March's Meeting 2013

from John:

Monthly Event

WATER & EARTH

Videos, Speakers and Discussion

Come listen to our speakers, watch the videos join the discussion and share your experiences as we discuss Earth Rights, Hydraulic Fracturing, Deep Well Injection, and Keystone Pipeline.

Our Events are FREE and open to the public.

They are Social, Net Working and Educational Events.

Come out, listen, voice your opinion, and join us. The Event will be at 6:00 pm, March 26, 2013 at the American Legion Post #40, 810 S. US 1, Ft.Pierce Fl. 34950

For more information contact:                                       

John Debus 772-349-5328                                                        

Roger Lavigne 772-528-5311                                                       

Web site; tcprogressivealliance.com                                            

email; tcprogressivealliance@gmail.com

DAVID COBB IN FORT PIERCE

We had an enlightening evening with David Cobb of Move to Amend on Thursday, who reviewed American history and the meaning of the constitution, and why, legally, corporations can’t be people. Back in 1789, for a corporation to get a charter, the process was similar to getting a law passed today, and had to be approved by the governor. Legally, the corporation existed to serve the people and was a means to put private money to public good. The typical length of a charter ran from two to no more than twenty years. Today, not one Fortune 500 company would qualify as a corporation under the original definition. Now, legally considered a person, the government serves corporations, rather than the people with whom power constitutionally resides. In essence, corporations have stolen the power of the people and the result is the inequality, poverty and lack of support for the many, in favor of protecting the profits of the few. For more information go to MoveToAmend.org. Journalist Anthony Westbury has also written an excellent article about the effort to amend the constitution to correct the fallacy that corporations are people and that money is free speech.

UPCOMING MEETING REMINDER: MOVE TO AMEND

Wanted to remind everyone that our Event is this Thursday 21 February 2013 at 6:00 pm.

This should be our best Event, with David Cobb speaking, and I am hoping to have a special surprise guest to introduce to everyone, "our future Congresswomen". Yes, we did take West down, now we must focus at our northern area and take Posey down. I really believe we have the person to do it, so come out and meet her.

         I'm expecting a large turn out, and we only have about 30 chairs. I plan on bring a few

extra chairs so we should have enough, however if you have a fold-up chair that you can

easily put in your car to bring, it may come in handy. Water, green tea, and popcorn will be on hand, or you can bring your own snack and drink. So come on out and enjoy a evening with like-minded people and learn what the "Move to Amend" is all about and how important it is for our democracy.

For directions or more information, visit our website at: www.tcprogressivealliance.com

Hope to see Everyone there,

John

Movie Night at the TCPA

from Erika Alvarez

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The Israel Lobby Documentary by  Marige Meerman VPRO Blacklight 2007, gives a glimpse of the amount of information presented in the book “The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy” by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt.

It can be found on YouTube and Free Documentaries.org.  The book is on Amazon as is the CD version for those who don’t  like to read.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

Egypt and Jordan are number 2 and 3 of the top recipients of foreign aid and this money is a reward for good behavior, specifically, their willingness to sign peace treaties with Israel.

Number 1 is Israel, with the figure more than $4.3 billion a year (Wall St. Journal, Sept 19, 1991)

Most recipients of American foreign aid get their money in quarterly installments, but since 1982, Israel is to receive its entire annual appropriation in the first 30 days of the fiscal year.

The US government normally runs budget deficits, transferring the aid all at once. This requires it to borrow the necessary amount of money  up front and costs US taxpayers between $50 and $60 million per year. Moreover, the US government ends up paying Israel additional interest when Israel reinvests the unspent portion in US treasury bills ($660 million in extra interest as of 2004).

From your Treasurer, Erika

TCPA FEBRUARY 2013 NEWS

from John Debus

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Hi Everyone,

We had a great Event last Tuesday, it was our largest turn out so far -- 26 people. We started out a little slow, I forgot to bring the computer to show the movie, but luckily Erika was running late, and she picked it up and saved the the day. The movie, Israel Lobby, was very educational. Although parts were in Dutch and replete with sub-titles, I think we all got the message about the power of the lobby influence and its control of policy in government. I believe the Israel lobby is a lot like the NRA, which doesn’t represent the views of the majority of gun owners, but that of the gun manufacturers. While I'm sure everyone has their views on the movie, the point was about the power of all the lobbies: Israel, NRA, Big Oil, Pharmaceutical, etc., on our government. Erika

We had our elections and the results are:

President; John Debus

Vice President; Roger Lavigne

Treasure; Erika Alvarez

Secretary: Vicki Racine

Communication Person: Kathy Overholt

Next event will be 6:00pm, Thursday, February 21, 2013 at the Clubhouse in The Lakes at the Savannahs, 1800 S. Dovetail Dr. Ft. Pierce, Fl. 34982. Directions are on our web-site, or you can call me any time (772-349-5328).

