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San Francisco for Democracy Home
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Upcoming Events
Many more events are listed on our calendar...we look forward to seeing you.
Thousands of people from all over the U.S. showed up at Moscone Center June 19 to demonstrate for Universal Health Care outside the American Health Insurance Plans annual convention. Naturally, San Francisco for Democracy was there. After Sheila Kuehl spoke on behalf of her California bill, SB840, local hero (and SF4D cofounder) Tom Ammiano said a few words in support of John Conyers’ HR676, for which he sponsored a City endorsement measure that was signed by the Mayor that very morning. And LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo spoke on his perpetual battle against the insurance industry’s denial of claims. Later, a funeral procession formed to lay flowers at an altar for the terminally underinsured (more pix here). Meanwhile, inside the Moscone Center, our old "friend" and Clinton campaign manager Terry McAuliffe was speaking to the insurers for a large fee… Our Peter Wong gets another great letter printed in the Chron:
May 25, the day of San Francisco’s popular Carnival 2008 parade, was a great opportunity for registering voters in the Mission. Many blocks of Harrison Street were blocked off for the street festival, but we had an ideal location in front of a volunteer’s house and enjoyed the interaction with folk passing by. !Es Tu Pais! we say in Spanish as part of our on-going voter outreach project funded by Latinos for America. If you are bilingual and want to make a few extra bucks registering voters in the Mission, send an email to our Outreach director Jeff Whittington here. April Meetup - Media Streetfighting for Progressives Find out how progressives can fight back in a media environment that seems to seems to swallow every Matt Drudge or Heritage talking point completely unexamined, and then amplify it ad infinitum. Marriage equality activists Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson, and LeftinSF.com webmaster/editor Sasha Magee give us some great tips. PLUS Maxine Anderson reports on her trip to the State of the Black Union conference in New Orleans. Video is here. SF4D member Dave Massen had the following letter printed in San Francisco Magazine, in response to an article recommending carbon offsets for plane travel.
Thanks for clearing that up, Dave! Just in case you haven't seen our endorsements for the second and third elections of 2008, head over here and here. We should have our handy voter guides ready soon. March Meetup...Battle of the Ballot Measures Our March 5 meetup featured lively discussions of some very controversial measures upcoming on the June ballot. First up was the notorious Prop 98, which would end most renter protections (including, but not limited to, rent control), as well as most civic and environmental land use planning, under the guise of eminent domain reform. Competing against 98 is Prop 99, a relatively benign eminent domain measure that those of us who want to end the cycle of "eminent domain reform abuse" can support. You can watch guests Stephen Elliott and Dean Preston explain the issues, and why you need to get everybody you know to the polls on June 3, here. Additionally, two local measures that everyone needs to understand better are Props F and G. Prop G is the long awaited Bayview Redevelopment Measure, which many feel does not sufficiently protect current residents of the area, while Prop F would designate 50% of new housing as "affordable." Watch advocates of both measures make their cases here. For more information on eminent domain reform, go here. For more on F and G, see our forums. Fourth Annual Membership Party - the Best Yet!
On the evening of January 26, members and friends of San Francisco for Democracy came together to celebrate a successful year of grassroots activism, civic education and community service at the home of members Alec and Sharry Bash. This year our special guests were asked to speak on a broad topic: the future of progressive government in San Francisco and the state. School Board member Eric Mar, Democratic party icon Jane Morrison and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi all touched on this theme and provided personal anecdotes and observations on what they believe needs to be done to advance the progressive agenda. And for California, Assemblyman Mark Leno presented a sobering insider’s view of how the Governor’s short-sighted budget policies….including his drastic reduction of the vehicle registration tax….have caused the very budget crisis that we now face. Although we all enjoyed listening to our special guests Saturday night, the primary purpose of this event is to celebrate all our members and friends who contribute their time and talent to make the world a better place. This year, two individuals in particular were singled out for the special recognition of receiving the 2007 President’s award: Outreach Director Jeff Whittington and Membership Director Tim Hsu. Without their hard work and willingness to go the extra mile, San Francisco for Democracy would not have had the successes it did this past year. For more pix, go here. The SF4D PAC has completed its online endorsement vote for the Feb 5 initiatives. You can find the results, along with our appraisals of the ballot measures, here. It was kind of a slow political season, but SF4D's Outreach Committee still did well enough in contributions to be able to donate $380 worth of phone cards to San Francisco's VA hospital this year. Thanks to all our supporters, to everyone who worked Outreach, and most of all, to all our country's veterans. To tell