Here are few issues:

• Thoughts of many—if not majority—of Americans and their support of issues defy concept of human rights, social justice and fairness to all, Americans and beyond.  Progressives, read ‘A look At The Year 2009’ and join the dialog.
• Health care reform bill has not been passed yet.
• Financial Reform regulating Banking, Insurance, and other financial industries has been diluted to the point of no reform, at best reform on the fringes.  There is no bill yet.
• Ambivalence of Americans on Energy issues still lingers.
• Unemployment is high.  “Shovel ready” initiatives are still slow.  Small business loan is tangled up with financial reform quagmire.
• Human Rights to all Americans are still denied.
• More Americans support war in Afghanistan.
• Powerful bankers, insurance companies, oil companies, and the like have formed unofficial cartels and are challenging the people’s wishes.

The issues are as grim as it was in 2009 and during Bush era as well.

The Public Option is as elusive as ever, most likely it will not be in the final version.  The health insurance companies may still be out of reach of SEC.  Senate does not want Anti-trust Law provisions extended to the health insurance companies.  Senator Max Baucus took six months to try for Republican participation in Health reform, which eventually produced no Republican participation.  And the President, the majority leader, and the Democratic caucus looked on, but Baucus was not asked to stop trying even after six weeks!

Real Financial Reform regulating Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions has evaporated because all—okay, almost all— the members of the Congress are beneficiaries of these financial institutions.  When the bill will come out of the reconciliation, if the current trend continues, there could be reform only at the fringes, cosmetic that is.  The financial institutions will remain as big as ever.  The cliché will remain the same: they are too big to let them fail; otherwise they will bring the country down!  In the meantime, the banks are doing everything other than what they are supposed to do—LOANING money to small businesses and the public.  Homeowners were hoodwinked, in the first place, to take a loan they cannot pay (I am not absolving the homeowners of there responsibility, but it is much more than that) and then they are not being helped with a reasonable way out.

There is enough reason to start a Public (Federal) Bank network.  And a Public Health Insurance company network.

Energy situation still remain the same.  We, the drivers, conserve only marginally—we do not slow down, we do not do planned, consolidated driving, and we are still after bigger cars and trucks! Progressives, read ‘A look At The Year 2009’ and join the dialog.

Human rights to Homosexuals and other groups are still denied.  Imposition of one’s values over others is still acceptable.

War will not keep us safe.  Peace in Middle East might take the lifeblood out of the Jihadi movement and terrorist activities, and create a favorable attitude towards America and Americans, which might make us safer.

Our expectation from President Obama is real change, not on the fringes.

.

• On November 3, 2009, another gay rights issue (aka human rights issue) lost another referendum in the country, in Maine, for the thirty-first (31^st) time.  New York and New Jersey made the setback number 32 and 33.
• On November 7, 2009, thirty-nine (39) blue dog (“dogs”) Democrats voted against the health reform bill because of their opposition to the public option provision.
• It is reported that another twenty (20) “dogs”, who are opposed to both public option and abortion, would have voted against the same bill—defeating it— had it not been for an earlier passage of an all-encompassing anti-abortion amendment.
• Beyond the Health Reform noise, silently but surely, Financial Reform has already been watered down .
• Threat of terrorist activities has not diminished.   Country is in favor of expanding the war In Afghanistan.
• Fox cable channel—commentaries/opinions presented as news—continues to be the most watched cable news channel.

What are the significance of all these?  Here is one view.

1. The country as a whole is not there yet to embrace a progressive position in human equality, dignity, and rights.  The progressive position is gaining ground, ever so slowly.  It is a slow, painfully slow,  process.
2. Members of the Congress are reluctant to proceed with regulating Banking, Insurance and Pharmaceutical industries.  Most of the members are beneficieries from these industries.  And there is no public outcry!  They are not even asking how much profit is good profit for big corporations.
3. Members of the Congress and the President are reluctant to make hard political decisions to curb terrorist activities.
4. If the constituencies of the “dogs” are added to the constituencies held by the Republicans, the conservatives have a clear majority of the congressional constituencies in the country. The voting on health care reform bill indicates a total count of fifty-nine (59) “dogs” as opposed to an earlier count of fifty-seven (57).
5. These  “dogs” have often said that if they vote for a bill that contains public option, their re-election will be endangered.  They are afraid!  That is the extent of their dedication to public good.  Their vote then would be against the health insurance companies, and, by extrapolation, for “socialism”!  Most likely they would vote for other progressive issues too.  Nevertheless this means the same thing as in #2: If the constituencies of the “dogs” are added to the constituencies held by the Republicans, the conservatives have a clear majority of the congressional constituencies in the country.

