Sustainable Development

Looks like Ohio will be Birthplace to yet another President - no matter what your beliefs, that will pay off for Ohio's Economy

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 15:44.

An original John F. Kennedy Democrat - paid-his-way through college - self-made-rich made Reagan Republican - this interview on 60 Minutes shows Boehner is highly emotional, very proud, business-like, with firm middle-American (Ohio) roots, firmly planted in his world... which is most of Ohio and middle America's dream-world, which has included achieving the American Dream... going en mass to mass EVERY MORNING... growing up one of 12 children in a modest, small house near Cincinnati... nice siblings... nice wife... what's not to like?

I'll find out for myself.

I intend to challenge Boehner on my core objectives for transforming the economy of Ohio and America, and will see where we find common ground.

My #1 priority is reducing harm from pollution here and worldwide. We need impartial science driving effective climate change legislation and environmental justice regulation - world-wide - to address our global environmental crises during our time together on common ground Earth.

Did You Pay Homage and Taxes To One Of The Most Heinous Humans Ever To Walk The Earth, Today? Did You Turn on Microsoft today!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 12/11/2010 - 14:24.

Did You Pay Homage and Taxes To One Of The Most Heinous Humans Ever To Walk The Earth, Today? Did You Turn on Microsoft today! If you use Microsoft, you turned on the Bill Gates fortune and all the harm that causes the world, today and forever hereafter. If you use a computer running any Microsoft products, you must know how your Microsoft addiction and dollars work for the world today, via perversely enriched micro-psychopath Bill Gates... from AlterNet's "5 Awards For the World's Most Heinous Climate Villains":

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet

Misdeeds: Pretend to be friends while engaged in a vicious competition to see who ends up with the most expensive coffin. Flew together to inspect the Alberta Tar Sands and ponder investments, looking to add to Buffet's $34 billion Burlington Northern Santa Fe coal-hauling railroad purchase and the Gates Foundation Nigerian oil portfolio. Gates is dumping cash into geo-engineering as a way to "hack" the climate, instead of getting off oil and coal. The duo insist that the government should be responsible for clean energy development, but that we need to tax our citizens to pay for it. They can't be bothered, since they're too busy banking on sure things like fossil fuels.

Corporate Teat: They're the tits, not the pups. Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway, much of it tax sheltered by the Gates Foundation.

Nixon's White House on Blacks... "What has to happen is they have to be, frankly, inbred"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 12/11/2010 - 11:44.

Dr. Strangelove

Americans certainly don't waste much of our limited TV-time and mutated brain-power seeking insight from our past failures, as our global industrial complex has so screwed-up humanity itself that the work-a-day citizen must stay focused on basic survival on Earth today. So, as a quick review of the distinctly American political views and interests of yesterday, as they shaped the world today, scan some highlights from the 1973 Presidential tapes of great visionary Republican leader Richard Nixon, among his White House staff, and know these people and their followers have shaped our national interests, civil rights, and international and humanitarian policies ever since - this is the legacy and culture influencing our post-Nixonian Industrially Complex President Obama, who is shaping our national interests, civil rights, and international and humanitarian policies today...

 Nixon offered sharp skepticism at the views of William P. Rogers, his secretary of state, about the future of black Africans.

“Bill Rogers has got — to his credit it’s a decent feeling — but somewhat sort of a blind spot on the black thing because he’s been in New York,” Nixon said. “He says well, ‘They are coming along, and that after all they are going to strengthen our country in the end because they are strong physically and some of them are smart.’ So forth and so on.

“My own view is I think he’s right if you’re talking in terms of 500 years,” he said. “I think it’s wrong if you’re talking in terms of 50 years. What has to happen is they have be, frankly, inbred. And, you just, that’s the only thing that’s going to do it, Rose.”

My Message to Washington DC about Working Class Issues With CRA, CDCs and Urban Planning In real NEO

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 12/09/2010 - 11:18.

My Message to Washington DC about Working Class Issues With CRA, CDCs and Urban Planning In real NEO

My posting on CRA - Expand the Community Reinvestment Act to Bring Trillions MORE Dollars in Safe and Sound Investments to America's Neighborhoods - has had enough time online to offer some important insight.