the truth, we're not quite sure - either we were hacked or one of our vendors may have done something with our data that we weren't informed about because the contacts weren't kept up to date. In any case we'll be restoring it soon. This actually provides us the impetus to make a long anticipated conversion to servers that we have more control over (the originals were selected in 2003 by a shadowy outfit called "California for Dean"!) and software with better functionality and that will afford members and friends much more input on the site. We're actually kind of excited! San Francisco for Democracy is pleased to be the recipient of a $1500 grant from Latinos for America for the purpose of registering voters in S.F.'s Mission District. The Outreach Committee will be training and organizing bilingual speakers for registration activities over the next few months, and the money will go towards flyers, posters, and tabling materials used in the effort, as well as a per-registration "bounty" for registration workers. If you'd like to help with the effort, contact Outreach here. SF4D Federal Action holds Presidential Forum Our November Meetup was given over to San Francisco for Democracy Federal Action's first ever Presidential forum and straw poll. The results may surprise you! Also, be sure to check out the official endorsement results here. Striking the Blow for Legitimate Elections Breathing new life into a fine Medieval tradition, on October 30 a Diebold Accuvote TS was tried for Election Fraud, and executed on the green outside City Hall as a sizeable crowd looked on with unrestrained enthusiasm. See our photos of the event here. More on the crime in question here. If you watched our "Kilowatt Ours" video, you know something about just how truly awful a phenomenon mountaintop removal has become (for more information see here). So naturally the Bush Administration is trying to accelerate the devastation of Appalachia by making changes to the Stream Buffer Zone Rule that would serve to streamline the mine approval process. The answer is the Clean Water Protection Act (H. R. 2169), which would set definite limits on removals and other types of mining that fill valleys and rivers with detritus. As of October 24, 107 members of the House of Representatives have signed on as cosponsors of the bill, and our two Reps from supposedly progressive San Francisco are not among them! Please call and write today:
And here's a complete list of cosponsors; feel free to urge anyone else not on it to sign up as well, not to mention urging your favorite Presidental candidate to speak up on the matter. And the public comments page is here.
San Francisco for Democracy is an activist organization. SF4D Member Speaks Out for Marriage Equality We were so impressed with the way Alec Bash came to the rescue of verifiable elections back in September that we somehow missed member Peter Wong's impassioned plea for human rights on the very same day! Sorry about that, Peter.
Here's a great video from the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights that nicely combines two of our favorite issues: a hidden video camera shows insurance company lobbyists in the act of bribing Sacramento politicians to ensure that our health care "system" stays broken. Take a look, then go here and here to learn more about the issue, and to see how you can help. SF4D Member Stands Up for Election Integrity On Friday 9/21 the Chron published a completely misleading article on the San Francisco Supervisors' recent rejection of the proposal put forward by Oakland's Sequoia Voting Systems to replace the city's current ES&S equipment. As OVC President Alan Dechert put it,
Somehow the article completely failed to mention the sizeable array of problems with the Sequoia equipment already uncovered by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, and made it sound like the Supes were obstructing progress in obtaining clean elections. This brought forth the following response from SF4D member Alec Bash, published in Saturday's paper:
Way to watch those reporters, Alec! Support Security Workers' Week of Action At the September membership meeting, alongside making our PAC endorsements for the November election, San Francisco for Democracy voted to join dozens of other city political and religious organizations in endorsing the Security Workers Local 24/7 campaign for decent wages and quality health care:
Subsisting on an average of $19,000/year, these workers recently had their medical benefits cut drastically when their contract ran out. They will be going on strike the week of September 24 - 28. You can help them out by showing up at one of their many events downtown. For more information go here, or call Jessica Bell at 415-425-8837. Tell Dems: Don't Capitulate on SCHIP The same President who is currently spending ten billion of our dollars every month on his illegal, immoral, and incompetently waged war of choice is now telling Democrats to exercise "fiscal responsibility" rather than providing health insurance for four million children who do not currently have it under SCHIP. Will the Dems capitulate as they have on everything else, and scale down the bill? Or will they stand up and force the President to veto a very popular piece of legislation that has a large majority of Senators and Governors of both parties standing behind it? Call and write your legislators! Report on GG Park Oak Woodland Workparty, Aug 11 Hi Everybody, Eight volunteers, led by Natural Areas Program staff Jon Campo and Dylan, worked in the GG Park Oak Woodland last Saturday AM. The volunteers included - Michael Murphy, Calvin Moore, Patrick Cahill, and Dean Corps members Terese Lawler, Nancy Rosenthal, Jean Tokarek and Alane Bowling.
