JUNE 2014 MEETING RECAP

from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

A good event with a lite turn out this past Tuesday. Perhaps the summer time (off season) had something to do with it. The people that attended did seem to be very interested the alternative medical choices information and how they could apply it to themselves. Myself, I believe the liver cleansing makes the most sense. As an old auto mechanic, I know changing your oil filter is the most important part of your car care, so why would you not apply the same principle to your bodies filter, the liver? Again a lot of good information and choices for one to be aware of, to take care of yourself. We do need to take responsibility for our bodies and not rely completely on the money making Medical System.                                                                                        

We started a new petition for our Congressional Representative in the 18th district to support and co-sponsor the Move To Amend "We The People Amendment" introduced last year in congress. We are hoping to acquire enough signatures to have him get behind this VERY important issue. Please help us by picking up a copy of the petition at one of our events and get some of your friends, family, co-workers, etc. to sign it. Getting the money out of our political system is the #1 problem we are facing in out country, all the other problems stem from this source.                                                                                                      

Reminder for Our Quarterly Picnic tomorrow Sunday, 29 June 2014 at 11:00am to 2:00pm at  Museum Point, South Causeway Park in Fort Pierce. Bring something to eat (sandwich) for yourself,  something  to drink, you can bring a dish to share, or just come and have a drink with us (as always we will have drinks available). All our Events are free and open to the public, membership is not required. Come and meet some very good people and be part of our family. Make a day of it and visit the Museums and/or the Aquarium while you are there. Please call me if you have any questions or need directions.

Thanks for your support. Hope to see you at the picnic. 

John 

TOO MUCH LOST BLOOD AND TREASURE FOR OIL

from: Jerry Buechler

It has been said that the President  missed a shining moment to preserve peace in Iraq. Except, there never was peace.  Negotiations died over a Status of Forces Agreement that would protect remaining troops from Iraqi Kangaroo courts and a Hydrocarbon Law that would allow Production Sharing Agreements with western oil companies.  Maliki couldn’t secure either because of strong opposition by Iraqis and Iran to American occupation.

   I agree with Alan Greenspan who wrote “this is a war largely about oil”   Vice President Cheney held secret “Energy Task Force” meetings in 2001 and 2002 with oil company heads and the State Department and they decided that Iraq “should be open to international oil companies as quickly as possible after invasion.”

   We abandoned the hunt for Osama bin Laden to pursue Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with 9/11.   CIA’s George Tenet said on “60 Minutes” , “We could never verify that there was any Iraqi authority, direction, control, or complicity with Al-Qaeda for 9/11 or any operational act against America, period.”

   Here is how Iraqi experienced our “Shock and Awe” attack.  First, approximately 29.000 bombs and missiles were detonated in Iraq in 2003.  10,000 were non precision weapons and about 4,000 of the precision weapons missed their targets altogether wreaking death and destruction on civilian homes, and other inadvertent targets.

   Second, household to household surveys estimated war deaths of 1.2 million Iraqis out of a population of 24 million.  If the U.S. was invaded and the result was 1 out of 20 or 17 million Americans killed,  I am positive we wouldn’t welcome the invaders as liberators.  So, if another U.S. surge is needed, let it be a surge of compassion.  Any finger-pointing has to include us.

CLIMATE CHANGE

from  Jerry Buechler

Why should economic and environmental insecurity be the price we pay for our addiction to fossil fuels?  The EPA is taking actions supported by former EPA heads for Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes!  Even the conservative World Bank states we need to keep 70% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground to avoid runaway climate change. 

  The U.S. consumes 20% of the 93 million barrels of oil burned everyday.   This combustion of fuel creates heat equal to 4-5 Hiroshima bombs going off every second or the lighting of an Olympic pool full of fuel every 15 seconds.  Over 94% of this heat is being absorbed by the ocean.  The result is warmer ocean waters and acidification as the ocean absorbs our carbon emissions.

   There is a better choice we can make.  The cost of wind energy fell tenfold between 1980 and 2000, and solar panel prices have dropped more than 80% in five years.  In 1998 U.S. Crude, after adjusting for inflation, was $17.10 a barrel and last week it hit $107.

  As for coal, El Paso Energy in Texas signed a purchase agreement to buy solar power form Macho Springs in NM for 5.79 cents a kilowatt-hour---- less than half the 12.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity from new coal plants.  East Coast offshore wind turbines can generate the same amount of electricity as 3,000 coal-fired power plants.  Do we want to invest in renewables which are getting cheaper each year or in foolish fossil fuels that are getting more expensive and damaging to our climate, air, water, and oceans?

