Progressive Calendar 02.07.12 /2
From: David Shove (shove001umn.edu)
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 14:08:49 -0800 (PST)
*P R O G R E S S I V E     C A L E N D A R   02.07.12   *

1. GLBT homes            2.07 6pm
2. KFAI direction          2.07 7pm
3. Money                     2.07/08  7pm
4. UHCAN                   2.07 7pm
5. Caucus Green Party 2.07 7pm

6. Robert Reich - The downward mobility of the American middle class, and
why Mitt Romney doesn’t know
7. ed                - What's in a name?  (haiku)

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GLBT homes 2.07 6pm

Interested in sharing your resources and helping sustain your community?

One of the ways that the Twin Cities' community is addressing homelessness
experienced by GLBT young people is through the GLBT Host Home Program of
Avenues for Homeless Youth, which offers a transformative and
community-based approach to providing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender youth with safe homes.  As volunteers of the program, adults
open their homes and their hearts to young people who need and are looking
for a healthy and nurturing connection.  If you are interested in hearing
more about this community building program, please come to one of the
following informational meetings:

Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 6-8pm
OR
Thursday, February 9, 2012, 6-8pm

@ Midtown YWCA 2121 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN 55407
www.ywca-minneapolis.org

Come learn about the history of the GLBT Host Home Program and about the
application and screening process for potential volunteers. You will also
have an opportunity to hear from hosts who shared their homes with youth.
Questions?
Call Raquel (Rocki) at Avenues for Homeless Youth: 612-522-1690, ext.
110or email at
rocki [at] avenuesforyouth.org.
And if you haven't already, please 'like' our
GLBT Host Home Program Facebook page!


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From: lydiahowell [at] comcast.net
KFAI direction 2.07 7pm

People who are concerned about direction of KFAI Community Radio, attneding
a once0-a-month Program Committee or Board meeting to express your concerns
is one way to have an impact. Details below. KFAI, Fresh Air Radio is
 located  at1808 Riverside Avenue, on the West Bank (3rd floor of MAPP'S
COFFEE & TEA bldg) Mpls., MN 55454.
Bus lines 2,7, 22, 16. Lydia Howell, host "Catalyst:politics& culture"
Thur.9 am

From: "Janis Lane-Ewart" <janislaneewart [at] kfai.org>
Subject: [Kfai-forum] Program Committee Meeting Tuesday Feb. 7th

The monthly meeting of the KFAI Program Committee is scheduled for next
Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., in Studio 5 at KFAI.

Everyone is welcome and the agenda will be as follows:
Introductions/Ice Breaker
Program Committee Orientation
Review of Jan. 4, 2012 committee minutes
Election of Committee Co-Chair
KFAI Programmer Handbook Revision
Updates on Black History Month & IWD celebrations
Update on Program Director Hiring Process
Feedback from program abstracts reviewed last month
Monitoring of Programmer's Playlists


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From:Richard Kotlarz richkotlarz [at] gmail.com
Money 2.07/08  7pm

Week #3 Sessions:
Tues, 2/7/12, Open Workshop - Money, Society and the Spirit
   Suggested theme – Open
Wed, 2/8/12, Course Offering - Deconstructing & Renewing the Economic Order
   This week’s subject(s) – The process by which a “Dollar” is born, and
its ramifications for our economic practice, language and culture.
Location: Macalester College (Old Main, Rm 009), 1600 Grand Avenue, St
Paul, MNTime: 7 to 9 pm

Facilitators:
Richard Kotlarz:  richkotlarz [at] gmail.com, 218-828-1366
Richard is a seeker after the truth about money and the economic life, who
has engaged in literally thousands of discussions on money-related topics
with people from all walks of life, across the U.S., and in Canada and
Europe.
Steven Gorg:  steve [at] stevegorg.com, 651-334-7624
Steven is a professional environmental engineer who has come to see that
becoming truly conscious about Money is the portal through which a
meaningful and effective ecological and social transformation can be
achieved.

Richard and Steven have discovered that, concerning money, there is a story
to be told and a vision to behold of which We the People are getting hardly
even an inkling through conventional media, academic orthodoxy, or popular
culture.

