2006

Friday December 8: An Inconvenient Truth

A powerful and informative documentary about the most important topic facing humankind, created and presented by former VP Al Gore with passion and compelling scientific evidence. Since our "leaders" have chosen to ignore, and even suppress this problem, Americans will have to push for action. Get informed. This movie is the place to start.

You can learn more about An Inconvenient Truth and watch a trailer by going to the web site www.climatecrisis.net.

Sign Al Gore's petition to the new congress at AlGore.com

Friday November 10: Orwell Rolls in His Grave

Director Robert Kane Pappas' riveting documentary about the relationship between the government and the media. It consists of a series of interviews with media critics. Featured are Congressman (soon to be Senator) Bernie Sanders, Charles Lewis (founder of the Center for Public Integrity). It carefully document how our media has failed to live up to its responsibility to provide Americans with the information they need to make decisions in a democracy. Instead, it has become an Orwellian world where lies become truths and the real world of facts has been replaced with a managed "reality" designed to fill the needs of those who control power

Friday October 27: Elizabeth Garry

State Supreme Court justice candidate Elizabeth Garry will be here for an evening of information sharing on our court and legal system. Come with questions.

UPDATE: In November of 2006, Elizabeth Garry became the first Democrat ever elected to serve on the New York Supreme Court from the Sixth New York Judicial District.

Friday October 13: Iraq for Sale

This new film from Robert Greenwald, the director of Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism analyzes the war profiteering that is rife in Iraq, and the administration's complicity in it. Funding for the film came from citizen donations.

Friday September 29: What Motivates People to Resist?

A discussion of why people commit acts of resistance. Some people devote their whole lives; others find themselves in circumstances in which they feel compelled to act. Many of us are feeling quite angry and helpless as citizens of an increasingly militarized nation and the seeming inability of our elected representatives to prevent this trend. The St Patrick's Four, a local war tax resister, and other area activists will share their stories. There will be ample time for questions and group discussion. Please come and listen and share in discussion with your neighbors.

Saturday August 26th: CLEAN MONEY CLEAN ELECTIONS

Free training session at the Ulysses Philomathic Library, Corner of South & Main Streets, Trumansburg, NY 14886, 9am - 1pm. Our trainer will be Citizen Action NY's "Clean Money Clean Elections" coordinator Jessica Wisneski. Free & open to all. Handicapped accessible. To register for the training, or for more info, contact: Margo Alexander (607) 387-5080; Please bring a snack and your own beverage.

Friday, August 25th

Bo Lipari, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting (NYVV), will talk about recent developments in the fight for verifiable, auditable voting systems in New York State and around the nation. A retired software engineer, Bo developed software for both large and small companies throughout a 20 year career. In 2003, he became concerned about the rush to use touch screen electronic voting machines in our elections and began traveling, speaking and organizing all over NYS, alerting people to the problems with electronic voting, and the potential for compromising the integrity of our elections. In 2004, Bo founded NYVV (www.nyvv.org), a citizens group working for secure, reliable, accessible, and verifiable standards for voting systems and elections. NYVV has led the struggle in NYS for verifiable, auditable systems. In May, 2006, Bo was appointed as the League of Women Voters of NYS's representative to the NYS Citizen's Election Modernization Advisory Committee. Committee members will advise and assist the NYS Board of Elections in the examination of voting systems.

Friday, July 28th: Water Privatization

The topic of discussion will be local, national and international concerns and actions related to water privatization. There is a national movement afoot called "Defending Water for Life Campaign", organized by a diverse, bipartisan group of people who believe "secure and equitable access to clean water is a human right and must be protected for all generations and all living things." Come learn about what is happening locally with this issue, as the Fingerlakes have been targeted by large corporate water companies for privatization We will start the meeting by showing the documentary Thirst, which looks at the corporate drive to control & profit from water. The film demonstrates the ways citizens have mobilized domestically and internationally around the disputes over water rights. The second part of the meeting will be a discussion with people who are currently organizing locally on this issue.

Friday June 30th

CLEAN MONEY, CLEAN ELECTIONS Campaign Coordinator Jessica Wisneski of "Citizen Action of NY" will show a short video and moderate a discussion about getting big money out of politics through publicly-funded campaigns. Find out how to take legislative action like the citizens in VT, ME, NJ, NC, NM and AZ who have restricted or banned private donations. More info on the topic at www.citizenactionny.org.

Friday April 28th

Les Roberts will speak about his experiences in Iraq and abroad as an expert in the field of public health and water supplies and safety. He is the person responsible for the study and report which was published in The Lancet revealing the large number of Iraqi citizens who perished in this war.

Friday March 31st: Weapons of Mass Deception

We will show the documentary film, Weapons of Mass Deception. "Independent filmmaker Dan Schechter's 2004 documentary focuses on how the media shaped people's views of the Iraq War through their intense coverage from the war's inception through February 2004. Schechter's film examines how new methods such as satellites and embedded journalists affected the media coverage, and the competition between media outlets."

Saturday March 18th, 10am: Join Us to March for Peace

In front of the Trumansburg High School, we will gather as we did last year for a Peace March down to the small park across from where 227 meets Rte 96. Last year, we were 127 strong. This year, we are looking to double that number, so please consider coming if you did not, or bring a friend if you did!

Friday March 17th, 6-8pm: Vigil at Trumansburg Fairgrounds

We will hold a vigil at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds, calling for a real exit strategy from Iraq of US troops, corporations, and military contractors. This was the place and time that we vigiled for many months, before, during and after the invasion. It also is St. Patrick's Day and a way we plan to honor the work of the St. Patrick's Day Four. People can bring signs/posters of their choice.

Friday February 24th: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

We will watch and discuss the 2004 documentary Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train about this prominent historian's lifetime of activism.

Friday January 27th

We will be watching and discussing Arundhati Roy's 2004 talk Public Power in the Age of Empire