Posts Tagged ‘Adirondack Progressives’

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ralph Nader To Speak in Glens Falls April 26th

Thanks to the folks at Adirondack Progressives, Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader will return to Glens Falls on Saturday April 26, 2008 for an appearance at The Charles R. Wood Theater at 8:00 pm. Adirondack Progressives is a group of area citizens interested in fostering local dialog on today’s most important issues.

The local Glens Falls Post Star relegated Nader (who is a Presidential Candidate after all!) to page B7 on Saturday. You can read Matt “Two Political Parties = One Massive Corporation” Funiciello’s take on their efforts to diminish Nader’s candidacy at his blog (there’s more Ralph Nader stuff there too). Brian over at MoFYC also writes a lot about Ralph from a local and regional perspective. There is more on the flip – » Continue Reading.


Tags: , , , , , ,

Friday, January 18, 2008

Adirondack Region Martin Luther King Jr Day Events

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is this Monday, January 21, 2008.

According to a press release from Adirondack Progressives:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most important leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Dr. King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963. Dr. King vociferously opposed the Viet Nam War and became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Price. He was assassinated forty years ago this April 4 while in Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking black sanitary public works employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Dr. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Although James Earl Ray was arrested, convicted and imprisoned for Dr. King’s murder, in 1999 Dr. King’s widow Coretta Scott King, along with the rest of King’s family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers and “other unknown co-conspirators.” Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King’s assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that “governmental agencies were parties” to the assassination plot.

Martin Luther King Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986, but it wasn’t until 2000 that all 50 states officially observed the holiday for the first time. Before 2000 the holiday was not observed by New Hampshire, Arizona, or South Carolina and in Virginia, the holiday was added on to Lee-Jackson Day, a day meant to honor confederate generals, and became Lee-Jackson-King Day. Although the day is now a universally celebrated federal and state holiday, it is usually not observed by American corporations.

In Glens Falls, Adirondack Native Dr. Alice Green will be giving a speech entitled “Doctor King: From Dreamer to Revolutionary.” Dr. Green is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Center for Law and Justice, a non-profit community organization that monitors criminal justice activities, provides legal assistance and criminal justice advocacy, organizes efforts to change social policy and empowers poor people and people of color. She entered the 2005 Mayor’s race in Albany running as the Green Party’s candidate in which she garnered an impressive 28% of the vote.

At 5 pm, following brief remarks from local politicians on the steps of Glens Falls City Hall, marchers will proceed to Christ Church at 54 Bay Street where a public program commemorating and celebrating the life, work, and message of Dr. King will be held beginning at 5:30 pm. A reception will follow. For more information contact Matt Funiciello at mattfuniciello (AT) earthlink.net

In Canton, St. Lawrence University will hold a teach-in on Monday, Jan. 21 celebrating Dr. King at the Student Center. The events are open to the public, and free of charge with the exception of dinner. The day will be begin with protest music at 11:30 am and will include a panel discussions, presentations, a march and service and a southern themed dinner. A complete schedule is here. For further information, contact the University Chaplain’s office at 229-5256.

Please feel free to let us know about other local events.


Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Ralph Nader in Glens Falls This Friday, May 25

Former presidential candidate and progressive activist Ralph Nader will return to Glens Falls on Friday, May 25, 2007 for a variety of events including an appearance at a Glens Falls High School, a local premiere of the documentary “An Unreasonable Man,” and a book signing at Red Fox Books. Ralph Nader’s visit is sponsored by Adirondack Progressives, a group of local people interested in fostering a local dialogue on today’s most important issues.

The day’s events will begin at Glens Falls High School where Nader will speak to students and participate in a student forum from 1 to 2:15 pm. Issues to be discussed could include the Iraq War, the growing imperialist threat of multinational corporations, the dangerous convergence of corporate and government power, and the role of third parties and citizen activism in the political process. » Continue Reading.


Tags: , , , ,

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

New Warren County League of Women Voters

Tonight a group of interested locals will officially kick-off the “new” Warren County League of Women Voters. The meeting will be an opportunity to define the local chapter’s interests and consider which of the many LWV programs to pursue first. Matt Funicello, a founding member of Adirondack Progressives, was instrumental in the getting the local LWV ball rolling again. Here’s is what they are all about according to their website:

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. The League’s enduring vitality and resonance comes from its unique decentralized structure. The League is a grassroots organization, working at the national, state and local levels.

