Monday, May 30, 2022

5-30-2022 Newsletter

 

Now, more than ever.
INCO's Rally for Truth, June 3, 2017, in Astoria.
RESOLVE
"Who among us isn’t feeling impotent rage, crushing sadness and deep despair?
Now is the time for resolve.  Resolve to get in the arena and stay in the fight.  Resolve to write postcards and letters every week and do whatever else you can to elect representatives that won’t be bought by the gun lobby and then in turn hold a gun to our heads.  

"It won’t be easy.  It won’t be quick.  It may not seem like much, but together we can have an impact.  Together we can demand more of those in power.  Together we can be the change we want to see."
-- Bebe Michel, Coordinator of INCO's Write to Voters project
INSPIRATION, OUTRAGE, AND IDEAS
 Awards for Profiles in Courage, 2022 on PBS; this segment starts at 49:30. 
• Al Franken podcast with former GOP strategist and Lincoln Project founder Steve Schmidt; conversation about insurrection, conspiracies, MAGA bigotry
• The latest Randy Rainbow, "Pink Glasses," a new YouTube video  
  How to Build a Twenty-first-Century Tyrant," Adam Gopnik, The New YorkerMay 23, 2022 issue; concerning dictators now and in the past - and the wannabes.     
 Updates about corporate donations to a white supremacist in Congress and other news about democracy at Public Citizen
 Newsletters on Substack from historian Heather Cox Richardson, attorney and commentator Robert Hubbell, reporter Dan Rather, historian Timothy Snyder. Who else do you recommend?
INCO's Rally for Our Lives, March 24, 2018, in Astoria
 
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES
Saturday, June 11 •  noon
Starts at the County Courthouse, 8th and Commercial, Astoria
March for Our Lives, the organization founded by survivors of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., is planning marches and protests across the country on June 11.

Organized by Erica Berry, Marianne Martin and Benefit Cummerbund

More information here on Facebook 
WRITE TO SAVE DEMOCRACY
These groups encourage voting by providing volunteers with easy-to-follow scripts, directions, and addresses.  For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

WRITE TO VOTERS
• Postcards To Voters:  Handwritten postcards sent to Democrats to get out the vote. PTV provides scripts, and INCO can provide postcards and stamps.  PostcardsToVoters.org or  join@TonyTheDemocrat.org

• Vote Forward:  Personalized letters sent to under-represented and/or minority communities to get out the vote. Volunteers print out the letters. INCO can provide envelopes and stamps.  VoteFwd.org

• Postcards To Swing States:  Progressive Turnout Project provides the postcards, scripts and addresses to rally Democrats to vote. INCO can provide the postcards and stamps. TurnOutPac.org 

• The Big Send:  INCO is delighted to be part of Vote Forward’s The Big Send again to send 10 million letters to voters in key states and congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall.  We’re writing voter turnout letters now to send to voters in October. 
If you aren’t writing letters already, get started today by visiting thebigsend.org. INCO can provide supplies and postage, so contact incoregon@gmail.com if you want more details.  

WRITE AN LTE
Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - LTEs in The Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone.

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
How will your Members of Congress know what you want if you don't tell them? Send a postcard, write an email through their websites. Even better - call and speak to a Congressional staffer, or leave a message. Here's contact information for Senators Wyden and Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici, and for other elected officials, too.
HAPPENINGS 
Thursday, June 9 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Wednesday, June 8 for your Zoom link. Starting in June, this group meets monthly on the second Thursday.

Saturday, June 11 - INCO Astoria-North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 am - noon. If you are new to this group, contact incoregon@gmail.com by June 17 to get the Zoom link. Please note the June meeting date is the 2nd Saturday. 

INCO Warrenton Community Group Zoom meeting. TBA. For more information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. NO WTV on Friday, June 3.
INSIGHTS
“If you think you are too small to be effective,
you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”
— Betty Reese
Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website 
or here.
Look for the INCO column in 
Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too.
INCO Weekly Newsletter May 30, 2022

Monday, May 23, 2022

5-23-2022 Newsletter

 

"The moral arc of the universe can bend toward injustice if we don’t continually work to direct it ourselves."
-- Baratunde Thurston, 
"The Real Tragedy of Samuel Alito’s Logic," PUCK, May 15, 2022
Lead organizer Erica Berry addresses the crowd at the May 14 rally and march for reproductive rights in Astoria.
BANS OFF OUR BODIES
March for Reproductive Rights
Saturday, May 28 at 12 noon
Outside the courthouse and post office
8th and Commercial, Astoria
HOUSE CANDIDATE NEEDS SIGNATURES
Rick Gray, a potential candidate for the Oregon House from District 32, is collecting the 396 signatures required of non-affiliated candidates for that office. He cannot appear as a candidate on the Secretary of State's website until these signatures are turned in - which, by law, cannot take place earlier than June 1.  

