2007 Precinct Meeting

We had a fairly good turnout, with seven people there. I had tried to get a few of my neighbors to go, but no luck! I had trouble doing the Pledge of Allegiance to my country, since I think my country is up to some god-awful and evil stuff – which I want no part of. We elected precinct officers by acclimation, after they volunteered. I did not volunteer to be vice-chair of the precinct again. I just feel I don’t have the time to devote to it, and I feel I get very little out of the meetings that they ask us to attend.

We had some resolutions presented. I presented the OUT OF IRAQ resolution that passed the NC Democratic Party State Executive Meeting last month. It passed unanimously. Last year, I presented such a resolution to the precinct meeting and they voted it down. The precinct chair objected to the resolution last year because it said to leave no bases or structures behind. I guess he heard what happened last summer when the Brits handed over some buildings to the Iraqis – they destroyed them (which is exactly what will happen when the US troops leave). So, we made some progress there.

The precinct chair presented a resolution asking that the retirement schedule requirements for local fire-fighters be lower from 30 to 25 years of service. That passed unanimously.

The final resolution that I presented was one that passed last year at the North Carolina Democratic State Convention. It is a resolution asking for the NC legislators to file articles of impeachment for bush (and by implication, cheney). There was one other woman there who spoke for this resolution, but it was voted down. The people there felt that going for impeachment would use up too much energy and probably not be successful. The idea of doing what is right did not seem to move them. We have an executive branch that is above the law, below any morality, and beyond any sense of decency. And if we (the American people) don’t hold them accountable then the rest of the world with hold THE AMERICAN PEOPLE accountable – as well they should. Furthermore, if bush/cheney are not removed, then they have two more years to kill, kidnap, rape, torture and make the whole world a less safe place to live. Oh, and they will wreck further damage on the environment. Now, I am not one of those who think bush/cheney is going to bomb Iran. I think they will follow their present course of “Let’s You and Him Fight” and get the entire Middle East up in flames – along with god-knows-where-else. There were three people in that room, all calling themselves Democrats, who just don’t get it.

We then discussed the tax-check off – there were some misperceptions about that. This tax check-off is to fund “clean elections” for state wide positions. The precinct chair has said in the past that he is opposed to the ideas because he feels that non-partisan elections are very dirty. I don’t agree with him on that position, and feel that government-funded elections are the way to go - although I am sure the money interests will find a way around that obstacle eventually – they always do! We can only hope to slow them down, again and again. But I guess he was requested to cover this during the precinct meeting, so he did bring it up. The chair then read his concerns about the so-called split between progressives and the ‘old guard’ of the party. He is concerned about the progressives saying things about how the old guard wants to hang on to power and other comments that are not to his liking. He did not mention how the progressive Democrats are not allowed to use the Democratic Party Headquarters for meetings. I guess that fact is not a concern about the split between the progressives and the old guard, whose “rules” say we cannot use that space, even while it sits there unused. Funny thing is - they want us to pay rent to use the library and then put money and time and effort into maintaining the Democratic Party Headquarters! And then they say that WE are causing a split! I guess they fail to see the hypocrisy of that!

I read the following statement from a Republican website in the eastern part of our state (spelling mistakes left intact):

“Al Quedea Terrorists killed three thousand Americans on September 11, 2001, yet Democratic state Sen. Doug Berger is more concerned about how terrorists are being treated and continues to ignore the rest of us in his district,” said John Edwards, second vice chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. “Berger was elected to represent Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren county citizens, not American-hating terrorists. What Berger is doing is tantamount to treason.”

I then went on to explain where this came from, and that we need to look out for our elected Democrats, and speak up when they are attacked like this. This stems from the fact that Sen. Berger signed on to the letter asking Governor Easley to investigate Aero Contractors and the “extraordinary rendition” flights there are running out of NC airport in Johnston County, NC. I talked about Mr. El Masri, and how he was abducted (kidnapped) by CIA agents in a foreign country, shipped by Aero Contractors to an American base in Afghanistan, held and tortured with no charges filed for five months there, and then released in the mountain of Algeria without a penny or change of clothes. He returned to Germany, where he lived, and found his whole family gone. Since they had not heard from him, and had no idea where he was all that time, they had moved in with family in Lebanon. The CIA said it was a case of mistaken identity – but Mr. El Masri tried to sue for damages, and the US authorities would not let him because of “state secrets”. This case is in appeal. Mr. El Masri, father of five young children, said he was sexually tortured, but he could not talk about it. Imagine explaining “what happened to daddy” to those young children.

Interestingly, the only other person in the room who knew who Mr. El Masri was – was also the only other person who voted for the impeachment resolution. And that, I would say, is what separates the progressives from the “old guard” – we are MUCH better informed. And being much better informed, we come to very different conclusions in a variety of areas. The two progressives in the room know full well that this kidnapping, rape, torture, even murder, of innocent people will go on unchecked without impeachment. And we also know FULL WELL that the bush administration or CIA or FBI or NSA or even local or state authorities (after being fed wrong information from the feds) could do the same to any one of us. This is not strictly a “foreigner” problem.

But, sadly too many Democrats are worried about what is best for a candidate, or a candidate’s election or re-election, or even worried about what is best for the Democratic Party to realize that they need to worry about what is best for our COUNTRY AND WORLD. And they need to start putting that FIRST. Instead, they are clueless and ignoring it all together.

Well, one sign of hope - as we were leaving, I and the one other progressive there recommended to another women that she watch or listen to Democracy Now! program, either on WPVM (103.5) at 8, Noon, or 8 PM...... or go watch it on the web.

Maybe next year, we will have one more informed person at the meeting.