DAJ Monthly WebNews

Back on Track!!!

2009-02-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

After a hugely busy election season-- DAJ is working on plans now to get back on track with our online webnews. Sorry for the silence-- much face to face meeting, planning, and working our butts off replaced the cyberspace writing for a while. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, Check out our newest podcast here!

DAJ Webnews September-October 2008

2008-09-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, mea culpa... Intentions aside the summer, the conventions, the GOTV (get out the vote) events, and a million other things stood between us and getting this newsletter up each and every month. So here we are 20+ days left in this general election and we are getting a newsletter up here as best we can. Thanks for your understanding.

It has been a great year in Dems Japan. We are 6th in the whole world for voter assistance via VotefromAbroad.org

We have a new and vibrant Young Dems group on the ground and they have made a huge difference in voter events this year.

And we have had a great run of events, voter tables, and our big concert event Barack the Vote.

We have a new pair of fellows getting things started in Okinawa, New volunteers in Yokohama and a solid group of democrats getting out the vote in Kansai (Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto.)

Just over 40 days left! If you haven't done it yet, today, right now go to VFA and get your ballot request filled out, printed out and mailed in! Today!

The rest of this week, reach out one more time and tell all your friends to get the word out. Try to get every American you know to go to VFA and request their ballots.

We have run great ads, and done a lot of voter outreach, we need donations to cover all of the costs of this membership and voter assistance program so please consider making a donation today.

And finally in the coming weeks we will be asking for folks to help with outreach, phone banking, letters to the editor and voter assistance for our American friends and families back home.

DAJ More from the Reading Room

2008-09-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

For Your To-Be-Read pile;

Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Completely Updated and Revised. Three Rivers Press; Rev Upd edition (April 24, 2007).

The Elements of Journalism delineates the core principles shared by journalists across media, even across cultures. These principles flow from the essential function news plays in people's lives. This new edition, published April 2007, is completely updated and revised and includes a new 10th principle--the rights and responsibilities of citizens--flowing from new power conveyed by technology to the citizen as a consumer and editor of their own news and information.

Project for Excellence in Journalism.
http://journalism.org/

What’s there to be bitter about?

2008-09-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

- Sean Toczko

One thing that defines America and Americans is the love affair with the automobile. This was most effectively mocked by Steve Martin in the movie “LA Story” where he famously gets his things together, steps out to his car, pulls out of his driveway – and then pulls into the driveway next door. There was even a song about how “Nobody walks in LA.” In America, we are defined by the kind of car we drive, as if it is a reflection of ourselves. Cars are freedom, liberty, empowerment. High school popularity can be measured by your car, and allows you the freedom to take dates out for… long drives. They give people the ability to work, to go on vacation, shopping, and see friends. Car commercials on TV fall into two categories: the elegance and sophisticated (expensive) cars, and the rugged, outdoors, running through storms hauling tons of stuff, saving lives, trucks. These have one thing in common – they suck gas, and are huge. To take a car away from an American is to remove them from society. Unless you live in a big city, with some kind of subway or bus system, you are cut off. We even see the truth of this in DUI convictions. If the offense wasn’t bad enough, the judge will allow you the limited use of your car to go and return from work – even with a suspended license.

But now with gas prices rising, rising, and rising more, we are beginning to see some cracks in the façade that has been the American middle-class. After almost 8 years of a pro-business, pro-“free-market” government, we have finally been confronted with the truth – the American dream of going to college, getting a good job, starting a family, and owning your own house – is becoming a nightmare. College tuitions are rising, good jobs are disappearing, and as for owning your own house, foreclosures are up to historical highs, with no abatement in sight.

We saw this coming – in fact, we were told that it was coming, but president bush himself. His words of encouragement, to the nation after the shock of 9-11 was… no, not “come together in sacrifice,” not “put our shoulder to the wheel,” not even “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.” No, his message was: “Go shopping.”

And we did. Everybody did, and we created one of the biggest pyramid economies seen since the collapse of Albania (At least the Albanians knew they had pyramid schemes, they just thought that they were ripping off other people). So we are in the middle of a perfect storm of economic mismanagement and fraud. Oil price increases excepted, the mortgage swindles, the credit card debt death spiral, and the stagnation of wages during increasing unemployment, are all coming down on the middle and lower class like a big sledgehammer. The cure? Well, according to the White House, we need to give more money to the Wall Street investors who created the mortgage bubble, the oil companies who need more historic profit margins, and the credit card companies. Everyone else, especially those finding themselves under the heels of the banks and oil companies, can celebrate being “Uniquely American” by holding down three jobs. Or, in the words of the great, but dead, George Carlin: “Go fuck yourself.”

I think we can all agree that the president and the republican party are joint winners of the “Marie Antoinette Let Them Eat Cake Award” for the years 2000 – 2008. It seems to be the only thing they can pat their back on. It’s time to finish the job of driving the republican party into the ground, along with those so-called democrats who love them so much. And pass their message back to them: “Go fuck yourselves.”

Update from a Dem Abroad Back in the USA

2008-09-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

--Geoff Williams (from France)

Greetings to all the Obama supporters in around the world!! I have been out canvassing the last 2 weekends in Raleigh NC. We are focussing on the Undecided and Need to be Persuaded Dems and Independents.

Remember, many Dems in North Carolina are more conservative. Last week in the Northern suburbs, farily conservative area last week, McCain probably had a slight edge in sentiment. This week in Raleigh, in the city, I had 34 YES WE CAN Votes for Obama and 8 WHAT ARE WE THINKING VOTES for McCain. This was in Raleigh near Meredith College. Other canvassers in our shift had 35 to 2, looks pretty good!!

This was the day after the Debate, which I attended at a Theater with 250 people. We had a great time!

Most of the people I spoke to today while canvassing thought Obama won the debate easily. Beleive it or not, some Independents still think Obama is a Muslim. I had a long conversation with a Baptist lady who said she liked Obama, but would not vote for a Muslim and heard Obama was Muslim. I told he wasn't, she still seemed concerned, told her the Muslim fanatics were a tiny fraction, she still didn't seem convinced. Finally, I said, "Did you know Tim McVeigh considered himself a strong Christian? Did we condemn all Christians because of Tim McVeigh?" She said "I never thought of that before! Good point, I will strongly consider Obama, and will likely vote for him." This is an example, but mostly things are going pretty well, we have lots of people working and Obama is getting closer and closer to a win in NC!!

DAJ Book Review; “Crashing the Gate:Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics”

2008-09-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

The 2006 publication of “Crashing the Gate” was a revelation of sorts. Authors Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas had, by that point, established themselves as the preeminent names in the progressive blogosphere thanks to their work at MyDD and DailyKos, respectively. In addition, the work they provided for the 2004 Democratic Presidential primary campaign of Howard Dean launched a new focus on the capacity of the internet to organize, solidify, and grow a grassroots, progressive political movement that had previously been fragmented and incoherent. The gold starburst at the top right corner of my paperback edition of this book reads, “How the Democrats Can Win!” It’s apt that this piece of analysis is reaching its maturation in the 2008 electoral cycle.

For those of you that haven’t read “Crashing the Gate”, you’ve missed out on a classic of progressive literature that will likely be reviewed in history courses in the years to come. It isn’t the prosaic quality of the book that makes it special. It’s not the scholarly attention to detail that makes it relevant. In fact, there is very little about the book that makes it noteworthy other than the fact that it captures the sense of the moment in America in a series of anecdotes and opinions that mirrors the way we communicate our politics in the early 21st century. In the introduction, the authors point out that they were approached to write a book about blogging, when in fact they set out to do a book about politics. In a sense they accomplished both, although it may not have been apparent at the time.

The book itself deals with the politics of progressivism and the lack of coordination or pragmatism in the tradition liberal coalition. It demonstrates how subtle shifts in the attitudes and organization of progressive minded people can affect real, broad change. For this reason, the book is valuable in promoting an agenda effectively and practically. The style of the book, however, is equally instructive, if examined from a meta perspective. Stepping back to look and this book about politics, written by bloggers, we find that the very nature of the content is dictated by the blogging organization that is the hallmark of the medium itself. Each story is truncated to the finest points, spiced with important wit and wisdom. The opinions of the authors are hardly disguised, and are in fact celebrated, as a part of the collection of stories. Inadvertently, perhaps, “Crashing the Gates” exhibits the finest of the blogging medium in a portable paperback form. It appeals to the sensibilities of the blog generation and helps to put a new face on a political identity desperately in need of structure.

This is an easy read, as a result of the style, but it is hardly an easy topic to tackle. Speaking truth to the generations of committed liberal activists out there, fighting tooth and nail for their beliefs, is one of the major tasks of the work and it does so in no uncertain terms. The single-issue advocacy that was a defining characteristic of the liberal Diaspora is routinely panned by the authors. The contrasting poltical styles of the conservative and neocon right and the liberal left are spelled out in painful detail, as the machine-like quality of the Republican governing juggernaut is thrown in the face of the wispy, scattered Democratic coalition. In fact the word “coalition” is a stretch according to the Armstrong and Moulitsas, who offer their take on the important steps the left must take to reach parity and beyond with the unified right-wing front.

The nomination of Barack Obama seems to have supported the notions of this book and its authors. Even further back, the Democratic turn around of the 2006 election can be attributed in some part to the new organizational methods and pragmatic attitudes described in the “Crashing the Gate.” It would be too much to credit this book with laying the foundation for this success, and it would even be overstating the case that the book explains the foundation for success in enough detail to merit “classic” status, but it does do one thing successfully. It states the case plainly, in the terms of the time, and thereby gives us the pulse of the American electorate from a progressive point of view. That’s something few have ever been able to handle with any real vision or clarity. Before election day in November, read this important work and marvel at how well it describes the times we’re living in today.

Mike Plugh
Co-Chair, DAJ Communications Committee

Update; Markos has a new book out this year as well,

Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era

Foodies 4 Obama

2008-09-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

A few months back I was having an interesting conversation with the dynamic Jane of FDL fame and she was making the point that we all needed to be thinking about bringing in other communities and interest groups that might not think of themselves as political. (expanding our base) At the time she mentioned pet owners and dog rescue groups-- since things like green space, and community laws effect them.

This got me to thinking about my interest groups. The biggest ones, of course are those related to foodies, locavores, restaurant people and food bloggers. F&B related issues are my long standing passion. So here is the outcome of that thinking.

And my first outreach effort from that idea is this video;

If you do any blogging, food writing, and food-blog reading, hope you will consider spreading the word about my little video. Working on ideas for #2.

Anyway, feedback and pr help greatly appreciated. And there will be more action going on at the site foodies4obama.blogspot.com

And a big thanks already to Orangeclouds for promoting it on her terrific food site.

DAJ Webnews May 2008

2008-05-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Another month, and lots of political news has passed as water under the bridge. We are closing in on the end of the primary, and hopefully will soon have a nominee. The McCain camp has been battling their own issues with right wing pastors, lobbyist troubles, and smart powerful questions from Robert Greenwald and the progressive left.

How are you feeling this election season? Have you registered for your absentee ballot yet? No?--- Better get to it asap! Do you have some time to volunteer for our voter registration efforts or to help out at our upcoming summer picnic? Send us an email.

Sincere thanks to all our webnews authors this month! If you would like to write for the webnews, write us. Guidelines are basic, any political topic of your choice, 500-700 words, due on the 15th of June. We are also building steam on our Healthcare Project, but still looking for volunteers to share their healthcare stories. Email us if you can help.

Hope you enjoy this month's offerings, we welcome your comments.

Message from the Chair, May '08

2008-05-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

As we head into summer I am both enthusiastic and a bit tired of what has been a very rollercoaster ride primary season. High points at the Global Primary, and the International Meeting in Vancouver have been inspiration , but lows in all the divisive scanadal politics so rampant in the corporate media have left many activists, volunteers, and party leaders tired. It is the outpouring of new voters, new hope, and new focus that keeps us going and for that I thank all of the members of DAJ who have reached out and pitched in over the last 5 months. You have helped keep me optimistic. Read more about the challenges ahead of us, below.

Special thanks got to Martha M. for working with National Azabu to set up a new weekly voter registration table, and to Mike for his work on GOTV. Thanks go to Mike P. Terri, Mike S. Chris, Miki and many others for their work on our podcast site. Thanks to Ray in Osaka for his great work getting out the word on Kansai events, To Ron, Jenise and others who help with Movie nights.

And thanks to the officers of DAJ for getting so much work done over such a short time.

We need your help this summer. Can you help with voter reg? Can you help organize events? Can you help with database clean-up, administration work, media outreach, ad work, design work, web work? We need it all. Let us know what you can do to help take back our country.

Most of all, don't delay, register to receive you Absentee Ballot asap to make sure you get it in time and that all our votes get counted.

Also, be sure to head over to the new DA website and participate in the many groups, discussions and information sharing happening there!

DAJ Notes from New York

2008-05-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

-Sarajean Rossitto

Arriving in the US the first thing I noticed was Obama on all the mag covers. As I spoke to friends and family members, what I had presumed was all too clear – people were over this race for the democratic nominee.

I must admit my sample is biased – most of the people I spoke with work in the nonprofit or arts worlds. And my immediate family is made up of people who would vote for any unknown Dem over a Republican contender.

I asked everyone met in my 3 days in NY about the Dem primary. I wanted to know what they were thinking – how did the race look up close. I expected to find some new perspectives but I really did not.

Perhaps the only issue I had not expected to hear about so much was the feeling that the “racist vote” - the Dems who would not vote for a black man – was exaggerated. This was over inflated by the corporate media, obsessed with the race issue over any social, economic or global concern.

The thing that struck me as soon as I arrived was the visual presence of Obama everywhere. Sure he was on the cover of so many mags but all over NYC you could find Obama T-shirts, posters, bumper stickers.

Reading the paper – it seemed apparent that New Yorkers will not give up on Hillary, but out on the street – from the Grey’s Papaya (2 hot dogs and a papaya drink for only $3.95!) (see photo) to the Times Square t-shirts with MLK-Obama Dream for Change T-shirts – Obama was the clear choice. And Obama represented not only change but hope.

I only spoke with one person who still felt it was not over until all the primaries were over that it was actually good to get people out to vote – in states we here they never felt their primary vote meant anything. Getting everyone to vote was in and of itself a positive thing. Otherwise everyone seemed tired of the race and turned off by the negativity.

Looking the local news the main concern was rising prices – the cost of gas, food, rent, were all going up. The possible increase in city water and sanitation fees seemed to put many people over the edge. How could anyone keep up? Manhattan is becoming a place only the rich could live but even that aside the daily cost of living was going up way faster than anyone’s wages. The two Americas is clear to anyone able to read ads for newly gentrified luxury apartments in the South Bronx and Williamsburg.

The issue I found that riled people up more than any was health care – it is related to everything else – the cost, having to get a job with coverage, having to travel across the city to find a doctor one was “allowed” to visit, working in industries where companies actively discriminate in coverage etc. Rage was directed at the fact that the US does not have a health care system based on the welfare of its citizens but a health care industry that based on companies securing the highest profits possible – even if people lost their lives. The idea that universal coverage would be something a kin to socialism was humourous to anyone I spoke with in my journey.

As I think on my trip I am struck by a guy I overheard talking on his cell phone walking down Broadway. What caught my initial attention was one loud outburst “That’s why we need universal healthcare!” He was clearly having a very tough time but knew – like everyone else I spoke with – we need someone with a plan for making concrete structural changes.

No had big expectations but small hope that a Democrat would invest in the future. Whether it be medication costs or the war in Iraq everyone was ready for Bush to just leave office and give a person with a new agenda the chance to make things even slightly better.

DAJ Joins TELL Event to Promote Voter Registration

2008-05-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

(Story: DAJ/TELL Walk for Charity, May 3, 2008)

Ten members from DAJ Tokyo showed up bright and early despite the rain on May 3 to participate in Tokyo English Life Line’s Charity Walk & Runathon to raise funds for TELL and promote voter registration. The event drew 1,000+ runners and walkers to the 5-km tree-lined path surrounding the imperial palace; many runners doubled the route to do a 10-km course. As evidenced by the umbrellas, the rain was of the kind to soak anyone who ventured outdoors, but that didn’t stop DAJ members from crossing the finish line. The group included: Althea, Miki, Ken, Hiroko, Terri, Mike, Lauren, Chris, Mina and Jeffrey. Photos and text by Helene.

Why the 18-35s don’t vote (except that we do)

2008-05-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

By Miki S. Noguchi

It is a truth universally acknowledged that young voters (or non-voters, as the case may be) are a pain in the ass. We are notoriously hard to get involved in “the Process” and even more difficult to get to actually show up at the polls. We’re young, we’ve got more fun things to do and to distract us than some boring old thing like exercising our right and duty as citizens. These things are 100% true. They also provoke the following response in me: Yeah? And? So what? We are what we are, when you were 20-something, you were probably the same way. The cool thing about us young and impressionable minds is that we’re young and impressionable: show us—literally—exactly how to register to vote and how to get to the polls, and get us there once successfully and you can be pretty sure you’ve hooked a voter for life. When you want to teach a baby to talk, you talk with it. When you want to teach a baby to walk, you walk with it. We 18-35s are the babies of the voting age crowd, so go through the tedium of holding our hands and showing us the way and one day we’ll be doing the whole responsible voter thing all on our own.

That’s basically my point: more experienced voters need to step up to the plate… and pull/drag a young voter up with them. While this is important always, in a living abroad situation, it’s especially incumbent upon those in the know (read: the ones who have been out there a while and know how voting from abroad works) to reach out to young voters who may not be aware that they have the right to vote from abroad, are probably surrounded mainly by other youngsters who are equally in the dark or who are not American, and probably only in the country for a year or two. But the fact remains that if they are living abroad even for just six months around election time, they have the right to vote from abroad.

As a 20-something who is somewhat more politically aware than the average young voter abroad, I am a perfect example of one of those “kids” you’ve got to take hold of and show the way. I come from a fairly Democratic family background and have always voted in Presidential elections. But, living abroad, I haven’t always made the effort to vote in primaries or to take the initiative to get involved in “the Process.” However, I was lucky enough to have met Lauren Shannon, DAJ’s Chair, who made a concerted effort to get me, as a young person, involved in DAJ activities—many of you might recognize me as the Official Doorperson for nearly all the big DAJ events. Even though I was involved in the Howard Dean event and other activities in January of this year, I hadn’t registered to vote for my absentee ballot in time and so likely would not have voted in the primaries if there hadn’t been a Global Primary. I wouldn’t have even known to vote in that if Lauren hadn’t been sure to tell me about it a bunch of times and asked me to volunteer at the polling place. Lauren’s efforts benefitted not only me, but also the other two young ‘uns that I personally brought along that day to vote (one person I had physically come with me, the other I specifically sent the polling location map to his ketai telling him to vote). Now, a couple months later, I’ve been happily roped into “chairing” the Young Democrats Abroad Japan committee, more involved in Democratic politics than I ever anticipated I’d be and doing some hand-holding of my own with “others of my kind” and soon will hopefully have a good-sized group of young dems who are charged with optimism and enthusiasm and impressionableness, ready to vote and help with the door at DAJ events.

So next time you meet a young eikaiwa or international school teacher or other randomly employed under-35 American, please ask them if they’re registered to vote from abroad. And then, please hold his/her hand and show them the way to www.votefromabroad.org and the young democrats abroad facebook group I started (Young Democrats Abroad International). We’re a pain, we know it, but, like I said, so what? After all, kids will be kids. And sometimes we need a kick in the pants and a tug on the ear to gear us toward the ballot box.

Long Time DAJ Member Heads for China

2008-05-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

by Svenn Serrano

As the nomination approaches its final stages here in mid-May I just want to say what a historic ride it has been and everyone involved should just pause for a group hug. Doesn’t that feel great? Sure, there were some less-than-happy moments in the Hillary-Obama final lap but that doesn’t mean that the loaded questions what the pollsters asked voters in the Spring will matter one iota when November rolls around. McCain is weak in so many ways that the American people are only now beginning to discover and with true Republicans still uncomfortable with many of his positions the race is wide open and winnable for any Democrat. Take heart and get ready, for the best and the worst are yet to come.

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of noble also-ran John Edwards had a guest column in the IHT (April 29, 2008, “Bowling 1 – Health Care 0”), which I would like to share. Basically she said that the electronic media and news organizations had failed the American people with their ‘Cliff Notes” coverage of the campaign. Like a strobe light in a dark room, “the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot see the whole picture.” When every analysis is shortened and every corner is cut, she writes, we move further away from the truth. Candidate Joe Biden, she gives as an example, had an excellent proposal for a National Health plan, but no one can name a single fact about it now because he suffered under a total news blackout “that depressed his poll numbers, which in turn depressed his fundraising,” forcing him to drop out. We do, however, know Barack Obama’s bowling score and Hillary Clinton’s ability to down a shot of Crown Royal whiskey.

A nation that holds up a model of presidential politics that goes on way too long and costs way, way too much and that ignores the important issues in favor of campaign tactics and strategy, consultant gossip, misleading polls and poll numbers, celebrity endorsements, and “gotcha” quotes all the name of low-turnout “primary” races with small electorates (Iowa and New Hampshire, come on!) really has no business promoting democracy in the rest of the world. Americans want change but institutionally we are incapable of reform. We cannot even change our election day from Tuesday to a sane weekend Saturday. Getting higher turnouts would probably cause our creaking system of volunteer-run polling places to collapse completely.

As an American I can accept our system as it is but we should ask someone like Canada to do the world outreach for democracy. Seriously.

Those of you who may have been concerned about Ralph Nader running again will be happy to know that now John McCain has his own problem with Bob Barr winning the Libertarian nomination. Barr, a prominent former Republican congressman from Georgia, will amplify all the existing conservative criticisms of McCain and will certainly siphon off votes from him among the hard rock right.

On a personal note I’d like to inform all of my DA Japan friends that after 19 years Japan I will be taking up a teaching position in Shanghai China this summer. I was in China in the early spring when word filtered in about unrest in Lhasa. Let me say for the record that in a perfect world there would be self-determination for Tibet. But in the same breath I would warn everyone that the only way that will happen any time soon would be if China suddenly collapsed in the same way the USSR did in 1991. “Great” powers have a tendency, through history, to hang on to conquered territory and China is no exception. Chinese people, like my wife, immediately say, unequivocally, that Tibet is an integral part of China. Ask any American if they would agree to independence for, say, Hawaii. I would like to remind readers that Hawaii was an independent country with a monarch that was overthrown by American settlers in 1893, and then annexed by the US in 1898. There is now a growing and viable sovereignty movement in Hawaii and the influential magazine The Nation devoted their April 29, 2008 issue to Hawaiian “Resistance” (learn the history at www.thenation.com).

I would love to have a front-row seat should China have a popular and non-violent movement for democratic reform. But insensitive Western protests like the ones to block the Olympic torch relay will only result in a nationalist backlash in China and outside by Chinese living abroad. Much change has already taken place in that country and while political freedoms are still curtailed, air bubbles are starting to appear, the beginnings of a modern civil society. Let a hundred flowers bloom, again.

Show DA Some Love

2008-05-26T16:32:00.001-07:00

While others seek the big donors who can write checks with 3 or 4 zeros, I am writing to ask you to take to heart the lessons of Gov. Dean and of the Obama campaign. Lots of small donors can have enormous impact, and now would be the time to go for that impact.

Even with the huge surge in voter registration across America, overseas voters still have a critical role in this election. Big Tent Democrat, writing on TalkLeft, argues that Obama General Election margin is non-existent, based on recent Rasmussen, Gallup, and Newsweek polls which show a dead heat nationally. If we look at state polls, FL, VA, GA, MO and even MI do not look great for the likely Democratic candidate 5 months out from election day. What else do these states have in common? Relatively large numbers of citizens living abroad.

Help us to reach out to those swing state voters

Those of you who are already sustaining donors, and/or who have already responded to earlier appeals from International Chair Christine Marques and Vice-Chair Toby Condliffe, thank you. Nonetheless, this is a great time to top that off with a further contribution.

