourself and a smile.  I had planned on organizing a "Welcome meeting" for the first Will County C4L event, just to get to know everybody who expressed interest.  But with the momentum that H.R. 1207 has and the recent news of her acknowledgement of the bill, we really need to act fast and hard on this.  And what better way to kick off the Will County C4L than with some boots on the ground education and political activity?

We can meet at Ranch Frosties, fuel up and answer any questions. My mother down the street also agreed to allow us to practice on her if anybody has never done this before.  I'll have the routes planned out and if we enjoy ourselves, maybe we can pick up where we left off in the following weeks or visit your neighborhood and do the same.  Feel free to contact me through the C4L messaging system with any questions.  If you plan on attending it would be great to hear from you in advance so feel free to contact me or just RSVP through the C4L events calendar or comment below.  Looking forward to meeting all of you!

Event Details

IL-11 Petition Drive for H.R. 1207
Saturday, May 16th 2009
Starts at 9:00 AM
Ranch Frostie
1259 N Cedar Rd
New Lenox, IL 60451

While it would be ideal for everyone to start at 9:00 AM, if you cannot make it then but would still like to help, feel free to contact me in advance and I would be glad to arrange it so you can join up with us at your convenience.

Posted 05/11/09 Justin Kapacinskas Des Plaines, IL

Alright buddy, tentatively I'll say 'yes'. Anyone who would like to commute with me from the Des Plaines area (or along the route) to New Lenox, please contact me. May I recommend making the meetup location in a public place instead of a private residence? Then we can be more confident in publishing the address of a public location. Do you want to put it on the C4L Calendar as well? [Nevermind, I see the Calendar entry!] We could also schedule an event on the Greater Chicago C4L meetup if you wish. Looks like the Metra Rock Island District commuter rail serves New Lenox, but the first train arrives in New Lenox at 9:41 AM on Saturdays. (http://metrarail.com/Sched/ri/ri.shtml)

Posted 05/11/09 Ryan.Gaba New Lenox, IL

Got it. We can arrange a pickup if anybody is interested in that train. Go ahead and post it wherever you want. Thanks again Justin!

Posted by Ryan.Gaba on 04/29/09
Last updated 04/29/09

I am very glad I helped with the H.R. 1207 Melt the switchboard and petition action days.  It feels great knowing we are making a difference through political activity.  But until my Rep signs on as a cosponsor, I am going to do everything I can to pressure her to do so.  That is why I am continuing to petition my neighborhood.  While I am gathering signatures I am going to keep track of how many households support/don't support(ha!) H.R. 1207.  I am guessing I will find most people who don't want to sign, might still support the legislation.  When I am done with my neighborhood I will present the petitions to my Rep and write some letters to the local newspapers containing info about the level of support in my neighborhood and how much has been done to gain Rep. Halvorsen's support, and obviously report back here.

Then I started reading all the reports coming in yesterday about the petition deliveries.  The group from Iowa inspired me to want to emulate them. So I have decided I will try to get a group of people who support H.R. 1207 from my neighborhood to drop off the petitions with me when I finish gathering signatures.  Not only will this have the same effect as a group of C4L members dropping off petitions, it will help me grow relationships with people in my neighborhood, get them active in the political process, educate new people about the Fed, and expose them to the C4L.

So what do you think?  Any other patriots want to join me and pledge to do the same in your neighborhood?

Posted 04/29/09 lisaw Momence, IL

You've got the bug now, Ryan. Keep it up!

Posted 04/29/09 locjeb Jonesboro, GA

I didn't gather any signatures to drop off to my representative's office yesterday, but I did drop off a little something; 1)My personal petition that I printed off of here, 2)The Case against the Fed by Murray Rothbard, 3) A DVD from EndtheFed.us - http://www.endthefed.us/dvd.php - 4)and a short note that I wrote again urging him to co-sponsor HR 1207. Now I will gather signatures from my district and drop them off as you plan to do. I think I'll need as many as I can get - I live in GA's 13th district, represented by David Scott (D), who is on the House Financial Services Committee. I have my doubts that he will co-sponsor, but hopefully watching the DVD and/or reading Rothbard will persuade him to do so.

