Obama's Team says it's our turn to lead

Written by: Susan Rowe on Dec 16, 2008 3:35 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA-CFD of Fresno & Madera Counties, Democratic Club of Coarsegold, DFA-Link Organizers, DFA Blog Network, California for Democracy, Take Back Red California, DFA of Chowchilla, DFA-CFD of Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties , Blog For America, Sacramento For Democracy, DFA of Stanislaus County, Health Care for America Organizers, blog for America Test and Poll Group, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , Southern California for Democracy, San Diego for Democracy, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Sierra Foothills Democratic Club, Redlands DFA, Plumas County Democratic Club, Netroots Activism!

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

Obama's Team wants to hear our ideas about healthcare!

Discuss

Palin Protest - Orange County, CA 10/4/08

Written by: Bobbi Jo Chavarria on Sep 30, 2008 8:05 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Moreno Valley DFA, Redlands DFA, Take Back Red California, DFA-Link Organizers, Training Academy Alumni, Class of 2007, DFA Highland , DFA Campaign Academy Alumni, California for Democracy, DFA-CFD of Fresno & Madera Counties, Democratic Club of Coarsegold, Courage Campaign, DFA Blog Network, DFA of Chowchilla, DFA-CFD of Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties , DFA of Stanislaus County, Blog For America, blog for America Test and Poll Group, Southern California for Democracy, Democracy for America - Orange County

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

From: <Felicitynf@aol.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 4:18 PM
Subject: Palin protest this Saturday, Oct. 4, 3:30 at Segerstrom Hall
To: OCProgressiveChristians@yahoogroups.com

Don't be fooled by Endorsements

Written by: Corla & Lon Coles on May 28, 2008 10:37 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA, California for Democracy, Take Back Red California, Access Now, What are Progressive Values? Study Group, San Bernardino County PRECINCT CAPTAINS Program, Democracy for Riverside, San Bernardino DFA

What does it mean for you, the voter, when you see an endorsement of a Candidate?  Nothing!  For the past few months I have been a volunteer with a Congressional campaign, participating from the inside, in the Democratic process.  I have been appalled by the unscrupulous means some other candidates use to try and lure votes.  Just as we see nightly in the National Election, I have watched as despicable means are used to manipulate numbers to get a Club endorsement.  Personal endorsements are posted on Websites without permission.  I have listened to words being twisted to infer one person’s value over another based on how much money the candidate loaned his campaign.  I have sat by and listened as one candidate takes another’s phraseology and vomits it out as his own.  I see "endorsements" in mailers that are false.  The only thing of value, fellow  voters, is what you know to be true.  Read, ask questions, call the candidates at every level and ask the hard questions.  Ask the questions that reflect your values, your concerns, your needs.

 The June 3rd election will sadly have a poor showing of voters.  Maybe 10% of the registered voters will make decisions that will have a lasting effect not just on our lives, but the lives of our children and Grandchildren.  I besiege you to Vote.  In a time when many of our civil rights have been compromised, voting becomes even more meaningful.  It is our responsibility to Vote intelligently, to be informed, and to make our vote reflect our values, our concerns and our needs.

I am a proud member of Citizen’s Actions 4 Peace, Democracy for America, Progressive Democrats of America, and Arlington West Santa Monica Veterans for Peace Chapter, and CODE PINK: Women for Peace and Global Solutions.

"Principles only mean something if you stand by them when they are inconvenient." Joan Allen in the Contender

ACTION ALERT: contact Senator Feinstein fast!

Written by: Robert Najera on Nov 2, 2007 7:54 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

Everyone Here is my email I sent to Diane Feinstein today:

 Senator,

Why do you continue to rubber stamp everything George Bush wants? I strongly urge you to vote against Mukasey as Attorney General. How can any democrat support a man who will allow torture. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE (WITH SCHUMER) for putting our troops in harms way by continuing to allow torture.
A VOTE FOR MUKASEY IS A VOTE FOR TORTURE!