This great organization depends entirely upon the commitment and generosity of its members. Help reach out to those in your committee--those who have already donated for a follow-up request, and to those who have not to "show a little love."

Thanks and regards; I'm heading over to https://secure.democratsabroad.org/contribute/

Gary Suwannarat
Asia-Pacific Regional Vice-Chair
Democrats Abroad

Change My Mind? Forget It! Politics on a Personal Level

2008-05-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

-Gloria Bauer Ishida

I don’t remember when I actually became a Democrat. In an early “rebellious” stage I admired Alexander Hamilton, an early “elitist”, no democrat he. But I by the time I went to college, I was a confirmed Democrat. At some time my father had switched parties to Republican, but his father remained a Democrat till he died. The only thing I remember about elderly Grandpa Bauer was that he got tears in his eyes when he spoke of his political beliefs. I could always convince my mother to vote Democratic, and her mother as well.

But I am from a small town in northern Ohio that more often than not goes Republican, and my vote went by the wayside before we could vote from abroad. I registered “absentee” from my parents’ address. (Great, now I vote from my last US address, Cook County, Chicago).

Today is the age of fabulous IT age. I am in contact with old friends, relatives, distant and close as well as new contacts through my hobby, genealogy. And here come e-mails, especially in the form of forwards, with no reluctance to put my e-mail address listed with fifty others. And from whom? My conservative contacts in northern Ohio (read pro war in Iraq and maybe, “no African-American in the White House); old friends, who while may be Democrats, are backing a different candidate; and so on.

I love a debate, face to face, please, or with those I consider in the “I don’t give a damn” category. But others, whom I do not want to alienate for various reasons? I do have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. What do I say? “I’ve made up my mind. Please no more forwards”, for example, one berating Michelle Obama, “Do you want this woman as First Lady?” and “Take a look at Obama’s voting record”, and looking at it I agreed with practically all of his votes and said I could understand his reasoning. With closer family whom I know are of the opposite side of the fence, I don’t even bring up politics.

I do “feel” out some of my contacts, especially those who share genealogical interests and whom I have never met, before any political talk, and yes, I can definitely name two, one in Pennsylvania and one in Georgia, who share my beliefs.

I have just made a move that involved downsizing on many possessions, including my books. Way back, in 1988, one of my sons, who still has a great sense of humor, inserted messages in my books and I am still coming across these. (He didn’t really believe what he wrote, just teasing Mom.) “Reagan is my Savior!” “Al Haig in ’88!! God’s Choice!” “America: God’s Country, Thee Only Country!”

2008. Shades of 1988. Please. “You have a right to your opinion, cousins and friends. But change my mind? Forget it! And help me keep my inbox clear. And I’ll do the same for you.”

The Challenge Before Us

2008-05-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

h/t to Bill Barnard, Chair DAUK

I am not sure that we have fully grasped the extraordinary political opportunity that is almost ours.

With a Republican President at an all--time low in the polls and with
the Republican coalition beginning to crumble, with an unpopular war
and an administration with no plan to end it or to define what `victory' might mean, with an economy on the brink of a serious crisis unlike any we have seen in generations, with a health care system whose benefits are not available to all, with a planet in ecological peril and an administration that denies science and refuses to recognize the seriousness of the crisis, with a continuing erosion of American prestige around the world—-with all of this, there is now a rising and almost irresistible Democratic tide.

Of course, our focus has been primarily on the historic Presidential contest. And here we have the good fortune to have had an incredibly talented array of Democratic candidates, a panoply that looked like 21st century America. (The Republicans seemed rooted in the 1950s— only one gender and one color need apply.)

Now, we are down to two extraordinary candidates, either of which will make history. Our party has been roughly equally divided between supporters of Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. We face the dilemma—-the historic but exquisitely painful dilemma—-of offering to the nation either the first female candidate to have a genuinely serious chance of winning the Presidency or the first black American with a serious chance of doing so.

It is a transitory moment of great sensitivity. And we can best navigate it with respect for each other and for our differing choices. Mutual understanding and civility are qualities all the more necessary in the coming weeks.

For we are united in our determination to see an end to eight years of Republican mis-rule. I am convinced that we Democrats will prevail at the Presidential level, despite the kind of campaign of fear and misrepresentation that the Republicans and their Swift- boating allies will undoubtedly wage.

But we should not let the inevitable focus on the historic Presidential race blind us to the reality of what is achievable in the House and Senate. It was clear in 2006 that the old Republican coalition put together by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan was beginning to fall apart. Democrats retook both the House and Senate, winning in places (in the Senate in Virginia, where DA made a difference, and in Montana) where we weren't supposed to. The further consolidation of our hold on the mid-Atlantic and New England states was evidence too, with Senate wins against incumbents in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island and with a history-making clean sweep of the state government in New Hampshire.

The Democratic tide still runs strong—with anticipated Senate wins this year in New Hampshire and again in Virginia, possibly in Maine, and with real chances where we have not been competitive in recent decades, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and even Alaska.

In the House in the last two months, Democrats won three special elections—-in Illinois, replacing the Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, and in Mississippi and Louisiana in districts that had given George Bush margins of 20% or more and that had not voted Democratic in House races in a decade and a half. Significant gains in the House are also likely.

What? Is it possible to think that Democrats could enter the next Presidential term with 60 votes in the Senate, breaking the stranglehold that has so frustrated every progressive effort of the last thirty years? The New York Times thinks it is.

Yes, as I pointed out almost two months ago in the DAUK eNewsletter, we may well be on the verge of a genuinely transformational election, a realigning election, in which we prevail not only at the Presidential level but see a fundamental shift in the tectonic plates of American politics, a shift that elevates a new Democratic coalition to majority status for perhaps a generation.

That coalition will mean an even broader church—an even bigger big tent. We will need to approach those who agree with 90% of what we also believe but who differ on some matters, even some that are important to us individually, with a heightened degree of tolerance, understanding, and civility. The rewards in breaking the deadlock that has characterized Washington over the past decades will be worth it.

So, in the words of an old spiritual adopted by the civil rights movement, let us keep our eyes on the prize—-not only on the Presidency but on the creation of a new Democratic majority as well.

In our personal conduct—-in all we say and do—-let us lay the ground work for a unified party that can grasp the extraordinary opportunity that can be ours.

Bill
__
William D. Barnard
Chair, Democrats Abroad U.K.

In Honor of Memorial Day

2008-05-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

BradBlog lists the names of all of the men and women who have died in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We honor their sacrifice.

Our gratitude to BradBlog for their post. and h/t to GNB for pointing us to it.

END DAJ Webnews May

2008-05-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

DAJ Webnews March-April

2008-04-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Busy beavers (donkeys) that's what we are, Primaries, Events, Global Meeting... all meant that we at the webnews were slow to get out our March addition which has now become the March-April addition.

We have some great writing, wrap up from the Global Primary, thoughts on the war, and a plea to our dem candidates. Hope you enjoy!

and please consider contributing your own writing- 500-700 words on a political topic of your choice. Email us at pdbjpg@gmail.com

Lots of events are coming up. Be sure to check the Calendar at http://www.demsjapan.jp and participate in the disucussions on the new international website http://www.democratsabroad.org. For excellent political commentary and interesting reading add the Wednesday Wire and The Group News Blog to your list. And make sure you have requested your absentee ballot at VoteFromAbroad.org

From the Chair

2008-04-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

-Lauren Shannon
DAJ Chair

ACT LOCALLY!

I know if you feel as I do, there is a great sense of urgency and
emergency to bring our country back from the disastrous last 8 years.
Our primary goal is to turn out the vote and grow our vibrant
organization to reach out to as many voters as we can here in Japan and around the world. We need your help. 1 hour- 100 hours…. Whatever you can spare.

1. GOTV TEAM JAPAN-
We need volunteers to help in all the aspects of Get Out the Vote. We need people to register voters, man voting reg. tables at events, help thing of new ways to reach out to voters, design voting PR materials and participate in voter reg events. ALL SKILLS NEEDED… If you are in the Tokyo/Chiba/ Yokohama area and you want to help contact me ASAP at lauren.shannon@gmail.com OR contact Mike who is also leading this effort at mike.stensrud@hotmail.com

If you are in the Kansai Area, contact Kansai Chair Terrance Young at DAJKansai.chair@gmail.com and if you are in Tokai please email Paul Smith, Tokai Chapter Chair at smithp@visi.com. We need you now! Lots of fun, and lots to do.

2. YOUNG DEMS
We are beginning an outreach campaign to one of the most underrepresented groups in Japan, young dems between 18-30 years old. Miki Nouguchi has to kick off the organzing of this effort but she needs help, volunteers, ideas and support. If you can help, contact her at mikinoguchi@hotmail.com

3. PROGRESSIVE MOVIE CLUBS
We have active movie screening programs in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. If this kind of event interests you and you could help with PR, support on event nights, discussion question/ follow up coordinators and more… please contact:
TOKYO- Lauren Shannon lauren.shannon@gmail.com
KYOTO Jenise Treuting DAJKansai.vicechair@gmail.com
OSAKA Ron Andrews DAJKansai.movies@gmail.com

4. PR Team
DAJ Secretary Linda Gould needs help with media outreach. If you know anyone with Media connections, if you are a writer, or if you just want to help with Media outreach , please contact her at lagould@yahoo.com, for local Kansai Outreach contact Kansai Chapter Secretary DAJKansai.secretary@gmail.com

5. FUNDRAISING / Advertising and Marketing We are looking for a new coordinating team for DAJ fundraising efforts to pay for Get out the vote PR and Advertising, as well as membership building and resources. Can you help? Have good ideas? Contact lauren at lauren.shannon@gmail.com Also looking for people to coordinate our advertising and paid marketing plan. Email me!

6. GLOBAL HEATHCARE PROJECT
This winter we launched an amazing Healthcare For America Campaign which includes video and written stories. We are preparing to roll it out with Dems Abroad globally. We need volunteers to help with this project which is 99% internet based so this is perfect for everyone across the length and breadth of Japan, and you can work on this one right from home! Visit http://www.healthcareforamerica.blogspot.com/ to see the kinds of stories we are collecting then volunteer to help. Contact Project Coordinator and DAJ Secretary Linda AT lagould@yahoo.com.

If time is short and you can't volunteer right now, please consider a donation. Please donate to the DAJ postal account from any post office in Japan.

Furikomi to;
DAJ account number is 10280-92175171 (kigo=10280, bango=92175171)

AND to Donate to Democrats Abroad Worldwide go to
https://secure.democratsabroad.org/contribute/

Check our website calendars for events and news at www.demsjapan.jp And learn about the world wide efforts of Democrats Abroad at
www.democratsabroad.com

Supernova Democrats: Don’t Implode!

2008-04-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

by Helene Yim

Democrats are very lucky this year. The nomination should not be a matter of “may the best candidate win” – because both Clinton and Obama are outstanding leaders and either is likely a far better choice than President Bush was. In fact, comparing either of these candidates to the current president is like comparing a supernova to a medium bright star that that quickly degenerated into a black hole by the end of his second term. We cannot let this happen again.

Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s positions on the urgent issues facing America today are very similar, including extending health coverage to all Americans, ending the Iraq war, promoting energy independence, creating so called green jobs and mending foreign relations. Their positions contrast sharply with those of Republican candidate John McCain, who believes it is necessary to keep fighting in Iraq (and continue draining the US Treasury for it), opposes any form of mandated health care for Americans, desires to leave energy solutions to the industry’s big players (for example producers of nuclear power), and favors a carry-a-big-stick approach in foreign relations.

This way of thinking might have worked a half century ago because the circumstances were different. In those days health care was more accessible to all, restraint was not part of the energy vocabulary, and globalization of the demographic and economy had not yet begun. Military threats could be kept in check by a strong-armed approach – but that isn’t working with the terrorist threats of this age. Both Clinton and Obama understand that a government that thinks otherwise today will not work.

I would like to propose that both Democratic candidates put their egos aside and say to us, “We as Democrats will put America back on the right track to progress and prosperity for all. And we offer you the best choice: you can choose me, or you can choose my excellent colleague, Senator (Obama/Clinton) Your choice in either of us will determine whether or not the United States will regain its position as the world’s greatest nation. Learn our similarities and differences on the issues – read the newspapers, go to www ______ dot org. – don’t just watch the TV or look at the tabloids – you owe it to yourselves and your families.”

It’s time for the Democratic candidates to seriously work together to thwart another misguided presidency. It’s time to stop throwing millions away on the PR and media people, half of whom must be the brain dead fools they think we are (latest sleaze: Obama on the cover of the National Enquirer), and use that money to promote more substantial communication. Candidates: It’s time to stop dumbing down the American electorate with bickering that nobody really cares about, and get us engaged in more intelligent thought and discussion. We support you, and we ask that you do the same of us.

My Globally Democratic Day

2008-04-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

-by Stacey Vye

My experience volunteering at the Tokyo voting center for the first ever Global Primary on February 5^th, 2008 was truly amazing because I felt like I was participating in a historical event that may lead to a more democratic America. And it was easy for me to volunteer for the Democrats Abroad Japan (DAJ) because it is a professional and highly organized team, so the instruction I received on how to inform voters about going through the process of casting their choice for the US president was seamless to carry out. Another important point for me was the crew at DAJ are friendly, so volunteering was relatively effortless, especially since there is a strong feeling of a shared interest in improving the image of Americans abroad and America itself.

Apparently the media felt some kind of spark about our hope for democracy on that day because they came in droves locally and internationally. Most or all of the film crews probably realized that we were a friendly organization as well. What's more, I wasn’t surprised when an announcer from Fuji TV reported in their morning program that the media crew on sight felt they had a comfortable rapport with us. Another media representative was surprised that the voting center officers were kind enough to actually volunteer rather than being paid. There was also a massive curiosity of the Japanese media to film certain images at the center. One darling little image that got iconic status was the filming of Lauren Shannon’s stuffed Democrat donkey. I took a sort of odd pleasure in watching film crews pensively filming it and I still wonder how much footage was taken of that dear donkey? Another image or scene that the local media panned in on was the bake sale. I felt that the staffers were generally curious and wanted to know more about this American tradition genuinely rather than for a sound bite. The yummy food by the way, was definitely appreciated and eaten thanks to all of the bakers who baked, rather than myself who cheated a bit by buying cookies from a bakery that I like.

Lastly and most importantly, I felt such a warm appreciation for the voters who could take time out of their hectic schedules to vote in person. Although I was at the venue merely to explain the Global Primary voting process to the participants, I felt that I saw and heard the multiplicity of American faces and voices concerned about the current damaging political climate. And by meeting these voters, it actually helped me start thinking that there is some hope for America from 2008, which made the day priceless. Hope you will have an opportunity to feel this much satisfaction in volunteering and maybe your voice can also be heard to help keep what is left of the beautiful America and continue to make it even stronger so that it cannot be trashed again.

Democrats Abroad Delegation to the DNC Convention this summer in Denver

2008-04-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Read about our Global Convention in Vancouver at the NYTimes Blog

Full list or our elected delegates, alternates and DNC members from John McQueen at the Wednesday Wire;

Here’s the full list for Democrats Abroad’s delegation to Denver. Again congratulations to every one!!

Canada 5
Toby Condliffe, International Vice Chair (DNC member)
Robert Bell (DNC member)
  Adrienne Jones, Chair, DA Canada (national convention Rules committee)
  Ken Sherman, Vice Chair, DA Canada (Americas At Large Obama delegate)
  Rhoda.Green (Americas At Large Clinton delegate)

Italy 4
  Peter Alegi, Former International Chair (PLEO Clinton)
  Theresa Morelli (DNC and Global DNC-elect)
  Anthony Sistilli, Chair, DA Italy (national convention Credentials committee)  
  Jo-Ann White, Vice Chair,  DA Italy (Global At Large Clinton delegate)

United Kingdom 3
  Stanley Grossman, International Treasurer (Global DNC-elect)
  Margo Miller, (EMEA At Large Clinton delegate)
  Lynn Forester de Rothschild (national convention Platform committee)

France 3      
  Joe Smallhoover, Chair, DA France (EMEA DNC-elect)
  Connie Borde, Vice Chair, DA France (DNC)
  Allin "Chip" Seward (EMEA At Large Clinton delegate)

Switzerland 2
  Christine Schon Marques, International Chair (DNC and Delegation Chair)
  Caitlin Kraft Buchman, Chair DA Switzerland (Global DNC-elect)

Japan 2
  Brent O’Leary (DNC)
  Lauren Shannon, Chair, DA Japan (Asia/Pacific DNC-elect)

Mexico 2
  Sandra Loridans, former Vice Chair, Americas region (PLEO Obama)
  Howard Feldstein, Chair, DA Mexico (Americas At Large Obama delegate)

Germany 1
  Shari Temple, Vice Chair, DA Germany (EMEA At Large Obama delegate)

Spain 1
  Gil Carbahal, Vice Chair, DA Spain (Global At Large Clinton alternate)

Ireland 1
  Liv Gibbons (DNC)

Philippines 1
  Georgia McCauley, Chair, DA Philippines (Global At Large Obama alternate)

Netherlands 1
  Robert Bragar, Chair, DA Netherlands (EMEA Obama At Large delegate)

Ukraine 1
  Geoff Berlin, Chair, DA Ukraine (Global At Large Obama delegate)

Dominican Republic 1
  Leo Perez Minaya, Chair, DA Dominican Republic (DNC and Americas DNC-elect)

India 1
  Carolyn Sauvage Mar, Chair, DA India (Asia/Pacific At Large Obama delegate)

South Africa 1
  Monica Faith Stewart, Vice Chair, DA South Africa (EMEA At Large Obama delegate)

Lebanon 1
  David Munir Nabti, (EMEA At Large Obama delegate)

Afghanistan 1
  Jake Klonoski (page – appointed by Delegation Chair)

Letter from a 1st time voter @ the Global Primary voting center in Tokyo

2008-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

From Ryoma Uehara,

This was my first experience in voting. I should say I was pretty nervous. I didn’t actually think I was going to be voting.

I received a letter from my mother’s state which I am able to use to register as an absentee voter. It stated that although I would be 18 on November 4, I was not allowed to vote in the primary until I was 17 years and 6 months. That would not be until April. Registering online was complicated just because it was a new experience and we didn’t want to be left out of the process. The Democrats Abroad website was actually easy to use.

My mother is a member of Democrats Abroad Japan and they did a great job of informing us of the Global Primary and answered our questions.

Not thinking I could vote, I went with my mother to the DAJ voting center in Shibuya to experience Super Tuesday. The staff told me that I could vote in this Global Primary so I enjoyed the process very much except that it ended so quickly. I thought that it would be a lot more complicated.

The TV cameras made it equally stressful, but exciting. Thank you to all for making this a memorable experience.

All About Basra

2008-04-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

-by Max Von Schuler

For a long time, the SCIRI (Supreme Council Islamic Revolution Iraq) with it's military wing the Badr Corps, and Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army have been tussling for control of the Iraqi territory south of Baghdad. The Mahdi Army already controls most of Baghdad, control of the south would make it the pre-eminent Shia organization Iraq. And since the Shia outnumber the Sunni's, well you can figure who will be the big guy in Iraq.

Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army has gradually increased it's control of towns in the south. Also, he has fought at least two pitched battles with US forces, and emerged with more influence each time.

I think the main reason that the government of Prime Minister Maliki started this fight was to try to stop this gradual erosion of Badr corps power in the south. There is another idea floating around the net, that reducing the Mahdi Army's power was seen as necessary to secure US supply line as a prelude to a US attack on Iran. I think this is an American, not an Iraqi idea. The Badr Corps under al-Hakim have refrained from attacks on US supply routes, and generally supported the Maliki government. However, I do not think their non interference of US supply routes would be guaranteed in a US attack on Iran. That is wishful thinking on the part of Bush administration strategists, and we have to remember that the Bush administration has been wrong about EVERYTHING in Iraq.

So. The Iraqi National Army, which really is basically the Badr Corps, a militia, (The Sadrists control the national police) attacked Mahdi Army forces in Basra and other southern cities. The attack collapsed within days. Iraqi National Army forces basically refused to fight or deserted over to the Mahdi Army. This is truly an important event. It is an out and out win for Muqtada al-Sadr, and he really hates America. Perhaps that is because we tried to kill him several times.

And this may prove to conclusive when we consider the American military presence in Iraq. The supply lines south from Baghdad have always been our Achilles heel. Basically they are guarded by Iraqi Sheiks, paid for this purpose. In a sense, we can say they are paid not to shoot. Also, until now, the Badr Corps has been pre-eminent in the south. They have had a policy of not directly opposing the US. I think this has shifted. Al-Hakim's Badr Corps has come out as a big loser in the Basra battle, as has the Maliki government.

What does this mean for America forces? It means that Muqtada is now the strongest player both in Baghdad and the south. He has several options. He out and out close the supply roads. He can allow a gradual increase in guerrilla strikes. He can organize mass civilian demonstrations to close the roads. Al-Hakim has adopted a policy of waiting for America to withdraw. Al-Sadr has always been demanding an immediate US withdrawal since the first days of the US invasion. Now he has the power to force the retreat. If the supply lines are cut, an orderly US withdrawal becomes impossible, we will have to fight our way out. And not everyone will make it. The Private Contractors will panic. They will not do their jobs, the armed security guards may kidnap the military and civilian American leaders they are guarding, as bargaining chips for seat out. The US can only supply some one third of US forces by air. There are not enough vehicles for all units in Iraq, they all share. And if Iran allows surface to air missiles in, which they have so far declined to do, air supply and evacuation are impossible.

And yes, about Iran. Until now, Muqtada al-Sadr was basically hostile to Iran. The Badr Corps, which spent the Saddam years in exile in Iran, was the Iranian backed force in Iraq. Now al-Sadr seems to have improved relations with Iran.

For a US withdrawal to succeed, we will need the help of Iran. And here is where I would like to say a few things to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Stop fighting each other. One of you will be President, one will not. It is high time to start joint efforts to fight John McCain. Senator McCain's entire position is that America must remain in Iraq until victory. That is impossible, this Basra debacle proves that. The only question now is how an American withdrawal can be managed. It is time to think of what is best for America. That is the mission of the Democratic Party of the United States of America.

Max

links
A recent history of Muqtada al-Sadr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moqtada_Sadr

John McCain is really out to lunch when he pretends toknow what is going on in Iraq.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/01/cnn-catches-mccain-making-contradictory-statements-about

-sadr/

A description of the Basra debacle. Iraqi National Army units desert or do not fight.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0401/p06s02-wome.html?page=1

End of March-April Webnews

2008-04-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

DAJ Webnews Super Tuesday, Global Primary February Edition

2008-02-02T23:59:00.000-08:00

Been too long since we managed to get the newsletter online for everyone! I apologize profusely and can only say that we have not been resting on our laurels! In the two months since we last put out our Supposed-to-be-Monthly-Webnews we have had

1. a visit from Gov. Howard Dean
2. visitors from Congress, Hirono, Johnson and McDermott
3. Registering tons of voters.
4. Cleaning up and moving to a new database
5. Working toward the upcoming GLOBAL PRIMARY
6. meetings in Kansai, Tokai and Tokyo
7. Politics and Pizza Parties
8. A few media mentions
and much more...

sorry to have been lax on posting up the wonderful submissions to the webnews. But here we finally go!

Thanks for reading and be sure to send it on to your friends.

Global Primary News

2008-02-02T23:45:00.000-08:00

So we are having our first ever Democrats Abroad Global Primary! This is an Historic Event.

read a little coverage from the CS-

Democrats tout first 'global primary'
The group Democrats Abroad has made it easier for expatriates to weigh in on Super Tuesday. By Nicole Itano | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

An exciting primary has sparked greater interest among expatriates in being heard at home. Read more...

Athens - Come early February, a wood-paneled conference room in this city's historic Grande Bretagne Hotel will be one of the farthest-flung outposts of the heated battle for the Democratic presidential nominee.

