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February Meeting - new date !

Regular Monthly Meeting of Polk County Democrats

Tuesday, Mar. 3

Christ's Church, 412 W. Clay St., Monmouth (at the corner of Whitman)

 

6:30 pm: Refreshments and conversation

7:00 pm: Mayor John McArdle of Independence will headline our program for the first hour

8:00 pm: Business meeting

9:00 pm: Adjourn. Business meeting

Please join us for the monthly meeting of the Polk County Democratic Central Committee.During the business meeting, we will have opportunities to sign up for participation in our standing committees, fundraising activities, and other key events throughout the coming year. The draft Minutes from the last meeting are posted on the website for your review, and the Agenda for March 3rd will be available Feb. 27 at http://www.polkdems.org/CC+Agenda. Note that social time precedes the meeting, beginning at 6:30 pm.

The Februrary Agenda is posted below, next after Letter from the Chair

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Letter from the Chair

After considerable discussion and research it has been decided that the Polk County Democratic Central Committee shall change its monthly meeting dates to fall on the FIRST TUESDAY of each month. The main advantage to this change is that it avoids the 2nd Thursday conflict w/ the Progressive film series in Salem that many Dems have either attended or expressed a desire to attend on that evening. It was not easy to find other dates that had both the Salem Electric site and the Monmouth Christ's Church site available... In the future we may be interested in finding a single site, centrally located in Polk County, as some Dems don't seem to travel well to the alternate site farther from their home. It is almost like having 2 separate groups that only come every other month to the CC.
Also, on Tuesday next CC, we will try to facilitate carpooling to so more can make it economically to all meetings.
Please print the agenda and bring it Tuesday to the CC meeting at Salem Electric and print the meeting schedule and post it where you will be reminded to avoid scheduling other things on the first Tuesdays.
Thanks to you if you were among the 34 Polk Dem volunteers who picked up 47 bags of litter along Hwy 22 near Rickreall and the Wildlife Viewpoint on Saturday before the Inauguration. The press covered the event favorably, we had some fun and good food afterwards, thanks to Sue Olmstead and husband. Your Exec. did a lot to make this happen, especially Beth Fleisher and Fred Brown.
We have a great need for some folks to continue some of the involvement that was so exciting during the election season. We will have lists of sign-up opportunities for you to choose how/when/what/ how much you can help make Polk County better through Democratic action.
Best Regards, hope to see you on Tuesday Feb. 3, 6:30, at Salem Electric.

Alan Holland, Chair, Polk County Democratic Central Committee

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Polk County Democratic Central Committee
Sponsored/Upcoming Events for 2009
More info at: www.polkdems.org
Send events to: calendar@polkdems.org

February:
3 – PCD _CC, West Salem
24 - EC: Dallas, 6 pm AH

March:
3- PCD-CC, Monmouth
TBA- PCD-Road Clean Up, Rickreall, 9 am
31– EC : W. Salem, 6 pm FB

April:
7- PCD-CC, W. Salem(PCP Training)
28- EC- Dallas, 6 pm AH

May:
5- PCD-CC, Monmouth
26- EC – W. Salem, 6 pm FB
June:
2- PCD-CC, West Salem
30- EC, Dallas, 6 pm AH
TBA – PCD Road Clean-Up, Rickreall

July:
2-5 – Western Days w/ Parade
7- PCD-CC – Monmouth
11 – Riverview Music Fest at Holland’s
15-Pentacle Theater PCD Benefit Show
–Dallas Summerfest
28- EC, Dallas, 6 pm FB

August:
4 – PCD-CC, West Salem
7-10 – Polk County Fair, Rickreall
22-Sept 1 – Oregon State Fair
25- EC: Dallas, 6 pm AH
September:
1 – PCD-CC. Monmouth
TBA – PCD Road Clean up, Rickreall
29 – EC : W. Salem, 6 pm FB
October:
6 – PCD-CC, W. Salem
27 - EC: Dallas, 6 pm AH
November:
3 – PCD-CC, Monmouth
____ PCD Donation Mailing sent out
– ELECTION DAY
24 – EC : W. Salem, 6 pm FB
December:
1 – PCD-CC, West Salem
23- TBA- PCD-Road Clean Up, Rickreall, 9 am
16- EC: Dallas, 6 pm AH
January 4: CC W. Salem

