I proudly stand with Veterans For Peace-LA in signing the organization's Declaration to defund the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, except to bring our troops home safely. To keep our troops in harm's way, to spend 2 - billion dollars a week on these occupations is a war on America's middle class. We have money for bombs, but not for books - as 5,000 teachers in Los Angeles receive lay - off notices and community colleges close their summer school programs.
I ask my opponents Janice Hahn and Debra Bowen to reconsider their decision not to sign the Declaration. Congress has the power of the purse, which it exercised to finally end the Vietnam War after an estimated 60,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese lost their lives.
Let's not wait for the death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan to climb any higher. This week Veterans For Peace-LA carried coffins in downtown Los Angeles as the number of U.S. soldiers lost in Iraq/Afghanistan reached 6,000.
We do not know how many Iraqis or Afghan troops and civilians have died because the Pentagon does not keep a record.
We must protect our troops. Bring them home. Spread this Declaration throughout the land - and ask every congressional candidate to sign it.
• 15.6 million people with health care;
• 5.7 million scholarships and 7 million Pell Grants for university students;
• 4.5 million Head Start placements for children;
• 500,000 new elementary school teachers;
• 676,649 public safety officers;
• 535,058 music and arts teachers;
• 113,373 affordable housing units;
• And 67.4 million homes with renewable electricity.
As Californians watch our utility rates spike, our library hours get cut back, our fire stations get pared down, our potholes mushroom and our cities' bond ratings tank, we might pause to ponder the price of single predator drone in Afghanistan: $4.5 million. That would fill a lot of potholes.
We are halfway through a story that is about to turn winter in one of the most beautiful places in the world profoundly ugly.
Just like in a Cecil B. DeMille movie, we have a cast of millions, we have epic scenery, and we have made acquaintance with someone who will go on to perform a heroic act.
Unlike your typical Hollywood production, however, this movie is not going to have a happy ending-in fact, you could make the argument that it's not over yet.
So wrap yourself up in something comfortable, grab something to drink...and when you're ready, we're packing up and heading to the Alps.
San Diego, CA - Progressive Author & Activist, Norman Solomon endorses Tracy Emblem as the progressive candidate and the Democrats only hope in 2010 to win a seat in the House of Representatives from California's 50th District.
Mr. Solomon is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Accuracy, a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics and is on the advisory board of Progressive Democrats of America. Widely known for his groundbreaking works, Made Love, Got War and War Made Easy, he has been writing the weekly Media Beat column since 1992. He recently co-authored a resolution which the California Democratic Party adopted in November calling for the end of the United States occupation and air-war in Afghanistan.
Back in 2001, Rep. Barbara Lee was the lone vote against the Afghanistan authorization. Today, she is still fighting our presnce, though now the last 8 years have proven her prescient.
It's time to ratchet up the rhetoric not only against a U.S. troop increase in Afghanistan, but in favor of withdrawing our troops and rescinding the authorization that sent them there eight years ago, Rep. Barbara Lee told a cheering crowd Monday.
Lee, D-Oakland, staged a rally outside the federal building on Clay Street in support of HR3699, a bill she introduced Oct. 1 that would forbid spending any money to expand the nation's military presence in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is currently considering what to do in Afghanistan; military leaders want more troops, but the public and Congress are divided.(OakTrib 11/23/09)
She praised President Obama for thoughtfully pursuing a redefinition of the mission. However, this President still seems on the precipice of moving at the very least 10,000 troops into a country that clearly doesn't want us there.
While the President is looking for a better solution in Afghanistan, it is important that Lee and other progressive leaders remind him that there are solutions that the Generals aren't giving him.
Why can a sixth grader lay out a message that's somehow more compelling than anything we hear from the talking heads on television.
Ethan Matsuda is a precocious young man, author of two books, The North Pole is Sinking about Clmate change and "The Easter Bunny Breaks His Leg (and has no health insurance)".
I've been saying it for over a month: We need to leave Afghanistan as soon as safely possible. Our brave men and women have performed admirably there. Now it's time to bring them home.
In fact, a lot of Democrats have been saying that lately. So when Gen. Stanley McChrystal recently proposed sending up to 40,000 additional troops there, California's own Nancy Pelosi stepped up in her role as Speaker of the House and said escalation would be a tough sell for some Democrats.
That's when the National Republican Congressional Committee turned an honest debate into a shameful display of sexism.
The committee sent out a press release attacking Speaker Pelosi for her honest assessment of the situation. The release included the following line:
If Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.
As Speaker Pelosi observed in her own defense, it's been decades since that kind of blatant sexism and talk of "putting women in their place" was accepted in public discourse. Today you can get fired for saying something like that — unless, apparently, you work for the Republican Party.
