Welcome! Our goal is to respectfully further progressivism and air the moderate to liberal viewpoint. We are not a "Democratic Party" or "DFL" blog, although most (but not all) of us are Democrats.
The news and views here may or may not be mnpACT's, and may or may not be Mn Political Roundtable authors' views. Also, we reserve the right to delete any comment we think is harassing or inappropriate.
I’m joining with another person to provide these, and more, non-partisan services:
weblog creation and usage
quick response code generation and instruction
android phone application creation,
iTunes publication,
Strategic messaging/ marketing
RSS feed creation and usage
Twitter best practice
Facebook best practice
More information will follow. If you need something now, let me know.
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR Dec. 24-25
Contact: press@occupywallst.org 347.292.1444
For this action only: Sebastian OWS, 503.954.4229
OWS INTERFAITH CELEBRATION IN LIBERTY SQUARE
24 Hour “Occupy Christmas” Prayer Vigil, Sharing of Food, Poetry, Music
Occupy Wall Street is hosting an interfaith gathering in barricaded “Zuccotti Park,”
inviting people of all cultures and religious beliefs to come and celebrate
together.
December 25 marks the 100th day of Occupy Wall Street.
“We are taught to close our doors and retract into the nuclear family, into our
faith groups, into our nationalism, “ said Atiq Zabinski of OWS. “Lets do something
truly revolutionary and celebrate, meditate, pray, play, and eat together!"
SCHEDULE: December 25th starting at 12 AM-- a midnight service led by a minister
from Judson Church will lead into a prayer vigil beginning at 2 AM, with breakfast
served at 9 AM, followed by performances. At noon, Martin Luther King’s seminal
“Beyond Vietnam” speech will be read – a radically anti-war speech broadening his
message from civil rights. Following more music, a 3 PM holiday ‘potluck’ holiday
meal from donations will be shared. At 4 PM, Ecclesia Ministry will offer communion,
followed at 5 PM by poetry, storytelling and music until midnight Christmas night.
On behalf of Occupy Faith and Occupy Dignity, the New York Civil Liberties Union
hand-delivered letters on Monday to the NYPD and Brookfield Properties alerting them
to the plans.
“This event is aimed at bringing all people -- Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh,
Theosophist, Marxist, Capitalist, Atheist, Agnostic -- together to learn about each
other and to see that essentially we are different faces of the same being, existing
in light and love, and that the time where we had to remain separate and suspicious
of our subtle differences is over, said Zabinski.
“We invite congregations and leaders from faiths and Churches throughout the city to
design the way in which they would like to come together with the Occupy community,
by creating a service that reflects the unique beauty of their own community,” said
Sebastian of OWS. “Bring yourselves, your congregations, your families, your
choirs, your teachers, and above all, your love.”
Occupy Wall Street is part of an international people powered movement fighting for
economic justice in the face of neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall
Street, and a government controlled by monied interests. #OWS is the 99% organizing
to end the tyranny of the 1%. For more info www.occupywallst.org
# # #
Message sent by: Occupy WallStreet, Liberty Square, New York, 10006, United States
The Department of Health and Human Services recently overruled the Food and Drug Administration by refusing to relax Morning After pill restrictions. If you are under 18, you still need a prescription to obtain Plan B. If you are over 18, you can get the package behind many drug store counters.
About ten percent of girls are physically capable of bearing children by 11.1 years of age. It is common knowledge that there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age, which I believe are relevant to making this determination as to non-prescription availability of this product for all ages. Although the average age of the onset of menses for girls in the United States is 12.4 years of age, about ten percent of girls reach menarche by 11.1 years of age. If the application is approved, the product would be available without a prescription or other point-of-sale restrictions, even to the youngest girls of reproductive age.
Plan B One-Step is a single-dose pill (1.5 mg levonorgestrel tablet) which is effective in decreasing the chance of pregnancy if taken within 3 days after unprotected sexual intercourse. The product contains higher levels of a hormone found in some types of daily use oral hormonal contraceptive pills and works in a similar way to birth control pills.
