Greetings from
the Arkansas VBAC Coalition,
ICAN of NW Arkansas, and
BirthNetwork NWA !
Last week families from all over NW Arkansas gathered at Northwest Medical Center to protest the hospital's blanket ban on VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean). After our actions, we are hearing that the hospitals are feeling the pressure. Coverage from the latest protest was featured on 40/29.
It's time for a Picnic and a Protest!
We want to continue the momentum for a THIRD week! If you are a childbearing woman or if you have a wife, a mother, a sister, or a daughter, you may be faced with the difficult situation of a mandatory repeat cesarean section.
Please join us on
Friday, May 1st, 2009
from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Protest Northwest Medical Center -- Willow Creek's
VBAC Ban
at the Johnson City Park
Johnson, AR
A limited number of signs is available, or you can bring your own homemade sign. Parking is available on a first come, first served basis.
Don't forget your sunscreen/umbrellas and your picnic lunch.
If you missed last week's protest, please come and let's double the number of those present! The hospitals are just beginning to notice that we will not take this unethical practice anymore! You may just be helping your best friend, your sister, or yourself.
Wouldn't you feel great if the hospitals reversed their bans because you raised your voice?
Visit www.bringbackvbac.org for more information on the local bans and research on VBAC safety. Or call Beth Day at 685-5232 or Aly Kirkpatrick at 251-8446 with your questions.
www.ican-online.org
www.birthnetworknwa.org
Aly Kirkpatrick
Chapter Leader, NW Arkansas ICAN
HBAC
http://www.ican-online.org
VBAC is "Vaginal Birth After Cesarean". This campaign is meant to give families the option of natural birth, even when a cesarean has been necessary for a past birth. Research has shown that in most cases this is safe and good for the mother and child. Birth Network welcomes your questions and support for their campaign.
Rediscover Hotmail®: Now available on your iPhone or BlackBerry Check it out.
Gladys Tiffany
Omni Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology
Fayetteville, Arkansas USA
479-973-9049 -- gladystiffany@yahoo.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Louisiana Tech professor to discuss the struggle for the solar future Saturday afternoon at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville
Please click on image to ENLARGE view of poster.
Solar Power Struggle
Professor Richard Hutchinson of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston will speak on "The Struggle for the Solar Future" at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
An inquiry into environmental change and the obstacles and opportunities in the path of the renewable energy transition.
Sponsored by OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
Solar Power Struggle
Professor Richard Hutchinson of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston will speak on "The Struggle for the Solar Future" at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
An inquiry into environmental change and the obstacles and opportunities in the path of the renewable energy transition.
Sponsored by OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Consequences of US empire on endigenous people
OMNI LECTURE ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF US EMPIRE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 4/19/09 5:15 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
Date: April 14, 2009
Sponsor: OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology
Contact: Dick Bennett, 442-4600
SUBJECT: “SORROWS OF EMPIRE,” Displacement of native peoples to accommodate the expansion of the vast U. S. military empire: Diego Garcia, Thule, Greenland, and the Marshall Islands.
Date and Time: Monday, April 27, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Place: Nightbird Books, Dickson Street in former Smokehouse
SPEAKER: Dud Hendrick
Traveling the world making a film about the Impact of U.S. Military Bases Abroad on Indigenous Peoples.
Moderator: Bill Williams, former president of NWA Veterans for Peace and candidate for Congress
Video: Marion and Bill Orton
Greeting, Refreshments:
Photos: Karen Idlet
Flyer:
News Release: Amanda and Ryan Bancroft
Dud Hendrick, Vietnam Veteran and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Maine, will speak on the magnitude and consequences of the U.S. military empire at the Nightbird Bookstore in Fayetteville at 6pm, Monday, April 27th. Hendrick, from Deer Isle, Maine, is President of the founding chapter of Veterans for Peace. His talk, titled “Sorrows of Empire” (borrowed from the author Chalmers Johnson*) will address, in particular, the displacement of indigenous peoples to make way for U.S. military installations abroad.
Hendrick is in Arkansas to meet and speak with Marshall Island people whose culture, economy, and health were impacted by the atomic bomb testing in the Pacific. His focus has been on the Marshallese as well as the people of Thule, Greenland and of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. In June and July of last year he had the opportunity to witness trial proceedings at the House of Lords in London when the demand for return and restitution for the Chagos of Diego Garcia was being considered. In September, he lived among and interviewed the Inughuits who had been displaced to make way for Thule Air Base, where he had been assigned as a young U.S. Air Force officer. The talk will be followed by video of some of these conversations.
Hendrick is a Naval Academy graduate and a founding member of Service Academy Graduates Against the War. In 1998, he returned to Vietnam on a healing bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with other veterans from both sides of that war. He credits this transformative experience with having enabled him to appreciate the “humanity in the other”. His work is dedicated to the friendships he made on that occasion and to amplifying the voices of the victims of the U.S. military empire.
SORROWS OF EMPIRE A talk by Dud Hendrick
Primary Resources
Books
The Chalmers Johnson trilogy:
Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism, Oxford University Press, 2005
Holly Barker, Bravo for the Marshallese, Wadsworth Publishing, 2003
William Blum, Killing Hope. Common Courage P, 1995.
