Program Videos

As President Obama announces a new plan for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, many questions remain. Will the new strategy plus the augmentation in forces really be enough to reverse several years of worsening conditions? Do the Afghans really want us there? Will political corruption ultimately sink the cause? And what can be done about the terrorist havens in Pakistan?

Our panel includes:

• Wali Ahmadi, U.C. Berkeley Professor of Persian & Afghan literature and Middle Eastern Studies, and a native of Afghanistan
• Maziar Behrooz, San Francisco State University History & Political Science professor
• Sahmsia Razahi, Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Omeid International, a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for orphaned children of the Afghan war
• John Arquilla, professor and director of the Information Operations Center, Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School and advisor to President Bush and the Obama presidential campaign

Part I: Mike Farrah of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and Supervisor John Avalos, chair of the Budget Committee, square off on how the massive shortfall in city revenues for the new fiscal year can be made up.

Part II: While nobody seems to like it much, the unions are split on whether voters should support Prop 1A, the notorious "Budget Stabilization Act" on the May special ballot. Hear Rick Wathen of the California Teachers Association and Alysabeth Alexander of SEIU express their views.

How can progressives push back in a media environment so completely dominated by the mighty mighty megaphones of the Four Sisters and News Corp? Guerrilla Media, that's how! Marriage equality activists Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson, and LeftinSF.com webmaster/editor Sasha Magee give us some pointers.

ALSO: Chicago Max went to the State of the Black Union conference in Feburary, but was more impressed by the state of New Orleans. Here's her report.

Proposition 98 is a disastrous measure placed on the June ballot by the Howard Jarvis Foundation that would end rent control, affordable housing, and most other forms of civic and environmental land-use planning under the guise of eminent domain reform. It would be a disaster for the entire state, not just for renters, but its proponents are counting on voter misinformation and a low-turnout primary election to sneak it through. Guests Stephen Elliott and Dean Preston explain why you should "Vote No on 98 and Yes on 99" here.

Propositions F and G are two competing local measures also on the June ballot, one of which (Prop G) paves the way for extensive redevelopment of the Bayview-Hunters Point area; the other (Prop F) mandates that at least 50% of the housing units constructed by such a project be "affordable." So why can't we all get along? The Bay Guardian's Sarah Phelan, Michael Cohen from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and POWER's Jaron Browne explain the issues at stake.

Attendees at San Francisco for Democracy Federal Action's Presidential Forum appear to have been strongly hankering for change! Our straw poll was won by Dennis Kucinch, in part no doubt because of his call for implementing constitutionally-mandated remedies for Executive Branch criminality (which drew by far the strongest applause of the night), followed by Republican Ron Paul with his strong stance against business-as-usual in Washington. Barack Obama took home the bronze. While a few Meetup regulars were disturbed by campaigns "packing" the house, such is to be expected at an open event like this; at any rate most seemed to agree the evening was overall quite stimulating and thought-provoking.

Official straw poll results:

1. Dennis Kucinich
2. Ron Paul
3. Barack Obama
4. John Edwards
5. Bill Richardson
6. Hillary Clinton / Al Gore

S.F.'s lady D.A. tells us about about the successes of her Back on Track program and a whole lot more.

This excellent independently-produced film, created by Jeff Barrie, is something everybody ought to see. Rarely has the connection between our daily energy use and its devastating environmental consequences been so vividly illustrated. But of course, Barrie's documentary illustrates much more than just the cost of doing nothing.

Distributed by Democracy for America.

Is the US more secure under the Bush administration's "get tough" philosophy? Most of us believe this administration's foreign policy decisions, from the Iraq war to the way we have dealt with North Korea and Iran, have made the US and the world less secure, not more. But to what degree is this shortsightedness limited to the Bush administration? What should be done differently? What are the real threats to our national security, and what should we, as progressives, recommend as alternative policy?

Panelists:

* John Arquilla, professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School and SF Chronicle columnist;

* Nichola Torbett, National Organizer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives;

* Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco; Foreign Policy and Middle East expert

discuss the dangers America faces in the world (terrorism, nuclear proliferation, regional instability, genocide....) and what a smarter response to them might be. Whether you're interested in replacing the current tough-but-stupid policies with tough-and-smart ones, or whether you're just wondering how progressives can earn the support of "national security voters," you won't want to miss this conversation.

20% of California's population has no health insurance at all, even though most are employed. Millions more are grossly underinsured, or have had to make major sacrifices in quality of life to afford health care. Why? Because of a health care system that values profits over people.

This is a problem that should have been addressed decades ago. Recent public outrage has resulted in politicians coming forth with a number of competing plans that claim to "fix" the system, yet most do virtually nothing to alleviate the carnage caused by insurers' risk avoidance schemes. By contrast, Sheila Kuehl's SB-840 offered a truly comprehensive cure for our health care malaise. It passed both houses of the legislature in 2006, only to be vetoed by an action hero.

These videos feature California OneCare spokesman Andrew McGuire describing the grassroots strategy for keeping Kuehl's bill in play, and for eventually getting it passed. The second video is the official OneCare promotional video, after which Andrew answers some of our questions.

CC Campbell-Rock is the executive director of the nonprofit Survivors for Survivors, Inc. and currently resides in the Bayview. A veteran journalist, New Orleans native, and Katrina activist, CC enlightens us as to the true state of "recovery" in the City that Bush Forgot and promotes the Corpwatch monograph, Big Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast.

Run time 12 min.

What should the United States be doing with respect to Iraq? How can we extricate ourselves from the disaster without causing the deaths of even more people? What can a citizen or small group do to help our leaders contrive and execute an intelligent policy?

Panelists:

• Zaid Albanna (expatriate Iraqi; Board of Directors, Education for Peace in Iraq Center): "Most Iraqis want to keep Iraq as a whole."

• Dan Bernal (District Director for Representative Nancy Pelosi): "Just in the months of May and June there have been more than 6000 Iraqis killed."

• John Arquilla (Professor of Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School; counterterror expert; SF Chronicle columnist): "I think the most important thing we can all do . . . is to insist that the level of the debate be raised."

Run time 76 min.

P.S. We extend our profound apologies to Zaid and Professor Arquilla for trying to shock them to death with our sound system.

Panelists:

• Joren Lyons, Staff Attorney, Asian Law Caucus. Gives a brief history of immigration law including the two controversial new bills, and what's wrong with them.

• Chris Punongbayan, Advocacy Director, Filipinos for Affirmative Action and Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. Gives basic facts on current immigration, and an overview of issues facing immigrants themselves.

• Evelyn Sanchez, Organizer, Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride Coalition. Covers the issue from a Labor perspective.

• Mark Goodwin, Director, California Coalition for Fair Trade and Human Rights. Highlights the global background on immigration issues.

Run time 82 min.