FEBRUARY MEETING ANNOUNCMENT

 from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

A reminder of our event this Tuesday evening, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, February 25, 2014

at the American Legion Post #40, 810 S. US 1, Fort Pierce, Fl. 34950. Please use

the front entrance (on US 1) and it is the large room on the right side as you come in

the front door. Plenty of parking is on the side of the building. We have water and

Green Tea (free) available or you can purchase drinks from the bar in the next room.

This month we will be showing the documentary movie "Project Censored." This asks the 

question: "Does BIG MEDIA Corporations exercise too much control over U.S. Media?

Are you fed "Junk Food News"?. Where can we find Independent News Sources?

Come watch, listen, add your opinion, tell us where you get your NEWS/INFORMATION

from. A truly FREE and independent media is essential for democratic self-government.

What can we do to get better media in our area?

The action table at our event is set up for group's information, sign-up sheets, upcoming

events, and petitions. All groups will also have 1-3 minutes at the beginning to tell us

about themselves. You can also contact Kathy or myself to have your events posted

on our web-site happenings page. Check often for up to date HAPPENINGS.

Rally at the Library across from the Farmers Market at 10:00am to 12:00pm on

1 March 2014 for Workers Rights & Income Equalization.

Our quarterly picnic is tentatively scheduled for 30 March 2014 at 11:00 am to 2:00pm

at Museum Point, South Causeway Park in Fort Pierce. Bring something to eat

(sandwich) for yourself, something to drink, you can bring a dish to share, or just come

and have a drink with us (as always we will have drinks available). More information

will be coming on this. 

Move To Amend  has officially came out AGAINST the "Government of the People"

bill that is in congress. Their reasoning is 1. It's a "distraction"; people will start to believe

the problem of money in Politics is solved. 2. It puts more money into the Political system.

and 3. It does NOT address money as free speech and Corporations as People (with

rights), the root problems.  

Please come out, we need your support to make a difference, be part of the experience.

We also would like your feed-back on our Events and Organization. So feel free to

respond to this e-mail. CHECK OUT OUR WEB-SITE;  tcprogressivealliance.com

Check often as many events are posted late with little notice. We post as soon as we

get them. 

KEEP FRACKING OUT OF FLORIDA

from Spence Guerin

U.S. EPA PUBLIC HEARING: KEEP THE FRACK OUTTA FLORIDA WATER

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014, 4:00PM-8:30PM Golden Gate Community Center Auditorium

4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples, FL  34116

contact:  STONECRAB ALLIANCE @ FACEBOOK or dwyerka@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/events/660833463978584/

NOTE: CARPOOL FROM ORLANDO to Naples will be announced soon.

 The EPA Hearing is scheduled for MARCH 11. SAVE THE DATE! 4:00-8:30PM. We need you and all of Florida to join us to create critical mass; how many show up will determine what the EPA does. Save our water and our Everglades from dirty drilling. To speak or submit comments, email Mcmanus.Fred@epa.gov

Oil drilling is more than an environmental issue. It is a human rights issue. Extreme extraction violates the most basic of all human rights – access to clean water and clean air. The drilling we’re trying to stop is only 1000 feet from homes in the Big Cypress Swamp watershed, a critical recharge area in the western Everglades. Each well is permitted to use 5 million gallons of water per month. Unlike agricultural water, the drilling water cannot be recycled or reused; it is toxic and must be injected into the boulder zone. Given the worldwide water scarcity and annual water restrictions in South Florida, it is criminal to permit the oil industry to destroy so much fresh water. Imagine thousands of wells on this 115,000-acre parcel, and even more, since Collier Resources just leased another 350,000 acres of mineral rights for seismic testing. Just as the pumping of aquifers in Florida has dried up natural springs, and in Texas, entire cities, so too, the oil industry’s pumping of our aquifer threatens to dry up nearby wells and wetlands, including the Fakahatchee, Picayune, and Corkscrew.

