cross-posted from Sum of Change
Apparently, Sue Lowden is confident doctors will accept chickens as payment, but do not try to barter chickens to get into her campaign events or you will get shown the door:
That should put the final six thousand nails in the coffin of chickencare.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference: Public Transportation Reform
cross-posted from Sum of Change
I just finished listening to Ruth Otte of Veolia Transportation talking about real life examples of revolutionizing, from an energy standpoint, public transportation. I will run through the bullet points with you real quick.
She spoke about three locations where Veolia came in to make public transportation easier and more efficient; Nice in France, Limburg in the Netherlands, and Salt Lake City.
Nice, France:
From the Veolia website
Limburg:
The efforts here were similar to that of Nice, France. The one mission: make travel easy. As with Nice, there was an emphasis on scheduling busses to feed the trains. Taxi's are part of the fare, and riders can access real time info to help plan accordingly.
The results:
Salt Lake City:
One of the interesting things that was done in Salt Lake City, and is being tried in other cities as well, has to do with busses. Veolia added "bus rapid transit", or bus only lanes. The busses are also connected to traffic signals and receive priority (if they are coming up on a green light that is about to change, it will hold off and wait for the bus to get through). This leads to rapidly moving bus routes.
We'll be here for the next couple days and tomorrow I'll have my video camera with me.
I just finished listening to Ruth Otte of Veolia Transportation talking about real life examples of revolutionizing, from an energy standpoint, public transportation. I will run through the bullet points with you real quick.
She spoke about three locations where Veolia came in to make public transportation easier and more efficient; Nice in France, Limburg in the Netherlands, and Salt Lake City.
Nice, France:
From the Veolia website
Quiet, electric light rail vehicles, drawing power from the street below rather than unsightly wires above, run down grassy malls beneath canopies of trees in the city’s downtown center of commerce, tourism, and culture. Bus lines with tightly coordinated schedules act as “feeders” to the trains. Together they bring people from the farthest reaches of the area into the core of the city with ease, as well as to high-speed trains that travel all over France.And here are some of the results:
• 5 minutes waits in peaks
• train extremely popular
• Bus ridership up 35%
• 92% satisfaction
• currently testing a system to allow people to pay for rides with their cell phone
Limburg:
The efforts here were similar to that of Nice, France. The one mission: make travel easy. As with Nice, there was an emphasis on scheduling busses to feed the trains. Taxi's are part of the fare, and riders can access real time info to help plan accordingly.
The results:
• 36% rail increase
• bus ridership up 30%
• less fuel/labor costs
• less government funding necessary
Salt Lake City:
One of the interesting things that was done in Salt Lake City, and is being tried in other cities as well, has to do with busses. Veolia added "bus rapid transit", or bus only lanes. The busses are also connected to traffic signals and receive priority (if they are coming up on a green light that is about to change, it will hold off and wait for the bus to get through). This leads to rapidly moving bus routes.
We'll be here for the next couple days and tomorrow I'll have my video camera with me.
Monday, May 3, 2010
[updated] Mayor Bloomberg's Office: Billboard is Accurate
cross-posted from Sum of Change
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance. He told me that Titan 360 has now completely changed their reasoning for rejecting the ad. At first, they were going to work with the Drug Policy Alliance to place the ad with another landlord but have now decided that the ad goes against their policy and cannot be run anywhere. We are still trying to get in touch with Titan 360 for a comment.
Booze, strip clubs, breasts, and casinos. What do they have in common? All are billboards you will find along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). But the following was rejected:
In their press release, the Drug Policy Alliance claims that an email from the billboard company, Titan 360, stated that the landlord rejected the ad for "political circumstances from the Mayor's Office." According to Tony Newman, that is the only explanation that has been given to them by Titan 360 at this point.
So what are the "political circumstances from the Mayor's Office"? We would like to know that too. The Gothamist is reporting that the Mayor's Office is flatly denying any involvement with the billboard. A spokesperson for the Mayor confirmed that with us, over the phone. When questioned about the accuracy of the ad, he stated that nothing about the content of the ad is inaccurate. That would seem to contradict the excuse Titan 360 gave to the Gothamist that "we have no way of knowing if Bloomberg in fact smoked marijuana."
Just for fun, here are pictures we found online, allegedly of billboards along the BQE:
From Best View in Brooklyn
From Scouting New York
And this from Titan 360's website (not on the BQE):
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance. He told me that Titan 360 has now completely changed their reasoning for rejecting the ad. At first, they were going to work with the Drug Policy Alliance to place the ad with another landlord but have now decided that the ad goes against their policy and cannot be run anywhere. We are still trying to get in touch with Titan 360 for a comment.
