Tricounty DFA Update: Step It Up, Write In Hess, Dr. Dean On Healthcare and Vampires!
Hello Everyone!

First-- A Happy Halloween to you all!

In This Update:

1. A Second Step It Up 2007 Day For Glens Falls
2. More On Write In Candidate Henry Hess
3. Governor Dean Gives Democratic Response
4. Andrew White: It's All Howard Dean's Fault
5. Vampires!
6. Author Justin Franks Video
7. Friday Night Film Fest


1. A Second Step It Up 2007 Day For Glens Falls

Last Spring we sponsored the first Step It Up event to combat Global Warming in our area. The City of Glens Falls is now following with a great series of events on Saturday, Nov. 3rd.

STEP IT UP! Glens Falls: “Building a Cool City”
When: November 3, 2007 – All Day
Where: Downtown Glens Falls
Purpose: How to cope with Global Warming as individuals and as a city, through local, state and federal governments

You’re invited: Bike, roller-blade, walk, car-pool, take the bus to downtown Glens Falls. Don’t get left behind! Reduce your carbon-footprint.

Event Schedule

10:00 Farmers Market - South St.
• Entertainment by Bill Campbell, biking information and tips. Meet people who use their bikes to commute. Local food and snacks, solar oven cooking, biodiesel info-samples, get to know the Toyota hybrid Prius with Jim Stegman.

11:30 Entertainment by C.E. Skidmore - City Park, Bay St/Maple St

12:00 Rally for the Planet - City Park
• Mayor Roy Akins: Making Glens Falls a Cool City. Remarks by Lisa Manzi for Kirstin Gillibrand. Invited guests Betty Little, Theresa Sayward, and a representative from the Sierra Club. Check out a Honda hybrid car with Michael D’ella Bella. Children activities and Group photos. Awards made to people who use their bikes to commute.

1:00 Presentations and Exhibitors - Wood Theater
Presentation Schedule
• 1-1:45 Jim Kunstler - Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century
• 2-2:45 Barton Mines/Green Builders/NYSERDA panel
• 3-3:45 groSolar’s Carbon Challenge - How solar energy works in your home.
• 4-4:30 Seth Jacobs - Local Agriculture as Part of the Solution

5:30 Movie: The Eleventh Hour - Aimie's Dinner and Movie, 190 Glen St. 518.792.8181

TBA Music Three Dimensional Figures - Rock Hill Café

Contacts
• Judy V White Email: jvwhite2004@yahoo.com
• Ruth Lamb Email: cooperlamb@yahoo.com Phone: (518) 761-6125



2. More On Write In Candidate Henry Hess

You probably saw the article a few days ago on Henry Hess and a write in campaign for Queensbury Town Supervisor. Kathy Sonnabend and Chris Strough have sent the following message on this very interesting effort:

"For those of you who are not happy with current Queensbury Town Supervisor Dan Stec, there is an option. Henry Hess has agreed to a write-in campaign. Henry is qualified and competent, and would be a huge improvement over the entrenched machine politics."

"Our mechanical voting machines have a row of levers across the very top. If you pull down the lever that is above the Town Supervisor's column, you can write in the name of Henry Hess. If you are uncertain, ask a poll worker to show you before you enter the booth (or even after you enter the booth). If they don't know how, make sure they find someone who does. If there is no paper in the machine, make sure they get that fixed, before anyone votes who is interested in a write-in."

"When I was a poll watcher for the 2006 election, many of the poll workers seemed unfamiliar with write ins, and we discovered that one of the machines was missing the paper roll. Any poll worker or poll watcher should have the telephone number of the Warren County Board of Elections and call them to have the machine examed quickly."

"If you don't want to vote for Henry Hess, then at least don't vote for Stec."

"You might think "what's the point?" It is true that write-in candidacies rarely succeed, but it will send a message to Stec and the machine that he does not have a complete mandate."

Here is what Henry sent to The Post Star and The Chronicle. The Post Star has not responded to him, but The Chronicle has agreed to cover it.
"It is unfortunate that neither the Democratic nor Conservative Parties were
able to recruit a candidate to run for Queensbury Town Supervisor. Not that
I oppose all that the current Supervisor is doing. However, I begrudge any
elected official the right to elect him/her self with their own single vote.
Without opposing candidates, the voting public has only two options: vote,
or withhold their vote, for the sole candidate. Either way, that sole
candidate receives 100% of votes cast and believes he/she has an unanimous
mandate to continue business as usual.

I have been asked several times to consider a formal candidacy for the
Queensbury Town Supervisor position. But, as I proved four years ago in my
principled, respectable, but not-quite-successful, run for Warren County
Treasurer, I don't have the 'stuff' of a political candidate. My successful
professional career has been based on credentials, expertise, and
performance, not cultured political popularity, and I'm just a bit too set
in my ways to adapt.

Once the candidates for General Election were finalized after the Primary,
some concerned citizens continued to share their views with me about the
current state of local government (both Town and County), and about our lack
of choice for a Town leader. So, when asked a couple weeks ago if I would
consent to a write-in candidacy, I agreed.

But my agreement was not with an expectation of winning, since write-in
campaigns are generally hopeless. However, they are not pointless. In fact,
being able to write-in a candidate of choice allows the voter to bridge the
the closed-end Party selection process. Getting your write-in
candidate elected is rare, but a concerted effort by a few voters sends a
signal that the sole-candidate did not win unanimously.

