Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 03.19.09

[David Shove (shove001]

           P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    03.19.09

1. Wells Fargo action 3.19 11:30am
2. Sustain community  3.19 12noon
3. Eagan peace vigil  3.19 4:30pm
4. Northtown vigil    3.19 5pm
5. Ask Russ Stark     3.19 6pm
6. AWC new members    3.19 7pm
7. Amnesty Intl       3.19 7:15pm
8. Edgertonite tonite 3.19 9pm

9. People's bailout   3.20 10:30am
10. Sunshine govt     3.20 12noon
11. Moyers/socialism  3.20 9pm

12. Donna Smith   - RNs rally for single payer
13. Dave Lindorff - The decline of the American empire
14. ed            - More or less  (poem)

--------1 of 14--------

From: cam.clark13 <cam.clark13 [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Wells Fargo action 3.19 11:30am

Wells Fargo Action!!
Join us Thursday March 19, 2009

Meet at the ACORN Office at 11am
 757 Raymond Avenue Suite 200 Saint Paul, MN 55114
Or at 11:30 at 430 Wabasha St N, Saint Paul (Wells Fargo)

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the nation's largest mortgage originator,
extended a foreclosure moratorium to March 13.  On March 19th, we will
gather outside their office in downtown Saint Paul to say 30 days is
simply not enough!  We need more time while new policies are implemented.
Stand with us to demand more time for struggling homeowners!!

Cammie Clark MN ACORN Organizer 651-642-9639 x 109 612-802-7245
651-642-0060 Fax
757 Raymond Avenue Suite 200
Saint Paul, MN 55114
www.acorn.org


--------2 of 14--------

From: Alliance for Sustainability <iasa [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Sustain community 3.19 12noon

03.19.09 2009 Sustainable Communities Conference
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Noon to 9:30pm
at the Paul & Sheila Wellstone Center for Community in St. Paul
179 Robie Street East

Afternoon workshop sessions for local government staff and officials and
evening workshops for citizen activists.
Afternoon Workshops: $25
Evening Workshops: Free
Organized by the Alliance for Sustainability.

Keynote Speaker: Mayor Ken Melamed, Whistler, BC, Eco-Municipality and Host
of the 2010 Olympics.

Second Annual Local Government Workshop - Noon to 4:45pm - Registration
$25
Themes
1. How to use model ordinances to implement city sustainability goals
2. Introducing new Tool Kits for Local Government Sustainability
3. Community & Business Engagement Tools - messaging, incentives and
outreach.

Local Government Workshops 2 to 5 pm: Model Ordinances for Sustainable
Development, More than Storm Water Management, Cycloplan, Composting: the
Next Step in Zero Waste, Business Outreach Tools, Green Step Cities,
Community Engagement Tools, Local Government Resources for Energy
Efficiency, Sensible Communities Legislation, Integrating Watershed
Planning into your Comprehensive Plan

4:45 to 6pm
Networking, exhibitors, dinner reception, celebrate AFS 25th anniversary

4th Annual Neighborhood Sustainability Conference, 4:45pm to 9:30pm - FREE
Themes
 1. Greening your neighborhood, congregation, school or businesses -
successful project examples, grant opportunities, peer-learning
opportunities, technical assistance.
 2. Partnering with your city to enact sustainable local policies - to
create bike and transit corridors, expand green infrastructure (trees &
open space) and increase energy efficiency in buildings.
 3. Advocating for wise state policies to secure a sustainable shared
future - update on state legislation.

