AUGUST 2014 MEETING RECAP

from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

We completed our last Event at the American Legion. It was a light turn-out and some good conversations. Dr. Richard Baker from the Pelican Island Audubon Society gave a short presentation on their fight against the Oslo Road boat ramp in Vero Beach. Hopefully we ALL get behind them on this fight and send e-mails/letters to the Indian River County board of Commissioners asking them to STOP the boat ramp project. This affects ALL of us on the Treasure Coast, we all use the river and we don't need another boat ramp at the price the river will pay. We have plenty already. Also more talk on global warming/climate change, the life of Robert J. Dowlut, a speech from a political candidate, and many opinions from our guests made a very good evening event.

Don't forget that next month’s event will be the LAST MONDAY of the month at our NEW LOCATION. All the information is on our web-site, a flyer is attached, and you can always call me for information and directions. Many of us are going to New York for the UN Climate Conference Rally/Protest, so we will definitely have some good stories to tell at our social time before our next event, so come early.

We also had a great time Friday at our Oslo Road overpass rally. We unveiled our NEW banner on Flush the TPP. It was a good turn-out on the bridge, got a lot of beeps and waves, plus had fun together. I bet we reached a thousand people. "AWARENESS"

Please check out our happenings page and come on out and have some fun with us at one of our rallies, or join and support one of the other groups activities. Get involved, be active, let’s make a difference together.

Thanks for your support,

Take care,

John                                           

ADOPT AN ACTIVIST

from Gregory Wilson

 Helen and I are resting the day after our involvement of the two day Second Annual “Our Children, Climate, Faith” Symposium. This year our theme was activism and connecting to others while building a network of groups and people that are working together, moving in the direction of a more just and sustainable society and culture. I include culture, as our guiding stories are shifting in our direction. Two of the speakers, Hannah Morgan and Tim DeChristopher, who are both young front line activists who have been arrested for pushing our society in the direction we are also moving toward. However most of us are working toward this direction for cultural transformation from more comfortable seats than jail or 60 feet up in a tree. One of the messages I gleaned from being with both Hannah and Tim (they did not say this directly) was that they have given up the traditional pattern of young adults moving into the work force, establishing an economic level which provides stability, comfort, identity and then protesting. They have put their life and lives at times in direct confrontation with the forces that work against a just and peaceful society; and this is their way of life. They are serving the cause that most of us support. In other words they are moving our culture in the direction we want it to go. And they are doing this at times without funds and alone. They are present and accounted for where the culture of violence, war, poverty, wealth accumulation, and environmental destruction is advancing. They're working to hold that line, just as Joanna Macy, Starhawk, and Vandana Shiva call us to hold that line in defense of the earth.

As a people steeped in the teachings of Henry David Thoreau, following his teachings on Civil Disobedience, we know that by paying taxes we are part of the machine that implements injustice and economic patterns that are oppressive and destructive to the planet; so I quote our ancestor Elder, “If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.”

The question; do we as members of a religious community and non-religious communities have a moral obligation to support those on the front lines of moving our culture in the direction we also are working to move? This is central to our social justice work. Actualizing this moral obligation requires our local communities to be part of the supply line to support our communities' front line members as they confront the injustices of our time, and to reinforce them when needed. At the Symposium, I suggested that local groups in this struggle need to “adopt an activist”. I look forward to furthering our work to transform our society and our selves to a more just and kinder culture.

AUGUST 2014 MEETING REMINDER

from John Debus, 

Hi Everyone,       

This is a reminder of our LAST EVENT at this location, this Tuesday evening, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, August 19, 2014 (a week earlier because of election next week) 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 ensure we get out on time. We will be moving Next month to the Garden Club Center, 911 Parkway Drive, Fort Pierce. This is located just 4 or 5 short blocks west of where we are now. It is a smoke free facility (no odors) and we have the building to ourselves (no noise next door). Nice building and neighborhood, a definite upgrade. We also have a great speaker and program lined up for September.

This month we will be having an Open Mic-Nite. Got something to say? Suggest something that needs attention? Now is your chance to speak out on anything within our core values, principles or mission. There will be a speaker signup sheet, so ensure you place yourself on the list to address YOUR ISSUE. We will have guidelines (not laws) so no one person dominates the mic. Everyone gets a chance to speak before someone who has spoken gets to speak a second time.  But remember, not a law, just guidelines to give everyone their voice. Come listen, add your opinion, and decide on how we can make our community and world a better place. 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 TPP Trans-pacific Partnership rally at Oslo overpass last Friday was canceled because of rain. We rescheduled it for this Friday 22 August at 5:00pm. Just one hour to reach hundreds of people and have a great time doing it. Come, have some fun and join us.

TCPA does not endorse political candidates and we are a non-partisan organization. They may come and tell us about themselves and our members may support them individually. All candidates are invited to our events.

We are sending membership renewal notices out to those who have not renewed this year. We hope that you are able to support us again. We do really need as many members as possible to help us with the cost of our mission. We are also looking for volunteers, even if it's for an hour or two a month to sit in on telephone conferences, planning Events, or working on projects, etc..  Just let me or one of the board members know of your interest.

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. So feel free to respond to this e-mail. 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. See you Tuesday. 

