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Great Mind Series #21
Meet Former L A Prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi
Author of The Prosecution of
George Bush for Murder
Please join ...
Hosts Marcy Winograd
& Lila Garrett & Progressive Democrats of
Los Angeles, along with Progressive Democrats of the
Santa Monica Mountains, Westside Progressives, Santa
Monica Democratic Club, West LA Democratic Club,
Westchester Democratic Club, LA Impeachment Center,
Code Pink, Addicted to War, &
LAprogressive.com Event
produced by Ilene PRoctor
When
Wed., June 25, 7:00 pm
Bugliosi will issue a
call to attorney generals, prosecutors,
and law enforcement officers in
every state with fallen soldiers to arrest Bush,
Cheney, Wolfowitz, etc.
for war crimes stemming from the US
invasion and occupation of Iraq. Know a
prosecutor, a district attorney, or city
attorney? Bring them along to listen as Bugliosi
makes his case.
Where
Venice United Methodist Church/Behind
the Church at the Venice Center for Peace & Justice
in the Arts
2210 Lincoln Blvd (cross
street/Victoria)
Free Parking in the church lot and
across the street
$27 buys entrance &
Bugliosi's book
RSVP - pdlavote@aol.com
**Next PDLA Meetings - Sat., July 19, Sat.,
August
16
10:00 - 1 PM
Westside Pavillion (Overland &
Pico)
Community Room/Third Floor/Behind the Food
Court
Email PDLAvote@aol.com for
agendas.
Volunteer
at the LA National
Impeachment
Center
Saturdays,
2
- 6 PM
Peace
Center,
8124
West Third Street,
LA
(between
LaJolla
& Crescent
Heights)
Write letters, make
phone calls, decorate banners, set up tables, perform
street theater.
Impeach Bush &
Cheney Now!
For more info, visit
www.bcimpeach.com
Urge the House
Judiciary Committee to introduce Articles of
Impeachment
http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx
Another
Historic Step on
Impeachment
April 30,
2007, San
Diego, CA
Sparked by an
insurgency among delegates, the California Democratic
Party has taken an historic step forward on the issue of
impeachment. In a resolution
affirmed by the full state party convention Sunday, the
Democrats called on the U.S. Congress
to use its subpoena power to investigate misdeeds of
President Bush and Vice President Cheney – and to hold
the Administration accountable “with appropriate
remedies and punishment, including impeachment.”
The delegate
insurgency was coordinated by Progressive Democrats of
America and
its allies.
While
Speaker Pelosi had declared impeachment “off the table,”
the Democratic Party rank-and-file has demonstrated its
commitment to putting the issue “on” the table. And
it’s no longer just the rank-and-file: Even among the
members of the convention’s Resolutions Committee
(appointed by the California Party chair), the
impeachment resolution was the top vote-getter (tied
with one other resolution).
Coming on the heels
of mass actions and resolutions across the country in
support of impeachment, and Congressman Dennis
Kucinich’s introduction of Articles of Impeachment
against Cheney, this action by the powerful California
Democratic Party builds on the pro-impeachment momentum.
The resolution refers to Bush and Cheney having
acted in a manner “subversive of the Constitution” by. .
.
1.
using
false information to justify the invasion of Iraq
2.
authorizing
“the torture of prisoners of war”
3.
“authorizing
wiretaps on U.S. citizens
without obtaining a warrant”
4.
“disclosing
the name of an undercover CIA operative”
5.
suspending
“the historic Writ of Habeas Corpus by ordering the
indefinite detention of so-called enemy combatants”
6.
“signing
statements used to ignore or circumvent portions of over
750 Congressional statutes”
The
resolution ends by calling for “vigorous investigation”
and “appropriate remedies and punishment, including
impeachment.”
This action represents the
successful culmination of PDA’s one-month,
eleven-city
barnstorming tour across California – aimed at putting
impeachment and ending the occupation of Iraq at the
top of the Party’s agenda.
