Hello Everyone;

In This Reminder Update:

1. Vigil For Peace & To Bring Troops Home Saturday 11am
2. Congressional Blank Check On War?
2. Washington County Women's Luncheon
3. Total, Final Voting Machine Victory!


1. Vigil For Peace & To Bring Troops Home Saturday 11am

At our last meeting we agreed to resume our Saturday morning vigils for peace and to bring our troops home. Thanks to the generous coverage of WNYT-13, our vigil on the 12th was a tremendous success.

At that vigil we decided to hold another vigil this coming Saturday, April 26th, at 11am. Please come on down to the corner of Bay and Glen Streets by the Civil War monument in downtown Glens Falls. Bring a sign and a friend! With Iraq falling apart, it's time to start showing our opposition to that debacle again.

2. Congressional Blank Check On War?

There have been persistent news reports that Congressional leaders are preparing a massive, $172 Billion war funding bill for Iraq, which would fund that conflict for another year, that is, up until the war's sixth anniversary. Truthout has a pretty balanced summary: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042508J.shtml

However, one simply has to wonder if the Democratic has a death wish. How else can one describe telling the American people you agree with them you want the troops home and the war ended, and then vote to fund it?

Declaration Of Peace.org is urging people to call Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-0100 and John Murtha (Chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee) at (202) 225-2847 to tell them another blank check of $172 Billion for this war is unacceptable.


2. Washington County Women's Luncheon

A quick reminder from Washington County:

"YOU ARE INVITED TO: The Washington County Democratic Women’s Spring Luncheon
Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 12 noon - 2 pm
La Cocina Restaurant
122 Main Street, Hudson Falls, NY
$25 in advance; $30 at the door: Gourmet Buffet
Special Guest: NY State Demicratic Chair June O'Neill.
Only FIve Days To Get Your Checks in: Contact Ellen Faber at 518-677-8345 or steveandellen@earthlink.net
or send check to Ellen at 100 EAST MAIN STREET, CAMBRIDGE, NY 12816"


3. Total, Final Voting Machine Victory!

Great news this week from Bo Lipari of New Yorkers For Verified Voting"

"It is now official. Liberty Election Systems has withdrawn from the New
York market and has informed the State Board of Elections that they will not
fulfill the order for 11 LibertyMark DREs. LibertyVote was promoting the
Dutch Nedap DRE in New York State, but was required to post another $750,000
bond to cover the costs of ongoing certification testing as requires by the
State. Apparently LibertyVote and Nedap decided it was time to pull the
plug."

"The LibertyVote/Nedap DRE had been denied certification by the NYS Board
earlier this year, but the company sued the State and in a surprise ruling
by the State Supreme Court the DRE was ordered back on the list of machines
available for purchase. However, when the New York's 58 counties placed
machine orders several weeks later, only tiny Hamilton county placed an
order for 11 of the Dutch DREs."

"New York State now has no DREs of any type being purchased by any county, or
currently undergoing NYS certification testing for 2009 purchases. For the
vendors who for 6 years had told us "New York is a DRE state", we tell you
now as we told you then, "Wrong. New York is a paper ballot state."

So the great Voting Machine War is finally over, at least for NY State. We will be voting in the future on reliable, safe and recountable paper ballots, optically scanned.

For this great victory great credit must go to a real hero: Bo Lipari!


Thanks everyone!

Hope to see you all tomorrow downtown at 11am.

Larry

Labels: Bo Lipari, Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Iraq, NYVV

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 3:50 PM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Update: Another Vigil For Peace & To Bring Troops Home Saturday at 11am!
Hello Everyone;

In This Update:

1. Vigils!
2. Governor Dean Speaks
3. High Crimes
4. Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe Events
5. On The Lighter Side


1. Vigils!

At our last meeting we agreed to resume our Saturday morning vigils for peace and to bring our troops home. Thanks to the generous coverage of WNYT-13, our vigil on the 12th was a tremendous success. TV-13 correspondent Jessica Layton came with crew, interviewed several of us and prepared a news report that was the lead story on the evening news at 6pm and was a leading story at 11pm. We thank them and everyone who attended for coming!

At the vigil, because of Passover and the school vacation week, we agreed to skip a week and hold another vigil on the following weekend, this coming Saturday, April 26th, at 11am. Please mark it on your calendar and come on down to the corner of Bay and Glen Streets by the Civil War monument in downtown Glens Falls. Bring a sign and a friend! With Iraq falling apart, it's time to start showing our opposition to that debacle again.

