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| Portland AfD brings an anti-corporate rule message to Portland's Gay Pride Parade |
This week's show features Thom Hartmann, progressive political commentator and author of many books, including Unequal Protection, Screwed: the Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It, and Rebooting the American Dream. Thom recently spoke at the First Unitarian Church in Portland, OR. In his talk, he addresses the need for a 28th constitutional amendment to end the legal fictions that artificial entities are people and that money is speech. He calls America's governing structure a "constitutional monarchy," and relates how the US Supreme Court's use of judicial review undermines democracy, and how we can regain the power of the people from the court's and corporate dominance.
Dr. Samuel Metz tackles "the second biggest cause of bar fights in the country"--health care reform. Dr. Metz, who is a founding member of Mad as Hell Doctors and also works with Health Care for All Oregon, presents an easy-to-understand explanation of the health care crisis, the ins and outs of the current reform law, and why a universal single payer system is superior to both our current system and Obamacare, in a three-question, nine-answer format. This special live taping of "Populist Dialogues" was co-sponsored by the Portland (OR) chapter of the League of Women Voters.
If you'd like to share this show on your local community access station, please visit our video page for easy instructions.
Good news from Oregonians for Renewable Energy Progress--the state's Solar Pilot Program will continue, thanks to passage of House Bill 2893. The bill adds 2.5 megawatts capacity to the program and extends it another year.
OREP, which for several years was a project of Alliance for Democracy, is about to "leave the nest" and become an independent not for profit group. We are delighted to see the campaign thrive, grow, and take this next step, and we'll continue to bring you news of their accomplishments, and work with them to protect gains in Oregon and expand the idea of feed-in tariffs to other states.
Check out OREP's latest newsletter here. And if you're in the Portland area, please join OREP at the Lucky Labrador, 1945 NW Quimby St., Portland, on Thursday June 6 from 5:30 to 7:00 PM for an informal happy hour. Raise a glass to renewable energy and a sustainable future!
Portland (OR) Alliance for Democracy endorsed the "Vote No on Fluoridation" of Portland's pure Bull Run water a couple months ago after some extended conversation and having heard presentations from both sides of the issues. In the end, they decided that the only additions which can be justified to our water are chemicals which make the water safe to drink. That has already been done and the addition of fluoride does not meet that standard. Additionally, the benefits of fluoridation are unclear while the dangers for at least some community members are too great. Our water should not be a medical delivery system. If you're in Portland, a vote is coming up on the issue--here's some info and how to get involved
Read more...
To get some name recognition with the kids on the interwebs, Move to Amend has developed an ongoing series of short videos that don't tell you much about the ins and outs of corporate personhood or constitutional amendment but aspires to be the kind of funny stuff that gets shared online.
The first few videos in the series were all somewhere between NSFW and WTF but these two are a hoot. So we're sharing them online.
The videos are done by Dennis Trainor Jr., whose work is online here, and Lee Camp.
Hopefully this will inspire even more art, video, song and meme-making. The more the merrier and merry is good.
Shout-out to the forefathers: Rich Corporateson and Murray Hill.
...that protesting corporate rule is at least as old as our own American Revolution? Move to Amend's Ashley Sanders brought the history of the early days of corporate domination of politics and economies to this edition of Populist Dialogues.
President Obama proposed some intriguing and positive programs in the State of the Union speech--public preschool, a hike in the minimum wage, and measures to prevent gun violence. In a country where policy is democratically determined by representatives who truly act on behalf of the common good and the wishes of their constituents, those kind of ideas could really go somewhere.
Unfortunately, it would be irresponsibly optimistic to think that new laws on public safety will be determined out of reach of the gun lobby, or we'll see anything close to a national living wage when big-box retail, fast food, and other low-wage employers remain politically powerful.
That's why it was very disappointing to hear Obama call for a renewed push for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. We've written a lot about TPP and the damage it could do to local and national sovereignty and laws that protect workers' rights, the environment, public health, and jobs. That's why on either side of the Pacific, citizens' groups of all kinds are opposed to instituting this compact.
It takes some work to mine profit out of universal background checks and preschools, but TPP is one thing that multinationals can get behind in a big way. And they will. Why not? They already have a much better idea of what's in the agreement, thanks to access to the negotiating process that even members of Congress lack.
We need to stop TPP and one way to start is to get our communities informed about what's wrong with so-called "free trade." Please take a look at this latest edition of Populist Dialogues, featuring Arthur Stamoulis of the Citizens Trade Campaign, and consider sharing it with friends online and with your local community access cable station.
What are the latest plans for Cascade Locks, coal terminals, LNG pipelines, and fracking in Oregon? David Delk talks with Bethany Cotton of Greenpeace and FLOW, and Julia DeGraw of Food and Water Watch.
Bethany discusses plans to turn the Pacific Northwest into a fossil fuel export epicenter, with national and multinational corporations lining up to build coal and liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals in both Oregon and Washington. She details some of the environmental and economic consequences of these plans, as well the shape of local resistance.