The Democratic party DOES NOT support torture, and neither should you. Do you want to be grouped together with Lieberman as a Bush Cronie? If you allow Mukasey to be the A.G. then I will urge my associations with DFA, Move-ON.org, and local democratic clubs to campaign against you actively with all of our grassroots resources. If it is possible we, will try to use the same law that removed Gray Davis to recall your term. You should remember that you serve our will, not your corportate sponsors.

A concerned democrat & resident of CA,
Robert Najera

You all should contact her and urge her to change her position again on one of Bush's appointees. Mukasey will not keep Bush under control legally, he will rubber stamp all Bush's policies. Lets over flow the senator's email box with demands for peace and an opposition to MUKASEY.

Contact her through her website. http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/
Robert Najera

Redlands City Council discussion of Climate Protection Agreement: time and place change

Written by: Benjamin Sibelman on Oct 15, 2007 3:42 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

The Redlands City Council was planning to meet at an unusual time this week, Thursday, to discuss whether to adopt the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement but they rescheduled it to tomorrow instead.  The event starts at 3 PM.  Also, instead of holding it at City Hall, where they're having issues with backed-up plumbing, the event has been moved to the Jocelyn Center, behind the Redlands Bowl on Grant Street.

If you are a Redlands resident concerned about the climate crisis, please be there if you can!  Our neighboring cities, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Yucaipa have all signed on.  We need to ask our Council what they're waiting for!

California Draft AL Gore 2008

Written by: Robert Najera on Oct 12, 2007 8:44 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

Friends,

The time has come for America to have real leadership. While I do not dispute the fact that there are currently great choices for the Democratic nominee, I must bring forward the point that America and the world are in dire need of more.

Since the 2000 election, no I mean supreme court decision/ appointment, America has not been the beacon of hope, and freedom that it once was. We have a huge prominant scar. We are the leader of the free world and we didn't have a free election, it was stolen, from you and me and from the man who truely won - Al Gore. The Constitution has been mostly invalidated since.

America will never be the same. We will always look back and say, "what might have been?"  Have you felt it? The calling from the very soul inside you? The calling to save our constitution? To save the fundamental values that are America?

To do this, save the country we must have the rightfully elected GORE ADMINISTRATION in office. 

Some of us, progressive democrats, liberals, greens, independants and yes some republicans, - Americans are working for this very solution. We are going to draft Al Gore.

He said he would know it was time to enter the race "when he saw it". We are it. He has and is seeing our efforts. Now he has the Nobel Peace prize. A true testiment to his distiction from Goerge Bush,  the "war president" vrs. Al Gore the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winner.

I write you all today to ask solemnly for your help. Even if you already support another canidate, adding Al Gore to the Ballot symbolizes to the world that Americans will not sit by quietly and let our voting rights to hold free elections, decided by the people go by. 

It is still relatively early in the process and any canidate, front runner or runner up can still crash and burn. Remember what they did to Howard Dean in the media? With a back up choice, a strong choice, you can rest asured you'd have a real statesman to vote for. And we can make histroy in the meantime.

Please help our efforts by circulating a nomination form and collecting signatures. Or at least sign one of the forms already being circulated. We all owe this to histroy. We all owe this to AL GORE, a real American, and a real steward of this earth.

contact Robert Najera Sub-regional coordinator

CA Congressional districts 41, 43, 44, 45, 49

CA DRAFT GORE www.california4gore.org

robnajera@roadrunner.com

909-731-5319 cell  

To Catch a Wolf: How to Stop Conservative Frames in Their Tracks

Written by: Bobbi Jo Chavarria on Jun 20, 2007 9:18 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

To Catch a Wolf: How to Stop Conservative Frames in Their Tracks
By Christina Smith
Tuesday, June 15, 2007

Wolf Blitzer often pretends to be a neutral broadcaster while framing his questions and his news using conservative frames.

During the second Democratic debate on June 3, he was caught, and Barack Obama caught him. Wolf's "question" was:

BLITZER: I want you to raise your hand if you believe English should be the official language of the United States.

