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Hubgram
The newsletter of progressive interests
August 17, 2007

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Americans Against Escalation in Iraq


Tired of the war? Want to do something about it?

Check with Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. www.noiraqescalation.com


They are doing something about it.

They are working around the country with field volunteers and trained operatives to make a change in the political situation.

They are bringing pressure on local politicians who have supported the War in the past to change their votes…

And they are doing it with editorials, marches on the candidates homes and even large rallies in the State’s where the elected officials can make a difference.

One of the states earmarked for this kind of activism is Delaware.

In Delaware, I was contacted by the field representative through a friend of a friend.

They have been working tirelessly all summer to bring about change.

In our small state, we have one representative, a republican who has voted repeatedly to support Bush’s views—even though he says that he is against the War.

Americans Against Escalation in Iraq stands for setting a date and a timetable for ending the War and bringing our troops home safely and securely.

As a Vet, it is a cause I can get behind without much hesitation.

I liked the idea immediately and thought that it was something the Committee for Positive Growth could support….

The field person asked if I would work to make their plans a reality.

After some preliminary back and forth,
yesterday, we had a meeting between ourselves to discuss much of the facts and positions -- stuff which we had already gone over. Present was myself, the field organizer, Sarah, a representative from the parent organization and another activist who has been with me on other political issues since the Election in 2000.

We met to discuss the organization’s plans and we lined up with them almost immediately.

Afterwards, we went to our appointment with the editors and staff of the leading local newspaper and they were supportive of the efforts of our group which was surprising because all of the newspapers and media down here are about as conservative as you can get. It just shows how the climate is starting to change.

I agreed to write the opinion piece to appear in one of their upcoming issues in advance of the planned rally.

On August 28th, the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq group will have their big Summer Rally, considered to be the highlight of the Iraq Summer event in Wilmington with speeches, presentations, a rally and fun, games and food all day long.

Buses will be organized to ferry interested activists from all over the State to Wilmington for the event.

Late that afternoon, we will as a group call once again on Representative Mike Castle to reverse his support for president Bush’s position and demand that a timetable be drawn up to have the troops return safely and responsibly..

I’m including a blurb on our local event from the National Group which is supported by a wide range of organizations including Move-ON, Working Assets, and others.

For more information, email me at hubmaster@aol.com or contact: --
Sarah Jankowski
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
Field Organizer - Iraq Summer
Cell: 202.425.0978


Here’s the Blurb for the Delaware event but as I said, there are related events in fifteen other states throughout the country.:

CONTACT www.noiraqescalation.com FOR MORE INFORMATION

From the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq Program, a coalition of Move-On, and other progressive groups, here’s what’s happening in Delaware, one of the fifteen states participation in the Iraq Summer Program.

This will not end here.

We plan to continue with other programs into the Fall and beyond….

But if you haven’t organized your own group or heard from Move-On, check out the website below:

This is a message from Sarah Jankowski, field manager for Delaware…



Hi Everyone-

The end of the Iraq Summer Campaign is approaching!
Be prepared to come to our final event. It's less than 2 weeks away.
Mark your calendars: note the main event time 5-7pm, but remember that all day we'll have a festival

Please RSVP both regrets and confirmations for all three events in this email, but especially for Take A Stand Day! (and I hope there aren't many regrets!)

1.
CASTLE "TAKE A STAND" DAY!
Iraq Summer's Final Rally!!
Rally to Bring our troops home from Iraq and Demand that Castle Take A Stand to End the War
Rodney Square
920 King Street, Wilmington, DE
*main event* 5pm-7pm, Tuesday, August 28th *main event*
~~~~~
7am-7pm :: All Day Music, Food, Community Organizations, and Free Giveaways! :: 7am-7pm

Also we have 2 other events coming up before that:
2:
Rally & Sermon For Peace
with Rev. Dr. Christopher Bullock
~~~
Canaan Baptist Church
1201 N. Van Buren Street.
Monday August 20th, at 7pm
~~~~
"Blessed Are the Peacemakers..."

3:
13 Hour Memorial for 13 Delawareans
Killed In Action
~~~
Castle's Office: 201 N. Walnut
Downtown Wilmington
Monday August 27th 7am-8pm


--
Sarah Jankowski
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
Field Organizer - Iraq Summer
Cell: 202.425.0978

www.noiraqescalation.com

Take A Stand Day – August 28th Rodney Square!
Main Event: 5pm-7pm, but an all day Festival

*CDA, AAEI, and Iraq Summer is a coalition including a wide range of political and nonprofit organizations that are working against our current policy in Iraq. Coalition organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC have not endorsed or sponsored this statement or the advertisement referred to therein, and no funds provided were used in producing or distributing this statement or the advertisement.




Iraqi Summer

This is my commentary in support of Iraqi Summer, the coalition of organizations to end the War in Iraq and send our troops home safely and responsibly.