Community Workshops 7 to 9 pm: Energy Efficiency and Renewables, Biking/
Walking/ Transportation/ Sensible Communities; Greening, Rain Gardens,
Storm Water, Composting; Outreach for Healthy Families, Green Gatherings
and Waste Reduction; Organizing for Green Jobs; Green Careers; Community
Wide Sustainability Initiatives

--
Geographic Follow-Up Roundtables - Learn about your city's sustainability
efforts. Share green ideas with adjacent cities. Here from local city staff
who recently returned from Sweden. Brainstorm next steps on transit, biking,
open space, water quality, energy efficiency, waste reduction, ordinances
and outreach. Please pre-register at www.afors.org

* East Metro Thurs March 26, 6:30 pm, Transfiguration Church, 6133 15th
Street N Oakdale MN 55128 www.tranny.org

* North Metro Thurs April 16, 6:30 pm, Family Service Center.- 803 Old Hwy 8
NW - New Brighton, MN 55112 www.ci.new-brighton.mn.us

* West Metro Mon May 4, 6:30 pm, Church of St. Patrick 6820 St. Patrick's
Lane Edina, MN 55439 www.stpatrick-edina.org

* South Metro Thurs May 7, 6:30 pm, Eagan Community Center 1501 Central Pkwy
Eagan, MN 55121 www.cityofeagan.com

For more information, contact:
www.afors.org


--------3 of 14--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <family4peace [at] msn.com>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 3.19 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.


--------4 of 14--------

From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 3.19 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy
10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park,
Fridley, and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


--------5 of 14--------

From: magnuson [at] womenspress.com
Subject: Ask Russ Stark 3.19 6pm

You are welcome even if you are not a Democrat or do not live in StPaul
Ward 4 Precinct.

The Ward 4 Precinct 1 DFL is having a potluck dinner to connect with
neighbors and a conversation time with Russ Stark, our city Councilperson,
Russ Stark. Consider yourself invited.

Thursday, March 19
6:00 potluck dinner
7:00 conversation with Russ
at the home of Beth and Jon Commers 2294 Commonwealth Avenue

Bring your hopes, thoughts, questions, worries and some good food to
share.

RSVP helpful but not required to Alice Duggan at comeforea [at] pclink.com
or 646-1192.

--
From: AG

Ask council person Russ Stark if he will have the St. Paul City Council
will endorse H.R. 676.

Ask council person Russ Stark if he will press charges against Ramsey
County Sherriff Bob Fletcher for violating civil liberties during the RNC

Ask council person Russ Stark if he will ask the St. Paul City Council to
keep its word about putting IRV on the ballot if it was found to be
constitutional, which it was.

--
From: DS

Ask council person Russ Stark if he still believes the tall stories
official StPaul told him -and that he repeated - about RNC demonstrators.

Ask council person Russ Stark if he approves the February 2009 police raid
at Macalester re RNC.

Ask council person Russ Stark when he is going to join a real party.


--------6 of 14--------

From: Meredith Aby <awcmere [at] gmail.com>
Subject: AWC new members 3.19 7pm

AntiWarMN New Members Meeting
Thursday, March 19th @ 7 pm @ UTEC building, 1313 5th St. SE, Minneapolis,
room 112C
Interested in organizing against the war?  Want to get involved?    We meet
weekly, and new members are always welcome.  However, this week's meeting is
particularly orientated for new members. Come check out the Anti-War
Committee!


--------7 of 14--------

From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: Amnesty Intl 3.19 7:15pm

AIUSA Group 315 (Wayzata area) meets Thursday, March 19th, at 7:15 p.m.
St. Luke Presbyterian Church, 3121 Groveland School Road, Wayzata (near
the intersection of Rt. 101 and Minnetonka Blvd). For further information,
contact Richard Bopp at Richard_C_Bopp [at] NatureWorksLLC.com.


--------8 of 14--------

From: jwilson [at] enp-news.org
Subject: Edgertonite tonite 3.19 9pm

Edgertonite National Party meeting
Thursday, 19 March 2009 - 9:00 PM
Cahoots coffee shop
1562 Selby Ave., Saint Paul, MN

Includes John Charles Wilson's campaign for mayor of Minneapolis.
 more info: http://www.enp-news.org


--------9 of 14--------

From: Michele <MRockne [at] gmail.com>
Subject: People's bailout 3.20 10:30am

Here's information being circulated by the People's Bailout, by way of
the Anti-War Committee:

"...from the People's Bailout Coalition.  They are asking for action
to help push their progressive agenda through the state legislature.