These two women are not talking about the abortion pill. The Morning After pill prevents conception, and is post-coital contraception. In her statement, Sebelius insinuates potential harm. Hamburg stops short of saying the pill is absolutely safe and reminds us it is the same medication as found in birth control pills. In fact, Plan B medication may just amount to the doubling of your already in use, daily birth control pill. Hamburg and the FDA are advocating for a non-prescription, over-the-counter form of contraception which is twice as strong as regular birth control pills.
In her capacity, Sebelius cannot argue “what if”. What if girls took Plan B after each sexual encounter, instead of taking small doses of the same medication each day. What if drug companies argued for the relaxing of the restrictions on birth control pills.
Advocates for women’s rights might be better of lauding Sebelius’ efforts while continuing to ask for adequate sex education and greater access to medical care. Doctors might consider handing out a prescription for Plan B every time they provide a prescription for traditional birth control. Researchers should continue their work regarding women’s sexuality and the prevention of contraception. Who knows, they could even find it is better to take post-coital contraception rather than a smaller, daily dose.
Earlier, state Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, wrote a letter about 23 percent unemployment among Minnesota’s military veterans. A portion of President Obama’s jobs act was passed and signed into law this week, and it will encourage small businesses to hire veterans. Hopefully this will finally help our vets. But why can’t our current Minnesota legislators get things done? Thompson’s response is typical of our local “I wish I could do something” Republicans. Twenty-three percent unemployment rate for vets. Wow.
Hardworking Minnesotans should be able to rely on full partnership with legislators in helping us pull out of our difficult economic times. I’m tired of charades from those who pretend to save us money while they keep giving special breaks for the wealthy. I want programs that work, fair taxation, affordable and quality education, and safe roads. Legislators, taxpayers and citizens need to pull together with our governor for the good of our state, not play legislative games for those who are better off.
The Minnesota police force is traditionally known for its reasonable enforcement. I’ve seen excellent officers getting to know kids, it seems hard to land a police job, and there’s been times I’ve been very glad to see the force.
Eviction of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square Underway Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and around the world, is presently being evicted by a large police force.
Press should get to the park immediately. More information to follow.
New York, NY — A massive police force is presently evicting Liberty Square, home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and around the world
The raid started just after 1:00am. Supporters and allies are mobilizing throughout the city, presently converging at Foley Square. Supporters are also planning public actions for the coming days, including occupation actions.
You can’t evict an idea whose time has come.
Two months ago a few hundred New Yorkers set up an encampment at the doorstep of Wall Street. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a national and even international symbol — with similarly styled occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future.
Americans are talking about the consolidation of wealth and power in our society, and the stranglehold that the top 1% have over our political system. More and more Americans are seeing the crises of our economy and our democracy as systemic problems, that require collective action to remedy. More and more Americans are identifying as part of the 99%, and saying “enough!”
This burgeoning movement is more than a protest, more than an occupation, and more than any tactic. The “us” in the movement is far broader than those who are able to participate in physical occupation. The movement is everyone who sends supplies, everyone who talks to their friends and families about the underlying issues, everyone who takes some form of action to get involved in this civic process.
This moment is nothing short of America rediscovering the strength we hold when we come together as citizens to take action to address crises that impact us all.
Such a movement cannot be evicted. Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces — our spaces — and, physically, they may succeed. But we are engaged in a battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve us, the people — all of us, not just those who have amassed great wealth and power. We believe that is a highly popular idea, and that is why so many people have come so quickly to identify with Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement.
You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.
At 7:50 a.m. I heard this, mentioning billionaire Bloomberg, beatings, pepper spray, and confiscation:
A Call to Occupy #OccupyWallStreet Convening 9 a.m. Sixth Avenue and Canal Street.
New York, NY — We are a global movement that is reclaiming our humanity and our future. We have stepped into a revitalizing civic process, realizing that we cannot fix our crises isolated from one another. We need collective action, and we need civic space. We are creating that civic space.
To occupy is to embody the spirit of liberation that we wish to manifest in our society. It is to exercise our freedom to assemble. We are creating space for community, values, ideas, and a level of meaningful dialogue that is absent in the present discourse.
Liberated space is breaking free of isolation, breaking down the walls that literally and figuratively separate us from one another. It is a new focus on community, trust, love and hope. We occupy to create a vision of equality, liberty and social justice onto the blank paving stones of public parks, in the silent hallways of abandoned schools, banks, and beyond.
Public space plays a crucial role in this civic process and encourages open, transparent organizing in our movement. As we have seen in Liberty Square, outdoor space invites people to listen, speak, share, learn, and act.
Last night, billionaire Michael Bloomberg sent a massive police force to evict members of the public from Liberty Square—home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months. People who were part of a dynamic civic process were beaten and pepper-sprayed, their personal property destroyed.
Supporters of this rapidly growing movement were mobilized in the middle of the night, making phone calls, taking the streets en masse, and planning next steps. Americans and people around the world are appalled at Bloomberg’s treatment of people who peacefully assemble. We are appalled, but not deterred. Liberty Square was dispersed, but its spirit not defeated. Today we are stronger than we were yesterday. Tomorrow we will be stronger still. We are breaking free of the fear that constricts and confines us. We occupy to liberate.
We move forward in the grand tradition of the transformative social movements that have defined American history. We stand on the shoulders of those who have struggled before us, and we pick up where others have left off. We are creating a better society for us all.
Occupy Wall Street has renewed a sense of hope. It has revived a belief in community and awakened a revolutionary spirit too long silenced.
Join us as we liberate space and build a movement. 9 a.m. Tuesday morning at Sixth Avenue and Canal we continue.
Read How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests, and perhaps you’ll notice there’s no end in sight. So with all due respect, I’ll offer this as a way to get our youth, foreclosure victims, and activists home before the winter.
First and foremost, we need good government that serves the people. To maintain a strong middle class and keep our democracy, we demand:
1. AMENDMENT 28, voted on by the people
Corporations are not people, and should not be treated as people. (Vote yes so huge money doesn’t leave the 99% behind, and control our political realm to the point we’re no longer a democracy).
As soon as we hear this is on the 2012 ballot, and as soon as other key demands are met, occupy wall streeters can go home to further participate in democracy (Attend meetings, be informed, vote, volunteer, donate, and other things, instead of occupying our cities).
2. Fair taxation means the rich pay a fair share. The rich shall at least pay the same percent of earnings as the middle class.
As soon as we hear the specifics have passed through Congress and have been approved by the POTUS, and as soon as other key demands are met, occupy wall streeters can go home to further participate in democracy (Attend meetings, be informed, vote, volunteer, donate, and other things, instead of occupying our cities).
3. Tuition to major universities will not exceed a certain percentage of the GDP. A new commission should be created to conduct a study on the quality education and which programs to encourage in our global economy.
As soon as we hear this has passed through Congress and has been approved by the POTUS, and as soon as other key demands are met, occupy wall streeters can go home to further participate in democracy (Attend meetings, be informed, vote, volunteer, donate, and other things, instead of occupying our cities).
4. Ok, perhaps this if we’re smart…. AMENDMENT 29
Separation of church and state shall further be clarified. The church shall be able to decide who it will marry. All marriages, and civil unions, between two people who enter into such an agreement, will be seen as in a “civil union” before the state.
On November 2nd, 2011, I contacted Occupy Wall Street about using combined rss feeds and phone apps (probably to no avail). I wanted them to do their own combined feed, use advertising in their feed, and lead as a worldly example. the primary goal? To get the word out!
While we wait for Occupy Wall Street to put together a feed telling us what is happening across America, here’s one:
A youngster and I were talking about Herman Cain, and she asked, “You mean that guy’s running for President, again?” She thought Herman Cain had run for POTUS in 2008. I can see why she made that mistake, as Republicans keepraising a Cain of sorts.