This year, the Democratic Party is conducting its first "global primary" that will allow Democrats living abroad to vote by Internet, mail, or fax or in one of the centers being set up in more than 30 countries. Voting starts on "Super Tuesday" – Feb. 5 – and will last for eight days.

"We're trying to make it as easy as possible for Americans to participate from all over the world," says Christine Schon Marques, international chairwoman of Democrats Abroad, the official, volunteer arm of the Democratic Party, which is coordinating the primary. "The online process especially is very new for us. It's very exciting."

Read the whole thing here.

and info about the GP in Japan.

Why I Support Democrats Abroad and the DNC

2008-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

-Rachel Bourgeois
What happens when you gather about twenty Democrats in a spacious, beautiful apartment with a spectacular view of Tokyo? They talk about money. It’s called fundraising, and this is especially true when the guest speaker is the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Finance Chair.

Personally, this was my first “real” Democrats Abroad event in Tokyo. I had been participating in many events in Paris before moving to Tokyo in April, but I have only been to one or two events sponsored by DAJ. So, this was my first “real” Democrats Abroad event, and here’s how it went.

On Tuesday, November 13th, Phil Murphy, DNC Finance Chair, addressed a small group of Democrats in Tokyo about changes in the DNC. In my opinion, this was the most democratic event I have been to in a very long time. The event was clearly geared toward fundraising, and Phil Murphy was there to account for how the money was being spent. Tracing the history of recent Democratic Party successes and even more recent failures, he explained what went wrong and how Howard Dean, among others, is trying to fix it.

I admit that I do not remember the details of the speech. I wish now I would have taken notes. However, I think I remember the general idea behind Phil Murphy’s words. The Democratic Party needs to become more professional and to catch up technologically. As I understood it, the message Phil Murphy brought us was that this is what Howard Dean with his team has been tackling, successfully – turning the Democratic Party into a well-managed, professional and technologically-advanced political body capable of taking on and defeating our opponents.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the problem (years of mismanagement) or the solution (spending money on better management and technology) is beside the point. Phil Murphy came to ask us for our money and for our help raising money. In exchange, he demonstrated in the most straightforward, open, honest and democratic way how that money is being spent and would be spent. Despite several attempts from the audience, Phil Murphy did not get pulled into discussions about the direction, as in the ideological direction, of the Democratic Party. He remained true to his mission, to discuss the running of the Democratic Party, not its ideology.

And yet, in my eyes, because Phil Murphy held his stance, remained modest and did not attempt to speculate on directions or candidates, or to take on a role other than the one he came to perform, because of this I feel he demonstrated precisely that ideological direction for which everyone present at the event was looking. He was transparent. He showed that the Democratic Party is capable of good governance and better management. He demonstrated accountability. These are some of the major things missing in the current American government. These are the things people present, myself included, wanted to discuss, but what I came to understand during the evening and in the days following it is that these things were all implicit in Phil Murphy’s presence and participation that evening.

Of the many political debates to which I have been in the past, the debate with Phil Murphy surpassed them all in the simplest of ways. It convinced me, after many years of being a follower of Democrats Abroad events, to support them and the DNC officially.

To read more about the 50 State Strategy that the DNC is fundraising to support, go here.

That's what Dean said

2008-02-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

-by Miki Noguchi (posted on her blog in the full version) photos above by Taro Irei

I went to the Democrats Abroad Japan Howard Dean event featuring (Can you guess?) Howard Dean, DNC Chairman and spirit booster extraordinaire! His speech was inspiring and helped redeem the Democratic party for me - not that I'd strayed, but it's nice to be appreciated and told that what we're all saying out here is being heard and acknowledged.

He made lots of good points:

1. The Dems panel of candidates looks a lot closer to how it should in 2007 (e.g. a couple white guys, a woman, a half-black-half-white guy, a half-latino-half-white guy, etc.).
2. For the Under 30 crowd, the stuff the Republicans are talking about just doesn't matter/make sense.

[Tangent:
Part of what makes Obama so appealing to me (and what made me yell out to my mom in the next room when I saw/heard the guy on "Oprah" that this would be my guy) is that he is fresh, less-tainted, less-jaded. He's been around DC long enough to know the ropes, but not be entrenched in them. I keep saying it, but it bears repeating. There's something Kennedy-esque about Obama that makes me smile and have faith and hope and believe that the States isn't actually going to hell in a handbasket - or, at least, that there's actually someone out there who might manage to grab the basket and bring it back before it gets too far. Tangent over.]

3. Gay marriage is a Republican issue - they're the ones who keep bringing it up!! The core value that's important for Dems - equal justice and treatment under the law for all Americans... for better or for worse. ;)

He said more and I know I'm forgetting things that I clapped at and were impressed by at the time. But, suffice it to say, the whole experience was great and exactly what I needed to get me less cynical about our prospects and more positive (again!) about the candidates we've got out there. No question, any of our guys would be a vast improvement on the disappointment and heartache and, well, crap that's in the White House now.

Dean came out here to ask for money and to remind us to register and vote (and to get our friends to do likewise - hint! hint!), but also to earn his meal with his spiel. And he totally did his job and it totally worked. Yeah, I know it's politics - yeah, that's his job, etc. But he did it well and he got me going and I'm excited for the next event and the next milestone in this next year leading up to November.

Here's the thing, I'm tired of living abroad and feeling like I've somehow let the whole rest of the world down by being from the country that let this guy keep this job for the last 7 years. I mean, personally, I didn't vote for the guy, so at least that's some weight off my shoulders. But, jeez, he's just awful and he's screwing it up for literally everyone else - every last person on this Earth is affected by the decisions made and actions taken by the President of the United States. That's a responsibility that we shouldn't take lightly but one that I think far too many people overlook, understandably, considering most Americans never live abroad and many never travel abroad. But, from my overseas mouth/fingers to your (possibly homeland) ears/eyes: it sucks out here, from this side of the news, seeing what the rest of the world sees, hearing what the rest of the world says, and feeling what the US's actions do to us all - American and non-American alike.

A Distant Political Mirror?

2008-02-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

-Robert Skipp Orr

Forgive me for paraphrasing the title of the late Barbara Tuchman’s prize winning book on the 14th Century but it just seemed the best way to pose my question which is….what are the similarities between the 1952 U.S. Presidential election and the 2008 version?

This is not an idle question since that election held 55 years ago also featured no incumbent candidates. It was a free for all very much like we see today in both the Democratic and Republican parties. To be sure the campaign was a much shorter affair and a $1 billion price tag for the process would have been unthinkable then but highly likely today. The eventual winner, Dwight Eisenhower or Ike, didn’t even make his first campaign speech until six months before the election.

In addition to the lack of incumbent candidates in both parties there were certain similarities in the political atmosphere surrounding that election and 2008. Both elections were held during the course of highly unpopular wars (Korea in 1952 and Iraq in 2008) and the outgoing President encountered negative poll ratings at record highs (Harry S Truman and George W. Bush).

While the primary process had already well started by 1952 it was not the main determinant in the nominating process that it has become today. The classic “smoke filled rooms” of the conventions were still the central arena. Often it took several ballots to win the nomination. Ike didn’t finally outlast the forces of Senator Robert Taft (known as “Mr. Republican as a representative of the conservative wing of the party) until the 3rd ballot at the convention. In fact in 1924 the Democratic nominating convention went 101 ballots and 16 days before John W. Davis a West Virginia banker could win. (and then lost badly to President Coolidge in the election).

In 1952 the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson was not a candidate in any of the primaries. He had said all along that his principal ambition was to be reelected Governor of Illinois and wound up being drafted at the Chicago convention for the Presidential nomination.

In addition to Taft, Ike faced former California Governor and future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen. He would become a perennial Presidential candidate running and losing nine times the last being in 1992. Always lurking in the background that year was the specter of another former General, Douglas MacArthur who had managed to disgrace himself with his defiance of civilian authority during the conduct of the war in Korea but returned home as a darling of the Republican right after Truman had canned him the year before. He was chosen as the keynote speaker and was hoping his conservative buddies could arrange a draft. It was not to be and he politically faded away.

The biggest sparks in the election came from Ike’s Veep nominee, none other than Richard Milhouse Nixon. The New York Post had run a story asserting that Nixon had been subsidized by a secret fund set up by his California millionaire buddies. Nixon admitted that it existed but said it did not incur obligations to the donors. Basically Ike let Nixon hung out to dry by letting him defend himself in a national TV ham acting address that got him off the hook. That November the Republicans prevailed in a landslide.

Today the debate focuses on the status quo vs. change. Experience vs. youth in broad terms. In 1952 the Korean War was not the divisive issue that Iraq is today in part because President Truman did not mislead the American public as to the reasons for the conflict nor did the war aims constantly change in spite of MacAuthur’s efforts to widen the objectives. Truman wanted to contain the spread of communism MacAuthur wanted to destroy it even if it resulted in nuclear strikes in China. The divisiveness would come later in Vietnam.

But Truman also faced wide spread corruption in his Administration. It was sufficiently problematic that one of the rallying cries of the GoP during the election was to “clean up the mess in Washington.” Of course the current “mess in Washington” makes the misdeeds of the Truman years look absolutely Minor League.

Eventually history turned a kinder eye toward Truman especially in the post Watergate era. I have grave doubts that George W. Bush will fair nearly as well under the historical magnifying glass.

Robert M “Skipp” Orr is the former President of Boeing Japan and taught University courses on American Presidential history.

Pre-primary Pizza & Politics DAJ Meeting/Party

2008-02-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

by Sean Toczko (Pizza Mia, Kojimachi Tokyo)

There were about 30 people crowded into the small, B2 space of Pizza Mia, but the atmosphere was anything but stuffy. People were roughly grouped by candidate, and everyone was full of enthusiasm for their choice. We began by taking a few minutes, by group, explaining why we supported our candidate, and why we thought they were the best choice. One thing everyone stressed was that they would support whichever candidate ended up getting the nomination.

The Clinton supporters went first, ably represented by Linda Gould -DAJ Secretary. She took pains to detail the depth of experience that Hillary has in government, and how that made her the best person to be president. She acknowledged that there is a current of personal dislike for Hillary, but countered it by saying that people who have met and talked with her have inevitably changed their views about her. Linda also said that Hillary’s reaction to the press’ constant attacks showed how much strength of character Hillary Clinton has.

Next were the Obama supporters, the largest group, and Lauren Shannon- DAJ Chair took the floor for Obama. She spoke about how his recent MLK speech solidified her feelings. His speech, before a black congregation, went to places that a typical politician shies away from. He spoke about the changes that need to be made, not least within the black community itself. Reaching out to groups typically shunned by African Americans, such as homosexuals, he said that unless we were ready to accept them, and stand for their rights, we can’t expect to speak with a righteous voice about our rights. Additionally, Barack has been actively searching out experts, from all over, as advisors for him, in areas such as foreign policy. Not limiting himself to “inside the beltway” types is a strong differentiator between him and Hillary.

This was followed by Mike Stensrud- DAJ Vice Chair, supporting John Edwards. He began by stating that Edwards was really the only real progressive among the Democrats. This was acknowledged by all the participants. He said that Edwards was the candidate least connected to lobbyists, with only 5% of his money (true?), compared to 25% for Hillary. He said that we need someone who is willing to fight for comprehensive health care for all Americans, bringing up the fact that Americans spend the most money in the world for the least amount of coverage.

The “undecideds” were last, but not least. Margaret Otake a long term DAJ Member got up and said that what they were looking for was someone who they felt would do the job that needs doing, namely cleaning up the huge stinking mess that the Republicans have made of the country, constitution, and image of the US. If any of the candidates could convince them that they would do this, then they would get their votes.

The Next part of the evening was a Q&A about process and procedures for our upcoming DA Global Primary.

We followed this by about an hour and a half of other statements and questions while people ate pizza and drank beer, wine, and juice. We all had a good time, and felt like there was a sense of community, even with people backing different candidates. No one suggested that any of the candidates stop campaigning until the convention, and in fact stressed that their presence helped drive the debate.

Congress says, “Hi.”

2008-02-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

-by DAJ Member Miki Nouguchi (photo of Congress woman Hirono and DAJ Chair Lauren Shannon)

December, 2007 it was the DNC, in the form of the inspirational Howard Dean. January 2008 Congress decided to make a DAJ pit-stop that turned into an extended, 2.5 hour-long cocktail meet-and-greet with Representatives Mazie Hirono (HI), Jim McDermott (WA), and Hank Johnson (GA). Each Rep did their best at fighting off jet lag – some better than others ;) – to give a short speech explaining their backgrounds and positions.

As the first naturalized American member of Congress and a native of Fukushima, Japan, Representative Hirono has special insight into the positions of many DAJ members, many of whom are naturalized Americans themselves, long-time residents of Japan with close cultural ties to the country, or bicultural in background and upbringing. Representative McDermott is thought of as “an elder” among his colleagues for his wisdom and experience, having spent the last 19 years in Congress and the last 15 years making visits to Japan as part of a legislative exchange. Representative Johnson is a former judge whose words at the event were touching and precise.

Though this event was certainly more low-key than Dean’s visit – as it was meant to be, especially given the last-minute notice (four days!) – it definitely got interesting during the question and answer period when attendees got to ask burning questions or simply have at it with three real live members of Congress right there in the Mehta’s living room with us. They answered the questions in a fairly straightforward manner and took the heat with grace and experience.

For me, the standout moment came during Representative Johnson’s speech, when he spoke of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) as a “fearless warrior for the people” in facing the daunting task before her, that being not only to bring about a greater level of bipartisanship to the Legislature – I know I’m only one among many Americans who is sick of the cross-aisle food fight that has been playing out for the last eon that the recent years have seemed – but of running with that momentum and spirit and getting the things that need to get done done.

Overall, the visit was a positive sign from the people back home that not only are those of us out here holding down the Far Eastern front not forgotten, but actually sought out (it was Representative Hirono who contacted us!). Especially with Dean’s visit, but further supported by stops like these, the Democratic party is demonstrating that it recognizes that we – all Democrats abroad – are out here and that we’re a force to be reckoned with. So reckon with us already! We’re ready to take back not just the White House, but the common sense controls.

Don’t forget to vote either in your state’s primary or in the Democrat’s Global Primary on February 5th!

Juan Cole with Members of DAJ

2008-02-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

DAJ members were privileged to listen to an expert on Middle Eastern affairs in November, 2007. Juan Cole, professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan, spoke to about 50 DAJ members and guests at a brunch meeting on the subject of Moslem/Western relations, with special reference to the US-led Iraq invasion and occupation.

As someone who speaks the languages of the Middle East, and who has lived in the region for many years, Professor Cole is almost uniquely qualified to comment on the current disastrous situation there. His blog at www.juancole.com is well-regarded as one of the sources of informed comment on issues in the region.

Cole talked with a certain dry, but animated, academic wit and humor which served to underline the deadly seriousness of the topic under discussion. Many of the points he made were probably already familiar to many of the audience, who are not, after all, subject to the barrage of disinformation proceeding from the American mass media, but the connection of these dots was novel and refreshing to many.

The issues of peak oil, the increasing growth of China as an industrial, energy-hungry global player, and some of the technical issues related to oil extraction in the Middle East, were key to the politics of the war, according to Cole. In his view, to satisfy the current needs of the world’s largest energy consumer (the US) before the current oil reserves are depleted, it was necessary to occupy Iraq, with large potential for future exploitation, before China made a move in that direction.

One other issue Cole perceives as forming part of the Bush administration’s calculations was the support by them of the oil support companies – the Halliburtons, etc. of this world – hardly surprising, when one considers the composition of the Bush cabinet, and the previous business ties of its members.

With regard to eventual US military withdrawal from Iraq, Cole feels that it is possible to withdraw in an orderly fashion which will minimize damage to the Iraqis whose lives have already been so badly shattered by the calamity of the US invasion. [Note by author: the general consensus among Democratic, as well as Republican, presidential candidates seems to be that America has a duty to maintain a military presence in Iraq indefinitely.]

Following his presentation, Cole took questions from the floor, whose subjects ranged from the military, though economics, to the social issues involved in the Middle East. Despite his claims to be a Middle Eastern political specialist, and not to know much about some of the questions asked, he provided highly satisfactory answers to these.

Following the question period, Professor Cole signed copies of his latest book, Napoleon’s Egypt, a study based on French and Egyptian sources of a Western nation’s conflict with an Islamic culture, whose details eerily echo some of the current position in Iraq, some 200 years later.

Heathcare Intiative From DAJ

2008-02-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

One Person Can Make A Difference
Millions Together Can Transform the US Health Care System
-Linda Gould

In 1990, I returned from Europe and tried convincing my family and friends of the benefits of the nationalized health care that I experienced there. Some laughed at the idea, some assured me there was nothing wrong with the US health care system, some insisted they didn’t want no socialized medicine, and others just shook their heads, saying it would be an uphill battle to change the system.

Seventeen years later, the U.S. health care system is a mess, an estimated 49 million Americans have no health care at all, and those who do, as we know from Michael Moore’s movie Sicko, worry whether their insurance will cover them when they need it.

Opponents of national health care have argued the same points for years: socialized medicine is bad; the care is poor in socialized systems, procedures are rationed and waits are long; the U.S. health care system is so great people come here for medical procedures; no who wants the government telling you what doctors you can see and what procedures you can have?

But millions of expats around the world know that most of these arguments are patently wrong or overly exaggerated. Sure, the health care systems that we use are not perfect, but they work, and I would argue that an imperfect system that helps everyone far surpasses an excellent system that serves only a portion of the population.

This election year, Republicans will ruthlessly argue against health care using these same false arguments that are voiced to scare people to vote against their own interests. If a Republican wins the Presidency in '08, millions more will lose their coverage: if a Democrat wins, some kind of health care system will be enacted, but Republicans will do everything in their power to make it a half-hearted, watered down version that is rife with privatization to enrich cronies and full of loopholes.

DEMOCRATS LIVING ABROAD MUST GET IN THE FIGHT!

DAJ is launching a campaign to share our experiences, tell our stories, and use facts to counter every talking point and every ideological statement the Republicans can come up with. This is not a theoretical argument for us, so the real-life examples from real-life people can show Americans that they needn’t fear a change, and most importantly, that America is in the unique position to adapt the successful elements of other systems.

HELP US WITH THIS CAMPAIGN

We will launch the campaign in Japan in January and expect to get international involvement from February. We need 10 volunteers to make a video about your Japanese health care experiences that can be posted on YouTube, and we need as many written stories as we can collect. Contact Lauren at chair@demsjapan.jp or Linda at secretary@demsjapan.jp.

DNC Eastern Regional Meeting

2008-02-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Democrats Abroad Asia members:
On November 16-18, I attended the DNC Eastern Region Meeting in New Hampshire. Surprisingly there was not a large showing of DNC members (so with me and our Vice Chair, Toby Condliffe, Democrats Abroad was one of the best represented state parties.) There was, however, a very large contingent of both Young Democrats and Stonewall Democrats.

There were a number of training sessions and some good speeches. Here are some of the highlights.

Grassroots Organizing
Governor Michael Dukakis lectured on grassroots training. He was very humble and explained that the lack of precinct captains was why he lost the presidential race to George Bush I and apologized to everyone because he said if he had beat George Bush I there would have been no George Bush II presidency and that is something he has to live with everyday.
He explained that our candidates need a 50 state strategy for the precinct level. That each candidate should have a local precinct captain for each precinct and they should recruit local neighbourhood captains and local block captains.
He said these precinct captains should be empowered and accountable.
He said that the precinct captain is the campaign manager for the precinct, they cant wait for instructions as instructions never come and as the precinct captain knows the community the best they should be able to best decide what works in that precinct.

On the other side, the precinct captains must be accountable, they must report back to the campaign manager each week with accurate statistics (eg how many people they contacted, what information they collected, who is a registered voter, who are they voting for, etc.).

He also noted that not only are these important for GOTV but they are important in spreading your message and countering the opponents swift boat attacks so you can respond quickly and effectively

Other points to note-
*door knocks are less expensive and more effective than literature and calls (stat- it takes about 2,000 direct mail pieces to change one voter from one side to the other but it takes only 14 doors knocks.)
* Early contributors to a campaign are good converts to volunteers
*find people when they are not busy- supermarket, the local dump, laundry, etc

After the lecture, Toby got up and gave Democrats Abroad a good plug and I gave out some VoteFromAbroad.org cards.

Private meeting with Dukakis

After the lecture Governor Dukakis asked the DNC members (and Lanny Davis, President Clinton’s White House Counsel) to a private meeting to discuss strategy, they agreed that the 50 state strategy worked and we need more grassroots organizing and advertising and need the candidates to understand this.
I emphasized to the other DNC members, and they agreed, that the 50 State strategy is essential to the future health of the Democratic Party and we need to have a commitment from the candidates to support a DNC Chair who will follow through on Dean’s strategy once he steps down.

The Plan for 2008

DNC trainer, Parag Mehta, explained that our electoral goals were to take back the White House, expand majorities in the House & Senate and control redistricting in the state legislatures He said we need to organize everywhere, count everything (see what activities have a measurable impact) and question assumptions.

The big new tool to assist in this process with be one integrated voter file platform called Votebuilder which will help organize neighborhoods and make a large accurate voter file.

Votebuilder will have tools to help people contact their neighbours, input information gathered, tools to make flyers and other network building tools and incentives for vote getters (eg visits or calls from the candidates, etc),
The DNC will also check changes of address so they can follow the voter to his new neighbourhood.

* Parag emphasized that person to person contact is becoming more and more essential because TV and radio ads are not as effective anymore due to cable, Tivo ipod, Sirius, internet, etc so we need to go back to person to person persuasion.

Speeches

Elizabeth Edwards gave a nice speech about how her husband has been helping people all his life and this comes from how his experiences and how he was brought up.
Patrick Murphy’s flight was canceled so he drove 7 hours from Philadelphia to make the speech on behalf of Obama. He stated how Barack came to help him on a number of occasions when no one gave him a chance to win. He stressed Barack’s judgement and how he understands the need for big changes to the system and a new direction for politics.

Best regards,
Brent O’Leary

END FEBRUARY WEBNEWS

2008-02-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

November WebNews 2007

2007-11-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the coming of fall and kicking off the one year countdown to our 2008 presidential election. We need everyone's involvement; working on the GOTV committee, writing for the webnews, raising money, researching issues, writing letters to voters, congress people and letters to the editor. We need you.

Coming up soon, please consider joining us for upcoming meetings and events in Kansai, Tokyo, and Tokai. Also Kansai and Tokai chapters are having elections this month. Get involved. You can make a difference.

and with that we present to you the Nov. Webnews. Sit back with your cup of green tea- read and enjoy. Also consider writing for us in the future. (email us to volunteer) 500-700 words on a political topic of your choice. We want to hear from you.

thanks for your support and thanks to all of this month's writers.

DAJ Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-04T15:20:00.001-08:00

It’s November, and you know what that means…Well, yes, we’re just two months away from the first state primaries, three months away from Democrats Abroad’s first ever Global Primary and one year away from an election that will determine the future of America. But what I meant was that it’s time for DAJ’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner!

We’re celebrating this year at Tokyo’s popular Fujimama’s Restaurant on November 21 from 7 pm. And it’s not just going to be rich, succulent turkey, melt-in-your-mouth mashed potatoes with creamy gravy, tangy cranberry sauce or the best pumpkin pie in Japan. No, DAJ’s event includes a competitive trivia game and a chance to win fantastic door prizes. You don’t want to miss this event.

Cost for this year’s Thanksgiving celebration is 4000 yen for adults, 1500 yen for children, and it includes dinner, one drink, all the fun you can handle and a 1000 yen donation to DAJ’s Get Out the Vote activities, which are crucial if we are going to take the White House in ’08 and gain larger majorities in Congress.

Join us at Fujimama’s this November 21. Seats are limited so RSVP to japan-chair@dems-abroad.com today!

