Tricounty DFA Update: Primary Coming, the 48th SD and Slime
Hello Everyone;

In This Update:

1. NY Primary A Week Away
2. Glens Falls DFA February Meeting Next Week
3. An Appeal For Help: Special Election In The 48th SD
4. Slime Alert
5. Friday Night Progressive Film Fest


1. NY Primary A Week Away

I am sure we all know the New York Primary is now only one week away on February 5th Remember, if you were thinking of voting early in the day, for primaries the Polls open at Noon, not 7am, and close at 9pm. Plan ahead and don't get caught short.


2. Glens Falls DFA February Meeting Next Week

Our Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area monthly meeting follows Primary Day on Wednesday, February 6th. As usual, we will be meeting at our regular time of 7pm at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in glorious Downtown Glens Falls, one block west of the roundabout. I'm sure with the Primary we will have lots to talk about, just like we did last month. We may also get to the environmental initiative we were discussing and some videos.


3. An Appeal For Help: Special Election In The 48th SD

People in our area may not be focusing on the fact that there is a Special Election coming up in the 48th Senate District to the North of us. Democrats are very close to taking control of the State Senate for the first time in a generation, so this is a very big deal. Yesterday I received this important message from our Washington County Chair Sheila Comar, who is rounding up help for this race:

"Greetings!

"The Democratic Rural Conference (DRC) is focusing on the upcoming 48th District Senate Race in upstate NY. As you may know, our Democratic Candidate, Darrel Aubertine, has hit the ground running. He's known and loved in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties and is gaining ground in Oswego where he is less known."

"The State Democratic Senate Campaign is firmly behind him but they are looking for some boots on the ground to strengthen the effort. The election date has been set: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 and the DRC is working to set up a network of volunteers who can help Darrel get a seat in the State Senate and help us get that much closer to flipping the Senate. "

"The DRC has asked each of its members to reach out to Democrats in their counties to identify people who might be willing to volunteer in Jefferson, Oswego or St. Lawrence counties over the next several weeks. They are also looking for volunteers who can make phone calls to residents in the 48th. They have asked each county to try to identify four volunteers and are making arrangements for housing (free or cheap). Won't you consider being part of this campaign?"

"Below is a form to help us figure out who is available and when. If you're interested, please fill it out and email this back to me and I'll follow up with more details."

"In the meantime, here are some links to Darrel's campaign web site and to his recent commercials and media."

"Thanks for considering this!"

"Sheila Comar, Chair, Washington County Democratic Committee"
sheilac@washingtoncountydemocrats.com
518-642-9566

"Darrel's Web Site: http://www.electaubertine.com/

"Darrel's Commercials, Media: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aubertine

I'll paste the form at the bottom. Our State Senate candidate from last time, Tim Merrick, tells me he has high hopes for Aubertine, so please do what you can (I'm sure money is also gratefully accepted).


4. Slime Alert

Politics can often be a rough business, but I want to alert everyone to some things that I've been seeing.

Before I comment, though, let me say pointedly that I have not decided who to vote for, though I am swinging between Obama and Edwards. On an emotional level I have no dog in this fight-- the candidate or candidates I wanted decided not to run.

We often hear it said that what a great selection of candidates we have this year. In reality the heavy hitters in the Democratic Party: Gore, Dean and Feingold, for reasons sometimes good, are sitting it out. (Gov. Dean made a commitment to stay at the DNC, and being an honorable man, is honoring it. That we are now newly competitive as a party is largely due to his efforts and the sacrifice of his own personal ambition. Russ Feingold apparently went into divorce last year. Gore-- well, who knows why Gore decided not to run?) If Gore, Dean or Feingold were in the race, we'd see right away how thin this bunch is by comparison.

At any rate, as your local DFA coordinator, people send me tons of stuff, so I am sure I see more than most people do. Lately my mailbox has been really filling up. What is particularly alarming is the sheer volume and also mendacity of smears aimed at Barack Obama. I have received mailings telling me that he is:

*Actually is a moslem and is lying about it
*Attended a radical wahabi muslim religious school in Jakarta
*Turns his back when the National Anthem is played
*Has a secret Islamic religious agenda
*Wants to privatize Social Security
*Is anti-choice

Some of this stuff is reminiscent of the worse of the swiftboat lies spread by the radical right against John Kerry. But Democrats swiftboating Democrats is something new.