William Blum, Rogue State, Common Courage P, 2000
William Blum, Freeing the World to Death, Common Courage P, 2005
David Bradley, No Place to Hide, Little, Brown, and Company, 1948
Ward Churchill, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, AK Press, 2003
Cynthia Enloe, Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Joseph Gerson, The Sun Never Sets, American Friends Service Committee, 1991
Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb, Pluto Press, 2007
Mark Gillem, America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Sarah Irving, Outposts of Empire, Transnational Institute, 2007
Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War, Free Press, 2008
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Chalmers Johnson, Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Lalit, Diego Garcia: In Times of Globalization
Catherine Lutz, The Bases of Empire, Pluto Press, 2009
Aqqaluk Lynge, The Right to Return, Atuagkat Publishers, 2002
Jean Malaurie, Ultima Thule, W.W.Norton & Co., 2003
Jean Malaurie, The Last Kings of Thule, University of Chicago Press, 1985
Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind, Micronitor/Bravo Publishers, 2001
John Pilger, Freedom Next Time, Nation Books, 2007
John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World, Verso, 2003
Nick Turse The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, Henry Holt & Co., 2008
James Yamazaki, Children of the Atomic Bomb, Duke University Press, 1995
Films
Stealing a Nation by John Pilger
Hingitaq the Outcasts by Jorgen Pedersen
Home on the Range by Adam Horowitz
A New Island by Dale Carpenter
Radio Bikini by Robert Stone
Unnatural Causes by California Newsreel
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 4/19/09 5:15 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
Date: April 14, 2009
Sponsor: OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology
Contact: Dick Bennett, 442-4600
SUBJECT: “SORROWS OF EMPIRE,” Displacement of native peoples to accommodate the expansion of the vast U. S. military empire: Diego Garcia, Thule, Greenland, and the Marshall Islands.
Date and Time: Monday, April 27, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Place: Nightbird Books, Dickson Street in former Smokehouse
SPEAKER: Dud Hendrick
Traveling the world making a film about the Impact of U.S. Military Bases Abroad on Indigenous Peoples.
Moderator: Bill Williams, former president of NWA Veterans for Peace and candidate for Congress
Video: Marion and Bill Orton
Greeting, Refreshments:
Photos: Karen Idlet
Flyer:
News Release: Amanda and Ryan Bancroft
Dud Hendrick, Vietnam Veteran and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Maine, will speak on the magnitude and consequences of the U.S. military empire at the Nightbird Bookstore in Fayetteville at 6pm, Monday, April 27th. Hendrick, from Deer Isle, Maine, is President of the founding chapter of Veterans for Peace. His talk, titled “Sorrows of Empire” (borrowed from the author Chalmers Johnson*) will address, in particular, the displacement of indigenous peoples to make way for U.S. military installations abroad.
Hendrick is in Arkansas to meet and speak with Marshall Island people whose culture, economy, and health were impacted by the atomic bomb testing in the Pacific. His focus has been on the Marshallese as well as the people of Thule, Greenland and of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. In June and July of last year he had the opportunity to witness trial proceedings at the House of Lords in London when the demand for return and restitution for the Chagos of Diego Garcia was being considered. In September, he lived among and interviewed the Inughuits who had been displaced to make way for Thule Air Base, where he had been assigned as a young U.S. Air Force officer. The talk will be followed by video of some of these conversations.
Hendrick is a Naval Academy graduate and a founding member of Service Academy Graduates Against the War. In 1998, he returned to Vietnam on a healing bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with other veterans from both sides of that war. He credits this transformative experience with having enabled him to appreciate the “humanity in the other”. His work is dedicated to the friendships he made on that occasion and to amplifying the voices of the victims of the U.S. military empire.
SORROWS OF EMPIRE A talk by Dud Hendrick
Primary Resources
Books
The Chalmers Johnson trilogy:
Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism, Oxford University Press, 2005
Holly Barker, Bravo for the Marshallese, Wadsworth Publishing, 2003
William Blum, Killing Hope. Common Courage P, 1995.
William Blum, Rogue State, Common Courage P, 2000
William Blum, Freeing the World to Death, Common Courage P, 2005
David Bradley, No Place to Hide, Little, Brown, and Company, 1948
Ward Churchill, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, AK Press, 2003
Cynthia Enloe, Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Joseph Gerson, The Sun Never Sets, American Friends Service Committee, 1991
Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb, Pluto Press, 2007
Mark Gillem, America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Sarah Irving, Outposts of Empire, Transnational Institute, 2007
Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War, Free Press, 2008
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Chalmers Johnson, Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Lalit, Diego Garcia: In Times of Globalization
Catherine Lutz, The Bases of Empire, Pluto Press, 2009
Aqqaluk Lynge, The Right to Return, Atuagkat Publishers, 2002
Jean Malaurie, Ultima Thule, W.W.Norton & Co., 2003
Jean Malaurie, The Last Kings of Thule, University of Chicago Press, 1985
Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind, Micronitor/Bravo Publishers, 2001
John Pilger, Freedom Next Time, Nation Books, 2007
John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World, Verso, 2003
Nick Turse The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, Henry Holt & Co., 2008
James Yamazaki, Children of the Atomic Bomb, Duke University Press, 1995
Films
Stealing a Nation by John Pilger
Hingitaq the Outcasts by Jorgen Pedersen
Home on the Range by Adam Horowitz
A New Island by Dale Carpenter
Radio Bikini by Robert Stone
Unnatural Causes by California Newsreel
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Consequences of US empire on endigenous people
OMNI LECTURE ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF US EMPIRE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 4/19/09 5:15 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
Date: April 14, 2009
Sponsor: OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology
Contact: Dick Bennett, 442-4600
SUBJECT: “SORROWS OF EMPIRE,” Displacement of native peoples to accommodate the expansion of the vast U. S. military empire: Diego Garcia, Thule, Greenland, and the Marshall Islands.