Offered under auspices of Experimental Community Education of the Twin
Cities (EXCOTC)
Quote of the Week:
    “Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community
excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material
things.  Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that
- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear
our highways of carnage.  It counts special locks for our doors and the
jails for those who break them.  It counts the destruction of our redwoods
and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl.  It counts napalm and
the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots
in our streets.  It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the
television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our
children.
    "Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our
children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play.  It
does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages;
the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public
officials.  It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom
nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country;
it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."
Robert F. Kennedy

General Information

• What is the real story behind all the bad economic news?
• Why are we not richer by our burgeoning tangible wealth, instead of
poorer by a snowballing financial “debt”?
• How could it be that an innocent child born in the U.S. today is already,
according to the “experts,” a quarter-million dollars in “debt”? When did
newborn babies borrow this money? How are they supposed to “repay” it? Is
their future mortgaged before it starts? Has “original debt” replaced
“original sin”?
• If every dollar in circulation is “borrowed” into existence through
“loans” from private banks, where does the money to pay the “interest” come
from?
• After a century of explosive growth in real economic activity, why have
we not grown out of our “debt”? Is there a perverse logic built into the
system that is causing us to grow into it our “debt”?
• Why in the last century have family farmers been forced off the land by
financial foreclosure, or threat of foreclosure, until now those living on
the farm comprise less that two-percent of the population?
• What is this “debt” burden doing in real terms to our civilization, our
earth, ourselves? What is “debt” anyway? What is its effect on the psyche
of generations growing up in saturation of its financial demands,
ecological devastation and social disintegration?
• If I am well-educated, working hard and “playing by the rules” in the
“richest country on earth,” why can I not pay my bills and/or why am I
perpetually in debt?
• Has fear of financial destitution replaced fear of dying as the most
dreaded eventuality in people’s lives?
• Is there hope?

These and many other monetary riddles haunt our post-modern world. Indeed,
they are increasingly experienced as threatening the viability of our
personal lives, the existence of civilization, and even the continuation of
life on earth itself. Can we get a perspective on this? Can we turn a
corner? Is there a vision on the other side?

These questions and more will be explored in two separate series of
two-hour evening sessions that will meet every week on Tuesday and
Wednesday, respectively.

Tuesday Open Workshop:  Money, Society and the Spirit
This is conceived of as a discussion that will introduce the attendee to
the way money originates and how, generally, the financial order, political
life and civilized culture arises from that process.  From there we will
explore money and economy along whatever avenues of inquiry are of interest
to those attending.  All are welcome, whether having attended a previous
session or not.

The tenor of Tuesday’s conversation session will be informal.  It will
start at 7 pm (promptness is helpful), and end at 9 pm, or however long
people want to stay and talk.

Wednesday Course Offering:  Deconstructing & Renewing the Economic Order
For those interested in a more structured, rigorous and substantive
learning experience, each Wednesday evening there will be a class that will
offer specific content much in the manner of a college course, but without
right answers, grades or accreditation.  Nevertheless, there will be an
emphasis on intellectual rigor and conversational discipline.  In
particular each attendee will be asked to set aside his or her previously
acquired “financial sophistication,” and be ready to approach the subject
with a clean slate.  Holding forth on one’s opinions, ideologies or
expertise about the financial order and will be strongly discouraged.  This
will be a serious exploration of “Money,” a topic that has so far bedeviled
human experience, along new paths of inquiry.  The first hour will be
devoted to a lecture-presentation, and the second opened up to discussion
based on what had been presented.  Each class will have an announced topic
or theme, and, as required, hand out material.

The tenor of the Wednesday’s class session will more formal, and the
importance of starting promptly (7 pm), and ending on time (9 pm), is
emphasized.  Regular attendance is strongly recommended, and any content
missed can be covered in one-on-one or small-group discussions with the
facilitators outside the class session.  Those who wish to join in after
the class sessions have started are welcome, but are encouraged to meet
with a facilitator outside of class in preparation.   We will be embarked
upon a serious course of study, analysis and exploration, and it is crucial
that a rigor of thought and discipline of discourse be observed.  The
rewards, we believe will be great.

The Tuesday and Wednesday sessions are separate offerings, and it is not
necessary to attend both, but they are designed to compliments each other,
and attending both could create a more comprehensive experience.  The
facilitators are available outside of scheduled sessions for special
consultation.

Both classes are free, but there are costs, so donations will be gratefully
accepted. We ask that those who attend and find the benefits of the
sessions to be real seriously consider the gesture of making an offering at
whatever level seems good.  At the root of our work is a pay-it-forward
spirit, and the ideal that we all benefit if we look to the needs of
others, as we would appreciate others considering ours.  Economically
speaking, that is how we become visible to each other in an actual way that
reaches beyond the merely theoretical or rhetorical.  Monies or other
resources received will be used with an eye toward ensuring that the
unfolding public conversation and consciousness about “money” will
continue.

