Red River Democracy Project News!!

[hippywife]

Dear Friends:


Happy spring! I wanted to fill you in on the RRDP and what we are up to. But first, I wanted to fill you in on a nice gesture from someone outside of Oklahoma.

On April 8th, the night before I flew off to Cape Town South Africa for a conference about reconciliation and forgiveness, I was a guest on the comedian and political activist's Janeane Garofalo's new radio show THE MAJORITY REPORT, which airs on the new radio network, Air America Radio.

I have become good friends with Janeane over the last two years in my work against 9/11 being exploited for war and political corruption. Janeane was very generous to recently give RRDP a portion of an honorarium she received for giving the keynote address at the Barnard College conference: Power and Representation in a Media-Saturated Age. She believes very strongly in RRDP's efforts to not concede places like Oklahoma to those far-right wing political powers that have manipulated and skewed people's perceptions of democracy and family values. Janeane wrote a little something for the RRDP BLOG about the importance of progressive values, click here to read and respond.

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The RRDP Chautauqua Circuit now moves on to Shawnee on MAY 15th for our "Shawnee Democracy Festival"

We are flying in MEL GOODMAN, a 20 year veteran of the CIA and author of Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk, to speak after we screen the documentary UNCOVERED: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War
click here for a MAY 15th schedule and information:
http://www.rrdp.org/shawnee.htm

********

Also, I will be doing a book signing at the FULL CIRCLE BOOKSTORE on Thursday May 6th, at 7:00pm

I am on the board of a group called SEPT. 11TH FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS (www.peacefultomorrows.org), and we recently published a book of the same name, to which I contributed an essay. If your interested, come out and hear me talk about the work we've been doing at Peaceful Tomorrows and about my recent trip to South Africa. We were honored to be nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

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If you have not contributed yet to our efforts at PALFOUND and RRDP, please consider giving a small amount to help us offer up free, progressive public education and entertainment to the good people of Oklahoma. Our Shawnee event will be free to the public!

$15 or $20 can go a long to helping us slowly but surely reinvigorate Oklahoma's populist and progressive roots!
www.palfound.net/donate.htm


All My Best,
Andrew

Andrew M. Rice

Executive Director
PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE FOUNDATION
www.palfound.net

Project Coordinator
RED RIVER DEMOCRACY PROJECT
www.rrdp.org

[hippywife]

1. The above message

was received by email today from Andrew.

For those of you not yet familiar with Andrew Rice, he is a member of The September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. He lost his brother, David, in the attack on the World Trade Center. He is originally from Oklahoma and returned here to start the Red River Democracy Project whose goal is "making progressive values mainstream throughout the state of Oklahoma."

If you missed the launch in OKC earlier this month, you missed a great time and won't want to miss this next event.

If we are ever going to change the tide that seems to be turning away from progressive values in this state, we must get involved and stay involved. RRDP offers a great opportunity for all progressive organizations to come together to network and get their information out to the citizens of Oklahoma.

This is not about party affiliation. This is about educating Oklahomans about the threats to our democracy and letting them know they have the power to make a difference for themselves, their state, their country, and the world.

See you all in Shawnee!!

[Route66Kid]

2. Dayum!!!

I have to attend a conference in Tulsa that whole weekend.

I'll see if I can get Mrs. Route66Kid to attend in my absence.

[Route66Kid]

4. Driving directions to Woodland Park, Shawnee

Since neither myself or my Mrs. can attend, the least I can do is provide driving directions.

Woodland Park is next to the Pottawatomie County Courthouse just north of the downtown business district of Shawnee at the intersection of Highland and Broadway.

From Tulsa/NE Oklahoma:
Take the Turner Turnpike (I-44) to Chandler (Exit 166).
Turn right onto SH 18. Proceed south through Chandler and stay on SH 18 through Meeker all the way to Shawnee (appx 25 miles).
South of I-40 SH 18 turns into Harrison Ave. Stay on SH 18/Harrison and turn right onto Highland Ave.
Proceed west on Highland appx 1/2 mile and you will see Woodland Park on left. Parking on the street is open.

From I-40 westbound:
Take Exit 186 (SH 18 Shawnee/Meeker) and turn left onto SH 18/Harrison Ave and follow above directions to Woodland Park.

From I-40 eastbound:
Take Exit 185 (Kickapoo Street) and proceed south to the four-way stop at Highland Ave. Turn left (east) and proceed appx 1/2 mile and Woodland Park is on the right.

From US-177 northbound:
Take Hardesty Road past FireLake Casino to South Gordon Cooper Drive. Turn left (north) and stay on Gordon Cooper until it turns into Beard Street. Turn right onto Highland and proceed two blocks to Woodland Park.

From US-177 southbound:
Take MacArthur to Kickapoo Street and turn left. Proceed per directions from I-40 eastbound.

[hippywife]

3. I forgot to put in the link to the blog

here it is:

http://www.rrdp.org/blog.html

[hippywife]

5. Don't forget this event this weekend

Wanted to bump this as a reminder.