[courtesy of Blog for America]

A brand new week....time to renew our efforts...to 'take back our country!!'

Monday~

***************round of articles about our domestic ‘issues’ ~ July 28,  2008 

Howard Dean says Democrats must retake the South

By Travis Fain | Macon Telegraph

[courtesy of Blog for America]

Every four years the Democratic National Committee traditionally hired professionals to write the Democratic Party Platform which is presented and voted on by the delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Not this year. Not this time!

Gov. Howard Dean and Barack Obama have teamed up to change that. This year they want our input on what values and planks should be reflected in the Democratic Party Platform. And do we want to give it to them!

Join us in Riverside on Saturday, July 26, and let your voice be heard. Bring your family, friends and neighbors to help outline what values and priorities you think should be reflected in the Democratic Party Platform to be voted on next month at the Democratic National Convention.  

If you haven't already done so, RSVP here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gg2l 

Hope to see you there with family, friends and neighbors in tow!

by Lucas O'Connor [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of Blog for America]

In a bit of news that can only be described as poetic, Howard Dean plans to start registering voters this morning at the Crawford, Texas, Community Center, according to a press release that came across my inbox last evening.

According to the press release, he should be out in the parking lot at 8:45 local time...which is just about now.

Dean, we are told, will be joined by Representative Jim Dunnam and McLennan County Democratic Chair John Cullar.

Later today, Dean has a similar event planned for Austin, where he will also be giving a keynote address at the Netroots Nation Convention.

Here's the link, courtesy of PR Newswire:

http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp;jsessionid=CE5AA4FDC4AA3CA...

[courtesy of Blog for America]

One of the key things that we should start to do as activists is expand our playing field when it comes to thinking of elections.  Howard Dean's 50-state strategy and Barack Obama's commitment to fighting in every state and territory have produced results that show us this approach is one that can lead to positive change.  It can give candidates a chance to win who might not otherwise do so, it can send a message to Republicans that places they have assumed are theirs by birthright must be earned and it can sap Republican resources and make them spread their spending and activity to places they usually wouldn't bother to worry about.

A first step we can take down this road is to support good candidates in supposedly red districts.  Frequently this will mean spending money outside your own congressional district.  If we only focus on our own districts, we'll never be in the majority, we need to work together to change the state, not just our own backyard.  And the more candidates we help and the more candidates we help win, the more our congressional delegation will owe progressives when it comes time for them to vote on things like the recent FISA/telco immunity fiasco.  Like it or not, politics works on the you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours level a lot of the time.  If we scratch their backs with our votes, our voices and our checkbooks, they'll have to scratch ours.

[courtesy of Blog for America]

George Lakoff is a linguistics professor at UC Berkeley and author of numerous books on metaphors, framing and politics.  Howard Dean has called him,  "one of the most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement."    George was at our local bookstore talking about his latest book, The Political Mind.  During the question and answer period,  I asked him if he personally feels that Conservative Values have Failed and if so, how have they failed?

Failed Conservative Values: George Lakoff on It's Not Working

George: Yes Ed.

Edwin: I'm doing some work on the Failure of Conservative Values and I was wondering if you personally feel  that conservative values have failed and if so, how have they failed?

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Howard Dean made an appearance at the CDP E-board meeting yesterday. Full Audio here (MP3). He focused mainly on the value of neighbors working to increase the vote in their neighborhood.