| Greetings! Good Morning and Happy New Year!
Make sure you note the many Democratic club events scheduled around NTX this week, the holidays are over and it's time to hit the ground running. Remember this is an election year!
Don't throw away ( or toss into the recycle bin) your Christmas cards they want to repurpose them in Collin county, just throw them in a box and send them to address below.
We are very sorry to report that Rational Radio has gone silent and they may be down but they are NOT out! (See more from Rich Hancock below) We welcome a new Progressive station, thanks to the author Steven King that will be serving Maine and New Hampshire.
We are will be starting our annual fundraiser in a couple of weeks, if you have items to donate let me know and if your organization would like to be a 3 or 6 month sustaining sponsor and be featured on the newsletter side bar every week please contact me. These organizations provide the backbone for the newsletter costs, as well as the weekly sponsorships. With the help of these groups, a few dedicated individuals, our annual fundraiser and our weekly sponsors this newsletter is 100 % reader sponsored. We reach thousands of progressive North Texans every Monday and we sure need your help to continue.
Times are tough and this is NO time to give up! We've been working on promoting progressive media and informing progressives in North Texas since 2004 and we won't stop now ! We hope that 2010 sees a new Progressive Talk radio station emerge in NTX and we will be here to help.
Thanks again to David and everyone at Team Rational Radio!
Nancy Cunningham
northtexasprogressive@gmail.com
| This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow 2009 the year in Crazy
|  | Martin Luther King Jr. Parade -January 16th Saturday
|  Jan. 16, 2010 - Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Parade The parade assembly begins at Dallas city hall plaza, located at 1500 Marilla. Celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and enjoy the parade as the participants march from Dallas City Hall to Fair Park. 10 a.m. For details, please visit the City of Dallas website at www.dallascityhall.com. If you have questions regarding the Parade/March, please call the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, at (214) 670-8438. | | North Texas Democrats : Notes and News |  Dallas County Democrats
Monday, January 4th -- Filing Night Party The Filing Period to be listed on the 2010 Democratic Primary ballot will come to a close on January 4th at 6:00pm. The Dallas County Democratic Party will be hosting a celebration of those individuals who have stepped forward to run for public office in Dallas County. Please join us at the House of Blues, 2200 N Lamar, Dallas at 6:30 PM on Monday, January 4th, as we announce our candidates who have filed. We suggest a donation of $10 to help your local Democratic Party and prepare us for the 2010 Election. Parking is available under Woodall Rogers just behind the House of Blues, or you can valet park for $15.
Greater Arlington/Mansfield Democratic Women Thursday, January 14, 2010 6:30 PM
Where Theatre Arlington
Main Street Arlington TX 76010
http://www.gamdw.com/ Dallas Young Democrats
Join the Dallas County Young Democrats for our January General Meeting. Tuesday, January 12, 2009 Happy Hour Begins at 6:30 Meeting Begin at 7:00 Zubar /2012 Greenville Ave. /Dallas, TX 75206 Tarrant County Young DemocratsYou are invited you to "Tarrant County Young Democrats Monthly Meeting" on Tuesday, January 5 at 7:00pm. Tarrant County Young Democrats Monthly Meeting Start Time: Tuesday, January 5 at 7:00pm End Time: Tuesday, January 5 at 8:30pm Where: Snookie's Bar and Grill Stonewall Democrats of Denton County2ND BIENNIAL CANDIDATE FORUM Our 2nd candidate forum will take place on Friday January 15th 7pm to 9pm at the Castle Hills Community Center, 2501 Queen Margaret Dr, Lewisville TX 75056. Statewide and local 2010 Democratic candidates are being invited to attend and tell you why you should vote for them in the primary and general election. It will not be a debate. The general public is invited to attend, but priority for asking questions will fall to our current members. Public questions and comments may be allowed at the end, time permitting. If you want to be sure you get your question answered first, then join our chapter as an active member! Info on joining is below. Endorsements will be made by the membership at a later date prior to the early voting period. Mid-Cities Democrats Have you joined for 2010? Our 2010 Membership Drive has begun.
If you have not yet become a dues-paying member of the Mid-Cities Democrats, do so today.
Fill out our 2010 membership form and bring it to our next meeting or put it in the mail any time (the mailing address is on the form). You may also pay dues online by visiting our Club Website.