Date and Time: Monday, April 27, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Place: Nightbird Books, Dickson Street in former Smokehouse
SPEAKER: Dud Hendrick
Traveling the world making a film about the Impact of U.S. Military Bases Abroad on Indigenous Peoples.
Moderator: Bill Williams, former president of NWA Veterans for Peace and candidate for Congress
Video: Marion and Bill Orton
Greeting, Refreshments:
Photos: Karen Idlet
Flyer:
News Release: Amanda and Ryan Bancroft
Dud Hendrick, Vietnam Veteran and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Maine, will speak on the magnitude and consequences of the U.S. military empire at the Nightbird Bookstore in Fayetteville at 6pm, Monday, April 27th. Hendrick, from Deer Isle, Maine, is President of the founding chapter of Veterans for Peace. His talk, titled “Sorrows of Empire” (borrowed from the author Chalmers Johnson*) will address, in particular, the displacement of indigenous peoples to make way for U.S. military installations abroad.
Hendrick is in Arkansas to meet and speak with Marshall Island people whose culture, economy, and health were impacted by the atomic bomb testing in the Pacific. His focus has been on the Marshallese as well as the people of Thule, Greenland and of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. In June and July of last year he had the opportunity to witness trial proceedings at the House of Lords in London when the demand for return and restitution for the Chagos of Diego Garcia was being considered. In September, he lived among and interviewed the Inughuits who had been displaced to make way for Thule Air Base, where he had been assigned as a young U.S. Air Force officer. The talk will be followed by video of some of these conversations.
Hendrick is a Naval Academy graduate and a founding member of Service Academy Graduates Against the War. In 1998, he returned to Vietnam on a healing bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with other veterans from both sides of that war. He credits this transformative experience with having enabled him to appreciate the “humanity in the other”. His work is dedicated to the friendships he made on that occasion and to amplifying the voices of the victims of the U.S. military empire.
SORROWS OF EMPIRE A talk by Dud Hendrick
Primary Resources
Books
The Chalmers Johnson trilogy:
Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism, Oxford University Press, 2005
Holly Barker, Bravo for the Marshallese, Wadsworth Publishing, 2003
William Blum, Killing Hope. Common Courage P, 1995.
William Blum, Rogue State, Common Courage P, 2000
William Blum, Freeing the World to Death, Common Courage P, 2005
David Bradley, No Place to Hide, Little, Brown, and Company, 1948
Ward Churchill, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, AK Press, 2003
Cynthia Enloe, Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Joseph Gerson, The Sun Never Sets, American Friends Service Committee, 1991
Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb, Pluto Press, 2007
Mark Gillem, America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Sarah Irving, Outposts of Empire, Transnational Institute, 2007
Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War, Free Press, 2008
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Chalmers Johnson, Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Lalit, Diego Garcia: In Times of Globalization
Catherine Lutz, The Bases of Empire, Pluto Press, 2009
Aqqaluk Lynge, The Right to Return, Atuagkat Publishers, 2002
Jean Malaurie, Ultima Thule, W.W.Norton & Co., 2003
Jean Malaurie, The Last Kings of Thule, University of Chicago Press, 1985
Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind, Micronitor/Bravo Publishers, 2001
John Pilger, Freedom Next Time, Nation Books, 2007
John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World, Verso, 2003
Nick Turse The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, Henry Holt & Co., 2008
James Yamazaki, Children of the Atomic Bomb, Duke University Press, 1995
Films
Stealing a Nation by John Pilger
Hingitaq the Outcasts by Jorgen Pedersen
Home on the Range by Adam Horowitz
A New Island by Dale Carpenter
Radio Bikini by Robert Stone
Unnatural Causes by California Newsreel
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 4/19/09 5:15 PM
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
NEWS RELEASE
Date: April 14, 2009
Sponsor: OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology
Contact: Dick Bennett, 442-4600
SUBJECT: “SORROWS OF EMPIRE,” Displacement of native peoples to accommodate the expansion of the vast U. S. military empire: Diego Garcia, Thule, Greenland, and the Marshall Islands.
Date and Time: Monday, April 27, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Place: Nightbird Books, Dickson Street in former Smokehouse
SPEAKER: Dud Hendrick
Traveling the world making a film about the Impact of U.S. Military Bases Abroad on Indigenous Peoples.
