Weekly Update 3/22-3/24

3/22
Yesterday, my partner and I worked on improving the air supply. We successfully managed to upgrade the system by adjusting the nozzle and the vinyl tubing. This new and better system allows us to effectively move the cue ball and skantly manuever the baseball.

3/24
Morning:
"You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs - Victory in spite of all terrors - Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realized. No survival for the [Technology DARE], no survival for all that the [Technology DARE] has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."
-Anthony Fischer, "Blood, Sweat, and Tears"- 3/24/2010

Afternoon:
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that [the TSA] is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, [today] is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this [victory], at this defining moment, change has come to [The Marine Academy].

I just received a very gracious call from [the High Tech participants]. [They] fought long and hard in this campaign, and [they have] fought even longer and harder for the [association they love]. [They have] endured sacrifices for [the TSA] that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by [these] brave and selfless [leaders]. I congratulate [them] for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this [association's] promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the vice-president [of the Marine Academy's Technology DARE Team, Sam Judkis].

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to — it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest [victor] for this [competition]. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington — it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this earth. This is your victory.

For that is the true genius of [the TSA] — that [the TSA] can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

[The TSA], we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: If our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the [TSA] Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we [did]."
-Anthony Fischer, "Yes We [Did]"- 3/24/2010