Stand Up! Take Action! Vote!
John Nichols
May 25, 2010
URGENT Action: Supplemental war funding vote this week — Tell Congress: No Money for War!
Published by The Nation
Congressman Alan Grayson is at it again. This time, the Florida Democrat who shook up the health-care debate by saying Republicans were the real death-panel party and who shook up the bank reform debate by leading (with Texas Congressman Ron Paul) the “Audit the Fed” fight, is shaking up the debate about so-called “emergency” supplemental spending to fund the occupations of foreign lands.
KOWS 107.3FM ( streaming at www.KOWS.fm ) , Voices and Vision, Tu. 5/25, 6-8 pm presents an election commentary program with analysis and recommendations for candidates and propositions. It will feature Stan Gold from Progressive Democrats of America, Sonoma County, and Victoria Brandon, Political chairperson of Redwood Chapter, Sierra Club. Health and schedule permitting, we could be joined by feisty West County pol women, Alice Chan and/or Lynn Hamilton. There’s a slim chance a mystery election expert from SSU could join the commentary party. In any event, it should be an informative and interesting time.
You’re invited to join our conversation by calling the studio, (707) 874-1073. Join us and explore Sonoma, north coast and California politics with your own questions/statements/ideas. We even hope to talk about Republican Gubernatorial and Senatorial candidates. Maybe some Greens and tea partiers will call.
Hear Voices and Vision on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, 6-8 pm. KOWS 107.3 FM , Occidental, is a community station serving west Sonoma County and much of Santa Rosa. It can also be heard by going to www.KOWS.fm and clicking on the link under community radio project.
Norman Solomon
May 24, 2010
Visit Winograd for Congress
Many are familiar with the adage, “When the people lead, the leaders will follow.” But what happens when people enable leaders to follow the dictates of the powerful?
These days, the answers are arriving in the form of a news drumbeat that’s apt to seem like a dirge.
From Afghanistan to Wall Street to the Gulf of Mexico, policies of military action and regulatory inaction are exacting terrible costs: in human life, economic resources and irreplaceable nature. Silence and inaction enable the destructive policies to continue.
Linda Milazzo
May 24, 2010
Take Action: Join Marcy’s virtual phone bank!
Americans spoke out loudly this past Tuesday. In two of the nation’s most anticipated primaries, the Sestak vs. Specter Democratic primary in Pennsylvania and the Paul vs. Greyson Republican primary in Kentucky, the party underlings defeated their party leaders’ choices and demolished the status quo. On the Democratic side, despite the full throttle barrage for Specter by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and Governor Ed Rendell, Congressional upstart Joe Sestak beat three decade incumbent Arlen Specter by 54 to 46 percent.
In Kentucky, political neophyte, libertarian extremist, and tea party enthusiast, Rand Paul, clobbered the hand picked candidate of Senator Mitch McConnell, the most powerful Republican in D.C. The results of both elections send an earsplitting message to the leadership of America’s two dominant parties, that warns: ‘Your choices, endorsements and power don’t matter. We’re electing who WE want.’
Rep. Raul Grijalva called for a boycott of Arizona following the passage of SB 1070, the bill that has focused national attention on Arizona’s regressive immigration policies. “We’re on the wrong side of history,” proclaims Grijalva in part one of this episode. “Apartheid Arizona”–that’s how Dan O’Neal refers to his home state. Just days before the big demonstration in Phoenix, O’Neal discusses how PDA is impacting the debate. Listen to Tim Carpenter interview Grijalva and O’Neal on this timely topic.
A discussion of the Kerry-Lieberman climate legislation discussion draft took place as well as the politics of its passage. In addition, Kathy Callan and James Handley reported on their recent visits to the Hill where they attended sixteen meetings, including meeting with the staff from Senate Majority Leader Reid, Speaker of the House Pelosi, and Rep. John Larsen, sponsor of HR 1337: America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009, which PDA has endorsed. A discussion about the Deep Horizon oil gusher in the Gulf also occurred. The team voted on and passed their Legislative Advocacy Plan.
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It was like Grand Central Station in Washington, D.C., last week when PDA teams of citizen-lobbyists took to three different tracks on Capitol Hill.
