Silicon Valley for Howard Dean

Generosity

From the DeanForAmerica blog.

Your generosity isn't going unnoticed-- and isn't confined to the bat.

Reuters reports:

According to the survey of 630 drivers [for Dominos Pizza in Washington, DC]... people with "Dean for President" bumper stickers on cars in their driveways tipped 22% higher than people with "Bush for President" bumper stickers.

And it's that kind of generosity that is going to match George Bush's special interest money dollar for dollar.

Keep tipping, and keep swinging the bat.

Optimism, Not Pessimism

There is nothing more optimistic than saying that the American people have the right and the responsibility of self-government.

There is nothing more optimistic than running a campaign that is designed to bring people back into the political process.

And there is nothing more optimistic than asserting that the American people, armed with the founding principles of our Republic, will prevail over the special interests that write our laws in the current administration.

And there's absolutely nothing pessimistic about believing that once the American people take control of their own government, we will be able to bring health care to everyone, jobs based on a new energy economy to those who are out of work, and effective environmental protection for our children and grandchildren.

This is the most optimistic presidential campaign in a generation. For Karl Rove and George Bush to say that believing in people is pessimistic-- well, that's a bit like calling the gutting of pollution controls Clear Skies, isn't it?

Help Howard Dean take our country back from the special interests by joining the $100 Revolution..

Happy Holidays

Just wanted to wish all my fellow Deaniacs a happy and safe Holiday season. Also, to those who are having or attending an end-of-the-year house party, hope it is fun and brings in lots of money for the campaign :)

I will be out of town much of the next week, but will hopefully be checking in.

As usual at the end of the fiscal quarters, this will be crunch time for fundraising. If you can give a little, this is a great time to do it.

See ya next year- Iowa and New Hampshire are just around the corner, and the momentum is still there and seems to be building. I am so excited with how things are going and very much looking forward to next year. With hard work and some luck, next year we'll be celebrating the election and upcoming inauguration of President Dean :)

From the DeanForAmerica blog:

11 Days of Dean: Zoe Lofgren

As we count down the final 11 days of the quarter, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (who last blogged here on June 23rd) tells us of a note that she sent to friends and family asking for contributions to be made to the Dean campaign in honor of her birthday, which is today. It's a great idea for the holidays, too. Zoe was the first member of Congress to endorse Dean-- way back in April, when we were an asterisk in the polls. Thank Rep. Lofgren for her courage and vision in endorsing Dean by contributing to her personal bat.

December 19, 2003

To My Friends and Family:

Sunday is my birthday and next Thursday is Christmas. Everyone is asking me what I would like to have as a present.

When I think about what I would like most, I inevitably think of replacing President Bush with Governor Howard Dean next year. I have personally contributed the maximum amount I am permitted to donate. I can't legally donate any more until after the Democratic Convention in August.

What I would like for my birthday - more than flowers, perfume or a cozy sweater - is to have everyone send what they would have spent on a gift to the Dean campaign.

Taking our country back from the right wing will be the most important gift of all.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren

Fiscal Situation Critical

A challenge confronting the United States over the next half-century is how to conduct fiscal policy in the face of the retirement of the baby-boom generation (the large number of people born between 1946 and 1964). We face inescapable decisions about the fundamentals of our tax and spending policies.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will claim a sharply increasing share of the nation’s economic output over the coming decades as the baby-boom generation attains eligibility for Social Security and Medicare.

Economic growth alone will not bring the nation’s long-term fiscal position into balance. Current tax and spending policies are financially unsustainable over the next 50 years. An ever-growing burden of federal debt held by the public will have a negative effect on the economy with detrimental consequences for work and saving, resuling in a plunging value of the dollar, soaring interest rates and prices, and collapsing stock markets.

A Congressional Budget Office report states:

"Because interest costs rise as debt grows, the longer that lawmakers delay acting to counter an unsustainable budgetary situation, the larger the spending cuts or tax increases will eventually have to be. Delay also raises another problem: as interest costs mount, the government’s flexibility to deal with unexpected developments, such as a war or a recession, diminishes.”

We can not delay returning our government to fiscal responsibility. We must remove Bush and his reckless tax cuts and rash deficit spending.

Help Howard Dean take our country back from the special interests by joining the $100 Revolution..

Dean photos

Albert Chan has posted some very nice pics from Dr. Dean's 12/14 San Francisco visit. You can find them on his website- http://www.purpleflax.com/Dean.

'Twas a Month Before Caucus

‘Twas a month before Caucus , when all through the state,
Howard Dean was by all accounts doing just great.
The precincts were being organized with care,
In hopes that Victory soon would be there.

Last year it looked like a DC battle,
Voters yawned hearing the same old prattle.
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
The greatest grassroots movement in years.

