Sharon Kyle: When asked if the movement was broad enough to attract conservative democrats, Palin said, “they’re already peeking in — it’s pretty cool to see some of the Blue Dog Democrats peeking under the tent and finding out what is this movement all about and, holy geez, I’m scared if I’m not a part of this.”

Fox News is hiring Sarah Palin. Here is a poll to get your take on that news. Tell us what you think.

Sharon Kyle: Unless they’re compelled to address it, as Barack Obama was during the explosion of negativity around Rev. Jeremiah Wright, you can pretty much count on race not being discussed on the campaign trail.

Senator Joe Lieberman continues to threaten filibuster of the Senate health reform bill even in the face of the recent Harvard study showing that 45 thousand Americans die each year because of lack of sufficient health care.

Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962.  It’s being touted as a major step forward but for those who support Single Payer, it is anything but.
From …

I don’t know if you have to experience discrimination first hand in order to be able to see it, but I do know that I learned a lot standing on that corner with my uncle in a wheelchair 20 years ago. For that reason, I have hope that maybe the Civil Rights Division under the Obama administration will do what it has often failed to do in the past – provide a line of defense for this country’s most vulnerable people.

According to a post on Huff Po, Sarah Palin will be interviewed on the Oprah Show about her new book, “Going Rogue: An American Life”.  The  show is to be released on Nov. 17th. After …

Medicare was once just as hated as the public option by the right.  But it didn’t take long for them to adjust to the idea. Listen to Dr. Don Broder discuss his personal accounts of …

According to PNHP, this would save more than $400 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.

The spokesperson went on to say that because Obama is contributing to the improvement of the international climate and is working to strengthen international bodies such as the United Nations, they felt it important to endorse and cultivate the principals for which he stands.

Someone asked what black people thought of Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst.  Of course, there isn’t a monolithic black answer to that question.  I am a black person but I can’t speak for black people …

It was June 2001 and I was the proud mother of a soon-to-be Vassar College graduate. My mother and I flew from Los Angeles where I live to New York to attend the graduation …

On September 9, 2009 while President Barack Obama was addressing congress, Rep. Joe Wilson yelled, “you lie” as the president discussed what was in or not in the healthcare reform bill. Wilson’s outburst can be …

Van Jones is one of the founders of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a non-profit organization based in Oakland, CA. Before Van Jones joined the Obama Administration, he was one of the founders of The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an organization that started as a vehicle for the fight for fair treatment by the police but broadened its reach to human rights for all.

Snippets of progressive women in the media today.
This is Linda Milazzo, an uncompromising progressive journalist whose work is found on the Huffington Post, AlterNet, and we’re proud to say the LA Progressive as well as …

Fox News promoted what was called “Tea Party Protests” which were to occur on April 15, 2009.  Some called it Anti-Tax Day.  It was an effort to get some traction going for the right wing …

While fishing in Alaska, Sarah Palin answers accusations that she is a quitter. Palin says running for president is not off the table.

I was already in a somewhat somber mood on the morning of June 25th after hearing on the radio that Farrah Fawcett had lost her battle with cancer. Of course, I didn’t know her, but …

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cap and Trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results by placing a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply. Successful cap …

Good Hair
Like most blacks in America, I was raised in an environment where hair like mine, kinky hair, was called “bad hair.”  Straight hair or kink-less hair was “good hair.” I grew up receiving messages …

According to the experts in this video, you can’t have a healthcare system that works if it’s modeled after the one used by the medical insurance industry today in the United States. They contend that …

Don’t Vote? — Don’t Complain! We’ve all heard this sentiment — some of us have used it ourselves. I was going to write a story about the upcoming May 19 election and how important …

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! sat down with Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos and Janis Rosheuvel of Families for Freedom to discuss the nation’s immigration policy, its overall treatment of undocumented immigrants …

I don’t remember exactly when I began to think this way, but looking back, it must have been at some point during my early elementary school years that I began to believe the “American History” …

In this video, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews Dr. Stephen Bezruchka. Dr. Bezruchka, who is with the Department of Health Services, School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle, has studied …

In spite of the victory we had on November 4th, the fight for social and economic justice in the United States is far from over. Barack Obama has emphasized the need for all of us …

In an uncharacteristically confrontational manner President Barack Obama stated that he fundamentally disagrees with Dick Cheney’s notion that we can’t reconcile our core values with our national security interests.  The President went on to say …

Last week, I heard that Twitter is the fastest growing online social network. Well, whoop deee doo!! I’d just gotten used to Facebook after dumping MySpace, while at the same time trying to keep up …

Famed legal scholar, civil rights attorney and author, Lani Guinier, spoke at Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union 2009. The first black woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School, Ms Guinier has authored …

Michael Steele has been selected to lead the Republican Party. He is the first African-American to chair the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the second African-American to chair either of the two major party’s National …

President Barack Obama signed his first act into law on January 29, 2009. The act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, reverses a 2007 Supreme Court decision which held that employers are protected …

by Sharon Kyle –
Xavier Becerra, congressional representative of the 31st district in California was recently elected Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives for the 111th Congress.

