Crazy Horse @ 7

Shouldn’t Mr. McNerney be the focal point for this attempt at changing the demographics? Isn’t he the galvanizing force?

No, he’s a force but ultimately the force is grassroots consciousness and participation. (My two cents.)

It’s a hell of a place to start, though. I don’t know how closely you were involved in getting Jerry elected, but there were some serious efforts to find and mobilize local organizations exactly like you’re talking about. One of those activists (I forget his name) was a Latino voter-reg organizer that few people outside of the local community had every heard of. He did some amazing things last year, and I understand that Jerry hired him after he won the seat.

So if you want to find out what groups exist in the Stockton area and in the rest of the county, you want to start out with the groups that were involved in electing Jerry. Many of them met one another during the last two years, and you’ll find the key local people by talking to people who were close to the campaign, or were involved in groups like Defenders Of Wildlife, which did a superb job getting people both from inside and outside of the district to volunteer for precinct walking.

Deirdre Des Jardins, a Santa Cruzer and a regional organizer for MoveOn, keeps a sort of “database” of local groups, and knows people from most of them. She’s also a good person to talk to, since she can point you to many of the local groups, who runs them, and who’s interested in doing things outside their group with the wider community.

The thing is..Ahnold and the RNC still spend more time in Kern county than anywhere else in Cali. Ahnold is here almost every month..sometimes more than once a month. The DNC doesn’t think (imho) that there are enough votes to bother with us. If the Los Angelenos keep moving here..there damn sure will be enough votes..but by then..will it be too late to change the political landscape?

I hope the DNC wakes the hell up and takes the entire San Joaquin valley seriously..in time to make a difference in the 08 elections.

We have a very bright star on our Board of Supervisors named Michael Rubio. He was the right hand man of State rep Dean Florez until he unseated a popular but worthless Democrat named Pete Parra. I want to see the state Dem. Party support and incourage Rubio to go farther up the political ladder. He is homegrown and we need all the help we can get in red Kern County.

I think the DNC is horrendously dropping the ball here in the ‘valley’.

We have a very active and committed Democratic Central Committee up here. We launched a very passionate 2nd Democratic Club in the North County last fall. But we struggle with fundraising and were absolutely stifled in our efforts last year due to lack of funds.

In June 2006 we missed getting a progressive Democrat into the runoff for the County Board of Supervisors by 70 votes! For a few bucks, we could have run some ads and printed more signs. Instead, now we have the religious right running the board of supes.

And in January, a progressive joined the Mount Shasta City Council. That’s 2 out of 5 seats. What would more progressive leaders be worth up here? What would it cost to help assure that?

Similarly, Charlie Brown worked had and came very close to unseating Dolittle. Had the DNC shared some financial resources with him earlier than later, might he have won? We won’t know.

The blue counties need to really seriously weigh the possibility of funneling at least some funds into areas like Siskiyou County to help us get persuade our local community that scumbag Wally Herger does not adequately repressent their interests?

We need help up here – don’t deny us some funds, however meager they might be. Anything would help!

What you’ve proposed is very doable. The good old boys & girls are being overrun by minorities and Bay-Area transplants. Even in the Motherlode.

Organization is of prime importance as we speak.

Look forward to meeting you.

Dickey Weinkle

Bad news from Robert Fisk

http://www.informationclearing…..e17515.htm

Gated Communities in a carved up Baghdad. That is going to win a lot more hearts and minds…

Is it just me or are they REALLY hiding something over there, like a permanent military base, oops I mean an embassy bigger than the Vatican?

http://www.informationclearing…..e17515.htm

Nah… I’m just shy, but thanks for the sentiments. If you could see me at the firing range you might feel otherwise though.

LOL…I doubt it. :)

Did I just kill the thread? Seriously, my comment about Howie has been on my mind for several days and I’ve been wanting to find a chance to thank him. Sorry if I disrupted something. (@_@)

Nah… I’m just shy, but thanks for the sentiments. If you could see me at the firing range you might feel otherwise though.

I googled Progressive Kick: not much there. Can you provide some more information?

Try “Progressive Punch” and let Joshua explain Progressive Kick on Saturday. He’s got a great session planned.