Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

May 8, 2012

Join Us For Our Special Chat With Norm And David Segal of Demand Progress. Here’s your chance to hear Norm’s positive vision, interact with him, learn more why it is we’re so proud to be supporting him. David Segal, Executive Director of Demand Progress, will also join us as they partner up with PDA to pump up the volume!

Date: Tues, May 8
Time: 7:30PM PST

View Details and RSVP Here

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For more info or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE

Washington, DC – Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) released the following statement today in reaction to the budget plan introduced by Chairman Paul Ryan and Republicans that would threaten Medicare and Medicaid and hurt our nation’s most vulnerable communities:

“Our nation’s budget is a moral document that should serve as a blueprint for how we build our communities. The Republican budget unveiled today is morally bankrupt and is a blueprint for leaving our country, and especially our seniors, out in the cold. Unfortunately, the Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposed today by Chairman Ryan and Republicans ends the Medicare guarantee, raises health care costs for seniors, favors the richest one percent of Americans, and undercuts the economic recovery with dramatic austerity policy and drastic and immediate cuts. It fails to include a single measure to help the unemployed get a job and it raises taxes on the middle class.

Read the Full Story Here

March 13, 2012

Following up on the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, congressional candidate Norman Solomon on Tuesday [March 13] renewed his call for closing California’s two nuclear power plants as part of a “swift and urgently needed” transition to an energy policy focused on “clean and green” renewable sources and conservation.

“The Diablo Canyon plant near San Luis Obispo and the San Onofre plant on the southern California coast are vulnerable to meltdowns from earthquakes and threaten both residents and the environment,” said Solomon, who has been a leading critic of the nuclear industry for more than 30 years.

Read the full story here

Founder of the media watch group FAIR, Director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, Author of Cable News Confidential,
JEFF COHEN will speak on: U.S. News Media, the Occupy Movement and the 2012 Election. The event is sponsored by the Healdsburg High Progressive Club.

Thursday, March 15
7:30 p.m.

Healdsburg High School
Room 67
Healdsburg, CA

Nancy Merritt
March 7, 2012

For the past year, the CA Peace Alliance has taken peace to the State’s Democratic party (CDP) with the goals of: 1) infusing the CA Democratic platform — its statement of values — with peace and peacebuilding, plank by plank; and 2) seeking the CDP’s endorsement of legislation to create a U.S. Department of Peace (DoP). At the 2012 CA Democratic convention in February, we did just that as the CDP incorporated most of our proposals into the platform and voted to study establishment of a federal cabinet-level DoP.

Read the full story here

Written by Press Release | National Nurses United
February 29, 2012

Nurses from across the U.S., joined by healthcare, labor and other community activists, as well as activists from G-8 nations, will hold a large march and rally Friday, May 18 to greet the G-8 summit of world leaders in Chicago, National Nurses United announced today.

NNU, the largest U.S. union and professional association of nurses, is sponsoring the march, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The marchers will travel along portions of Michigan Avenue, East Wacker Drive, and North State Street before ending at Daley Plaza for a noon rally.

A centerpiece of the action will be a call on world leaders to adopt a financial transaction tax (FTT) on major trading by banks and other financial institutions to raise revenue critically needed for revitalizing the economic health of the U.S. and other G-8 nations. Marchers will also challenge austerity programs that they say have eroded health and living standards for global working people.

Read the full story here

Dan Hamburg/For the Times-Standard
January 28, 2012

Since 2001, Humboldt County has contributed roughly $350 million to fighting the nation’s wars (costofwar.com). I’m supporting Norman Solomon because this expenditure represents a catastrophic misuse of public funds and because Norman, among a group of strong candidates, is uniquely qualified to help stop the bleeding.

When I finally met Norman last year, after decades of reading his work, I wondered why such a smart and accomplished activist would think the U.S. House was the best place to work for progressive political change.

Read the full article here

Phil Donahue tells a different story about our ‘merry little wars’...

By David Templeton
Pacific Sun
January 13, 2012

“Wait a minute! Is that an egret?”

Phil Donahue, microphone in hand, is addressing about a hundred people, all gathered on the outside patio of the Apple Box Cafe in Petaluma, overlooking the Petaluma River. He is here on day two of a four-day tour to endorse congressional candidate Norman Solomon (Inverness resident and author of War Made Easy and Made Love, Got War), and to host a few screenings of the award-winning 2007 documentary he produced and co-directed, Body of War: The True Story of an Anti-War Hero. As he chats amiably with the assembled crowd, Donahue (best known for his Emmy Award-winning longtime television talk show, The Phil Donahue Show) suddenly stops and points to a white bird soaring low over the water behind the audience. After gazing in wonder for several seconds, he murmurs, “I hope you people appreciate what you’ve got here!”