I find the name Cain rather ominous, synonymous with brother killer:
9 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Rather than being his brother’s keeper, Cain caused harm and was deceitful.
” … far too many Americans have shifted their expectations from government assistance to entitlement. …[let's] get the federal government out of the way. This will allow states, cities, churches, charities and businesses to offer a helping hand instead of a handout where they live. People closest to the problems are the best ones to solve the problems effectively.”
With a name like that, and what he’s done, I can’t understand why this guy continues to poll well. That link is a November 4th, 2011, WaPo article titled,”Cain rises in Post-ABC poll despite scandal; most Republicans dismiss allegations.” Perhaps scandal is good for name recognition here in America.
(INSTRUCTIONS: install and run the application. This application will even produce a listing of all your friends’ rss feeds!)
To find a Facebook group’s rss feed (groups are better than pages since you can invite friends to the group — go to the member list, click on “invite” thereby enhancing the group much more rapidly than “sharing” would for a page), you need to first find the group’s number. Go to the group and look for it in the url bar, for example here’s a groups url:
(INSTRUCTIONS: put in the group number, run the pipe, and look for the new pipe’s rss feed)
To find the rss feed of a Facebook page, look in the sidebar. There’s a link provided by FB to “get updates via rss feed”.
What can you do with these feeds? You can use Yahoo pipes to combine all these feeds into just one by creating yet another pipe. Go to Yahoo pipes and add the correct modules (I suggest fetch feed, union, sort, filter, and then output). IMPORTANT! After creating your combined feed, you now can ask other blogs or websites if they want to list your feed on their site. When your feed updates, it will show on those sites that list your feed. This is better than simply having other blogs list a link because it can show the latest post titles. Showing post titles quickly share information and encourages people to come to your site to get your valuable information.
Are you on your phone and trying to follow the mnpoliticalroundtable fan page rss feed? Here it is: http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=113292482022532&format=rss20 or login to your Facebook account and find where it says “get updates via rss feed”. Note: we have no Facebook group, even though I think it’s better to have a group.
All of this might soon change for Mississippi women if Initiative 26 passes this November. Not in November, 1960, or in November, 1920, but in November, 2011. If this amendment passes, raped women would be mandated to carry babies. If this amendment passes, women could be imprisoned in order to ensure a successful birth (or because the woman didn’t ensure birth). In certain situations, doctors would even be at a loss to save a woman’s life. Some women will have many more children than they can feed. Last and probably least, many women will feel uneasy having sex.
If this Initiative passes, I vote for accompanying laws. I propose Mississippians ensure families needing help feeding their children have access to free food, health care, and general sustenance. Instead of taking from the educational system or not ensuring our safety because there’s no money, this should be funded by an increase in taxes which are specifically earmarked to avoid abortion. Mississippi doctors should be allowed to save women in crisis. And for every woman that is raped andtherefore becomes pregnant, I like the idea of choosing from one male from the Mississippi population, of both the rich and the poor and in a random drawing, and mandating he wear a sympathy belly for nine months.
It’s easy to see how this Initiative might pass. People don’t want to be baby killers or vote to allow others to be baby killers. If Mississippi passes Intiative 26 and prosecuting for abortion happens, and Mississippians decide the life of a woman isn’t worth saving, Mississippi should increase the penalty for rape to death (just because men should die, too, perhaps.)
Since the affluent will probablystill find a way to end pregnancies, impoverished people will feel the weight of pregnancy more– and the gap between the po0r and rich will further widen.
Talking about “women’s rights” seems so cold compared to talking about freedom, and I hope the initiative’s opponents will remember to talk about pain and suffering, the strengthening of the middle class, how important quality education is, and putting our money where our mouth is.
I wish we’d honestly work to reduce the number of abortions while we still work to protect women. We could start by providing our youth with proper education, ensuring there is easy access to birth control, and providing help to struggling families.
