[GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

Wed Feb 19 08:57:53 PST 2014

       What constitutes "promoting a club"?


       It would seem to me that one primary distinction would be whether 
the invitation was extended to the general public or only a list of 
individuals you more or less already know and have invited by name.  If 
the former, it's a public event.  In the latter case, I have two further 
questions regarding what you wrote:


             1.  At what point are you showing the movie on your own 
behalf vs. on behalf of the Green Party?  Probably if you request 
donations, that could create a problem using a home viewing license.  If 
you offer literature on the Green Party, invite them to a meeting or ask 
them to register Green, it may depend on how much you push the Green 
Party:  If the event is primarily social, and mentioning the Green Party 
is just one of the things you do and believe in, I wouldn't know.


             2.  Then there is the question of getting caught and 
enforcement:  If you invite a Tea Party radical, who would happily see 
you imprisoned as a Terrorist, you could be reported and then sued for 
copyright infringement.  The mainstream commercial media has 
successfully used SLAPP (Strategic lawsuit against public participation) 
lawsuits to reduce competition [Wikipedia, "Free Culture (book)", 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Culture_(book)].


       Spencer


On 2/18/2014 11:14 AM, John Thielking wrote:
> Bad news:  I just now got off the phone with my lawyer and he says 
> that showing a movie at a private home to promote a club is not 
> covered under the noncommercial license that comes with most movies 
> for home viewing. So we really should get explicit permissions to show 
> all of the movies that we show on behalf of the Green Party, wherever 
> it is that we show them.
>
> John Thielking
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
> *To:* John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>; Caroline Yacoub 
> <carolineyacoub at att.net>; "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>; 
> "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, February 14, 2014 7:35 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' 
> Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council
>
> As I recall I was only required to pay the $150 for showing 
> Inconveinent Truth because I was showing it at my store. If I were 
> doing one of the other house parties where I was showing it at a 
> private residence, I was not required to get a public viewing license. 
> Presumably the people running the house parties were also NOT 
> collecting donations.  So if you want to be 100% legit on movie night 
> and show mainstream movies without permission you could try showing 
> them at a private residence. I'd have to get back to you after I talk 
> to my lawyer about asking for donations in that situation.
>
> John Thielking
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
> *To:* Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net>; Spencer Graves 
> <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>; "perrysandy at aol.com" 
> <perrysandy at aol.com>; "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" 
> <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, February 14, 2014 7:23 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' 
> Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council
>
> As far as movie night goes, the movies that I brought to the table 
> were always with the appropriate permissions to show them publicly. 
> However, I have in the past had to pay up to $150 per showing to get 
> the proper license for a mainstream movie such as Inconveinent Truth 
> (shown at my fair trade crafts store in 2006 or 7). I don't think we 
> were doing that type of dotting the i's and crossing the t's when we 
> ran movie night before. So if we want to be 100% legit and still take 
> in a net positive on donations, we should aim for getting activist 
> pieces that we can get low or zero cost permissions to show publicly, 
> such as Genetic Roulette.  As for organizing anything, don't look to 
> me to start something and then leave town in June.
>
> John Thielking
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net>
> *To:* Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>; 
> "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>; 
> "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, February 14, 2014 6:41 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' 
> Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council
>
> As to numbers 2.2 and 3, almost everyone belongs to at least two other 
> groups. If we all try to bring people from our other groups, we ought 
> to be able to fill the Peace Center easily.
>
> As to number 2.1, Attaboy!
>
> Caroline
>
>
> *From:* Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>
> *To:* perrysandy at aol.com; sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
> *Sent:* Friday, February 14, 2014 5:55 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' 
> Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council
>
> Hi, Sandy:
>
>
>       1. Thanks for offering to serve on the County Council. Someone 
> needs to check the rules on procedure so we can make it official.
>
>
>       2.  I'd be open to changing the format of our monthly meeting.  
> For example, we could start at 7 PM with a guest presentation or a 
