(Obama's rabid support of fossil fuels in his speech was a shameful moment in American history. The progressive movements and environmental movements are utterly worthless if they do not respond in force. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
If President Barack Obama gets his way with his new energy policy, he may go down in history as "the president who fueled the fire of climate disaster," according to the still stunned Green Party presidential frontrunner, medical doctor Jill Stein. Stein's remarks were a delayed reaction to the President's State of the Union Address in which the President proposed opening 75% of public lands to oil exploration, massively expanding drilling for natural gas, removing "red tape" that stands in the way of construction projects, and delaying any comprehensive approach to global warming.
"With his State of the Union speech, President Obama adopted the apocalyptic 'Drill, Baby, Drill' platform of the most rabid Republicans. He is parroting the fossil fuel lobbyists in saying that our public lands and our environment should be sacrificed for the goal of increasing domestic oil production."
"The President's spin ignores the fact that our most pressing problem isn't foreign oil, it's what fossil fuels, both foreign and domestic, are doing to our planet. The President's 'all of the above' approach to polluting energy is an alarming denial of the climate emergency we face and the urgent need to substantially reduce the amount of carbon we exhaust into the atmosphere. Our nation and human society around the world are already experiencing serious climate disruption. The President has given up the fight against climate change just when we most need to expand our efforts."
A Facebook group called Upgrade Democracy (http://www.facebook.com/groups/upgradedemocracy) is collecting a list of
teams/organizations working on technology-powered solutions to the systemic problems of governance/group decision-making.
They want help in expanding the list but
Please don't add projects that simply use technology to slightly enhance our current political system (e.g. electronic petitions). We're upgrading the democratic operating system, not tweaking the interface. ;)
(Time for propositional political opposition! - promoted by eli_beckerman)
My second testimony in 2011 to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing takes place December 15 at the public hearing on the Medicare For All bill.
It has been proven throughout the world that that comprehensive health insurance will cost less and be of better quality when it is financed through public progressive taxes rather than through private regressive premiums.
...the barriers to implementing Medicare For All in Massachusetts are not based on economics, on health & medicine, or in public support. The hurdles are political.
There has been a decrease in the number of co-sponsors of the bill ... and lackluster advocacy for Medicare For All.
Beacon Hill will respond more favorably when confronted with an occupation against big-money business as usual.
This is the first of a series of reports from my friend Steve, who has been participating in Occupy Wall Street since October 5th.
Hi everyone,
I arrived at Occupy Wall Street Wednesday morning. It was pure luck that I got there the day of the big march.
The feeling in the park was really nice from the moment I arrived (especially since I had to walk around Wall Street itself for a while before finding it). A lot of people under odd conditions, and doing so quite well.
Zuccotti Park is just a few blocks up Broadway from Wall Street. It's one of the only, if not the only, parks in NYC that is privately owned. Because of the deal made with the city at the time of construction, the park is open 24 to the public 24 hours, while every other park in the city is closed at night. News report (NPR) says it was pure luck that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) people picked it to occupy!
Before I got there, I'd read about a system where people can call from anywhere in the country and order a pizza to be sent to the folks in the park. This is a little misleading. In fact, there's a full-time kitchen crew that serves throughout the day. So it's even more organized than I'd imagined, with donations coming in and being used effectively.
(It is frightening, but not surprising, that the response has been so brutal. The good news is that it shows that the protectors of the status quo are themselves scared. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
[In this press release, Jill Stein (Green Party candidate for president) expresses serious concern about the federal role in the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns.]
Stein calls for Investigation of Federal Role in Brutal Occupy Wall Street Crackdowns
Responding to reports that security officials within the Obama Administration held meetings with local authorities that led to a brutal national police crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street protests - including flagrant violations of freedom of the press - the Green Party's Jill Stein called for a full investigation of the federal role. She urged that new federal guidelines be established to "prevent the lethal power of post-9/11 militarized security from being turned against the American people."
According to news reports, officials of the FBI and Homeland Security Agency advised mayors and other municipal officials regarding the use of harsh, military-style techniques against people in the OWS encampments. The Federal officials reportedly tutored the municipal officials on ways to find legal excuses for closing down the encampments, on the use of riot police and advanced weaponry, and on techniques for interfering with press coverage of the evictions.
(I think the idea is right that these can be testbeds for new (or better) ways of living together, among other critical experiments. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
This idea may be moot after all the forced evictions of the Occupations from public spaces but I thought I'd share it anyway.