2. Governor Dean Speaks

We haven't heard from Governor Dean as much as we'd like, but last month he was back in Madison, Wisconsin and gave a roaring speech that was also an overview of what is going on with the country in terms of our changing electorate, as revealed by DNC polling and other studies. Dean also talks about the neighborhood leadership program and other subjects. This is a must hear speech, really fascinating, (audio only) that also really shows the real leadership deficit we've seen in recent years-- some people really aren't replaceable. Just click the link below and then listen to the audio file.

http://reform-dem.blogspot.com/2008/03/howard-dean-back-in-madison.html

The Governor also spoke recently to the NY Times on the primary race: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=e5fd35b67394f602374dcc9dbd7eb351bb087a58


3. High Crimes

An issue that did not come up in the Wednesday night debate, so disgracefully managed by ABCNEWS, was the shocking revelation that top US officials, including the White House, attended conferences where how and when to torture prisoners were apparently discussed in detail.

This included George Bush, who effectively admitted approving war crimes and crimes against humanity. http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/04/14/torture/index.html

Obama, to his credit, has clearly stated that crimes committed by present administration members will be investigated by any administration he leads: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/15/obama-would-immediately-r_n_96690.html It is good to know there is at least some willingness to prosecute the many war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against our Constitution that have occurred in the last five years.

To this we now have to add the shocking revelations in the Sunday New York Times that the Pentagon used "information warfare" techniques to control and manipulate public opinion on the war, another clearly criminal act, one specifically prohibited by federal law. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html .

Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media, is calling for Congressional investigations of this latest scandal. https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=257

Dick also sends along this remarkable piece by Greg Palast on the secretive economic summit being held today in New Orleans-- it's main purpose seems to be to undermine labor, health, environmental and other standards embedded in US law: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/jos-can-you-see-bush-s-trojan-taco

Bob also sends along this piece, which we saw before, on how US agribusiness firms, some linked to Hillary Clinton, are damaging agriculture in the third world with genetically modified crops that people cannot use to create seeds and need expensive fertilizers and pesticides: http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/310/


4. Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe Events

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

Fri Apr 25 7:30 pm Adirondack Progressive Film Forum
SMALL TOWN GAY BAR (2006) Malcolm Ingram 76 min. RT Rating = N/A
With gay marriage as one of the most divisive topics in today's political arena, it is clear the fight for equal rights is far from over, and nowhere is this more evident than in small towns in the Deep South. Homosexuals in these communities lack the social outlets of their cosmopolitan brethren. However, in the face of cruelty, ridicule, and even violence, they manage to find sanctuary in the only place they are offered within hundreds of miles–gay bars.

Then, Saturday NIght, the Cafe hosts a series of events for Ralph Nader:

Sat Apr 26 6:00pm Fund Raising Dinner With Presidential Candidate RALPH NADER (Proceeds to Benefit Nader/Gonzalez 2008)
ITickets are available at Rock Hill Cafe in downtown Glens Falls or by phone (518) 361-6278. The suggested donation per ticket is $250 with a minimum donation of $100. These tickets include reserved seating for the Wood Theater event at 8:00 pm as well. All proceeds will benefit Nader/Gonzalez 2008.

Sat Apr 26 8:00 pm RALPH NADER at the Wood Theater in Glens Falls * Area Premiere of "Awake From Your Slumber" *
Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center has released a great new film, "Awake From Your Slumber". Their 28 minute film shows footage of Patti Smith and Ralph Nader in Albany for the Democracy Rising tour. Nader will speak at the film's end and there will be a question and answer session afterwards. Tickets are available at Rock Hill Cafe in downtown Glens Falls or by phone (518) 361-6278. The minimum donation is $25 per ticket.


5. On The Lighter Side

Bert sends this humorous list below about Bush's possible Presidential Library ( One book. WIth crayons.) \

Thanks everyone! See you Saturday,

Larry


******

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages. You'll want to be first to make a contribution to this great man's legacy.

The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you can't remember anything.

The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't have to even show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room (which no one has been able to find).

The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first tour, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tour.

The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery.

Plans also include: The K-Street Project Gift Shop - where you can buy (or just steal) an election.

The Airport Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.

Last, but not least, there will be an entire floor devoted to a 7/8 scale model of the President's ego.

To highlight the President's accomplishments, the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.

When asked, President Bush said that he didn't care so much about the individual exhibits as long as his museum was better than his father's.

Labels: Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Howard Dean, Iraq War, Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe, vigil

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 12:31 AM 0 comments

 
Tricounty DFA Update: Meeting Report, Vigil Saturday 11am, Gov. Dean, Women's Luncheon, More
Hello Everyone!

In This Update:

1. 5th Anniversary Meetup/Link-Up: photo
2. Vigil Saturday 11am
3. Governor Dean In News
4. Washington County Democratic Women's Luncheon
5. DFA Training In Rochester
6. $100 A Month For Disaster
7. Friday Night Progressive Film Festival


1. 5th Anniversary Meetup/Link-Up: photo

We celebrated our fifth anniversary together as a group last Wednesday. It's been a remarkable five years, with literally several hundred people passing through 58 regular meetings and I don't know how many special meetings, vigils, house parties and many, many other events.

