Where Do We Go From Here?
Apparently, the GOP is not the only party that seeks to rewrite history to suit its own self-interest
Well,
the convention has passed. The steamroller of the insecure DNC/Kerry
Kamp has flattened all memory of other primary candidates – Howard
Dean, in particular - and the powers that be have pronounced that, like
good little soldiers, we have all fallen in line.
The only
problem with that little scenario is that we haven’t fallen in line,
and we’re not too thrilled with the whole situation in general.
Heck, the only reason many of us at Democracy for Iowa stay within the
Democratic Party is that the Independents have no formal, wide-spread
organization to work within.
It’s a
dilemma of extreme proportions. We know that it is imperative
that Bush lose, that Bush not be allowed to steal another
election. And yet, many of us cannot find it in our hearts to go
out and work for a candidate, our party’s nominee, after all the dirty
tricks he played during the caucus season – not to mention a laundry
list of other dissatisfying characteristics.
So, what
do we do? How do we fulfill our duty as progressive activists in
helping to re-defeat Bush and still be able to live with ourselves?
We take
a page from the playbook of Howard Dean, that’s how. One of the
things that Gov. Dean said this week that really struck me was that a
bottom-up structure can be just as effective as the traditional
top-down structure. Rather than the top of the ticket providing
coattails for the rest of the ticket, the bottom and middle of the
ticket can usher in a victory for the top.
That’s the way to play it and still live with yourself.
Choose a
progressive candidate in your area. There are plenty to be found
in the candidates list on Blog for Iowa, and we’re adding more every
day. Work for that candidate. Contribute your hard-earned
dollars to that candidate. Do whatever you can to aid your
candidate, and get out the vote for him or her. And here’s the
key to Dean’s strategy: the votes you get out for your local
candidate will probably go to the top of the ticket, too. That’s
the bottom-up structure Dean was talking about.
So, let
us renew our dedication to electing progressive Democrats to local,
county, state, and federal positions this year. Let us muster
that energy to get out the vote for our progressive candidates, and let
us do it now. There’s no time to delay.
Linda Thieman
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Friday, July 30
Where Do We Go From Here?
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 30 Jul 2004 03:53 PM CDT
Thursday, July 29
Alta Reports in from the QC House Party
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 29 Jul 2004 09:37 AM CDT
Alta Reports in from the QC House Party
 Democracy for the Quad Cities, watching Dean speak © 2004 Democracy for Iowa. All rights reserved. About a dozen DFQCers gathered at my house Tuesday night to watch Howard Dean address the Democratic National Convention. Here are some of our impressions: Howard (Go!) Dean – You deserve the prolonged applause and standing ovation for slapping some sense into the Democratic Party last year. As others have commented, we too think Hillary realizes she will have to get in line behind Dean if she wants to be President. And Terry McAwful (can’t remember how to spell his real name) still doesn’t get it. Barack Obama – A powerful, sincere speech that gave us chills. Our first Black President. No wonder he was one of the first Dean Dozen. Ilana Wexler – A 12-year-old more qualified to be President than the current occupant of the White House. More common sense and probably better educated, too! We agree with you, our Vice President said a very bad word on the floor of the Senate. We’d send him to time out, too. Ron Reagan – Some real zingers in that non-partisan speech! We’re with you, Ron. In November, we’ll join you in voting for Embryonic Stem Cells! Teresa Heinz Kerry – We love her! We loved the line about it’s time for the world to hear the voices of women. Opinionated women rule! (Who was it that said: People call me a feminist whenever I say or do anything that differentiates me from a doormat? Who would have thought that in 2004 a woman would be criticized for having opinions? I guess Laura Bush is a GOP heroine because she doesn’t have any opinions? Unbelievable.) Dick Gephardt – who knows? We watched a tape of Jon Stewart of the Daily Show interviewing Wolf Blitzer. As usual, Jon Stewart is doing a better job than our craven press corps. If you aren’t already watching the Daily Show, start immediately. It’s on Comedy Central. Howard Dean said at Democracy Fest that 50% of our young people get their news from the Daily Show. (I say) it may be the only thing that will save us. The speeches all started to blur together (an effect of the drive for “Democratic unity,” I guess) and we had trouble remembering who said what. We all liked the line that our foreign policy (or was it actions in the world?) should not be “thoughtless and greedy, but rather thoughtful and generous.” But we couldn’t remember whose line it was! Was it Barack Obama? Teresa Heinz Kerry? Ted Kennedy? We agreed it wasn’t Ilana Wexler. If you have the answer, please leave a comment. Alta Price, a refreshingly-opinionated woman, reporting in from Bettendorf, IA Wednesday, July 21
DFIA To Join Progressive Democrats of America
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 21 Jul 2004 05:08 AM CDT
 Democracy for Iowa is pleased to announce
that we are joining a new alliance of progressive grassroots
organizations called Progressive Democrats of America. PDA, a
coalition of Dean, Kucinich, and other progressive groups, has the
distinction of being recognized by the DNC. Both Dean and
Kucinich will be speaking at the launch of PDA next week along with
other well-known progressives.
Check out the PDA list of partners. We, and our logo, are right up there. Washington, DC: A new political organization will be officially launched next week in Boston, at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. The group, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), will reflect a broad desire by many within the Democratic Party to champion progressive issues, along with working to defeat pResident George Bush. PDA has already won the support of well-known activists and political figures such as Tom Hayden, and actors Ed Asner and Mimi Kennedy. “The Democratic Party needs our help to regain its soul,” said Kennedy, who has been a supporter of grassroots efforts. “If this is to be the party of peace, of universal, single payer healthcare, of fair trade, then it needs people to speak out on those issues.” PDA will work to mobilize supporters within the Democratic Party on behalf of progressive office holders, including public servants and Democratic Party officials. “There are many progressives, newly energized by the Dean and Kucinich campaigns, who are also new to the Democratic Party. We’re going to do the hard work of integrating them into the party and shifting the balance of power in the progressive direction,” adds Charles Lenchner, acting director of PDA. Many newly established grassroots organizations who have sprung up in recent months – in the wake of the Howard Dean and Congressman Dennis Kucinich campaigns – are working together to ensure a Republican defeat and to empower grassroots efforts. “Our strategy is to work with the grassroots movement and with other groups established in the wake of the Dean and Kucinich campaigns,” says Kevin Spidel, former field director for the Kucinich for President Campaign. Spidel will serve as the field director for PDA. "Our goal is to win back the presidency from the Republicans," says Spidel, "and also to wrest the Democratic Party from the free trading, Iraq invading, Patriot Act supporting leadership it has now." PDA will campaign to transform the Democratic Party and resurrect the spirits of Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. A number of groups have signed on as endorsers, including: Progressive Vote, Citizens for Legitimate Government, WeCount.org, Grassroots for America, Latinos for America, Rapid Response Network, Oklahoma Grassroots Campaign, DIY Politics, Punks for Democracy, Grassroots for Democracy, Oklahoma Grassroots Campaign, Latinos for America and Educators for Democracy. These groups – and others – will meet on Thursday, July 29, for an event titled: “Building the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party.” It will be held at Roxbury Community College. This ‘progressive convention’ will feature talks and panel discussions with speakers representing the diversity of our movement. This includes individuals such as: Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vermont); Cynthia Peters, Fund the Dream DNC Coalition; Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio); Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan); Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Illinois) (invited); Doris "Granny D" Haddock, Senatorial Candidate (D- New Hampshire); Reverend Jesse Jackson, Executive Director Rainbow/Push Coalition (invited); Dr. James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab American Institute; Marianne Williamson, Global Renaissance (invited); Kevin Spidel, Progressive Vote; Boston Councilman Chuck Turner (District 7). Other names will be announced shortly. PDA supporters and members will also meet with grassroots organizations from around the country in Washington, D.C. on August 14-15th, to draft plans for strengthening Democratic resolve in supporting universal, single-payer health care, fair trade, human rights, and an end to the occupation of Iraq. With Ralph Nader still commanding approximately three to six percent nationwide in most polls, many observers are concerned about a backlash from anti-war voters left out by the Kerry campaign. Lu Bauer, an emerging leader in the Maine Democratic Party summed up some issues PDA will work towards. “While there are some efforts to win those voters back, they have not emerged from within the anti-war, progressive camp. This time around, it will take former Nader voters to win over real progressives and help defeat Bush. Kerry can’t do it, because his position on the war remains out of sync with most progressive voters, let alone with early and strong opponents of the invasion of Iraq.” Tuesday, July 13
Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 13 Jul 2004 04:00 PM CDT
Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban
Behind The Scenes at Democracy for Iowa Last week when news of the Fridley ban of “Fahrenheit 9/11” came out, Trish Nelson, Co-coordinator of Rapid Response – Iowa, and I took up a little project. Trish researched the 31 towns with Fridley theaters in Iowa and located a local newspaper for almost every town. She set up a system to fairly quickly email or fax these newspapers. For my part, I wrote up a press release from DFIA objecting to the Fridley ban, and sent it over to Trish, who then sent it out to the local newspapers. We do not know how far our protest will reach, but we received confirmation from the Manchester Press that they will be running a story on the Fridley ban today and they will be quoting me (no Internet access to the story, I’m afraid). I found from personal experience during the Dean campaign that Iowa’s local papers frequently provide excellent coverage of issues that are overlooked by the big, corporate-owned media, and that