Experience suggests that we will have a wonderfully fruitful time.

Dates & Times (Sessions held every Tuesday/Wednesday, from January 24/25
through May 22/23, 2012):
All sessions will convene from 7 to 9 pm:
  UHCAN 2.07 7pm
Money, Society & the Spirit           Deconstructing & Renewing the
Economic Order
   January 24, 31                                     January 25
   February 7, 14, 21, 28                         February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
   March 6, 13, 20, 27                             March 7, 14, 21, 28
   April 3, 10, 17, 24                               April 4, 11, 18, 25
   May 1, 8, 15, 22                                  May 2, 9, 16, 23


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>From :Joel Albers

Next UHCAN-MN mtg, Tues Feb 7, 7:00pm, Walker Church, Mpls, 55406
(3104 16th ave S,1 block from Lake Str. and Bloomington Ave, basement
Gallery).

Agenda:

1. Update on Co-op Care: A Prairie Health Companion.We are in the exciting
process of creating Co-op Care (member-owned, operated, democratically
controlled, single-payer principles). This will be a way for people to
divest from major insurance companies by building on the base of co-ops,
non-profits and the arts that MN leads the nation in. If you are interested
in helping or supporting this effort, pls attend.Open to the public.
We seeking more qualified people to be on our Board of directors, esp if
you are a physician, have a particular skill to contribute, and if you
think you may actually become a member of Co-op Care. B of D job
description and responsibilities is listed below.

2. Reportback Occupy Lake MNTKA, further actions to plan ?:Check out
coverage in the Feb issue of Southside Pride.
Hot coffee, tea, and snacks provided. Hope to see you there. This meeting
is definately for current Co-op Care Board members too.

Proposed Board of Directors: Position Title: Member, Doard of Directors
Purpose: To provide organizational leadership, direction, and oversight and
maximize Coop Care’s ability to achieve its mission.
Activities: Board Directors are responsible for the following:
1.     Long-range planning The Board formulates and evaluates long-range
planning and proactively establishes organizational vision, direction and
program.2.     Ensuring fiscal accountability  The Board approves and
closely monitors the organization’s expenses and income. The board works to
ensure that all the organization’s resources, including the time of
volunteers abd staff and money, are used wisely.
3.     Setting. Reviewing and evaluating organizational  policy  The Board
ensures that Coop Care’s policies and procedures are in keeping with its
mission, vision, and values.
4.     Ensuring organizational continuity The Board is responsible for the
recruitment, development, retention and continuity of effective and ethical
leadership within the Board to insure robust and stable operations.
5.     Staff relations The board hires and evaluates the performance of the
General Manager. The Board is the final arbiter of internal staff
grievances.
6.     Fundraising The Board is responsible for the continued funding and
financial health of the organization. Members of the Board serve as
ambassadors to the community. Each Board member has two fundraising
responsibilities: giving and raising money.
Qualifications to be a Board Member: [ Needs to be developed]
Individual Board Member Responsibilities:
o   Attend all Board meetings and functions, such as special events.
o   Be informed about the organization’s mission, services, policies, and
programs.
o   Review agenda and supporting materials prior to board meetings.
o   Serve on committees or task forces and offer to take on special
assignments.
o   Be accountable for activities that you have said you would do.
o   Inform others about the organization.
o   Suggest possible nominees to the board who can  make significant
contributions to the work of the board and the organization.
o   Keep up-to-date on developments that might impact Coop Care’s work.
o   Follow conflict of interest and confidentiality policies.
o   Assist the board in carrying out its fiduciary responsibilities, such
as reviewing the organization’s annual financial statements.
Time Commitment:
The Coop Care Board of Directors meets monthly on the second Tuesday of
each month from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.  A Board term is 2 years with option to
renew, based on membership voting. As the Coop Care Board is a working
board, membership requires a commitment of approximately 8 to 10 hours a
month.


