Glens Falls DFA Meetup Feedback -- new date?
Hello Everyone;

This is just a short update to ask a question and pass along some info:

First; We've always met on Wednesdays. However, we now have the tools to move the date when we have our monthly Meetup. I know some of you may have difficulty getting to us on Wednesday night. For our March meetup, how many of you would like to see our Meetup on the first Tuesday?

I know that many of you have not had a chance to see the George Lakoff video based on "Don't Think Of An Elephant," his book on framing. This would give everyone and a possibly a new group another chance to see it, and believe me, it's worth it because both are great. If you are interested, and let me know at ldudley@larrydudley.com.

In other news, there was a conference call last night for us meetup leaders with Jim Dean, Governor Dean's brother and the new Honorary Chair of Democracy For America up in Burlington.

Jim has been working on Governor Dean's campaigns since 2000, and seems really up to speed on everything DFA. He had a few comments:

*We need to keep working on the same things we were working on before the November election, organizing grassroots and working for candidates and issues and values.
*Although this is technically an "off" year, local races are still very important.
*DFA will be endorsing candidates across the country and that process will start soon.
*What we do this year will set us up for the 2006 Congressional mid terms, when we really want to start making gains.
*There are a lot of things we can do that no one else can do because we have this movement -- like articulating frames.
*We need to expand DFA and the progressive movement from the ground up -- this is the most important thing we can do.


Also; our national focus for this month's meetup will be on Social Security. I'll have more on this in the coming days.

Again, March will soon be upon us and the next meetup, so it's time to start thinking about it.

Finally, there have been some great articles on Governor Dean's election as head of the Democratic Party.

The NY TImes great Paul Krugman really gets it:
Krugman


Also check out Howard Kurtz in today's Washington Post:
Media Notes



The Times Union also endorsed Dean:
TU Endorses Dean



Also, I know quite a few of us are interested in the issue of reaching out to various religious communities. Here's a really interesting piece with links from DailyKos on how Dean intends to reach out to evangelicals. If successful, this could spilt the Republican coalition.
DailyKos



The Governor also announced his Transition Team at the DNC:
DNC



Also, there are at least two really major stories that are only beginning to be covered by the mainstream media. The first is the "Gannongate Affair." In short, a male prostitute (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!) who worked for a fake news agency was able for two years to pass as a real White House Press Corps journalist. Imagine what would have been done with this if it had happened on Clinton's watch! Importantly, it was liberal and left wing blogs like DailyKos and Democraticunderground that both broke and forced, forced, mind you, this story into print. What's major, also, is that it is tied into the Valeria Plame affair, where the identify of a covert operative was blown for political reasons. Gannon may have been a player in that sad saga.

Not to be missed: Frank Rich -

Rich


And Maureen Dowd:

Dowd


For more:
The DU



Finally, a reality check on the electoral disaster in Iraq -- the Mullahs linked to Iran are the real victors:
Juan Cole


Middle ages, here we come.
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 2:31 PM