Yes! Magazine Weekly Roundup November 22, 2013

Reclaiming the Joy of Real Food

How did junk food displace the nourishing, seasonal, local traditions of cooking and eating? Just in time for Thanksgiving, the new issue of YES! is about reclaiming food—for our health and for ecological health. You’ll find slow food, shared food, food carts, fermented food, indigenous food, and reasons to get down and dirty. Rediscover the joy of great eating, spiced with love and tradition.

Sarah van Gelder, executive editor

A Peek Inside

TPP Protestors to Foreign Negotiators: “Don’t Let U.S. Bully You” Negotiators from Latin American and Asian countries said they were “doing their best” to stand up to the U.S. Trade Representative. READ MORE »

“Cowboys and Indians” Camp Together to Build Alliance Against Keystone XL At the Ponca Trail of Tears Spiritual Camp, tribal members and their ranchers are learning to understand each other as never before. READ MORE »

Forget the Food Industry: Rediscover the Pleasure of Buying, Cooking, and Eating Real Food Junk food may have captured the American palate, but a few simple ingredients and techniques can win it back. READ MORE »

8 Courageous Things Harry Potter Fans Did to Fight Real-Life Dark Forces If Harry Potter was a real person, he’d fight child labor, voter suppression, and poverty. Here are our favorite ways Harry’s fans have taken his values from the page to the real world. READ MORE »

The Hunger Games Are Real: Teenage Fans Remind the World What Katniss Is Really Fighting For What if we used fantasy not as an escape from our world, but an invitation to look deeper into it? How teenage fans are fighting injustice—in real life. READ MORE »

Why the UN Climate Negotiations Give Me Hope (In Spite of Everything) It’s possible to find hope for action In the new generation’s determination and clarity—even after 19 years of stalled negotiations. READ MORE »

“Beauty Feeds a Different Kind of Hunger”: An Interview with Terry Tempest Williams “I used to ask the question, ‘Am I an activist or a writer?’ I don’t ask that anymore. I am simply a human being engaged.” READ MORE »

How To Eat Like Our Lives Depend On It: Rediscovering the Many Joys of Food It’s time to reclaim the well-being and exuberance that is part of healthy food culture. READ MORE »

World Governments: If You Won’t Take the Lead on Climate Change, Then the People Will If governments fail to listen to mounting protests demanding clean energy, people’s movements will put their futures in question. READ MORE »

Lian Pin Koh shows us how drones can be used for animal conservation, and keep an eye on poachers in the process. WATCH » Monsanto May Have Won the Battle, But the Future of Food Is Not Lost Reader Tad Veltrop writes, “The right to know what is in our food is a modest initiative, but its a start to curb a dangerous food system.” READ MORE »

Dave Murphy for Most Valuable Organizer RootsCamp, an organizing unconference by the New Organizing Institute

Nominee for Most Valuable Organizer

Dave Murphy

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• Nominee Information

  • Nominee’s Organization

    Organization: Food Democracy Now!

  • How the nominee exhibited innovation

    Dave Murphy founded Food Democracy Now! on the belief that our food system is broken due to poor government policies that primarily favor multinational food, seed and chemical corporations over the health of people and family farmers and that the only way to solve these problems is to educate, motivate and organize everyday people to be actively engaged in being a part of the solution. Dave Murphy’s insights into this harmful relationship between corporate lobbying and government collusion was evident when he reframed the debate that was taking place in DC this past spring over what Congress, doing the bidding of Monsanto, called “The Farmer Assurance Program”, a controversial “rider” that effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of controversial genetically engineered seeds, despite the potential negative health or environmental issues, while these crops are under judicial review. In order to combat the deceptive spin that members of Congress were placing on this dangerous rider by calling it the Farmer Assurance Program, Dave insisted that the rider must be properly named when this issue first arose in June, 2012 and he coined the phrase the “Monsanto Protection Act”, which effectively galvanized a movement against this outrageous corporate loophole. By bringing the attention of this harmful piece of legislation to the American public, Congress and the media through thoughtful, swift and decisive action, the Monsanto Protection Act was successfully removed from the budgetary spending bill September 30, 2013. The phrase, “Monsanto Protection Act” has been printed, discussed and referred to in every major media market in America and around the world. The impact of this simple phrase, which became a rallying cry for the food movement, cannot be calculated or measured. By reframing the issue so that everyone understood the corruption that takes place in U.S. government policy to subvert the democratic process and shift it so that it lines the pockets of seed and chemical companies, Dave managed to bring enough weight to bear through leveraging the Internet, media and the power of grassroots action. A U.S. senator was even forced to apologize publicly for this embarrassment and promised to never again to allow such a dangerous piece of legislation to pass while she was in office. This was a monumental and historic moment for not only the growing food movement but the entire grassroots action community at large.

