[DUCHESS NOTE - Handsome, talented British actor, Sean Bean [sitting to right of lady in pale green suit in Directors Box], at the opening soccer season in Sheffield, England. Sean Bean is a huge soccer fan and devoted to his hometown Sheffield Blades. Sean recently finished filming the remake of "The Hitcher".]

SEAN BEAN RETURNS IN SHARPE'S CHALLENGE
Pam Lawrence, BellaOnlines British Television
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art45164.asp
[Duchess Note - I adore Sean Bean and the character Richard Sharpe from the Bernard Cornwell series. The books and British films are wonderful. I'm currently reading Sharpes Fortress and recently ordered a new Sharpe novel by Cornwell called Sharpes Fury. Three cheers for Sharpe ... beloved soldier in Wellingtons army.]

GANDHI'S 9/11
August 22nd Issue of UTNE Magazine
On September 11, we will reflect on the terrorist attacks that forever changed our country's collective memory. For 95 years before that fateful day in 2001, the anniversary many associated with 9/11 was the launch, in 1906, of Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent resistance to British imperialism. New Yorkers for a Department of Peace, an organization that promotes nonviolence, is planning a citywide 100th celebration of Gandhi's courage and foresight. "Our aim is to remind people that since this country's founding, peace has been an organizing principle," says Liz Graydon, the group's state coordinator. Events include a theatrical re-release of Richard Attenborough's 1982 film biography of the Indian nationalist leader. For more information, see www.nyc-dop.com


PERSONAL NEWS #103
On Tuesday, August 1st, the E&Y Insurance Tax Group, along with summer interns, went out for a long lunch to Dave & Busters on West 42nd Street. We were treated by the two partners [ie: John & Scott] in our group. I’ve never been to a Dave & Busters and several co-workers have been raving about the place. It’s near the AMC Cinema were I’d recently seen “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Xmen3”. We arrived at Dave & Busters at 12pm and sat down to lunch. The whole place is very spacious with meeting rooms, bar, restaurant and arcade. Lunch was great with fun conversations, lots of laughs, drinks, appetizers and I had a delicious salmon dish. Then one of the partners gave us all “power cards” worth $20 each. Which meant it was time to go “play” in the arcade, rack up winning tickets and collect prizes. I haven’t been in an arcade in years and was amazed by the variety of games et al. Not sure if I’m naming it correctly, but several of us ladies played Skee Ball for quite some time. The men mostly played Hoops, target practice, horse racing, etc. It was all such fun. I did rack up enough tickets to collect a soft, cuddly teddy bear. We got back to the office around 3pm.

On Wednesday evening, August 2nd, I attended the monthly DFNYC meetup at a tavern near the BQE and on the edge of my neighborhood. Had to take a bus and then walked in that appalling heat to the tavern. [First, and hopefully last, nasty heat wave of the summer.] I arrived feeling abit out of it and was immediately provided with a chair, plus a glass of cold water. Mon dieu! We had a nice turnout [ie: nine] and sadly I didn’t get everyone’s name. Ben and Heather were hosting this particular meetup. They are both terrific people and good hosts. Plus, in the back garden area of the tavern; the owner was grilling up veggie burgers, hotdogs, corn and hamburgers for us to nosh on. After cooling off I did partake in a delicious veggie burger. Topics of discussion that evening were on the CT primary, NYC campaigns for Batson/Perkins/Owens, governor ballot endorsement and other topics of current events. Towards the end of the meetup Ben called car service for me, because I was not walking back to my place in that stifling heat. I really enjoy these meetups and interacting with other progressives/liberals. To find meetups or linkups in your area, go to http://www.dfnyc.org

My friend Linda called me a day or two before Saturday, August 5th, to see if I wanted to participate with her in a protest regarding Israel and Lebanon nasty, horrible conflict. It was being organized by the “Troops Out Now Coalition” and basically stating they want the US out of the Middle East. http://www.troopsoutnow.org/ Both Linda and I agree with them. Since the protest started in Times Square, Linda and I met in front of my building, then headed on over to the event. Barricades surrounded the protest area and lots of cops were there. They seem to think that peaceful protestors will get violent. Fools! Jerks! Orwellian! I’ve noticed over last 3 years that those who get violent first are always the cops. While we protestors remain neutral and peaceful. Before the protest/march headed off to GE building on 6th Avenue, many folk made speeches to those present, and some pedestrians made rude or obscene comments. Ignorant fools! At one point Linda and I ran into Starbucks to use the bathroom and get some bottled frappacinos. Throughout the protest many people were handing out flyers and getting signatures for petitions or ballots. At one point I purchased an “Out of Iraq” button. Definitely want to get more protest buttons and will check out http://www.internatural-alternative-health.com/SCAT/ALLONEPEOPLEALLONE_8203.cfm Other websites to check out from flyers I received http://www.worldcantwait.org/, http://www.ny911truth.org/ and http://www.wsws.org/. Protest started at 4pm and we finally got to march around 5:30pm or so. After hanging out with others in front of the GE building; Linda and I took off. We stopped by another Starbucks for refreshment and I tried the Pomegranate Frappacino. We hung out there for awhile discussing events and relaxing before heading to our respective homes. Throughout all this the weather was nice, warm and sunny. Plus the nasty heat wave had finally broken.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ... Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. Thomas Jefferson

