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:

Mini Grants to Change the Relationship Between Congress and the People

By Ellen Rice, The Sunlight Network

This is a very interesting program. I received this email a few days ago. Some of you out there should totally try to get some of these grants. This ties in nicely with what Gordon from Community Media does. You might even think about getting some money to have him come out and work with you to get more attention from your Congressman/woman.

 Hello, my name is Ellen Rice and I recently visited your blog and see that you cover various political issues.  I have an exciting opportunity that your organization/blog or one you know may benefit from: MINIGRANTS for local congressional coverage.  You’re perfect for them!

 The Sunlight Network is announcing a series of four to six "mini-grants", in the $1,000 to $5,000 range, for nonprofit organizations and non-affiliated groups who have creative and innovative approaches to strengthening the relationship between members of congress and the citizens they represent. The focus of the work must be to enable a better, more open and accountable relationship between members of Congress and citizens. Ideally, this work will be executed on a local or regional level.

 We encourage applications from existing small nonprofits, local or regional chapters of national organizations and groups of individuals. Grants are available to augment existing projects or to jumpstart new ones. Grants will be made available on a rolling basis starting July 15th.  Apply early!

 The Sunlight Network was founded as the 501 (c)(4) of the Sunlight Foundation in January, 2006. Both organizations are designed to foster a more positive relationship between lawmakers and their constituents, using technology, transparency, and local communities. Sunlight believes that open, honest, sincere representation is possible, and that only engaged citizens can make it happen.

 Please send a one-page summary of your proposed project, a budget (including the amount requested from Sunlight) and contact information to Zephyr Teachout, National Director, Sunlight Foundation (zteachout@sunlightfoundation.com).

 Feel free to call Ellen Rice at the Sunlight Foundation 202-742-1520 or email here sunlightuser3@sunlightfoundation.com if you have questions that you need answered before applying.

 Projects will be judged on their creativity, their likelihood of success, and the degree to which they match Sunlight’s goals. We strongly favor efforts that are themselves open and democratic in their internal structure.

 Grants will be announced on a rolling basis between August and September1. Sunlight will be available to provide consulting support to recipients of these mini grants.

 Best Regards,

 Ellen Rice

Graduate Intern

Sunlightuser3@sunlightfoundation.com

202-742-1520

 P.S. please forward this notice to anyone who could benefit from a “minigrant”

 Here are some hypothetical examples of the kinds of projects we might fund:

 Local citizen journalism site seeks $1,000

 An Austin, TX website that aggregates news and commentary on local issues and blogs about it seeks funding to do more work related to their federal representatives. The money is for travel, a video camera, lexis-nexis access.

 Miami, Florida students want to investigate controversial landfill and moneyed-interests behind it seek $1,000

 Students seek grant to pay for research (travel, small stipend) for four people to show how business interests may have previously supported local politicians and distorted decision making. Wants to do investigative report and post on the web.

 Farmers in “Rural Pennsylvania” (an incorporated nonprofit) seek $1,500

 A small nonprofit incorporated to represent farmers interests in PA seeks funding to send five people to Washington DC to meet with representatives and to attend hearings on agricultural issues. They plan to blog about their trip and their experience.

 Citizen Porkbusters in Kansas seek $2,000

 Creative “web heads” in Kansas have video idea that mocks the money interests behind ethanol. They want to develop the video to educate other citizens by placing the video on Utube.

 Senior of Pasadena, CA seek $1,000

 A politically active informal group that calls themselves the “Little Old Ladies of Pasadena” seek $1,000 to hold open houses at their Congressman’s office. They bake cookies and lemonade and give it away, camped outside Congressman’s local office to people who will come and meet their congressman. The money goes towards food funding and a website that details an announces the action. They hope to inspire all citizens everywhere.

  DFIA Incorporation Update

By Jeffrey Goetz

I have had an opportunity today to speak with one of my law partners, Gordon Fischer (formerly Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party), Chris Warshaw (Political/Field Director for DFA in Burlington, VT) and Mark Naccarto (Democracy for Tennessee). Here is what I found out.

1)  The earlier concerns I and many others had back in 2004 regarding "coordination" between the Democratic Party and "527" organizations (like Moveon.org and ACT)is not a problem today and is not likely to be a problem in the future.  "Coordination" (in the 2004 context) meant the Democratic Party (county, state or national) and Moveon.org couldn't work together (like, we'll canvas the southern part of the county, and you canvass the northern part of the county).   There was no, and there is no "coordination" in the context of a party "volunteer" (like a member of a county central committee or precinct captain) "volunteering" to do some door-knocking for Moveon.org.