First of all, from comments, CRA is a confusing issue and even liberal community development advocates associate CRA with urban development ills - projecting frustrations with local political corruption and planning failure upon all Federal urban renewal efforts, lumping in CRA (and organizations like NCRC). In fact, these citizens do not understand where CRA fits in and are misplacing their anger - missing an opportunity to support what may help.

Those responsible for educating citizens about CRA and credit issues - the councilpeople and CDCs - are the ones causing the harm and frustration for working class citizens, who feel under-served and under-represented - and they are under-educated about Federal efforts to improve their lives, and the availability of basic help.

Expand the Community Reinvestment Act to Bring Trillions MORE Dollars in Safe and Sound Investments to America's Neighborhoods

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 04:15.

I recently met with Marcia West, Regional Organizer for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), in Washington, DC, to explore how economically distressed communities should respond to the foreclosure and housing crises in America, to expand credit access for working-class residents - to learn what leaders of Northeast Ohio may do to improve access to loans for housing and community development for us common folk. The short answer is "Expand the Community Reinvestment Act to Bring Billions of Dollars in Safe and Sound Investments to America's Neighborhoods" - go to Expand CRA to learn more and contact your representatives... SPREAD THE WORD!

CRA encourages banks to respond to a variety of needs in low- and moderate-income communities, including the financing of affordable rental housing, sustainable homeownership, small business creation, and economic development projects.

This is a GOOD IDEA - Forum provides ethics training to businesses to fight corruption

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 02:11.

This is a GOOD IDEA - Forum provides ethics training to businesses to fight corruption

Published: Wednesday, December 01, 2010, 10:00 PM - Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer


Joshua Gunter/ The Plain DealerSteve Dettlebach, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When federal prosecutors began to work with the Greater Cleveland Partnership on ways to encourage ethical business practices in the wake of local corruption scandals, they heard a stunning story.

During a trip abroad to recruit business, partnership representatives were told by a Dutch company that Cleveland wasn't a place they were interested in coming to because they believed it to be corrupt.

Study Will Recommend Ways to Strengthen Sustainability at EPA - The Future of Sustainability is General Systems Theory

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 12/01/2010 - 11:33.

Study Will Recommend Ways to Strengthen Sustainability at EPA

November 30, 2010 -- The National Research Council, at the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has launched a study to strengthen the scientific basis for incorporating sustainability concepts into EPA’s decision-making. “Today I am formally requesting President Cicerone and the National Academies convene a committee of experts to provide to the U.S. EPA an operational framework for sustainability that applies across all of the agency’s programs, policies, and actions,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at an event held at the National Academy of Sciences’ Koshland Science Museum. NAS President Ralph Cicerone and Bernard Goldstein, chair of the committee that will conduct the study, made remarks as well.

Science Wednesday: The Future is Sustainability - Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 - By Paul Anastas

LPJ-at-NRC

Wow! November 30th was an amazing day for the EPA. Not only are we in the midst of commemorating four decades of accomplishments in protecting the health and the environment, but Administrator Jackson also made a landmark speech at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Science on the future of the EPA. That future is sustainability. The Administrator laid out her vision to a packed house of luminaries from across the spectrum, from academia to industry, to environmental groups.

EPA Recognizes Sustainable Communities with Smart Growth Awards

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 12/01/2010 - 11:25.

2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

2010 Awards cover

"Well-conceived, effectively implemented environmental protection is good for economic growth… A clean, green, healthy community is a better place to buy a home and raise a family; it’s more competitive in the race to attract new businesses; and it has the foundations it needs for prosperity." – EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, March 8, 2010

"This is a classic Depression for Black America, and few appear to be paying attention. Just look at the numbers."

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 11/30/2010 - 06:13.

TheLoop21.com's senior financial/political reporter and blogger Devona Walker observes on her blog, "This is a classic Depression for Black America, and few appear to be paying attention. Just look at the numbers." She goes on to point out, for Ohioans:

  • In several states, Michigan and Ohio for example, African-American unemployment is expected to exceed 20% in 2010
  • Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Jersey — the unemployment rate for Blacks was at least 2.5 times higher than that of whites

"Saving Progressivism From Obama" to Save America From The "Second Wave" to Save Obama From Himself

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 23:48.