We've always known from the Republicans' regressive tax proposal, the erosion of median income under their administrations, and the way they vigorously defend our broken health care system that the Republicans would love to undo as much progress as they could. But this kind of behavior simply has no place in our politics, and we should all thank Nancy Pelosi for saying so.
Last June, when the dust cleared, there were only 32 Democrats left-- down from 90, then down from 52-- willing to oppose not Bush but Obama on a war supplemental budget. 90 promised and 32 followed through and voted no. When the easy vote came up-- the one that had almost all the Republicans voting for Obama's war funding-- 15 California Democrats voted no:
Sam Farr
Bob Filner
Mike Honda
Barbara Lee
Zoe Lofgren
Doris Matsui
George Miller
Grace Flores Napolitano
Brad Sherman
Jackie Speier
Pete Stark
Mike Thompson
Diane Watson
Maxine Waters
Lynn Woolsey
It was "easy" to oppose Obama and the House Democratic leadership on this because the margin of victory was sure to be so overwhelming-- with all the GOP help-- that the administration didn't need to squeeze anyone who had campaigned on a peace plank. But after it passed Rahm Emanuel got greedy. He was sitting on a bill ugly enough that it was going to be hard to find anyone to vote for it: a bailout for the IMF. So he got the Senate to attach it to the supplemental and sent it back to the House. The Republicans dropped out of the deal and said they would vote "no" on the supplemental, not because they didn't support escalating the war-- they certainly did and still do-- but because they weren't voting to bail out more foreign banks with U.S. taxpayer dollars. Suddenly the administration could no longer afford to lose 52 Democrats and still pass the bill.
State blogs all over the country are teaming up today to encourage readers to show their support to House Democrats who are voting no tomorrow on a war supplemental bill that includes no exit strategy for Afghanistan and an IMF bailout to boot. Only four more 'no' votes are needed to stop it, and there has been MUCH pressure from the White House on some of these members to get back in line, so calls from constituents are critical today.
This kind of coordinated online action in opposition to the bill has moved the ball considerably over the last several days. Bringing the state blogs into the picture will help step up that success.
Here's a message from Robert Greenwald, the president of Brave New Films, where I work:
Here in California, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Diane Watson, Pete Stark, Mike Thompson, John Tierney, Linda Sanchez, Mike Honda, Grace Napolitano, Jackie Speier, George Miller and Zoe Lofgren have all taken bold antiwar positions in the past. If you live in any of these districts, call, announce yourself as a constituent and tell them you support them voting no tomorrow. Leave a message if the office is closed (which it almost certainly is).
Sam Farr (202) 225-2861
Bob Filner (202) 225-8045
Diane Watson (202) 225-7084
Pete Stark (202) 225-5065
Mike Thompson (202) 225-3311
John Tierney (202) 225-8020
Linda Sanchez (202) 225-6676
Mike Honda (202) 225-2631
Grace Napolitano (202) 225-5256
Jackie Speier (202) 225-3531
George Miller (202) 225-3201
Zoe Lofgren (202) 225-3072
And of course, Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee have been outstanding leaders in the caucus on war-related issues over the years, even back when being progressive on foreign policy was like screaming in the wilderness. If any of these are your Representative, call today and tell them how important it is that they cast their votes against the supplemental when they vote on Tuesday.
Lynn Woolsey (202) 225-5161
Maxine Waters (202) 225-2201
Barbara Lee (202) 225-2661
Well, John W. McCain had a great couple of days in the Golden State. First he went to Santa Barbara, site of a huge 1969 oil spill, to promote his plan to cancel the moratorium on offshore drilling, and he ran into an expert who rebutted his entire premise.
Feeney also took issue with McCain's controversial proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore oil exploration: "It makes me nervous to think about those who are proposing to drain America's offshore oil and gas reserves as quickly as possible in the hopes of driving down the price of gasoline, because I think when you look at the good sources of information, were we to open up the California coast or the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, it would be 12, 15, maybe 20 years before those resources came online and got to full productions."
Adding that some research shows that drilling in ANWR would only "reduce our dependence on foreign oil from 70% to 67%," Feeney added, "I'm not sure most Americans would think that's really worth the price of admission."
That Charlie Black comment wasn't McCain's only off-message moment yesterday. At a town hall in Fresno, CA, McCain admitted that the offshore drilling proposal he unveiled last week would probably have mostly "psychological" benefits, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy notes. "Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial." Uh oh.