Resolution to
Oppose Attack
on Iran
Endorsed by LA County Democratic
Party Central Committee
3-13-07
WHEREAS: The Bush
Administration, in a move reminiscent to the run-up to
the Iraq invasion, now claims Iran is an imminent
nuclear and terrorist threat to our country, despite the
fact that intelligence experts and
military analysts strongly question the veracity of
these claims;
and
WHEREAS: The Bush Administration
in provocative and confrontational moves that put
all Americans at risk has refused overtures to meet
directly with representatives of the Iranian
government, choosing instead to kidnap and detain Iranian
diplomats in Iraq, while deploying more aircraft carrier
groups and Patriot missiles to the Persian Gulf region
near Iran; and
WHEREAS: Diplomacy
and direct talks, not war, is the best approach to
resolving tensions in the Middle
East;
THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED: We, the Los Angeles County Democratic
Party Central Committee, encourage members of
the California Democratic Party to endorse only those
candidates who support direct talks with Iran and
who categorically oppose a pre-emptive
military action, be it an expeditionary force, a Bunker
Buster nuclear bombing, or a conventional attack on the
sovereign nation of Iran and its 70-million
inhabitants.
THEREFORE BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED: That should the Bush
administration invade or attack Iran,
we demand Congress immediately invoke the War
Powers Act to remove
US
armed forces from hostilities if Congress has not
declared war or passed a resolution authorizing the use
of force within 90 days.
Introduced by
Progressive Democrats of
Los
Angeles & Elected
Delegates of the 41st Assembly
District
Ban Dysfunctional
DRE Voting
Machines
Ban Dysfunctional Direct
Record Electronic
Machines
From Our
Election System
Take Action
Now!
Direct Record Electronic
touch screen voting
machines
violate our
voting rights and
disenfranchise 100s of
thousands of
voters.
Click here to contact
Congress and ask them
to ban DREs and protect
our votes! Read
more...
Join
Progressive Democrats of Los
Angeles
The 2nd
Saturday Morning of Each
Month
10:00-12:30
Rotating
Locations
Contact
pdlavote@aol.com for
directions
Los
Angeles, CA
###
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CALIFORNIA BURNING:
The
Struggle for Political Power in the California
Democratic Party
by Brad Parker
The
flurry of interest, activity and excitement
surrounding the January
2007 Assembly District
elections in California was no accident. This
once obscure intraparty election was hotly
contested as a result of the
long term
organizing efforts of the Progressive Caucus of
the CDP, laid
out in their Progressive Plan ,
and by the Progressive Movement, inside
and
outside of the Party, in its many local, statewide
and national
manifestations. The Progressive
Caucus itself though is the result of a
long
simmering debate in the nation and the Democratic
Party that has
become a struggle for political
power within the Party.
In order to better
understand the game – as in game theory not idle
entertainment – we need to know who the
players are. However, there is
no absolute
dividing line between the opposing sides. In fact
we find
some politicos playing both sides of
the debate as it suits their
personal
ambitions. In the main though there are two
opposing sides,
which can be defined by the
ideas, issues and candidates, they
support.
For most activists and hacks the
two factions vying for power are the
Progressives and the DLC (Democratic
Leadership Council). There are
many
identifying characteristics of both groups, which
as we proposed,
can be defined by the ideas
and candidates they both embrace.
Progressives
by in large represent the left or Liberal wing of
the
Party and DLC members represent the right
or Conservative wing of the
Party. Bill &
Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, Joe
Lieberman, Paul Begala, Terry MacCaulife and
James Carville lead the
DLC. Progressives, on
the other hand, are led by their broad based
self-identified “swarm” of citizen/activist
members. Following swarm
theory models -
studied in science to explain the behavior of
colonies
of ants, flocks of birds or a school
of fish - modern organizers,
Progressives,
tend toward membership consensus rather than
top-down
leadership edicts. This consensus is
facilitated by person-to-person
connections
over the Internet and meet-ups on the ground. Just
as the
Internet is reorganizing every aspect
of social and group interaction
it has
radically altered political dynamics. So, there is
no leader of
the Progressive Movement, inside
or outside of the Democratic Party but
rather
a visible, self aware and efficient, albeit
chaotic – We The
People.
