DFA Radio  

Please join us for another engaging and informative show tonight on DFA Radio. Scheduled guests are:

• DFA-List candidates for Louisiana State House, Deborah Langhoff and Angelique LaCour. Deborah and Angelique braved the aftermath of Katrina and are fighting to rebuild their communities. We'll talk with them about Louisiana two years after the FEMA failure, and their campaigns.
• Larry Holmes of the Troops Out Now Coalition. TONC has organized a march on Washington for September 29th, as part of a two-month antiwar 'surge' to stop the war "at home and abroad".
• Madelyn Hoffman, Director of NJ Peace Action, a 50-year-old organization dedicated to peace and justice.

As always, we'll take calls from the DFA community. Tune in to hear your fellow DFA members, or call in & let us know what's on your mind.

If you missed last week's program, you can still listen to it before tonight's show here at BlogTalkRadio.

DFA Radio
Every Tuesday @ 9-10pm Eastern, 6-7pm Pacific
Listen to live or recorded programs at: blogtalkradio.com/dfa
Call-in number during live shows: (646) 716-8150

Disclaimer: DFA Radio is a people-powered program, run by DFA members for DFA members. Opinions of guests or callers do not necessarily represent the views of DFA Radio or Democracy for America. DFA Radio is not sponsored by or affiliated with Democracy for America, Burlington, VT. DFA logo used with permission.

About our guests:

Deborah Langhoff for Louisiana State House, District 94
Deborah Langhoff lost her house, her business, and her community to flooding when the levees broke. But she didn't despair; Deborah attended the DFA Training Academy in Baton Rouge this past June, and now she's running for state office. She says it best: "Civic activism drives our recovery from the Katrina Disaster."

Angelique LaCour for Louisiana State House, District 77
Angelique LaCour is running a true grassroots campaign, getting her friends and family involved, reaching out to her community, and working to rebuild the infrastructure of her state. Hurricane Katrina flooded her business in New Orleans, but didn't slow her down. Now she's determined to win a Democratic seat in her district, a Republican stronghold. "We know we are the party of the people," she says. "The party that's going to raise our quality of life."

Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition
The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) is a national grassroots coalition of antiwar activists, trade unionists, solidarity activists and community organizers. TONC activists first assembled in New York City for a December 3, 2004 National Strategy Meeting and issued a call for a day of protest on March 19, the second anniversary of the beginning of the war. As we enter a new phase of the antiwar struggle, TONC believes that the only force that will stop the war is a militant, multinational, grassroots movement.

Madelyn Hoffman, Director, NJ Peace Action
NJ Peace Action is the New Jersey affiliate of Peace Action, the nation's largest grass roots organization. Peace Action was founded as SANE (later to become SANE/Freeze) in 1957. Its goals are: abolish nuclear war, promote a more peaceful economy, bring an end to weapons trafficking, encourage non-military solutions to international conflicts, and promote conflict resolution at all levels. NJ Peace Action has always been one of the most active groups in the National Peace Action Network.

About DFA Radio:

Robin Kinlin, Co-Host, DFA Radio
Robin is the chair of the Berkeley Township Municipal Committee and the president of the Bayville Chapter of the Berkeley Township Democratic Club. She currently serves on the Executive Board of New Jersey for Democracy and as organizer of Ocean County DFA/PDA. Robin lives in Ocean County, NJ, with her husband and teenage daughter. Her background in radio includes several years at Shadow & Metro Traffic in New York City.

Lewis Miller, Co-Host, DFA-Radio
Lewis is a founder of Bergen Grassroots. He currently serves on the Executive Board of New Jersey for Democracy. Lewis lives with his wife in Bergen County, NJ. The front of his DFA membership card says he is member number is 16570, and the back is autographed by Howard Dean.

• Giancarlo D'Orazio from Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. Giancarlo will discuss the Take a Stand and the Iraq Summer campaigns.
• Candace Bowie and Annette Osterlund from Democracy for Colorado. Candance and Annette, the authors of Think Precinct: The Grassroots Organizing Guide for a Progressive America, will discuss organizing to increase voter turnout.

As always, we'll take calls from the DFA community. Tune in to hear your fellow DFA members, or call in & let us know what's on your mind.

If you missed last week's program, which focused on Paths to Progressive Power, you can still listen to it before tonight's show, in the show archives.

Click on Read more for more information on this week's guests & hosts.

"We thought it was very important to create this interactive forum for DFA members," says Lewis. "Since nobody else seemed to be doing it, we decided to take the first step and put a show together. There were a few glitches in the first show, but overall, I think it worked out pretty well and we're looking forward to the next one."

The topic for Tuesday night's show was "Health Care in America". Sandra Verthein of Northside DFA was the featured guest for the night, and talked about the Health Care Forum she organized in Chicago on the night before the Yearly KOS convention. Sandra mentioned that DFA helped with organizing the forum, and in addition, "what was so great is that DFA has been collecting these [Health Care horror] stories online, and they actually had 700 stories from Illinois." Those stories were presented by members of Democracy for Illinois during visits to the offices of Senators Durbin and Obama, and the staff members "stressed repeatedly" how crucial those stories were. DFA members who would like help in organizing a local Health Care for America forum and follow-up congressional visit are encouraged to contact Ilya Sheyman, DFA's community organizer. At your request, DFA will attempt to contact an individual with a personal health care story and find out if he or she is available for your congressional meeting. One more piece of advice from Sandra: Ask your legislators to see Michael Moore's SiCKO documentary.

In the follow-up segment, host Robin Kinlin talked about planning grassroots events and several listeners called in.

Calls into the live program included:

• Jessica Falker, an organizer with DemocracyFest, who reminded listeners about the DemocracyFest Vermont House Party coming up this weekend (August 18th).
• George Hunt from Progressive Democracy South Jersey, who spoke about a Health Care Forum being held on September 10 at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
• Terry, who mentioned nationalnurse.org as an important group that organizers may want to include in their coalitions.

Visit DFA-Link for a list of scheduled Health Care for America forums and congressional meetings. Events are currently scheduled in August and September.

Links from August 14th show:

• Chicago DFA Health Care Forum: 700 Stories by Sandra Verthein
• Submit your personal Health Care Horror Stories to DFA
• YouTube SiCKO page: A collection of video horror stories
• DemocracyFest Vermont House Party on Saturday, August 18th
• Health Care for America forums and congressional meetings on DFA-Link
• Schedule your own Health Care Forum and get Health Care Horror Stories submitted to DFA

DFA Radio
Every Tuesday @ 9-10pm Eastern, 6-7pm Pacific
Listen to live or recorded programs at: democracyforamerica.com/radio
Call-in number during live shows: (646) 716-8150

Disclaimer: DFA Radio is a people-powered program, and is not sponsored by or affiliated with Democracy for America, Burlington, VT.