The Lloyd House Wednesday Night Salon WEEKLY
(See at the end of this email for introductory material)
SECTION ONE: TABLE NOTES
Around the table: Steve, Dan, Mira, Dennis, Vlasta, Mr. G., Marilyn
At the Table: Steve Sunderland, Dan Griffin, Dennis Kinsley, Vlasta Molak, Marilyn Gale, Mr. G. Ellen Bierhorst, sophia Yarden, Julia Yarden, Charles Griffith
Vlasta: Must we grow old by Dan Hershey, late salonista. (She read from the introduction.) Very beautiful.
Ellen: reading from Gene Bierhorst's book review of Hamlet's Blackberry About how our use of intrusive electronic connectivities is making us sick. See the Summary below in the BOOKS section. Seneca discussed that and how we can counteract that by pausing …
Dan: Seneca (Roman ruler in early first century CE) said, "Holy books are believed by the masses, not the wise, and are used by the governors to govern."
Steve: what do we feel about the probable loss of our Governor, Senator, Congressman. Makes me want to think about going to Canada.
Dan: I don't think the Republicans will take control of the House.
Vlasta: I addressed the Council today. There was a German man there. He spoke in German with an interpreter. He said Cincinnati is not like the rest of America. … Our education is inferior to what they have in Germany. Kasich is from Lehman Bros. Rob Portman (who is running for senate against Lee Fisher for Voinovich's seat) is responsible for NAFTA which enables jobs to leave Ohio and go to India.
Mira: Comment about Portman. Though he has been losing us jobs, he has shown himself wearing blue jeans in the ads, as though he were a working man. "Just one of the guys." Steve reminded me: I have relatives in Canada. Regardless of Washington having more Dems or Republicans in power we are going to see more and more poverty stricken people around the world and here. ….
I attended the Bioneers conference this weekend. The most exciting thing was our trip to Rumpke's recycling. It was wonderful and hopeful. Mixed stream recycling on conveyer belts is working.
All the internationally acclaimed people addressing the conference, beamed into 20 cities around the country: there will be a film made of it. The last speaker was Jane Goodall. Lots of others who are creatively finding ways to do things like Transition Town, neighborhood gardening, sharing, getting along better…
Charles: does Rumpke use people to sort the recycling?
Mira: they have 25 well paid workers, and 10 day workers. They wear protective garments. I found it hopeful. So I am not calling my relatives in Canada.
Charles: yes, I can't imagine that mechanical sorters could work.
Mira: broken glass is OK but not windowpane or drinking glasses. … A group can go by appointment. Must be 14 and older.
They hate plastic bags because they foul up the machines.
Steve: What was wonderful?
Mira: people stood around talking in depth at the end, exchanging cards.
(?) Attendance was light. 125 registered, + …
charles: election year… The way to try and combine the idea of this conference… Pioneers with an understanding of biology. They know of ecology. The earth is limited. Our big problem, economic crisis, the economy can't be salvaged in a way tha tis not earth based. The economy can't grow indefinitely. We are limited in our resources. The idea that technology and science will allow us to have an ever expanding universe is wrong.
Dan the root of all the problems is overpopulation. In 1900 the earth pop was 2 billion. In 2000 a 600% (sic) increase to 6 billion.
Julia: bioneers was started over 18 years ago by Kenny Ausable and his partner Nina Simons. Kenny is also the cofounder of Seeds of Change, the seed company, heirloom varieties. Not hybrids. He reintruduced Anasazi Blue Corn. … That company fell apart over a philosophical disagreement. Should seed stocks be "owned"? Barbara Marx Hubbard, the Mars Bar heiress, bought them out. Gabriel Howard split from them.
Kenny reformed as Collective Heritage Institute, put on the first Bioneers conference 18 years ago.
Yes, we are overwhelmed by digital data; loss of privacy.
Population problems have always been at the core of civilization collapse. We have overshot the carrying capacity of the planet.
… Now 85% of the world's ecosystems are under attack either from overuse or pollution...
Somewhere the dogma of unlimited reproductive rights entered the picture.
The way to cut explosive population growth is to stabilize the economy. Unbridled breeding is when the economy is in terrible shape, war zones, unstable zones.
In stable areas with are equal rights for women… Limited birth rates. Life is more valuable.
If you want explosive population growth rates you must have women's rights, educate women, women must be seen as more valuable than as breeders. Women's atlas of the world has hard data.
