Monthly Archive for April, 2006

Another May 1st Strike Update

Published
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Peace Chicken
on April 29, 2006
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Thanks to Technorati and a new-found blog, I finally have some local May 1st events to share. I would also like to add this comes from a fellow female blogger here in Columbus, Ohio. Always nice to find more girls in the blogosphere. Did I really just use the term blogosphere in a sentence? Yikes…

May 1st events in Ohio:

TOLEDO/NW Ohio
Protest at the office of Congressman Paul Gillmor, who voted for the anti-immigrant, anti-american proposal HR4437. Car caravans leave the FLOC office, at 1221 Broadway, Toledo at NOON. Assemble at Rotary Park in Tiffin at 1:00 pm. March to the office of Congressman Gillmor at 96 S. Washington St., in Tiffin.

CINCINNATI
Gather at 10:00 a.m. at Carew Tower, 441 Vine in downtown Cincinnati, the location of the office of Congressman Steve Chabot in room 3003.

COLUMBUS
Meeting with members of Congress Debra Pryce and Ted Strickland staff, who voted for the HR4437 proposal.

Also: rally/celebration at the Restaurant Viva Zapata from 12:00-6:00 pm; information, food and music. 355 Georgesville Rd.

And: Rally at the Ohio State University Oval - Join Ohio State students, staff and community at 12:00 noon for a rally at the oval. Participants will proceed to Viva Zapata after the rally.

CLEVELAND
Rally and protest Congressman LaTourette, who voted for HR4437.

DAYTON
Peaceful walk in front of the Federal Building, 200 W. 2nd. St. at 3:30 pm.

…for more info I encourage you to go to the site I got this info from, Elenamary.com.

Get Out the Vote w/ Ted Strickland

Published
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Peace Chicken
on April 25, 2006
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From Ted Strickland’s website:

Join Congressman and Gubernatorial-candidate Ted Strickland at the Ohio Democratic Party headquarters as we head out to some high-Dem precincts and talk to voters. We will be passing out literature for the May 2nd primary election.

Saturday, April 29th 10am
Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters
271 State St.

May 1st Strike update

Published
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Peace Chicken
on April 25, 2006
in political
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While the boycott will [hopefully] be national, the rally looks to be focused on the LA area. I can’t find a shred of information involving local May 1st events. I’ve been searching NoHR4437.org and both of the Columbus and Cleveland Indymedia sites. :-/

May 1st Immigrant Strike

Dear Mr. President

Published
by
Peace Chicken
on April 24, 2006
in political
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Pink

Composed and performed by Pink

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or watch the video: (Acoustic version with Indigo Girls // Video with photo montage)

Dear Mr. President

Come take a walk with me
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and you’re not better than me
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Continue reading ‘Dear Mr. President’

Candidate Match online tool for Ohio Governor

Published
by
Peace Chicken
on April 24, 2006
in political
. 0 Comments

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Although the candidates in the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries have been making speeches, meeting with editorial boards and running campaign ads, some Ohioans remain undecided about whom to support in the May 2 election.

Many Ohio voters who have made up their minds still want more details about their chosen candidates’ views on the issues.

In an effort to help Ohioans make informed choices on Election Day, The Columbus Dispatch, WBNS-10TV, the Ohio News Network and ThisWeek Community Newspapers — all members of the Dispatch Media Group — have come together to provide voters with an interactive feature called CandidateMatch.

By completing a brief online questionnaire, you can find out how your views stack up against those of the candidates seeking your support in this year’s Ohio gubernatorial primary races.

I highly suggest trying out this tool, it’s very informative and its 25 questions cover a good range of issues. I filled it out and got an overwhelming 1200 points for Strickland, and a [not surprising] -700 points for Blackwell. Yes, that’s negative 700. The tool calculates the points based on how far off your answer is from the candidate’s answer, as well as the level of importance you assign to the specific issue (”extremely important” multiplies the number by 200%, for example.) And there is the option to not rate the issue at all, in case you’re unfamiliar with the facts or simply indifferent.