2)  Those who attended the DFA training in Iowa City last year might remember that I specifically raised the exact issue above at our session, and it was specifically addressed by Jim Dean and Chris Warshaw.  There are no problems or issues raised if I volunteer my time as a precinct captain and/or my precinct's representative on my county democratic central committee, (or do any other volunteer work for my county or state or national party) and also contribute money or volunteer my time to Moveon.org, ACT, Progressive Democrats, NARAL, ACLU (or any of the other progressive groups that I give money to, belong to, or volunteer time with).

3)  Remember, "527" organizations were "born" as a result of the federal McCain/Feingold reform act, and were so named because they had no other way to describe then (other than they were "political organizations" as defined by Internal Revenue Code Section 527).  Additionally, 527 organizations are "federal" organizations, and are "ruled" by the federal political rules (Federal Election Commission).  They are not "state" organizations (per se).

4) On the issue of formally incorporating DFIA, if the decision is made to "incorporate" DFIA in the State of Iowa, there are just 2 choices: as a "for-profit" domestic stock corporation, or as a "not-for-profit" corporation.  If the decision is to incorporate as a "not-for-profit" corporation (that's my recommendation at this point), then the next issue is whether the corporation will be "run" by only a board of directors (my recommendation at this time), or "owned" (and I use that word very loosely) by its "members" and "run" by its board of directors.  Even if the "board-only" option is selected, that does not mean there can't be "members" of DFIA.  For example, (if the decision is made), an individual could be a "member" of DFIA simply by "registering" and saying you want to be a member, or a "membership fee" or other obligation could be imposed (like you have to give your email address or attend a meeting to be a member, for example). Some of these decision points would have to be made soon, others later on.

5) Some may get confused about what it means to be a "not-for-profit" corporation.  We are all most familiar with the "charity" or "educational"-type of non-profit.  Those are technically called "tax-exempt" organizations.  In order to be one of those, the organization would have to submit a detailed application to the IRS and ask to be "tax-exempt" under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).  That means "money given" to that type of organization entitles the "giver" to claim a "charitable tax deduction" on their personal income tax returns.  We do not want DFIA to be that type of non-profit, because a 501(c)(3) specifically can not do anything political.

6)  There are many other types of non-profits (neighborhood organizations, clubs, labor unions, social welfare or civic organizations), which, depending on the type, either the money received by the organization is "tax-exempt" or the money spent by the organization is "tax exempt".

7)  If DFIA is incorporated as a non-profit, and it is a "political organization" (as opposed to a social welfare or civic organization or club), and if (and only if) it both "receives" money, and "spends" money, then its tax status will be "ruled" by IRS Section 527.  For the sake of this discussion, the money given to DFIA would not be "tax exempt" (no personal tax deduction for the giver), but the money "spent" by DFIA would be "tax-exempt".  That means DFIA will not pay any income or other taxes to the IRS (provided it strictly does "political" things). 

8)  Going back to "what if" DFIA is incorporated, it could then make application to the IRS for a Federal Tax Identification Number "FEIN" (the functional equivalent of a Social Security Number for a non-individual, such as a corporation).  With an FEIN, DFIA could then open a bank account in its own name.  If DFIA did nothing else, it would have no obligation to file a state or federal tax return, or file any documents with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, or the FEC.  If DFIA received money or raised any money, it may have to file a "informational tax return" with the state and the IRS (but again, not have to pay any taxes provided it only does political things).

9) If at any point DFIA "spends" more than $750 on a state political candidate or issue, then it could be classified as a "State PAC", and then it would have to make a filing with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.  If it doesn't spend any money for (or provide a benefit to a State or local candidate or issue), it would not have any filing obligations.

10)  If at any point DFIA provides any money or anything of benefit to a "federal" candidate, then it would have an obligation to file a Federal campaign finance disclosure form.  Everyone I have spoken to says you don't even want to think about doing this, because once you do, the FEC will keep its eye on you.  Plus the reporting requirements are so intense, that it will cost more to do the filing and maintain the compliance, than you are ever likely to give any candidate.  Chris Warshaw at DFA told me today they have 2 fulltime people there that just do their FEC filings and compliance.

