041122 Posting

I’ll begin with a John Kerry update and end with a Progressives update.

Recount status—I use two sites to obtain the latest on this saga--http://www.verifiedvoting.org is a non-partisan non-profit (consider donating) site that is dedicated to having the US really be an example to the world with dependable election results. As such, they are monitoring the status of the verification process and the academic studies of the 2004 election. There are recounts requested by 2004 presidential candidates in New Hampshire and in Ohio, and studies that examine Florida along with other states. This is a very good site for ‘what’s up’.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/ is the site of CNBC reporter Keith Oibermann, who is the first national media reporter to cover this issue. He generally provides a daily update of very readable and comprehensive material. Yesterday’s posting points out that the real deadline for electoral votes is in January, not December—go to the site to find out why/how.

I retain my view that overturning the Bush victory is a pretty low-odds proposition. Someone pointed out to me, however, that even should Bush be inaugurated in January, if the recounts indicate that again Bush took the White House solely due to legal technicalities/deadlines, he will have a weaker ‘mandate’ with which to push his agenda.

Progressives Update—There are three local organizations designed to further the progressive agenda in the Delaware region. Two of them use Yahoo Groups, which are an alternative to email lists, and are far easier to administer. You can go to http://groups.yahoo.com to find out more. You will need to have (or obtain a free) Yahoo signon to access these groups. I choose the Daily Digest form of getting updates, to limit the number of emails I receive. Yahoo Groups offer very useful functions such as uploaded files, and calendars.

Progressive Democrats for Delaware, at http://www.progressivedemsdel.com is a well organized group with a very clear charter. Check out their list of What Do We Believe? at http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/believe/ . I think that you will find kindred spirits there. If possible, join their Yahoo Group ‘ProgressiveDemsDel’. They do not appear at this time to be updating their Yahoo Group. Their next meeting is Wednesday December 1^st at 7pm at the HQ of the Delaware Democratic Party, behind the News Journal building off Basin Road. For more information, contact Rebecca Young at createrhy@aol.com .

A consortium of groups, including the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Democracy for America, Grassroots for America, an interfaith organization, and another group representing a variety of progressive organizations have formed a nationwide alliance calling for UNITY; I have also heard this group called Moving Forward. Their next meeting will be on December 11^th at 11am at 234 Cheltenham Road, Newark, Delaware. If you plan to attend, please email Phil Pollner at leadcoal@aol.com . This group has a more national, less local charter.

The 48% Club is looking for a permanent name, and for kindred spirits. They are a group of folks who “did NOT give a ‘mandate’ to Bush in 2004”. For a few months they had been meeting regularly at First Unitarian on Concord Pike. They, too, have a Yahoo Group at 48_Percent_Club. You can also contact Mickey Kelley for more information at mkelley@versalign.com . Minutes from last Thursday’s meeting (attended by Delaware Treasurer Jack Markell and over forty other folks) are on the Yahoo Group, under Files, and also are attached as a PDF file to this email. Their next meeting is Thursday 12/16/04 at First Unitarian at 7pm (go to http://www.firstu.org/ for directions).

As pointed out on the X-Files --- YOU ARE NOT ALONE!