The staff were rarely ever in their beds,
But visions of Caucus Night danced in their heads.
With the big endorsement from Al in Dean’s cap,
They figured they could live on just a few naps.

Iowans for Dean were doing more than chatter,
Taking the country back caused quite a clatter.
Away to the rallies they flew like a flash,
While back on the blog they kept giving cash.

With a big crowd that stretched around the block,
They knew in a moment it must be the Doc.
With a traveling party of backers he came,
Good Iowa Democrats know them all by name.

Hey Myers! Hey Chiodo! Hey Sheila! Hey Margie!
There’s Painters! And SEIU! And, yes AFSCME!
Though other camps might get kinda mean and attack,
They just don’t get it, People Power fights back!

Students and seniors alike to Iowa fly,
The logistics team hopes for no snow in the sky.
They’ve got doors to knock and numbers to call,
We have no doubt our people will get to them all.

We really like being First in the Nation,
Really we do, no matter expectation.
Caucus for Change is now the constant refrain,
Caucus for Change is now the constant refrain.

If you need anything just give us a whistle,
Just a month left to dodge dreaded DM Reg thistles.
For the next month we’ll never be out of sight,
There’s much to do for the party Caucus Night.

Clare Gannon
Des Moines, Iowa

Cloak of Secrecy

The United States Supreme Court will hear Dick Cheney’s appeal of a lower courts ruling that Cheney must make public the records of his secret energy advisory committee meetings. These were the meetings with top executives of big campaign contributing energy companies, but no environmental groups, that developed the Bush Administration’s tax credit subsidized extract and burn national energy policy.

It was Dick Cheney who vigorously pushed to keep the records of his energy advisory committee meetings secret and also vigorously pushed the false claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in oil rich Iraq and that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin-Laden, providing Bush with a reason to launch a first strike war and to occupy Iraq.

Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration have fought to keep the records of the Cheney energy advisory committee meetings secret from the beginning. The Bush Administration justifies the attempt at secrecy on the basis of confidentially of advisors.

The Sierra Club and others say that the secrecy violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which governs the operation of advisory committees in the executive branch.

The Act provides that any interested party be permitted to attend, appear before, or file statements with any advisory committee; that detailed minutes of each meeting shall be kept; and that the records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendixes, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents shall be available for public inspection and copying.

The Bush Administration denies that there is any links to the war and says it is making its appeal just on the principal of the thing.

Howard Dean’s policies are based on:

The legitimacy that comes from the rule of law
The credibility that comes from telling the truth
The knowledge that comes from first-rate information, undiluted by ideology
The strength that comes from robust alliances and vigorous diplomacy

Help take our country back from the special interests by joining the $100 Revolution..

National Poll numbers

Got this off the National Blog. What can I say- I see these types of poll numbers and they just give me a happy :)
Third National Poll Today Puts Dean Ahead
Gallup's latest national poll, taken from December 11 to 14, shows Howard Dean leading the pack (the two most recent polls, from 12/5-7 and 11/14-16, respectively, in parentheses):

Dean 31 (25) (17)
Other 15 (10) (13)
Lieberman 13 (10) (13)
Clark 10 (17) (17)
Kerry 10 (7) (9)
Gephardt 8 (14) (13)
Sharpton 5 (3) (5)
Edwards 4 (7) (6)
Braun 3 (5) (4)
Kucinich 1 (2) (3)
These results confirm the two other national polls released today -- you're building a nationwide grassroots movement. Pledge to vote or caucus in your state now.

Open letter from Joe Trippi

Reposted from National Blog. Visit the main Blog for America for some ways to respond to this attack ad.
An Open Letter to All Democratic Presidential Campaign Managers
Last week, a group called "Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values" began airing a television ad in New Hampshire and South Carolina attacking Howard Dean's commitment to defending America. The group is headed by a Democratic contributor, and the press secretary is a former aide to one of Dr. Dean's rivals. Using the image of Osama bin Laden, it is the kind of fearmongering attack we've come to expect from Republicans and panders to the worst in voters. I'm writing to call on each one of you to condemn this despicable ad and demand it be pulled from the airwaves.

Democrats are better than this. This type of ad represents everything that is wrong with our political process today -- polluting our airwaves with smears on other candidates that have nothing to do with legitimate policy differences. Ads like this are the reason that less than half of the voting population in America bothers to go to the polls.

We Democrats should be committing ourselves to bringing more people into the process instead of resorting to tactics that cause more people to lose faith in politics altogether. Our campaign is committed to inspiring people to believe in their democracy again -- challenging 2 million people to donate $100 each to take back their country.

Our party must be about more than just changing presidents -- it must be dedicated to changing our country's politics. I hope you'll join me in denouncing this ad and demanding it be pulled from the airwaves immediately.

Sincerely,

Joe Trippi