Tricounty DFA update; meetups next week in GF and Saratoga and more
Hello Everyone!

In this update:

1. Meetups Wednesday, 6pm in Glens Falls, 7:30pm in Saratoga
2. DFA take over at DNC complete
3. Great Town Meeting on Social Security last Monday
4. John Sweeney fighting for DeLay
5. Hevesi Event Saturday
6. Gore Address
7. Trade Alert

1. Meetups Wednesday, 6pm in Glens Falls, 7:30pm in Saratoga

The first of the month is coming around so there will be Meetups in Glens Falls and Saratoga this coming Wednesday!

In Glens Falls we will be meeting at a special time: 6pm, not our usual 7pm. At the last meeting we voted to move up the time so Matt Funiciello can present folksinger Dave Lippman. To quote Matt, "Dave is better known as "George Shrub - The World's Only
Known Singing CIA Agent". He gained much recent fame when NPR began to air his singles, "I Hate Walmart" and the always-appropriate, "Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers On Drugs". According to Matt tickets will be on sale for $10 and the concert starts at 8pm.

Starting at 6pm gives us plenty of time for our May agenda. I'll have more on this over the weekend, but I anticipate a presentation by our candidates. It's also time we took at look at adopting a mission statement for our local DFA group. We will also be discussing our national DFA agenda; they are urging us to engage in a local community volunteer project to bring attention to DFA, our people and the progressive things we stand for. The floor will be open to suggestions. We all will be getting information directly from Burlington on this.

Remember, 6pm and we will be starting on time because we have to get done by 7:30. To reach the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe, take Exit 18 of the Northway east into downtown Glens Falls. Past the Hannaford Supermarket, bear right at the Stewart's store. Go past the Post Office and the Hospital to the first intersection before the main intersection downtown. The Cafe is by the light, at the corner of Elm and Exchange Streets and Hudson Avenue.

Pat Friesen has scheduled a Meetup for Wednesday as well. I hope to have more for you over the weekend.

2. Dean take over at DNC complete

I had a great conversation tonight with DFA Executive Director, Tom Hughes. Tom expressed his best wishes to all of you and thanks everyone for all we've been doing in DFA!

Tom also confirmed something I noticed in an email I received from the Democratic National Committee today; Tom McMahon the former Executive Director of Democracy For America sent out his first message to us as --- the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee! Tom Hughes agrees this means the Deaniac takeover of the DNC is complete: Howard Dean, Chair, Tom McMahon, Executive Director, and Laura Gross, Communications Director (formerly communications director of DFA). And others, I gather.

Sign up for DNC updates from Governor Dean and new DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon:Sign Up With Our DNC!

3. Great Town Meeting on Social Security last Monday

I want to thank everyone who turned out for the Town Meeting monday on Social Security, sponsored by the In This Together Coalition, which we endorsed last month. One of our youngest members, Kam Spaulding, spoke to rousing applause! Congratulations to Kam and the organizers for a great job.

4. John Sweeney fighting for DeLay

News comes tonight that Rep. John Sweeney has more on his mind than those two great burning crises facing America: baseball players taking steriods and horses getting turned into dog chow. Yes, "shut it down" Sweeney has a new cause, saving America's most corrupt Congressional leader, Tom DeLay, so he can go and sin again (and again and again and... well, you get the idea). Check out this account in the Hill Magazine: Sweeney

5. Hevesi Event Friday

There will be a fundraiser for NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi sponsored by Saratoga County Democratic Chair Larry Bulman, Saratoga Springs Democratic Chair Shawn Thompson, and former Saratoga Springs Mayor Ken Klotz, tomorrow, Friday, April 29, 2005 from 5:30pm-7:00pm at One America Way, Saratoga Springs. Tickets are $50, with Sponsors at $100. Wine & light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Please RSVP to Mary Carr: 518-584-7735

6. Gore Address

The man who won the 2000 election, Al Gore, gave a major speech yesterday on the counter-revolution the radical Republicans are trying to stage against everything we've achieved as a nation since 1776. Some people think it's the best speech Gore has ever given. Print and video at:
Gore

7. Trade Alert

Can't sent out an update without some good links; the trade issue and more non-empirical globalization agreements that fly in the face of all experience are coming before Congress again, this time CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which will extend the failures of NAFTA to Central America: CAFTA at DU

This is from Mark Weisbrot of the Center For Economic and Policy Research. Center For Economic and Policy Research


The Center sends out regular email updates that on economic policy are really the best available, and unlike the high priced Wall Street types, they are free.

See you all next week!

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:12 PM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Town Meeting on Social Security Reminder and more
Hello Everyone;

In this brief update:

1. Town Meeting For Monday the 25th On Social Security
2. Hevesi Fundraiser
3. What the world is hearing that we are not
4. Tom Franks addendum on What's The Matter With Kansas

1. Town Meeting For the 25th On Social Security

This is a last minute reminder that tomorrow, Monday, April 25th at 6pm at the Saratoga Springs Public Library there will be an open Town Meeting on the subject of Saving Social Security. Rep. Sweeney has been invited If Sweeney doesn't show, there will be an open chair debate. Please bring your friends! We need a large crowd to show our support for Social Security and the growing strength of progressive activists in the North Country.

2. Hevesi Fundraiser

There will be a fundraiser for NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi sponsored by Saratoga County Democratic Chair Larry Bulman, Saratoga Springs Democratic Chair Shawn Thompson, and former Saratoga Springs Mayor Ken Klotz  on Friday, April 29, 2005 from
5:30pm-7:00pm at One America Way, Saratoga Springs. Tickets are $50, with Sponsors at $100. Wine & light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Please RSVP to Mary Carr: 518-584-7735

3. What the world is hearing that we are not

The most influential news organization in the world is the BBC and those who watch BBC World on WMHT and VPT hear of many issues that are virtually never covered by American media. This is also true of Canada's CBC. A special BBC documentary recently won the award as the best British documentary of the year. It's title is The Power of Nightmares and it is about the intersection of two radical "isms" and where they came from and how they feed on each other and need each other, but generate a false reality that there is a real international terrorist threat from "islamic fascism." The CBC has a good webpage up at Power Of Nightmares that is full of text laying this out with excerpts. When you review this you realize never has so much been invested so speciously, basically to maintain the Orwellian fiction we are in another war of civilizations like the Cold War, with all the power relationships that flow from that perception. This is wonderful stuff.

4. Tom Franks addendum on What's The Matter With Kansas

Most of us have heard of Tom Franks and his great and now famous book, What's The Matter WIth Kansas. It's a must for all Democrats and progresses who are trying to figure out what went wrong. Just out is a major article by him in the New York Review of Books. He takes the Kerry campaign to task, among many other things, as well as the clique of Corporate Democrats in Washington. This covers much of the same ground Dean has been addressing in the DNC's new polling identifying "Backlash Republicans," mostly former blue collar Americans who in Dean's words are just terrified of losing everything and are just blindly lashing out by voting for Republican manipulations of their anger. As Franks' bluntly points out, as does David Sirota ( Sirota ) in the 90s Democrats blew off tens of millions of working Americans with trade deals like NAFA that blew up in our faces. In effect, at the very least, we simply stopped talking about the economic issues that deeply matter to millions of distressed working Americans. Link

There is also a terrific post about Franks piece on DailyKos about the intersection of deindustrialization and the changing roles of both men and women in the last 30 years. There is some strong language in here but it is really a corollary to Franks article, an extra dimension. Link


Remember, we need a good crowd to show support for Social Security tomorrow.