A former attorney, secretary of state of Virginia, high school teacher, and professional actor, Rick lives in Cannon Beach.  He was the Clatsop County chair for Elizabeth Warren for President. If you would like to sign his candidate petition, contact Rick at deinikes@gmail.com.

Also running for State Representative HD-32 are Logan Laity (D), an activist and small business owner from Tillamook, and Cyrus B. Javadi (R), a dentist in Tillamook. INCO has not endorsed any candidate for this position. 
WRITE TO SAVE DEMOCRACY
These groups encourage voting by providing volunteers with easy-to-follow scripts, directions, and addresses.  For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

WRITE TO VOTERS
• Postcards To Voters:  Handwritten postcards sent to Democrats to get out the vote. PTV provides scripts, and INCO can provide postcards and stamps.  PostcardsToVoters.org or  join@TonyTheDemocrat.org

• Vote Forward:  Personalized letters sent to under-represented and/or minority communities to get out the vote. Volunteers print out the letters. INCO can provide envelopes and stamps.  VoteFwd.org

• Postcards To Swing States:  Progressive Turnout Project provides the postcards, scripts and addresses to rally Democrats to vote. INCO can provide the postcards and stamps. TurnOutPac.org 

• The Big Send:  INCO is delighted to be part of Vote Forward’s The Big Send again to send 10 million letters to voters in key states and congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall.  We’re writing voter turnout letters now to send to voters in October. 
If you aren’t writing letters already, get started today by visiting thebigsend.org. INCO can provide supplies and postage, so contact incoregon@gmail.com if you want more details.  

WRITE AN LTE
Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - LTEs in The Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone.

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
How will your Members of Congress know what you want if you don't tell them? Send a postcard, write an email through their websites. Even better - call and speak to a Congressional staffer, or leave a message. Here's contact information for Senators Wyden and Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici, and for other elected officials, too.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2022
"The House also voted today on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022, which steps up the sharing of information about domestic terrorism among government departments and creates an interagency task force to analyze and combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement agencies. The House passed the bill by a vote of 222 to 203. All the no votes came from Republicans; all the Democrats voted in favor. It now goes on to the Senate."
—Heather Cox Richardson, historian, Letters from an American, May 18, 2022  

"WE HAVE THE POWER"

“For better or worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chance never before afforded to any people in any age. You can help build a society where the demands of morality, and the needs of the spirit, can be realized in the life of the Nation.

“So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin?” he asked.

“Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty?...”

“There are those timid souls who say this battle cannot be won; that we are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree. We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labor, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society.”
-- President Lyndon B. Johnson, University of Michigan, May 22, 1964; excerpts from historian Heather Cox Richardson, 
Letters from an American, May 21, 2022

HAPPENINGS 
Thursday, June 9 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Wednesday, June 8 for your Zoom link. Starting in June, this group meets monthly on the second Thursday.

Saturday, June 11 - INCO Astoria-North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 am - noon. If you are new to this group, contact incoregon@gmail.com by June 17 to get the Zoom link. Please note the June meeting date is the 2nd Saturday. 

INCO Warrenton Community Group Zoom meeting. TBA. Contact incoregon@gmail.com for more information.

Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. NO WTV on Friday, June 3.
INSIGHTS
“Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say, ‘This is my community, and it’s my responsibility to make it better.’”             
-- Oregon Governor Tom McCall
Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website 
or here.
Look for the INCO column in 
Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too.
INCO Weekly Newsletter May 23, 2022

Monday, May 16, 2022

5-16-2022 Newsletter

 

BALLOTS DUE TOMORROW, MAY 17
If you haven't received your ballot, contact Clatsop County Elections at 503-325-8605 or go to the office at 820 Exchange, #200, Astoria. Non-affiliated voters do not get to vote in Democratic, Republican, or other political party primaries, only in non-partisan races, including county commissioners and head of Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries. 

Voting info from Oregon's Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan:

"If you mail your ballot, make sure it is picked up by USPS and postmarked by May 17. Visit Sos.oregon.gov/electioninfo for more information on voting in Oregon, election integrity and answers to frequently asked questions.