There are Leagues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, in addition to the hundreds of local Leagues nationwide. The League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters Education Fund operate at the national level with grassroots support from state and local Leagues.

The League of Women Voters is strictly nonpartisan; it neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government. At the same time, the League is wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy. It is the original grassroots citizen network, directed by the consensus of its members nationwide. The 900 state and local Leagues – comprising a vast grassroots lobby corps that can be mobilized when necessary.

Over time, the League’s legislative priorities change to reflect the needs of society and critical issues of concern. The organization remains true to its basic purpose: to make democracy work for all citizens. The League of Women Voters makes a difference in the lives of citizens because of the energy and passion of thousands of members committed to our principles.

The revived League of Women Voters first meeting will be at 7pm, at Rock Hill Bakehouse Cafe in Glens Falls.


Tags: , , ,

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Adirondack Progressives Gear-up for Election 2006

Adirondack Progressives, who have been heralded here at the Almanack a few times before, have announced that they will meet at 7:30 pm, tomorrow (Thursday, 7/15) at the Rock Hill Bake House Cafe in Glens Falls.

According to always active progressive Matt:

It’s time! Howie Hawkins (Green candidate for U.S. Senate against Hillary) is coming to Glens Falls next month for a fundraiser that we’re going to put on for him! We need to help this man out …in the fall, we can likely have him come up with Malachy McCourt (the Green candidate for Governor) and hear them speak at the Wood Theater. Let’s see the Post-Star ignore that! So far they have neglected to mention, even once, that there are any alternatives to Hillary and Spitzer.

We hope you can make it!

While we’re at it: The Working Families Party Election Round-Up for June


Tags: , , , ,

Friday, August 12, 2005

James Kunstler Speaks… A Few Adirondackers Listen

A quick (and belated) report on James Kunstler‘s appearance at the Rock Hill Bakery Cafe in Glens Falls.

The house was full, the coffee flowed; after some technical difficulties with the cafe’s new video projection system Kunstler showed some great photos, many from the area, that clearly demonstrated one of his primary points: Developers need to stop “dishonoring the public realm” with poor design that makes places like strip malls, blank walls with sidewalks in front, etc., and start “showing generosity to the public realm.” As Kunstler put it: It’s not that Queensbury and places like it are “like everywhere else in America” – Tuscan villages are all alike and no one complains about them – it’s that everything in Queensbury and places like it is “uniformly crappy.” It’s hard to disagree with that.

Part of it is the Big Lie that we’re living. The next time someone tells us they live in Queensbury or some place like it, we’ll be asking why? Have you no sense of aesthetic? Do you enjoy living in a place you won’t even hang out in? Kunstler believes that because of a number of factors their suburban hell is on its way out – as he put it in the understatement of the night “we’re going to have to make other arrangements.”

About 70 people were in attendance including at least one Lake George area developer (he was sleepy and left early, a victim of intellectual laziness) and Glens Falls Post Star Maury “I’m a nice guy, I just have no spine” Thompson (example), who was recently heard arguing that it’s proper that the Post Star is hosting a mayoral “debate” with only the two most conservative candidates allowed to attend. Independent mayoral candidate Esmond Lyons was there with plenty of intelligent things to say about the local situation – apparently none of the other candidates thought the opportunity to hear one of America’s foremost and insightful writers on development, a man who lives in Saratoga Springs and was using specific local examples, was even worth spending a few minutes hearing out.

Thankfully, Adirondack Progressives is engaging the Warren County community in serious intellectual and exploratory dialogue. Word has it, that Matt, the owner of Rock Hill and an active member of the Green Party and Adirondack Progressives, is about to accept a position on the National Green Party Committee.

More as we know more…

Also:

baloghblog had this to say this week about Americans with their heads in the Sand regarding another of Kunstler’s main point – the peak oil situation and the coming emergency.

CNY ecoBlog explored the sell-off of Exxon-Mobil’s upstate NY properties and what it means for us.

