The most honest and appaling story from inside New Orleans yet
We are beginning to hear conflicting accounts of how bad it was in New Orleans. The answer is; it was extremely bad and the government response made it worse. What's doubly disturbing, is the now growing claim there was no racism. Read the account of the behavior of the Gretna sheriffs and you will know this is not true, and it is heartbreaking. There are many in positions of authority who should not only be fired, like "Brownie" but sent to jail.


EMS & Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina - Our Experiences


By Parmedics Larry Bradsahw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky
Sep 6, 2005, 11:59


note: Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics frorm California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans. Larry Bradsahw is the chief shop steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790; and Lorrie Beth Slonsky is steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790.[California]

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and managers had locked up the food, water, pampers, and prescriptions and fled the City. Outside Walgreen's windows, residents and tourists grew increasingly thirsty and hungry.


The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters. There was an alternative. The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices, and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not. Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home yesterday (Saturday). We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreen's in the French Quarter.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the "victims" of the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed,were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New

Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep them alive. Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators. Refinery workers who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their neighbors clinging to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped hot-wire any car that could be found to ferry people out of the City. And the food service workers who scoured the commercial kitchens improvising communal meals for hundreds of those stranded.

Most of these workers had lost their homes, and had not heard from members of their families, yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the 20% of New Orleans that was not under water.

On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees like ourselves, and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and shelter from Katrina. Some of us had cell phone contact with family and friends outside of

New Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of resources including the National Guard and scores of buses were pouring in to the City. The buses and the other resources must have been invisible because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and new born babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute the arrived to the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors, telling us that the "officials" told us to report to the convention center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the City, we finally encountered the National Guard. The Guards told us we would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's primary shelter had descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. The guards further told us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention Center, was also descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not allowing anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only 2 shelters in the City, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us. This would be the start of our numerous encounters
with callous and hostile "law enforcement".


We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowed cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The co
mmander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the rain under an overpass. We debated our options and in the end decided to build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway on the center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet to be seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot. Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery New Orleans had become.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so down the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts. Now secure with the two necessities, food and water; cooperation, community, and creativity flowered. We organized a clean up and hung garbage bags from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We designated a storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an elaborate enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other scraps. We even organized a food recycling system where individuals could swap out parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and constructing a community.


If the relief organizations had saturated the City with food and water in the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the frustration and the ugliness would not have set in.

Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people.

From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we congregated or congealed into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of "victims" they saw "mob" or "riot". We felt safety in numbers. Our "we must stay together" was impossible because the agencies would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.

The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the day, made contact with New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban search and rescue team. We were dropped off near the airport and managed to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were assigned.

We arrived at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were caught in a press of humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a coast guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses did not have air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were forced to share two filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) we were subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.


Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened" to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist.

There was more suffering than need be.

Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 9:25 AM 3 comments

 
Tricounty DFA "Meetup"/DFA-Linkup Report -- Join Us!
Hello Everyone:

We had an unusually busy and successful DFA meeting last Wednesday at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe.

In This Report:

1. Ron Vanselow Endorsement
2. Leave My Child Alone --
3. Join In LMCA -- More Schools need contacting!
4. Voting Machines
5. Join The Voting Machine Team
6. DFA-Link gaining speed
7. Upcoming Demonstrations Next Week -- Cindy Sheehan in Albany
8. Are Democrats Speaking Out? Clinton and Dean

1. Our first action was to unanimously endorse Ron Vanselow for a seat on the Johnsburg Town Board. Ron has been a long term Planning Board member in Johnsburg and is riding a wave of concern about development changing the town. For those who don't know him, Ron was a major supporter of Governor Dean's from the beginning. I think it's fair to say we were pleased to give Ron our support.

2. The bulk of the evening was spent on DFA's Leave My Child Alone initiative, beginning with a moving video featuring Gold Star Mother For Peace Cindy Sheehan. Quite a few of us shared personal experiences in dealing with recruiters, especially Kameron Spaulding.

