Silicon Valley for Howard Dean

We Have Moved

The Silicon Valley for Howard Dean blog has moved to sv4dean.net.

Bush’s Failing Grade

The League of Conservation Voters gives Bush an overall grade of F for his environmental actions. To determine this grade, the League of Conservation Voters surveyed environmental leaders about Bush’s performance in protecting our nation’s environment and conducted an exhaustive review of his environmental actions since taking office.

The Bush administration’s approach to the environment demonstrates a clear bias toward the interests of the oil industry, the utility industry and other corporate contributors at the expense of the health and safety of the public. For Bush, corporate interests come first, and the public interest in clean air and safe drinking water comes last.

Initiative after initiative introduced by Bush and his political appointees favor corporate interests such as timber, oil and utilities over the public’s interest in a clean and healthy environment. Administration proposals would weaken and eliminate fundamental protections for our air, land and water, protections that have improved the quality of life over the past 30 years.

Bush has waged a subtle and ominous campaign using deceptive rhetoric, arcane procedural methods, and funding cuts to carry out an anti-environment, pro-corporate agenda. This “starve-and-strangle” approach has administration officials gradually and steadily slashing budgets for key environmental programs. At the same time, deceptively named proposals such as the “Healthy Forests” initiative and the “Clear Skies” proposal would allow logging companies and electric utilities to increase their profits at the expense of environmental protection and the public’s health.

Help protect our environment by joining Howard Dean’s $100 Revolution now.

Will Grassroots Prevail

Howard Dean has inspired the greatest grassroots following in history. His campaign used the Internet to engage, excite and expand our numbers and efforts.

We have grown form a few in early 2003 to over 580,000 signed up on the campaign and a MeetUp base of over 177,000, about three times larger than the Clark campaign, the next largest MeetUp base.

We wrote letters to ALL the undecided Iowans, a truly remarkable achievement, and a clear indication of an engaged base.

The grassroots has inspired others to endorse Howard Dean, All Gore, Tom Bradley, and many, many other Democrat leaders. The grass roots have contributed more $40 million, a record amount for a Democratic Presidential candidate. These are clear indication of an excited base.

Campaign manager Joe Trippi points to larger than expected turnouts for caucus training sessions in Iowa this week and an event in Muscatine over the weekend at which almost half of those who attended either had never participated in the caucuses before or were not even registered to vote, a clear indication of an expanded base.

Now we await the outcome of the Iowa Caucus. Will all our efforts to take our country back lead to a win in Iowa? It is pins and needles time for the grassroots.

For Bush, Secrecy is Supreme

The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court to let it keep all its arguments secret in a case involving an immigrant's challenge of his treatment after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel wants the court to consider whether the government acted improperly by secretly jailing him after the attacks and keeping his legal fight secret.

He was among hundreds of foreigners detained after the hijackings. The government has refused to release names and other information on them, citing national security concerns.

This case is perhaps the most egregious recent example of an alarming trend toward excessive secrecy in the federal courts, particularly in cases that bear even a tangential connection to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a voluntary association of reporters and editors that works to defend First Amendment rights, requested that the Supreme Court intervene to reverse a lower court ruling and clarify that the public has a constitutional right of access to federal habeas corpus proceedings and records.

The press and public might never have learned of this case at all but for an inadvertent error by a clerk at the court of appeals. According to newspaper accounts, a clerk at the Eleventh Circuit mistakenly listed the proceeding on a public oral argument calendar and displayed it on the federal courts’ electronic access system, prompting a nationally published newspaper story.

It is well established that courts must make findings to support closing proceedings or to keep documents secret (under seal). Yet the Eleventh Circuit court here made no finding at all to support the secrecy order, the court did not even enter an order to seal so there would be no record at all. It simply adopted a practice of sealing all pleadings and closing all hearings.

The court’s handling of the case violates the established law, that the public and press have a right to attend civil judicial proceedings relating to the incarceration or release of prisoners.

The lower courts conducted this case with unacceptable secrecy. An now the Bush Administration wants unprecedented secrecy as the Supreme Court reviews the lower courts handling of this case.

Help take our country back form the most secretive Administration ever by joining the $100 Revolution. now.

Southwest Victory Express

Hey boys and girls, put on your wallking shoes and get ready to have fun and help out the Dean campaign in New Mexico and Arizona. If we get enough people signed up they may be able to charter a bus directly from the Bay Area. Go to http://swve.deanforamerica.com to get more info or to sign up. (Reposting the following info from the swve website)

Win Early With the Southwest Victory Express
The current administration and its supporters are counting on an extended battle for the Democratic nomination. A long fight would drain resources from our candidate, and distract attention from George Bush's failing right-wing agenda. The most important thing we can do to take back our country is to help Howard Dean win the nomination early.

