| Dear nancy, Good Morning
Happy Martin Luther King Day and please note the local events happening today below!
This is also the designated day of service so check out the various ways below you can do your service with local democratic clubs and groups. Please also consider putting in a few hours or a few dollars to elect Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, loosing that Senate seat IS NOT an option!
Thanks to Dallas Peace Center for being our new newsletter sponsor and please make sure you renew your membership to this great organization. We need additional sponsors and please ask your progressive group, candidate, organization or Democratic Club to become a sponsor.
*** Please, Please buy your raffle ticket for our annual fundraiser. I thought this might be a tough year for fundraising but OH MY GOSH we HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO! The prizes are just fantastic please donate today through PayPal (you can use your credit cards securely) or you can send me a check. We only do this once a year and then we quietly do the hard work but you NEED to make this happen for another year. I am willing to spend the hundred and hundreds of hours doing the work now I need you to help me get the bills paid so we can keep working!
Check out the prizes and donate here: http://www.northtexasprogressive.org/
Thanks, Nancy Cunningham
northtexasprogressive@gmail.com
http://www.northtexasprogressive.org/
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Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NTXProgressive | | Organizing for America: Elect Coakley to Ted Kennedy's Senate seat efforts | | 
Organizing for America: Tarrant County The Democratic candidate Martha Coakley is needing our help. So Organizing for America will be phone banking from 4-8pm and possibly later on Monday January 18th to rally support of fellow Democrats in Massachusetts at the Tarrant County Democratic HQ.(3004 W. Lancaster, Fort Worth, TX 76107.) Please come by and make a few phone calls if you can. There will also be a phone bank on Massachusetts election day Tuesday January 19th from 3-6pm at the Tarrant County Democratic HQ. Tuesday- We will also be phone banking on Tuesday from 3pm - 6pm!
Organizing for America: Dallas County
OFA will be having two more in-person phonebanks at Dallas County Democratic Party HQ on Thursday from 5-9 p.m. and Monday from 4-8 p.m. You also can phonebank from home using OFA's neighbor to neighbor tool- to do so, just go to www.barackobama.com.
Special elections present unique challenges, and, whether you can give 20 minutes or 4 hours, it helps. "AS TED WOULD SAY JANUARY 19TH IS THE DATE, MARTHA COAKLEY IS THE CANDIDATE." VICKI KENNEDY | | MLK Day events- TODAY! | | 
Democratic Party of Collin County
MLK Leadership Power Breakfast -- Monday, January 18th, 7:30 a.m. - Collin College Spring Creek Campus, Conference Center, SE of Spring Creek Parkway & Jupiter Rd., Plano -- No admission charged and no RSVP necessary.
Ft. Worth Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade will be held on Monday, January 18th. As usual, the parade will take place in downtown Fort Worth. The Tarrant County Democratic Party will once again be proudly marching, and has invited the North Central Democrats to join them.
We will meet at 9:00 A.M. at the corner of Commerce and 12th Street (map). This is a fun event, and I hope you will bring as many people as you can to march with us.
Organizing for America Dallas
OFA is collecting gently used clothes and blankets for donation to area charities as part of a national day of service in honor of Dr. King. You can drop off donations at Dallas County Democratic Party HQ (4209 Parry) on Saturday from 12-4, Sunday from 12-4, or Monday from 9-5.
Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service
http://www.mlkday.gov/
"The King Day of Service is a way to transform Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems." Includes a tool for finding an MLK Day service project in your area, plus project tips, PR resources, logos, reading lists, and more. From the Corporation for National & Community Service, "a federal agency that gives more than a million Americans opportunities to improve communities through service." | | Democracy Now | |  Naomi Klein Issues Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again
Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: "We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy-which is part natural, part unnatural-must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again."
Listen/Watch/Read
Despite a US Supreme Court Ban, Texas Continues to Send Mentally Retarded Criminals to Death Row
A 2002 Supreme Court ruling allowed states to set their own definitions of mental retardation to decide who meets the criteria for execution. Instead of adopting the Supreme Court's accepted clinical standards for mental retardation, Texas has granted heavy leeway to psychologist evaluations. Now one psychologist, George Denkowski, is facing scrutiny over methods that critics say unfairly send mentally retarded prisoners to death row. For more, we go to a report from Renée Feltz for the Texas Observer.