As a paid member, you will receive discounts on merchandise, advance ticket sales, and most importantly, a say in the direction of the largest grassroots political action committee in Tarrant County. http://www.midcitiesdemocrats.com/
HEB Democrats Meeting January 7th
This is a reminder that there will be no meeting of the HEB Chapter of the Mid-Cities Democrats in December. Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 7th starting at 7PM at the Pizza Garden in Bedford. Please come at 6:30PM to eat; the meeting will start at 7:00PM. We will be in the meeting room at the back of the restaurant.Pizza Garden offers a very good variety of pizza and a salad buffet for only $3.99. The address is 217 Harwood Road, at the intersection of Blue Quail Lane and Harwood behind the Firestone store. This intersection is just east of Norwood Drive. Click here for a map. The final date to file to run for office is January 4th, so by January 7th we will know who the candidates are in the March 2nd Primaries, and there will be a lot to discuss. Please come join us and see what YOU can do to make a difference.
| Democracy Now
|  2009 in Perspective: Glenn Greenwald on the Five Wars US Is Fighting in Muslim Countries
As 2009 comes to a close, today we begin by taking a step back and putting this year of war in perspective. Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses US foreign policy, including the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, drone strikes on Pakistan, cruise missile attacks on Yemen, operations in Somalia, the ongoing operation in Iraq, and much more. Listen/Watch/Read
| | How Progressives Can Move Obama to the Left |  How Progressives Can Move Obama to the Left
By Cenk Uygur
There are many debates among progressives now on the true nature of Barack Obama. Did he mean anything he said on the campaign trail? Is he really a progressive? Did he ever mean to challenge the status quo or was he using the word "change" as a campaign gimmick? Is he just a corporatist like most other politicians?
After talking about this with a great many progressives on our show, I've come to some conclusions. These are so self-evident that they will be viewed as obvious in hindsight. read on Listen to a watch the Young Turks daily HERE
| | North Texas Progressive Book Suggestion |  Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
By Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
List Price: $16.00
Price: $7.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
BUY HEREMortenson to speak locallyAustin College has announced Greg Mortenson, who works to promote peace through education by building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as the recipient of its 2009 Austin College Leadership Award. The award bears a $100,000 prize. Co-founder of the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace, Mortenson has established 78 schools that provide education to over 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where few education opportunities existed before. These efforts, documented in the highly acclaimed Three Cups of Tea, which has been a #1 New York Times bestseller for 91 weeks since its January 2007 release, led to his selection for this prestigious distinction. Mortenson will personally accept the award prior to a March 5 public lecture, titled "Promoting Peace through Education," at the Belo Mansion in Dallas, Texas. Tickets for the event, at $50 each, are available online at HERE AND HERE | | Air America and Progressive Talk Radio News |  New Progressive Station-thanks Steven King ( no I'm not kidding )The best-selling fiction writer has long owned radio stations in his native Maine and programmed rock and more recently sports on the simulcast of WZON, Bangor (620) and WZON-FM, Dover-Foxcroft (103.1). Now WABI-TV reports that on Monday (¼), the FM will break out of the simulcast to premiere a new format featuring Montel Williams and Rachel Maddow from Air America Media, and a new  affiliation with CNN. There will also be how-to shows plus Boston Red Sox baseball. A spokesman for the station says owners Stephen and Tabitha King wanted a local station that reflected a progressive outlook on the country and the local scene.WZON fm 103.1 will be known as the Pulse, A new Voice, A new Choice It will feature Joey Reynolds 1-5am /Rachel Maddow MSNBC refeed 5-6 /Bill Press 6-9/ Montel Williams 9-12/Ed Schultz 12-3 /Randi Rhodes 3-6 /Ron Reagon Jr 6-9 Stephanie Miller/ Air America 9-1/ CNN Radio news at the top and bottom of every hour. Local news 2x an hour 6a-6p Mon-Fri | Rational Radio down but not out !
|  Richard Hancock lets us know what has happened at Rational Radio and where we go now with Progressive Talk in Dallas
Once again, North Texas Progressives will have to work a little harder to get news and information about the causes we care about in our own community.
While the Rational Broadcasting Company will remain a part of the DFW media market, and a distinctive progressive voice in broadcasting, Rational Radio on AM 1360 will be leaving the airwaves as of the first of January, 2010. While our founder and president made every effort to come to an equitable arrangement with the keepers of our frequency, no such accord could be achieved.
The decision was made to look to the future of communications and consider the advantages of an internet-based broadcast platform. From here we can expand our UStream video presentations, offer podcasts of daily programming, and utilize the interactivity of Facebook and Twitter. We will continue to explore the possibilities presented by terrestrial communications, but we will not be bound by them.
Expect rationalbroadcasting.com to continue to be a reliable source--just a mouse-click away-- for local and national news and views on politics, as well as expanded coverage of entertainment, music, community events and cultural activities. We will be web-based and interactive for our listeners in new and exciting ways, but we will need your help to do it.
Then again, we always did.
North Texas Progressives are truly unique in that our collective left hand rarely knows or seem to care what our right hand is doing. Will Rogers said "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat." As a life-long Democrat myself, I can testify that I have seldom seen in my travels around this country a community of groups with a common cause less involved with, or visibly supportive of each others efforts.
This may be hard for some subscribers to this fine newsletter to hear, but it happens to be true. Air America went away with the stroke of a penned check, but that check might not have been sufficient if 910AM were more profitable. It never took hold in our community the way we expected because so many of us were oblivious to its presence.