Wherever unfettered reproduction is the dogma, you will loose women's rights and children's rights.
Vlasta: the Dalai Lama, a monk with no children… At lunch today with him, 135$ for lunch, (the money goes to Tibetan refuge villages in India; Steve). I heard him 5 yrs ago in India for 2.5 hours. He was boring. After an hour and a half there was a massive exodus of Tibetans.
Sumdhoj Rimpoche also spoke there, and he was wonderful, speaking on buddhism and Krishna Murti.
Mira: Gather the women and Save the world. … The Bahai people are very endangered in Iran; they believe in educating the women before the men because they educate the children.
Steve I would like to talk about the Underground Railroad when I come next time. I followed the routes this summer. I learned a lot. Also a new perspective on Rosa Parks has come out. She was an organizer for 20 years in the south agains the rape of black women.
Hugs to all,
Ellen
SECTION TWO: ACTIVITIES, OPPORTUNITIES
Salon Presenter Anna Ferguson and Mark Stroud promoting this at Grailville. Next weekend. Nationally prominent presenters, music, setting, food!
Web info here: http://www.worldpeaceinc.com/home/jubilee.html
Gabriel Cousens
Please forward this to your friends. It is very very rare to have the honor of Gabriel in Cincinnati and he told me he does not plan on returning to the midwest for a long time. Thanks so much! Lois Cone
WHAT: Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
(see http://www.treeoflife.nu/home-index/ ) will be featured in a program on Judaism, Eastern meditation, spirituality and food. Rabbi Cousens is the world's foremost physician promoting live-food nutrition for physical health and spiritual growth.
WHEN: Saturday, October 23, at 8 P.M. – Havdalah precedes a 2-hr discussion, with Q&A after.
WHERE: Congregation B'nai Tzedek, 6280 Kugler Mill Road, Kenwood, Ohio.
COST: $5 at door, includes light refreshments. RSVP: 984-3393 or bnaitzedek@fuse.net
--
Lois Cone
This is amazing painting. The only artists who touch me as deeply as Yvonne (also a Salonista of yore ) are Rembrandt and Gregory Thorp. Don't miss it. I'll be there!
Friday 22 October. Starts 7:30. New location, same neighborhood. Write him for details:
robert dinerman <robertdine@fuse.net>
Always a sensational time... Old Weavers songs, Pete Seeger, Dylan, through the modern era. I'll also be there. Ellen. Am practicing bilocation.
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Canvass for Driehaus, Fisher, and other Dem. Candidates EVERY Saturday at 11 or at 1:00 . Show up at the office at 11 am or 1 pm. (I'll be doing Saturdays at 11.) This is the MOST effective way to help the campaign. So important to support the President's team. So important to elect Democrats to the leadership positions in Columbus because they will do the redistricting for the next decade! ellen
Dems. Campaign Office at Knowlton's Corner
4015 Hamilton Avenue, Northside (Knowlton's Corner) formerly Shoetopia location. Right at the corner of Blue Rock. (Across the st. from old Crazy Ladies' Bookstore)
Now we have regular hours from 1 PM to 9 PM, Monday through Saturday. Right now, we're using 614-477-6835 as the "office number."
Thanks for your interest,
Mary-Pat Hester
Want to do a terrific service? Stop in the HQ at Knowlton's Corner between 1 and 8 pm. Ellen
PARK & VINE GEN'L STORE
Greetings
Following is a lineup of upcoming events involving Park + Vine,
including our grand reopening 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 29. If you have any
questions, let us know. Meanwhile, thank you for your continued
support
Dan
Free La Terza Coffee: until our drink bar opens!
Planning Park + Vine's relocation from 1109 Vine Street to 1202 Main
Street has involved tons of planning and support. We're confident it
is the best thing for the store and our supportive community. There's
still much to button-up, including the grocery section and drink bar.
While we wait for crews to finish fabricating and city officials to
put down their pencils, we're offering FREE La Terza Coffee to all who
enter. Just show up during regular stores (6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday) and
enjoy while supplies last.
Park + Vine at World Peace & Yoga Jubilee: Oct. 21-24
Join Park + Vine and other eco-minded folks at the World Peace & Yoga
Jubilee Oct. 21-24 at the Grailville Retreat Center in Loveland, just
outside Cincinnati. This weekend-long conference features yoga
teachers, musicians, authors, artists and chefs unfolding the path to
world peace. Register before Sept. 24 and enjoy 20 percent off
registration.
