Tricounty DFA Update: Save the date for Jim Dean, Events, more
Hello Everyone!

In this update:

1. Jim Dean In Saratoga For Major Fundraiser For Val Keehn
2. DFA Meeting Report
3. Gillibrand at Ag Forum
4. Pulitizer Prize Winner On Future of Iraq
5. Moveon Petition
6. Friday Night Film Fest


1. Jim Dean In Saratoga For Major Fundraiser For Val Keehn


Next Tuesday Democracy For American Chair Jim Dean is coming to our area for a fundraiser for the reelection of Val Keehn as Mayor of Saratoga Springs. The event will be on Tuesday, August 14th from 5:30-7:30pm at the Inn At Saratoga, on South Broadway.

It should go without saying that Jim is more ordinarily found in DFA circles in the environs of places like Chicago, San Antonio or NYC. That he is coming to Saratoga for Keehn is a measure of the recognition that Val Keehn has earned as Mayor, and the role of this race in all-important Saratoga County.

Keehn was formally endorsed by Democracy For Saratoga Springs earlier this year, and Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area last week. In addition, Democracy For The Hudson Mohawk Region has also signed on as a sponsor of this event, which is greatly appreciated!

This event is open to the public and everyone in DFA, and all interested Democrats, liberals, progressives and all Keehn supporters are invited. Suggested contribution: $50.
Please RSVP at: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=22288 or or to Margaret LaFrance at: marglafrance@earthlink.net or

Or, sign up with Team Val on DFA-Link at: http://www.dfalink.com/campaign.php?id=2374 I would urge everyone who wants to join Team Val to do this.

2. DFA Meeting Report

We had our monthly August meeting at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe. After discussing some area events, we endorsed Val Keehn for reelection, then watched the video Taking The Hill, which is about vets, mostly of the Iraq War, who ran for Congress last year. It particularly focused on Eric Massa, who gave a tremendous address at the DFNY conference earlier this year. This video is really worth seeing for the insights it offers into how our party selects candidates for support, and, in effect, how corrupted and irrelevant that process has become. It is, in a sense, a window into why Democrats lose when they should not.


3. Gillibrand at Ag Forum

Lisa Manzi of Rep, Gillibrand's Glens Falls office sends this along (my apologies for not getting this out sooner!)

"The Washington County Town Hall meeting with Congresswoman Gillibrand will be from 3:30pm to 5pm on Wednesday, August 8th at the Kingsbury Firehouse in Washington County. The address is 3715 Burgoyne Avenue in the Town of Kingsbury."

"The topic of the forum will be on Agriculture and the most recently passed Farm Bill. "

"This is a great opportunity for you to share your opinions and concerns on the issues that matter to you. The Congresswoman will have folks on hand to discuss how to take advantage of state and federal programs aimed at helping our local farmers. Please contact us at 743-0964 if you have any questions. "



4. Pulitizer Prize Winner On Future of Iraq

The "must read" of the week is a piece by former NY Times writer Chris Hedges, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the middle east and terrorism in 2002.

According to Hedges, " The war in Iraq is about to get worse-much worse. The Democrats' decision to let the war run its course, while they frantically wash their hands of responsibility, means that it will sputter and stagger forward until the mission collapses. This will be sudden. The security of the Green Zone, our imperial city, will be increasingly breached. Command and control will disintegrate. And we will back out of Iraq humiliated and defeated." Full article at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080607D.shtml

Salient to this is the recent report that 190,000 AK-47s supplied by the US to Iraqi forces have simply vanished-- that is, vanished into the hands of the Iraqi resistance. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2143071,00.html

It is becoming increasingly clear that we need to get our Army out of Iraq before it is completely destroyed. Whatever happens there or elsewhere in the world cannot be improved by the breaking of the American Army.

5. Moveon Petition

Moveon has a new petition out:
"The Democratic-controlled Congress did the unthinkable on Saturday night: They gave President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales more unchecked power to wiretap Americans without a warrant. Yes, that's the same Attorney General who is currently mired in scandal and probably committed perjury on this very issue.... I sign... this petition demanding that Congress reverse this capitulation to Bush and the politics of fear." http://pol.moveon.org/capitulation/?r_by=10913-643825-.5F8Qi&rc=comment_mailto

6. Friday Night Film Fest

The Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe's Friday Night Progressive Film Festival continues at 7:30 with:

Aug 10 BEST BOY (1980) Ira Wohl 105 min.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Ira Wohl's BEST BOY remains one of the most beloved and critically-acclaimed docs of all time. Wohl's story centers around his 52-year-old cousin Philly, who has been mentally retarded since birth and has never lived apart from his parents, Max and Pearl Wohl. Now elderly, ailing, and concerned about Philly's future after their deaths, the Wohls are prompted by Ira to begin teaching their son self-reliance. As Philly moves from summer camp to training center and finally to an independent group home, BEST BOY becomes a stark but tender portrait of a family confronting life's impermanence and change.

Thanks everyone!

Larry Dudley

Labels: Democracy For Saratoga Springs, DFA, Jim Dean, Saratoga Springs, Val Keehn, Valerie Keehn

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:24 AM