It is scheduled to appear in the leading newspaper in Sussex County, Delaware:


“Representative Mike Castle says he wants U.S. troops out of Iraq, but talk is cheap. The congressman’s record shows he has consistently voted to keep our troops in the middle of a religious civil war under President Bush’s reckless Iraq policy, even though the vast majority of Delawareans more than 70 percent of Americans want U.S. troops redeployed out of Iraq by April 2008.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration recently raised the stakes of the Iraq war even higher when Lt. Gen. Doug Lute – the president’s “War Czar” – said he is considering reinstating a military draft. The three-star general explained the draft is “on the table” because of the incredible strain Bush’s war has placed on our military with repeated and extended deployments. This bombshell announcement followed recent statements by General David Petraeus that U.S. forces should stay in Iraq for another 9 or 10 years.

As a veteran and opponent of President Bush’s failed Iraq policy, I find it difficult to back a military solution before a political solution is thought through. The purpose of President Bush’s so-called “Surge” was to give the Iraqi government enough breathing room to work toward political reconciliation. Instead, it has become a vehicle for them to work out their vacation schedules. No political progress has been made.

Our noble soldiers stand in the midst of a religious civil war. It is impossible to trust the same administration that told us the mission was accomplished and the insurgency was in its last throes.

Therefore I, like thousand of Delawareans, stand with the members of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq and their “Iraq Summer Campaign” to demand Rep. Castle take a stand against President Bush’s endless war.

On Tuesday, August 28th, the Iraq Summer Campaign will conclude its 10-week effort with a “Take a Stand” town hall meeting in Wilmington. Rep. Castle was invited to the event, to have the opportunity to explain his stance on the war. The congressman declined the invitation, once again refusing to answer his constituent’s questions on Iraq.

Please join me on a bus trip to Wilmington, to show Rep. Castle that folks from Sussex County are tired of endless war and want their congressman to stand with them against President Bush’s failed Iraq policy and vote to bring our troops home safely and responsibly.

If you would like to participate, please contact Sara Jankowski at (202) 425-0978 for arrangements.”

Les Aaron



Deceptive Practices in Global Warming…

There are some things it’s okay to be conservative about; and there are others where being overly conservative in one’s estimates can make one unjustifiably complacent…

Consider: If you underestimate your carbon footprint, we’ll, that’s not too big a deal! You can adjust for it later on and the world is not going to come to an end.

But if you’re a respected scientific group and you underestimate the effects of global warming, we’ll, frankly, that could be disastrous especially when you are gambling with the future of those who have placed their trust in your findings…

This has been the case over the last half dozen years where literally groups of those who have an interest in maintaining the status quo routinely underestimate the effects of global warming after months of battle to get them to even agree that global warming exists in all of its permutations….

Thusly, the effects of global warming have been understated by groups of scientists in the employ of some of the leading oil companies. Even other legitimate scientists have come down on the wrong side of this issue for reasons largely unknown….

When you make a mistake that can be measured in terms of meters , it can mean the difference of whether your property is land or water.

The newly revied estimates predicated on measurements indicate that the estimates may be off by as much as 1 ½ meters—that’s better than four feet…. a significant mistake when your State may only be about sixteen inches above sea level.

Estimates before the revised data in Delaware alone indicate that if nothing is done to remediate the use of coal for energy production—one of the principal producers of carbon dioxide—a proven cause of global warming, we can expect to see not only one tenth of the State underwater, but the entire State underwater by the end of the century.

Of course, when this came to light after the State decided to entertain new sources for producing energy, the people came together to promote alternative energy sources and gas piped in from other states.

But the prospect of a rise in sea level is not good news for anyone who is not in the toll bridge or boat business, and it underlines the fact that as responsible citizens, we need to get beyond the misleading misstatements of the government and get tougher with those who would mislead us to advance their own interests…

Considering that the melting of the Greenland cap continues unabated and that ice is thinning on the northwest coast of Antarctica
is on the increase, we cannot afford additional delaying tactics.

We must bite the bullet and make the hard decisions to commit to alternative energy, solar panels, wind energy, alternative fuels, cars that operate on cellular electricity and every other possible source that can reduce our dependency on foreign oils and the brain boggling logic of the oil companies…and a government that we can only say is ‘complicit.’



And we need to take action immediately to assure concerned taxpayers will not have to worry about property rights and the guarantees of ownership.

In future issues, we’ll cover some of the newest ideas in alternative energy and smart, reusable resources that can help us to restore sanity to the planet.

For the time being, we hope that concerned citizens will feel as concerned as we are and band together to push solutions for our grandchildren and the planet…

Keep posted!


Buy America:

A number of us joined at the waist by the Internet have talked about the idea of promoting a Buy America philosophy. Especially now with all of the abuses most Americans have had to endure with shoddy products being imported that can injure or harm our children and foods that have not been tested.

Americans have had it.

The government responds in a lackluster way and seems unconcerned that many of us have had pets die, or bought toys that were painted with lead so that we can now all feel guilty for doing something that we thought was natural: giving our grandchildren a gift.