Park + Vine Grand Reopening: Oct. 29
Park + Vine is celebrating its new location 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct.
29 at 1202 Main Street. Celebration includes eats from local
vegan-friendly spots, music by Josh Eagle and Liz Bowater, and guest
baristas demonstrating Park + Vine's Hario coffee drip machine.
After-party at MOTR, 1345 Main Street. Grand reopening is a
fund-raising event as well. Buy yourself something pretty, and five
percent of that purchase will go to ArtWorks Cincinnati.
Trail Mix: Nov. 5
Sample local craft drinks and savory Granola 4 the People, listen to
live tunes and meet cool people at Trail Mix, a monthly gathering that
connects single granola-minded folk and their wing buddies 5 to 9 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 5 at Park + Vine, 1202 Main Street. Definitions vary, but
we're talking about peace-loving types who'd rather drink water out of
a Mason jar than a plastic bottle. Naturalist and author Tamara York
will be on hand to sign her book, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles:
Cincinnati. Tarot card readings with Kimberley Caplinger McAninch.
After-party at Grammer's Bar, 1442 Walnut Street. Proceeds benefit
Slow Food Cincinnati.
Cloth Diapering Cuteness: Nov. 7
Park + Vine hosts an informal class on all aspects of cloth diapering
the first Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. One of our in-house mamas,
Elizabeth Whitton, tailors each discussion to the specific questions
of present parents. Afterward, browse the best selection of cloth
diapers in Cincinnati and take advantage of Park + Vine's package
discounts. Pick up our new Cloth Diapering Guide, designed by awesome
Chris Heckman, while you're at it!
Babywearing Bliss: Nov. 14
Park + Vine hosts Babywearing Bliss, a free workshop on safely and
comfortably carrying a baby from birth through toddler years, 2 p.m.
second Sunday of each month. Sara Danks, Jamee Steele Diver and Megan
Seaman-Kossmeyer take turns facilitating this fun monthly exchange.
Experiment and ask questions about the different kinds of carriers
(wraps, ring slings, pouches, mei tais and soft-structured) and browse
our selection after the class.
--
Dan Korman
Park + Vine
1202 Main Street (Oct. 1)
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-721-7275
www.parkandvine.com
Dear Wonderful Martin Luther King Chorale Singers (and anyone else who loves to sing),
It is the time of year when we gather to imagine the world Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to envision.
King saw the beauty that emerges when we all become drum majors for justice, when we step out in freedom's name, when we work for peace and religious tolerance, when we speak out against bigotry and endless spending on war rather than the social uplift of all people.
We have much work to do. Let us join together in song to broadcast hope and courage with a message bigger than each of us individually. Let's raise our joyfilled voices for justice. Let's send out a ringing, resonant choral endorsement of empathy and compassion.
Walk the Journey! Pass the Torch! Embrace the Dream
Rehearsals begin on Tuesday, November 9 at the House of Joy, at 7:00.
Rehearsals are every other week in 2010:
Tuesday November 23 @ 7
Tuesday December 7 @ 7
Tuesday December 21 @ 7
2011:
Tuesday January 4 @ 7
Tuesday January 11 @ 7
Saturday January 15 (10 to 12)
Our performance is on Martin Luther King Day, at Music Hall, Monday January 17. We will make our annual pilgrimage to Warren Correctional Institute on Friday January 14, and we usually perform at least one or two other run-outs in the community.
Thank you,
with love
Dr. Catherine Roma & Bishop Todd O'Neal
Free Yoga in Clifton
Free open practice session, all levels, led by Nina Tolley every Friday at 9:30 – 11:00. Weekly. (Now meeting in Nina's house, corner Lafayette and N. Cliff le.) Questions? Call Nina: 281-2515
Cool Stuff at Park + Vine
(Eco Friendly Grocery etc. ~ now located on Main St. near Kaldi's in Over The Rhine)
Following is a list of upcoming events at Park + Vine. An American
Sign Language interpreter is available upon request for store events.