Major lies were also spread against Governor Dean four years ago. But they were much more hidden, and because we had a much shorter campaign, there wasn't the time and opportunity to expose what was going on.

And to be clear-- some of these lies are coming from within our Party, but others are not.

But the latter point above, the anti-choice one, is particularly revealing, and I would like to focus on it. The Clintons know that if large numbers of women go over to Obama, that Hillary Clinton's chances are doomed. That was the lesson of Iowa-- large numbers of women voters defected to Obama and Clinton lost.

Accordingly, they have to find some way to frighten and rattle women voters, and the reproductive choice button is the obvious one to push. It now appears they are basing her campaign on trying to panic and stampede her own base of women supporters.

Whatever one thinks of these three candidates, the reality is that their positions on Choice are virtually identical, and they would make any future Supreme Court appointments from essentially the same roster of candidates. There are good reasons to vote for and against all these candidates. But reproductive rights are equally safe in all their hands, it is not an issue in any respect in the Democratic race.

An issue is being made in particular about Obama's voting "present" in the Illinois Senate. Under parliamentary rules there, under certain circumstances, if it looks like a bill is going to be defeated, State Senators often vote "present" as a parliamentary tactic to keep it alive-- it sends the bill back to committee. So by voting "present" on pro-choice bills, Obama was actually acting to keep that legislation alive, in a sense, living to fight another day. Those who voted "present" were seeking to avoid outright defeat, and save reproductive rights. This is a demonstration of how easy it is to misrepresent a legislator's record, whether it's at the municipal, state or federal level-- if one has the will to do so.

The truth is Barack Obama has at 100% approval rating from Illinois Planned Parenthood. He has never failed them even once.

So we are experiencing a viral lie campaign, which is the fancy new term for the old whisper campaign, a campaign of accusations that one doesn't want to take credit for. The only difference is that it is being done over the Internet.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how lying became part of the internal culture of the Democratic Party. But it clearly has.

Lying is the death of democracy. Always. The genius of our government is that it is a system for transferring accountability: from the people, who are sovereign, to elected officials, and holding them accountable in turn. Lying simply makes this impossible. Accountability for what? We can see how this subverted the system in the way Bush lied us into war. In the face of his lies, Democracy could not function. Lying is the worst thing a public official can do, because lying is an attack on the system itself, irrespective of what the lie is ostensibly about.

Underlying the democratic political order is a democratic culture that implicitly assumes certain bonds of trust. Sever those bonds of trust, and the whole thing will eventually collapse. Does anyone really believe we can base our democracy on lies?

Perhaps this new culture of lying is a sinister echo of something Hitler said-- that the strength of his Nazi system was that it forced others to emulate it. Maybe in fighting the radical right for so long we have unwittingly come to resemble them. If that is true, George Bush, Karl Rove and all the rest have really won.


5. Friday Night Progressive Film Fest

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

SHADOW BOXERS (2002) Katya Bankowsky 72 min. No RT Rating
Lucia Rijker, an undefeated female boxer, is the centerpiece for this fascinating look at the world of female boxing. Revealing fascinating facts and behind-the-scenes insights into the sport, SHADOW BOXERS also illustrates how much is at stake in this extreme and often brutal world.

Thanks Everyone! More on next week's meeting this weekend! The Aubertine volunteer form is below.

Larry



Volunteer To Help Darrel Sweep the 48th Senate District

Your Name:

Your Address:

Your Phone:

Your E-Mail:

Please Check the Counties that You Would be Willing to Travel To:

____Oswego _____Jefferson _____St. Lawrence


Please Check the Weekends that You Would Be Available:

_____January 25-27

_____February 1-3

_____February 8-10

_____February 15-17

_____February 22-24

Would You Be Willing To Make Phone Calls From Home? _____Yes _____No

sheilac@washingtoncountydemocrats.com

Labels: Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, lying, Obama, slime, smear

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:12 PM 0 comments

 
Voting Machine Victory Message From Bo Lipari of New Yorkers For Verified Voting
Hello Everyone!