Many thanks,

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 1:25 PM 0 comments

 
Update on Town Meeting and More
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. Town Meeting For Monday the 25th On Social Security
2. Washington County Women's Luncheon April 23
3. Hevesi Fundraiser
4. Dean in California
5. Sweeney confronted in Albany

1. Town Meeting For the 25th On Social Security

We'd to remind everyone to put Monday, April 25th at 6pm at the Saratoga Springs Public Library on their calendar. There will be an open Town Meeting, to which Rep. John Sweeney has been invited, on the subject of Saving Social Security. This event is sponsored by the In This Together Coalition, which is closely connected to the Working Families Party, along with local democrats and our local DFA groups. There will be a panel to share their personal Social Security stories and discuss America's most important social program. If Sweeney doesn't show, there will be an open chair debate. Please tell your friends and bring them along! We really need as large a crowd as possible to attend this event to both show our support for Social Security and the growing strength of progressive activists in the North Country. It should draw a lot of publicity.

They are looking for at least two more panelists; a young person and person of color.  If you know of anyone fitting these descriptions who would be willing to tell their story, (or anyone who might know someone who knows someone), please call Liz Dedrick ASAP at 369-9275.

One of the issues that came up very strongly at our recent National Action Day where a group of us met with a representative of Congressman Sweeney, is that many people don't realize how many people receive Social Security Survivor's and Disability benefits; about a third of all beneficiaries. Further, hardly anyone understands the impact of Bush's "reforms" on these vital programs.

Al Cannistraro, who was at the meeting, sends this link to an article which covers how these programs work and exposes what would happen under the Bush scheme; I highly recommend it. I know I learned a lot: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0405russell.htm

2. Washington County Women's Luncheon Tomorrow, Saturday April 23

The Washington County Democratic Women’s Spring Luncheon will be held tomorrow, Saturday, April 23, from noon to 2:00 PM at the Cambridge Hotel, 4 West Main St., Cambridge NY. The featured Speaker is Clare Brandt, Co-founder and Chairperson of the Dutchess County Democratic Women’s Caucus. $20 per person, choice of Broiled Scrod, Chicken Caesar Salad, London Broil, or a Vegetarian (Note: not tax deductible). To reserve your seat, send $20 payable to Washington County Democratic Committee (WCDC) to Louise Talkington, 3954 County Route 30, Salem NY 12865. Call Ellen Faber at (518) 677-8345 for more information.

3. Hevesi Fundraiser

There will be a fundraiser for NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi sponsored by Saratoga County Democratic Chair Larry Bulman, Saratoga Springs Democratic Chair Shawn Thompson, and former Saratoga Springs Mayor Ken Klotz  on Friday, April 29, 2005 from
5:30pm-7:00pm at One America Way, Saratoga Springs. Tickets are $50, with Sponsors at $100. Wine & light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Please RSVP to Mary Carr: 518-584-7735

4. Dean in California

Governor Dean recently gave an important speech as the keynote at the annual Convention of the California Democratic Party. You can read the full text on our blog posting below this one.

Dean particularly addresses how and why Democrats have to address the fears of millions of working Americans who have been left behind by the modern economy. There is also a fascinating echo of Dean's themes in an review/interview with social and economic guru Richard Florida, author of The Rise Of The Creative Class and other works. Dr. Florida's work is terrific, and we can clearly see his themes at work in Saratoga Springs' resurgence; Saratoga is a classic Creative City as is, for instance, Burlington. His theories are very important for local Democrats who want to run and revitalize our areas. Dean Keynote
Incidentally, there's also a letter to the editor of Salon on this subject by yours truly on Salon today. Letter

Dean also was in the State of Florida on Monday and gave a good speech there, too. This one has video with it and it is a corker. A free registration is required: Dean In Naples Florida

5. Sweeney Confronted In Albany

This is from Liz Dedrick of the In This Together Coalition:

"On Tuesday, a group of about 20 of us got together at Albany Law School to “track down” Rep. Sweeney who was giving a guest lecture at the school, so we could finally hear his views on Soc. Sec..  We stood outside the door with posters and flyers that we gave to everyone entering the building.  Unfortunately, Sweeney didn’t come in our door.  A few of our activists did go in to hear the lecture and ask Sweeney about his views on this critical issue.  In responding, Sweeney acknowledged that we need to have “a lot of discussion” on this issue, to which the incredible Al Ormsby (one of our activists) asked, “great, so will you be coming to our town meeting next Monday at the Saratoga Springs Library?”  As many of you can guess, Sweeney DID NOT commit to coming!  We did get great press coverage though in the Troy Record, the Post Star, and on Channel 6 News.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made Tuesday’s event a success!!"

Hope to see as many as possible at the Saratoga Springs Library on Monday at 6pm!

Many thanks!

Larry Dudley
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:02 PM 0 comments

 
Dean Speaks in California
This is from mydd.com from somewhere on the California State Democratic Party site, the full text of the Governor's speech to the Democratic State Convention in California.

"Howard Dean - The Voice of the Democratic Party Grassroots


Introduction by Art Torres, who said he though this was the best speech Howard Dean has ever given:

It was in 1998, in a high rise in San Francisco, that a Governor of Vermont came to visit. I had never met him before, but he was very important even then, because he was the Chairman of the Democratic Governor's Association. He told me he was going work very hard to help elect Democrats to state houses across the country. And I want to thank him personally for helping us elect Gray Davis in 1998 as Democratic Governor after eighteen years of Republican rule. That was Howard Dean. When he ran for President and did not succeed at first, he didn't stop. He didn't say I'm done, I quit, I walk away.

He went back to work. He went back to work for the Democratic nominee for President and Vice President. He went back to work for Governors, City Council Members, School Board Members, County Supervisors, members of Congress, legislators across the country, because he did not give up on the Democratic party. Those of us who are here know what candidates for President sometimes do. They fade away. They say thank you very much I'm off to do other things. Not Howard Dean. Not Howard Dean.

His Democracy For America has transformed the politics of America. His political experience has given him a unique perspective, not only in the 1980's as the County Democratic Party Chair. Many of you don't realize this in Vermont he was the County Democratic Chair...In 1983 he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. He was elected to be Lt. Governor and then re-elected. In1990 he became Vermont's Governor on the death of Gov. Richard A.Snelling, on Aug 14, 1991. He was in his medical office, never thinking he would be Governor and being called to say that a vacancy had occurred and he was now the governor of Vermont. The rest is history. He did not give up on us and we have not given up on him.

Rather than go away, back to Vermont, great maple syrup and other things from that great state. Did Dean decide to fade away after 2004? No. He came back not to run for President, but to help rebuild the national Democratic party and revitalize it from the bottom up.

As he did so, he created more enthusiasm and more energy because for the first time grassroots people realized for the first time, especially as the officers of the state Chairs of the Democratic party, realized his man is for real, he was committed to the grass roots and the fact that he wanted to head the Democratic party and work from the bottom up, reassured all of us that this party has a future in America.

