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Progressive Democrats of America works both inside the Democratic Party and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our goal: Extend the victory of Nov. 2006 into a permanent, progressive majority.
PDA's top 5 priorities ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) What is PDA? ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) Video Introduction to PDA ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

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Take Action Now! Impeach Vice President Cheney! ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
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The University Should Not Play a Part in the Production of Nuclear Weapons ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
A Widening Chasm Between Congressional Democrats and Voters on Impeachment ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
Hillary Inc. ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
AL GORE’S BRILLIANT ANALYSIS OF OUR PARALYSIS AND OUR ONLY HOPE FOR SALVATION–THE INTERNET ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
One for the People ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) What People Say


"PDA is attempting to represent the new generation of reformers. The Democratic Party will only 'listen' when the challenge of PDA and progressive reformers is powerful enough."
- Tom Hayden, anti-war leader, former Caifornia State Senator



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Restoring "Due Process" Overdue

May 21, 2007

Take Action to Restore Habeas Corpus


Among the most cherished rights in our Constitution is Habeas Corpus, the right to go before a judge if one is detained.

With a complicit Congress and a stroke of his pen on Oct, 17, 2006, President Bush undid eight centuries of legal precedent by signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Presented as part of the “War on Terror,” this pen stroke did away with Habeas Corpus. Prisoners are languishing in Guantanamo and elsewhere without knowing the charges against them, and without hope of seeing the inside of a courtroom. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
MA Dems Pass Resolution to Impeach George W. Bush & Richard B. Cheney

Darcy Sweeney, MA PDA State Co-Coordinator
May 20, 2007, Amherst, MA

Yesterday (May 19, 2007) in a PDA led effort, the Massachusetts Democratic Party resoundingly passed a resolution to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney just nineteen days following the passage of a similar resolution by the California Democratic Party. The annual convention was held at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Massachusetts joins a growing list of foureen state Democratic Parties that have passed impeachment resolutions. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Champion of the Progressive Airwaves, PDA's own Tony Trupiano Joins Forces With Internet Radio Pioneer, RadioPower.org

May 22, 2007, Pittsburg, PA

RadioPower.org, the nation’s oldest on-line streaming Progressive Talk Radio Network, announced last week the addition of Tony Trupiano ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) to their daily line-up of progressive programs. RadioPower alumni include, Peter Werbe, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, PDA Advisory Board member Thom Hartmann, The Young Turks, and others. The Tony Trupiano Show airs live Monday through Friday from Noon until 3 p.m. ET.

Trupiano, a longtime Progressive Talker left his national show in October of 2005 to run for Congress. Trupiano was endorsed by PDA as one of their top tier candidates. Although his bid was not successful, he was nationally recognized for garnering 44% of the popular vote in a conservative swing district. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Have you called your Senator today?

Medea Benjamin, PDA Advisory Board Member
May 21, 2007

Some people get up early to have a leisurely breakfast and read the newspaper before going off to work, while others fly out the door with their coffee cup in hand. Whatever your morning routine, let me suggest a 30-second addition that could help stop the war in Iraq: Call your two Senators and tell them to bring the troops home in 2007.

Earlier this year, I virtually moved from my home in San Francisco to Washington, DC to pressure Congress to end the war. I’ve learned a few things in these last few months: [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Dr. Bill Honigman places an Out of Iraq sticker on Peter Mathews. Photo Credit: Linda Sutton
Peter Mathews Speaks at PDA's Candidate Forum

Linda Sutton
May 21, 2007, Long Beach, CA

Progressive Democrats of America held the first candidates' forum for the special election in California's 37th Congressional District. The special election was scheduled following the death of Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald. As of 4 p.m., May 18, 11 Democrats, four Republicans, one Green, and one Libertarian have qualified for the ballot, according to the Los Angeles County recorder's office.

The PDA forum, held at the Library Coffee Shop Friday night, May 18, drew five of the Democratic candidates: Peter Mathews, Felicia Ford, George Parmer, Mervin Evans, and Jeffrey Price. Questions from the audience indicated a strong demand to get out of Iraq, begin impeachment proceedings, and preserve citizens' rights to freedom of internet access ("net neutrality").

PDA member, Peter Mathews, who had run against the incumbent last fall and garnered more than 10,000 votes, [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])] [Only registered and activated users can see links]
Monica Conyers
Conyers Passes Impeachment Resolution

David Swanson
May 16, 2007, Detroit, MI

Originally published on [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]).
A resolution calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney was passed today by the unanimous vote of the Detroit City Council. The resolution was recommended by the Detroit & Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild ( [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) ) in coalition with other citizen activist organizations, including Latinos Unidos, Veterans for Peace, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, the Gray Panthers, and MI Impeach.org ( [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) ), and was introduced by Council President Pro Tempore Monica Conyers and Council Member JoAnn Watson. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
DON'T March on Washington!

May 16, 2007

That’s right: It’s time to let Washington come to you.

ACT NOW to schedule a home-district meeting with your Member of Congress. He or she will likely be in-district during the upcoming Memorial Day recess from the end of business on May 25 until Monday, June 4.

This is a critical moment on issues of war/peace and democracy and social justice. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]

[helderheid]

Dancing Into the Majority

Adam Doster
May 25, 2007

Once alienated, grassroots activists are finding ways to work with the Democratic Party establishment

Originally published at In These Times ([Only registered and activated users can see links]).

