carfree columbus

Mothers Day: "Arise then... women of this day!"

Lorraine Bieber — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:55:33 EDT

It is indeed puzzling that so many Republican members of Ohio's congressional delegation voted no on H.R. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day” (full warm and fuzzy text here).

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

The Myspace/MTV thing just got even cooler

Lorraine Bieber — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:47:34 EDT

When the presidential dialogue was over, the myspace page provided a flektor, enabling viewers to share the vote results (as well as one's own votes) on a blog, myspace, email, or elsewhere. The little star on the pie chart shows how I voted. While the event was going on, the pieces of the same type of pie chart (on the same screen as Edwards) were fluctuating as viewers changed their votes in response to what Edwards was saying.

They're going to do this for all the candidates willing to participate, both republican and democratic. I'll post again when the next one is scheduled.

45 minutes left of Myspace/MTV interactive dialogue with John Edwards

Lorraine Bieber — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:17:16 EDT

This is turning out to be super cool. I'm watching the Myspace/MTV interactive dialogue with John Edwards. As he answers questions, you rate his responses. Meanwhile, you can watch a pie chart showing everyone's ratings. It's fun to watch the pie chart change in real time as people change their responses.

Join in NOW - 45 minutes left. You don't have to have a Myspace profile to watch and participate.
It's at:
http://www.myspace.com/election2008

Rocky Anderson, Sherrod Brown and Mike Coleman Tomorrow

Lucie Pollard — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:35:04 EDT

The very green mayor of Salt Lake Oity will keynote at the Columbus Green Building Forum tomorrow. In addition to speaking, he and Sen. Brown (how I like to use that title!) will join Mayor Coleman to officially inaugurate Greenview Estates, Columbus' first subdivision of green, affordable homes. The green activities will continue with Columbus Green Building Forum's Green Residential Showcase on Saturday 9/15, which is free and open to the public.

PERS investments in Iran

bluehogcat — Sun, 20 May 2007 21:41:23 EDT

understand that state retirees investments are in iran..if Iran is bad as media makes it out why isnt PERSdivesting? they claim it would hurt their portfolio; we heard that re south africa --who r we supporting in iran--halliburton .....

Tim Ryan (OH-17) takes the $21 Food Stamp Challenge

Lorraine Bieber — Fri, 18 May 2007 00:11:32 EDT

Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan joins Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) in an effort to raise awareness for hunger and for their proposal to add $4 billion to the annual federal food stamp budget. Day one from Tim Ryan's blo g:

This week, I’ll be participating in the Food Stamp Challenge. For seven days, I’ll be living on three dollars of food per day, the same amount an average participant in the Food Stamp Program receives. The Challenge is an exercise aimed to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by millions of Americans, who live day to day, working to put food on the table.

Last Friday, my staff and I held a meeting plotting out how I would spend my $21.00. As we looked over food prices, we were struck by how anyone could expect a person to have a balanced, healthy diet on a mere three dollars per day. On a dollar per meal, a person can’t buy fresh fruit and vegetables. A person can’t buy the milk they need. The kids across the country who go to bed hungry on nights when the budget is stretched too thin deal with the reality of poverty every day, and I want them to know they aren’t forgotten.

There are over one million recipients of Food Stamps in Ohio, nearly 90,000 in the 17th District. I’m participating in this challenge because as Congress crafts this years Farm Bill, we’re going to have to take a hard look at the way the Food Stamp Program is administered. I hope that at the end of the week, I have a deeper understanding of the hardships of these millions of American, and a better idea of how to help them.

national alliance for the mentally ill walk-MAY 5

bluehogcat — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:28:14 EDT

please join NAMI in their annual work to provide education and support re mental illness and addiction issues....please sponsor me or a member of our group....contact NAMI in frANKLIN COUNTY AT 614-262-0114

westside blue dems

bluehogcat — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:23:39 EDT

want to get a group going on westside of columbus.. as i do not have a car am suggesting we meet at my home or westland library... let's take back the county in all AREAS not just campus and so-called progresive areas. let's get down to work at out-organizing the republicans and swipe some of their discontents and persons who hv been bamboozled by their faile promises

Turning Ohio Around in Worthington

Lucie Pollard — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 18:44:40 EST

It is a big job, but if the energy level in Worthington is any indication, this project is underway. WADC member Gary Tyack had to resign his position as chairman of the Worthington School Board after his election to the Franklin County Court of Appeals. The school board asked for applications so they could appoint someone to fill out the term, and got twenty six applicants. This group was winnowed to five, including WADC members Anita Doran, Abe Ottolenghi and Charlie Wilson. Wilson, a law professor at OSU and active, thoughtful participant in WADC, was the board's choice. Local voluntary boards and commissions are also seeing a surge in applications which has slowed the process of choosing the new members. Again, among those I am aware of are numerous superbly qualitfied, thoughtful people. Then there is Sustainable Worthington, begun after the election. I was looking for a way to continue active involvement in the community with as many of the people I had enjoyed getting to know during the election as possible -- I didn't want to stop working and thinking with them, but thought it might be time to "think globally but act locally." I met Lisa Staggenborg and others at Simply Living's conference on sustainability in October, and we set up a meeting to discuss sustainability in Worthington on November 29. We defined sustainability (with the help of Fred Yaeger) as "the ability to provide for the needs of the world's current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs to anyone involved. The dimensions of sustainability are economic, ecological, social and cultural."

Thirty five people came to the first meeting, and we have been growing ever since. We have 83 people on the main Google group's list, and have developed seven sub-groups which are meeting independently now:

Local Foods (local grocery, co-op, year-round farmer's market, community garden
Energy Use (audits of city and residential buildings, group purchases of solar energy, exploring what other communities are doing)
Bike, Bus, Walk (Comprehensive plan, bike links to other communities, better sidewalks and walking paths)
Community Hub on Village Green (restore 752 building as community center with bus hub, restrooms for walkers and bikers, local food; traffic calming at 161 & High)
Commercial Development (new CVS building -- green standards?, mix of stores addressing more day-to-day needs, more ethnic and vegetarian restaurants, bike shop, bookstore, restaurants with community meeting space)
Recycling (work with school programs starting with paper, which they can sell; get churches and businesses to save paper; participate in art ReCycle project; find safe disposal for fluorescent bulbs)
Educational Series (possibly in conjunction with the library)

Lisa and I seem to be helping people find each other, but once they do, they are off and running. We seem to have tapped into the Zeitgeist with this, and expect good things to come of it.

Just speaking for myself, I am learning a great deal, and getting to know some interesting people. Sustainability is sometimes an unfamiliar concept in Ohio, but once people start to understand it, people seem to find their own ways of getting involved.