So I am thankful for the conversations we had by cell phone during his campaign. Late at night, calling from Vermont, me calling from San Francisco. exchanging ideas and exchanging visions. To know that I played a very small part in supporting him to take over this national party along with many other state chairs from around the country, is one of my proud moments. Because we are truly committed to the people in this room. People can talk about commitment, but as other speakers have said, Howard Dean follows through on his commitment and his word.

Please welcome Vermont's favorite son, America's National Democratic Chair, Governor, Doctor, Man Of The People, Howard Dean.

Howard Dean: Thank-you. (Standing O) Thank-you. . . . Thank-you. . . . Thank-you. . . .

(Imitation of The Ahnold) I'm here to announce that I'm running for Governor of Caleeforneya.

You have three great candidates for Governor in California so I'm not doing that. I appreciate everyone being here. I really appreciate Art's kind words and his help. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate Mike Honda and what he has done. He is a complete team player and has been working his heart out, so that we can have some semblance of honesty back in Washington D.C. Mike we thank you very much for that.

I also want to make sure we recognize Alice Travester who is a Californian, who is Secretary of the Democratic National Committee. Stand up and wave. I can't see anything up here with all of the lights in my face.

I want to thank Alexandra Rooker the Vice-Chair, and congratulate both Art and her on their re-election a few hours ago. I appreciate all of your help a lot. If only California had been the first primary state. What I want to know is what is the legislature doing moving it to June 6th?

The first thing I want you to know is that this is not my chairmanship it is our chairmanship together. There is nothing one person can do by themselves. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I sought this office is because of you. A lot of people here are people who have not been to a Cal Dem convention before or have not been on assemblies before or consider yourself a Dem three or four years ago.

I watched what happened in California during the Assembly District elections a few months ago. Once again the grassroots got it before I did. I watched and I thought if you were going to reform the party from the ground up and I thought I'd try to help you reform the party from the top down.

Together we need to do a lot of things.

I've been really pleased by what I've seen in the last few months. People used to say the Democratic party was really not a party, just a collection of interests. That isn't true any more. The future of the country is threatened. We're going to do what we need to do and work with who we have to work with to make sure America gets back on the right track again.

The first thing we did was start to put organizers in all fifty states.

You have seen the last eighteen state Presidential campaign in America. We can't win if we don't campaign in all fifty states. I went to Mississippi a few weeks ago, because I think if you don't show up in a state, how are people going to respect you if you don't even ask for their vote? So I went down to Mississippi. The Chairman of the Republican party called me all sorts of names before I even got there, which is what your do when you don't have anything to show for having been in power for five years.

When I got there I found that 900 people were waiting to get into an 800 capacity ball room. All four former Democratic Governors of Mississippi were there, which is unusual because they usually run the other direction when a national democrat shows up. They are desperately hungry to win in Mississippi. They are hungry to win in Tennessee. They are hungry to win in Kansas.

Because the truth is there are no red states there are no blues states. There are only American states, and we all share the same values as Americans. Our problem is not that Americans don't share our values. Our problem is that we don't communicate what those values are very well. Our problem is not that we need to change our values. Our problem is that we need to talk to people in language that is relevant to their lives and not just ours.

Democrats are cerebral people. Sometimes we make policy, but

We don't communicate to people why that policy is important here.
We have a young pollster who did a fascinating poll for us.

Which among other things shows there is a group of people who have the highest level of anxiety that I have every seen in America. About one quarter of Americans are worried. They are worried about the President sending more of their jobs overseas than ever before. They are worried about losing their health insurance, even more than has already been lost. These people are one check away from losing their mortgage. One check away from having to go to a bankruptcy court. And yet they vote overwhelmingly Republican.

At the other end of that anxiety about economics, there is an enormous anxiety about their kids. These people are terribly worried about what they see coming across their television at their children, and they don't know what to do. They are worried about the Sheriff who just discovered the methamphetamine lab two counties over and they know it's headed for their school. They are worried about moral values. They are worried about gay marriage and abortion and all of that stuff.

But what they are worried about more than anything else is that they've already lost control of their life economically. The only thing they have left that they can't lose control of is their kids and their families. We need to talk to those folks. We need not to react to the backlash and the differences and opinions about gay rights and things like that, because that's the symptom.

What is real is the fear and we don't address it. We come across like "Well that's unreasonable, that's irrational." Then our next reaction is we have three programs that are going to help that: early child hood education, early intervention and universal health care. All good things. What they hear is "Oh, I see, you want to take over raising our kids for us."

We need to change the way we talk to folks. We can'tkeep talking to people talking from here. We need to talk to people from here. Seventy percent of Americans vote from here. We don't have to change our core values. I've been to Mississippi. I've been to Tennessee. I've been to Kansas. If you stand up for what your believe, people will respect you. We may not get one single additional vote from those states, but we will never again be demonized the way the President demonized Democrats.

We need to show that we respect folks. The best way to show we respect people in all fifty states is to show up and listen to what they have to say and understand them. Not that we should ever agree with a violation of civil rights or equal rights under the law for all citizens. That is a core belief for all Americans and certainly for every Democrat.

I think we need to talk about abortion differently. And I'll tell you just what I mean by that.

Republicans have painted us into a corner as being pro-abortion. I don't know anyone who is pro-abortion. I don't. They back us into getting into an argument over whether abortion is a good thing or not. Did you know there has been a 25% higher rate of abortion since George Bush was President than when Clinton was President? We can make common ground with folks.

The issue we need to debate is whether a woman gets to make up her own mind over what kind of health care she's going to get or whether Tom DeLay gets to make up her mind for her. That's the issue we need to debate.

When I was campaigning for this job I ran into a lot of women in the south who said they were pro-life. They would tell me "I wouldn't want an abortion and I wouldn't want my daughter to have an abortion, but I'm not sure if I'd want to tell the lady next door, if she was in a fix, whether she should have an abortion."

We call that person pro-choice, but she calls herself pro-life. The minute we start talking about choice, she's not listening to us anymore.

When we say this debate is about whether a woman has a right to make up here own mind Every woman in America has been told what to do by somebody else once in a while. Every woman in America gets that Democrats believe that individuals should be allowed to make up their own mind and that politicians in Washington will not make these decisions for Americans. (Standing O)

I want to talk about moral values for a moment. It is a moral value not to leave more debt to your children than then the debt that you encountered. That is a moral value. We have not seen one Republican President balance in the last forty years balance the budget of the United States of America. Borrow and spend borrow and spend borrow and spend. We can't trust the Republican party with our taxpayers' money.

Social Security is a moral value for people who have worked all their life. They deserve to retire with dignity. We ought not turn Social Security over to the same people who gave us Enron.

A strong defense of United States of America would be stronger if we continued to have the high moral ground in foreign policy. If we were only the admired nation that America was before George Bush took office. We would have a moral foreign policy and that would give us the ability to defend America. America is not going to be defended simply by having a strong military. We also need to have high moral purpose.

It is a moral value, as some of our evangelical friends have recently pointed out to conserve and steward the earth and the environment we were so lucky to have been given. Environmental preservation is a moral value.

It is a moral value not to cheat hard working middle class Americans by telling them that you've given them a tax cut when you raised their property taxes and exercised federal control over their schools. It is a moral value to tell the truth. It is a moral value to be honest in our dealings with others.