PART I:
JOIN THE MN COALITION FOR A PEOPLE'S BAILOUT FOR:

Our first House hearing is Friday, Mar. 20, at 10:30 a.m. in Labor and
Consumer Protection Division Committee (Davnie is the chair). It will be
held in room 200 of the State Office Building. (BUT we will be there at
10am with signs and information)
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committee.asp?comm=86134

This is a subcommittee of Commerce and Labor Committee.

We are not on the "web schedule" yet, but Chair Davnie's aide looked it up
on her computer yesterday and said it's on the schedule for 3-20-09...for
now.

***HERE'S THE DEAL.. WE ARE CHECKING THE SCHEDULE TODAY.
UNFORTUNATELY, DAVNIE'S COMMITTEE HAS TO CONFIRM THE TIME OF THE
HEARING LATER TODAY (MONDAY). Even though we were told about this on
Friday, his office now needs to confirm it. (sorry).

In the meantime, here is a list of the committee members. Call or visit
them and tell them to vote YES on the People's Bailout Bill, House File
626

First Last Ac+3 Pho D/R SOB room Dist HomeTown
Joe Atkins 651-296- 4192 DFL 503 39B Inver Grove Heights
Jim Davnie 651-296- 0173 DFL 545 62A Minneapolis
Patti Fritz 651-296- 8237 DFL 551 26B Faribault
Leon Lillie 651-296- 1188 DFL 369 55A North St. Paul
Tim Mahoney 651-296- 4277 DFL 591 67A St. Paul
Michael V. Nelson 651-296- 3751 DFL 569 46A Brooklyn Park
Steve Simon 651-296- 9889 DFL 375 44A St. Louis Park
Loren Solberg 651-296- 2365 DFL 443 03B Grand Rapids
Tara Mack 651-296- 5506 R 321 37A Apple Valley
Mark Murdock 651-296- 4293 R 213 10B Ottertail
Tim Sanders 651-296- 4226 R 233 51A Blaine
Kurt Zellers 651-296- 5502 R 315 32B Maple Grove
-------------------------------------

PART II:
ACTION ALERT!

**NOTE: It's good we have a House hearing, BUT, we still really NEED the
bill to be heard in SENATOR METZEN'S committee as soon as possible,
because the bill has to clear 3 Senate committees by March 27. Please CALL
Senator Metzen TODAY!

Call state Senator James Metzen at 651-296-4370

Tell him:
"Hold a Hearing the People's Bailout Bill NOW."

Metzen (D-South St Paul) is Chair of the Business, Industry and Jobs Committee.

The bill number is Senate File 542

"Call today. Then, if we don't get hearing the next day,do a follow-up
call. Repeat as necessary."

After a bill introduced, committee chairs request to have the bill heard
in their committee. In the Senate, the bill has been requested by the
Business, Industry and Jobs Committee [chaired by Metzen] and 2 other
Cmtes. We have been trying to get a hearing since mid-February. The
deadline for getting it heard in ALL Senate committees is Friday March,
27. We need the Metzen hearing NOW!

The People's Bailout Bill calls for Jobs or Income Now & No
Foreclosures or Evictions.


--------10 of 14--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Sunshine govt 3.20 12noon

March 20: The Minneapolis League of Women Voters will host a Sunshine Week
event at the Minneapolis downtown library with a brown bag lunch at noon.
Letting the sun shine in on open government, making it more transparent to
public scrutiny, will be discussed by experts in Washington D.C. and web
cast to the audience, who will be able to ask questions.  Don Gemberling,
who spent three decades at the MN Dept.of Administration and was the
"go-to" person on the Data Privacy Act, will explain our state
government's ways of storing and maintaining information.


--------11 of 14--------

From: t r u t h o u t <messenger [at] truthout.org>
Subject: Moyers/socialism 3.20 9pm

Bill Moyers Journal | Socialism in the Beltway
http://www.truthout.org/031809U

Bill Moyers Journal: "With the media buzzing over socialism in the
Beltway, Bill Moyers sits down with 'old-school socialist' Mike Davis for
his critique of the government's response to the economic crisis and how
he thinks it compares to Roosevelt's New Deal. Also, Bill Moyers talks
with Marta Palaez, president and CEO of a domestic abuse shelter in San
Antonio, Texas."