11)  But this does not mean DFIA couldn't "help" federal (or any other) candidates or issues.  The FEC has said "websites" have no "value". Therefore, Blog for Iowa (as DFIA's mouthpiece) could exort its "members" or followers or readers to "support" anybody or anything, with money from their personal wallets, or time volunteering.  That type of action is completely allowed. (thank god for free speech (atleast while we still have it)).

12)  Chris (in her comments below) relayed her concerns about people who "work" for a non-profit, who are then told they must stop their outside political "party activities" once they got hired.  I am not sure exactly what that situation involves, but it may have to do with the political activities prohibitions that truly "charitible" or "educational" organizations can't get involved in.  In the DFIA example, there would be no-such prohibitions (Isn't Jesse Jackson engaged in political activities and also involved with the Rainbow Coalition and his church?).  Chris, I want to assure you, you can be a member of, or on the Board of Directors of DFIA, and continue to be a member of the Polk County Democratic Central Committee, and a member and Chair of any State Party Caucuses.  You could even work as a paid employee of DFIA (if it ever gets large enough to hire employees) and continue your volunteer work for the county or state Democratic Party's (or vice versa).

It has been my intent here to shine some light on several rather complex issues.  I just hope that I didn't muddy up the waters even more. (apologies in advance for spelling, punctuation and gramatical errors)  Jeff. 

P.S.  My telephone call to Mark Naccarto of Democracy for Tennesse was very interesting and enlightening. One important point he made was how enviable of position Democracy for Iowa and Democracy for New Hampshire are in, for being first in the nation, and how all the candidate come to us first and often.  He had many good ideas on how we (as progressives) can capitalize on these facts.

Jeff.

  Iowa Blog Roundup and District Happenings

By Sam Garchik and Other Folks

Denise O'Brien is having a party tonight! The potluck is in Atlantic, Iowa:

Please bring a covered dish, your own table service, drinks and lawn chairs and enjoy an evening of live music and fun!  Meat will be provided.  Camping on the farm will be available for those of you coming from out of town.

Harris/O'Brien Farm
59624 Chicago Rd.
Atlantic, IA
Friday June 30, 2006
6-10pm

DIRECTIONS TO THE FARM:  If you're coming on I-80 from the East or the West take exit 54.  Go 1 1/2 miles south of the interstate and turn left on Chicago Rd.  We are the first house on the left.   If you're coming from Atlantic take highway 173 (the Elk Horn Road) 3 1/2 miles north to Chicago Rd.  Turn right and we are the first house on the left.

Denise also got the EMILY's List endorsement. Information about Denise will be up on their web page soon. You can help her in the meantime by giving her a good car: The O'Brien Campaign for Secretary of Agriculture is looking for a fuel efficient vehicle to drive around Iowa for the next 4 months.  Please get in touch with us if you are interested in donating a vehicle to the campaign.
 
Ed Fallon's not gone yet. He sent out an interesting email. I want to print this in its entirety. I read this on my Feedblitz email, but it came to me from Gavin's Journal:

Dear Friends,

While the recent primary election didn't achieve the victory we'd hoped for, it has had significant political impact statewide. Here's an exchange among Kay Henderson, David Yepsen, Jeneane Beck, Mike Glover and Todd Dorman during the most recent edition of Iowa Press. This should give all of us encouragement to keep building our network of reform-minded Iowans.

One thing you can do is send this e-mail to your own lists, and recommend that others sign up for my weekly electronic updates. And be sure to share with them my promise never to inundate recipients with e-mail or sell my e-mail list. That's a promise I've kept for years, and one I continue to stand by. Thanks!

Ed Fallon

Excerpts from Iowa Press, June 23, 2006

Henderson: "Out of this race, I think I see that there is a potential in Iowa Democratic politics for a populist to be successful. Ed Fallon did incredibly well in that election. He had 38,000 people who turned out. And in a low turnout election, he would have been even more competitive. And I think you can argue that his people would have gone to the polls regardless of the type of election year it was. So I think that what it tells us is that Iowa is sort of right for a candidate, like a Paul Wellstone or maybe the former governor of Minnesota who was a wrestler, that if someone crafts a message in such a way, I think a candidate of that ilk could be successful."

Yepsen: "Jeneane, what about Ed Fallon? What do you think he did right? What did he do wrong? "

Beck: "Well, I think that his message -- I think the CIETC scandal would help an Ed Fallon because he doesn't take PAC money and he -- the time was right for him to look at the scandals that we've had in Washington with the corporate lobbyists and the CIETC scandal here in Iowa. For a candidate like that to come forward and say, 'You know, what, I don't play that game. I'm not influenced by money' -- and that's what he did well across the state and in debates in talking about that. To me that was his best argument."

