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Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) plan to publicly rebuke President Obama over a lack of diversity in his federal judicial picks. The lawmakers are organizing a Capitol Hill press conference as early as this week to decry what Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called “the appalling lack of African American representation” among Obama's nominees, particularly in the 11th Circuit, which includes Georgia, Florida and Alabama. The Democrats also contend several of Obama’s nominees have championed policies that either discriminate against minorities, or are just plain racist. “We have very grave concerns [with certain nominees] given disparities that are...

A half dozen Occupy Des Moines activists are setting up a camp outside President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in Iowa and are vowing to stay there around the clock. The Occupy protestors rallied on Saturday against military spending and then some walked to the office for Obama's re-election bid. No one was there and the doors were locked. The protestors say Obama staffers aren't listening to them and they will stay until they are satisfied. They have set up two tents and put up a sign on the door declaring it "Obama's former headquarters." The activists say they want Obama...

The White House threatened Thursday to exclude The San Francisco Chronicle from pooled coverage of its events in the Bay Area after the paper posted a video of a protest at a San Francisco fundraiser for President Obama last week, Chronicle Editor Ward Bushee said.White House guidelines governing press coverage of such events are too restrictive, Bushee said, and the newspaper was within its rights to film the protest and post the video. The White House press office would not speak on the record about the issue.Chronicle senior political reporter Carla Marinucci was invited by the White House to cover...

An Oakland woman and her cohorts shelled out $76,000 to get themselves into President Barack Obama's fundraising breakfast Thursday morning in San Francisco, just to disrupt it with a protest song in support of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning. "It was really worth the money, it really was," Naomi Pitcairn, 51, said later Thursday, adding that before the breakfast she "was up in the 'important people room' and ... I asked (California Gov.) Jerry Brown about Bradley Manning, and he didn't know who that is. Hopefully he will now." As will the rest of the 200 people at the breakfast, where...

The political director of SEIU Local 616 was found dead Tuesday in his West Oakland home, the victim of a homicide, police said. The body of Berresford "Berry" Bingham, 64, was discovered inside his home on the 500 block of Henry Street, off Seventh Street a block from the West Oakland BART Station, at about 11:35 a.m., said Officer Holly Joshi, an Oakland police spokeswoman. He was found after co-workers, concerned that they had not heard from him in several days, asked police to check on his welfare, . . .

Three staffers working for embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) were asked by security officers to leave an event in downtown Washington on Thursday after they tried to display large campaign signs just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was about to speak. The aides were holding lawn signs that defended Waters from the ethics charges she is facing in the House. Three staffers working for embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) were asked by security officers to leave an event in downtown Washington on Thursday after they tried to display large campaign signs just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was...

Here are two videos of House Speaker being heckled by Code Pink as she tried to speak at the “America’s Future Now Conference” in Washington, D.C. Pelosi tried reasoning with the hecklers, who voiced frustration that they had supported Obama, Pelosi and the Democrats, but don’t see the Federal Funding in their states they thought would be coming their way. The radicals on the Left are not satisfied they are getting enough of a payoff from the Democrats now that they control all the levers of power in Washington.

Some of the top liberal bloggers -- Daily Kos, FireDogLake, Dan Savage -- are tired of waiting for President Obama and the Democratic Congress to take major action on gay rights issues. So they're telling supporters "to stop giving money to the "DNC, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until the President and the Democratic party keep their promises to the gay community, our families, and our friends." Yeow! Started by AMERICAblog founder John Aravosis, it's called "Don't Ask, Don't Give" and Aravosis takes pains to say that this is more of "'pause,' than a boycott. Boycotts sounds so...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal police on Tuesday arrested 12 supporters of a single-payer health care system who entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco offices and refused to leave until they talked to the congresswoman. Police arrested them for creating a disturbance on federal property nearly three hours after they entered Pelosi's offices. Pelosi was not in the office and did not talk to them by telephone.The protesters, who are in favor of a system administered by the federal government but delivered by private health care providers, entered the waiting room of Pelosi's offices about 11:45 a.m. and were arrested...

Anti-war crusader Cindy Sheehan, engaged in an upstart challenge to unseat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has dropped her bid to get a restraining order against one of her erstwhile campaign volunteers. Sheehan on Oct. 10 had sought a restraining order against Paul Currier, 56, a self-described community organizer and resident of the Tenderloin's Boyd Hotel, saying he was sending threatening emails to her campaign after they tried to sever ties with him.Currier says Sheehan was gunning for him because he's critical of the way she's running her independent congressional campaign. A hearing on whether Sheehan would get the restraining order...

