DFA National Action:

Ask the Media to "Tell the Truth" about the War

The following Media Advisory was sent to all local media in the Quad Cities and surrounding areas of Eastern Iowa:

Scheduled Event -- Davenport, IA  

Event:        "Tell the Truth" Picket and Rally

Participating Organizations:

Democracy for America -  Quad Cites and the Peace Forum of Progressive Action for the Common Good

Contacts:      Alta Price: - 563-332-5051, 563-505-2996

                    Monica Kurth - 563-271-9332

______________________________________________________________________________

Following the Sept. 11 anniversary, we Americans demand that this president do what he has never done since he seized the office -- tell the truth.

The facts are clear: Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11, which even the Bush administration has admitted. Yet White House officials and many media pundits still continue the false position that the war in Iraq is "fighting terrorism."

Quad Citians will be participating in a "Tell the Truth" rally on Thursday, September 13th from 4:30 to 6pm asking Clear Channel WOC Talk Radio 1420 AM to TELL the TRUTH about the Iraq war.

We are asking 1420 AM (Rush Limbaugh and Jim Fisher) to tell the truth about the failure of Bush's "surge". We will also call on Clear Channel to return Progressive radio to the Quad Cities.

What:    Clear Channel and WOC picket
When:   Thursday, September 13, 2007, 4:30 PM
Where:  Quad Cities Radio Group
             3535 E Kimberly
             Davenport IA 52807

A majority of Quad Citians are against this war - the same is true nationally.

Last year, the Quad Cities lost Progressive radio immediately after the 2006 elections. We believe this is no coincidence given the shift in power as a result of the last election, and the rising tide of opposition to the war. The American people want our troops home and out of harm's way.

We demand that Clear Channel and WOC Talk Radio "tell the truth!"

America has never been told the truth about the Iraq war. Stop telling us that "Iraq will stabilize" when (pick one) Saddam Hussein is removed, Iraq has a constitution, Iraq has an election, Iraq has a security force, the troop surge has done its job. Stop telling us that "freedom is on the march" when we can see with our own eyes that Iraq remains a quagmire of corruption, sectarian fighting, death and destruction.

The truth is what the Government Accountability Office recently reported -- that the Iraqi government met three of 18 benchmarks, partially met four and failed to meet 11.

The truth is -- America had no business invading Iraq post 9/11. 

Progressive Action for the Common Good - Quad Cities Fall Summit

Spiritual Progressives Conference

Theme: Living Our Faith:  Integrating Values & Politics in the Heartland

Friday – Saturday, November 2 & 3, 2007
First Congregational Church – United Church of Christ
2201 7th Avenue
Moline, Illinois 61265

The purpose of the Spiritual Progressive Conference is to promote progressive voices on the issues of values and spirituality into the heartland of Iowa and western Illinois.  Our conference is designed to interject a clear progressive voice and consciousness into the public dialogue that coincides with the build up to the highly publicized Iowa caucuses and Illinois primary. We will be covering three main areas at our conference:

1) Promoting a conversation on Progressive Values & and Spirituality

2) Organizing Progressives for political action

3) Creating healthy personal & inner lives for progressive people

Keynote speaker:

Rabbi Michael Lerner - Rabbi Michael Lerner is a national and international leader in the areas of progressive spirituality & political action. He is the founder of the Network for Spiritual Progressives.   He is also the editor of TIKKUN magazine, rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in Berkeley and San Francisco, CA, and the author of eleven books, including most recently The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right.

Friday Agenda

6 PM   Shabbat Services with Rabbi Lerner at Temple Emmanuel

Saturday Agenda

9:30 AM     Registration
10:00 AM   Opening Session
10:15 AM   Key Note – “Who are Spiritual Progressives?”      

11:15 AM   Break

11:30 AM   Workshops (Round 1)
12:30 AM   Luncheon – Musical interlude
1:30 PM     Workshop (Round 2)
2:30 PM     Closing Plenary  
3:30 PM     End     

The Authoritarian Political Brain

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by Propagandee

September 3, 2007

Drew Westen's The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation helps explain the neuro-cognitive mechanisms involved in rationalizing away inconvenient truths, something we all do regardless of political affiliation. From the Introduction:

The neural circuits charged with regulation of emotional states seemed to recruit beliefs that eliminated the distress and conflict partisans had experienced when they confronted unpleasant realities. And all this seemed to happen with little involvement of the neural circuits normally involved in reasoning.

The results show that when partisans face threatening information, not only are they likely to "reason" to emotionally biased conclusions, but we can trace their neural footprints when they do.

When confronted with potentially troubling political information, a network of neurons become active that produces distress. Whether this distress is conscious, or unconscious, or some combination of the two, we don't know.

The brain registers the conflict between data and desire and begins to search for ways to turn off the spigot of unpleasant emotion.

Nothing earth shattering there. But here's where it gets interesting (italics in the original):

But the political brain did something we didn't predict. Once partisans found a way to reason to false conclusions, not only did neural circuits involved in negative emotions shut off, but circuits involved in positive emotions turned on. The partisan brain didn't seem satisfied in just feeling better. It worked overtime to feel good, activating rewards circuits that give partisans a jolt of positive reinforcement for their biased reasoning. These reward circuits overlap significantly with those activated when drug addicts get their "fix", giving new meaning to the term political junkie.

To read the rest of the article, click here: