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Democracy for America group blog for Jonesboro DFA

Mousehead update...

Written by: Jim Nichols on Oct 11, 2008 6:56 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Blog For America

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

As McCain backtracks... Melissa wrote this for people to pass on.   --Jim

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MY DESCRIPTIVE PERSPECTIVE:
 
Registering “Gutter scum” gets a mouse head in meal for Democratic Chair
 
My name is Melissa and I’m the Chair of the Democratic Party of Pike County, Georgia. I have lived and traveled to many places both here and abroad. My current passport is littered with the physical stamps of these regions while my brain carries with it the psychological and photographed impressions of people of many cultures and beliefs. My expired passport is stamped with the obligations that came with being a member of the Air Force. I served, my sister served, my ex-husband with whom we share three children is still serving, and now my son is joining.

I along with several others in the county have been diligently registering voters and ensuring that the disabled and the elderly have access to absentee ballots. Upon this journey I have met many people and have heard stories from long-ago and how these times are just remarkable. Stories of hope, inspiration, triumph, and most of gratitude for even me being there and offering assistance. 
Aside from that and on to the unfolding drama, the Democratic party in Pike County meets every month at Ruth’s restaurant. We meet in the back room free of charge and have brought extra business to this restaurant once a month by inviting outside people to our meetings. The attendance can be sometimes three, sometimes 15. The owner’s husband is always there, helping or assisting, and had always been cordial. He had let me know in the beginning he was a republican, and I can respect that. Everyone in this country has the right to have their views.

We met this past Thursday, October 9th, and I knew that we were going to have a small meeting because all of the officers were at other obligations but I chose to stay in case someone dropped by. I ordered a to go plate at 6:30 to be done at 7pm. I would stay until then and leave if no one showed and could fill the time by making some phone calls to district leaders and candidates. My husband you see is a Republican and I love him very much. He was sick at the doctor and I should not be out too late. At 7 I decided no one was going to show and got my styrofoam covered dish that was placed before me by the waitress.     

She actually is a nice person that always has a smile on her face despite the apparent pain she suffers from the incredible limp given to her most probably from birth. Moving from table to table smiling, happy to have her job, I can only imagine the sore arthritic joints she bears when making this journey from kitchen to table, from table to kitchen. Standing now at the counter with my gift for my husband and waited to pay for it.  Pastor Tom says doing these small things in marriage daily continually builds and holds your marriage together.  

 

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Sorry America, its not new to us. (on the mcCain/Palin smear events)

Written by: Jim Nichols on Oct 10, 2008 1:35 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Blog For America, DFA-CFD of Fresno & Madera Counties, Democratic Club of Coarsegold, DFA-CFD of Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties , California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, DFA Blog Network, Northern California Trained Activists, DFA Trust, Reproductive Rights for America, blog for America Test and Poll Group, DFA of Chowchilla, Latinos for America, Netroots Activism!, DFA of Stanislaus County

Being Chairman of the Henry County Democratic party has taught me a lot about organizing. But it is not surprising to watch the tone and invective that has appeared in the past week. Fear tactics, intimidation, and personal threats that lie just below the surface of far too many Republicans is something Democrats here in the South find to be quite common. I saw it as a human rights organizer after 9/11, as an anti-war organizer in the run up to the war, and have watched it grow during this campaign.

After the conservative take over of the Republican party, the base of that party is fixated on beliefs that have no bases in reality. They hold these beliefs very strongly and it resonates within the culture here at a near pathological state.

Its important to note the pathology--these are good people, they work hard and try to live upstanding lives. But in the midst of fear, and lacking the security of knowing things are going to be okay, that pathology starts to surface. Traitor, Communist, unamerican, the devil, satanist, f---'in coward; I've been called all these things right to my face by men far larger than myself swinging their arms in an erratic style. The aggressive postures, the tone, lack of any valid reasoning's for their beliefs has caused many who support getting affordable health care, a sane foreign policy, or books in our schools, to stay silent. I have citizens who want to volunteer for the Democrats but are terrified that their neighbors will find out they are a democrat and will therefore not do anything that can connect them to the party or Obama.

