Salon Weekly
A Weekly Email Publication of The Lloyd House
Growing out of the Monday Night Salon
For info about the Salon, see the bottom of this email
To: Friends on our Pot Luck Salon list.Â
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Saturday, 27 November 2004
At the table Monday 11/22/04: Sander Vinks, Yvonne Van Eijden, Milan vinks, Mira Rodwan, Mike Murphy, Mark Coopersmith, Anna Coopersmith (Welcome Mark and Anna!), Shirley Reischman, David Rosenberg, Ellen Bierhorst, James Reischman, Jan Kinsley, Dennis Kinsley, Steve Sunderland, Spencer Konikov, Linda Gruber, Marvin Kraus, JGerry Kraus, Jeanne Butler, Ananda Horn (Welcome Ananda), Bev Paul, Joan Friedland.
(From Ellen) Greetings Friends!A really lovely salon MOnday, with beautiful food prepared and presented most aesthetically by Jeanne Butler (Call her 661-6156 to schedule your catering event) . Steve Sunderland said, No, we don't have to surrender prayers and praying to the religious right, and so opened our Thankful Feast with a Native American invocation ("Grandfather! Grandmother!"...) and words full of heart. Aw, Steve, you're the best. (see below in the Blue section for Steve's Thanksgiving poem.)
In my offering below I will
- give a run down of what we said at the table Monday,
- Finish up sharing my tid bit notes from the Peak Oil Conference,
- Point you to the correspondence I have been having with John Robbins, the whirling dervish of energy conservation who will be presenting here on Dec. 6 See Blue Section, last "article". Most recent posts are on top. To read in historical order, start at the bottom.
- Give a list of the articles I have gleaned from the net I think you will want to read.
RUN DOWN OF WHAT WE SAID MONDAY
Our format was a little different this week (by fiat from the end of the table). I love it when we suspend our normal feeding frenzy mode of talk and take our time, passing the talking stick. (I know, Roy. You hate it. But hey, you didn't show up so what was to stop us?) Everyone spoke for several minutes, in a thoughtful, heart-felt way about what was on our minds these days, and in the light of recent events and the Thanksgiving holiday.MORE TID BITS FROM THE PEAK OIL CONFERENCE
I started off. Shared my excitement and anxieties re. the Peak Oil Conference (see below). My hopes for building life boats for my family, for my community, for our society in the large picture. More and more my mind echoes with the Kurt Vonnegut essay recently that described our planet now as junkies fighting over the last of the oil "heroin" as the supplies dwindle. I keep thinking of the quote from the conference: The Average American has the equivalent of 300 slaves because of all the non renewable energy burned by her and on her behalf. 300 slaves. 300 slaves!
Mike Murphy took the stick next. Spoke about living for a number of years in the 80's, 90's at the ecovillage Serius Community near Amherst Mass. ... Some have said that to know what it is going to be like, read Dickens about life in the 1800's. But that isn't right. Our post-oil lifestyle isn't going to resemble the 19th century. ... Invoked the "getting off drugs" metaphor.
Yvonne VanEijden : we are sad about the election results. We believe that more than half of the U.S. people are not for Bush. Our greatest danger, enemy today: frustration and anger.
Gerry Kraus: It is a tradition in our family to go around the table sharing our gratitudes. I am thankful for this Salon. We still are living in the greatest country in the world... EVER. Plato's Republic didn't work and wasn't ever in the real world, only in his imagination. ... After the McCarthy era in the 50's we had a wonderful rebirth of democracy. Today we will see a resurgence of democracy with liberals in the vanguard.
Steve Sunderland: I am concerned about statements about ours being a "great country". Think of the words to John Lennon's "Imagine"... no religions, no national boundaries. ... thankful for the Kraus' being such a wonderful force in our city, working for zoning, environment, neighborhoods, etc. etc. (and beautiful plantings in the islands along Victory Parkway! ellen) I was yesterday at the Free Store helping to distribute food for folks' Thanksgiving dinners. People were pouring in both to give and to get. ... We need to have adequate food supply, adequate housing, and day care etc. for all people. We could feed the whole world. Why aren't we doing it?
Bev Paul: People are hungry not only at Thanksgiving time, when there are "feed the poor" projects. They are hungry all year around. We should be doing something about that.
Marvin Kraus: There are many activists who are doing wonderful projects. Pickler, the retired Kroger CEO has spearheaded the Washington Park project. A building at 1308 Race across from Wash. park is being restored to affordable high quality housing. Pickler has a vision for the naighborhood. INcludes razing the school, extending the park, moving the school near by. More green space. Has an all volunteer work force, 5% of the money comes from the city. There are many volunteer opportunities here in Cincinnati. Bet you could do a Google search and find them. (True? Anyone want to do that? ellen)
Mira Rodwan: I have concerns about health care in the U.S. About Alternative medicine. ... Think about "What is America to me?"
Mark Coopersmith: We are f rom California. The new governor, Schwartzenager, seems to be doing a good job. Appeals both to the immigrant population and to the wealthy. We have a large young hispanic population, and an older, white population. Should we spend state resources on Education? or on old age benefits?
Jeanne Butler: I have been acutely aware of the have-not people all around. Children who lived next door to us on Jurgens were often hungry. (story about) Daniel coming home emptying the pantry into bags to take to school to give to the "poor children". We were a impovrished as it gets, single mom MOntessori teacher, and yet we did not have generational poverty. We had friends and family firmly in the middle class, I was raised in the middle class. Makes a big difference. ... my thing is making food for people. I cooked at the New School for 14 years.
Sander Vinks: It is good to be back here at the Salon. As people from the Netherlands we can say that there is certainly more visible poverty here than in the Netherlands. It is heart-warming to see people working to aleviate hunger. In the Neth. we have a multi-party system, not the two-party system like here. It means that any government must form a coalition of a number of factions. This works well.
Linda Gruber: I used to coordinate the international students programs at U.C. in the 90's. ... the Chinese students were remarkable. Lived so very frugally while getting their advanced degrees... no TV. Had a very close knit community. After they graduated, though, they got high paying jobs and then became very enthusiastic consumers.
Dennis Kinsley: I've had it with the gloom since Nov. 3 . We need to educate ourselves about the other side (the Republicans). They have great fear. ... War is here to stay. War in Iran is coming.
Surely the Bush people know enough not to be proud of what they have accomplished. Richard Morris, commentator and smart guy, advisor to presidents, says the Republican Party is in serious trouble. In 2008 they only have Guiliani, McCaine, and Condolesa Rice. I hope they'll run Rice. ... Morris says Hillary Clinton is unstoppable. I believe Kerry would stand aside for her candidacy.
The Right is based on deceit. The world has had enough of that. INteresting to note that the "Red" states have a higher rate of divorce.
Things will only improve from this point on. It will be "up" from here.
David Rosenberg: I am grateful for the freedom we h ave in America. Yes, we have dysfunctional government, communities, and economy. But we have the power to change it. We can take action. No doubt, we will prevail.
Spencer Konikov: 2 generations ago my grandfather came here from eastern Europe.... The election: the other side won; home mortgage rates are going up. but I am grateful that we can have a "revolution" every year without bloodshed.
Ananda Horn: I come from several years living in the foothills of the Sierras in CA where I taught Survival skills. BTW the talking stick we are using (a knob kuori from the Maasai people...ellen ) is an African war club.... I came back here to rejoin my family (Jeanne B. is mother) because I believe danger is coming. I have studied extensively for years The Art of War, the classic on the subject by Sun Tsu (sp?) and reflecting that wisdom on the current situation says that the fear promoting tactic of the Bush people is doomed to failure.
James Reischman: Before the election we saw a series of films at the cinema Grill on Mt. Lookout sq. On election issues; on sustainability. Three years ago, presentation by St. Paula Gonzales at Mt. St. Joseph College. We are all addicted to the huge power thing of using all this carbon fuel. So many people are ignorant about the coming depletion; it is very good to educate ourselves about that.
Shirley and I have been working in the community we live in, Pleasant Ridge to assist in the design of our new public school. It will be a "green building". Book, Superbia, 31 Ways to build Sustainably.
Jan Kinsley: It is very important to have this loosely held organization, our Salon.
I have followed Mother Earth News a magazine, special edition on homes... alternative energy sources, alternative building styles... rammed earth structures, etc.
Joan Friedland: New Jersey has tax incentives for using less power... they actually give a tax credit of 70% for the purchase and installation of solar electric generating panels.
Jeanne Butler: my husband, Joseph Ross does evaluations of homes for energy efficiency, working for People Working Cooperatively, a non-profit here in Cinti. They also fix up homes for the poor.
David Rosenberg: There is more saving energy through conservation, insullation than there is in installing alterntive power sources like photo voltaic panels (solar panels).
Jeanne Butler: I lived for years in an intentional community in Cleremont Co. where we had no electricity, gas heat, running water etc. It is very different. Most people are not aware.
Jan Kinsley: Many states give various supports for conservtion and for installation of alternative energy supplies. Some lenders give lower mortgage rates to "green" homes.
David Rosenberg: Cincinnati has a program now where you can write off your tax bill for up to $20,000 for capitol improvements of your home... things like solar panels. Thing is, the County Auditor, Mr. Dusty Rhodes, is the one who decides what is a qualified improvement and whqt isn't. For instance, replacement windows are NOT allowed. Maybe we should get Dusty Rhodes to come here to the salon and explain what qualifies. (Go for it! Let's get him. )
Mike Murphy: John Robbins, coming Dec. 6 to Salon, is most expert in Big Picture stuff. I'd like to hear what he would say about the Lloyd House, as an example.
David Rosenberg: .... so many trees fall in the city, could be made into valuable lumber with a portable saw mill.
I'd like John Robbins to share with us the top ten things that could be done at the Lloyd House to make it more energy efficient.
