UAH College Democrats

We're chugging along!

2006-09-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Let start out saying that there is an interesting post about an exchange between Harry Reed and Dick Durbin. It is abosultely hillarious! Here's the link:
(http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2006/09/frist-blames-democratic-minority-for-do.html)

Now on to the good stuff! Thanks to all of the people who came out to the meeting last Monday! We had about 20 or so people but I want to see more! So bring your friends with you next time and maybe we can pack 337! The next meeting is Monday 25th, at 6:30 in Morton Hall 337. We will be finalizing t-shirt designs next week (I swear), so if you have any ideas for a slogan that you want to kick out, tell us about it!
Don't forget to make it out to our Proud to be a Democrat Day celebration! It's happening on October 3rd and we'll have a meet and greet with candidates from 5 to 7 in the Union Grove Gallery. There will be free food (probably pizza) and we'll have a t-shirt raffle (hopefully our new shirts). Also, we will be passing out blue ribbons the week before (next week I think) around campus for you to wear on Oct. 3rd so keep an eye out.
Quick side note, I'm pissed off that these corporate media idiots are celebrating Bush's approval rating from GALLUP reaching 44%. What they don't tell you is that the Pew poll shows that Bush still has a 37%, unchanged from the last. Where is the equity? Oh, I forgot, 44% is good, right? Here's a post on Dailykos.com that shows a little perspective on this:
Here then, is some much-needed historical perspective to put Bush's standing in context:
>>> According to Gallup, on the eve of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, he was suffering the worst job-approval ratings of his presidency -- 58 percent.
>>> In 1968, when the war in Vietnam was claiming hundreds of U.S. casualties each week, President Lyndon Johnson was considered so unpopular that he didn't even run for re-election. Johnson's average Gallup approval rating for that year was 43 percent.
>>> When Reagan's second term was rocked by the Iran-Contra scandal, his ratings plummeted, all the way down to 43 percent.
>>> This year, according to the Gallup numbers, Bush has averaged an approval rating of 37 percent.
---Eric Boehlert (via Atrios) at Media Matters

Anyways, I hope to see you all at the meeting on Monday! Talk to you later!

Sterling High

Here's an interesting article from CNN.com

2006-09-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans on Tuesday distanced themselves from campaign activities that encourage college students to "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" and shoot cardboard cutouts of leading Democrats with a BB gun or paintball gun.
Democratic Chairman Howard Dean said in a letter to his Republican counterpart, Ken Mehlman, on Tuesday that such activities, reportedly put together by a GOP college organizer, "can only be described as divisive, potentially dangerous and discriminatory."
The Republican National Committee said it had no connection with Morgan Wilkins, the woman accused of organizing the offbeat campaign activities at the University of Michigan. RNC spokesman Brian Jones said "the woman has no affiliation with the Republican National Committee, and we certainly condemn this kind of behavior. It's offensive and there's no place for it." He said news reports she was hired by the RNC are incorrect.
Paul Gourley, chair of the College Republican National Committee, said Wilkins is an independent contractor hired to recruit students to the GOP, but he said the reported activities were not authorized. Wilkins declined to comment Tuesday night.
The events were reported by the University of Michigan newspaper, The Michigan Daily.
The "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" event reportedly allows participants to win prizes for catching others posing as illegal immigrants and a "Fun with Guns" event allows people to shoot cardboard cutouts of top Democrats such as Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry with a BB gun or paintball gun, the newspaper reported.
Dean cited several news reports that college Republicans on other campuses were involved in events like "Catch an Illegal Immigrant.
"As chairman of America's two major political parties, we have a responsibility to elevate the political discourse in America," Dean wrote to Mehlman.
Mehlman, who has been trying to recruit more minorities into the GOP, wrote back: "I wholeheartedly agree with you that the activities you cite in your letter are reprehensible."
Mehlman said Dean's call for less divisive rhetoric was ironic, citing the Democratic chairman's earlier comments that Republicans are "a white Christian Party," and "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."