The Stop Global Warming/Environmental Issues Organizing Team has been focusing most of its energy on passing a good climate/energy bill, which actually addresses the problem. Frustrated by the many flaws in the bills under serious consideration, this IOT decided it was time to start the push for Plan B—the carbon tax with revenue returned to households.
May 19, 2010
Dear Friend,
Official Washington may be good at spinning rhetoric in murky fog, but there’s no way around this fact: War can only continue if Congress votes to pay for it.
A year ago, the Obama administration was able to get what it said would be the last supplemental war appropriation. Now, the Obama administration wants to push another war supplemental through Congress.
May 19, 2010
Dear Representative Woolsey,
May should be a time of celebrating the beauty of living, with spring in full bloom and the recognition of our mothers as our source of life. But there have been too many events that make celebration difficult, if not impossible, for the members of Progressive Democrats of America.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2010
Local PDA Chapter Joins Nationwide Protests in Opposition to $33 Billion War Supplemental
Progressive Democrats Sonoma County, the local chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), to hold noon hour “Brown Bag Lunch Vigil” in front of Rep. Lynn Woolsey’s Santa Rosa office to stop the escalation and funding for war.
We thank Rep. Woolsey for signing on to support HR 2454, calling for an exit strategy from Afghanistan & HR 3699, prohibiting any increase in the number of U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
Further, we call on Rep. Woolsey to publicly commit to voting “No” on any bills that fund wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen, and to publicly urge her colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
12 PM – 1 PM
Office of Rep. Lynn Woolsey
1101 College Avenue
Santa Rosa , CA 95404
Thursday, May 27, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Dr. Dorothy Naor lives in Herzliah, near Tel Aviv. An activist with New Profile, an Israeli feminist and anti-militarist group, she participates in virtually all activities having to do with occupation policy and civil rights in Israel. Most recently, she has become involved in the Israeli Committee for Residency Rights (ICRR), an ad hoc committee working on residency rights for Palestinians and for allowing entry to the West Bank. Dorothy takes people on informal tours to the West Bank and is one of those who responds to the many calls of distress from people in the West Bank who are stuck at checkpoints, need medical care in Israel, are in villages where the IDF comes in, etc.
May 12, 2010, Washington, DC
Join PDA’s Stop Global Warming/Environmental Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here .
So, how do you get Congress to really listen to you? Progressive Democrats of America’s (PDA) Stop Global Warming Team explored that question, and they came up with a plan: Send a couple of team members to hit Capitol Hill the week after Earth Day, just as Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman were unveiling their long-awaited compromise climate bill (KGL). PDA’s Stop Global Warming Issue Organizing Team (IOT) coordinators James Handley and Kathy Callan planned to discuss PDA’s direct CO2 pricing proposal to skip the markets, trading and offsets. They would talk about returning revenue to citizens instead of giving allowances to polluters and point out the flaws in the KGL bill. Things turned out a bit differently.
Join us next week as we phone bank for Deb Fudge in Windsor.
PDSonoma Phone Bank Night
Wednesday, May 19
5-8 pm
Fudge for Supervisor HQ
9030 Windsor Rd
in Downtown Windsor
It is always a lot of fun to do this together. Even an hour or two will help, so please know that whatever you can do will be appreciated.
Contact Us to volunteer for this special PDSonoma Phone Bank Night!
Saturday, May 15 – Luther Burbank Rose Parade
JOIN US! — PDSonoma will march in the Single Payer Healthcare contingent behind Mark Leno, State Senator, representing south Sonoma County as well as Marin and San Francisco. Senator Leno is a principal co-author of SB 810, our single payer bill in California.
The parade starts at 10 a.m. at Sonoma Ave and E Street. Our group should meet on E Street south of Sonoma Ave. at 9.
Bring signs for universal health care, single payer, HCA-CA, and/or SBB 810.
We will have a few extra Medicare For All signs if you need to just show up!
Sponsored by Health Care for All-California , Progressive Democrats Sonoma County and the Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee. Please call Mike Smith, 707.299.0866, or Sue Snow, 707.823.1635 for further information.
