Tricounty DFA Update: Meetup Next Week, Protect the Vote, An Outrage In Washington, Merrick Press Conference, Saturday Activities, Movies, More
It's been a busy few days and things are really heating up with more and more going on!

In this update:

1. DFA Meeting Next Week: David Carter, GOTV
2. A Great New Video On Preventing Election Fraud On Wednesday
3. Petition Senators On Emergency Ballots
4. Merrick Conference Details
5. Tabling & Canvassing Saturday
6. An Outrage In Washington: Torture Bill Passes
7. Progressive Films: Bakehouse Cafe and Crandall Library
8. Bob Woodward Expose On Sixty Minutes: Details

1. DFA Meeting Next Week: David Carter, GOTV

Greater Glens Falls Democracy For America will be holding its October meeting next Wednesday, October 4th at 7pm at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls.

We will have an unusually rich agenda:

First, Hudson Falls Mayor David Carter, who is running against incument Roy McDonald in the 112th Assembly District, will making an appearance to speak, answer questions and seek our support.

Second, We will be discussing what we can do in the next 41 days to help our candidates get elected: Canvassing, building the Neighborhood Network, phone banking, Get Out The Vote and more.

2. A Great New Video On Preventing Election Fraud On Wednesday

Third, we will be having the Glens Falls area premier of Robert Millman's new video, Bought and Sold: Electronic Voting in New York. Here is the description of this biting expose:

"Do you trust political parties and government to protect your vote???? Do you know about the reliability of the voting machines being marketed in NYS? This 45-minute film produced in 2006 explores how the selection of new voting equipment required under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) has been skewed in favor of DREs (direct recording electronic voting machines), in spite of serious unanswered questions about the danger of vote tampering and verifiable voting."

I think I get more member mail on the subject of voting technology and the security of our ballots than any other subject and I hear everyone goes away with new revelations!

3. Petition Senators On Emergency Ballots

On voting issues: legislation is before Congress requiring emergency paper ballots in all polling places if the machines break, or something goes wrong. If you have not contacted our Senators and Representatives, there's still time. True Majority has an online petition: http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/paper_ballot?rk=m7Lgfg11GX4nE

4. Merrick Conference Details

State Senate candidate Tim Merrick held another press conference, this time on the steps of City Hall to expose Rep. State Senator Betty Little's voting record. Merrick has discovered it is surprisingly difficult to find out how NYS Senators actually vote. But he has detailed many examples of how she votes against the interests of people who live in our area.

"In its detailed report, "The New York State Legislative Process: An Evaluation and Blueprint for Reform," the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's Center for Law notes that "virtually every major newspaper in New York State has editorialized against the current system...
The Brennan report finds that "Under the current system, voters cannot hold their elected representatives accountable" because "publicly available information about the Legislature’s actual practices and procedures, and the role of individual legislators, is scant."

For more, check out his full comments: http://www.votemerrick.com/blog/index.html

5. Tabling & Canvassing

Okay. We want the Republicans out. What are we going to do about it?

We will again be tabling during the Farmer's Market on South Street in downtown Glens Falls this Saturday, September30th from at least 9am (and possibly 8am) until about 11am. Come out and show support for all our candidates and bring a friend.

For more info and to RSVP go to: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=11212

Afterwards we've been canvassing door to door in Glens Falls. We will be organizing this week's canvass during Saturday's tabling. Come and check before 11am at the Farmer's Market if you want to help! We need as many people as we can get! If you have never canvassed before, you can go around with someone else to get the hang of it. But it's easy-- just talking to neighbors. We will have new sheets for Glens Falls' Second Ward.


6. An Outrage In Washington: Torture Bill Passes

Something truly terrifying happened in Washington today: the Republican led Congress voted to authorize torture and effectively eliminate the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

One of the issues leading to the American Revolution was the Writs of Assistance, which gave Royal officers power to search and seize property anywhere they pleased. This is worse. It actually takes us back to the Star Chambers of medieval England, something we left behind 400 years ago.

Anyone can now be declared an "enemy combatant" by the administration and thrown into a secret prison. This is what goes in in authoritarian/totalitarian societies. People disappear in such societies. That's what will happen under this measure. Gone, into thin air. No one will know. Someone will be picked up in the dead of night and transported to a secret prison. Who will know they are there? How will they hire attorneys? How will they be able to sign the necessary papers? Who will even know where these prisons are? No one will, and no one will be able to do anything about it.

