Progressive Update--01/20/2006

DC Road Trip—Local activist and doctor Philip Pollner is helping to organize a bus trip TOMORROW to DC to talk with two US Representatives. They plan to meet with Rep. Castle in a last attempt to convince him of the necessity to vote against the budget cuts on Wednesday. They also plan to meet with Rep. Conyers to support his legislation for universal health insurance and new legislation for an affordable Medicare prescription plan for seniors. If you wish additional information on this please call Dr. Pollner ASAP at the following numbers: [removed for privacy reasons, contact me directly if you need it].

AfterShock Showing—The documentary AfterShock (www.aftershockthemovie.com ) will be shown on Sunday at noon at the Newark Unitarian church (www.uufn.org ). It covers the protests that accompanied W’s 2^nd inauguration 12 months ago. Please join us.

State of the DisUnion—The only way I can watch W speak is with kindred spirits (or with a barf bag). Consider hosting or attending a ‘Watch Party’ tomorrow night to watch the State of the Union speech with other progressives. Go to http://www.dnc.org/a/2006/01/watching_the_st.php to sign up.

Stem Cell Research—(Prepare for Paul’s ranting)—This month the Delaware House of Representatives showed that they have no backbone. Senate Bill 80 was the most reasonable and ethical bill you could imagine, carefully setting out guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research, to ensure that Delaware could be one of the leaders in this promising medical fields, with potential to find cures for such awful illnesses as Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis. The guidelines forbid embryos from being sold, and requires that only those embryos developed in fertility clinics, which would otherwise be destroyed could be used. Makes sense, right? It passed the Delaware Senate in June 14 to 7. Enter a lobbying group called a Rose and a Prayer which distributed roses to our Representatives, who apparently felt that it would be bad PR to vote in favor of a bill that helps our children and grandchildren. Clearly the Hare Krishnas missed out passing flowers to passengers at airports—to change minds they should have passed out roses in Dover! The House Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 80 was approved 38 to 0, and so Democrats were as guilty as Republicans of caving to the lobbyists’ intimidation.

If you are as fed up as I, let your Representative know that they must represent Delaware better than their abysmal behavior this month if they would like to get your vote this fall. I believe that there is an opportunity when the House and Senate work on a compromise bill for the Representatives to step up and do the right thing here, and support ethical medical research to help cure diseases, and ensure that Delaware does not lose jobs in this industry to neighboring states New Jersey and Maryland who have approved such ethical standards.

Delaware Democrats—To keep up on news with the Delaware Democratic Party, including how they plan to gain six House seats (and the majority) in this November’s election, go to www.deldems.org regularly. By the way, they are now asking committee members to share what it means to be a Delaware Democrat. My first answer is to put ethical science, and our grandchildren’s future ahead of roses.

Delaware Progressives—Joe Rupert has a new website with a strongly progressive and national focus. You can find it at http://home.comcast.net/~jlarupert/ .

Progressive Democrats of Delaware—Their site is http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/ . They host monthly meetings, and also put candidates through an endorsement process to identify which Democrats are progressive (no DINOs for us, Democrats In Name Only).

Progressive Line—Ernie Lehman has a wonderful site at http://www.theprogressiveline.com/.

Blog—All of my postings are at paulprogressive.blogspot.com I will get this posted sometime this week.

Progressive Update--01/03/2006--Quick Update

Newark Home Depot—The Newark City Planning Commission is holding a public meeting tonight at 7:30 to discuss a change to the zoning of the land behind Fulton Paper in the Suburban Plaza shopping center, to permit a Home Depot. True Value in the Park n Shop center has a petition to sign if you are opposed to this change. Otherwise, show up tonite!

Progressive Democrats of Delaware—This group will be meeting on Wednesday night at 7PM at the DE Dems HQ in New Castle. Lt. Governor John Carney will be speaking, and after this there will be a 2006 Election Volunteer Training Program, to explore how we can prepare to be more effective with our time and talents in 2006. For more info, contact Rebecca at createrhy@aol.com

Stem Cell Research—Delaware Senate Bill 80 bans human cloning but promotes the ethical research that utilizes human embryonic stem cells. This type of bill has been defeated in the past in Delaware due to extensive lobbying by representatives of the Catholic Church. The only way to get this bill turned into law is to contact your representatives and newspapers by the January 12^th hearing date. Let me know if you would like to testify before the Delaware Senate on the 12^th. It won’t take much effort to be heard on this topic, and your voice can truly tip the balance!

AfterShock Movie—There is a free screening of documentary AfterShock which covers the protests that accompanied Bush’s second inauguration earlier this year. It will likely be held at the Newark Unitarian church (www.uufn.org) on (SuperBowl) Sunday 2/5/2006 at noon. Go to http://www.aftershockthemovie.com/ for more information.

January 11^th Forum—Due to scheduling conflicts, the forum initially planned for January 11^th has been postponed until February. At the forum we hope to see area state-level elected officials including legislators.

Paul Baumbach