To some, the above conclusions may seem somewhat far-fetched, but these are not far from the realities that exist in the nation now.  Is there any lesson in all these for the progressives, let alone Democrats?

Lesson One: While we are reacting to the symptoms like health care reform, energy, Afghanistan war, global-warming, human rights issues and the like, progressives should not ignore emphasis on fundamentals.

Lesson Two: Whether we like it or not, many—most likely, a majority—are unwilling to review their ideas, views or belief systems.  Call it inertia, conservatism, or whatever you like it exists more or less in all of us.  And some do need to take a hard look and question about things that affects our lives, collectively speaking:

• Profit vs. Greed
• Corporate greed is anti-national as compared to personal greed.
• Free enterprise vs. monopoly.
• Monopoly and cartel of monopolists.
• Think yourself vs. allow others to think for you
• Life is not a multiple choice
• National interest vs. personal interest
• The essentials of American life — electric energy, water, gasoline, and health care.
• How much profit is good profit?
• Is it ethical and moral to profit on American health?
• Is it ethical to profit on American essentials?
• The inter-dependency, not just inter-connectivity, of employment (jobs), energy, education, environment, and health care.
• Patriotism and ultra-nationalism.
• Extra-Electoral tactics to overthrow elected bodies is anti-democratic.
• Does novel means good?
• Can convenience be like the apple in Eden?
• Reluctance to ask for source of media assertions (information)
• Reluctance or Inability to correlate things
• Reluctance to review their ideas, views or belief systems
• What is socialism?

Progressives can help to shake off this inertia.

Lesson Three: Accept the reality that exists in the country, and work from there to make the country a real progressive democratic one.  We are not there yet!  Work with people we have, not the people we could have had.  Progressives need simultaneous action both on symptoms and on fundamentals.  A sustained education for life is the key.  Entrenched ideas, be it from culture, tradition or sustained corporate propaganda, are hard to eradicate.  Ideas that originate from one’s value system are even harder to change.  Nevertheless, it is a slow process.  Yet, it has to be undertaken.  The old cliché: you have to start sometime!  And sustain.  For progressives, the time is now.

All these are entrenched ideas through generations— cultural, traditional and ideas acquired from sustained corporate propaganda over the decades.  Ideas that originate from one’s value system are even harder to change.  These hard to eradicate ideas are against humanity, human rights and are plainly contradictory to the point of irrationality. Examples are all over the world—world population is being tormented by religious intolerance, which is really a human right issue as intolerance of personal belief of someone else; civil rights act in USA has not eradicated racism; not so long ago, women were burnt as witches; in some cultures, human sacrifices were practiced routinely; women are still subjugated today in many cultures; and greed has been proclaimed and accepted as a natural instinct by some religious groups and conveniently promoted by corporate culture as well!  These practices and ideas have changed—or are changing—for the better in some areas, unfortunately too slowly. .  We wish the change could be faster.  Nevertheless, we cannot leave it for spontaneity.

Progressives need to work relentlessly to address this issue, not just the offshoots of this issue. This is not just an idea—or yet another idea—, it is about progress of civilization—the advancement of human dignity, human right and social justice. Progressives cannot shy away from the task.

Read below about our counter demonstration to the ‘tea party’. And pictures.

Peace Garden efforts enter a new phase too.  As the cooler temperatures set in, planting for winter garden will start soon.  Planning for summer garden is getting full attention among our garden enthusiasts headed by Cathy Sellers.   Ron is busy with his tractor and other heavy equipments.

Peace Garden report and pictures appears below the counter demonstration report.

We have a sample slide show page. Check it out, please.  If you like the format, we will continue to have photos of our activities in this format on a regular basis.

We will discontinue our Home Page sections on ‘Weekly Activities’ and ‘Special Events’.  Most of our Forum family members prefer to gather these information from our e-mails.  However, special events will be announced in this monthly ‘bulletin’.   Weekly regular activities are now listed under ‘About Us’ page.

You can leave your comments without any prior registration.  However, you will have to leave your name and e-mail.  The last step is to prevent frivolous spam-like comments from you-know-who-s.

Dear Friends:

This is an appeal to Forum Family members with a big preamble.  This is also a letter of explanation that we believe we owe to our Forum Family members.

