DCDL

If any of you are going to be in the area of the White House Thursday afternoon, you might want to attend this rally I just got an announcement about:

You’re invited to come speak out against Karl Rove’s abuse of power and demand that President Bush fire Rove. Join other MoveOn members and members of the community at a peaceful protest and picket, Thursday July 14, at 2:30 PM on Pennsylvania Avenue outside The White House.

Rove betrayed the identity of an undercover CIA operative forcing her to end a decade of important national security work. He did it to protect the Bush political agenda. Now, the White House is covering up this betrayal of our national security. The media is ready to report on public outrage about Rove. Will you show up and speak out?

Please join us tomorrow and let Bush, the media and Congress know that Americans are angry about Rove.

What: Protest and Picket to Demand Bush Fire Karl Rove

Where: The White House, Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC (Metro: Farragut West or McPherson Square)

When: 2:30 PM :: Thursday, July 14, 2005 (rain or shine)

Signs will be provided.

I’ll see you there. Thanks for all you do.

—Tom Matzzie
MoveOn PAC
Wednesday, July 13, 2005

P.S. If you want to come dressed up in costume as a spy and protest the media will love that. Think: trench coat, sunglasses and a little nametag that says, “Spy.”

I’ll be interested in hearing how Keith’s MoveOn.org event went. While Keith chose a Supreme Court party in his neighborhood, I went to one in the white wine and quiche section of the People’s Republic of Montgomery County.

DNC Vice Chair, Susan Turnbull was there, along with a yacht-load of high-priced DC attorneys. Politically aware, deeply angry at the Bush administration, refreshingly good at organizational skills, and not ones to take an activist anti-stare decisis judicial nominee.

We talked about Alberto Gonzales, reponsible for the newspeak equation of torture=fighting terrorism, as well as his questionable role in Texas Death Penalty review (good writeup here, by the way). And he’s the least objectionable candidate.

I know that when people outside of the DC area think of Maryland (and most likely, they don’t) they get images of what Dean euphamistically referred to as Nascar dads in pickup trucks. They are blissfully unaware of the grand socialist experiment of Montgomery County. Unlike most of the country, Montgomery County has a small city government, and a powerful County government. The result is a uniformly good public school system, arts and theater programs, a community college system, and a parks and recreation program unparalleled in my experience.

After a short meeting where we organized rapid response teams for an eventual Supreme Court nominee, we pigged out big time (or at least I did), trashed the Bushies, and watched the Pelican Brief.

Basically, my idea of a good time.

With two Supreme Court retirements pending, MoveOn is organizing more of its famous house parties this weekend, combining a previously planned movie night with efforts to oppose extremist nominees:

We need to make sure that the president, the Senate and the media all know that the American people won’t stand for a radically conservative nominee. So we’ve changed the name of Progressive Movie Night and added some time to develop our campaign to counter the right. Over the weekend of July 8-10 MoveOn members across the country will be holding over a thousand Supreme Court house parties. Meet up with other MoveOn members to create a neighborhood plan and watch a progressive movie about the rights we’re fighting to protect.

Find a house party in your area or start a party of your own.

Tonight you have your choice of two events by local political groups occurring simultaneously a few blocks apart. First, DC Vote is celebrating the call by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for congressional representation for DC residents:

DC Vote is dedicated to bringing in new faces, supporters and voluteers to our cause as well as giving our current supporters an opportunity to join the DC Vote staff and fellow supporters in an informal setting. We want the community to have a chance to check us out and learn about our volunteer programs and advocacy efforts.

DC Vote will hold it’s next “American Democracy for America’s Capital” Monthly Happy Hour on Wednesday, July 6 at 6:30 PM at the brand new Bar Pilar at 1833 14th Street, NW (on 14th Street between S & T Streets, NW). The closest Metro stop is U Street/Cardozo on the Green Line.

To RSVP or get more information about the happy hours, contact DC Vote Program Assistant Zainab Akbar by e-mail at zakbar@dcvote.org.

