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Welcome to the August 2, 2011 edition of the Progressive Post. While we hope you find this information useful, you can unsubscribe at any time by replying to this email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

'Why I no longer support the Democratic Party ...' By Dr. Zoltan Lucas, former president of a North County Democratic club, explains why he no longer supports the Democratic Party, which has become a right wing party. He expressing a rapidly growing consensus within the party. Read More Paul Krugman: 'The President Surrenders' By Paul Krugman - NY TIMES - "It is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America's long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status. And we will probably have a depressed economy through 2013 as well, if not beyond. The worst thing you can do in these circumstances is slash government spending, since that will depress the economy even further." Read More

Event Reminders: Breakfast for Liberals in Vista Tuesday, 08/02/2011 Our Tuesday breakfast at Cocos is still going strong after almost eight years, every Tuesday at 8:30am at Coco Restaurant. This Tuesday our special guest is a journalist from L.A. who has been covering the recent hunger strike in California prisons. What hunger strike? you may ask, because it's gotten precious little attention in the lamestream media. Author Marjorie Cohn to address Vets for Peace Tuesday, 08/02/2011 Tues Aug 2: Marjorie Cohn, Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson Law School will speak about her new book on torture and will also speak about the Bradley Manning ongoing affair. Prof. Cohn is a past president of the National Lawyers Guild and has received numerous awards for her excellence in teaching. She has also testified about the duty of soldiers to disobey unlawful orders and the illegality of certain wars. NC Film Club rolls Oscar Nominated Live Shorts Sunday, 08/07/2011 The North County Film Club screens Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts. Family Garden Workshop Series at Solana Center Wednesday, 08/10/2011 The Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, an environmental non-profit located in Encinitas, invites you to learn about healthy food and habitats from the "dirt up" as your family digs and explores in our garden. These family-oriented workshops will focus on teaching children about gardening, composting, food webs, nutrition, nutrient cycling, and much more. Lake San Marcos Dem Club Meets Saturday, 08/13/2011 The price of freedom is paid by our men and women in uniform. At our next meeting, two men from Veterans for Peace will speak about the "True cost of Wars". NC Film Club offering: Another Year Sunday, 08/21/2011 The North County Film Club screens Another Year. Breakfast for Liberals in Vista at Coco's Tuesday, 08/23/2011 Our Tuesday breakfast at Cocos is still going strong after almost eight years, every Tuesday at 8:30am at Coco Restaurant. This Tuesday our special guest is a journalist from L.A. who has been covering the recent hunger strike in California prisons. What hunger strike? you may ask, because it's gotten precious little attention in the lamestream media. Free Monthly E-Waste Collection in Encinitas Saturday, 08/27/2011 Make room for your new electronic gadgets and toys! Bring your discards to The Solana Center for Environmental Innovation. The Solana Center is holding monthly electronic waste drop offs at their site at 137 N. El Camino Real. These events are co-sponsored by the city of Encinitas and Recycle San Diego. List of Democratic events in San Diego County Tuesday, 08/30/2011 This is a list of Democratic and progressive events in San Diego County: CLICK HERE To read the best progressive newsletter west of the Mississippi, click on Jellison's EZINE here Breakfast for Liberals in Vista at Coco's Tuesday, 08/02/2011 Our Tuesday breakfast at Cocos is still going strong after almost eight years, every Tuesday at 8:30am at Coco Restaurant. This Tuesday our special guest is a journalist from L.A. who has been covering the recent hunger strike in California prisons. What hunger strike? you may ask, because it's gotten precious little attention in the lamestream media. Family Garden Workshop Series at Solana Center Wednesday, 08/03/2011 The Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, an environmental non-profit located in Encinitas, invites you to learn about healthy food and habitats from the "dirt up" as your family digs and explores in our garden. These family-oriented workshops will focus on teaching children about gardening, composting, food webs, nutrition, nutrient cycling, and much more. Family Garden Workshop Series at Solana Center Saturday, 08/06/2011 The Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, an environmental non-profit located in Encinitas, invites you to learn about healthy food and habitats from the "dirt up" as your family digs and explores in our garden. These family-oriented workshops will focus on teaching children about gardening, composting, food webs, nutrition, nutrient cycling, and much more. This 'N That There is a certain kind of peace that is not merely the absence of war. It is larger than that. The peace I am thinking of is not at the mercy of history's rule, nor is it a passive surrender to the status quo. The peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one -- an activity that occurs most naturally, most often in the reading/writing world we live in. Accessible as it is, this particular kind of peace warrants vigilance. - Toni Morrison, The Dancing Mind (1996) Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace. - Luke 19:42 For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. - Pythagoras True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it. - Milan Kundera The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. - Douglas MacArthur Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is. - Will Rogers I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. - Elie Weisel Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators. - Noam Chomsky The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of nonviolence has been the organization of violence. - Joan Baez Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. - Martin Luther King, Jr. War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost limits. - Major General Carl von Clausewitz, 1832 Mounting an expedition to actualize a Compassionate Commonwealth of all peoples...is the great spiritual challenge of our time. - Sam Keen No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise. - Marian Anderson We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all. - Dorothy Day To save one life, it is as if you had saved the world. - Talmud Accurst be he that first invented war. - Christopher Marlowe (Tamburlaine) The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any man who knew the truth would be wicked. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. I believe that love of truth is the basis of all real virtue, and that virtues based upon lies can only do harm. - Bertrand Russell If peace . . . only had the music and pageantry of war, there'd be no wars. - Sophie Kerr We are convinced that non-violence is more powerful than violence. We are convinced that non-violence supports you if you have a just and moral cause...If you use violence, you have to sell part of yourself for that violence. Then you are no longer a master of your own struggle. - Cesar Chavez That's all nonviolence is - organized love. - Joan Baez The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. - Robert Lynd (1879-1949), Anglo-Irish essayist, journalist Do your work as though you had a thousand years to live, & as if you were to die tomorrow. - Mother Anna Lee, founder of the Shakers Non-violence exacts a very high price from one who practices it. But once you are able to meet that demand then you can do most things. - Cesar Chavez Those things of real worth in life are worth going to any length in love and respect to safeguard. - Julia Butterfly Hill When you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you're going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people? - Frank Borman The law of violence is not a law, but a simple fact which can only be a law when it does not meet with protest and opposition. It is like the cold, darkness and weight, which people had to put up with until recently when warmth, illumination and leverage were discovered.... - Leo Tolstoy A great many people think they are thinking when they are just rearranging their prejudices. - William James For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. - Eleanor Roosevelt If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed for. - Chinese Proverb Instead of tug o' war, let's play hug o' war. - Shel Silverstein Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world. - Arthur Schopenhauer It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. - Irish Proverb Nobody realizes that some people expend a tremendous amount of energy merely to be normal. - Albert Camus If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock. - Justice Arthur Goldberg Warmaking doesn't stop warmaking. If it did, our problems would have stopped millennia ago. - Colman McCarthy What is man? - Hope turned to dust. Everything, everything in war is barbaric . . . But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being. - Ellen Key, 1916 I'm not disturbing the peace. I'm disturbing the war. - Ammon Hennacy, US Labor leader

Articles & News: Budget fight on health care cuts just beginning News "When it comes to Medicare and Medicaid, the debt deal raises more questions than it answers. The giant health care programs serving some 100 million elderly, low-income and disabled Americans were spared from the first round of cuts in the agreement between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders. But everything's on the chopping block for a powerful new congressional committee that will be created under the deal to scour the budget for savings." Associated Press Hiroshima: A criminal act on epic scale Article 66 years ago - Historic Ignomy The US dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a criminal act on an epic scale. It was premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsic criminality. For this reason its apologists have sought refuge in the mythology of the ultimate "good war", whose "ethical bath", as Richard Drayton called it, has allowed the west not only to expiate its bloody imperial past but to promote 60 years of rapacious war, always beneath the shadow of The Bomb. By John Pilger Dems Express Disappointment in GOP Tactics Article In Press Conference, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn Express Disappointment in GOP Tactics, Approach to Debt and Deficit Negotiations - Call for Civility and Compromise. Republicans Showed A Violent Clip in Caucus to Stoke Confrontation with Democrats and President Over Debt Ceiling as Nation’s Economy Hangs in the Balance. CA Supreme Court nominee friend of liberals News Gov. Jerry Brown has nominated law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court, a move applauded by advocates liberal causes. Liu, 40, who teaches at the University of California Berkeley, recently withdrew as President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after stiff opposition from Republicans concerned about his history of supporting issues such as same-sex marriage and affirmative action. The nomination is highly praised in CA editorials and by jurists. Obama could have raised the Debt Ceiling himself Article Constitutional lawyers and experts claim the President can unilaterally raise the "debt ceiling", bypassing Congress, under the 14th Amendment, Sec. 4 which deals with public debt. Bill Clinton urges this action by Obama if Congress fails to act in time. A good discussion. By Carl Yirka Outstanding Letter to the editor on debt crisis Article Tightening financial belt - "It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we will never dig out of the financial hole we’re in by pillaging the poor, the elderly, the sick and the children. And yet, that’s the only solution proposed by the Republican members of the House of Representatives. They are willing and eager, it appears, to destroy the financial integrity of the United States, along with millions of American citizens and businesses, to put forth their irrational and extremist views. The tea partyers state their goal is to treat government like a family short on funds — tighten the belt and live on the means. But, I ask you, what American family in financial straits chooses to starve granny and the kids so dad can get in another round of golf? -- — Susan McAdams, Seattle TIMES San Francisco: Dead over a $2 train fare News "ON JULY 16 at 4:44 p.m., 19-year-old Kenneth Harding was shot at as many as 10 times by San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). Bullets pierced his leg and neck, and entered his brain, killing him. This was the third fatal shooting in the past two months by the SFPD, and the second public transit-related shooting in a span of two weeks." From Socialist Worker Environment: The wrong man is going to jail. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: "Why Is Tim DeChristopher Going to Jail While Massey Energy's CEO Walks Free? Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher is going to jail, but Don Blankenship isn't -- despite the fact that he illegally destroyed an entire mountain range. Why? Because he's the CEO of Massey Energy Company—and has completely bought off the judicial system in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky." (Time 4:25) Response To The Latest RNC Ad Article Please read this article for a fact check of the RNC ad attacking President Obama’s economic record and a statement of DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. Late Night Jokes - from the e-Zine Article A bunch of one-liner quips and political jokes from commedians Bill Baher, John Steward, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. It's a weird world in Washington, and the comedians are having a fiesta. A Quote for All Time News "Ours is a terrible religion. The fleets of the world could swim in spacious comfort in the innocent blood it has spilt."-(Mark Twain / 1835-1910 / Reflections on Religion / 1906) Wall St. banks will kill Congress before default Dean Baker from the Center for Economic and Policy Research says that what has become "pretty much protocol" isn't that big of a deal. In a worse case scenario, says Baker, the most damaging result would be the destruction of Wall Street, and that, he says, is not going to happen, because Wall Street calls the shots in Congress. Major endorsements for CA DISCLOSE ACT News The League of Women Voters of CA joins Ca Common Cause, CA Nurses Assn and others in strongly endorsing the bill requiring greater transparency in the election campaign process. AB 1148, the CA DISCLOSE ACT, will require the largest funder of each political television, video and radio add to "stand by their ad" by appearing onscreen and saying that they "helped pay for this message and approve it." New LGBT center for North County announced News Thanks to community financial support and trust through the past few years, the North County LGBT Coalition is now ready to move forward with the creation of a North County LGBT Center. In the next few months, the organization will transition from the North County LGBT Coalition into its new entity where new leadership and participation will be needed. Cartoons of the Week News GOP method of ridding shackle of DEBT Look who's leading the global parade Debt Negotiation? Tea Party Genie Obama's unique perspective Eric Canton's parking spot Latinos' love for Arizona! Gov. Walker wants the whole cow! Gay people can quote the Bible, too. Bombs for Peace Unions & the Middle Class Obama plays poker with GOP 6 Atlanta officers fired over Atlanta Eagle raid Article Six Atlanta police officers were fired Friday for lying about what happened on the night of the 2009 raid on a Midtown gay bar, APD spokesman Carlos Campos said. Nine other officers were also disciplined and three have hearings next week. "Honesty goes to the very heart of a police officer’s credibility," Chief George Turner said. "The public must be able to trust its police officers and expects them to tell the truth at all times. World Economy Collapse explained in 3 minutes Witty dialogue, profound explanation of today's economic conundrum, a spiral that could collapse the world economy. Bombing of Hiroshima, a day of historic infamy Article 65 years ago the US killed over 150,000 Japanese in the bombing of Hiroshima - Aug. 6, 1945. This video demonstrates the horror of that event. Late-breaking news: This just in ... News News that did not make our deadline: Latino audience shouts down Obama on immigration In a closely-watched speech at the NCLR conference, President Obama reiterated his support for comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act, and then proceeded to say that because of the way our government works, he could not simply take matters into his own hands. In a remarkable and spontaneous response, the audience began chanting, "Yes You Can! Yes You Can!" In fact, the official transcript includes this excerpt: AUDIENCE: Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Ted Olson Interview With Fox News Chris Wallace Wallace, insinuating that Gay Marriage is judicial activism, asks where is it in the Constitution that permits gay mariage. "Where is the right to interracial marriage in the Constitution" asked Ted Olsen of Wallace. Brilliant arguments by Olson. When Wallace insists the voters have the right to outlaw gay marriage, Olson asks if it would be constitutional for the voters to force blacks to drink at separate water fountains. Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians Army intel analyst Bradley Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking this video of a U.S. helicopter attack killing 11 civilians and wounding two children in Baghdad, Iraq. The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal. INFO CLICK HERE: Arlington West - Memorial to our dead soldiers Independence Day, July 4. View this short film. Remember our dead from the two present wars. Please honor the living vets. Invite one out to dinner. At least thank one for their service. May there be no more wars. Late-breaking news: This just in ... News News that did not make our deadline:

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