In a truly remarkable development, we scored a victory before we even met. How is that possible?

You probably saw the article in article in the Tuesday Post Star on our LMCA initiative and Wednesday's "meetup"/DFA-Linkup. Quoted in the story at some length was one of our members, Rev. Sandra Spaulding, who discovered recruiters came up onto her porch when she wasn't home hunting for Kameron.

Wednesday was the first day of school, of course. When Kameron, who is also a regular member of our meetup and the head of Washington County Young Democrats, arrived in class, he discovered that, contrary to what had been the practice in every previous year, every desk in the school had an opt out form on it to be taken home. Kameron's school mates were all ribbing him as to what his mom had wrought. They thought it was pretty funny. But the forms went home, of course, with all the rest of the paperwork.

Kameron and his mom Sandra deserve a real tip of the hat for this; we won one before we began, I don't think I've ever had that experience before.

3. We agreed to take action on Leave My Child Alone; there are 23 area school districts. Meeting attendees are now contacting 15 of them. They will do the following:
*Explain they are from DFA
* Determine the superintendent's and the school board's policies and what they are or are not doing.
* Ask them to support parent's and children's privacy rights by sending home opt-out forms just as Kameron's school is now doing.
* Report back and visit the school board meeting and ask to speak.

We still need people to contact and possibly visit some schools! The following have not been taken: North Warren, Saratoga Springs City, Hadley-Luzerne, Bolton, Warrensburg and Corinth. If you want to contact these schools, please email me back.

The materials you will need, including a sample School Board Resolution, a School Board meeting tip sheet, a sample opt-out form and a sample Superintendent Letter are online at: http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/resources/

4. The next piece of business was voting machines. As we all probably know, New York State is replacing its voting machines. We set up a team, headed by Bob Rockwell, to do some fact finding from the Warren County Board of Elections. Bob spoke with Mary Beth Casey. He learned the Commissioners are going to be pushing for the infamous touchscreen machines. As we have noted, progressives everywhere are pushing for optically scanned paper ballots that can be reliably recounted. There have been serious problems with touchscreen machines, known as DRE's, for Direct Recording Entry, all across the country. If Florida had optical scan machines in 2000, Al Gore would be President. We will be checking into this; a public forum and reaching out to supervisors will probably be required. Stay tuned.

5. Our Voting Machine Team is going to be contacting supervisors; if you want to help, contact me or Bob at rrockwel@nycap.rr.com.

There are some really interesting demonstrations coming up:

6. DFA-Link is gaining speed. We have almost 30 people signed up! This will really build our group by making it easier for all of us to contact each other. This is about empowering YOU! If you haven't signed up with DFA-Link, now's the time! Just click this link, enter your name, create and password and join. http://www.DFA-Link.com/register.php?c=g&id=91042f3ae603ef90&

I would note, some people registered without joining a group. You might want to check to make sure you did: http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/link/group.php?id=113


7. On Wednesday, Sep. 14, Cindy Sheehan and the Bring Them Home Now bus tour, http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/, will be arriving
in Albany, NY, on it's way to the peace rally in Washington, DC, on Sep. 24.

Details are still being finalized. The tentative schedule of events is

10am - set up symbolic Camp Casey at Capitol Park West; Camp Casey to be staffed throughout the day; memorials, musicians, poets, and other events going throughout the day

Noon - Vigil on west side of Capitol building

7pm - Evening forum where Cindy Sheehan and all BTHN bus tour members will be speaking to a large public audience at Chancellor's Hall in Education Building across Hawk St from the Capital.

Additional information will be posted here and here:
http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=24 as it becomes available and details are finalized.