       This new type of drilling that includes acid fracking could easily destroy the entire 30-year, 13-billion dollar Everglades Restoration Project. Drilling is thus a major threat to our water: our drinking water, beaches, estuaries, rivers, wetlands, Gulf, Everglades, Florida Bay, and Keys—all of which are vital to our economy, wildlife, and to the people who call Florida home. Florida is still suffering from the worst oil disaster on record.  We know that accidents happen. Over time, pipes leak. Injected fluids, surface. And, as the BP disaster shows, even cement casings fail. Because it only takes one incident to taint or even ruin a community’s aquifer, drilling is not in the public interest. Our water and our Everglades are far more valuable than even a major oil play. They're our life-blood, fueling everything from agriculture to our multi-billion dollar tourist industry. The Everglades is also a national treasure, on par with the Grand Canyon. Extreme extraction isn’t safe. Not here. Not anywhere. Ask Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. Now is the time to preserve our air and our water that keeps us alive. Now is the time to create a sustainable future.

    So join us, March 11, in Naples and bring as many people as you can. This is an URGENT REQUEST. The federal EPA is flying in for a hearing that could decide the fate of Florida water and open the door to Everglades drilling. We need to act fast and get big. It’s time to show just how strong and far reaching opposition is to Everglades oil drilling. We need you at the hearing to say “NO” to the injection well. March 11. Clean water not dirty drilling. See you in Naples! 

LET PATRICK MURPHY KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

from MoveOn.Org

New voter identification requirements. Fewer polling places. Long waits to cast your ballot. These are just a few of the steps states around the country have taken to keep women, the elderly, and people of color from casting their ballot, which could have a profound impact on the 2014 and 2016 elections.

  But MoveOn members are fighting back: two weeks ago, we launched the Defend the Vote campaign. Since then, thousands of MoveOn members have signed petitions and made phone calls asking our representatives to co-sponsor and improve the Voting Rights Amendment Act—the critical, bipartisan legislation that would restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act and help voters in upcoming elections. And it's working. Thanks to MoveOn members' and our allies' campaigning, the bill is steadily gaining co-sponsors. But too many members of Congress, including Representative Patrick Murphy, haven't signed on yet. That's why this week, when members of Congress are home for a recess, MoveOn members around the country are visiting their offices to ask that they get behind this critical piece of legislation. Will you drop by Rep. Murphy office on Thursday, February 20 to deliver a strong message of support for voting rights?

Rep. Murphy's offices are located at:

2000 PGA Boulevard

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33408

121 SW Port Street Boulevard

Port St. Lucie, FL 34984

171 SW Flagler Avenue

Stuart, FL 34994

2300 Virginia Avenue

Fort Pierce, FL 34982

Last week we flooded representatives' offices with calls—and they took notice. Now, with members of Congress back home, we have a chance to turn up the pressure. With constituent after constituent showing up at his office on Thursday, Rep. Murphy will have no choice but to hear our message: Sign on to co-sponsor the Voting Rights Amendment Act and stand up for voting rights! Dropping by your representative's office is easy: All you have to do is go there and tell the person at the front desk that you want to make sure that Rep. Murphy knows how important voting rights are to his constituents.

Once you sign up, we'll follow up with more information and make sure you have everything you need to make your drop-by a success, including materials to bring with you and drop off. Can we count on you to take time out of your day on Thursday to drop by Rep. Murphy's office and ask him to co-sponsor the Voting Rights Amendment Act?

Yes, I'll stand up for voting rights on Thursday, February 20.

Thanks for all you do.

SECRETIVE TRAD AGREEMENT NEEDS OVERSIGHT

from Felicia Bruce

Letter  to the Editor, Thursday, February 13, 2014: 

Secretive Trade Agreement Needs Congressional Oversight

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership, also known as the TPP, is a proposed agreement between the United States and 12 multinational corporations doing business in the Pacific Rim. For five years, 600 corporate trade advisers and industry trade associations have had unfiltered access to the working texts. But every word has been kept secret from the public. 

