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Happy Thanksgiving from Missaukee County (Michigan) :)

Written by: Richard Renner on Nov 26, 2008 7:30 PM EST

To all my friends at Democracy for America,

May your Thanksgiving be filled with Love, Faith and Laughter.

Best wishes,

Richard Renner

Missaukee County Commissioner-elect

Membership Chair, Missaukee County Democratic Party

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

- Albert Einstein

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"...let's not forget all the hard-working, progressive Democrats who are running for local offices..." - Democrats.com

Written by: Richard Renner on Nov 17, 2008 9:41 PM EST

"...let's not forget all the hard-working, progressive Democrats who are running for local offices...Local and state offices have an enormous impact on our lives, and also produce our future national leaders..." - Democrats.com

CHALLENGE: ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT to raise $380! Help the only Democratic County Commissioner in Missaukee County (Michigan).

On Tuesday, November 4th, history was made in Missaukee County. I was fortunate enough to defeat a Republican incumbent for County Commissioner in the second most Republican county in the state of Michigan. However, as with many campaigns, I have debt to pay off, and several final expenses to pay. I need to raise $380 in 3 days. Can I count on you? Making a contribution is easier than ever. Just click on the link below, and make a secure, online contribution using PayPal...

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=rrenner%40core%2ecom&item_name=Friends%20of%20Richard%20Renner&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

OFFICIALLY ENDORSED BY MID-MICHIGAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA (MMDfA)!
“Richard REALLY knows his stuff and has specific plans for improving his county.”

As I was quoted in our local daily, the Cadillac News, following my victory...

"The voters...have made a determination that the status quo is no longer acceptable, that we expect more accountability, greater openness, and transparency in county government."

Please, help me pay off my debt by raising $380 in 3 days. Just click on the link below, and make a secure, online contribution using PayPal...

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=rrenner%40core%2ecom&item_name=Friends%20of%20Richard%20Renner&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

Victory '10,

Richard Renner

Missaukee County Commissioner-elect

"...public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people...with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration."

- Margaret Chase Smith, U.S. Senator from Maine, 1949-1973

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Oil Crisis: Oil Industry's method of raising prices and cutting their own taxes

Written by: James Dunn on Jul 8, 2008 11:15 AM EDT

Regarding opening environmentally protected areas for mining and pumping oil:

There is over 200 years of oil in the 48 contiguous States that are capped up by oil companies to monopolize world energy. There is no need to violate our environmentally protected areas, just to allow oil companies to further monopolize their strangle hold over our lives.

They are creating a media frenzy just to increase the price of oil; very successfully I might add. However, there is no immediate threat for an oil shortage !!! The oil companies have ONLY created the perception that there is a shortage !!!!

I personally believe that ALL mineral rights belong to the American People, NOT souless corporations!!!

I applaud Venezuela for nationalizing the oil assets in their country!!!!

We should be doing the same thing here in the United States !!!!

Ethically Eliminate ALL Political Corruption

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/jamesbdunn?p=57

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Democratic Revolution?

Written by: Sean Stinnett on Aug 12, 2006 11:56 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

[[ Thought I'd share this with you guys, I write it over at my blog, Unite Progressives: progress4all.blogspot.com/... ]]

Matt Bai of the New York Times has written a piece about Lamont supporters within the Democratic Party which I have found over at the Times' website.¹ In it, he compares the current situation within the Democratic Party, the rejection of triangulation and blind bipartisanship, to "Reagan's Revolution" in 1976, when the right-wing of the Republican Party rose up against the same political strategies which now define the DLC-wing of the Democrats, and therefore dominate our parties politics. This passage in particular caught my eye:

=============================================
There are, in fact, some compelling parallels between this moment in Democratic politics and the one that saw the ideological cleansing of the Republican ranks three decades ago. In ''Reagan's Revolution,'' an inside account of Reagan's failed 1976 campaign, Craig Shirley notes that aides to President Gerald Ford warned that they were ''in real danger of being outorganized by a small number of highly motivated right-wing nuts.'' Those so-called nuts, meanwhile, waged war on the then widely held belief that ''if they were to succeed, Republicans had to be 'pragmatic,' they had to 'broaden the base' and they had to 'compromise.' Otherwise, they would always be in the minority.'' The very same things might be written now, substituting the words ''left'' and ''Democratic'' for ''right'' and ''Republican.'' And like those bygone Republican leaders, establishment Democrats exhibit a surprisingly shallow understanding of the uprising that now threatens to engulf them.
=============================================

While Bai makes some interesting points on the comparisons between the two movements, he also upholds the view that the Democrats, and even more so the liberal "revolutionaries" within the party, don't have a governing agenda, that we're not "for" anything. Yes, while many of us believe that it's easier to formulate a governing strategy after you've won the elections, we are still for things, it's just the media doesn't want to look at it that way. They just like attaching a view to us as revolutionaries without values.

