November 10, 2013

Texas Retirees Get Love from President Obama

If you saw President Obama speaking about health care in Dallas on Tuesday, of if you saw a video or televised account, you also saw some of the greatest activist the Texas retiree movement ever knew! Tom Berry, Susan Duarte, and George Nolan were standing right in the front row while the President spoke.

George is the new President of our Dallas Chapter. We elected Tom as our new Vice President at the Thursday, November 7 meeting. Most of our discussion was about our trip to Waco on November 11 (Veterans Day) to speak against the cuts being advocated by Waco Congressman Flores. George also noted that we need to change from “first Thursdays” to a better meeting time, but he has to work that out with other activists and the Postal Clerk’s hall on Postal Way, where we’re meeting.

But before the meeting ended, we got a careful narrative on how the three of them interacted with President Obama. In addition to the usual talking and handshaking, Susan Duarte was hugged by the President of the United States. Twice! We were thrilled to hear about it, but not entirely surprised because the Texas Alliance for Retirees has begun to turn up pretty well everywhere, and the threesome from Eastern Dallas rarely miss an opportunity to stand up for retiree rights.

As the smils and congratulations tapered off, and we were getting ready to go, I said to Susan, “Congratulations again on getting a hug from the President.”

“Two hugs!” she said.

–Gene Lantz, President

PLEASE contribute any amount to Texas Alliance for Retired Americans by clicking here.

We’re also still gathering petitions for health care implementation in Texas. Sign our petition at:

http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4055/c/1254/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4684

Contact Gene Lantz at labordallas@sbcglobal.net

Judy Bryant at 214-729-0063

facebook: Texas Alliance for Retired Americans

Twitter: @Tx4TARA