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PDA members from the Charleston Progressive Democrats and the Dorchester Progressive Democrats held a Brown Bag Vigil in front of the offices of Congressman Henry Brown (R-SC) on November 18th. The purpose of the vigil was to lobby for Healthcare not Warfare. Participants held signs that stated "Healthcare not Warfare", "Support Our Troops, Bring Them Home", "US Out of Afghanistan and Iraq" and "Universal Healthcare not Universal Warfare". The protest/vigil was held in front of the Bank of America building in North Charleston where Congressman Brown has his District office.CA CA Dems to Obama: Get Out of Afghanistan
At one point a sympathetic police officer came and asked that the protest be moved to the sidewalk instead of the bank property. Many sympathetic remarks were made by passerbys on their way into the building. Many stopped and talked with the protestors and one even took a picture. [more]
CA Democrats to Obama: Get Out of AfghanistanPublished by Common Dreams.
Norman Solomon shares this with us tonight, from the San Francisco Chronicle's PoliticsBlog:
The California Democratic Party just sent a loud message to President Obama, who is pondering the next U.S. move in Afghanistan: Get out.
The state's Dems have gone on record with a Get Out message before--like at their confab last summer. But this one is more specific. And bolder. Marin County activist and media critic Norman Solomon passes on that the CDP's 300-member statewide exec board passed a resolution Sunday called: "End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan." You can find the resolution here. [more]
NY Rep. Massa Pans House Healthcare BillJoin PDA's End War and Occupations, Redirect Funding Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by The Nation.The California Democratic Party speaks with a loud voice in national politics. [more]
CA Democratic Party Weighs Afghanistan Withdrawal ResolutionKudos to Massa and Kucinich for voting "No" for the right reasons--call them and thank them!
Publsihed by the Democrat and Chronicle.One of three New York Democrats to vote against a health care reform bill in the House of Representatives defended his position Sunday, saying the legislation passed by his colleagues will do more harm than good. [more]
CA Biggest State Party to Obama: Get Out of AfghanistanPublished by Liberty One Media.
While the Administration mulls four different levels of troop escalation in Afghanistan the California Democratic Party today presented a very different position, as the party took a step towards rejecting any further U.S. military expansion in the war-torn Central Asian republic. On Saturday, a committee of the party's executive board voted in support of a resolution which calls for an end to the 8-year military intervention in Afghanistan, including demands for a cessation of the aerial bombing campaign.
This stance represents the first significant opposition to the Administration's current Afghanistan military policy from within the President's own political party. [more]
CA Left Turn OnlyJoin PDA's End War and Occupations, Redirect Funding Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
There's a significant new straw in the political wind for President Obama to consider. The California Democratic Party has just sent him a formal and clear message: Stop making war in Afghanistan.
Overwhelmingly approved on Sunday (Nov. 15) by the California Democratic Party’s 300-member statewide executive board, the resolution is titled “End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan.” [more]
Left Turn Only is a history, analysis and how-to manual of the modern Progressive Movement, written by a participant and observer, Brad Parker, with additions from leading Progressive organizers Ahjamu Makalani and Wayne Williams. The book concludes with an in-depth discussion of Progressive Economics with economist Mark Pash.MD Obama Supporters Reflect on President's Year
The Internet has upended the top-down paradigm of the past and replaced it with a bottom-up network of individual interactive “swarm” intelligence--the Progressives. Crony corporate and political interests are under siege by the Progressives. A struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party and the nation is underway. Left Turn Only is a testament to this struggle.
“This is what historians call a primary source, the raw anger that led to effective pressure when grass roots Democrats became infuriated at the perceived betrayal of the antiwar cause after they worked so hard to elect a Democratic Congress in 2006. Invaluable for political scientists and activists trying to understand why Democrats so often abandon their base.” - Tom Hayden [more]
CA PDA Members Will Push for California Fair Elections ActPublished by Gazette.Net.
On a spring day in May 1971, Chris Grewell and her friends at Thomas W. Woodward High School in Rockville rented a truck to ferry Vietnam War protesters to Washington, D.C. That was a political lifetime ago, and Grewell was pleased to see a new wave of young activists take over last year, when her favored presidential candidate, Barack Obama, was elected.
"I really felt like this was the next generation's job, and I think they did a fantastic job with it," said Grewell, a Silver Spring resident active in Montgomery County politics and the National Organization for Women.