I've visited the Occupations in Wall Street, Boston, and Providence, RI. Every time I go to one of them, I try to connect with somebody about making the Occupation green with, as yet, little success. In New York, I saw the greywater treatment system Mobile Research Labs set up and talked to a couple of people about using some simple solar techniques. In Boston, I've tried to connect the winterization team with the student Energy Clubs at some of the local colleges and universities and alerted my own network of solar enthusiasts to Occupy Boston's efforts. I've also tried to do the same by contacting OWS's Sustainability Group. In Providence, I talked with the only occupier I saw up and around early on a Sunday morning. He was picking up trash around the park and was disappointed that the group hadn't organized themselves enough to do recycling. I gave him my card and my elevator pitch for a green occupation and he said he'd pass it on.
I look at the Occupations and see economic refugee camps and a possible test-bed for emergency response and sustainable economic development around the world. Some may say that's crazy but the links are there if you look.
In both 2010 and 2011, the primary activities have been a pair of online contests, where teams of community members are invited to propose actions to key aspects of climate change.
The 2011 contest poses the question:
How should the 21st century economy evolve bearing in mind the risks of climate change?
In the initial stages of a contest, teams develop proposals on what should be done. Expert judges assess and select finalists among these proposals.
In the final round, Climate CoLab members are invited to vote. Winners are chosen based on voting and on a second review by the judges. A group of policy makers are briefed on the winning proposals.
On the national level, my proposal made the final cut:
How to Change US Energy in One Growing Season
http://climatecolab.org/web/gu...
You can vote for it or other proposals in the contest until November 15 at the URLs above. Please take a look.
(Important municipal-level issues on alternative energy and town governance. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
The Select Board in Lenox is feeling the heat from some dedicated wind opponents, just as the Select Board in Amherst has been feeling some solar heat.
My letter to the Berkshire Eagle below suggests allowing the town meeting process to play out in Lenox next year, as happened this year in Amherst, where the town didn't appear to be as divided as the solar opponents had claimed.
(That being said, the solar project in Amherst is being held up by a lawsuit or two, but, hey, what would get accomplished if we balked at every lawsuit threat.)
No one is suggesting a massive industrial wind farm. The site that was tested can support one or two turbines, which would provide the town and possibly residents and others with clean energy options. If Lenox has the capacity to develop both wind and solar it should pursue those options and not close any doors.
The Democratic Party candidate, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, in the special election for 3rd Berkshire District State Representative witholds support for Medicare For All because it would put institutions 'in jeopardy.' This revelation occured at a debate last night among the four candidates. The Democrat's statement was in response to Green-Rainbow Party's Mark Miller's clear call to move forward with Medicare For All.
MassCare is the leading statewide advocacy group for Medicare For All. Although its non-profit status prevents it from joining the MA Nurses Association and others in endorsing Miller, it occasionally takes part in voter education by publishing responses to candidate questionnaires.
Today I sent the following message to MassCare's Executive Director, Ben Day, strongly suggesting that this election is such an important occasion. Mr. Day responded very quickly letting me know he would bring this up with his co-chairs.
If MassCare acts on this it may be the first time that it sends a questionnaire out in a partisan election where a Green-Rainbow Party candidate was challenging a Democrat. MassCare failed to send questionnaires out in last year's gubernatorial election and in state rep elections in the 3rd and 4th Berkshire Districts.
Right to the City (RTTC) emerged in 2007 as a unified response to gentrification and a call to halt the displacement of low-income people, LGBTQ, and youths of color from their historic urban neighborhoods. We are a national alliance of racial, economic and environmental justice organizations.
The Boston area seems to be one of the few in the country where homeowners have been (somewhat) successfully fighting back against the banks' foreclosures and evictions. They have been successful because they have organized and stood up for their rights together.
My visits to the Occupy Boston site have confirmed that connections have been made between Right to the City, MassUniting, and City Life/Vida Urbana. I expect some of the occupiers downtown will be participating in eviction blockades out in the neighborhoods. I also expect that organizers from across the country will be taking back effective tactics and strategies to save peoples' homes from the chicanery of such banks as Bank of America.
We need more organized solidarity like this to expand the effects of each of our separate groups.
The Conference for a Constitutional Convention at Harvard Law School on September 24 and 25 was supposed to be an opportunity for the Left and Right to talk together about the possibility of ending our broken political system through a discussion of a new Constitutional Convention. Lawrence Lessig of Rootstrikers (http://www.rootstrikers.org/), represented the Left and Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots (http://www.teapartypatriots.org) represented the Right.
