Concert for Japan -- today, free, 2:30 pm @ Loucks Auditorium

Looking For Hope....
A concert to honor the victims of the disaster in Japan.

The Salem Public Library will host a musical concert featuring the traditional music of Japan. Performers include Masumi Timson and Noriko Dozono on koto, Larry Tyrrell on shakuhachi flute and Monmouth Taiko on drums. The concert is free, at Loucks Auditorium near the Salem Public Library, on Saturday, March 3rd, starting at 2:30 PM. There is general seating. Doors open at 2 PM.

This event will raise awareness of how Japanese citizens are dealing with the tragic disaster that occurred last year. Recovery after the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leak slowly continues. Residents near the Fukushima Power facility face a very uncertain future and need our support. Concerned performers with emotional ties to Japan have come together to honor the victims and offer hope through the sharing of traditional music.

The welcoming address will be given by the Honorable Takamichi Okabe, Consul General of Japan. After the intermission, there will be a short slide presentation by Kazue Suzuki, who will show images from a recent visit into areas affected by the disaster.

Items offered for sale include cd’s, t-shirts, origami earrings, etc. Monetary proceeds from the sales will be donated to the town of Minami-Souma City, to help with the relief efforts there.

Please come enjoy the music and help us to help others in Japan! 
For more information, go to  HYPERLINK "http://www.monmouthtaiko.org" www.monmouthtaiko.org

Word: In Salem, as in Portland, the Megabridge Dreams are Simply Pork for Contractors

Most excellent

A LOVESalem local cool stuff correspondent sends:

If I'm emailing you it's because I think you might be interested in this local coffee roaster either because it's local, because it's sustainable, or because it's tasty. :) It gets delivered by bicycle to your house once a week on the day it's roasted. Not sure coffee gets more fresh than that! Matt and I have tried it and think it's delicious and have signed up.

Here's the promo video (which is cool even if you hate coffee) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfTJso63fRM



And the website with more details - www.steelbridgecoffee.com

Thanks, and if you know someone else who might be interested in Salem, feel free to forward this on!

Our Fiendish Predicament Summed Up in a Single Graph

What fossil fuels made possible, the inexorable end of fossil fuels will make impossible to continue

Two Englishmen Shooting Balloons in Slow Motion . . . That Is All « Fun

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/01/06/two-englishmen-shooting-balloons-in-slow-motion-that-is-all/

More Saturday fun

Strike a blow for common sense and sustainability 6:30 pm MONDAY NIGHT at City Hall

Well, thanks to more tireless work by the Chickens in the Yard (CITY) folks, the city staff has prepared a recommendation for City Council to make substantial, significant improvements to the original hen-keeping ordinance adopted a while back.

So, once again into the breach, public-spirited citizens of Salem! Please show up at City Hall Council Chambers tonight for the first reading and to testify in favor of the proposed rewrites. They won't be adopted tonight, but they do have to get enough support to get to second reading and then, ultimately, final adoption. And that's where you come in: come and show your support for more sensible rules for keeping hens in Salem!

Here's a word from Barb Palermo, Henactivist Extraordinaire. Contact Barb if you have questions about the proposed changes and how long you can expect to be there, etc.

The revised chicken ordinance (to be discussed and voted on Monday night) has been posted on the city's website (pdf) . . . . City staff is recommending passage of the revisions. They left the price of the chicken license up to the council to decide and instead of the coop being 10' from your own house, it's 3' - but other than that they have rewritten it exactly as proposed, including increasing the number of hens to five and allowing them at community gardens!

We still need 5 votes though, so another good show of supporters Monday night is essential. Could you please write about this in your blog in hopes of getting folks to attend?

Isabel Allende tells Tales of Passion

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/heb/_tells_tales_of_passion.html

Bring the joy back to teaching and learning

Best thing on Ed for some time. Sadly, it is retired educators who seem to be able to stand up to the charlatans like Arne Duncan and the No Child Left Behind Snake Oil chorus.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/02/bring_the_joy_back_to_teaching.html

More on our predicament: Business trying to silence the warnings on climate

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/02/18/cyberbulling-scientists-using-threats-in-an-effort-to-silence-the-discussion-on-climate-change/

Cyberbullying Scientists: Using Threats in an Effort to Silence the Discussion on Climate Change « JONATHAN TURLEY

The Great Train Robbery ... By the Trainsters at Union Pacific, trying to hold US up!

House Bill 4028A: Oregon’s Union Pacific Gravy Train

 “If their tracks need repairs, it’s their job as a business, not ours as taxpayers, to fix them.” Jody Wiser, Tax Fairness Oregon, Willamette Week, Feb. 8, 2012.

 
 “Gravy Train,” the recent Willamette Week story by Kara Wilbeck, notesthat last year, Union Pacific Railroad had profits of $3.3 billion. Yet since 2006, under a law stating that Oregon should subsidize transportation businesses that “lack capital,” the state has already handed out $24.7 million tax dollars to this corporate giant.

The current legislative session in Salem is slashing school budgets and senior services, potentially closing a jail and counting every penny. ButHB 4028A is trying to add another $10 million to the $40 million already in the fund called “ConnectOregon,” for gifts to businesses and to public entities for multi-model (non-highway) transportation projects.

Of the 69 grant applications – most ask the public to do most of the spending
·       48 are for grants where the project owner will pay 25% or less of the project cost.  Thus the public through ConnectOregon will be covering 75% or more of the cost. 

·       11 applicants will cover 25% to 50% of cost.

·       10 applicants will cover 51% to 75% of the cost.

Of course there may be other grants or loans coming to the project owners from other sources, which would further reduce their own contributions. 
 
Of that additional $10 million for ConnectOregon, $8.2 million could go to UP. The gravy train just keeps rolling along.

Why is UP once again seeking Oregon subsidies? The corporate giant’s mouthpiece Aaron Hunt answers in discredited terms that should make taxpayers grab for their wallets: the corporation just “wanted to partner with the public” and create “trickle down throughout the economy.”

This is the type of taxpayer rip-off that giant corporations like to arrange behind the scenes, even as their mouthpieces are complaining about “big government.” 

In this short session, the next decision point in the state legislature is coming right away in the Capital Construction Sub-Committee of the Ways and Means Committee. Legislators there could add the extra $10 million--but passing out more cash to corporations is not acceptable. 

Please phone or email one (or more) of the committee members now and say “NO” to the $10 million ConnectOregon allotment in HB 4028A. Tell them to use our tax dollars to pay teachers to teach, not to pay for corporate-owned railroad tracks. Thank you.

Click here for talking points and the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of committee members.

Tax Fairness Oregon