Last Saturday members of the Ramon Forum demonstrated on the Streets of Ramona to counter the local Tea Party demonstration that was frankly racist, and anti Obama.

We called ourselves the “Mad Hatters Tea Party” and our strategy was to display signs that would expose the ridiculous consequences of abolishing everything that the Tea baggers described as socialism.  We facetiously condemned such institutions as:

•       UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

•       VETERANS’ HEALTH CARE

•       MEDICARE

•       MEDICAID

•       AID TO VERY POOR FAMILIES

•       FIRE SERVICE

•       SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

•       FHA

•       POLICE

•       NATIONAL GUARD

•       MILITARY

•       FOREIGN SERVICE.

While we possessed an abundance of enthusiasm and dedication, our posters were somewhat lacking in coordination and planning, and to some of our supporters we even conveyed the mistaken impression that we were “selling out” and to few others that we were even a right wing fringe of the tea baggers themselves.  Nothing of course could be further from the truth—we just put on a satirical demonstration designed to show how far out the right has gone.  We used signs that parroted the extreme ideas, like ‘Close the Socialist VA’ and ‘End Medicare’.

Please be advised that we have not capitulated to the fear mongering right.

Although our message should have been more carefully thought out, we did capture the attention of passers bye— we cannot know how effective we were in the end, but we did try and we were there standing our ground—and that was no mean feat considering we were only 8 (10 at the peak) against a crowd of about 200.

Some of our memberships think that satire is not the best approach when dealing with important subjects like the health care, and this may be true.  However, had we stood there with our standard signs we would have been seen only by those that were looking for us—the choir of liberals in town.  As we faced a large disparity in numbers we needed novel and innovative ideas to get through to those who are just attracted to some catchy slogans without putting any thoughts to them—it is a situation that we encounter on many other occasions.

We see each of these demonstrations as one learning experience too and we assure you that our next action will be well coordinated.  We did learn that satire is a very difficult media with which to convey a serious message.

The appeal

Having said all of these, we would like to make an internal point of our own.  Good ideas need lots of input, and for that we need you participating as much as you can.  Please come and be part of the change we are attempting to make in Ramona.

This letter was composed by Dave, Ron and dutta.  We received a number of e-mails about the counter demonstration on September 12.  There was some confusion.  So, we thought we should have a pow-wow among ourselves.

THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT ON OUR COUNTER DEMONSTRATION ON SEPTEMBER 12

Today the Ramona Forum stood across the street in an attempt to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Tea Party gang.  There were about 200 Tea Party folks and 8 of us.  We called our demonstration the Mad Hatters Tea Party and Ron Selkovitch wore the fun hat.

Most of our signs were facetious, end socialism, end VA, close the library, close the police station, end Medicare, government option health care is socialist plot…..etc.

One lady yelled out the window “Why you want to close the library?”  I answered, “Because it’s a socialist program”, and she responded, oh yea, that’s right!  Generally I think people weren’t reading the signs, just thinking that we were with the larger group across the street.  The cops did look surprised when I pulled out the close the police stations, and one kid asked me who would fight crime if we did closed the police stations?  I told him to ask the nuts across the street!

We had one lady stop by to sign our petition to end socialism.  It was a pledge to end welfare, medical, emergency room use by the uninsured and illegal aliens, Medicare, social security, VA, police library and many more including CalTrans.  She declared that she couldn’t sign it, and we told her we wouldn’t either!  Needless to say, we didn’t have a single signer!

We did encounter a couple of people that knew what we were up to, but generally the passers by honked and we waved our close the VA and library signs gleefully.  I was having blast, but my friend Dutta thought we were wasting our time.

[Editor's note: dutta thought that our satirical message was getting lost, misinterpreted, or wasted.  Since then we received communications that indicated a mixed reception—some were elated, some were skeptical—which prompted the letter above.]

About that time a heckler from the other side started yelling that she was not Obama’s slave and a bunch of other crazy stuff about being responsible.  I kept yelling to hell with the poor, and close the VA, but to no avail.  So I pulled out my big guns, a giant sign that declared “MY GUNS, MY GOD, MY TAXES”, which brought a big cheer from across the street.  Later while I was being interviewed by the local paper, some guy came over and asked me what the difference was between the White House and the Wild Animal Park?  His answer was a racist slur, of course, so I asked if he was one of those racist people that hate Obama because he’s black?  He of course denied that and declared that he would have voted for Condoliza Rice or Colin Powell had they run.  After asking why he would vote for known liars, he left.  I think the journalist took a few notes.