- IF A family had a garden/orchard permaculture thing in a band all around their house 50 ft. wide, they could grow all the food they need all y ear long... and if they added a few more feet, they could provide all needed energy (alcohol crops) as well.
- Good web site: Running on Empty runningonempty.org All sorts of deals; recycled products, green providers of services, etc.
- Pat Murphy, the head of Community Solution, the sponsoring organization in Yellow Slprings for the conference, is working to build a sustainable eco-village commlunity there in Yellow Springs, to be called Agraria. You can join. Contact him:
http://www.communitysolution.org/ Also at the same website, blurb about the conference, and text of Richard Heinberg's closing talk. INspiring.- On a permaculture farm, 5 people farming can feed 400!
- There are natural size increments for communities: 24, 150, and 600.
- It takes 120 laborers working on a farm to do the work that 1 gal. of fuel + one person can accomplish in a tractor etc.
- The Amish used to have farming circles, with 21 families. They would work on your place all together for a day one day out of every three weeks. One continuous party.
- Bowling Alone, a book, discusses levels of satisfaction in Americans. Among the Poorest segment of the population, only 5% answered "yes" to the question "Are you happy?" Among the richest segment, the figure was only 6%!
- Corporations are busy buying up agricultural land. It would be awful if the depression (peak oil) hit and all the means of food production was in the hands of the corporation.
- Cuba went through oil withdrawal with only one week notice when the Soviet Union disintegrated. It took them two years to stabilize (only!). They have been creative and successful.
- bio deisel fuel. Do google search for "veggie Van". Interesting project.
- The "Institute for Community Services" is a g roup that helps would be intentional communities to buy land.
- Hve an energy audit for your home. (John Robbins can do that.
http://home.insightbb.com/~johnfrobbins/index.htm Several presenters talked about "Global Public Media" an on line news source. All about Peak Oil http://newsite.globalpublicmedia.com/ We should buy locally produced products of all kinds every day.- The "bioregion" movement is a great force. Check out
http://www.greatriv.org/bioreg.htm Heard of oil from oil shale? It's a terrible idea. Produces much ash as a byproduct. We don't want oil from shale.- So that's all my notes. I'd love to lend someone my coy of Heinberg's power down book to read and report on. I am busy reading "Building a life together", book about starting intentional communities. I am really interested in (maybe) doing that.
In the Blue section below, some of the most significant articles that have reached lme. So sorry to leave out so many others of great worth, too. Thanks for sending them. I like to print your thoughts.
- Link to Lakoff chapter... read this. Buy the book or borrow it from me. In "Teal" color, all the articles about the election fraud allegations and responses we can/should make.
- Success; Action to take; f rom "No Stollen Election" website
- Alan Bern sends Article from Baltimore Chronicle on Who really won the election
-
- NY Times Mag. article on voting pattern in Ohio, with the ACT campaign: "Who Lost Ohio?" No word on fraud.(!)
- Sustainability Conference hosted by World Wildlife Fund in Bangkok
- Letter from Michael Horn (new friend from Peak Oil conference) on Richard's new political party
Paul Krugman (NY Times cloumnist, ex-Republican, economist) on the looming economic crisis- Steve Sunderland: thanksgiving Poem
Bern Sends on this good piece by Tom Hayden- General Foote on "Object to Gonzales as Atty. Gen!"
- Vlasta emails us from Nepal
- Isaac Avulasa Sends Words from Africa
- Alan
- Cilty Council Member Crowley warns of tough City Budget...calls for input
- City Cuts Funds for Human Services! Take Action...
- City Budget cuts for the Arts! Act now.
- John Robbins correspondence
Hugs,
ellen
(for Articles: see below. Beneath the "Announcements" section.)...
Announcements:
TOMORROW:
Holiday ArtSalon
featuring
Cosmeau
An original world music trio sending
Sonic Peace, Love and Groove
Out to the Universe
Local artist show! Beautiful unique handmade gift items!
Lots of cool stuff to look at! Music! Refreshments! Fun!
Cincinnati Antique Mall @ Ferguson¹s
on Kellogg Avenue just east of Stanley in Columbia-Tusculum
For more info, email: maestra@one.net
Sunday, November 28, 2004
1- 4 pm concert
Music and Art Events at The Greenwich Jazz Club (one block south of the corner of Gilbert & McMillan) Telephone: 513-221-1151
Wednesday, December 1 "Lyrical Insurrection" ***NEW NIGHT DEBUT***
"Frumthalite Productions" moves "Lyrical Insurrection" to a new night...from this point on, this weekly Spoken word exhibition moves to WEDNESDAYS, the traditional evening for poetry at The Greenwich. "Lyrical Insurrection" features Open Mic sessions and weekly special appearances by musical guests. Showtime at 8:00 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Friday, December 3 Enjoy "Happy Hour at The Greenwich" from 5 PM - 8 PM featuring entertainment by local artists & musicians and a free buffet meal. Admission $5. This week's entertainment is provided by singer/actress Tonja McCullar & pianist Nicholas Brown
Saturday, December 4 The Ladies of the Deeper Than Color book club proudly present “Verbal Libations Spoken Word Showcase” (first Saturday of every month) 9 PM -12 AM. Food served. All funds raised contribute to academic scholarships for high school youths ($5 admission)
Monday, December 6 Politically Progressive Pizza Party & Play
The newly formed Cincinnati Independent Theater is teaming with The Greenwich Jazz Club to present a full-cast reading of Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner’s "A Bright Room Called Day" at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 6 at The Greenwich in Walnut Hills. Free pizza will be offered to patrons courtesy of the Greenwich, and a “think tank” about the recent presidential election will follow the reading.
Local actor and dramaturg Elizabeth Cobbe is producing and directing the reading of the full-length play about political tumult in Weimar Germany and 1980s America. “Like a lot of people in this town,” Cobbe said, “I’m dismayed at the results of the presidential election. This project isn’t about changing anyone’s mind. It’s about seeing characters grapple with the same amount of loss and uncertainty that a lot of us feel now. Kushner expresses it beautifully, without skimping on any of the horror.”
The discussion following the reading will allow actors and audience members to share their reactions to the play and to current events, and to offer ideas for future community action.
“Theater is about community,” Cobbe explained. “For people who feel a lot of frustration over the election, this performance is about sharing that experience. This is a chance to maybe together find some way to redirect all the hope and energy so many of us devoted to the campaign.”
The cast of Bright Room has not yet been set, but both Equity and non-Equity actors have agreed to participate.
Cincinnati Independent Theater is the brainchild of Elizabeth Cobbe, who simply needed a company name under which to produce the reading. “The company might continue past this project,” said Cobbe, “but probably not. Producing is only something I do when I feel like a project has to happen right here, right now.”
Admission to the reading will be on a pay-what-you-can basis ($5 suggested donation). No reservations. The Greenwich is located at 2440 Gilbert Ave. in Walnut Hills. For more information, call (513) 221-1151 or Elizabeth Cobbe (513) 751-1576 email:lizcobbe@yahoo.com
Wednesday, December 8 "Lyrical Insurrection"
"Frumthalite Productions" presents "Lyrical Insurrection." This weekly Spoken word exhibition moves to WEDNESDAYS, the traditional evening for poetry at The Greenwich. "Lyrical Insurrection" features Open Mic sessions and weekly special appearances by musical guests. Showtime at 8:00 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Friday, December 10 Christmas with "Just Us Two"
Celebrate the holiday season with an evening of Christmas jazz entertainment by the group "Just-Us Two," featuring Butch "Mr.Sax" Yates and songstress Gwen "Lady G" Rhodes. Showtime 9 PM. Admission $6 (free buffet included)
Saturday, December 11th "Corner Culture" An Evening Celebration of the Arts on
Peebles Corner at The Greenwich
The public is cordially invited to join us at The Greenwich on Saturday, December 11th for an evening of entertainment and networking in Walnut Hills entitled "Corner Culture." This celebration on Peebles Corner highlights our efforts to infuse the full spectrum of the arts as a means to help catalyze neighborhood revitalization:
Scheduled "Corner Culture" events:
An opening reception will be held "Upstairs at The Greenwich" for this visual art exhibition by student artists in the University of Cincinnati's DAAP Master of Fine Arts program. Co-curated by Matthew Miller-Novak & Matthew Litteken (Free admission, buffet available). A closing reception will be held January 8th.
7 PM DAAP Master of Fine Arts Student Showcase
9 PM Live blues entertainment with popular band "Moe Saint Cool" (Admission $5)
Wednesday, December 15 "Lyrical Insurrection"
"Frumthalite Productions" presents "Lyrical Insurrection." This weekly Spoken word exhibition moves to WEDNESDAYS, the traditional evening for poetry at The Greenwich. "Lyrical Insurrection" features Open Mic sessions and weekly special appearances by musical guests. Showtime at 8:00 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Friday, December 17 "24 Hour Open Mic" Part I (9 PM - 9 AM)
Cincinnati's only 24-hour "Open Mic" showcase for the performing arts
returns to The Greenwich. Come enjoy (and even take part) in this marathon parade of performances. Supported by the League of Cincinnati Theatres. Whether it's a skit, dramatic scene, musical number or poem you've got 24 hours to be a star. Contact Mark Yates by telephone (513-751-2823) or email (upstairsart@yahoo.com) to register a day, time and duration of your act (45 minute limit, please) $3 admission.
Saturday, December 18 "24 Hour Open Mic" Part II (9 PM - 9 AM)
Cincinnati's only 24-hour "Open Mic" showcase for the performing arts
returns to The Greenwich. Come enjoy (and even take part) in this marathon parade of performances. Supported by the League of Cincinnati Theatres. Whether it's a skit, dramatic scene, musical number or poem you've got 24 hours to be a star. Contact Mark Yates by telephone (513-751-2823) or email (upstairsart@yahoo.com) to register a day, time and duration of your act (45 minute limit, please) $3 admission.
