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Meeting Notes
Iran-Iraq Work Group Meeting, November 15, 2007
The group met at the First United Methodist Church. Oneonta, NY.
Present: Chris Brown, Chris Brunner, Dave Grodsky, Paddy Lane, Ed Lentz, Suzanne Miller, Stef Seifried, Ed Rodriguez, Walter vom Saal
A really fine meeting at First United Methodist Church. Chris Brown brought 3 homemade pies & a few other goodies, and several others added to the array of munchies. We feasted and yakked, without agenda. As a result, we have decided to change our meeting time & format slightly.
New meeting time/format: We will meet the third Thurs of every month (except Dec when we'll meet 2nd Thurs due to holidays) at First United Methodist Church at 6 PM for a potluck, followed by discussing our issues. That way people can come for the 4-5 PM vigil and stay in town for the meeting. We recognize that, in the stress of today's political environment, some coming together as a community is necessary to give us the staying power we need in very challenging times.
Discussion of our general situation: How can we possibly have an effect on the war/constitutional crisis, etc? The entire system is so broken. Mention of essay by John Edwards re: the corruption of our entire system--http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/20071029-moral-test/ . It certainly is an advertisement for his own campaign, but outlines the corruption of the entire system, including where H Clinton is raising money.
Do we feel oppressed by this system? Someone says: I don't feel oppressed. Another says, challenge those in power, then you will begin to feel it. We note how divided the country is now. That is one of the reasons we all feel so debilitated, unable to get traction for what we know is right.
Permit for the plaza: Chris Brown mentions trying to get a permit for his singing and paintings on the plaza. The regular Thursday demo is on the sidewalk and so needs no permit. However a permit requires sign-off to indemnify the city. Ed will speak to County Clerk about this. Hopefully they will agree that a permit is not required for the singing and paintings or waive the requirement for indemnification.
Support our Troops, Bring Them Home NOW signs: Walter has located a potential supply of free signs in Albany, which Paddy & Dave will try to pick up this weekend. We approved spending enough for 100 signs, which might be given away or resold at $3 each. Policy to be decided. Hat was passed and we collected $35 for our I/I efforts. If need be, we'll apply to CfD for more $.
Publicizing responses to newspaper ad: We discussed how to respond to our Congressfolks' response to our newspaper ad. Chris Brown will devise a "report card" format for evaluating their responses and also their recent votes on a few key issues from our list of demands (2nd half of ad). The issues we identified are Iraq war funding, support and care of the troops, impeachment, and Iran. There have been many votes, and devising an evaluation system for them will be quite daunting. Once we have worked out our scorecard, Dave will do a first draft of an editorial about our Congressfollks' response to the ad which we hope to publish.
Walter will add a recent letter (Sept 21) from Schumer on the subject of Iran to the CfD website.
Local political landscape: We discussed projected Republican attempts to take the seats of our 2 House members in 2008. Arcuri has done a better job with his votes than Gillibrand, but her constituency is more conservative. We are not aware of credible potential contestants for their seats who share our point of view. We noted a need to hold them accountable, but leave the door open to approach them in the future. Tell them when we like their votes and tell them when we don't like them.
Iraq Moratorium: This is a nationwide grassroots effort to get people to make a commitment that on the Third Friday of every month, they will take some action, small or large, individually or with others, to end the War in Iraq http://iraqmoratorium.org/ . Paddy passed out black armbands which can be worn on that day (tomorrow Nov 16). One action we might do is make more armbands to give out on our Thursday vigils before the 3rd Friday, along with a card, to invite others to begin doing this. This type of effort was quite successful during the Vietnam War. It can be done in a way that gradually multiplies the effort.
Next meeting: Dec. 13, 6 PM, First United Methodist Church.
Notes taken by Paddy Lane
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