A major-- and very favorable-- turning point for our democracy occurred today here in the State of New York. Many of us will recall the presentation two years ago by Bo Lipari of New Yorkers For Verified Voting. Today Bo announced a decisive victory in the New York State Board of Elections-- NY will not be voting on unreliable, unsecure touchscreen voting machines that can be hacked. American democracy may have been saved. Stalin once joked, it's not who votes that counts, but who counts the voters. But we have been saved from that spectre. There will be no stolen elections here.

There were many who worked ceaselessly for this victory, but clearly none contributed more than Bo Lipari himself, and to him a special laurel is due.

His announcement is in full below.

Also in the news tonight: our Kucinich supporters, both from this year and 2004, will be saddened to hear that Kucinich is dropping out of the race for President. Whether one was for Dennis or not is not the issue-- two thirds of the Democratic candidates have now dropped out, with 95% or more of the electorate still to be heard from. That cannot be considered healthy for our democracy. There is still much to be done!

Larry


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bo Lipari"
Date: January 24, 2008 3:15:58 PM EST
To: "Bo Lipari"
Subject: Breaking News - NY rejects DREs!

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win."
-Mohandas Gandhi

I'm pleased to announce that after five years of hard work on the part of
voting integrity advocates, New York State has rejected DREs and approved
only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for use in 2008
polling places. This momentous decision by the State Board of Elections
virtually guarantees that New York State will vote on paper ballots and
ballot scanners when it finally replaces lever machines in 2009.

Those of you who were with us at the beginning five years ago know what an
enormous victory this is. When I first started traveling, presenting and
advocating in New York, election officials, political parties, and the media
assumed that New York State was going to be a DRE state. Precinct scanners
were not under discussion, and only DREs were offered by vendors. Our
experience over these five years reflects the truth of Gandhi's statement -
indeed we were ignored, then laughed at, then fought bitterly by the voting
machine vendors and their supporters in the election establishment. But
finally, truth has prevailed, and what seemed like an impossible dream in
2003 has been made real by our hard work - New York State will be a paper
ballot state.

Just yesterday, it seemed like high powered lobbyists had scuttled our hopes
once again as they maneuvered to keep DREs in the mix even though they were
in clear violation of New York's laws(see my blog entry describing
yesterday's events at http://nyvv.org/blog/2008/01/breakdown-at-board.html).
But this morning, when the Board reconvened, it was immediately obvious from
the commissioners opening statements that those who were pushing for the
DREs had conceded defeat. No small amount of thanks is due to Commissioner
Doug Kellner (D), who firmly held the line yesterday and during a long night
of backroom political maneuvering, vowing he would never approve the DRE
submissions which did not fulfill the requirements of New York State
election law regarding accessible voting machines.

While technically it is possible for a DRE vendor to submit and win approval
for the 2009 lever machine replacement, this is highly unlikely as at least
half of the HAVA funds will be spent on scanner compatible ballot markers.
Since all the approved systems are components of a precinct based scanner
system the least expensive path, and the only sensible one is for the
counties to complete their HAVA implementation with paper ballots and
scanners. We've learned to never be complacent, but this time we have reason
to be confident that the scanner compatible choices of today will inevitably
lead to paper ballots for all New York voters tomorrow.

My deepest thanks to everyone who fought this long, difficult battle. This
is only round 1, and I promise you we will have much, much more to do to
guarantee that our elections belong to the public, and are transparent and
observable. But for today, let's break out the champagne, relax, and
celebrate this great victory. What was once only a slogan representing what
we were fighting for, has now become a reality - Paper Ballots for New York!

Congratulations friends. Together we have changed the course of New York
States election history, and 12 million registered voters in the Empire
State will vote on paper ballots, not DREs.

-Bo Lipari

Labels: Bo Lipari, elections, Kucinich, verified voting

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:43 PM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Update: MLK Day Events Monday, Primaries, Electronic Voting News and more
Hello Everyone!

Special Note: It is now exactly one year until George W. Bush is out of office- January 20, 2009.

In This Update:

1. Martin Luther King Day Commemoration Monday
2. Primaries Continue-- Two Weeks To Super-Duper Tuesday
3. Breaking News From Bo Lipari At NYVV
4. Must Reads: Jim Hightower, Mitt and More
5. Friday Night Film Fest

1. Martin Luther King Day Commemoration Monday

The Greater Glens Falls area commemoration of Martin Luther King Day will be Monday, January 21st.

