PERSONAL NEWS #132
Thursday, October 11th, I joined Veronica in attending the Village Independent Democrats [VID] Group for their Presidential endorsement meeting [part 2] in the East Village. There were also reps there speaking on behalf of Edwards and Gore. Yes, I know, Al Gore hasn’t thrown his hat in the presidential ring yet. Seems many throughout the US want him on the ballot. Back in 2000, he lost votes [including mine] due to his choice of "running mate" [Joe Lieberman], amongst other issues. Anyhow, there was a decent turnout at the meeting, and Veronica gave a wonderful speech. Afterwards the VID members asked questions of the reps and then placed their votes. Top three choices by the VID members were for Edwards, Kucinich and Obama. Overall it was an interesting meeting and we handed out Kucinich flyers.

Friday, October 12th, did volunteer work for City Harvest at the Union Square farmers market.

Saturday, October 13th, was the Bay Ridge Peace Fair, which was hosted by Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace [BRNP]. Of which my friend Linda G is a member and invited NYDoP to table at the event. Originally was to ride to and from the event with a NYDoP Core Team member, but that didn’t work out, as Lori had abit of a car accident that morning. [Not to worry, she’s doing okay and only a few minor injuries.] So I had to scramble to get backup transportation. First I called my friend Cielito, who was also attending the event, and tabling with Share International. Then I received a call from Doreen, a LIDoP member who was coming to event to lend her support. Doreen was on her way, via car, along with her friend Mary, and they said they would pick me up. Excellent! So I called Cielito back and said I’d see her at event. Linda saved us a table and we arrived 1 ½ hours after it all began. Despite the late start, we did well for the few hours in telling folk about Dept of Peace legislation, as well as selling my peace bead style earrings and other DoP materials. Grannies for Peace were their and sang many of their fun protest songs to a receptive crowd. Many other speakers and activist singers had their turn, plus there were about eight groups, including NYDoP, tabling at the event. The weather held up for this decent turnout for BRNP first endeavor and I hope they have more.

Next day, October 14th, I headed up to Westchester County for the annual Pound Ridge Art & Craft Show in Scotts Corners. I was raised in this town during the 1960s and 1970s. Pound Ridge [NY] is a nice blend of country and city, plus an hour away from Manhattan by MetroNorth. Upon arriving at the New Canaan [CT] train station I found my friend Katherine’s mother [Joan] waiting for me. Apparently a serious situation arose that morning and Katherine had to deal with it. So Joan and Bob picked me up and we drove back to Pound Ridge to hangout at their home. While there we got a call from Katherine and said she was on her way, that the "situation" was not resolved, but not as serious. Once Katherine arrived we drove up to Scotts Corners to attend the enjoyable, delightful Art & Craft Show, which was followed by a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I did find a few items at the show that would make good Xmas gifts and we conversed with several artisans about their creations. Then it was off to Stamford to do some shopping and an ice cream snack at an ice cream place. Throughout all this we caught up on news, gossip and discussed further the "situation" centering on her youngest daughter. By this time it was getting abit late and caught the next train back to NYC. Both of us have busy schedules and it isn’t always easy to see each other that often, but we do keep in touch on a regular basis via email. We’ve been good friends since we attended elementary school.

Monday evening, October 15th, I attended the Upper Westside Democrat Presidential Political Forum with some of the NYC Kucinich Team. Veronica was again speaking on behalf of Congressman Kucinich and she was by far the best speaker that evening. [Received most applause when mentioning DJKs key platform views.] Even better than Congressman Nadler who was representing the Clinton cow. I mostly attended to the tabling area, spoke to people and gave out flyers on the congressman’s campaign. The NYC Kucinich Team were the only "volunteers" there, as the ones who tabled for their candidates are all paid. They all claim to be supporters of their candidate and when I questioned an Edwards "paid person" if they weren’t paid would they still support the man. Most of them gave me a blank, embarressed stare and mumbled "no". Some folk are so shallow and transparent. Very sad……….

Thursday, October 18th, I attended the monthly NYDoP Board and Core Team meeting. We had a good, productive Board and Core Team meeting. Major discussion on upcoming events and plans for the new year. We are more and more "being the legislation", even though it hasn't passed yet in a very disappointing Congress. So much for a Democratic majority ... most of them are spineless buggers who only care about themselves and not much about their constituents.

Friday, October 19th, did volunteer work for City Harvest at the Union Square farmers market.

Impeachment Advocates Crash Server, But Still No Reports in the Corporate Media - The push for hearings on Dennis Kucinich's Cheney impeachment bill (H Res. 799) continues, with the number of signers of Wexler's petition now topping 90,000
Dave Lindorff http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com/

The rush to sign on has been so heavy that on Monday it crashed the server. Rep. Robert Wexler's people have since changed to a better server, but in the process, there were some resets of the tally, which has led to a lot of concern and even to anxious conspiracy theories among impeachment backers. Wexler's office says there has been no problem with sabatoge, and that the current number, just over 90,000 as of 10:45 am Tuesday, is accurate. The list has been checked for duplicates and other signs of trouble, and looks clean, they say. So impeachment advocates should continue to push for support for this call for action. Get people to the petition site and signed on. But don't stop there.

READ THE REST OF DAVE LINDORFF'S REPORT ... http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/84 OR http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/18/18467685.php

Last night, the Patrick Henry Democratic Club of America announced its annual awards for 2007 and Dennis Kucinich was chosen Congressman of the Year.

The nomination and voting takes place over approximately a two month period and includes the entire national membership, During that time the members are sworn to secrecy about the names of the nominees. There is close to 100% participation in the voting process. Members are emailed, called and sometimes tracked down in person to make sure everyone has a chance to vote. Imagine the kind of leaders America would have if everyone was required to vote. This is the fourth year in a row Dennis Kucinich has been the Congressman of the Year. The fact is he is simply the best and anyone looking at his voting record knows it.

The Congresswoman of the Year is Maxine Waters. She stood with Dennis against sending impeachment back to committee. Like Dennis, she is brilliant and is doing great work at fighting Bush. Like Dennis, she opposed the war and the attacks on our rights and freedom, she opposes the death penalty and she supports lowering the voting age. Everyone was pretty disgusted with the Senate so the Senator of the Year Award went to the Spirit of Paul Wellstone.

Sheila Kuehl (SB840) is the State Legislator of the Year. Hugo Chavez is the World Leader of the Year. Bush/Cheney is the Villain of the Year. We figured that, since they commit their crimes together, they might as well get their award together. Nancy Pelosi was the runner up for Villain.

There were other winners. There were 14 categories. Actually, one of the trophies was a big surprise to the chairman. The members even more secretly voted her the Activist of the Year Award. You can look at the website. http://patrickhenrythinktank.org/ A lot of the winners were at the meeting last night. It was raining and we still had a great turnout.