Can you guys believe this? I guess I better cancel the "Dick Cheney Duck Hunting" stand we were planning on doing.

The agony of defeat, but we shall go on!

2006-08-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well, after the smoke cleared on that warm humid August night, Doug Dermody got around 40% of the vote. Not enough to win, but enough to send a message to Topper Birney that he shouldn't get too comfortable with the way he's running things. We did an excellent job of getting out and canvassing most of the district and I thank all of the people that helped us out, we couldn't have done it without you all.

But that is all behind us now, we must looked to the future races that are before us. We have a great slate of candidates that are asking for our help, and we will be there to help them out in any way we can. We already have our first assignment: AL Rep. Randy Hinshaw has asked us do voter registration canvassing in Meridianville. We are going out this Saturday, September 2nd, starting about 9 to 9:30 and going until it's done, or until it gets too hot. We only have about 4 or 5 streets to do, so if we make a concerted effort we can knock it out in a few short hours. If you have any time available, we could definitely use your help!

In other news, don't forget about the county party HQ's grand opening on September 9th. It will start about 10:30 and all of the candidates will be there, including Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley! The HQ is located just West of the Natatorium and Boy Scouts building on Drake Ave. It's located in an office complex and you can see it clearly from the road. If you have any questions about this, give us an email.

If you haven't checked out the facebook group or gotten the email or seen the fliers, I have made a new design for the group that might help get more attention. With your approval, I would like to rename the group the UAH Charger Dems. I made a design that mixed the Democratic donkey and the UAH Charger. I hope you guys like it. Shoot me an email and tell me what you think.

Lastly, our first meeting will be Monday, September 18th at 6:30 in Morton Hall 337. We will be having officer elections and will finalize t-shirt designs. It's going to be an exciting year and we need everyone to participate. The 3 following meetings will be the 3 following Mondays, the 25th, Oct. 2nd and 9th. Same time and place. Come on out and see what we have to offer!

Thanks for everything you guys have already done and for what you all will do! See you soon.

Sterling High

Fall Semester is here!

2006-08-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here it comes! Fall Semester 2006 is right around the corner and we're off to a running start. We're finishing up with the Doug Dermody campaign for School Board and hopefully will get a clean victory next Tuesday. But before that gets complete we have to think about all the semester start up activities. On Saturday we're helping the newly arrived with their baggage at the residency halls. We will meet at 1130 at CCRH lobby and beging helping at 12. Don't forget to wear your t-shirts. If you don't have one we have a few left to sell ya for 12 bucks. I also think there is a small club fair at the slab the same day from about 2 to 4. We will need help for both of these events, so if you're interested, shoot me an email.

Then on Monday the 21st there is another Club Fair at the slab from 12 noon to 2PM. We will definitely need help working that. It's being put on by SGA and they have requested we have a small carnival game at our booth. I have decided to bring out the oldy but goody "Pin the tail on the Georgie" game. It's pretty much who can get the long nose closest to the right spot on dubyas face. Hope you guys can make it.

On a side note, I would like to give a big shout out to the A&M Bulldog Dems for their amazing effort at their schools orientation. They set out to get a thousand students registered to vote and I think they came close to reaching their goal. So lets all give our sister chapter at A&M a big hand and lets all get ready to do great things with them this semester!

Sterling High

Moving Right Along!

2006-08-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hello again my fellow Democrats! It's late Friday night and I am exhausted! It's been a long week working for Doug and getting things in line for the Fall. Things are going well on the campaign trail!

Daniel Horton has been gracious enough to help us out and update the calendar, thank you Daniel! Please take a look at it and keep the important dates in mind! It's not totally complete but it's a good start. Just keep looking in periodically to keep updated. Also, go check out the Madison County Democrats Website (www.madisoncountydemocrats.com) and first marvel at how great it looks and then look at all the great information on there to help you branch out into the rest of Democratic politics.