John

PS; I received a request from Dr. Richard Baker from the Pelican Island Audubon Society for help with their fight with the river. Please Support the best you can:                                                                                       I’ve appreciated TCPA’s interest in helping the Lagoon.  We need your help in our fight to stop the Oslo boat ramp expansion!  As you probably heard, the judge did not support our appeal denying it thinking that the county has done enough to mitigate the problem.  He did not appreciate this special fish nursery that needs protection, not more and larger boats.  Therefore, we are keeping up our pressure on the IR county commission to stop this project.  Please you, and other folks in the TCPA write letters to the county commission, PJ, and USACE.  To do so, all the information is on our website.  Please see:  www.pelicanislandaudubon.org.  We have put information, the sea grass video, previous letters and press stories on the top of our website as well as addresses of where to email and write, and arguments that folks can use. All your help would be very much appreciated!

 Richard

July 2014 Meeting Recap

from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

Another great event with a very good turn out this past Tuesday. This is the third month in a row that one of our members has put together our Event and given a presentation. I want to give my appreciation to all three, Jerry Buechler with Global Warming/Climate Change, Erika Alvarez with Alternative Medicine Choices, and lastly William McNeely with Renewable Energy/Alternative Choices. All three were excellent Events in which everyone learned something new and enjoyed the presentation and information put out. People that I ran into today were still talking about the Renewable Energy presentation and how much knowledge they got from William and his two speakers last Tuesday. I like to challenge other members that may have progressive issues they are passionate about or know of speakers, that would like to do an event to step up and let us know. We are always looking for educational information for our members and guess.

The clean water rally at the locks in Stuart today was a great success with many of TCPA members there in support.

A reminder that our August Event will be a week earlier on the 19 August,  because of the primary election on the 26 August. DON'T FORGET TO "VOTE". This may be our last Event at the American Legion. We are looking to move to a new location in September. I will know something for sure this week and let everyone know. We are very excited about our new location, but don't want to announce before it is confirmed.

Please check out our happenings page and come on out and have some fun with us at one of our rallies, or join and support one of the other groups activities. Get involved, be active, lets make a difference.

Thanks for your support, 

John Debus

Netflix US and Canada

from Richard Silvestri

Netflix US & Canada Blog 
Post: Internet Tolls And The Case For Strong Net Neutrality 
Link: http://blog.netflix.com/2014/03/internet-tolls-and-case-for-strong-net.html 

Originator not provided.

I saw Reed Hastings’ blog yesterday from Netflix asserting in rather dramatic fashion (with diagrams) that ISPs should build facilities (he said provide, but those facilities have to be built) to accept all of Netflix’s content – indeed all of the content on the Internet – without charge.  Failure to do so, according to Mr. Hastings, was a violation of “strong net neutrality rules” and bad public policy.  I thought it might be helpful to unpack those assertions so we could get right down to the core of Netflix’s rather radical proposition — that people who don’t subscribe to Netflix should nonetheless pay for Netflix. Here are some undisputed facts upon which everyone should agree.

First, let’s all accept the fact that the advent of streaming video is driving bandwidth consumption by consumers to record levels.  Increased bandwidth consumption and faster broadband networks like our Gigapower service in Austin, Texas (and soon Dallas) are requiring all service providers to drive more fiber into their networks to create the capacity necessary to deliver those services to consumers, whether the service providers are delivering a wireless or a wireline product.  This phenomenon was at the heart of our Project VIP investment announcement in November 2012 and it is true of companies like Cogent, Level 3 and CDNs like Netflix as well.

Second, we should accept that companies must build additional capacity to handle this traffic.  If Netflix was delivering, for example, 10 Terabytes of data in 2012 and increased demand causes them to deliver 20 Terabytes of data in 2013, they will have to build, or hire someone to build, the capacity necessary to handle that increased volume of traffic.  That increase in traffic from Netflix is, by the way, not only the result of a likely increase in online viewing by existing subscribers, but also due to an increase in Netflix’s customer base (it announced a 33% increase in subscribers from 2012 to 2013 – good for Netflix).

Third, if Netflix is delivering that increased volume of traffic to, say, AT&T, we should accept the fact that AT&T must be ready to build additional ports and transport capacity to accept the new volume of capacity as a consequence of Netflix’s good business fortune.  And I think we can all accept the fact that business service costs are ultimately borne by consumers.

Mr. Hastings blog post then really comes down to which consumers should pay for the additional bandwidth being delivered to Netflix’s customers.  In the current structure, the increased cost of building that capacity is ultimately borne by Netflix subscribers.  It is a cost of doing business that gets incorporated into Netflix’s subscription rate.   In Netflix’s view, that’s unfair.  In its view, those additional costs, caused by Netflix’s increasing subscriber counts and service usage, should be borne by all broadband subscribers – not just those who sign up for and use Netflix service.

When Netflix delivered its movies by mail, the cost of delivery was included in the price their customer paid.  It would’ve been neither right nor legal for Netflix to demand a customer’s neighbors pay the cost of delivering his movie.  Yet that’s effectively what Mr. Hastings is demanding here, and in rather self-righteous fashion.  Netflix may now be using an Internet connection instead of the Postal Service, but the same principle applies.  If there’s a cost of delivering Mr. Hastings’s movies at the quality level he desires – and there is – then it should be borne by Netflix and recovered in the price of its service.  That’s how every other form of commerce works in our country.  It’s simply not fair for Mr. Hastings to demand that ISPs provide him with zero delivery costs – at the high quality he demands – for free.  Nor is it fair that other Internet users, who couldn’t care less about Netflix, be forced to subsidize the high costs and stresses its service places on all broadband networks.

As we all know, there is no free lunch, and there’s also no cost-free delivery of streaming movies.  Someone has to pay that cost.  Mr. Hastings’ arrogant proposition is that everyone else should pay but Netflix.  That may be a nice deal if he can get it.  But it’s not how the Internet, or telecommunication for that matter, has ever worked.

Does not necessarily represent my opinion.

Richard C. Silvestri