Author, panel to discuss The New Jim Crow at City Hall

Michelle Alexander will host a signing of her new book, “The New Jim Crow,” followed by a panel discussion of experts in civil rights, policy, legal and exoffender testimonials from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday Nov. 18, at Cincinnati City Hall City Council Chambers on the third floor.

You can see this interview here.

Here’s part II.

The public is invited to this Human Relations Summit sponsored by the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, The AMOS Project, Faith Community Alliance and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. Call 352-3237 for information and to RSVP.

The problems with “Obamacare” and corporate propaganda

*Update

Much has been said about the Republican health care reform bill that President Obama and the Democrats passed and much of it simply isn’t true. An insurance company insider speaks out here about how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans.

*Update-Here's partII of the interview.

Quantitative Easing Explained by Cartoon Animals

ACLU: Criminal Justice Reform Cannot Wait

What: Join the ACLU of Ohio and the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati for a call to change our criminal justice system.

Ohio’s criminal justice system employs policies that increase cost, reduce safety and contribute to racial disparities. Prison officials, judges and community advocates are calling for reform to lessen the number of people sentenced and to support those who leave prison. Come, learn and take action!

This call to action is a part of the ACLU 2010 Freedom Tour, bringing people together in three cities across the state, to highlight the disparities of the criminal justice system.

Who: Terry Collins, former director, Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation
Donna Jones Baker, executive director, Urban League of Greater Cincinnati
Ed Little, Department of Justice Affairs, Office of Re-entryGary Daniels, associate director, ACLU of Ohio, moderator

When: Monday, December 6, 2010
6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Where: Urban League of Greater Cincinnati
3458 Reading Road Cincinnati, OH 45229

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available. To RSVP for the event, call (216) 472-2200 or email contact@acluohio.org.

Greens, Libertarians, redefining the middle and transcending the left-right divide

In 2008 Ralph Nader got together with Ron Paul, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin to express support for four key principles that the American people can use to transcend the left right divide. By focusing on common ground and common sense solutions perhaps we can change the tone of our political discourse.

Here are four positions where many conservatives and liberals can agree and transncend the left-right divide.

1) Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

2) Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

3) National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

4) The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

And there are more issues that some conservatives and liberals can agree. For instance both parties have continued to support the failed War on Drugs. It has wasted valuable resources in terms of law enforcement it has ruined lives with harsh penalties for non-violent drug offenders.

Liberals like Raplh Nader's running mate Matt Gonzalez and conservatives like Ron Paul are still advocating for these changes. For those looking to build bridges this looks like a good model and some important issues that need to be addressed.

Rachel Maddow interviews Jon Stewart

Here’s the full interview where Jon Stewart opens up about his personal views. Topics range from George W. Bush, WMD’s, water-boarding and the media. I disagree with Stewart on some things, "but I’m pretty sure he isn’t Hitler".

I’m a huge Jon Stewart fan not only because he’s funny, but because he’s very thoughtful, informed and some of his interviews are amazing. I’ll never forget when he went on Crossfire and literally destroyed the show that was the model for modern day punditry.




While I like the idea of the Rally to Restore Sanity/and or Fear. Like many critics I think in trying to be fair-minded he does sometimes make false equivalencies. I think Glenn Greenwald made the point very well. And Bill Maher elaborated on it.

I’m still a big fan and I’m glad the he’s not afraid to say what he thinks, even if I disagree with him on a few points. I think his overall point about toning down the general tone in the national dialog is right on.

Taking on the Prison Industrial Complex and being smart on crime

At the recent local Coffee Party meeting at the OM Café we decided that we should pick a direction because there are so many issues. We decided to start working on overcrowding in our prisons and jails-what is often referred to as the Prison Industrial Complex. Here’s a short video by Angela Davis talking about the issue. As one of Cincinnati’s own Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors, Mike Shyrock, wrote that what they need is, “Not Jail Beds, but Treatment Beds” because a restorative justice is more effective and much cheaper.


Our local Coffee Party wanted to pick an issue that we can find common ground with many different groups that may not agree with us on every issue. (We aren’t sure if we agree with each other on every issue. This is a problem that ruining lives-particularly minorities and non-violent drug offenders that would be better off with treatment-and it is busting budgets at every level of government.

To those Americans that consider themselves fiscal conservatives and fiscally responsible we think that this is an area where many Americans can agree that government has gotten bloated and oppressive. We believe that instead of being tough on crime we need to be smart on crime. One way to do this is with restorative justice and treatment for non-violent criminals.

Another important issue that needs to be addressed is the disproportionate number of minorities that are being locked up for non-violent drug offenses even though studies show that blacks use drugs at about the same rate as whites. Cincinnati’s own anti-marijuana ordinance is a local example of this. Click here to learn more about it.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the ACLU and state Sen. Nina Turner a Cleveland Democrat and Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican are at odds on many issues but the agree that Ohio prisons are in crisis because of overcrowding.
Here’s an excerpt:

The report summarized the findings of other reports over nearly two decades and reached the same conclusions: Ohio sends far too many people to prison, spends an inordinate amount of money on adult and youth prisons, and has done little to reduce crime and recidivism.

It costs taxpayers $66.31 per day to house each adult offender and $330.33 per day for each juvenile offender. Community sanctions, treatment and probation cost a fraction of those amounts.

Seitz said the state's 1996 "truth-in-sentencing" law failed miserably, largely because lawmakers added dozens of tough-on-crime sentence "enhancements" that increased the overall average time served instead of reducing it as intended.
"We created layer after layer of additional sentences," he said.

Seitz is the sponsor of Senate Bill 22, which would funnel some low-level, nonviolent offenders to community treatment programs and give offenders time off their sentences for successfully participating in education and treatment programs behind bars. It would initially save about $13.7 million in operating costs, but it would help avoid billions in spending if it prevents the state from having to build new prisons because of severe overcrowding, he said.

The US has 2.2 million people in prison, more than any nation in the world. Nearly half are non-violent drug offenders.

We believe these common sense reforms can bring people from across the political spectrum together to create more humane policies that ease the strain on our city, county, state and federal budgets. We believe these policies are socially just and fiscally responsible. They will help us reduce the cost and size of government and bring more liberty and justice for all.