Read the full story here

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For more information visit the Events page at www.SolomonForCongress.com

Originally published by the Press Democrat
by Norman Solomon

On a recent day in Petaluma, two very different events spotlighted grim results of upside-down priorities from the federal government.

Upwards of 600 people gathered for an early breakfast at the Veterans Memorial Hall to raise money for the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS), a nonprofit organization that last year sheltered nearly 2,000 individuals, served more than 127,000 hearty meals and distributed 800,000 pounds of food to the needy.

We heard moving stories about — and from — people whose lives have been transformed by active compassion, generosity and their own hard work. But, as speakers lamented, COTS must turn away many who need help.

Read the Full Story Here

by Donna Smith
December 22, 2011

Is freedom from war the only way to measure peace on earth? If the drones don’t fly for a day or a week and the combat isn’t waged on some distant battlefield, do we know peace has arrived if only for a brief period surrounding one religious holiday or another? Does war take a holiday for peace? How about injustice? When does it rest?

Read the Rest Here

November 16, 2011

Two of the nation’s most influential Latino leaders — Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Dolores Huerta, legendary co-founder of the United Farm Workers union — have endorsed Democratic candidate Norman Solomon for Congress.

The endorsements come in the race for an open seat in California’s new coastal district stretching from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.

Read the full story here

Guests: Tim Carpenter, John Nichols, Jim Hightower, Ariel Dorfman
Tim Carpenter (Progressive Democrats of America National Chairman), John Nichols and Jim Hightower on the unstoppable Occupy movement; Ariel Dorfman on his new memoir, “Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of an Unrepentant Exile” — about his exiles, returns, and vanquishing silence.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA presents an evening with:

JOHN NICHOLS, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine,

MICHAEL LIGHTY, Policy Director of the California Nurses Association,

and NORMAN SOLOMON, Co-chair of the national Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign.

WHEN: Saturday, October 15, 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:30.

WHERE: Guzman Hall, Dominican University; 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael, CA 94901.

Go here for a campus map

This is a rare opportunity to see these three dynamic leaders and speakers together in one room. Join us for an evening of community and celebration in support of Healthcare NOT Warfare!

No entry charge. Donations accepted. Wheel-chair accessible.

Cosponsored by the Expressions Program of the Humanities Department, Dominican University.

An Evening with:

JOHN NICHOLS
Washington correspondent for
The Nation Magazine

MICHAEL LIGHTY
Policy Director of the California
Nurses Association

and
NORMAN SOLOMON
Co-Chair of the national
Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign

September 15, 2011

Daniel Ellsberg, the renowned advocate for peace and the First Amendment who leaked the historic Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War, endorsed congressional candidate Norman Solomon on Thursday (Sept. 15). Ellsberg will join the independent progressive Democrat on the campaign trail.

Once referred to by President Nixon’s adviser Henry Kissinger as “the most dangerous man in America,” Ellsberg is an enthusiastic supporter of Norman Solomon for Congress. The famed whistleblower will speak at a house-party fundraiser for the Solomon campaign in Marin County on Sept. 22, an event bringing together two generations of antiwar leaders.

Read the Rest Here

On September 1, 2011, at a special meeting in Sebastopol, Progressive Democrats Sonoma County voted to endorse Norman Solomon for Congress.

Solomon expressed deep gratitude for the endorsement, calling it “a big boost for our grassroots campaign to ensure that this region continues to have strong progressive representation in Congress. The Sonoma County chapter of PDA is known for its strength of commitment and depth of community roots. I feel honored by the county chapter’s support, and I look forward to working together as our campaign keeps gaining momentum.”

Dear Friends,

The United Farm Workers are now in their 8th day of their 187-mile journey from Madera to Sacramento. This march is intended to put pressure on Governor Brown to pass new legislation to protect farm workers. Since Governor Brown vetoed the Farm Worker Protection Act just two months ago, THREE farm workers have died in the fields. Sadly, this kind of information rarely makes the news cycle.

We have a wonderful opportunity to show solidarity with our farm worker brothers and sisters in Sacramento as they complete their historic march. There will be a UFW bus caravan leaving from Santa Rosa this Sunday, September 4, and arriving at Southside Park in Sacramento where we will greet the marchers. We will all take the final steps to the Capitol together and join a huge rally in support of Farm Worker Protection. After the rally, the buses return to Santa Rosa. Here are the details:

By Donna Smith, National Co-chair, Healthcare Not Warfare

In more than 60 locations from Maine to California, the 170,000 registered nurse members of National Nurses United will be hosting events aimed at healing the damage done on Main Streets all over America by Wall Street’s special interests.

Read the Full Story & Find Locations Here