For more DAJ activities, visit www.demmsjapan.jp

Lessons from the Left, November 2007

2007-11-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

The gutless center

by-Dan Curewitz

I do not know any other way to put it. I do not believe that the majority of our elected representatives who claim to be in the ideological center are liars, nor do I believe they are fools. I do not believe they held any nefarious, secret, destructive political agenda that they hid from the American People when these centrists stood for election last November (aside from Joe Lieberman, who flat-out lied in the faces of his constituents). That leaves one option – no backbone, no stones, no fire, however you want to put it.

The Democratic Party has a majority in both houses of congress, a slim one in the Senate and a pretty strong one in the House. The Democratic Party has (or had) the support and approval of a large proportion of the population of the nation, and was given that majority on the strength of several promises made during the election. Those promises were, broadly: dealing with the war in Iraq, dealing with the healthcare crisis, dealing with constitutional depredations, dealing with corruption and graft, dealing with the environment. All of those promises are based on a single overarching premise: the current incarnation of the GOP under Bush and the radical Right consists of a coterie of insane, warmongering, incoherent, psychopathic, lickspittle sycophants and professional liars who hold no respect for the constitution, international law, logic, reason, the planet, or morality as most human beings understand it. The country recognizes this, and voted for people who claimed they would put a stop to that group of rapacious thugs who would bankrupt the US morally, politically, socially, and financially, and who would rip what was left of the constitution to shreds.

Here is the “Lesson from the Left”: The self-identified Left has never been a strong majority in the United States, yet its views have held center stage in any number of political moments over the last century. Why? Because the Left has (or had) ideological commitment to a core set of ideals based around a strong central premise. The Right has (or had) a similar foundation. The center apparently lacks that basis.

I say apparently because, in fact, that basis is really quite simple and clear, and should be adopted by the current crop of political representatives. That basis is the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the system of checks and balances that has been the core of American Political Life since the late 1700’s. The power and attraction of centrist politics throughout American history has been the system of rules, balances, and the constitutionally mandated framework within which all ideological battles should be conducted. If bipartisanship compromises the core values that the Center SHOULD be cleaving to, then bipartisanship is unwelcome. If comity and cross-aisle cooperation threatens the rule of law, harms the checks and balances, disrupts the political and procedural framework of the governance of the nation, then those trappings of political theater should be discarded.

The ideology of the Center is not so easily or straightforwardly encapsulated as the Left or the Right. There is no “Power to the People” or “Keep the Government out of my Business” slogan that can be quickly and effectively amplified. It is difficult to make a chant or a propaganda pamphlet that expresses the “ideology” of constitutional governance. But constitutional, structured governance is the core value of the ideological center, and unless the center is willing to stand up and fight for that foundation, the center will not hold.

The current crop of Right Wing loons running the Executive Branch has no respect for those constitutional rules. They would be more than happy to scrap the constitution entirely.

Will the Center fight for their very reason for existence? Or will cowardly capitulation in the name of bipartisanship result in the elevation of extra-constitutional and unconstitutional scofflaws to near-dictatorial status?

It’s gut-check time, and the Center needs to stand up. FISA, DOJ scandals, War Powers, budget games, election law games, use of the judicial branch as a political cudgel, presidential signing statements, immunity granted to traitors, murderous mercenary armies under the nominal control of contractors to the State Department, gutting of the budget to pay for illegal wars on the nations credit, while the coffers of corporate cronies are filled with no-bid contracts and sweetheart pork subsidies…all done in broad daylight with a sneer and a wink and a chuckle. Do these sad events fit into the framework of constitutional governance that has been the backbone of the political center for the last two centuries? Or will the “moderates” finally wake up to the fact that they are being snookered by liars, cheats, and thieves who hold no respect for the constitution that grants them the freedoms they so gleefully abuse?

The center likes to maintain that their strength lies in not being “radical” – I say that this is not true. The center has always been radical in the sense that departure from sloganeering, appeals to raw emotion, appeals to “great men” and governance by “big daddy” is a very radical idea. The idea that structure, law, and balanced powers between branches of government with different responsibilities is extremely radical. It’s time to defend that structure, or see it destroyed.

On potential casualties in Iran

2007-11-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

by Max Von Schuler

I am writing this about the possible US casualties if the US attacks
Iran. The key to everything is supply, and here, geography is not our friend.

American forces consume a tremendous amount of fuel, food and ammunition, plus a lot of other stuff. This route of supply is
essential to the American fighting ability. Without it, our troops
become foot infantry, depending on the bayonet.

Look at this map:

In the Persian Gulf region, which I think is the most vulnerable our deployments are as such: We have a major Air base in Qatar, and a Naval base in Bahrain. Otherwise, all our troops are in Kuwait and Iraq. Notice the geography of the Persian Gulf. It is like a long sack, with the neck at the Straits of Hormuz. If we bomb Iran, even a little bit, the Iranians can close it quite easily.

Ok first of all, how many people are we talking about? My guess would be 345,000. This breaks down as: 160,000 troops. Although this number is bound to decrease as surge troops are sent back tot he US, there are no troops to replace them. 180,000 private contractors. This is an estimate, but I think we should put things on the high end for planning purposes. and let us say some 5,000 diplomatic and other personnel in the Iraq theater along with personnel at the Qatar Air base and Bahrain Naval base. That is about 55,000 more the the German Sixth Army in WWII, that was surrounded at Stalingrad.

Now I don't have exact figures of how things are going, but one thing is for sure. Most items of supply will come by sea, and then be transfered to trucks and delivered to the recipient troops. There are two routes. One is through the gulf into Kuwait, and then up the roads to Baghdad and other locations. The other is through Turkey, from the Med into northern Iraq. Both routes are vulnerable. Iraqi Resistance forces have stepped attacks on the Kuwait to Baghdad route,
convoys have been cut from 8 to 5 a day. These convoys are not escorted by US troops but by private contractors. the northern route through Turkey depends on the goodwill both of the Turks and the Kurds.

Now, can the Iranians really cut off the sea route through the Persian Gulf. Absolutely. Here is a report of a war game played in 2002 by the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

Too many people assume that the US is unbeatable. Not at all so. The US leadership has been beating it's chest for some time about attacking Iran, I am sure it would be correct to assume that they have not been sitting still. The above war game showed things that Iran can absolutely do. And believe me, they are already boasting about how they will hit us if we hit them.

Another thing to remember. The Persian Gulf is a long body of shallow water. It is full of Arabian and Iranian commercial vessels. Also, huge oil tanker move majestically in their designated shipping lanes. These ships are not maneuverable to any extent, they take miles to
turn or stop. So the areas available for our carrier battlegroup to operate in will be few, and predictable. A big target for the Iranian missile boats. Not to mention that they have three Kilo class Russian submarines. They are very deadly in shallow water, basically, our Anti submarine Warfare forces probably won't find them until after they have shot. We have two attack subs in the Gulf, but our boats are too big for shallow water, they don't maneuver well, and their
sonar ability is degraded by all the noise of a shallow bottom.

So I think we should assume that the Iranians will be able to close the Straits of Hormuz. As long as they want. I have seen plans to land a Marine division at Bandar Abbas to open the Straits of Hormuz, but then we are in a land war with country that has one million infantry. And we don't have the Marines to spare for any length of time. Also, that still leaves a lot of coastline from which Iran could launch small missile boats.

So let us say that we bomb Iran, and they shut down the Gulf. The supply situation of our troops will quickly become critical. The first reaction would be to pull all units inside large bases. There will not be enough fuel to support all those local outposts that have been established. Most US supply will come from Turkey or by air. Look at the map again. It is a long way to fly to Iraq from anywhere. And I do not think we can count on being able to stage aircraft through any bases in Pakistan in a serious way, the Afghan bases are full up just supporting that war, Incilkik air base in Turkey will be swamped, and we only have enough capacity to supply one third of our troops by air anyway.

Airpower is a huge US advantage, but in this scenario we no longer be able to supply enough fuel to maintain air support. The only air support will come from Turkey, (if Turkey is willing) or carriers in the Med. And they will have to overfly Syria or Jordan. What will those countries say to that?

Oh, and don't forget, the Iranians are lobbing missiles into US installations, and the Shia close the roads and isolate US installations, and Iran let's anti air shoulder fired missiles into
Iraq, something they have not done. We are not going to supply our troops by air at a survivable level. At this point the Green Zone would probably have to be abandoned as too difficult to supply.

We would be in slow strangulation, but the end result would be that we would be forced to leave Iraq. Now here we have some more problems. I have mentioned the huge number of contractors. About 30,000 are those infamous guards like Blackwater, but many others are mechanics, cooks, drivers etc. These people are not uniformed military, and many are third country nationals. If the chips go down for the US, they will defiantly panic. The only thought on their minds will be the next plane out. The security guards are guarding US diplomatic personnel, and high ranking military officers. they will have the opportunity to take hostages to secure their ticket out, and they will have the ability to cause massive confusion. In any case, they will no longer be performing their jobs.

If the Turks allow US troops to pass though Turkish territory, probably most will be able to evacuate through there. But most will have to walk. since over a year ago, there have not been enough vehicles to equip all units in Iraq. Two or three battalions share one battalion sets of vehicles.

Now Turkey is poised to invade northern Iraq and attack the Kurds, the only US ally in Iraq. The US now must choose one or the other. (I say Turkey, no brainer there)

The US retreat will have to be in a series of Kessels. Kessel is a German word meaning cauldron, or large kettle. It refers to German formations on the East front in Russia in WWII, who, surrounded by Soviet advances, would fight their way out. The troops on the west end toward the German lines would fight the breakout battles, troops on the east end would be the rear guard, and the northern and southern units would protect the flanks. All the wounded and supply would be in the middle.

In such an operation, the ability of the US to supply air support would be minimal, as I have said the only reliable air support would be though the Med over flying Jordan or Syria. Bombers from Diego Garcia would need air to air refueling, and so would any aircraft dropping supplies on the Kessels making their way out.

It would be nasty little infantry fights all the way.

by this method, Kessel extraction through Turkey, we could probably evacuate 50% to 80% of our troops in Iraq. The troops in Bahrain and Qatar would be mostly lost. The percentage of losses among contractors would be much higher.

If Turkey closed the border to Americans, the best bet would be to try to fight through the Syrians, and get picked up by the US Navy on the Syrian coast. Don't try the Turks if they are hostile. By this way, we might get 30% out.

For those that don't get out, it would be best to try to surrender to the Iranians. Arabs do not take prisoners, they take hostages or slaves.

In this writing I have not addressed the effect on the world economy. In just ten days, the threat of a Turkish attack on Kurdistan has sent oil jumping up some $8 a barrel. Attack Iran and yes, I think we will see $200 a barrel oil.

These are just some military thoughts on this subject, I do believe that if we attack Iran in any way, this scenario becomes inevitable.

There is no reason to attack Iran. They want to be friendly with the US. Iran gave significant and essential help in the fight for Afghanistan. The present American political leadership has rebuffed their overtures at every turn, and instead responded with threats. It is time to stop this insanity.

Thanks for the Little Things

2007-11-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

by Linda Gould

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, the Dems had just won majorities in both houses of Congress and there was so much hope and so many expectations that our country would be righted once again, that the Thanksgiving holiday was stuffed as much with enthusiasm and optimism as it was with turkey and mashed potatoes.

The mood this Thanksgiving is much more somber—the war continues, Bush is as much a bully as he ever was, and the democratic leadership is so unfamiliar in their positions of power that they seem more preoccupied with figuring out how they won their majorities (and how to keep them) than what to do with their newfound power.

Within this miasma, it’s hard to find much to be thankful for. Sure, the Democrats passed an increase in the minimum wage, the 9/11 commission recommendations were enacted, and millions of people will be able to attend university because Democrats pushed through their higher education legislation. These examples are only a few of the Democratic Congress’s successes. But, I’m sorry to say, this is a little like saying, “Well my broken arm is better and my wounds have been stitched up successfully, and my broken teeth have been capped, but I haven’t been able to do anything about the cancer spreading through my body.” The occupation of Iraq with its incessant war profiteering trumps all else.

Still, there are moments that are worth noting this Thanksgiving. Sure, Bush is still an obstinate bully, but he’s feeling Democratic pressure. He slammed a door in anger after leaving a press conference last month, and he has started making wild accusations about Democrats spending too much time on hearings and investigations, a sure sign that Congressional oversight is taking its toll on our would-be king. His own party leaders are chiding him for not doing enough to help them get reelected, like sign a bill giving sick, poor children access to health care, and sadly Bush’s loyal rats are abandoning the sinking ship, leaving him nearly alone with that soul-draining, joy-sucking Dementor Dick Cheney.

The Democrats are giving us reason to be thankful, too. After one of Bush’s temper tantrum press conferences, Pelosi laughed at him and said, “ The poor president. the poor president,” then proceeded to make fun of him for not knowing what was in the various bills that he signed, crying about Congressional oversight and wasting the American people’s time. Pelosi has finally figured out that the best way to handle a spoiled brat is to laugh at him.

And the poor President is in the totally unfamiliar situation of facing opposition from all sides. Senator Chris Dodd is placing a hold on telecom immunity for spying on millions of Americans and the Judicial Committee looks like it won’t confirm Bush’s choice for Attorney General because the nation’s top-most law enforcement official won’t say that waterboarding is torture. The Iraqi government won’t pass legislation handing their oil resources over to American corporations, but they have passed legislation that wasn’t first written and approved by the US; legislation that revoked immunity for Bush’s mercenary forces in Iraq. Finally, the man who exposed his tender soul to Bush in a brief moment of eye-contact, Vladimir Putin, now won’t play nice regarding the missile defense system that Bush wants on Russia’s border. In fact, Putin has even sided with Bush’s arch-enemy, Iran’s Ahmadinejad.

Who knows where all of this will lead? Cheney is pushing for yet another war, Bush is so petulant he may start one just to show he’s relevant, and the Democrats may be so surprised at their newfound strength that they might just do something of importance, like make the Republicans physically filibuster the multitude of bills they are holding up or force Republicans to vote on legislation to stop the war every single month, or…dare I say it? Impeach the president. Hey, stranger things have happened (Bush in the role of President, comes to mind).

So this year, say a big thank you for the few small things going our way this political season. It’s been a long time coming.

November DAJ Reading Room

2007-11-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

(Great reading recommendations from DA Mexico member Beverly)

Takeover: The Return of the Imperial,
Savage, Charlie.
Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy. Little, Brown and Company
(September 5, 2007). “Savage, who won a Pulitzer for his Boston Globe articles about the signing statements George W. Bush used to negate legislation limiting presidential authority, gives that issue a key part in this account of the Bush administration's efforts to increase executive power.” – Publisher’s Weekly. “In this troubling look at the abuse of power, Savage also details Cheney's involvement in seizing presidential power to authorize wiretapping, torture, and imprisonment of citizens without trial.” – Booklist.

“The Day After We Bomb Iran,” Weigant, Chris.
InformationClearingHouse, 10-01-07.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18489.htm
There's a raging debate within the Bush administration, the punditocracy, and the blogosphere about whether or not it is time to bomb Iran… The consequences for an Iranian adventure would be severe. In all the arguments swirling around Iran currently inside the Beltway, not enough attention is being paid to the likely outcome of such military action. If you're a neo-con and are arguing that Iran needs to be taken out because they're the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, then fine -- make your case. But be sure to realistically address what the costs of such rash action would be for America. Because last time around, we ignored that part of the equation with "we'll be greeted as liberators" -- and we just can't afford a second mistake of that magnitude. Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

“Midnight in America: Huffington, Ariana. the Mainstreaming of the GOP’s Lunatic Fringe,” 10-22-07.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/midnight-in-america-the-_b_69415.html

“The most significant takeover of the past decade isn't to be found among the telecoms, the big oil companies, or in Silicon Valley. The reconfigured entity is headquartered in Washington, but we can see and hear the results everyday on your television, radio, and computer screen. And America is much the worse for it. I'm talking about the takeover of the Republican Party by its lunatic fringe.

Reagan's GOP has been replaced by the dark, moldering, putrefied party of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, Coulter, and Malkin. Morning in America has given way to Midnight in America.”

How do you vote in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary?

2007-11-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

VOTING IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY IN Japan

1. Being eligible to vote in the USA Democratic Presidential Primary: to vote in the Democratic Party Presidential Primary here in Japan you must be a USA citizen over the age of 18 on election day (November 4, 2008), who resides temporarily or permanently in Japan and is a member of Democrats Abroad (DA), the official overseas arm of the USA Democratic Party, with country committees all over the world, of which Democrats Abroad/Japan is one.

2. Joining Democrats Abroad: no membership fees, just fill out the membership form on this website www.DemocratsAbroad.org/join , and complete the online membership form. You automatically become a member!

3. How to vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary: there are three ways to take part in the Democrats Abroad Presidential Primary here in Japan:

a) Voting in person at a DAJ Voting Center: a USA citizen over the age of 18 (on November 4, 2008) who resides in Japan temporarily or permanently can join Democrats Abroad on the spot at the Voting Center with his/her USA passport in hand and then vote in the Presidential Primary. The Voting Centers will be in various locations in Kanto, Kansai and Tokai. The primary voting day will be February 5, 2008.

b) Voting with a paper ballot by old fashioned mail or fax: the voter must be a Democrats Abroad member by January 31, 2008 and advise DAJ (see email address below) that this is how he/she wants to vote by the same date.

c) Voting online: the voter must be a Democrats Abroad member by January 31, 2008 and advise DAJ (see email address below) that this is how he/she wants to vote by the same date.

4. All DA members will receive detailed information on the process in December / January; details will also be posted on the Democrats Abroad website www.DemocratsAbroad.org.

IMPORTANT FACTS TO KNOW

1. What is your ‘voting state’?: Your ‘voting state’ is the last address you registered to vote in the USA, or if you never did, then the last address you resided in the USA, or if you never did, then in many states the last address your parents resided in the USA -- even if the building or street no longer exists. Some states do not accept this – DAJ can help you find out.

2. Another way to join the Democratic Party: You can also join the Democratic Party when you fill out the www.VoteFromAbroad.org downloadable voter registration form (see below) by checking YES on the form in answer to the question: do you want to join the Democratic Party. If you do, then you ALSO automatically become a member of Democrats Abroad and can vote in the Presidential Primary described above.

3. Democrats Abroad has the standing of a State Committee with 22 voting electors at the Democratic National Nominating Convention to be held in Denver, Colorado in August 2008. Democrats Abroad also has 8 voting members on the Democratic National Committee.

4. A voter can’t vote in two presidential primaries: if you vote in the Democrats Abroad Presidential Primary you may not vote in your ‘voting state’ presidential primary -- if it has one (several do not) and if it permits overseas absentee citizens to participate (several do not). You may, however, be able to participate in your ‘voting state’ congressional primaries and in some states, also in the state and local primaries – this entirely depends on the state. DAJ can help you find out.

VOTING IN THE NOVEMBER 2008 NATIONAL ELECTION

1. Voting in the election: to vote in the November 4, 2008 USA Presidential and Congressional election you must register to vote and request an overseas absentee ballot from your ‘voting state’.

2. How to register to vote and request an overseas absentee ballot: very easy, just go to www.VoteFromAbroad.org, and use the downloadable registration form that is available to all USA voters. Read the directions carefully, fill out the form fully, print it out, sign it, and mail it (yes, the old fashioned way) to your USA election board (or whatever it is called in your ‘voting state’), which will appear on the form with the correct address on the basis of the information you entered into the form. Some states permit sending the filled out voter registration form by fax. DAJ can help you find out. NOTE: You can also enter www.VoteFromAbroad.org through the Democrats Abroad website www.DemocratsAbroad.org.

3. Getting your overseas absentee ballot: the election board in your ‘voting state’ should send you an overseas absentee ballot after it receives the www.VoteFromAbroad.org voter registration form that you filled out and mailed to your election board in your ‘voting state’.

4. If your state ballot does not arrive on time: your overseas absentee ballot from your ‘voting state’ should arrive by mail no later than October 1, 2008. If it does not, you can use the Federal Write-in Overseas Absentee Ballot that appears on screen together with the downloadable www.VoteFromAbroad.org registration form that you filled out.

5. Using the Federal Write-in Ballot: When the filled out downloadable www.VoteFromAbroad.org voter registration form appears on your computer screen, it comes together with a Federal Write-in Ballot. Print out both documents twice (once to mail and once for your records). You may have to use one copy of the Federal Write-in Ballot in case your ‘voting state’ ballot does not arrive on time. Carefully follow the instructions on the Federal Write-in Ballot and then mail it (yes, again the old fashioned way) to your election board in the USA in your ‘voting state’. Depending on the cut off date for receiving overseas voted ballots in your ‘voting state’, you may have to mail it EXPRESS or the equivalent thereof. Several states permit faxing the voted ballot to your election board. DAJ can help you find out.

ANY MORE QUESTIONS?

Contact Democrats Abroad Japan at: japan-chair@dems-abroad.com

(tip of the hat for making this all easy to explain goes to DA GUATEMALA)

End DAJ Novemeber WebNews

2007-11-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

October DAJ Webnews

2007-10-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air, and it looks like it is going to be an exciting season for DAJ. We will be beginning planning for our Global Primary and for voter registration for the crticial 2008 elections! We have exciting events coming- so keep your eyes on the DAJ website.

And now, though we ran a little late... here is our Oct. Edition of the DAJ webnews.

Thanks to all our writers. If you have something to say, we want to hear it. Please consider writing for the webnews. Guidelines are 500-700 words on a political topic of your choice, due date- the last wed. of the month. Send your submissions to chair-japan@dems-abroad.com

DAJ Reading Room

2007-10-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Genius of America:

Eric Lane, Michael Oreskes.
How the Constitution Saved Our Country--and Why it Can
Again. Bloomsbury USA (September 18, 2007).

“Michael Oreskes, executive editor of the International Herald Tribune, and Eric Lane, a Hofstra law professor, offer a pithy and insightful analysis of the historical development of the Constitution, emphasizing the spirit of compromise that informed the deliberations in the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787. The authors are equally adept at demonstrating the threat that today's deep partisan fissures pose to the founders' vision of constitutional government.” -Publishers Weekly.

"Though the personal stories of the founding fathers have become hot properties, the institutions the framers created--the executive, the judiciary and especially the congress--enjoy none of that popularity. Lane and Oreskes seek to change that by reminding us of how essential the Constitution is to our nationhood and why it's important for the country to rekindle the Constitutional conscience as we face the challenges of the twenty-first century." --Cokie Roberts, ABC News and NPR, author Founding Mothers.

“Every American would benefit from reading this book—starting with the president and vice president and the members and leaders of Congress.” —Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, Co-authors of The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.

Liberals Are Kicking Butt

2007-10-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

by Linda Gould (DAJ Secretary)

Pundits, politicians and Bush generally agree that 9/11 changed everything. It has been their excuse for spying on Americans, an illegal war, torture, denial of habeas corpus, etc.

But I would argue that it was the election of 2000 that changed everything. Not only did America end up with an appointed president for the first time, we also ended up with half the country enraged, but no ability to harness that rage. When Bush sent American troops into Iraq, millions of people protested; they tried to speak out against the war, but dissenting voices were silenced. Our representatives didn’t listen to opposing voices because those voices had no way of making themselves heard en masse.

Since then, internet activism has exploded, the Air America liberal programming has spread its roots, and the liberal community has embraced a self-appointed spokesman, Keith Olbermann. We have harnessed our voices to fight for our priorities, but the current Democratic leadership seems completely unaware that times have changed. Every time Reid pulls legislation from being voted on because of a Republican filibuster threat, and every time Pelosi says impeachment is off the table, and every time another Republican refuses to testify to Congress with no repercussions, I hear the maniacal, evil-genius laughter of Karl Rove echoing across the country.