• • How the nominee exhibited respect

    Although the issue of collusion – and some would even point to corruption – within our U.S. government between multinational food and agricultural corporations and elected and regulatory officials is a serious and often times infuriating issue, Dave Murphy has continued to focus on direct action maintaining a culture of respect that honors the democratic institutions and Food Democracy Now! members by encouraging interactions that are respectful of members of Congress and the administration, that additionally fosters more effective action. Since the “repeal” of the Monsanto Protection Act, Dave has received numerous acknowledgements from leaders within the food and sustainable agriculture community for his work in bringing to the forefront the issue of collusion in our U.S. government between multinational food and agricultural corporations and elected and regulatory officials by reframing and taking bold action on this issue. In doing so in a firm, but respectful manner he not only leads Food Democracy Now! to challenge those in a position of power, but manages to change the conversation on food and ag that creates dynamic change.

  • How the nominee exhibited courage

    When many in the food movement thought it was impossible to stop the Monsanto Protection Act, Dave Murphy refused to give up. Although the odds were small against stopping a “must pass” spending bill, Dave believed that it was possible through due process of law and that it was vitally important to continue to fight it even after it was signed by the president. Rather than issue a press release, Dave issued a radical call to action, writing 6 grassroots action alerts in 9 days to remind people that their individual voice mattered most when elected officials were making a fundamentally flawed decision that put corporate interests above those of people and the environment. From a laptop in Iowa, Dave Murphy led the charge to both stop and repeal the Monsanto Protection Act. By March 26, when President Obama signed HR 933, the continuing resolution containing the controversial rider, more than 300,000 people from around the world signed a petition asking for the Monsanto Protection Act to be repealed. Ultimately more than 600,000 signatures and 150,000 phone calls were placed to Congress and the White House in a 6-month period.

  • How the nominee exhibited excellence

    Dave saw the urgency and opportunity to bring the awareness on this issue to the forefront of Food Democracy Now! members. Food Democracy Now! told its supporters that if they helped reach 200,000 signatures, the Food Democracy Now! Team (Dave and Lisa) would travel to DC to deliver the comments personally to the White House. Food Democracy Now! members responded and the result was that the petition to stop the Monsanto Protection Act reached 300,000 signatures in a matter of days. Ultimately, Food Democracy Now! generated more than 600,000 actions in a six month period, and the outrage over the Monsanto Protection Act helped inspire activists around the world to launch the single largest global action against a single corporation.

  • Additional Comments

    During this time, Dave Murphy’s leadership at Food Democracy Now! has helped grow the movement to label genetically engineered foods by releasing an exclusive 2007 video of then candidate Barack Obama promising to label GMOs, joining a federal lawsuit against Monsanto to protect organic farmers from contamination, served as the co-chair of Prop 37 – a ballot initiative to label GMOs in California, helped pass 2 GMO labeling bills this year in Connecticut and Maine and raised $200,000 for the recent fight for the I-522 GMO Labeling initiative in Washington state. Since 2008, Dave Murphy has led Food Democracy Now! in taking direct action against some of the largest, most powerful companies on the planet, including Monsanto, in an effort to raise the public profile of this multinational corporation that has brought in the world DDT, PCB’s, and Agent Orange, rBGH and genetically engineered seeds. In the past five years, Food Democracy Now! has grown from a conversation between four friends into a grassroots movement of more than 650,000 farmers and citizens dedicated to reforming food, agriculture and environmental policy.

• Nominee’s Personal Statement

  • I’m honored to be nominated by organic farmer Jim Gerritsen, a pioneer in the organic movement and lead plaintiff in the OSGATA et al vs. Monsanto lawsuit to challenge Monsanto’s patents. We started Food Democracy Now! in an effort to protect farmers like Jim and our food supply from corporations like Monsanto and make sure that the story of America’s family farmers reached beyond the fields of rural America. Organizing is a team sport and I believe our greatest strength in renewing America is by standing together to make sure the voice of everyday people is heard loud and clear in Washington and beyond.

