Events
The House I Live In — May 30
Institute of Black World sponsoring a showing of the award-winning film “The House I Live In” as part of its campaign to educate and involve people in Los Angeles and Southern California regarding the so-called War on Drugs.
Why PDA Paves the Way to 2014 – June 1st Event
Thom Hartmann, Lily Tomlin, Jim Hightower, and John Nichols will speak on June 1st on “Why PDA Paves the Way to 2014″ at the Beverly Hills home of Linda & Syd Leibovitch. Click to RSVP.
Let’s Take Control of California’s Budget — June 22nd
On June 22, 2013, join the ACLU of Southern California’s Economic Justice Committee for a day of organizing and action to join in the fight to take back our budget and our state.
LGBT
Remembering Sakia Gunn: Keeping News Coverage on the Down Low
Rev. Irene Monroe: Not enough is ever accurately reported about hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people of color, and how issues of race, gender identity, and sexual orientation trigger the type of violence against them. Nor are the reasons for the silence around such violence often explored.
Hey, Supremes: We’re Here, We’re Queer…
Carl Matthes: June 2013 may well become one of the most remembered Gay Pride months in the amazingly rapid march by the LGBT community towards equal rights under the law.
When Homophobia Trumps Misogyny
Irene Monroe: Joyner points to the ongoing struggle in the African American community with its unresolved homophobia and misogyny that falls on the backs of its women and LGBTQ population, pitting one disenfranchised group against another.
The Media
Mainstream Media Acrostic
Gary Corseri: Mealy-mouthed assassins state halt-truths/non-truths, swearing they are all-true.
What’s Really Behind All Those Village Voice Layoffs
Michael Sigman: For many old-media types I talked to, there was more resignation than outrage this time around, as though a cherished institution were already gone.
Bill Maher v Glenn Greenwald
JP Sotille: Like so many of the so-called “Left” in America, Maher has basically accepted the key notion that a whole population of like-minded people have decided to kill Americans because of an irrational religious belief system.
Law & Justice
Medea Benjamin Calls President to Account
Benjamin called on the President to use his power as Commander-In-Chief to close Guantanamo prison, release the 86 Guantanamo prisoners who have been cleared for release, and stop the killer drone program
Statutory Is Statutory, Same Sex, Opposite Sex
Julie Driscoll: Call me crazy, but I believe firmly that the statutory laws are in place for a reason – to prevent the exploitation of young men and women who don’t have the ability to make informed decisions, who don’t have the ability to “consent.”
Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians: The Parallel of Honor
Dana Lonehill: If they were not mentally ill before they entered the Canton’s Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians, they soon would be after laying in darkened rooms with windows nailed shut for days at a time.
Environment
Circumventing Transparency: Pennsylvania’s Latest Shell Game to Protect Big Energy
Walter Brasch: The failure to maintain records in an easily searchable method continues to allow the DEP to withhold public information from the public by burying the requested data within piles of irrelevant documents, most of which need interpretation from scientists.
Could California Legislators Halt Fracking?
Dan Bacher: Despite intense political pressure by the oil industry, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on April 29 approved three bills proposing to halt fracking, a controversial method of oil and natural gas extraction, in California.
Standing Tall for Landowner Rights
Walter Brasch: “The gas companies pay a one-time fee for your land, but you lose the right to utilize it as anything more than grassland forever. . . . You can never build on those easements. They took my retirement away by eminent domain.”
Veterans
Memorial Day Proposals
Brent Budowsky: Let’s escalate the effort to eliminate the backlog of benefits due to wounded warriors and disabled vets by devoting whatever resources are necessary to complete this mission, and enlisting a major business leader.
Help Advantage US Vets Put Veterans to Work
By purchasing and dedicating commemorative bricks, Americans everywhere will be helping Advantage US Vets establish the Roots & Sprouts Farmstead as a not-for-profit workplace which will directly hire jobless honorably discharged veterans.
Women Veterans: Celebrating Service and Fighting for Change
Diane Lefer: Keynote speaker, Brigadier General (Ret) Ruth Wong, and the many highly motivated women in attendance were living examples of the positive strengths and attributes employers can find in women vets.
Elections
IRS, Benghazi “Scandals” Won’t Hurt Dems in 2014
Randy Shaw: Democratic success in 2014 hinges not on the impact of the IRS and other “scandals” but on passing comprehensive immigration reform, rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, and avoiding a budget deal that undermines Social Security.
Cruz vs. Clinton in 2016
Brent Budowsky: Don’t laugh. Ted Cruz is apparently thinking of bringing his ability to outrage a majority of voters and alienate a majority of his Senate Republican colleagues to a campaign to be commander in chief.
Don’t Vent, Organize — And “Primary” a Democrat Near You
Norman Solomon: If there’s a defining issue that now separates the Obama party leadership from social decency, it is the president’s push to cut Social Security benefits.
Progressive Culture
Cafe Inquiry’s Skeptic SINema Series: Monty Python’s Life of Brian
Hollywood Progressive/LA Progressive film critic/historian Ed Rampell will introduce the movie and lead a post-screening discussion.
Linda Le Kinff: Off to the Races
James Rhodes: Perhaps it is her wildly colorful style or the exaggerated use of glowing women and hidden cats or maybe it has something to do with the tranquility of her work that connects with the “common man” — certainly an artist of the people.
Movies and Memories of Our Racist Past
Charles Hayes: What 42 makes crystal clear is how shallow and superficial the strain of contempt is that enables and sustains racism as prejudice is handed down from one generation to the next.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
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