Obama refused to take the bait:

OBAMA: This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us. You know, you're right. Everybody is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country. The issue is not whether or not future generations of immigrants are going to learn English. The question is:  How can we come up with both a legal, sensible immigration policy? And when we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people.

We applaud Senator Obama. Every progressive should refuse to answer such "when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife" questions. Obama's words: "This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us" could be a polite but effective mantra.

Why, exactly, does Blitzer's question evoke a conservative frame? The "official language" movement is divisive. As Hillary Clinton pointed out, there is a difference between a national language -- the language mostly spoken in a country (which English is) -- and an "official language," (which would disallow public funds to be used for ballots in other languages and hence deny citizens the right to vote). An "official language" would also not permit funding for translators in hospitals, thus denying health care (and possibly creating public health risks). And it would rule out funds for bilingual education classes, often necessary as immigrants learn English, thus denying education to those who need and deserve it.

At the same time, it seems innocent on the surface, as if it were asking whether immigrants should learn English, a very different question. To accept the question and say yes is to accept the implicit racism, but to say no sounds like you don't think immigrants should learn English. The only response is to reject the question and tell the questioner what a reasonable question should be, just as Obama did.

There were many further examples of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and WMUR radio host Scott Spradling's use of conservative frames in their questions to candidates. The debate hosts, operating within a conservative worldview, consistently repeated conservative frames in their questions – often obscuring other considerations and progressive alternatives. Blitzer and Spradling's questions made implications and led the audience to certain conclusions before the candidates even had a chance to answer. Progressives are constantly put in positions where they are expected to respond to conservative arguments. Since conservatives have commandeered so much of the language, progressives are often put on the defensive – and this happened at the Democratic debate. Unfortunately, Democratic candidates largely bought into the frames offered

Read more

IRAQ LABOR TOUR & article about OIL LAW

Written by: Bobbi Jo Chavarria on Jun 8, 2007 11:07 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

IRAQ LABOR TOUR
Sunday, June 10th 8:30am
Iraqi Labor Leaders will visit Arlington West Santa Monica
A rare opportunity for people in the US to dialogue directly with Iraqi workers and labor leaders about current attempts to control Iraq's oil, women's issues, the occupation, and the role of labor in creating a non-sectarian, progressive Iraq. Their brief visit to Arlington West Santa Monica will be just one stop on their speaking tour in the Los Angeles area June 8th, 9th, and 10th.

For the complete list of their tour schedule, see here: Voices of Iraqi Workers Solidarity Tour - 2007

For more info www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org

Co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and United for Peace
---------------------------
June 7, 2007 at 10:31:00

Iraq Occupation Coming to a Head Over Oil
by Kevin Zeese
excerpted...

Oil Law Brings Theft of Resources Out in the Open, Oil Workers Strike Forces Maliki to Choose Between Iraqis and the Occupiers

...Oil workers have been on strike for three days and are being threatened by the Iraqi government and surrounded by the Iraqi military. The Parliament passed a resolution urging an end to the U.S. occupation and has refused to act on the oil law the U.S. is demanding.  Both the Democrats in Congress and the Bush Administration have united around the passage of the oil law as the top benchmark for the Iraqi government.

If these trends continue it will become evident to the world what this war was about all along ? oil.  Even the U.S. media will have to publish an honest analysis of the Iraq oil law and why Iraqis are resisting it.

Read more

Sample Landscape Memo

Written by: Bobbi Jo Chavarria on Jun 7, 2007 6:10 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

Hi there --

I don't know where the link went to upload files... so I'll do it here... here's the sample landscape memo.

City council.... others... this is our work to do. =) 

Peace,

Bobbi Jo

The hope of the world... and the end of the universe

Written by: Bobbi Jo Chavarria on Jun 6, 2007 3:04 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Redlands DFA

The hope of our nation and thus the world - since it is U.S. policy (good or bad) that affects the world at large.

Dennis Kucinich on faith - CNN Paula Zahn

Michael Franti interviews Dennis Kucinich

and on a lighter note... the end of the universe