--------12 of 14--------

RNs from Six States Rally for Single Payer Outside White House Healthcare
Forum in Vermont
by Donna Smith
Published on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

BURLINGTON, VT - The White House may have hoped for a carefully structured
discussion with a predictable and prescribed outcome that would fit
smoothly into its desired agenda, but during the second regional forum on
healthcare reform, the White House heard once again that other options are
not only available but are also strongly supported by many Americans.
Nurses from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and New
Hampshire joined doctors, patients, faith and community-based leaders,
healthcare reform activists and students to rally in support of single
payer health reform outside the White House regional healthcare forum held
in Burlington, VT, yesterday.

As the invited speakers and guests entered the Davis Student Center of the
University of Vermont, more than 400 people gathered on the lawn outside
to call on President Obama and other national leaders to include single
payer reform in the plans seriously considered as the options to rebuild
the nation's broken healthcare system.

The Maine State Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Nurses Association
and the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association
all had RN leaders and members speaking to rally attendees and members of
the press about what they see every day as they fight to advocate for
patients struggling to get needed care while many either have no health
coverage at all or are not adequately covered.

"We don't need more insurance, we need healthcare for all," said RN Tammy
Farwell of Maine as protestors chanted, "Everybody in, nobody out," over
and over again to send a resounding message to the forum participants
inside the building. Some of the nurses were able to go inside and listen
to the forum as in began, but others were only able to sit in an overflow
ballroom where the forum discussion was being shown on a large movie
screen.

But outside the energy in support of a publicly funded, privately
delivered healthcare system was punctuated with cheers and chants. Every
time one of the speakers said, "healthcare is a basic human right," the
crowd erupted in support of the statement that also was made by then
candidate Barack Obama during the fall Presidential debates. Many of the
protestors expressed their anger that President Obama has not given as
much attention to the single payer plan, as crafted in HR676, "The
National Health Care Act," as they believe he has done with the hybrid
plans that allow for-profit, private insurance plans to stay prominently
in the picture.

Unless and until the Obama administration gives serious attention and
consideration to single payer reform, many of the protestors said they
expect similar or even larger actions as forums convene in Iowa, North
Carolina and California. Many of the member groups of the Leadership
Conference for Guaranteed Health Care had a presence at the rally,
including Physicians for a National Health Program, Progressive Democrats
of America, and HealthCare-Now.

Donna Smith is a community organizer for the California Nurses Association
and National Co-Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare
Not Warfare campaign.


--------13 of 14---------

The Decline of the American Empire
Who's Calling the Shots Now?
By DAVE LINDORFF
March 18, 2009
CounterPunch

It may not be obvious today, and certainly it's not how the corporate
media reported it, but future historians are likely to look back at March
13, 2009 as the day that American imperialism began its inexorable
decline.  That's the day that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced that
his country was "worried" about its holdings of over $1 trillion in US
treasury securities, and warned that he wanted the US to assure China that
it would maintain its good credit and "honor its promises" and  "maintain
the safety of China's assets".

There is no way that the US can accommodate Premier Wen and still finance
and operate a global military system with over 1000 overseas bases,
massive aircraft carrier battle groups,  and with hundreds of thousands of
men and women armed to the teeth with the latest high-tech military
hardware, not to mention fight endless wars on the far side of the globe.

What China is doing is pulling the rug out from under America's six
decades of global military dominance. It is no coincidence that the
weekend before Wen's statement, Chinese naval vessels aggressively
harassed a US intelligence ship, the Impeccable, that was operating in the
South China Sea.

The implied threat in Wen's seemingly mild comment was that if the US
doesn't trim its deficit spending dramatically, and get its economic house
in order - which means dramatically reducing the American standard of
living, and reducing wasteful spending of its military, China will simply
cut back on its funding of the US deficit, in the form of buying US
Treasury issues, an act which would cause the collapse of the US dollar
and what's left of the US economy.