This event leads into the big protest demonstration in Washington, D.C. scheduled for September 24th. Friday, Sep. 23, in Albany there will be a kick-off rally. March begins 4:00PM at the Federal Building across from the Palace Theater, corner of Pearl and Clinton. They will march down Pearl St, up State & Washington, stop at the Capital (west side, Washington & Swan at 4:30PM. Then on to Townsend Park (Central & Henry Johnson Blvd) for a rally beginning at 5:00PM with music, speakers, and ending with a candlelight vigil. A very large crowd is expected for this as well as for the Bus Tour and the buses to DC (see next item) and are working with other groups nationwide to make this all happen.

There will be Buses to September 24-26, Peace Rally in Washington, DC leaving from Albany. The Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition, www.nepajac.org, is coordinating buses to the Peace Rally in Washington, DC on Sep. 24, Call Joe Lombardo at 439-1968 for more information about getting a seat on the bus.

8. We hear people ask, why aren't the Democrats speaking out on the dual Katrina catastrophe (the hurricane and then the bungled relief effortt staffed by political pals, now fired)? At least two of them are: Senator Clinton, who always opposed putting FEMA into Homeland Security, tore into the Administration and called for an independent investigation: http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/09/07/afx2210373.html

Governor Dean made a tough speech linking the explosion in poverty to the Katrina disaster: http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/governor_dean_s_2.php


Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend!



Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 1:22 PM 3 comments

 
Ron Vanselow Endorsed
Greater Glens Falls Democracy For America

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Glens Falls, N.Y. September 7, 2005 -- On Wednesday evening, September 7, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, a part of the Democracy for America grassroots political movement founded by former Vermont Governor and Presidential candidate Howard Dean, endorsed Ron Vanselow for a seat on the Johnsburg Town Board. Part of Democracy for America's mission is to promote progressive political ideas and progressive-minded political talent throughout the region. The vote was unanimous.

According to GGFDFA coordinator Larry Dudley, Vanselow is exactly the kind of progressive candidate DFA is looking for.

"This is a critical time for the Town," said Vanselow Wednesday night, "with the development of hundreds of new housing units at Gore Mountain and the new wind power project, the nature of life in the town could really change dramatically in the next few years." A concern about runaway development, along with its effect on traffic congestion, taxes, local schools, property values, sprawl, water resources and other quality of life concerns, is a central part of Vanselow's campaign. He is presently a member of the Johnsburg Planning Board and feels it is essential to bring that experience to the Town Board. He is also strongly committed to proper fiscal management of the town's resources and budget. Says Vanselow, "One of the great things about Johnsburg is that people come together to help each other and to get things done. I've been lucky. I've been able to serve in a variety of ways over the last twenty years. Working on the rescue squad, environmental issues -- planning and zoning. You learn a lot. I'd be honored to use that experience in a different way now as a member of the town board."

Vanselow is a graduate of SUNY and the George Washington University. He is a long term resident of the Town of Johnsburg and a community activist and volunteer. He has served as Chairman of the Town of Johnsburg Environmental Advisory Committee. He was the town's Recycling Director, a member of the Warren County, NY Recycling Advisory Committee and the Town of Johnsburg Landfill Advisory Committee. He has also spent a total of ten years on the Johnsburg Planning Board. He was a volunteer EMT/Paramedic with the Johnsburg Emergency Squad, as well as Training Officer, Squad V.P/President, CPR Instructor, Paramedic Preceptor, NYS Certified EMS Lab Instructor. While a volunteer with the Emergency Squad he was also a Board of Director's member and Chairman of Adirondack Regional Emergency Services.

As part of the group's endorsement, Vanselow's name will be submitted for inclusion in Democracy For America's DFA-List, formerly the Dean-List, a national listing of progressive candidates at every political level, endorsed by the national Democracy For America organization.
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:09 PM 0 comments

 
Dean Pictures
As promised, here are the pictures taken by Roger Wyatt at DFA Headquaters in Burlington, today.

Left to right, Roger Wyatt, Governor Howard Dean and Greater Glens Falls DFA Coordinator Larry Dudley in the hallway at 38 Edgewood Drive.


- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:47 AM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Update: My Meeting With Governor Dean, Next Meetup, more
Hello Everyone!

This is a big end of summer update!