Well, Rove and his minions had better find a map to that undersea lair where evil geniuses escape to when their malignant machinations have failed, because liberals have had a few successes lately that should strike fear into the heart of every hedge-fund investing, hummer-driving, draft-dodging, gay-bashing conservative whose brain has recently been scientifically proven to short-circuit when made to think instead of react. (http://tinyurl.com/2bu84q)

In an attempt to shut up pro-choice women, Verizon Wireless, one of America’s top cell phone service providers, denied the pro-choice advocate NARAL the use of Verizon’s service for text messaging. Only Verizon customers who signed up to receive NARAL messages would have received them. Verizon insisted it had the right to deny its customers (mainly women, in this case) the right to choose for themselves. Wow, where have I heard that before? Oh right, from anti-choice Republicans! So, now, we women not only have to fight for control over our own bodies, we have to fight for control over what we read and hear. Well, fight we did! In two hours, Verizon received 20,000 messages asking them to reverse their decision. They did, And it was a grassroots activist effort that can claim success.

After defeating Jim Webb’s amendment that guaranteed the same amount of down time for military personnel as active duty in theater and bullying Democrats into condemning the MoveOn advertisment calling out General Petraeus, Republicans called the game and headed home to celebrate. Then that reckless referee called hubris put a few more minutes on the clock and set the game back in play. On September 26, Rush Limbaugh called anti-war soldiers “phony soldiers” while talking with a caller. Liberals were outraged at the Republican hypocrisy and Senators condemned the comments on the Senate floor. MoveOn stood by the information in their ad and refused to cave to right-wing pressure to apologize. In contrast, Rush “Boil Butt” Limbaugh was forced to rationaLIES his comments, claiming he was misrepresented by the liberal media. (Media Matters statement: http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010?src=item200709270010 and Limbaugh’s reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm84gOXkZaY) But the fact is, it was support from the liberal grassroots activists who knew the information in the MoveOn ad was correct who motivated MoveOn to go on offense, thus forcing Limbaugh into the unfamiliar situation of having to defend his comments or resort to lies and distractions to provide cover as he ran away from yet another fight.

And finally, always looking for new ways to cheat and steal elections, Republicans tried to sneak an initiative on the California ballot that would have split California’s electoral votes in the general election, virtually handing the presidency to the Republicans. I’m all for revising our electoral system, but the reason why the Republican move was so despicable was that it was done in virtual secrecy and was bankrolled by the same donor who financed the Swift Boat ads against Kerry. Once the LA Times broke the story, activists directed the issue into the national spotlight, and the initiative self-destructed like a vampire caught in a sunbeam.

The election of 2000 was a lesson to those of us on the left that, even in good times, we need to be fighting for the issues that are important to us. We have the infrastructure now to make our voices heard, and we need to use it, because if we aren’t constantly aware and always fighting in the battle, we lose everything. Now if only our Congressional leaders could learn the same lesson.

The Global Primary and Democrats Abroad

2007-10-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

U.S. Democrats Overseas Set to Vote in High-Tech Global Election October 11, 2007 --

U.S. Democrats Overseas
Set to Vote in High-Tech Global Election

In February 2008, millions of U.S. citizens from Tokyo to Timbuktu will have the chance to vote in the first-ever online global primary to choose the Democratic nominee for President.

“In the past, overseas voting could be a complicated affair,” says Christine Schon Marques, International Chair of Democrats Abroad. “In 2008, we intend to change all that and make sure that Democrats all over the world have a clear say in who our candidate will be. ”

Just as the primary season back home gets into full swing, Democrats living overseas will be choosing their candidate, too. The Democratic global primary allows for balloting by Internet, fax and post. Traditional drop-in Voting Centers will also be open in 34 countries around the globe.

“Overseas votes are having a greater and greater impact on U.S. election results,” says Marques, an American living in Geneva. “With the Internet, we can reach out to all our voters in every corner of the world.”

The worldwide election results will determine the allocation of Democrats Abroad’s 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. These delegates will be elected at a combination of local, regional and global meetings held during early 2008. These meetings also provide an opportunity for Americans abroad to shape the party’s election platform.

American citizens living overseas who want to vote in the Democratic global primary must either be members of Democrats Abroad or they may register and request a ballot from Democrats Abroad at VoteFromAbroad.org.

To vote in the U.S. Presidential Election in November, overseas voters must request a ballot from local voting authorities in the place where they last resided in the U.S., also possible at VoteFromAbroad.org.

The Democrats Abroad Global Primary will take place from February 5-12, 2008.

Democrats Abroad Regional Caucuses will take place in Brussels on March 15, 2008, for Europe-Middle East-Africa and in Vancouver on April 11, 2008, for the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

The Democrats Abroad Global Convention will take place in Vancouver, April 12-13, 2008.

The Democratic National Convention will take place in Denver, Colorado, August 25-28, 2008.

The U.S. Presidential Election will take place on November 4, 2008. Deadlines for requesting overseas absentee ballots vary per state.

Call for Voter Assistance Volunteers!

2007-10-16T03:30:00.000-07:00

Mike Stensrud, Vice Chair, DAJ

Tired of Republican obstructionism and Democratic timidity? Discouraged about the direction our country is headed in? Well, don’t just stand there, GET INVOLVED! Democrats Abroad Japan is looking for Voter Assistance Volunteers who would like to help Get Out the Vote (GOTV) in 2008.

In 2006 there were a number of very close races, including the US Senate races for the seats of George ‘Macaca’ Allen (Virginia) and Conrad ‘Abramoff’ Burns (Montana). Democrat Jim Webb defeated Allen by 9,162 votes and Democrat Jon Tester beat Burns by just over 3,000 votes. A case can - and has - been made that votes from overseas Americans swung both elections to the Democrats. In fact, it was the victory of Webb that denied Republicans a Senate majority.

Bush’s recklessness and a lackluster field of Republican presidential candidates mean Democrats could expand further upon the gains they made in 2006, perhaps even getting a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate in 2008. What else could we do by electing more Democrats in 2008?

• Marginalize crypto-Republican, Joe Lieberman
• Push a more progressive agenda / roll back legislative monstrosities implemented by the Republicans.
• Promote more moderate judicial nominees
• Make Republicans whine like crybabies

If you, like me, want to turn the screws on Republicans in 2008 though, we need to get out the vote. And getting out the vote is the raison d’être of Democrats Abroad. That is why I would like to ask for volunteers.

During the last cycle we did things as basic as posting flyers publicizing VoteFromAbroad.org and slyly inserting VoteFromAbroard.org business cards into English language books at Japanese bookstores. We also set up tables at events frequented by Americans where we helped them fill out the Federal Postcard Application (FPCA) to request their ballots. The sky’s the limit though; we’re open to new and improved methods of reaching more Americans. What we need are Americans who are willing to give a few hours a month to do so.

The task itself is not rocket science. I have copies of the US Government guidebook that explains how to fill out the forms. I’ll soon have the actual FPCA forms. Now we need volunteers so that we can assist potential voters and otherwise publicize the super-useful Democrats Abroad VoteFromAbroad.org website which makes registering to vote a snap.

We would love to have volunteers throughout Japan. I think we all agree that it’s critical for Americans to reverse the damage that George Bush has done to our great country. Now we need people who can donate a few hours of their time a month to make it happen.

If you’re interested in helping out, please contact me at mike.stensrud at hotmail dot com. Or reply to this message. Please include a descriptive Subject heading, like “Volunteering for Voter Assistance” and I’ll get in touch with you.

I’ll gladly assist anyone who would like to volunteer. We’re all in this together and speaking from experience, I can say it’s a deeply satisfying experience to assist our fellow Americans – especially people in swing states, and especially when we actually win those states.

Please join me and let’s roll to victory!

-

What Happens in Insurgencies?

2007-10-16T02:30:00.001-07:00

William R. Polk's superb study: "Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency Terrorism & Guerrilla War from the American Revolution to Iraq" is just out. In the interim, here is a talk that he gave that relates to the topic. (thanks for the cross post from DA France's Meredith Wheeler.)

WHAT HAPPENS IN INSURGENCIES

(Talk before the National Arts Club, September 21, 2007)

The people who have fought insurgencies in the last few hundred years have spoken various languages, followed different religions, been motivated by diverse ideologies, made their livings in dissimilar occupations and lived apart from one another all over the world.

So are there common features from which we can construct a rough model that will help us to understand what is now happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya, Colombia, the Philippines and other countries?

This is a question that began to puzzle me back in 1962 when I began to observe the Vietnam war. But Vietnam was not the first guerrilla war I had seen. I was in the Palestine Mandate in 1946 and Greece in 1947. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to study, sometimes uncomfortably closely, several other insurgencies. It was Vietnam, however, that challenged me to try to understand.

I was then fortunate in being a Member of the Policy Planning Council of the U.S. Department of State whose Chairman, Walt Rostow, has been called the "architect" of American policy on Vietnam. Rostow was a true believer in the war. I was not. And our differences more or less forced me to begin the process that has led me to write Violent Politics.

The first major task to which I was assigned in Government was the chairmanship of the interdepartmental task force charged with helping to bring to an end the guerrilla war the Algerians were fighting against the French.

The American role in Algeria was only peripheral: General de Gaulle did not want outside interference (although he was happy to take the money we provided to pay for his army ) and he refused to share his thoughts or information with us.

Thus, we were somewhat blind, but we got ready to act if our action was demanded – the CIA thought that we might be asked to evacuate the 1 million 200 thousand Europeans then living in Algeria from the beaches like the British at Dunkirk. Fortunately, the French and Algerians reached agreement to give Algeria its freedom. So, while the whole pro-French population got out with all deliberate speed, as the lawyers say, their leaving was not a rout. Our Sixth Fleet, which was standing by, was not needed.

Vietnam was quite a different story. Almost every branch of the American government – even the Department of the Interior – became deeply involved. And, whereas few Americans could have placed Algeria on a map, Vietnam (in Michael Arlen's famous phase) was our "living room war." Every American experienced it at least on TV. No country was ever so reported upon as was Vietnam by Americans.

Consequently, I spent a part of each day perusing a deluge of cables, intelligence reports, summaries, and policy papers in addition to myriad press dispatches.

In all the mass of materials, thousands upon thousands of pages, one looked in vain for a penetrating definition of guerrilla warfare. Indeed, there was little coherent analysis of what was happening in Vietnam. The single exception was the work done by the small team that functioned under the leadership of my friend and colleague Tom Hughes in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Although its voice was usually drowned out, it was consistently right about what was happening and what was not happening in Vietnam. Almost everything else was episodic, short on questions but quick on answers.

In 1962 and 1963, the brilliant work on the war done by Frankie FitzGerald, Neil Sheehan, Chalmers Johnson, Joseph Buttinger and a few others was still far in the future. As the months passed, I came to believe that our lack of criteria – lack of what came to be called a paradigm or model -- to make sense of the rush of daily events was immensely dangerous. So, with Walt Rostow's permission -- and tolerance -- I took six weeks off from my regular duties on the Council and immersed myself in Vietnam

Learning about my study, the National War College invited me to summarize my findings for its graduating class of the "best and brightest" Navy captains and Army, Air Force and Marine colonels who were headed for senior command – and for combat in Vietnam.

I knew they would be a highly critical audience but one whose lives rode on an understanding of insurgency.

The gist of what I told them was that I had found that guerrilla warfare was made up of three parts that fell roughly in a sequence and which could be weighted in impact.

The first component was politics. In that phase, the principal task of the guerrillas was to establish their claim to speak for their people, that is, to establish their legitimacy. Generally, they did this by portraying themselves as the only true nationalists.

The second component was administration. The guerrillas had first to destroy the institutions and mechanisms by which the existing government interfaced with the population – how it delivered essential services, kept the peace, adjudicated disputes and prevented starvation. Then, the guerrillas had to step in to do what government had been doing.

The third component was combat. The guerrillas had to show that they could defeat the government, drive it away from the population, and force it to surrender, withdraw or collapse.

* * *

Applying these criteria or stages to the Vietnam conflict, I argued that Ho Chi Minh had embodied Vietnamese nationalism already by the end of the Second World War. He had long opposed French colonialism and the French forces who collaborated with the hated Japanese occupation. His leadership of the nation was symbolized when the French puppet ruler, the Emperor Bao Dai, turned over rule to him in a ceremony in Hanoi on August 25, 1945. Thereafter, fighting the French who were determined, despite initial American opposition, to reimpose their rule on Vietnam, his prestige increased to the point that President Eisenhower believed that Ho could have won any election for president with an 80% landslide victory. No other Vietnamese figure or group could challenge Ho and the Viet Minh. It wasn't so much that Ho was carried to power by Communists as that Communists rode on the coat tails of nationalism as embodied in Ho.

In those days, political scientists loved statistics and I guessed that this, the political component of insurgency, was about 80% of the whole effort.

In administration, the Viet Minh were less active, at least in the south, for a decade. Many of the cadres of what was then known as Giai Phong Quan , the Viet Minh of the southern area, had gone north in a population swap that brought the Catholics south.

When the Viet Minh cadres returned and became active, they systematically murdered government-appointed village officials. The astute French journalist Bernard Fall estimated that the Giai Phong Quan killed about 700 officials during 1957-1958, 2,500 from 1959 to 1960 and 4,000 from 1960 to 1961. But it was not just the officials who were liquidated. As George Carver of the CIA wrote in 1966 in Foreign Affairs, "The terror was directed not only against officials but against all whose operations were essential to the functioning of organized political society, school teachers, health workers, agricultural officials, etc."

Thus, by about 1960 the South Vietnamese government had virtually ceased to function. It could not collect taxes or even deliver mail much beyond downtown Saigon. Its officials could move only during daylight. Even in Saigon, as I witnessed one night standing next to Henry Cabot Lodge on from the roof of our embassy, government patrols avoided the streets when darkness fell because they were apt to be ambushed. The one we saw was.

Disruption is followed by replacement. Having killed or chased away the representatives of the regime, the insurgents immediately begin to create an alternative administration or "anti-state." That happened in Vietnam where the Viet Minh set up a variety of local government institutions in which virtually the whole southern population became involved.

My guess was that this second stage of the insurgency amounted to about 15% of the total effort leading to Viet Minh "victory."

Thus, 95% of the insurgency was lost before the Americans became active in Vietnam. From 1963 to 1974, we grasped the short end of the lever.

So I told my War College audience in 1963 that we had already lost the war.

The War College audience in 1963 was no more receptive to that analysis than at least some of our senior generals are today. The idea that we would – or even could – lose the war to a rag-tag bunch of what we regarded as mere hooligans was then regarded as rank heresy.

So we plunged ahead militarily, "surging" from a few thousand to half a million troops and turning our whole economy toward fighting the war. Despite graphic body counts and glowing proofs of success, casualties mounted. Finally the public would take no more. Lyndon Johnson gave up and America began to wind down the war. Many of the phrases we hear today were coined then. More time was needed. We were near success. Conditions were improving. If we left, Vietnam would collapse into chaos. So, trying to be statesmanlike and not wishing to do anything precipitous or rash or radical or to appear unpatriotic, we moved slowly. It took 4 years to get out. And in those 4 years we lost an additional 21,000 young Americans.

* * *
I had resigned from government in 1965 and became professor of history at the University of Chicago. In 1967, I also became president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. That position enabled me to encourage others to work on Vietnam. It was there that David Halberstam wrote The Best and the Brightest and Neil Sheehan began the study on counterinsurgency that became A Bright and Shining Lie. To bring out all the viewpoints, the Institute also held a conference of hawks, doves and those who thought of themselves as owls that resulted in a book called No More Vietnams?

When I left Chicago, I changed the focus of my research to the problems of the Middle East. It was partly Afghanistan and partly Iraq that pulled me back into the study of insurgency.

* * *

Both to test what I had proposed in 1963 and to deepen my knowledge, I decided to study other insurgencies. The first I picked is not one that is usually described as insurgency, the American Revolution.

Somewhat to my surprise, I found the same elements as in Vietnam.

From roughly 1760, the American colonists began the process that would lead to the Revolution. They were very reluctant insurgents. Virginia's ties were with England, not with New York or Massachusetts. The colonists were widely scattered and hardly knew one another. It took the British to help them do what they could not do themselves, unify them in opposition.

Ironically, they remained loyal to the monarchy. It was Parliament that they opposed. Today we look back on that period and see the rise of democracy as Parliament asserted itself against royal tyranny, but our ancestors did not see it that way. For them, Parliament was the tyrant usurping their by-then "traditional" rights as free-born Englishmen. They were the conservatives; Parliament was the innovator. And its representatives in the Colonies were corrupt and greedy. Why did they think these things?

To stop the drain on the Treasury caused by wars with the Indians, Parliament sought to prevent the colonists from expanding into Indian territory, thus thwarting their desire for free or cheap land and, sensitive to the demands of the leaders of the Industrial Revolution, Parliament enacted laws that made what the colonists thought was their right to commerce into felonies – blockade running, customs evasion and dealing in prohibited goods.

Consequently, avoiding British administration was both common and popular. Only if the colonists evaded the authorities could they get the goods they needed to live; John Hancock was said to have had about 500 indictments against him for smuggling, which led his contemporary John Adams to remark that it was the British attempt to curtail his smuggling that made him a patriot.

But flouting the law was dangerous; only if they disrupted the British-sponsored colonial governments could the merchants move safely and only if they made impossible the implementation of British laws could they avoid paying the price for disobedience.

So, in the decade after the end of the French and Indian wars, what amounted to an unarticulated strategy of avoidance turned increasingly into insurgency.

Both the colonists and the British more or less stumbled into combat. In part the Colonists were pushed by agitators, mainly the small group headed by Sam Adams in the Boston Town Meeting, but the really crucial events were a series of British edicts beginning with one in 1763 aiming to stop colonists from moving into Indian lands and then in 1774 voiding all land grants in the disputed area.

The British then sought to crush the Colonists' defiance with the promulgation in June 1774 of what the insurgents called the "Coercive Acts" or "Intolerable Acts." The Boston Port Act effectively closed Boston to commerce and was a death sentence on the merchant community of that city; the Massachusetts Government Act enlarged the powers of the royal governor at the expense of the already traditional legislature; the Administration of Justice Act provided for trial without jury and authorized the rendition of people charged with sedition to England; the Quartering Act allowed the British effectively to seize property from the colonists; and, finally, the Quebec Act stripped Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Virginia of lands they claimed beyond the Alleghenies and awarded them to Quebec, whose Catholic status was affirmed. This latter act thus raised in the colonial context the very religious issue that had caused many of the colonists to leave England.

These actions by the British government drew a sharp contrast between what the colonists had come to regard as their rights and what they saw as illegal British innovation. The rhetoric of colonial agitators was now proclaimed in bold script by the British government.

Taken in sum, the Coercive Acts offended almost every sector of the colonial society: merchants lost trade; settlers lost at least the dream of cheap land; householders feared confiscation of their property; the religious members of the population, who were almost entirely Protestants, saw the dread hand of the Papacy, which they had escaped in the Old World, thrusting toward them in the New; and those who were testing the boundaries of Mercantilist regulations or political prohibitions feared that they would be dragged off in chains to British courts where they were certain to be convicted. Thus, these acts virtually forced a "climate of insurgency" upon the colonists. For the first time, large numbers of colonists began to share the sense of opposition to the British Parliament. It was Britain that fastened upon the diverse colonies a sense of nationhood. Phase one of the insurgency was thus accomplished.

Phase two occurred more or less simultaneously. Collections of colonists gathered themselves into a number of small groups with such colorful names as "The Liberty Boys," "Mohawk River Indians," "Sons of Neptune," and the "Philadelphia Patriotic Society." Not to mince words, they were terrorist organizations. Working outside the law and at cross purposes with the existing authorities, they imprisoned government officials, tarred and feathered would-be sellers of tax stamps, assaulted customs inspectors, dumped tea into the sea, ran blockades, coerced juries or prevented courts from sitting. Under their attacks, British administration in the colonies virtually ceased to function.

Substitution followed almost automatically. All through the colonies, villages and towns established what came to be called "Committees of Public Safety." These ad hoc groups moved into the void caused by the collapse of the Colonial administration. Caught up in local issues, like land ownership, many were more radical in espousing independence than the better known leaders. One historian has found that over 90 of them issued their own declarations of independence before the one we know best. Thus motivated, they began to store shot and powder.

Since many of their local leaders had been active in the militias that had fought the Indians, they had an existing organization. And this they used to handle local affairs and to purge their communities of those who favored the British cause.

They also used the threat of terrorism as a recruiting incentive. One Scottish visitor describes in July 1775 in North Carolina what probably was a common occurrence. "An officer or committeeman enters a plantation with his posse. The Alternative is proposed: Agree to join us, and your persons and properties are safe…if you refuse, we are directly to cut up your corn, shoot your pigs, burn your houses, seize your Negroes and perhaps tar and feather yourself."

Wavers joined and opponents fled. By war's end, nearly 100,000 -- roughly one in each 20 colonists -- had been chased away or had fled.

The British saw these acts for what they were, terrorism and they responded with force. The British Army and its German auxiliaries were perhaps most disciplined, best equipped army in the world.

What the colonists had was pathetic. When in June of 1775 Washington arrived in Cambridge to take command of the Revolutionary army, he found that he did not have one. It was just a collection of town militias eager to go home. Washington had no money, no staff, no commissary, few serviceable arms, even fewer men who knew how to shoot and little ammunition. Nowhere in the colonies was gunpowder then produced – it had always been imported from England -- and no domestic source of flints had yet been found. Without flint, the guns of the period could not be fired. About one soldier in each four had no weapons of any description. Many did not even have serviceable shoes.

Not surprisingly, George Washington commented that "When I took command of the army, I abhorred the idea of independence."

Thus began Phase three, combat.

The British chased Washington disintegrating force down through New England and across the Hudson, almost trapping them several times along the way. One of Britain's most able officers found the American pretensions "a mystery indeed." The British announced Mission accomplished.

But then, while Washington retreated and dodged toward Valley Forge, the guerrilla war began. Far from Washington's command, mainly in the southern colonies, little groups of Colonists turned guerrilla began to engage in hit and run attacks on British targets. As General Cornwallis found, the whole country, particularly in the Carolinas, was "in an absolute State of Rebellion; every friend of the Government has been carried off, and his Plantation destroyed; & detachments of the enemy have appeared on the Santee, and threatened our Stores, & Convoys on that river." To try to protect both his own supplies and the few colonists who dared to declare for him, Cornwallis had to divide his forces and go on the defensive.

In sum, what the American insurgents were doing foreshadowed a pattern that we can see in the insurgencies that would follow right down to our own times.

Insurgents begin by learning who they are politically; then they disrupt the existing order; next they try to replace it; and finally they attempt to forge a core of like-minded people and to ensure that none of their fellows can work for the other side because those natives who join the foreigners are more dangerous to the national cause than the foreigners as they have the capability to form a native government. Thus, in America in the 1760s and early 1770s, as in each subsequent guerrilla war including most recently Iraq, insurgents more often attack their recalcitrant fellows than the foreign soldiers.

I have focused on the American Revolution both because I thought it might amuse you to see it in terms that we are more apt to use for Iraq or Afghanistan or Vietnam and because I think it is important to realize that insurgency is not an exotic subject related only to Islam or to Africa or Asia. It is a process that is undertaken when other means of politics are foreclosed.

* * *

Now I want to turn briefly to three final issues: first, how insurgencies begin and grow; second, counterinsurgency; and third how insurgencies end:

Insurgencies are nearly always started by tiny groups of people. The radical leaders of the Boston Town Meeting, led by Sam Adams, were less than a dozen. In the Palestine Mandate, the members of the most militant groups, the Stern or LEHI and Irgun Zeva'i Leumi in 1943 were together less than a hundred; the Yugoslav Chetniks were begun by 26; in Greece, the EAM was founded by only 15; the Viet Minh was founded by 34; on Cyprus the total insurgent force was less than 80; Castro began with about a dozen; the Algerian revolt was begun by less than a hundred and so on.

What emerges from these numbers is that, at inception and for the early phase, insurgency cannot be a guerrilla war; rather, those who engage their opponents must use the weapon of the weak – terrorism.

That it what happened in each case from the American Revolution onward.