On a personal note, I want to thank all of the College Dems that have helped out thus far on the tasks we have before us. We couldn't have done any of the things we do without you guys!

If you guys have a moment, check out www.thinkprogress.org . It's a great website that has updates everyday about what kind of crazy stuff the Republicans are doing and what kind of good things those on the progressive side are doing.

Anyways, talk to you guys soon!

Sterling

Doug Dermody for School Board!

2006-08-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Here's a quick update on a very exciting local race that we are heavily involved in. Our Democratic Party County Chair, Doug Dermody, is running for Huntsville City School Board and we are trying our hardest to get him elected! Courtney, Sean and I have been canvassing for the past week and we're trying to get more of you guys involved! If you have time, please help us out. It will be a non-stop campaign-a-thon until August 22nd. If you can help us out, please call Courtney at 508-4013 and tell her when and how you can help!

Also, on a side not, let's all give a great big HooZah for Ned Lamont up in CT for winning the Democratic Party Senate slot! He's a great candidate and really reflects the values we as Democrats hold! It's going to be a great year and I am so glad that I am able to share it with you all! See you soon!

Sterling

2006-07-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all again to the UAH College Democrats website. I hope you enjoy your visit here. Hopefuly we can get this updated very soon with the calender and all. It's been a hectic summer so far and it's only going to get more so later on. The primary elections came and went and after the dust settled we had our Democratic candidates for this year.

I am very excited about this election cycle. I think we as College Democrats can make a huge difference here in Huntsville/Madison County. We are being recruited as a group to help canvass for a number of different candidates. All of them are wonderful people and need our help to get them re-/elected this year. We will hopefully be hosting a few candidates at UAH this upcoming fall semester so that everyone can have face to face time with the candidates. We've been talking to Sue Schmitz and Randy Hinshaw (incumbent AL House of Rep.) and Parker Griffith (AL Senate). We've also been talking to Lucy Baxley's (running for Governor) folks up here and hopefully we can get her up here. And of course there is Jim Folsom Jr. (running for Lt. Gov.) and John Tyson Jr. (running for Attorney General) and the always wonderful Nancy Worley (incumbent Secretary of State). We will definitely try to get as many up to see us as possible.

This semester I hope to run the group like a campaign and be more action oriented instead of information oriented like the previous year. We will be doing mostly canvassing (both voter registration and candidate oriented), but will also be around on campus showing movies (An Inconvenient Truth anyone?). The Madison County Democratic Party Headquarters will be opening up soon (on Drake Ave., just West of Safety City, in between a karate studio and Edward Jones). We will have an office where we can meet and help the party out.

Anyways, I'm rambling on. The point is, I'm hopeful that this election cycle will be a great one for Democrats here and everywhere. Regular meetings will resume in the fall semester with the first meeting having elections, so if you're interested in being an officer, please keep that in mind. Hope to see you guys around!

PS: Quick shout out to the 4 College Dems that went to the National Convention in St. Louis! Thank you Candice, Ashley, Sean and Joe for representing with the biggest delegation from Alabama!

Sterling High

New site for the College Dems!

2006-01-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well, so here we are with our awesome new site! I would like to thank Ashley and Daniel for the great work they did on it, it looks wonderful! I hope everyone visiting enjoys it also. I am also very excited about this blog! Now we can post important information for everyone to see and keep you all informed.

I guess this is my first post, and as such I would like to welcome you all. I hope that you visit regularly and I will try to keep new info and blogs up to keep everyone up to speed. This semester we are shooting big with lots of events to get everyone involved and inform the student body of the issues that affect them most. The first big thing this semester will be a Minority's Issue Debate in February. We hope to work closely with the Black Student Association and some of the African-American Fraternity's and Sorority's to make this debate meaningful and informative. Hopefully we can get the College Republicans to show up, but if not, we will be glad to talk about the Democratic Party's stance on the issues that affect minorities. The tentative date is Feb. 23rd.