Other possibilities TBA (planners needed)
*Chemeketa Viticultural Center Dinner & auction
*Airlie Winery
*Buena Vista House Dinner
*Independence Hop & Heritage Fest
* Buffet Dinner Fundraiser/Silent Auction
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Polk County Democrats’ standing committees:
If you are interested in learning about any of these committees or volunteering to help, please contact:
>Process & Rules: Timothe Seelbach, timseelbach@msn.com 503-581-2869
>Volunteer Recruitment & Support: Chair open, Beth Fleisher EC liaison 503-409-0441
>Fundraising: Chair position open, Fred Brown EC Liaison, 503-510-4579
>Candidate Development & Support - open
>Platform (i.e. legislative action): open, Alan Holland EC Liaison
>Events: (& meeting programs) open, Lani Kirby EC Liaison 503-831-1669
>Communications: Chair position open, Beth Fleisher EC liaison, 503-409-0441
>Central Committee Chair: Alan Holland: 503-371-3920 or 503-551-0580 cell
Vice Chair Lani Kirby 503-831-1669 vicechair@polkdems.org

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[older news, repeats from earlier newsletters:]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Officers elected at Dec. Meeting:

Lani Kirby, Vice Chair

Beth Frasier, Secretary

Fred Brown, Treasurer

Dear Cream of the Crop Democratic Volunteers,

The Presidential election is over, but the work of maintaining a party does not stop with an election. We have only paused. The real work of making change will not happen just with a man in Washington, though we all hope it will go a long way and set a new and great example.

The Polk Dems. elect officers in December of each election year... our reorganization meeting was held Dec. 11 and some great new officers were elected. Our thanks and appreciation is extended to Lani Kirby, Vice Chair; Beth Frasier, Secretary; and Fred Brown, Treasurer.

You may note there is no chair listed... that's why I am writing. One of you dedicated Democrats with a desire to lead, an urge to leave the world (or at least Polk County) a better place... you are being called upon to be Polk County Democratic Chair. The next meeting of the Polk Dems is Jan. 8 at Christs Church in Monmouth, 7 pm. I hope to see all of you there; suggesting names to consider for Precinct committee persons, names for chair, or stepping up to be listed as a candidate for chair, or at least just contributing to discussion, getting information, and staying in touch w/ local political issues and activism. If an activist is truly committed to change, to improving our country, to restoring our constitution and the various things we were inspired by during this fall... then I know I can count on that activist to continue that support through fullfillment not just during the excitement of a fall presidential election.

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(Our Deadline Poet Nails it Again)

We stagger and reel....

We stagger and reel, it's a disaster,
The economy is trapped in free fall,
Spiraling downward, faster and faster:
Obama and team must answer the call.

They find themselves facing a "perfect storm"
Which, frankly, we did not anticipate
And we worry that any solutions
Will turn out to be too little too late.

We try not to give in to doubt and the fear it is sowing:
To show that we have lost neither our will nor our heart

But, truth is, we can take some comfort in knowing,
At least, at last, we elected a man who is smart.

-- Rob Breyer

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Editorial Comment: My Favorite Blogs

Editorial comments. I have tried to avoid making them all year, but news is lax, and I feel there should be something.
Since I have not put new news in the online newsletter, here is a list of my favorite online news sites and why.

http://www.electoral-vote.org
The founder, Andrew Tanenbaum, is a professor of computer science in Amsterdam. I heard somewhere that he founded it as an experiment in developing a site that would have high traffic. It has very high traffic.
This is the one I look at first in the morning. It is primarily statistical, and during the election was the best/quickest source for the latest numbers of the polls in each state for all the federal offices. But it also has brief essays by the founder, which are new each day, succinct, and often interesting. It is there fresh when I get up in the morning, and does not change during the day.

