So the conventions are in the books, and we’re two months away from the election. We’re two months away from Americans having an ultimate choice – vote for the Democrat or vote for the Republican. Actually…that’s not really much of a choice at all. In fact – other Democracies around the world would laugh at us if we claimed that a vote between one of two major parties here was ACTUALLY a legitimate choice. The truth is – a two-party system isn’t really that Democratic at all. And most of the other Democracies on the planet know that – that’s why they’ve reformed their elections to prevent a two-party duopoly from taking over their representative governments.
Did you know there are six political parties represented in the German Congress – the Bundestag – and even more parties represented in state parliaments around Germany – including the Pirate Party? Australia, too, has six parties represented in their parliament. In the Italian Parliament as well – there’s six major parties represented – and more than two dozen smaller parties that are represented in some way as well. Brazil has 15 parties represented in Congress. Heck – Israel’s Parliament has like 18 parties in it. …
Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy for ACLU-IL (American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois) speaks on voter suppression and the Republican electoral strategy to stop poor and the elderly from voting.
by n0madic, posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2012 at 7:00 am
David Roberts is staff writer at Grist.org. In “Climate Change is Simple” he describes the causes and effects of climate change in blunt, plain terms.
On April 16, 2012, speakers and attendees gathered at TEDxTheEvergreenStateCollege: Hello Climate Change to reflect on the ability — and responsibility — of formal and informal education to inspire and empower action in this era of climate change.
Leonel Perez and Claire Lomiskey speak on the Immokalee Farm Workers struggle for fair wages and fair treatment. Join them Saturday, September 15, 2012, at Clark and La Salle at the south end of Lincoln Park as they lobby Chipotle corporation to recognize farm workers. For more information, visit http://www.ciw-online.org/cultivate or contact claire@interfaithact.org
What happens when you force communities, families and entire ecosystems to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace? You get what Chris Hedges, co-author with Joe Sacco of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, calls “sacrifice zones.” From Appalachia to North Dakota to Camden, New Jersey, these zones, ravaged by the excesses of capitalism, prefigure our collective future.
Gloria Steinem joins Thom Hartmann. The nation’s third largest school district is without teachers today. After contract negotiations fell through over the weekend, the Chicago Teachers Union declared a strike and walked off the job this morning. This is the first time Chicago teachers have gone on strike in 25 years. Altogether 29,000 teachers and school workers are joining in on the strike to demand better pay, working conditions, and stop the march toward privatization of the city’s schools. At the heart of the strike are several issues: One is a four-percent pay increase teachers were promised last year — but was cancelled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Instead, the mayor is asking teachers to work a longer school day. Also, teachers are asking for a state limit on classroom sizes — a law that’s in place in 32 other states, but not in Illinois. Plus, teachers are trying to reverse the Mayor’s plans to slash public education funding and use that money to create 250 non-union, for-profit charter schools. Chicago has now become ground-zero in the battle over how we as a nation will educate our children. Will we embrace the public school system that Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann worked so hard to create — and support teachers who perform one of the most important jobs in our society? Or, will we hand off educating our kids to the money-changers and corporate CEOs who see education as a get-rich-quick scheme? Keep an eye on the Windy City.