May 13, 2010
Here’s audio of the live interview that Norman Solomon did today on KQED Radio’s “Forum” program with host Michael Krasny. They talked about the war in Afghanistan and U.S. politics:
At this critical moment, we’re launching the PDA virtual phone bank for one of our own — Marcy Winograd, the founder of Progressive Democrats of America’s Los Angeles chapter, who is challenging Blue Dog Jane Harman in the 36th congressional district (West LA to San Pedro).
Help Marcy phone bank into her district. Be part of the action. Click here for a message from Marcy . Help elect Marcy Winograd, a true progressive to Congress! Contact Marcy@pdamerica.org to find out how you can make phone calls to help.
Now is the time for action. Absentee voting begins May 10th; voting at the polls begins June 8th. We are days away from victory, provided you get involved.
Having once introduced herself as “the best Republican in the Democratic Party,” Congresswoman Jane Harman of California’s 36th district may now regret those words. Harman, the second wealthiest member of Congress, faces a stiff challenge for her seat this year from community activist Marcy Winograd, co-founder of the LA Chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America.
Tom Hayden
May 11, 2010
Take Action: Eat lunch for peace — become a brown-bagger
Published by the Peace and Resource Center
American antiwar sentiment is consolidating, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, despite months of official fanfare promoting the US military offensive in Afghanistan.
The news comes as the US military prepares its summer offensive in Kandahar, as Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai is welcomed to the White House, and Congress considers $33 billion for the troop escalation on top of $159 billion for another year of war.
May 11, 2010
Forest conversion project threatens watershed, ecosystem
SANTA ROSA, CA – The Sonoma County Democratic Party has opposed a plan by Napa-based land development company, Premier Pacific Vineyards, LLC (d.b.a. Preservation Ranch) to convert 1,600 acres of coastal Sonoma County redwood and douglas fir forestland to vineyards and luxury estates. CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is a significant investor in the project.May 11, 2010
SANTA ROSA, CA – The Sonoma County Democratic Party has passed a resolution urging the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to deny approval of the proposed location of the Dutra asphalt plant at Haystack Landing on the Petaluma River, across from Shollenberger Park.If approved, the Dutra plant would be located in a designated scenic corridor, and the expected decrease in air quality and increase in noise and truck traffic would have a negative impact on the wetlands and sensitive wildlife habitat of Shollenberger Park.
Jeffrey Blankfort
May 11, 2010
Join Marcy’s virtual phone bank!
Published by CounterPunch.org
What may be the last Democratic primary race worth paying attention to is taking place in the 36th Congressional District along the Southern California coastline where incumbent Jane Harman is facing a serious challenge from Los Angeles school teacher, Marcy Winograd, with the candidates’ widely separated positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict dominating a critical section of the political landscape.
Harman is the second richest member of the House of Representatives with estimated assets between $112 and $377 million dollars. Whether it was her money or her Israeli connections that kept the Southern California Democrat from being indicted as a foreign agent five years ago or a combination of both is something the public is never likely to know.
Norman Solomon
May 10, 2010
If President Obama has his way, Elena Kagan will replace John Paul Stevens—and the Supreme Court will move rightward. The nomination is very disturbing, especially because it’s part of a pattern.
The White House is in the grip of conventional centrist wisdom. Grim results stretch from Afghanistan to the Gulf of Mexico to communities across the USA.
“It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills,” President Obama said in support of offshore oil drilling, less than three weeks before the April 20 blowout in the Gulf. “They are technologically very advanced.”
We are an affiliated chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
MOVIE NIGHT!
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
NOTE: Early start time for Wednesday’s meeting, in order that we may enjoy Movie Night and still have time for an endorsement meeting to follow.
PDSonoma meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month except December.
New Members and Guests Always Welcome!
Refreshments can be ordered and enjoyed in our meeting room. Please arrive early if you wish to order refreshments.
Healthcare advocates from fourteen states met in Wayne, Penn., April 10, 2010. The following Declaration is a result of the meeting. Add your name to the Declaration! PDA is planning actions around the country when our goal of 25,000 signatures is met.
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