First, before I begin, I want to update you all on my trip to Burlington today and the luncheon I and Roger Wyatt were invited to join with Governor Dean, DFA Chairman Jim Dean and DFA Executive Director Tom Hughes and the staff at DFA National Headquarters.

First, the Governor and DFA Chair Jim Dean asked me to extend their personal thanks to all of our DFA members -- all of you -- for everything we have been doing. The Governor assures us that we are making progress and we are making a real difference.

Governor Dean told us he believes when we look back in history that we will see that August 2005 will have been one of the great turning point in American politics; activism came alive again, public opinion is swinging against Bush and the Republicans. But the biggest thing is Paul Hackett's near win in Ohio for a seat that was never competitive for Democrats before. That was a watershed moment. Hackett got 22% more than any Democrat ever got. (And he ran as a progressive.)

What's more, DFA's call for us all to donate to Hackett's campaign put it on the map. DFA was first, we started the ball rolling and made that race a real race for a change. Jim Dean noted that our effort shamed the DCCC into backing Hackett instead of ignoring him, as they had been. (I personally think this is real proof of the 50 state campaign; we no longer are writing off any area.)

In regard to the 50 state campaign, Governor Dean also noted that next month there will be paid staff for every state party in the country paid for by the DNC. This is a huge change from the past when the state parties were essentially told they were on their own.

We asked him when are the Democrats going to get going on speaking out on the War? He answered that they are -- that there are things coming out all the time, but that it just isn't getting reported on by the media -- and then he corrected himself, "The corporate media."

He emphasized there is going to be more coming out in the fall, that they have a big schedule laid out for the next three months.

There's much more; and I will be briefing you all at our next DFA "Meetup" / DFA-LinkUp. See some great pictures at our blog: http://townmeetingday.blogspot.com

So! In this update:

1. Sign up for DFA-Linkup!
2. Next "Meetup" in Glens Falls: Leave My Child Alone, Voting Machines and Candidate Endorsement
3. Estate Tax Action Appeal
4. Red Cross
5. On the lighter side

1. Sign up for DFA-Linkup!

If you haven't signed up for our great new tool, DFA-Link, now's the time to do it. DFA is going to give free DFA buttons to every member the DFA group that signs up the most members between now and Sunday, the 4th.

I was talking with Tara Liloia today at the luncheon in Burlington, and she told me there are even more functions to come. When this website-communication too -- resource is completed, DFA will have the most sophisticated set of web based political organizing tools ever created. For instance, in effect, we will have the ability to send an email from DFA-Link to every other DFA member. In effect, we can all have our own personal DFA webpage. And it's free! Just click the link below and you will be taken to a personal page created specifically for you.

Important! Once you register, you have to join a group. Remember, you can join as many local groups as you want, so if you are waiting for another, it's not a problem, you can join that one, too.

http://www.DFA-Link.com/register.php?c=g&id=91042f3ae603ef90&

If we win, we will have have free, way cool, DFA buttons for everyone who registers at the next meetup; and we have a very good chance of winning.

2. Next Meetup in Glens Falls: Leave My Child Alone, Voting Machines and Candidate Endorsement

We will be holding our monthly DFA "Meetup"/DFA-Linkup next Wednesday, September 7th, at 7pm at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in Downtown Glens Falls.

Two major items will dominate the agenda:

a. Leave My Child Alone.

Most parents don't know that under the No Child Left Behind Act that schools are required under law to supply the names of your children to military recruiters who are coming under increasingly improper pressure and even orders from above to take ever more aggressive and even ruthless steps to fill falling enlistment quotas. Recruiters are NOT the target of this. Many of them are very upset about the war, too, from the worst possible personal experience, and privately don't like the tactics being forced on them. Remember, one reason we know what is going on is because these men and women are talking behind the scenes. But however they may feel, they have their orders.

That having been said, government officials are getting names of students who are legally minors and going into schools to attempt to enlist kids in the military as soon as possible without the knowledge or consent of parents.

