Events
Beyond Realignment: Fixing LA’s Jails — July 9th
At the July 9th ACLU-SC Pasadena/Foothills forum, Peter Laarman from Justice Not Jails will be joined by Patrisse Cullors of Coalition to End Sheriff’s Violence in LA Jails, and Esther Lim of the ACLU Jails Project.
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.
Netroots Nation Offers Special Rates to LA Progressive Readers
Netroots Nation 2013 Special – Netroots Nation is offering discounted rates to the readers of the LA Progressive. Click to learn more.
LGBT
“For the Days Dwindle Down, to a Precious Few*…” What Will SCOTUS Do?
Carl Matthes: Despite the much-heralded 2008 success of Prop 8 in California to stop same-sex marriage, that vote, and it’s subsequent ramifications, provided not only 18,000 lesbian and gay couples with legal marriages, but the accelerant for the Prop 8 case currently being decided by SCOTUS.
Brave Gay Youth
Carl Matthes: During a 2012 legislative session, Tennessee lawmakers were unable to pass a measure, authored by Ragan, banning elementary and middle school teachers from discussing sexual activity that was not “related to natural human reproduction,” i.e., the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Black Pride: Distinct and Emblematic
Irene Monroe: Mainstream Prides have themes focused on marriage equality for the larger community where Prides organized by and for LGBTQ people of African descent have focused not only on HIV/AIDS but also unemployment, housing, gang violence, and LGBTQ youth homelessness.
The Media
Can Elites Convince Victims of Top-Down Policies to Blame Themselves?
Randy Shaw: The GOP truly believes Americans will go back to the days of blaming themselves for high student loan debt, wage stagnation, and the inability to get a fulltime job. It’s just a question of finding the right message to convince them that it is their own lack of hard work and industriousness that put them in their situation.
Why MSNBC Fell — And How It Can Rise Again
Randy Shaw: What if activists closely following Keystone, immigration reform, the battle against federal budget austerity and other campaigns knew that each night MSNBC would have the latest on developments in all of these campaigns.
Politico Slants Obamacare Coverage
Berry Craig: From the start, right-wing groups used “Obamacare” as a slur for the president’s health care program. Ultimately, Obama and the Democrats embraced it. “You want to call it Obamacare — that’s okay, because I do care,” the president said.
Law & Justice
Clarence Thomas Makes Rare Break with Scalia: Sign of Things to Come?
David Love: It is tricky business for a black man to long for the good old days, when those same Founders would have relegated you to someone’s backyard, and in chains no less.
Digging a Deeper Hole for Federal Public Defenders
Dick Price: As a result of the Federal budget sequestration, the local Federal Public Defender’s Office serving Los Angeles and surrounding counties faces furloughs this fall similar to ones already affecting other offices around the country
What’s on Trial: George Zimmerman or “Stand Your Ground”?
Anthony Samad: In the Trayvon Martin case, George Zimmerman is poised to beat the system. Because everybody and everything will be on trial, except George Zimmerman.
Environment
When Drones Guard the Pipeline: Militarizing Fossil Fuels in the East
Winona Laduke: Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist, and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn’t make a corporation a terrorist.
Is Movement to Label GMOs Anti-Science?
Carole Bartolotto: While I can’t speak for the entire movement, I can say that the lack of research in humans and troubling findings in some animal studies is enough to make me question the safety and necessity of GMOs.
California: Green Revolution’s Focal Point
Tom Hayden: California, under Governor Jerry Brown’s leadership, is playing a pivotal role in the struggle to transform the global economy toward energy conservation and renewables.
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
Los Angeles Shouts Down Citizens United
Mary Beth Fiedler: The full range of the Los Angeles political spectrum supported the passage of Proposition C, and the overwhelming support for the measure was spread throughout the city.
Wendy Davis for Texas
Brent Budowsky: I suggest Texas Democrats put the Lone Star State at the forefront of key races in 2014 by supporting and potentially drafting State Sen. Wendy Davis to run for governor of Texas and end the arrogant, far-right and crony capitalist era of Texas GOP rule.
Texas GOP Deny Hispanic Vote?
Brent Budowsky: Texas Republicans are using a special session of the Texas legislature to launch an aggressive attack against voting rights that will backfire and ignite a wave of Hispanic voter turnout that will propel Democrats in Texas and nationally.
Progressive Culture
Five Poems Mayor Garcetti Should Read
The Frying Pan: A successful mayor and council cannot be satisfied with merely coping as issues arise, but must be able to anticipate and define the city´s needs for the next four years. As our newly elected leaders prepare for their roles, we´ve asked writers to share their thoughts about what lies ahead for Los Angeles.
Capital: Left vs. Right
Ed Rampell: This behind-the-scenes expose of the banksters and their nefarious high finance manipulations and machinations is a fictional, highly entertaining counterpart to Oscar winning documentary Inside Job, about Wall Street’s massive defrauding of the people — at taxpayer expense.
Before He Became Muhammad Ali: One Night In Miami
Ed Rampell: One Night in Miami… has a deliciously enticing “what if?” notion based on limited documentation regarding what really happened behind closed doors after Cassius Clay (the appropriately irrepressible Matt Jones) whooped Sonny Liston in the Sunshine State.
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