Moderator: Bill Williams, former president of NWA Veterans for Peace and candidate for Congress
Video: Marion and Bill Orton
Greeting, Refreshments:
Photos: Karen Idlet
Flyer:
News Release: Amanda and Ryan Bancroft
Dud Hendrick, Vietnam Veteran and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Maine, will speak on the magnitude and consequences of the U.S. military empire at the Nightbird Bookstore in Fayetteville at 6pm, Monday, April 27th. Hendrick, from Deer Isle, Maine, is President of the founding chapter of Veterans for Peace. His talk, titled “Sorrows of Empire” (borrowed from the author Chalmers Johnson*) will address, in particular, the displacement of indigenous peoples to make way for U.S. military installations abroad.
Hendrick is in Arkansas to meet and speak with Marshall Island people whose culture, economy, and health were impacted by the atomic bomb testing in the Pacific. His focus has been on the Marshallese as well as the people of Thule, Greenland and of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. In June and July of last year he had the opportunity to witness trial proceedings at the House of Lords in London when the demand for return and restitution for the Chagos of Diego Garcia was being considered. In September, he lived among and interviewed the Inughuits who had been displaced to make way for Thule Air Base, where he had been assigned as a young U.S. Air Force officer. The talk will be followed by video of some of these conversations.
Hendrick is a Naval Academy graduate and a founding member of Service Academy Graduates Against the War. In 1998, he returned to Vietnam on a healing bicycle ride from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with other veterans from both sides of that war. He credits this transformative experience with having enabled him to appreciate the “humanity in the other”. His work is dedicated to the friendships he made on that occasion and to amplifying the voices of the victims of the U.S. military empire.
SORROWS OF EMPIRE A talk by Dud Hendrick
Primary Resources
Books
The Chalmers Johnson trilogy:
Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism, Oxford University Press, 2005
Holly Barker, Bravo for the Marshallese, Wadsworth Publishing, 2003
William Blum, Killing Hope. Common Courage P, 1995.
William Blum, Rogue State, Common Courage P, 2000
William Blum, Freeing the World to Death, Common Courage P, 2005
David Bradley, No Place to Hide, Little, Brown, and Company, 1948
Ward Churchill, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, AK Press, 2003
Cynthia Enloe, Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Joseph Gerson, The Sun Never Sets, American Friends Service Committee, 1991
Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb, Pluto Press, 2007
Mark Gillem, America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Sarah Irving, Outposts of Empire, Transnational Institute, 2007
Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War, Free Press, 2008
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2000
Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Henry Holt & Co., 2006
Chalmers Johnson, Sorrows of Empire, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
Lalit, Diego Garcia: In Times of Globalization
Catherine Lutz, The Bases of Empire, Pluto Press, 2009
Aqqaluk Lynge, The Right to Return, Atuagkat Publishers, 2002
Jean Malaurie, Ultima Thule, W.W.Norton & Co., 2003
Jean Malaurie, The Last Kings of Thule, University of Chicago Press, 1985
Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind, Micronitor/Bravo Publishers, 2001
John Pilger, Freedom Next Time, Nation Books, 2007
John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World, Verso, 2003
Nick Turse The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, Henry Holt & Co., 2008
James Yamazaki, Children of the Atomic Bomb, Duke University Press, 1995
Films
Stealing a Nation by John Pilger
Hingitaq the Outcasts by Jorgen Pedersen
Home on the Range by Adam Horowitz
A New Island by Dale Carpenter
Radio Bikini by Robert Stone
Unnatural Causes by California Newsreel
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
OMNI Center announces Earth Day/Springfest lecture: The Struggle for the Solar Future
OMNI's EARTH DAY/SPRINGFEST LECTURE will occur Saturday, May 2, 2-3 pm at Nightbird Books on Dickson St., complementing OMNI's solar display at the Walton Art Center's Rose Garden.
Title: “The Struggle for the Solar Future” by Richard Hutchinson
Richard N. Hutchinson
Elizabeth N. Larson, Clarence N. Larson, and Andrew M. Larson
Endowed Assistant Professor of Sociology
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA 71272
Date and Place: Saturday, May 2, 2:00-3:00 p.m. at Nightbird Books on Dickson St. (formerly Ozark Mt. Smokehouse)
Subject: How explain the development, organization, and functioning of the renewable energy transition? What theory best applies? Neomalthusian, which may be right but leads to fatalism? Ecological modernization, by which markets and technology solve the problems but lead to complacency? Or conflict theory, which alerts us to the realities of powerful interests attached to the status quo and of the need for the public to organize and struggle for the changes we desire.
Title: “The Struggle for the Solar Future” by Richard Hutchinson
Richard N. Hutchinson
Elizabeth N. Larson, Clarence N. Larson, and Andrew M. Larson
Endowed Assistant Professor of Sociology
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA 71272
Date and Place: Saturday, May 2, 2:00-3:00 p.m. at Nightbird Books on Dickson St. (formerly Ozark Mt. Smokehouse)
Subject: How explain the development, organization, and functioning of the renewable energy transition? What theory best applies? Neomalthusian, which may be right but leads to fatalism? Ecological modernization, by which markets and technology solve the problems but lead to complacency? Or conflict theory, which alerts us to the realities of powerful interests attached to the status quo and of the need for the public to organize and struggle for the changes we desire.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Dick Bennett believes in locally grown food
Please click on images to ENLARGE view of Dick Bennett with his laying hens.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
OMNI Book Forum on Democracy at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Nightbird Books, which now is at 205 W. Dickson Street
OMNI BOOK FORUM ON DEMOCRACY
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 6:30, NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
NOTE: NIGHTBIRD IS MOVING TO DICKSON!