Then, as terrorist acts succeed, the dominant government, usually a foreign entity or a government thought to be its puppet, seeks to suppress them. In doing so, it inevitably disrupts the lives of bystanders and hurts or kills others. In Spain, Napoleon's forces hanged not only the rebels but those they thought were helping them; in the Philippines both the Spaniards and the Americans killed thousands of villagers in search and destroy operations; in Yugoslavia and Greece, the Germans engaged in a draconian policy of reprisals in which they executed hundreds of hostages for each German killed by the Partisans. Relatives, friends and supporters of the dead seek vengeance and the place to get it is in the Resistance.

Thus, the Resistance rapidly multiplies. In Cuba, Castro's force grew from a dozen to 1,500 in a year; in Vietnam, the Viet Minh grew from 34 in 1944 to 5,000 in less than a year; in Algeria, the less than 100 Resistantes (as the French called them) soon reached 13,000.

Insurgents are always outnumbered -- in Algeria, the roughly 13,000 Algerians faced 485,000 French soldiers armed with aircraft, tanks and heavy weapons and guided by a sophisticated intelligence and surveillance service. In Yugoslavia and Greece, an average of eight or nine first-rate German divisions were held down by forces that rarely reach ten percent of their size and were far outclassed in mobility, supply and firepower.

So the dominant power seeks to destroy them. In Afghanistan, the Russians engaged in genocide; we did the same in Vietnam. Force Fails.

* * *

When raw force fails, the dominant power reverts to other techniques. Often it tries to isolate the combatants. In Malasia, the British even prevented villagers from cooking their own food so that they could not pass any of it to the rebels. In Kenya the British put about 150,000 people in concentration camps; in Vietnam, the Americans forced virtually the entire rural population – 11,000 of the 16,000 hamlets in South Vietnam -- to move out of their villages into some 6,800 barbed-wire-encircled strategic hamlets, ap-chien-luoc. As the editors of the Pentagon Papers wrote, "The long history of these efforts were marked by consistency in results as well as in techniques: all failed dismally."

So we are now being told by Generals Petraeus and Amos that the answer is a package of techniques that go under that buzzword, counterinsurgency. But what exactly is counterinsurgency?

Generals Petraeus and Amos give us a great many suggestions, mostly harking back to Vietnam, but, in their manual which sets the current policy in Iraq, they finally come to its heart: as they write and I quote,

"Political power is the central issue in insurgencies and counterinsurgencies; each side aims to get the people to accept its governance or authority as legitimate."

Is this a feasible objective for foreigners? One searches the historical record in vain for an example of success.

The foreign occupying force, by definition, is alien. Vietnam showed that even when the aliens had a numerous and established local ally, that ally (the South Vietnamese government) was more apt to be alienated by its association with the foreign military force than that force to be "nativized" by the natives.

Nationalism, or more crudely xenophobia, overwhelms even idealistic objectives and beneficial programs. In the Spanish war against Napoleon, even when what the French wanted to make the society more open, more productive and more just, the Spanish people regarded those objectives as unimportant when weighed in the scales of nationalism.

On what grounds can we expect that the attitude of Iraqis or Afghans or Somalis will be significantly different. Nowhere in the Manual could this final problem be adequately addressed; it certainly could not be convincingly solved.

Force has made the chaos worse; we have not won "the hearts and minds of the people;" money has not triumphed – incidentally, while I have been speaking, the American government has spent another 12 million dollars on the Iraq war.

* * *

So what happens if the dominant power does not win?

If foreign power stays, the fight goes on. Months turn into years, and years become generations. The Irish fought the British for hundreds of years; the Chechens have fought the Russians since the middle of the 18th century; the Algerians fought the French for over a century.

If the foreign power leaves, does fighting continue? Once an insurgency achieves what the leaders and enough of the public regard as an acceptable outcome, usually meaning that the foreigners leave and their local surrogates give up power, the guerrillas become superfluous. At that point, their leaders often become leaders of the government. That is what happened when Éamon De Valera became president of Ireland, Tito became president of Yugoslavia, Ahmad Ben Bella became president of Algeria and Fidel Castro became president of Cuba. At that point, the old guerrilla organization comes to seem not only an anachronism but a threat. The new regime then usually side-lines or suppresses it. That is what De Valera, Tito, Ben Bella and Castro did. As natives and as national heroes, they could do what foreigners could never do. Thus, the insurgency dies.

Does this not create chaos? No, chaos already exists in the final stages of a guerrilla war, but unless there are strong leaders, chaos may continue while the wounded society struggles to put itself back together. This is not an easy process. The greater the damage, the longer and more difficult it will be. Outsiders can help to ameliorate it – as the plan Senator George McGovern and I laid out would do -- but they cannot completely prevent it.

We have been constantly told, as President Bush repeated on August 22, 2007, the consequences of leaving "without getting the job done would be devastating." He then invoked Vietnam (confusing it in part with Cambodia and the Viet Minh with the Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge); he was right to emphasize the pain and suffering the Vietnamese continued to undergo – they had already suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths -- when America withdrew.

But, President Bush missed two crucial points: a painful transition at the end was inevitable from the beginning of America's involvement. Staying in Iraq, as President Bush vowed to have America do at least for the rest of his term, will certainly not avoid the agony of reconstitution.

Those who led us into Iraq – or would lead us into new wars – incur and must reckon with these costs when they advocate their policies.

What we can do for 2008

2007-10-16T02:30:00.000-07:00

Daj webnews - Part 2 –October 2007

Lessons learned in 2004, things we can do in 2008
Sarajean Rossitto

Based on our experiences in 2004 – successes and failures, I am hopeful that there is so much we can do to have an effect on the 2008 presidential election. Our energies were wasted if we do not act on past mistakes and in the last DAJ webnews I focused on the difficulties we faced. This time I want to outline some things we can do.

I do not want to address getting more people here in Japan to register and vote – of course we need to keep getting more of us registered and make sure we all vote but we can also help directly back home.

We need to get started now. The fact that everyone here is busy and does not have much time to commit is understood which is why the sooner we start and the more people we have the more effective we can be in spreading the work.

The trip to Florida was as exhilarating as the result was depressing but I would not suggest for 2008 that many of us actually go to the US. Given skype and similar cheap or free on line calling services, it is clear that we do not need to have a team travel to one place. Tech can help us do what we did from here and get more people involved – more bang for the buck.

There are three clear phases for the work we need to do:
1. Preparation
2. Registration
3. GOTV

Here I am going out line a simple schedule. I would like anyone interested to respond to me at sarajeanr@yahoo.com with ideas and comments. Based on this, I will write out a more specific set of ideas and present these to the DAJ Officers to add into 2008 plan.

Phase one - preparation - now and work through late spring 2008

We need to have several months to plan as well as feel out the environment for support and what resources are already out there. In this time we can evaluate which areas and campaigns require the most assistance. We will also take time to find the right local partners – one that cannot only use our help but that is open to our involvement. As we identify the targets and assess best ways to reach them (i.e. phone or letter or even visits) we will also need to see what materials need development and identify key locations for our activities.

This fall and through the winter we should be able to recruit volunteers. Point people for each of the following are needed both for the GOTV campaign and in general for DAJ: 1) volunteer coordination, 2) fundraising 3) web/online 4) research 5) training 6) calling and writing.

Ongoing tasks

Besides this there is a lot of on-going work that needs to start in winter 2007-8 and continue through to the election.

Another ongoing job will be fundraising, as our costs will add up over time. This may be done through events and individual asks for donations once the plan is devised and the project is launched.

Phase two – Registration
From next May through August, we will need to start taking action – calling and writing people to register to vote. So many groups were left out of the registration phase in 2004, and that mean some GOTV were in vain. Without getting everyone registered we are not going to get the votes.

Setting up teams and training 5-10 team leaders throughout Japan should not be too difficult. Each team could have specific area and group to target. 10 teams of 20 people each doing 10 successful calls a week over 10 weeks could result in 20,000 newly registered people. We need to think in these concrete terms to make an impact.

Phase three - Get out the vote
We can think of the September to early November phase being a more intensive.
August to September, we could focus areas such as working with local partners to get updated contact information for GOTV.

From October we can concentrate our efforts on Letter writing and calling people to ensure that they vote. People through out Jpaan could take part by either doing calls or writing letters encouraging people to vote, and confirming that they know their polling place.

In the final week before the election, we could just focus on intense calling of people in the areas we target.

DAJ has an extensive network of people through out Japan and although many people are busy, I believe we should be able to get enough people over the course of the year to affect the 2008 election.

END October Web News

2007-10-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

DAJ Webnews September 2007

2007-09-04T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here we are, in a new election year! And it is turning out to be quite a strange one at that. A disorganized republican field, a crazy scramble from states trying for earlier and earlier primaries, a wide Democratic field, and still the war in Iraq as a backdrop to everything...

Keep involved in in touch with DAJ as we write, work on GOTV and try to make sense of it all.

If you have something to sound off about in the webnews- send us an email. Let us know.

We have new officers as of 9/1
Lauren Shannon DAJ Chair
Mike Stensrud DAJ Vice Chair
Linda Gould DAJ Secretary
Bill Campbell DAJ Treasurer

And we need lots of new committee chairs and volunteers. Let us know what you would like to do.

From the Chair

2007-09-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hello, I am your new 2007-2009 Chair of DAJ, what a year to become an officer in the democratic party! I have met many of you, and want to meet all of you! Either in person or on the internet.

I would like to thank this year's election committee who managed our election process, and I would like to thank those folks who sent in their fax ballot this year- even though our elections for all four national officer positions were unopposed.

I know we face a huge challenge this year... and the hard part is - many of us are frustrated.

Frustrated with the Democratic Party and the slowness of the change we were all hoping for when we delivered a democratic majority last november. Frustrated with our leaders back in DC and Here in Japan Frustrated with the unending and tragic effects of the Iraq War and the loss of our civil liberties.

I have talked to many democrats who are feeling let down, who are worried that we won't get the changes we so desperately need. Some of you are frustrated with dems back in Washington DC. Some of you are even frustrated with Democrats Abroad International and Democrats Abroad here in Japan. Feeling like we are not doing enough, or not doing our best.

All I can say is, I share your frustration and fears.

But I am challenging myself and all of us to remember that WE are the democratic party. That we can make this party into what we know it can be, a force for good, an agent of change, and a group of leaders committed to restoring hope. Leaders who are committed to support Americans at home and overseas. I want to make DAJ a part of this change. But I can only do that by asking for all of your ideas, support and energy.

It is not going to be easy, and we can't give up. Democrats Abroad Japan needs you. And I welcome you all to tell me what you think we need to do. What you would like to do. And then let's look at how we can move forward together.

We have shared successes and growth- We have made mistakes and had mistepts, we are learning and changing.

2008 Is a huge year, we have an extremely important Presidential election before us, but there are also state by state races for congress that we need to learn about and become active in- We need- above all else- to get out the vote from Americans Living overseas across Japan.

There are some exciting things coming up for us. Some unprecidented opportunities.
But we need your help and participation to turn these opportunities into membership and voter registration successes.

Some fall highlights on our horizon

*The ACCJ is reaching out to us to involve DAJ in an historic series of panel discussions. The first of which will be coming soon in mid september or early October- the Topic will be The Iraq war and we will have the chance to hear from some high level officials and correspondents that have been involved.

* We are working on having a "Dinner, Drinks and Discussion" event with Professor Juan Cole- a very famous middle east expert, and quite a charismatic author and speaker.

* We are coming up on our Magical 4th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner- and hoping for a special visitor or message for the event.

* AND (drumroll please) - We may even be having a visit live and in person! from the Chairman of the DNC Gov. Howard Dean, in early December!!!

Many of you, who were active with us back in 2004- have faded into the background, understandably busy with family, and work, honestly disheartened by the battles we have waged against the disaterous Bush Administration BUT We need you back.

A few hours a month of your help will make all the difference. You can get involved by emailing me at japan-chair@dems-abroad.com Just let me know what you want to do! What you think our priorites should be. Let's work together to make our corner of the Democratic Party a dynamic and important voice in the future of our country. Next week I will be sending out an email of volunteer requests and ideas- I hope you will consider jumping in and joining us in some of our upcoming projects.

Myself and our other new officers welcome you to make DAJ your Democratic Party Committee here in Japan. Please consider joining us, or sending in your email comments for our First new officer's meeting email your thoughts to japan-chair@dems-abroad.com Check out our website calendar for details at www.demsjapan.jp

Thank you for your support. And I look forward to serving you.

American Misuse of Antidepressants is so Depressing

2007-09-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

by Linda Gould

Since the start of the Iraq War and occupation, I’ve thought there must be something in America’s drinking water. Every day the Bush Administration slaps us across our collective faces, punches us in the gut, and then kicks us in the ribs. Polls show the American public is discontented with politicians in general, and a majority of Americans are so fed up with Bush that they can’t wait until next year’s election to end the national nightmare. But, discontent isn’t enough to activate the American public. They keep taking the abuse, and no brazen assault on the Constitution or unprecedented power grab in the name of a Unitary Executive has shaken them out of their quiescence. The “something in the water” comment was my attempt to explain a compliant citizenry in times that require public outrage, but I apparently wasn’t far off the mark.

Antidepressant use is so rampant in the United States that remnants of the drugs are making their way into the nation’s ponds and rivers. Think for a moment how much Prozac or similar medicines have to be ingested and then passed into the sewer system for the active ingredient to be released into our rivers and ponds in such quantities that it would not only register in water quality tests, but also affect the breeding habits of wildlife living in those rivers.

Well, you don’t have to think about it too hard because The Centers for Disease Control has conveniently provided the data on antidepressant use. Adult use of antidepressant medication has increased by 48% between 1995 and 2002. Sixty one million doses were prescribed in 2001 alone; that’s even before the Bush years pushed everyone over the edge. Use by children is also on the rise, about 10% per year. In fact, the fastest growing group of users? Preschoolers aged 0-5 years! (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/6976.php)

Okay, so the drugs aren’t in the drinking water, but apparently they don’t have to be. When you consider the sheer number of “happy drugs” being prescribed, no wonder it is hard to motivate people to fill the streets protesting and demanding government accountability and congressional control of an executive branch gone wild. And if you factor in a common side effect of antidepressants, short-term memory loss, it explains how the Bush Administration can keep up their hypocrisy and contradictions with so little political backlash. (It might also explain the inability of all administration employees to recall their meetings, actions, decisions or policies, but that discussion is for another day.).

What lesson can be learned from this? Maybe we Democrats should place political ads on medicine bottles. But if that were possible, I’m sure the Republicans would have thought of it already. No, the real lesson is that politics is just one more part of modern American life that leaves people unhappy and dissatisfied. The next president will not only need to address pressing issues like the Iraq occupation, the environmental crisis, the failing infrastructure and the waning middle class, he or she must also be a beacon of hope and promise that will reach deep into American’s souls so that all Americans can believe in our country, our leaders, and ourselves again. Americans must know that the pursuit of happiness, even without drugs, will not be an endless, unfulfilled endeavor.

Why I am A Democrat

2007-09-04T00:20:00.000-07:00

-by Winifred Bird / DAJ Tokai

I started in on liberal politics early: my first letter of dissent to President Reagan (a fine illustrated piece reading “Carrots not bombs!”) logged in at age seven, skipping out on middle school to attend protests against the first Iraq war.

That doesn’t mean I ever considered why I was a democrat, though.

You see, in my native Bay Area, the political spectrum starts around centrist Democrat, continues on to Dennis Kucinich supporter, Green, and Socialist, and then finally heads out to that hazy Libertarian realm where left morphs into right again. Sure, I knew that Republicans were out there in an abstract sort of way – but did they actually exist? Without anyone concrete to push up against, my political identity was passionate but flimsy.

Maybe that’s why it rapidly wilted after I went out East to attend college. I joined the requisite left-wing political group, but soon became disillusioned with the bickering and organizational grunt-work that activism entailed. So I quit politics (not easy seeing as I was a political science major). I discovered Gandhi and Wendell Berry and decided that the path to true democracy lay in self sufficiency. Politics as I knew it felt too distant from real life. How can the citizenry claim to hold power, after all, if even our most basic needs come at the mercy of huge corporations? So the next few years of my life I devoted to democracy via organic farming.

I returned to politics in the more traditional sense the day I read Seymore Hersh’s article breaking the Abu Ghraib story. It was an utter shock that the government would not only resort to such barbaric torture (which I was not so naïve as to believe had never happened in secret before) but that it would express so little repentance in the face of its outing. My horror deepened the following winter when Alberto Gonzales, the very man who had helped concoct a legal justification for torture, was chosen to be Attorney General. It seemed the Bush administration had entered a new realm of gutsy disregard for both the Geneva Conventions and our own Constitution.

Around the same time, I heard an interview with Isabel Allende on public radio which affected me deeply. Allende, the Chilean author and relative of President Salvador Allende, recalled the day tanks rolled into Santiago’s city center. The following similar description is from her website:

The first part of my life ended on September 11, 1973. That day there was
a brutal military coup in Chile. President Salvador Allende, the first Socialist
President ever elected democratically, died. In a few hours a century of
democracy ended in my country and was replaced with a regime of terror.
Thousands were arrested, tortured or killed, many disappeared and their
bodies were never found.

What struck me was that she had thought her country’s democracy was inviolable, and had discovered in the hardest of ways that it was not. The frailty of democracy – the fact that it is created and preserved only through human will – became clear at that moment. Moreover, here, now, in my own nation, Republicans were on a path that led distinctly away from liberty, equality, and justice. Political countermeasures were desperately needed by everyone and anyone, including me. So I came back to politics.

Above my desk here in Kumano, Japan, where it is much too easy to forget that American politics even exist, I have taped a bit of the Declaration of Independence. It reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .

It’s such a fantastically hopeful and clear piece of writing. It never fails to restore my faith when I begin to tire of politics. I find it to be reflected more strongly in the actions of the Democratic Party than the Republican, and that, at the bottom of it all, is why I am a Democrat.

"Michael Vick"

2007-09-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

-by Mike Plugh

I’ve recently returned to New York to do some graduate work and I think the insidious reverse culture shock that everyone warns of has set in. At the supermarket, potato chip bags come in extra large, family size, and 20 pound bags. Check out clerks pack groceries in plastic bags two pieces at a time. One orange, a tomato, next bag…. I think I carried home 30 plastic bags for a $40 dollar shopping trip the other day.

Daily life is full of surprises, but one assumes that things will normalize and a steady lifestyle will eventually emerge. There are things we forget when we’re away for so long. Some are good and some are bad. Memories of home are often clouded in fantasy or convenient amnesia when separated by time and distance, something like a high school sweetheart. Nothing has struck me moreso than the media. Of course, I’m back in the U.S. to pursue a degree in Public Communications, and the first syllabus to hit my inbox was in “Problems of News”, but the synchronicity of my strongest observation and the initial outreach from my professor is more than a mere coincidence. It’s a painfully obvious reminder that American people are suffering a poverty of journalism that is unparalleled in our nation’s history.

CNN now boasts more news per hour in their morning coverage for some reason. Is that what we need? Is that really their best selling point? Not more quality news coverage of key issues at the heart of American society. Instead we are treated to quick hits of car chases in Los Angeles, runaway poodles, convenience store robberies caught on camera, and so on. I was nearly floored at the dueling news coverage of the resignation of Alberto Gonzales and the guilty plea of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

I thought to myself as I watched, “Is Vick getting more airtime than the deposed Attorney General?” As that thought ran through my mind, I headed for DailyKos and DavidCorn.com to see what the Left had to say about the stunning turn of events. Corn, to his credit, led his piece with a similar thought on the Vick/Gonzales coverage at CNN. Neither of us had clocked the airtime for the two stories, but like me, Corn wondered why both deserved nearly duplicate airtime. Let’s think about it for a moment.

Michael Vick is a famous man. He is one of the most talented athletes in America and an Atlanta icon. That last point may help to explain the interest by CNN, an Atlanta-based network. This man kept dogs in his home and allowed guests to gamble on a blood sport that pits animal against animal in a horrifying display of brutality. He was caught. He struck a plea. He’s going to jail. That’s the story. Ask yourself how closely this relates to you. Where does your life and Michael Vick’s intersect? Next story.

The Attorney General of the United States of America resigned. He is the top lawyer in this country and the man responsible for overseeing the judicial affairs of the entire nation. He has evaded Congressional calls for testimony, information, and accountability on a number of fronts and has politicized the department more than any figure in its history. This man is also one of the closest confidants of the president and the final member of his inner circle of Texans, now in Washington. Ask youself how closely this relates to you. Where does your life and Alberto Gonzales’ intersect?

One story is a curiosity. It’s a titillating look inside the world of big money sports, underground gambling, and animal abuse. Exciting storyline. It would make for a good movie. It would make for an interesting lead in from a commercial break at some point during the day. ESPN would be wise to dig deeper into this and maybe HBO’s Real Sports. CNN? On the right day, it might make for a repeat story every few hours.

The other story involves a public servant of the highest stature. It is a story that sits directly in your living room and directly impacts the freedoms that we all enjoy as Americans. The departure of one man affects the agenda of the president, the Congress, and possibly the Supreme Court. It affects appeals, all manner of jurisprudence, and legislation in various committees. The president will choose a replacement that will require confirmation by the Senate, unless he chooses a recess appointment. The analysis of this event will help all of us understand the prism of issues that has exploded across the landscape.

In the end, there is finite time with which to cover all the important events of our time. How we use that time is critically important. As a part of our society that enjoys a certain protection, the status of the Fourth Estate, isn’t it the duty of journalists to cover the events that directly intersect our lives and impact us the most? Michael Vick? No relation to me. Alberto Gonzales? Critical relationship. This is only one example of the war on journalism that exists in the “for profit” media. Would we devote the same amount of airtime to covering the issues of poverty and AIDS and national health care and the figures involved in lobbying the government, the media would serve as an important tool to educate, enlighten, and protect the interest of the citizen. The way things stand now, the media only serves to titillate, entertain, and give the illusion of enlightenment. The 30 second coverage of real news is sandwiched between the 2-3 minute coverage of trivia. All stories are equal on CNN and its cousins. Alberto Gonzales and Michael Vick are put on a pedestal and treated as equals.

Where’s the perspective? Why don’t we demand better? Where did the real journalists go? Where can we find real news? I’ll get back to you on that. I have a little work to do.

This is going to be an easy one…

2007-09-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

- by Sean Toczko

We have just witnessed george bush going up in front of a crowd of American combat veterans – the Veterans of Foreign Wars, to tell them all about “combat.” If no one was struck by the irony – and hypocrisy – of this event, they are either too deep into the “cult of george” to admit the truth to themselves, or they are dead.

What of these vet’s groups? Well, the sad fact is that they tend to epitomize the people who the republican mantra aims for – older, white, males, who are afraid of the “foreign menace” whoever that is. The leaders have fallen into the same trap that befalls all groups that set up shop along “K” Street in DC – they spend more time trying to keep their “phoney baloney jobs” than they do on the issues that brought them to DC in the first place. They, like the republicans – and democrats – who rubber-stamped us into these wars have failed us. The VFW leadership is even more craven – giving Donald Rumsfeld the VFW’s Eisenhower Distinguished Service Award (!!) – while battle wounded soldiers were being treated with complete disrespect – being given bills for services, living in substandard, condemned buildings with leaking sewage pipes and rats, and divorce rates and suicides among our troops hit record highs.

JFK once said: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

I think we have to bring this up to date: “Let every corporate donor know, whether they wish the US well or ill, that we shall pay them any price, our poor and soldiers will bear any burden, and every hardship, we will support any craven war profiteer, and name as foes any who oppose us, in order to assure the survival of their firms, market share position and corporate success. Liberty? Who dat?”

September Lessons from the Left

2007-09-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Is Patience a Virtue? by Dan Curewitz

We in the Democratic Party who focus on progressive changes to domestic and foreign policy face a very difficult, uphill struggle. Here is the current situation: After the smashing electoral victory in November 2006, there were high hopes for sweeping changes to current disastrous policies and practices in government. A large number of incumbents (both Democrats and Republicans) were defeated (or resigned) in both primaries and in general elections. The overwhelming theme to these electoral changes were simple: change the disastrous polcies regarding Iraq, end the endemic (but not yet systemic, we hope) corruption in DC surrounding the power of lobbyists, and protect/restore the civil liberties guaranteed by the constitution and so degraded by the Bush administration. These opinions were and remain the overwhelming consensus of the US electorate by large percentages in all major polls over the last year, and politicians who campaigned on these issues generally won election to office.