Police Secrecy, Recall Reform, and Supervisor Ed Jew On July 25, SF for Democracy members considered whether to support or oppose SB 1019—a bill which would reverse a recent California Supreme Court decision by restoring civilian access to police records in cases involving police misconduct. Mark Schlosberg of the ACLU spoke in favor of the legislation, but regrettably a scheduled opposition speaker from the Police Officers Research Association of California was unable to attend due to a last minute emergency. A variety of progressive organizations, the SF Board of Supervisors, and Sheriff Michael Hennessey support the bill, while a long list of law enforcement associations are opposed. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, “the police secrecy lobby has pulled out all the stops to fight this, and even Democrats in Sacramento are afraid of offending police organizations.” Despite those concerns, members voted unanimously to endorse SB 1019. The possible abuse of San Francisco’s recall provisions for elected officials was discussed, and as reported on our PAC page all members agreed to urge the SF Board of Supervisors to sponsor a charter amendment on recall reform. Finally, we considered the controversy surrounding Supervisor Ed Jew and whether we should adopt a position concerning his continued service. After much lively discussion, it was agreed to recommend to the Mayor that the supervisor be suspended pending resolution of his legal charges, as we believe he is no longer able to represent his district effectively. At our June meetup, we asked attendees to videotape their healthcare questions for the Presidental candidates. We then YouTubed them, and submitted them to the organizers of the CNN/YouTube virtual debate on July 23 for consideration. Selected videos will be broadcast nationally on CNN that night, to be responded to by each of the participants in the debate. We'll be bringing the video camera to the July meetup as well, in case anyone has anything they'd like to Ask the Candidates on subjects other than health care. Or heck, ask another health care question, if you'd like. At any rate, here are the swell ones we recorded in June. Click on your friends' and give 'em a few stars.
May General Membership Meeting San Francisco for Democracy members had ample opportunities to practice their Democracy at the May 22 General Membership Meeting, held at the Mission District Police Station. First up was a re-endorsement vote for Loni Hancock’s Clean Money legislation (AB 583), which, following Joni Eisen's incisive account of how it would work and why it's needed, passed unanimously. Next we got a very informative update on the status of city and state election integrity from member Brent Turner, followed by a report on the top secret "trade deal" between top Dems and the White House from the California Coalition for Fair Trade and Human Rights' Mark Goodwin. The secretive and exclusive process by which international trade agreements have been negotiated for the past few decades undermines the power of domestic regulatory authority to protect people and the environment. The Coalition is asking local governments to take a stand against this "free trade" regime and the renewal of equally pernicious Presidential Fast Track authority, which expires on June 30. As part of this effort, Outreach Director Jeff Whittington has submitted the Coalition's “Safeguarding State and Local Governance in Trade Resolution” for consideration by the Board of Supervisors. This resolution was presented to membership for an endorsement vote and passed overwhelmingly. The "Safeguarding" resolution will be submitted to the Board on June 5 by Supervisor Mirkarimi, to be voted on the 12th. If you are a supporter of Fair Trade, encourage your supervisor to vote for it here.
Normally we only put up videos that we produce ourselves, but this DFA-distributed film, shown at our May meetup, is something that everyone needs to see. It vividly illustrates the direct connection between our own daily energy use and massive environmental devastation. Now, about those compact flourescents... April Meetup...a Smarter National Defense
Can a Republican professor of Defense Analysis at the the Naval Postgraduate School, a Politics professor at a Jesuit college, and a Spiritual Progressive ever agree on anything with respect to National Defense? You might be surprised. Video of a terrific discussion is here. Dean Corps at SF Food Bank...and Action Alert
by Dean Corps coordinator Alane Bowling On Saturday, April 14th, San Francisco for Democracy’s Dean Corps volunteers worked our usual bi-monthly shift at the San Francisco Food Bank. With a group of young Red Cross volunteers, we assembled 800 monthly supplemental food boxes for San Francisco senior citizens at risk of going hungry. There were no assembly line mishaps, and a good time was had by all for a good cause. Hey, wait a minute...we built a playground!
