Personal News - Part XXI

Back on Monday, May 10th, was our monthly NYC Friends Of Kucinich general meeting. [I put in a cardio workout at the gym before heading to the 7pm meeting.] The following Kucitizens were present: Bill, Paul, Cielito, Mike, Kim, Thomas, Jane, Larry, Efram, Steve, Marlene, George, Pam, Jessica, Linda, Mark & myself. The next General Meeting was announced for June 2nd and hopefully at same location. Plus the next Kucinich Meetup is June 3rd. We started off the meeting with roll call and then jumped onto first item on Agenda. This was regarding the "Progressive Candidates Forum" we're trying to organize for either late June or early to mid July. Bill is in charge of the committee, of which I am part of and our first committee meeting is set for today at 6pm. The forum would bring together Kucinich, Nader, Dean and Sharpton to present their views on the issues and help build a progressive block at the July Convention AND within the Democratic party. Discussion was long and at times abit heated. Touching on locations, dates, outreach, issues, etc. Then Paul asked Kim to talk about second item on agenda, which is doing Candlelight Vigils in NYC at time of Republican National Convention. Discussion was mostly on where it could take place and many suggested churches, since we wouldn't require a city permit. [City has been denigning many organizations permits for even the simplest of protests/rallies. Grrrrrrrr] Kim is head of that "Candlelight Vigil" committee. Last item on agenda was talking about joining NJ Kucinich folk at their June 3rd meetup. Plus passing around flyers at that time to commuters heading home from Penn Station, Port Authority and PATH trains. George, who is one of our NJ Kucitizens, handed out flyers for us to copy and distribute. Afterwards we broke off into committee groups to discuss topic and location for future meetings. I also purchased a funky, black t-shirt from Thomas ... which says on the front "Got WMD?" and on back says "Bush Lied".

The following night, May 11th, after the Kucinich general meeting I was at Rob Jereski's place, along with Deborah G, to help him fine tune his Bio and 14 points of campaign. It was abit of a learning experience and half of what was discussed was new to me. [Appraised Rob of what I'd worked on since last meeting towards his campaign.] I also mentioned to Rob how I was having some serious troubles with my Blog and hoped to have it resolved shortly. Those of you who pop in regularly to the Duchess page will have noticed it's absence from the Internet for a few days. Troubles with the template and not fully resolved as I type this, but hope it soon will be. Its great to see some of my dear Blog pals posting the Jereski banner w/link on your sites. I mentioned this to Rob and so happy to hear it.

Took a break on Wednesday ... then an intense workout with personal trainer on Thursday ... followed by the first meeting of the "Progressive Candidate Forum" committee meeting on Friday @ 6:30pm. Several of us Kucitizens [ie: Thomas, Cielito, Mark, Marlene, Bill & I] were there to get the ball rolling on this project and brainstorm ideas. Our meeting went on till about 9:30pm with only Bill, Cielito and I fleshing out the presentations "objective", plus proposed moderators and locations for forum. This forum or "Democracy Shakedown" will showcase Kucinich, Sharpton, Dean and Nader sometime in July before Democratic Convention. [These esteemed leaders must be heard and not silenced by the media.] It was a good, productive and fascinating meeting. If you live in the NYC area, read my Blog, are into grassroots politics and would like to help out our committee ... please contact me [cblossom@mindspring.com] or Bill Delp [BilDel@MUZE.com]. Merci!

