Category: Events

Martha Sullivan will present an update on the battle to stop Sea World’s inhumane practices against cetaceans.

Sarah Boot (@SarahRBoot) and Carole Kim (@carolkimd6) will talk on their recent experiences running for City Council.

Discussing victories, battle scars and continuing the fight for a more progressive San Diego.

These are very important discussions about issue that go to the very heart of progressivism in San Diego. We need to look very hard at how we are doing things and what we could do differently to get better results.

These are women who have been on the FRONT LINE and are going to tell us all about it!!!

Do not miss this presentation!!! It is eye-opening. It is important.

We have a new venue and we have the meeting room from 6:15pm. We encourage you to get there early.

Please order some food/drinks for ~$10/person as the proceeds cover the cost of the venue for the evening.

Please share details about this information and invite your friends!!!

See you soon!!! Bring your friends!!!

Martha Sullivan will talk about the sad 45th Anniversary of the capture of the longest-held orca in captivity, Corky, in British Columbia on December 11th. Corky has been at SeaWorld San Diego for the last 25 years, and has earned her retirement to a sea pen sanctuary. When ABC News did a feature on the worldwide campaign to free Corky in 1993, the reporter said that Keiko, the orca in the hit movie, Free Willy, trapped in a tiny tank in Mexico City, could never be released to the wild. But he WAS, and he was able to live for several years in the wild after a rehabilitation process that returned him to his home waters of Iceland with a team of dedicated caregivers monitoring him. So it CAN be done! The National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD, has stopped performances by, and breeding of, its captive dolphins and is actively developing the concept of a sea pen sanctuary to retire them to — and has invited other captive facilities to join it in so doing. SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. needs to step up.

Martha and Women Occupy San Diego have launched an online petition calling upon Mayor Faulconer to proclaim December “Corky Orca Retirement Month”: 

They are also organizing a demonstration at SeaWorld San Diego on Saturday, December 6th, 10a-1p, to call for retirement of performing whales and dolphins there, starting with Corky — she has earned it!

On Tuesday, December 9th, the online petition signatures will be presented at the San Diego City Council meeting.

Slides from the meeting – Agenda, Martha’s Presentation, notices and minutes of the last meeting (PDF).

Sign the petition.

The disastrous 5 – 4 Supreme Court decision, Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, on June 30, centered on upholding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 as related to the beliefs of the “sincerely” religious family owners of such for-profit corporations as Hobby Lobby and Conestoga.

Was this ruling really about religious freedom or was the real issue at stake about sex—and women’s right to have sex as freely as men?

In this presentation, you will learn about

• the SCOTUS ruling
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s scathing dissent
• FDA-approved forms of contraception
• the definition of “abortifacients”
• a proposed re-voting of Senators Patty Murray’s and Mark Udall’s “Not My Boss’s Business” Act

Anne Hoiberg, of the Women’s Museum of San Diego, presents an important discussion of this recent controversial ruling.

The Convention Center Expansion & the Tourism Marketing District

In the last few years some of San Diego’s most precious civic assets – the proceeds of tax collections, land leases and control of Balboa Park – have been turned over to the well to do/well connected by our elected officials.

A number of those decisions were legally questionable yet promoted and approved by our civic leaders.  Later court decision have overturned some of those decisions.  Others are still being challenged in court.

There are troubling questions raised by the actions of our elected officials:

• Who runs San Diego?
• Who is Looking Out for the San Diego Taxpayer?
• How are these Decisions Made?

Our presenters in this 2 part series, who have unique, well-informed perspectives, will try to answer these questions.

CORY BRIGGS – Mr. Briggs practices law in Public-Interest and Government-Accountability Litigation.  He has been involved in several lawsuits against the City, among them the lawsuit that recently resulted in the declaration that Convention Center Expansion Financing District violated the California Constitution and the City Charter.

He currently represents San Diegans for Open Government in their suit against the Tourism Marketing District.

Agenda for the meeting is available here (PDF).

Slides from the meeting are available here (PDF).

We will be voting on the amendments to the bylaws we discussed at the last meeting, and a new secretary.

Please remember that we committed to phone banking for Carol Kim from 5pm to 7pm before the meeting. Carol has been very generous in allowing us to use her office for our meeting. It would be nice if we showed up and supported her!!!

Eva Posner, Frank Gormlie and Doug Porter discuss how the local media control public discussions, and how we’re fighting back.

Linda Perine outlines the plans for a series of articles by the Democratic Woman’s Club published in the San Diego Free Press on Who Runs San Diego?

Where
Carol Kim’s HQ

Please join us for our monthly meeting of progressive, populist women committed to spreading the good news of Democratic Party principles throughout San Diego County.

Special Presentation: “We walked. We Lost. What Now?”

A discussion of what our key constituencies are saying by their much lamented failure to vote. Suggestions of more efficient, less expensive ways to reach our core voters.

Requested Endorsement: Medical Marijuana Initiatives in La Mesa and Encinitas.

Please join us for a scintillating evening of politics, passion and populism!