Well, the Rock Hall nominees were announced, and again Al has been shut out. I can't say I'm surprised for a variety of reasons, but no matter. It's time to pull out the big ammo, the one I've been saving for a rainy day of sorts.
I have aligned the campaign with Care2, the premier petition web site for political, social, and cultural causes. I have been an active member of their site for the last few years and I can say without doubt that this is THE site for grassroots efforts to use to get the word out. Recently the site even absorbed the more familiar ThePetitionSite.com, if that's any indication of their notoriety.
Care2 will be hosting our campaign's first ever online petition. Now now, I know what some of you may be thinking. "Aww, but we just did a petition!" or "But online petitions don't work...someone on AOL said so!" etc. After seeing how online causes have evolved in the last eight years I think the time is right for an online petition, something interactive and quick and easy to get new support for. And with "Stop Fowarding That Crap to Me" still fresh on our minds, the chance of timing an online petition to that seemed like too delicious of an idea.
And also, I wanted to do something extra special. Care2 allows members to earn "points" for activities done on the site, which can then be "spent" on real-world projects running the gamut from humanitarian aid to environmental causes. Knowing how important the protection of natural resources is to Al--and to help offset the "damage" done by physical paper petitions--I have decided that for every 500 signatures this petition receives, I will arrange to have Care2's partners at Trees for the Future plant a tree in a part of the world that desperately needs it, which could be anywhere from a Third World country to right here in parts of the United States. It's something that means a lot to me, something that's positive and progressive without being political or preachy, and something that I like to think Al himself would get behind if it was for any other cause.
There will of course be additional events in the coming months, including the annual Tweet-In on Twitter and the long-awaited release of the documentary
Yankoheit 27 at the end of the year as an exclusive on Amazon (and I might be able to pull off something REALLY cool in order for everyone to see it), but the petition is the new "big" project...and sadly, unless some miraculous show of support happens, this might be the campaign's final major push for quite some time. I hate to use another song reference, but it may be time to put all of our eggs in one basket.
The current goal for the petition is 27,000 signatures. I would absolutely love to see that broken many times over, but let's play it by ear. We have a long ways to go until next September.
For right now, just follow the three steps:
CLICK the link,
SIGN the petition,
FORWARD it along....
http://www.allthingsyank.com/petition