EastBayDFA August Update

Written by: stephen venuti on Aug 27, 2006 7:48 PM EDT

We are pleased that so many of you have expressed an interest in staying connected and staying informed. So for those of you who missed the last meeting - here is a summary of the August agenda, action items and some key links. We are going away for the next couple weeks. But we hope to schedule another meeting sometime in mid-to-late September. Stay tuned for detailed.


* Timing - According to NBC news the US and Britain had significant disagreement over the timing of the arrests of the suspects. The British had had the suspects under surveillance for months and believed that continued surveillance was critical to obtaining necessary evidence. (Why don't we hear more about this?) www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14320452/...

ü Action Item: Keep vigilant about how and when news articles are published. Contact the source with feedback whenever possible (TV news, radio, news outlets, letters to the editor).

* Casino Gambling - According to the ProJo if the Casino deal is approved Harrah's will get 95% of the "after tax" profit and the Narragansetts will get 5%. The deal will also allow Harrah's to negotiate with the RI legislature to set the actual tax rate they would pay - after the deal is approved by the voters! www.projo.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_pr...

ü Action Item: Try to make our neighbors and friends here in the Ocean State aware of the power/money tidal wave that is about to hit us.

* Local Control of Cable Access is Under Threat - Verizon is currently pressuring Congress to enact legislation that would give them a nationwide deal to provide HDTV - superseding the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that required cable companies to negotiate directly with local communities regarding local programming and access. www.npr.org/templates/story/stor...

ü Action Item: Power lies in the media. Keep informed, and challenge power grabs and further consolidation.

Other Business or Issues

* PNAC & the Bush Administration - see who's who: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_fo...

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Location: Barrington and surrounding East , RI 02806