It is not a moral value to be reprimanded three times by the ethics committee and then trying to get rid of the committee.

It is not a moral value to have 204 judges confirmed and then try to get rid of 200 years of Senate precedent, to get the last 10 on the bench.

It is not a moral value to create the largest deficits in the history of the U.S. of America and have our creditors be those who may one day be our enemy.

It is not a moral value to threaten judges of the United States of America because they made a decision that you don't agree with.

It is not a moral value to insert yourself into the private and most personal life and death decisions of a family at a time of their greatest need.

We can't win if all we do is talk about the problems that the Republicans have given this country. We can only win if we have a positive agenda. And that positive agenda includes jobs for Americans that will stay here in America. That positive agenda includes making labor unions stronger, so that every American can have the great dream of making sure that their children do better than they do.

That positive agenda includes committing America to join every other industrialized nation on the face of the earth and have a system of health care that every single American is covered by.

Every one in this room is here because you were able to give some money to the Democratic party. Everyone one in this room is able to give some money to the Democratic party because for the most part, you're doing OK. You may be struggling , but you're doing okay. Thank-you for that too.

Everybody is here and can afford to give a little bit to the Democratic party because somebody, either your parents or their parents, or their parents, came here, or in the case of native Americans were here before we got here. You're here today as a success because somebody in that chain between those who came and those who are here tonight, benefited from a free and public American education.

What we will do as Americans is make sure that when the Democrats are back in power, that public education is supported. We will say no to Gov Swarzenegger's attempt to take $2 billion out of the education fund last year and break his promise by not putting it back in the education fund this year. Governor, keep your promise to the children of California and fund public schools. That is how we get ahead in America.

Governor, don't go down the same road as Tom Day We can't use any more corrupt Republicans in office in this country. Governor, give our children the $2 billion you promised to make our public schools a success. The school system has been harmed enough.

Education, opportunity, a health care system that works for everybody, including a middle class people who are afraid it may be bankrupted. an economy that relies again on budgets that are balanced. Imagine every Republican Senator voting no on pay as you go bill that Republicans put in. The idea that we would ever in our life time see Republicans become the party of fiscal irresponsibility to me is astonishing, although very little is astonishing in Washington any more.

We want to rebuild America. We want to rebuild America's infrastructure. Which is being gutted by a tax policy that forces states and municipalities to raise taxes or go without. We want to rebuild American morals so we care about each other again and can publicly say so again. You know Social Security is not just about money. Social Security is about whether we have responsibility to each other in our community or not.

We will make sure that we are one nation. And part of being one nation is including every body. Including everybody and being honest with each other again, and that won't be easy all the time. Democrats make mistakes. Lord we've made plenty of them.

We don't have that far to go. We got 48% of the vote after all of the mistakes we made. We don't have to do a whole lot to come back. All we need is three percent of the vote. Three percent of the vote to cast aside the propaganda of Fox News. Three percent to bring our health care policy in synch witht the rest of the world and three percent of the vote to take back moral foreign policy and be the shining example of opportunity and compassion and caring that this country once was.

Three percent to say to the people of California that we will fund California schools. Three percent to look ourselves in the mirror and say we are not leave enormous amounts of debt to our children. Three percent of the vote , we dcdan do it.We need four year campaigns in all fifty states. We need one other thing.

Some of you have heard this story before, but I'm going to tell it again anyway.

When I was campaigning for President. There was a lady in New Jersey who helped us enormously. She raised a lot of money for us. Very smart people including people from previous Democratic administrations and so forth. One of the guests was this woman's 30 year old daughter, who was a school teacher from Texas. We were talking about things and Church and State came around and everybody was talking about that. And all of a sudden the woman from Texas popped up and said "Governor, I don't agree with you on that, I'm an evangelical Christian we don't believe there ought to be separation of Church and State, we believe this is a Christian nation."

You could have heard a pin drop. Everybody was a little uncomfortable. And we changed the subject to something else and went on.

At the end of the evening I was saying good by to the guests. I asked her Tell me how it is that you happen to support me. You can't possibly agree with my views that a woman has the right to make up her own mind about her health care or that gays ought to have the same rights as everyone else.

She looked at me and said "we are deeply troubled by you views on gay rights and a woman's right to choose. But we support you for two reasons. The first reason is that our child has kidney disease. That means In Texas that we cannot get health insurance for our child, we can't get health insurance for anybody in our family. We think everybody ought to have health insurance.

The real reason we support you is that evangelicals are people of deep conviction and you are a person of deep conviction. What we look at more than anything else is not if you will agree with every single one of our convictions, but if something happens to our family or our community or our country, that the people who are going to make the decision to help us are people who will make that decision will not make the decision based on focus groups but out of deep conviction.

We can put money into every state and knock on every door, but the only way to win a race in American politics is to stand up for what you believe in. (Standing O)

The reason that this party is the party that has always led in times of change, and there are so few Presidents who you can think of on the other side who have really made a difference in America, is because there are a lot of people, not just political leaders in this party, but people who stood up to make a difference, at some personal sacrifice, and sometimes their lives, to say who they are and be proud of who they are and stood up for what they believe in.

If we say what our values are If we refuse to be bullied. If we inform Americans about what we believe instead of letting the other party do it. If we stand up and bring people to us, to lead towards change again, vote by vote, election by election, precinct by precinct, year by year we will take this country back for the people who built it. You are the people who built America. We want our country back. Thank-you very much. Thank-you. Thank-you very much. (Standing O)
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:55 AM 1 comments

 
Tri-county DFA Update: Crisis Alert! Social Justice Sunday -- Also Ballston Meetup Wednesday
Hello Everyone;

There are only two items in what is essentially a emergency alert update:

1. George Lakoff on Frist's framing smear & hijacking
2. Social Justice Sunday? Write a letter?
3. First Ballston Spa Meetup on Monday


1. George Lakoff on Frist's framing smear & hijacking

Honestly, the moment you think it can't possibly get any worse, it gets a lot worse! We may have heard that Sen. Bill Frist is going to participate in national televised link to right-wing churches on the 24th. However, the message of this seems to have slipped by a lot of us. (Perhaps like me you were wrapped up in doing your taxes.) I know it got by me.

However, our language guru, Dr. George Lakoff is out there posting and calling everyone's attention to the appalling implications of the language being used: they are trying to cast anyone who endorses using the filibuster in the Senate to prevent extremist judges getting life tenure as the same as efforts by southern segregationists to prevent Civil Rights legislation for all Americans. This is so despicable it's enough to make you dizzy. With no exaggeration, Hitler's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbles was a piker compared to these people.

Lakoff himself puts it best, here is his posting:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/4/15/2016/11711

"The right-wing frame is now complete and Bill Frist has signed on with Tom DeLay: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now used against people of faith." This is not just the nuclear option; it is the thermonuclear option. The implicit claim is that every religious person is a right-wing conservative. Filibustering against horrendous right-wing judges is repudiating all believers in every religion - and being racist to boot.  The national campaign is on. Sunday April 24 is booked for national TV at a Kentucky megachurch and called "Justice Sunday."

"We must respond. We will call April 24 "Social Justice Sunday." We must show that spiritual progressives are alive and well and willing not just to speak out, but to shout out. The Clergy and Laity Network and DriveDemocracy.org are leading the effort.

