.
via Ecobeth
Filed under: activism, Ecology, Environment, green, local, long island, News, sustainability, sustainable | Tagged: business, Gardening, Lawn, Lawn mower | 1 Comment »
Having a Doonesbury week.
Posted on March 28, 2011 by iwilder
As we were leaving the Green Party of Suffolk meeting this Saturday, my buddy John Keenan was sporting a cigarette holder that I said reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson
Last night we watched “The Women” which was written by Clare Booth (Luce), who was a Connecticut Republican congresswoman. I have to admit that I confused her with Millicent Fenwick, the New Jersey Republican congresswoman who is considered the model for lacey despite Trudeau’s denials. . Both were Republican congresswomen. Both were ambassadors, both were in the magazine industry, and both served in the Reagan administration.
Lastly today I recieved an email from my friend Amy inviting people to buy tickets for a Jimmy Web concert. Now I always thought that Jimmy Thudpucker was based on Webb, but Wikpedia tells me I am wrong wrong wrong.
Maybe it wasn’t a Doonesbury week after all.
Filed under: Books, music, politics | Tagged: cartoons, clare booth luce, connecticut, Doonesbury, Hunter S. Thompson, jimmy webb, Millicent Fenwick, new jersey, united states | Leave a Comment »
An Open Letter to War Loving (Democratic/Republican) Frauds by Cindy Sheehan (via Dandelion Salad)
Posted on March 28, 2011 by iwilder
Image via Wikipedia
via Dandelion Salad
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, afghanistan, Anti-War, Cindy Sheehan, international politics, Iraq, News | Tagged: Barack Obama, Cindy Sheehan, democratic party, republicans, united states | Leave a Comment »
Monday, March 28th: Stand with Japan vigils
Posted on March 27, 2011 by kwilder
I learned from a Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) update (below) that Greenpeace is holding an anti-nuclear, “Stand with Japan” vigils, throughout the United States on Monday, March 28, 2011.
To find a “Greenpeace, Stand with Japan Vigil” in your area, go to the Greenpeace event search: here.
Also, some lists and details on local – NYC and Long Island – vigils and actions…
Union Square, NYC at 6pm, Monday, March 28th Read more »
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Ecology, energy, Environment, green, local, long island, new york, News, politics, progressive politics, sustainability, sustainable, US Politics | Tagged: anti-nuclear, anti-nuclear demonstration, anti-nuclear vigil, Greenpeace, Japan, nuclear energy, Stand With Japan | Leave a Comment »
Work of activists helped prevent Fukushima-style cluster of nuclear reactors on Long Island
Posted on March 26, 2011 by iwilder
Image via Wikipedia
One of those dedicated, anti-Shoreham activists was Green Party of Suffolk chair Roger Snyder. The Green Party was founded in opposition to nuclear energy and weapons.
As a reporter for a Long Island weekly in the 1980s, Grossman covered the relentless band of anti-nuclear activists who packed government hearings and filed repeated suits against granting an operating license to Shoreham.
“I saw with my own eyes how LILCO’s lawyers and the scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory worked hand in hand in court to save Shoreham,” Grossman said.
via Work of activists helped prevent Fukushima-style cluster of nuclear reactors on Long Island.
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Ecology, energy, Global Warming, grassroots democracy, Green Party, local, long island, Long Island Politics, new york, New York State Politics, News, politics | Tagged: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Karl Grossman, long island, Long Island Lighting Company, Nuclear reactor technology, Roger Snyder, Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant | 2 Comments »
DC Statehood Greens challenge Mayor Gray: “Don’t balance the budget on the backs of DC’s working people and unemployed!”
Posted on March 25, 2011 by iwilder
DC Statehood Green Party activists will challenge Mayor Vincent Gray on the District’s budget priorities at a press conference immediately preceding the Mayor’s ‘State of the District’ address on Monday, March 28.
The press conference will take place outside of Eastern High School, 1700 East Capitol Street NE, beginning at 6 pm. The Mayor’s speech begins inside the school at 6:45 pm.
“We will call on Mayor Gray not to balance the budget on the backs of DC’s working people and unemployed. We can make ‘One City’ a reality, if the Mayor and Council enact a ‘Just DC Budget and Tax’ plan,” said Alan Page, DC Statehood Green Party candidate for At-Large City Council in the April 26 special election (http://alanpagedc.blogspot.com).
Statehood Greens will offer a progressive alternative to DC’s present regressive income tax. The progressive plan would generate $250 million in additional revenue that should go into essential social services cut in recent years. This and other recommendations to balance the budget and restore essential funding in our budget are summarized below.