Generally
speaking the DLC views itself as a pragmatic,
winning is the
only thing that counts,
candidates are more important than ideas,
traditional style political movement.
Progressives view themselves as a
principles
first, people before profit, membership before
leadership,
modern, citizen-led political
movement. Let’s break it down even
further:
• The DLC voted
for the War in Iraq
• Progressives
organized against the War in Iraq
•
The DLC can’t decide how to end the
War
• Progressives say start
leaving Iraq now
• The DLC
supports better healthcare
•
Progressives support single-payer universal
healthcare
• The DLC believes
incumbency is a right conferred
•
Progressives believe that incumbency is a
privilege earned
• The DLC
believes in big money private donor election
financing
• Progressives believe
in public clean money election
financing
These are a few among the many
differences. In the area of civil rights
the
DLC believes that the separation of church and
state can be taken
down and that narrow
religious doctrine can be a guide to legislation.
Progressives believe that our unalienable
civil rights are not subject
to the dogma of
any religion, that no woman can be denied dominion
over
her own person and her reproductive
rights and that every consenting
adult may
marry or join in a civil union with any other
consenting
adult.
These and other deep
ideological differences culminate in the decisions
made by the Party, at every level, on which
candidates to support.
Given that the DLC
adherents have largely controlled the Party since
1988, it is no surprise that most candidates
currently come from their
ranks. But that is
changing.
Belying their doctrine of winning
is everything; the DLC eventually
lost every
body of the federal government, most statehouses
and
legislatures to the Republicans during the
Clinton ascendancy. During
the years of
Republican dominance the DLC found it pragmatic to
capitulate to Republican cut and gut
governance – NAFTA, the
Telecommunications Act
of 1996, the War in Iraq etc. - and thus arose
the awakened citizen/activists. A dearth of
ideas and the seduction of
big money had
hollowed out the DLC philosophy and effectiveness
along
with the Democratic Party. It was at
this very point where California,
like other
states, caught on fire, the Progressive Movement
fire. Now,
California’s fire is burning down
the house of the old Democratic Party
and it
is spreading.
Let’s examine the November
2006 elections.
Defining the fault line
between the DLC and Progressives was the race
for the senate in Connecticut. Ned Lamont
soundly defeated Joe
Lieberman in the
Democratic primary. Jiltin’ Joe decided to go with
the
Republicans, ran as a faux independent and
beat Lamont in the general
election.
Republicans were not alone in supporting Joe. The
silence of
his DLC comrades in the house and
senate confirmed their support as
well. Joe
was rewarded with important chairmanships of
committees in
the new Democratic senate just
to show how grateful the Party was that
he had
defeated the Progressive Democrat.
What
about the new and bluer congress that was
miraculously born as a
result of the 2006
elections? Rahm Emanuel claims that the DLC
handpicked candidates in the house led the way
to the new majority. In
fact the truth is
quite the opposite. Most of the new Democrats in
the
house are from the Progressive
ranks.
In California and across the nation
the DCCC and the DSCC had searched
for DLC
candidates to run against Progressives in the
primaries. They
were more worried about the
fire in the Party than the Republican
opposition. They publicly attempted to
orchestrate a victory that would
give them
more DLC and less Progressive members in the new
congress. In
the end, they failed. The result
in the house was more Progressives
elected and
joining the Progressive caucus to make it the
largest
caucus in the house. The Establishment
DLC Democrats did succeed to
some degree in
the senate. However, even the senate was won by
the
expansive Progressive Liberal Democratic
turnout and the Republican
self-immolation.
The DLC and its
leadership, led by the Clintons, Emanuel and
Schumer,
have proven to be no friend to the
Progressive Democrats or Democrats
in general.
