Feingold, Sheehan, Hightower and Van Os in Austin next week

[PDittie]

Austin is the epicenter for Democratic and progressive activists next week.



David Van Os' "Citizens' Filibuster for a Fair and Constitutional Education" begins Monday April 17 at high noon on the Capitol grounds -- the same day that the Lege goes back into session for the fifth time (or is it the sixth?) in order to solve the pressing dilemma of funding public education in Texas.

You can catch Cindy Sheehan at the UT east mall (near the statue of MLK) between 11 and 12:15 on Monday the 17th for a rally with the Cameo anti-war folks.

And Senator Russ Feingold will have a listening session with CD-21 candidate John Courage at thhe UT Student Union Quadrangle on Tuesday, April 18 at 12:30 pm, and a rally beginning at 7:30 pm for Courage supporters at Jovita's, 1619 S. First Street, where Jim Hightower as well as Feingold and Courage will speak.

All these are open to the public and free of charge. I'll see you at all three events next week. Stop by and say hi to me.

[sonias]

1. Correction to the Jovita's event for John Courage

That's not free, PDittie. It's actually a concert called BlueGrassRoots! to benefit John Courage. Jim Hightower will be there as well. The cost is a reasonable $25. More info here:
http://www.courageforcongress.org/events/
Senator Russ Feingold, John Courage and special guests:

* Jim Hightower
* South Austin Jug Band
* The Grassy Knoll Boys
* Texas Youth Word Collective

Sonia

[Melissa G]

2. Sounds like a good DU meet up event!

I'll try to make it!

[PDittie]

3. And also Barack Obama!

Texas Young Professionals invites you to a reception for
Hopefund, Senator Barack Obama's Leadership Fund

Tuesday, April 18, 2006
5:00 - 7:00 PM
Nuevo Leon Restaurant
1501 E. 6th Street
Austin , TX 78702
Cash bar and appetizers
$500 Host
$25 Admission
Make checks payable to Hopefund
RSVP to www.hopefundamerica.com
or [phone]

You people better hie thee to the state capital next week...

[David Van Os]

6. Stop sucking out Texas money

It is wrong for these Washington politicians to come siphon our Texas Democratic money out of Texas. We need to tell them all to stop using Texas as an ATM. Hell, there are lots of good progressive Texas Democratic candidates who are struggling every day to put pennies and dimes together for their campaigns. If Barack Obama really cared about party-building, he would be encouraging Texas Democrats to donate to those candidates instead of coming to grab the money for himself. But he is another Beltway politician whose priority is chasing money for his own stuff. Beware superstar-itis. It leads to cooptation and exploitation.

[crispini]

7. Damn right!

I am very proud of John Edwards coming to Dallas and doing a fundraiser for us and 100% of the money raised there will stay in Dallas. Good man!

[nick_DFT]

8. Russ Feingold

DVO--

I agree with ya. I understand that candidates raise funds on a national level. But then you've got guys like Senator Russ Feingold who not only come to Texas, but:

-The John Courage campaign did not have to pay for their flights
-Did not have to pay for their hotels
-Did not have to pay for their transportation
-And perhaps more importantly, Senator Feingold did not take a DIME

It wasn't for a lack of offering, their team was just super cool and wouldn't let us. When asked if they wanted us to get a car for them, they told us that Senator Feingold gets around in a Ford Focus in D.C.:

One of my favorite parts of the listening session was when someone asked how Feingold "keeps the D.C. out" and he answered by engaging in the listening sessions and town hall meetings with his constituents, he is able to remember his roots and where he came from. That and the fact that he is the least wealthy US Senator. Ha.

Throughout the entire process, they were nothing short of incredibly helpful to John's campaign.

I can'y say that a dime *went* to Texas for that other event though. I heard about photography restrictions and all sorts of ungrassroots behavior. A lot of people talk about how upset they are that $ gets taken out of TX and such, but the minute you put a rockstar in front of them that all goes out the window, mildly disappointing.

[PDittie]

9. He can speak for himself, Nick, but

I am pretty sure DVO was targeting Obama as the offender.

[PDittie]

4. A Good Friday kick eom

[sonias]

5. Austin Chronicle Ad

The Courage Campaign took out a whole page ad in The Austin Chronicle this week. It was a thing of beauty to see Senator Russ Feingold and my future Congressman John Courage on that ad. Terrific Trifecta Tuesday on April 18th.
http://www.courageforcongress.org/events/

The tipping point is here. We're going to topple Lamar Smith like we took Tom DeLay down. The republican house of cards is falling in on them.

bush needs a brain
cheney needs a heart
and congress needs Courage!

Sonia