Or at least we watched some other people building one! Dean Corps spent Cesar Chavez day at Leonard Flynn Elementary School on (appropriately named) Cesar Chavez Street with several hundred other volunteers from around the city, performing every sort of much needed maintenance on the school. Crowning achievement: the extraordinarily elaborate and impossible to fathom playground pictured above. Now, let's get one thing straight: building a school playground has absolutely no business being a charity event. That's what our tax dollars should be going for instead of blowing people to smithereens (and think of all the other schools that so badly need facilities and won't be getting them). Nevertheless, it's always a great feeling to come together with so many great people on a beautiful day to accomplish something truly worthwhile. did a swell Clint Eastwood impression recently in the pages of the Chron (this post is a little late; the Webmasters have been under the weather):
You meant to pay for this, right? by Stan Kaufman, Park Advocate If the controversy currently swirling around the San Francisco public golf courses seems irrelevant to you, the case of Sharp Park should convince you otherwise. The six SF courses collectively receive $1.5M in subsidies annually from the General Fund to offset revenue shortfalls, but Sharp Park -- located in Pacifica -- is poised to cost SF a whole lot more cash while threatening two federally-listed threatened species to boot. In response, progressive park advocates up and down the peninsula are urging public officials to put this space to better recreational use. Lafayette Memorial Hill, Feb 18
Minor correction (though not to somebody) as of 2/19/07 - U.S. killed: 3144, wounded: 23,530 (official). Iraqi civilian deaths: 56,640 - 62,362 (direct); over 650,000 (including indirect). February Meetup Recap...Health Care for All
On this extremely wet Wednesday night, San Francisco for Democracy's monthly Meetup tackled the washout known as the U.S. Health Care System. To start things off, a new Political Affairs subcommittee, coordinated by Jim Cowan and Susan Bryan, was announced for the purpose of keeping the issue hot. They will evaluate various proposals and keep us educated and informed about what's going on, as well as actively working to support measures we believe in. The main speaker of the evening was Andrew McGuire, Executive Director of Health Care for All - California. HCAC works in conjunction with OneCareNow (too many organizations!) to educate Californians and build grassroots support for Sheila Kuehl's Senate Bill 840, the "California Health Insurance Reliability Act." Andrew showed us a 20-minute film that laid out the problems with the current state of private health insurance and explained that if all the money currently being paid to public and private insurance entities were pooled into a single-payer system, it would provide more than enough funds to cover the needs of everyone in the state, while ending discrimination against people based on risk and medical history. Questioned about the relative merits of bills recently submitted to the Legislature, McGuire was cautious in his criticism, indicating mainly that the need for comprehensive reform like SB-840 would not be going away. Speaker Nuñez and Senator Perata are both co-sponsors of Kuehl's bill, and the current pending legislation is generally seen as stop-gap plans to cover children and the currently uninsured until a new Governor signs SB-840. McGuire closed by encouraging members of San Francisco for Democracy to participate in the activities of OneCareNow to educate the public and lobby for passage of SB-840. If you're interested in helping our committee, or just want in on the conversation, contact Jim Cowan here. Annual members and friends celebration
Thanks to Alec and Sharry Bash who again opened up their home for our third annual celebration, the members and friends of San Francisco for Democracy had a fabulous party on January 20th. Numerous special guests, including city and state elected officials were on hand to share their insights on the challenges of making our democracy work for the people. There was much excitement among the party attendees and everyone appreciated the opportunity to re-connect with their fellow grassroots activists. One very special honoree at the party was Clementine Margaret Easton, daughter of Will and Kerry Easton, who arrived in this world on January 16th. Speaking on behalf of the Steering Committee, San Francisco for Democracy President Tom Brown announced that baby Clementine had been granted honorary membership until her 18th birthday. Also honored with the annual President’s award was Vice President Susan Pfeifer, whose tireless volunteer work in support of our outreach, program and meetup activities is greatly appreciated. Thanks are due to all our members, friends and special guests for making this event so successful. And who were all these special guests? Please click here to find out. Planting at Bayview Hill - Jan 13
Whether it's summertime or smack in the middle of winter, the weather always seems to be perfect atop San Francisco's "forgotten mountain." With the completion of the 3rd Street Light Rail, though, it may not be forgotten much longer - on our way down after our labors we met several groups walking up the trail to explore - a first! No doubt the general public will find the place as enticing as we always have. Change of pace next month. February 3 Dean Corps will be planting at Lake Merced. And don't forget the Food Bank on the 10th. Hope to see you there! Hate-Filled, Racist Radio -- Right Here in San Francisco This is considered acceptable on public airwaves these days? "The day will come when unpleasant things are going to happen to a bunch of stupid liberals." Melanie Morgan, referring to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, claims to have "a bull's-eye painted on her big wide laughing eyes." Morgan also suggests that Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, should be dug up so that she could be killed again. Brian Sussman agrees with a caller that all mosques in Syria should be blown up by cruise missiles when they are most likely to be full of praying Muslims. Sussman also demands that a caller prove he’s not a Muslim by saying "Allah is a wh*re." No, this is despicable, violence-inciting hate speech -- broadcast right here in San Francisco by KSFO. And we can do something about it. Advertisers, many of them local, support this station, and they're probably not aware of what's being said right before and after their advertisements. Why don't we let them know? Let's all get in touch with Denny's. Or Match.com . Or Sleeptrain. Or the Jewelry Exchange. Or Best Buy. Or Home Depot. (More advertisers listed here.) Ask them: "Are you aware that your ads are being aired on KSFO in San Francisco right before and after violent hate speech by Brian Sussman, Melanie Morgan and other KSFO radio personalities? And if so, does this mean you agree with their racist and violence-inciting viewpoints?" |
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Sept 3 Meetup:
Quote of the Day:
"I was a Republican - until they lost their minds." - Charles Barkley Working Groups SF for Democracy's Five Strategic Issues
 Play Whack-a-Murdoch Boom Boom (a very funny video) Join our Yahoo group (discussion, etc.) No Longer New ! Air America radio in the Bay Area...960 on your AM dial (or on the web here). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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