What defense will any American have? What makes one an "enemy combatant?" A member of the opposition party who doesn't agree with the so-called "war on terror?"

The Republican led Senate essentially voted to commit a war crime, and treason. This will echo for many, many years to come. Axis parliamentarians, particularly in Japan, were tried as war criminals after World War Two for their role in starting or enabling that vast human catastrophe. I increasingly believe in time many such trials will come here, as well.

What is doubly distressing is that our Democratic Senators failed to fillibuster this evil measure. That act of cowardice should blight their consciences and sleep for the rest of their lives. It also points to the importance of buidling the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party."

For more, check out the Times editorial or Tom Paine.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/opinion/28thu1.html?hp
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/28/terror_2016.php

On the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," Governor Dean was in Austin recently and declared, “We want to be a moral beacon for the rest of the world again,” Dean said. “We are a great country. We just have bad leadership, and we can change that, and you can change that because remember: you have the power.” http://star.txstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2019


7. Progressive Films: Bakehouse Cafe and Crandall Library

There are three new progressive films coming up: The Terrorist at the Bakehouse Cafe Friday, on Tuesday Crandall Library will show An Inconvenient Truth. and on the 13th the Cafe will show the DFA endorsed film Iraq For Sale.

The Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe's progressive film fest continues this Friday with:

Sept 29 THE TERRORIST (2000) Docudrama
Director – Sivanti Ninan 90 min.
Over the past decade, and particularly since 9/11 in the USA, the politics of terror & terrorism has replaced the Cold War. Challenges to the NEW Cold War by the disadvantaged and oppressed segments of the population have developed in several parts of the world. Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and the greater Tamil diaspora stretching into India is one area where insurgent opposition to the State has raged for almost 25 years. Current mainstream newspaper reports note the possibility of the intensification of the war. Sivan’s film has its focus on a young, striking looking girl, Malli. Her brother’s death in combat propels her to join the insurgents. In a sensitive portrayal of the character of Malli the film shows the complexity of factors in the making of
a terrorist as well as her eventual self-destruction.

On Tuesday, October 3rd at 6:30 and 8:30, the Crandall Library in downtown Glens Falls will be showing Al Gore's new film, An Inconvenient Truth. Global warming is arguably the greatest long term issue facing humanity. Indeed, the greatest knock against the Iraq debacle is that it distracted us from this, the real issue.

Also, DFA is organizing national showings of Iraq For Sale. The Cafe has already organized showings on Oct. 13 & 20, so we don't need to. But please RSVP at: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=12132 to show your support.

8. Bob Woodward Expose On Sixty Minutes: Details

Finally, Drew sends along the piece pasted below. This will be huge. Bob Woodward of Watergate expose fame has a new book out and will appear on Sixty Minutes on Sunday. It already led the NBC Nightly News today and will undoubtedly get bigger-- he reveals reports of the war are far worse than expected and that there is a insurgent (really resistance) attack on American forces every 15 minutes.

Thanks everyone!

Larry Dudley



Veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward tells Mike Wallace that the Bush administration has not told the truth regarding the level of violence, especially against U.S. troops, in Iraq. He also reveals key intelligence that predicts the insurgency will grow worse next year.

In Wallace’s interview with Woodward, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT, the reporter also claims that Henry Kissenger is among those advising Mr. Bush.

According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret. "It’s getting to the point now where there are eight-, nine-hundred attacks a week. That's more than 100 a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces," says Woodward.

The situation is getting much worse, says Woodward, despite what the White House and the Pentagon are saying in public. "The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon [saying], 'Oh, no, things are going to get better,'" he tells Wallace. "Now there’s public, and then there’s private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know," says Woodward.

"The insurgents know what they are doing. They know the level of violence and how effective they are. Who doesn't know? The American public," Woodward tells Wallace.

Woodward also reports that the president and vice president often meet with Henry Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as an adviser. Says Woodward, "Now what’s Kissinger’s advice? In Iraq, he declared very simply, ‘Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy.'" Woodward adds. "This is so fascinating. Kissinger’s fighting the Vietnam War again because, in his view, the problem in Vietnam was we lost our will."
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:30 AM