If you have questions, let us know
Thank you for your support
UPCOMING EVENTS
Park + Vine at the World Peace & Yoga Jubilee: Oct. 21-24
Join Park + Vine and other eco-minded folks at the World Peace & Yoga
Jubilee Oct. 21-24 at the Grailville Retreat Center in Loveland, just
outside Cincinnati. This weekend-long conference features yoga
teachers, musicians, authors, artists and chefs unfolding the path to
world peace.
--
Dan Korman
Park + Vine
1109 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-721-7275
www.parkandvine.com
10-7 Monday-Saturday + 11-5 Sunday
Thrilled to be bringing international Alexander super star teacher to the Lloyd House Nov. 5 – 8: Yehuda Kuperman
ellen
Advertisement: Try the Alexander Technique
FREE Alexander Technique Practice session every Sunday 3:30 – 4:30 at the Lloyd House. Open to all.
Ellen Bierhorst Ph.D. ~ Alexander Technique ~ http://www.lloydhouse.com ~ 513 221 1289 ~ Cincinnati
I am having a blast here in my second year of teaching the Alexander Technique! Unbelievably, a full calendar since the launch of my practice in late June 2009.
Fantastic fee deal (limited time only): First lesson free; second through 4th lessons only $10. After that, only $50/lesson if you buy a package of 4 at a time, prepaid. * The real fee is $78 per lesson. I am interested in "turning on" as many people as possible to this wonderful learning. Good for pain, for performance improvement in the arts, athletics, ... And finally, good for personal development. It has definite geriatric benefit as well.
You can read about my own experiences and find links to other sites here:
http://www.lloydhouse.com
Call and make an appointment or to discuss it with me. 513 221 1289.
........
* However, it is my commitment to adjust fees for anyone truly wanting lessons who cannot afford even this modest fee. Try it and see. Ellen
Fanchon Shur Endorses Pat Bruns for State Bd. Of Education
Friends and Colleagues,
I have worked with Pat Bruns and know her skills. I created the inner city school FIGHT, FLIGHT, FREEZE! MOVING INTO PEACE program and I know the power of well designed arts curiculum and how important it is to have everyone on board together.
I have seen her in action integrating all the Arts in the Public School Curriculum. She understands how people learn, and how to motivate and create consistent learning successes. I witnessed her first hand guide faculties, principals, parents and artists to establish functioning, practical arts programing.
Please vote for her.
Thank you very much.
Fanchon Shur
Director, Growth in Motion,Inc
www.growthinmotion.org
For further details about Pat's campaign and how you can help,
please contact me @
Pat Bruns 4540 Glenway Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45205 513-310-8953
pbruns@cinci.rr.com
Facebook at Pat Bruns for State Board of Education
Lloyd House: Will be vacant and available again come 1/1/11
Third floor two room suite, has own bathroom. Monthly house dues: $460 includes all utilities plus high speed wireless internet. Kitchen shared with two others. Wonderful space! Please call Ellen: (513) 221 1289 Available June 23 to Sept 15.
Must be rock solid financially, over 25, non smoker, homo sapiens only.
Very jolly, juicy multicultural household in Victorian Castle. See www.lloydhouse.com
The man that sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a
lot of time clearing the junk off computers for people and listens to
complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure
you read the very last paragraph.
He wrote:
By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or
truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via
email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent
sites.
Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!!
1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or
however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get
bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on
your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an
email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of
those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each
time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email
addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when
you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed
of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our
conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses
- just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a
missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel
if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't
participate!
2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to
others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to
send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break
the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all
any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie'
tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate
active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.
You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending
this information to them. You will be providing a service to your
friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam
emails in the future!
Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of
listing regardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel
guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email addresses and
nothing more.
You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!
Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly
a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's
not make it easy for them!
ALSO: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress of any other
organization - i.e. social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions
must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing
the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the
email trackers.
Tips for Handling Telemarketers
Three Little Words That Work!!
(1)The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead
of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much
more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.
Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep'
tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which
has efficiently completed its task.
These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting..
(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls
and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.
This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real'
sales person to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there,
is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7
times as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed
the call, and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a
shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!
(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return
these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their
own junk mail away.
When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything
from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw
away the return envelope.
Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It
costs them more than the regular 44 cents postage, 'IF' and when they
receive them back.
It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around
50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight.
In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put
it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.
One of Andy Rooney 's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a
pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day,
then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on
anything you send them.
You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep
them guessing! It still costs them 44 cents.
The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of
their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them.
Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best
of all they're paying for it...Twice!