One year after President Obama's election filled county Democrats and progressives with his trademark variety of hope, they are largely willing to be patient with the president, still greatly respect his judgment, and are willing to wait for more progress as he deals with difficult issues. [more]
CA Single-payer Health Care Advocates Arrested in ProtestJoin PDA's Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
After a powerful conference call with the PDA Clean Elections Group this past week, PDA members were thrilled to learn of the upcoming ballot measure that will establish a pilot program for Fair Elections (Full Public Funding of Elections) in California. Finally there is a chance to start getting the outrageous amount of money out of the political game—a game that we can see in the current healthcare fight influences everything Progressives believe in.
The proposition due to be on the June 2010 California statewide ballot will be called the California Fair Elections Act and will show Californians how they can take back their state by getting politicians out of the fund-raising game so that they will focus on our priorities.
Authored by Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, the California Fair Elections Act would establish a voluntary pilot project for California's secretary of state races in 2014 and 2018. PDA members in California were critical, with their grassroots efforts, calls, faxes and emails, in getting this bill passed to put the act on the ballot. [more]
CA Why We Support Marcy WinogradPublished by San Diego News Network. See more healthcare corporation protest stories at Mobilization for Health Care for All.
The protest was a part of a nationwide campaign to dispute health care companies, who demonstrators claim have been raising premiums throughout the recession and have lobbied against the single-payer system.
“The enormous amounts of money you’ve seen health insurance corporations lavishing on members of Congress, on non-stop TV ads, and advertising is killing us,” said protest organizer Jerry Malamud, who was also arrested. “Where do they get the money they spend to rig debate about the health care system? By denying care to those who need it most--in California one out of every five treatments is denied by an insurance company, resulting in denial of treatments and deaths.” [more]
CA Protesters Demonstrate Against Yoo Outside of California HallPublished by LA Progressive.
That the LA Progressive is supporting Marcy Winograd in the race for the 36th Congressional District should surprise no one. Since our magazine’s inception last year, we have proudly run articles that Marcy has written. Now that she’s gearing up for another race, we regularly carry notices of her campaign events. As we did at her lovely meet-and-greet organized by Suzanne Harris and Kevin Lynn in nearby Monterrey Hills last weekend, we attend events where she’s speaking ourselves, nodding along to the music. With us, she’s preaching to the choir. [more]
CA Chromium 6 Still Threatens California's Drinking WaterJoin PDA's Accountability and Justice Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.
Published by The Daily Californian.Activists calling for the firing of UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo demonstrated Wednesday at UC Berkeley in efforts to hold Yoo responsible for his involvement in the alleged torture of terrorism suspects during the Bush administration.
A small group of demonstrators clad in pink asked for a meeting with Chancellor Robert Birgeneau outside of California Hall before performing a "banishment ritual" by writing messages on pink paper denouncing Yoo and lighting them on fire in a metal container outside of Boalt Hall School of Law where Yoo's class was in session. [more]
CA San Francisco Tries New Health Program for UninsuredPublished by the Sacramento Bee.
Polluters who contaminate drinking water and make people sick shouldn't get off easy. That has been the focus of my work for two decades, and I'm not planning to stop now.
My work focused the attention of the world on a carcinogen called hexavalent chromium (hex chrome). In 1996, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.--a multibillion-dollar corporation--paid $333 million in damages to the people of Hinkley for contaminating their drinking water and covering up the problem for decades while people got sick and died. This victory was immortalized in film. But the story doesn't end there. [more]
CA Single-payer Healthcare Reform Activists Target CIGNAPublished by Voice of America.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 46 million people in the United States had no health insurance coverage last year. While the nation struggles with reforming health care, one city has begun a program of its own that aims to make health care services accessible and affordable for its uninsured residents.
Until recently, this diverse city with a population of nearly 800,000 had more than 60,000 adult residents with no health insurance.
Over the last two years, three-quarters of them have enrolled in a public program called Healthy San Francisco. [more]
Take Action: Tell Congress "Do the right thing for your constituents"
Published by The Examiner.In no uncertain terms Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) announced a non-violent protest against insurance giant CIGNA. Wednesday October 28th activists will gather at 400 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale California. Beginning at 10:00 AM the protest is the culmination of nation wide actions planned this October.
In coalition with PDA, Andrew McGuire, Director of Health Care for All-California said Sunday, “Help tell CIGNA to get out of the health insurance business, it's simple, if political leaders won't remove for-profit insurance companies from the business of heathcare, the people will do it,” said McGuire. “Join this sit-in and the kind of public demonstration that's sweeping the country, organized by Mobilize for Health Care and supported by a wide coalition.” [more]
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