WHO: Activist Robert Jereski
WHAT: Announces run in New York's 14th US Congressional District Primary
WHEM: Monday June 7th, 5:30 pm
WHERE: Gandhi statue in the southwest part of Union Square Park, Manhattan
CONTACT: Susan Mainzer, 213-840-0077, press@jereskiforcongress.com
WEBSITE: http://www.jereskiforcongress.com
New York City - Activist Robert Jereski will give a press conference on Monday afternoon to officially announce his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Congress from New York's 14th Congressional District. Jereski will be going up against conservative Democratic incumbent Carolyn Maloney. This district encompasses much of the East Side of Manhattan and Astoria, Queens. It also includes all of Roosevelt Island and much of Long Island City, Sunnyside and parts of Woodside. The press conference will take place at the Gandhi statue in the Southwest part of Union Square at 5:30 p.m. Jereski will give a brief presentation and will then answer questions from the press and public.
The significance of the date and location of the announcement is that 111 years ago on June 7th, Gandhi engaged in his first act of civil disobedience. In an event that would have dramatic repercussions still being felt today worldwide, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer working in South Africa, refused to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and was forcibly ejected. Gandhi once said: "Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment."
Jereski notes, "Today our great country has determined to invest our considerable yet limited resources on a form of power based on fear. Young men and women are killing and being killed, the entire Middle East region threatens to descend into long-term instability, and the incumbent continues to stand behind this failure in calling for us to 'stay the course'". The 36 year old activist turned politician says "NO! We must turn our disastrous Middle East policy around, focus our attention on increasing employment in the U.S., and educating our children to become builders of a shared future, not soldiers of a long-term occupation."
"I am a Democrat who stands firmly in challenging the Bush Agenda. I am going to help clean the House by winning our District's seat from a 12 year incumbent who supported Bush's War and other aspects of his right-wing program. If elected, I will first and foremost listen to my constituents. I am dedicated to helping bring jobs and a healthy economic future to the communities of our District and working hard for peace in the Middle East and in Iraq."
PLEASE PASS ON THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO OTHERS THAT YOU MAY KNOW IN THE NYC AREA. THANK YOU ... PEACE & SOLIDARITY!
For more information please contact Susan Mainzer at 213-840-0077 or press@jereskiforcongress.com
http://www.notobush.com/
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM MOVEON.ORG ON BUSHIT'S INCOMPETENCE
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi recently offered something all too rare in Washington these days -- straight talk about President Bush's Iraq policy and his questionable leadership. Immediately President Bush's attack dogs went into action, seeking to intimidate her and other like-minded Representatives into silence. But straight talk should never be silenced or shamed. We've got to let our Representatives know we support Congresswoman Pelosi, and we must encourage them to follow her lead.
There are two important things that you can do to help. Please take a few minutes today to write a letter to the editor of your local paper applauding Nancy Pelosi and encouraging your Representative, Nydia M. Velazquez, to offer honest criticism of the Bush administration whenever it is merited. We've added some tips and some talking points below. Once you've written, please let us know at:
http://www.moveon.org/pelosiltes.html?id=2913-2148547-Jvqs2dWRJyNGYy1UhRb5fw
If you live in NYC, please also call Rep. Velazquez's office. Tell the staffers you support Congresswoman Pelosi and that you'd like to see the same kind of leadership from your Representative.
Representative Nydia M. Velazquez
DC Phone: 202-225-2361
Local Phone: 718-599-3658
President Bush and his surrogates in Congress have been trying to bully the American people into silence over his failed policies in Iraq and elsewhere. They're saying it's somewhow unpatriotic and even dangerous to criticize the President during wartime. [Duchess Note - You good people are being very much the patriotic American by questioning the system, as well as participating in rallies/protests. It is the Bush Empire who has been incredibly UN-PATRIOTIC over the last 2 to 4 years.] After President Bush came to Capitol Hill for a pep rally before Republican members of Congress (where he refused to acknowledge any questions about Iraq), Congresswoman Pelosi said that his handling of the war in Iraq shows "an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience, in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers."
House Majority leader Tom DeLay responded that "her words are putting American lives at risk," and that she has "a responsibility to the troops and to this nation to show unity in this time of war." [Duchess Note - That bastard DeLay is one of those insane, right wing politicians putting us Americans at risk. Especially with this illegal and totally unjust war/occupation. Politicians like HIM would rather dominate and destroy our beloved country & the world. Don't let them bully us into thinking otherwise.] In 1918, Theodore Roosevelt said, "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Tom DeLay has it backwards. We've seen that unquestioning acceptance by too many in Congress and in the media can lead the country down a dangerous pathway. Let's support leaders like Nancy Pelosi who are willing to tell it like it is.
RONALD REAGAN IS DEAD
by Trapper John [Brought To Duchess Readers From "Daily KOS" Blog]
Ronald Reagan died today at the age of 93. He earned the enmity of many of us on the left through his dismantling of the New Deal and enabling of a culture of greed -- but we should not forget that he was once one of us, an FDR Democrat. His journey to the far right mirrored a similar, if less dramatic, shift that occured in the general American psyche. And while Reagan cannot be excused for his utter failure as president, we must never see him solely as a symbol of a shameful era -- because his rise was attributable in part to an inertia and lack of vision that gripped our predecessors on the left. It was in part our inability to satisfy the hunger of Americans for positive leadership that caused Reagan and other former liberals to embrace a radical ideology that was before only espoused by crackpots and the prophets of selfishness.
So while we rightly condemned Reagan for his extremism and hostility to the egalitarian ideals of his youth, perhaps we should take this occasion not only to remember Reagan's failings, but also to reflect upon the failings of the left that allowed the ascension of the extreme right. We've learned a lot about how to talk with the American people over the past few years, and we've reclaimed the fighting spirit that has characterized the best of the left through American history -- let's never again allow ourselves to become so self-satisfied that we allow another Reagan to capture the hearts of everyday Americans. And let us remember that in spite of his many faults, he was a human being, and his family is entitled to an appropriate level of decorum in their time of loss.
UPDATE: And let's ensure that the same Republican machine that cried about supposedly untoward politicization of the Paul Wellstone memorial service doesn't use Reagan's passing as an excuse to play politics. I mean, we know that they'd never do that, but . . . .
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