Keep a look out around campus for some issues booths and fundraiser booths. We will also be ordering 24 more t-shirts, mostly larges, in the near future. When we get them in, just come talk to us about getting one, they are 12 dollars a piece.

Homecoming week is upon us and the activities surrounding it hold some wonderful possibilities for the College Dems. There is a $500 prize for the student organization that has the most members participate, so I highly encourage you to go out to the events and show em that the College Dems means business.

There's a whole lot more to talk about, but I will save it for another time. This is going to be an exciting semester and hopefully a fruitful election year for the Democrats. See you round campus!

Sterling

It's Do-or-Die time for the GOP

2005-12-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

By Sean Magers

Indictments, Investigations, and Cronyism! Oh my! These are dark days indeed for the Bush administration. With the President's approval rating dipping to 35% in some polls and Dick Cheney's at almost half of that at 19%, it's hard to see how the White House can provide effective leadership for the remaining three years of this term.

Bush has seen his own conservative base turn against him with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, and has to expect the possibility of a filibuster with his newest nomination. There have been indictments of majority leader Tom DeLay and the Vice President's chief of staff Scooter Libby, bringing about the prompt resignations of both. Even a major contributor to Bush/Cheney '04 campaign has been indicted on three counts of money laundering. This, of course, is all in addition to investigations underway on Senate majority leader Bill Frist. With Karl Rove astoundingly still employed and press secretary Scott McClellan sweeping botched jobs under the rug at break-neck speed, this all adds up to a lion's share of corruption and incompetence deeply entrenched in the bowels of this administration.

Is that all? Certainly not. Our fearless leader demonstrated just how dangerous appointing your friends to major positions can be in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There's also the matter of the war in Iraq. We recently passed a grim milestone of 2,000 American deaths in addition to Iraqi civilian casualties that have been quoted anywhere from 27,000 to 30,000 deaths since March 2003. At least we're over there for a legitimate reason, right? At least the American public wasn't misled into supporting Operation: Iraqi Freedom, right? At least we went in with a legitimate exit strategy and haven't turned the entire country into a power vacuum . . . right?

What can Bush do to avoid becoming a lame duck and face a Democratic coup in the mid-term elections of 2006? The President needs to clean house as Reagan did in his second term when his approval ratings began to plummet. Bush needs to spend less time making speeches about the Bird Flu and focus on making good on his 2000 promise to be a "uniter, not a divider." With a massive cloud of suspicion surrounding those he is closest to, the President needs to fire Karl Rove and think about talking to Uncle Dick about stepping down.

Nowadays, the GOP spends more time strategizing new plans on how to make the Democrats look bad than they do holding themselves accountable and actually governing. Tom DeLay's defense on his alleged election finance violations consisted of attacking the character of Ronnie Earl, the prosecuting attorney. The DeLay camp claims that Earl is only after the former majority leader only because the attorney is a Democrat and his target is a high profile Republican. Of course, they fail to admit that Earl has prosecuted nearly twice as many Democrats (including Earl, himself) than Republicans in his three decades in office. After Scooter Libby was indicted under charges of perjury, right-wingers complained that lying was more of a "technicality" than a legitimate crime. Quick, 100 points to whoever can guess on what charge the GOP finally busted Bill Clinton.

It would be great if Harry Reid and Dick Durbin weren't reduced to calling closed Senate sessions to get some real answers behind the justification for the war in Iraq. It'd be a lot more productive if we all could spend less time pointing fingers (like I've done in the past 500 words or so) and more time shaking hands. One of the parties needs to make the first step, and since the GOP the party in power, they need to reach across the aisle first. They need to hold themselves accountable and quit shifting the responsibility to what they call partisan tactics by the left. It's do-or-die time for the Republicans. This is the only way the party has any hope in 2006 and 2008.