In This Issue

• Upcoming Meetings
• Chair's Corner: All Politics is Local
• 2005-2006 Club Officers
• Did You Know?
• Oakland County Democratic Party News
• Take Me Out of the Ball Game
• Introducing the BDC Website

Upcoming Meetings

The BDC meeting schedule for 2005 is:

• April 28, 2005 @ 7:30pm with our State Representative Andy Meisner
• May 19, 2005 @ 7:30pm
• September 22, 2005 @ 7:30pm
• October 27, 2005 @ 7:30pm

Each meeting is held at Anderson Middle School, 3205 Catalpa, Berkley, Michigan, in the Media Center. We welcome you to join us!

- Steve Baker

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Chair's Corner

All Politics Is Local

Tip O'Neill coined this phrase to underscore the importance of the grassroots effort in politics. The new chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Gov. Howard Dean, seems to have taken this adage as his mantra. Expressions like "Front Porch Politics" and "The Permanent Campaign" are the guiding principles of his administrative plan. He is committed to renewing our party from coast to coast. He has challenged the Blue State/Red State divide and has already visited Mississippi and Kansas considered the reddest of the red. He has called on every Democrat to be involved at the local level. "Run for school boards, city councils, and State Houses; be involved at every level of government" he said last week.

Dean is equally clear about the message. He suggests that Democrats should "speak of their moral values" and reach out to religious groups. Healthcare, education, telling the truth, paying debts and not leaving them for the next generation, and protecting Social Security for the elderly are all moral values. Bill Clinton left a thriving economy and a financial surplus and within four years we are trillions of dollars in debt, scorned around the world, we have soaring gas prices, the country has been at war for 2 years, good jobs are going overseas and now comes news that GM and Ford may go bankrupt within 18 months.

The message is simple and needs to be repeated at every opportunity: Republicans can't be trusted with your money; they enrich the already rich and distract the poor by rallying them around medical issues that are matters of personal faith. Shakespeare understood this phenomenon quite well when he noted, "The devil can cite scripture for his purpose." The accumulating debt is such a grave problem that the current US Comptroller General remarked on ESPN: "I'm concerned for my country and for my children."

On the local level we have made progress in developing accurate voter data that can be used in future elections. These data helped John Kerry win Berkley, Oakland County and Michigan. This work will continue to be refined and updated. We are thankful to all the volunteers who worked so hard knocking on doors and gathering these data. In order to communicate more effectively with local Dems, Independents, and others the Berkley Democratic Club has developed its own website. We invite you to visit http://www.berkleydems.org. Our newsletter will be accessible on the site. We will also use this website to facilitate the timely dissemination of other information of interest to the local community. Links to a variety of important Democratic sources will also be provided. This new departure for our club welcomes your suggestions as this site seeks to implement the awareness that while "all politics is local" it is also global. With Howard Dean we are doing our part to restore the values that made this country great here at home and respected around the world.

- Phil O'Dwyer, Chair

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2005-2006 Club Officers

At the February 24, 2005 meeting, the Berkley Democratic Club members elected its Officers for 2005-2006.

The Club Officers are:

• Chair: Dr. Phil O'Dwyer
• Vice-Chair: Berkley Councilperson Marilyn Stephan
• Secretary and Treasurer: Former Berkley Councilperson Ralph Conklin
• Communications: Steve Baker
• Club Trustees: Laura Gogola and Chris Riley

The Berkley Democratic Club extends congratulations and thanks to all Officers for their energy and commitment!

- Steve Baker

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Did You Know?

Why is the left "Left" and the right "Right?"

Ever wonder why conservatives are considered "right" when so often they are wrong? Is it a coincidence of spelling that the liberals are left-wing while the republicans are right-wing?

Like most answers steeped with history, the genesis of these expressions is far less exotic. They originate with the seating arrangements in the French Chamber of Deputies after the French Revolution. The conservative aristocracy sat to the right of the Speaker while the commoners and radicals sat to the left.

As our political system evolved, we continued the old custom in which a host would seat their privileged guests to the right at formal gatherings.

- Steve Baker

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Oakland County Democratic Party News

The Oakland County Democratic Party (OCDP) meets at the Oakland County Commissioners Auditorium on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm. Our Berkley Club members Polly Haggis, Laura Gogola, Patricia Pelowski, Ryan Gesund, Cathy King, and Marilyn Stephan have been attending these meetings. If you are interested in joining us, please contact one of us.

The County Party has announced the organization of six committees:

• Fundraising and Membership
• Field Organizing and Constituency Outreach
• Precinct Organization and Training
• Visibility
• Programming
• By-Laws

The intent is to recapture the attention of the many who joined us in the presidential campaign in 2004, and to prepare for the 2006 election.