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>From Holle Brian
Caucus Green Party 2.07 7pm

Caucus with the Green Party on February 7
The Green Party of Minnesota will be holding caucuses statewide to consider
GP presidential candidates (see www.gp.org/candidates/index.php) and
resolutions. All Green Party members and supporters are encouraged to
attend!
If you feel passionately that our democracy has been broken by corporate
campaign spending -- that energy independence can be achieved through
conservation and renewable technologies -- and that we will only achieve
true prosperity when all Minnesotans have access to quality education,
jobs, housing, transportation and health care -- then the Green Party needs
you!

Be a part of the party of good ideas and let your voice be heard.
Green Party caucus locations are listed on the GP website at
http://www.mngreens.org/news/01302012-735pm/caucus-green-party-february-7-locations
.
Or you can use visit the Secretary of State's website
http://caucusfinder.sos.state.mn.us/ to find a GP caucus near you.

 --
Here is the final list of GP caucus locations. Many thanks to Seth and
Becki and the caucus committee for organizing this statewide effort, and to
all the people who have volunteered to convene caucuses in their
communities. Now everybody get out and participate on Tuesday night!
Green Party caucus locations

Vermilion Community College
1900 East Camp St., Classroom Building
Ely 55731
Jeff Jakubic, convener
SD5A, 6A

East High School
301 North 40th Ave. E., 1060 Health
Duluth 55804
C.J. Schweigert, convener
SD7, 6B

Chaska Middle School
140 Engler Blvd.
Chaska 55318
Jaime Kaiser, convener
SD34

Eastview Elementary
18060 Ipava Ave.
Lakeville 55044
Alex Fane, convener
SD34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40A, 57

Northfield Public Library
210 Washington Street
6-8 p.m., Meeting Room
Northfield 55057
John Stoke, convener
SD25B, 26B

St. Cloud State University
Atwood Memorial Center
720 4th Ave. S., Oak Room
St. Cloud 56301
Garner Moffat, convener
SD14, 15

Lincoln Community Center
110 Fulton Street Room 204
Mankato 56001
Tom Marks, convener
SD21B, 23, 24, 25A, 26A

Red Wing High School
2451 Eagle Ridge Drive
L100
Red Wing 55066
Hank Brummer, convener
SD28

Mayo High School Auditorium
1420 11th Ave SE
Rochester 55904
Becki Smith, convener
SD29

Edina Community Center
5701 Normandale Rd
Room 350
Edina 55424
David VanDongen, convener
SD41

Plymouth City Hall
3400 Plymouth Blvd
Medicine Lake Room
Plymouth 55447
David Strand, convener
SD43

Brookdale Public Library
6125 Shingle Creek Pkwy
Study Room 1
Brooklyn Center 55430
Allan Hancock, convener
SD46

Champlin Public Library, 6:30-8:00
12154 Ensign Ave N
Champlin Meeting Room
Champlin 55316
Will Chapoton, convener
SD47

St. Paul Central High School
275 Lexington Pkwy. N.
Room #1202
St. Paul 55102
Roger Meyer, convener
CD4

Edison High School
700 22nd Ave. NE
Minneapoli 55418
Small Gym
Megan Kuhl-Stennes & Tori Johnston, conveners
SD50, 51, 54, 58, 59

Washburn High School
201 West 49th Street
Minneapolis 55419
Media Center
Holle Brian & Sue Leskela, conveners
SD60, 62, 63

Wilder Building
3345 Chicago Ave.
Minneapolis 55407
Farheen Hakeem, convener
SD61

Rockford Road Library
6401 42nd Ave. N.
Crystal 55427
Rockford Road Conference Room
Laura Libby & Stacy Arland, conveners
SD44, 45

Lake Elmo Elementary School
11030 Stillwater Blvd N
Lake Elmo 55042
Bob Schmitz, convener
SD56

Glencoe-Silver Lake High School
1825 16th St E, Room 300
Glencoe 55336
Jared Schwab, convener
SD18A

Brainerd Public Library
416 S. 5th Street
large meeting room
Brainerd
Marcia Thurmer, convener
SD12

Bemidji Public Library
509 America Ave NW
Bemidji 56601
Aaron Tank, convener
SD4

Cambridge Isanti High School
430 NW 8th Ave, Room 119 (Lounge)
Cambridge 55008
Leroy Schaffer, convener
SD17A

---
Holle Brian Minneapolis, MN 612-822-6593 holleb [at] aol.com


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The Downward Mobility of the American Middle Class, and Why Mitt Romney
Doesn’t Know
by Robert Reich
Published on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 by Robert Reich

January’s increase in hiring is good news, but it masks a bigger and more
disturbing story – the continuing downward mobility of the American middle
class.