Wednesday, December 22 "Lyrical Insurrection"
"Frumthalite Productions" presents "Lyrical Insurrection." This weekly Spoken word exhibition moves to WEDNESDAYS, the traditional evening for poetry at The Greenwich. "Lyrical Insurrection" features Open Mic sessions and weekly special appearances by musical guests. Showtime at 8:00 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Saturday, December 25 "Christmas Lyrical Insurrection Showcase"
Frumthalite Productions presents the monthly "Lyrical Insurrection Showcase" on Christmas Day. Featured the last Saturday of each month, this event highlights musical and Spoken word performers from around the city. Showtime 9 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Wednesday, December 29 "Lyrical Insurrection"
"Frumthalite Productions" presents "Lyrical Insurrection." This weekly Spoken word exhibition moves to WEDNESDAYS, the traditional evening for poetry at The Greenwich. "Lyrical Insurrection" features Open Mic sessions and weekly special appearances by musical guests. Showtime at 8:00 PM. Variable cover. For more information call Divine Prince Hakiym (513-885-3176), Itege Olufemi (513-652-1197), or Element (513-226-8741)
Join the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition Chorale
directed by Cathy Roma
no audition. multicultural group. way fun.
This year you can take it for CREDIT from Cincinnati State
Rehearsals will be at The House Of Joy in College Hill (Hamilton Ave.)
on: Alternate Tuesdays 7 - 9 pm
STILL TIME TO J OIN!
Dec 7
Dec 21
Jan 4
Jan 11
Performance at Music Hall for MLK Day: Jan 17
The Village Green is what used to be a commercial greenhouse in Northside on
Knowlton St.... went out of business, was bought by the amazing Maureen Wood
And now is, ta=da! The Village Green.
===========================================================s
subject: Northside Market at the Village Green
Dear Village Green Gardeners and Friends,
Today was the Northside Market's first day at Village Green. There was a
great group of venders
with a great selection of produce, baked goods, handmade soaps and other
goodies. They will
be using the storefront on Wednesdays over the next several months - please
pass the word on
to your friends and family.
Northside (Farmers') Market at the Village Green
Wednesdays, 3 to 7pm
1415 Knowlton St.
Cincinnati, OH 45223
Should you have any questions please feel free to contact me at your
convenience.
Best wishes,
Peter
Peter Huttinger
The Gardens at Village Green
1415 Knowlton St.
Cincinnati, OH 45223
541-0252 Greenhouse & Gardens
513-542-1745 home
513-919-8940 cell huttinger@fuse.net
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2004/items/elephant Link to George Lakoff's new book "Don't think of an elephant" essential understanding for progressives. This site has the entire first chapter. Book costs about $12, paperback. Suggest we all read it right away and use it to get cracking.
Our copy of
George Lakoff's most recent book, Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.
is now here. Neil has finished it. "It's a light," says Neil. You can borrow it. e.
YAHOO SALON PAGE... INTERACTIVE
N.B. you can look back at months of weekly postings here, in case you missed something.
WEll, THE computer guru Kevin helped me create a Yahoo LloydHouseSalon g roup after the dinner Monday. THis means that for those who don't mind five minutes "registering" at yahoo to belong to the "group", you can post messages on the group website and read other members messages. I will send the regular weekly announcement via email as usual, but you might also like to go to the group page and read what others are saying or read the announcements from previous weeks. I get awesome forwarded messages from our 350 people on the salon list! Here is the link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LloydHouseSalon
Follow the instructions, tedious though they be. You do not have to worry about being spamed if you set your preferences to not identify y our email address on your postings.
IMAGO
HAS FUNDRAISING PROJECT to support their eco-friendly work
Recycle your empty laser and inkjet cartridges and your used cell phones.
Imago provides your business (hr home office) with a box or bag which we will ask you to fill with your used cartridges, cell phones. Once full, call Imago Earth Center and a rep. will come pick up the box.
Call 921-8455 or email earthcenter@imagoearth.org, or
Http://imagoearth.org
Cooperative Janitorial Services is an employee-owned service. Employee owned cooperative businesses are an excellent tool for participation, voice, and empowerment of working people. Interfaith Business Builders, Inc. is an interfaith group (Catholics and Babtists and Methodists) working to help such projects (Ray West, Exec. Dir.). Call 557-3600
A r t i c l e s
ELECTION FRAUD TOPIC:
This color..."teal"
BREAKING: Lawsuit Challenges Ohio Presidential Results
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112204Y.shtml
Alan Bern sends article from baltimorechronicle.com
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/112204MargieBurns.shtml
Did Bush Lose the Election?
by Margie Burns
As things stand right now, it seems unlikely that Mr. Bush won the election.
There are two major categories of problems. One affects the electoral vote. Release of the final exit polls conducted in all states shows a pattern that cannot be explained away. The exit polls were released (not to the general public) at 4:00 p.m. on Election Day by polling consultants Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.
These are the genuine exit polls for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, taken before the outcome was known in any particular state. These are not the “exit polls” that organizations including CNN went back and retroactively changed after the election, making them conform more to vote tallies.
The exit poll results are laid out straightforwardly in a very clear list (tabulation). Compared to the vote tallies given the public, they seem amazing. Contrary to results in every election for the past twenty years, the variance between exit polls the published vote tally was more than two points--in other words a swing of 4% or 5% or more to Bush, in 33 of 51 jurisdictions. Regardless of which candidate won in those states, a big variance, always in the same direction, allegedly occurred in every single exit poll in all of them.
Exit polls from the next nine states down the list were also reversed by a smaller swing toward Bush.... (for the rest, see http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/112204MargieBurns.shtml )
Success; Action to take
Please Read, Act, and Circulate
FROM: No Stolen Elections! www.Nov3.US
"We have been following developments very closely
and are deeply disturbed by the extensive and credible
reports of fraud in the election. We call for a full
review of the conduct of the election and the tallying
of election results . . . . We cannot accept this
result as legitimate because it does not meet
international standards and because there has not been
an investigation of the numerous and credible reports
of fraud and abuse." U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell, 11/23/2004.
Report: OBSTACLES TO DEMOCRACY:
www.Nov3.US/obstacles
Action: VOTER BILL OF RIGHTS:
www.Nov3.US/billofrights
Support: OHIO RECOUNT: www.VoteCobb.org
Dear Sisters & Brothers,
Success. Your efforts spurred fourteen members of
Congress, led by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, to
request a Goverment Accountability Office (GAO)
investigation of the 2004 presidential election.
Earlier this week, the GAO announced that it will
investigate "the security and accuracy of voting
technologies, distribution and allocation of voting
machines and counting of provisional ballots."
More success. Thanks to the contributions of
thousands of Americans, and the leadership of the
Green and Libertarian presidential nominees, David
Cobb and Michael Badnarik, the pivotal state of Ohio
will begin an election recount in the next several
weeks.
We hope these successes are only wetting your
appetite for more democracy. As tens of thousands
have taken to the streets of the Ukraine, the great
powers of the East and West have intervened to back
their candidates. Secretary of State Powell has
demanded an investigation of that election. We know
that it is not lost on any of you that here in the
United States, there are no contesting outside powers,
but only the two internal forces of popular democracy
and the political establishment. It is up to us.
As participants in the movement for democracy,
your work continues to be vital. We urge you to
prepare for the major events of the coming weeks.
Please go to our newly updated website at www.Nov3.US,
note the changes we are making there, and read the
newly released report, "Obstacles to Democracy" at
www.Nov3.US/obstacles. And please act now to demand
election reform, and to support the Ohio recount:
1. VOTER BILL OF RIGHTS - Please see the new 11-point
"Voter Bill of Rights" at www.Nov3.US/billofrights.
Initially drafted in the aftermath of the stolen
election of 2000, we have updated and improved the
Voter Bill of Rights in response to the failures of of
the 2004 election. We ask you to circulate this
important document. We also encourage you to approach
your members of Congress to ask them to sign on to the
Voter Bill of Rights. Because Monday, December 13th,
is the day on which the members of the Electoral
College will meet in the capitals of every state, we
suggest that you organize delegations to visit
congressional offices on that day.
2. SUPPORT THE RECOUNT - The Ohio recount is moving
ahead, fueled by volunteer power, money, media
coverage, and determination. Determination is not in
short supply, and sufficient funds have been raised to
cover the initial costs of the recount, but more
volunteers, money, and above all, media coverage, are
needed. To contribute time and/or money, please visit
http://www.votecobb.org/.
Media coverage is also key. You may have read
the headlines declaring "Judge denies request for Ohio
recount." You probably read further, and discovered
that in fact the judge only denied the request for a
timely start to the recount, and that the recount
itself is still scheduled for early next month. It's
essential that our fellow Americans learn that an Ohio
recount is in the works, and that the presidential
election is far from over. It's vital that public
attention is focused on Ohio as the recount brings to
light the systemic flaws which disenfranchised
thousands of Ohioans, and potentially millions of
Americans.
You can help shine more light on the Ohio
recount by keeping the heat on the media to report it.
Write more letters to the editor. Call and email
newspaper, cable, web, radio, and tv outlets. Tell
them that Ohio, not the Ukraine, is THE story.
3. DEFEND THE OHIO RECOUNT - Bush 2004 Ohio chairman,
and erstwhile Ohio Secretary of State, Kenneth
Blackwell, has already demonstrated some resistance to
conducting a full, timely, and accurate recount of the
Ohio election. Other Ohio election officials have
denounced the initiation of the recount process as
"insulting" and "frivolous." Insulting? As of now,
only they can know. Frivolous? With voting rights
and 21 electoral votes in the balance, hardly.