We will be at 205 W Dickson St. where ONF was once located and more recently, the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse. Parking on the east side is the Nightbird parking lot. The west lot is available if the smokehouse has no catering scheduled. I am encouraging event attendees to leave the closest spaces for those who need them most.
A peace and justice organization in a constitutional democracy must arise from the people and be accomplished by the people.
PANELISTS: Claire Detels, Lindsley Smith, Amjad Faur, Thomas Markham
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Marion Orton, Bill Orton
Photographer: Max Greenwood
Refreshments: Cliff Mikkelson
Greeter: Coralie Koonce
Flyer: Amjad Faur
News Release: Dick Bennett
Panelists and Books:
DEMOCRACY DISMANTLED
Claire Detels: Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. 2006.
Amjad Faur: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. 2008.
DEMOCRACY REBUILT
Lindsley Smith: Ann Fagan Ginger, The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. 2008. (Other books by Ginger: Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11. 2005. Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Took Kit for Congress & Activists. 2008. )
Thomas Markham. Susan Rosenthal, Power and Powerlessness. 2006.
Dick will draw attention to these books:
Frances Moore Lappe, Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life. 2006. Democracy must be of, BY, and for the People.
Tavis Smiley, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. 2009. A compendium of Pres. Obama’s promises.
Following: See a sampling of the rich exposes of the dismantling, and of the rebuilding.
DISMANTLING
Bennett, Control of Information in the United States (1987) and Control of the Media in the United States (1992). Annotated bibliographies.
Bennett, James R. Political Prisoners and Trials…Bibliography, 1900 through 1993. Pp. 267-304 on US. Although US leaders have proclaimed their support for human rights in all nations, they are themselves guilty of massive human rights violations against people around the world and have embraced as allies countries guilty of similar crimes. Furthermore, US officials have imprisoned thousands of their own citizens for their beliefs—not only communists and socialists, but trade unionists, suffragettes, conscientious objectors, civil rights protestors, and on and on.
Brightman, Carol. Total Insecurity: The Myth of American Omnipotence. Unchecked corporate and executive political power and obsession with security has created a permanent state of war and war economy.
Brock, David. The Republican Noise Machine: Right Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. 2004.
Buchanan, Patrick. Where the Right Went Wrong. Indictment of GOP leaders and Bush White House for abandoning principles in the pursuit of power.
Byrd, Robert, Sen. Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency. 2004. (Subject of an earlier Forum.)
Carroll, James. House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. 2006. (Subject of an earlier Forum.)
Carter, Jimmy.Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis. Strong defense of separation of church and state.
Chomsky, Noam. Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9-11 World. Interviews on Iraq, preemptive strikes, US vs. peace of the world, etc.
Cohn, Marjorie. Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law. 2007. (Earlier Forum).
Conason, Joe. It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush. 2007.
Dowd, Maureen. Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk. Bush admin.’s fractured adventures in empire-building.
House Democratic Judiciary Committee Staff. The Constitution in Crisis: The High Crimes of the Bush Administration and a Blueprint for Impeachment.
Giroux, Henry. The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex. 2007. On the “anti-democratic forces of militarization, corporatism, and patriotic correctness” that now dominate US universities. The book fits just as well under Resistance/Rebuilding, for it is a “defense of the university as a democratic public sphere.”
Goldberg, Michelle. Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. How an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life through right-wing evangelical culture and the Republican party.
Hedges, Chris. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. 2006.
Hightower, Jim. If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.
Holtzman, Elizabeth with Cynthia Cooper. The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens. 2006.
Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. 2006.
Johnston, David Cay. Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themsleves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). 2007. (Discussed at US Capitalism Forum).
Kaiser, Robert. “So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government.” 2008.
Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy. Bush and his corporate cronies threaten our health, national security, and democracy.
Krugman, Paul. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century. Norton, 2003.
Lerner, Michael. The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right. The destructive alliance of the Religious Right and the Political Right.
Lindorff, Dave and Barbara Olshansky. The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing Presieent George W. Bush from Office. 2006.
Loo, Dennis & Peter Phillips, eds. Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney. 2006.
Mailer, Norman. Why Are We at War? Analyzes George W. Bush’s quest for empire. Norman Mailer, one of the greatest authors of our time, lays bare the White House’s position on why war in Iraq is necessary and justified. By scrutinizing the administration’s words and actions leading up to the current crisis, Mailer carefully builds his case that Bush is pursuing war not in the name of security or anti-terrorism or human rights but in an undeclared yet fully realized ambition of global empire.
Mann, James. The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet. 2004.
*Jane Mayer's The Dark Side: The Inside Story of how the War on Terror Turned i nto a War on American Ideals (2008). (Amjad Faur). An account of how US leaders made ruinous decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world—decisions that not only violated the Constitution but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.
Moyers, Bill. Moyers on America: A Journalist and His times. Democracy has been replaced by government of, by, and for the corporate ruling class.
Palast, Greg. Armed Madhouse. BBC reporter reveals Bush’s plans for seizing Iraq’s oil, exams War on Terror, Kerry won 2002 election, and more.