      Now Congress is faced with a choice: Fast track the trade agreement, which would limit debate and exclude amendments, or refuse to fast track it, thus allowing public scrutiny and Congress’ constitutional oversight of foreign trade.

     Twenty years after all the promises of the North American Free Trade Agreement have been broken, we have seen how bad these deals can be for the American worker and economy. 

      This trade agreement has been described as NAFTA on steroids. Among its travesties: It may swap democracy for corporate rule by relinquishing our right to regulate within our own borders and it would subordinate U.S. law to the decisions of a global business tribunal. It would also create special protections and remove any remaining global barriers for “too big to fail” banks, potentially making the activities of some community banks illegal. 

     The net effect would also be to encourage U.S. companies to offshore more American jobs and lower wages. 

     As if all that was not enough bad news, it would also exempt foreign companies from environmental regulations and affect consumer protections for food safety. Leaked terms further reveal provisions for encouraging fracking and drilling and allowing corporations to sue governments that “inhibit” profits. 

     Luckily, two of our own elected officials, congressmen Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy, are opposed to fast-tracking this deal and favor bringing its details into the light of day. They need to know you support them and oppose the TPP.

CLIMATE CHANGE PROTEST

from Ted Parsons

On February 20th we will having a very important Press Conference, rally and visit to Senator Marco Rubio's office on PGA Blvd, in Palm Beach Gardens at 12:30 pm.  You would have to be living under a rock not to have noticed that our weather patterns across the country and around the world are changing. Record cold, snow, heat and rain is becoming the norm both here and abroad.

Extreme changes in weather patterns have been directly linked to changes in carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere and across the country and world our citizens, corporations, farmers and legislators are beginning to realize that we must do something to stop this trend.

 Here in Florida, one of the most vulnerable states when it comes to the effects of seal level rise and heat due to climate change, we have a Senator who is a Climate Denier!  We must speak out against climate deniers like Senator Rubio loudly and expose them to the voters of this state.

We will be joined by representatives of the faith, science, clean energy, public health and public safety sectors along with residents of the district who have already been affected by the effects of climate change. It's time to act!  Please lend your support, bring a sign and sign up to attend below and pass this along.

  

https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/climatechangeactionevent/gs8mtv

BOCA CONCERT FEATURES: ANNE FEENEY

from Ted Parsons

Saturday, February 15, 7 p.m. “HELL RAISER” ANNE FEENEY: LIVE IN CONCERT TOGETHER WITH PINKSLIP AND RAGING GRANNIES

     Pittsburgh-based Anne Feeney performs music she says is designed to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  Not many women have chosen to walk the path of Woody Guthrie, but Feeney has made a career of it for the past 35 years.

     Feeney’s bottomless song-bag draws on Irish, bluegrass, traditional, labor, pop, folk and contemporary material. She’s as likely to sing a traditional song or an obscure gem by one of her many friends on the singer/songwriter circuit as she is one of her own award-winning songs. Feeney’s anthem Have You Been to Jail for Justice?  is featured on Peter, Paul and Mary’s CD In These Times, and also on Carry it On, their 5-CD boxed set. That song was also featured in Get Up/Stand Up: the History of Pop and Protest, a documentary featuring the greatest protest songs of all time, which aired nationally on PBS, as well as world-wide.

     While Feeney may prefer the excitement of rallies and demonstrations, many of her fans prefer a pepper-spray free environment to listen to the songs and stories that make up her sometimes caustic, often hilarious, always inspiring show.

 Opening for Anne Feeney will be PinkSlip, Palm Beach County's go-to progressive band. Joan and Bill have sung on sidewalks and picket lines against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, unfair labor practices and animal cruelty and  for immigration reform,  the League of Women Voters, ACLU, and Martin Luther King Day events.

Tickets $15-$25  No one turned away for lack of funds.

