Tricounty DFA update: great day on the bike trail and more
Hello Everybody;

In this update:

1. Another successful DFA Action Day: Bike Trail Looking up!
2. "Nukular" Option Looms; Dean speaks & more
3. "Crime Of The Century"
4. Star Wars a political statement?
5. Dem History
6. No bikes allowed... but why would we care about that...
7. DFA Training coming to Syracuse

1. Another successful DFA Action Day: Bike Trail Looking up!

We had another successful DFA Action Day Saturday on the Warren County Bike Trail. Eight of us: Walter Combs,
Bernice Mennis, Roy Thomas, Linda Thompson, George Thompson, Bob Rockwell, Miranda Kyhill and yours truly cleared about 15 trashcan bags full of litter from the sides of the trail, along with pulling a shopping cart, and old mattress and other junk from the swamp next to the path. It looks great and we had fun; thanks to all! There will be pictures tomorrow here on our group blog.

2. "Nukular" Option Looms; Dean speaks & more

News comes that the Republicans may be dropping the "Nukular" Option this week. There's a good page on the DNC site and also an audio of Governor Dean about the Democratic response:
Nuclear Option Page
Dean

Also, here's a piece on how Dean is shaking up things at the DNC, turning power back to the grassroots.
Link

3. "Crime Of The Century"

If you haven't heard about the British War memo, hard proof has come out that Bush planned the war in Iraq from the very beginning despite his lies to Congress. Lise Fuller suggests this article, The Crime of the Century, and it's a must read:
Crime
Also: Sirota

4. Star Wars a political statement?

But hope some times comes from unexpected places; apparently the new Star Wars movie has a powerful politcal statement early reviewers at the Cannes Film Festival are saying is aimed squarely at George Bush and the neocon dream of empire. Here's the NY Times A.O. Scott:

"Revenge of the Sith" is about how a republic dismantles its own democratic principles, about how politics becomes militarized, about how a Manichaean ideology undermines the rational exercise of power. Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes."

This is a very big deal because so many young people do not tune into politics; in fact the statistics on how many kids are working their thumbs on video games alone instead of watching TV, especially news, is amazing. This has the power to change and shape many impressionable attitudes at the right moment. Check out these accounts:

NYT
CNN
IndyWire

5. Dem History

Articles with an interesting factual base suggesting what Democrats need to do are always interesting and Drew Monthie sends this along; it's got some very interesting stats indeed: Dem history

6. No bikes allowed... but why would we care about that...

You probably heard that during the big two seat Cessna airplane scare that Bush was out biking. Now it turns out biking is prohibited on the nature trail he was using. But what does the Enron set care about that?
Enron Set

7. DFA Training coming to Syracuse

Finally, Fingerlakes DFA and Democracy For America is sponsoring a training on July 23 & 24 in Syracuse. This will be an intense 10-12 hour a day two day event. Cost will be $50, not including lodging. We will get you full details if anyone is interested in going as they become available. We agreed at our last meeting that we need and would like to hold a similar event here later in the year or early next year, so it will be really interesting to see how this works out.

Thanks everyone!

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:43 PM