Generally we had a blast and turned a few people away from the tea party idea with our message.  Bit by bit we will marginalize these nuts, as they should be.

Now, an outsider’s look at our demonstration from East County Magazine

HEALTH CARE REFORM AND BEYOND

We promoted all our causes, especially Health Care Reform, through our booth in Ramona Fair 2009.

Ramona Forum is currently actively promoting a Health Care Reform that contains a Public Option, especially for uninsured and underinsured Americans. Ideally, we would like to have a Single Payer System similar to what exist in different forms in Canada, Sweden, U.K., and several other industrialized countries, although they are much less affluent compared to United States. However, even a Public Option has become a struggle.

Falsehoods

Ramona Forum is appalled about things people believe, which are blatant lies—commentaries presented as facts—that are easily refuted from factual documents or video records. It is worse than what were going around during last general election. A few examples are in order:

· The draft House bill on health care promotes euthanasia.

· The Bill removes all private insurance companies, and incorporates and installs only the public option.

The House bills are far from perfect, but that is not the issue. The Senate bills are worse. The issue here is that anybody can check the document, as large as they may be, and find out about the false claims a group of people are making.

Our Dave Patterson has written a letter to Ramona Sentinel. We publish the letter on our member essay page.  link

[The following is a commentary by dutta; you are encouraged to participate.]

Baffling

That brings another baffling issue. It seems a group of people are deliberately promoting falsehoods and, unfortunately, a good number of Americans are willing to believe them, without any kind of verification. Whatever happened to the Reagan doctrine that was proposed during cold war about Soviet Russia: ”Trust but verify”? On the other hand, what we, the progressives, are saying are not getting any foothold; it is the same when we are pointing out the falsehoods. Of course, without the vast cash flow from the health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and big broadcasting networks, the progressives have a comparatively feeble voice. Yet, it seems some group of people want to believe something, rather than inquire about them. The country is most likely conservative, but that should not promote blind following, ugliness in political discourse, or denying the constitutional rights of others. And choking of other voices as it is going around the country now. As the President said, “We need to talk to each other, not talk over each other.”  Another political factor is complicating the health care issue — the rightist political agenda of somehow embarrassing or defeating President Obama that they could not do at the general election in 2008.  

Hypothesis

Some say it is the brain that makes us entrenched in our position. Is it? Human Brain is a dynamic entity, not a static one. It changes with the experiences it encounters through our senses.

Or, is it the generational brainwash carried out—by choice—by some groups of people with power and money? Nobody is born liberal or conservative, they get there! There is no gene for being liberal or conservative! Nobody is born with bigotry and prejudice. Yet they become parts of belief system of some through perpetual promotions through generations—Generational Bigotry and Prejudice. Nobody is born with an attitude of ignorance rather growing up begins with newer and newer learning from experiences. The doctrine that being gullible and impressionable is human nature is not acceptable.

Or is it the a priori definitism of religious faith, which is also generational?

What killed the curiosity or the inquiring mind?

It may take generations to reverse the process.

Ramona Forum is involved with a number of issues, namely:

•Health Care •Peace Garden  •The War
•Energy • Environment  •Economy
•Human Rights Issues •Employment

We are actively pursuing the following:

Health Care,  Peace Garden,  Anti-War,  and Sexual Orientation issues.

Contact us

PEACE GARDEN

PEACE GARDEN that is what we named our Forum garden. It is really a very peaceful place surrounded by tall majestic eucalyptus trees, pines, and some shade trees with few chairs and benches scattered around. Whether alone or with Forum friends, we can sit here for hours looking at the rugged beauty of the place (Ron’s), and what we have created this year, musing about the experience we have gained this year of the place for a more successful garden from next year. Under the shade we hold our once a month work and fun party. The sunset is something to hang around for. Here are some pictures of the garden and one gathering.

the squash looked good (but animals got this one)

tomato bushes (no ripe one yet!)

this one Dave’s favorite patch: the corns, including native American corns

this one is Cathy’s favorite

Dave is always excited about spaghetti squash

Our garden-side get-togethers are getting Forum members favorite outings.  We do have good times, but we also discuss serious matters.  Health Care Reform was the topic for the July gathering.  Reynaldo spoke about the latest situation and addressed members concerns.  This was a lively discussion.  We were also visited by reporters from East County Newspapers.  Besides, we enjoyed some good foods (this is Armida’s passion!) and good company.  Here are some pictures from the July garden-side gathering.

