East Bay & Other DUers: Tell Us How the Oakland "Teach-In" Went.

[Fly by night]

Like hundreds of others on this forum, I would have given anything to be in Oakland yesterday (or Santa Monica today) for the Election Theft "Teach In". I'm anxious for details on how it went.

Any DUers out there who went to the Oakland teach-in yesterday, please chime in with your impressions. Also, emlev, Peace Patriot et al, please let us know your impressions of the event and about obtaining audio/videotapes, etc.

Details, details .... we want details.

[Fly by night]

1. Kick, 'cause I'm interested. n/t

[GregD]

2. Fitrakis rocked

This guy could start a helluva riot with his speechmaking abilities. Folks were on their feet applauding, and when he spoke of "time for a little targeted civil disobedience", I was ready to hit the streets.

Warren Stewart did a great job on New Mexico, Jonathan Simon talked about exit polling (but had problems with his powerpoint presentation so he stumbled). Landes spoke in favor of abandoning the voting machines altogether, and others spoke of how to improve them.

Honestly, most of the speakers spoke eloquently and were well informed. One frustration was that there we SO MANY speakers, that many were limited to very short presentations. Should future teach-in's occur in other cities, I'd suggest finding a way of allowing the speakers more time to talk.

The highlight for me was the post-event reception that I was invited to since I was John Gideon's navigator (he stayed at our home while here in town.) I had a chance to visit at length with Lynn Landes who is a pleasant down-to-earth gal, and then with Wayne Madsen. He told me about how he sources his stories, some new stories he is working on, and how believes the Gannon story may continue to grow. We also talked about Jeff Fisher in FL, and how that appeared to be a Rove setup. After reading all of Madsen's stories, it was really interesting to hang out with him.

[garybeck]

6. fisher / rove

why is it that every time something seems too good to be true, it is?

[Peace Patriot]

3. I could not go. Found out about it too late to change my work schedule...

...(and I live far away). But I did talk to Don Goldmacher (the organizer) on Thurs., and he said there will definitely be video and audio tapes. We should check the web site

http://www.democraticrenewal.us/

Sheri Myers said the same of the Santa Monica Teach-In today. Tapes will be available.

http://www.citizensact.org/pages/2/index.htm

And I'll check back with these folks.

-----

Thanks so much for the report, GregD! I am so glad to hear about it. I had a feeling Fitrakis was going to be great. (I believe he's speaking in Santa Monica today, too.) Wasn't Kathy Dopp going to speak on the Exit Polls? Her group, UScountvotes just did such a fabulous report on it (the 9 Ph.D. report). Too bad Simon was off his form. He's a brilliant guy--and was onto this from Day One. That's where I first heard about it--from New Zealand! (www.scoop.co.nz).

That there were too many speakers is both good and bad! It's a sign that big numbers of activists and investigators are anxious to talk about this, have lots of info., are convinced that the info. is solid, and want to do something about it.

Some questions:

Did the Exit Poll issue get covered and understood (even given the tech difficulties)? (--such an important issue!)

Did any speakers endorse any of the congressional bills--or say anything about them?

Any reports on state fights over election rules?

Was there any mention of the Calif./Kevin Shelley situation?

What was the media representation? Who was there (if you know)?

[emlev]

5. Answers to questions, more description

Did the Exit Poll issue get covered and understood (even given the tech difficulties)? (--such an important issue!)

There was a lot on exit polls. Jonathan Simon of Allicance for Democracy (who's the person we have to thank that the original real exit polls are available, because he downloaded them election night!), Allyson Washburn of USCountVotes and Kathy Dopp of USCountvotes. Kathy spoke more about what USCV is doing. Her talk was called "A Plan to Restore Democratic Elections by 2006." Under the group name UtahCountVotes she led the successful efforts to keep e-voting out of Utah. I think the audience got it about the exit polls.

Did any speakers endorse any of the congressional bills--or say anything about them?
Yes. Buth Wing of Rainbow PUSH (rainbowpush.org) spoke about Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s constitutional amendment on for a constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. Bob Kibrick, chief analyst from Verified Voting (veriviedvoting.org) focused on the Ensign and Clinton bills. See their website for details.

Any reports on state fights over election rules?
Not that I remember at the moment.

Was there any mention of the Calif./Kevin Shelley situation?
There was a hand-out and a brief blurb about it from the stage at the end, given by Judy Bertelsen of Wellstone Renewal Democratic Club, one of the sponsoring organizations of the event. The day was running long and a bunch of the stuff at the end had to be cut way short. IMHO, the lack of sufficient coverage of the Shelley/CA Sec. of State issue was *the* major shortcoming in the event.

What was the media representation? Who was there (if you know)?
Larry Bensky of KPFA was there to speak on "The Disappearing Media." He encouraged attendees to contact the station manager (which I imagine you can do through kpfa.org) and ask that they edit down the tapes of the day and broadcast them. Since they stream on the net, you can hear it wherever you are if this happens. I am not aware of any other media being there. I don't know if media outreach was done or not.

The whole day was videotaped. VHS and DVD versions will be available from Ecological Options Network at [email protected].

Here's who spoke:
Lynn Landes, journalist
John Gideon, VotersUnite!
Bob Fitrakis, Free Press (one of the Ohio 4 defending themselves against sanctions for Moss v. Bush)
Emily Levy, me, project coordinator for Richard Hayes Phillips's
analysis of the Ohio vote
Warren Stewart, National Ballot Integrity Project
Jonathan Simon, Alliance for Democracy
Allyson Washburn, USCountVotes
Larry Bensky, KPFA and mediachannel.org
Jim March, blackboxvoting.org
Wayne Madsen, journalist
Paul Lehto, Washington state attorney
Butch Wing, Rainbow PUSH coalition
Bob Kibrick, Verified Voting
Sharon Cornu, Alameda County Central Labor Council
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink
Walter Riley, community activist and attorney
Alan Dechert, Open Voting Consortium
Kathy Dopp, USCountVotes

One thing that happened at the teach-in was that the organizers took up a collection for Andy Stephenson--and raised over $1,000!

The organizers are also putting together a teach-in kit to help groups in other communities that want to put on similar events. In small communities, it would be possible to get one or two live speakers and then show some of the excellent videotaped talks from one of the California teach-ins. Contact the organizers of the Oakland teach-in at democraticrenewal.us.

There's more to say, but that's all I can manage for now. It was a powerful experience for me, great to meet some of the folks I've been working with "remotely." Nobody introduced themselves ot me as being from DU. Hey, sfexpat, where you there?

Emily

[Fly by night]

4. Another kick

[tommcintyre]

7. Thanks for the great reports all, looking forward to the tapes n/t

[JohnGideon]

8. As One of The Speakers

I want to say that this event was a complete success. I spoke just after Lynn Landes did a brief opening talk and I mentioned HAVA and DRE in my talk and people asked what they were so there were people new to the issue in attendance. That's a good thing. The word is getting out.

There was a lot of interest in the handouts that were present all over the lobby. Hopefully people will be encouraged to get active and get informed.

These "teach-in"s are such a great idea. I encourage everyone to get their local groups to talk about doing one. You don't need a large group of speakers like Oakland and LA. You can be just as effective with three or four speakers. Include local personalities along with a couple from outside and you have the makings for a good, instructive "teach-in".