From my point of view, the conference wasn't really the advertised meeting of the Left and the Right. Lessig himself was a Reagan delegate to the Republican Convention back in the day; and although there was a good bit of representation from the Tea Party Patriot group, there was nobody there explicitly from MoveOn or anything really further left than the ADA wing of the Democratic Party, with the exception of a couple of folks from the Revolutionary Communists who were hawking their Constitution For The New Socialist Republic In North America (pdf alert: http://revcom.us/socialistconstitution/SocialistConstitution-en.pdf). It did, however, reveal a subculture that has been working towards a Constitutional Convention for decades.
Solar water disinfection
http://www.sodis.ch/index_EN A two liter plastic bottle can be made into a water treatment system simply by filling it with contaminated water and exposing it to the sun. Sodis is an organization that promotes this technology around the world.
The disinfection process can be speeded by turning aluminized mylar snack food bags inside out and making them into reflectors as two young students in Belo Horizonte, Brazil discovered: http://calais.phase2technology...
In 2002, during a long electrical shortage, at Uberaba, São Paulo, Brasil, Mr Alfredo Moser discovered a way to gather sun light in the house through plastic bottles hanging from the roof. First shown at the Globo Reporter in the 25th May 2007.
Alfredo Moser was pressed by a scarce electricity substitution and found out that he could light his house with a bottle of water filled with water and a protection cap made of camera film.
The bottle is just refracting sunlight very effectively and produces an equivalent light power compared to a 50/60W lamp. In a rainy day, even without much light and direct sun, one still have some light. Scientist have now visited Moser and are looking into ways to take this concept to maximize its potential.
"The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, in association with state regional groups that work on high-level radioactive waste policy, will be hosting public meetings to solicit feedback on the draft commission report (pdf alert: http://www.brc.gov/sites/defau... ). The participant host groups include; the Western Governors' Association/Western Interstate Energy Board, the Southern States Energy Board, the Council of State Governments-Midwestern Office, and the Council of State Governments- Eastern Regional Conference.
"The meeting[s] will be held to present the draft Commission report (issued on July 29, 2011) and hear feedback from state, local and tribal perspectives - as well as from interested members of the public. The meeting will begin with a briefing from Commission staff on the draft report, followed by comments from elected and appointed state and regional representatives. The latter portion of the meeting will be devoted to facilitated and interactive breakout sessions open to all who attend and will conclude with a public comment period.
"All public are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged but not required. Information about registration will be available in the near future. The meetings will not be video webcast. Transcripts of the meetings will be available on the website, along with all written comments anyone chooses to offer. Comments can either be made directly to the website at http://www.brc.gov or by email to: CommissionDFO@nuclear.energy.gov. Comment deadline is October 31, 2011."
September 13, 2011
Embassy Suites
1420 Stout Street
Denver, CO
My policy is zero emissions, 100% recycling for all wastes, including low level and high level radioactive waste, and my immediate concerns for "America's Nuclear future" are 1) how quickly we can move commercial spent fuel from wet storage, which requires a constant supply and circulation of cooling water, to dry cask storage which does not; and 2) how many of the 35 US boiling water reactors like Fukushima have spent fuel pools above buildings outside the radiation containment structures and how soon can that be remedied? Neither of these issues are top priorities in the present Blue Ribbon Commission report as they are looking at a different scale and timeframe.
Two prominent Democrats on the town of Lenox's Select Board proposed and seconded a formal motion in a 'new business surprise' item on August 31, 2011. The motion, if passed, would have closed public discussion of wind energy at upcoming public forums that were intended to focus on both wind and solar plans, thus limiting the municipal energy options that the public could learn about.
It so happens that the town's Democratic Party Town Committee is meeting this evening. Might the Democratic Town Committee address and publicize its position on wind energy? One of the Select Board members who advanced the anti-wind motion is the Democratic Town Committee Chairman.
The Case for a Green-Rainbow Party Town Committee.
(This gets a bit repetitive, but this story continues to get more and more interesting. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
A) Narrative:
Riding home from the courthouse with my wife and one of my daughters after escaping the clutches of the media was a welcomed relief after my first day as an accused felon. But I couldn't escape.
On the radio,the broadcaster was telling those who had heard and those who hadn't that Councilor Turner not only was arrested but also was stripped by the Council President of all his committee responsibilities and had been invited to an executive session of the City Council the following Monday. Well, at least I'll have a relatively quiet weekend to figure out what to do, I thought.
What I forgot was that the media never sleeps. When I got home, they were there and even though I wouldn't talk to them, they stayed there until all our friends had left. Bright and early the next day, they came back. Different people but with the same insistence on my answering their needs until I asked the police to put up a Do Not Cross per order of the police barrier.