many a reporter welcomes a fresh source for lively quotes. Towards the end of last week, R.L. Fridley, owner of the Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres, issued a press release because, it seems, he was being bombarded by emails, faxes and phone calls regarding his decision to prevent rural Iowa from viewing the documentary. He requested that this be the end of the matter. Trish and I, however, could not let it drop. Trish did some more research and added to her list of local newspapers to include not only the Fridley towns but also towns with newspapers in the surrounding areas. I, in the meantime, set about writing another press release from DFIA. This press release is a little different and probably a bit too long, but hopefully, it will attract some attention and perhaps get a few folks to work on their “critical thinking” skills. I’m including the full text of the press release below, with sources. I know it sounds a little strange to be quoting myself since I’m the one who wrote it, but in any BIG operation, I would not be the one writing the press release. And besides, I always make myself very available to me for comment! Here, in its entirety, is the most recent DFIA press release that went out yesterday. Linda Thieman Fridley Uses Propaganda Techniques to Publicly Justify His F 9/11 Ban Storm Lake, Iowa (July 12) - When R.L. Fridley, owner of the Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres, banned the showing of Michael Moore’s documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” from 31 small-town Iowa theaters, Fridley opened a Pandora’s Box of dissent. One point in the flurry of controversy that seems to have been overlooked was the blatant propaganda techniques that Fridley himself used in issuing his statements to his company managers and to the press – a huge irony since Fridley claimed that he would not show the film because it was “political propaganda.” Here is an inside look. Claim: Fridley Theatres do not "play political propaganda films from either the right or the left." According to propagandacritic.com, “the name-calling technique links a person, or idea, to a negative symbol. The propagandist who uses this technique hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.” In Mr. Fridley’s case, the term “political propaganda” is the negative symbol that he chooses to link to Moore’s film. “This particular claim of Mr. Fridley’s is also highly debatable,” says Linda Thieman of Storm Lake, co-founder of Democracy for Iowa, a grassroots organization formed as an off-shoot of the Howard Dean presidential campaign, “since, if a ‘political propaganda film’ from the right were to come out, Fridley would no doubt not define it as propaganda.” This “either from the right or the left” claim is a propaganda technique called a “Glittering Generality.” According to the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA), “the Glittering Generality is, in short, Name Calling in reverse. While Name Calling seeks to make us form a judgment to reject and condemn without examining the evidence, the Glittering Generality device seeks to make us approve and accept without examining the evidence.” Thieman explains. “The unsuspecting victim of Fridley’s propaganda technique says to him or herself, ‘Yes! In all fairness, he wouldn’t show propaganda from the RIGHT or the LEFT,’ making Fridley’s decision seem reasonable. It then appears as an acceptable excuse to Fridley’s larger audience while at the same time obscuring the real issue – that Fridley refuses to let his would-be audiences in small-town Iowa make up their own minds.” Claim: “The film incites terrorism” Claim: "Our country is in a war against an enemy who would destroy our way of life, our culture and kill our people," Fridley wrote. "These barbarians have shown through [the September 11 attacks] and the recent beheadings that they will stop at nothing. I believe this film emboldens them and divides our country even more." more » Saturday, July 3
Spotlight on Deaniac Bev Clark
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 03 Jul 2004 05:55 AM CDT
Spotlight on Deaniac Bev Clark
According to this Iowa activist, isolation is no excuse!  Bev Clark with AMP sign at NYC March Against The War
Bev Clark is the picture of determination. Living on a farm near Baxter in Jasper County keeps her isolated from the larger Iowa Dean community, but that hasn’t stopped her for a second. Blog for Iowa, she says, “IS my Dean community in Iowa. Way beyond helpful or useful. I am telling you, I love the blog. I check it out several times a day. I can't think of anything else that is devoted to Iowa like this blog is.” A former practicing attorney and an MSW by training with a specialty in community organizing, Bev is now active in Another Mother for Peace, an organization of moms who believe that it is their patriotic duty to speak out against war. According to the Another Mother website, "our precious democracy allows us as citizens to voice our opinions and to influence the debate in Washington." Peace Homework is how they make their voices heard. The current assignment is to get peace on the platform. Bev is also active with MMOB (Mainstream Moms Oppose Bush). Once active in the Seniors for Dean letter-writing campaign to Iowa, Bev now writes letters to Missouri, a swing state, through an MMOB project. But, she warns, sometimes the “rules” can be a little bit tricky. “The [MMOB] website has the voter registration information and forms with federal information and Missouri information. . . . But, Missouri has some special ‘weight of paper’ requirement . . . for a voter registration