Nationally-syndicated talker Thom Hartmann conducts seminars with progressive talk radio stations around the country in an effort to re-create the model which has worked so well in places like Portland, Oregon. I am not suggesting that their progressives are better or more dedicated or more passionate about their causes than we are, they simply seem to know how easy it is for things like this to go away.
When a singularly brilliant and ideologically dedicated man named David Clifton decided to invest his own personal talents and financial resources in resurrecting progressive talk radio in Dallas/Fort Worth, the effort was met with relative disinterest. The culmination of our efforts came in September with the Rational Radio Progress Forum at the Lakewood Theater, which brought hundreds of us together for the first time from the Democratic Party, the peace community, local organizers and student groups--not to mention the individuals who finally realized they had somewhere to go where their voices could now be heard.
Sadly, the ravages of the Bush economy-- which has decimated the radio business and even claimed broadcast giants like the recently-bankrupt Citadel as its victims--prevented us growing quickly enough achieve our goals.
As we move into new platforms of mass communication, rationalbroadcasting.com will be reaching out to the progressive community of North Texas in the hopes of building sustainable media partnerships that will serve us all. We value your voice, and we need your help.
| | | | Take Your Money Out of the Hands of the Banking Oligarchs
By Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson |  | It's a Wonderful Life George Baily tells off Mr. Potter !
Are you looking for a great Progressive New Year's Resolution ? How about this ?
Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system. Before long, the conversation turned practical, and with some help from friends in the world of bank analysis, a video and website were produced devoted to a simple idea: Move Your Money.
The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout. But since April, the Big Four banks -- JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo -- all of which took billions in taxpayer money, have cut lending to businesses by $100 billion.
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| Hoping for a New Ethic in 2010 by Jim Hightower
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Jim Hightower | Hoping for a New Ethic in 2010
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "This special season got me to thinking about America's spirit of giving, and I don't mean this overdone business of Christmas gifts. I mean our true spirit of giving - giving of ourselves. Yes, we are a country of rugged individualists, yet there's also a deep, community-minded streak in each of us."
Read the Article
| Texas Democratic Women Collin County (TDWCC) Celebrate the Holidays, Look Forward to 2010
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Texas Democratic Women Collin County (TDWCC) Celebrate the Holidays, Look Forward to 2010
Texas Democratic Women of Collin County celebrated the holidays December 14 with good food, door prizes, and of course Democratic candidates. Barb Walters, President thanked everyone for attending to help applaud the successes of 2009 and look forward to 2010.
Shawn Stevens, Democratic Party Collin County Chair was on hand to share the festivities and thank the TDWCC for their many contributions to the party. David Smith, Candidate for Collin County Judge of Commissioner's Court and John Lingenfelder, Candidate for 3rd Congressional District both spoke to the group and collected signatures needed to get on the primary ballot.
The Nominating Committee presented the slate of officiers for 2010 Board of Directors:
President - Barb Walters; Vice-President - Sharon Hirsch; Secretary - Erma Spencer; Treasurer - Mary Hooks. Elections will be held at the regular meeting on Monday, January 25, 2010 at Collin College in Frisco, Founders Hall, F148.
TDWCC is a dedicated group of Democratic Women, working to
EDUCATE Collin County citizens, ACTIVATE voters, and ELECT Democrats to local, state, and federal offices. We meet every 4th Monday at Collin College
www.tdwcc.org
| Recycle/Repurpose those Christmas Cards
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There's a new environmental buzz word making the rounds these days! "Repurposing" is the trendy way to say you love Uncle Ernie's gift of a musical stuffed hound dog, but it might be better off starting a new life somewhere else! While repurposing gifts isn't always possible, you can make a huge impact by collecting your holiday used and unused greeting cards and calendars for year-round "reuse" in the City's environmental initiatives.
"It's such a shame to throw out the beautiful and unusual cards, desk and wall calendars we receive and use throughout the year," said Casey Eckert, the City's Environmental Education Coordinator. "But, it's a little easier letting them go knowing they can be slated for a new life. Besides beautiful holiday ornaments, they can be made can be made into a multitude of art projects such as centerpieces, gift boxes, jewelry and much, much more!"
Ms. Eckert uses cards and calendars in various environmental education programs, actively collecting them year-round for use in enjoyable hands-on projects. "While holiday cards are the more obvious cards to send to us, anniversary, birthday, get well, and even post cards are welcomed and needed throughout the year for our many environmental class projects," she advised. "Calendars are a wonderful resource for art and other projects."
The cards (front, back and inside) can be used in total, including the sayings, which can be snipped out for bookmarks and other uses.
If you have new or used greeting cards you'd like to see put to good use sendthem to: Ms. Casey Eckert, Environmental Education Coordinator, P. O. Box 860358, Plano, Texas 75086. For additional information or to arrange for bulkcard collection contact her at 972-769-4216.
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