Health care: roughly 16% of Americans are uninsured, more are under-insured. The American health care infrastructure has the highest administrative costs in the industrialized world. We wish to make health care available and affordable to all, by reducing the overall administrative costs of health care, streamlining the system, and providing subsidies and incentives to ensure everyone is insured. A publicly-funded healthcare system would be nice too, but let's not push it yet. In fact, Ned Lamont has stated a pretty solid health care proposal in his bid for the Senate.² It's not as much as some would like, but it's a start.

National security: Democrats support increasing security in our nation's ports and vital infrastructure, and have made proposals aimed at furthering those goals which have been rejected by the Republican-controlled Congress because we can't afford them, because of the deficit. Yet we can afford a repeal of the estate tax, which would cost over $250 billion over ten years in tax revenue on the top 1% of the population.³ The Republican Party's heart just really isn't behind real national security, and the Democrats have advocated actual port security, reducing the causes of extremism by reducing poverty and furthering education worldwide. Our party, especially the liberal wing, has also advocated an end to "Cowboy Diplomacy" which makes us hated worldwide.

The economy: we have proposed removing the disastrous tax cuts for the wealthy, rebuilding the public sector, creating jobs through the reconstruction of our public infrastructure in the wake of several national disasters, including the Blackout of 2003 and Hurricane Katrina. We liberals also support keeping American jobs at home, and American-made products in our stores. International trade is nice, great, awesome; but it shouldn't come at the expense of the middle-class.

Those are just three key issues in which we have advocated. Of course the community have its differences, and everyone has their own ideas and own versions of what to do, but we are united in our desire to see this country done right. We tire of "Cowboy Diplomacy", of the mishandled War on Terror, the floundering economy and the destruction of the middle-class. We also tire of the Culture Wars; the portrayal as the Democratic Party as a party without values, who are against family values. Not only do we have values, but we have great ones: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The protection and survival of the citizens of the United States. The education and well-being of our children and families.

So I say to Matt Bai, before you accuse us of not standing for something, why not try asking one of us what we do stand for. You might just find yourself surprised at what you didn't know already existed.

¹ www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/magaz...
² nedlamont.com/issues/28/health-c...
³ www.cbpp.org/7-28-06tax3.htm... and www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar...

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GOP CONGRESSMAN SEES THE LIGHT!!!

Written by: Oleg Kis on Jul 12, 2006 11:59 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

A Republican congressman watches an anti-Bush video and as a result suspects that the Bush administration deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, and that explosives were the main factor in bringing down three of the World Trade Center buildings. Unbelievable? Here's a transcript of a Town Hall Meeting from April 2006 held with Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA):

Dave Slesinger: First, I want to praise you for your Able Danger efforts. Since you are the Congressman most sympathetic to firefighters, have you looked at the quotes from NYC firefighters at the World Trade Center on 9/11 about explosives? If you have, will you accept information on [this] for later comment?

Rep. Weldon: I will absolutely accept information, and I'm very close to the NYC firefighters because one of my best friends was killed there...

I talk to the fire department on a regular basis. When the Republican convention was held in New York in 2004, I went up a day early, I went down to the fire department headquarters. I spent the day with them. And when I finished the briefings, and getting their input, as to what happened on 9/11, which I had ongoing, I went up and spent two hours running with Engine 54 (inaudible) in midtown Manhattan. And I wanted to do that because on 9/11 all 15 firefighters on duty from that station were killed. And I wanted the firefighters to give me their views without going through any chiefs or other officers about what happened.

Now, there's a lot of theories out there about what occurred. And uh, I haven't gone into the structural elements of the building. The fact that there are reports on multiple explosions on other floors... I am open to that information. I'm willing to challenge the system. And uh, and don't automatically discount anything that's told to me because I've seen, I've seen too much. I mean, ya know, I hate to say that sometimes I don't trust my Government, but sometimes, I don't trust the Government. The bureaucracy. Ya know the best evidence of that is we had the, uh, Tillman, the football player. Joined the army, he was killed. We now find out that the army burned his clothing. So the family never got to get the real story about how Pat Tillman died. Now if it was an accident, so be it. You don't hide that information because somebody is going to be embarrassed.

That's the whole story with Tony Shaffer. It's the bureaucrats trying to hide information and facts, so they're not embarrassed. So, do I automatically accept what the Government tells me? No. And that's why I get myself in trouble. I challenge the CIA, I challenge the DIA. I'll challenge our Defense Department. That's why you send me there. If you want somebody to go there, and just go along, you would send a robot. That would vote the way the party wanted, and would go along with the current President. I won't do that. So I'm absolutely open to any information anyone has that challenges anything about the 9/11 Commission or the work there.

Dave Slesinger speaks up: Congressman, that was my question, I, wanna give out, anybody who wants this, this is a speech by a physics professor at BYU, Steven Jones.

Rep. Weldon: Yeah.

Dave Slesinger: It's the hottest thing happening on the 9/11 issue. In his speech, he praises Congressman Weldon, he's a conservative Republican [or was], he praises Reagan, he quotes St. Paul. I think I have [DVD copies] enough for everybody. Just ask me.

