Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

SPREAD THE WORD ...
by George Lakoff

Dear Friends,

The California budget crisis is a democracy crisis.

The 2/3 vote rules have destroyed democracy. A small minority of extreme conservatives – 37 percent – has been controlling the state legislature
by saying no to all proposals until it gets what it wants. They want to destroy the ability of the state to serve public needs. They like the budget cuts. They don’t care about the pain they have caused.

We – the majority of voters – can change all that. We can pass the California Democracy Act, an initiative on the November 2010 ballot. It is one sentence long – only 14 words. It is simple democracy.

February 22nd 2010. Donna Smith and Norman Solomon discuss Healthcare NOT Warfare and Brown Bag Lunch Vigils

Listen to “Healthcare NOT Warfare” national co-chairs Donna Smith and Norman Solomon in the next installment of Agitator Voices of PDA, a new series of podcasts from Progressive Democrats of America’s. It was a busy week for PDA activists and our allies as we gathered in front of 65 congressional offices for the second Brown Bag Lunch Vigil.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Protest! Health Care, not Warfare! Progressive Democrats, Sonoma County from Jon Stiffler on Vimeo.

Ralph Lopez
February 11, 2010

Take Action: Eat lunch for peace—become a brown-bagger

Published by Daily KOS.

Unveiling a potentially powerful campaign which goes beyond pointless marching in the street on a Saturday in DC when no one is around, and the march is roundly, thoroughly, even aggressively ignored by the media, Progressive Democrats of America has come to a realization that International ANSWER has not. It’s our house.

Read the Rest Here

From former PDSonoma County member and supporter Jack McCurdy, who moved out of the area last year ….

WOMEN, MINORITIES NEED TO APPLY NOW!

The Citizens Redistricting Commission, created by voters at the November, 2008, election, is recruiting members to redraw district lines of the State Assembly and Senate. But women and minorities are missing in action.

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January 27, 2010

http://freespeechforpeople.org

Join PDA and our many partners in the Campaign to Legalize Democracy — Click here and sign the motion .

“Free Speech Rights Are For People, Not Corporations”

A coalition of public interest organizations strongly condemned today’s ruling by the US Supreme Court allowing unlimited corporate money in US elections and announced that it is launching a campaign to amend the United States Constitution to overturn the ruling. The groups, Voter Action, Public Citizen, the Center for Corporate Policy, and the American Independent Business Alliance, say the Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC poses a serious and direct threat to democracy. They aim, through their constitutional amendment campaign, to correct the judiciary’s creation of corporate rights under the First Amendment over the past three decades. Immediately following the Court’s ruling, the groups unveiled a new website – http://www.freespeechforpeople.org – devoted to this campaign.

Read the Full Story Here

January 18, 2010

Join us the third Wednesday of each month, beginning January 20.

Today, the country celebrates the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1967, King delivered the Beyond Vietnam speech in the Riverside Church as a powerful indictment of the Vietnam War—the words are as true today as they were when first spoken. Read the speech here ; listen here .

Many of the values on which PDA was founded are based on the teachings of Dr. King, and we believe that our policy positions reflect his beliefs. So it is appropriate that today, Martin Luther King’s birthday, PDA officially launches the Brown Bag Lunch Vigils (BBLV) to be held every third Wednesday each month, beginning on Wednesday, January 20. The vigils are an expansion of the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign. Click here to learn more .

Read the Full Story Here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 16, 2010

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS SONOMA COUNTY TO HOLD REGULAR VIGILS AIMED AT ENDING CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING FOR WARS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

Progressive Democrats Sonoma County, the local chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, plans regular Brown Bag Lunch Vigils in front of Rep. Lynn Woolsey’s Santa Rosa District 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 and 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. The first vigil is planned for Wednesday, January 20th at noon.

When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010
12 PM – 1 PM

Where: Office of Rep. Lynn Woolsey
1101 College Avenue
Santa Rosa , CA 95404
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ED. NOTE: Please RSVP for this event here:
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/personalopt1.asp?formid=meet&c=9243517

Thank you!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 15, 2010
Washington, DC

IN MEMORY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, VIGILS AGAINST WAR FUNDING TO BE HELD AT CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES NATION-WIDE

As the country celebrates the life of Martin Luther King on January 18, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will launch the Brown Bag Lunch Vigils to be held every third Wednesday each month. The vigils are an expansion of their Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign.

With the White House having just announced its intention of requesting another record military budget ($708 billion, not including military budgets in the Departments of State and Energy or the CIA) and another war supplemental ($33 billion), it is appropriate that the first lunchtime vigils will take place immediately following Martin Luther King Day.

Colorful vigils and pickets are already planned in many congressional districts, including the following, with others being added: AZ-3, AZ-5, CA-6, CA-22, CA-23, CA-48, FL-10, FL-17, MA-2, MI-9, OH-13, OH-17, PA-7, WA-2, WA-6, WI-3, WI-7. More details are available about each location online: http://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil

January 15, 2010

The following is the PDA reply to Lynn Woolsey’s response to the January 13 open letter concerning Woolsey’s scheduled appearance at a fundraising event for Jane Harman:

Dear Lynn,


Thank you for your letter, which we’re sending to PDA members and other progressives along with this response.


No effort to sugarcoat Jane Harman’s political record can change the realities that are overwhelmingly in sync with a salient pair of facts: In Congress, she is not a member of the Progressive Caucus. She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Read the Rest Here

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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

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PDA Board member David Swanson speaking about his new book DAYBREAk: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union on Jan. 13 as part of a nationwide book tour.