form. So, now I am thinking I will print off the 'application form for a voter registration form' and send that with an envelope addressed to the Secretary of State, Missouri, and see if that will get the person a voter registration application. All in all, some stupid requirement about special weight of paper (which makes computer-printed forms NOT allowed) sounds like another way to disenfranchise voters.” It’s funny how we’ve all awakened to that sort of thing. Bev was active, too, during the June 19th health care events across the country. “I went to Uncle Nancy's coffee house in Newton for about 3 hours and gave everyone who came in a little flyer about health care statistics that I got off Blog for America. I overheard an interesting discussion between two women about being at the doctor recently for an illness and the doctor gave her a prescription that was expensive. So, the person said, ‘I don't have any health insurance.’ The doctor then tore up the prescription and wrote another one that was for a generic and much less expensive. What do you make of that? Something perhaps about the medical establishment-pharmaceuticals being in bed together? Everyone willingly took my flyer; only one person was somewhat negative - he is a self-employed person with a large deductible on his insurance and he resents paying full price when people without money get 'a full ride,' according to him.” Or, more likely, no ride at all.  Bev’s daughter, Amy, (left) graduating in NYC
with Sienna Shundl of Democracy for NYC, another big Deaniac Bev, not unlike many an Iowa Dean supporter, cannot bring herself to get fully behind the Kerry Kamp. A recent fund-raising email from Kerry, exhorting us all to “celebrate,” elicited this feisty response from Bev Clark: “I am a DEAN person. Remember Dean? The person who gave us the courage to say "No" to Bush? I give money to progressive candidates. I am writing letters for Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush. I will write some senior letters. I'll probably call people. However, I will not send money to Kerry directly until I see proof that proper respect is being paid to the Dean people and to DEAN himself. So far, I don't see the proof I am awaiting to see. Your campaign asked for input...this is mine. I read Blog for America regularly and I think it is a fair appraisal of how the Kerry people treat the Dean people. There's a long road to travel to bring unification even on the progressive side. When will the Kerry campaign pay the proper tribute to the contribution of Howard Dean? Oh yes, I'm female, white, over 55, a retired lawyer with kids who do not have medical care, and I am a staunch supporter of Another Mother for Peace from the Vietnam war days. In closing, Dean gave us all the gift ...’it's about us.’ I try to honor this, and I wish you would do the same to Dean.” This, then, is the face of the Iowa Dean supporter. We will do what we can, but we will not fall in line. Watch out, World – here we come. Linda Thieman Thursday, July 1
News & Notes from DFIA & Deanland
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 01 Jul 2004 10:38 AM CDT
News & Notes from DFIA & Deanland
Dean to debate Nader LATimes.com WASHINGTON — [Howard] Dean and [Ralph] Nader are scheduled to conduct a 90-minute debate July 9 at the National Press Club in Washington, a forum in which a major question no doubt will be what Nader is trying to accomplish with his independent presidential run. (more) [free registration required] DFIA Founding Member Darrell Lewis Takes Over Drury Senate Campaign DFIA Founding Member Darrell Lewis announced yesterday that he is taking on the role of campaign manager for John Drury of North Iowa, who is running for the Iowa Senate in District 6. Lewis has been, to this point, the Drury campaign’s treasurer, blogmaster, and co-chair. DFIA would like to congratulate both Lewis and Drury. We believe this is an excellent move on the part of the Drury campaign and we wish both John and Darrell much luck. DFIA To Host Bloggers’ Breakfast at Deanfest Bloggers’ Breakfast 2.0 will be held Sunday morning, July 25, 2004, at DeanFest at Butternut Ski Resort in Great Barrington, MA. The first Bloggers’ Breakfast was held Jan. 17, 2004, at the Des Moines, Iowa, Botanical Center. That event was attended by over 150 people heralding from 22 states. Bloggers’ Breakfast 2.0 will be hosted by Democracy for Iowa with Darrell Lewis taking the lead as he did at the January event. It’s our way to say thanks to everyone for what they did to help us out in Iowa. The 2.0 version of this event will be similar to the first, although we expect two to three times the number of attendees. Because of that, we need to ask for you to make reservations and pay in advance. We need to have a count for the amount of food to be prepared. To make your reservations for the Bloggers’ Breakfast, go here. Progressives Converge in Boston If you’re going to be out east for the national convention or for Deanfest, you might consider hitting this series of events. Progressive Vote has united with other progressive affinity groups from across the country to rally at the Boston Democratic National Convention under the banner United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Thousands of progressives from various groups, campaigns, and communities from across the country have come together to plan dozens of powerful events with nationally-known progressives. They are putting out a call to the progressive base and caucuses to join them in Boston. The progressive community must show the country and the media that we stand united. For complete information, go here.