Julia gives an update on Nestlé's planned bottled water plant in Cascade Locks, and asks who has the right to water--a private corporation, or the people of Oregon?
Did you recently read our end-of-year 2012 report? It’s already time for an update! In the last few weeks...
As we build for 2013, we welcome your member support! Check out our 2012 report, and then please consider supporting the upcoming year's organizing by joining Alliance for Democracy. Members receive a subscription to our newsletter, Justice Rising, and the satisfaction of helping end corporate rule from the grassroots up.
If you can make a larger contribution, we'll thank you by sending you a dvd of one of the following Populist Dialogues programs. Select one dvd for a donation of $50, two for $100 or all three for $150. When you give online you'll be able to select the show you'd like. If you have questions, or want to learn more about sharing the show on your local community cable station, please contact us in the office--email or call 781-894-1179.
12-46: Escaping the Great Recession with Public Banking
Guest Ellen Hodgson Brown, author of The Web of Debt and founder of the Public Banking Institute, discusses the advantages of public banking in the United States and around the world. She reviews how money is created, how the Federal Reserve was created, various types of public banks and how their are structured, why some nations have escaped the Great Recession, how America could save its postal service, and how public banking institution could be used as a land bank to address the under-water property and foreclosure problems. First broadcast 11-11-12
12-44: Capitalism of the Olympic Games
Jules Boykoff, associate professor of political science at Pacific University, discusses the recent London Summer Olympics in terms of what he calls Celebration Capitalism. He also talks about the origins of the International Olympic Committee, costs for host cities (both economic and political), who sponsors and benefits from the games, the opposition which develops, media response to that opposition, and the militarization of public spaces including the concept of “Total Policing.” First broadcast 10-28-12
12-41: TransPacific Partnership and "Free Trade"
Guest Elizabeth Swager is Asst Director of Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. She talks about her role in the enactment of Portland Oregon's sweat-free procurement ordinance, designed to protect foreign factory workers. She goes on to review past "free-trade agreements" (NAFTA, Panama, Columbia and South Korea) and their effects on American jobs losses, tax havens and challenges to laws and regulations as a result of investor protection clauses. The TransPacific Partnership is then discussed as a "NAFTA on steroids." This agreement is being negotiated in super secrecy, except for a leaked chapter, which give us a look at how corporate-driven the TPP is. The show includes a petition calling for transparency in the TPP negotiations. First broadcast date: Oct. 7, 2012
A local Alliance member has requested that the Cambridge MA public access station start airing "Populist Dialogues"--look for them on CCTV's Channel 8.
Not in Cambridge? It's not hard to get viewer-requested content on your local station. Most station managers welcome video submissions. "Populist Dialogues" is available for free download from PEGMedia, which makes it especially easy and accessible. Here's how you can select, download, and air shows.
First, go to the Populist Dialogues website, or check out the show's YouTube channel, and see what programs are available. New shows are posted weekly.
Contact your local public access TV station and find out, by speaking with the programming manager how they schedule shows. Most stations have open time spots which they need to fill. Learn from them if they are interested in just one or another episode, or topic, or maybe running Populist Dialogue Program with one show each week. How this works will be different for each station.
You can direct them to online shows so they can take a look.
To download shows from PEGMedia:
1. Go to the PegMedia web site at www.pegmedia.org.
2. Establish a free account by clicking on: Create New Account
3. After establishing the new account, log in.
4. Now click on: Shows From Selected States
5. Select "Oregon"
6. Click on: Alliance for Democracy – Populist Dialogues
7. Now read the brief description of the series and scroll down to view list of currently available shows.
The station or program manager will find instructions on how to download the shows on the right hand link: Downloading Show Episodes.
Note that there is no cost to the downloader, thanks to the Portland AfD chapter covering the fee. So don't wait--share the shows and be the media in 2013!
If you're not one of the 41% of Americans who don't get paid time off when sick, then you probably know someone who falls into that category--maybe they just passed you your change in the coffee shop. Throat feeling a little sore? Wondering about whether or not you should go to church tomorrow? Now you know why this is a social, family and public health issue!
It's also the topic of the latest edition of "Populist Dialogues." Host David Delk talks to Lisa Frack with Family Forward Oregon about their campaign to get paid sick day benefits for all workers. Following that, he talks with Marco Mejia of Portland Jobs with Justice about their campaign to end wage theft, and to protect workers from employers who don't pay minimum wage, overtime, tips, or for every hour worked.
You can see the show below or subscribe on YouTube here. And if this is an issue in your community, share it on community access tv. Email us at Alliance for Democracy for more info (afd {at} thealliancefordemocracy {dot} org.}
This edition of "Populist Dialogues" features guest Sami Alloy, organizer with the Oregon Working Families Party (OWFP). Sami made a short video with last week's guests, B Media Collective, on the student debt problem which host David Delk screens during the show. The Oregon Working Families Party is addressing the problem of student debt with their "Pay It Forward" program, which Sami describes. Sami also discusses other party campaigns including the efforts to form an Oregon State Bank and county and municipal level public banks. Another party campaign involves assistance to small farmers via the hoped for creation of agi-bonds.