Reynaldo speaking

Ron did not let us forget the real solution; unfortunately, the politics has pushed the measure backwards.

Sam is making point, about something!

the shadow is relaxing!

now, the food;  but that won’t stop Keith making his point!

Tetsuo joined us after few weeks.  Evelyn in the background.

intent listener, oblivious to food too!

Peace Garden is a big success. We all had a sense of accomplishment. We all enjoy the fruits of our labor, which we could have had more had we learned earlier to contain the animals better. Although we enjoyed the vegetables we produced, the squirrels, raccoons and rabbits enjoyed more than we did!

An earlier report of few weeks ago

Recently Forum members have been very active in publishing in The Sentinel. June 25, 2009 issue carried the commentary by Dante and June 18 issue carried the commentary by Dave Patterson, both on Healthcare Reform. The June 11 issue published a commentary by Ron. In case you missed those commentaries, we are publishing, on our website, all the three commentaries, along with a letter sent by a Forum member to Rep. Hunter. Click on the link for Postings: Members’ Essays section of the Posts. Please send your comments to our website and/or to the Sentinel.

I kept this report on so that you can compare our present day garden activity to that of few months ago.

Ramona Forum has made a big step forward towards our Peace Gardens. The garden has not only grown in size, it has become a focal point of our activities with enthusiastic participants. Members love to hang around the Garden!

We had a very pleasant work-and-Fun session on Saturday June 27, 2009. We are working on a report with the latest pictures of the Peace Garden, which will be posted in few days. In the mean time check out the old Report on Peace Garden.

We also had successful demonstration against War in Iraq and Afghanistan and a responsible resolution of the two wars for a just Peace. Forum members braved the rain and cold on the first Sunday (March 15). We also held a candle light vigil on the sixth anniversary of Iraq war (March 19) in remembrance of American and Iraqi dead, wounded and still recovering of their wounds.

Demonstration to Investigate Bush Administration:

Members of the Ramona Forum demonstrated this week to raise awareness towards the need for Investigating Bush Administration for their various extra-constitutional activities like torture, spying on Americans, signing statements to circumvent the law, falsifying intellligence report, lying to Americans to lead them into war and others, crimes against humanity and the planet, and war crimes. There were colorful posters. In fact the interest was so high on this Sunday’s (8 March) emphasis that a number of members gathered at Ron’s place on Friday before to work on the posters.

Ramona forum is in the process of making plans for the year 2009, namely the garden, one-theme-a-week Sunday demonstrations, partcipation in Farmers Market and organize a discussion group. Click on the Report.

RAMONA FORUM GARDEN IS NOW A REALITY! Here is a REPORT prepared by our President David Patterson.

President Obama has already taken steps to end the war in Iraq—one of our major issues—responsibly. We are very pleased for his Presidential Order to stop the Bush practice of torture and to close the GITMO. Order of his priorities—economy, energy, education, and healthcare—coincides with ours.

Yet, clouds of uncertainty are in the horizon—talks of military victory in Afghanistan, backing out from direct engagements with “adversaries” and condoning of violation of international laws and norms of “allies”, to mention a few. Checkout an interesting website, www.politifact.com. The site is not free from its bias, yet the table on the top right hand corner is interesting. It will also be interesting to watch how the effects of over reaching to non-progressives will work. It seems it is not working in Congress—both in the House and in the Senate. In coming months and years, we will watch his steps and will voice our support and concerns as well.

We trust President Obama. The election of Barack Obama as our President has made the Ramona Forum Family extremely happy. Issues and philosophies—social and political—that concern us, that are dear to us resonate with those of President Barack Obama.
Right now, we WILL HOPE AND BE VIGILANT.

Website updates as of June 20, 2009: (more updates are coming soon)

Peace Garden by Forum members: Both the reports—initial and second report—are under Reports: Peace Garden

New Member Essay by Ron Selkovitch on Small Flag and a response by Steve Bisbikis

New items in Members’ experiences from Dante

Now in Archives:Picture of Repeal Prop 8 demonstration on March 8 on the eve of California Supreme Court Hearing, Holiday Party, Season’s Greetings, Election (Victory) Party Report, ‘No on 8′ report, Forum Debate Watching Party

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”

– Thomas Jefferson

“Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance.”
– Indira Gandhi, 1966