Rampton, Sheldon and John Stauber. Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America into a One-Party State. Penguin, 2004.
Rasmus, Jack. The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. 2006.
Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush’s America. A step by step chronicle of how the White House built its souse of cards, and how the institutions that should have exposed these fictions, esp. the mainstream news media, failed.
Risen, James. State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. The scandals show how power works in Bush’s presidency.
Ritter, Scott. Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change. A sound US-Iranian relationship based on mutual respect, non-aggression, and economic interaction is in the best interest for both countries.
Rossi, Melissa. What Every American Should Know About Who’s Really Running America, And What You Can Do About It. 2007. Includes a good biblio. mainly on dismantling.
Scheer, Robert. The Pornorgraphy of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. 2008.
Standaert, Michael. Skipping Towards Armageddon: The Politics and Propaganda of the “Left Behind” Novels and the LaHaye Empire. A religious right-wing and neo-conservative conspiracy whose agenda of intolerance is furthered in works of fiction.
Sunstein, Cass. Radicals in Robes. Supreme Court’s right-ward shift may further endanger environmental regulations, campaign finance reform, right to privacy, etc.
Sweig, Julia. Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century. US sowed the seeds of its decline in the eyes of the world in South America.
Whitney, Craig, ed. The WMD Mirage: Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War. The false intelligence and misinformation explains how Bush justified the need for war.
Willis, Clint, ed. The I Hate Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Condit Rice Reader: Behind the Bush Cabal’s War on America. Expose of what the editor feels is the most vicious, destructive, and immoral group ever to run the country.
Wolf, Naomi. The End of America. 2007. US fascist shift under Bush.
RESISTANCE, REBUILDING
“A just world is possible. Human beings create society, and we can change it.” Rosenthal, Power and Powerlessness. “It is the job of politicians to make promises, but it is the job of the people who elect them to make sure they keep them.” Tavis Smiley, Accountable
Alterman, Eric. Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America. Counterattack on right-wing spin and misinformation.
Boulding, Elise. Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History. Syracuse, 2000.
Brown, Peter, and Geoffrey Garver. Right Relationship:Bbuilding a Whole Earth Economy. 2009.
Garey, Diane. Defending Everybody: A History of the American Civil Liberties Union. 1998.
Ginger, Ann Fagan, ed. Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11. 2005.
Ginger, Ann. Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Took Kit for Congress & Activists. 2008.
*Ginger, Ann Fagan. The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. 2008. Just in time for the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights! (Lindsley Smith)
Hartmann, Thom. What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to Democracy. US has departed from vision of Founding Fathers. Democracy is not an aberration in human history but the oldest, most resilient, and most universal form of government.
Hayden, Tom. The Port Huron Statement: The Visionary Call of the 1960s Revollution. Historic document of US radicalism, a gernational call for direct participatory democracy.
Korten, David. Agenda for a New Economy. 2009.
*Lappe, Frances Moore. Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life. 2006. (Dick Bennett)
Lardner and Loewentheil, eds. Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era. 2009.
McChesney, Robert. The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century. 2004. (probably more on Dismantling)
Morgan, Robin. Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right. Ideas and arguments from the Founding Fathers and others.
Polner, Murray and Thomas Woods, Jr., eds. We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now. Basic, 2008.
Poundstone, William. Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (And What We Can Do About It.). 2008. On “range” voting.
The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. Beacon, 2002.
*Rosenthal, Susan. Power and Powerlessness. Trafford, 2006. This is the most challenging, think out-of-the-box book in this biblio. Its picture of the US is that of a nation divided between “a few who wield immense power and the rest who feel varying degrees of powerlessness..” This imbalance is no accident, but is the direct result of the few grabbing power from the many. “Part One explains that society does not arise from human nature. On the contrary, current social arrangements violate human nature. Part Two shows how power is divided by class. Part Three investigates how power and powerlessness are perpetuated. Part Four reveals how powerlessness can be transformed into power.” “The need for change is urgent. Everywhere, there is injustice, anguish, and anger. This book explains how society shapes people, how people shape society, and how powerlessness can be converted into the power to transform the world.” (Tom Markham).
--Smiley, Tavis, with Stephanie Robinson. Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. Atria, 2009. Chapters on 6 major areas of policy, each followed by an “Accountable Assessment Checklist”: Obama’s campaign promises, questions to Obama, questions to Congresspeople, and to community leaders. The final and most lengthy chapter is “The Accountable Report Card,” in which Obama is quoted on issue after issue, and then readers are asked to evaluate his performance. The book expresses Smiley’s strong belief in the importance of We, the People, and a nation of, by, and for the people. “It is the job of politicians to make promises, but it is the job of the people who elect them to make sure they keep them.” He calls upon the citizenry to “track the progress of the president’s vision for our future. Presidents alone do not shape our future….citizens must always be prepared to hold the president accountable on what he (perhaps one day, she!) promised he’d fight for. Never forget, we, the people, are accountable for making sure that promises made are promises kept.” (171).
True, Michael. To Construct Peace: 30 More Justice Seekers, Peace Makers. Twenty-Third, 1992.
Wittner, Lawrence. Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960. Columbia UP, 1969.
Wolf, Naomi. Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. 2008 (Earlier Forum).