Under the law, parents can "opt out" of having recruiters contact their children by officially notifying the school in writingr. "Opt-out" and your child will be officially off limits to recruiters and their name will not be shared. Since this is the beginning of the school year, DFA nationally is helping launch, with Working Assets and Main Street Moms (A Dean inspired organization ), the national parent's group Leave My Child Alone, along with other groups like True Majority, Sojoourners. The goal is to educate parents as to how they can retain the responsibility for their own minor children that the NCLB law took away.

This is one of the biggest and most important initiatives DFA has ever participated in. Many of us joined Gold Star Mother for Peace Cindy Sheehan at the recent vigil; she is part of this effort. Many of us marched against the war before it began. This is the next logical step. We will need all your help to make this initiative work -- there are many schools and parents in our area. Please come and bring everyone who would want to participate.

And again, let's remember who the bad guys are here. It's not the decent recruiters who only seek to serve their country. It's an administration that forces them into using improper tactics and violates the rights of parents and the privacy of students.

b. We will also be discussing Voting Machines. Contrary to what we had thought at one time, Warren County has not made a final decision on what kind of voting machine to use in the future. We don't want fraud prone touch screen machines that many feel were responsible for Bush stealing the election and Florida and other races elsewhere. We want reliable, cheap, safe, optically scanned ballots that can be manually recounted for trustworthiness. We will be discussing what we can do about this as well.

3. Estate Tax Action Appeal

Moveon.org has sent out a last minute appeal for everyone to contact our representatives to call on them to block the next $75 Billion give away to rich, the Estate Tax repeal. What the estate tax ensures is that inherited wealth will be taxed at some point. Without it, much of the wealth inherited by the ultra wealthy will never be taxed at all and the rest of us will have to make up the difference eventually.

Senator Clinton sent out an interesting message about this:

" I have supported significant reforms to the estate tax
including raising the exemption level to ensure that virtually all
family owned businesses and farms would be exempt from any
estate tax liability. However, I do fear that because of the
significant revenue the estate tax raises, that its outright repeal will
shift even more of the tax burden from those who hold vast sums
of wealth to those tens of millions of American families who work
and live paycheck to paycheck. Since the costs of repealing the
estate tax are estimated to add nearly $1 trillion to the deficit over
a decade, and there are no plans to offset these costs, I believe that
outright repeal of the estate tax would be fiscally irresponsible.

It is telling that Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal
Reserve, who has supported many of the tax cuts enacted over the
last five years, has recommended to Congress that given the
current fiscal deterioration and the constraints caused by the
chronic budget deficits of the last four years, it would be unwise to
enact a repeal of the estate tax without fully offsetting its cost.

At a time when the Congressional Budget Office has just
announced the third largest budget deficit in our nation's history, at
a time when nearly half of the nation's publicly held debt is held
by foreign nations like China, Japan and South Korea, we need to
focus on fiscally responsible ways of reforming the estate tax. By
all accounts, an adequate and reasonable solution that exempts
nearly all of the family owned businesses in the country can be
reached. In fact, a recent report by the Congressional Budget
Office indicated that if the exemption level for the estate tax was
set at $2 million, only 123 farms and 135 family owned businesses
nationwide would have taxable estates. Indeed, if we raised the
exemption level to $3.5 million, only 0.3 percent of the wealthiest
estates would be affected.

Please be assured that I will continue to work with my colleagues
to support responsible, equitable and fair estate tax reforms that
reflect the current fiscal condition and provides real relief for
working families.

Sincerely yours,
Hillary Rodham Clinton

4. Red Cross

You've undoubtedly seen the disaster. Donated supplies can't help because they can't be moved. They simply desperately need the cash: http://www.redcross.org

5. On the lighter side

Finally, on the lighter side, I have to pass on this page Roger Wyatt sent. There's hours of fun here: http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/
My favorite is the Star Trek parody.

Another update with more news later this week!

Have a great end of summer!

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:45 AM 5 comments