“Our public officials continue to side with the wealthy, while DC residents are enduring an economic depression, with 30% unemployment in Ward 8. More budget cuts in low income programs, totaling $30 million, including child care, affordable housing, and TANF were passed for FY 2011. Even more cuts may be in store if the Mayor and Council fail to find new revenue. In FY 2010, affordable housing was cut by one-third and child care by one fifth since FY 2008, according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Unfortunately, the Council voted 8 to 5 to defeat bills for modestly higher taxes on the wealthy that would have prevented most of these cuts,” said Jane Zara, DC Statehood Green and lawyer who has fought the closing of local shelters. Read more »
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, economy, election, elections, green, Green Party, third party | Tagged: Alan Page, City Council, dc statehood green party, united states, washington dc | 1 Comment »
Taylor Mali on what teachers make (and thoughts on my Dad)
Posted on March 24, 2011 by iwilder
My Dad taught. He taught at all levels. He was a high school shop teacher and he was an Education Professor at Adelphi University. but he was always a teacher first. He loved teaching more than anything. He was at teaching at age 77 until the cancer stopped him. The administrators couldn’t stop him. He loved the students, and they praised him in their evaluations. He destroyed the retirement age barrier at Adelphi because he never burnt out. He only got better. The University held a memorial service for my Dad because he taught there for 30 years. What students said about him made me want to weep. He touched and shaped their lives. We got a note from a graduate student who went back to get her masters. She said that my Dad reminded her what she loved about teaching. My Dad didn’t just teach in the classroom. He disliked classrooms, formality, and tests. The scenic picture on the Adelphi catalog from the 1970s of a class learning beneath a tree like a scene out of ancient Greece is, you guessed it, my Dad. He never gave a test. He thought they were a waste of everyone’s time. His students worked in groups. They did project that would fill huge binders. they worked harder than they did for any other class, and they loved my Dad for it because he showed them what they could do. His students called him by his first name . They were all going to be teachers soon enough, and he taught them to be colleagues. But my Dad didn’t limit his love of teaching to the university. He saw himself as responsible to the whole community. Whether it was the woman who worked at the post office who needed advice on her son, or a buddy of mine who needed to turn his lifetime of teaching experience into a degree, my Dad was there to help and guide. My Dad would have loved this video. I am a lawyer, and some days I think I should have become a teacher instead.
Filed under: personal, video | Tagged: Adelphi University, Education, Educators, Greece, K through 12, memory, mourning, Taylor Mali, teacher, united states | 1 Comment »
Green Party Nominates Ian “Koch” Murphy for Congress (26-NY)
Posted on March 23, 2011 by iwilder
Will Challenge Major Parties on Peace, Budget Priorities, Single Payer Health Care, Worker Rights
The Green Party of NY State has officially nominated Ian Murphy as its candidate for upcoming special Congressional election in the 26th District. The Green Party said it wanted to provide an alternative to the anti-worker, pro-war, pro-corporate, anti-environmental agenda of the Democratic and Republican Parties. The special election will be held May 24, 2011.
Murphy said:
You may know me as the editor of The BEAST. You may also know me as the guy who pwned Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and revealed his sinister plans to crush public unions. And now you’ll know me as the Green Party candidate in the NY-26 special congressional election.
Talking to Walker made me realize something: We need better politicians in this country. We need politicians who aren’t for sale to the highest bidder. We need politicians who actually care about people. I care about people. I may not have always expressed that sentiment in the most straightforward way, but that’s always been my motivation as a writer.
Murphy, the Buffalo Beast journalist, made national headlines by posing as right-wing billionaire David Koch and prank-calling Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during the middle of the recent effort to eliminate collective bargaining rights of public workers. Posing as Koch, Murphy discussed tactics with Walker about how to trick Democrats in returning to the state. Walker, a leader in the bipartisan nationwide assault on public workers, is one of many politicians such as Governor Cuomo who is financed by Koch, a major funder of the Tea Party movement. Read more »
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, afghanistan, Ecology, economy, election, Environment, Global Warming, grassroots democracy, Green Party, new york, New York State Politics, US Politics, video | Tagged: 26, Buffalo, Buffalo Beast, congress, David Koch, democratic, democrats, Green New Deal, Ian Murphy, punked, pwned, Scott Walker, The Beast (newspaper), tricked, union, wisconsin | 5 Comments »
Lax Safety, Poor Procedures At Darlington Nuke Plant (via South Carolina Green Party)
Posted on March 23, 2011 by iwilder
Image via Wikipedia
via South Carolina Green Party
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Ecology, energy, Environment, grassroots democracy, green, Green Party, News, politics, safe, safety, US Politics | Tagged: CANDU reactor, Nuclear, nuclear power, Ontario Power Generation, Plant, Progress Energy, South Carolina, Union of Concerned Scientists | 3 Comments »
Jane Austen vs. Jane Eyre (and Esther vs. Vashti)
Posted on March 23, 2011 by kwilder
Charlotte Brontë. Image via Wikipedia
Kimberly writes: Since I enjoy Jane Eyre in all forms, I have an e-mail news alert for “Jane Eyre”. Found this interesting article on a blog devoted to discussion among Jewish women. The full post is: here.
