Silicon Valley for Howard Dean

House parties Dec 30th

This was posted as a comment below, but I felt it deserved to have its own article. Thank you, Julie, for the info.

Hi All! Julie in Vermont here with a message from the campaign. I am hosting a pot-luck New Beginnings party for all my (Repub.) neighbors. Mark December 30 on your calendar -- it's the night BEFORE New
Year's Eve and the goal is to have 3,000 house parties across the
country. The theme is New Year for America and we'll be starting
to countdown the 311 days to Election Day. The fundraising goal is
just $311 -- if you can get 10 people to donate as little as $31
each, you'll meet the goal. Set a higher goal of $622 or $1244 and
you'll help bring the party up to over one million dollars in just
one night. (We really CAN compete with George Bush if we all work
together.)

Can you host a party? It's fun and EASY and if you sign up now,
you can invite people at your Meet Up. You'll get a kit with
everything you need to plan your party, including buttons and a
brand new DVD. Worried about the cost of hosting a party? You
don't have to do anything fancy -- cookies and punch are fine. (Or
you can plan a potluck and ask guests to bring food or drinks to
match your theme.)

To sign up, visit www.deanforamerica.com/newyear. To reach our
goal, we need everyone's help. Please spread the word to everyone
you know -- we need LOTS of parties.

Questions, email me at nfya_dean@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Delegate and Caucus information

Important Delegate and Caucus info sent out by Shannon Roy:

Delegate selection caucuses will be held in each of the 53 congressional
districts (CD) throughout the state on Sunday, February 8 at 3:00 PM.
Each Democratic candidate will hold a caucus in each CD on the same date
and at the same time.

Santa Clara County has three CDs: 14th (Anna Eshoo), 15th (Mike Honda),
and 16th (Zoe Lofgren). Each of these CDs will hold a delegate caucus
for Governor Dean. Each caucus is led by a caucus convener. Dean
caucus information is as follows:

14th CD - Eshoo
Convener: Judy Kleinberg, judy@j...
Location: Gunn High School, Spangenberg Theater,
780 Arastradero Road,
Palo Alto, 94306
Allocation: 6 delegates (3 women, 2 men, 1 male
alternate)

15th CD - Honda
Convener: TBD
Location: TBD
Allocation: 6 delegates (3 men, 2 women, 1 female
alternate)

16th CD - Lofgren
Convener: Shannon Roy, shannon_roy@y...,
408-307-2604
location: San Jose High Academy Gymnasium,
275 North 24th Street, San Jose, 95116
Allocation: 6 delegates (3 women, 2 men, 1 male
alternate)

For those who are interested in running for delegate, the District-Level
Delegate Form (Form A) will be available on the California Democratic
Party web site (www.ca-dem.org) on Monday, December 15. An announcement
will be sent out to the local Dean volunteer database once the application is available.

VOTING IN THE FEBRUARY 8 CAUCUSES:
Only Democrats are eligible to vote in the Feb. 8 caucuses (if you aren't already a
registered Democrat, register asap). Democrats and decline to states/independents
are eligible to vote in the March 2 primary.

In order for a candidate to get delegates in a given CD, he/she must get
at least 15% of the vote in that CD.

Conflicts of Interest

Bush has appointed a long list of industry insiders to regulate the same companies and industries they have ties to.

James Connaughton, Chairman of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality
Bush appoints “A lawyer who represented General Electric in its fight with the E.P.A. over toxic waste sites as the chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality.”
- New York Times, 5/12/01

John Graham, Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator
Bush appoints “A Harvard professor who has argued that the costs of most environmental regulations exceed their benefits, would be in charge of reviewing all regulations proposed by federal agencies.”
- New York Times, 5/12/01

J. Steven Griles, Deputy Secretary of the Interior
“Talk about a dream team. The oil industry may have found one in Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her newly nominated deputy, J. Steven Griles. As expected, industry groups, looking to get more access to resource-rich federal lands, were gladdened by the nomination.”
- Oil Daily, 3/12/01

Jeffrey Holmstead, Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation
“The top Environmental Protection Agency official charged with protecting air quality was warned repeatedly by staff that proposed changes to a Clean Air Act rule could undermine efforts to force certain power plants to add anti-pollution equipment, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. Nonetheless, Jeffrey Holmstead, the assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation, told two congressional committees in July 2002 that the revisions the administration was considering would not hurt those efforts, which involved agency lawsuits against owners of 35 coal-fired power plants.”
- Los Angeles Times, 10/24/03
All these lawsuits have been canceled by the Bush Administration.

