The Laguna Woods Democratic Club is on break for July so the Board of Directors can complete work on various administrative projects.  Next members meeting is Wednesday, August 13, featuring a Candidates Forum for local Democrats running for State and Federal office in November.  Among the guests will be Melahat Rafiei, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Orange County. 
     Club members should also note the date, Saturday, September 20, for the Annual Luncheon.  For info, call Susan Dearing at 855-6965. 
     For information on the Club, the meetings, and volunteer opportunities, call President Barbara Amster at 460-0517.

   June meeting is Wednesday the 11th, CH 3, DR 1, 7:00 p.m.  The program will be first, followed by Club business and legislative action.  Members free; guests $2 at the door.  Refreshments served.
     Lina Kreidie, Assistant Director of the UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Ethics and Morality, Director of the Middle East Student Initiative, will be our guest speaker.
     Dr. Kreidie, born and educated in Lebanon, earned her PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Irvine.  She has been extensively published on subjects regarding Middle East politics and global issues and has been interviewed numerous times by the media, including NPR and ABC News.
     Some of her students may attend the meeting and join in discussing the November election, the presidential candidates, and the phenomenon which has been the emerging activism and enthusiasm of American youth for Senator Barack Obama.
     For info on the June 11 meeting or the Club, call President Barbara Amster at 460-0517.


MAY 14 MEETING
 
Region 16 Director John A. Smith of the California Democratic Party will be the featured speaker at the Democratic Club's Wednesday, May 14, meeting.  The meeting will be in Clubhouse 3, Dining Room 1, at the usual time, 7:15 p.m. sharp.  Snacks and beverages will be provided.  A guest fee of $2 will be collected at the door.  Please bring your own sticky return address labels to use for Legislative Action postcard mailings.
 
Mr. Smith will discuss the  Independent Redistricting Initiative.  Many prominent former lawmakers realize that the current State legislative process is broken and needs an overhaul to more truly represent the will of the voters.  Lawmakers drawing their own districts have created partisan gridlock and contention.
 
With a background in grassroots politics, Smith will give his views on how best to fix the system so that it brings out not only the best candidates but also the best in those who are elected.
 
For more information on the Club or this meeting, call Barbara Amster at 460-0517.

Legislativce Action:
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Apr 24 Thursday 1-3pm, Laguna Woods Village: Voter Registration training meeting Clubhouse 1 Dining Room 3. We will haave a table at Laguna Hills Mall, and if weather permits, tables in front of the grocery stores and Home Depot
Fri Apr 18, Fri Apr 25, Fri May 2, Tuesday May 6, 11am-5pm in two hour shifts Please notify Anita Hammerschag, LWDC Election Chair at 458.1973 or anitahamm@aol.com when you are available to attend an instructon session or are able to do voter registration at Laguna Hills Mall
Dr. Bill Honigman of Progressive Democrats of America will be the special guest at the Club's Wednesday, April 9 meeting.  This meeting will start earlier, at 6:45 p.m., and the program will be the first item on the agenda, followed by club business and legislative action.  Free to club members, $2 at the door for non-members, all residents are invited.  Clubhouse 3, Dining Room 1 is the place, and light refreshments will be served. 
 
"Dr. Bill" is chair of the OC chapter of PDA and also SoCal State coordinator.  He is a practicing emergency room physician and a long-time progressive activist on the grassroots level.  Of PDA, he says, "Our job...is to remind our leaders that the will and wisdom of the people is paramount in a democracy." 
 
Dr. Honigman will speak about PDA and take questions from the audience.  Please remember the earlier starting time of 6:45 p.m. to accommodate Dr. Bill's schedule and plan to attend this interesting and informative meeting. 
 
For info on the April 9 meeting or the Club, call Barbara Amster at 460-0517. 


[Not an official Laguna Woods Democratic Club event]
this Saturday, March 29, 3:00-5:45pm

[Venue]:  Clubhouse 3, Dining Rm 1, 23822 Avenida Sevilla, Laguna Woods, CA 92637  Note: RSVP needed (for gate entry, directions) to Jonathan Adler, 949-581-2178 or LawGuruLaguna@yahoo.com

[Incidentals]:  Event Web Site:  http://Results-OC.Blogspot.Com (be sure to visit it for a wealth of details & background on the event, RESULTS, & speaker)
Cost: Free    Event for ages: All    Handicapped accessible? Fully   Refreshments

[Event title]:  Workshop by RESULTS founder for considering activism with top  citizens' lobby to create political will to end dire global poverty, hunger & disease, and for self-sufficiency via micro-loans

[Event summary]:  Think you can't change the world?  Learn how you CAN: Leverage an hr/wk into powerful speaking/writing to Congress, media, AID, World Bank to prioritize truly life-saving, poverty-ending, aid