Booze, strip clubs, breasts, and casinos. What do they have in common? All are billboards you will find along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). But the following was rejected:
In their press release, the Drug Policy Alliance claims that an email from the billboard company, Titan 360, stated that the landlord rejected the ad for "political circumstances from the Mayor's Office." According to Tony Newman, that is the only explanation that has been given to them by Titan 360 at this point.
So what are the "political circumstances from the Mayor's Office"? We would like to know that too. The Gothamist is reporting that the Mayor's Office is flatly denying any involvement with the billboard. A spokesperson for the Mayor confirmed that with us, over the phone. When questioned about the accuracy of the ad, he stated that nothing about the content of the ad is inaccurate. That would seem to contradict the excuse Titan 360 gave to the Gothamist that "we have no way of knowing if Bloomberg in fact smoked marijuana."
Just for fun, here are pictures we found online, allegedly of billboards along the BQE:
From Best View in Brooklyn
From Scouting New York
And this from Titan 360's website (not on the BQE):
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Green Thoughts: Green Jobs for Green Days
Originally Posted at SumofChange.com
With a poor economy, new technology offers the ability to create new jobs as well as progression for companies large and small. Combining this with the global need for clean energy creates a viable opportunity for economic alleviation.
To continue our “Green Thursdays”, here are some clips from a panel at the 2010 PA Progressive Summit, held this last January in Harrisburg, PA. Michael Fedor, the Pennsylvania state director for Repower America, and Adam Graber, PennEnvironment, discuss the current job environment and how clean energy “green jobs” are essential for the future for most companies.
In the first video, Fedor (along side Adam Garber) explains the realistic ways green jobs can fix unemployment. Once more green jobs have been established, Fedor in the second video describes the ways green jobs can become green careers. In the final video, Fedor illustrates how to make Pennsylvania the leading green jobs state in the nation.
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
For more videos from Sum of Change at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, please go to SumofChange.com/paprog
With a poor economy, new technology offers the ability to create new jobs as well as progression for companies large and small. Combining this with the global need for clean energy creates a viable opportunity for economic alleviation.
To continue our “Green Thursdays”, here are some clips from a panel at the 2010 PA Progressive Summit, held this last January in Harrisburg, PA. Michael Fedor, the Pennsylvania state director for Repower America, and Adam Graber, PennEnvironment, discuss the current job environment and how clean energy “green jobs” are essential for the future for most companies.
In the first video, Fedor (along side Adam Garber) explains the realistic ways green jobs can fix unemployment. Once more green jobs have been established, Fedor in the second video describes the ways green jobs can become green careers. In the final video, Fedor illustrates how to make Pennsylvania the leading green jobs state in the nation.
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
For more videos from Sum of Change at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, please go to SumofChange.com/paprog
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Need for More Women In Office and How to Make It Happen
Originally posted at SumofChange.com
Who needs women in office? Everyone.
That was the title of one of the more powerful panels held at this year's Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, in Harrisburg, PA. Sam Bennett, Women’s Campaign Forum President/CEO and former congressional candidate, led the panel discussion which previewed several of the state's female candidates and elected officials. Largely discussing the various ways to get more women into public office, the candidates shared their personal stories on why they chose to run for office, how to personally fund your campaign, and discussed the reasons why more women in office is "essential to the health of our nation".
In the first two videos, Sam Bennett and other panelists outline the major points on why we need more women in public office. In the third video, Lois K. Herr illustrates how to support other women in running for office. The final video offers advice on ways to support your own campaign, especially if its your first.
For more videos from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, go to SumofChange.com/paprog
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
Who needs women in office? Everyone.
That was the title of one of the more powerful panels held at this year's Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, in Harrisburg, PA. Sam Bennett, Women’s Campaign Forum President/CEO and former congressional candidate, led the panel discussion which previewed several of the state's female candidates and elected officials. Largely discussing the various ways to get more women into public office, the candidates shared their personal stories on why they chose to run for office, how to personally fund your campaign, and discussed the reasons why more women in office is "essential to the health of our nation".
In the first two videos, Sam Bennett and other panelists outline the major points on why we need more women in public office. In the third video, Lois K. Herr illustrates how to support other women in running for office. The final video offers advice on ways to support your own campaign, especially if its your first.