Last Friday's Post-Star headline said I'm not 'running'. Actually, I think I
am running - I'm just not campaigning. What you read here is pretty much it.
This is the only chance for me to share with Queensbury voters my platform
and my promises.

My platform:

to maintain dignity, decorum, and maturity in the conduct of government
business
without discouraging the civil exchange of bona-fide opinions. I believe
that the best decisions are derived from diverse perspectives;

to treat residents - whether or not voters or taxpayers - as
constituents deserving fair and respectful treatment;

to supervise the operations of Town government as a transparent
bureaucracy not shrouded in duplicity, assuring that all departments and
staff conform to these basic, ethical, governmental tenets: compliance with
laws; fair and courteous treatment of constituents; accountability to
taxpayers;

fiscally conservative spending and financial management;

to pursue economic growth that is compatible with environmental
realities - when doubt exists about the balance between ecology and economy,
I instinctively lean toward ecology.

My promises:

to fulfill my platform;

to assure long-term financial health of the town;

to measure the contribution of all Town public servants and hold them
accountable for their conduct;

to use my vote on the County Board of Supervisors to pursue the same
values I bring to the Town.

For those voters who would like to passively send a message to Town
government, my write in candidacy offers the chance."

3. Governor Dean Gives Democratic Response

To my mind, we can never heard enough from Governor Dean: the low quality of the debate and discussion in this Presidential season is largely determined by his absence-- think how differently we were discussing the great issues of the day four years ago, and how exciting it was.

Saturday, Dean gave the Democratic response to Bush on the Children's Healthcare program:

"WASHINGTON -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean on Saturday criticized Republicans in Congress for not supporting legislation to expand a popular children's health care program.

"The Republican leaders have made their choice. They want to stay in Iraq and deny our kids health care," Dean said in the party's weekly radio address."

For the full address: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102700615.html?hpid=sec-health

4. Andrew White: It's All Howard Dean's Fault

Speaking of Howard Dean, Jim Dean today gave a big online boost to Andrew White, who is running for Supervisor of Stephentown which is west of Troy. Andrew was the long time leader of Democracy For Hudson Mohawk Area down in the Capital District. Andrew well deserves the DFA-List for all his work for DFA over the years alone, and has out up a slightly (but only slightly) tongue in cheek posting-- "It's All Howard Dean's Fault." Congratulations Andrew!

Check it out at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/30/133143/37

5. Vampires!
It's Halloween, so I couldn't pass up this appeal from Consumer's Union: Do you know there may be a vampire in your wallet?

"It is time that you know the spooky truth: like vampires in the night, credit card companies suck nearly $8 billion annually from consumer’s wallets in fees alone!

This Halloween, tell Congress you want tough new laws that take the poltergeists out of your pocket and end creepy credit card rip-offs.

6. Author Justin Franks Video


Hilary McLellan sends along this interesting video interview with author Justin Franks. http://youngturks.vo.llnwd.net/o1/8-9-07JFrank.wmv

Franks has developed a sophisticated psychiatric analysis of George Bush junior in his book "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of a President is the title of a 2004 book by psychoanalyst Justin Frank. The central premise of Frank's book is that President George W. Bush, as an untreated alcoholic, is in constant danger of a relapse. Further, in Frank's opinion, Bush manifests the symptoms of a dry drunk, principally irritability, judgmentalism and a rigid, unadaptable world view." For more from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_on_the_Couch



7. Friday Night Film Fest


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

Friday Nov 2
AN UNREASONABLE MAN (2006) Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan 122 min.
As quietly provocative as its thoughtful protagonist, Steve Skrovan and Henriette Mantel's galvanizing documentary, AN UNREASONABLE MAN, examines how one of the 20th century's most admired and indefatigable social activists, Ralph Nader, became a pariah among the same progressive circles he helped champion. Utilizing the standard documentary formula of archival footage, talking-head interviews, and the occasional computer-animated graphic, the film deftly traces Nader's life and career with a robust, lively pace that follows him from his upbringing in a Lebanese immigrant family that took its commitment to civic engagement very seriously (the family discussed politics at the dinner table and attended town-hall meetings together) to his role as t he leading consumer advocate of the 1960s and '70s (when he took on the automobile industry and became responsible for many safety features modern consumers take for granted, such as seatbelts and airbags). But the film really picks up steam--and takes the form of an impassioned public debate--when it tackles the contentious 2000 and 2004 presidential runs that elicited accusations of splitting the Democratic vote and enabling the election of George W. Bush, making enemies of Nader's most ardent supporters (including celebrity pundits Michael Moore and Bill Maher; liberal journalists Eric Alterman and Todd Gitlin; and even former members of Nader's own advocacy group, Nader’s Raiders) while cementing the continued respect of fellow activists like Mark Green and James Ridgeway. That all these figures appear on screen--alongside such disparate political luminaries as Phil Donahue, Pat Buchanan, and Nader himself--stands as a testament to the film's balanced approach, one that!makes a nonpartisan plea that such a lifelong crusader for social jus tice not be remembered as a mere "spoiler," but as a consummate public advocate and a living example of the average citizen's power to participate in the democratic process.

Thanks everyone! Happy Halloween Again!

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:42 AM