Listen/Watch/Read
| | Air America and Progressive Talk Radio News | | 
Rachel Maddow vs. Jon Stewart
My media worlds collided a bit on Thursday when Jon Stewart of The Daily Show blasted Rachel Maddow of MSNBC and Air America by comparing her statements on the disastrous Haiti earthquake to those made by Rush Limbaugh and the Reverend ...
Political Jasno - http://politicaljasno.blogspot.com/ Marc Maron Talks About His WTF Podcast
Huffington Post (blog)
Marc Maron is widely respected by his peers and fans for his long career in stand up comedy and his work as an Air America Radio host on a number of shows. ...
See all stories on this topic | | North Texas Progressive Book Suggestion | | 
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
By Tracy Kidder
List Price: $27.95
Price: $18.45 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.'s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understandin g of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.
Please also donate to Partner in Health http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
| | North Texas Democrats : Notes and News | | 
Democratic Clubs Council and SMU Dems
You Are Invited to Attend the Debate of Democratic Candidates
For Dallas County Judge
There are three Democratic candidates vying to be on the November ballot in the race for Dallas County Judge. The outcome of this race will directly affect the lives of Dallas County residents. Let's pay attention!
Candidates: Jim Foster, Larry Duncan, Clay Jenkins
Date: Saturday, January 30th
Time: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Place: The Forum at the SMU Hughes Trigg Student Center 3140 Dyer Street, near the intersection of Airline and SMU Boulevard
Moderator: Judge Roberto Cañas Election Judges, Alternate Judges, and Election Clerks Needed for the Collin County Democratic Primary on Primary Election Day, Tuesday, March 2nd
If you want to be a part of this Collin County history, please email both Dick Hildenbrand, our Democratic Primary Administrator, and Jamie Ramirez, our Deputy Primary Administrator, by sending a single email to elections@collindems.us with your name, address (with street, city and zip code), and your phone number by January 23, 2010.
You must be a registered voter in Collin County to serve as an election official in the county.
Colleyville-Grapevine-Southlake Democrats January Meetup Thursday, January 14, 2010 7:00 PM La Madeleine
900 Grapevine Hwy
Grapevine TX 76051
817-654-0471 Greater Arlington/Mansfield Democratic Women January Meetup Thursday, January 14, 2010 6:30 PM Where Theatre Arlington
Main Street
Arlington TX 76010 | | Local Democrats and progressive organize help for Haiti | | 
Dallas Young Democrats
Subject: Cocktails For A Cause: Haiti Earthquake Relief
Cocktails For A Cause: Haiti Earthquake Relief
Help Dallas County Young Democrats raise money for Haiti Earthquake Relief.
Join DCYD at Cocktails For A Cause: Haiti Earthquake Relief.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 /6:00 - 8:00 PM
Bryan Street Tavern /4315 Bryan Street /Dallas, TX 75204
Drink specials and 1/2 priced food. /Suggested Donation: $10.00
All donations will go to the Clinton Foundation Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
To RSVP or for more information, please contact Zenette Jenkins @ zjenkins1@yahoo.com | | REV. JAMES LAWSON HELPS DALLAS CELEBRATE 5Oth ANNIVERSARY OF GREENSBORO SIT-INS | |  Fifty years ago, on February 1, 1960, four black men walked into the Woolworth's lunch counter on Greensboro, N.C. They asked to be served and were refused. When they were asked to leave, they stayed in their seats. This simple act of passive resistance began a youth-led movement throughout the south to challenge racism, and established the sit-in as a popular and peaceful method of demonstrating opposition.
At the same time, in Nashville, Tenn., Rev. James Lawson was working with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In that capacity he mentored young black students who eventually became leaders of the civil rights movement, such as Diane Nash and John Lewis. Martin Luther King Jr. called him "the leading nonviolence theorist in the world."
Lawson will be in Dallas to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins at several public and private events throughout the weekend of January 30-February 1.
Public events:
Saturday, January 30: 2:00-4:00 p.m. Community Reception for Rev. Lawson at the African-American Museum, 3536 Grand Ave. in Fair Park. The event is free, but an RSVP is required for admittance. RSVP to the African American Museum at 214-565-9026, extension 315.
Sunday, January 31: 8:00 and 11:00 a.m.Rev. Lawson will preach at both services at St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church, 5710 East R L Thornton Freeway.