"Religious progressives support social justice, not injustice. We want to protect life all the way from birth up until the edge of death. We will brook no government interference in difficult, even agonizing family decisions. We believe the common good is necessary if we are to pursue our private goods, and that government should use the common wealth for the common good. And we need our judges, and we need to keep them safe.

"There are more religious progressives than right-wing fundamentalists. There are more of us than of them. They may be better organized, but this is changing and that change starts April 24. This is our test. Will we stand up to them? Will we write to our ministers, priests, imams and rabbis asking them to join us in speaking out? Will they put signs on their places of worship celebrating "Social Justice Sunday?"  Will we organize and hold candle-light vigils and marches on the evening of April 24? Will we invite the media to sermons on Social Justice Sunday and to vigils?

"We have already begun to organize - in just hours. Drivedemocracy.org and the Clergy and Laity Network issued a press release and activated their coalition of sixty progressive religious organizations. We called upon every religious organization to join with us.

"We are members of Martin Luther King's "beloved community."

2. Social Justice Sunday? Write a letter?

So what can we do?

1. The first thing is write a letter to the editor. For the Post-Star the email address is Managing Editor Ken Tingley, tingley@poststar.com Tell people you think it is morally wrong to use faith in this manner, that there are believers on every side of these issues and (if you are a progressive Christian) that there are more progressive Christians than right wing ones.

2. f you are a member of a church or synagogue, you can call your minister, priest or rabbi and talk to them about what Lakoff suggests. If, like me, you are a Christian or Jew who is not a regular member of a congregation, I'm not sure what to suggest. Go back to #1, I guess.

3. If anyone is interested in a candlelight vigil -- City Park in downtown Glens Falls comes to mind, the bandstand where Bobby Kennedy spoke, email me back. If enough people are interested, we'll try and get something together. But we are going to need a good sized crowd! Or we can't do it at all. Talk to your friends -- see if they would be interested, too.

3. First Ballston Spa Meetup on Wednesday

There is a new DFA meetup coming to our area: Ballston Spa. This meetup is being organized by Patrick Southworth, the Town of Ballston Democratic Committee Chair. We would urge everyone on this list in the Ballston Spa area to join in this new meetup. There are many burning issues in Ballston today, only one of which is the effort to keep historic and scenic Ballston Spa from being Walmarted. For more information go to: http://dfa.meetup.com/904/
The meetup will be on Wednesday, April 20. at the Ballston Rescue Squad Building. If anyone needs directions please call 281-4718.
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 8:53 PM 0 comments

 
GF-Tricounty DFA: After Action Report On DFA Meeting With Sweeney Representative
Hello Everyone;

In this abbreviated update:

1. After Action Report: Social Security
2. Dean Speaks On the Road
3. Town Meeting For the 25th
4. Ballston Spa Meetup on the 18th
5. Washington County Women's Luncheon April 23


1. After Action Report

Local DFA people here in Glens Falls, NY, met today with James Clark, the local representative of Congressman John Sweeney. This was part of our national DFA Action Day with True Majority to contact our congressional representatives on Social Security.

First, Dick Dudley and I know Jim from when Dick was Councilman At Large and City Council President here in Glens Falls and Jim was the Republican Mayor's assistant, so the meeting was very cordial, perhaps more than in some other areas. Jim emphasized that Rep. Sweeney is still listening to his constituents on this issue and is committed to keep listening. Only ten of our members were present, at Jim Clark's request (there was only so much room and some of us had to stand as it was). Everyone got a chance to speak at good length and all the comments on Social Security and the personal Social Security narratives were excellent. Jim took extensive notes. I also gave him a printout of DFA's Social Security Stories for NY's 20th CD.

Several of our members conveyed deeply moving personal stories on how Social Security had affected their lives. Here's a sample of only a few, because almost everyone seems to have been directly touched by Social Security or had an immediate family member who literally needed it to survive:
*One brought a disabled child up to adulthood and how he need disability payments
*Another needed survivor's benefits to raise her two children after her husband suddenly died.
* A third, who suffers from MS and is now wheelchair bound, explained how incredibly difficult it was to live on existing disability payments, and afford the expensive medications she requires.
*Yet another needed early retirement after a career reversal in order to make ends meet on a $10 an hour job.

The following points came up, some repeatedly and at length:
The difference between a defined benefit and a defined contribution system, as Bush has stated. One is guaranteed to retirees, the other could run out.
Survivors & Spousal benefits; how are these to be handled under a privatized system? Jim admitted he had no answers available on that.
Disability: there are many district residents who receive disability benefits; what will happen to those under a privatized system?
If the system is privatized, do people realize what can happen if they retire in the middle of a downturn in the market? Several members present related that they had taken significant, if not severe losses in the stock market or mutual funds, contrary to what they were told, and lacked confidence in any kind of market based solution.
Why can't the $90,000 cap on taxable income be raised?
It's wrong to saddle young people with trillions in new debt.
That the vote in the House of Representatives the previous day to abolish the tax on Unearned Inherited Wealth, or the Estate Tax or Paris Hilton Tax, threw way One Trillion of the 1.7 Trillion needed to close any potential gap down the road in Social Security.
The 20th CD is a relatively poor district, with few millionaires, so abolishing the Paris Hilton Tax made no sense at all.
That our Meetup historically attracted large numbers of Nelson Rockefeller - John Lindsey type moderate to liberal Republicans who were shocked at what Bush was doing and didn't support these changes either, and that there were significant numbers of them in the 20th CD.
That Bush is pushing a Social Darwinist version of our society, and this is a repudiation of traditional American values.

Jim took our names and promised to get back to us on the specific questions we raised. In response to another question, he admitted that no groups had asked to meet with them who were in favor of privatizing or abolishing Social Security, only groups who wanted to save Social Security. He said area labor unions were particularly strong on saving Social Security and had been particularly intense.

We don't know how this will come out. Jim was visibly quite affected. However, Sweeney is quite conservative, but I think we we made it clear there is no call from NY's 20th CD to make radical changes in America's most important and successful social program.

Apropos the comments on abolishing the Unearned Wealth or Paris Hilton Tax, take a look at these accounts if there is any doubt in anyone's mind about this: dKos

Washington Post

2. Dean Speaks On the Road

Governor Dean has been traveling around the country speaking to Democratic groups. This is an excellent report from yesterday summarizing the Democrat's victory program which reflects Dean's latest thinking. As usual, the Governor is at least a couple of cycles of observation, decision and action ahead of anyone else in the Democratic Party. It's really encouraging: Dean's latest thinking

3. Town Meeting For the 25th

As we've noted before, put 6pm on April 25th at the Saratoga Springs Public Library on your calendar. There will be an open Town Meeting, to which Rep. John Sweeney has been invited, on the subject of Saving Social Security. We are hoping to get as large a crowd as possible to this event, which is sponsored by a variety of groups lead by the In This Together Coalition, which is closely connected to the Working Families Party, along with Democratic and local DFA groups. If Sweeney doesn't show, there will be an open chair debate. Please tell your friends!

4. Ballston Spa Meetup on the 20th

There is a new DFA meetup coming to our area: Ballston Spa! This meetup is being organized by Patrick Southworth, the Town of Ballston Democratic Committee Chair. We would urge everyone on this list in the Ballston Spa area to join in this new meetup. There are many burning issues in Ballston today, only one of which is the effort to keep historic and scenic Ballston Spa from being Walmarted. For more information go to: http://dfa.meetup.com/904/ The meetup will be on April 20.