• Submitted By Jim Gerritsen

  • Relationship to Nominee: Colleague/Co-plaintiff: OSGATA v. Monsanto lawsuit

http://rootscamp.neworganizing.com/awards/2013/mvo/entry/dave-murphy/

Truthout Daily Digest November 22, 2013

Bill Moyers | Henry Giroux: Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism

Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: “What’s at stake here is not just the fact that you have rich people who now control the economy and all the commanding institutions of society. What you have is basically a transgression against the very basic ideals of democracy. I mean, it’s hard to imagine life beyond capitalism. You know, it’s easier to imagine the death of the planet than it is to imagine the death of capitalism.”

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Chomsky Weighs In on Kennedy Assassination Anniversary: “It Would Impress Kim Il-Sung”

Daniel Falcone, Truthout: In a recent interview, Noam Chomsky reflects on the dark legacy of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and Americans’ leader worship going back to the “crazed George Washington cult.”

Read the Interview

“Entitlements” and Our Dollar Democracy

Ellen Dannin, Truthout: How did it happen that billionaire farmers are not only entitled to their “entitlements” but are entitled to keep them secret, while those who have paid into Social Security have become greedy freeloaders whose entitlements must be cut?

Read the Article

The Rage of the Angry White Male Continues Its Battle Against Equality

Mark Karlin, Truthout: “Men can be dragged kicking and screaming into that inevitable future, or we can accept it and ask what it means for us,” says Michael Kimmel, author ofAngry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era.

Read the Interview

New Book Examines JFK’s Final Days

Larry J. Sabato, Truthout: This excerpt from The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy shows a president whose laudable public ambition and achievements were undercut by despicable private behavior.

Read the Excerpt

Ahead of World Cup, Labor Abuses Rampant for Migrants in Qatar, Reports Find

Candice Bernd, Truthout: Two reports by Amnesty International document a range of abuses against migrant workers constructing the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium in Qatar, as well as against domestic workers including nonpayment of wages, harsh and dangerous working and living conditions, and forced labor.

Read the Article

Dumbing Down America: The Decline of Education in the US as Seen From Down Under

Niall McLaren, Truthout: American education costs far more than it should and fails those populations disadvantaged through no fault of their own. The electorate fails to realize it must unite to solve a problem that other nations solved a hundred or more years ago, says McLaren.

Read the Article

11/22: The Day “Truth” Died

Ira Chernus, History News Network: The most important fact about the JFK assassination is that, after 50 years, the debate about what really happened that day in Dealey Plaza goes on with no end in sight.

Read the Article

Thai Spring?

Michael Pirsch, Truthout: There seems to be overwhelming popular support to remove Thailand’s Pheua Thai Party-led government, but no political organization to replace it that promotes the general welfare of the people.

Read the Article

Fracking Lobby’s Tax Forms: Big Bucks to Media Outlets, “Other ALECs”

Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog: America’s Natural Gas Alliance – the public relations arm of the oil and gas fracking industry – has released its 2012 Internal Revenue Services 990 form, and it’s rich with eye-opening revelations, some of which we report here for the first time.

Read the Article

Vietnam and the Legacy of the JFK Presidency

Paul Jay, The Real News Network: Paul Jay takes a look at the significance of John F. Kennedy’s presidency, his accomplishments, and/or lack thereof, taking a big-picture approach at just what Kennedy represented in terms of the flow of American post-World War II history.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

BuzzFlash

Crime Advocates: US Chamber of Commerce Supports International Business Bribery

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Ahoy, matey! The US Chamber of Commerce wants to restore bribery as a tool in its support of globalized business opportunities.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

William Rivers Pitt | The Bodies on the Fainting Couches Are Stacked Three Deep at The Washington Post Today

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Charles P. Pierce | The Kennedy Assassination and American Fragility

Read the Article at Esquire

Democracy Returns to the Senate

Read the Article at The New York Times

Joe Conason | Intellectual Impoverishment: Why Paul Ryan Is Rebranding That Old “Compassionate Conservatism”

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Republicans Refuse to Cover the Poor, Then Complain that Obamacare Isn’t Covering the Poor

Read the Article at Mother Jones

Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions

Read the Article at The Guardian UK

How Sequestration Gets Worse in 2014

Read the Article at the Center for American Progress

Seven Volcanoes in Six Countries All Start Erupting within Hours of Each Other [video]

