URGENT! Save San Diego's Progressive Talk Radio!

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Aug 24, 2007 11:06 AM EDT

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

The only liberal/progressive broadcast media outlet in San Diego County is about to be shut down. Clear Channel, who owns KLSD 1360 AM, is in the process of switching the liberal talk format to yet another Sports Talk station.

We need our voice in media – and you can help. The political spectrum from old fashioned liberal Democrats, to peace activists, to independent progressives should all be extremely concerned about what’s happening right here in our community. This is a national issue.

Let’s take a stand, right here and right now. The relentless march of right-wing media consolidation must stop – and we are the only people to do it. It is given to us to make a difference.

We must work together and take all measured steps to show that we won’t back down, we will be heard, and we will win.

There will be two gatherings, both outside of the Clear Channel’s offices at 9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA 92123.

The first meeting will be to help organize the big rally. All interested individuals and groups, who are willing to work on this issue, should meet on Saturday, August 25th at 9:00am. At 10:00am we will announce the specific plans for the big rally on Monday.

The main rally, the one that is most important to have a massive turnout, will be at 7:30am to 9:30am Monday, August 27th in the parking lot of Clear Channel. Please be careful where you park, as the police may be there handing out tickets. If you park in the lot of a local business, be sure to make a purchase.

We must also be prepared to work beyond these two events.

Right now, here’s what you can do to help:

    * Distribute this message with the attached flyer to every one of your friends, everyone in your group, and post the flyer in local coffee shops and post on local bulletin boards.

    * Call KLSD, get on the air, say you’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.

    * Call Air America and tell them we’re working to save KLSD

    * Prepare to get to the rally on Monday – also come to the organizational meeting on Saturday, if you can help, or just can’t make the Monday rally. The most important thing will be to have hundreds of people in Clear Channel’s parking lot at 7:30am on Monday. The press will be there, every major progressive group in the county will be represented there, and we will be heard.

    * Listen to KLSD and support their sponsors – call the sponsors, even if you can’t buy something right now, let them know you heard about them from KLSD

    * Don’t think that someone else will do this for you – you must make the effort

More information can be found at www.saveklsd.com and www.nonstopradio.com/sandiego.html  (a site that helps support communities in our situation – this has happened before, and stations have been saved). Also an email group has also been formed at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saveklsd/

Please, if nothing else, just be there on Monday. Car pool if you can, reach out to fiends and neighbors to make this happen. It’s more important than any of us can imagine.

Thanks,

We hope we can count on support from the following organizations to reach out to all their members and affiliations:

Progressive Democrats of America - East County United PAC - Democracy for America - Activist San Diego - Guerrero Azteca Peace Project - San Diego Democrats - San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice - San Diego Veterans For Peace - Democratic Clubs of San Diego County - Clean Elections - World Can't Wait - North County Democratic Unity - San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council

Remembering Lee Sullivan Elliott: Despite age gap, sisters forged tight bond

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Mar 6, 2007 6:42 AM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

My sister, Lee Elliott, helped to forge my progressive values from an early age and most recently, supported my activism over the past 3 years by taking care of our home and dogs, while I was out organizing, protesting, lobbying.  I just wanted to share the tribute that the North County Times published about her this past weekend, after her sudden, untimely passing last Wednesday. 

Martha Sullivan

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/03//obituaries/feature/3_2_0716_59_45.txt

Remembering Lee Sullivan Elliott: Despite age gap, sisters forged tight bond

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer

North County Times, March 3, 2007

POWAY -- They were the bookends in the family, and the ties that bound them at the beginning of life continued to the end.

Lee Sullivan Elliott, who died Wednesday of a suspected heart attack, was a young teenager when her only sister was born. In a comment forever recorded in family lore, she told her very pregnant mother just before she went into the hospital that if this baby turned out to be yet another boy, "they could just leave it at the hospital."

"She was the eldest of seven and I was youngest of seven --- all boys in between, so we called it a baloney sandwich," her younger sister Martha Sullivan joked Friday.

Despite the 13-year age gap between them, they were close simply because they were sisters in a family of boys.

"She was almost a second mom (to me)," Sullivan said. "She's the reason I know anything about art and music."

Not only does Sullivan now know a lot about art thanks to her older sister, she's surrounded by her sister's collection of brightly colored modern paintings and sculptures.

In 2001, the two sisters agreed to leave their jobs and sell their homes in Bay Area to take of their ailing mother in San Diego.

Although they each bought their own homes, they ended up sharing a house together in Poway. And they remained together after their mother died last year.