William G. Myers III, Interior Department Solicitor (2001-2003)
Bush appoints “A former lawyer for ranching and mining industries as solicitor general of the Interior Department, the man in charge of enforcing environmental laws.”
- Washington Post, 9/9/03

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior
Bush’s appointee, Norton “Sought to curtail Endangered Species Act protections on federal lands as Colorado’s Attorney General. She also helped found the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a political group partially underwritten by the chemical and mining industries.”
- National Journal, 2/23/02

Sergio Piomelli and William Banner, Appointees to the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
Bush rejected nominating lead poisoning experts and chose “People more friendly to companies that use or once used lead in manufacturing.”
- Gannett News Service, 10/31/02

Harvey Pitt, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission (2001-2002)
Bush's nominee “Amassed more than $3 million a year as a lawyer representing seemingly everyone in trouble with the SEC, including big brokerage houses, Big Five accounting firms, federal financial agencies, and more than a few prominent corporate executives.”
- Associated Press, 7/17/01

Bennett W. Raley, Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
Bush appointee testified to c\Congress “In fact, if I had my choice, I believe that the existing law should be repealed…”
Testimony before the House Committee on Resources, 2/2/00

Mark Rey, Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment
“A former top lobbyist for the timber industry has been nominated by Bush to an Agriculture Department post overseeing the Forest Service and land conservation programs.”
- Associated Press, 6/22/01

Thomas Sansonetti. Assistant Attorney General for Environmental and Natural Resources Division
Bush's choice for “Assistant attorney general at the Justice Department for the environment and natural resources is a lawyer from Wyoming who represents companies in minerals and energy.”
- New York Times, 5/12/01

Patricia Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management, and Budget
“…environmentalism is a coherent ideology that rivals Marxism in its challenge to the classical liberal view of government as protector of individual rights.”
- Patricia Lynn Scarlett, Reason Magazine,

Tom Scully, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator
“Now that Bush has nominated a top hospital lobbyist to head the agency, the industry is more likely to get what it wants.”
- Congressional Quarterly Weekly, 5/4/01

Carmen Toohey Special Assistant to the Secretary for the Interior of Alaska
Bush appoints “An executive director of Arctic Power, which represents the business and state interests that are pushing Congress to allow drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”
- National Journal, 2/23/02

Rebecca Watson, Assistant Secretary for the Interior for Land and Minerals Management
“Watson has a long history of representing mining and logging companies.”
- National Journal, 2/23/02

Isolationism, Insecurity, Ignorance

Bush is surrounded by unprecedented security during his state visit in Great Brittan for his protection from the citizens of America’s closest ally.

Bush is accustomed to isolating himself at home by not reading the news papers and having his staff provide him with the news that the staff thinks Bush should know. Bush also isolates himself by speaking only at well controlled events: military bases; conservative think tanks; and invitation only, big money Republican fundraisers, and now Buckingham Palace.

Bush has isolated himself from or is ignorant about the evidence that he used to make the case for the war on Iraq. Bush launched a doctrine of unilateral primitive war because he is insecure.

Bush wants to keep Americans in ignorance of the consequences of his war by hiding the returning coffins of American soldiers and avoiding their funerals.

Bush’s policy of “You are either with us or you are against us” is the epitome of isolationism.

Howard Dean says “We stand here today ready to challenge the old political order which has shut the people out of the process. We stand here ready to declare with our voices and our votes: 'America is better than this.'"

Are you willing to donate $100 to get Bush out of office so American can once again be welcomed in the capitols of the world?

Dean Shapes Campaign

From Howard Dean’s Speech in Houston, Texas:

Over and over, I heard the same questions:

If our country is so rich, why am I barely getting by? If our country is so strong, why are we being made to feel so afraid? If our country is so powerful, why do I feel so powerless?

These questions are larger than any one issue or program or policy prescription.

What I have seen and heard across America is that people feel disconnected from their government and our business leaders -- and from one another. They are afraid America is becoming more and more hated across the world. And they worry that they may always be struggling just to make ends meet.

This is where our country is. And this is what has shaped our campaign into what it is today.

We stand here today for all those who feel that Washington has forgotten them.

We stand here today for all those who believe that when our government serves only the big corporations, it betrays everything our country represents.

We stand here today for all those who believe America should not only be feared by the world, but admired.

We stand here today ready to challenge the old political order which has shut the people out of the process. We stand here ready to declare with our voices and our votes: "America is better than this."

Our Healthcare Crisis

More than 43 million people in the United States who lack health insurance and their numbers are rapidly increasing because of ever soaring costs and job losses. Many states are also cutting back on subsidies for health care, further increasing the number of people with no coverage.

The insurance crisis is especially visible in Bush’s home state of Texas, which has the highest proportion of uninsured in the country, almost one in every four residents. In September more than half a million children enrolled in a state and federal subsidized insurance program lost dental, vision and most mental care coverage, and some 169,000 children will lose all insurance by 2005.

The majority of the uninsured in America are neither poor by official standards nor unemployed. They are accountants, employees of small businesses, civil servants, single working mothers and those working part time or on contract.

Experts warn that allowing health problems to fester is only going to increase the costs of health care for the uninsured. "As Americans, when are we going to realize it's cheaper to save them on the front end than when they get cancer and show up in the emergency room?" said Sandra B. Thurman, executive director of PediPlace, a nonprofit health clinic.