Thank you for posting this. It is always interesting to see Mama Gaia in action. I am curious tho to what sources you attribute this “coolibg period”? I’ve always been a big weather/clinate and Earth Science nerd even before clinate change was a big issue. I follow the blogs of multiple scientists in those areas and the overwhelming data trend for quite some time has been warming. Some of the cycles like Milankovitch that may predict cooling are so long term that they aren’t too immediately useful for prediction. I have always felt that Gaia is awake and aware and perfectly capable of reacting to and adjusting things like temperature/climate being overly affected by influences such as species (like humans) activities, or incoming space matter. So it would not greatly surprise me if we went from rapid heating to rapid cooling-volcanic action is one great way to start that process, tho many variables come into play.
I always wondered why humans weren’t concerned about triggering consequences whether drought and heating based food supply interruptions or volcanic caused disruptions. I suppose the greedheads in charge of the fossil fuels industry just assumed THEY wouldn’t be going without so they don’t care…

The Oracle Report Friday, November 22, 2013

78154475

Disseminating Moon Phase: share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences since the New Moon

Moon: Cancer/Leo

Ruling Mahavidya: Kamala, the Lotus Goddess

The highest octave of masculine energy, the sacred masculine, comes forward today. The sacred masculine has always been present, but has been dormant for millenia. This is changing now and is most welcome. It will be a beautiful thing for wise owls to see unfolding.

Masculine energy protects and defends. It facilitates the framework for security and happiness. It takes joy in the ability to do so. The decimation of the sacred masculine, which occurred right alongside the decimation of the sacred feminine as patriarchy – unholy masculine, has been a key component in the enslavement of the mind of humanity. Without this defense, we have been overrun by insane mind intruders and parasites. This is a discussion too long to be introduced in the daily report, but I will begin to elaborate in a recording later today. I highlight the word “begin” because this is merely just the beginning of the subject. And since this is a teaching welling up from the great goddess Gaia-Sophia herself, you will see many people begin to talk about the sacred masculine in a new way. Many have been holding the torch of this for some time, but now it rises for return. This is part of putting things on correct course. When we return to wisdom, we return to balance – to sanity. We return to love.

On the micro level of our lives today, the physical body is in focus. Our physical bodies bear the brunt of intense planetary and solar dynamics, and they’ve taken a beating the past couple of weeks with the X-flare activity, Venus-Pluto conjunction, and quadruple Full Moon energy. Do something kind for yourself. Walks are good.

If something in your life is not working, consider different combinations or an entire alternative. Be clear about what is pointless to continue. Don’t obscure this from yourself. We are still in a lunar month that is like a long Full Moon, so powers of clarity and discernment are at max through the end of the next Moon phase, the Third Quarter Moon phase.

And, one of the things that makes for another happy day, is how people of like mind – pioneers and warriors of the heart who have traveled on their own journey all of these years – are coming together in a multitude of ways. This is building and this is the way it will be from now on.

Make no mistake. This day’s energy is not the reenactment of the Death of the King. It is the celebration of the Return of the Kings. Joy.

http://www.oraclereport.com/

Julian Rose on A Fireside Chat ~ November 9, 2013

Thank you Laura!

Laura Bruno's Blog

Thanks to Lance for sending this link to me. It is ever so refreshing to hear others recognizing the huge challenges we face and yet finding joyful, empowering, creative ways to do so. Nearly two hours just flew by with me smiling and my heart singing, “Yes, yes, yes! Let’s do this.”

Lance’s comments on YouTube:

JULIAN ROSE turns a page in history with this paradigm shifting 2 hour show. I first discovered Julian’s brilliant writing through several articles. the first being “Reverse Engineering the Illuminati Mindset”. Another is “Phoenix Rising”. On his website, a guest author wrote an excellent activist post, which are all on his website at the link below:
Learning from indigenous wisdom and knowledge — To change society a cultural revolution in activism is needed — by R. Teichmann

When I discovered he was also largely responsible for forming a united group that has successfully banned…

View original post 333 more words

End the Solitary Confinement of Mi’kmaq Warriors!

Thank you for posting this. I hope all my readers will share and post this widely. These are heroes on the front lines of a war that does not only involve or affect First Nations. They have placed their bodies and lives in the way of the massive machinery of the cabal/shadow governments/1% whatever you want to call the global fascist monstrosity that is trying to turn every ladt living being and the Earth herself into profit. Causing mass extinction of all life on Earth just to concentrate more wealth into the control of the already wealthy is insane. It is frightening that the few who do have the courage to stand against this evil are not given the full support of every conscious person on Earth. If we cannot stand with them physically at the very least we can overwhelm the fascist systems with our calls, letters and constant promotion and publicizing of these oppressive tactics.

Tree Hugging Proven To Improve Health Issues

Yet another good reason to protect trees and plant more. Reforesting the world is healthy for planet (brings her fever down!:-) and people! Thank you for posting this!