JUNE 2014 MEETING REMINDER

from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

A reminder of our event this Tuesday evening, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, June 24, 2014 at the American Legion Post #40, 810 S. US 1, Fort Pierce, Fl. 34950. Please use the front entrance (on US1) and it is the large room on the right side as you come in the front door. Plenty of parking is on the side of the building. We will have water and Green Tea (free) available or you can purchase drinks from the bar in the next room. Come early for some Social time before our event, doors will open at 6:00pm. We must start on time to insure we get out on time.

This month we will be having Erika Alvarez presentation on Alternative Medicine Choices. She will be showing a documentary "A Cure" an Interview with Dr. Hulda Clark and doctors, naturopaths and patients using her protocol. She also will have a short demonstration on a couple of devices that they use. Come listen, add your opinion and decide on your path toward a healthy body. The most important place to be every month is our event, all our work and activism starts with the support we get from each other here, and the recognition of our organization depends on the number of people participating.

The action table at our event is set up for group's information, sign-up sheets, upcoming events and petitions. All groups will also have 1-3 minutes at the beginning, to tell us about themselves. You can also contact Kathy or myself to have your events posted on our web-site happenings page. Check often for up to date HAPPENINGS.

Our Quarterly Picnic is scheduled for next Sunday, 29 June 2014 at 11:00am to 2:00pm at Museum Point, South Causeway Park in Fort Pierce. Bring something to eat (sandwich) for yourself, something to drink, you can bring a dish to share, or just come and have a drink with us (as always we will have drinks available). All our Events are free and open to the public, membership is not required. Come and meet some very good people and be part of our family. Make a day of it and visit the Museums and/or the Aquarium while you are there.

Our next Event will be Renewable Energy, "Alternative Choices",  29 July 2014 at the American Legion Post #40, 810 S. US 1, Fort Pierce, Fl. 34950.  We will have a lot of good information.

Please come out, we need your support to make a difference, be part of the experience. We also would like your feed-back on our Events and Organization. CHECK OUT OUR WEB-SITE;  tcprogressivealliance.com Check often as many events are posted late with little notice. We post as soon as we get them. Also check out our blog with many interesting articles and information posted there.

Thanks for your support,

Take care,

See you Tuesday,

John

HONEST OPEN MEDIA -- NOT NPR

from Michael Ossipoff

I've just been deliglhted to find your organization's brochure in at the information-table at the Fort Pieirce Main-Branch library (by the marina). It's good to hear that there are so many progressives in this area. What is the number of members? What is the number of participants (whether members or not)? To introduce myself: My name is Michael Ossipoff. I reside in Fort Pierce. I've long been one of the more active participants in the Internet discussion of voting-systems. I've written many articles for democracy Chronicles, an Internet democracy advocacy and news magazine/newspaper. It's at: http://www.democracychronicles.com I agree with the purposes stated in your brochurre. Looking at the page headed Some Progressive Issues: Responsible Media is the 3rd item in the list ther. It's crucial for any kind of other improvements. One of the Founding Fathers, maybe Jefferson, pointed out that democeracy is the thing on which all other rights and improvements depend. But it's also been pointed out that democracy isn't possible without genuine and free public access to information. Of course we don't have that now, or even anything close to it. Any advocacy of any reform or improvement has to first be discussed, and it's necessary to know that other progressives want that too, and that, in fact, there _are_ other progressives. That's why media are crucial. It's astonishing that, all around the country, NPR (Nonrepresentative Propaganda Radio) is what passes for progressive media. NPR propagates the usual corporate-mass-media positions and premises. Within those narrowly-circumscribed premises, it includes "debate" between the Democrat and Republcan versions of the media-permitted Republocrat agenda. There are things that Americans complain about and object to. Such things as the excxessive richness of the rich, and the poverty at the bottom of the income and wealth scale; the lack of a progressive tax structure that fairly taxes the rich; the moving of jobs oversseas, in order to avoid paying a living wage here; the widespread unavailability of full medical care (unmatched in the industrial world). Pretty much every one of our wars are unwanted by the public at the time when our government starts them. In general, the public are more progressive than their "representatives". When Clinton said that national free medical care isn't "politically viable", Noam Chomsky said something like, "Sure, it isn't politically viable, because only the people want it." Though NPR consistently promotes the official line, when it mentions issues at all, it actually spends little time on the things that people are concerned about. It has all sorts of fluff-pieces and space-fillers, such as a remarkably detailed chronicle of the fictitious Lake Woebegone. When I asked why all points of view aren't heard, a show-host told me that it's because they only cover what their audience is interested in. But NPR needs to be told that the public _are_ interested in concerns such as I listed above. In fact much of NPR's audience consists of progressives, and their concerns, particulary, aren't aired at all in NPR's one-position-advocacy programming. So I suggest that NPR would be a good place for us to start. That's what this posting is actually about. No, trying to improve NPR would probably be quite futile. They already know that their positions are at odds with those of much of their audience, and with the interes and expressed wishes and concerns of the public in general. So, I'm suggesting something more modest: Let's ask WQCS, Fort Pierce's college radio station (around 88, at the low end of the FM dial, with studio and transmitter at the Indian River State College (IRSC) in Fort PIerce) to drop NPR from its programming. As I understand it WQSC is actually paying for the privilege of having NPR. Let's tell them that we don't want it. Let's tell them that we'll withold our contributions to WQCS until they drop NPR. _That_ is the biggest and best thing that we could do for an honest, agenda-free and participatory media. Then let's encourage other progressives around the country to do the same in their own communities. Of course, with NPR out of WQCS, the one-position, official-agenda, NPR news and commentary could be replaced with new and commentary that are actually inclusive, honest, and participatory, with program-personnel from the student-body, and from the public. It isn't unheard of for a college or university radio station to do that. For example, the radio station of the University of California at Santa Cruz has long been a _genuinely_ ppen, honest and participatory local FM station. No NPR there. Just local programming, with student and community program personel What if we can't get WQCS to drop NPR? Then we could begin an effort to start a new local FM station. A genuinely progressive station. Those are my suggestions, and I thank you for listening to them. Michael Ossipoff