"Oregon’s new postmark rule states that any ballot postmarked by Election Day counts even if it arrives at the election office up to 7 days later. The postmark rule was passed into law by the State Legislature in 2021....[R]emember that the total number of votes in the election will go up after Election Day. These are not “late” votes. They were cast on time! Close races may take longer to be decided while officials count all the ballots."

Scroll down for information about the candidates.
BE A VOTER!
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN OREGON
"Oregon state law expressly affirms an individuals’ right to choose an abortion without interference from the government.

"The Reproductive Health Equity Act, updated in 2017, allows for late-term abortions, requires private medical insurance and state Medicaid to cover an abortion, and codifies the right to gender-affirming care, among other protections. Ours is among the strongest reproductive choice policies in the nation. Because health access in Oregon is governed by laws enacted by its state Legislature, rather than by a court’s interpretation of the state constitution, a sudden change to those policies is unlikely.

"Oregonians have shown little interest in changing the state’s policies. Five ballot measures restricting abortion have been rejected by voters since 1986. In 2014, 63 percent of Oregon adults said they thought abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to polling done by the Pew Research Center."
-- State Representative David Gomberg, HD 10, newsletter, May 9, 2022

BE A VOTER!

LET THE MARCH BEGIN
May 14, 2022  •  Astoria
Kudos to the hundreds of people who marched in Astoria for reproductive rights, joining with thousands more at about 400 marches around the country. Thanks to Erica Berry for initiating and organizing this community event. More photos here. 
BE A VOTER!
NEW MEETING TIME
Starting next month, INCO's South County Community Group (SCCG) will meet the SECOND THURSDAY of each month. The next meeting is June 9, 6:30pm - 7:30pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Wednesday, June 8 for your Zoom link.
BE A VOTER!
WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES?
CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR
OPB interviewed candidates for governor, asking each of them the same questions. Read the interviews with the two leading Democratic candidates, Tobias Read and Tina Kotek. The other interviews can be found in this list:  https://www.opb.org/politics/.  There's more gubernatorial candidate info these videos, in "In Their Own Words."

CANDIDATES FORUMS
Check out candidates in this virtual forum recently hosted by Clatsop County Democrats, or in this video of the AAUW candidates forum.
 
PAM WEV FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONER
INCO endorsed Pam Wev for re-election as Clatsop County Commissioner, District 3. Get more info at www.wevforcommissioner.com and on Facebook at Re-elect Pamela Wev. To display a yard sign to re-elect Pam, sign up here. Donate or volunteer at her website.
BE A VOTER!
THE BIG SEND IS BACK
Handwritten letters to voters are a proven, effective tactic to increase voter turnout. INCO is delighted to be part of Vote Forward’s The Big Send again this year to send 10 million letters to voters in key states and congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall.  We’re writing voter turnout letters now to send to voters in October.

If you aren’t writing letters already, get started today by visiting thebigsend.org. INCO can provide supplies and postage, so contact incoregon@gmail.com if you want more details.  

BE A VOTER!

SHAPING OUR DESTINY
"Those who are trying to push this nation backward are not only on the wrong side — they’re on the wrong side of the future. Look at the beliefs of the younger generations of Americans on all these issues. Look at how young people think around the world. Look at where the dominant cultural forces are. We should not underestimate the strength we have to push back against this march of destruction....

"I also know that it can yield the strength that is needed to not quit, to keep going, to understand that the future will unfold in ways that are completely unpredictable. And yet in that uncertainty lies an opportunity — I would call it a duty — to step into the fight and do our part to shape our destiny along a framework of hope."
-- Dan Rather, "
Steady," May 11, 2022
BE A VOTER!
ACT TO SAVE DEMOCRACY
Write To Voters - Elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org. For general Get Out the Vote letter campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - 
LTEs in the Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone.
Your  ballot is due May 17.  Be a voter! Encourage others to vote, too!
HAPPENINGS 
Saturday, May 21 - INCO Astoria-North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 am - noon. If you are new to this group, contact incoregon@gmail.com by May 20 to get the Zoom link.

Thursday, June 9 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to 
Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Wednesday, June 8 for your Zoom link. Starting in June, this group meets monthly on the second Thursday.


INCO Warrenton Community Group Zoom meeting. TBA. Contact incoregon@gmail.com for more information.

Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. NO WTV on Friday, June 3.
INSIGHTS
"Dictatorships elevate the nation and the leader as ultimate ends, while mere individuals have no inherent worth outside of their service to the state.” 
-- 
Shadi Hamid, The Atlantic, April, 2022
Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website 
or here.
Look for the INCO column in 
Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too.
INCO Weekly Newsletter May 16, 2022