Thursday, April 19, 2007

Thursday night's LD8 Dems program...

On Thursday night, while the LD17 Dems were screening and discussing the movie 'The Great Warming,' [See post: "We're famous!"] the LD8 Dems were holding a program about anti-war activism in our community.

On the heels of their very successful March Community Outreach program with Scott Ritter (200+ attendees!), there was a great amount of interest from attendees to find out what they can do as individuals to end the occupation of Iraq and to prevent a preemptive war against Iran.

The LD8 Democrats had representatives from 7 groups at the forum -

Sherry Bohlen, Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus
Dan O'Neal, Progressive Democrats of America
Rebecca Bahr, Military Families Speak Out
Sheila Ryan, Women In Black
Caryn Gardner, Code Pink Phoenix
Edwina Vogan, Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice
Mitch Rubin, The End the War Coalition

Note: Sherry Bohlen is active in most of the groups present, not just ADPC.

One of the topics of conversation early on was the two resolutions that the ADPC will be introducing at the State Committee meeting later this month. One calls for the end of the occupation of Iraq; the other expresses opposition to a preemptive attack on Iran.

Based on the meeting tonight, there may be some dissent on the Iran motion - some audience members felt that the wording "painted Israel with the same brush as Iran."

There was also a mention of HR508, the Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2007, with many panelists and audience members urging people to contact their congresscritter (Congressman Harry Mitchell is AZ5) to express their support for the measure.

All of the panel members implored people to get involved with the various organizations and the events that they sponsor.

As Dan O'Neal said - "Doing nothing is not an option."

To paraphrase the D8 Dems' meeting announcement - Feet on the street stokes the heat on our country's leadership.

Get involved.


Note: Any of the websites listed above is a great place to start; all contain contact info. Another good, all-encompassing, resource mentioned during the forum is the website AntiWar.com.

Have a great weekend...

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