For more videos from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, go to SumofChange.com/paprog
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Marriage Equality: Details You Should Know to Make it Happen
Cross Posted from SumofChange.com
Also from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit (paprogressivesummit.com), I'd like to bring you a few videos form a panel simply entitled 'Marriage Equality'. On this panel, the speakers discussed the benefits, issues, and consequences of allowing homosexual couples marriage rights equal to those of heterosexual ones. The panelists and approached the topic from a variety of angles. Some spoke about the legal issues equality, both in the PA state legislature and in the constitution, others talked about the religious aspects, especially from the Christian and Jewish traditions, and others talked about the moral and human rights aspect of the debate.
The clips below go into many of the arguments against marriage equality and gay marriage and why most of them struggle for validity. The first video, PA state senator Daylin Leach, who sponsored a bill in the PA state legislature in support on marriage equality, goes into many of the arguments against gay marriage that he has heard while debating the bill. As he says, no one has debated him twice, because no one has presented him an argument with any validity. The second video looks at many of the religious issues brought up by the marriage equality debate. Many think that religion has no part of the legal debate over gay marriage and often when religion is invoked, it is done so incorrectly. Finally, the last clip discusses why marriage equality supporters should want legalized gay marriage and not civil unions. Civil unions seem like an acceptable compromise, but really they are impractical and still discriminatory.
For more videos from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, go to SumofChange.com/paprog
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
Also from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit (paprogressivesummit.com), I'd like to bring you a few videos form a panel simply entitled 'Marriage Equality'. On this panel, the speakers discussed the benefits, issues, and consequences of allowing homosexual couples marriage rights equal to those of heterosexual ones. The panelists and approached the topic from a variety of angles. Some spoke about the legal issues equality, both in the PA state legislature and in the constitution, others talked about the religious aspects, especially from the Christian and Jewish traditions, and others talked about the moral and human rights aspect of the debate.
The clips below go into many of the arguments against marriage equality and gay marriage and why most of them struggle for validity. The first video, PA state senator Daylin Leach, who sponsored a bill in the PA state legislature in support on marriage equality, goes into many of the arguments against gay marriage that he has heard while debating the bill. As he says, no one has debated him twice, because no one has presented him an argument with any validity. The second video looks at many of the religious issues brought up by the marriage equality debate. Many think that religion has no part of the legal debate over gay marriage and often when religion is invoked, it is done so incorrectly. Finally, the last clip discusses why marriage equality supporters should want legalized gay marriage and not civil unions. Civil unions seem like an acceptable compromise, but really they are impractical and still discriminatory.
For more videos from the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit, go to SumofChange.com/paprog
For more info on the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and it's organizer, Keystone progress, please go to paprogressivesummit.org and keystoneprogress.org
Monday, April 26, 2010
Control & Tax: Legalization of Cannabis
Cross-posted from Sum of Change
On Friday, April 23rd 2010, I got the chance to sit down with Dale Sky Clare, the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University and the Spokesperson for Control and Tax Cannabis 2010. We talked about the upcoming ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in California.
California's November vote is going to be one to watch. Recent polling has demonstrated that Californians favor the legislation. Nationwide, 56% of people believe cannabis should be regulated along the lines of alcohol and 60% support medical use (Quick shout out to News Junkie Post for linking to a pdf of the poll, I found numerous articles on this poll with no link to the actual results. It is disgustingly negligent to not provide your readers with information you are sourcing that is so easy to provide).
The Control and Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign is pushing both an economic and moral message. Ms Clare comes to this with a unique perspective, having taught the D.A.R.E program, and spent a lot of time talking about the dangers of an underground market.
To get involved with the campaign visit www.taxcannabis.org
On Friday, April 23rd 2010, I got the chance to sit down with Dale Sky Clare, the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University and the Spokesperson for Control and Tax Cannabis 2010. We talked about the upcoming ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in California.
California's November vote is going to be one to watch. Recent polling has demonstrated that Californians favor the legislation. Nationwide, 56% of people believe cannabis should be regulated along the lines of alcohol and 60% support medical use (Quick shout out to News Junkie Post for linking to a pdf of the poll, I found numerous articles on this poll with no link to the actual results. It is disgustingly negligent to not provide your readers with information you are sourcing that is so easy to provide).
The Control and Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign is pushing both an economic and moral message. Ms Clare comes to this with a unique perspective, having taught the D.A.R.E program, and spent a lot of time talking about the dangers of an underground market.
To get involved with the campaign visit www.taxcannabis.org
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