"We had people say, 'How in the hell do you live with your sister?' But we got along great," Sullivan said. "We always tried to stay focused on what the true object was. Not get hung up about all the petty stuff. It also helped that we could be pretty direct with each other."

And it helped that they had very different personalities.

"I'm the rabble-rouser and she's the person in the background," Sullivan said, commenting that her older sister could be called an "enabler" because she took care of the house and the dogs while Sullivan crusaded against the war in Iraq.

Her older sister didn't tend to put the brakes on her anti-war activities too much, but "she did request that I not get arrested" during a peace march in Washington, D.C., in January, Sullivan recalled.

Elliott had reason to worry --- Sullivan had been arrested two years ago during a sit-in outside the White House.

Elliott was born Feb. 20, 1946, in Johnson, Tenn., but the family didn't stay there long. Her dad had a job with FBI and they moved frequently, her younger sister recalled.

Elliott started college, then quit and became a secretary. Later, she returned to school and steadily worked throughout the 1970s until she had a bachelor's and a master's degree in history from Cal State Sacramento, her sister said.

In the late 1970s, she began to excel at her career, her sister said, and rose quickly through the administrative ranks of two of the West Coast's largest law firms -- Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe; and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro.

"She knew how to deal with people," her sister said. "She was a very generous person, a very kindhearted person, but she was also very firm (and didn't pick favorites) ... that made her a really, really effective manager."

Elliott retired from her position in 2001 to come to San Diego. She was known for her cooking ability, her vast art collection and her love of dogs -- especially Pekingese. Her favorite painting wasn't one of her dogs, but of her sister's Australian cattle dog, Sullivan said.

"She loved it because it so absolutely captured Sydney," she said.

The family plans to host a celebration of Elliott's life at Moonlight Beach -- the place she loved most in San Diego County. The brothers have already told Sullivan that after the ceremony she's required to provide the dish that Elliott did best -- the Spanish rice dish paella.

Sullivan says she's not sure she can.

OBIT:  www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/04//obituaries/3_3_0717_41_12.txt

Lee Sullivan Elliott

Lee Sullivan Elliott passed away suddenly at home in Poway, California, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007.

Born on Feb. 20, 1946, in Johnson City, Tennessee, Lee had lived in Poway for four years, after moving to San Diego in 2001 from San Francisco, where she lived for over 20 years.

Lee came to San Diego with her sister, Martha, to be closer to their parents, Bill and Mary Sullivan. They shared in caring for their mother up until her passing last year.

Lee worked her way through college as a legal secretary in Washington, D.C., Boston, and Sacramento, and received her B.A. and M.A. in history in the mid-to-late '70s, from California State University in Sacramento. In the late '70s, she began her rise through the administrative ranks of two of the West Coast's largest law firms (Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe in San Francisco and L.A., and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in San Francisco), where she became well-known, respected and appreciated for her fairness, kindness and wisdom. Lee retired from managing law firms in 2001.

Lee treasured her family, especially her children and grandchild. She is survived by her children, Sheila Kathryn "Katie" Elliott of Boulder, Colo., and Stewart Gregory Elliott of Stuttgart, Germany, their spouses, Jimmy La Vita and Robin Elliott, and Greg's and Robin's daughter, Elizabeth; her father, William Sullivan of Poway; her sister, Martha Sullivan of Del Mar; and her four brothers, Chris Sullivan of Tampa, Fla, Ted Sullivan of Pasadena, Calif., Bob Sullivan of San Diego, and Don Sullivan of Seneca, S.C.; her sisters-in-law with whom she was very close, Pat Sullivan of Tamp, Fla., Judy Sullivan of Seneca, S.C., and Lynne Sullivan of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif.; her nieces and nephews, Brian Sullivan of Acworth, Ga., Alex Sullivan and Ashley Sullivan of Tampa, Fla., and Ben Sullivan and Emily Sullivan of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif.; dear friend, Deborah Williams and her daughter, Paige, of Brentwood, Calif., and a broad and deep network of family and friends she cultivated and cared for throughout her life, extending across the country and beyond.

A memorial church service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, March 5, in the Chapel at the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, 17010 Pomerado Road, San Diego; and a nonreligious memorial will be held at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 9, at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Lee's very favorite spot in San Diego County. A memorial service is also planned in San Francisco at a later date and location to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, Lee would wish you to honor her memory with a donation in joining her longtime support for the San Diego Humane Society and/or The Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org), which enables family members to be close to their wounded military loved ones during their hospitalization, treatment and recovery.

