March for Justice with DFNYC, Community Leaders and Sean Bell's Family - Sat. Dec 16, 11:30am

-Meet at 59th Street & 5th Avenue

Community leaders from all over the City have planned a citywide call to action for prompt and decisive action to protest misconduct in the shootings of three young men by the NYPD on November 25. A massive "March for Justice," will take place this Saturday, December 16th, beginning at 11:30 am at 59th Street & 5th Avenue.

Democracy for NYC along with Community Free Democrats and Three Parks Independent Democrats are joining our elected officials, civic and community leaders, and union members in a show of unity. Please join us Saturday. Let us know if you're coming.

To join our group, email Bernadette at bevangelist@dfnyc.org.

For more information about the march, contact 212-408-8416.

NOTES: I should note that Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats is also spreading the word about this. I also should note that I have been told that this is not a permitted march, but that the police will not interfere. Joy and I will try to be there.

Despite the crazy, anti-science whining of the Denial Lobby, global warming is REAL and there is something we can do about it. And with a new, far more reality-based Conrgess coming in, now is the time to get the ball rolling. MoveOn.org is ready to inform the public and pressure Congress to do something.

On Saturday, December 16, 2006 thousands of MoveOn.org members are getting together across the country to sound the alarm about the climate crisis.

They are going to get together in living rooms around the country, watch the blockbuster documentary, An Inconvenient Truth and press Congress to take action to solve our climate crisis.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you have to (I saw Al Gore present it live!). If you have, you help raise awareness and push Washington to take action on the biggest crisis facing our planet.

In America, political will is a renewable resource and together we can build the will to do what has to be done.

Sign up to attend a house party near you. Or, if you prefer, host your own.

Bill Batson,, former candidate for NY State Assembly, Preservationist for Underground Railroad sites, Director of Community Relations for the State Senate Democrats, and generally interesting guy and artist, is having an Art Show in Prospect Heights on December 17th, 1-6 PM, 767 Washington Ave.

Come check out Bill's excellent art and meet the artist. Who knows! Perhaps Hakeem Jeffries will stop by now that he has won the election and has adopted something similar to Bill's view of Ratner's Atlantic Yard's project? Joy and I will certainly try to be there!

Kakande Kwanzaa Concert:

Roots West African Melodies

lead by Griot Famoro Dioubate of Guinea.

Thursday December 28th, 8 PM

at the Underground Railroad Safehouses at 227 Duffield St. between Fulton and Willoughby (the Brooklyn historical site recently saved from developers by Bill Batson).

From Fula Flute net:

Famoro Dioubate was born in 1965 in Conakry, Guinea to a griot family. He is the grandson of El Hadj Djelli Sory Kouyate, a living legend of the Mandeng balafon. During his teens he spent a five years in Abidjan and worked with Cheik Smith-Sherif and Sekou Camara Cobra. Back in Conakry he co-founded "Les Heritiers" with Sekouba Kandia Kouyate and recorded the albums "Kandia Dinke" and "Nyoumekela" with this group. Concurrently, he was the understudy of his grandfather in the Ensemble Instrumental National and routinely performed for the President and visiting foreign dignitaries. He was a member of Mory Kante's orchestra for the performances and recording of the "Traditional Symphonie." In the early nineties, he was a member of the "Groupe Standard" which accompanied most of the visiting great stars of African music in Guinea. In the United States since the late nineties, he has worked as a free-lance musician for a variety of groups and dance companies in performances and recordings.

On Thursday, January 4th, at 6:00 p.m., the Center for Architecture – home to the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects – will screen “Brooklyn Matters,” a documentary by Brooklyn filmmaker, urban planner and historian Isabel Hill. The timely and urgent film exposes how powerful interests are circumventing community participation and skirting legal protections to push the “Atlantic Yards” project forward at any cost.

Ms. Hill, a Brooklyn resident, and former planner in New York City’s Department of City Planning, directed the award-winning “Made in Brooklyn,” a documentary about the borough’s manufacturing industry.

From the American Institute of Architects website:

Brooklyn is distinctly different and yet such an important part of New York City. The names itself brings to mind tree-lined streets, finely carved rowhouses and beautiful churches and diverse communities, rich in cultural life and ethnic heritage. On the upswing, vibrant and rebuilding itself, Brooklyn faces a new challenge—an uncommon development, designed by world famous architect Frank Gehry, that threatens to redirect Brooklyn’s future and reshape its identity.