Democratic political leadership of today, to the White House, seems intellectually and socially disconnected from the progressive Democratic concepts I embraced growing up in America since 1961, personified to me by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., in their most-glorified trappings. Today, in my part of America - the region of Northeast Ohio that includes Cleveland, Youngstown and Akron - villainous democratic leaders and their corrupt political and business machines have paralyzed all forms of social and economic progress - extinguished liberal progressivism completely - and made the region such a polluted, incompetent, FBI-embedded disgrace our citizens and economy shall never remotely recover.

At the top of our broken Democratic political, social, environmental, and economic pyramid-scheming is President Obama, who has "turned out to be such a political dud as chief executive" that our "blue-state financial misery continues", along with other blue-states, and that "deepens the ideological crisis for American liberalism" worldwide. Even billionaires traditionally supportive of Democratic party interests and candidates appear to be seeking "alternative brands to Obama himself."

I quote above two excellent columns published online this week, coming from opposite directions, analyzing the challenges Obama faces ahead, mid-term into his presidency, if he seeks any hope of winning a second term in office in 2012 - The Second Wave, by conservative writer Michael Gerson... and Saving Progressivism from Obama, by liberal writer Robert Kuttner.

Exceptional News for NEO - FirstEnergy to Close Dirty Coal Burning Power Plants, including Lake Shore, on Lake Erie in Cleveland

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 05:43.

 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported today Birders to lose favorite perches, birds lose havens when 2 power plants close, whereby the PD takes some of the best economic development and public health news of Clevelanders' lifetimes - "plans by FirstEnergy Corp. to close lakefront power plants at East 72nd Street in Cleveland and in Eastlake in Lake County" (and two others on Lake Erie, apparently) - and presents that as bad news for bait shops, birds, ecotourism and the region.

The PD doesn't even mention that what this news really means for Clevelanders is NOT BEING EXPOSED TO 148,141 pounds of toxic chemicals spewed by Lakeshore into the air Clevelanders breathe each year, and that will save lives and make citizens smarter, healthier and more productive in Northeast Ohio. Better air quality will lead to higher property values and reduced public health costs, and that will make this region wealthier and more attractive for residents, who will have a higher quality of life here with cleaner air quality. People will have fewer reasons not to move to the region, and more reasons not to leave.

Was It Smart For Obama to Arrest 77 Year Old American Cultural Icon Willie Nelson for Medical Marijuana on His Bus?

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 11/28/2010 - 19:40.

Willie Nelson Arrested for Medical Marijuana at US Customs Imprisonment Compound on I-10 in Bumfuck, Texas, USA

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 11/28/2010 - 15:17.

I was just commenting to a Facebook Friend that "I was driving on I-10 in Texas a few weeks ago and they have Border Patrol imprisonment centers ON THE FREEWAY IN AMERICA (I've seen them in New Mexico as well) where they stop every car and truck looking for illegals, I suppose. They searched my whole car - without ever asking my name... they obviously had the car in their system. 1984 but worse, as our society is a complete lie, claiming we are free."

So it is timely to read Willie Nelson Arrested After Pot Found on Tour Bus - traveling from California to Austin, Texas... detained as a US citizen on US soil and searched by US Customs Patrol, though he crossed no borders, just like me - in poor Willie's case to be arrested for what is legal in 15 states in America. From ABC News:

Next Cleveland NORML Meeting: December 4th 1-3pm at Sidetracks Cafe

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 11/28/2010 - 14:44.
12/04/2010 - 13:00
12/04/2010 - 15:00
Etc/GMT-4

Cleveland NORML will be meeting at Sidetracks Cafe on December 4th from 1 to 6pm! We welcome members and non-members alike! Join us in our fight to reform marijuana laws in Ohio and advocate for safe, compassionate access to marijuana for all patients.

Location

Sidetracks Cafe
13429 Lakewood Heights Blvd
Cleveland, OH
United States

KUSHCON II - THE LARGEST MARIJUANA LIFESTYLE CONVENTION IN THE WORLD

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 11/28/2010 - 02:51.
12/17/2010 - 16:00
12/19/2010 - 18:00
Etc/GMT-4

KushCon II December 17-19, 2010 Denver Colorado

Colorado Convention Center set to buzz with largest-ever cannabis convention, December 17-19

DENVER, CO – Over 300,000 square feet of the Colorado Convention Center in Denver this December 17-19 will be consumed by KushCon II, the largest star-studded Cannabis Lifestyle convention ever to take place.