Haven't you seen the emails-- Obama is a terrorist, Obama is a socialist... why haven't you heard Obama Osama, isn't that clear enough! Our way of life is at risk, it reads. I knew the "kill him," "terrorist" screams at recent events were on their way when my nephew sincerely asked me what I thought about people saying Obama is the anti-christ. He truly wanted to know what to think of this, you could see it in his eyes. And the reason he was curious was because kids can see when people are serious in their beliefs. Just below the surface of every smear email, or chuckle from a joke at a dinner party is someone who at some subconscious level is fearful and doesn't know how to protect their families from the outside world. I responded without blinking an eye and in a very serious tone said, "they have no integrity."

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Written by: Jim Nichols on Aug 26, 2008 11:37 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew, Blog For America

This liberal lacks a retort? McCain, Obama, and the economy
 

I'm glad to see we are getting a more active blog.  The more we debate... the more we discuss... the more we have dialouge.  The less the right wing swift boat attacks and urban ledgends that Republicans have used time and time again will work.

The discussion is on McCain and his 8 houses... or however many.

Henry Libertarian commented:
That shows how "out of touch" and "privileged" Obama is, which Liberals like to ignore. Sure it is fun to point across the isle and snicker, but when you are guilt of the same thing suddenly you get defensive and don't see the humor anymore. If you want to call McCain rich then show me a politician at the federal levels that isn't. You obviously don't have a retort or you would have said something better. Obama wants to tax businesses that make goods and provide services which will make goods and services more expensive. With Obama's Trillion-Dollar Spending Plan, who do you think is going to pay for it?

First... "when you are guilty of the same thing?  How so?  The Rezko smear has been shown to be a complete fabrication for more see Factcheck.org which is a nonpartisan group that I highly recommend to those like myself who want to deal in policy and not whitewash the issues.  Read the Rezko Reality to see that Henry Libertarian like many Republicans is misinformed on the issue.

If you want to call McCain rich then show me a politician at the federal levels that isn't.

That is known as a straw man in logic.  I'm not arguing that Obama has note earned an impressive income.  Or that middle class and working class americans are seldom representative of elected officials.

 

 

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Green jobs, health care, government

Written by: Jim Nichols on Aug 26, 2008 11:31 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Georgia for Democracy, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew, Blog For America, Blogs United

Green jobs, health care, government (cross posted at Henry Dems)
 

I want to respond the Henry Libertarian starting with the purpose of government since this is a fundamental difference between the conservative every man for themselves mentality and a more realistic economics and social governing of Democrats who want to protect citizens and empower our economy.

Henry Libertarian commented:

The Government is NOT here to take care of us.

The government is here to protect and empower.  Come on now you are a Libertarian.  Look back to your intellectual forefathers such as the Liberal John Locke. 

Civil Government is a social contract to protect individuals and their basic liberties from the group.  The group.  The government is their to protect and empower them as individuals.  Its also their to protect and empower the economy.  Free-market advocates since Adam Smith have noted that markets require basic structures infrastructure--legal, regulatory, military.  Individuals need some entity to protect them from market failures and violence.  So your government isn't thier to take care of us is opposed by your own Libertarian ancestory... as well as any accurate conception of how markets work.

 Barack Obama promises to "create five million new green jobs." The entire civilian workforce in the US is a little over 145 million people. So if Barack Obama’s adds five million new green jobs then one in every 33 jobs in the United States would be a new "green" job.

The basic response is... I'm not sure where the issue is.  I'll outsource this to economist Dean Baker (from email)...

this includes all the derivative jobs that are associated with "green jobs." So if we have 500,000 construction workers employed retrofitting buildings, we might have another 500,000 employed transporting materials, producing the inputs in factories, or even producing raw materials. The same would be the case with fuel efficient cars or hybrids.

The 5 million figure is probably high even by this standard, but it is not ridiculous on its face, especially by political standards.

So Obama may be playing up the numbers... I dunno. Economist fight amoungst themselves on the derivative impacts of policies--since an economy is a collective effort with broad repurcussion outside the direct impacts of the targeted goal.

Why do "earmarks" always come up? They take up the money that could be spent on things like education and Healthcare.

I'm just going  to quote myself on this one...

 

 

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possible Republican shenanigans here in GA

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jul 15, 2008 12:39 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew

Appears Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel here in GA pulled some shenanigans this week in the state wide Public Service Commission Democratic primary.  Executive Director of State Party contacted me today to follow up with the Henry County Board of elections (I'm chairman of county party here in Henry--a suburb of Atlanta) which I just did an hour ago...
 
posted more on this issue here: http://politicalautomaton.blogspot.com/2008/07/election-day-blogging.html 
 
I will post a follow up after the smoke clears so that Republicans in GA are exposed to national press/voters.  I still don't know whats really going on--as I was not contacted by the board of elections here in Henry in regards to this issue (one would think that would be protocol?)