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that
e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they
need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!
If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been
doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.
THIS JUST MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3091 - Release Date: 08/24/10 02:34:00
America Votes (where our Bentley Davis works) asking for volunteers to get out the vote
GOTV* 2010
*(get out the vote)
Progressive Volunteers
to Help
keep Ohio moving forward
You and other progressives were crucial to carrying Ohio in 2008. This year the stakes are even higher:
Strickland vs. Kasich
Jobs vs. Outsourcing
Education Reform vs. School Funding Cuts
Social Services vs. Income Tax Abolishment
Healthcare Access vs. Healthcare Repeal
Main Street vs. Wall Street
We need you now more than ever. Join us as we show the pundits that there won't be an "enthusiasm gap" this year.
Sign up today for shifts with the America Votes
| Walks | |||
| Saturday 10/30 | Sunday 10/31 | Monday 11/1 | Tuesday 11/2 |
9am - 1pm | 12pm - 4pm | 9am - 1pm | 9am - 1pm |
| 1pm - 5pm | 4pm - 8pm | 1pm - 5pm | 1pm - 4pm |
| 4pm - 8pm | 4pm - 8pm | 4pm - 7pm | |
| Calls | |||
| Saturday 10/30 | Sunday 10/31 | Monday 11/1 | Tuesday 11/2 |
| 10am - 1pm | 12pm - 3pm | 9am - 1pm | 9am - 1pm |
| 1pm - 4pm | 3pm - 6pm | 4pm - 8pm | 1pm - 4pm |
| 4pm - 7pm | 4pm - 8pm | 4pm - 7pm |
Bentley Davis
SW Ohio Political/ Field Director
America Votes
513.827.1832
ARTICLES AND LETTERS
- Letter from Jenefer Ellingston
- Mortgages; Foreclosures
- From Michael Moore... The Dems are coming alive!
Dr. D10/14/10
Mortgage News, forwarded by Dennis Kinsley, salonista:
Thousands of homes in 23 states, including New York and New Jersey, are about to be seized by Bank of America and Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage Unit.
http://manhattan.ny1.com//Default.aspx?ArID=127368
Business Day: New York Fed Wants Banks to Buy Back Bad Mortgages
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Two years after the Fed bought billions of dollars in
mortgage securities as part of the financial bailout, it is
pressing banks to buy some of them back.
Full Story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/business/20bond.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
---
More Articles on This Topic:
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?module=talerts&cskey=
Dems Come Alive! ...a follow-up from Michael Moore
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
Friends,
Ok! We're halfway through the week and we're off to a great start. Last week I gave the spineless Dems five friendly suggestions for things they could do on the off chance they were interested in winning the midterm elections on November 2nd:
1. Deliver a blunt, nonstop reminder to the American people about exactly who it was that got us into the mess we're in.
2. Declare a moratorium on home foreclosures.
3. Prosecute the banks and Wall Street for the Crime of the Century.
4. Create a 21st century WPA (hire the unemployed to rebuild America).
5. Pledge that no Dem will take a dime from Wall Street in the next election cycle.
So how are we doing 5 days later? Not bad! It turns out that at least some of these ideas were so simple even elected Democrats could come up with them!
1. Dems have started running tough, killer ads that have balls and SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID. Check these out:
In the California Senate race, Barbara Boxer is going after Carly Fiorina on the outsourcing Fiorina did as CEO of HP.
Rep. Tim Bishop of Long Island, New York hits his GOP opponent Randy Altschuler on how HIS business sent jobs overseas.
Richard Blumenthal half-nelsons his Connecticut Senate opponent (and former WWE CEO) Linda McMahon who said we should consider cutting the minimum wage and then lied about having said it.
Jeez, it's like they wanna win! More of these, please -- NOW!
2. Foreclosure Moratorium fever among the Dems has amazingly swept the nation in the last week!
Democratic Attorneys General all over the country are now demanding moratoriums for their states: California (Jerry Brown, now running for Governor), Connecticut (Richard Blumenthal, now running for Senate), Delaware (Joe Biden's son Beau), Massachusetts (Martha Coakley, who probably wished she'd done this earlier since she lost the special Senate race in January to Scott Brown), Illinois (Lisa Madigan), Texas (Greg Abbott -- a Republican!) and Colorado (John Suthers -- another Republican!). And so is Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (at the urging of Rep. Ellijah Cummings, who you may remember from 'Capitalism: A Love Story').