The current recount timeline looks something
like this: December 6th is the deadline for Ohio
Secretary of State Blackwell to complete certification
of the Ohio vote. On the next day, December 7th, the
"winning" ticket must certify its slate of electors.
On December 13th, the members of the Electoral College
will meet in the capitals of every state to cast their
votes. On January 7th, 2005, Congress must decide
whether to ratify the decision of the Electoral
College.
Look at those dates, and consider how long a
full recount is likely to take: Five to ten days by
most estimates. You are right to be concerned. And
you're not alone. In the course of the next two weeks
we expect thousands of Ohioans to gather in churches,
campuses, and at their state capitol to rally to the
defense of their recount. We'll let you know where
and when. And we may ask you to organize a protest in
your own community.
Thank you.
www.Nov3.US
NO STOLEN ELECTIONS!
"This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a
physical one, and it may be both moral and physical,
but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing
without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find
out just what any people will quietly submit to and
you have found out the exact measure of injustice and
wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will
continue till they are resisted with either words or
blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are
prescribed by the endurance of those whom they
oppress." ~ Frederick Douglass, 1857
NY Times Mag. Article on Voting Pattern in Ohio
From Philomena NY Times Magazine article (excerpted by Ellen. for full text see link below.)
WHO LOST OHIO? About the A.C.T. campaign.
Nov 21 Matt Bai
Who Lost Ohio?
New York Times Magazine
November 21, 2004
By MATT BAI
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/magazine/21OHIO.html
Pro-Kerry "527" groups like America Coming Together revolutionized the political ground game in the swing states. But there were some things they just couldn't change. The final 24 hours of the presidential campaign, from inside ACT's Ohio operation.
....
The traditional Democratic formula for victory centered on a handful of counties with a heavy concentration of minority voters: win the critical stronghold of Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, by a margin of more than 150,000 votes; stay close in Franklin County, which contains Columbus and its suburbs; and hold the Republicans to a margin of victory of fewer than 60,000 votes in Hamilton County, the area that encompasses Cincinnati. (As it turned out, Democrats in 2004 would easily meet these criteria, and then some. Kerry won Cuyahoga by more than 217,000 votes, narrowly won Franklin, and in Hamilton Co. lost to Bush by fewer than 25,000 votes.)
....
But Ohio, like much of the country, was undergoing a demographic shift of historic proportions, and Republicans were learning to exploit their advantage in rapidly expanding rural areas that organizers like Lindenfeld, for all their technological innovation, just didn't understand. In shiny new town-house communities, canvassing could be done quietly by neighbors; you didn't need vans and pagers. Polling places could accommodate all the voters in a precinct without ever giving the appearance of being overrun. In the old days, these towns and counties had been nothing but little pockets of voters, and Republicans hadn't bothered to expend the energy to organize them. But now the exurban populations had reached critical mass (Delaware County alone had grown by almost one-third since the 2000 election), and Republicans were building their own kind of quiet but ruthlessly efficient turnout machine.
........
...By 11, it had become apparent to everyone in America that whoever won Ohio would occupy the White House.
Bouchard kept slipping away to whatever part of the room seemed most neglected, trying to somehow be alone in a crowd. But wherever he went, volunteers seemed to follow, hoping to hear something encouraging. ''If I wasn't anxious right now, there would be something wrong with me,'' he told me. ''But I'm confident. I think all the people left out there are ours.''
On some level, though, he knew this probably wasn't true. It was apparent in his body language, the way he leaned against any wall surface he could find and stared straight ahead. It was apparent in the numbers. A group of volunteers had set up a laptop in one corner of the room, and they could see Ohio results being posted in real time. More than 100,000 votes in Cuyahoga County, home to the city of Cleveland, remained to be counted as the clock edged toward midnight, but the overwhelmingly Democratic urban precincts had already reported; it was the outlying areas of the county, more mixed in their racial and political composition, that were yet to be tallied. Around midnight, 77 percent of the state's precincts had reported their results, then 80 and then 86, and yet Bush's lead of 100,000 to 150,000 votes stayed more or less intact as the totals mounted. The volunteers huddled around the computer thought they were watching two thoroughbreds race neck and neck to the final yard, but for a seasoned campaigner like Bouchard, it felt more like watching his horse fade down the stretch. The window of opportunity for Kerry appeared to be closing....
....
Sitting in his office, Bouchard admitted that he was, more than anything else, baffled. It was impossible to know -- and would be for some time -- whether ACT's newly registered voters had come to the polls in the numbers Rosenthal had predicted. What was clear was that ACT had exceeded the goals it had set for the total Kerry vote in each of its target counties in Ohio. In Cuyahoga County, where ACT had set a target of 350,540 votes for Kerry, he received 433,262. In Franklin County, where the goal was 262,895 votes, Kerry had garnered 275,573. In fact, Kerry's 2.66 million votes were the most ever for a Democrat in Ohio.
ACT couldn't take full credit for these numbers, of course; a lot of factors, not least the work of the Kerry-Edwards campaign itself, had contributed to Kerry easily surpassing what Al Gore had achieved in the state in 2000. But ACT had done its part, both in Ohio and nationally. Kerry received a total of 4,862,000 more votes nationwide than Gore did, and, according to ACT's breakdown, 58 percent of that increase came in the 12 battleground states that ACT had targeted. Results in some states seemed to bear out Rosenthal's theory on expanding the base; in Florida, for example, according to exit polls, 13 percent of all votes were cast by first-time voters, and a clear majority of them voted for Kerry. ....
Why wasn't it enough? In the days that followed, theories circulated claiming that Republicans had stolen votes from Kerry by messing with the results from electronic voting machines. But the truth was that the Bush campaign had created an entirely new math in Ohio. It wouldn't have been possible eight years ago, or even four. But with so many white, conservative and religious voters now living in the brand-new town houses and McMansions in Ohio's growing ring counties, Republicans were able to mobilize a stunning turnout in areas where their support was more concentrated than it was in the past. Bush's operatives did precisely what they told me seven months ago they would do in these communities: they tapped into a volunteer network using local party organizations, union rolls, gun clubs and churches. They backed it up with a blizzard of targeted appeals; according to the preliminary results of a survey done by the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, one representative home in Portage County, just outside Cleveland, received 11 pieces of mail from the Republican National Committee.
This effort wasn't visible to Democrats because it was taking place on an entirely new terrain, in counties that Democrats had some vague notion of, but which they never expected could generate so many votes. The 10 Ohio counties with the highest turnout percentages, many of them small and growing, all went for Bush, and none of them had a turnout rate of less than 75 percent.
For Democrats, this new phenomenon on Election Day felt like some kind of horror movie, with conservative voters rising up out of the hills and condo communities in numbers the Kerry forces never knew existed. ''They just came in droves,'' Jennifer Palmieri told me two days after the election. ''We didn't know they had that room to grow. It's like, 'Crunch all you want -- we'll make more.' They just make more Republicans.''
In hindsight, it seemed significant that Bouchard, months before, felt constricted enough by ACT's legal and financial realities to shift its focus, moving canvassers out of more contested counties and precincts and away from the business of trying to convert undecided voters. In the end, these were the voters Kerry needed. But Bouchard and his troops ran smack up against the inherent limits of a 527 in a presidential campaign. They could turn out the vote, but they couldn't really alter its shape.
Therein, perhaps, lies the real lesson from Ohio, and from the election as a whole. From the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and especially after the disputed election of 2000, Democrats operated on the premise that they were superior in numbers, if only because their supporters lived in such concentrated urban communities. If they could mobilize every Democratic vote in America's industrial centers -- and in its populist heartland as well -- then they would win on math alone. Not anymore. Republicans now have their own concentrated vote, and it will probably continue to swell. Turnout operations like ACT can be remarkably successful at corralling the votes that exist, but turnout alone is no longer enough to win a national election for Democrats. The next Democrat who wins will be the one who changes enough minds.
....
''The shortcoming in some ways is that the national Democratic Party has built this values wall between itself and a lot of voters out there, and the Republicans took advantage of it. The rude awakening here is that I always thought there were more of us out there. And this time there were more of them.''
Ohio Rail Transit Plan
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Rail plan spans Ohio
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND - The development of a passenger rail network in Ohio is at least
nine years away and would require federal money that doesn't exist for such
projects.
The Ohio Rail Development Commission has a $3.5 billion plan to develop a
passenger network throughout the state that could become self-sufficient
once it's up and running.
The commission's two-year proposal for an Ohio and Lake Erie Regional Rail
Hub calls for using existing
railroad rights of way where tracks could be added or rehabilitated to build
a network.
The network could be used for new, high-speed passenger service and improved
freight service, commission spokesman Stu Nicholson said.
From Cleveland, passengers could get to Columbus, Pittsburgh and Buffalo in
about two hours - faster than driving.
For more information see http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/
Note: next cincinnati meeting:
Wednesday, January 26th, 1:30 - 3:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati: ORDC/OKI
Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Cincinnati and
Southwest Ohio.
Wednesday, January 26thth, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati: ORDC/OKI
Ohio Hub Presentation to the public in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio.
OHIO HUB MEETING SCHEDULE (as of Oct. 26, 2004)
7. Thursday, December 9th, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at NOACA in Cleveland:
Technical meeting with
NOACA and planners from the City of Cleveland's Lakefront project, the
Ports, Greater Cleveland RTA and ODOT.
8. Monday, December 13th, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. at Civic Center in Lima:
ORDC/Lima
Mayor's Office Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in
Lima.
9. Monday, December 13th, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at Lima City Council
Chambers:
ORDC/Lima Mayor's Office Ohio Hub presentation to the general public.
10. Wednesday, January 19th, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. at location TBD in
Columbus: ORDC/MORPC
Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Central Ohio
11. Wednesday, January 19th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at location TBD in Columbus:
ORDC/MORPC Ohio Hub presentation to the public.