Later, at a fundraiser, an attendee very nicely called him an idiot:
"We're really kind of goosey here about oil spills, and we're goosey here about federal drilling and oil lands, which are abundant offshore," the attendee said. "So we ask you to look out there to the south and the southeast and remember the greatest environmental catastrophe that's hit this state and then balance that with the notion of winning California."
I also want to make sure that we will take concrete steps towards eliminating our dependence on foreign oil.
And I am confident that uh, the, the conflicts that we are in in both Iraq and Afghanistan have also a bearing on that.
(Incidentally, is there anyone in America who doesn't know this? We've been going to war for oil since oil became profitable. Before that the world used a lot of whale oil, and if we still did America would be at war with Sea World.)
Thanks for coming, Big John! Please stop by again sometime and further ruin your candidacy!
(This is an issue that's starting to reach critical mass, and Charlie Brown is at the forefront of it. Between recent reports about record numbers of veteran suicides and foreclosures in military towns tripling the average rate, the care and treatment of our veterans is an absolute disgrace. And it has fallen to leaders like Brown, BEFORE reaching Congress, to show the compassion and wisdom to get those who served this country what they need. I can't have more pride in how he's run this campaign. - promoted by David Dayen)
As many of you know, back in 2006, first time candidate and Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown came from obscurity to within less than 9,000 votes (or 3%) of victory in a district that had been electing Republicans by 30 point margins just two years before.
I worked on Charlie's campaign in 2006, and I'm proud to be serving Charlie again in 2008. I didn't come back because I enjoy the 16-hour days. I certainly didn't come back because of the paychecks. I came back because there's something different about a "typical day" on the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign---something that can't be described in sound bytes or talking points...something so important, you want the world to experience it with you...
(I was going to post my own Thanksgiving diary, but you know what? I'll just thank Charlie and let him do the honors. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
(Cross Posted at Daily Kos)
As Jan and I reflect on the past year, we are humbled and profoundly grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support we've received from people across the 4th CD and the entire country. To all our friends (both new and old), volunteers, netroots activists, and contributors, we can never say thank you enough for believing in this campaign, and for fighting so hard to get our country back on track.
Anti-war movements have their bases set in popular culture. Political leaders will co-opt the popular culture in order to shape their images and to present their messages. Being a pop culture leader in an anti-war movement is not without its peril. Being the target of pop culture is similarly not without its peril.
The purveyors and icons of popular culture have to climb aboard the Peace Train (thank you, Dolly Parton) in order for an anti-war movement to advance. We saw this in large measure during the Vietnam Civil War when artists like Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and others wrote and performed anti-war rhetoric. Norman Whitfield wrote the song "War" and wanted the the Temptations to perform it. However, apparently in response to the conservative following of the Temptations, only Edwin Starr of the Temptations and Whitfield recorded the single so as not to alienate the fan base.
More recently, we have seen the results of The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines making an off-handed remark and Michael Moore's film-making which were excoriated and blown out of proportion by the Repugnants. More specifically, fans of Maines, Emily Robison, and Martie Maguire were encouraged to destroy the group's albums and CDs following Maine's remarks about the embarrassment which is the so-called Pres. Bush. However, The Dixie Chicks kept its stride and bounced back with with an amazing anti-war song, "Not Ready To Make Nice," one of my favorite songs of all time. The song and album won five Grammy Awards at the 49th Grammy Awards Ceremony. I also personally credit The Dixie Chicks for helping to significantly turn the country away from the dominion of Darkness. Michael Moore has similarly risked his life and standing in the community in order to present Truth to Power with his documentary films including "911." As with The Dixie Chicks, Moore has suffered at the hands of the Repugnants and their lackeys.
Now, Pink has joined the fray. I love her song and lyrics "Dear Mr. President" that features the Indigo Girls and adore the accompanying video as well. If you have not heard the song, check it out at i-tunes. If you have not seen the video, it is now playing on Time Warner Cable On Demand, at least in the Beaumont/Banning area:
Today is Memorial Day, a time to recognize and honor the men and women who have given their lives in service to our nation for over two centuries, from the American Revolution to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While this day is always a solemn national event, I know many Americans are feeling a profound sense of pain on this particular Memorial Day. The thoughts and feelings you have expressed to me about how to support our troops in this time of war -- in-person at my "Congress At Your Corner" events, by phone, through email, or in the hundreds of comments on my blog -- is a reflection of that deep sentiment.
More below the fold, including a very important action you can take to support our veterans living with Traumatic Brain Injury and an update on our effort to save the Livermore VA hospital from being closed...
San Diego, CA - Progressive Author & Activist, Norman Solomon endorses Tracy Emblem as the progressive candidate and the Democrats only hope in 2010 to win a seat in the House of Representatives from California's 50th District.
