by Pam Hoye [courtesy of Blog for America]

Learning of my cousin's newest book my thoughts traveled back to those early days of Howard Dean's campaign, when his call to citizen-action had been inspired by Thomas Paine and Common Sense. In answer to my question, "How did you come to write a book about Tom Paine?" Craig answered,

"I wrote about Paine because I thought a lot of Americans would be interested in a founding-of-the-nation story that had nothing to do with a Republican perspective. I was WRONG, but at least the reviews and awards are nice!"

When I suggested that perhaps we had not known, as I had not, Craig added,

"You'll love at least some of the Paine book since there's a big founding father debate on the future of democracy with citizens who don't participate."

Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations by Craig Nelson is Winner of the 2007 Henry Adams Prize for the year's best book on history and government.

by Carol Olszewski [courtesy of Blog for America]

Andrew White, our wonderful longtime past President, is running for Supervisor of Stephentown, a small rural and very Republican town in the 20th CD. He heeded the call of Howard Dean to run for local office and became a member of the Town Council of Stephentown-now he is making the turning of Stephentown blue complete by running for Supervisor! Let's all come out and help Andrew in this very important and symbolic election.

Come to Citizen Action at 94 Central Avenue, Albany, at 5:30 or as soon thereafter as you can get there this Tuesday, October 30, to phonebank for Andrew. Let's help him win!

Carol

Added by Julia Marden, DFA:

You can RSVP for this event here:  http://dfalink.com/event.php?id=24789

by Dan Sullivan [courtesy of Blog for America]

At CSDFA's recent monthly meeting, Chris Williams of Citizen's Action Network, gave a good update on why the Vermont Yankee license should not be renewed and Sean Sarah, of VPIRG,  talked to realistic alternatives. The thing that stood out to me was the practicality of wind power. Sean mentioned that the Sheffield wind project was recently approved and that it would take only 5-10 Sheffields to provide 20% of Vermont's electrical needs. This is very doable by 2012 and would be cost competitive, particularly with unsubsidized sources of power. This, along with some not particularly painful energy efficiency steps would go a long way towards replacing Vermont Yankee's output.