12. Tuesday, January 25th, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. at Clark State Community
College in Springfield:
ORDC/Clark County/Springfield TCC presentation to business and community
leaders in the Springfield area.
13. Tuesday, January 25th, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. at Clark State Community
College in
Springfield: ORDC/Clark County/Springfield TCC presentation to the public.
14. Wednesday, January 26th, 1:30 - 3:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati:
ORDC/OKI
Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Cincinnati and
Southwest Ohio.
15. Wednesday, January 26thth, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati:
ORDC/OKI
Ohio Hub Presentation to the public in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio.
Soon to be confirmed:
Dayton (Technical and public meeting dates to follow)
Cleveland (Public Meeting January/February)
Akron/Canton (in Akron in January/February)
Youngstown/Alliance (in Youngstown in January/February)
Mansfield/Galion (in Mansfield in January/February)
Marilyn Wall
Sierra Club
515 Wyoming Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45215
513-761-6140 ext 10
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editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/
World Wildlife Fund Sponsors Sustainability Conference in Bangkok
Common Dreams NewsCenter
Our Readers' Choice
Published on Saturday, November 20, 2004 by the Inter Press Service
Towards Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
by Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Alarmed by the pace at which consumer-driven lifestyles are destroying the planet's resources, a leading environmental body has set its sights on creating a green-friendly haven replete with houses, restaurants, shops and hotels.
Portugal will serve as the launching pad for these planned ''eco-cities,'' said officials from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as they revealed the blueprint for the 'One Planet Living' initiative here Wednesday, at a major conservation conference.
The 4,340 hectares of land south of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, identified for this first phase in an ambitious global drive towards alternative living, will have by its completion 6,000 houses, apartments, shops and hotels. The estimated cost, according to the WWF, will be over one billion euros (1.3 billion U.S. dollars).
''We aim to build a series of flagship communities for people to live sustainably, and which are affordable and comfortable,'' Eduardo Goncalves, coordinator of the 'One Planet Living' initiative, said during a meeting at the 3rd World Conservation Congress, in the Thai capital, organized by the World Conservation Union or IUCN.
''The quality of modern life will not be sacrificed in these communities,'' added Claude Martin, director general of WWF. ''They will be family friendly.''
The global congress has brought together 81 states, 114 government agencies, 800 plus non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries. It has been billed as the one of biggest environmental meetings in history.
While the push for such green-friendly living has given rise to new models of architecture over the past two decades, what sets this new initiative apart from its predecessors is the scale at which the planned communities will embrace environmental values.
''The purpose is to integrate many different aspects of life into a housing concept, including the use of building material, energy, food, transport,'' Martin told IPS. ''It will be more holistic than the energy houses that had solar panels in the 1980s.''
That is reflected in the picture painted by Pelicano S.A, a Portuguese property developer that is a key partner in this WWF program. It covers the commitment to use sustainable materials, reduce carbon and waste output, promote renewable energy and, among others, to turn to local resources for food.
With regard to the use of sustainable materials, the pioneer project in Portugal aims to use more than 50 percent of it, such as cement, to construct the buildings in addition to eliminating more than 90 percent of toxic materials for the planned structures.
To cut down on carbon emissions, the property developer pledges to ensure that 25 percent of the waste is recycled. And to ensure energy efficiency, the future community will move away from fossil fuels to having ''photovoltaics in its architectural design, including solar thermals, small-scale biomass heating and water ponds for a space cooled system.''
A British environmental group BioRegional is being credited for laying the foundations for this novel way of living. It pioneered the ''BedZed'' community in south London, where houses, for instance, were built to meet new environment-friendly standards, including the complete use of renewable energy for power and heating.
In addition to Portugal, other areas in Europe, Australia, Britain, the United States and South Africa have been identified to create these communities as part of the pioneering effort.
''Even the authorities in China are interested in building a 'One Planet Living' community,'' Goncalves told IPS. ''The details are to be decided but we are talking of a city in effect.''
Once the first phase is achieved, WWF will launch the broader and more global second phase by 2007, SAID Goncalves. ''In phase two, we hope to get countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America interested.''
Such communities will be pivotal to ''undo the damage we have done to the planet,'' he added. ''We need to find solutions to avoid the crisis emerging from the current unsustainable lifestyles.''
The revolution in living that the WWF hopes to unleash through this plan stems from the disturbing reports it has compiled of the earth's resources being destroyed by the modern style of life.
In its 'Living Planet Report 2004,' released weeks ahead of the Bangkok conference, WWF revealed that humanity's demand on the resources had exceeded the earth's supply capacity since the mid-1980s, with North America and Europe leading the assault on the planet's limited resources.
The average U.S. citizen requires 10 hectares of the planet to support his or her lifestyle, while the average European requires over five hectares, the report noted. By contrast, the average citizen in Africa draws on about one hectare of the earth's resources to live.
The differences in these ecological footprints - which are caused by high consumption patterns in the developed world - are starker when seen in another light. According to the report, the average footprint of a person today is nearly 2.2 hectares, which is in excess of the 1.8 hectares of land for natural resources available for each resident of the planet.
At this rate, ''we need 1.2 planets to sustain our collective lifestyles,'' said Marten. ''Sustainable housing is one response to it, but you cannot have one blueprint for the whole world. We must work with local communities, local architects.''
© Copyright 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service
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Letter from Mike Horn, new friend from Chicago, met at the Peak Oil Conference
11/25/04
Hi Ellen,
Good to hear from you. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.
I caught the Frontline on Wal-Mart and completely agree that it's a cancer on the land and the economy.
Looked at pdparty.us site and it looks interesting. The structure of the Practical Democracy Party is promising in the sense that an effective new political force must be forged by the people on a grass roots level. Their approach seems to be guided by the identification of problems from the bottom-up, proposing solutions laterally, and implementing remedies from the top down. Our political process seems to have lost touch with the first two critical steps noted above. The inevitable result is that policy is created from faulty sources. The result of those proposed remedies are nothing more than attempts to solve poorly defined or illegitimate problems. Who knows? It might just stand a chance of gaining some momentum given the sad state of affairs this country is now in. Also, it seems to me that this nation's future really does depend on careful consideration of the problems we need to expose today and the practical solutions that will be required to survive and flourish.
Sincerely,
Michael A Horn
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6888422
Mon Nov 22, 2004 02:22 PM ET
Krugman: Economic Crisis a Question of When, Not If
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The economic policies of President Bush have set the country on a dangerous course that will likely end in crisis, Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman told Reuters in an interview.
Krugman, who may be best known for his opinion column in The New York Times, said he was concerned that Bush's electoral victory over Sen. John Kerry earlier this month would only reinforce the administration's unwillingness to listen to dissenting opinions.
That, in turn, could spell serious trouble for the U.S. economy, which under Bush's first term was plagued by soaring deficits, waning investor confidence and anemic job creation.
"This is a group of people who don't believe that any of the rules really apply," said Krugman. "They are utterly irresponsible."
(for the rest of this article, sent in by Alan Bern, click here: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6888422
Steve Sunderland's Thanksgiving Poem
In the world of their own chaos
I WANTED TO WRITE
I wanted to write but
The pencil I was given had a broken point.
I wanted to write of my fear
That the hatred of Palestinian children
Will increase and more 13 year old girls
In school uniforms will be
Killed.
I wanted to write of my hope
To see this vote as an affirmation
Of the path of peace for our broken country.
I wanted to write that my faith
In people continues despite the swagger
Of tyrants in my own heart.
I wanted to write with a pen
Of love for
My enemies.
I wanted to write of the shabby
Trees that will need to be sold
For Christmas.
I wanted to write of the blind
That are leading one path to
Healing.
I wanted to write of my admiration
For the parents of soldiers caught
In the web of service to a spoiled ideal.
I wanted to write of the hungry
Who could not come for the free
Meal of humiliation.
I wanted to write of those lost
Including my sense of humor.
I wanted to write to Jos, Nigeria
And remind my brothers and sisters
That the world watches and waits for peace.
I wanted to write to those children
Outside the walls waiting to get in
And share the joy of Binny, Amos and Katy In India.
I wanted to write to the families of Buenos Aires
Who have eaten regularly only from nightly
Trips to garbage cans and ask: "Where is Humberto?"
I wanted to write the Indonesian peace movement
And remind them of my continuing love for their struggle
To bring non-violence to the new democracy.
I wanted to write Mary Ann of her beauty and
Inner passion for love that bubbles forth from a body
Without only legs.
I wanted to write Duraid and Mama of my admiration
For keeping the flag of peace waving
Inside their beautiful hearts, our hearts as exiles.
I wanted to write Hans of my love
For our German brothers and sisters
Who continue to light the lamp of justice.
I need a sharpener for my
Mixed up heart in a world without
Clear lines, tear-proof paper, or
Enough love to go around.
Gen. Foote on Why We must Object to Gonzales as Atty. Gen.
Please join us in telling the Senate that torture is not an American value.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/campaigns/attygen.cfm
Thank you for your support for our work. Together we can make a difference, and a better future for our country.
Sincerely,
Evelyn P. Foote
Brigadier General, United States Army, Retired.
Please visit Veterans for Common Sense at www.veteransforcommonsense.org <http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org>
Vlasta emails us from Nepal
I can only assume that there is an internet cafe in Katmandu. ellen)
Dear Ellen:
I am in a little village near Katmandu enjoying my Budhist meditation course and even more my new friends. Right now my newly addopted son (19y) Rudolfo from Guadalahara is sitting at the computer next to me. Budhism is great in psychology and clearing one's mind from junk accumualated through the years. The Buddhist cosmology with all the ghosts and "hell realms" and divinity realms and other junk I can live without, but it is amusing. I have confirmed my jewishness even more. Yesterday we had a Kabbalath Shabatth with 11 Israelis...it was fun!