Meanwhile, the Attorneys General of Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina are opening probes into the mortgage industry. And the banks are feeling the heat -- GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have already suspended foreclosures in 23 states (with Detroit's Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, calling on them to extend it to Michigan and the rest of the U.S.).
Wells Fargo? Citibank? Are you paying attention? Now's the time to do something good so you can later mention it to the sentencing judge.
Rep. Gabrelle Giffords of Arizona has called for a nationwide foreclosure moratorium, and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey says that may benecessary.
And it goes on and on. Check the special section on my website that I'm updating every day as more and more Democratic officials announce they will no longer allow banks to kick families out of their homes.
3. Prosecute the bastards! Looks like that's what they're maybe finally going to do. Check out this stunning letter sent to Attorney General Holder yesterday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and 30 other members of congress (PDF):
"...we urge you and your respective agencies to investigate possible violations of law or regulations by financial institutions in their handling of delinquent mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosures. ... The excuses we have heard from financial institutions are simply not credible three years into this crisis. ... It is time that banks are held accountable for their practices that have left too many homeowners without real help."
According to the New York Times, banks will likely face a "wide range of government investigations" for years. Judges may ask for them to be indicted for perjury or obstruction of justice. The Justice Department could prosecute banks for mail and wire fraud, or for making false statements to the government. And the SEC could open civil investigations.
Now we need to hear the Justice Department announce their investigation.
And look -- Larry Summers is gone. Great move! The people's advocate, Elizabeth Warren, is in -- genius move! If that's the direction Obama is now heading in, then these bankers may be shaking in their Salvatore Ferragamos.
So, not a bad start, Democrats (20 months late)! Just four weeks to go and I'm feeling that maybe, just maybe, we may prevent the All Souls Day Massacre. The pundits, who are essentially tools for the Corporate States of America, may have to eat a lot of crow. And if the Dems escape death's door, they had better not let this nonsense happen again.
So, President Obama and Congress, let's get busy on ideas #4 (WPA jobs) and #5 (pledge to take no further campaign money from Goldman and their friends).
C'mon everybody -- there's at least 3 million of you reading this (including the 700,000 of you who are my Twitter followers and my 300,000+ close Facebook friends). Let's pressure the Dems to quit cowering and kick some butt -- NOW!
Tell them it's easy and to repeat after us:
* Stop the foreclosures!
* Prosecute the banks and Wall Street and war profiteer corps!
* Remind the public 24/7 who created the mess!
* Announce a real jobs program!
* Promise not to take Wall Street's dirty money!
* Win the election!
Simple!
Do it!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. On a different subject... One of the most moving, hopeful and powerful documentaries I've seen this year (or any year) opens at the Quad in NYC on Friday. It's called, "Budrus," and it's about a town by that name in the West Bank. The Palestinians in that town (and many of their Israeli neighbors on the other side of the Wall that's being constructed) come up with a way to totally undo the Israeli Defense Forces: pledge to defeat the occupiers by never firing a bullet, never throwing a stone, never causing any harm to their Jewish brothers and sisters. Whoa! What happens next is so effed up, so incredible, you have to see this movie to believe it. The film is brilliant. It won the top Founders Prize for nonfiction film at my film festival this summer. It will soon be coming to other cities. Do not miss it!!!
Bentley Davis' updates on the political scene... Bentley rocks! Best politics expert I've met. Ellen
Political Notes:
Bentley is too busy campaigning, but got questions? email her.
Bentley DAvis <bentleysdavis@gmail.com>
REVIEWS: BOOKS, Movies, MUSIC, CONCERTS, RESTAURANTS, WEBSITES ...
Please send me your tips...love to hear what you are reading etc. ellen
Wow, people tell me they read these reviews! Awesome. Now send me yours. long or short, anything. ellen
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Hamlet's Blackberry (book by William Powers): summary. 10/15/10
by Gene Bierhorst
The point of this book is that we are all too entangled with electronic communications gadgets; the entanglement is hurting our quality of life, our productivity, our sanity.