Our guest speaker will be David Cobb from  Move To Amend. I guarantee he will be one of the best speaker’s you’ll ever hear. Check out the web-site MoveToAmend.org for more information.I will be inviting the Fort Pierce City Council and the mayor. Hopefully some of you will also contact them, or other local representatives. When David Cobb spoke in Stuart the vice-mayor was present who was VERY impressed with him and the issue. This is a very important issue for ALL Americans, across ALL party lines. Hope to see you all there, lets pack the house..We may run out of chairs, so if you have a fold-up chair, please bring it for someone to use if needed.

There is no requirement to join or be a member to attend. We are open to the public, come see what we are about. If you care to join and support us, membership forms are available at the Event. You can join there or send it in. Are Events are social, net-working, and educational. Come out and meet the new members (we had 5 from last Event) and visit with old friends and enjoy an evening with like-minded people.

Your President,

John Debus

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION - A PIECE OF HISTORY

by Greg Wilson

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The notes from the committee that met before the final draft of the constitution can be found at http://nhccs.org/Mnotes.html. James Madison's notes give us a picture of the minds of those who formed the draft of the constitution and in some cases the minds of those who sent them -- the people they represented. For example, from the Friday night discussion of September 14, 1787; Mr. KING, said, “The States will be prejudiced and divided into parties by it. In Philadelphia and New York, it will be referred to the establishment of a Bank, which has been a subject of contention in those Cities. In other places it will be referred to as mercantile monopolies.” 

        Reading Madison's notes is much like hearing the conversations of a committee that writes or rewrites the by-laws of any church's or non profit. The committee will meet, discuss, edit, agree and disagree, and then bring a draft for the congregation or group to vote upon. As members consider the nature of the by-laws, they consider how the church or organization is going to run, the agreements and objections some members might have, models of other by-laws, what is right and not right, and how to structurally protect the organization and its members. The protection is both internal and external. This comparison points to the nature of the constitution as a document of structure; how the country will operate, how the philosophy of representational democracy will be enacted, and how there is built into the very structure protections of the State in relation to the Federal government, protections of the individual from both the State and Federal government, and protections from the different subgroups that make up the whole. 

     One thing that is not in the Constitution are protections for the Earth. Yet they are there indirectly. When as the Declaration of Independence declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, ....... laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” All these unalienable rights require a healthy Earth to be actualized. One day these Rights might be found more directly in the laws of our land in the form of: Every component of the Earth community has three rights: the right to be, the right to habitat, and the right to fulfill its role in the ever-renewing processes of the Earth community. We are on our way but not there yet. I wonder what the formation committee conversation would be like to include these rights in our Constitution? 

       We are particularly interested in Friday September 14^th as it deals with incorporation and who will mange the corporations: the Federal government or the State. We know that in 1819, John Marshall brought the Federal government in to manage contracts and corporations under the federal government's authority. This was a shift, I believe, from the intention of the constitution. Further, it honored a charter signed by King George in the 1750's that went against the people of New Hampshire. I thought King George's rule was one of the reasons for the revolutionary war. A decision by the New Hampshire State legislature was invalidated and the signature of King George once again ruled the people of the USA. This begs the question: Whose side are they on anyway? 

     In addition, the Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 518 (1819), was a landmark decision from the United States Supreme Court dealing with the application of the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution to private corporations. The case arose when the president of Dartmouth College was deposed by its trustees, leading to the New Hampshire legislature attempting to force the college to become a public institution and thereby place the ability to appoint trustees in the hands of the governor. The Supreme Court upheld the sanctity of the original charter of the college, which pre-dated the creation of the State. The decision settled the nature of public versus private charters and resulted in the rise of the American business corporation and the free American enterprise system.

MEETING REMINDER!

This comes from John:

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Hi Everyone,

Our Event this month is on Tuesday, 29 January 2013. We will start at 6:15 pm promptly, so please come early to socialize and network with the new members and people. Our

documentary movies this month is the controversial "Israel Lobby."  Come listen, voice your opinion, and learn where our Middle East polices come from. We will have

drinks, popcorn, and chips available. You are welcome to bring your own and enjoy the movies with like-minded friends.

We will also be having our board election.  If you are a member, please sign in with Roger and pick up a ballot, vote, then return the ballot to him before the end of the movie. If you are not a member and would like to vote, you need to join before our Event starts.

Our new program of "My Opinion" will start at this event. If you wrote a letter for the program, insure you turn in a copy before we start. Include all your information: full name, daytime telephone number, address and signature. It must be less than 300 words and can be read in about 3 minutes. Express yourself, we want to know what's on your mind.

Great News, David Cobb from Move to Amend is back in Florida and will be coming to our Event next month to speak here in Fort Pierce this time. So all of you that missed him in

Stuart back in November will have another opportunity to hear him. However we had to change our Event date to accomodate him. So our Event next month will be Thursday

21 February 2013.

Our Events are open to the public. You do not have to be a member, nor is there any pressure to become a member. Come as many times as you like. However there are applications at our Event, so please see Erika if you care to join and support us.

Well, hope to see all of you Tuesday night,

Your President,

John Debus