Send my love to all the progressive troublemakers
Love,
Vlasta (a Budhaist and Jewdist)
Isaac Avulasa Sends Words from Africa
(This is the dear handicapped Kenyan man for whom we raised $1500 to buy motorized transportation. I am sure he would love to hear from anyone: avulasa@yahoo.com)
Hi mum Elllen,
It's long since i hard from you how are you by the
way?You didn't share we us your politcal ideas but we
are happy to have re elected president Georg Bush back
to power.
Here we are doing on quite well though we are
suffering from hungry due to bad harvest that we had
in the country because of bad weather.In various parts
in the country many people are really faceing this
problem.
Alan Bern sends this informative, well reasoned piece by Tom Hayden (of the Viet Nam war protest etc.) giving direction for radical protest to the awful Iraq war.
Subject: How to End the Iraq War By Tom Hayden | 24 November 2004 | AlterNet
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7365.htm
24 November 2004
How to End the Iraq War
By Tom Hayden
Alternet
It is in the nature of truly mass movements that people choose the paths that seem to promise effective results, even victories. So it should surprise no one that much of the energy of the peace and justice movement flowed into presidential campaigns for Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich and ultimately John Kerry (the UnBush).
As a result millions of people become engaged politically on grassroots levels, many for the first time. The peace and justice message was heard more widely than before.
Under pressure, the Democratic platform opposed the Central American trade agreement (CAFTA) and promised a full review of U.S. trade policy. The movement was unable to push Kerry and the Democrats into an anti-Iraq position, although Kerry at least voiced a constant attack on Bush's policy as mistaken. The pressure of anti-war voices and the Kerry campaign led Bush to delay the request for a supplemental $75 billion appropriation, the assault on Falluja, and the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi elections until after Nov. 2.
Once the election was over, the Bush administration turned Falluja into a slaughterhouse – even as the Democrats remained silent and thousands of activists seemed frozen in mourning or internal discussions of what went wrong.
There is a lesson here for progressives. Since the anti-war sentiment was a factor of public opinion during the presidential race that made Bush defer tough decisions, the movement needs to create an even greater force of opposition that will become indigestible, a kind of gallstone in the stomach of power.
If this seems unlikely, one must remember that the war-makers are feverishly trying to manipulate the perceptions of restive Americans. They fear the multitudes. That is why reporters were embedded at the beginning. That is why the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue on April 9, 2003 was "stage-managed" by the U.S. Army, according to the L.A. Times.
Even the most recent battle of Fallujah was about "the American military intend[ing] to fight its own information war," as the New York Times observed. According to another Times article, the Fallujah hospital was shut down on the first day of the operation because our Army considered it a "source of rumors about heavy casualties." A senior military official called the hospital "a center of propaganda" as scores of patients were being treated.
The importance of public opinion was stated quite frankly by Robert Kaplan, a leading neo-conservative, in the Atlantic Monthly last year. The most important battleground of America's new "combination warfare," he wrote, is the media:
Indeed the best information strategy is to avoid attention-getting confrontations in the first place and to keep the public's attention as divided as possible. We can dominate the world only quietly, so to speak. The moment the public focuses on a single crisis like the one in IraqÂ… it becomes a rallying point around which lonely and alienated people in a global mass society can define themselves through an uplifting group identity, be it European, Muslim, anti-war intellectual, or whatever.
Therefore, public opinion – if strategically focused – can end this war. To understand this requires a different analysis than the usual one that assumes that there will be an "exit strategy" after Iraq is "stabilized." The war will end either when the U.S. military "wins" or it will not end at all.
The Iraqi elections are designed to inflate the currently non-existent legitimacy of the Allawi regime by co-opting Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties, which are led mostly by long-time exiles. In this scenario, the new regime would technically end the occupation and "request" the U.S. to stay until the country is "stabilized," which means permanently, i.e. fulfilling the long-term agenda of the neo-conservatives, now entrenched more deeply than ever at the pinnacles of power.
While it is theoretically possible (and in my view, desirable) that the January election might bring to power a Shiite-led coalition that would ask the U.S. to withdraw troops, that is hardly the intent. The U.S. still plans to permanently remake a new Iraq, plans that include American military bases, a privatized market economy, ready access to oil, a prime target for Western and, especially Christian, proselytizing in the region. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. is already flooding Iraq with satellite dishes and televisions while privatizing its 200 state-owned companies: "Bremer discussed the need to privatize government with such fervor that his voice cut through the din of the cargo hold."
Instead of assuming that the Bush administration has an "exit strategy", the movement needs to force our government to exit. The strategy must be to deny the U.S. occupation funding, political standing, sufficient troops, and alliances necessary to their strategy for dominance.
A Plan of Action
The first step is to build pressure at congressional district levels to oppose any further funding or additional troops for war. If members of Congress balk at cutting off all assistance and want to propose "conditions" for further aid, it is a small step toward threatening funding. If only 75 members of Congress go on record against any further funding, that's a step in the right direction – towards the exit.
The important thing is for anti-war activists to become more grounded in the everyday political life of their districts, organizing anti-war coalitions including clergy, labor and inner city representatives to knock loudly on congressional doors and demand that the $200 billion squandered on Iraq go to infrastructure and schools at home. When trapped between imperial elites and their own insistent constituents, members of Congress will tend to side with their voters. That is how the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia were ended in 1975.
Two, we need to build a Progressive Democratic movement which will pressure the Democrats to become an anti-war opposition party. The anti-war movement has done enough for the Democratic Party this year. It is time for the Democratic leadership to end its collaboration with the Bush administration – with its endorsement of the offensive on Fallujah, the talk of "victory" and "killing the terrorists" – and now play the role of the opposition. The progressive activists of the party should refuse to contribute any more resources – volunteers, money, etc. – to candidates or incumbents who act as collaborators.
Thought should be given to selectively challenging hawkish Democratic incumbents in primaries, and supporting peace candidacies in 2006 and 2008.
Three, we need to build alliances with Republican anti-war conservatives. Non-partisan anti-war groups (such as Win Without War) should reach out to conservatives who, according to the New York Times, are "ready to rumble" against Iraq. Pillars of the American right, including Paul Weyrich, Pat Buchanan and William F. Buckley, are seriously questioning the quagmire created by the neoconservatives. Strategists like Grover Norquist call the war "a drag on votes" and "threatening to the Bush coalition" that cost Bush six percentage points in the election. The left cannot create a left majority, but it can foster a left-right majority that threatens the hawks in both parties.
Four, we must build solidarity with dissenting combat veterans, reservists, their families and those who suffered in 9/11. Just as wars cannot be fought without taxpayer funding, wars cannot be fought without soldiers willing to die, even for a mistake. Every person who cares about peace should start their daily e-mail messages with the current body count, including a question mark after the category "Iraqi civilians."
Groups like Iraqi Veterans Against the War deserve all the support the rest of the peace movement can give. This approach opens the door to much-needed organizing in both the so-called "red" states and inner cities, which give disproportionate levels of the lives lost in Iraq.
The movement will need to start opening another underground railroad to havens in Canada for those who refuse to serve, but for now even the most moderate grievances should be supported – for example, relief from the "back door draft" that is created by extending tours of duty.
Over one-third of some 3,900 combat veterans have resisted their call-ups, and the Army National Guard is at 10 percent of its recruitment goal. More generally, the "superpower" is stretched to a breaking point, with 14 of the Army's 33 combat brigades on front-line duty in Iraq. Though most discourse on Vietnam ignores or underplays the factor of dissent within the American armed forces, it was absolutely pivotal to bringing the ground war to an end. It already is becoming a real "gallstone" for the Pentagon again.
Five, we need to defeat the U.S. strategy of "Iraqization." "Clearly, it's better for us if they're in the front-line," Paul Wolfowitz explained last February. This cynical strategy is based on putting an Iraqi "face" on the U.S. occupation in order to reduce the number of American casualties, neutralize opposition in other Arab countries, and slowly legitimize the puppet regime. In truth, it means changing the color of the body count.
The problem for the White House is that if the Iraqi police and troops will not suppress and kill other Iraqis on behalf of the United States, the war effort will completely disintegrate. In April, the 200,000-strong Iraqi security forces assigned to Fallujah simply collapsed. In the most recent battle of Fallujah, the Iraqi troops took part in little if any combat. In Mosul, insurgents seized five Iraqi police stations, not an uncommon event.
There is no sign, aside from Pentagon spin, that an Iraqi force can replace the American occupation in the foreseeable future. Pressure for funding cuts and for an early American troop withdrawal will expose the emptiness of the promise of "Iraqization." In Vietnam, the end quickly came when South Vietnamese troops were expected to defend their country. The same is likely to occur in Iraq – or the U.S. can deepen its dilemma through permanent occupation.
Six, we should work to dismantle the U.S. war "Coalition" by building a "Peace Coalition" by the means of the global anti-war movement. Groups with international links (such as Global Exchange or other solidarity groups) could organize conferences and exchanges aimed at uniting public opinion against any regimes with troops supporting the U.S. in Iraq. Every time an American official shows up in Europe demanding support, there should be speakers from the American anti-war movement offering a rebuttal to the official line.
Hungary is only the latest government to "bow to public pressure and prepare to bring its troops home" The others who have packed up or plan to depart include Spain, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, the Philippines, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, Moldova, and Bulgaria – 15 of the original 32. Japan is trying to limit its troops to non-combat roles.
The most frightening U.S. "ally" is Pakistan, where 65 percent of the population has a favorable impression of Osama bin Laden and only seven percent a positive image of President Bush.