And then came the letdown. Attempts to legislate firm deadlines for withdrawal, firm benchmarks for the definition of “progress,” limitations on the blank checks for war funding without attention to the safety and well-being of military personnel, limitations on the overweening powers arrogated to the executive branch by the executive branch…all these legislative initiatives were derailed. Who did this? The usual suspects of course (Rabid Rightwing Republicans, Slavish Bluedog Democrats, and Joe Lieberman), and a very disappointingly large number of the freshman candidates that so many progressives and liberals spent so much time supporting and working for. This trend has been continuing and growing, with more and more of the formerly quiet Democrats starting to break ranks (Baird), and many of the newly elected, supposedly “progressive/populist” Democrats wavering or completely reversing their positions on many of the critical issues of the day (Webb, Carney, Sestak, McNerney, and so on).

Whether these betrayals (and yes, in many cases these ARE direct betrayals of direct promises made during campaigns) are the consequence of blatant lying and dishonesty on the part of calculating politicians, or are the consequence of the absorption and enfolding of newly arrived neophytes into the “DC Bubble” (related to the difficulties of dealing with the bureaucracy, understanding the deal-making, dealing with large teams of largely unknown staffers, submitting to the authority of entrenched senior members of the caucus, and so on)…well, these are irrelevant excuses. The thing is not to understand the world, it is to change the world (to paraphrase a minor historical figure).

So what to do? Is being patient and letting this continue in hopes that it will change through evolution, momentum, gathering of courage, and so on? Well, I say no. Patience in this instance is not a virtue. President Bush and his cronies and sycophants are even now embarking on attempts to gather further huge allotments of unaccountable and unaccounted money in the form of blank checks to further prosecute the idiotic and failing war in Iraq. Further excuses, lies, and propaganda surrounding the actual “progress” in Iraq are being concocted and disseminated on a daily basis. Further depredations to the civil rights and constitutional infrastructure are being foisted off on the American people as I write this essay. Politicians that were elected on promises of change need to deliver. Those that do not deliver deserve primary challenges, public confrontations, and discipline from the electorate and activists that got them elected in the first place.

There is a difference between “patience” and “implacable resolve.” We must show the latter, and not succumb to the former. We will be represented by sane, intelligent, honest, and passionate politicians who keep promises and follow through on campaign statements. We will hold our political leaders accountable in the press, on the internet, in public, and at the ballot box. We will not be intimidated, and we will not sit back and allow our hard earned money donated to politicians and parties, our efforts, blood, sweat and tears be wasted by those willing to say anything to get to DC, only to then sit back and allow the same blatant crimes and stupid insanities to continue unchallenged or with token sops to the “fringes” (who currently comprise far more than 50% of the public.

Those who were elected on our efforts and with our help need to remember who got them into office, and if they do not, they need to be reminded in no uncertain terms: by being embarrassed, by being hounded by callers, writers and questioners at meetings, by being tossed out of office in primary challenges and general election challenges. There can be, and will be no tolerance for those who support or accede to continuation of the ruinous, despicable, stupid, and destructive patterns of the current administration and its enablers in all branches of government (and the press).

Patience is not a virtue – not when the moral and civic fabric of the nation, the environmental fabric of our planet, and the political/social fabric of the human population on that planet are being systematically destroyed in part by the policies foisted upon us by a gang of thugs, liars and thieves. Those who have the power to actually do something about that insanity and who do nothing are a part of the problem, and deserve no patience or tolerance.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

2007-09-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

by Linda Gould

Can I do something completely different with this article? I’m not a pundit, so there is little that I can add to put our modern politics into perspective, but there are a few things I’d love to raise and see if there is anyone else out there who thinks as I do. So, if you have any thoughts about the following comments, please let me know.

1) Has anyone else noticed the recent abundant use of the word “folk?” Presidential candidates use it, pundits use it and newscasters use it. It’s everywhere. It’s a fine word if used sparingly, but our country is now called the “homeland” and instead of the word “people” we are using “folks.” This makes me uncomfortable.

2) I love the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and good on him for booking so many presidential candidates on his show. They all made such an effort to be “folksy” and funny and so down-to-earth. Would any of them appear on the show as President? Any candidate who would promise to go on the Daily Show twice a year if elected President would get my vote.

3) No wonder George Bush keeps saying history will judge his administration. Through his prism, there is still a debate about whether the US did the right thing by leaving Vietnam. Is it truly possible that we are dealing with a man who believes we should have stayed longer in Vietnam? If not, what does that bizarre comment that he made in his speech to the VFW mean? And is this why he refuses to change course? Does anyone remember the speech he made where he said historians are still debating about whether George Washington was a good president? I don’t know what he is reading, but I don’t think it is history.

4) I think people should stop wearing flag lapel pins and start wearing a pin with the preamble to the constitution printed on it.

5) Coming from Delaware, I understand completely why some states want to change the primary schedule. Delaware has had no effect on the primary process since we were 13 colonies, and I’m not sure if a presidential candidate ever visited my state. But this race to be first is crazy and the DNC is right to try to put an end to it. Why not mix up the primary dates for each election? Have a few primary dates over a couple of months. Those who are first one year, are last next. Others move up to first. It just seems fair to me.

6) And what about voting districts? It is ridiculous that there is a 98% incumbency rate in Congress. Gerrymandering is wrong whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats, so why not divide the nation into equal-sized hexagons, with each hexagon being one representative district?

7) Has anyone out there heard this bizarre notion that the new strategy in Iraq is to have our troops serve as on-the-ground diplomats? Lt Colonel John Nagle was on the Tavis Smiley Show talking about Petraeus’ new strategy to defeat the insurgency. It seems our troops are being trained to be “soldier diplomats and soldier economists and soldier information operators.” Nagle was on the Daily Show a few days later, where he informed us of a new military slogan; “Be polite, be professional, but be prepared to kill.” This is a fly-on-the-wall moment to me. We don’t have to guess and theorize what these people think about diplomacy, working with people, finding solutions to problems... They have finally made it unequivocal—we’ll ask you nicely, but you’d better do what we want or KABOOM!

8) Okay, my last issue is more of a comment than a question. I heard Tony Blankly from the Washington Times espousing about how the spouses of candidates are being too vocal. He asked the question, “Does the American public want to see spouses with big mouthes?” That is so offensive, and quite revealing about the right-wing philosophy towards women (although he included Bill Clinton in his commentary)—they want us to just shut up and stand by your man. I guess they think barefoot and pregnant wouldn’t be too bad either.

God, I hope a Democrat wins in ’08

A gator reflects on Florida 2004

2007-09-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

Part 1- September 2007 webnews –
Sarajean Rossitto

In summer 2007 I spent a lot of time talking about the 2004 campaign, with friends new and old, brainstorming about what we need to do for 2008. These friends are from all over and their ideas have been invaluable since who is the US president affects the everyone. Over the next three months in the DAJ webnews I would like to share pieces of some of these discussions as well as my own ideas about what we can do. I invite you to join me and other DAJers as we start planning for global actions.

This month I review the 2004 Gator experience, in October ideas for how we could a similar project more effectively and then in November based on feedback and comments from DAJ leadership and membership, I will present specific ways we can be part of the campaign from away.

Sunshine and Gators – background info

For those of you new to DAJ and/or Japan – here’s a recap – 10 people from Japan went to central Florida and knocked on doors for the get out the vote campaign. We started planning in spring 2004. We had a diverse team with various skills and we raised money for cars and food. We paid for our flights and got miles donated. In summer started a web site and networking on line.

Half of our team arrived 5 days before the election and the other half 2 weeks beforehand. I was there for almost 5 weeks getting things set up. We ended up “taking over” three voting districts that would have otherwise not had anyone in charge of the GOTV.

We also moved other to join – we started getting emails from Americans London, Paris, panama, and other parts of the world wanting to join us. At least 8 other people who contacted us showed up in other parts of Florida and/or Ohio. Even one young British guy worked directly with us.

Who to work with?

We had hoped to join an organized GOTV but this was far the most difficult part of the Gator prep. We tried to reach out to the Democratic Party in FL at the state and local levels. Getting form emails after formal introductions to key people and basically being told to come any clear plan was needless to say disillusioning. So we found a community group doing GOTV to work with: FCAN

FCAN was slightly better organized, compared to the local party they at least had prepared contact lists and planned for people to go to all the election districts. (Not only the safe or “white” ones.) But as with other groups, FCAN staff had been doing door-to-door for 6 months and was quite burned out by the time we got there. also local volunteers were busy with their own lives – but the young staff we by far the most energetic and inspiring.

What we saw

In the first weeks before the whole team came over – I joined a training for an overview of how the campaign was to be done but without a large team it seemed impossible. Around us there were volunteer lawyers and doorknockers from CA NYC and of all places – Texas – but the number of volunteers was still very small. Local volunteers joined us– mostly because people were moved that we came from so far away.

We had money and a few people but there was no infrastructure to support us or the other volunteers. If we had not taken a lot of time out of our lives we could very well have spent half our time in Mel’s Diner trying to understand where to go next.

Learning points:

These should be very obvious but our expectations of the on the ground capacity were too high. The following would have made our work more effective – from simple to complex:

1. Materials – we had had all types of materials on issues but we needed were up to date contact lists and detailed maps to go with them. We spent the morning mapping out the districts, driving routes, downloading maps, making copies and then printing out information on the polling places for the voters.

2. Capacity and leadership.

A. Training - Many groups had different trainings to introduce the campaign strategy but it was insufficient. Most people needed a step by step grassroots organizing training that requires more than an hour or two.

B. Leadership -. This is not a criticism of any organizations or person but the basic problem obvious right away. Who was responsible for what in the GOTV campaign?

3. A strategic state wide campaign that is part of a national campaign

I had friends doing similar work in Miami and Fort Lauderdale but they had thousands of students volunteers. In central Florida there were not enough people to register voters let alone going GOTV.

I am not interested in criticizing anyone or any group but to share the realities of being in the field and illustrate difficulties so that we may be better able to tackle 2008 election. Next month I will present an outline based on what we learned and your comments - send them to sr392@columbia.edu.

September Book Review

2007-09-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Nemesis – The Last Days of the American Republic, by Chalmers Johnson

review by Mike Stensrud, Vice Chair, DAJ

Nemesis is the third book in a trilogy written by Professor Chalmers Johnson, who in the 80’s and 90’s actually made a name for himself in the Japan studies field by assailing free-market economic ideologues for saying that Japanese economic growth was driven by market forces instead of Japanese government industrial policy. While Japan and Asia factor in to the books that make up this trilogy, they are somewhat of a departure from topics that he covered as a Japan expert in that these books are more wide-ranging.

The first two books in the trilogy were Blowback (which basically predicted pre-9/11 that CIA clandestine operations abroad would come back to haunt us at home) and Sorrows of Empire, which explores the growth in American militarism, the huge number of military installations America has overseas and how they actually undermine our safety as a nation. Any of these books can be read in isolation. There is technically no need to read them all though they do fit together nicely.

In Nemesis, Johnson draws on his considerable intellect to cover a few key areas:

Growing militarism in the US and the breakdown of Constitutional government.
Comparing America to past empires (Rome, Britain)
Discussion of the CIA, which Johnson refers to as the President’s Private Army.
US military bases abroad.
Attempts by the US to militarize space.

Living in Japan and having lived in the Philippines, I consider myself reasonably familiar with US military bases and the problems they create in other people’s countries. I was also familiar with US attempts to weaponize space though Johnson does a good job of explaining in detail why the incredibly expensive plans to do so are almost certainly doomed to fail.

What I found particularly compelling about Nemesis is Johnson’s argument that military spending, CIA budgets, and space weapons systems are nearly perfect settings for official corruption.

He goes into considerable details about how defense appropriations are often made in secret because many are part of the so-called ‘black budget’ or ‘special access’ programs and therefore protected from the prying eyes of American taxpayers. Johnson describes the process as being a prescription for legal thievery on an unprecedented scale. Often some of the money spent on defense pork – pork that is often not even wanted by the military itself - is then recycled into the hands of the politicians who allocated the money to these ‘black budget’ programs in the first place. This legal bribery is partially what happened with Duke Cunningham, who was the 3^rd largest recipient of defense industry money. It’s what appears to be happening with Duncan Hunter (R-CA), the 2^nd largest recipient of defense dollars, as well. It’s an uncomfortable truth that the Democrat’s own Jack Murtha was the leading recipient of defense contributions and it’s probably something we should keep our eyes on.

I also liked Johnson’s takedown of the CIA and the American intelligence community. The American intelligence community also has a huge black budget (estimated at approx. $40 billion/year) and there are numerous cases, enumerated in the book, in which the intelligence community does their jobs with startling incompetence. Naturally, because of the nature of their work, much of what the CIA does occurs without Congressional oversight so Americans have little idea what the CIA is actually doing ‘in our name’. As Johnson pointed out in his previous book, a lot of government secrecy is promoted by people who are afraid their shoddy work will be subject to public scrutiny or because they’re doing something that is blatantly illegal.

Perhaps the most interesting and most relevant parts of the book though, dealt with inability of Congress (and the courts) to assert themselves as effective checks on Executive power. We all know that the Republican Congress basically rubber-stamped everything the Administration asked for until 2006 but even after the Democrats took over, we still have an administration that largely runs roughshod over the Congress.

Johnson makes a very compelling case that maintaining an empire abroad ‘requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent’.

Only thru attempting to force our representatives to stand up for our Constitution and for the rule of law can we save America from this fate. This is why it’s important that we contact our representatives to express ourselves on these issues. It’s also why it’s so important for grassroots Democrats to try to get more progressive candidates elected in 2008. In the end, as Johnson points out, Americans will probably be forced to choose between maintaining their empire and losing their democracy or losing their empire but keeping their democracy (as Britain did). I know where I stand – I think American bases are a complete waste of money. I also believe that the military and intelligence communities should be subjected to the same level of scrutiny we give to every other government bureaucracy; they should not be treated like sacred cows and progressives should not be afraid of pointing out the fraud and waste that permeates the military and intelligence communities.

Johnson is a good writer. If you’re looking for a book that draws interesting parallels between America and previous empires and provides yet more evidence that we are entering the terminal stages of our own empire, Nemesis is a good starting point. If anyone in Tokyo would like to borrow it, let me know and we can arrange for you to pick it up at a DAJ event.

THE END- SEPTEMBER 07 WEBNEWS

2007-09-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dog Days of Summer August WebNews DAJ

2007-08-06T05:44:00.001-07:00

Hot! oh yes it is hot hot hot.... Well- welcome to the August webnews. Many of you are traveling this august, we wish you safe happy trips. For those of us staying here, do your best to beat the heat and still enjoy the sunshine.

This issue of the webnews is the last of the current 2 year term of the last DAJ officers. New Officers will be starting off our new year in September. Announcements coming soon.

In the summer months, activitiy slows down a bit, so our webnews is a bit short this month, but we hope you enjoy.

Also please consider writing for us for the Sept. Edition. Email me at secretary@demsjapan.jp

WHY I AM A DEMOCRAT

2007-08-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

By Ron Andrews

In the bustling all-night cafe of a nondescript Paris hotel, a mad blend of coffee and politics stretching into the morning's wee hours, new worldviews continued unfolding. I and some European and Middle Eastern emigrants and travelers entered our fifth hour of heated discussion of politics, societies and more. Sensing a chance to meet new folks and learn new things, how could I resist?

As time whizzed by, opinions flew back and forth of supposed good points and bad of various governments and societies, democracy & America being just two among many under scrutiny. Viewpoints arose fast and furious, then a pregnant pause, then at it again, a spirited wave engulfing dissimilar folks brought together by chance, hearts & minds reaching for some utopia. Many hours and lots of coffee and wine later, we squinted at the sun's approach and headed out... to work, to travel, to spar again in cafes. An awkward dance of sharing and learning, the encounter offered me new perspectives while reinforcing others long held.

Though often unprepared amid the others' apparent wider understanding, I learned a lot, like how much of what I thought I knew seemed based on mere labels, of the importance of speaking truth to both facts and principles, and of the necessity to passionately support ideals that benefit more than ourselves, like justice, equality and the opportunity for citizens to be actively involved. But facts, principles and passion have to go together. Neither principled passion alone, nor facts alone, do any good in the end.

That caffeine-fueled adventure also showed me that the essence of an ideal -- not just labels and symbols -- is what must be fully lived and widely shared... like those ardent yearnings for truth and justice passionately embodied in America's own raucous history of people striving to ensure that "just powers" keep on coming "from the consent of the governed." I felt all of us that morning were seeking such ideals, each in our own way. But interestingly, after the barrage of opinions had settled was a quiet understanding among many there that democracy, though not perfect, may be one of the better ways such ideals can be achieved. It was an unexpected yet reassuring denouement that I was on a path worth treading, and a reminder of how serendipitous encounters can so often both alter & reinvigorate one's worldviews.

Though the process is indeed sometimes frustrating and full of missteps, trying to live small 'd' democratic ideals has long been important to me, much more than being in any political party. Yet the camaraderie and shared goals that can come with belonging to a group are empowering. I'm a Democrat now because the Democrats seem to be the best hope not only of rekindling for me the exuberance of that Paris cafe, but also of helping stop the assault on our democratic ideals by selfish opportunists who care nothing about America or where we're all headed. In essence, of numerous visions of American society and our expected roles in it, Democrats to me consistently offer the most realistic, inclusive and hopeful, and thus viable, option. In general, I find most other parties & ideologies too exclusive, too self-absorbed, or too unrealistic in bridging the gap between what's possible and what's doable, between what's desirable and what's necessary.

Before registering Democrat and joining Democrats Abroad, I was a long-time Green and hoped to actively stay that way from afar. Democratic ideals to me, then, must include ecological equity and sustainability, since our natural environment really is the foundation that all we know and love rests upon. But going completely third-party still isn't viable for me given how impotent such small parties remain in today's American political landscape (though one could argue... remaining impotent in part because so many are eschewing them). I do hope some day Democrats become far less dependent on corporate power and money, and incorporate even more green ideals alongside our historical affinity with the grassroots and working men & women. But until then, the struggle for what's right and what's necessary continues. For instance, though only a first step, the Democratic debate on July 23 taking questions from average citizens gives me hope that the "Democrats have 'failed America'" sentiment Dennis Kucinich fervently expressed can be completely reversed. Reading now that at least two Republican candidates (Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney) so far refuse to face similar video questions from average citizens in their coming debate on Sept. 17 only reinforces this hope.

The Democratic Party certainly isn't perfect; no political party ever is. But I've realized, more so living abroad, that a dedicated group effort is far more likely to succeed than a disunited mix of individual hopes and dreams, however noble they are. Not as individuals alone but by uniting together will greater success come in strengthening the ideals essential to our democracy -- a shared effort, with a shared vision, toward a shared destiny. The very soul of our nation depends on it.

Or in the words of Howard Zinn, long advising others seeking their role in fostering progressive change... "You can't be neutral on a moving train."

On the question of Impeachment

2007-08-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

“We have a golden opportunity to save our country, but if we focus only on 2008 then we will miss it.”- Randy Caldwell, DA/Munich, Germany

Democrats Abroad Resolution: “Resolution to Investigate Possible Impeachable offenses,” March 13, 2006.

“…NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That Democrats Abroad calls for the immediate appointment of an independent special prosecutor with full power and authority to investigate criminal acts committed by members of this Administration and institute criminal proceedings were appropriate; and That Democrats Abroad supports HR635 and calls on Congress to begin open, full, thorough, bi-partisan Congressional investigations immediately to determine whether impeachable offenses have been committed by George Bush and Dick Cheney and, in the affirmative, to begin impeachment proceedings against George Bush and Dick Cheney immediately.”
http://www.democratsabroad.org/about/resolutions/2006/03/002858.php

The Impeachment Process.

1. The House Judiciary Committee deliberates over whether to initiate an impeachment inquiry.
2. The Judiciary Committee adopts a resolution seeking authority from the entire House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry. Before voting, the House debates and considers the resolution. Approval requires a majority vote.
3. The Judiciary Committee conducts an impeachment inquiry, possibly through public hearings. At the conclusion of the inquiry, articles of impeachment are prepared. They must be approved by a majority of the Committee.
4. The House of Representatives considers and debates the articles of impeachment. A majority vote of the entire House is required to pass each article. Once an article is approved, the President is, technically speaking, "impeached" -- that is subject to trial in the Senate.
5. The Senate holds trial on the articles of impeachment approved by the House. The Senate sits as a jury while the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over the trial.
6. At the conclusion of the trial, the Senate votes on whether to remove the President from office. A two-thirds vote by the Members present in the Senate is required for removal.
7. If the President is removed, the Vice-President assumes the Presidency under the chain of succession established by Amendment XXV [“The Impeachment Process in a Nutshell,” http://www.law.cornell.edu/background/impeach/impeach.htm]

“Impeachment: Readings & Resources” was compiled by DA/Mexico’s Beverly Bandler. The 26 page file is available from her bbandler1938@yahoo.com or go to www.AfterDowningStreet.com .com/> , July 23, 2007 posting for the entire list.

Recent Must-Read Articles:

- Parry, Robert. “If the Democrats Want to Win…,” ConsortiumNews.com, 7-18-07. http://consortiumnews.com/2007/071707.html

“If the Democrats really want to prevail over George W. Bush on the Iraq War and on his authoritarian vision of presidential powers, they would put back on the table two options that their leaders have removed: a cut-off of war funding and impeachment…Impeachment hearings also would give the American people a focus for both understanding the threat that Bush represents to their constitutional system and giving them a way to stand up to him. The public also gets the idea of impeachment -- it's like you're firing the guy -- while they are confused and demoralized by the current legislative maneuvering.
Even if the Republicans succeed in blocking the Bush-Cheney impeachment in the House or their removal from office in the Senate, Congress would have served notice that it rejects Bush’s dark vision for America -- and the momentous issues of Campaign 2008 would be clarified.”

- Crockett, Stephen. “Impeachment & the Constitution,” Consortium News, 7-31-07. http://consortiumnews.com/2007/073107a.html
Editor’s Note: Once considered a fringe idea, impeachment is moving quickly into the mainstream of American public opinion, as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney insist on flouting the rule of law and defying congressional oversight.

“The Attorney General holds legal theories that would give the President dictatorial powers. Bush, Cheney and Gonzales have resolutely claimed powers not given by the Constitution to the Executive Branch. These claims are essentially “high crimes” by their very nature. They subvert the American Constitution and border on treason…Because Bush is willing to misuse his Presidential powers and the Supreme Court has been packed with radical, partisan Republican appointees, only impeachment hearings will reveal to the public the abuses of the Bush White House. Only impeachment will bring these powerful criminals to justice and preserve the Constitutional rule of law.”

Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio, http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com .com/> . His e-mail is midsouthern@aol.com .

- Blades, Meteor. “Forget the Leadership. Convince the Judiciary Committee.” Daily Kos, 7-03-07. (3-4 pp)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/3/23916/45625

“But what is our choice? We can't only defend the Constitution when the timing is convenient. We can't always wait until election day to make matters right… If the Bush-Cheney Administration cannot be compelled to turn over subpoenaed documentation relating to its Constitution-dismantling outlawry, and it plans to try every legal maneuver and delaying techinique at its disposal to avoid that compulsion, what remedy remains?

A court battle over these subpoenaed documents could take, in political terms, forever, with no guarantee at the end of even partial victory. The Nixon Administration engaged in legal wrangling over releasing incriminating audiotapes for more than a year, and that was before rightwingers had their hooks so deeply embedded in the federal judiciary.
The political risks of impeachment must be weighed against what's at risk from not impeaching, for failing to shield the Constitution and the American people from the continuing depredations of the lying, unaccountable cabal that's been in charge for the past six-and-a-half years.”