Blog for Iowa’s Traffic Explodes in Month of June
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 01 Jul 2004 05:22 AM CDT
Blog for Iowa’s Traffic Explodes in Month of June
Welcome New Bloggers! Democracy for Iowa would like to welcome all our new bloggers to Blog for Iowa. Today is actually the three-month anniversary of Blog for Iowa, as we put up the first post on April 1 and have been going strong every since. With an average of three posts per day, we have published nearly 300 articles in the last three months. There is a great search feature on the left sidebar of Blog for Iowa that you can use to search for any subject or person ever mentioned on Blog for Iowa. The traffic on Blog for Iowa has just exploded in the last month. This, I believe, is due to always keeping something fresh at the top for people to read. As DFIA Environmentalist Molly Regan said, “Blog for Iowa is our own personal newspaper.” Our traffic is measured not by hits, but by “distinct hosts served,” which means the number of individual computers that hit our site per day. In April, our first month, we averaged 94 per day; in May, we averaged 139 per day. But in the last week in June, we averaged 481 per day. Our highest day ever served 795 distinct hosts on June 29, with a whopping 1,783 page views in that one day. One thing I’ve learned in the last three months is that fresh materials keep people coming back, and lack of fresh materials quickly kill a website. Take the IDP website, for example. They finally posted some fresh material on their blog a couple of days ago, but before that, they hadn’t posted since May 17th! Shocking, especially in a year when we are trying to create a vibrant, active Democratic party! The other big reason why Blog for Iowa has taken off so quickly is because we have a devoted group of dedicated Iowa Dean supporters who take every opportunity to pass out Blog for Iowa buttons and stickers (which you can order and/or download on the right sidebar of Blog for Iowa). They’ve buttoned and stickered folks at the district and state conventions, at Gay Pride events around Iowa, at Meet Ups, and just about anywhere else they can think of. You may not realize this, but when the Dean campaign left Iowa – rather abruptly, as you know – they took their lists, email and otherwise, with them. The Iowa Dean supporters were then expected to rally around Gov. Dean’s new organization, Democracy for America, and provide on-the-ground support for the goals of the new DFA. So, Dr. Alta Price, MD, of Bettendorf, and I decided to set up Blog for Iowa so that our people would be able to find each other. You know what they say about Iowa: If you build it, they will come. And it has been working pretty well, I’d say. In the last three months of running Blog for Iowa, I’ve only made a fool of myself publicly five or six times. But I always leave it up on the site for people to see – a victory of idiocy over ego, I suppose, or maybe it’s just good for a laugh. One thing I regret is that after the district conventions, we glossed over what had really happened in an attempt to “be polite and get along.” I think that hurt us in some ways because our people needed a place to come where they could vent and hear what others had experienced. I didn’t make that same mistake this time with the state convention, and I think I was proven right as our webstats indicate that our state convention reports, Screw Thy Neighbor in the Name of Party Unity, and Citizen Whip-founder Dave Inbody’s Our State Convention, were two of the most-read articles to date. If you haven’t yet, please register to receive our emails by joining Democracy for Iowa today. I promise we won’t bombard you with updates. That is what we use Blog for Iowa for. And if you have any questions or want to locate someone in your area, please write me at blog@democracyforiowa.com. And don’t miss our great slate of progressive Iowa candidates listed on the right sidebar of Blog for Iowa. We’ll be adding several more names in a day or two. They need your help! Thank you. Linda Thieman, Storm Lake |
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