San Diegans have a special duty to protest this illegal and immoral occupation

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Feb 16, 2007 11:03 AM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

I really doubt the SD Union Tribune will publish this but we'll see:

Dear Editor,

Apparently Thomas Carmody would prefer protesters to go to Washington, DC to

protest the war and leave San Diego out of it, so as not to tax the local

police force.

I, too, would like to recognize the local police for their ability to calmly

patrol the protests and enable their fellow citizens to engage in their

First Amendment privileges.

I would also like to remind Mr. Carmody that this war is a force that gives

the San Diego region meaning. San Diego plays a very important role in

making this war possible, and benefits greatly from the defense money for

which this region sells its soul and its youth.

Here are but a few examples:

The San Diego region is home to the Marines, the Navy SEALS and the

Airforce, all of which pour money into the local economy and whose presence

in the civilian population makes this region a sitting duck for attacks.

Some of the most horrific war crimes of this conflict have been committed by

Camp Pendelton Marines. Several Navy Seals have also been implicated in

abuse.

San Diego-based Titan Corporation sent hundreds of interpreters to Iraq,

thus facilitating the war and the occupation. Several of these interpreters

also helped facilitate the abuses of Abu Ghraib.

San Diego-based SAIC scooped up numerous non-bid and bid contracts for Iraq,

including the production of American propaganda and the planting of false

stories in the Iraqi media.

Our congressional representatives have worked hard to funnel DOD money to

local contractors, thus further greasing the war machine and their own

careers.

Military recruiters recruit heavily in the barrio and other disadvantaged

neighborhoods, thus ensuring frontline fodder. Over 15% of the official

casualties come from California.

According to National Priorities.org, the war in Iraq is costing San Diego

alone, $1,700,000 and  San Diego County is contributing $3,900,000,000. You

and I have already paid $1,275 each. That is alot in a region whose police

are underpaid and overworked. It is a staggering amount when you consider

the fact that California schools rank near the bottom of the schools in the

nation, and San Diego schools are near the bottom of that, Little wonder

then, the recruiters look for and find new recruits who have few

opportunities before them.

Yes, war is a many-splendored thing, made possible, in large part by a

region that feeds and feeds on the war machine: San Diego.

Which is precisely why the protests are here. Washington may command, but

the San Diego region answers the call to the tune of thousands of dollars,

war crimes and war dead.

And that, Mr, Carmody, is the price we all pay.

Rebecca Romani

Golden Hill

Mardi Gras FUN for Progressives in East County -- 2/20

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Feb 14, 2007 7:43 AM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

Sorry if this (see following) is a duplicate for you, but I wanted to be sure you know about this FUN event for Democrats and progressives, hosted by East County United (which includes many of our SD for Democracy trailblazers).  Just as Democrats have been organizing and rising in North County over the past few years, East County United formed last year to do the same in East County, with an impressive start.  Please help them continue their great work AND have a great time!

THANK YOU for your consideration --

Martha

Subj: Celebrities & great prizes at Mardi Gras Feb 20 - tickets going fast! 

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:46:10 PM

From: writerink@cox.net

To: writerink@cox.net

Dear East County United members and friends,

Everybody who’s anybody is coming to ECU’s Mardi Gras celebration!   Our guest list includes former Congressional candidates Francine Busby, Derek Casady and Karen Marie Otter, Midge Costanza (former assistant to President Jimmy Carter), local candidates and office holders, union leaders, and Sycuan tribal chairman Danny Tucker. 

If you haven’t yet purchased your tickets for our Mardi Gras celebration Feb. 20, check out the great prizes donated by local merchants and members!  Then call 619-698-7617 today to reserve seats or email info@eastcountyunited.org; reservation deadline is Friday.

-        gourmet dinner for 8, prepared by Sheraton banquet chef Will McRae

-        8 harbor cruises aboard Hornblower Excursions

-        Acoustic guitar from delReyo Guitarworks

-        Dinners and lunches at Mangia Bene

-        Dinners at Antica Trattoria

-        Antique books, jewelry, vintage hats and crystal from the estate of Lillien Biloon

-        Fused glass jewelry creations by Marjorie Wegner

-        Mosaic art by Jackie Hanson

-        Hand-made soaps by Josan Feathers

-        Writing services from Writer Ink

-        Home inspection by L.D. Thompson & Associates

-        Gift basket from Starbucks

-        Gift certificate from D.Z. Akins

-        Gift certificates from Johnny B’s

-        Sports memorabilia from Appian Way Wine & Spirits

-        El Torito gift certificate

-        Pamper yourself basket (bath products, teas) from Miriam Raftery

-        Italian Gold necklace, East County United

-        2 bottles of white wine (Lillien Biloon estate)

-        Political memorabilia from Edi Chapman

-        Gift basket from Centifoni’s

-        Gift bag from Cosmo’s Café

-        Jeweled rocking horse from artist Mary Genser

-        Painted sandstone bird from Mary Genser

(If you have an auction or raffle item to donate, please let us know!)

