Just heard on radio that over a hundred thousand AARP members have

[Bandit]

canceled their membership and that they were getting cancellations in by the thousands. I guess I wasn't the only one. Maybe this will make them think twice. A hundred thousand is only a drop in the bucket compared to thirty five million but still a significant number.

[neuvocat]

1. Where you know of one

there are many. If its 100,000+ reported then you know its actually much larger than that in reality.

[DrFunkenstein]

2. I Heard 15,000 On NPR

But I can't say that definitively.

[radfringe]

19. look at it this way

it's 100,000 in only 5 days... if my math is correct that's 20,000 per day

I also heard that people are having problems canceling their membership - getting the "voicemail" runaround etc. which may prompt many of them to cancel via snail-mail

I suspect the number will be greater in the coming weeks. Many families are gathering for Thanksgiving dinner, and there are members of those families that are retired or near retirement age - can you guess what might pop up as a discussion over desert?

[radfringe]

20. AARP message board link

http://community.aarp.org/rp-legislative/start

people are pissed

[TexasPatriot]

3. my parents would...

but their insurance is through AARP...
funny how that works isnt it...

[mlawson]

5. Are they satisfied with AARP insurance??

Or, maybe they haven't needed it yet. My mother was on it for years, and every month it came out of her pension, but the benefits were erratic and far less than her premiums. One thing you need to know, if you don't: AARP does NOT pay, if Medicare doesn't. Check it out, there might be better insurance programs for them.

[madfloridian]

7. Most of the companies through AARP let you keep your insurance.

Many people have checked. Check out the forums at AARP for more info. Most let you keep it even if you drop membership.

[LastRobot]

4. surprise surprise

and does anyone think that this wasn't the point?
and now how weak is the AARP the largest lobby in Washington?

[Atman]

6. Think twice about what?

Once Smirky scribbles his X on it, it's the law.

AARP shoulda thought twice BEFORE it endorsed the plan. No prob...the value of the 100,000 memberships probably isn't close to the money AARP will reap from their new sweetheart drug plan. even after the rate increases they'll inflict on the remaining members.

[madfloridian]

8. Thanks. That is encouraging.

I am going to call Alliance for Retired Americans tomorrow to see how many new members they are getting.
Kennedy said they would keep at it. I hope so.

[calimary]

13. Cool - got a number?

[xchrom]

9. i love that kind

of action -- bring it on, baby -- keep kickin and sooner or later that wall will crumble!

[bluestateguy]

10. AARP

I'm going to bring up the subject with my parents this weekend. I might be able to get them to drop their membership or at least let it expire without renewal.

[booley]

11. is there an alternative to AARP?

I mean, since I am not a member I wouldn't know but I am sure AARP provides soem kind of important service to it's members ..just that watching out for thier political interests is no longer one of them.

But if AARP is goin to get money becuase of the new medicare plan as some have said..why should they care if even half thier memberhip leaves? Especially when those memberships are probably going to suffer more then AARP is?

but if there is somebody else, another group to replace AARP then the situation becomes quite different.

just a thought from a whipper snapper too young still to be involved in AARP.

[Hamlette]

12. the reason they care if they lose membership is

they need the members for clout. They could no longer say "we represent 35 million Americans, vote our way or we'll tell our members to vote you out of office." It's why the NRA is so powerful too.

My mom (not an AARP member) spent all day yesterday on the phone calling all her friends and telling them to drop their AARP membership.

And my generation is almost AARP membership age. I won't be joining. Maybe my generation will join the Gray Panters. They still around?

[KG]

14. a-yep they is.

www.graypanthers.org

a rather left-leaning group. :)

[neuvocat]

15. Here:

www.retiredamericans.org

[madfloridian]

16. Here you go.

http://www.retiredamericans.org/

We got a lot of forms from them, given them all out, and need more.

[welshTerrier2]

17. heads we lose, tails we lose

it's great to see so many members willing to cancel their AARP memberships ...

but we're missing the larger picture here ... the republican plan has been to infiltrate all lobbying organizations to have them align with right-wing ideology ... the members are like passengers on a hijacked plain ... the hijackers don't really care if they jump off ...

if people quit AARP, they don't really care ... that's just another way to weaken the organization ...

here's an old article about what's going on the in wonderful world of lobbyists:

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A22406-2002Jun9¬Found=true


Republicans are researching the party affiliation and political contributions of hundreds of lobbyists in Washington, part of a campaign that could deny government access and prime lobbying jobs to Democrats, according to people familiar with the project.

<snip>

"What's different this time is you will have this list to control access" to the White House, Congress and federal agencies, according to a GOP lobbyist working on it. "That's been very clear from the discussions."

<snip>

Republicans involved in the effort said they plan for it to be used by White House officials, lawmakers and staff to determine who can meet with party leaders in discussions of policy matters. The idea is to alert GOP officials and staff members to Republicans who "deserve" such access and to Democrats who don't, said one lobbyist involved. It will also give busy lawmakers and officials an idea of whom they are dealing with, even if they don't choose to keep Democratic lobbyists out of their office.

<snip>

Ever since they won control of the House in the 1994 elections, some key Republicans such as Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) have advocated aggressively tracking the political proclivities of lobbyists. They have wanted to use the information primarily to remove Democrats from top positions at trade associations and Washington-based offices of major corporations.

<snip>

[UTUSN]

18. Kick n/t

[hayu_lol]

22. Even more important than the cancellations...

All members are entitled to refunds, pro-rated of course, but those few dollars times the number of cancellations will cause a big dent in the AARP budget. And thats just on the membership fees...if they had insurance with AARP, the dollar costs of backing the 'Publicans will be quite high...plus the loss of renewals.

[dusty64]

21. Makes me wonder what other

organizations have been infiltrated. Any ideas how to find out. I know the ACLU has been bringing a lot of rethugs into their fold, bob barr comes to mind and I think dick armey. Also I think I saw newt gingrich joining an environmental organization, but I can't remember which.