Cindy Sheehan, the dogged peace activist who camped outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch after her son was killed in Iraq, is now seeking a restraining order against one of the volunteers in her long-shot congressional campaign. Sheehan, an independent candidate challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, contends erstwhile volunteer Paul Currier has been sending threatening emails to her campaign after they tried to sever ties with him. Currier, 56, a self-described community organizer who says he eats daily at St. Anthony's free-food program yet is the only resident of the Tenderloin's Boyd Hotel with an iPhone, contends he's being...

Department monitors increasingly raucous rallies at Marine center BERKELEY — In the last six weeks, the city of Berkeley has spent more than $210,000 on police overtime to try and keep the peace during protests at the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center and Old City Hall, a police official said Thursday. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said police department overtime from Feb. 12 to March 22 was $210,814.13. The city spent roughly $93,000 Feb. 12 during an all-day protest at Old City Hall that drew about 2,000 anti-war protestors and military supporters, she said. By comparison, the 186-officer department...

Pin the tail on the Donkey? I see...Pink People! Related stories: REPORT: Military Recruiting Centers Under Attack by Anti-War Activists Pictures from MAF Presser DC 2-14-08 (code pink Crashes Event, MSN ignores) Evict the military recruitment station, cage the recruiters! Clinton Woos Superdelegates at Private Dinner -- Campaigning in Pittsburgh Friday, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., began her day at a gas station talking about energy.... Did Hillary stop by the Recruiter Office to lend her support and denounce the threat in the story above? CRICKETS....

NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton said he is opposed to the Democratic Party seating delegates from Florida and Michigan at the national convention. The New York Post reported that the former presidential candidate and social activist threatened to lead a protest at the Democratic National Committee's Washington headquarters if the group committed the "grave injustice" of seating the delegates. Sharpton's comments in a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean come on the heels of NAACP leader Julian Bond's urging of Democratic Party officials to seat the delegates or run the risk of "disenfranchising" minority voters....

David Long, a sixth-grade teacher at Hamilton Middle School, compares the situation to dealing with a classroom at school. The bulk of the kids are great, but a couple of troublemakers spoil the whole dynamic. "It's that kind of situation, I think," he said, talking about the band of nomads who have taken up residence on his street. Long, 40, and his wife live on the 1200 block of East Wilson Street and have raised two kids there. But they have been the unwitting "hosts" to a street full of "car campers," people -- some of them homeless, others who...

Cynthia McKinney, who served six terms as an often-dissenting Democratic congresswoman from Georgia, is as disenchanted with the cautious course of her old party as the millions of Americans who -- through their low approval rating for the current Congress -- are registering frustration at the failure of Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to aggressively oppose the war in Iraq and to confront the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush-Cheney administration. McKinney confirmed the depth of her disenchantment at a rally Saturday in Kennebunkport, Maine, where thousands of activists gathered to protest at one of the president's...

Marghi Dutton is 90 and losing her eyesight, but nothing was going to stop her from trekking to midspan of the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday with the anti-war group Code Pink: Women for Peace. She joined a crowd of about 100 demonstrators dressed in hot pink hats, shirts and scarves and fought the wind to raise her sign: "Impeach Bush and Cheney!" "My arms are aching, but I'm getting energy from the drivers - so many are honking in support," she said. Code Pink, a national grassroots peace movement inspired by Bay Area women, organized the protest to call...

Conyers, D-Mich., introduced a bill last term calling on Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Bush. Pelosi has steadfastly dismissed any talk of impeachment, saying Democrats should focus their efforts on ending the war in Iraq. Conyers, D-Mich., introduced a bill last term calling on Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Bush. Pelosi has steadfastly dismissed any talk of impeachment, saying Democrats should focus their efforts on ending the war in Iraq.

CRAWFORD, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized the anti-war movement, said Sunday that she plans to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unless she introduces articles of impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks. ADVERTISEMENT Sheehan said she will run against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 as an independent if Pelosi does not seek by July 23 to impeach Bush. That's when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting next week from the group's war protest site near Bush's Crawford ranch. "Democrats and...

War protest sent guests at Clinton event through field, under barbed wire. Inside a residence along the American River, some of Sacramento's most prominent Democrats rationed lamb chops and wine without their guest of honor Thursday. Outside stood anti-war protesters, a flag-draped coffin and more than 100 guests in dinner attire, all waiting for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.As a bomb squad examined the coffin serving as protest prop, the Democratic presidential candidate waited nearly two hours on the tarmac at nearby Mather Airport. Mainstream Democrats mixed with liberal activists in the street outside the home of developer Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis.The host,...