Pretty good to-do list for US

James Howard Kunstler has a pretty good to-do list at the end of his Monday rant this week.  Salem and the mid-Willamette Valley would benefit greatly from such a sane approach along these lines, an end to chasing the destructive fantasy of auto sprawl fueled "growth" and sending wealth abroad in an effort to keep building the house of cards on the backs of sweatshop slaves in China and elsewhere.

Homeless

There's a long and comprehensive To-Do list that has been waiting for us since at least 2008, when the nation received one forceful blow upside its thick head. We refuse to pay attention. First item on the list: restructure the banks. Other items: reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act; disassemble the ridiculous "security" edifice under the NSA; upgrade the US electric grid; close down most of our military bases overseas (and some of our bases in the USA); draw up a constitutional amendment re-defining the alleged "personhood" of corporations; fix the passenger railroad system to prepare for the end of Happy Motoring; rebuild Main Street commerce to prepare for the death of WalMart and things like it; outlaw GMO foods and promote local food production; shut down casino gambling.

Politics Is More Broken Than Ever—Political Scientists Need to Admit It

What we know from our research is that there is no easy way out of the mess we are in.

Change our institutions to fit our new-style parties? Beyond reining in the filibuster, this would entail far-reaching constitutional reform that is likely to remain in the realm of intellectual debate.

Alter the electoral system to produce somewhat less polarized parties? There are lots of ideas worth pursuing in the states, but short of major changes such as compulsory voting or some form of proportional representation, the evidence suggests that they would produce at best modest results.

Politics Is More Broken Than Ever—Political Scientists Need to Admit It
// Master Feed

A must read for Memorial Day weekend

http://www.fark.com/go/8270846

A great insight -- if we want to claim the proud memories as belonging to us or saying something about who we are, we have to claim them all.

(A tremendous read and a perfect complement to the free "Color of Wealth" talk at Loucks Auditorium on Saturday, June 7.)

Sat, June 7 -- Event: The Color of Wealth

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." - 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A great follow up to the recent David Cay Johnston talk on the rapid rise in inequality in the US.

Two great jobs available: MPFS Seeking Applicants for 2 AmeriCorps VISTA positions

Marion-Polk Food Share is seeking applications for two AmeriCorps VISTA positions. These positions, sponsored by MercyCorpsNW, are 12 month, full time commitments based in Salem, Oregon at MPFS. They include a modest living stipend and an educational award.

 

Farm & Garden Program Developer:

The VISTA member will develop and support Farm & Garden initiatives that alleviate poverty through skill training, education and increasing access to nutritious food. They will:

• Support and expand the MPFS Youth Farm, a horticulture training program for at-risk teens. Conduct marketing, fundraising, tracking, curriculum design, volunteer recruitment and planning for the Youth Farm Program.
• Increase capacity of our Youth Gardens Program, a network of 6 after school garden educational sites at low-income elementary schools. Conduct volunteer recruitment and increase community engagement.
• Work to increase community garden participation among MPFS food pantry clientele through a Pantry to Garden program. Conduct outreach and support educational programming for families interesting in growing their own food. 

TO APPLY:

https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=55793&fromSearch=true

 

Nutrition Specialist:

The VISTA member will work to increase nutritional food security in low-income communities through developing programs that empower families, increase access to fresh produce and improve the MPFS emergency food distribution system.

• Expand MPFS's nutrition programs, including our diabetic-friendly food box, client-focused education (such as cooking classes), and nutrition promotion efforts at food pantries.

• Grow the capacity of our partner agency network to effectively serve their neighborhood through developing network maps, encouraging client-empowering pantry practices and developing an agency newsletter.

• Increase produce distribution to families in need through developing new distribution sites and improving internal capacities to give out more fresh produce. 

TO APPLY:

https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=55794&fromSearch=true

 

For questions regarding the application process or AmeriCorps VISTA service, please contact Jimmy O'Brien with MercyCorpsNW at 503.896.5080 or jobrien@mercycorpsnw.org

 

For questions regarding the position descriptions or Marion-Polk Food Share, contact Ian Dixon-McDonald at 503-581-3855 x329 or imcdonald@marionpolkfoodshare.org

 

Ian Dixon-McDonald

Vice President of Programs

Marion-Polk Food Share

 

T: 503-581-3855 x329

F: 503-581-3862

E: imcdonald@marionpolkfoodshare.org

1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE

Salem OR 97301-0374

www.marionpolkfoodshare.org/   

 

Great questions from Paul Krugman, while grading papers

1. How can we incentivize students to stop using "impact" as a verb?

2. How can we impact their writing in a way that stops them from using the word "incentivize"?

3. Can we make it a principal principle of writing that "principle" and "principal" mean different things, and you have to know which is which?

That is all.

George Orwell knew the Salem Statesman-Journal well

The new drive-by corporate boss dropped into Salem briefly haz a sad.  Some of the rabble have noticed that it's hard to do journalism about folks you only approach on bended knees.  So Newguy recycles the old tropes about "conspiracy theorists" imagining phone calls to tell the paper what to print.

Well, anyone paying attention knows that nothing could be further from the truth than any suggestion that it requires a phonecall from the Chamber of the 1% to tell the Statesman-Journal what to cover, who to favor and who to marginalize. After all, as George Orwell observed years ago,

Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip. -- George Orwell

Media Matters debunks Chamber of the 1% on class actions, shows why they're crucial to workers and employees

New head of Public Justice on a very misunderstood topic, one that the captive corporate press will never get right:

Media Matters regularly responds to Rush Limbaugh, Fox, etc., on a wide range of attacks.  Their blogs videos and whatnot are incredibly well done and professional.  They simply do fantastic work.  They take important progressive issues and make them entertaining, and educate people and change minds.

Just today, they've released a video explaining why class action lawsuits are important, how they help workers and consumers, giving several examples.  I'm honored and excited to have been interviewed extensively in the video, although they've added in a lot of clever animation, music, motion, photos, news articles, etc., so it's not just a talking head, it's something aimed at reaching a broader audience.  Here's a link to the video:

http://publicjustice.net/content/executive-director-paul-bland-talks-media-matters-america-about-class-actions-and-justice

Only rich kids should go to college. Discuss.

Only Rich Kids Should Go to College (via TIME)

"Suggesting that only the rich (or those who get full-ride scholarships and grants) go to college is about as politically incorrect as you can get... Yet more than a third of young graduates themselves do not agree that their education has paid off, and evidence keeps mounting that student loans are the equivalent of wearing lead sneakers in an economic foot race. At the very least, anyone taking out these loans should understand the full nature of their costs

May 22 -- Free film on an important awakening

http://brighidscircle.wordpress.com

http://brighidscircle.wordpress.comhttp://brighidscircle.wordpress.com

May 22nd, "Rebecca's Wild Farm: A Farm for the Future." Come join us for finger food potluck and discussion.