All this, plus live blues band (Backbone with Mark Ferguson), dancing, Cajun/Creole dinner, and terrific speakers.

Greg Palast, award-winning internationally acclaimed journalist, has been called the Woodward & Bernstein of our time.  Greg will reveal results of his latest undercover investigation in his talk, “How the White House Drowned New Orleans.”  We’ll also have the regional representative from Barack Obama’s campaign and much, much more! 

Don’t miss the best party ever in East County.  Plus it’s all for a great cause – recruiting, training and supporting progressive candidates to represent our community. We’re planning a progressive retreat/summit next – plus new ways to educate the public in East County on important issues. 

Join us for liberal revelry!  Call 619-698-7617 today to reserve seats ($75 each) or tables for 8 ($560).

A good rebuttal to the "not as many casualties as Vietnam, Korea, WWII..." meme

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Jan 23, 2007 11:55 AM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

I found the following Letter to the Editor in yesterday's NC Times to be very useful, in having an empirically-based response to the right-wing meme that our military casualties in Iraq aren't as bad as Vietnam, Korea, etc.  THANKS to Sorab Ghandi of Escondido.

THANKS also to John-Erik Nilsson for his excellent LTE on the same page, referring to Maj. Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket." and talking about today's war profiteers.  You can read his letter at the same weblink listed following (scroll down for both letters).

I had to send this around before I go into overdrive to get myself out of the house by 2p today, enroute to DC for the peace march this weekend. 

Martha Sullivan

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace -- business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob."

--Franklin Delano Roosevelt Oct 31, 1936

JOIN in "MANDATE FOR PEACE" Actions on Jan. 27th: unitedforpeace.org

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/22/opinion/letters/12107141307.txt

It's all a matter of perspective

J. Howard Crews (Letters, Jan. 6) is upset because over 3,000 Americans have already been killed in an ill-conceived, immoral war in Iraq. But William Barbour (Letters, Jan. 17) says that many more Americans were killed in an ill-conceived, immoral war in Vietnam, so the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq is no big deal. For him, it is all a matter of perspective.

Here is my perspective. The total U.S. military death toll in Iraq is greater than the combined total of all military actions since Vietnam. This includes Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the 1991 Gulf War, Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The number of Americans killed in action in Iraq also exceeds the number killed in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War or the Spanish-American War.

With about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and 3,000 fatalities, our troop/fatality ratio is about 47. For the Vietnam War, with about 8.75 million troops and 58,168 fatalities, the troop/fatality ratio was about 150. A comparable figure for WWII was 142.

So, the Iraq war is about three times as deadly (for Americans) as either the Vietnam War or the Second World War. It is all a matter of perspective, I suppose.

Sorab Ghandi

Escondido

MONDAY 1/1 4pm: Candlelight Vigil for the 3,000 dead U.S. soldiers

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Dec 31, 2006 3:33 PM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

*The Candlelight Vigil for the 3,000 dead U.S. soldiers and the hundreds

of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed will be held on New Year's

Day, Monday, January 1, 2007, 4-9 p.m. at  Balboa Park, across the

street from the Balboa Naval Hospital on Park Blvd. (look for us at the

Park and President's Way area)

*

Bring candles and join us for the reading of the names of the U.S. dead.

Join us to mourn and pay witness to the lives and deaths of these

soldiers and all who have suffered in this horrendous war and occupation

Join us in demonstrating the full human reality of this loss of lives by

helping to read the names of the 3,000 soldiers

Join us in calling for full funding for veterans and their families

Join us to call attention to the estimated 650,000 Iraqis who have also

died

Join us in our call to Bring the Troops Home Now!

For info, please call 619-263-9301 or 619-757-6691

Supporters of this vigil include the San Diego Coalition for Peace &

Justice, San Diego Veterans for Peace, Activist San Diego, OBGO, Peace

Resource Center of San Diego and others.