It is a topic we are awash in right now. Just look around: a short NYT article, "Voter Disgust Isn't Just About Issues" (10/7/10), includes 6 attributes of our topic in trying to explain the feelings of the electorate: "the relentless stream of data from digital devices," "the insidious influence of media on their children," "drivers [of cars, not printers]...grown increasingly hostile," "if we had a lot of money...everything would slow down and we could enjoy ourselves," "Americans overwhelmed by the speed of change," and "struggle with a growing sense of chaos." Another NYT story, "Hi, Grandma!" (by Hilary Stout, 10/16/10, front page) shows a photo of an extra-cute toddler girl holding a smart phone: "does this new Toy of Choice inhibit a child's development?"
Powers writes that a 1-minute interruption by, say, a cell phone call or a tweet or an email (or a commercial?) takes 15 minutes to recover from. His thesis throughout relies on the by now well-accepted idea that people absolutely cannot multi-task.
He discusses 7 different times in history when similar points of perceived craziness due to innovations in communication technology were thought to have been reached.
-1.) Socrates. 400 BC. The new technology that was threatening all civilization and sanity was...WRITING! If you went and heard a man speak and did not learn his words and discuss it with him but instead stuck a measly piece of parchment or papyrus with his words on it in your pocket and then thought you knew anything—well then, you were a hopeless fool. His palliative for the situation was to listen to a person and have conversation; the Plato dialogue discussed (Phaedrus) suggests going for walks in the countryside alone or with a friend. [We have since come to view reading as a peaceful, solid, inward adventure. Maybe books let us run the whole conversation, dreaming the other person's input.]
-2.) Seneca. The time of Nero. Nero became emperor while still a kid, so Seneca ran the empire for many years. Rome was a large, busy, confusing city—people running around in "all directions—hurrying to meet the latest mail boat from Egypt" People did not know yet how to find their peaceful anonymity in the big city as so many New Yorkers now do--as E.B. White observes: "[blending] the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation." Seneca's palliative was to write letters. Try to write a letter every day, in the morning. Focused, private time alone. Choose one idea a day to think deeply about.
Note about reading. People read aloud up through the 4th century. The church had nearly all the books. Rich people starting getting some (expensive) books around 1000 and started reading silently. The non-rich kept reading aloud up through medieval times. If you were literate (and a criminal suspect), you were tried in church courts which did not give the death penalty even for murder. If you were illiterate, you got tried in government-run courts and could get the death penalty for trifling offenses.
-3.) Gutenberg. Cheap printing invented, 1455. Took 50 years to get books widespread in Europe. Cat was very out of the bag by 1517: Martin Luther nailing up wicked, printed incendiaries all over the place. [The Church should have never allowed it!!] 1471: Niccolo Perotti complained of the Fox News perils unleashed by widespread books: "...anyone is free to print whatever they wish...disregard that which is best and instead write...what would best be forgotten or better still erased...twist and corrupt...spreading falsehoods over the whole world." Unfiltered internet lies! (Robert Darnton writes of this Chinese-government viewpoint: The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future).
Reading: time away from the crowd. Peaceful inwardness. Time alone. Author disparages e-readers, especially because those are evolving in the direction of doing other apps like surfing and email.
(How did Gutenberg get his idea? There was already a business making little brass reflective gadgets—looked like half of a tennis ball—that you would buy and bring to the yearly showing of the saints' bones/relics. You were not allowed to touch the actual relics because the crowds were too large, so, not to worry, you could still get the benefit of the saint by holding up your brass thing and the saint's magical rays would shoot out and bounce off/get sucked into...your thing, and you'd be good to go. So, Gutenberg got the idea to mass produce these and they had some symbols stamped on them—and from those stampings he went on to movable type.) No quotes from Gut . on the psychological impact. He was just in it for the money.
-4. Shakespeare. 1590. Hamlet talks about his problems with keeping his mind clear (a touch of ADHD there), and how he copes, using his "table." That table was a small, pocket notebook/Moleskine-type item that he had (which apparently first appeared in Europe in the late fifteenth century). So he was still somewhat cutting edge (what's a hundred years, more or less--Moore's Law hadn't taken hold yet). You could write on its specially coated pages of parchment or paper and later erase it with a sponge and reuse it. (Similar wax tablets had been around for centuries.) "They became enormously popular in Shakespeare's lifetime as a solution to the relentless busyness of life." To-do lists, ideas, etc. Like Moleskine's today—which are enjoying an enormous resurgence.
Our physical hand on paper takes over some of the brain's work. Cf. Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance re. physical activities generating cognitive satisfaction.