In fact the DLC and its establishment cohorts in
California
are busily attempting to prevent
the inevitable Progressive redesign of
the
Party.
First, all incumbent Democrats in
the house, Progressive and DLC,
secretly
agreed that no incumbent Democrat would endorse
any challenger
in the 2006 primary. So, in a
surreal twist, Blue Dog Democrats (a DLC
caucus in the house), including California
Reps. Ellen Tauscher and
Jane Harman, found
themselves endorsed by Progressive members of the
house. This non-democratic and awkward
agreement was crafted by the DLC
leadership of
the DCCC to thwart Progressive
challengers.
Next, the establishment
Democrats manipulated the tension between
different unions – as well as their rank and
file and leadership - to
scuttle the Clean
Money Proposition 87 at meetings of the CDP and
during the general election in 2006. A
palpable fear of true publicly
financed
campaigns grips the major donors of both parties
and the
consultants. For good measure, the CDP
and some county central
committees blithely
failed to support Progressive candidates in many
races for unstated reasons. Incumbency,
endorsement and big money are
arrogantly
tightening their grip on power in a vain attempt
to hold
back the changing of the guard.
However, all during the primaries and
the
general election the Progressive Caucus of the
California
Democratic Party was organizing for
another election.
Part two of the
Progressive Plan, put forward by the caucus in the
summer of 2006, called upon all Progressives
inside and outside of the
Party to join
together and get elected to more of the voting
seats
inside the Party. Together with PDA and
DFA, the CDP Progressive Caucus
used its
micro-media network – email, e-newsletters and
e-action alerts
– to great effect and the
Progressive swarm showed its rising strength
in this January’s AD Elections. Progressives
won a majority of the 960
delegate seats to
the DSCC – Democratic State Central Committee -
and
an increasing number of the 80 delegate
seats to the Executive Board.
This will surely
change the nature of the votes taken by these two
bodies in the next two years. That in turn
will challenge the DLC
dominance of the
Party.
Next on the horizon is the CDP 2007
Convention in San Diego. There the
debate will
once again be joined with important votes on Party
procedures for posting the names of all voting
members of the DSCC and
its Executive Board on
the CDP website and moving the election of the
DNC members from the 300 person Executive
Board to the 3000 member
DSCC.
The rise
of the Progressive Movement inside the Democratic
Party was
inevitable. Technology does not take
a vote on its effects, they just
happen. The
Internet is turning the Pyramid of Power upside
down
throughout every aspect of society across
the globe. Those who survive
and thrive will
adapt to its architecture, which is creating a new
horizontal power structure. Those who attempt
to control its effects
will be swept away
along with the antiquated top-down structures that
have dominated human social evolution. Local,
sustainable, renewable
and humane systems are
on the verge of sweeping the planet thanks to
the Internet and the ever-widening Age of
Information. The struggle for
power in the
California Democratic Party is only one of the
myriad
examples of the impact of this new
technology and its embrace by
citizens far and
wide.
In fairness we must assert that all
of the participants in this epic
struggle for
power in the Democratic Party are citizens who
believe
that their strategies and tactics for
claiming and holding political
power are in
the best interests of the nation. And it must be
said that
even when the ideological divide
between the two main factions of the
Party has
become rancorous and divisive, this power struggle
is more a
debate than a war. This debate has
produced great enmity from time to
time on
both sides. Enmity has escalated to nasty
political tactics and
various low-end
shenanigans in some cases. But the contentious
dialogue
and electoral wrangling has produced
more light than heat and will in
the end
create a truly Progressive Liberal Democratic
Party. Ignited by
the fire of the Progressive
movement, the California Democratic Party
is
burning, down to ashes. Then like the proverbial
phoenix, a new
Party will arise. The same will
be true of the national Democratic
Party.
California is burning and sparks
are gonna fly from this Wild West
brush fire,
so be prepared. Oh, and will the last person to
leave the
DLC please turn out the
lights.
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More information
about when and where the AD election meetings will
occur will be available on the CDP
website:
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