In This Issue

• Bulletin Board
• Back to Work
• Retired General Wesley Clark Joins the Presidential Race
• Decide on a Candidate by February 7, 2004
• Thoughts of Another Day

Bulletin Board

Meeting Date Changed
The Berkley Democratic Club meeting that was scheduled for October 2, 2003 has been changed to October 9, 2003. The reason for this change is that parent-teacher conferences have been scheduled on the original date.

Remember the new date: October 9, 2003

All club meetings will be held at Anderson Middle School in the Media Center beginning at 8:00pm.

- Ralph Conklin

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Back to Work

The summer season is over and all of us are settling into our fall/winter schedules. My schedule begins when I return home after a summer of isolation - no telephone, no email, and a limited amount of first class mail that was forwarded to my summer address.

Upon returning home, this life is forgotten. TV news broadcasts and current newspapers soon bring me back to the realities of the world. As yet, my telephone has not been ringing off the hook except for the Telemarketers.

Recently I put my telephone on the Federal and State No-Call list so hopefully I will be able to eat my dinner without interruption. The collected email has been scanned and mail from the Democratic National Committee and Presidential Candidate Joe Lieberman has been answered or round filed.

My volume of mail has increased. All the second and third class mail is being delivered. Various charitable organization and causes asking for donations have bombarded me. I guess the organizations that I support have made money by selling my name and address to many other groups.

If the organization is fighting proposed legislation, they always include petitions supporting their positions. The petitions are personalized with your name and addressed to your U.S. Congress Members. The recipient is to sign and return the petitions with the contribution. Most of these groups are persistent. When they don't receive a donation, additional copies of their request are sent. I believe they are hoping that I have changed my mind and will contribute to the cause.

Now that I am up-to-date in my activities, I have time to prepare a newsletter concerning the politics of the day.

- Ralph Conklin

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Retired General Wesley Clark Joins the Presidential Race

After being courted by Presidential Candidate Howard Dean, Clark decided to throw his hat into the ring as active candidate. He will be starting out far behind the other nine candidates that are in the race. Recent polls show that nearly two-thirds of the voters cannot name even one of the nine other candidates. This fact should aid Clark in his quest for the office.

Clark plans to use the Internet to raise funds for his campaign. If you are interested in supporting his candidacy, the website address is:

DraftWesleyClark.com

- Ralph Conklin

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Decide on a Candidate by February 7, 2004

With ten candidates, all Democrats need to decide which candidate deserves his/her support. I personally wish that I had a crystal ball to discover which candidate can defeat our sitting President. In the meantime the Republican-controlled Congress keeps passing legislation which has great sounding names, but contain changes that are depraving American Citizens of personal liberties. "The American Patriot Act " and "No Child Left Behind" are examples of this type of legislation.

If you have found such a candidate convince your friends and neighbors to vote for him/her in the Democratic Presidential Caucus on February 7, 2004 which will be held in the Berkley Community Center from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

Democratic Presidential Candidates
(alphabetical order)

• Wesley Clark - Arkansas - Retired Army General
• John Edwards - North Carolina - U.S. Senator
• Howard Dean - Vermont - Former Governor
• Dick Gephardt - Missouri - U.S. House of Representative and former U.S. House Minority Leader
• Bob Graham - Florida - U.S. Senator
• John Kerry - Massachusetts - U.S. Senator
• Carol Mosely-Braun - Illinois - Former U.S. House of Representative member
• Dennis Kucinich - Ohio - Former Governor
• Joe Lieberman - Connecticut - U.S. Senator
• Al Sharpten - New York - Civil Rights Activist

For information of how to contact any of the candidates' headquarters, call the Oakland County Democratic Party at 248-548-0510.

- Ralph Conklin

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Thoughts of Another Day

I have been an ex-pat for more than six years now. I thought that living in Europe and writing was as good as it could get. Oh, there is the fact that I am far away from our court appointed president. Friends tell me I should just get over that and move. That is not easy for me to do. I guess I will just say I am sorry.

There are some things that come to mind when I think about President George W. Bush. The thought may be about the biggest annual deficit in history or the biggest drop in the stock market in history. He has cut health care for war veterans and tossed aside more international treaties than any president in our history.

President Bush also has more than a few Americans out of work. Let's see, how did her help them? Oh, yes, he cut unemployment benefits. I know the times I was out of work this type of benefit has helped my family and me. I also wonder if it was part of his plan to have all the state governments cutting budgets to prevent deficit spending.

I think what bothers me the most is having less freedom and fewer civil liberties in a country that has always been looked at as a free country. When we back up and take freedom away, I say the terrorist win.

I also fear a president who quotes from the bible in most every speech on all subjects. Does this man feel he is on a mission from God? I see why countries in the Near East fear this man.

Back to being an ex-pat for some years now; it's a good thing. I can say anything I want and no one calls me names or want to put me in jail until I agree with the Neo-conservatives rulers.

- D.A. Marriott, Member - National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/AFL CIO

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