[Event's fuller details]:  Be sure to click “Event Web Site” link above (or paste in your browser “http://Results-OC.Blogspot.com”) for fullest details on this workshop;  its leader Sam Daley-Harris, founder of 28-yr-old RESULTS & its Microcredit Summit Campaign;  RESULTS’ issues, strategies, scores of historic successes, & quoted kudos by leading public figures;  and Sam’s book, "Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the break between people and government."
     RESULTS founder Sam Daley-Harris will be in O.C. (from DC) to lead the workshop (you may call it “My Legacy: A Share of Ending Poverty”). It’ll have videos, discussion, introspection, and learning to speak/write powerfully – to Congress, media, A.I.D., World Bank, etc., to create political will – on issues of dire global poverty, hunger, disease, micro-enterprise, self-sufficiency, and U.S. interests in healthy nations & people (i.e. customers / suppliers), not failed states & societies (you recall all that those yield) – specifically, on prioritizing aid that really does effectively save lives and help end dire poverty.
     You'll look at (being fully free to decline) this high-leverage way to make a big difference in the world by strategically investing just an hour/wk or so to gain skill as a citizen activist with RESULTS, backed by its long, wide, reputation for  trusted facts and non-partisan advocacy – working with (& helping create)  both parties’ Congressional “champions” on our issues.
     House Hunger Cmte Chairman Tony Hall said in 1993: “RESULTS is, pound for pound, the most effective lobby in Washington.” The Baltimore Sun said: “RESULTS is ... a case study in grass roots lobbying.” “A staggering example for other ... organizations,” another paper said.  And, from a most closely informed partner, micro-credit pioneer Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank (of Bangladesh), this:
     “From ... 1987 when RESULTS arranged for me to talk by conference call to editorial writers in dozens of US cities, to ... the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, no other organization has done more to put Grameen Bank on the map than RESULTS ...  no other organization has been as critical a partner in seeing to it that microcredit is used as a tool to eradicate poverty and empower women than RESULTS and [its] Microcredit Summit Campaign.”


LWDC to Screen "Uncounted,"  David Earnhardt's volatile film on election irregularities
 
Steve Spanier, director of the OC chapter of ReclaimDemocracy.org and a long time activist committed to creating and maintaining a true American democracy, will be the special guest of the Laguna Woods Democratic Club at its Wednesday, March 12, meeting at Clubhouse 3, Dining Room 1, 7:15 p.m.  Mr. Spanier will make comments and take questions after the showing of "Uncounted:  The New Math of American Elections."
 
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker David Earnhardt's recently released feature-length film chronicles this century's election process malfunctions and explores the many ways in which individual votes don't get counted, including intimidation of minority voters, voting machines which either do not work or cannot produce a paper trail for recounts, and the sudden inaccuracy of exit polls after a 40-year success record, among others.
 
Club members and residents are invited to view this vitally important film on the big screen.   Light refreshments will be served.  For more information, call Club President Barbara Amster at 460-051




Super Duper Tuesday - February 5 Election Watch Party at Clubhouse 7, 7-10 p.m.; snacks and drinks; bring old campaign buttons; take part in a poll regarding primary results.  24 states will hold primaries on the same day.  Historical!  Exciting!  Come join us.  Jointly sponsored by AAUW, NCJW, and the Democratic Club.  Call Sue Dearing for info 855-6965.

Dear Gov. Dukakis:  I thought you'd be interested in seeing the Orange Co. Register's coverage (copied & pasted from their website) of your excellent talk to our Club last Saturday.  All the reviews of the event from our members & guests that I've seen on my email were highly laudatory.  I, too, thought that both your talk and dialogue in the Q&A were absolutely top drawer, and highly entertaining as well, and we're all very grateful for your willingness to come and do it.

I'll later upload, and send you by email, the photos I took.   --Jonathan Adler


Former Massachusettts Gov. Michael Dukakis waves following his speech during the democratic party's annual state convention, Saturday, May 14, 2005, at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Mass.
LISA POOLE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dukakis encourages grass-roots Democratic effort

Former presidential candidate, speaking at Laguna Woods Village, urges knocking on doors and face-to-face discussions.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LAGUNA WOODS – Former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis encouraged more than 150 local Democrats on Saturday to stoke a grass-roots effort before the upcoming elections.
Dukakis, a former Massachusetts governor who lost his bid for president in 1988, spoke at Laguna Woods Village and encouraged seniors to talk to their neighbors face-to-face about Democratic candidates.
"The only way we can guarantee that people are hearing their message … is going to their front door and knocking on them," said Dukakis, whose wife, Kitty, also attended the event sponsored by the Laguna Woods Democratic Club.
The Brookline, Mass., native was defeated by George H.W. Bush. Though he didn't say which candidate he favored, Dukakis spoke bluntly on Saturday about the current administration and some of the Republican presidential candidates.
"I should have won that election," he told attendees. "If I had beaten that old man, you wouldn't have heard of the kid."
The current economic state in the U.S. could have been avoided, Dukakis said. He also spoke critically of U.S. health care and said the Iraq war was the "worst foreign policy in the history" of the nation.
He said that starting early to build relationships with voters was crucial. He encouraged the Democrats to use the Internet, but also urged precinct captains and volunteers to hit the streets to secure enough votes.
"Most voters are not politically involved," said Linda Moon, a Huntington Beach resident who voted for Dukakis years ago. "Having some personal contact about politics will have an impact."
Now 74, Dukakis is a visiting professor of public policy at UCLA and resides in Los Angeles during the winter. He also teaches political science at Northeastern University in Boston.
Columnist Dena Bunis writes that style, not substance, distinguishes the Democratic candidates. News 3.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3788 or epak@ocregister.com

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