Most of the new jobs being created are in the lower-wage sectors of the
economy – hospital orderlies and nursing aides, secretaries and temporary
workers, retail and restaurant. Meanwhile, millions of Americans remain
working only because they’ve agreed to cuts in wages and benefits. Others
are settling for jobs that pay less than the jobs they’ve lost. Entry-level
manufacturing jobs are paying half what entry-level manufacturing jobs paid
six years ago.

Other people are falling out of the middle class because they’ve lost their
jobs, and many have also lost their homes. Almost one in three families
with a mortgage is now underwater, holding their breath against imminent
foreclosure.

The percent of Americans in poverty is its highest in two decades, and more
of us are impoverished than at any time in the last fifty years. A recent
analysis of federal data by the New York Times showed the number of
children receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million in the last school
year, up from 18 million in 2006-2007. Nearly a dozen states experienced
increases of 25 percent or more. Under federal rules, children from famlies
with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty line, $29,055 for a family of
four, are eligible.

Experts say the bad economy is the main factor driving the increase.
According to an analysis of census data by the Center for Labor Market
Studies at Northeastern University, 37 percent of young families with
children were in poverty in 2010. It’s likely that rate has worsened.

Mitt Romney says he’s not concerned about the very poor because they have
safety nets to protect them. He says he’s concerned about the middle class.
Romney doesn’t seem to realize how much of the middle class is becoming
poor.

But Romney doesn’t like safety nets to begin with. He’s been accusing
President Obama of inviting a culture of dependency. “Over the past three
years Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an
entitlement society,” he says over and over, arguing that our economic
problems stem from a sharp rise in dependency. Get rid of these benefits
and people will work harder.

He and other Republicans point to government data showing that direct
payments to individuals have shot up by almost $600 billion since 2009, a
32 percent increase. And 49 percent of Americans now live in homes where at
least one person is collecting a federal benefit such as food stamps or
unemployment insurance, up from 44 percent in 2008.

But Romney and other Republicans have cause and effect backwards. The
reason for the rise in benefits is Americans got clobbered in 2008 and many
are still sinking. They and their families need whatever help they can get.

The real scandal, as I’ve said before, is America’s safety nets are too
small and shot through with holes. Only 40 percent of the unemployed
qualify for unemployment benefits, for example, because they weren’t
working full time or long enough on a single job before they were let go.
The unemployment system doesn’t recognize how many Americans work part time
on several jobs, and move from job to job.

And even those who are lucky enough to be collecting employment benefits
are about to lose them. A record and growing percent of the unemployed have
been jobless for six months or more, and Republicans in Congress are
unwilling to extend their benefits.

Romney’s budget proposals would shred safety nets even more. According to
an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, his plan would
throw 10 million low-income people off the benefit rolls for food stamps or
cut benefits by thousands of dollars a year, or some combination. “These
cuts would primarily affect very low-income families with children, seniors
and people with disabilities,” the Center concludes.

At the same time, Romney’s tax plan would boost the incomes of America’s
most wealthy citizens, who are already taking home an almost unprecedented
share of that nation’s total income. Romney wants to permanently extend
George W. Bush’s tax cuts, reduce corporate income tax rates, and eliminate
the estate tax. These tax cuts would increase the incomes of people earning
more than a million dollars a year by an average of $295,874 annually,
according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

By reducing government revenues, Romney’s tax cuts would squeeze programs
for the poor even further. Extending the Bush tax cuts will add $1.2
trillion to the nation’s budget deficit in just two years. That’s the same
as the amount that’s supposed to be saved by automatic spending cuts
scheduled to start next year – which, by the way, will hit the poor
especially hard.

Oh, I almost forgot. Romney and other Republicans also want to repeal of
Obama’s health care law, thereby leaving 30 million Americans without
health insurance.

The downward mobility of America’s middle class is the big news, but the
GOP apparently hasn’t heard about it. Maybe it’s too hard to hear about
from that far away – and Mitt Romney is certainly far away. His unearned
income last year was more than $20 million. That’s about as much as the
combined earnings of a thousand American families at or just above the
poverty line.

© 2012 Robert Reich

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California
at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently
as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve
books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most
recent book, Supercapitalism. His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found
on publicradio.com and iTunes.


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What's in a name?

Their real names were:
Bemitto Mussolini
and Adolph Mittler.


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