-5. Ben Franklin. Mid 1700's. Made a checklist he carried around with him. 13 topics. Each day put a black mark next to whichever he'd transgressed. Temperance: monitor eating and drinking. Silence: avoid trifling conversation (what's that all about?). Order: segregate all your activities to maintain focus. Resolution: do what you set out to do. Frugality: waste nothing. Industry: keep busy, avoid trivia. Sincerity. Justice: wrong nobody by action or omission. Moderation. Cleanliness. Tranquility (don't sweat the small stuff or big stuff you can't control--resonates with the Serenity prayer: [approx: "God give me the serenity to let go of the stuff I cannot control, the courage to tackle what I can and the wisdom to know the difference."]). Chastity: "rarely use venery" (screwing) except for health or offspring. Rarely? How rarely? Health? What kind of health? And finally—Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates. What? Other than their tedious end-of-life situations, these two had nothing in common that I can think of.
And he carried around with him also a chart showing how he was doing in each of the 13 areas. So he could arrive "at moral perfection."
Intel has a 4-hour period every week when the inboxes are not to be checked. Also, use verbal/voice. Also, delay answering every email (I often do this one myself in order to enhance the value of my answers). "Look inward and your ritual will write itself" (seems like if you know what this one means you don't need to worry about it).
-6. Thoreau. 1850s. Post office got to him like email gets to us. Hermit thing = good. Hey, btw, he only stayed in that tiny shack not quite 2 years. Emerson his friend. Transcendentalism. The telegraph "has become the highway of thought:--NYT editorial, 9/14/1852.
FLWright's architecture mentioned at this point: need alcoves and niches for private spaces that look onto/communicate easily with larger, more social spaces. Nice. But Wright could go overly small--I remember seeing a bedroom upstairs in Fallingwater that was for the tall son of the Kaufman's (the family who hired Wright to design the house)--and the bedroom is not long enough for a full-length bed, so the son couldn't straighten out his legs in bed...o well.
-7. McLuhan. 1950's, 60's. "Study the maelstrom that is your busy life, and come up with your own creative ways of escape...[toss the smart phone for a basic cell phone freeing you from constant emails and browsing]." Make it a kind of game, test various schemes. "Lower the Inner Thermostat." This reference to temperature is to do with McLuhan's famous "hot" vs. "cool" media. Per McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, (1964), "Cool" media are telephones (vs. hot radio); cartoons (vs. hot photographs); T.V (vs. hot movies) --oops! what kind of TV programming was McLuhan referring to...obviously not a televised movie...). In any event, the better cool ones do not so fully occupy you with all manner of high definition information domination/overload. (Hieroglyphics, cool; phonetic alphabet hot...McLuhan on a roll!).
Our Author ends the book discussing his family, young children, experiments like weekends that are disconnected. (with short exceptions only as really necessary). Says a nice family time can be all gathered together watching a single TV show. [My God, have we become so entangled with all the new stuff that TV is, by comparison, a balm?]
The book overlooks (or under-treats, as in the case of the Luddites) various historical epochs. Here below are some possible examples, and I wonder how many others you might think of and could email to Ellen with a bit of explanation:
1. Luddite movement (mirrored by our dust bowl emigration over a hundred years later): adults and children left 24/7 farm lives and got into 24/7 factory lives with impersonal machines that would cut of your fingers or worse during endless mindless repetitions that entangled and confounded brains. Wonderful book: Against The Machine, by Nichols Fox.
2. The blazing 20 mph trains! that Emerson wrote of in astonishment as transcendentalism was born. Since a human being can sprint that fast, what was he talking about? The huge size? The sense that you couldn't communicate with it? I have stood on piers while an ocean liner big as the Titanic started to move, big as several city blocks in one...and felt in trouble.
3. Air travel? However often you fly, aren't you a bit astonished each time you see it really, really lift off the ground...and stay lifted...and keep going further up? And in a few hours you arrive somewhere all jet-lagged into a mess?
4.?
5.?
If you've read all this, then there's probably no need to read the book. It is equally scattered, btw.
-Gene Bierhorst (Ellen's brother in NYC)
P.S. Saw this in today's NYT, op ed by Cohen: "...The donated iPods were not sent down to the miners for fear they would prove isolating and break the life-saving camaraderie of "Los 33.""
Who made that decision? Who knew enough to know that?--gene
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