Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution – Adopted unanimously March 28, 2011

Support April 9-10 Rallies and Marches:
Oppose the Wars against Working People
at Home and Abroad

Whereas, the wealthy and corporations now in control of our country continue to take more, while we get less, continue to destroy our environment, exploit our labor and reduce our services for ever-increasing profits, using half of our Federal tax dollars for military purposes, and our youth, under an economic draft, as cannon fodder to invade and occupy other countries, and

Whereas, the price of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya is creating a permanent war economy draining the US of trillions of dollars that could be used for jobs, education, and social services, draining funds at the state and local level, while providing a convenient excuse for draconian cuts in services and extreme austerity measures resulting in the decimation of collective bargaining agreements now being carried out in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and other states.

Therefore be it resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join the Bay Area Chapter of US Labor Against the War, and hundreds of social justice organizations, nation-wide, calling for an immediate end to these wars, and endorsing the bi-coastal marches and rallies occurring on April 9th in New York City and April 10th in San Francisco, sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee.

August 20, 2010

Norman Solomon was interviewed yesterday on FAIR’s national radio program “CounterSpin”.

CLICK HERE to listen.

With $2 BILLION in Sonoma County taxes going to pay for the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, participating in a monthly Brown Bag Lunch Vigil to stop the escalation and funding for wars is an act of community support.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Cost of War and what that $$$ could be used for instead.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Brown Bag Lunch Vigils and how WE can help to End War & Occupations by sending a consistent message to our Congressperson to stop funding wars, set firm dates for complete withdrawal, and dismantle corporate influence over our government.

CLICK HERE to Read More about the CA State Democratic Party Resolution to “End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan”.

Santa Rosa, CA
June 16, 2010

Dear Representative Woolsey,

It’s like a trick of misdirection, except that instead of a magician distracting an audience from seeing how the legerdemain is accomplished, we’re living through Congress deflecting our attention from important domestic issues over to patches on a system that is ready to burst.

Instead of enacting health insurance reforms that would have been fiscally responsible, ethical, and humane—such as Medicare for All with a single-payer system—we’re faced with the president and Congress telling us that to balance our budget we need to make cuts in two of the only programs in our country that offer protection to those who most need it: Medicare and Social Security.

— photo by Michael Aparicio

1) On this call we had a DC Update: The supplemental war spending vote is expected at any time. Featured guest: Mike Darner, United States Congress Legislative Director for Rep. John Conyers, Jr.

2) We Introduced the launch of the PDA vets for peace working group. We had representatives from Iraq Vets against the War and Veterans for Peace. The objective is to add the voices of progresive veterans to PDA’s on-going educational, electoral and legislative campaigns.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

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.

Read the Rest Here

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.’

Read the Rest Here

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

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.

Read the Rest Here

_______
April 21, 2010

Earth, Taxes, and a Supplement à la carte

March saw the seventh anniversary of the Iraq invasion, and many Brown Bag Lunch Vigils (BBLV) commemorated that. This month, over one hundred vigils across the country will remind our elected representatives and neighbors that our tax money goes in the wrong direction when it goes to military spending.

Since several people tried unsuccessfully to join this month’s call, we’re happy to compensate for faulty technology with the recording from this rich and informative conference.

Mary Nichols-Rhodes spoke first, describing the plans for the US Social Forum this June in Detroit and the National Peace Conference this July in Albany. Michael Darner, Legislative Director for Rep. John Conyers, discussed the Afghanistan legislation in play, but his most important piece of information came as a response to the question of whether Representative Conyers will commit to voting no on the supplemental budget request for $33 billion for Afghanistan. Darner said that Conyers is committed to voting against any military funding and expansion. ...

Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Norman Solomon spoke about how the Brown Bag Lunch Vigils are a good tool in moving our representatives to “no” votes on the supplemental. ...

Finally, Bruce Taub, coordinator for the Israel/Palestine Action Group, addressed the efforts being made to cut off funding to Israel while it continues expansion into Palestinian areas and attacks on Gaza.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

David Swanson
April 7, 2010

Add Jim McGovern to the list. That makes 15! See whip list: http://defundwar.org

And three have told PDA they will speak out and whip their colleagues: Kucinich, McGovern, and Conyers. The latter is forming an Out of Afghanistan Caucus.

Link to Original

Dan Murphy
April 6, 2010

Take Action: Tell Congress – No Money for War

Published by Christian Science Monitor.

A video released on the Internet Monday by WikiLeaks, a small nonprofit dedicated to publishing classified information from the US and other governments, appears to show the killing of two Iraqi journalists with Reuters and about nine other Iraqis in a Baghdad suburb in 2007 that is sharply at odds of the official US account of the incident.

Read the Rest Here

John Nichols
April 6, 2010

Published by The Nation.

The video is clear, and devastating.

It shows a U.S. military helicopter targeting, shooting and killing a Reuters photographer and driver in a July 2007 attack in Baghdad.

The U.S. pilots are heard reveling in their “kills.”

Read the Rest Here

Members of PDA national team will be on the road in Pennsylvania and California from April 7th to the 21st, so we have had to change the conference call schedule a bit.

CLICK HERE TO SEE APRIL SCHEDULE