For advance tickets, mail check made out to "PEACE ACTION EDUCATION FUND” to Frank Shulman, 544 Village Drive, Pompano Beach 33060.

Your tickets will be held at the door.

For further information contact Frank Shulman

at 954-942-0394 or franknnick@gmail.com

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton, 2601 St. Andrews Boulevard, Boca Raton

Tables are available to nonprofit activist groups to promote their objectives (free with no sales), and to commercial groups at reasonable rates.  Contact Jim Elder, 561-379-3634, jmelder@bellsouth.net.

WAR vs HUMAN NEEDS South Florida is a grassroots activist group functioning primarily in Palm Beach and Broward Counties which promotes devoting resources for human needs and full employment via a progressive tax policy and substantially reducing militarism.

CLEAN WATER RALLY

sponsored by the Sierra Club

There will be chartered buses leaving from 6 points throughout the state (none from the Treasure Coast). For those in Orlando, Gainesville, and Tampa-St. Pete, visit the website to book a seat.

THE COUNTRY IS BROKEN

from Greg Wilson

What has finally occurred to me as one of the main differences between me and someone who writes: 'saving our beloved country and keep our freedom', is, that I believe/recognize our country is broken.  I do not want to save our country in its present form (corruption, war-based economy, destruction of the earth, and oppression of workers, women, LGBT, and anyone outside the successful investor class). Due to corporate personhood, the bill of rights protects the corporate person with the most money. I am living in another complete story------ our country is broken and our economic system is shutting down earth's life-support system. I guess the other story is, don't say these things; defend our country. Any other economic system is socialism. To speak of sustainability and earth rights somehow makes me an enemy, and not someone who is simply struggling to make this country and this land a better place for the people who live here.

Gregory

JANUARY 2014 MEETING RECAP

from John Debus, 

Hi  Everyone,

      I’m a little late with the feedback on our last event as I’m doing a little traveling. So I am reporting from Chile on our past event and will send this out as soon as I find internet access. It was a great turn out with a lot of good information from our attendees on community events and happenings. Many are involved and try to keep us educated/informed with local and national issues. The movie was also very informative, with a great discussion that followed. We had our annual election with the following results:    
       President- John Debus     

       Vice president- Richard Silvestri                  

       Secretary- William McNeely Jr.

       Treasurer- Erika Alvarez    

       Communications Director - Kathy Overholt      

       Move to Amend Liaison -  Vicki Racine        

       Conservation & Environmental Specialist - William McNeely Jr.           

          

        We would like to thank those whom have served on our last board and welcome the new members to our board with great appreciation for their future time and efforts to help TCPA grow and make our community and world a better place. This will be my last year as president; it is time to find new blood and leadership to elevate the Progressive Movement to the next level here on the Treasure Coast.

      We introduced our NEW brochure/flyers at the event. They are BEAUTIFUL, a real work of art. Kathy and Erika provided most of the information and Vicki did all the work putting it together and printing them, a truly professional job. Come out and grab a few to pass out to friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, etc. and help us grow. I guarantee you will be proud of them.

        Our next event will be on Tuesday 25 February 2014. It will focus on our ‘media.’ We will be showing the documentary movie “Project Censored” and have a lot of information and discussions on alternative sources of media. Come find out where to get independent news/information sources and how to save MONEY on your TV programming. Bring your knowledge and information to our discussion.

We have decided to have quarterly picnics for more socializing. 

          Our next picnic will be (tentatively) Sunday 30 March 2014. More information will be coming out on this, check our happenings page on our web-site for all the up to date events. We also want to have weekly coffees in each of our cities. Stuart and Vero Beach already have theirs. We like to get ones started in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce. Maybe at the farmers market in Fort Pierce on Saturday would be great. Anyone interested or wants more information can contact me any time after 11 February 2014.

          Well, have to get back to my vacation. Hope to see you all at one of the events. 

          Take care, John