Saw this yesterday, then lost the link. Thankfully Andrew posted it. Here is their website.
Archive for change
As they say in the business, that’s a good start!
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says the rate of sexual violence against women and girls age 12 or older fell 64 percent in a decade and has remained stable for five years.
In 2010, women and girls nationwide experienced about 270,000 rapes or sexual assaults, compared with 556,000 in 1995, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey released Thursday.
Rates declined from a peak of 5 per 1,000 women in 1995 to 1.8 per 1,000 women in 2005. The figure remained unchanged from 2005 to 2010.
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, has been working for decades to curb violence against women, and she said in an interview that the new study is proof that the newly reauthorized Violence Against Women Act and awareness of the problem by police is having a positive impact.
Smeal said that now, more than ever, “everybody knows that rape and sexual assault are crimes and will be treated as such.”
No biggie, don’t understand why Chris Jansing is all breathless over it.
President Obama won’t be giving a stadium speech after all.
Officials said today his Thursday night speech is moving from Bank of America Stadium to the Time Warner Cable Arena because of weather concerns.
“Change is hard, but we’ve seen that it is possible, and as long as you’re willing to keep up that fight, I’ll be right there with you.”
Bill Moyers and I agree completely on this-
“But there is an antidote, on our website BillMoyers.com. We will link you to a vision of hope. Check it out. Sara Robinson, a senior editor of Alternet.org, has written an essay entitled “New Rules for Radicals: Ten Ways to Spark Change in a Post-Occupy World.” My hunch is you’ll cease to weep over our sinking ship of state, and start working to repair it.”
We should all print out Sara Robinson‘s great article and keep in it our pockets. Nurturing innovators and great thinkers as long as we can is the way to cultivate great change. This is what we need to succeed (just a great point out of 10, go read them all).
7. Find and nurture innovators.
We’re building a lot of new stuff very fast right now. New politics, new media, new cities, a new economic paradigms, a new relationship with the planet — it’s daunting. We need new answers much faster than we’re able to generate them.
There are people in our midst who are really good at this stuff, and times like this tend to be good ones for them. In more stable times, these folks are often pushed to the side: they often look and talk goofy, they have weird ideas, they don’t fit in, and nobody really gets what they’re talking about a lot of the time. Also: trailing in their wake you’ll find quite a few successes, along with a few stunning failures — the sure sign of somebody who’s comfortable taking a lot of risks, and not afraid of bombing out.
Genius comes in all ages, genders and colors. It’s the old Boomer codger who’s got a thousand tricks up his sleeve, and forgotten more than you’ll ever know. It’s the young kid who’s never been told it can’t be done, so she just went ahead and figured out how to do it. I’ve seen world-changing political innovation come from farmworker organizers in Phoenix, women’s activists in Atlanta and rural organizers from Montana and Oregon. There are often no markings on the package it comes in that give you a clue as to what’s going on inside, so you have to drop your biases, and look closely.
We need to seek out these folks and put their amazing brains to work. To do their best work, they need time and space to think. The basic necessities of life. Really good and worthy problems to solve. Permission to let their minds wander, unfettered and free. Permission to fail spectacularly. And then fail again. And again, over and over, because really complicated problems usually require outrageous quantities of failure before success is achieved. The process takes time, patience, and faith; this is what innovation runs on.
30 years ago today, I was in my friend Lynn’s Caddy (or was it a Lincoln?) on a ROAD TRIP! to Miami from our college in Michigan. We had with us my bf Marianne and some guy. We had left in the early morning hours on a drunken whim, but Lynn had a credit card and a car, so we were good to go. Somewhere in Tennetucky we had stopped, and when we got back in the car and turned the radio on, they were playing “Cats in the Cradle”. I’m pretty sure all of us had seen the concert when Harry Chapin had played at our college (He kissed me twice!) so we all sang along. Then “WOLD” came on right after, and we were all, “WTF? Did he die or something?” Yes he had.
Harry Chapin was a crusader against hunger before it was trendy. A husband, a father, a singer and a poet dedicated to somehow, some way helping those in need. His family has continued his work, you can visit the Harry Chapin Foundation here. I’m getting me some more t-shirts, ’cause my “Cheap Seats” one is long gone. He would have made a helluva Senator Chapin (D-NY)-
“Just to call him an inspiration would minimize his real impact. Harry Chapin, his life and his efforts, did an awful lot not only to stimulate the success of We Are the World, but its longevity,” said entertainer Harry Belafonte, a driving force behind the 1985 benefit that raised millions to fight starvation in Africa.
“It’s hard to overestimate the amount of good he did,” added Sen. Patrick Leahy, a close friend of Chapin’s who confessed he broke down in tears after he was summoned from the Senate floor on July 16, 1981, and told of the fatal crash. Speaking at Chapin’s memorial service, Leahy said, was one of the most difficult things he’s ever done.
“There are a huge number of people who probably have no idea who he is,” Leahy told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “All they know is they got fed because of him and they wouldn’t have otherwise, both in this country and abroad.”
The Vermont Democrat recalls a meeting with Carter in the White House, when Carter agreed to form a commission focusing on world hunger. Chapin’s tenacious spirit almost kyboshed the deal, Leahy said.
“We sat around the Cabinet room and he starts telling the president we should do this. And the president’s trying to say `I agree with you, Harry.’ And he’s just getting all wound up and excited. I finally said, `Harry, Harry, don’t talk him out of it.’ Everybody laughed, but he pushed for it and pushed so hard.”
ADDED- Another great site- Harry’s Friends
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
This brought me to tears. People who pay attention, who open their eyes, who see people for who they are, who are able to pause for a moment and step back, who have the capacity to empathize, can actually undergo profound changes and reconsider their positions.
Overcoming ignorance and/or fear by familiarizing oneself with opponents, educating oneself, listening and communicating, getting up close and personal, are key to resolving our differences.
I wish more people would follow this man’s lead. Knowledge is power.
Commenters: We have guidelines for comments. Please read them here. Thanks!
The Political Carnival T-Shirt
Modeled by @suzannegypsy
Suzanne Kulperger
Please donate to The Political Carnival
using the Paypal 'Donate' button below.
Have you watched
a Blunt today?
Would you like to donate to The Political Carnival monthly? You can on our Support TPC page.
Laffy
Paddy
ThePoliticalCarnival
LWDGrfx
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below:
Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
Translate The Political Carnival via Google
TPC RSS Posts Feed
TPC Comments Feed
Subscribe to The Political Carnival Newsfeed via Wikio
The Political Carnival is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Photographs on The Political Carnival site (please read):
Photographs from other sources sometimes appear on TPC for humorous or illustrative purposes. As it is not our intention to use these images in any inappropriate manner or to infringe upon any rights held by others, anyone holding legal rights in the use of these images who wishes to have them taken down please contact us immediately requesting such removal, with which we will comply promptly.