Jim

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Press Release: House Democrats call for immediate investigation into Department of Education

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jun 19, 2008 5:42 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew

For Immediate Release: June 17, 2008

Contact: Martin Matheny, Democratic Party of Georgia
             706-461-0439 (mobile)
             678-278-2108 (office)
             martin@georgiademocrat.org

             Matt Caseman, House Democratic Caucus
             404-455-5880 (mobile)
             mcaseman@gmail.com

House Democrats call for immediate investigation into Department of Education

Porter: "What did Kathy Cox know, and when did she know it?"

ATLANTA - Democrats in the Georgia House of Representatives called on Governor Sonny Perdue to commission an immediate, independent, non-partisan investigation of the state Department of Education today, in the wake of statewide failures on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT).  it has been widely reported in the media that the Superintendent of Schools knew months in advance of the projected failure rate, yet the Department of Education failed to warn administrators, teachers, or parents of the coming fiasco.

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"Red County Challenge"

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jun 16, 2008 3:57 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Atlanta DFA - Voter Registration & Education, California for Democracy, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew, Training Academy Alumni, Class of 2007

There seems to be an apathy in some of the more Red areas of this country that Democrats--myself included are susecptible to.

I've come up with the idea of a "Red County Challenge"  to try to inspire Democrats throughout the country to not give up.

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"Red State Challenge"

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jun 14, 2008 10:45 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Atlanta DFA - Voter Registration & Education, DFA Night School, Training Academy Alumni, Class of 2007, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew

I hope every "Red State" will do what we will be doing here in GA.

I say we... but I just came up with the idea today at our election year kickoff here in Henry County GA. My idea is the "Red county Challenge"

The goal is for every "Red county" to compete with each other to have the largest turnout for Obama in November. If you went for Bush in 04 you are a "Red county" for definitional purposes.

Even bigger each of the "Red States" can join together to recruit all of their "red counties" and unite to try to win the "Red State Challenge" Where all the Red States compete to have the largest overall turnout. I guess some math person can explain how we can weight this so small and large states can compete on equitable ground for this game. But I came up with the challenge others can figure the rules out as we spread the word.

The goal is to get every single "red" county in this nation to be knocking on doors, holding house parties, and registering new voters. So that we can Get out the Vote this november and make history!

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I'd like to ask for your vote to grow as an activist

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jun 13, 2008 2:26 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Atlanta DFA - Voter Registration & Education, DFA Night School, Training Academy Alumni, Class of 2007, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew

Please consider a vote for me to gain a scholarship to the Net Roots Nation event coming up this July. Economist Paul Krugman and other bloggers will be speaking.  Consider it a 28th birthday present (July 13th baby!)
 
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/netroots_nation_scholarships/124-jim-nichols

Help me grow as a progressive activist who advocates for issues that matter not political politics.
 
Jim

p.s. please contact friends and family to help my efforts!

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You are a political expert...

Written by: Jim Nichols on Jun 13, 2008 2:21 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for America - Georgia Chapter, Georgia for Democracy, Blogs United, Jonesboro DFA, Morrow DFA, Peachtree City DFA, Stockbridge Progressives, Atlanta DFA - Voter Registration & Education, DFA Night School, Training Academy Alumni, Class of 2007, DFA Atlanta Alumni Crew

A flier I'm printing up for our County Party Picnic.  Please comment if I should change something.. Also help spread the message that voters are the Political experts.

You are a Political Expert!

Don't let the talking heads on tv and politicians promoting apathy and divisiveness win. You are needed in the political process. You are the political expert. Take a moment to write a list of things you see in your community that need to be fixed, addressed, or improved. Look around and pay attention to those around you who are struggling to play by the rules and stay above water. The Republican "every man for themself" mentality, their "government can't address the problem" policies, are meant to keep people apathetic, disengaged, and fighting amongst each other for the scraps left over. In a Democracy WE are the government and we should NEVER vote for someone who says WEcan't find ways to address problems in our country!! Our political culture tells us when we see a man beaten by the side of the road that you pass on the other side and don't look back. Its up to us to be leaders in the community who say in one united voice: "That's not our style. Those aren't our values. America can be better than that. That's why we are Democrats!"

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