Tricounty DFA Update: Banquets, Films, Teas, Letters, Chocolate and more
Hello Everybody;

We had another great DFA-Link up last week at the Bakehouse Cafe where we saw the video Walmart, The High Price Of The Low Price.
I think all present would agree it was a stunning view of America's biggest -- and worst, company.

As you know, Walmart has been a big DFA issue since last summer, so the showing was serendipitous because Walmart as an issue is heating up here in NYS again -- I was informed last week that lawyers for the Working Families Party have completed legislation for a Maryland style Walmart law that would require all corporations over a certain size to provide healthcare for their employees. We agreed at the meeting to assist with this issue, including meeting with legislative representatives the way we did last summer with Rep. Sweeney's office on Social Security. We'll have more information on this as it becomes available.

In this update:

1. Saratoga Springs Women's Banquet
2. New Film Forum at Bakehouse Cafe --
3. Letter Writing
4. St. Patrick's Day In Saratoga
5. Tea For Gillibrand
6. Ballston Dems Chocolate Fest

1. Saratoga Springs Women's Banquet

The March Saratoga Democratic Women's Luncheon will be held at Lillian's Restaurant, Friday, March 10 from Noon to 1:30pm. Guest Speaker will be Jill Farnham, Director, Ryan White HIV Care Network and the National Women and Girls AIDS Awareness Day.
Tickets are $20. There will be a buffet. Please RSVP: Pat Friesen at 587-4983 or 542-9157 or mcfriesen2@aol.com by the 8th.

2. New Film Forum at Bakehouse Cafe --

Everyone who saw the video Walmart, The High Price Of The Low Price last Wednesday knows what a great set up Matt has created at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe: the picture and sound is spectacular, and it is a huge asset to the community. Congratulations and thanks, Matt!

Therefore we are very, very pleased to pass on Matt's invitation to a new Film Forum. At the Cafe, Friday nights will now be video nights, with a special showing of videos of interest to all area progressives. Starting off the series on the 17th will be the award winning film The Corporation. Matt has videos scheduled throughout the Spring: I will paste the entire schedule at the bottom of this update. Again, our congratulations and thanks to Matt for this great new series.

3. Letter Writing

In the last few days writing letters to the editor really seems to have heated up, with a lot of discussion. For everyone's convenience I have placed online an updated version of the PDF on letter writing I did two and a half years ago for Dean For America. Whether it's for the Gillibrand campaign, Walmart awareness and legislative action on healthcare or Verified Voting, writing letters to the editor is always a great thing to do. Get the doc at: http://www.dfalink.com/group_files.php?gid=113
For an easy way to reach many local papers go to the AAUW at: http://capwiz.com/aauw/dbq/media/ Enter your zip and get addresses for local papers. (This is a great website!)

4. St. Patrick's Day In Saratoga

There will be a St. Patrick's Day Tip 'O The Hat to honor William McTygue and Patrick Design,
Friday, March 17, 6-10pm at the Canfield Casino. Tickets are $35. Entertainment by Body and Soul.
For information call 584-8885 (after 6pm). Make checks payable to Citizens For McTygue.

5. Tea For Gillibrand

Patricia Friesen Cordially invites you to a Ladies’ Tea In Support of Kirsten Gillibrand Democratic Candidate for Congress – NY 20

Saturday, March 18th, 2006 2:00 p.m.

36 Thoroughbred Drive
Saratoga Springs

Suggested Contribution: $50 (Friend), $100 (Sponsor) or
$250 (Patron)

For further information or to RSVP, please call Pat at
(518) 542-9157 or 587-4983 or e-mail McFriesen2@aol.com

6. Ballston Dems Chocolate Fest

The Ballston Lake Democratic Committee will have it's First Annual Chocolate Festival Saturday, April 22, 2006 from 1-5pm.
Live Jazz Featuring: James Looby

$12.00 ADULTS $6.00 CHILDREN

Ballston Lake Firehouse
Route 146A in the Town of Ballston Lake

www.ballstondems.org



Thanks Everyone! See you all soon,

Larry

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FRIDAY FILM FORUM March and April Calendar 2006
We are a free film club showing independent films Friday nights at Rock Hill Café in Glens Falls. For more info, contact Matt at mattfuniciello@earthlink.net or at 361-6278. Seating is limited and reservations will not be accepted. Long films may not have an intermission and often start earlier than 7 pm. Check the listings.
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3-17 The Corporation (www.thecorporation.com)
This film explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation's grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a "person" to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics - including Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.
Winner of 24 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS, 10 of them AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS including the AUDIENCE AWARD for DOCUMENTARY in WORLD CINEMA at the 2004 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. The long-awaited DVD, available now in Australia and coming in March to North America, contains over 8 hour of additional footage.
Running time: 145 Minutes

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3-24 WalMart: the High Cost of Low Price (www.walmartmovie.com)
A feature length documentary that uncovers a retail giant's assault on families and American values. The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide healthcare for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after Wal-Mart pulls out and relocates just outside the city limits. A community in California unites, takes on the giant, and wins! Producer/Director Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films take you on an extraordinary journey that will change the way you think, feel and shop.
Running time: 98 Minutes
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3-31 Hearts and Minds (www.imagesjournal.com/2002/reviews/heartsminds)
A courageous and startling film, Peter Davis’ landmark documentary Hearts and Minds unflinchingly confronts the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Using a wealth of sources—from interviews to newsreels to documentary footage of the conflict at home and abroad—Davis constructs a powerfully affecting portrait of the disastrous effects of war. Explosive, persuasive, and shocking, Hearts and Minds is an overwhelming emotional experience and the controversial winner of the 1974 Academy Award™ for Best Documentary.
Running time: 112 Minutes






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4-07 Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (www.zeitgeistvideo.com)
Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, Manufacturing Consent explores the political life and ideas of world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist, Noam Chomsky. Through a dynamic collage of biography, archival gems, imaginative graphics and outrageous illustrations, Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick’s award-winning documentary highlights Chomsky’s probing analysis of mass media and his critique of the forces at work behind the daily news. The film features appearances by journalists Bill Moyers and Peter Jennings, pundit William F. Buckley Jr., novelist Tom Wolfe and philosopher Michel Foucault.
Running time: 167 Minutes
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4-14 Coffee And Cigarettes (www.coffeeandcigarettesmovie.com)
Celebrated writer-director Jim Jarmusch serves up this series of short vignettes that build on one another to create a cumulative effect as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the twenties and the use of nicotine as an insecticide all the while sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. As Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, he shows just how absorbing the obsessions of life can be. Filmed in black and white, “Coffee and Cigarettes” made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and then screened to a sold-out crowd at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Running time: 97 Minutes
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4-21 Gunner Palace (www.gunnerpalace.com)
American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the "Gunners," tell of their experiences in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Holed up in a bombed out pleasure palace built by Saddam Hussein, the soldiers endured hostile situations some four months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in the country.
Running time: 85 Minutes
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4-28 Independent Media In A Time Of War (www.democracynow.org)
Part scathing critique, part call to action. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy.
Voices Against War: F15 NYC (www.hm.indymedia.org)
Chronicles the experiences of “ordinary” people on the streets of Manhattan as they joined millions around the globe in “The World says No To War” protests.
The Speeches Of Malcolm X
In his own words. This is a short collection of excerpted speeches from one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement.
Running time: approx 95 Minutes (all three together)
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:24 PM