Blades reminds us that the 23 members of the Judiciary Committee can make impeachment happen. Two have already signed on as co-sponsors of HR 333 to impeach Cheney. Thank the latter 2; persuade the 21 to support the initiation of impeachment proceedings using your best argument (NOT your worst insult).

Blades provides the list of committee members and how to contact them. Photos too!

– Blades, Meteor. “Impeachment by Frog-Marching Congressional Oversight,” by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse/DailyKos. 7-09-07. (7 pp).
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/9/20378/62042

“Impeachment is the right remedy right now. But transforming it from blog-shriek into reality - if that can be done - will require a fresh approach <http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/3/23916/45625> .
My approach uses existing Congressional oversight powers that have been gathering dust in the closet even though they have the Supreme Court stamp of approval and have been very effective against uncooperative executive branch officials in the past. It is a bold and dramatic approach tailored to counter Bush's obstructionist MO and false bravado. Bush now has a pattern of obstructing justice by refusing to permit witnesses to testify or provide evidence in oversight hearings while he waves his sword of executive privilege. But, Bush's sword is nothing more than pretentious swaggering to scare Congress from exercising its powers or litigating.

It's time for Congress to use its powers in a 3-step plan to get the evidence we need to convince the public and lawmakers that "Impeachment is the right remedy right now."

The three steps of his plan.

Step 1: Congress commences a "criminal proceeding" to investigate allegations of criminal obstruction of justice by Bush and his minions.
Step 2: Congress Can Frog-March Rove for a Trial on Contempt and Send Him to Jail.
Step 3: Democrats Need To Stop running away from executive privilege claims and litigate if needed.

- Blades, Meteor. “Forget the Leadership. Convince the Judiciary Committee.” Daily Kos, 7-03-07. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/3/23916/45625

“…[W]hat is our choice? We can't only defend the Constitution when the timing is convenient. We can't always wait until election day to make matters right… If the Bush-Cheney Administration cannot be compelled to turn over subpoenaed documentation relating to its Constitution-dismantling outlawry, and it plans to try every legal maneuver and delaying technique at its disposal to avoid that compulsion, what remedy remains?
A court battle over these subpoenaed documents could take, in political terms, forever, with no guarantee at the end of even partial victory. The Nixon Administration engaged in legal wrangling over releasing incriminating audiotapes for more than a year, and that was before rightwingers had their hooks so deeply embedded in the federal judiciary.
The political risks of impeachment must be weighed against what's at risk from not impeaching, for failing to shield the Constitution and the American people from the continuing depredations of the lying, unaccountable cabal that's been in charge for the past six-and-a-half years.”
Blades provides the list of committee members and how to contact them. Photos too!

- Blades, Meteor. “Conyers Outfoxes Bushie in Contempt Showdown,” Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse/Daily Kos. 7-25-07. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/26/01945/0694

“The Democrats have just taken a gigantic step toward prevailing in this showdown with Bush”:

“Rep. John Conyers is methodically setting up the legal elements for Congress to pursue statutory and/or inherent contempt proceedings against executive branch officials in a manner that essentially wipes out any claim to executive privilege to shield the truth.”

- Nichols, John. “Impeachable Offenses,” The Nation, August 13, 2007. Accessible: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/25237

“The stakes are enormous: If Bush and Cheney are not held accountable, this Administration will hand off to its successors a toolbox of powers greater than any executive has ever held--more authority, concentrated in fewer hands, than the Founders could have conceived or would have allowed.”

“[T]he Founders intended impeachment less as a punishment for officeholders than as a protection against the dangerous expansion of executive authority.”

“[M]ost of those who responded to the Moyers [PBS, July 13, 2007] discussion recognize that the point of impeachment is not the transitory crimes of small men but the long-term definition of great offices.”

“Americans worried about the next generation--indeed, about the fate of the Republic.” “This Administration has not just let Americans down; it has frightened them. A great many understand, intuitively or explicitly, that we are experiencing a constitutional crisis and that impeachment proceedings are the proper tonic.”

“The Washington elites still try to dismiss the impeachment movement as an ill-considered reflexive reaction to a President Americans don't like and a Vice President they fear--or, worse yet, as some sort of partisan payback.” “[K]ey Democrats continue to mistake the medicine for the disease.”

“[Nancy Pelosi] and her advisers fear that if they allow Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers to open impeachment hearings, it will rally the Republican base in defense of Bush and Cheney. History suggests she's wrong: Opposition parties that have pursued impeachment in a high-minded manner have, in every instance, maintained or improved their position in Congress and have usually won the presidency in the next election.”

“At this late stage, it will be difficult to turn the need for accountability into action on Capitol Hill. But even an impeachment effort that falls short lays down a historical marker; it tells Bush and Cheney and all those who succeed them that an executive branch that imagines itself superior to Congress and the rule of law will arouse popular fury.”

Must See Videos.

Keith Olbermann http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070407Y.shtml and Bill Moyers Journal of July 13: “Tough Talk on Impeachment.” Bill Moyers talks with Bruce Fein and John Nichols. PBS 7-13-07. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html A video and transcript. Video: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/video_popups/pop_vid_impeachment1-1.html

Impeach Bush Do-It-Yourself Kit.

http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html

“Before the House Judiciary Committee can put together the Articles of Impeachment, someone must initiate the impeachment procedure. Most often, this occurs when members of the House pass a resolution Another method…is for individual citizens to submit a memorial for impeachment.” Based on the precedent in an 1826 memorial by Luke Edward Lawless, which had been successful in initiating the impeachment of Federal Judge James H. Peck, Impeach for Peace used the template for a “Do-It-Yourself Impeachment” kit. “Now any citizen can download the DIY Impeachment Memorial and submit it, making it possible for Americans to do what our representatives have been unwilling to do. The idea is for so many people to submit the Memorial that it cannot be ignored.”

Website.

Impeachment: http://www.AfterDowningStreet.org

“After Downing Street is a nonpartisan coalition of over 200 veterans groups, peace groups, and political activist groups that has worked since May 2005 to pressure both Congress and the media to investigate whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The coalition takes its name from the emergence in May and June of 2005 of several documents that quickly came to be known as the Downing Street Memos…

[The website] serves as a source…for quick access to key pieces of evidence against the Bush Administration…for information on upcoming events and ways to take action…as a source of news about the war and the crimes of the Bush Administration…”

They have created an Impeachment Resource Center

“that is assisting local groups and individuals around the country in lobbying Congress to pursue an investigation into grounds for impeachment, and in lobbying local and state governments to pass impeachment resolutions, as well as in promoting to local media outlets our demand for a return to the rule of law.” - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/about

Impeachment Packet & Impeachment Fact Sheet

Beverly Bandler is working on an Impeachment Packet and an Impeachment Fact Sheet due to be available in ten days or so. She sent this message to the DemsAbroad Listserv:

We don’t have to be experts!

We don’t have to be experts on Impeachment, or on the Constitution, or anything else, for that matter.

We are citizens of the United States and we have the right to question our government. If we believe that there is an abuse of power by the president. If we believe that the American public has been deliberately manipulated and lied to. If we believe that there has been a deliberate intention to subvert the U.S. Constitution. If we believe Congress and the president of the United States are not honoring their oaths to defend the Constitution and perform their appropriate roles according to the Constitution and the principles on which the nation is founded:

We have a right to say so.

It is best to make our case with supporting evidence--to argue our case courteously but firmly. The burden of proof is on those who represent us in the legislative branch, in the executive branch, and in the courts.

We have right to ask for answers suitable for adults. No spin. No fluff. No manipulation. No lies.

We have the right to ask for answers suitable to citizens of the United States.

Believe it.

Good references for checklists of charges or grounds (better term?) for impeachment.

Center for Media & Democracy: The case for impeachment
of President George W. Bush
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Impeachable_offenses

Key Evidence of Bush and Cheney's Impeachable Offenses
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=keydocuments

What are Impeachable Offenses?
http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/offenses.html

This site also has as draft Articles of Impeachment
that is useful in terms of “charges”:
http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/articles.html

http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/grounds.html
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/impeacharticles.html

Eland, Ivan. “George W. Bush’s Impeachable Offenses,”
The Independent, 12-19-05.
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1639

Food Politics Primer

2007-08-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

I am a foodie, and a political activist. There is much to those two things that really have a profound impact on my view of the world. At the recent Yearly Kos Convention I attended a wonderful seminar/ pannel discussion. One of the speakers was Marion Nestle author of the Politics of Food.

I wanted to share a list of fantastic books with all of you at DAJ - hoping some folks will want to join me in reading, disucssing and planning political action around food issues.

Here is my current list of MUST READS on the subject.

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (California Studies in Food and Culture) (Paperback)
by Marion Nestle

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Hardcover)
by Michael Pollan

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Hardcover)
by Barbara Kingsolver

Fast Food Nation (Paperback)
by Eric Schlosser

Best Thing I Ever Tasted: The Secret of Food (Paperback)
by Sallie Tisdale

Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods (Paperback)
by Gary Paul Nabhan

there are many many more, but this is a great starting list.

coming soon to a DAJ near you!

2007-08-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

So, soon- I guess- the election committee will make official, the election of the 4 officers for the next DAJ cycle from Aug. 20th 2007- August 20th 2009. The races were all unopposed. As soon as it is official I think all the officers will be sending out info and ideas and requests for your help and support. in the meantime; I have a few wish list requests as the new incoming chair.

we need to hit the ground fast and get a move on.

Please consider (if you have even a couple of hours a month) helping out on one of the following committees (listed in no particular order)

- Fund raising
- Get out the vote (including online and offline efforts)
- advertising research
- movie committees - in Tokyo and in Kansai and Tokai
- Online and Offline Communications Including the newsletter, podcasts, and new media
- Special Events
- Progressive Bookclub
- Policy discussion and education
- PR and Media
- IT infrastructure
- Membership Outreach and Database clean up and management
- Chapter Development and Mentorship
- grassroots liason with groups back in the USA
- Candidate Forum and Info Coordinators (we need one team for each primary candidate) Do you have a favorite- please be our newsource for your candidate
- Downticket Races info committee
- DAJ Jobs Board and Citizen Services
- Young Dems Outreach
- DAJ Family Events Planning
- Dems Abroad Global Primary and Delegate Selection
- Free media- Street-team Marketing
- Graphics and Message
- VFA online liaison
- ACCJ lecture series team

Each of the 4 officers will be the liason for some of these committees but we really need our members to jump in and get involved. your country really does need you and we really can make a difference. We have maybe 200 active folks and 1000 more online voters, we need to increase both these numbers dramatically. This does not mean you have to give 100's of hours though of course we would love it if you did! But just do what you can when you can!

email me if you have interest in helping out in some way in any of the above or if you see something we need but are missing...
thanks and looking forward to serving you.

*Lauren Shannon

Why I Ran For Vice-Chair of DAJ

2007-08-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

Mike Stensrud, Vice Chair DAJ

I have been worried about the state of America for some time now. Never more so than after George W. Bush was selected to be the 43^rd President of the US.

In the past I followed US politics off-and-on, but I largely slept thru the 90’s when I had just graduated from college and was trying to build a career for myself here in Japan.

With the advent of the Orwellian Bush Administration (Clear Skies? No Child Left Behind?), I decided that I’d had enough. I had never contacted my representatives before and would only attend occasional Democrats Abroad Japan events. The only candidate I had every given money to was Bill Bradley when he ran for the Democratic nomination against Gore.

Around 2003, when I heard Bush warning us about unmanned Iraqi drone aircraft that would somehow be able to fly, unmolested, across Europe and the Atlantic Ocean to hit the US, I realized he was hell-bent on going to war with Iraq and would find any excuse, no matter how outlandish, to do so. At that point I felt I needed to more than sit around doing nothing but complaining to no one in particular. I joined the Dean for America meetup folks here in Tokyo and started becoming more active in DAJ. I felt that if I didn’t stand up and do something, the Administration would march us right over the edge of a cliff and right back into a nuclear-armed version of the 1890’s. Little did I realize it back then, they seem more intent on taking us back into a nuclear armed version of the dark ages.

Since that time I have been appointed to replace a departing Vice Chair and have been involved in a number of voter assistance events. I also helped organize the Social Security event in Tokyo and am generally interested in getting Americans overseas involved in US politics because Americans overseas tend to be liberal, by American standards, and they represent every state in the US.

I think we have a good group of members and hopefully have a good election cycle ahead of us. Americans overseas are a huge untapped asset, in my opinion. We have seen such remarkable things as working national health care systems and see up close (sometimes in the same household!) how damaged our national reputation is overseas.

2008 is a huge year for us and I don’t think we can count on this Administration to play fair and above-the-board. It’s important for us to try to mobilize Americans overseas so that we can help take our country back, restore checks and balances, and undo the damage the Bush Administration has done to our federal government and our federal courts. That is why I’m involved.

I’m actually optimistic about 2008 and think it could/should be the best year for Democrats Abroad yet. I’m hoping that our current members will continue to support us and that new members and inactive members will join our effort to turn the tide, as well. If you have ideas or time to volunteer, by all means, let us know.

Let’s Roll!

The Arc of the Moral Universe: Restored

2007-08-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long…but it bends towards justice. Dr. Martin Luther King

We live in a moral universe. I came out of Yearly Kos believing, once again, that this is so. 1500 people joined together to learn, to debate, to connect, and to confirm that for every one of us there, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who share our belief in that moral universe, to say nothing of those who are not Americans. We are acutely conscious of America's promise, and the tragedy of the conservative yoke that grabbed our country by the neck decades ago.

We're taking our country back. Gov. Howard Dean

Being a progressive in these difficult times will mean we have to focus on 2 major tasks:
1. Repairing the horrible damage that the conservative, Republican agenda has inflicted on middle-class, working class, and poor people at home and abroad.
2. Bridging our collective conscious histories from the movements of the 60's to now, and refocusing on creating a fair and just America.

Sometimes we had tears in our eyes as we've joined together to sing it, but we still decided to sing it: we shall overcome! Dr. Martin Luther King

The problems are so big, that tears began to seem…futile. They did not staunch the pain of knowing the horror that my country inflicted on so many, in my name. I did not, and do not condone what the Bush administration has done in my name. I did not and do not share the shallow calculations of people who have convinced themselves, against all evidence, that only foolish people work for the greater good of all. They do not speak for me.

And there have been so many other reasons for tears. This year has been filled with losses of beloved people in the Kossack family: JC, Station Wagon, Steve Gilliard, Molly Ivins and many more, whose names I don't know. I grieve for the families and friends who are left behind. Every loss amplifies the need for more of us to be active, in whatever way we can. And we learn, with every loss, that while we cry, we must also work, to help rebuild the arc of progress.

My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution. Rep. Barbara Jordan

We are awake, aware, alive. We know that we have the power, and we're learning that 'we' means all of us – from the netroots to the barrio, from the unions to the soldiers to the immigrants who share the dreams of our forefathers and mothers. We can rest on each other's strength, but we must never give up, for we are building bridges that will last beyond our lifetimes.

we are especially fortunate that, even as Americans living in Japan, we can have a profound affect on changing course in America. Here are three things you can do, even today, to help make a difference:

Democracy Bonds: The DNC's new initiative is that they are sending local staffers to every election board in the country and finding out what how they are handling voting - including absentee ballots (which affects those of us living abroad). Gov. Dean is determined to do the hard work of reducing voter suppression. But, he is also a realist: many of the people who staff the polls on election day are not fully aware of their jobs, and our rights. The DNC is going to make sure that people know the guidelines, and, in the places where there are severe problems, they are prepared to send in attorneys - a year before the election. Here's how you can do your part to help:

1. Sign up for Democracy Bonds. It's the fast, painless, affordable way to support these efforts to protect everyone's right to vote: https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute/democracybonds?source=SNET408

2. Correct your own DAJ database entry: if you have moved recently, or you don't get Democrats Abroad Japan email (and you want to), or you have a new email adddress as of this year, please, go to votefromabroad.org and correct your own entry. It's fast, easy, and will help you ensure that, when ballot requests begin, your information will be correct.

3. Reach out: if there's a blog or website based in the states that you think might be read by other overseas Americans, ask them to put our Votefromabroad.org banner on their site. You can work out the details with by emailing our Secretary, Lauren Shannon.

I'll close with a promise that is but an observation of the way life is: what goes around, comes around. And in this time of trouble for the country we love, it is clear that our time has come.

Thank you, once again, for all that you do.- Terri MacMillan

10 Reasons the Democrats Could Lose in ’08

2007-08-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

by Linda Gould

I really, really wanted to write something positive this month. I am not a negative person. I am not a die-hard cynic, and I'm not usually an angry person, but damn it, it seems the Democrats are doing everything they can to make me all of those things. I expect nothing from Bush and the Republicans, but the Democrats are not acting like an opposition party. Today, Congress passed the wiretap bill that gives Bush more spying power. I feel nearly as deflated today as I did when the Dems caved and gave Bush his money for the war. It makes me want to tear my hair out!

Public polls show Americans are fed up with Bush and Cheney, and one Republican scandal after another is turning American voters away from the Grand Ol’ party. But polls also indicate that Americans are none too pleased with the new, improved Congress run by Democrats. Democrats blame the Republicans for being obstructionists, blocking the Democrats every attempt to pass good legislation. Of course there is truth to that statement, but Democrats are doing plenty on their own to anger Americans, and if Democrats lose elections in ’08, they’ll have done it because of their own actions. Following are 10 things Democrats are doing that could lose them the election in ’08.

10) Allowing the lame duck president with the worst approval ratings for any US president in history to set the agenda. If the President threatens to veto legislation, the Dems drop it. Here is some advice: Pass what is important to you, then let Bush veto it. At least you have made your intent known.

9) Falling each and every time for the Republican fear mongering, then caving into their every demand. The most recent example? Just days before Congress was to recess for August, Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said that Congress needed to change terrorist surveillance laws before their August recess or “the disaster could be on our doorstep.” Congress obeyed.

8) Allowing second-tier political appointees to spit in your face with no repercussions. First Sara Taylor, then J. Scott Jennings appeared before Congress, then refused to answer questions. Congress did nothing.

7) Holding hearings that exposed the lies that took us to war, the politicization of every branch of government, criminal conduct in forcing government employees to attend political meetings, war profiteering, corruption, disinformation that harmed public health, and more, then doing absolutely nothing about the revelations.

6) Accepting Republican framing regarding terrorism, the role of government, a woman’s right to make her own decisions regarding her body, trade, labor rights, immigration, the occupation of Iraq, support for the troops, and practically every other issue of importance to Americans.

5) Deferring to journalists in interviews and debates. In the CNN/YouTube debate, John Edwards was told by Anderson Cooper to stay on topic. Hey Edwards, you are running for president of the United States. If you want to say something, you should have the strength of character to say, “Anderson, this is really important to me and the American public, and I want the American people to know my position.” If a candidate can’t stand up to a journalist, who can he/she stand up to?

4) Allowing Gonzales to lie often and blatantly, but doing nothing to remove him from office.

3) Abdicating legislative responsibilities to the Executive Branch. After all the wiretapping scandals, after being stonewalled at every stage as Congress investigated the wiretapping program, and after multiple lies regarding the program, the Senate passes legislation, written by the Executive branch, giving more power to the administration. Great politicking Dems!

2) Ignoring voter caging and election fraud by Republicans in the last two elections, then trusting the Republicans to stop these tactics. What is wrong with you people? Pass legislation that will keep our elections clean and open.

1) Continuing to fund the Iraq occupation. Americans want the “war” ended, and we want it ended now!

END AUGUST 2007 WEBNEWS

2007-08-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

JULY DAJ WebNews! All the news that's fit to click

2007-07-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday America this month! And here is the new issue of the DAJ webnews. We have some regulars, and a special goodbye message from our chair of the last 4 years!!! (wow has it really been that long!) Terri MacMillan.

Hope everyone has a nice summer, and looking forward to hearing from you as we head into the fall. Got something to say? Say it in the webnews. Submissions should be 500-700 words, your choice of political topics. Deadline for the next issue is 8/1 Send your writing here.

Thanks for all you do.

Lauren Shannon
DAJ Secretary

July message from the Chair

2007-07-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Dear DAJ Member:

"I'm so glad we had this time...together, just to have a laugh and sing a song...." Members of a certain age will remember this classic farewell theme from the 'Carol Burnett Show'. At this close of my final term as DAJ Chair, I am glad we had this time together. Truthfully, the past 2 years haven't generated a lot of laughs. We of the reality-based community have had to face the raw depredations of the past 6 years, and deal with the hard core of people who refuse to see reason (in many cases, literally), otherwise known as 'the 26%'. Here's how one my heroes, Meteor Blades, describes the travesty we have opposed: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/1/03853/96721

"...The 26% didn't flinch about lying the nation into war, authorizing torture, wrecking the environment, wiretapping illegally, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, handing billions over to war profiteering cronies, dumping the Geneva Conventions, suppressing the vote, tainting good will toward America internationally, turning modest budget surpluses into monstrous deficits, trying to undermine Social Security, rewriting scientific studies and politicizing every single governmental agency...."

They've been busy, haven't they? But so have we:

1. It took the forces of conservatism decades to build up enough of an infrastructure, to mediate the mainstream media, to fund the foundations, and, perhaps most important, to dumb down education and make it so easy to rely on televisions' siren screens that the American people were lulled into a sense of comfortable denial - those that weren't fighting to survive. We will swing the pendulum, not back, but to a new kind of progress that acknowledges the many facets of the American community and upholds the truths that are self-evident. And, we're liberals: we'll do it better, smarter, faster, and with truth, fairness, justice and joy - the American way as it was heading before small-minded fearful people ran it off the rails for a time.

2. You know how you get on a swing in the playground (or your kid does), and once the momentum starts, every upswing is a little bit higher than the one before, until you are just about flying, wind in your face...that's how I'm seeing this movement to reconnect with reality and make it work for everyone. We're in - I supposed you'd call it the trough - but with a little effort from all of us, we'll start to swing higher, then back down (but never so far down again), then even higher than before. And I choose to believe that we can make it a perpetual motion machine, and never, never, never go back to the lies and insanity that destroyed so many lives. That takes work like: rewarding corporations that 'get' that they're a part of the world community, smoothing barriers (like no internet access) that keep people from connecting with each other, making life long education a reality, moving decisively on the climate crisis: so much to do, and as long as we work together and everyone does their bit, we have the time we need. We will take the time we need. Gov. Dean says it better than I can: http://www.democracyforutah.com/node/1619

3. We have the most incredible people on our side. In fact, in many cases, we are those incredible people! I'll quote from one of them that we lost all too soon: Steve Gilliard, Jr.:
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2003/12/im-fighting-liberal-you-know-ive.html

"...I'm a fighting liberal

You know, I've studied history, I've read about America and you know something, if it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.

What has conservatism given America? A stable social order? A peaceful homelife? Respect for law and order? No. Hell, no. It hasn't given us anything we didn't have and it wants to take away our freedoms.

The Founding Fathers, as flawed as they were, slaveowners and pornographers, smugglers and terrorists, understood one thing, a man's path to God needed no help from the state. Is the religion of these conservatives so fragile that they need the state to prop it up, to tell us how to pray and think? Is that what they stand for? Is that their America?...It's time to regain the spirit of FDR and Truman and the people around them. People who believed in the public good over private gain...."

We are on the way to remaking our America, even from so far away. And, in this epic quest, we need to rally each other, with soup and stories, with songs and debate, with truth and hope, with wit and wisdom, and with the knowledge that the giants upon whose shoulders we stand are cheering us on. Because they know we can do it. We can...and we will.

Many, many thanks to the DAJ National Committee, to all of the volunteers who gave us their time and resources over the years, to all of the people who keep it both positive and real. A special thanks to Gov. Dean, who started me on the path of progressive politics. And a special thanks, in memoriam, to my hero Gilly.

We Fight On!
all the best,

Terri MacMillan
Outgoing Chair
Democrats Abroad Japan