Do your part to Win Early by joining us on the Southwest Victory Express. In late January 2004, travel with 1,000 other Dean supporters from across California and the West to the battleground states of Arizona and New Mexico. Spend a weekend working with local volunteers to help ‘Get Out The Vote!’

This will be the second time Californians have stepped up to the plate for Governor Dean in this vital region. Our last effort was recognized by the national campaign as a huge success, and the participants had an experience they’ll never forget. Get onboard again, or be part of the fun for the first time. No experience is necessary—just a firm determination to take your country back from the special interests in Washington.

Free transportation and accommodations will be provided to volunteers who can raise $100 for ‘Dean for America’ from their friends and family. Easy-to-use contribution forms and information packets will be available at your local Meetup on Wednesday, January 7th. Sign up now to or call (323) 965-9933 to reserve your space today.

Travel Dates
We’re sending two waves of volunteers to Arizona and New Mexico: January 23 – 25 and January 30 – February 1. Additionally, we are looking for a group of supporters to stay till Election Day on February 3rd.

DESTINATIONS
The Southwest Victory Express is working with our friends in Arizona and New Mexico to place volunteers in the areas where they are needed the most. We’d appreciate if you were flexible with your travel destination, especially if you are provided with free transportation by the campaign.

Volunteers have already been requested by Arizona in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Pima County and Cochise County. New Mexico has slots open in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Taos.

After submitting your registration form, you will receive more detailed travel information. At that time, if you are unable to travel to your assigned destination, you are welcome to request another location by e-mailing us: swve@deanforamerica.com.

Endorsement for Howard Dean

I have chosen to endorse Governor Howard Dean, MD, for president today for three reasons:

First, because he has a record of results as a doctor and a governor on the issue most important to me, health care. As a doctor he understands the need to provide a safety net by implementing a viable plan that ensures health care access for all Americans. As a governor he has a record of expanding access to quality health care to nearly every child in his state as well as expanding access to assistance with prescription drug costs for more than one third of residents.

Second, Governor Dean has put together a campaign that gives this Democrat hope we can beat George W. Bush and take our country back from the large, corporate special interests. For the first time in years we have a Democrat who can excite our base, expand our base, and unite our base.

I am proud to join more than 550,000 Americans who make up the greatest grassroots organization in modern history.

Finally, I have decided to endorse Governor Dean today because although I respect all of the candidates, I am disappointed in their concerted last-minute attacks on Governor Dean. This election is about beating George W. Bush, not dividing our party with negative campaign tactics designed to suppress caucus turnout.

Dr. Julie Thomas, Vice-Chair of Iowa Democratic Party

You, too, and endorse Howard Dean by joining the $100 Revolution now.

Bait and Switch

The Bush Administration is using revisionism to cause public confusion about why Bush pre-emptily launched a war against Iraq.

Administration officials now claim that the war was never about WMD but was undertaken to bring democracy to Iraq or the entire Middle East. Others say it was a response to 9/11 or was the necessary answer to a composite threat posed by Saddam Hussein's domestic evils, past aggressions, defiance of the United Nations, and desire for WMD.

During Bush’s drumbeat for war starting on October 7, 2002, to the declaration of war on March 17, 2003, the purpose, or bait, was always clear: "Saddam Hussein must disarm himself-or for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.

Now the Bush Administration is attempting to shift, or switch, Americans expectation of why Bush went to war from having weapons of mass destruction and massive stockpiles of chemical and biological agents to "capabilities," and even to the "capability that Iraq sought" for weapons of mass destruction.

A new study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a non-partisan research institution, says intelligence agencies failed to make an accurate assessment of the status of Saddam's illicit weapons and missile programs.

It accuses President Bush and his top officials of ``systematically'' misrepresenting the threats posed by those programs, even beyond the evidence presented by what it deemed faulty intelligence analyses.

``This is the first comprehensive review of everything we knew or thought we knew about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction,'' said Joseph Cirincione, a non-proliferation expert and an author of the six-month study.

``In doing that review, it becomes clear that many things we thought were working, like our intelligence-assessment process, were not, and things that we thought were not working, like the U.N. inspection process, actually were.''

What has become clear from the study, said Cirincione, ``is that this war wasn't necessary for national security.''

``We were already accomplishing what the president hoped to accomplish during the war,'' he said. ``We had shut down these programs.''

Howard Dean says, “A decision to send our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to war is the most solemn decision any president can make. As president, I will not hesitate to send our military anywhere in the world to defend the United States and its key interests, but I will never do so without telling the American people the truth.”

Bush started a war for political; reasons, not for national security, certainly what the United States Constitution refers to as a high crime.

Help take our country back, join the $100 Revolution. now.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY CAUCUS INFO AND LOCATIONS

Dean delegate selection caucuses will be held on Sunday, February 8 from 3:00-5:00 PM. Each Democratic candidate holds a caucus in each of the 53 congressional districts (CDs) throughout the state.