If we can’t trust our government to take charge and to become involved in protecting our way of life, maybe it’s time for us to take matters into our own hands.

Maybe it’s time to band together and not only keep our jobs here but do what is necessary to assure that we are never put in the position again of having to spend good money for bad or dangerous products.

Here’s the hard facts to swallow: All of these trade deals were never designed with our interests in mind in the first place; They are designed to make bigger and bigger profits for the executives who fill republican coffers while sending our jobs off to never-never land…

Here’s our concept:

Our idea is to begin with the county fairs and the farm groups that are starting to show up everywhere and have them join together under a banner of buy America.

All they would do is coalesce around this common concept and perhaps pay a fixed fee depending on their volumes of business in order to join the national program and receive its benefits. These may range from brochures, logos, designs, advertising, publicity, etc.

There is no limit to the amount of support we can provide if there is support from fair participants or the fairs themselves. We would be the prime drivers of the concept nationwide. We would develop a whole litany of programs ranging from advertising, direct mail, PR to demonstrate that this concept can work and how everyone can gain from their participation….

We think that Americans are ready to listen to that argument and that we can start taking care of ourselves if we can’ get our politicians concerned enough to want to do something to rectify a situation that has gone from bad to worse.

What we believe is that Americans would surely like to buy American products if given half the chance….and that doesn’t only mean vegetables, but craft products, breads, jams, second hand clothes and furniture.

We are tired of paying high prices and buying dangerous crap from overseas that we can no longer trust!

Moreover, this would be the first step that democrats would seize in a heart-beat.

It would mean that we would encourage the government to get behind small businesses with loans and guarantees to get America back up to speed. And we would rebuild our domestic manufacturing business…. Do you realize that today, we don’t even make machine tools, the building blocks of manufacturing; Do you also realize that many of today’s biggest companies are owned by foreigners but passed off as American. Americans can’t even make the precision parts used in our newest weapons! This is an outrage…
And it has to change. And we believe that we can make it happen by starting at the lowest level and building a head of steam.

We know it can be done because America has the will and the ability to do anything and a large built in market that is the envy of the world.

Wouldn’t it be great if Americans, themselves, could take over their futures and again lead the world as a model for what can be.

Will you help spread the word. We can offer the help on many levels but it shall have to be a marriage where those who participate discover the large scale benefits of identifying with the Buy America movement….

We believe that this is an idea whose time has come.

And we know that there are many, many talented people who could get behind this idea!...

So think about it, pass it along and volunteer….

Buy America!....an American idea for Americans!

See my book, “A Blueprint for Winning: Taking Back the White House—08” Available from LAACO. Write LAAGroup@aol.com

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon….

hubmaster@aol.com
support the work of the Committee for Positive Change
keep this newsletter coming with your 10.00 contributions: Send to LAACO, 239 Lakeside Drive, Lewes, DE 19958



A Blueprint for Winning!

Six months ago I wrapped up my book A Blueprint for Winning.

I wrote it not to make money but to warn democrats not to expect an easy win. I wrote it as a lesson. I wrote it for the purpose of reviewing the past and examining the reasons we’ve lost election after election. And what we can do to change the negatives to positives and reverse our long slide into irrelevance.

For the democrats to be viable, we can’t expect the candidate to do it all.

We have to be informed. And we have to act. That is the concensus.
Democracy cannot be taken for granted. We have seen just recently how quickly it can slip out of our grasp.

Is democracy not worth fighting for…

We have to know where we can extend our influence on the local and national levels.

And that’s what I’ve attempted to do.

My book gets into it all: It talks about the methods and techniques of winning a campaign, using research, expanding the tent for all people of every background and nationality.

In short, it’s a game book and it gives the user a substantial advantage as a citizen and one who is concerned about outcomes.

It also gets into a National Twenty Point Program to Rebuild America as the leading economic power and as a model of stability and peace.

It takes issue with the present economic thinking, which, by the way, is slowly starting to change. It takes another look at NAFTA and other Fast Track agreements that removed the voter from consideration.

A Blueprint for Winning is a book that shows us how to outmaneuver our rivals who have had thirty five years to build the most successful juggernaut ever conceived in politics and it is also a warning that America cannot afford to be in Republican hands again!

We’ve priced the book for groups and for those of lesser means starting at $12.50 for disks and even less for e-books; the formal big book edition, signed and endorsed, runs 24.95 plus 5.50 shipping and handling from Lulu.com.

If you buy the book directly from the publisher and you are a legitimate group on orders of 10 or more, we will rebate 10% of the book cost. This is only for the full First Edition.

We have several hundred first editions left and suggest that you get your order in ASAP. Mail your check or money order to LAACO llc, 239 Lakeside Drive, Lewes De 19958. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery.

Profits will be used to support the work of The Committee for Positive Change, a political activist group that supports the work of other organizations as well undertaking its own missions in environmental and political programs aimed at the needs of progressive interests.

Thank you.

Please email LAAGroup@aol.com for more information.