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Democracy for America personal blog for Mary Clark
Help shape the '08 Dem Platform!
Linked to groups: Gettysburg Area DFA Meetup, Philly for Change, Montco DFA, PA for Democracy, Obama for Pennsylvania
Linked to campaigns: Obama for America
Dear %%first%%,
Make your voice heard! Help draft the 2008 National Platform for the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign. As Barack Obama emailed:
"...No political experience is required. Your thoughts and experiences are all that matter, and they will shape a platform that -- like this party -- is owned by the people. ..."
COME to a local '08 Dem Platform Meeting
Sign up today at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gjc2
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
July 24, 2008
Campaign office of U.S. Rep.Allyson Schwartz for Congress
101 Leedom Street
Jenkintown, PA 19046
Mary Clark (Montco DFA steering committee member and past chair) will host, and really appreciates that the national Dems have provided a Host Guide!
Many of the community platform meetings are focussing on one "plank." Our focus is:
"Restore Our American Constitution"
Name the key parts that have been defied and defiled -- and target them for restoration. Which Constitutional outrages are most important to you? Some possibilities include, restore our right to:
- -- freedom from warrantless spying on innocent Americans -- and hold lawbreakers accountable.
- -- a U.S. Legislature that USES it's power as a co-equal branch to check and balance the Executive Branch.
- -- "habeas corpus" rights for all, so Guantanamo detainees can speedily challenge their detention.
- -- a lawful foreign policy that follows our Constitution, including our international treaties like the Geneva Conventions, and end torture, renditions, and our Occupation of Iraq.
We'll distill what matters most to us into a one to two sentence "Resolution, Policy, or Recommendation" for input into the national Platform. To quote Barack Obama once more:
"All you need to provide are your ideas for America and your hunger for change."
Sign up today at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gjc2
Hope to see you there!
Mary Clark
[ p.s. Too far away to join us? Set up your own at http://my.barackobama.com/listening ]
I consciously overflowed the game and timed it to the moment a song ended. I was listening to "Our Love is Here to Stay" and popped the game on the last note. This street musician has quantified the fact that the human heart reacts to conscious direction. Phreakin' w00t!
"You mean the Force controls your actions?"
"Partially, but it also obeys your commands."
On Topic,
I'm going to the platform meeting here in Staten Island, because I want to talk about Caregivers and they are a silent army that gets very little attention.
- Good for you Subway. Let us know how the meeting goes.
By Denise in San Mateo County on Jul 18, 2008 12:58 AM EDT
- Caregivers is a great plank subject.Here are my 27 words
By Phil Specht on Jul 18, 2008 7:44 AM EDTWe call on governments at all levels to form a seamless net of supportive services for home caregivers that includes transportation, nutrional, medical, and respite backup assistance.
- Democrats solicit ideas for party platform - 'dittoheads' welcome too
By Denise in San Mateo County on Jul 18, 2008 1:02 AM EDTThe Democratic National Committee is asking America to weigh in on its party platform, and this week begins kicking off more than 1,000 meetings to hear from voters across the country on the big question: What should Democrats stand for - and against?
If the idea sounds politically challenging, or even risky - think Rush Limbaugh and his "dittoheads" weighing in - San Francisco attorney Michael Yaki, who is heading up the party's platform committee, says not to worry.
In fact, he's even invited Limbaugh and his "dittoheads" to come on down and take part in the meetings that will happen around the country July 19-27 .
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/17/MN3T11Q5O6.DTL&tsp=1
We all remember what it looked like the last time Rush Limbaugh's dittoheads crashed an event..
- They wouldn't be crashing - they'd be invited. Big difference
By Denise in San Mateo County on Jul 18, 2008 9:12 AM EDT
i'm on board with this process...if we don't put our feet forawrd in making the platform, we've left another chance behind to voice our opinion...just do it...
Stand up and speak truth to power.
Create Office of the National Nurse planks should appear at every one, right BFA?
Ellen Goodman's column today prompts me to observe "Couln't have said it better myself" and I shall take the opportunity to write up a post and parse it. Because, of course, there are points I'd make differently and some I'd ad.
The column is actually on topic because it leads to the conclusion that labor ought to be paid. The title Goodman put on it is "Self-serve and slave," which I would amend to "Self-service and involuntary servitude" as a more balanced construction and more accurate definition of what the issue is.
The use of the word slavery obscures what's actually going on--the subordination of some people to other people for no practical reason other than the psychological aggrandizement of the latter.
a small transaction tax everytime money moves would allow Congress to get a handle on money flows on real time with the Fed. so they could regulate rather than have the fox guard the henhouse
The Fed Chairman's mear threat to defend the dollar (close eye on inflation) sent the oil futures market in a tailspin, Congress should at least follow up and threaten to raise taxes, and give it another kick.
I think the futures market should be properly regulated, but if you tax the movement of money, you tax all the old folks investing in bonds, cd's, etc with their 401K's and such.
we may have our doubts that our ideas for the party will really be heard and promoted - they seldom have been in the past. but there's a first time for everything - and if we don't at least step up to the plate and become involved, well...
it's like voting - if you don't show up, you have no right to bitch at the outcome!
I'm listening to Keb' Mo', Sessions at West 54th - mmmmm, mmmmmm! it's hard to stay still enough to type!
have I said thank you to Howard lately? Gov. Dean, your voter reg tour is brillaint! THANK YOU, HOWARD!
... for helping to keep cynacism at bay.
As for Howard, what can I say ? You're the man ! If the nation needs healing, call on a doctor !Well, I let these commentors also speak for themselves:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGx7qF/commentary#comment-gYFDT
|
By Christopher Hass - Jul 17th, 2008 at 9:27 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: SFBO Blog |
DNC Chairman Howard Dean kicked off the "Register For Change" cross-country bus tour today in Crawford, Texas. For the next six weeks, Dean will be touring the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on the way to the Democratic Convention in Denver.