Better info Re: City of Escondido nixes NO-COST Emergency Winter Shelter

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Dec 23, 2006 3:45 AM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

Here is the latest info (see following) -- our e-mails, phone calls and so forth HAVE had an impact, BUT as you'll read in the following it is only a short-term (2 week) reprieve, and we need to keep the pressure on the Escondido City Council.

SO -- pls, continue to lend your voice to this grassroots effort to convince the Escondido City Council that the "least among us" deserve at least a warm, safe place to sleep during the winter.  Here's the contact info, once more:

1. Would be great to get coverage of this -- so at odds with basic decency -- into larger media to show the City Council for what they are.  Posting this on blogs, getting journalists/media personalities interested in it ... use link to NC Times story tonight:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/12/23/news/inland/21_28_3712_22_06.txt

2. And also encouraging a deluge of e-mails, letters and phone calls into the Escondido City Council offices, with a simple "SHAME" ...  here's the Councilmembers' e-mail addys and a phone # for the City Council's office (remember that Mayor Lori Holt-Pfeiler was sole supporting Councilmember, so should get a THANK YOU instead of "SHAME" message):  http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/government/members/index.html

Snail Mail address:  City of Escondido, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025

(Maybe a card to remind them of shelter offered to a traveling couple, delivering their first child?)

THANK YOU for your consideration --

Martha

Subj: Winter Shelter Update 

Date: Friday, December 22, 2006 3:33:17 PM

From: ganglea@interfaithservices.org

Before the long weekend, I want to update everyone on the status of a Winter Shelter in Escondido...

Beginning tonight, the Salvation Army will be hosting an emergency, weather-activated shelter.  The shelter will be open when the nightly weather is forecast to be below 40 degrees, and/or raining.  Maximum capacity is 50 persons.

Interfaith will handle all of the case management and referrals to this temporary shelter.  As I write this update, volunteers here at Interfaith are serving a special holiday dinner to some of the same folks who are in need of shelter.  A team of social workers from Interfaith will be meeting with each attendee individually, to make sure that everyone is warm and dry tonight.  We have already sent lots and lots of sleeping bags over to the Salvation Army, and we'll be providing hot meals (nightly) for each person.

For the interim, this is very good news.  However, it must be stressed that the current shelter at the Salvation Army is just a reprieve, a stop-gap that will ensure beds for the homeless when the weather demands it, but only until January 6th.

So what needs to be done?

Keep up the pressure!  Everyone has done an amazing job of writing and calling City Council members, city officials, writing letters to the editors of the Union Tribune and North County Times, and simply making it known that we will not stand by idle, that we will not allow the city to shirk this all-to-easy solution.

We have succeeded in the interim, but the weather will be cold and wet long after January 6th.  Please please do continue to be heard - it had already made a tremendous impact. 

It is not too late for the City Council to change its course.  It is not too late for each Council Member to recognize the very simple solution that will save lives...that will prevent people from freezing to death on our streets.

It has been a long and arduous week for many of us - and I am glad to report that because of your actions, there are beds tonight for those who had none the night before.  Interfaith, and the desperately impoverished of our community, still need your help.  Donations are needed so that Interfaith can provide sleeping bags, bedding mats, meals, and when needed, motel vouchers. (You can make your TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation on-line, at www.interfaithservices.org)

Above all else, please continue to make your voice heard.

Have a wonderful holiday, I simply cannot thank you enough for your help and support this last week.

Greg Anglea

Director of Development

Interfaith Community Services

550 W. Washington Ave., Ste. B

Escondido, CA 92025

760-489-6380 ext. 220

www.interfaithservices.org

Elect Progressive Delegates to the California Democratic Party

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Dec 22, 2006 2:15 PM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

 I was one of the "Fresh Horses" who ran for State Party Delegate in the wake of the November 2004 election, inspired by Howard Dean and other activists I met through his campaign, its successor DFA, and in the General Election of 2004. My 2-year term expires next month, and since I was elected last June to the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee, I am going to seek one of the State Party Delegate seats available to to the County Central Committees, rather than run for a State Delegate seat again -- to maximize the number of people from San Diego who are Delegates (particularly given that the 2007 State Convention will be in San Diego, for the first time ever!).

As DFA Field Director, Charlies Chamberlain, said in an e-mail yesterday: "DFA representation in the CDP played a key role in the Party's nomination of Jerry McNerney, as well as the Party's support of Debra Bowen and other successful progressive candidates."