5. Washington County Women's Luncheon April 23

The Washington County Democratic Women’s Spring Luncheon will be held on Saturday, April 23, from noon to 2:00 PM at the Cambridge Hotel, 4 West Main St., Cambridge NY.

Featured Speaker: Clare Brandt, Co-founder and Chairperson of the Dutchess County Democratic Women’s Caucus.

$20 per person, choice of Broiled Scrod, Chicken Caesar Salad, London Broil, or a Vegetarian (Note: not tax deductible).

To reserve your seat, send $20 payable to Washington County Democratic Committee (WCDC) to Louise Talkington, 3954 County Route 30, Salem NY 12865. Call Ellen Faber at (518) 677-8345 for more information.

Thanks everyone,

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 4:39 PM 0 comments

 
Sweeney & DeLay
In response to a comment on the previous posting, according to data published at Campaign For America's Future:

Rep. John E. Sweeney, NY, R, took $4,915 from Rep. DeLay's PAC.

By comparison, these NY Republicans got:

Rep. Tom Reynolds, NY, R $1,500

Rep. Amo Houghton, NY, R, $20

Rep. Pete King, NY, R, $20

Rep. John M. McHugh, NY, R, $20

Rep. James T. Walsh, NY, R, $20

The others took more, particularly Sue Kelly, who got 12,020, Boehlert, $10,020, Fossella, $10,000 and Quinn, $5,019
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:22 AM 0 comments

 
GF-Tricounty DFA: Another successful Meetup Report
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. Another Successful Meetup!
2. Social Security Initiatives: we need 10 people Thursday!
3. Dean Appeals For Support, travels to Arkansas, funds state parties
4. Take Action: People's Email Network: Bolton, Bankruptcy and Funding the War & UCC on Trade etc.
5. Links: So many scandals, so little time...


1. Another Successful Meetup!
Last week we celebrated our Second Anniversary as a Dean/DFA Meetup at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe. We had a big crowd for our special guest, Columbia County Attorney Kirsten Gillibrand, who is in the early phases of exploring a race against Rep. John Sweeney. After she introduced herself and spoke briefly, we had a lengthy discussion for her on what we believe the critical issues facing the 20th Congressional really are. It was a fascinating and rewarding evening! I think we all were impressed by her, and she was impressed by our group and the very useful forum.

I would note that next month's meetup will be held at a different time: 6pm. Antiwar, anti-Bush, folk singer David Lippman, best known for his singles, "I Hate WalMart" and "Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs" will be appearing at the Cafe at 7:30. There is a $5 charge to hear Lippman, but I understand he is hilarious and worth it. However! This means we will be starting at 6pm sharp! We'll have to! Please plan accordingly and please be on time! I know we have a tendency to start slow, but we should be used to Daylight Savings Time by then.

2. Social Security Initiatives

At the meetup we decided to join in two initiatives to save Social Security:

On Thursday we agreed to join the nation wide DFA effort to meet with our Congressional representatives and present them with our Social Security narratives. I contacted Rep. Sweeney's Glens Falls office and Sweeney representative James Clark called back today to agree to meet with us. The scheduled time is from 12:30 to 1pm Thursday. The local office is at 21 Bay Street in Downtown Glens Falls in the Rogers Building next to the Charter One Bank and across the street from the Crandall Library. We will be gathering across the street in the park by the Church of the Messiah. They only have room for ten of us, so please let me know right away if you want to come!

The second initiative is a Town Meeting to be held at the Saratoga Springs Public Library on April 25th at 6pm. In this case we really want to get as many people involved as possible. I will be sending another update about the Town Meeting later on.

3. Dean Update

This evening Governor Dean sent out an appeal to support the first of his major initiatives to rebuild the Democratic Party, launch a 50 State Strategy and Take America Back. Those of us who have been with our meetup for more than a year will know this is the continuation of the winning 50 State Strategy we originally were building before we were rudely interrupted. Here's his message: The Governor's Message
He doesn't contact us very often for support so it's important we respond: Support

Gov. Dean spent most the weekend at the National Association of State Democratic Chairs in Little Rock. Dean announced a major new funding initiative to start the long over due process of building up our state parties and the grassroots: Dean 1
Dean 2

Gov. Dean is also getting grudging respect even from conservatives as he talks about the 50 State campaign, generating Democratic principles from the grassroots up and not top down from self-styled party "elites," i.e. corporate shills like the DLC. Check out this conservative columnist, it's very interesting and promising:
Dean 3

4. Take Action: People's Email Network: Bolton, Bankruptcy and Funding the War & UCC on Trade

From messages you send me I know you are interested in ways of contacting Congress on Issues. The best way is always to phone. A handwritten letter is next best, followed by a typed one. But there are so many issues, many of us only have time for email.

The People's Email Network ACTION Alert is interesting because they offer pages to email automatically on a variety of current issues. Here are three on funding the war (remember, Vietnam only ended when Congress cut off the money), the Bolton appointment and the atrocious Bankruptcy Bill:

War Funding
Bolton
Bankruptcy

Senator Boxer is also on the Bolton issue: Boxer Fights Bolton

Also the UCC has an action network that is unique as far as I know. This effort is non-denominational and addresses social issues only. For instance they are the only ones focusing on the awful Central American Trade Pact Issue right now as well as many others absolutely no one is paying attention to, like AIDS, Temporary Assistance to Families In Need, Third World Debt Relief, Depleted Uranium and more: Take Action
If anyone thinks it is not appropriate to link to this, please let me know. I'm a little unsure of this, so I hope it is okay, it does seem unique.

On the trade issue, David Sirota is also pushing the Trade Issue and notes a big story on this: Sen. Bayh has come out against the Portman appointment, which as Sirota notes, finally means the tide on trade in the Demcratic Party is finally turning. Trade


5. Links: So many scandals, so little time...

Drew Monthie sent this along on how much money Rep. Sweeney got from Tom DeLay:
Sweeney & DeLay

The Voting Fraud lawsuit is still grinding on in Ohio: the latest is that a criminal investigation is now underway of voting irregularities.
Link

It's probably no surprise Administration Neocons wrecked prospects for Democracy in Iraq by crushing Iraqi unions. So much for building Democracy: Iraqi Unions Crushed By US

Through all the "turning the corner" blather you may not have heard 300,000 demonstrated against the American presence in Iraq:
Iraqis Demonstrate

Or that the Pentagon is hiding casualties: Pentagon

And another story you probably didn't hear: Bush was loudly booed by the crowd at the Pope's funeral when Bush's face was flashed on the jumbotron screen. Bush Booed

Many thanks! Again, please let me know if you want to come Thursday to talk to Sweeney's representative on Social Security!

My best,

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:21 PM 2 comments

 
Glens Falls/Saratoga 2nd Anniversary Meetup Reminder
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. 2nd Anniversary Meetup with Saratoga Meetup
2. A special guest
3. DFA Video
4. DFA Social Security Agenda
5. In This Together and Town Meeting
6. Secure Voting
7. Dean Update
8. Links


1. 2nd Anniversary Meetup
This Wednesday at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls at 7pm we will be holding a special 2nd Anniversary Dean/Democracy For America Meetup. It will be a busy night. For this occasion we will be welcoming members of the Saratoga Springs Meetup! This will be a chance to connect with them.