Now this decline of the US as an economic and military power is not going
to be an overnight thing, because China needs to keep selling manufactured
goods to the US market - the largest in the world - and in order to do
that, it needs to keep recycling dollars spent on Chinese goods back into
the US, which to date has meant buying US debt issues.

But there are other ways to recycle dollars back to the US, most notably
by investing in actual US assets.  To date, China has done this
cautiously, in part to avoid arousing political concern in the US.
Typically China, when it has purchased shares of US companies, has done so
by buying small minority stakes, as it did in the case of the Blackstone
Group, a private equity investment firm.  But if China were to decide to
stop funding America's massive deficit, this could change. It could decide
to just let the dollar slide, and take advantage of the slumping value of
US assets to start buying the US up on the cheap.

There is already talk of Chinese auto companies buying up General Motors
and Chrysler, and why not? They could have those companies, not to mention
most of the national banks, for a song now.  But China wouldn't have to
limit itself - nor would it - to buying up dying companies. It could also
buy entities like General Electric, Boeing and IBM, or it could buy
agricultural assets and mines - or oil companies and oil reserves.

In fact, China has been using its vast trade-surplus-fueled currency
reserves of dollars and Euros to lock up at cheap prices on long forward
contracts for oil and other critical commodities. This is just the
beginning. (It would be ironic and incredibly foolish if the US, which has
spent several hundred billion dollars in borrowed money, and as much as $3
trillion if interest costs are factored in, on conquering and controlling
Iraq, really did so to gain control of oil, since China has accomplished
the same thing peacefully for a small fraction of that cost, by just
buying forward supply contracts.)

It is likely that India, whose economy is doing even better than China
these days, will do much the same thing.

The end result will be a vast permanent weakening of America, as its
economy becomes increasingly subservient to the interests of its new
owners.

There is a delicious irony here, since the US, for decades, has done
precisely this kind of thing around the world to developing nations,
buying up their industries and their resources, and manipulating and
controlling their political systems, to its own advantage, always with the
backing, or threatened use, of America's powerful military.  Now the
once-might US (remember Dick Cheney's "world's lone superpower" and George
H.W. Bush's "New World Order"?) is reduced to pleading with China to leave
its warships alone, and to shamelessly begging, as Hillary Clinton did in
one of her first public statements as secretary of state, for China to
"keep buying" US Treasuries.

>From the point of view of the majority of the world's people, who have
lived for too long under the American jackboot, this is all a good thing.
But forcing the new "Rome" to retreat back within its own borders will
also be good for us Americans, who have had to pay for all those military
adventures in the name of empire and corporate profits over the years with
our blood and taxes.

The problem, for us, however, is that all this military and economic
comeuppance will also be accompanied by a dose of reality about our own
real living standard.  As long as China, India and the oil-producing
states were willing to just keep buying American government securities to
finance our multi-generational spending binge, it was possible for the US
government to keep us citizens all fat and happy by creating a series of
bubble economies, pushing up our salaries and the value of our homes to
absurd levels, while interest rates remained comfortably low and the US
dollar, as the world's reserve currency, remained strong enough for us to
continue to buy goods, the production of which was increasingly being
moved overseas.

Suddenly, however, in one brief speech, Chinese Premier Wen has made it
clear that the US is no longer calling the shots. Nobody's saying it out
loud here in America, but behind the scenes, it's clear that increasingly
US economic policy is going henceforth to be dictated by governments in
places like Bejing, Tokyo, New Delhi and Brazilia.  Those same places will
also increasingly be telling us where and even if we can use our once
mighty military forces.

Given our post-WWII history, that can't be a bad thing.

Dave Lindorff  is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback). He can be reached at dlindorff [at] mindspring.com


--------14 of 14x--------

     More or less

 Ask less, get less.

 Lesser evil is not a lesser evil.
 Lesser evil kills our hopes and dreams.

 Falling expectations don't know where to stop.
 Falling expectations just keep falling.

 Not too bad is not too good.
 Good enough is not good enough.

 Ask more, get more.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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