Sarah Palin draws the media like a magnet. Whether we like it or not, judging from the amount of press she got this week, it appears she’ll remain on the national scene for as …

At 72, John McCain likely had his last campaign this week but Palin is just starting. And, according to many on the right, Sarah Palin’s future in politics is bright.

Although the California Secretary of State has not declared any of the results final until every vote is counted, the following are based on the results that have already been counted and posted on the …

Today, my 99yr old grandmother voted. She was born Louise Katherine Bailey, on Oct 1, 1909 in Durham, N.C.. She is kin to the great abolishionist Frederick Douglass and she is the grandaughter of …

I strongly support the following sitting judicial officers in the following judicial races:
#82 Referee Cynthia Loo
#84 Commissioner Lori-Ann Jones
#154 Commissioner Rocky Crabb
#72 Dep DA Hilleri Grossman Merritt
#94 Dep Public Defender C. Edward Mack
shown here Lori …

Before we begin to debate the rightness or wrongness of any law of the state (as opposed to spiritual laws, or natural laws, or laws of physics), we must keep in mind at least one …

Madelyn Payne Dunham, Barack Obama’s grandmother, has died. Mrs. Dunham was 86 years old. After a battle with with cancer she died peacefully, and and Obama announced Monday, 1 day before the …

All of the candidates have released medical information to the American people stating they are fit to serve, that is, all except Sarah Palin. There has been a flurry of questions buzzing around the …

We’ve all seen a slew of emails distributed that warn Obama supporters to refrain from wearing Obama T-Shirts when they go to the polls. When I first saw these warnings, I went to the …

All this talk about Gwen Ifill’s objectivity being compromised because she has a soon to be released book entitled, “Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” sounds a lot like much ado …

According to everything I’ve learned, the term “federalist” referred to those who believed in a strong central government. Jefferson was a federalist and Adams was an anti-federalist. Adams believed that power should be centrally …

Shortly after the Katie Couric-Sarah Palin interview, a slew of reports hit the Internet assessing the VP candidate’s performance. Try as I might, I was hard pressed to find a single report that looked …

This past week, five former U.S. Secretaries of State gathered at George Washington University to give advice to the next president of the United States. Nothing profound or unexpected was uttered from a single one. …

Not too long ago, Dick and I joined our local Unitarian Universalist Church, Neighborhood Church in Pasadena.
Shortly after we started attending, the church contacted us about a potluck dinner they were having for the congregation’s …

I come from a family of four children. I’m the oldest; my sister a year younger; one of my brothers was born 10 years after I was born; and finally our youngest brother was …

Since Obama’s presidential aspirations are beginning to look like they have the possibility of becoming reality, we’re hearing a term in political parlance that we haven’t heard for quite some time. The term I’m …

On Friday, the Olympics unveiled the official posters of the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games set to begin at the end of July. The artists did a beautiful job. The posters are available for …

I love doing surveys and polls. We put questions out on the Web, people answer, we post their responses. It’s a pretty simple process.
But this simple process yields a big payoff. It results in us …

It’s Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. My husband, Dick, and I are seated at our desks in the home office we share — each writing articles for tomorrow’s distribution of the LA Progressive. This has …

Anyone reading the L.A. Progressive knows I support Barack Obama. But I have to admit that as I sat watching and listening to Hillary Clinton announce that she was suspending her campaign this past Saturday, …

On the day I was born, my uncle, Leopold, went up and down our block in the South Bronx announcing to the neighbors, and anyone else who would listen, that I had finally arrived. He …

Progressive California Democratic activists are taking the initiative to talk directly to as many superdelegates as will listen. At an upcoming California Democratic Council Convention, the activists are holding a superdelegate panel. The panel will …

Sharon’s Presidential Primary analysis spreadsheet is an Excel file containing a state by state listing of pledged delegates, super delegates, whether the state had a caucus or primary, and the date of that caucus or …

Last week, a dear friend introduced me to a young activist who happens to be running to be an Obama delegate to the National Democratic Convention. My friend had spoken fondly of the young activist …

“Building Safe and Community Responsive Rail Lines: An Expo Line Update” was the topic of this month’s Urban Issues Breakfast Forum held at the Staples Center Lexus lounge this week. Usually held on the fourth …

(Part 2 of a 2 part story)
Fast forward 20 years after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and we found ourselves embroiled in yet another school desegregation controversy. The more things …

I started this campaign season as a Kucinich supporter. As it became clear I’d have to select one of the leading Presidential candidates, I began to look earnestly for differences between them. I listened as …

The presidential primaries for both parties could be all over but the shouting come February 5th. By then, voters in 32 states—including big hitters like New York, Florida, Michigan, and our own California—will have selected …