March 21 March On The Pentagon - Iraq

On the 6th Anniversary of the Iraq War...
March on the Pentagon
Saturday, March 21, 2009

From Iraq to Afghanistan to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime
Jobs & Education - Not Wars & Occupation

Gather at 12 noon at 23rd St. & Constitution Ave. NW in Washington, D.C.!

FOCUS THE NATION 2009 ~ A Nationwide Town Hall

A Nationwide Town Hall on
America's Energy Future

On April 18th, 2009, town-hall meetings across the country will explore local, regional and national solutions to the climate-energy challenge. These meetings will connect campuses, communities and elected officials in a nationwide town hall meeting on America's energy future.

Together, we will ensure we know the facts about climate and clean energy, seize the opportunity to convey the urgency and promise of this moment to decision-makers, and take meaningful action now.



Join Focus the Nation and help lead the effort.

Power Shift ’09: 12,000+ Students Attend Largest Youth Summit on Climate Change in US History

This weekend, an estimated 12,000 young people were at the D.C. Convention Center for Power Shift ’09, the largest youth summit on climate change in history. College and high school students from all fifty states, all Canadian provinces, as well as a dozen countries, came together to discuss organizing for a clean energy revolution on the local and national levels. We hear some of their voices.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/2/power_shift_09_12_000_students

http://powershift09.org/

Score one for sustainable food

Obama taps a real reformer, Kathleen Merrigan, for deputy USDA secretary

...President Obama suddenly seems intent on blazing a new path for USDA. Sure, he picked a farm-state governor with ties to the ethanol and biotech industries as USDA chief. But that's almost reflexive in our political system. The key question became: who would he pick as the deputy -- the official who typically gets things done and sets the tone for the department? Would he pick a corn-fed flack, like Bush did? Another go-along to get-along type in the Vilsack mode? Or a real reformer?

Obama chose Kathleen Merrigan, director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts. From what I can tell at first blush, she's a real reformer.



In the sustainable-ag community, the reaction has been near euphoric. Merrigan has made the "sustainable dozen" list of deputy secretary candidates put forward by Iowa-based Food Democracy Now...

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/2/23/164240/296

The AP Has No Case Against Shepard Fairey

Jonathan Melber Co-author of ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career
February 8, 2009
Huffington Post

A few days ago, the Associated Press announced that Obama's famous HOPE poster amounts to copyright infringement. The artist behind the poster, Shepard Fairey, has never hidden the fact that he based his iconic creation on a photograph he found through Google. The AP thinks it owns the copyright to that photograph, since Mannie Garcia was freelancing for the AP when he shot it. With posters sold out, a special edition in the National Portrait Gallery, and major exhibitions in New York and Boston, the AP wants in on the windfall.


But the AP would very likely lose this case if it ever ended up in court. That's because, under copyright law, Fairey's work almost certainly qualifies as "fair use" of Garcia's photograph...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-melber/the-ap-hase-no-case-again_b_165068.html

Jailing Kids for Cash

Amy Goodman
February 18, 2009

As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding. Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States...

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/2/18/amy_goodmans_new_column_jailing_kids_for_cash

Rendition Suit A Test Of Obama Transparency

by Ari Shapiro NPR
All Things Considered, February 8, 2009 · Monday morning will bring the best indicator to date of whether the Obama administration intends to break from President Bush's practice of using broad claims of state secrets to prevent lawsuits from being heard in court. The test comes in a case about torture being argued before three judges on a federal appeals court in San Francisco...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100364043