Posted 04/29/09 Son Of Liberty Erie, PA

keep up the great work!

Posted by Ryan.Gaba on 04/15/09
Last updated 04/16/09

I attended the Joliet Tea Party at the Will county court house today. I heard the organizers announce the estimate turn out was ~400 people. The organizers did a great job, the police officers were very polite and I even got a few of them to sign my H.R. 1207 petition for Debbie Halvorson. I racked up 109 signatures and every signor received a H.R. 1207 slim jim and a Campaign for Liberty brochure.

I was briefly interviewed by a reporter. The reporter knew about Ron Paul's involvement in the starting of the tea party movement. I was able to elaborate on that and mention the PEAC PAC's www.reteaparty.com is largely responsible for the first tea parties that sprang up, and that the Republican Party kind of jumped on the coat tails after the movement was running full steam. I also gave a big plug for the C4L and elaborated on what it is.

I was approached by 2010 Republican candidate for Governor, Adam Andrzejewski's marketing director. He knew who I was, and knew what the C4L is. They really want our support and mentioned that they are trying to work with members of the Campaign for Liberty in other parts of Illinois. He said he would be in contact with me.

When I was getting signatures, 90% of the people signed and I got a lot of enthusiastic "Oh, I'll sign that!" replies. It was a lot of fun telling people about the insidious Federal Reserve, and after I said my bit, almost everybody signed. A couple of anti-tea supporters showed up. One of them was cussing at signs, she wouldn't sign my petition. She didn't know what it was for, but nonetheless I moved on, past the sign yeller. I did manage to get one of the anti-tea supporters to sign. It took me 2 mins. of talking about the Republican parties mistakes under Bush for this gentleman to see through the apparent partisanship of the event, then he signed my audit the fed petition. It is really easy to make the case for this legislation to anyone. The most hilarious thing to me was that people raised an eybrow when I said Congress was going to be responsible for the audit.  That was about as far as the opposition went.

I approached a woman who I believe was one of the organizers. I asked her to sign my petition and right off the bat she said no. I asked her why and she said "because she doesn't sign petitions without any literature." I got the feeling she just didn't want to sign.  I promptly pulled out some literature and started my speel on her.

"The Federal Reserve has lent out trillions of dollars to foreign governments, private corporations and banks. The Congress and the people do not have the power to get an answer from the Federal Reserve to whom the money went and what was the collateral on the loans. This easy to read, one page bill will simply give the Congress the power to get those questions answered whenever they would like to know."

She was trapped by common sense, so she signed.  So come on people, read the pamphlets and sign up for an account at the Campaign for Liberty! And call your representative in favor of H.R. 1207!

Posted 04/15/09 BBLiberty Pekin, IL

Great job! We were signing HR 1207 petitions further south of you in Peoria, IL. Glad to hear your tea party was a success.

Posted 04/15/09 Terri M Hillsboro, IL

You are right about the universal appeal of this bill. How can you say no? No petitions were allowed at the Springfield, IL tea party, but we handed out lots of Audit the Fed Slim Jims and referred them to the on-line petition. You also weren't supposed to pass out leaflets, so I just handed them out as I spoke to people one-on-one, which is best anyway!

Posted 04/17/09 Jason.Riddle Normal, IL

Great job Ryan! I had similar success at our Tea Party in Bloomington, IL. I was able to speak to about 1200 people about HR1207 and my 500 flyers were devoured quickly by the crowd. It was very encouraging to see. Thanks for all that you are doing for liberty! Also, just a slight correction...Congress would NOT be in charge of the audit. That would be the Comptroller General / Government Accountability Office.

Posted 04/18/09 Time 4 Revolution frankfort, IL

hey bud are you 11th district?

Posted 04/19/09 Ryan.Gaba New Lenox, IL

Thanks guys!