The event, sponsored by Kush Magazine and dailybuds.com, is open to the public, family-friendly and cannabis free. The event will feature over 450 vendor booths running the gamut of the marijuana industry – from a daily concert series to ski jumping demonstrations to dispensaries to gift items that are sure to complete any “Kushmas” list.

Location

Colorado Convention Center
700 14th Street
Denver, CO 80202
United States

"Medical Marijuana: Prop 203′s Passage Means a New Billion-Dollar Industry for Arizona."

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 11/27/2010 - 14:31.

 

The New York Times published more disturbing news for citizens living in states that have political leadership too incompetent, corrupt  and/or ignorant to legalize marijuana and other cannabis industries, like HEMP... living in a nation ruled at the federal level by political leadership too incompetent, corrupt  and/or ignorant to legalize marijuana and other cannabis industries, like HEMP..."It is being called the green rush. With more states moving to legalize medical marijuana, the business of growing and dispensing it is booming, even as much of the rest of the economy struggles."

"Clare threw around poverty that irresistible charm which only women can communicate to religious or civic heroism"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 11/26/2010 - 01:30.

Shortly after my daughter Clara was born, nearly 11 months ago, I shared her birth with the world on YouTube - realNEO homemovie 1 Women in HypnoBirth in Waterbirth Delivering Baby Happy - and on realNEO and it has since been viewed by nearly 110,000 people.... showing 300-400 people a day (and growing) how pure and simple birth and human life may be, to help the modern world rediscover the dignity of the human person. Feedback and inquiries from expectant mothers (and fathers) shows me the modern world heard us, and Clara helped many babies enjoy the best possible starts in life.

“That’s just where his head is right now,” Ms. Frutchy said.... it's about the pot!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 11/26/2010 - 00:37.

 

I missed an important and telling article in the New York Times, September 29, 2010, about Cleveland home-town billionaire Peter B. Lewis, Chairman of Progressive Insurance  - Many Big Donors to Democrats Cut Support - which analyzes why "Democratic donors like George Soros, the bête noire of the right, and his fellow billionaire Peter B. Lewis, who each gave more than $20 million to Democratic-oriented groups in the 2004 election, appear to be holding back so far"... showing many of the world's most powerful people think, feel and act the same way I do about our failed leadership in America and their failure to address the failure of their racist, unethical, immoral "War On Drugs".

QOD: What would NEO be like if all lawyers here each did their 50 hours of pro bono work a year, and never sheltered corruption?

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 11/21/2010 - 23:59.
Rope.jpg

In 2007 there were 1,143,358  Lawyers in the United States, which had a population of 303 million people, representing 265 people per lawyer in America. That would indicate that the 16 counties of Northeast Ohio (Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties), with a population of 4.5 million people, have approximately 17,000 lawyers.

Thus, Northeast Ohio's 17,000 lawyers should be providing at least 850,000 hours of pro bono work to this community... let's round that up to 1 million hours.

Zakee A Rashid - Matters of Opinion: "Why are we spending 10 billion dollars a year to stop people from smoking weed?"

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 11/20/2010 - 13:42.


Find more videos like this on Shaw High Online

I was pleased to see posted on East Cleveland's core home-town social network, Shaw High Online, an excellent opinion editorial - Matters Of Opinion: Vol 7 Decriminalize Marijuana - by Zakee A Rashid. The tagline reads: "Why are we spending 10 billion dollars a year to stop people from smoking weed?"

Rashid goes on to reference a wide range of facts about the economics and injustice of the prosecution of citizens for marijuana that all Americans must take into account. In Ohio, recent polls indicate 73% of voters support legalization of medical marijuana "MMJ", showing opposition to legalizing MMJ (now legal in 15 states, including McCain's Arizona) is a losing political ticket. Making President Obama a major loser... especially as the harm caused by unjust marijuana prosecution in America predominantly harms African Americans, who rallied to elect Obama president.