When Michael Heaney served as a special guest to the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program in the fall of 2002, he couldn’t ignore the growing anxiety surrounding the invasion of Iraq. After marching to the White House with a local CodePink chapter and attending larger rallies in D.C. that year, the budding political scientist—now an assistant professor at the University of Florida—took an interest in the makeup of the antiwar movement. “I just started noticing all of the organizational diversity of people there,” he says, “and I got very interested in understanding the differences between these organizations, how they mobilize people, what they wanted and how they framed their arguments.” [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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McGovern Comments on the Iraq Supplemental Bill

May 25, 2007

Rep Jim Mcgovern made the following remarks on the floor of the House yesterday:

M. Speaker,

Some might see this Iraq supplemental as a victory for President Bush in his never-ending quest to secure open-ended, unaccountable funding for his disastrous policy in Iraq.

If so, it is a hollow victory.

We can debate why and when our Iraq policy turned into the disaster that plays out every day in Baghdad and Dyala. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Barbara Lee Blasts Blank Check for Iraq

May 24, 2007, Washington, DC

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) condemned the latest supplemental Iraq spending bill as a "blank check" and renewed her call for "fully funded withdrawal" during debate on the measure on the House floor today. The following is her statement:

"Mr. Speaker, in 2003 Congress approved a $78 billion dollar supplemental. In 2004 it was $87 billion. In 2005 it was $82 billion. In 2006 it was $72 billion. And now the administration wants almost $100 billion more? [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Woolsey Calls for Broad Measures to Bring Our Troops Home, Not Capitulation

May 24, 2007, Washington, DC

Calls on Congress to stand up to President's "unabashed stubbornness"


The first Member of Congress to call upon President Bush to develop a plan to bring the troops home from Iraq, and a co-founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) today lashed out at the Iraq supplemental bill:

"This capitulation proves once and for all that we cannot negotiate with this President. He won't listen to his military generals on the ground, he won't listen to outside experts like the Iraq Study Group, he won't listen to the Congress, and worst of all he won't listen to the American public. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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'Haircutgate' and Other Silly-Season Nonsense: We're in for a Long Year of Right-Wing Smears

Paul Rogat Loeb, TomPaine.com
May 25, 2007

Originally published on TomPaine.com ([Only registered and activated users can see links]).

The John Edwards haircut keeps getting resurrected, like a creature from a bad horror movie. The Republicans unearthed it most recently in their second debate, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, in a quote that the national wire service story called "the most memorable sound bite of the night," said: "We've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop."

Republicans have been focusing on symbolic character attacks since Nixon branded George McGovern, who'd flown 35 B-24 bomber missions in World War II, "the candidate of acid, amnesty and abortion." They've been branding their opponents as limousine liberals of questionable masculinity since Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, called anti-war critics "an effete corps of impudent snobs." If the attacks aren't adequately answered, too often they work. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
June 10 Rally and June 11 Congressional Lobbying Day in Washington, D.C.

Charles Lenchner, Olive Tree Democrats
May 24, 2007

PDA supports an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and encourages participation in the June 10 Rally and June 11 Congressional Lobbying Day in Washington, D.C.

PDA believes there can be no comprehensive peace in the Middle East without the just resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. PDA operates on the principle that Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are of equal importance and deserve equal rights, including the rights to security and self-determination. PDA's focus is on reversing America's short sighted, one-sided engagement and perpetuation of the conflict and on the use of international law and universal principles of human rights to resolve the conflict. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
Fire Gonzales…or the Whole Junta?

Shahid Buttar
May 24, 2007

Published on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 by CommonDreams.org ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

A steady stream of disappointing news from the Justice Department has left the nation increasingly critical of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Offering inaccurate congressional testimony while evading questions about U.S. attorneys being fired for political reasons, he has tried in hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee - but failed in spectacular fashion - to justify his ongoing service. Deputy Attorney General John Comey recently testified about Gonzales attempting to coerce his predecessor into certifying the legality of the unconstitutional and controversial warrantless spying program. And today, Monica Goodling will testify about ideological litmus tests for hiring career prosecutors imposed by the Department under the present Administration. Several the Attorney General’s senior aides have resigned in recent weeks, prompting Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to exclaim that “it’s embarrassing for a professional to work at the Department of Justice today.”[more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Kucinich Speaks for Full Hour on House Floor on Iraq Oil Law

May 23, 2007, Washington, DC

At approximately 11:00 a.m. today, Congressman Dennis Kucinich invoked a rarely used procedure to offer a privileged motion claiming one hour of time to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives about current legislative plans to privatize Iraq's oil.

This was the first time in Congress that there has been a full discussion of the covert efforts to accomplish privatization of Iraq's oil through the supplemental spending bill.

Kucinich has alerted his colleagues to this concern in the past. Today he did so on the floor of the House. [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]
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Don't Think of a U.S. Soldier, Unarmed, Abandoned in Iraq's Civil War!

Jeff Cohen
May 23, 2007

Originally published on Common Dreams. ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
One need not be a linguist like George Lakoff to know that it’s hard to win a debate on the other guy’s assumptions. Or worse, the other guy’s lies.

For years Team Bush has sought to shroud their devastating and deepening Iraq occupation in the myth of troop protection. When they doled out contracts to Halliburton and Blackwater, it was about “funding the troops.” Even as VA health services were threatened, it was about “funding the troops.” Every yearly extension of the Iraq occupation is about “funding the troops.” [more ([Only registered and activated users can see links])]