MAY 2014 MEETING RECAP

from John Debus 

Hi Everyone,

We had another really good event with a great turn out and some VERY GOOD live music by Bob Lusk, one of our new great progressives finds.  And again, many new first-timers showing up.

Jerry gave us a very in-depth view and covered all areas of climate change. We had

a good discussion afterwards. Our social time before the event starts has become a great

opportunity to get to know one another much better. I'm becoming very impresed with some

of our newer members and their life stories. We could do an educational event on some of them.

Our June Event will be Alternative Medicine Choices "What is a Cure" presented by Erika Alvarez.

This will have a lot of good information, alternative choices for health care and a documentary film,

with a short demonstration. Make sure you don't miss this.

We helped organize a community action last Saturday. Erika, along with some TCPA energetic

members and Pastor William Shelly and his group, got together to do a clean-up in Gifford. We

pick up 40 bags of trash, loaded two trucks and took them to the dump. We got that great

feeling inside, had a good time together, and made new friends in the community with which to work

together to make a better world. Thanks to all participants.

Our next adventure will be this Friday with our Stop Keystone XL rally on the I-95 over-pass

on Oslo Rd. in Vero Beach from 5pm to 6pm. Come on out and help hold the banner, bring a

sign, or just hang out for an hour and have some fun. Hope to see you all there.

Check our web-site's happenings page for other events and get involved and make a difference.

Hope to see you all soon,

Thanks for your support,

Take care,

John

Jane Kleeb vs. the Keystone Pipeline

from Richard Silvestri

“On April 18, the State Department announced that it wouldn’t decide on Trans­Canada’s permit application until the Nebraska court ruled. As of today, Nebraska is the crucial piece in determining the fate of the line: until the State Supreme Court rules, there can’t be a final route, and until there’s a final route, the State Department won’t decide on the permit”.

Jane’s next focus is South Dakota, where Trans­Canada’s four-year construction permit will need to be recertified in June. The company will face an environment far more hostile than the one it encountered when the project was first proposed.  In late April, Kleeb held rallies on the National Mall with a group referred to as the “new C.I.A.” — the Cowboy and Indian Alliance — made up of ranchers from along the pipeline’s route and Sioux from South Dakota tribes. We can’t beat Trans­Canada with money,” she said. “We don’t have millions to spend. But we have you.” Standing in the audience, I was struck by how insular the group seemed, hardened by a shared struggle. They talked with great feeling about what the fight against Trans­Canada had given them: a new community, new friends, a new purpose.  “You’re asking people to be involved.  It’s part of our human nature. People want to be asked to do something bigger than themselves.”