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 6:30, NIGHTBIRD BOOKS
NOTE: NIGHTBIRD IS MOVING TO DICKSON!
We will be at 205 W Dickson St. where ONF was once located and more recently, the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse. Parking on the east side is the Nightbird parking lot. The west lot is available if the smokehouse has no catering scheduled. I am encouraging event attendees to leave the closest spaces for those who need them most.
A peace and justice organization in a constitutional democracy must arise from the people and be accomplished by the people.
PANELISTS: Claire Detels, Lindsley Smith, Amjad Faur, Thomas Markham
Moderator: Dick Bennett
Video: Marion Orton, Bill Orton
Photographer: Max Greenwood
Refreshments: Cliff Mikkelson
Greeter: Coralie Koonce
Flyer: Amjad Faur
News Release: Dick Bennett
Panelists and Books:
DEMOCRACY DISMANTLED
Claire Detels: Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. 2006.
Amjad Faur: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. 2008.
DEMOCRACY REBUILT
Lindsley Smith: Ann Fagan Ginger, The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. 2008. (Other books by Ginger: Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11. 2005. Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Took Kit for Congress & Activists. 2008. )
Thomas Markham. Susan Rosenthal, Power and Powerlessness. 2006.
Dick will draw attention to these books:
Frances Moore Lappe, Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life. 2006. Democracy must be of, BY, and for the People.
Tavis Smiley, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. 2009. A compendium of Pres. Obama’s promises.
Following: See a sampling of the rich exposes of the dismantling, and of the rebuilding.
DISMANTLING
Bennett, Control of Information in the United States (1987) and Control of the Media in the United States (1992). Annotated bibliographies.
Bennett, James R. Political Prisoners and Trials…Bibliography, 1900 through 1993. Pp. 267-304 on US. Although US leaders have proclaimed their support for human rights in all nations, they are themselves guilty of massive human rights violations against people around the world and have embraced as allies countries guilty of similar crimes. Furthermore, US officials have imprisoned thousands of their own citizens for their beliefs—not only communists and socialists, but trade unionists, suffragettes, conscientious objectors, civil rights protestors, and on and on.
Brightman, Carol. Total Insecurity: The Myth of American Omnipotence. Unchecked corporate and executive political power and obsession with security has created a permanent state of war and war economy.
Brock, David. The Republican Noise Machine: Right Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. 2004.
Buchanan, Patrick. Where the Right Went Wrong. Indictment of GOP leaders and Bush White House for abandoning principles in the pursuit of power.
Byrd, Robert, Sen. Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency. 2004. (Subject of an earlier Forum.)
Carroll, James. House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. 2006. (Subject of an earlier Forum.)
Carter, Jimmy.Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis. Strong defense of separation of church and state.
Chomsky, Noam. Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9-11 World. Interviews on Iraq, preemptive strikes, US vs. peace of the world, etc.
Cohn, Marjorie. Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law. 2007. (Earlier Forum).
Conason, Joe. It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush. 2007.
Dowd, Maureen. Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk. Bush admin.’s fractured adventures in empire-building.
House Democratic Judiciary Committee Staff. The Constitution in Crisis: The High Crimes of the Bush Administration and a Blueprint for Impeachment.
Giroux, Henry. The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex. 2007. On the “anti-democratic forces of militarization, corporatism, and patriotic correctness” that now dominate US universities. The book fits just as well under Resistance/Rebuilding, for it is a “defense of the university as a democratic public sphere.”
Goldberg, Michelle. Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. How an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life through right-wing evangelical culture and the Republican party.
Hedges, Chris. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. 2006.
Hightower, Jim. If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.
Holtzman, Elizabeth with Cynthia Cooper. The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens. 2006.
Johnson, Chalmers. Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. 2006.
Johnston, David Cay. Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themsleves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). 2007. (Discussed at US Capitalism Forum).
Kaiser, Robert. “So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government.” 2008.
Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy. Bush and his corporate cronies threaten our health, national security, and democracy.
Krugman, Paul. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century. Norton, 2003.
Lerner, Michael. The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right. The destructive alliance of the Religious Right and the Political Right.
Lindorff, Dave and Barbara Olshansky. The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing Presieent George W. Bush from Office. 2006.
Loo, Dennis & Peter Phillips, eds. Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney. 2006.
Mailer, Norman. Why Are We at War? Analyzes George W. Bush’s quest for empire. Norman Mailer, one of the greatest authors of our time, lays bare the White House’s position on why war in Iraq is necessary and justified. By scrutinizing the administration’s words and actions leading up to the current crisis, Mailer carefully builds his case that Bush is pursuing war not in the name of security or anti-terrorism or human rights but in an undeclared yet fully realized ambition of global empire.
Mann, James. The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet. 2004.
*Jane Mayer's The Dark Side: The Inside Story of how the War on Terror Turned i nto a War on American Ideals (2008). (Amjad Faur). An account of how US leaders made ruinous decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world—decisions that not only violated the Constitution but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.
Moyers, Bill. Moyers on America: A Journalist and His times. Democracy has been replaced by government of, by, and for the corporate ruling class.
Palast, Greg. Armed Madhouse. BBC reporter reveals Bush’s plans for seizing Iraq’s oil, exams War on Terror, Kerry won 2002 election, and more.
