DCDL

Sorry for the late notice. Those of you on the e-mail list have already gotten this message from Cory.

Dulles Area Democrats are collecting items for survivors of Hurricane Katrina that they will drive from Virginia to food banks in Baton Rouge and Little Rock. Kat Zambon from DC for Democracy will be at Timberlake’s (1726 Connecticut Avenue NW) tonight to collect items from DCDL to hand off to the team in Virginia. They need nonperishable food items and toiletries — a specific list of items is below. Please contribute whatever you can. It’ll make a huge difference to the folks who need it. Thanks for everything you do!

For more information, see the Dulles Area Community Network site.

It’s half way through the Saturday program here at the first convention of Atriotes here in the city of Franklin, Stallone, and admittedly now the city of progressive blogtopia. I didn’t do a seat count but I’d ballpark the crowd at 150 from all over the US, though a heavy concentration between NY and DC.

Most of the morning was spent talking about the frustration of living under an administration that refuses to be held accountable. Bush is absolutely right when he says what’s been happening in New Orleans is “Unnaceptable.” It’s just that he doesn’t see himself in that loop. On a panel moderated by Thersites, including Atrios, NTodd, Spin Dentist (AllSpinZone), Susie (Suburban Guerilla) and Bob Fertik (democrats.com and afterdowningstreet.org) the events of the last few days post Katrina were reviewed in the context of a climate of consistent failure (as Bob Fertik put it: “They screwed up Iraq and now they screwed up New Orleans.”)

The afternoon started with a rousing speech by Rep Slaughter (D-NY) (which I videotaped, though I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with it). An interesting question after her speech concerned why the Dems in the House, who’ve been frozen out legislatively don’t stage a walk-out. She said she didn’t think those kind of tactics worked any more, but what might work is if a 100,000 people showed up at Lafayette Park. I’m pretty sure she was referring to the March on September 24 which she referred to explicitly in her speech.

Aside from many of the heavies of the lefty blogosphere, Times columnist Paul Krugman was in the audience to remind us that the media often takes its themes from the blogs they read. That’s why we do it after all.

When Keith and I were discussing the “Freedom Walk” I kept wondering what an appropriate alternative might look like. The Unity Walk, organized not by the Pentagon, but by members of the local religious community sounds exactly right:

September 11, 2005: We will convene at 1pm with an opening ceremony at the largest synagogue in DC, The Washington Hebrew Congregation, located at 3935 Macomb Street - the corner of Macomb St. & Massachusetts Ave, NW.

The Walk begins at 2pm sharp, proceeding on Massachusetts Ave, up to Wisconsin Ave. and down Embassy Row, visiting faith communities along the way. These include: Christ Church of Washington, Annunciation Roman Catholic Church, the National Sikh Gurdwara, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, and the Community of Christ.

The Walk will stop at the The Islamic Center of Washington, 2551 Mass Ave. The Walk continues to its conclusion at the Gandhi Memorial at Massachusetts Ave., hosted by the United Hindu-Jain Temple Association.

Clint Black will not be singing “Iraq and I Roll” at the conclusion of the walk.

A month after his July 25 suspension, WMAL has fired Michael Graham. Graham was suspended initially for saying repeatedly that “Islam is a terrorist organization.”

Up to yesterday WMAL believed that Graham would be returning to work: (Washington Post)

The station had conditioned his return to the midmorning shift on reading a station-approved statement in which Graham would have said that his anti-Muslim statements were “too broad” and that he sometimes uses “hyperbole” in the course of his program. WMAL also asked Graham to speak to the station’s advertisers and its employees about the controversy.

But Graham refused both conditions, prompting the station to drop him.

Curiously, the July 25 incident occurred a week after Graham’s participation in a “Truth Tour” of Iraq, where he would presumably have come into contact with many ordinary Iraqi Muslims, who emphatically are not terrorists.

As Justice Brandeis put it, the limit of free speech is when you “falsely shout fire in a crowded theater.” Graham clearly crossed that line.

DCDL will host a screening party November 17th for the forthcoming documentary Wal-Mart the High Cost of Low Price by Robert Greenwald. Check out the teaser trailer.

Please save the date! More details down the road.

From Brickfest 2005. This photo is from the brief period (11-4 last Sunday) that non-lego-building members of the community could view the 3 floors at George Mason University filled with anything you could possibly imagine that could be built out of legos.

Over the past week, I’ve slowly been building a circumstantial case that a propaganda shop may have been set up at the Pentagon. In this vein I wanted to mention one or two thoughts concerning the “America Supports You Freedom Walk” scheduled for Sunday, Sept 11.

First, on a lighter note, I was going through this article when the following paragraph leapt out at me from the page: (DefenseLINK News)
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Arlington Drinking Liberally has its second meeting tonight, 6:30–8:30pm at the Rhodeside Grill. They’ll be discussing greed, corporate America, right-wing politics, the new bankruptcy law, and Dante’s Inferno, among other things.

The chapter now has its rightful place on the national Drinking Liberally site. Sign up on their announcement list, and contact John Craig (john.craig@aya.yale.edu, 571-432-0305) for more information.

In case you don’t already have plans for Sunday Sept 11 at 10:00 am, walk do not run to your local pentagon website: (DoD News)

As part of the Department of Defense effort to commemorate Sept. 11, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld today announced the first-ever “America Supports You Freedom Walk” to remember the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, to honor U.S. troops and veterans, and to highlight the value of freedom.

The “America Supports You Freedom Walk” will begin at 10 a.m., EDT, Sunday, Sept. 11, and follow a two-mile route from the Pentagon to Arlington National Cemetery, across Memorial Bridge, passing several national memorials and ending on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of the walk, participants will be invited to a concert by country music singer and songwriter Clint Black. [ed: Wayne Newton must have been booked already]

The “America Supports You Freedom Walk” is free and open to the public. Individuals interested in walking must register to participate at www.americasupportsyou.mil . Registration closes at 10 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 9, 2005.

So you vund to visit der Mall, Herr Hippo. May I requezt your papers, please?

The approach of the 2005 election (now 93 days away) seems to be sparking the formation of Drinking Liberally chapters in Virginia. Last week I was able to tell my family about a new chapter in Richmond, and Monday one launches in Arlington, at the Rhodeside Grill near the Court House Metro. This chapter is so new that its info isn’t yet on the national DL site, but presumably that will be rectified soon.

If you’ve been thinking about attending DL but don’t like going into the city, or if you have a conflict on Thursdays, now you no longer have those excuses. And if you’ve been going to DCDL but feel that one night a week just isn’t enough for you, now you can go to both chapters!

Below is the message from John Craig, the chapter founder:

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