What amazing weather we had yesterday ... felt more like summer than a spring day. It was sunny, a few clouds, slight breeze, warm and abit humid. After a busy work week, along with other commitments, I spent Saturday catching up on many errands. During the afternoon, in between errands, I ran into a few of my neighbors and we caught up on stuff. Gail and Rob took up a suggestion I made last Autumn, regarding Twin Gables Inn down in Cape May and are staying there next month. When making reservations they mentioned to Regina and Harry [owners of Twin Gables] that I highly recommended their Inn to them. I've been visiting that particular Inn since 1998 and love it there. Gail and Rob told me they've been visiting Cape May alot over past 20 years. Whoa! We talked about our fav places to dine in that charming seaside resort. As well as experiencing hurricanes while down there. Their a delightful couple and the outside of their apartment building is prettily done up with flowers, plants and rose bushes. [Gails got the magic touch when it comes to gardening.] Then I ran into another neighbor [Nick] and got to talking about Iraq war, economy and politics. He loves Bush, hates all Muslims, supports Iraq war and thinks that Bush Administration is doing a great job. Sigh! I said "Nick, I don't agree with you and since I respect you, I'll refrain from arguing or forcing my opinions down your throat". He was cool with that. I asked him if he watches Fox News or reads the NY Post. Nick said no on both counts, as he feels both are a crock of crappy, corrupt beans. That was one of the few things we did agree on. [smiling]

Well, its now Sunday, May 16th, and another lovely day outside. What do I do on a lovely day such as this ... well I sit my ass inside an air conditioned cinema [ticket price is $10.50] watching the film TROY. While on line at cinema waiting to get my ticket, who is standing five people in front of me, but British actor Roger Rees. He to bought a ticket to see same showing of TROY as me. Cool! The film stars Brad Pitt, Peter O'Toole, Sean Bean & Orlando Bloom. [Even the lovely Julie Christie makes a cameo appearance.]

Quite frankly I'm no fan of Brad Pitt, but he comes across rather nicely in this movie and yes, I do recommend others see it. True, its no LOTRs, but it does hold its own quite well. Have to admit the real reason I wanted to see TROY, was due to the fact that Sean Bean [Odysseus] and Orlando Bloom [Paris] are in it. Of the movies previewed before TROY played, I saw two I'd like to see very much. THE TERMINAL starring Tom Hanks and CONSTANTIN starring Keanu Reeves. And that's it, for now, on the personal news front. Peace, Joy, Hope, Justice & Solidarity!

Trojan War Shows Bush & Blair's Achilles' Heel Say Actors Who See A Modern-Day Similarity
INDEPENDENT/UK
May 14, 2004
by Louise Jury in Cannes
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0514-02.htm

Kucinich: Oil Co. Profiteers Pushing Up Gas Prices
BEND.COM NEWS SOURCE
At the same time, Kucinich said, major oil companies are capitalizing on that uncertainty and are earning record profits. Five of the world’s largest oil companies had combined earning of more than $17 billion in the first three months of this year*. "It's an outrage that a working family has to pay $2.40 or more for a gallon of gas while oil company executives, speculators, and commodities traders are raking in billions of dollars in profits," Kucinich said. "First, the Bush Administration concocted reasons to go to war. Then, it began paying billions of dollars to private, hand-picked contractors to reconstruct what the war destroyed. And now, on top of that, it has created a climate that enables its friends in the oil industry to make billions more." To read more, click on to the following link: http://www.bend.com/news/ar_view%5E3Far_id%5E3D15546.htm

Cheney Sings Wal-Mart's Praises
GADFLYER
by Paul Waldman
It was fitting that Cheney came to hail the success of Wal-Mart, because there are few American institutions that so embody the Bush administration's vision of what the American economy should look like. Like Wal-Mart, the administration has done all it can to encourage the accumulation of great wealth in a few hands (and worked to make sure that wealth will not be subject to taxation), while the men and women who actually do the work receive obscenely low compensation. Like Wal-Mart, the administration has been unconcerned about the lack of health insurance in America, leaving people to fend for themselves in the private market (whose rates are ridiculously out of reach for Wal-Mart employees) or, more often, rely on costly emergency room care and federal poverty programs. Like Wal-Mart, the administration has waged unrelenting war on labor unions, lest ordinary people obtain a voice for fair treatment in the workplace and cut into corporate profits. [Click on following link to read more: http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18704