The primary is coming! The primary is coming! It’s time to get serious about who we want to succeed Lynn Woolsey. There are only a little more than 3 months until the Primary election and, it’s time Norman Solomon became a household name in WACCOville (District 2).
I know Norman because we both lived in Inverness. I’ve read one of his books, many articles, and listened to his radio program on KWMR and, recently, I was a producer of his cable-access television show, “Making a Difference in Marin” (available OnDemand at www.CMCM.tv ) Our own Barry Chertov was once a guest on the show! (See interview here)
Norman is a progressive Democrat with a demonstrative commitment to the ending war, ending corporate governance, refusing corporation campaign donations, protecting the environment and stresses these issues: Jobs & Economy, Green jobs, Public Education, Environment, Peace and Security, and Liberty and Justice.
In my conversations with Norman both before and after he declared his candidacy, he has remained resolute and faithful to his strong progressive beliefs. He greets me with a hug instead of the wooden handshake of a mechanized politician and pays more attention to how I’m doing than his overwhelming work of running for Congress.
I’m 350 miles away from Marin right now but will be back for the primary and have switched from Green for this election in order to vote for Norman. I hope that, if you’re considering voting for one of the many other candidates, you would consider changing your mind in order to close the gap behind Huffman, who is already accepting corporate money and is holding to the “party-line”. Norman is very close behind in the polls.
It would be wonderful if WACCO could be the venue to heat up this campaign even more and bring the percentages closer before the election on June 5th. It would be ideal if Norman wins! Any suggestions WACCOvian’s?
Candidates:
Susan Adams
Banafsheh Akhlaghi
Andy Caffrey
William Courtney
Jared Huffman
Stacey Lawson
Tiffany Renée
Norman Solomon
Dan Roberts
Regional delegates of the California Democratic Party met in January 2011 but did not endorse a nominee as no candidate received 50 per cent of the vote. Huffman received 48 per cent, Solomon 37 per cent, Adams 12 per cent and Lawson one percent.
https://www.solomonforcongress.com
Monday, January 24, 2011
About Norman Solomon
Author • Policy Researcher • Public-Interest Advocate • Political Activist
Co-chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for the North Bay
Healthcare Not Warfare national campaign co-chair, along with Congressman John Conyers and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association
Former member of the national advisory board for Progressive Democrats of America
Author of a dozen books on media, political discourse and public policy, including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death”
Elected as an Obama delegate from Sonoma and Marin counties to the 2008 Democratic National Convention
Now in third term as an elected delegate from the North Bay to the California Democratic Party’s state central committee
Co-founder of the media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
Received the first Alex Forman Peace Award from the Marin County Democratic Party
Recent keynote speaker at the Marin ACLU annual dinner, the North Bay Labor Council COPE annual dinner, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s 2010 “Honoring Local Doves” event
Organized and went on three missions to Baghdad prior to the invasion of Iraq -- including one led by Congressman Nick Rahall and former U.S. Senator James Abourezk -- seeking alternatives to war
One of the lone voices on national television against invading Iraq before the start of the Iraq war in early 2003, appearing on CNN and other major TV networks more than a dozen times to argue for diplomacy instead of a U.S. attack
Organized and went on fact-finding trip to Afghanistan in 2009
The New York Times Magazine has called him “a leading progressive activist.” The Los Angeles Times has called him “a formidable thinker and activist.”
Recipient of numerous awards including the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, and the Annual Ruben Salazar Journalism Award
From 1997 to 2010, as founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, oversaw policy research and liaison with thousands of experts on global warming, foreign policy, labor rights, “welfare reform,” economic equity, lax enforcement of federal regulations, civil liberties and a wide range of other topics related to federal, state and local government policies nationwide.
Norman Solomon’s book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” was published in 2005. The Los Angeles Times called the book “brutally persuasive” and “a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come.” The Humanist magazine described the book as “a definitive historical text” and “an indispensable record of the real relationships among government authorities and media outlets.”
A full-length film documentary (narrated by Sean Penn) based on the “War Made Easy” book was released in 2007.
Solomon's book “Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You” (co-authored with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich) was published in 2003 by Context Books before the Iraq invasion. “Target Iraq” has also been published in German, Italian, Hungarian, Brazilian and South Korean editions.
In the introduction to the 1999 book “The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media,” Jonathan Kozol wrote: “The tradition of Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, and I.F. Stone does not get much attention these days in the mainstream press ... but that tradition is alive and well in this collection of courageously irreverent columns on the media by Norman Solomon. ... He fights the good fight without fear of consequence. He courts no favors. He writes responsibly and is meticulous on details, but he does not choke on false civility.”
One of Solomon’s other books is the 1982 classic (co-authored with Harvey Wasserman) “Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience With Atomic Radiation.”
Solomon has appeared as a guest on many TV outlets including the PBS “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” “Democracy Now” and KQED Television’s “This Week in Northern California.” His op-ed articles have appeared in a range of newspapers including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, New York Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun. His articles have also appeared overseas in many outlets including the International Herald Tribune.
A tenacious critic of media bias, Solomon wrote the weekly syndicated column “Media Beat” from 1992 to 2009.
Solomon co-authored “Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media,” published in 1990. A review in the Washington Post concluded that the book “makes a worthy addition to the library of any student of American news media, social structure and political science.” Kirkus Reviews said that the book provides “an extensive record of recent media distortions.” Publishers Weekly said that Solomon and co-author Martin A. Lee “make a compelling case for the contention that newsmen and women distort current events.” The San Francisco Chronicle reviewer wrote: “Their command of information is matched by committed, eloquent writing that plumbs the psychological and political complexities of mass-mediated experience.” Utne Reader called the book “an essential text.” USA Today columnist Barbara Reynolds described it as “a thinking person’s book.”
Fundraising event hosted by Colleen Rose and Dale Sorensen
Sun. March 4th : 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Novato
Concert to Benefit Norman Solomon for Congress in Point Reyes Station
Fri. March 9th : 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Point Reyes Station
San Rafael House Party hosted by Anna Rogers and Dan Monte
Sat. March 10th : 6:59 PM - 8:59 PM
San Rafael