http://fivethirtyeight.com
538 is the number of votes in the electoral college. The founder, Nate Silver, got into political number analysis as a sideline of his first love, baseball statistic analysis. His number-crunching on the polls, and the reliability of the polls, was unmatched.
Also in the last year there's been a real growth of interest in the subject matter. For example, during the presidential campaign Nate or his associate Sean Quinn visited numerous Republican or Democratic campaign offices in over 30 states, photographing, interviewing and describing as they travelled. The difference in enthusiasm in the two campaigns was remarkable, and described in detail. On this morning, Nov 30, Sean is in Georgia and contributes a long article, with photos, about the thousands of volunteers working to increase turnout for the Senate runoff Dec 2. The state-wide numbers look like the Democrat Martin is running behind.
Many other articles, often but not always stemming from some numerical comparison, have appeared this year, and I think it's fair to say there is real growth in Nate's reportage as well as his statistics.
Incidentally, this site is never new in the morning; new articles start appearing here after noon.

http://www.dailykos.com
I usually get to kos sometime during the day. The creation of Kos, (Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga), a 30-year old ex-soldier, ex-Republican, who lives with his wife and two children in Berkeley, has become the gorilla on the block: his is the big site. It is generally well written, by dozens of columnists, and tends to the liberal left (after a short flirtation with the left, which produced a drop in advertising - see the Wikipedia article). It is a monster site, including among other things brief precis of the comments of dozens of other sites or editorials. I never read all of it; there is simply too much. But I usually skim down through the day's file and pick out an article, a paragraph, or two or three.

http://www.crooksandliars.com
Crooksandliars is more of an evening blog. John Amato and his crew of about eight columnists work with video/editorial: almost every article is built around a video excerpt which you can view on site. Some are very interesting; there were good samples during the election of various senatorial campaign ad spots, for example. And some are more purely entertaining: Amato has worked in the music industry for years. There is usually at least one straight music video which has been selected for someone's notion of interest, and here was the first time I saw Stepan Grappelli and Django Reinhart playing together - 60 years ago. And got introduced to Stephen Colbert's bizarre and terrific comedic interviews.

http://www.blueoregon.com
And the fifth of my five main sites has to do entirely with Oregon Democratic/progressive politics. Kari Chisholm does a good job of hosting and writing, with a few friends, and doesn't fail to comment on queries in the comments columns after the articles, if he can help. I don't read it every day, but maybe once week. I also get a weekly notice in the email that lists the subject articles for the last week, so sometimes an article title catches my eye and I look it up.

That's about it for me. Any other comments? Or news? Most welcome!

send to truprice@wvi.com

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Our own Deadline Poet!

Rob Breyer contributes a topical monthly poem,
(our answer to The Nation Magazine's Deadline Poet?).

History. History. History. History.


It's been eighty years since traders were last out on the ledge,
Just eight years of slashed regs has pushed them to the edge,
Eight years of greedmeisters doing what they will
With Adam Smith's "invisible hand in the till."

Only months ago it was "make hay while the sun shines" --
Don't worry 'bout the housing bubble, ARMs, or risky subprimes.
Bush practically guaranteed endless good times.
(Ask not for whom the closing bell chimes.)

The country's in crisis! Better call out Jack Bauer!
Or we could give Henry Paulson unlimited power.
Or we could gather as one and give one mighty shout,
"Fix it yourselves! No taxpayer bailout!!!

Rob Breyer

 

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& a big thank you to Rick's Place, across the street, for the gifts of ice water for all the vigilers.

(Note: Our Rep. Darlene Hooley seemed to think that the feelings for
impeachment and withdrawal from Iraq were some kind of elitism, despite
repeated appeals from PolkDem leadership and unified meetings with
PolkDem and all other county chairs from her district. But these numbers
are from the grassroots.)

 

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Even Older News & Repeats (some slightly amended)

From the Voter Registration Drive

Polk Dems have done lots of voter registration
this year: Highlights included Sen. Obama's visit to Salem in February,
where they worked with the crowd waiting outside the armory, a booth at
every Polk County festival, and "Polk County Day" at the Oregon
Democrats' booth at the state fair. We'd like to know how many we have
registered: in the hundreds, but don't know the exact figure. Here are
a few photos from the state fair, with some of the stalwart
registrators (is that a word?):

What it's all about!	lots of voters!
Fred Brown set up a monitor so we could watch the convention from the booth...	Jackie Pierce, Paul & Darci Kugler, and friend

Gloria Holland	Lane Kirby	Ron Dodge

Thank you to all the volunteers!

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