It’s just what the American People need, a quick online survey to make their political decisions for them. Like the great Usability book says, Don’t Make Me Think! Well okay, we’re still thinking, just not as hard.

Hey, whatever will get people to vote. Now if we could just implement some American Idol-styled voting, we’d have ourselves one of them there active democracies!

Candidate Match

Ohio House Bill 228: making all abortions a felony in the state of Ohio.

Published
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Peace Chicken
on April 20, 2006
in political
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Attention: fellow women of Ohio, control over our own bodies is once again being threatened. Ohio House Representative Tom Brinkman introduced House Bill 228, dangerous legislation that would outlaw all abortion in the state without exception - not even to save the life of the woman, not even in the case of rape or incest. It would even make it a felony to transport a woman across state lines to obtain an abortion.

HB 228’s official goal:

“…to prohibit abortions in this state, to increase the penalties for the offenses of unlawful abortion, unlawful distribution of an abortion-inducing drug, and abortion trafficking, to enact the offense of facilitating an abortion, and to make conforming changes in related provisions.”

pro choice.Here we have another example of a man trying to make ridiculous rules for something he is guaranteed to never experience in his life. Of course I would be just as angry if Representative Brinkman were a woman, but that’s beside the point.

Along with Tom Brinkman we can also thank the bill’s co-sponsors: Representatives Hood, Buehrer, Bubp, Faber, Fessler, Gilb, Hoops, Kearns, Raussen, Reidelbach, Schaffer, Schneider, Seaver, Taylor, Uecker, Wagner, and Widowfield. If any of those names happen to be one of your Representatives, why don’t you send them a nice little thank you card for deciding on behalf of all Ohio women what they can and can’t do with their own bodies.

Ironweed Films

Published
by
Peace Chicken
on April 17, 2006
in political
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Ironweed Films deserves some mention on this site for sure.

As the NY Times explains it, Ironweed is “a monthly progressive film festival on DVD.” Each month they send you a limited release DVD with progressive and insightful films, from 8 min. shorts to full-length documentaries. Your $15/mo. subscription helps important films get the exposure they deserve, and it’s a nice little bonus that your progressive media library grows at the same time. [Take a look at some of Ironweed's past releases.]

If you’re wondering about the name Ironweed, I made a weird face at first too. The package the movie came in had this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson printed on it that cleared up the slight confusion:

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

This month the feature was voting and the democratic process. The main film was Street Fight, an Oscar-nominated documentary chronicling the 2002 mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey. My mention of Street Fight is brief for now because I haven’t watched this one yet.

The next part of this month’s feature was the one I subscribed for and just finished viewing, No Umbrella: “An official selection of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. An unblinking look at 2004 Election Day failures in one of Ohio’s poorest neighborhoods, No Umbrella chronicles the chaos of inner-city polling places. The film follows an octogenarian councilwoman named Fannie Lewis as she takes on equipment breakdowns, an unresponsive bureaucracy, and an increasingly agitated electorate.”

This alone was worth the subscription. I didn’t know who Fannie Lewis was an hour ago but now I love her. This woman just would not stop until her precinct was taken care of. She canceled a greeting with Jesse Jackson to stay on the phone relentlessly hounding the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections for more voting machines and workers. How easy it is to forget the events of November 2004, this was a stark reminder.

Ironweed also made sure I didn’t forget the 2000 election either, stuck in with my DVD there was a little plastic bag of “Official Florida Chads from the 2000 Presidential Election” It’s pretty weird to stare at the little pieces of yellow paper and wonder where else this country could be right now.

Another feature of this film club is the Community, with your membership you can create a personal profile and discuss the films on the website. Though I haven’t yet explored the Community section, I definitely like the idea and am curious to see how active the section is.

If I’ve piqued your interest, check out www.ironweedfilms.com/freetrial to try a month for free. And please let me know what you think about it, I haven’t done much searching for reviews just yet, but I’ll be heading over to Technorati right after I post this.