The Dallas Morning News reported this morning:
The Crawford visit was a symbolic first stop in a multi-city tour to promote Democratic voter registration as part of a 50-state strategy aimed at winning back the White House in November. [Dean] arrived in a red, white and blue bus powered by bio-diesel and festooned with the logo “Register for Change.”
On the Democrats.org blog, guest blogger (and College Dems member) Katie Naranjo was live blogging from the bus on the road to Austin:
Greetings from the Register for Change bus heading down Hwy 317 from Crawford to Austin. Currently manning the bus: Gov. Dean, Josh McConaha, Robert Garcia, Courtney Strange and me (Katie Naranjo), your fearless team of democrats registering Texans for the election of a lifetime.
Why is registering to vote such an important focus for the DNC and Obama?In Texas, we have roughly over 5 million unregistered voters according to the Secretary of State’s 2008 primary results. As Texas politicians proved in previous elections, registering voters can change the outcome of an election locally and state wide.
... On the road with Gov. Dean, the cohort of students and staff provided much entertainment as we discuss generational politics with Gov. Dean. Each student provided stories of how they changed their parents, grand parents, or family member’s perception of politics and the Democratic Party.
As the bus rolls into Austin, more stories of hope and changing political views grab the attention of Gov. Dean and the staff. It is obvious, that even in the least likely places in Texas change is in the air.
You can check out photos of the bus, and follow the tour all month long at RegisterForChange.com.
...
thankful to you for keeping us posted - pun intended! have a great day - storm coming so I'm logging off and will see you all later.
Jo -
Hi back at ya (funny thing, there's a blogger on the Obama '08 blog who's handle is Joe from Vermont).
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-excited-voters
Poll: McCain's backers less fired up than Obama's
<cite>By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer</cite>
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain is facing an excitement deficit.
While overall interest in the presidential campaign has swelled since last fall, backers of Barack Obama are more fired up and express more loyalty to their candidate than McCain's do, a poll by The Associated Press and Yahoo News showed Friday. In addition, individual groups backing Obama — African-Americans, Democrats and liberals — are more enthusiastic than whites, Republicans and conservatives, who are more aligned with McCain
...
If you think this is anything more than show, you're kidding yourself. The platform will be hammered out by the usual suspects in combination with Obama's folks. Everything else is spin.
The last time either party let a convention be controlled by outsiders was 1972, and they changed the rules after that to make sure it would never happen again. Superdelegates and all that jazz.
Sorry to sound cynical, but I've watched too much party action from inside and outside.
- Four years ago the platform process was pretty open rich
By Phil Specht on Jul 18, 2008 8:25 AM EDTour Governor Culver was involved and he brought with him the Iowa process that filters up ideas from the precinct caucuses and are prioritized by our state convention, and our legislature used it as a template in the last session
Aldon Hynes provided input from BFA
you will never get a platform that crosses the major themes of the Presidential nominee because the supporters are a majority in the hall
The platform is like any other party activity, those that show up end up having more sway than those that snipe from the sidelines, but it is run by real people, who have networked in the past in most cases, and will dance with the ones that brung them, but democrats for the most part are open minded enough to listen to any input.
watch the contortions if Obama picks a pro-life VP like Kaine in the wordsmithing of that plank
Phil,
As the results of local events percolate up through the process, they lose out to the ideas of the people at the "top". I've seen it in Virginia as I tried (And I was a county chair!) to fight the system on our platform more than once. You may get something to a certain point. You may "win" at some level. But in the end, your strong statement on X disappears.
Until and unless the party changes, this won't change (and maybe not then...maybe we'll just get a new set of bigwigs). Political party HQs see us a footsoldiers and ATMs, but not decision makers. That was even true in DFA 1.
... and IMO worth reposting (from a few threads back):
Just my take..
By linda b on Jul 17, 2008 3:15 PM
It was a long drawn out campaign, hard fought on both sides. People got emotional and some women are mad that Hillary did not win.
I was upset when Howard bowed out but worked for Kerry.
The media will play it for all it's worth.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama is hard at work on the ground. We have three campaign offices in my area. Two Barack and one for the combined campaign.
So........whlle the news media is making things up, we are working.
Barack is running for prez of the entire country. He has to reach out to a lot of people.
Some will not vote for him no matter what - color (he is half white too), age, experience, etc.
McCain is more of the same. He is old, spacey, scary and when he talks,don't get me started.
I fully expect them to tranplant Cindy's head on his shoulder cause she is with him everwhere.
What if Michele was there all the time, the would be yelling to high heaven.
McCain has 10 homes, Barack has one and the call him elite.
Barack will stay the course and win. I for one will help him on that model.
http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/joshmcconaha/CB3v
| By Josh - Jul 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Register for Change Tour |
...
A local preformer started things off as people clustered underneat trees in an attempt to avoid the Texas sun. As we rounded the corner, the cheering started, and Governor Dean was mobbed as he got off the bus. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie, a local College Democrats official, and Houston City Council official Melissa Noriega kicked things off before Governor Dean started on his remarks, reminding people that voting is the least you can do ("It only gets you a 'D'," as he likes to say).
You can see photos from the event right here.
...
CSPAN is s/b playing Howard's speech to the Netroots Nation that he gave yesterday at 8 PM tonight, Friday.
Tell Barack Obama to click here: http://messages.yahoo.com/Government_%26_Politics/Politics/threadview?m=tm&bn=18067330&tid=8344&mid=8344&tof=11&frt=2 to intervene and to have his own agenda!
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