But the most important governments with troops still on the ground are Britain (8,361), South Korea (2,800), Italy (2,700) and more symbolically, Japan (550) and Australia (250). Peace movements have achieved majority or near-majority status in all five countries, with Britain being the most vulnerable. In addition, both France and Germany continue to resist the U.S.-dominated coalition, in part because of the movements in those countries. Any strategy to mobilize public opinion across Europe, especially in Britain and Italy, could complete America's isolation from its historic allies and the world in general.
With Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggesting that the Iraq policy is illegal, the Bush administration faces the danger of being frozen out of international diplomacy. At some point, the administration will painfully find that it cannot impose its will on everyone on the planet.
In short: pinch the funding arteries, push the Democrats to become an opposition party, ally with anti-war Republicans, support dissenting soldiers, make "Iraqization" more difficult, and build a peace coalition against the war coalition. If the politicians are too frightened or ideologically incapable of implementing an exit strategy, the only alternative is for the people to pull the plug.
Where do mass demonstrations and civil disobedience fit into this framework? Certainly Bush's inauguration will be an appropriate time to dissent in the streets. Nationwide rallies are an important way to remain visible, but many activists may tire if they see no strategic plan. The civil disobedience actions at Bechtel, the San Francisco financial district, and the Port of Oakland in early 2003 come closer to the strategy of pressuring the nerve centers of war. Care will have to be taken during such militant actions to send the clearest possible message to mainstream public opinion.
Time for Action
If this sounds "irresponsible," the "responsible" people have had their chance – they can still rig the Iraqi election to install a regime that will ask us to leave. After that, there's no hope but to begin the withdrawal one person, one community, one country at a time, until the president learns there's no there over there.
Ending this bloodbath is the most honorable task Americans can perform to restore progressive priorities and our respect in the world. We have passed the point for graceful exit strategies. Our policy is to go on mechanically killing people unless they vote in January for us to keep on killing people.
By any moral or economic accounting, we now are worsening the lives of Iraqi since the fall of Saddam. We have turned innocent young Americans into torturers in places like Abu Ghraib. When going into battle, we close hospitals first. We make sure that television and newspapers are not "able to show pictures of bleeding women and children being taken into hospital wards" – this reported on Veterans Day in the Times. Not even our friends like us anymore, whether we are tourists in Europe or diplomats at the United Nations.
We bomb Iraq towards an American-style market economy, passing along a $200 billion war cost and trillion-dollar debt cost to our children, while our own market economy has failed most of us: minimum wage, down thirty percent since 1978; company pensions, holders down 18 percent since 1979; median job tenure, down from 11 years to 7.7 since 1978; health insurance coverage, down from 70 percent to 63 percent since 1987.
We may even be making another 9/11-type attack more likely. What kind of government repeatedly states that another attack is "inevitable," "not a matter of if but when," then behaves in way to provoke one?
Our priorities must change.
Both parties now are trapped in the vicious cycle of the "war on terrorism," just as they were caught up in the Cold War, be it the nuclear arms race, opportunistic alliances with dictators, and McCarthyite suppression of domestic critics. Only the Sixties peace and civil rights movements could finally shatter Cold War thinking at that time. It will take another such movement today to restore America's respect in the world, take steps towards global justice, and in the process possibly prevent another 9/11 attack.
© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
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Council Member Crowley Calls for input on Tough City Budget
KEEPIN¹ UP WITH CROWLEY
F r o m t h e D e s k o f C o u n c i l M e m b e r D a v i d C r o w l e y
Volume 1, Issue 3
November 2004
S P E C I A L E D I T I O N
The City faces quite possibly the most difficult budget in history. The proposed
2005-2006 recommended budget includes drastic cuts. After emergency measures to
cut over $7 million out of the 2004 budget, another $11.5 Million worth of cuts are
proposed in 2005 and $16 Million in 2006. This means changes that will have a major
impact on City services in the roughly $325 Million operating budget.
Council must pass a 2005-2006 budget by the end of the year and I need your help.
To make educated decisions about how your tax dollars are spent, I need you to
reply to this e-mail or call my office and tell me what your top 3 budget priorities
are . I will compile the data to guide me on budget decisions. Some of the controversial
proposals include:
1. Maintaining basic services such as garbage collection, health clinics and increases
in firefighters.
2. Cut the snow removal budget by $600,000 decreasing service to residential
streets during heavy snowfall.
3. Elimination of Human Services Budget, $4.8 Million savings. This included
funding for important social service programs such as the YWCA, The Freestore,
Senior Services, drug treatment and more.
4. Cuts to other City sponsored agencies such the Flying Pig Marathon, Urban
league of Cincinnati, CHRC, the African American Chamber of Commerce
and many others, saving $1.7 Million.
5. Hire additional police officers to increase our sworn strength to 1075, cost
ing $1.4 Million in 2005.
6. Reducing the curbside recycling program from weekly pick-up to every
other week saving $315,000.
7. Neighborhood Support Program (NSP) cut, $7,000 to each Community
Council, $350,000 in total savings.
Please reply to this e-mail at David.Crowley@Cincinnati-OH.gov, call me at 352-
2453, fax me at 352-2365 or write me at 801 Plum Street, Room 350 45202. The entire
budget and announcement of public hearings can been viewed by logging onto
www.cincinnati-oh.gov.
CROWLEY WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
If you have questions
or concerns, contact the
Council Member¹s office
at 352-2453 or by
e-mail at David.
Crowley@Cincinnati-
OH.gov
City Cuts Funds for Human Services
Attend Hearing
Subject: Social Service cuts in the City of Cincinnati
We Have A BIG Problem!!
The City has CUT all of the Human Services funding from it's 2005-2006
General Fund budget. Not hypothetically cut. Not might cut. CUT! That's $4.8
MILLION DOLLARS that WILL NOT be going to the following agencies:
Bethany House
Caracole
Anna Louise Inn
First Step Home
Interfaith Hospitality
Justice Watch
Lighthouse Youth Services
Mercy Franciscan
Talbert House
Tender Mercies
Tom Geiger House
VOA
YWCA
AVOC
CCAT
Freestore/Foodbank
CILO
Our Daily Bread
Over the Rhine Soup Kitchen
Here's what you can do to help: Easy as 1, 2, 3!
Call and write letters to city council members, they get
final say in approving the budget. Their address is 801 Plum Street,
Cincinnati, OH 45202. Their room numbers and phone numbers are as follows:
Vice Mayor Alicia Reece * Room 356 * Phone: 352-3638 *
alicia.reece@cincinnati-oh.gov
Y. Laketa Cole * Room 354 * Phone: 352-3466 * laketa.cole@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:laketa.cole@cincinnati-oh.gov>
John Cranley * Room 348 * Phone: 352-5304 * john.cranley@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:john.cranley@cincinnati-oh.gov>
David Crowley * Room 350 * Phone: 352-2453 * david.crowley@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:david.crowley@cincinnati-oh.gov>
Pat DeWine * Room 351 * Phone: 352-3640 * pat.dewine@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:pat.dewine@cincinnati-oh.gov>
Sam Malone * Room 346-A * Phone: 352-1525 * sam.malone@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:sam.malone@cincinnati-oh.gov>
David Pepper * Room 346-B * Phone: 352-2440 * david.pepper@cincinnati-oh.gov
<mailto:david.pepper@cincinnati-oh.gov>
Christopher Smitherman * Room 349 * Phone:352-3464
*christopher.smitherman@cincinnati-oh.gov
James Tarbell * Room 352 * Phone: 352-3604 * james.tarbell@cincinnati-oh.gov
Write letters to the editor!
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Letters to the Editor
312 Elm Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Or online: <http://www.enquirer.com/editor/letters.html>
Cincinnati CityBeat
811 Race St., 5th Floor
Cincinnati, OH 45202 Editorial Fax: 513-665-4369
Email: letters@citybeat.com <mailto:letters@citybeat.com>
Streetvibes
117 East 12th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Editorial Fax: 513-421-7813
Email: streetvibes@juno.com
Most Important Thing You Can Do:
Come to the public budget meeting on December 6 at 1:00p.m. in City Chambers
(801 Plum Street) and come prepared to talk for two minutes about why the
Human Services budget should not be cut. Please plan on showing up at 12:30
to make sure you have time to submit your yellow speaker's card. Bring your
clients. Bring your co-workers. Bring your board and your volunteers. We
will be handing out stickers for all of our supporters to wear so we will be
easy to identify, and we will all stand in quiet support as each of our
folks does their public comment. This will not work without the help of many
concerned citizens, especially the people who depend upon Human Services.
Now is the time to TELL OUR STORY! Please commit to coming so we can send a
strong message that the city can't ignore!
(Two other public meetings will be held on November 22 at 6:00p.m. at
Madisonville Community Center - 5320 Steward Road, Cincinnati, OH 45227 and
November 29 at 6:00p.m. at the College Hill Community Center - 5545 Belmont
Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45224. We encourage you to attend and speak at these
as well, but we are focusing our big push on the December 6 meeting.)
Talking Points:
1. Do not cut $4.8 million dollars from Human Services. Not only will this
severely impact the ability of Cincinnati's agencies to care for their
clients, it will impact the entire network of service providers who will
have to fill the void created by cuts. This will lead to a severe decrease
in both quality of service and numbers served.
2. For over 20 years, the city has honored its policy that states that Human
Services get 1.5% of the General Fund budget. For years, we have risen and
fallen with the tides of the budget. It is unjust to completely cut Human
Services from the General Fund budget while other areas of the budget have
remained stable. If you must cut, cut fairly.
3. The city has a responsibility to the most vulnerable of its population.
Human services improve the quality of life for all residents of Cincinnati,
but, more importantly, they save the lives of our neighbors. To cut them
will bring devastating results.
4. Over 25,000 people experience homelessness at some point each year. 8,000
of them are children. On any given night, 200 people are living on the
streets and over 1000 people are in our shelters.