Glens Falls blogger Brian, the (Fairly) Young Contrarian also reported on Kunstler this week.

And just as a reminder that they lie, we have:

Hundreds of Truckers Protesting Gas Prices

US Trade Deficit Nears New High As Oil Imports Surge


Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Adirondack Almanack Demands: Glens Falls Post-Star Must Register As A PAC

Want to understand why we are where we are? Why increasingly it seems as though Americans are living in some sort of strange fantasyland? Look no further – it’s all right here at Letters to the Editor:

Maybe, if the Post Star got its head unstuck from deep within its own posterior and actually covered the other three candidates (even a little bit), it wouldn’t be a foregone conclusion that the next mayor will be yet another unimaginative, uninformed, two-party type with deep development connections and a love of the franchise and big-box concepts. Unfortunately, their heads do seem stuck pretty far up in there!

We couldn’t agree more. It seems clear that now that the Glens Falls Post-Star has used its pages to overwhelmingly support only candidates from the Republicrats, that they must, by law, register as a Political Action Committee.

Have any doubt that our local Democrats have even the slightest clue about how to combat the ignorance? Just check out their webpage, as hollow a shell as their ideas.

And speaking of the fantasyland o’ fantasy fuel and forever fights for the freedom of foreigners. James Howard Kunstler offers his latest and baloghblog offers commentary on it.

By the way, Kunstler will be at Rock Hill Bakery in Glens Falls tonight at 7 pm, thanks to the Adirondack Progressives.


Tags: , , , ,

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Progressives offer candidate for Glens Falls Mayor

A recent posting from local baker and progressive activist Matt Funicello reports that activist artist Esmond Lyons (who we wrote about back in March) will run as a independent for Mayor of Glens Falls. He already has the support Adirondack Progressives, a group of area Green, Republican, Democrat, and politically Independent activists that has been very active over the past year organizing a surrogate Presidential Debate, a Molly Ivins read-in, Martin Luther King Day activities, the recent Ralph Nader appearance and other events. “It is long overdue that someone with his vision, quick wit and common sense, redefines the way in which this vital post is filled,” Funicello wrote in an e-mail to Adirondack Almanack, adding:

During the next mayoral term, some very crucial issues will be decided which should concern all of us in the area. Issues like our unsteady “partnership” with Queensbury and its sprawl, the upgrading of city infrastructure, the proposed changes to assessments that are undoubtedly going to accompany massive growth and our city’s continued trend of privatizing services.

Our cable franchise contract will also expire during this term and a mayor who understands the importance of re-negotiating this contract properly will be an invaluable ally for those of us who would like to see real community access television, a free community media center and possibly citywide wireless Internet service [ed... yeah! take a look at this].

Perhaps, the most important thing that will happen, though, is a continued influx of developers to “Hometown USA”. This can be a blessing and a curse. We need a mayor who will work WITH, and not for, these developers who are buying up downtown Glens Falls and proposing that they use our own tax money to improve it. We need to avoid the building of parking garages and make sure that new residents of the city are made to find their own answers to the parking problems they may well create.

We need to fix, shore up and make beautiful what we already have. We then need to work very carefully with the pro-development forces to ensure that they make provisions for affordable housing, green space and a pedestrian-friendly downtown. Esmond has many items in his agenda that he wishes to tell us about but he is equally excited about the opportunity to talk to you about things that are near and dear to you. This is going to be a citizen-driven campaign.

The first benchmark and biggest hurdle for independent candidates is the petitioning period (July 12 to August 23 – Calendar PDF) – it will require large numbers of supporters to hit the streets. Section 6-142 of New York State Election Law (Law PDF) lays out the enormous obstacles independent candidates face (see the recent Green Party lawsuit -Word Doc) – it’s expected that local Democrats and Republicans will challenge Lyons petitions (as they most always do with candidates outside the State Parties).

At 6 pm tonight (Sunday) Adirondack Progressives will host a meet the candiate dinner at Rock Hill Bakehouse Cafe (19 Exchange Street; corner of Elm and Hudson). Food will be served and music will be provided by Post-Star On-line Maven Carrianne Skidmore, Carol Strasser, and John Lawrence. It looks like there will soon be a website up as well.


Tags: , , , ,