Rep. Weldon: It'll open your eyes, because his allegations are pretty strong.

The video that opened Rep. Weldon's eyes can be seen here:
www.911blogger.com/2006/02/dr-st...

For more information about firefighters reporting explosions and the attempt to suppress this information: www.911truth.org/article.php?sto...

Audio recording of the Town Hall Meeting can be gotten from this site: forums.bluelemur.com/viewtopic.p...

Full transcript here: www.911truth.org/article.php?sto...

Additional 9/11 and pro-democracy videos: www.universalseed.org...

Free anti-Bush DVD is available here:
https://secure.reopen911.org/freedvd.php

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Candidate Training Program

Written by: Institute for Public Leadership on Feb 14, 2006 3:59 PM EST

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

The NKU Institute for Public Leadership and Public Affairs has scheduled the Candidate Training Program for March 24-26, 2006.

The campaign training program is open to first time candidates and also campaign managers.

The three-day workshop is designed to prepare emerging leaders for entry into political life. This program is a non-partisan, non-ideological three-day workshop for novice political candidates seeking office at the local level. Training includes the fundamentals of a winning campaign in the framework of campaign ethics and public responsibility. It combines interactive lectures with case studies, small-group discussions, and group and individual exercises. Topics include campaign ethics, preparing and running for office, message development, media--paid and earned, polling, fundraising, and personal skills.

Application is required to attend the program. An all-inclusive fee of $300 covers all training materials, and all meals, snacks, beverages and parking.

CONTACT US: Email: instituteforpublicleadership@nku.edu
Phone: 859.572.7700

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Need new organizer

Written by: Marlene Bundy on Feb 10, 2006 9:19 AM EST

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

I can not continue as organizer. Does anyone want to take over?

Marlene

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NKU Institute for Public Leadership and Public Affairs' Candidate Training Program

Written by: Institute for Public Leadership on Jan 4, 2006 12:37 PM EST

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

The NKU Institute For Public Leadership and Public Affair is offering a Candidate Training Program for first time candidates for public office and we would like to post an announcement.

If anyone knows of someone who may be interested in the program detailed below, please contact the Institute. Thank you.

Northern Kentucky University

Institute for Public Leadership and Public Affairs

Candidate Training Program

February 10-12, 2006

8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday

The Candidate Training Program is a non-partisan, non-ideological

three-day workshop for novice political candidates seeking office at a

local level. Training includes the fundamentals of a winning campaign

in the framework of campaign ethics and public responsibility. The

training will combine interactive lectures with case studies, small

group discussions, and group and individual exercises. Topics will

include: campaign ethics, preparing and running for office, message

development, media - paid and earned, polling, fundraising, and personal

skills.

The Candidate Training Program is open to all residents of Kentucky

and Ohio who are first-time candidates for office.

Please email for Applications: instituteforpublicleadership@nku.edu

Institute for Public Leadership

Northern Kentucky University

Founders Hall 323

Highland Heights, KY 41099

859.572.7700

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The High Cost of Low Prices

Written by: Marlene Bundy on Nov 22, 2005 10:21 AM EST

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

Hello everyone:

This past Saturday, 8 of us met at Charlie's to view the movie THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES, the movie about working at Walmart and the impact Walmart has on communities.

Charlie and his wife Sonya are really great hosts. They stuffed us with shrimp, chicken, vegies and other goodies before we dropped the disc into the player for the very large tv. They are gracious hosts and I thank them for the good hosbitality.

Only 8 people showed up. I certainly don't want to put together a meeting with speakers and have so few folks show up. Please think about your reasons for participating in DFA.

Is there some one out there that would like to host this group? With the 2006 elections coming up I will want to put my time and efforts on campaigns. If there are so few DFA folks willing to get together I can fing other progressive groups to work with.

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Reform Ohio Now needs help

Written by: Susan Davidson on Nov 5, 2005 9:01 PM EST

Linked to groups: Dayton DFA

Folks, I have to say I'm really disappointed. Nobody is turning out to do the work to let voters know about Issues 2,3,4 & 5. The extremists from the right have been busy with their "bogeyman politics". They are outright lying about the issues and their impact.

However, we do not have people volunteering. We have 10,000 pieces of lit to be dropped, and nobody to drop them. Where are you? Can't anyone help?

The first rule of winning is SHOW UP. If any of you can help, even if it's only one street....please email Stephanie Studebaker at
pmvrs@erinet.com

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Democracy for America group blog for Dayton DFA

Happy Thanksgiving from Missaukee County (Michigan) :)

"...let's not forget all the hard-working, progressive Democrats who are running for local offices..." - Democrats.com

Oil Crisis: Oil Industry's method of raising prices and cutting their own taxes

Democratic Revolution?

GOP CONGRESSMAN SEES THE LIGHT!!!

Candidate Training Program

Need new organizer

NKU Institute for Public Leadership and Public Affairs' Candidate Training Program

The High Cost of Low Prices

Reform Ohio Now needs help

Blog for America

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