DAJ Members and Friends

Happy 4th of July. Hope you get out and enjoy some of the many events that DAJ members are attending around the country, and we hope to see many of you at the USA embassy event later in the summer. 8/29/09 for details or to volunteer at our DAJ table please contact Vice Chair Mike Stensrud.

Today we are announcing our DAJ biannual elections. (officer elections are held every 2 years in odd # years)

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4th of July Celebrations around Japan

Hi DAJ Members;
There are some great fun things going on for the 4th of July this year! Hope you can come out and celebrate with your fellow Americans, Democrats, and Progressives! See event details in Kansai and Kanto below.

Also mark your calendars now for the USA Embassy celebration which will not be on the 4th of July but will in fact be on the 29th of August at the Residential Compound in downtown Tokyo.

BBQ Party DAJ Kansai
BARACK BBQ!: July 4 Sat. 4-8pm @ Ogimachi Park near Umeda.
ALL WELCOME (especially Africans & Indonesians)

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Washington, DC – Today, Democrats Abroad announced that the organization has approved a new country committee, Democrats Abroad Zambia (DAZ).

In 2003, DAZ Chair Elizabeth Serlemitsos and her husband, John, Vice-Chair Jeff Stringer and his wife, Elizabeth, along with Richard Ragan and Marcela Sandoval (both active in the Clinton Administration), began organizing American Democrats living in Zambia who were keen to see change in U.S. leadership.

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DAJ has a new chapter in formation in Yokohama! Come join in the kick off event at their first movie night.

We are looking forward to great new membership growth and voter outreach! Thanks go to John Helwig, long time DAJ member and Voter assistance officer for getting the ball rolling. John will need to start appointing a start up leadership group if you are interested in helping contact us asap.

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To Democrats Abroad
9 May 2009
Tom Fina

Executive Director Emeritus

Comprehensive health care legislation is first out of the box.

While the President’s energy, education and finance legislation is also moving in the Congress, the first showdown promises to be over health care. Obama wants to sign the legislation this year. The Democratic congressional leadership is aiming to send a bill to the floor of the Senate in June with votes in late July or August. The House, where Democrats have a larger majority, would follow to adopt a bill "correcting" deficiencies in the Senate bill. This would set the stage for a compromise negotiation in a conference committee before the end of the year to meet Obama’s deadline.

One basic decision has already been made at Obama’s urging: the legislation will not be subject to filibuster in the Senate. It will move as "budget reconciliation" requiring only a simple majority for adoption. Republicans angrily opposed this by-passing of the filibuster but they have not walked out of the negotiations about the content of legislation that they know is now inevitable...read more

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Our Friend from DA Germany, Michael made this great video report of the recent meeting that Mike and I also attended on DAJ's behalf. He does such a good job reporting that I thought I would share it with you in addition to my own report which I am working on in writing.

-Lauren

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Lots of events are coming up in Kansai and Tokyo, Movies, meetings, and discussions. Don't forget to check the calendars at the top of this site.

Thanks go to YDAJ (young dems) for hosting last month's Tokyo Movie, Slacker Uprising.

Mark your calendar's now, at the end of this month we are celebrating The Obama administration's first 100 days in office.

Also your Chair and Vice Chair are on our way to the 2009 Global meeting and congressional door-knock for Democrats Abroad worldwide. The meeting will be in Washington DC this year. And we look forward to a chance to talk to our colleagues from around the world and plan and prepare for the rest of this year and into the mid-term elections of 2010.

This year we have also formed a new group under the DAJ Umbrella, the Japan Caucus for LGBT Issues. If you are interested in helping get this new effort of the ground, email me and let me know.

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Dear DAJ members;

Mike, your vice chair, and I, are preparing to go to the DA Global meeting in Washington DC in April. We have two resolutions on the table at this time for your review. We would like your input before the national officers vote on their passage. Both resolutions are available online

The first resolution concerns honoring the former DNC Chair, who visited Japan to see us late in 2007
please read the full text here.

and the second concerns marijuana legalization and an end to one part of the phoney war on drugs in America. read the resolution here.

Please send your feedback to Lauren.shannon@gmail.com
And I will share your thoughts with our national officers and Kansai chapter officers. If these resolutions have our support locally we will next draft a version for voting by DA worldwide at the upcoming meeting.

There is a deadline in this process so please respond by Saturday 3/14. FYI any member can propose well thought out- researched resolutions on issues. If you have another resolution that you would like the National Committee to pursue please let me know.

sincerely,

Lauren Shannon
DA Japan Chair

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Thanks to DAJ Member Piya P. Our first 2009 Supper club on 3/5 was a lot of fun! and Raised 30,000 yen for DAJ. Please consider attending our next one!

It is always a fun evening of good food and interesting political discussion.

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Democrats Abroad Announces New Country Committee

Welcomes Democrats Abroad United Arab Emirates

Washington, DC – Today, Democrats Abroad announced that the organization has approved a new country committee, Democrats Abroad UAE (DA UAE). Democrats Abroad is the official arm of the Democratic Party for Americans living outside of the United States. The Chair of DA UAE is Chris Hansen and the Vice Chair is Elizabeth Katkin. Since the group’s founding in the summer of 2008, membership has increased across the UAE, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain and Sharjah.

In 2008, DA UAE Chair Chris Hansen, moved to Dubai to support energy consulting projects in the Middle East. Mr. Hansen holds a BSc in Nuclear Engineering from Kansas State University; a Master of Science in Technology Policy from MIT; and completed his PhD dissertation in Economic Geography from Oxford University in 2008. Chris has been an active member of the Democratic Party for many years and founded the Oxford Chapter of Democrats Abroad UK in 2003, was elected as an at-large delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, served as the Vice-Chair of the DAUK and was a member of the international energy policy committee for Obama ‘08.

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