> movie followed by a discussion that would run until 9 PM followed by a 
> half hour general business meeting with agenda organized by the County 
> Council.
>
>
> 2.1.  However, a change like this would require someone taking the 
> lead to organize this.  The obvious lead organizers should, I think, 
> be people most concerned about our major foci. These are currently 
> environment and universal health care. Those are important, but I'm 
> more concerned about government secrecy and democracy. Regarding the 
> latter, I've recently attended regular meetings of the Santa Clara 
> County Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections and the League of 
> Women Voters. I've already been able to restart stalled discussions on 
> getting Instant Runoff Voting here in Santa Clara County.
>
>
> 2.2.  Is anyone interested in helping organize a showing of 
> "Inequality for All"? Just over an hour ago, I finally received word 
> that we can now show "Inequality for All" on reasonable terms -- after 
> having had tentative showing canceled twice because of misinformation 
> about licensing. Dream Menders will meet next Wednesday and discuss 
> showing this at the Peace Center, presumably 2-4:30 PM on a Sunday 
> like March 16, 23, or 30.  Any preferences?
>
>
>       3.  Some will remember that Merriam Kathleen, Caroline Yacoub 
> and others (John Thielking?) organized a Green Movie night at the 
> Peace Center for 2 years. The results from that were OK but not 
> adequate to justify the level of effort required to keep it going.  
> Before we change how we manage our monthly meeting(s), we need to ask 
> Caroline and others what we should do to try to obtain greater success.
>
>
>       Spencer
>
>
> On 2/11/2014 5:34 PM, perrysandy at aol.com <mailto:perrysandy at aol.com> 
> wrote:
>> Hi Spencer,
>> I would be willing to serve on the County Council, but only as a last 
>> resort, after we have taken serious steps to recruit minority 
>> candidates and women. Otherwise, I am afraid our County Council will 
>> dwindle further, from three to two, two to one, etc. until we are on 
>> the verge of disappearing - just at the very time the situation for 
>> the Green Party is getting riper than ever.
>> I also believe we should consider a suggestion made by Drew a while 
>> ago: to grow the Green Party in small local committees as we are 
>> attempting to do with some small success at De Anza. To have the main 
>> (tedious) business of the Party handled by the County Council in a 
>> separate meeting (open to any member). To have our monthly membership 
>> meeting be an educational or organizing event geared toward new 
>> members and prospective members, with films, lectures, or actions, 
>> and broadly publicized.
>> With all due respect, I am tired of long discussions about whether or 
>> not we should endorse a long list of projects, while in the meantime 
>> we are growing so small that people care less and less whether we 
>> endorse their activity or not.
>> Sandy
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Spencer Graves mailto:spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com
>> To: GPSCC mailto:sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>> Sent: Thu, Feb 6, 2014 9:03 pm
>> Subject: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory 
>> Commission on Elections & Greens County Council
>>
>> Hello, All:
>>
>>
>> 1. COUNTY COUNCIL: Our official County Council is supposed to have 7.
>> After John Thielking leaves in June, we will be down to 3 (Jim Doyle,
>> Betsy and me). The duties are simple: Respond to an occasional email or
>> phone call to help decide an issue that we prefer not wait for the next
>> monthly meeting. Other requirements: Live in Santa Clara County and have
>> been registered Green for at least a year. It's not necessary to come to
>> meetings.
>>
>>
>> 2. SANTA CLARA COUNTY CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS: This
>> Commission meets the first Tuesday of each month except on election
>> days. It helps the Board of Supervisors manage the Registrar of Voters.
>> They currently have a vacancy in Supervisorial District 2
>> (http://www.sccgov.org/sites/bos/bnc/CABODocs/MaddyReport.html#CITIZENS%E2%80%99  
>> ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS).
>>
>>
>> ** This is a key post from which to advance instant runoff voting (IRV)
>> and increasing the volume of information available to the public
>> including about campaign finance. I've been attending their meetings
>> since last September. If we had had 1 or 2 people actively attending
>> these meetings for the past decade and pushing gently for IRV, we would
>> likely have gotten it 5 years ago or so, shortly after San Francisco and
>> Alameda Counties started using IRV. One of the current Commissioners is
>> a Peace & Freedom party member (Dave Kadlecek), which indicates that you
>> don't have to be a Democrat or a Republican to be appointed to this
>> board. Two of the current board members asked me to apply.
>> Unfortunately, I'm not eligible, because I do not live in Supervisorial
>> District 2. This is an unpaid position.
>>
>>
>> I'd be pleased to talk with anyone who might be interested either in
>> serving in trying to find someone to serve in either of these capacities.
>>
>>
>> Best Wishes,
>> Spencer
>>
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-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com

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