For more information, questions or comments, please call Georgine at
421-7803, ext. 13 or e-mail georginegetty@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathy Campbell
Community Relations Director
People Working Cooperatively
mailto:campbellk@pwchomerepairs.org
Phone: (513) 351-7921
Fax: (513) 351-2734
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
City Budget Cuts for the Arts
Act Now
Ellen,
Could you please forward this to your list? Greatly appreciated if you can.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Alan Scheidt
>
> From: Women's Theater Initiative <wti@fuse.net>
> Date: 2004/11/21 Sun PM 01:18:09 EST
> To: 1WTI <wti@fuse.net>
> Subject: Wear Green to save arts funding
>
> Dear Cincinnati Arts supporter,
> You¹ve probably heard the bad news about the City budget .
> * A $10 - $12 million shortfall for 2005.
> * Proposed elimination of all funding for nearly 100 crucial "outside"
> service organizations like the YWCA
> (The Enquirer, Sunday, November 14,2004, Section C, pg.1).
> * A proposed 50% reduction in Arts funding.
> See the entire proposed budget at
> http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityfinance/pages/-5241-/
>
> The whole picture is pretty bleak. On the one hand, cutting arts funding in
> half will be devastating to the depth and diversity of our growing arts
> community hurting small and emerging arts organizations the most.
> On the other hand, 50% is better than 100% given the dire situation the city
> faces and the total elimination of other crucial services.
>
> A visible showing of Gratitude is our best defense to keep at least some of
> the arts funding this year AND to show that this cut will be felt and
> noticed. We want restoring funding in future budgets to be a high priority.
>
> What can you do?
>
> Wear Green at a Public Budget Hearing
> * Mon., 11/22, 6-9 p.m., Madisonville Recreation Center, 5320 Stewart Rd.
> * Mon. 11/29, 6-9 p.m., College Hill Rec. Center, 5545 Belmont Ave.
> * Mon., 12/6 (Finance Committee), 1:00 p.m., City Hall, third floor
> A small number of people will speak on behalf of arts funding, but as you
> might guess there will be many representatives from service groups whose
> funding might be eliminated. So we¹re going for a highly visible arts
> community, since an angry or defiant arts contingent might be
> counterproductive to the goal of maintaining at least the 50% cut in
> funding.
>
> Write letters to Council to urge them to maintain arts funding.
>
> > Talking points:
> > * Please vote to maintain city funding for the arts in the 2005 budget.
> >
> > * A rich and diverse arts presence benefits the entire community.
> >> * Helps attract creative people to our city
> >> * Makes Cincinnati a destination for cultural tourism
> >> * Improves overall quality of life and self-image of the city
> >> * Strengthens communication, harmony, and fun among the diverse members of
> >> our community
> Try to focus on the benefits to all (even those who do not choose to
> participate in arts events). Check out Americans for the Arts for more ideas
> http://ww3.artsusa.org/
>
> > * Cincinnati is now one of the leaders among cities our size for arts funding.
> > Other cities like Cleveland and Indianapolis are attempting to copy our
> > success and launch arts funding programs of their own, hoping to be
> > competitive with Cincinnati¹s arts-friendly image and diverse offerings ‹
> > let¹s not make it easier for them by throwing in the towel!
>
> Forward this email to all your Cincinnati Friends.
> >
> Please join me in making a case for city arts funding, and I hope to see you
> at the budget hearing,
>
> Kristin Dietsche
>
Correspondence with John Robbins
(emphasis added by ellen)
Ellen, my initial problem with Lloydhouse is that giving prescription advice
BEFORE doing exhaustive energy studies is just not my style or preference.
AND I typically hesitiate to give advice about how to slow a 60 mph runaway
buses down by 1 mph when the edge of the cliff is getting closer. Stated
clearly, I recommend major upgrades when needed, not teeny tiny ones of
little consequence as you might find from a Cinergy audit or in any of many
books written on this topic. My "minimum" upgrade prescription starts with
raising to minimum codes. So if you want that how-to-retrofit-Lloydhouse
presentation, I'll present how to reframe the exterior walls to allow at
least R-13 (Ohio's minimum code, influenced by the coal miners union and
homebuilders assn, or preferably R-19 (the DOE-recommended "minimum energy
code" for this climatic region). Or even better, to R-25 to 30, the optimum
"balance point" for achieving passive solar performance by balancing solar
heat with thermal efficiency. If by so doing, it is apparent how
dramatically energy-obsolete buildings like Lloydhouse are, then the group
can make its own mind up about the value of preserving such or how to deal
with that reality during a period of declining fossil fuel supplies. 99.5%
of my clients over 21 years WOULD OPT and HAVE OPTED to abandon such
structures, looking for and finding more easily upgradable "fixer-uppers".
The first most important function of consulting per my perspective is
presenting the truth, so I'm sorry in advance if/when I say stuff which is
distasteful. BTW, I am 100% opposed politically to subsidizing energy
guzzling and pollution, in case your group ever asks me if I think subsidies
are appropriate for old cities with lots of energy guzzling and polluting
infrastructures. And believe it or not, I actually have clients who are
worried that when the depletion starts, there is a worrisome chance that
energy guzzling have-nots will be threats to those who've learned and
implemented to use the least. So my own worry about inefficient obsolete
urban infrastructures with consumers so dependent on subsidized resource
flows is compounded by what I've heard from clients. At the very least,
there is general worry that after "we've" paid hard-earned dollars and lost
opportunities to achieve such goals in our own lives and ownings, we'll be
forced later to pay again to support/subsidize the rest of the folks who've
not done anything. Indeed, people who are energy sippers are already not
held in any kind of higher regard by guzzlers, but instead they are often
thought of as freaks and oddities. I, for one, have been the butt of many
such jokes, as recently as last week when I told somebody that I used less
than 200 gallons of gas per year, that my office ran on solar power for the
last 3 years, and that my household's total energy utility bill last year
was only $707. I'm more "public" than most of my clients, so I certainly
understand it when they express such concerns...
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen Bierhorst" <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
To: "John F. Robbins" <johnfrobbins@insightbb.com>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 9:25 PM
Subject: Update Re: outline
Hi John,
Tonight at the salon we discussed your presentation. The DO want to hear
the big picture stuff, but also they DO want to hear "ten things that the
homeowner for a house like this one could do to cut energy expenditure."
Spencer, an engineer, tapped the walls and thought there was hollow space in
my exterior walls, maybe only the lath width, but at least some.
They were horrified at the notion that maybe it would be best to just not
live in a house like this.
They think that if I could make significant energy conserving improvements
on my house it would be an influence in the community since it is
conspicuous and many people come through it. Hence important to have your
input about that.
So I guess we want half on the "big picture" and half on "Ten things Ellen
could do to conserve energy here."
Whatever you present will be eagerly lapped up.
Ellen
> From: "John F. Robbins" <johnfrobbins@insightbb.com>
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:30:12 -0500
> To: "Ellen Bierhorst" <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
> Subject: Re: outline
>
> Don't worry about my surprise. I presume I'm surprised because most
people
> who call me already seem to have read or heard about much about which
you're
> asking. That's not to say they understand it very well. However, I'm
> commonly worried about "spoon-feeding" listeners, especially about the
> baseline stuff like what a solar collector does or looks like, where we
get
> our various energies, how to do simple stuff like hangdry laundry.
People
> often rebel or lose focus if I get too basic. I typically find that
people
> know more than they think, but just don't want to apply or act on what
they
> know.
>
> However, in talking with an architect earlier today, I mentioned that the
> state of "green" and "environmental" advertising is very poor right now,
> which combined with the "naive" to "technically uneducated" consumer
> situation, is a ripe setup for rip-offs and other disappointments. So
> there are at least 2 sides here...
>
> So no, I'm not worried about presenting to more of a novice group (of
> adults) than I'm maybe accustomed, but it's simply a reminder to myself
that
> I need to temper my presentation level. You did say "1st grade" way back
> when... You should check the rest of your group to see who knows what,
> and what they want to know more about. You may find that at least some
> will know quite a lot already. My suggestion about Karen and Sean was
just
> because I know they've done major stuff to their own homes. They would be
> good "insider" testimonies for your group, and yes, they could present
their
> success stories before I get there, or after, whichever you want. I'm
> confident that with you helping work the outline and guiding the
> presentation (as you know your group better than I), you won't let me
forget
> to address basics or taylor appropriately.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ellen Bierhorst" <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
> To: "John F. Robbins" <johnfrobbins@insightbb.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 4:33 PM
> Subject: outline
>
>
> looks good. Read through it VERY fast.
>
> I am surprised you are surprised at the naiiveté of our group re. energy.
>
> If you would prefer to have someone else bring us more up to speed before
> lyou present, we can certainly delay your talk.
>
> later
>
> ellen
>
The Lloyd House Salon (usually about 15 people) Meets Mondays at 5:45,
EVERY MONDAY, 52 WEEKS/YEAR come hell or high water, as my mother used to say.
We of the Lloyd House Salon gather in a spirit of
respect, sympathy and compassion for one another
in order to exchange ideas for our mutual pleasure and enlightenment.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
interactive Yahoo Salon group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LloydHouseSalon.
................................................
Pot Luck Announcement (with procedures including food, mission and history) at
http://home.fuse.net/ellenbierhorst/Potluck.html  .Â
..................................................................................
> Please also visit the Lloyd House website:Â http://www.lloydhouse.com
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And our brand new (under construction) Salon Blog: http:lloydhouse.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from the Lloyd House Potluck Salon list, send a REPLY message
> to me and in the SUBJECT line type in "unsub potluck #". In the place of #
> type in the numeral that follows the subject line of my announcement emal. It
> will be 1,2, 3, 4, or 5. This tells me which sub-list your name is on so I can
> delete it. Thanks!  ellen bierhorst
- end -