To get to the Cafe, go to Exit 18 of the Northway. Turn East into Glens Falls. Continue East past a couple of lights until you see the Hannaford Supermarket on the left. Go past the market to a fork in the road at the Stewart's store; bear right , through another light and past the Post Office and the Glens Falls Hospital. Past the Hospital, the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe is on the left at the intersection with a light just before the main intersection in the center of town; it's a low brick building with picture windows and a sign out front.

2. A special guest

We will have a special guest who is considering whether or not to run against Rep. John Sweeney. She will be coming to meet us and, most importantly, at this very early stage, learn from all of you what you all think the critical issues facing our area are. This is our chance at the very beginning to help a potential candidate shape what a campaign will be all about, which is unusual, but a great vote of confidence in all of us!

3. DFA Video

We used to have videos from the Dean campaign regularly, but we haven't really had one in a year; but we will tonight and it, too, has a surprise guest! Drew Monthie is bringing his projector so we will have a great view.

4. DFA Social Security Agenda

We will be discussing DFA's national Save Social Security initiative, using the Social Security stories we have been collecting, and organizing action for later in the month.

5. In This Together and Town Meeting

The In This Together Coalition is organizing a Town Meeting in Saratoga Springs on the 25th. Rep. Sweeney, who refuses to commit himself, has been invited. There will be an empty chair debate if he doesn't come, so this is an action we really want to get people to go to; it should be fun, to boot!

6. Secure Voting

We don't want to forget the issue of secure voting is still pending. We need secure optically scanned paper ballots for New York State! If you haven't phoned your local State Senator or Assembly member, your call is still needed!

7. Dean Update

People are asking me what is going on with The Governor. Dean is continuing his grassroots strategy, traveling around the country, especially in the "red states." It really does seem that if an event doesn't happen in Manhattan or D.C. it drops off the national media radar, but local media covers these events faithfully and they are clearly having great impact around the country. We are going to start to see the effect soon of this continuing grassroots effort. Arkansas is next: Dean In Arkansas


8. Links

There is a lot of interesting and encouraging stuff coming out:

First, if you want ammo for any economic argument with a Republican, check out Michael Kinsley's piece in the Washington Post, Democratic Superiority By The Numbers. We all know by now, as Lakoff points out, that frames trump facts, but if it comes down to facts, these are devastating. If people really grasped this, the Republicans would be looking at another forty years in the wilderness:
Democratic Superiority By The Numbers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20059-2005Apr1.html

A online open source polling project has been assembling a consensus document of what liberals and progressives stand for: Principles Project


For those still upset by the Republicans handling of the Shiavo case, check out
Theocracy Watch

Seymour Hersh has been speaking all across the country on how Bush has lost contact with reality:
Hersh

And finally, we've probably heard about the North Creek wind turbine project. There's a fascinating dKos page on "green" energy that prominently mentions this project.
Wind Power

Well known author and environmentalist Bill McKibben weighs in on green energy and wind power:
McKibben



See you Wednesday!


Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:13 AM 0 comments

 
GF Area DFA Meetup 2nd Anniversary Invitation! (and more)
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. Second Anniversary Meetup!
2. A Very Special Guest
3. Special Video
4. DFA National Action Agenda on Social Security April 14th
5. Town Meeting in Saratoga Springs on April 25th
6. Voting Machine issue moves forward
7. Trade, the Next Big Issue? And Bill Bradley

1. Second Anniversary Meetup!

It seems hard to believe we have been at this two years, but our upcoming DFA Meetup next Wednesday in Glens Falls will be our Second Anniversary. While at moments it seems like yesterday, thanks to all you and your support for Governor Dean's leadership, the Democratic Party has covered more ground in those two years than it had in the previous 20 or even 25 years. What we have done has been echoed across the nation; we have embarked on the long job of Taking America Back from extremists, building a new American community and redeeming our nation's high moral traditions and ideals. We need to be honest that 2004 did not turn out the way we desired; but what the radical right spent 30 years building probably could not be undone in a mere 20 odd months. When we consider the despair we all felt after the disastrous 2002 elections we know we have accomplished greatly. WIth Dean now leading the DNC there is real reason for hope.

Accordingly, next Wednesday, April 6th, we are having a special 2nd Anniversary DFA Meetup at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls. This will be a joint meetup! We will be joined for this special event by my colleague, the Saratoga Meetup Coordinator Pat Friesen and members of the Saratoga Springs DFA Meetup. This will give everyone a chance to meet meetup members from around the area, make connections and see our growing strength.

2. A Very Special Guest

We will also have a special program: First, a surprise guest who is considering running against Rep. John Sweeney. A few of us have had a chance to meet her already, and I can tell you that the reaction by those who have met her has been enthusiasm. We are honored that she will be making her first public appearance here as she explores the possibility of running. We will all hear from her, and importantly, she wants to hear from you and meet you.

Because of the level of interest this visit will produce, we are asking that if you want to attend, to please RSVP to either myself (Larry Dudley ldudley@larrydudley.com ) or Pat Friesen ( pfriesen@nycap.rr.com ) to let us know you are coming. We want to make sure there is room for all our many regular members.

3. Special Video

We will also be viewing a new DVD from DFA National Headquarters in Burlington. We saw these regularly during the Dean campaign phase of our movement, but we haven't had one in at least a year, so that is pretty special, too! It's about DFA and the DFA agenda.

4. DFA National Action Agenda on Social Security April 14th

Part of the video will cover DFA's major national agenda item for April. Over the last few weeks we've been collecting Social Security stories; accounts of how Social Security has affected our lives and the lives of people in our community for the better. To fight Bush's attack on Social Security, we are being asked to request meetings with our congressional representatives to present these narratives. We'll be talking about that and getting organized.

5. Town Meeting in Saratoga Springs on April 25th

DFA groups across New York State are also joining with the In This Together Coalition, which is comprised of the Working Families Party, Democrats , labor unions and loal DFA groups. A Town Hall meeting has been scheduled for April 25th at the Saratoga Springs Library. Rep. Sweeney has been invited to attend. An "empty chair" debate will be held if he refuses. We need a crowd and we will do our part!

6. Voting Machine issue moves forward

Progress is being made on getting optically scanned paper ballots here in New York State. We are still asking for people to contact their State Senators and Assembly members to tell them we want verified voting, not the expensive, highly "hackable" touch screen machines that many are blaming for fraud across the country. This issue may have to be fought out county by county. For more information on verified voting go to: NYVV

Personally, although Democrats nationally are pushing the Social Security issue hard, and should, I think this issue is not getting anywhere near the attention it merits. The stakes are so huge; check out this just released report by the US Counts Votes Election Data Archives Project, a group of professional academic statisticians. They have now determined something hugely important for the future of American Democracy; after the November Election, it was claimed that the exit polls predicting a big Democratic victory were wrong because somehow, for some mysterious reason, Kerry voters responded more to exit pollers than Bush voters.

This myth has been smashed. The exit poll response is no different for districts that went for Bush as opposed to districts that went for Kerry. If Bush voters were somehow less responsive, that would show up as differences between districts, but it does not. The odds that the election could have come out the way it did grow longer and longer and ever smellier. For details go to: NZ Scoop

The PDF report is at: Votes

We've simply got to get paper ballot machines! And then make sure they are locally counted.