Caucus doors will lock and shut at 3:00 PM sharp (all delegate candidates and participants must be inside prior to this...NO EXCEPTIONS) so please plan on arriving by 2:30 PM. The caucuses will end at 5:00 PM.

***You must be a registered Democrat to run for delegate and vote in the caucuses.*** You can register Democrat onsite (please allow extra time for this as caucuses will start right at 3:00 PM).

Caucus locations for the 14th-16th CDs are noted below. For more information on the caucuses, contact the conveners.

14th CD - Anna Eshoo

Caucus Convener: Judy Kleinberg (judy@judykleinberg.org)

Location: Gunn High School - Spangenberger Auditorium, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306, 650-354-8200

15th CD - Mike Honda

Caucus Convener: Hedi Angelinovich (hangelinovich@netscape.net)

Location: Milpitas High School, 1285 Escuela Parkway, Milpitas, CA 95035, 408-945-5500

16th CD - Zoe Lofgren

Caucus Convener: Zoe Lofgren (contact Shannon Roy, shannon_roy@yahoo.com, for info and to volunteer)

Location: San Jose High Academy Gymnasium, 275 N. 24th Street, San Jose, CA 95116, 408-535-6320

CAUCUS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

If you're interested in helping staff the Dean caucus in your CD, please contact the caucus convener ASAP. A staff of about 15 people are needed per caucus.

BECOMING A DELEGATE

Applications (Form A) for district-level delegates are due to the California Democratic Party (CDP) by Wednesday, February 4. Form A can be obtained in three ways:

1) Online (the preferred method) - Go to the CDP website: http://www.ca-dem.org/national.php. After completing the form, you will be presented with a PDF document which you must download, print out, and sign, and mail to the CDP in order to complete your application. Your application will not be considered complete without mailing in the application with your actual original signature.

2) Call the CDP at 916-442-5707 and have them mail you an application.

3) Contact Shannon Roy at shannon_roy@yahoo.com and she will mail you an application.

NOTE: Delegates to the national convention (July 26-29, 2004 in Boston) must pay their own way. Expect this to be $1,500-$2,000 of your own money.

The key to getting yourself elected is to bring as many supporters to the caucus as possible to bring in the most votes for you. Remember, these supporters must be registered Democrats in that CD.

The allocation of delegates per CD is as follows:

14th CD – 5 delegates (3 female, 2 male) plus 1 male alternate = 6 delegates

15th CD – 5 delegates (3 male, 2 female) plus 1 female alternate = 6 delegates

16th CD – 5 delegates (3 female, 2 male) plus 1 male alternate = 6 delegates

After the March primary, the percentage of votes in the CD that Dean receives will determine the number of delegates that go to the convention, allocated proportionally. A candidate must get 15% of the vote or more in each CD to get delegates.

Shannon Roy

Southwest Victory Express

The train to victory! January 30 thru Feb 03

Register today to get on the victory train! All you need is $100 in contributions to get on board.
Precinct walk, phone bank, victory party, food, lodging and travel included.

Northern California volunteers will have to get to LA on their own. The Southwest Voter Express may be able to provide housing for an overnight to make it easier to connect with the train.

Links for more info:

Brochure

Flyer

Southern California Finance Dean for America 4311 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90010

Phililp de Vellis

PERFECT STORM

There is still time to join the PERFECT STORM by Getting Back on Track with Howard Dean.

If you've got some time but not a lot of money, why not take the train to Iowa. For a round trip fare of $110, enjoy 2 days on the train, 5 days working your hump off for Dr. Dean, then relax for another 2 days on the train home. There is just barely enough time to get a ticket, but it can be done.

Please announce at ALL MEETUPS in Nor Cal that there is still time to join this great journey. We have 20 people on board so far and we should get more more more!!!

Departure Date: Jan 13th, 9:30am Return Date: Jan 22nd, morning.
Place: Emeryville Amtrak station, 5885 Landregan St.Emeryville, CA 94608
Map: link
Accomodations: Provided by Dean for America.
Pack: Warm clothes, pillow, towels and a sleeping bag.

What to do:
1) Send a $110 made out to Vicki Cosgrove.
2)Call 510.733.0996 for address.
3) Sign up at DFA under PERFECT STORM and use GROUP # 1001.

There will also be a BON VOYAGE rally at the train station at 8:30am to see off the travelers in style. There will be press there so we want to make this big and enthusiastic. And if people are interested in getting on the train to Sacto or Reno, we can arrange for cheap round trip tickets so people can be a part of this PERFECT STORM. Take the day off... join the party ... come ride with us! It will be FUN.

Over'n Out.... Peace
Vicki Cosgrove