UPDATE: This event is being postponed

Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) Introduces the Candidates for Brooklyn's Council District 40 special election (probably scheduled for February).

Yvette Clarke was elected to Congress on November 7 from the 11th Congressional District, to succeed Major Owens. She will vacate her seat on the City Council from Council District 40. CBID will hold a forum and endorsement vote for the special election to fill her seat on the Council. New members must have joined the Club by November 20 to vote at this meeting. The meeting will be held at 7:30 PM on Thursday, January 4, 2007 (7 days from today). at the Park Slope United Methodist Church, 6th Ave. & 8th Street in the basement (enter through the garden gate on 6th Ave).

The People for the American Way are hosting a townhall event tonight at their NE Regional Headquarters at:

149 5th Avenue, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10010

"The pendulum of power swung in the U.S. Congress. Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo were elected by wide margins. Is the time for progressive change finally here?

Come find out what’s on PFAW’s agenda for 2007 and find out how you can get more involved at our Town Hall Meeting at 6pm, on Tuesday, January 9.

People For the American Way staff will discuss our priorities for the new year and our plan to ensure that newly elected officials keep to their word and enact the progressive change they’ve promised—we'll need your help!

A reception will follow the discussion at 8:00 pm. Light food and refreshments will be served. Space is limited so if you haven’t already please RSVP to Andrew Meade at 212-420-0440 x20 or ameade@pfaw.org."

I'll be there, hope anyone that is available will check it out too!

Given my recent near fame on discussing Somalia, it is appropriate for me to bring this event to your attention:

Somalia: Is a regional war inevitable?

Said Samatar, Professor of African History,Rutgers University

In the last days of December, Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Somalia's Mogadishu airport - a move said to be in defense of Somalia's Federal Transitional Government based in Baidoa. Thousands were reported dead as the Ethiopians routed the Union of Islamic Courts,

in a move that had full U.S. support. Martial law has been declared and Ethiopia has announced its intention to remain in the country for at least several weeks.

Experts on the region fear that Somalia conflagration could set off a fierce proxy war, fueled by the rival interests of 10 other countries, including Eritrea, Kenya, and Djibouti.

Salim Lone, former spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq in 2003, recently warned: "If this war continues, it will affect the whole region and also do serious harm to US interests and threaten Kenya, the only island of stability in this corner of Africa."

You're invited to join the New York Civil Liberties Union on January 16, 2007, at NYU Law School for a Town Hall meeting to learn how you can take action to stop unconstitutional NSA spying and protect your rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 2007

TIME: 7:00pm

LOCATION: NYU Lipton Hall (located in D'Agostino Hall)

110 West 3rd Street

New York City

No RSVP is required.

Don't miss this opportunity to share your thoughts on government spying with experts on both sides of the debate, including:

- Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Chair, Constitution Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives;

- Ann Beeson, lead attorney, ACLU v. NSA, and ACLU Associate Legal Director;

- Andrew McCarthy, former supervisor of the U.S. Attorney's Anti-Terrorism Command Post in New York City, and lead prosecutor of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman; and

- Timothy Bakken, Professor of Law, United States Military Academy at West Point.

For more information and a full list of panelists, go here.

Use this link for directions to NYU School of Law Campus.

Use this link for a map to Lipton Hall.

For more information on this event, contact arosmarin@nyclu.org or call 212-607-3358.

This comes from Democracy for America and there are events all over the nation:

What part of "NO" is hard to understand? In the last election, America sent a clear message to President Bush to change our course in Iraq, but all he wants to do is step on the gas.

On Wednesday, President Bush will announce his new way forward and it will sound a lot like "stay the course." Twenty thousand more troops and another set of unrealistic benchmarks used as talking points is more of the same. Even America's new commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, says Bush's plan will take "two to three years" to put us on the right track.

This Thursday we must stand up and tell George Bush, "No!" Democracy for America is partnering with True Majority Action and several other progressive organizations to purge the surge. Will you help by setting up an event in your neighborhood?

http://www.AmericaSaysNo.org/DFA

Some of the events that have already been set up are candle-light vigils honoring the fallen. Others are honk and wave mini-rallies at busy intersections or public spaces. Either way, these events work great for as few as three people or as many as five hundred. What is most important is that these events happen on Thursday night just 24 hours after the President's speech. Congress and the media need to see a quick response and a clear message that America says no more troops for Iraq.