A Tidewater Dems Gathering

This evening, Dr. D. C. Armasinghe held an event at the Dawat Indian restaurant near Military Circle. Approximately 50 people attended. The evening included a short presentation by the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi… It was refreshing to see a roomful of Americans in a multicultural atmosphere complete with a different sense of time and presentation style. The Big Buy documentary was the highlight of the evening. This Robert Greenwald documentary does a great job of detailing the corruption that Tom Delay spread throughout Texas which has had a profound effect on Washington DC and the nation. It’s a shameful testament to our current state of corporate controlled media that this film has not appeared on any of our major TV networks. One new fact that I didn’t know….Virginia’s own Randy Forbes is one of Delay’s “patsies” and he received lots of money. Virginians need to prepare now for Delay’s influence in VA. Delay is making his home here and I wouldn’t be surprised if money from Delay (and Texas) are not already infiltrating our state legislature. Abramoff allegedly donated a tidy sum to Virginia’s current Republican Attorney General. I doubt that he’s going to investigate himself.

After the film, Susan Mariner gave an effective talk that enlisted new volunteers for Jim Webb’s Senate Campaign. The representative from Phil Kellam’s campaign had less luck during his pitch. He asked for questions and Star Womanspirit asked how Democrats could support Kellam when he supports the Republican’s ANTI-Gay Marriage Amendment and says that he supports President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and stay there until the job is finished. I was pleasantly surprised to see this outspoken audience member get support from the majority of the attendees and hear Kellam referred to as Thelma Drake Lite. These Kellam positions are not popular among this gathering of Democrats. I find it interesting that Star Womanspirit is active with the MoveOn campaign that is educating the public about Thelma Drake’s poor congressional record. It appears that local Democrats prefer their candidates to offer a alternative to the Republican agenda. Of course, the folks are “reluctantly” supporting Phil Kellam. But I suspect if he doesn’t offer them a good performance he will end up facing a hard Democratic primary in the next election cycle.

With these positions, Phil Kellam does not deserve the work of unpaid volunteers. He’s wealthy enough to pay his campaign staff. Hopefully, Kellam will have a chance to prove that he is a Democrat if elected to the House. Thelma Drake has already demonstrated that she’s not worthy of re-election. Her 98% record of voting for Bush’s agenda proves that she sold her soul to the elite corporate special interest groups. Luckily, concerned citizens wanting a real change have the option of working for Jim Webb, whose campaign funding will not come close to the corporate funded war chest that George FELIX Allen has accumulated.