A h/t to Dave Mindeman for bringing this initiative to my attention.
update November 4, 2011: That celebrity who followed me now doesn’t follow me. Oh well, I guess he must have noticed he was following me. And I unfollowed Robert Reich and Dave Winer.
The Shannon File’s John Shannon recently assessed how he used social media, opting for the elimination of his Facebook page. I read his post, and agreed. Facebook groups should replace Facebook pages.
History
I put together my first website in 1996, relatively late for the website scene. That website introduced my side business, Webforme, which was a website design company. After teaching high school social studies eight years, I got my master’s degree, left teaching and decided to pursue web design full time. I incorporated as Northfieldweb. I enjoyed myself immensely, although back then software such as Frontpage forced me to hand code browser friendly sites and I used Perl to create forms.
In 2006, I helped a local candidate win a Minnesota House seat. He had run in 2004, too, and had been featured in Time Magazine for having a weblog. After working on his blog, I created my own blog and began creating blogs for clients . I did my own study which compared the benefits of a static website to those of a weblog, with blogs being the obvious winner. Blogrolling was an easy add into a sidebar and allowed links to viewed (by Google) as ” incoming”, which had an effect on Pagerank. Further, blogs used rss , which was free syndication of absolutely immediate information. I was amazed and gung ho about the usage of rss feeds… imagining amazing capabilities… but would soon learn very few others cared about rss feeds.
My first blog, “Prickly Burr,” was named after Aaron Burr. Burr, the obvious lesser in a gun battle, managed to kill Alexander Hamilton. My parents considered Alexander Hamilton their hero and I liked him, too, but I’d decided on Aaron Burr, a feminist and introvert, as my own political hero. Burr is simply misunderstood (I won’t go into that, now) and I especially like that Burr was friends with Mary Wollstonecraft.
In 2006, I thought it was better blogging practice to list links at the end of a post rather than link in the text, itself. I worried readers wouldn’t reach the end of my post. My town had a community blog to which I contributed, and we discussed how to do links. Community bloggers thought we should include links in the regular text body, and later I realized they were right. Those same local bloggers also thought blogging should not incorporate opinions, and we still disagree on that. Here’s my article our local community blog refused to print, with the editors disliking this;
… “a few families watched every penny and a rise in gas prices meant they would ‘not make it.’” [Regarding the need for more alternative energy] Who should be most concerned? Probably the families that watch every penny.”
They took issue with the “every penny” idea and so the story was only published on my personal blog. It was the first time I was censored, and after that I knew I didn’t like censorship. In hindsight, those local editors wanted a journalist, and I presented them with ” op ed.” As time has passed, I’ve noticed almost all blogging is “op ed” and has strengths and weaknesses because of it.
To date, I’ve created quite a few website and blogs for various clients. Sadly, I closed my small business in 2008. The economy faltered, and company or personal websites were often put on the back burner, leaving me with less to do. But I’m still poking around with social media, and here’s what I think lately about blogging, Twitter, and Facebook.
==>Blogging should be thought of as instant publishing. When comments are allowed on a blog, blogs are interactive. Static websites rely on a viewer actually going to the website, whereas people can access a blog’s information without actually going to the site. Bloggers should make sure their rss feed works and if appropriate ask other blogs to list their feed in the sidebar. If a combined rss feed is out there, bloggers should be glad to be in the combined feed, since it is easier to list one feed in a sidebar rather than many, and there’s an even greater change your story will be read on a reader.
Hint: For those of you concerned about burying information in a blog, you don’t understand the use of sidebar space and the value of a categories listing. Along those same lines, bloggers should call out in posts about what they put in their sidebars, thereby asking people to visit their actual blog.
Bloggers should be concerned about increasing readership. It’s wise to increase the number of ways your blog can be found. Facebook offers Networked blogs. Twitter can be used to share a new blog post. Bloggers can ask other bloggers/websites to list an rss feed, or at the very least, to list a blog as a link. Combined feeds, especially ones directed at certain viewers, are rare but fantastic tools. If a blog is included in a combined feed, and other bloggers display that combined feed on their blog, a blog’s story titles can be seen on all the blogs which display the combined feed.