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| Ellen Hodgson Brown, author of The Web of Debt |
Two recent shows focus on the role of restorative justice in healing the harms done by criminals, and on the effects of growing social and economic inequities in the US.
In the first show, David Delk talks with Gina Ronning, of the Insight Development Group and the Pacific Green Party. Gina describes restorative justice and advocates for its use in parallel with our current criminal justice system.
That system, she explains, locks both victim and offender in damaging roles: it separates the victim and the offender, then assumes the interests of the victim, thereby not allowing the victim a seat at the table except as victim. As for the offender, the state never asks that he/she admit fault and responsibility for the harms done.
Restorative justice, on the other hand, seeks to give victims an active role in addressing the harm and encourages the offender to accept his or her responsibility for the results of their actions. As a result, the people involved as both victim and offender are "healed" in the process.
In the second show, host David Delk talks with Kate Lore, Social Justice Minister for the First Unitarian Church in Portland. The detrimental effects of ever increasing economic and social inequalities in the United States today are expressed through Kate Lore's personal experiences as well as scientific studies. Thoughts on what we do to address these issues are presented.
If you watch the shows on Populist Dialoges's Youtube channel, be sure to like the shows, leave a comment, and share with friends.
Don't forget you can also rebroadcast these shows on your local cable station. Is there an issue that's key for your community? Check here to see if there's a show that will shed some light on progressive solutions!
The latest edition of "Populist Dialogues" features Dan Serres of Columbia Waterkeeper and Judy Barnes who heads up Alliance for Democracy's sponsored project, Oregonians for Renewable Energy Policy.You can watch the show on Blip.tv here, or right in this post.
The first half of the show features Dan's perpectives on the problems of fossil fuels. Then Judy discusses renewable energy solutions that will help us keep old hydrocarbons in the ground. She focuses on what renewable energy advocates are now calling Clean Energy Contracts, formerly known as Feed-in Tariffs.
Populist Dialogues programs are also available on the show's YouTube channel, and are easy to comment on, and share online.Watch it, "like it," and share it with friends on social media, or in your hometown by rebroadcasting it on your local community cable station.
Sharing "Populist Dialogues" on community cable isn't difficult! Requirements vary between stations but are usually quite simple. Your station can download shows for free at PEGMedia (instructions are here), but we can also send shows on dvd or via filesharing. Email the office for more information at afd //at// thealliancefordemocracy.org.
Alliance for Democracy's Portland chapter produces the interview show "Populist Dialogues," hosted by AfD co-chair David Delk, and featuring activists, writers, and educators on an incredible variety of policy topics.
Here are a few of the shows they've done in the past year on energy and environment. If you're thinking of actions that can continue past the Global Frackdown, why not share these with your city through your community cable television station? They're available for rebroadcast free through PEGMedia, or you can request dvds to share at meetings by contacting the Alliance for Democracy office.
There are more video and print resources on fracking at the end of this post, so keep scrolling down!
Solutions to Jobs/Climate Crisis
David Delk interviews Dave King, Portland Jobs with Justice, and Ted Gleichman with Oregon Sierra Club LNG subcommittee on the dual problems of the jobs crisis and the climate crisis. Looks at how the solution to one should be the solution to the other and what some of those solutions are. First broadcast June 3, 2012
There's a coal train comin'!
David interviews Laura Stevens of the Sierra Clubs campaign to stop using coal and opposing the building of coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington. First broadcast May 13, 2012
Community Based, Rights Based Organizing
Paul Cienfuegos, founder of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County in California, says that we need to cease being stuck in single issue campaigns and look at how we challenge corporate power. Democratically-instituted rights-based ordinances have challenged the corporate "right" to pollute or extract resources in Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Here's how they work. First broadcast 1-1-12
How do Feed-In Tariff work to rapidly jump start production of renewable energy and produce good paying jobs?
David talks with Judy Barnes, co-founder of Oregonian for Renewable Energy Policy, on the use of Feed-In Tariffs to address the global climate crisis by quickly jump starting the production of renewable energy sources and good paying green jobs at the same time. First broadcast on 5-22-11
And from other groups, elsewhere online:
In this “Viewpoint” web exclusive, Josh Fox, environmental activist and director of “Gasland,” talks about fracking and his new “emergency film,” The Sky is Pink about the impact of fracking on NY state, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering allowing fracking in just a few counties.
“Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources: Separating the Frack from the Fiction” by the Pacific Institute, Oakland, CA, is an excellent source for detailed information, charts and maps on the threat of natural gas fracking to our fresh water resources and health.
“Scientists Tell Senate Panel: Climate Change Is Here and Disaster Costs Will Be Huge”
“Common Sense: Banning Fracking at the Local Level”
Go to the Fracking Action Center for: “How Much Do You Know About Fracking?,” “Why Ban Fracking?,” “Hazards to Drinking Water Aren’t the Only Reasons,” “Ready to Ban Fracking?,” “Your Efforts to Grow the Movement are WORKING,” and much more.
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