SPAN Ohio Monthly Radio Program. Every third Thursday at 8:30 PM. Listen to the Single Payer Action Network (SPAN) online radio program at www.wcanradio.com
From the Free Press: 2012's civil liberties apocalypse has already happened by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman January 19, 2012. In case you missed it, President Barack Obama has signed a death knell for the Bill of Rights. It's a hell of a way to begin a year many believe will mark the end of the world. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) makes a mockery of our basic civil liberties. It shreds the intent of the Founders to establish a nation where essential rights are protected. It puts us all at risk for arbitrary, indefinite incarceration with no real rights to recourse. Read more: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/20/2012/4458
Bill Moyers is back on PBS - UPDATE! Moyers and Company is being aired on WOSU on one of the new digital channels on Saturday evening. Fortunately, it is easily accessible online at billmoyers.com/video. Check out the premier edition "On Winner Take All Politics" - Bill Moyers explores how America's vast inequality didn't just happen, it's been politically engineered. Bill’s guests – Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, are the authors of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer — And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class.
Article: 2012 is the Year to Finally to Finally Bury Nuclear Power by Harvey Wasserman. By Harvey Wasserman. The year 2012 has opened with news that Fukushima's radioactive cloud may already have killed some 14,000 Americans, according to a major study just published in the International Journal of Health Services. Read the article at http://warisacrime.org/content/2012-year-finally-bury-nuke-power
WCRS Fight Back Interview on Occupy the Courts with Karen Hansen and Michael Greenman of MovetoAmend.</span>You can listen to or download this interview by Bob Fitrakis and Connie Gadell Newton broadcasted on WCRS-FM. Topics discussed Move to Amend, OWS, Occupy the Courts, ALEC and the challenges of Corporate Personhood. Check it out here! http://wcrsfm.org/content/fight-back-december-23-2011-move-amend
The following article was just posted to the website of The Free Press (http://freepress.org). Check it out today! Has America's stolen election process finally hit prime time? by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman. It took two stolen US Presidential elections and the prospect of another one coming up in 2012. For years the Democratic Party and even much of the left press has reacted with scorn for those who've reported on it. But the imperial fraud that has utterly corrupted our electoral process seems finally to be dawning on a broadening core of the American electorate---if it can still be called that. Read more: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2011/4438
Great news from WVKO! Progressive Talk Radio is returning to Columbus. Tune in to WVKO 1580 AM to listen to popular radio hosts Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Mike Malloy, and Leslie Marshall, seven days a week. Our website will be live soon: http://www.wvko1580.com You can Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/WVKO-1580-AM/226183490791106 Or follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WVKO1580 Please spread the word to your progressive friends
The January-February edition of the Sierra Club Central Ohio Group newsletter is now available online: http://ohio.sierraclub.org/central/Newsletter/COG_Newsletter_2012_01.pdf
Current and past editions of the electronic version of the newsletter are on the Central Ohio Group Newsletter page on our website (http://ohio.sierraclub.org/central/Newsletter.asp)
The newsletter opens as an Adobe PDF file. You must have the Adobe Reader to view the newsletter. If you don't, you can download the Adobe Reader at: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
Talkin’ Socialism Podcast. The Dec 2011 "Talkin' Socialism" podcast is now available at the link below. The podcast is an interview, conducted by Peg Strobel, with two leaders of the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF). CAF is unusual in their political space, both because it has paid staff and because CAF thinks and acts in terms of reproductive justice, not just choice. I think you'll find the 30 min podcast interesting. northshoredsa.org
Links to Columbus-are LGBT organizations:
Equality Ohio: http://www.equalityohio.org/ Equality Ohio sponsors periodic "advocacy" events, for example, an annual "Lobby Day" at the State House. There is a "join our mailing list" option on the Equality Ohio home page.
OSU Multicultural Center: http://multiculturalcenter.osu.edu/ The OSU Multicultural Center sponsors several very-high-quality LGBT events each year. The Multicultural Center's events are designed primarily for OSU students but many of them are open to the public. There is a "Newsletters" choice in the red bar at the top of the page; once you have entered your e-mail address, it will be possible to sign up for only certain Multicultural Center newsletters rather than for all of them.
OutLaws: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/outlaws/ OutLaws is a group of LGBT-and-ally OSU Law Students that periodically sponsors events open to the public.
