Democracy For The Southern Adirondack/Tricounty Area: January 2011

Democracy For The Southern Adirondack/Tricounty Area

Monday, January 31, 2011

Tricounty DFA Update: Meeting Reminder, What We Can Do

Hello Everyone!

In this update for January 31st, 2011:

1. Meeting Reminder: Wednesday

2. Action Agenda: GIbson Watch

3. Social Security and Democratic Party Legacy Still Under Attack

4. Join Jim Dean in Safe, Stable & Secure

5. Open Gibson-Little Meeting

1. Meeting Reminder: Wednesday

We will be having our regular monthly meeting of Democracy For the Greater Glens Falls Area this Wednesday, February 2nd, at 7pm, at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls.

Cabin Fever is beginning to wear on all of us, I think, so it's a good chance to get out and see your friends. We will be discussing our action agenda and Dick and Pat will also report on a recent Moveon meeting.

2. Action Agenda: GIbson Watch

If you have been to one of our recent meetings, you will know that we have been working on a new project, Chris Gibson Watch, an online information source on Chris GIbson. In the past our members of Congress usually disappear into an informational vacuum when they arrive in Washington, with people back home having no idea what those representatives are really doing and supporting in Washington.

We agreed we have to prevent that from happening to Gibson. He has barely gotten there, but is already showing support for an extremist agenda that is far from the basically moderate views of people in upstate New York.

We need a large team from a wide area to follow Gibson's activities. We will be setting this up at the meeting. We will be making a formal announcement after the meeting.

We are still working on it, but you can see it online now by going to http://www.chrisgibsonwatch.com

3. Social Security and Democratic Party Legacy Still Under Attack

It is clear that because of loudly expressed concerns by Democrats, President Obama backed off from calling for cuts in Social Security. However, he has not firmly taken it off the table. Republicans are calling to dismantle the program, and the question is whether Obama and the neoliberals he rehabilitated will fight back or "compromise" yet again.

However, as Paul Krugman make clear, there really is no ground for compromise: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1295640092-huUSC/sw7aNWOiZiwyEfew

William Greider superbly summarizes the big picture: ""Whatever the issue, the rich guys win... Lots of people understand this—it is the essence of the country's historic predicament." and, for this is key, "The Tea Party crowd got one big thing right: the political divide is not Republicans against Democrats but governing elites against the people. A similar division exists within business and banking, where the real hostages are the smaller, community-scale firms imperiled by the big boys getting the gravy from Washington. We have more in common with small-business owners and Tea Party insurgents than the top-down commentary suggests." A must-read at: http://www.thenation.com/print/article/157511/end-new-deal-liberalism

4. Join Jim Dean in Safe, Stable & Secure

Jim Dean has sent out a call for us to support Social Security: "It's never been more important to stand up and fight than now. Right-wing Republicans are willing to do anything to tear down Social Security. They're talking about shutting down the government, holding the debt ceiling hostage. Whatever it takes to destroy Social Security and prop up big banks, insurance companies and Wall Street, they're going to do it. " http://safestablesecure.com/dfa1

5. Open Gibson-Little Meeting

Chris Gibson and Sen. Betty Little are scheduled to hold an open public meeting on Feb. 3rd at 7pm at the ACC theater on Bay Road in Queensbury. If you have not had a chance to see Gibson, here is an opportunity to get a sense of what we are up against.

Thanks everyone! Check out http://www.chrisgibsonwatch.com and see you all Wednesday.

Larry

Labels: 20th Congressional District, Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, Social Security