If you are interested in participating in any of these endeavors, please come to the April 28th meeting of our club and sign up.

By the time you receive this newsletter the drawing will have taken place for "A Raffle in Honor of President Bill Clinton." The first place winner will enjoy a trip for two to visit the Clinton Presidential Library on October 25, 2005.

The Phil Hart Dinner, a major fundraiser of the OCDP, which traditionally has been held in the spring, will be held in the fall. "Stay tuned for further details!" That bit of radio jargon prompts me to call to your attention AM radio station 1310.

Some of you are receiving this newsletter for the first time. I found the list of people who put Kerry signs in their yards, and added your names to our mailing list. Please consider joining us for our April meeting and help the Democratic Party get ready for the next election.

- Marilyn Stephan

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Take Me Out of the Ball Game

As I write this, the Detroit Tigers won their home opener, Terri Schivo recently passed away, and we rapidly approach the two-year anniversary (May 1) of "Mission Accomplished." The world is at critical turning points on significant issues, yet the "liberal" media ignores the progressives who want to discuss more substantive topics than if Mark McGwire was juiced on steroids.

It strikes me as more than a little strange that as baseball's spring training was wrapping up with not much more than a yawn, Major League Baseball (MLB) just so happened to find itself in every headline across the nation by testifying before the House Government Reform Committee on its crisis of rampant steroid abuse. John McCain confirmed our national mood of panic and outrage by saying MLB "can't be trusted" and that legislation is required to ensure we enjoy a good ol' honest game.

Huh?! While millions of our hard-earned tax dollars are thrown into the Iraq occupation each day, and Tom DeLay pays his family hundreds of thousands of our dollars each year, we are supposed to be outraged about a game?

I certainly do not condone the abuse of steroids, nor do I believe life support, living wills, and record deficits are a trivial matter. But while the U.S. population focuses on baseball's woes, Schivo's dehydration, and Social Security, most Americans are unaware of significant issues and actions that will have serious and long-lasting consequences.

I am certainly not the first to be outraged by this, yet it bears repeating: We are being distracted with bright lights, conservative spin, and meaningless fluff while real crimes are being committed around us and to us each day. Knowledge of real progress (and setbacks) is carefully suppressed or, even worse, shamefully contradicted.

Most Americans missed the recent news on progress with stem cell research. A group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has successfully turned human embryonic stem cells into spinal motor neurons. This breakthrough could lead to drugs and treatments to counteract spinal cord disease. This is the issue that the actor Christopher Reeve discussed.

Some may have heard how brilliant we were at lobbying the European Union to continue blocking weapons sales to China. But rather than scold other nations about the evils of arms dealing, we should look in the mirror and act with integrity. Between 2000 and 2003 the U.S. sold $76 billion - more than the rest of the world combined - in arms to other countries. Our eager clientele includes Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Haiti, and Colombia.

Many Americans have an understanding that the nation is now in debt. But its staggering depth and its mindless causes are often "misunderestimated." Bush's unfair and unbalanced tax cuts, unfunded wars and ongoing occupations, and massive pork spending have ruined the federal budget. He willfully raids the Social Security surplus with one hand while preaching of doom with the other. (The Medicare program is in far worse financial shape.) If Bush truly wanted to save Social Security he would stop destroying (and lying about) our fiscal future.

But even the national pastime is not immune to the blind eye of the "liberal" media. The value of a Mark McGuire rookie card plunged from $8,600 in 2000 to a mere $600 today. Where is the outrage?!

Faced with this virtual blackout of meaningful news, what can we do to stay informed? Talk to someone you love about the world today. Read the paper. Listen to WDTW 1310 AM and Air America. Ask questions and demand meaningful answers. We deserve better. As Mulder from the X-Files would say, "the truth is out there!"

- Steve Baker

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Introducing the BDC Website

In addition to our Newsletter's new look and feel, we are now online as well! Our website address is:    http://www.berkleydems.org

The website focuses on our progressive Berkley community and is the place to look for local news and information! The simple, clean layout provides us with fresh and up-to-date information like:

• About Us - Club Officers, history, and more!
• Meetings and Events - Know where to go!
• Our Newsletter - The latest is always online!
• Newsletter Archives - Blasts from the past!
• Related Links - Local and around the world!
• Contact Us - Please stay in touch!

Please share your thoughts on the website and this Newsletter. What do you like about them? What else would you like to see in the future? Would you like to contribute an article, or coordinate an event?

Our website is a powerful way to stay connected. Together, with your ideas, questions, comments, and contributions, our community will continue to thrive and make a difference each and every day.

- Steve Baker

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We welcome your Comments and Feedback