Blog For America featured us last week:

At our meeting there was considerable discussion about the worsening Iraq War and we agreed to send a message to DFA National HQ in Burlington urging them to put the war issue on the front burner by asking Speaker Pelosi to start cutting funding and bring our troops home.

2. Vigil Saturday 11am

Because of the worsening Iraq situation, we also agreed to hold a one hour vigil for peace and to bring our troops home. The time is next Saturday, April 12th, at 11am in downtown Glens Falls by the Civil War monument at the intersection of Bay, Glen and South Streets. Help show people have not forgotten about the Iraq disaster: please come down, bring a sign, if you like, and a friend. Again, that's Saturday, April 12th at 11am.


3. Governor Dean In News

DFA's founder, Governor Dean, has been back in the news this week. There is a truly great article in the Washington Post on what the Governor has accomplished since the beginning of his campaign for the Presidency. No one has done more to turn the Democratic Party and America around and this piece makes that clear:

This article also demonstrates that there are all kinds of victories. There are victories where you win elections and go into office. And then there are victories where you personally do not get to swear any oath of office, but you win because your ideas have won. Dean's ideas about grassroots democracy and reform have swept the Democratic Party-- for instance, there is scarcely any debate any more about the wisdom of the 50 State Strategy. Governor Dean, and those who supported him, have changed America.

The Governor was also on TV this weekend, speaking on This Week and Face The Nation. Dean spoke mainly on the Presidential Primary race. You can view his longer appearance on ABC at:


4. Washington County Democratic Women's Luncheon

An invitation from Sheila Comar, our Washington County Chair (and another former Dean coordinator!):

"YOU ARE INVITED TO The Washington County Democratic Women’s Spring Luncheon
"Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 12 noon - 2 pm

"La Cocina Restaurant
"122 Main Street, Hudson Falls, NY

"$25 in advance; $30 at the door: Gourmet Buffet

"Featured Speaker: June O’Neill, NYS Democratic Committee Chairperson


"For reservations, contact luncheon coordinator: Ellen Faber at 677-8345 or mail checks (made out to WCDC) to Ellen Faber, 100 East Main Street, Cambridge, NY 12816. Pre-registration deadline is Friday April 25th."



5. DFA Training In Rochester

Andrea Digiorgio of DFA Rochester would like to alert everyone potentially interested that the DFA training academy is coming to Rochester on May 3 & 4.

"Anyone who hasn't had a chance to attend before should really be encouraged - loaded with information. .

"Since its founding in 2004, the DFA Training Academy's mission has been to focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country. Democracy for America's unofficial motto has always been "You have the power." The DFA Training Academy empowers ordinary Americans to manage successful campaigns and run for office themselves. Every weekend in cities across America, the DFA Training Academy is building a grassroots infrastructure of skilled progressive activists in all 50 states.

"The DFA Training Academy brings hundreds of local activists, campaign staff and candidates together for 2 days of intensive campaign training. Experienced campaign professionals lead sessions in voter contact, fundraising, communications and much more to empower progressive activists with the skills to win in November.

THE WEBSITE TO RSVP AND PAY FOR TRAINING IS:


6. $100 A Month For Disaster

There are two articles this week on the Iraq disaster that bear special attention. First, neutral experts estimate that Obama's claim the war is costing the average American family $100 a month is accurate. (That's on top of war inflated gas prices-- the instability "differential" has been estimated at around $.75 a gallon, that is, gas would be around $2.60, were it not for the war.)

Alternet has a good description of what actually happened in Iraq last week when the Iraqi government lost in Basra:



7. Friday Night Progressive Film Festival

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

Fri Apr 11 7:30 pm Adirondack Progressive Film Forum (National Holocaust Month)
HISTORIC NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP FILMS (1945) Allied Forces Video 58 min. * Note: THIS FILM CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL. *
This is a collection of real Nazi concentration camp footage including torture, death, starvation, mass graves and other unconscionable atrocities committed in Nazi camps. Footage from the following concentration camps are included: Penig, Ohrdruf, Breendonck, Hannover, Arnstadt, Mauthausen, Buchenwald and Dachau. This DVD contains two separate films, the first is Nazi Concentration Camp Allied Forces footage commissioned by President Eisenhower and is a collection of Allied Forces video footage as they advanced into Germany with footage from a number of concentration camps. The second is the first newsreel of concentration camp footage that was shown in America on April 26, 1945. This footage is terrible to see and the case could easily be made not to show it but, on some level, it is of paramount importance that we allow ourselves to shocked and outraged by being a secondary witness. We don't much like to take video footage of our own genocidal behavior (Trail of Tears, 200 Years of Slavery). This footage was taken with the intent that future generations would always be able to see what happened during the Holocaust and thereby destroy any chance that something like it may happen again.


Thanks everyone! Hope to see you all Saturday at 11am for our Vigil.

Larry Dudley

Labels: Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Glens Falls, Howard Dean, Iraq War, Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe, vigil

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:06 PM 0 comments