Courtesy of our hearty Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe host Matt Funiciello:

"Greetings, Local Friends of Civil Rights! Please join our community on Monday January 21st to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. We meet at City Hall at 4:30 pm for a gathering and some brief remarks from Mayor Akins and Teresa Sayward and then we "march" over to Christ Church so that we can enjoy a full program of music and speakers to celebrate the legacy of one of America's great heroes. Our keynote speaker will be Adirondack native, Dr. Alice Green, a founder of the Center for Law and Justice, a non-profit organization that empowers poor people and people of color. Refreshments and a Book Giveaway will follow in Fellowship Hall (with donations from Rock Hill Cafe, Ridge Street, Kate Austin, Body Relief Spa, Cheryl Inglis and Enid Mastroianni). Full details are listed below. Please, please spread the word as this event has not really been covered very well by the media (as usual). ;-) Thanks and see you there!"

"Peace, Matt

The full listing of events is at the bottom.


2. Primaries Continue-- Two Weeks To Super-Duper Tuesday

In two days it will be two weeks until Super-Duper Tuesday, when 25 states, including New York, have their primaries. Yesterday's Nevada caucuses provided little clarity: Clinton apparently got the most votes, but Obama won the the most delegates. Edwards seems to be on the verge of being pushed out, which is unfortunate, even if you don't back him-- it'd be nice if we could get to say something about all of this first.

Florida and Michigan's delegates will not be seated at the Democratic Convention because those states broke the rules on when to hold their primaries, and they have around ten percent of the votes at the convention. If the candidates are tied, which seems to be the case now, that will make it harder for any candidate to assemble a majority. A hung and then brokered convention could become a real possibility. In that case we might not know the nominee until August.

McCain was the big winner yesterday for the Republicans-- which is raising talk he might chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Lieberman endorsed McCain and went to New Hampshire to campaign for McCain, which shows how little party labels can mean today, including Lieberman's rating of 80 from the ADA, 86 from AFSCME and 83 from the ACLU. And yet he might be the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate! It's going to be a freaky year.


3. Breaking News From Bo Lipari At NYVV

A couple of years ago we hosted Bo Lipari of New Yorkers For Verified Voting for a great presentation on the dangers of electronic voting. Bo has been working steadily on beating back the threat of electronic voting machines. Tonight he sent out news we may be finally seeing the threat of computerized vote stealing finally put to rest for good:

"NYS Board of Elections May Authorize Paper Ballots at January 23 Meeting- No DREs in New York State !
"Sources at the State Board of Elections tell me that the Board's inability to agree on Ballot Marking Devices could result in only one system being authorized at the Board's crucial meeting on Wednesday, 1/23/08 - a combination ballot marker and scanner which would virtually guarantee that New Yorkers will vote on paper ballots when lever machines are retired in 2009..."
http://nyvv.org/blog/2008/01/breakthrough-at-board.html

In theory the Legislature threw back to the counties and local elections commissioners the decision on which machines to buy for their communities. But they have to chose from a menu of machines approved by the state. If on optically-scanned paper ballots can't be certified, then that choice is meaningless and we will have, safe, secure, and, most important of all, recountable paper ballots.


4. Must Reads: Jim Hightower, Mitt and More

Drew sends along this piece from Jim Hightower on the slow, grinding down of Democrats by the Congress' failure to deal with Iraq and stand up to the Bush White House:

"The Democrats' fizzle in the face of the power-grabbing Bush administration is doing serious damage to America's political psyche..."
and
"Maybe they think that people aren't noticing this. Maybe they hope that since Bush & Buckshot are so awful, Congress will get a pass. Indeed, Bush's job-approval rating is now down to an all-time low of 24% in the latest Zogby poll. But get ready for a shock, Dems-Congress's job-approval rating is 11%. Eleven! Even among Democrats, the approval rating is a mere 14%. Tellingly, only 10% of union members and 8% of liberals give Congress a positive job-performance score." http://www.alternet.org/story/72875/?page=entire

Dick sends this along about Mitt Romney laying off workers then offering to hire them back at a lower wage: http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/05/31/romneys-business-experience-firing-%20workers-hiring-them-back-at-lower-wages/

I also put an article up on Blog For America and dKos on how progressives' allowing Iraq War to slip off the front burner was unjustified by the nature of a guerilla war, and hurting the chances for progressive reform: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/19/11516/4978/899/439456


5. Friday Night Film Fest

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

Fri Jan 25
BUYING THE WAR (2007) Bill Moyers 87 min.
Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context." How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? "What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored," says Moyers. "How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?" Buying the War includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of MEET THE PRESS; Bob Simon of 60 MINUTES; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by The McClatchy Company in 2006.

