2004

Monday December 20: The Ground Truth

The Ground Truth is an ongoing documentary project. Currently, U.S. Troops and the Iraqi people are experiencing the daily horrors of war. This film is an opportunity to hear and see our soldier's experiences in this war, and understand the critical and necessary treatment for these soldiers upon returning home. The Ground Truth invites Congress and the American people to bear witness to these soldiers and their families, and to consider the human cost of war, above all else. Discussion will follow the film.

Monday November 29

Was Our Election Stolen? Concerns about voting machines, voter suppression, media coverage & current investigations related to election. There will be a short presentation by Jan Quarles with discussion to follow. Websites with relevant information:

• www.verifiedvoting.org
• www.votersunite.org
• www.electiononline.org
• www.votefraud.org
• Bev Harris' investigations in FL and other states: www.blackboxvoting.org
• To sign a petition on national reform: www.PetitionOnline.com/uselect
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_controversies_and_irregularities
• New Yorkers for Verified Voting: www.nyvv.org
• Voter Protection Center: https://voteprotect.org/?jsc=1

Saturday November 13

Town Meeting cosponsored by many likeminded groups to ferret out, as a community, what the next steps of our progressive movement should be. People broke up into groups with common interests to start that process.

Tuesday November 2

Watch the election returns together starting around 10pm.

Monday October 18

We will be dicussing what activities we want to be involved with as a group between now and the election. We will have a brainstorming session, then divide into action groups based on our interests and time availability. Please bring your ideas and energy. Everyone is welcome as always.

Wednesday October 13

Presidential Debate. The topics will be economic and foreign policy.

FridayOctober 8

Presidential Debate. Town-hall style with questions from audience members. Equal balance of foreign and domestic policy questions.

Tuesday October 5

Vice-Presidential Debate. There will be an equal balance between foreign and domestic policy questions.

Thursday September 30

Presidential Debate. The topics are foreign policy and domestic security.

September 27

Democracy and Education: No Child Left Behind? Presentation and discussion facilitated by Judy Kugelmass, Associate Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at Binghamton University.

September 13: The End of Suburbia

Video preview of The End of Suburbia about the depletion of the world's oil supplies. This will be followed by a discussion led by Michael Doliner.

August 30

Democratic Primary Race, 29th Congressional District: Half hour presentation by candidates Jeremy Alderson and a representative for Samantha Barend. The victor will face Randy Kuhl in November.Discussion of selected 2004 presidential platforms: Click to download or see the platforms in advance: Democratic, Republican, Green, Nader/Independent, Libertarian and Working Families. Individuals will present six issues of each platform: "strength" (i.e. military, terrorism, war in Iraq), education, environment, world social justice, healthcare and trade.

August 16: Outfoxed

Robert Greenwald's documentary Outfoxed (www.outfoxed.org) "examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a 'race to the bottom' in television news." The movie was be shown then followed by a discussion on how we get our news and can improve it. There has been a legal challenge filed to oppose Fox News' patent on the phrase "Fair and Balanced" because it is "false and misleading."

August 2

Panel discussion about reinstitution of the draft. For more information about the evening, click here. Included are the young people's pro-draft and anti-draft comments and the text of the proposed draft bill.

July 19

Discussion of the Patriot Act led by Brian Eden, Coordinator of the Tompkins County Bill of Rights Defense Committee. See http://www.bordc.org for information on this issue.

July 5

The video Bridge to Bagdad with discussion following regarding reactions to the video and the true cost of the war. Discussion moderated by Zillah Eisenstein, Professor of Politics, Ithaca College.

June 21

Media discussion with Linda Robertson, Professor of Media and Society at Hobart-William Smith and moderator of Plato's Cave.

June 7

The "Help Americans Vote Act" (HAVA) and issues about computerized voting, presented by Bo Lipari.