Throughout the day, calls from friends and family gave needed reassurance that I continued to have their support. Particularly helpful were calls from Steve Kirshbaum, School Bus Drivers Union
steward and International Action Center leader, and Aaron Tanaka, the organizer for the Boston Workers' Alliance, an organization of unemployed workers that I had helped to organize and that was operating out of my District Office. Their question was whether I wanted them to organize a rally at City Hall on Monday. My immediate response was yes.
(There's a new sheriff in town! Homeowners, renters and the homeless are her deputies. - promoted by Nat Fortune)
Until recently, I had not thought of sheriff offices as places for "Greens."
But last week, at the US Green Party Annual National meeting in Alfred, New York, I saw the energy and excitement around Cheri Honkala's candidacy for Sheriff of Philadelphia. I had seen her name here and there before, including on this website, but I had not really understood who she was or why she was running for sheriff as a Green - or why this was important for Greens in general.
Cheri Honkala has a long track record of advocacy for poor people. She is very concerned about the large numbers of people being thrown into the street due to foreclosures - a hot topic among Green advocates these days. As Sheriff, she can do something about this: "Cheri Honkala vows to serve the interests of the people instead of the interests of the banks by 'Keeping Families in Their Homes' until the economic climate in Philadelphia changes."
This video of the speech she gave at that meeting says a lot:
(The problems are in our heads. Solutions abound. Economical use of simple solar can help move us out of the hole we're digging. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
"Any window that sees direct sunlight is a solar collector. You can learn how to use that free energy to make your home more comfortable and secure. Caulk and seal the window against drafts. Install storm windows on the exterior, interior, or both. Cover the window at night with an insulating curtain to prevent conduction, convection, and radiative heat loss. A valence above the window will stop night-time drafts and reduce condensation. A sunny window can double as a greenhouse for starting seedlings or growing house plants. Expand the solar space below, above, or beside the window with a windowbox solar air or water heater. You can even design a living system to provide fresh vegetables and fish year round while producing space heat, cleaning the air, and reducing waste. A south-facing window is already a solar collector. Learn how to use it."
("You want to get something done? ... That's not what he does." Sounds like a conspiracy to me! - promoted by eli_beckerman)
A) The court of public opinion.
At 7:30 on the morning of my arrest, TV and radio stations began sending the message to the world that Chuck Turner, well known activist and Boston City Councilor had been arrested for extortion, conspiracy, and lying to FBI agents. The newscasters' commentary were accompanied by pictures of a black hand putting something in my hand, while the hidden camera captured a smile on my face. This "evidence" of my guilt was being provided by the Massachusetts US Attorney to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that I was guilty.
Those initial pictures, however, were just the beginning of US Attorney Michael Sullivan's plan to convict me in the court of public opinion before I had even gone before a judge to begin the legal process. The time was nearing for Sullivan to take the stage. How else could the world appreciate the magnificent job he was doing as US Attorney. Shortly after nine, three hours after my arrest, he stepped onto the podium in the press room of the Moakley Federal Court House to begin putting the final nails in my coffin.
"If I do this right", I could imagine him saying to himself, "Turner's days as a Councilor and activist will be done by next week and we won't even have to waste our resources on him. Then we can concentrate on the big fish and get rid of the Senator. Smiling broadly at the world through the eyes of the cameras, he began his victory speech. Praising the work of his office and the FBI in bringing to justice two corrupt politicians, he then proceeds to use the media to the world.
(The movement needs victories, and however small this victory may have been in the grand scheme of empire, it was huge for one family's reality, and it represents the stringing together of a growing number of small victories into something bigger. Thanks to the GRP members present and to City Life/Vida Urbana for making it happen! - promoted by eli_beckerman)
Today was the day that our system had planned to evict Drusilla Francis and her foster children from their home in Dorchester, MA. One more person and family in one more neighborhood in one more state in a county that is going wild with evicting people from their homes. One more day for a system, that exists to serve the interests of the banks and the wealthy elite and to hell with human beings and the communities we live.
A few years ago a few members of our party, including Chuck Turner, Mel King, Grace Ross, Merelice joined forces with a few other organizations. They saw a gigantic emerging monster beginning to roll down on our communities. They formed a statewide organization, MAAPL (Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending). www.maapl.info
MAAPL is a growing statewide organization, and unfortunately, the last couple of years our party has become a much less significant force within this organization and movement. Thanks to Mel, Merelice and Eva for keeping us involved. Now, things are looking up, and more interest is expressed from members of our party in Boston and across the state.
Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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Quotes
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