PFLAG [Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays] Columbus: http://www.pflagcolumbus.org/
PFLAG hosts a monthly support group on the fourth Sunday of each month, 2:00-4:00 p.m., at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Rd. and occasionally sponsors other events. PFLAG is an "advocacy" group but their advocacy tends to be "behind-the-scenes" rather than through publicized events that could be included in a calendar.
Stonewall Columbus: http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org/ Most of Stonewall Columbus' events are "social" but they periodically sponsor "advocacy" events -- including the annual LGBT "Pride Celebration." There is a "Sign up for the Weekly Stonewall Columbus Email" option on the Stonewall Columbus home page.
Fight Back! Radio Show on the internet with host Bob Firtrakis. http://Talktainmentradio.com Listen and/or Call in from 7:00-8:00 PM every Wednesday.
Sustainable Clintonville: Contact Suzie Watkins-Martinez <watkinsmartinez@hotmail.com> for information.
Sustainable Westerville: Email sustainable-westerville@googlegroups.com
Sustainable Worthington: Visit www.sustainableworthington.org for information.
Sustainable Delaware: Visit www.sustainabledelawareohio.org
Listen live on Tuesdays at 2:00 PM to Harvey Wasserman and others on PRN (Progressive Radio Network) at http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/harvey-wasserman /
Resource From the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC): Spending on Food by Tens of Millions of Americans Drops to Unhealthy Level - New FRAC Analysis Finds Hispanics, African Americans Especially Hard Hit. Washington, D.C. – December 8, 2011 – A new analysis of federal data (pdf) by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) finds that more and more Americans have been losing the struggle to afford an adequate and healthy diet. Food spending by the average household fell dramatically over the past decade, with particularly dramatic drops in 2000-2002 and 2006-2010. FRAC analyzed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annual reports that compare the amount of households’ median spending on food to the amount of the Thrifty Food Plan – the level the government defines as needed for a bare bones diet on an emergency basis, albeit a level that many experts consider to be inadequate for most families to obtain a healthy diet. The FRAC analysis found that: Spending on food by the median household fell from 1.36 times the Thrifty Food Plan level in 2000 to 1.19 times that level in 2010. By 2010 median spending on food by Black households and Hispanic households had fallen to the point where it was only a tiny bit above (101 percent for Black households) or was actually below (96 percent for Hispanic households) the bare bones Thrifty level. Spending by households with incomes less than 185 percent of the poverty level fell from 106 percent of the thrifty level in 2000 to 95 percent in 2010. This dramatically reduced spending on food would not be so problematic if households were still spending amounts adequate to obtain a healthy diet. FRAC’s analysis shows that they are not: indeed, the median spending of all households has fallen below the amount of the government’s Low-Cost Food Plan, which is a much more realistic measure of spending to support health and well-being. “In short, tens of millions of households are failing to attain an adequate standard for food purchasing,” said FRAC President Jim Weill. “When families don’t have enough resources to purchase an adequate diet, it leads to increased hunger and damages health, mental health, family cohesion, early child development, learning, and productivity at work. Today’s inability to afford enough food will lead to widespread harm to the nation’s children and adults, its schools and its workplaces, and its economy unless this trend is reversed.” This squeeze on food spending, especially among lower-income groups, can be largely attributed to a decade of falling incomes and rising housing costs. The only positive note was that Congress in early 2009 enacted a boost in food stamp (“SNAP”) payments. FRAC attributes the small improvement in the food spending ratio from 2008 to 2009 to this boost in SNAP benefit levels, as well as a temporary slowdown in food inflation. “Even a modest improvement in SNAP benefit levels made a difference for struggling households by slightly increasing their purchasing power,” said Weill. “Several proposals to cut or limit SNAP have been introduced in Congress, and this analysis underscores just how harmful those cuts would be. It also underscores the need for Congress to act on the President’s commitment to forestall an actual cut in benefits scheduled for 2013. As Congress heads into a new legislative session, it must continue to protect and improve the nation’s safety net, including SNAP, and focus on measures to rebuild the economy.”
Website of the Week: Think Columbus First! This is the place to go to learn about campaigns sponsored by Support Our Local Economy (SOLE). Discover all the benefits of buying local, find links to the FREE SBB Community Card for local deals and discounts at 400 locally owned businesses, where to eat local, how to move your money to a local community bank or credit union, and more... See the $2 bill? Stay tuned for where to get these specially marked bills and as the cartoon bubble next to Thomas Jefferson says, "Spend Me Local." Have fun! Live local!