Click to see preamble.

   

 
MAY 6, 2018

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
 

HOUR 1

Universal Charitable Credit WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
  with Dan Johnson  
HOUR 2 Free Speech, NOT Political Correctness Can Stop Radical Islam WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
  with Soraya Deen, Clarion Project  
 
"Universal Charitable Credit"
with Dan Johnson
Previous appearances: AUG 11, 2013  DEC 1, 2013

DANIEL JOHNSON, 24, is the founder of 3 national nonprofit organizations. At age 18, he founded People Against the NDAA (PANDA), which became one of the largest civil liberties organizations in America, and passed laws protecting the right to trial by jury in 7 cities and counties. After PANDA, he founded the Solutions Institute, the first nonpartisan activist training center in the United States. Together with his board of over 30 of the top activists in the US, he brought local, national and international media attention to dozens of protests and rallies, and helped over 70 organizations enact, defeat, and raise awareness about various public policies in the first year.

We the People already provide most of our public services, however, government gets most of our resources. Instead of directly taking on government and policies, Dan Johnson is now the Executive Director of We Do Better, an organization dedicated to allowing the people to direct our money to the organizations that provide better public services than the government, and highlighting those organizations that achieve that standard. Dan also presided over We Do Better Relief, which, along with the BstrongGlobalBetter coalition, delivered over 4 million pounds of disaster relief to the hurricane stricken Caribbean in 2017.

About Us

Public services of acceptable quality are not available to all Americans who need them. There are at least two ways of providing most of them. Invariably, one is better than another, providing better services to more people for each dollar spent. People do better when we use, promote and even expand those means that do better. And it turns out that those means all have one thing in common. We.

 

State of California Becomes First State to Introduce We Do Better's UCC

Only three months into the new year and We Do Better has already taken a giant leap in the advancement of its signature legislation, the Universal Charitable Credit (UCC).

On February 16, 2018, California State Senator Mike Morrell (R) introduced SB1485, which marked the first time in We Do Better’s short history that its legislation was sponsored at any level of government. (The Senate Governance and Finance Committee hearing is on May 9, 2018 at 10am)

“We are thrilled to be able to provide communities across the state of California with the opportunity to improve their public services by directing more resources to organizations that provide the best services,” We Do Better Executive Director Dan Johnson said of the California UCC.

If enacted, the California UCC would allow taxpayers in the state to send a portion of their tax dollars (up to $500 for both individual and married filers) to the qualifying charitable organizations (QCOs) of their choice. These taxpayers would, in turn, receive a dollar-for-dollar reduction on their state income-tax bill.

Also in California: Thank you San Diego!

Promoting the We Do Better model on both sides of the aisle, We Do Better Executive Director Dan Johnson spoke to the San Diego Federation of Republican Women at the beginning of April. We were well received, with great hospitality and support. Several of the women in attendance came up to us afterward and expressed that they "never knew these problems could be addressed outside of government."

We are changing minds, and hearts, one presentation at a time.

Dan will be speaking in California again on May 19th-22nd, 2018. Details will be in the May newsletter.

Read more: http://wedobetter.org/california-first-state-introduce-we-do-better-legislation/


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WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

HOUR 2"Free Speech, NOT Political Correctness Can Stop Radical Islam"

with Soraya Deen, Clarion Project Advisory Board member, founder of the Muslim

                                     Women Speakers Movement, and an international activist


http://www.sorayadeen.com/      WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

“There are two ways to tell your story. Stand up and tell it or wait for someone else to do it.” – Soraya

Soraya Deen is the founder of the Muslim Women Speakers Movement, and Co-founder of Peacemoms (Promoting Christian Muslim /Dialogue). She is a spiritual activist, lawyer, certified Nonviolent Parent Educator and author of the book PEACE MATTERS – Raising Peace Conscious children. Her vision is to create 10,000 VOICES OF HOPE. She brings together Muslim Women and women of all faiths empowering them to resolve conflict, and be effective communicators, social activists and say “YES” to civic engagement.

Soraya is a FELLOW of the Omnia Institute of Contextual Leadership, working extensively internationally to empower women to Counter Violent Extremism. She calls on her community to rethink some CENTRAL concepts of the Islamic Religion. She is one of the top contributors to the recently published manual on VIOLENT EXTREMISM, encouraging Muslim Women not to stay at the bottom because it is too crowded.

She is also a FELLOW of the Shalom Hartman Institute and The Sikh coalition.

Soraya also organized the first Interfaith Women’s Leadership conference at the Los Angeles City Hall October 2016. She also convened the first Women’s Leadership conference in NE Nigeria 2017. Of utmost importance today is to give power and place to Muslim Women’s Voices. Just as we confront the Islamophobic movements that are spreading far and wide, we must confront the patriarchy and misogyny in our communities. She led the Inaugural prayer service at the first Women’s Mosque in Berkeley.

We can’t deny that an extreme ideology is living and thriving in some Muslim communities. Muslim women everywhere are read a BillOfRights that must conform to an epistemology of the 7th century. We must take serious cognizance of the quotidian struggles of Muslim women to be heard, to be relevant, to be taken as a solution. We must confront the tough issues that are crippling our community. We must recognize that all theology is CONTEXTUAL.

Soraya speaks regularly to various religious groups, women’s groups, universities (Yale) and school assemblies, conducting highly interactive workshops and presentations. She has shared the stage with renowned motivational speakers and transformational leaders. She is a member of the world famous motivational speaker Les Browns group of Platinum speakers.

