Progressive Directory of West Michigan - Connecting Groups for Social Change

The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) has created a progressive directory which includes approximately 75 organizations. Here's the link: Progressive Directory of West Michigan - Connecting Groups for Social Change

The Ultimate Water Park

New industry could help water supply and economic development

"Tom Newhof's plan to open a world-class water laboratory in downtown Grand Rapids seems like a promising, even exciting idea. The facility, which he has dubbed the Global Enterprise for Water Technology, would attract and incubate new-economy jobs by focusing on solutions to the incredibly complex problems now threatening the quality and quantity of the world's freshwater supply. But, so far, state economic development experts see little value in the idea. Mr. Newhof has campaigned unsuccessfully for the project since 2000, but has yet to attract any public financing. "

Read the Rest at: Michigan Land Use Institute

Green Economics at Work in Dhaka Dump

In Bangladesh, an innovative Dhaka-based nonprofit has a plan to solve both the city's mounting garbage problem and the crisis of rural soil depletion. Through community composting, trash is converted into organic fertilizer that rural farmers can use to revitalize soil. The program, funded in part through the Kyoto Protocol's carbon credit scheme, also aims to generate electricity from gas emissions in Dhaka's dump.

More at: Wired News: Power Supply Is Down in the Dumps

Update: Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation vs. Nestle

Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation recently heard from the Michigan Court of Appeals on its motion against Nestle for modification or termination of the stay order allowing Nestle to pump 250 gallons/minute based on a monthly average.

The Court of Appeals denied MCWC's motion for modification of the stay order.

MCWC made the statement to the Court of Appeals and the Court now knows what is going on in Mecosta County. Nestle was granted an emergency stay to continue pumping at the Sanctuary Spring site in December 2003.

More info coming soon when the Court of Appeals issues its opinion on oral arguments heard from both sides in June 2005.

Plan to restore Great Lakes backed

An unprecedented plan to clean up the Great Lakes received a strong reception Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and many members of the public endorsed the $20.5 billion comprehensive proposal to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

Read more of this article at: Cleveland Plaindealer, Plan to restore Great Lakes backed

Global warming: Will you listen now, America?

Two of the leading contenders to contest the next US presidential election have delivered an urgent warning to the United States on global warming, saying the evidence of climate change has become too stark to ignore and human activity is a major cause.

Read the rest of this article at The Independent, Online Edition.

The 'Grieving Mom' Frame

In broad terms, the success of the 'grieving mom' phrase indicates that Americans are now thinking about the War in Iraq through the frame of the family, rather than thinking about Iraq through the frame of 'terrorism' or 'ideology.'

Check it out on Frameshop

Cartoon: Too Much Coffee Man

We accidentally freed Saddam from prison instead of Too-Much-Coffee-Man!

Local Fighters Usually Win

A truth ''that has been largely forgotten in the post-9/11 frenzy is that terrorism is a technique, not an ideology or a country. It is a technique that any group can pick up and use, without distinction of ideology, creed, or cause, and the people wielding it could as easily be fanatical anti-government Americans, Trotskyists, Germans, (or) Islamist Arabs.''

Read More: AlterNet: Local Fighters Usually Win

Preaching Justice, Slaying Demons

In anticipation of a battle fit for Christian soldiers, the planners of Justice Sunday II went big, booking a Nashville, Tennessee, megachurch and arranging the broadcast of their event to millions of homes and thousands of churches across the country through SkyAngel and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. When Justice Sunday II arrived, however, its intended galvanizing message seemed to have evaporated in the sweltering Tennessee night.

Read this article at: The Nation. Preaching Justice, Slaying Demons

Santorum's People Toss Young Women out of Barnes & Noble, Trooper Threatens Them with Prison

On the evening of August 10, Hannah Shaffer of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, decided to go to the nearby Barnes & Noble outside of Wilmington. She wanted to see Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who was promoting his book, It Takes a Family.

The event was billed as a "book signing and discussion," Shaffer says. But discussion was the last thing that the Senator's people wanted.

Read about it here: The Progressive Magazine

Zebra Mussels

They're everywhere! Invasive species! Everywhere!
Photo courtesy of Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI.

Killing the peace-keeping myth: Canadian Forces on the road to Kandahar

The prevailing image of Canadian military interventions as benevolent, or at least neutral, though, should have been shattered any number of years ago as in Vietnam when it produced Agent Orange and sprayed it on its own unwitting soldiers at CFB Gagetown, or in Somalia, or in Iraq during the Gulf War and the subsequent sanctions regime. But this Canadian myth has proved stubborn. Finally, though, in this summer of 2005, it appears that it may be being put to rest by the country’s top general.

Read More of this at Seven Oaks Magazine.

Towards a Better Food Aid System: An Interview with Sophia Murphy

The main reason reform is so difficult is that there aren't strong domestic political constituencies that have an interest in moving to an all cash based system. The nongovernmental organizations would seem to be the most likely to push for these changes. But they are happy to be getting any aid at all, and worry about endangering the flow of food by pushing too hard for reform. And because many of these organizations get funds that they need from monetization of food aid, they actually have an interest in perpetuating the system.

Read the rest of the article on Mother Jones: Towards a Better Food Aid System: An Interview with Sophia Murphy

Should Roe Go?

Should prochoicers just give up and let Roe go? With the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor, more people are asking that question. Democratic Party insiders quietly wonder if abandoning abortion rights would win back white Catholics and evangelicals. A chorus of pundits--among them David Brooks in the New York Times and the Washington Post's Benjamin Wittes writing in The Atlantic--argue that Roe's unforeseen consequences exact too high a price: on democracy, on public discourse, even, paradoxically, on abortion rights.

Read More at ZNet |Feminism/Gender | Should Roe Go?

Terror's Greatest Recruitment Tool

Hussain Osman, one of the men alleged to have participated in London's failed bombings on July 21, recently told Italian investigators that they prepared for the attacks by watching "films on the war in Iraq," La Repubblica reported. "Especially those where women and children were being killed and exterminated by British and American soldiers...of widows, mothers and daughters that cry."

Read More: Terror's Greatest Recruitment Tool