7. Trade, the Next Big Issue?

The next big issue coming down the road is probably trade: let's hope we don't get clobbered again on this one. Coming up is the Central America Free Trade Area agreement and the appointment of Rep. Rob Portman to be the next US Trade Representative. Neither would be good for anyone who works for a living or cares about the future of this country.

Lou Dobbs has been hammering this issue; I've been hearing from surprising numbers of you about him and a what is becoming something of a one man crusade to save American industry and jobs:
Dobbs
Also: Dobbs II


andDobbs III

A clear view from the Washington Post's Meyerson on what this means and why it is so wrong; some aspects of this are just plain evil, like keeping affordable generic medications from poor people:
Post

Our Democratic Senators are finally getting on board with the idea that so-called neoliberal economics, the "Washington Consensus" has been a disaster for almost everyone. For something surprising check out:
Mydd

Considering who is involved, this is a watershed piece of legislation. Clearly, the idea that there is any such thing as a "free market" has died. As Lakoff points out, the right wing wants us to believe markets are a force of nature that we cannot tame, but this is just a frame. People and their governments all create markets and they need laws to work, too.

And Bill Bradley
Finally former Senator Bill Bradley wrote a great op-ed piece for the NY Times on rebuilding the Democratic Party that backs up virtually everything the Governor has been saying on how we can Take Back America.
Bradley

See you all next week!

Many thanks,

Larry Dudley
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:35 AM 0 comments

 
GF Area DFA Meetup 2nd Anniversary Invitation! (and more)
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. Second Anniversary Meetup!
2. A Very Special Guest
3. Special Video
4. DFA National Action Agenda on Social Security April 14th
5. Town Meeting in Saratoga Springs on April 25th
6. Voting Machine issue moves forward
7. Trade, the Next Big Issue? And Bill Bradley

1. Second Anniversary Meetup!

It seems hard to believe we have been at this two years, but our upcoming DFA Meetup next Wednesday in Glens Falls will be our Second Anniversary. While at moments it seems like yesterday, thanks to all you and your support for Governor Dean's leadership, the Democratic Party has covered more ground in those two years than it had in the previous 20 or even 25 years. What we have done has been echoed across the nation; we have embarked on the long job of Taking America Back from extremists, building a new American community and redeeming our nation's high moral traditions and ideals. We need to be honest that 2004 did not turn out the way we desired; but what the radical right spent 30 years building probably could not be undone in a mere 20 odd months. When we consider the despair we all felt after the disastrous 2002 elections we know we have accomplished greatly. WIth Dean now leading the DNC there is real reason for hope.

Accordingly, next Wednesday, April 6th, we are having a special 2nd Anniversary DFA Meetup at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls. This will be a joint meetup! We will be joined for this special event by my colleague, the Saratoga Meetup Coordinator Pat Friesen and members of the Saratoga Springs DFA Meetup. This will give everyone a chance to meet meetup members from around the area, make connections and see our growing strength.

2. A Very Special Guest

We will also have a special program: First, a surprise guest who is considering running against Rep. John Sweeney. A few of us have had a chance to meet her already, and I can tell you that the reaction by those who have met her has been enthusiasm. We are honored that she will be making her first public appearance here as she explores the possibility of running. We will all hear from her, and importantly, she wants to hear from you and meet you.

Because of the level of interest this visit will produce, we are asking that if you want to attend, to please RSVP to either myself (Larry Dudley ldudley@larrydudley.com ) or Pat Friesen ( pfriesen@nycap.rr.com ) to let us know you are coming. We want to make sure there is room for all our many regular members.

3. Special Video

We will also be viewing a new DVD from DFA National Headquarters in Burlington. We saw these regularly during the Dean campaign phase of our movement, but we haven't had one in at least a year, so that is pretty special, too! It's about DFA and the DFA agenda.

4. DFA National Action Agenda on Social Security April 14th

Part of the video will cover DFA's major national agenda item for April. Over the last few weeks we've been collecting Social Security stories; accounts of how Social Security has affected our lives and the lives of people in our community for the better. To fight Bush's attack on Social Security, we are being asked to request meetings with our congressional representatives to present these narratives. We'll be talking about that and getting organized.

5. Town Meeting in Saratoga Springs on April 25th

DFA groups across New York State are also joining with the In This Together Coalition, which is comprised of the Working Families Party, Democrats , labor unions and loal DFA groups. A Town Hall meeting has been scheduled for April 25th at the Saratoga Springs Library. Rep. Sweeney has been invited to attend. An "empty chair" debate will be held if he refuses. We need a crowd and we will do our part!

6. Voting Machine issue moves forward

Progress is being made on getting optically scanned paper ballots here in New York State. We are still asking for people to contact their State Senators and Assembly members to tell them we want verified voting, not the expensive, highly "hackable" touch screen machines that many are blaming for fraud across the country. This issue may have to be fought out county by county. For more information on verified voting go to: NYVV

Personally, although Democrats nationally are pushing the Social Security issue hard, and should, I think this issue is not getting anywhere near the attention it merits. The stakes are so huge; check out this just released report by the US Counts Votes Election Data Archives Project, a group of professional academic statisticians. They have now determined something hugely important for the future of American Democracy; after the November Election, it was claimed that the exit polls predicting a big Democratic victory were wrong because somehow, for some mysterious reason, Kerry voters responded more to exit pollers than Bush voters.

This myth has been smashed. The exit poll response is no different for districts that went for Bush as opposed to districts that went for Kerry. If Bush voters were somehow less responsive, that would show up as differences between districts, but it does not. The odds that the election could have come out the way it did grow longer and longer and ever smellier. For details go to: NZ Scoop

The PDF report is at: Votes

We've simply got to get paper ballot machines! And then make sure they are locally counted.

7. Trade, the Next Big Issue?

The next big issue coming down the road is probably trade: let's hope we don't get clobbered again on this one. Coming up is the Central America Free Trade Area agreement and the appointment of Rep. Rob Portman to be the next US Trade Representative. Neither would be good for anyone who works for a living or cares about the future of this country.

Lou Dobbs has been hammering this issue; I've been hearing from surprising numbers of you about him and a what is becoming something of a one man crusade to save American industry and jobs:
Dobbs
Also: Dobbs II


andDobbs III

A clear view from the Washington Post's Meyerson on what this means and why it is so wrong; some aspects of this are just plain evil, like keeping affordable generic medications from poor people:
Post

Our Democratic Senators are finally getting on board with the idea that so-called neoliberal economics, the "Washington Consensus" has been a disaster for almost everyone. For something surprising check out:
Mydd

Considering who is involved, this is a watershed piece of legislation. Clearly, the idea that there is any such thing as a "free market" has died. As Lakoff points out, the right wing wants us to believe markets are a force of nature that we cannot tame, but this is just a frame. People and their governments all create markets and they need laws to work, too.

And Bill Bradley
Finally former Senator Bill Bradley wrote a great op-ed piece for the NY Times on rebuilding the Democratic Party that backs up virtually everything the Governor has been saying on how we can Take Back America.
Bradley

See you all next week!

Many thanks,

Larry Dudley
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:23 AM 0 comments