Next day, August 6th, I headed up to South Norwalk in CT to visit my good friend Katherine and check out the annual SoNo Art & Craft Festival. We’ve been attending this every year since the mid-1990s, along with another Art Show in Pound Ridge, NY every October. They are both terrific art shows and I find much of the work inspiring. I met up with Katherine at The Bead Shop, after I got off of Metro North. Purchased some funky beads at the shop and then we proceeded to check out the rest of the festival. The weather was lovely that day and the festival was hopping. There were many talented artisans at the festival, and a pleasure to gaze upon terrific works, whether it was paintings or sculpture. As well as engage in conversation with artisans now and then. One chap sold white t-shirts with black silk-screened designs on them. I purchased one with a peace theme. Halfway through the festival my sunglasses broke. Darn! Afterwards we headed over to Old Navy and I bought a new pair of sunglasses. We stopped at Petland to get a doggie toy for Katherine’s new Boston terrier Kozmoe. And before arriving to Katherine’s we stopped at Dress Barn. I purchased a few items and another pair of sunglasses. Well, yah know, a lady should always have a backup pair. The rest of afternoon into early evening was spent with Katherine, Maurice and little Kozmoe on the back porch. We just sat around talking, eating some shrimp with pasta and playing with adorable Kozmoe, who is so friendly. All in all a very nice day.

On Wednesday, August 9th, my Kucitizen pal BC gave me a call and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out at Macy’s bar grill. She was killing time before a meetup in town and I had no plans that evening. Macy’s bar grill, which is located in The Cellar section, makes tasty Martini’s. While we caught up on news, work and gossip we were sipping on funky Martini’s and nibbling on salsa potato fries. She showed me latest pix of her six month old son Alexander, who is a cute laddie and growing up so quickly. BC volunteered on the Chris Owens campaign for congress and I do volunteer work on the Jonathan Tasini campaign for NY state senate. We both know Jessica Flagg from 2003/2004 Kucinich campaign, and she is running for congress in Engel’s district. We're all for progressives!

BEATBOXEN BUSH Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1047157044159649860&q=bush+beat+box

[Duchess Note - Thank you Peter in sharing this with me and others. OMG! It is so funny. Give it a view and turn up the volume. LOL]

MESSAGE FROM JESSICA FLAGG AND HER CAMPAIGN FOR CONGRESS IN NY DISTRICT 17
I am so grateful to report that the campaign is moving ahead with the help of many volunteers, however, the campaign needs funds to get a mailing done in order to compete with Engel properly. So far about 40 people have contributed financially. Can you please make a contribution yourself and get the word out to EVERYONE you know? If everyone sent me a little money (2,000 sending $30) I will have enough to get it done, but EVERYONE needs to send something or there is little hope. No effort means no results. Engel deserves to be challenged and without a mailing he gets a free ride. I actually believe that if Democrats knew they could vote to "End the War" and to "Impeach Bush and Cheney", Engel would be looking for a new job. Help get it done!

Pre-mailing, we are putting fliers under doors in areas we know are heavily Democratic, as well as standing on street corners and at supermarkets. It's about basic visibility and it's important because there will be newspaper coverage (see below) and we hope more radio (WVOX) and cable coverage (so far just Rockland has picked me up). Name recognition comes from multiple exposures and running against an incumbent is difficult if you don't have Ned Lamont's millions. I'm doing plenty of shoe leather time and have others helping too, speaking of which. . . .

I ran into Engel three evenings ago up here in Riverdale. He was shaking hands on the corner of 235th and Johnson Ave and had his son with him. We were civil (I told his son that I was sure he was proud of his Dad and that I just wanted my turn to do good). They were leaving as I was arriving. I stayed for about 45 minutes and handed out fliers and spoke with people. One woman said that her parents had remarked about why he was out there and she reminded them that he was being challenged in the primary, but couldn't remember my name, so was very happy to see me in the street and I gave them all fliers. They're voting for me or so they told me! Today I’ll be interviewed by both the Riverdale Press and the Norwood News. They have distributions of 13,000 and 15,000 respectively. Both will print full profiles and push for participation in voting in the Primary. I am also going to be interviewed by a new publication called the Westchester Guardian where the editor has come out for withdrawal from Iraq (distribution of about 40,000) and with the Journal News which has a much larger distribution. El Clarin the bilingual paper covering Rockland will also be interviewing me. So far, there is one debate scheduled with Engel and one candidate Forum. To date approximately 12,000 filers have been distributed. Close to 1000 of the English version of the big flier has already been given out and we just started with the Spanish version.

Debate: Rockland County, August 31, at the New City Library at 7pm, sponsored by the Clarkstown Democratic Club

Candidate Forum in Yonkers: September 5th, At the YWCA , 87 South Broadway, sponsored by the NAACP

Please help … it doesn't matter where you live. If you are a US citizen and you think it would be better to have another member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who will stand for troop withdrawal, for investigation and impeachment, and who will stand against any more "pre-emptive' wars … then just do it … send money! Contributions can be made online through my website http://www.jessicaflaggforcongress.com OR checks can be sent payable to: "Jessica Flagg for Congress", 2727 Palisade Ave, Bronx, NY 10463