Check out what's happening with our working groups:
Action: On May 10, the Action Work Group put on an educational and humorous play in St. James Park, describing what really happened 126 years ago in the Southern Pacific Railroad case that launched the concept of corporate personhood.
On June 14, Flag Day, we are participating in a national week of action to support a 28th constitutional amendment by handing out flyers and asking people to sign our pledge at Diridon station.
Education: The Education Work Group held our second ever House Party at the end of May, and has developed a Q & A sheet that will be soon appear on the website under the Education tab.
MTA National was very excited to learn about our local IRATE project which summarizes Supreme Court cases. The name stands for a new approach to legal analysis that is appropriate for our cause: Issue, Rule, Application, Transformation, Effect. The idea is so compelling that it has caught the attention of the National organization and they are looking forward to using our work.
Outreach: Last month the Outreach Work Group conducted a day of canvassing in Willow Glen and held our first ever outreach at the San Jose Flea Market.
In June, Outreach will be working with Resolutions to get pledge cards signed in Campbell, and will be participating in the District 5 United event at Prusch Park towards the end of June (see Wanna Date?).
Communication: This inaugural newsletter is a production of the Communication work group, with content input from all the other groups. Look for much more in future editions over the coming months.
The group has also been hard at work on the web site, adding many more interesting items each week. Check us out at http://scc-mta.org.
Finally, the group had a real coup with an op-ed column authored by Kerri Hamilton and Elaine Brown in the May 8th edition of the San Jose Mercury News.
Resolutions: We are actively organizing residents of five cities in Santa Clara County to encourage their city councils to pass resolutions of support for Move to Amend.
Residents of these cities, please contact us (resolutions@scc-mta.org), and lend your support: Campbell, Milpitas, Palo Alto, Los Altos, and San Jose. And keep watching this space: We'll be coming to other cities soon!
Process: In May we collected $608.86 for the SCC MTA Treasury, leaving $969.58 on hand.
Veronica Palmer agreed to be the co-facilitator of the Process Work Group.
We are busy planning a cultural proficiency training focused on diversifying the participation in SCC MTA.
(PLEASE COME JOIN US. ALL ARE WELCOME!) June 2 : Campbell Community Canvass, Training starts at 10 am at the Campbell
Library, 77 Harrison Ave, Campbell, and we will be canvassing from 11:30-
2:30, then meet back up at Orchard Valley Coffee 349 E. Campbell Ave,
Campbell.
June 3 :Sign making for the National Day of Action, Willow Glen Library, 1157
Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, 4:00 -- 6:00 pm
June 4:SCC MTA General Meeting, Casa Vicky in the house next to the restaurant,
Julian & 17th Street. 6 pm (food), 7 pm (meeting).
June 4: Process Work Group meeting, 6:00 pm over dinner at Casa Vickys.
June 9,: Campbell Community Canvass. See June 2 listing for details.
June 11: Please attend the cultural proficiency training to be given by Dr. Amando Cablas at 6
PM (food) 7 PM (program) at Casa Vicky's house next to the restaurant.
June 14:National Day of Action, Diridon Train Station, 430- 7:30 pm
June 16: Campbell Community Canvass. See June 2 listing for details
June 18: Education Work Group Meeting ( tentative, check with Education for details)
June 23: Campbell Community Canvass. See June 2 listing for details
June 23: Training for signature-gathering, Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 East Meadow, Palo Alto, 9:30-11:00 am
End of June: Outreach at Prusch Park ( check with Outreach for details)
June 26: Campbell Community Canvass. See June 2 listing for details
July 27-29: Regional MTA training in Oakland; register
at http://movetoamend.org/events/oakland-ca-move-amend-nor-cal-regional-convergence.
Hear Ye Hear Ye
We are changing! Our new general meeting format adds an educational component and allots more time for input and feedback.
We will start off with a 12 minute presentation of Thom Hartmann's interview with Jeff Clement, who is the author of the book Corporations are Not People. (If you have not yet read the book, you definitely should consider adding it your reading list).
Following the video, we will discuss it in small groups and report our conclusions to the meeting. We are also going to discuss the creation of a formal statement of our group's goals and need everyone's input about the direction we should be taking. So be sure to come and join us at our next General Meeting on June 4, in the house next door to Casa Vicky's!
S.O.S.
Education needs people to clip 1 minute excerpts from video or audio files, or 1 sentence excerpts from written documents that shows MTA's message in a clear and concise manner. These clips will be combined into a single presentation. Each excerpt clipped may require an hour. Please contact Pablo at pablo@ghenis.com.
Outreach needs graphic artist(s) to create a poster board graphic showing the flow of money into politics as a result of the Citizens United case granting corporations first amendment rights. It is estimated that it should take 3-4 hours of time. Please contact Elaine Brown cdnbirch@aol.com, or 408 265 8061.
Process needs volunteers to make reminder calls for the June 11 training. Please contact richhobbs@msn.com or 408-460-2999.
Communication needs writers with web skills to help, among other things, produce this newsletter often to keep our community up to date with what is happening with the Move to Amend movement. Please contact communication@scc-mta.org.
I AM IRATE!
Here is a sample case covered in our IRATE project:
Adkins v. Children's Hospital of District of Columbia, 261 U.S. 525 (1923)
In Adkins the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal minimum wage legislation for women and children was an unconstitutional infringement of the corporate and individual liberty of contract as protected by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Effect: Fixing minimum wages for Washington D.C. women from $9 to $16.50 per week is unconstitutional. Female and corporate persons are free to contract for higher or lower wages.
