It’s April already!  I hope that no one made a “fool” out of you this April Fool’s Day!  Currently, we have 44 PAID members!  While I think this number is a wonderful start, I’d like to see 100 members by the end of the year!  It will be a good goal for the Club.  Speaking of “goals” – I was asked about the goals of the Club.  I was asked what was it exactly that we hoped to achieve and what exactly is it that we are striving for.  Believe it or not, I had a bit of a difficult time answering these simple but yet very important questions.  I had to ask myself the same questions.  What exactly is our purpose? What are our goals? What are we tasked to do? What are we trying to accomplish? So I would like to share what I believe the answers to be.  I do think that each of us have our reasons as to why we joined.  May be you have political aspirations; may be you want to commiserate about the state of our country; may be you just want to meet new people.  What ever your reasons are, they are personal to you. 

But the Club also has goals and a purpose.  I truly feel that Democrats in Lee County and Cape Coral in particular need to become better organized so that we are heard en mass.  This means that our elected officials, mostly Republicans, of course, must recognize that we can be an influential voting block.  So how do we do this? I believe it has to start with building membership.  With only 44 members in a community of over 150,000 residents, we are a tiny few.  However, once more of Cape Coral’s Dems know that this Club exists and that we are actively participating in our community, our membership will grow along with our strength.  Until that time, we are not yet a force to be reckoned with.  But we will be.  It will just take time. 

As I had stated when agreeing to lead this Club, my focus is membership.  This is why I believe the Marketing Committee is an important second step.  Our marketing piece will be a way for us to reach out to registered Dems in the Cape. 

We have already taken the first step by hosting voter registration and passing out Club information at the March and April Sunset on the Pier Celebration.  April was washed out due to rain – but many thanks to Sandra, Bill Miley, Margaret Dixon and Dick Hodza for helping out!  Before the rains came, I assisted Ms. Dunford with changing her party affiliation to “D”!  I hope that these are a first of many Cape Coral events in which we participate.

Next, I hope that we will have volunteers to set up a committee dedicated to organizing an “event” for all those “potential” members to whom we will be sending our marketing piece.  Consider serving on a committee.  We can only be as active and engaging as our members want to be. 

Thank you to John Glaser, Democratic Candidate for Property Appraiser and Larry St. Armand, Non-Partisan Candidate for Property Appraiser for speaking at March’s Meeting

April’s Guest Speaker

Larry Barnes – Democratic candidate for 14^th Congressional District – challenging Connie Mack-R! He advocates for excellence in our schools, economic growth, protecting our environment, protecting our national security and protecting our democracy.

Not trying to come across mean spirited I have a difficult time referring to G.W. Bush as President, so please indulge me.

Recently Mr. Bush traveled to the Middle East and attempted, I am sorry to say, did not succeed to have his obsequious Émigré acquaintances to increase the capacity of crude oil production which would lower that commodity. The Kings and Emir’s having Mr. Bush as an Ally enables them to regulate production to maintain the highest prices without criticism from our Republican led government. It boggles my mind that OPEC member with their variety of ethnic cultures are not able to agree across boundaries but laugh and shake hands, knowing they are defeating United States economically.

I would be naïve to believe that there is any good will politically or religiously amongst any of the Sheikdom. You can bet if we would lessen our energy consumption by 50% tomorrow they would drop production to increase crude prices to $200 dollars a barrel. Understand they have to maintain their Harems.

This coming election is so important for our country to elect a Democrat for President and especially to the House and Senate. Republicans if elected will maintain Bush’s policy as they have supported it in the past. Don’t be bamboozled by the media that Democrat candidates have too much money. Many retirees as me are antiquated thinking that 100 million just to attempt to become the Democrat Parties nominee is outrageous but just figure the Mayor of Cape Coral spent 100 thousand dollar to become elected. That seems a pittance to 100 million but consider the hundreds of municipalities in just Florida then think United States.

Our Democrat Party must win for 2009 to launch America’s pride once again and display to the world how great and strong we still are. Please, Help, Contribute and Volunteer for the candidate of your choice.