More info about the book can be found here: http://davidswanson.org/book

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN to David’s Jan. 13 talk

Progressive Democrats of America expands the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign to include Brown Bag Lunch Vigils.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed over 40 years ago, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” and “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”

And yet here we are, over four decades later, spending what seems to be limitless money for endless wars. We can pay for warfare but not healthcare, for bombs but not books, for weapons but not windmills, for hellfire but not homes. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq labor on, with no end in sight, it’s become alarmingly clear that they have exacted a staggering human and financial toll on the Iraqi, Afghan, and American people. Something is terribly wrong.

In light of this sad state, Progressive Democrats of America is extending and expanding the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign to raise awareness among the public and our elected officials that the electorate is not being served by current U.S. policies.

Read the Rest Here

published at CommonSense2.com

“The people who brought women the right to vote never saw women vote. The people who sought an end to slavery never saw slavery end. The people most responsible for every huge social justice cause in this country or any other simply did their moral duty with their colleagues and enjoyed it till the day they died. It’s not that they didn’t want to succeed, but they didn’t have to know that they were about to succeed in order to do it. ...... Let’s save our pessimism for better times. There’s no excuse for it.”

CommonSense2 Editor — Activist David Swanson recently appeared at Kutztown University in an event hosted by the Kutztown Democratic Club as part of a book tour to promote his new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union. I found David’s commentary to be compelling in many areas, but liked especially the part on why you should continue your activism. I hope you find reading his lecture as intriguing as I did hearing it. ....

David on the Constitution

David: What is Article one of the United States Constitution about?

Someone in the crowd shouts: Congress!

David: Congress! Smart crowd. Yes. I’ve heard the president. I’ve heard the military. Free speech, etc. But it’s about Congress. It’s the first 60% of a very short document. It is the first branch of our government. It is the branch to which goes every power they could dream up. Very limited power goes to the Executive in Article II, and limited power to the Judicial branch in Article III. Congress was overwhelmingly the seat of power in our government. And above all the House of Representatives. The Legislature is the branch that had to be divided into two chambers, and the House of Representatives was to be the part of our government closest to us. The most representative of us and therefore the part of our government that should initiate any bills. They should have the power of impeachment over the other branches. The seat of our government’s power.

Read the Rest Here

Donna Smith
January 6, 2010

URGENT—Take Action NOW: Tell Speaker Pelosi & Majority Leader Reid – NO on MANDATE, YES on STATES’ RIGHTS

If there is nothing to protect that relates to national security, every bit of the health reform legislation debate and negotiation should be done in public. Period.

We read today that C-SPAN is arguing that the negotiations between the House and the Senate on their healthcare bills need to be done while their cameras are rolling. I agree.

Read the Rest Here

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS SONOMA COUNTY PRESENTS

DAVID SWANSON, author of
DAYBREAK: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 – 7:00 PM

The Glaser Center
547 Mendocino Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA

Donations accepted at the door, sliding scale $5-$20; no one turned away ** Doors Open – 6:30 p.m. ** Light refreshments available

We are very pleased to present author and activist David Swanson at this talk and book-signing event in Santa Rosa.

HOW THE BUSH YEARS FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED US GOVERNMENT AND WHAT AMERICA MUST DO TO RECONSTITUTE DEMOCRACY

Daniel Weintraub
December 28, 2009

Take Action: Tell Congress – In Afghanistan, don’t escalate—remediate

Published by The New York Times .

In the fear-filled, nationalistic fervor after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001, Congress rushed to approve President George W. Bush’s decision to attack Afghanistan, the country where the terrorist leaders had trained for their suicide voyage.

A resolution giving Mr. Bush the authority to act raced through Congress just three days after the attack. Nearly every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate voted for it. Only one member rose to oppose the measure: Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of Oakland.

Read the Rest Here

December 27, 2009

One Sentence Can Change California History

Our proposition is simple – one sentence, 14 words:

All legislative actions on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.

Why Is Our Budget Process Failing California?

Right now, a small minority of legislators (1/3 plus 1) of either the assembly or senate can block the will of the majority. This is undemocratic. It has led to the closing of our state parks, public libraries, and fire departments. It has decimated our educational system and social safety net. It is time now to ACT.

Norman Solomon
December 22, 2009

The winter solstice of 2009 arrived as a grim metaphor for the current politics of healthcare, war and a lot more. “In a dark time,” wrote the poet Theodore Roethke, “the eye begins to see.”

After a year of escalation in Afghanistan, solicitude toward Wall Street and the incredible shrinking healthcare reform, we ought to be able to see that the biggest problem among progressives has been undue deference to the Obama administration.

In recent months, the responses from the progressive base to the Obama presidency have often resembled stages of grief—with rotations of denial, bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance.

Mobilization of progressive movements to pressurize Obama in the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill has always been essential. It hasn’t happened. Instead, among Democratic loyalists, reflexive support for the latest line from the administration has made it easier for Obama to move rightward.

Read the Rest Here

You are invited to join us for a very special evening with

David Swanson, author of
DAYBREAK: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 – 7:00 PM

The Glaser Center
547 Mendocino Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA

PDSonoma County is very pleased to present author and activist David Swanson at this talk and book-signing event in Santa Rosa.

Donations accepted at the door, sliding scale $5-$20; no one turned away. Doors Open – 6:30 p.m.
Light refreshments available