Google’s Feedburner is a nice proxy service which allows a blogger to insert advertisements into a feed. If you use WordPress software, I hear you can code ads directly into your feed (see #3) without using anything like Feedburner, although I have never inserted ads into my feed.
Bloggers should not assume anyone processes their information unless readers comment or link to a post. Bloggers should try to remember the power of a public voice. A Google search can readily produce even an obscure writer’s thoughts, and those thoughts can even be found long after a blog’s demise. Writers should decide on the blog’s purpose and should remember that purpose as they blog.
==>Twitter.com provides a place for anyone or any organization to microblog. Tweets are the instant publishing of 140 characters or less. Your word is amplified when others retweet what you’ve said as more people see what you published if someone retweets your tweet. Should Twitter be used to magnify a voice, for its interactive potential, or just to gain information? The wise answer is that it can be used for all of those things.
If you join Twitter, you should follow almost everyone that follows you. I don’t follow anyone who never tweets, and I don’t follow porno tweeters. I use friendorfollow.com and I don’t follow people who don’t follow me, save a few people like @davewiner and @RBReich, who probably never would benefit from anything I had to say (but I like to receive their information). You might ask how I manage all that information, since I follow and am followed by over a 1000 people (which means I am a relatively small Twitter user, BTW). I use lists. I list people and view my lists when I want to see what’s going on or find people.
If you want to grow the number of people you follow, Refollow.com allows for a short period of time before you have to pay to use their service. You can enter the username of another person on Twitter and follow who they follow. Be careful, though, because you cannot follow too many or unfollow too many people in a short amount of time. Twitter is obscure about the actualities, but if your follow to following ratio changes too fast, it will suspend your account.
Direct Messaging can be used to contact people in a private manner, but most people don’t use DM. If direct messaging becomes a problem, unfollow that person. I rarely use direct messaging.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming anything from an average person’s follow to following ratio. There is no real status indicated in the follows to following ratio, unless you are a celebrity. When celebrities follow it does indicate something, though. Booya! I have one celebrity who follows me and only 117 other people, but he’s followed by 913,979 people.
If you use Twitter, don’t assume anyone gets information you tweet unless they retweet one of your tweets or respond to a tweet.
==>Facebook.com is perplexing. I find even the recent posts news feed too restrictive. Have the Facebook gods decided my interest based on my interactivity, not taking into account other things? I often find myself forgetting about friends because they don’t appear in my news feed.
A new feature I like is the “subscribe” button, because I can remain friends with people and “unsubscribe” if I don’t want to see their posts (that is, if Facebook has decided this friend’s posts should be in the news feed I see). I also like that I can list friends. Did Facebook learn that from Twitter? Even though I can list friends, I still would like an everchanging, random selection of all of my friends listed in the sidebar.
Facebook pages display an rss feed, but the feed doesn’t validate and so what is it good for? Facebook allows me to share about a page on my wall, but it doesn’t allow me to “invite friends” to like that page. When comparing Facebook pages to Facebook groups, groups are better because I can invite friends (click on the member list, and hit the “invite” button). BTW, Facebook doesn’t display a group’s rss feed, but you can circumvent that here.
Regarding resource tracking, Chrome used to allow you to export a member lists, but lately Facebook is resistant to that idea. If you happen to find out more about Facebook database sharing, please shoot me an email holly@hollycairns.com. I really don’t have any reason to move big lists but it would be nice to add my Facebook friends to Google+.
Brothers of the Sigma Lambda Beta, Minnesota chapter, stepped for the crowd at the 2010 Dakota County Fair. It was awesome! The recently created step team showcased multicultural influence in their dance. The video clip below shows Cambodian influence and then regular stepping. Besides what is shown in the clip, group members strolled, showed Pakistani and Lebanese moves, and rallied the crowd.
Stepping then, and now:
In the 1950′s, South African black miners weren’t allowed to talk and so they communicated using other means. Now, African American fraternities across the United States have modified stepping and use it competitively while they call attention to freedom of speech and unity issues.