Starting half an hour later (at 7) and a couple of blocks away (at Ben’s Chili Bowl) is the monthly meeting of DC for Democracy — which features a representative from DC Vote:

Hot on the heels of Independence Day, our July MeetUp will focus on freedom here at home. Guest speakers include DC’s Shadow Representative to the US House, Ray Browne. What does a shadow representative do? And what does this have to do with voting rights? Come and find out.

Also with us will be a representative from DC Vote, a non-profit organization that works toward educating the public both here at home and around the country on the need for DC voting rights.

We’ll also roll out a new subcommittee to focus on DC Voting Rights, and we’ll give an update on our Northern Virginia Election Action plans.

DC for Democracy’s MeetUps always draw a crowd, so don’t miss out — make a date to meet some cool new friends on our combined July 6th MeetUp at:

• Ben’s Chili Bowl — 1213 U St NW (Metro Green Line: U Street) — RSVP today!

Attend one or both, and suggest that next month the groups coordinate their schedules.

And of course, don’t forget DCDL’s Reading Liberally discussion of Orwell’s 1984 at Mark and Orlando’s (2020 P St NW, Dupont Circle Metro) tomorrow at 6:30.

DC for Democracy is a grassroots group that grew out of DC for Dean. Nowadays the group works to get progressive candidates elected and progressive policies enacted at all levels of government. Last September, DC for Democracy folks were among the slate of candidates calling themselves “Running Against Bush” who unseated almost all the incumbents on the local Democratic State Committee. Members also volunteered in battleground states during the presidential campaign.

This year the group has worked to elect Howard Dean as DNC chair, preserve Social Security, and improve DC public schools. They’re also turning their attention to the 2005 Virginia elections, supporting progressive candidates for the House of Delegates.

This Sunday, June 26, DC for Democracy is having its 2nd annual Founders BBQ Picnic in Rock Creek Park from 1 to 5. If the group sounds like something you’d like to get involved in, the BBQ is an excellent opportunity to meet people and find out more. There’ll be food, live entertainment, and games. So RSVP today!

(And if you’re available this Saturday to help a different group in Virginia, don’t forget NEXT’s kickoff canvass in Vienna.)

Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings (who’s always worth reading) draws attention to an article in today’s Post about John Bolton, Bush’s nominee for UN ambassador, and how much better efforts to control nuclear materials are going since he’s left the State Department. If you’re worried about terrorists getting a nuclear weapon, you should be thankful that he’s been moved out but worried about having him anywhere near any negotations or policy creation in the future.

A group called the Nuclear Threat Initiative (whose members and supporters include Ted Turner, Sam Nunn, Richard Lugar, and Warren Buffett) has produced a docudrama, Last Best Chance, starring Fred Thompson as a US president dealing with terrorists and nukes. As the film’s site says,

This film is based on facts. Some events depicted may have already happened. Some may be happening now. All may happen in the near future if we don’t act now to prevent them.

The Washington Science Policy Alliance is sponsoring a free screening of Last Best Chance in DC on Thursday, June 30. See their site for details.

For the latest word on the Bolton nomination, Steve Clemons at the Washington Note is the go-to guy.

At the American Street, eRobin has some local news:

As of now it looks like Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) will be allowed by the Republicans to hold his hearings into pre-war planning and propaganda in the Capitol instead of in a room in the DNC building. Let freedom reign, huh? Of course who knows what tricks Tex Sensenbrenner has up his sleeve. He may interrupt the proceedings to bang his shoe on a table or cut the mics.

Starting at 2:30pm ET, C-Span will be covering the hearings, forum, whatever the Republicans are forcing them to be called. If you live in or near D.C., you can join in the post-hearing/forum march (it’s a march!!) from Lafayette Square Park to the White House to deliver Conyers’ letter to BushCo. The letter has over 540,000 signatures - a big, peaceful march to deliver it would be a beautiful thing.

Maybe a weenie roast afterward? Maybe a mock impeachment? Maybe a real one? (No, I’m not holding my breath.)