DEADLINE TO FILE is January 2, 2007. For more info, see

http://www.cadem.org/ApplicationforDelegate

The CDP's very effective Progressive Caucus is also organizing "Progressive Slates" -- we have one forming in the 75th A.D. (contact me at ForDemocracy@aol.com if you are interested). You can get more information on this at www.ProgressiveSlate.com

So -- please give this some consideration! FYI, each Democratic elected and nominee for Assembly District, State Senate District, and Congressional District get appointments to State Party Delegate, as well. So you can also explore that route.

Let me know if any questions!

Martha Sullivan

Give Voice to your Disgust Re: City of Escondido nixes NO-COST Emergency Winter Shelter

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Dec 21, 2006 5:30 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA Blog Network

It just boggles my mind that a City Council 4-1 would veto the Salvation Army's offer of its gymnasium as an emergency, weather-triggered shelter at NO COST to the City.  Regardless of the need for "regional solutions" to the issue of the homeless, this was an easy solution to a short-term crisis.

I think what needs to happen is that the Escondido City Council is shamed by this callous, sanctimonious action. I'm circulating this to as many folks as I can to encourage the following grassroots actions:

Would be great to get coverage of this -- so at odds with basic decency -- into larger media to show the City Council for what they are. Posting this on blogs, getting journalists/media personalities interested in it ... use link to NC Times story this a.m.:

http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/12/21/news/inland/3_01_4712_20_06.txt

and SD U-T story:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061221/news_1mi21home.html�

ALSO, for a very timely report on this topic (THANKS to Bob Jellison's DIRECT Newsletter at sddemocrats.org):

"More Americans hungry, homeless in 2006

"More Americans went homeless and hungry in 2006 than the year before and children made up almost a quarter of those in emergency shelters, said a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

"'The face of hunger and homelessness right now ... is young children, young families,' said the conference's president, Douglas Palmer, the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. Lisa Lambert 12.14.06

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061214/us_nm/usa_homelessness_mayors_dc

And also encouraging a deluge of e-mails, letters and phone calls into the Escondido City Council offices, with a simple "SHAME" .. here's the Councilmembers' e-mail addys and a phone # for the City Council's office (remember that Mayor Lori Holt-Pfeiler was sole supporting Councilmember, so should get a THANK YOU instead of "SHAME" message):

http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/government/members/index.html

Snail Mail address: City of Escondido, 201 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025   (Maybe a card to remind them of shelter offered to a traveling couple, delivering their first child?)

Let's DO this grassroots response to the Escondido City Council's heartlessness NOW.

THANKS --

Martha Sullivan

John Dean, Monday Dec. 11, 7 p.m. - Spying, Secrecy, and Presidential Power

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Dec 6, 2006 3:16 PM EST

Linked to groups: San Diego for Democracy

Sorry if this (see the following) is duplicate info for you, but I just wanted to share this invitation from our local ACLU -- Rebecca Rauber, their Communications Director who sent the following, presented a very good workshop at DemocracyFest last July on our civil rights in dissent.  I'm looking forward to this, and hope to see you there -- if you are interested in carpooling from the Poway/Rancho Bernardo area, let me know.

Martha Sullivan

ForDemocracy@aol.com

Begin Fwd --

Subj: John Dean, Monday Dec. 11, 7 p.m. - Spying, Secrecy, and Presidential Power 

Dear Friend,

You are invited! Don’t miss this fascinating event. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties presents a free lecture by former counsel to President Richard Nixon, John Dean, “Spying, Secrecy, and Presidential Power” on Monday, December 11, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, at the Joan B. Kroc International Peace and Justice Theatre on the University of San Diego campus. 

With the perspective of a former Republican political insider, and experience in the Watergate scandal when he was White House counsel to Nixon, Dean takes a well-considered look at how conservative politics in the U.S. is veering dangerously close to authoritarianism, offering a penetrating and highly disturbing portrait of many of the major players in conservative politics and power. Dean, who considers himself to be a “Goldwater conservative,” speaks passionately about the excessive secrecy of the Bush Administration and its consequences. 

Dean is currently an author, columnist, and commentator on contemporary politics.  His talk will be followed by an ample Q&A session, after which he will sign books purchased at the event. 

The event is free; there are no tickets.  Arrive early to be sure to have a seat (parking information).  Dean will be selling copies of his latest book, Conservatives Without Conscience, to be autographed after the talk, if you are interested.  Write back to me if you have questions.

Best Regards,

Rebecca  

Rebecca Rauber, Communications Director

ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties

619.232.2121, ext. 26

rrauber@aclusandiego.org