Rampton, Sheldon and John Stauber. Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America into a One-Party State. Penguin, 2004.
Rasmus, Jack. The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. 2006.
Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush’s America. A step by step chronicle of how the White House built its souse of cards, and how the institutions that should have exposed these fictions, esp. the mainstream news media, failed.
Risen, James. State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. The scandals show how power works in Bush’s presidency.
Ritter, Scott. Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change. A sound US-Iranian relationship based on mutual respect, non-aggression, and economic interaction is in the best interest for both countries.
Rossi, Melissa. What Every American Should Know About Who’s Really Running America, And What You Can Do About It. 2007. Includes a good biblio. mainly on dismantling.
Scheer, Robert. The Pornorgraphy of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. 2008.
Standaert, Michael. Skipping Towards Armageddon: The Politics and Propaganda of the “Left Behind” Novels and the LaHaye Empire. A religious right-wing and neo-conservative conspiracy whose agenda of intolerance is furthered in works of fiction.
Sunstein, Cass. Radicals in Robes. Supreme Court’s right-ward shift may further endanger environmental regulations, campaign finance reform, right to privacy, etc.
Sweig, Julia. Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century. US sowed the seeds of its decline in the eyes of the world in South America.
Whitney, Craig, ed. The WMD Mirage: Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War. The false intelligence and misinformation explains how Bush justified the need for war.
Willis, Clint, ed. The I Hate Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Condit Rice Reader: Behind the Bush Cabal’s War on America. Expose of what the editor feels is the most vicious, destructive, and immoral group ever to run the country.
Wolf, Naomi. The End of America. 2007. US fascist shift under Bush.
RESISTANCE, REBUILDING
“A just world is possible. Human beings create society, and we can change it.” Rosenthal, Power and Powerlessness. “It is the job of politicians to make promises, but it is the job of the people who elect them to make sure they keep them.” Tavis Smiley, Accountable
Alterman, Eric. Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America. Counterattack on right-wing spin and misinformation.
Boulding, Elise. Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History. Syracuse, 2000.
Brown, Peter, and Geoffrey Garver. Right Relationship:Bbuilding a Whole Earth Economy. 2009.
Garey, Diane. Defending Everybody: A History of the American Civil Liberties Union. 1998.
Ginger, Ann Fagan, ed. Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11. 2005.
Ginger, Ann. Undoing the Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Took Kit for Congress & Activists. 2008.
*Ginger, Ann Fagan. The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. 2008. Just in time for the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights! (Lindsley Smith)
Hartmann, Thom. What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to Democracy. US has departed from vision of Founding Fathers. Democracy is not an aberration in human history but the oldest, most resilient, and most universal form of government.
Hayden, Tom. The Port Huron Statement: The Visionary Call of the 1960s Revollution. Historic document of US radicalism, a gernational call for direct participatory democracy.
Korten, David. Agenda for a New Economy. 2009.
*Lappe, Frances Moore. Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life. 2006. (Dick Bennett)
Lardner and Loewentheil, eds. Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era. 2009.
McChesney, Robert. The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century. 2004. (probably more on Dismantling)
Morgan, Robin. Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right. Ideas and arguments from the Founding Fathers and others.
Polner, Murray and Thomas Woods, Jr., eds. We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now. Basic, 2008.
Poundstone, William. Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (And What We Can Do About It.). 2008. On “range” voting.
The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. Beacon, 2002.
*Rosenthal, Susan. Power and Powerlessness. Trafford, 2006. This is the most challenging, think out-of-the-box book in this biblio. Its picture of the US is that of a nation divided between “a few who wield immense power and the rest who feel varying degrees of powerlessness..” This imbalance is no accident, but is the direct result of the few grabbing power from the many. “Part One explains that society does not arise from human nature. On the contrary, current social arrangements violate human nature. Part Two shows how power is divided by class. Part Three investigates how power and powerlessness are perpetuated. Part Four reveals how powerlessness can be transformed into power.” “The need for change is urgent. Everywhere, there is injustice, anguish, and anger. This book explains how society shapes people, how people shape society, and how powerlessness can be converted into the power to transform the world.” (Tom Markham).
--Smiley, Tavis, with Stephanie Robinson. Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. Atria, 2009. Chapters on 6 major areas of policy, each followed by an “Accountable Assessment Checklist”: Obama’s campaign promises, questions to Obama, questions to Congresspeople, and to community leaders. The final and most lengthy chapter is “The Accountable Report Card,” in which Obama is quoted on issue after issue, and then readers are asked to evaluate his performance. The book expresses Smiley’s strong belief in the importance of We, the People, and a nation of, by, and for the people. “It is the job of politicians to make promises, but it is the job of the people who elect them to make sure they keep them.” He calls upon the citizenry to “track the progress of the president’s vision for our future. Presidents alone do not shape our future….citizens must always be prepared to hold the president accountable on what he (perhaps one day, she!) promised he’d fight for. Never forget, we, the people, are accountable for making sure that promises made are promises kept.” (171).
True, Michael. To Construct Peace: 30 More Justice Seekers, Peace Makers. Twenty-Third, 1992.
Wittner, Lawrence. Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960. Columbia UP, 1969.
Wolf, Naomi. Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. 2008 (Earlier Forum).
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
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