The Brothers of the University of Minnesota Sigma Lambda Beta have established a scholarship fund for incoming students who are hampered by a lack of means. If you care to donate, please contact them here or here. Elabbady is now the acting president.
Brothers of the Sigma Lambda Beta at the 2010 Dakota County Fair: Partially sponsored by the Senate District 36 DFL and arranged for by Kevin Roberson. This video was taken with my Droid, and then shared via a YouTube application. Ha! Easy or what.
Update: August 18, 2010, 7:15 pm. Be sure to read this: SLB is mostly a Latino frat, and stepping has ties that go way back to the early Aparteid years and may be connected with military aspects (rather than just the 1950′s and miners). Thanks!
* Agriculture: Keeping Minnesota’s agricultural sector healthy by increasing the 2nd District’s participation in regional agricultural and food systems, increasing farm to school programs, ensuring food safety while ensuring we don’t overburden small and mid-sized farmers who operate safe farms and use good agricultural practices, encouraging innovation, and providing financing opportunities for young farmers.
A strong economy and a strong middle class depends on a healthy regional food system that provides good prices to our farmers, good wages to our food industry workers and good profits for our businesses.
* American Unions: the backbone of middle class prosperity: Rebuilding the economy by building partnerships among Business, Labor and Government that advance complex technologies and large-scale projects is the quickest way to rebuild America’s middle class.
The importance of unions to America’s middle class prosperity is often overlooked and understated. Unions have played a major role in creating health and safety regulations, social security and the minimum wage. Unions provide skilled workers for many complex industries and can be valuable partners in solving critical business issues.
* Banking & Insurance Reform: Banks should enable business formation and job growth and earn their profits from prudent lending and financing arrangements, not exotic products, risky trading and cheap government money. Enable small-town banks and credit unions to make loans and arrange financing for the small businesses and entrepreneurs who are critical to business formation and economic growth. Cheap money should be provided to the small banks and credit unions of the second district, not the Goldman Sachs of the world.
Systemic risks — the kind that caused the market collapse and Great Recession in the first place — still exist according to many leading economists.
* Competing with Public Infrastructure: High speed and intercity passenger rail is the first place to start and could bring big benefits to the second district.
Moving to aggressively build rail corridors and connections will also be a critical step in moving us away from oil based forms of transport.
* Creating a Clean Energy Economy: Manufacturing jobs that create energy system components such as solar panels, wind turbine components, or geothermal pumps, and service, installation and technician jobs are all part of the clean energy economy.
Job growth is our only way out of the Great Recession and the only way to build a competitive economy that rebuilds America’s middle class.
* Healthcare and Health Insurance Reform: Healthcare reform’s next phase must include robust preventative and primary care programs that address access issues and provide quality care to every man, woman and child in the United States. Lower prescription drug costs, funding for community health centers, loan forgiveness and grant programs for medical students choosing primary care — especially those willing to work in rural America — and available, quality, dental and mental health services must all become part of a comprehensive healthcare reform aimed at lowering costs and increasing access.
2010’s legislative victories are merely a start towards lowering overall healthcare costs and improving access and quality for all Americans.
* Replacing 8 million lost jobs with good jobs that pay good wages– The next Congress must do the following:
–Create the clean energy economy.
–Ensure American employees and companies are prepared to compete in the world economy:
–Compete with science & technology.
–Compete with public infrastructure projects like high speed rail and energy efficient public buildings.
–Compete with new forms of education and training such as apprentice programs that provide the skilled workers needed for a technologically efficient, clean energy economy.
–Reign in the big banks and stand with credit unions and hometown banks on the side of small businesses and homeowners.
8 million American jobs have been lost since the beginning of the financial crisis. Despite the recent uptick in job numbers, only 50,000 of those jobs have returned. Our next Congress will be faced with the challenging task of both restoring jobs and ensuring that American jobs are good jobs that pay good wages.
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