PERSONAL NEWS #43
Seasons Greetings to All! Lets all strive to make 2005 more peaceful at home and abroad. Come together in your communities, towns and cities to make this a better world for all. Be more active ... join organizations, groups or committees. Bring about Peace on Earth ... no more hate, violence, injustice and especially no more wars. Amen!

QUOTE OF THE DAY ... To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson

A thousand and one apologies for delay in "personal news". This gal has been quite busy with many activities, holiday baking and work. Time to catch up, so sit down abit, rest your tired tootsies and let’s get started.

Weekend of November 24th thru 29th … Thanksgiving holiday highlights … Dad was home from the hospital after his triple-bypass surgery, my brother was visiting from Schenectady, helped Mom out with chores around the house, watched some cable tv [ie: James Bond movie marathon], decorated outside of the house, shopping for gifts, spoke with my cousin Christopher on the phone [he was stationed down in Mississippi at Army base in Shelby & has since been discharged] and socializing with relatives at Turkey Day feast. Being around the relatives, it felt like I was on the outside looking in, sort of surreal. They are mostly conservative, right wing Republicans and I guess you could say I’m the black sheep of the family with my left-wing, progressive Democrat views. They seem content with Bush Regime status quo and I want to help bring back truth, justice, peace and democracy. I know I’m not explaining this very well and I sincerely apologize for that.

Wednesday, December 1st, was the NYC Dept of Peace general meeting conference call. Those who were able to attend the call were Kevin, Ellen, Liz, Dawn, Kathleen, Vlad and I. Some of the interesting topics of discussion were … milestones, financial review, meeting with Lynn McMullen and mention of peace events/newsletters at http://www.haguepeace.org

Thursday, December 2nd, was the monthly Kucinich Meetup held at Bonobo's vegetarian restaurant at 6pm. [Excellent food, though abit pricey.] Those who were able to attend were Ellen, Nicholas, Paul, Anne, Nadine and I. Of the many heated topics we discussed at length … events leading up to conventions/election, Hillary Clinton 2008 (?), Progressive Democrats of America, Gore/Kerry comparisons, voting, economy, disenfranchisement, outreach to black/latino communities, Cornel West, Inauguration Day protests, possible locations for future meetups, Alexander Hamilton Exhibit, Amy Goodman [WBAI & Democracy Now] and city councilman Bill Perkins.

Started my holiday cookie baking the weekend of December 4th, along with mailing out Xmas parcels and cards.

On Sunday, December 5th, I attended a house party at fellow Kucitizen Linda's home in Brooklyn. Linda’s roommate Jamie joined us, as well as another Kucitizen [Cielito]. Over a meal of salad and pizza we concentrated on topics that currently "in the news". Also learned that Linda is a big “Lord of the Rings” fan just like me, her fav from the trilogy is Aragorn and mine is Boromir. After the meal we settled comfortably in the living room to watch two DVDs. The first one was “Weapons of Mass Deception” and the second was “Hijacked Conspiracy”. Both were brilliant documentaries and I highly recommend them to all. Very informative and further eye opener on the extremely corrupt Bush Regime. [These political and war criminals have no moral values.] Linda and Jamie drove me home [midnight].

Monday, December 6th, was E&Ys big holiday party held at The Plaza in the Grand Ballroom. Around 6:30pm I headed over to the Plaza, via subway, with a few of my co-workers [ie: Maureen, Angela & Christie]. The place was packed with many people I didn’t know, but occasionally I’d see a familiar face from the Broad Street office days and engage in conversation. Open bar [I drank white wine] and lots of good, yummy food [OMG! Shrimp heaven!] and desserts. Had a fun time and stayed only two hours. Would of stayed longer, but so tired from lack of sleep from night before, plus I had to get Angela/Maureen to Port Authority. [Which meant I missed hearing the live band. Darn!] Poor dears are abit clueless when it comes to NYC subway system.

Tuesday, December 7th, I joined other Kucitizens [ie: Jessica, Paul, Cielito, Hugh, Mary & Linda] and a member of the NYC Dept of Peace [ie: Kevin] in attending a brilliant advocacy forum at NY Society for Ethical Culture. What a fantastic evening and it was free! Got to see and hear Richard Clarke, Amy Goodman, Greg Palast and Esther Kaplan speak on topics that concern many of us progressives, liberals and democrats. The venue was packed and many folk had to be turned away. One of these days I’ll do a separate entry just on the commentary from these four fascinating people. For now I’ll scratch the surface on some of their comments during the Q&A segment.

1] Republicans used FEAR in campaign
2] Media promoted FEAR before Iraq invasion/occupation, when threat wasn’t even there
3] Kerry broke his promise on the Black votes
4] Clarke said “Bush is un-curious” in reply to a question from Palast on “whether Bush is crazy”.
5] 9/11 families did us a great service in pushing for a 9/11 commission
6] There is talk that Fox News and Clear Channel may be merging and top management of those organizations are close buddies of Bush

Afterwards Kevin and I passed out NYC Dept of Peace leftlets to those exiting the event. Then I joined Paul, Jessica, Hugh, Mary and Linda in dining at O’Neill’s down the street from event on upper Westside. Yep, another late night and not much sleep, but it was worth it. Brilliant event!!

December 7th & 8th … visited the chiropractor and physical therapist for treatment of lower back/pelvic area trauma … then back again on 13th and a follow up visit scheduled for 29th.

On Thursday, December 9th, Mom called to say that Dad was back in the hospital. This time early stages of bronchial/pneumonia. [As I type this today, Dad is still in the hospital, but doing much better & should be home before Xmas Eve.] That evening I attended the board meeting of NYC Dept of Peace [all members were in attendance at Coco/Vlads apartment] and afterwards we went out to celebrate the holiday season. [Great bar and restaurant on 6th Avenue near 13th Street.] Much was covered during the one hour meeting; such as lobbying constituents in each NY congressional district, the Dept of Peace bill will be re-introduced by Congressman Kucinich in January, UK planning a Ministry of Peace, talked about Amy Goodman event that was on December 1st. I also passed around “peace” related website info. http://pax.protest.net/ was one of the sites.

More holiday cookie baking and visit to post office the weekend of December 11th. Tis the season. . . . . .

Stay tuned ... more to follow!