PDSB Issue Areas Include: Get Involved With Our Current Campaign: MOVE TO AMEND!Help circulate petitions to present to the Santa Barbara City Council in support of overturning Citizens United. Contact Lois at vlhamiltion1@cox.net for more information!"We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights." http://movetoamend.org1. Economic Justice 2. End the War, Redirect Funding 3. Health Care for All 4. Clean, Fair & Transparent Elections & Government 5. Protect our Environment & Stop Global Warming 6. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Brown Bag Vigil Every third Wednesday of the month at Congresswoman Lois Capps Office, 301 E. Carrillo Street (X Garden St.), at noon. Visit
http://www.pdamerica.org for more details! Will you be able to meet with us for a few minutes? Hope to see you then! We’re asking our Elected Officials to Support this Legislation at our Vigils: Healthcare not Warfare: Ask your Representative to join the Out of Afghanistan C0-SPONSOR: HR 780 - Rep. Barbara Lee’s bill To
require that funds for operations of the Armed Forces in Afghanistan
shall be expended only for the safe and orderly withdrawal armed forces
and Department of Defense contractor personnel from Afghanistan. And HR 676 - Rep. John Conyers’s bill Establishes a non-profit universal single payer healthcare program, an improved “Medicare for all” program. And HR 1200 - Rep. Jim McDermott’s American Health Security Act of 2011 fits within the Affordable Care Act, establishing universal health care coverage by incorporating Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and TRICARE (the Department of Defense health care program), while maintaining health care programs under the Veterans Affairs Administration. Insurance sold by for-profit companies will only provide supplemental coverage. Jobs Jobs Jobs: HR 870 - Rep. Conyers “21st Century Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act” To establish the National Full Employment Trust Fund to create employment opportunities for the unemployed. And, H.R. 2914 - Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s “Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act” To create an emergency jobs program that will fund 2,242,000 positions during fiscal years 2012 and 2013. Political Rights for People, not Corporations: “People’s Rights Amendment” HJ Res 88 - Rep. Jim McGovern’s constitutional amendment bill to overturn the US Supreme Court’s January 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC and to make clear that corporations are not people with rights under the US Constitution. The introduction of the bill—the “People’s Rights Amendment”—marks a major breakthrough in the growing movement across the country to end corporate personhood and restore democracy to the people. Ongoing work from our BBLV partners: Heal America, Tax Wall Street, Create Jobs: Financial Transaction Tax and “Hands Off Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid” | Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) PDA is a
grassroots PAC that works both inside the Democratic Party and outside in
movements for peace and justice. Our goal in 2009: Expand progressive influence
in Congress as we build on our 2008 electoral successes. PDA's advisory board
includes seven members of Congress and activist leaders such as Tom Hayden,
Medea Benjamin, Thom Hartmann, Jim Hightower, and Lila Garrett."
www.pdamerica.orgMOST VALUABLE POLITICAL GROUP: The Nation Magazine Progressive Democrats of America: Paul Wellstone's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" finally has a functional voice, in the form of PDA, a national group that has over the past several years struggled mightily – and often effectively – to pull the party to the left on issues of war and peace, health-care reform, economic justice and presidential accountability. While Democratic
"leaders" in Washington compromised on matters of principle, PDA pushed
for a fixed timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, questioned
Barack Obama's talk of surging more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, worked
with Michigan Congressman John Conyers to promote a single-payer
response to the health-care crisis and argued that, yes, George Bush and
Dick Cheney should be impeached. When Obama secured the Democratic
presidential nod, PDA forged an essential bridge to independent lefties,
mounting a Progressives for Obama campaign, successfully pressuring
party platform writers to improve language on health care and trade
issues and organizing (with support from The Nation) a busy program of
policy events on the fringe of the Democratic National Convention in
Denver. In a measure of the PDA's expanding role within the party, those
convention sessions attracted a dozen key members of Congress including
Conyers and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, actor Sean Penn and dozens of delegates. As 2008 ended,
PDA was still taking on the most daunting issues – urging Obama and
other Democrats to do more to promote a ceasefire in Gaza – and proving
that this group understands the importance of keeping the pressure on
party leaders in Washington to serve not just as Democrats but as
progressives. ![]() Chapter Leader Message My idea for a sign for Earth Day: CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BREATHE THE AIR THEY POLLUTE |