Monday, February 1: 7:00 p.m. "An Evening with Rev. James Lawson" at The Black Academy of Arts & Letters, at the corner of Akard & Canton Streets. The evening will feature a keynote speech by Rev. Lawson, include performances by the students of St. Phillips Academy, and highlight music and dramatic readings of words and authentic voices from the 60's by local artists. Admission to this event is: single ticket in advance -- $10; single ticket at the door -- $15; and groups of 10 or more in advance -- $7.50 each. Single tickets can be reserved through PayPal at www.dallaspeacecenter.org/greensboro. Groups can make reservations by calling Zara at 214-823-7793.
Underwriters, patrons and sponsors of Rev. Lawson's trip to Dallas are the Dallas Peace Center, North Texas Conference United Methodist Church, the African American Museum, Northern Texas/Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church.
| | | | | The Great Tea Party Rip-Off | | 
| | Even given the low bar set by America's bogus conversations about race, the short-lived Harry Reid fracas was a most peculiar nonevent. For all the hyperventilation in cable news land, this supposed racial brawl didn't seem to generate any controversy whatsoever in what is known as the real world.
Eugene Robinson, the liberal black columnist at The Washington Post, wrote that he was "neither shocked nor outraged" at Reid's less-than-articulate observation that Barack Obama benefited politically from being "light-skinned" and for lacking a "Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one." Besides, Robinson said, Reid's point was "surely true." The black conservative Ward Connerly agreed, writing in The Wall Street Journal that he was "having a difficult time determining what it was that Mr. Reid said that was so offensive."
President Obama immediately granted Reid absolution. A black columnist at The Daily News in New York, Stanley Crouch, even stood up for the archaic usage of "Negro." George Will defended Reid from charges of racism as vociferously as Democrats did. Al Sharpton may have accepted Reid's apology, but for once there's no evidence that he ever cared enough to ask for one. So who, actually, was the aggrieved party here? What - or who - was really behind this manufactured race war with no victims? | | North Texas Progressive Newsletter Nancy Cunningham
Editor
Contact: Nancy This newsletter is a project of the North Texas Progressive , which is an umbrella organization for the Dallas Air America group, which was founded in 2004 to promote and support progressive talk radio and independent media in North Texas. Visit the North Texas Progressive web pages to get more information. Newsletter archive Sponsor the newsletter here ! | | |
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| | Dallas Peace Center needs YOU! | | 
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Please renew your membership,
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| | Rachel Maddow gets a READ poster from American Library Association | | 
Rachel Maddow gets a READ poster from American Library association
( here book choice On the Air Reader
All the King's Men )
As the host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and Air America Radio, Ms. Maddow covers an array of politics, pop culture, and more through diverse interviews and lively debates. A Rhodes Scholar, Maddow has a doctorate in political science and a background in HIV/AIDS activism and prison reform. In her spare time, she's writing a book on the role of politics in the US military.
Buy on here
| | Organizations where you can donate to Haiti relief! | | 
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to Lead Haitian Relief Fund
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have been asked by President Obama to lead a relief effort to aid Haiti's earthquake victims.
At times of great challenge, "Americans have always come together," Mr. Obama said, with Bush and Clinton at his side.
"Responding to disaster must be the work of all of us.www.clintonbushhaitifund.org."
The two former presidents announced the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to help raise money for Haitians suffering from the devastating earthquake that struck Jan. 12. A Web site is
Others
The American Red Cross is one of the most widely known organizations working in Haiti. They accept online donations, help volunteers arrange to give time or other support, and can accept $10 donations, charged to your cellphone bill, by texting HAITI to 90999.
UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, two other groups showing up frequently in calls for help, have set up sites for their Haiti efforts.
Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean has harnessed Twitter to gather support for his Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, which also offers $5 text message donations.
| | Donate today to the North Texas Progressive using PayPal | |
Please sponsor newsletter today!
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| | New Arlington progressive group forms- check them out! | | 
Sunday, January 31, 2010 1:00 PM Where Starbucks
4340 Little Rd
Arlington TX 76016
Discuss issues and plan actions to counter radical right wing squeeky wheels! Get involved before it is too late! "Tag Your IT!!" as Thom Hartman would say.
| | Join Wyclef to help Haiti | | 
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