Yepsen: "Mike, is the reason he did so well that the Democratic left is so very angry just about everything and Fallon became sort of the vessel for that anger?"

Glover: "That's part of it. That's part of it. But one of the things that went into Ed Fallon's relatively strong showing, 26 percent of the vote, was Ed Fallon grew as a candidate throughout the course of that campaign. And that's one of the things that -- one of the great challenges we face is to measure a candidate who is going to grow into the job. As he was in the race for governor, Fallon grew. He got more thoughtful. He got more focused. He got more -- you get better as a candidate. And as a result, he was able to attract that Democratic left that's alienated and angry. He also was able to attract a group of disaffected Republicans who are unhappy with that sort of rightward drift of the Republican Party and looking for somebody to voice their message. He actually can be a key figure in this fall election because the voters who turned out for Ed Fallon are voters that have to show up if Chet Culver is to have a chance for winning this election in the fall. Ed Fallon will be a very important person for Chet Culver come the fall election. And it will be interesting to see how he fits into that whole campaign." [emphasis mine]

Henderson: "One other point about Ed Fallon. I think when he was on the dais with Culver and Blouin at his side in debate situations, he came off looking pretty good because he didn't have consultants who said, 'In answer to this question, you give this answer.' I mean he looked normal. He looked human. There was a question; he actually answered it. So I think he came off in those settings where people were measuring the candidates against one another, I think he came off rather well."

Dorman: "There's a hunger among voters for candidates that seem genuine, and he fit that bill. Like Kay said, a lot of times the other candidates would look, you know, preprogrammed, kind of robotic. And he didn't look that way. He looked like he was answering questions honestly, and I think that built a lot of appeal to him."

And yes, I do read the JCR blog. They pointed me to this article about a new, scary group in Iowa. This is the group that dumped three Republican incumbents this spring. Beware! You may be able to fight them off with facts from Nussle and Flow. It's hard for a pimp out there, aint it, Jimmy?

District 1

Alta Price says:
I found this at DailyKos. It is long, but well worth reading, especially with the upcoming elections. The diarist discusses tactics used by the Republicans, and why the Democrats have trouble countering them. Running against Bush is not enough. Just this discussion is worth the read.

I really like the discussion on Republican "ideology". The basic idea is the conservatives have spent 40 years and millions (billions?) of dollars promoting their ideology of "government is bad" and we need "less government". This is nonsense, of course, but is accepted unthinkingly by the people. We need our own ideology to counter their ideology (the diarist also explains what an ideology is, and why we want to be ideologues!) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/28/22312/3713

If you click on the links towards the end, you get more information about the ideology this diarist suggests, which is "cheap labor conservatives", as opposed to "big government liberals". I think it is pretty good, actually.

   Iowa Blog Roundup (and other things also)

It's been a very hectic week with the convention and all, but I wanted to bring you up to speed on a bunch of different issues and happenings.

Courtesy of The Left Coast of Iowa Blog, I posted Joyce Schulte's response to King's comments on Thomas. I encourage you all to read what she said, as she speaks for all of us.

Also, Chris at Political Forecast is doing a great job of keeping tabs on what's going on in this state. He pointed two things out to me that I want to pass on to you. The Eminem Domain issue keeps popping up, and it has the gov in a bind.

Wait, sorry. That's State 29. 

Seriously, Chris linked to this article in City Pages which tries to sum up all the arguments made by which rich and famous Iowans about eminent domain. I still can't figure out why the Johnson County state reps voted against the bill, which isn't to say I am accusing them of something. It's just to say I'm looking to find out why.  Chris also covered the Iowans for Sensible Priorities bloggers press conference. They had a good showing at the state convention as well, so look for them to get more traction in Iowa.

On the Trail of the Contender

Villsack was written up in the American Prospect, who teases the interview here. I got to hear the old guv talk 3 times in one day at the convention. I don't want to comment any further, and I still don't know if I am going to caucus for him, but $600,000 for Culver buys him some good will in this state.

We are starting to get a lot of event notices. It's hard to keep them all straight, and this is a statewide blog, so I'll mention these, and then encourage you all to check out our calendar:

District 1

Bill Gluba endorsed Braley, saying, "the fundamental principles and positions we share are more numerous than the few issues on which we disagree."  Also, DFQC is planning an Iraq War Forum on Tuesday, June 27. You can join the group and RSVP at DFA-Link.

District 2