Fri Feb 1 7:30 pm Adirondack Progressive Film Forum
SHADOW BOXERS (2002) Katya Bankowsky 72 min. No RT Rating
Lucia Rijker, an undefeated female boxer, is the centerpiece for this fascinating look at the world of female boxing. Revealing fascinating facts and behind-the-scenes insights into the sport, SHADOW BOXERS also illustrates how much is at stake in this extreme and often brutal world.


Thanks Everyone! Sorry not to get an update out last week-- I was very seriously under the weather. I will try to do at least bi-weekly ones going ahead. See you all soon! MLK events below,

Best,

Larry


*****
"Martin Luther King Day Program - From Dreamer to Revolutionary
in Glens Falls at City Hall and at Christ Church on January 21, 2008
Symbolic March & Gathering

4:30 – 4:45 pm Gather at City Hall
4:45 – 5:00 pm Remarks – Mayor Akins, Assemblywoman Sayward
5:00 – 5:10 pm Brief March to Christ Church
5:00 – 5:10 pm Brief March to Christ Church

Program at Christ Church
5:15 pm People are seated as Doctor King's “I Have A Dream” plays in the background
5:30 pm Welcome and Opening Prayer - Bruce Reese
5:35 pm African American Anthem - All Voices Choir
5:40 pm Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church Choir - Two Selections
5:50 pm Reverend Leonard Oates - “Preaching In The Wilderness”
6:00 pm Full Foundation Church Choir - Two Selections
6:10 pm “Blackbird” (The Beatles) - Neal Herr
6:15 pm Introduction of Keynote - Matt Funiciello
Doctor Alice Green - “From Dreamer To Revolutionary”
6:30 pm “When The Ship Comes In” (Bob Dylan) - Cory Avon
6:35 pm All Voices Choir - “America The Beautiful” & “Let There Be Peace On Earth”

Labels: Bo Lipari, Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Iraq War, John Edwards, Martin Luth King Day, NYVV, Obama Hillary Clinton, Primaries

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:36 PM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Update: Reminder-- Big Meeting Wednesday!
Hello Everyone;

In This Update:


1. Glen Falls DFA Meeting Wednesday
2. Big News Out Of Iowa and New Hampshire: Progressives Win!
3. McGovern Calls For Bush/Cheney Impeachment
4. NY Times Magazine On Election Machines
5. Friday Night Progressive Film Fest



1. Don't Miss Glens Falls DFA Meeting Wednesday!

1. Because of the New Year's Day holiday, we'll be holding our monthly Greater Glens Falls Area DFA meeting this Wednesday, January 9th, at 7pm at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls.

This should be a big meeting with much to discuss, including the environmental coordination and also the training initiatives we were talking about earlier, but, I am sure, most especially, the news out of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary this Tuesday.

So if you have not been to a meeting lately, not to worry-- this is going to be like a big gathering of old friends, and new ones as well. If you are excited about what is going on, come on down!

The Cafe is on the corner of Exchange and Elm Streets and Hudson Avenue, just up from the Round-about, going towards the hospital.


2. Big News Out Of Iowa and New Hampshire: Progressives Win!

I don't have to tell anyone about the news out of Iowa or New Hampshire, but it is clear there is an earthquake underway in the Democratic Party.

DFA National pushed for a progressive win in Iowa, and they got it: Obama-Edwards, first and second, a more than 2-1 victory for progressives.

What has happened is really the continuation of what Governor Dean started five years ago-- to move the Democratic Party back to its roots and away from another "me-too" party of corporate power. Both Obama and Edwards ran smart, 21st century campaigns in Iowa, campaigns based on people power, not money power.

It is very important to note that Republican Mike Huckabee did the same thing and beat a much more heavily funded Mitt Romney. Both Clinton and Romney spent tens of millions for their poor showings.

The days of top-down campaigns, where the goal was to raise as much money as possible, in order to crash a truckload of cash into a TV station, like a suicide bombing, only for ads, has come to an end. So, too, the era of overpaid campaign consultants.

Joe Trippi, Governor Dean's former campaign manager, and now John Edward's chief campaign strategist, aptly dubbed that time the era of Broadcast Politics. It started in the 1950s with the rise of television, and it upended our democracy, turning both parties into institutions that represented rich donors, not constituents.

The purpose of television advertising is to "sell the eyeballs" of viewers to advertisers-- that's how TV stations and networks make money. Popular programs bring in more "eyeballs" to be sold. Similarly, the purpose of Broadcast Politics was to deliver voter's attention to a candidate. It was not about finding or getting elected officials to represent constituents in government. This change reversed the direction of accountability in our political system.

Like the companies that bought advertisements, those who could pay for this process actually held power, not the public, the owners of our democracy. This negative transformation caused both the corruption and gross trivialization of modern American politics. It's no wonder on issue after issue, both parties failed average Americans as our country steadily drifted to the right. As American political life degenerated and also increasingly failed to address their concerns, tens of millions of Americans, reduced to passive spectators, tuned politics out, and then dropped out of the system. Political participation was no longer part of their life.

Governor Dean talked of a Great American Restoration. Maybe now we are going to finally get it. The Obama-Edwards win is also, in every real way, Howard Dean's victory, for it is his vision of American Democracy that has prevailed. The Governor realized the answer to our political dilemma was to change the dynamics by getting discouraged voters who have dropped out to return to participating in the political process, to turn them from passive spectators, for whom politics was something they received, into participants and the joint masters of their own destiny. Bringing in tens of thousands of new people to the caucuses-- over 100,000-- is precisely what Obama and Edwards did. There looks to be a record turnout in New Hampshire as well. In this sense both are true successors to the Dean campaign.

This political earthquake is also, it should be noted, in good measure a repudiation of Hillary Clinton's votes on Iraq. Democrats expected their leaders to stand up to George Bush and his criminal war of aggression, were furious when they did not get that strong leadership, and are still upset. This failure too, ultimately, owed much to the reversal of the direction of accountability that Broadcast Politics represented.


3. McGovern Calls For Bush/Cheney Impeachment


Our 1972 presidential candidate, Sen. George McGovern, issued a clarion call today in the Washington Post to impeach both Bush and Cheney, arguing the fundamental principles of our country are more important than time left in office or convenience. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404308.html?hpid=opinionsbox1


3. NY Times Magazine On Election Machines

As we learned in 2000, and probably 2004, what really matters sometimes, as Marshall Stalin cynically observed, is not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes.

That means a "must-read" of the week is a big piece in the New York Times Magazine on voting technology, and the basic unreliability of electronic voting machines. This is something we have focused on in the past, and still will be key in the future. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all


4. Friday Night Progressive Film Fest

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

Fri Jan 11 7:30 pm Adirondack Progressive Film Forum
GRIZZLY MAN (2005) Werner Herzog 104 min.
In his mesmerizing new film GRIZZLY MAN, acclaimed director Werner Herzog explores the life and death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell lived unarmed among the bears for thirteen summers, and filmed his adventures in the wild during his final five seasons. In October 2003, Treadwell's remains, along with those of his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were discovered near their campsite in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Reserve. They had been mauled and devoured by a grizzly, the first known victims of a bear attack in the park. (The bear suspected of the killings was later shot by park officials.) In GRIZZLY MAN, Herzog plumbs not only the mystery of wild nature, but also the mystery of human nature as he chronicles Treadwell's final years in the wilderness. Herzog uses Treadwell's own startling documentary footage to paint a nuanced portrait of a complex and compelling figure while exploring larger questions about the uneasy r

Thanks everyone! See you all Wednesday!

Larry Dudley

Labels: Broadcast Politics, Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Howard Dean, Impeachment, Iraq War, John Edwards, Larry Dudley, Obama

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 10:50 PM 0 comments