(excerpt from) The Jewish Daily Forward/the sisterhood
Esther vs. Vashti, Austen vs. Brontës
By Sarah Seltzer
As I prepared for the beginning of the perennial Purim question of “Esther vs. Vashti” at the same time as I delved into Jane Eyre-mania, I began to think about how women are always pushed into dichotomies. I wondered cynically how soon someone would write about the new Brontë films by declaring Jane Austen passé…
It always seems to me that when it comes to women who take different paths there’s a meme out there that there’s only room for one. Virgin or whore, Esther or Vashti, Austen or Brontë. Yes, the two most famous Brontë sisters, Charlotte and Emily, and Jane Austen took divergent approaches to writing about the “woman question.” Austen was sort of an Esther, using her brilliant wit to dazzle readers but containing steely critique of the system under her perfect prose, while the Brontës, Vashti-like , seethe with rage at women’s unfortunate lot and churn with a desperate desire for escape…
Filed under: progressive politics | Tagged: 19 century literature, Charlotte Bronte, Esther, Feminism, jane austen, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre movie, period drama, Purim, Queen Esther, The Bronte sisters, The Brontes, Vashti, women's issues, women's literature | 1 Comment »
Green Party: US must honor the Libyan rebels’ requests for no military intervention
Posted on March 22, 2011 by iwilder
Image via Wikipedia
Green Party leaders today warned that western military intervention, now unfolding with air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi’s forces allegedly to create a no-fly zone, could escalate into a new US/NATO war on a Muslim nation rather than the stated goal of humanitarian protection for Libyan civilians and aid for rebels.
“Libyan rebel leaders have compared their cause to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and expressed their wish for no military involvement from other countries. The resolution of the conflict in Libya should not be led by foreign powers that have an interest in controlling Libya’s oil — the largest reserves in Africa. The military intervention by the US, UK, and France could easily turn into a situation like Iraq and Afghanistan, in which US bombs cause widespread civilian death and destruction,” said Romi Elnagar, a member of the Louisiana Green Party and a member of the party’s International Committee
The new Libyan Interim National Transitional Council in Benghazi issued a decree on March 5 stating “we request from the international community to fulfill its obligations to protect the Libyan people from any further genocide and crimes against humanity without any direct military intervention on Libyan soil.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-08/libyan-rebels-appeal-to-un-for-protection-formal-recognition.html) Read more »
Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Anti-War, energy, grassroots democracy, Green Party, international politics, News, politics, US Politics, war | Tagged: Africa, Algerian Civil War, green, Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, oil, united states | Leave a Comment »
Libya: A War We Shouldn’t Believe In
Posted on March 22, 2011 by kwilder
(excerpt from) CommonDreams.org
Libya: A War We Shouldn’t Believe In
by Ted Rall /March 22, 2011
U.S. forces fired 110 cruise missiles at Libya on the first day of the war. Each one cost $755,000 to build; $2.8 million to transport, maintain and shoot. Austerity and budget cuts abound; there’s no money for NPR or teachers or firefighters. Note to union negotiators: the government has lots of money. They’re spending it on war. Read more »
Filed under: Anti-War, international politics, News, politics, progressive politics, US Politics, war | Tagged: Ghadafi, Libya, Obama, Qadafi, war in Libya, What is happening in Libya, Why are we in Libya | 1 Comment »
Nader: Nuclear Nightmare
Posted on March 22, 2011 by iwilder
Image by pjchmiel via Flickr
Pushed aggressively by President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu, who refuses to meet with longtime nuclear industry critics, here is what “on your back” means:
1. Wall Street will not finance new nuclear plants without a 100% taxpayer loan guarantee. Too risky. That’s a lot of guarantee given that new nukes cost $12 billion each, assuming no mishaps. Obama and the Congress are OK with that arrangement.
2. Nuclear power is uninsurable in the private insurance market—too risky. Under the Price-Anderson Act, taxpayers pay the greatest cost of a meltdown’s devastation.
via Nuclear Nightmare – The Nader Page.
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, energy, Global Warming, grassroots democracy, News, Ralph Nader | Tagged: Barack Obama, Chu, nuclear power, Obama, Price-Anderson Act, Price–Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act, Ralph Nader, wall street | Leave a Comment »