Paying for health insurance is becoming a middle-class problem, affecting people who look like you and me, dress like you and me, drive nice cars and live in nice houses but can't afford $1,000 a month for health insurance for their families. "After paying for health insurance, you take home less than minimum wage," says a poster in New York City subways sponsored by Working Today, a freelancers union that offers health insurance to independent contractors in New York. "Welcome to middle-class poverty."

In Southern California, 70,000 supermarket workers have been on strike for five weeks over plans to cut their health benefits.

Emergency rooms are particularly hard hit, since federal law requires them to treat anyone who walks through their doors for emergency treatment, regardless of whether they can pay.

Public hospital emergency rooms are even harder hit, since private hospitals will move quickly to shift uninsured patients to them. Clinics for the poor are also seeing a burdensome increase in demand.

Howard Dean says, “In the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for sick children to go without seeing a doctor because their parents can't afford it. It's wrong for a woman to find out she has late-stage breast cancer, because she couldn't afford a mammogram. It's wrong for seniors to have to choose between prescriptions they need and putting food on the table. The time has come to make healthcare for all Americans a reality. I will make the health of all Americans my first priority. Our country has waited too long, and we must do better.”

How many of us are willing to donate $100 to get Bush out of office so we can all have health care?

Bush’s New Taxes

Bush is imposing three new taxes, the baby tax, the senior tax, and the inflation tax. The fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration in passing tax cuts largely for the rich coupled with increased spending are responsible for the new taxes.

The difference between the governments spending and income is the deficit and Bush is creating records for current deficits and has built-in long term deficits that will continue to grow and grow.

The deficit has to be paid back some day and it will be our babies and grand babies that will be saddled with job, hence the baby tax.

To meet the continued demands for funds, the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are being drained. When the need to provide benefits from these funds exceed the funds available which is coming soon, then benefits will be lost, hence the senior tax.

When the government borrows money to cover the deficit it does so in completion with businesses that need financing and consumes who need to buy houses, cars, college education etc. This extra demand for funds will raise interest rates which will increase the costs of everything, hence the inflation tax.

Would you contribute $100 to get Bush out of office, bring back fiscal responsibility, and repeal these taxes?

Belated Report on Keplers Books

In October, Molly Ivins spoke to a crowd of about 600 peoplle concerning her new book, "Bushwhacked."

The next Friday, Al Franken delighted a crowd of about 1200 with comments on "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them".

Molly Ivins revealed that she went to High School with Dubya, as well as enduring the entire Bush governorship. She told how alarmed she was at the number of "Bush books" coming oout just now. She was afraid that there would be too much duplication. But after reading the other books, she found that they are ALL different.

Folks, there is a ton of literature documenting the wrongs of the Right, the suffering of the blue collar workers, the hardships endured by working class Americans all over the country. And yet, with all this documentation, the GOP marches on. There is so little resistance.

So, read as many of the Bush Books as you can stand, tell all your friends about what is really going on, and vote for Dean. Oh yeah, also register some more Democrats.

GOP’s Gigantic Giveaway

GOP congressional leaders forged a national energy bill that contains tens of billions of dollars worth of tax breaks and subsidies to oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries while emphasizing production over conservation.

Lobbyists say there are at least $20 billion in tax breaks for the oil, gas and coal industries in the new bill.

``It's a leave-no-lobbyist-behind bill,'' said Sen. John McCain.

Even those who wrote the bill acknowledge that the details do not look good.

``We know that as soon as you start reading the language, we're duck soup,'' said GOP Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, one of the two major authors.

``This energy bill, if enacted, will raise electricity rates, increase gasoline costs, and increase the federal budget deficit,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from Los Angeles.

Waxman said the bill ``ignores the most pressing energy problems facing the nation today: dependence on oil, global warming, and the rampant malfeasance in the nation's energy companies.''

Central to Howard Dean’s energy policy is a commitment to energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy technologies (including biomass, wind, and solar power), conservation, curbing global warming and protecting our health and our environment.

Two million $100 donations equal Bush out of office and a rational energy policy.

Special Access for Soft Money

Tom DeLay, the GOP House majority leader from Texas, is soliciting donors to give as much as $500,000 to spend time socializing with DeLay during the Republican convention in New York City next summer.

Delay has drawn criticism for his aggressive political fundraising during his career in Congress. Part of the money will go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush's speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises. Some part will be given to a charity and that is supposed to make this all O.K.

Campaign finance watchdogs say Mr. DeLay's effort can be seen as, a creative maneuver around the recently enacted law meant to limit the ability of federal officials to use their positions to raise large donations known as soft money.

"They are using the idea of giving some of the funds to a charity as a blatant cover for financing activities in connection with a convention with huge unlimited, undisclosed, unregulated contributions," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington group that helped push through the recent overhaul of the campaign finance laws.

Would you give $100 to get rid of these guys and own our government again?