Soraya was the Director Chapters (2015) and won the President’s Award at ATDLA. (www.atdla.org)

Soraya is the Founder of THE WORK PLACE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM: A systems approach to COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATION at the WORKPLACE. The system empower the individual and the team to resolve conflict, deal with difficult people and build strong personal and professional relationships. She was a featured speaker on DIVERSITY at Sony; PlayStation.

Soraya blends her legal expertise of over a decade with her uniquely diverse background to inspire people to navigate conflict and promote Human Connection. As an INTERFAITH CONSULTANT, she believes that people of faith must choose GOOD as much as they choose GOD.

CONTACT: info@sorayadeen.com  PH: 818 395 2032


 

Only Free Speech Can Stop Radical Islam

By Soraya M. Deen
One of the greatest challenges facing America is how to confront violent radical Islam. And moderate American Muslims have a crucial role to play in facing this problem head on and promoting a real and honest dialogue—free of political correctness and comforting lies—about the true nature of radical Islam.

A study done by the Pew Research Center on Muslims and Islam found that 49% of Americans find US Muslims anti American. About a quarter say there is a fair amount of support (24%) for extremism among U.S. Muslims; 11% say there is a great deal of support.

Islam desperately needs a revaluation and American Muslims must lead the way in openly calling for reform. We must candidly and honestly admit and acknowledge that some challenging verses in our scripture have given doctrinal legitimacy to violent extremism and our failure to recognize this fact and educate the community on the contextual realities has legitimized the violence.

Our continued refusal and unwillingness to acknowledge this phenomenon has frozen much of our faith to a 7th century dogma. Our rush to blame, shame and obstruct the very few who call for reform and change undermines the freedom of expression which is a hard and long fought battle and a strongly enshrined American value.

Just recently the vicious attacks by the Muslim Student Association of Duke University on Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, an American Syrian who reads and understand the Arabic Quran and is one of the pioneers of the Muslim Reform Movement, necessitated that meeting venues be changed and event sponsorships rescinded. He was called an Islamophobe and an anti-Muslim bigot. Journalist, Jennifer Kabbany noted “Jasser’s talk has generated heated protest from Duke’s Muslim Students Association, which has denounced the Muslim reformer and his planned speech. So intense is the controversy surrounding this event that the Alexander Hamilton Society had revoked its sponsorship and the remaining sponsors—the Duke Political Union, College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty— renamed the talk from “The American Muslim Identity: Patriot or Insurgent” to simply “The American Muslim Identity,” The MSA went further to allege potential for harm and the lack of safety on campus if Dr. Jasser spoke at Duke.

This dangerous posture of the irrational fear of the exchange of ideas is too dangerous to be left without scrutiny because at risk is our safety and security and the steps we must all take to combat violent extremism. It is also dangerous because it stifles the voices of a vast majority of Muslims here and abroad who genuinely support reform and are desirous of acknowledging how a political Islam has swept across our nation and the world.

I recall with sadness the slings and arrows that came my way for calling out radical Islam. This too found its origins at Duke by a well-respected scholar there, the first Muslim chaplain and the founding director of Duke University’s Center for Muslim Life, a maverick who initiated the MLI (Muslim Leadership Initiative program), a forum that brings together Muslim leaders committed to better understanding American Jews, Zionism and Israel. I was a Fellow of the program until that day when the chaplain from Duke said to me that my fellowship was rescinded because of my associations with certain right groups and my stance on the call for Islamic reform.

Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a list of individuals it labels as particularly threatening anti-Muslim extremists. In the list were prominent practicing Muslim liberal thinkers and reformers.

I have watched with great dismay the compromises that we continue to make in the name of religious sensitivities. If we continue to silence Muslim reformers, it will become nearly impossible for Muslims to abandon an extreme belief in religious purity and embrace a pluralistic nation.

All religions are a set of ideas and must be open for critique. Sadly in the Muslim world we believe that Islam is above and beyond critique—that Islam, and only a group of Muslims, have everything to teach the world but nothing to learn from it. This is quite contrary to the great mosque at Cordoba, in A.D. 785, a thriving cultural and intellectual center. It was a center for learning that attracted Jewish scholars, philosophers, poets and scientists. Non-Muslims played an important part in the intellectual life of Cordoba, true and lasting commitments to preserve intellect through and across lines of faith took root here.

It’s time for American Muslims to open any and every channel of review of our faith, scripture, and traditions. We must carefully, candidly, and collaboratively address the causes of radical Islam. And we must share some responsibility for the global trends in all terror committed by Islamists. Crucial to reform is the need to engage and empower Muslim women in religious leadership and promote gender equality in our mosques. We must teach our youth a new brand of Islam, one that is compatible to American values and not that of the Middle East.

Only free speech and an open and honest discussion on campus, in the media, and in our daily lives as citizens about the threat posed by Islamic radicalism will allow moderate voices to come to the forefront to expose and drown out radicals.

—Soraya Deen is an international activist, founder of the Muslim Women Speakers Movement, and a Clarion Project Advisory Board member.
 

About Clarion Project     

https://clarionproject.org/   Twitter @clarionproject  

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ClarionProject

Clarion Project is a non-profit organization that educates the public about the dangers of radical Islam.

Clarion’s award-winning films, seen by more than 85-million people, expose how radical Islamists use terrorism, murder, subjugation of women, indoctrination of children, religious persecution, genocide of minorities, widespread human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and cultural jihad — to threaten the West.

The ClarionProject.org web site delivers news, expert analysis, videos, and unique perspectives about radical Islam, while giving a platform to moderate Muslims and human rights activists to speak out against extremism.

Clarion Project engages in grassroots activism to achieve its goals.

Clarion Project is a registered 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C.

New to Clarion Project? Start here.