I am considering running for a position on the TWDC Board, and here is my draft bio. Suggestions on how to improve it are encouraged. I also urge other members of our community to run for Board Positions. Whether or not we win, we can raise many important issues during the campaign.

Chris Hedges @ Truthdig - Obama’s policies, despite the high-blown rhetoric, are as morally bankrupt as those of his predecessor.

Democracy Now! - Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa also traveled to Copenhagen this weekend to urge world leaders to tackle the climate crisis. The longtime anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate spoke on Saturday at a candlelight vigil just outside the UN climate summit.  Visit site.

The New York Times - German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the conflict in Afghanistan could not be won by military means and called for more development aid, before flying to visit troops there on Friday. "Afghanistan will not be won with military means," Guttenberg told German broadcaster ZDF. Read more.

I am attatching two PDF Site Plans. These were sent to me by ODOT late last week.

You will see close to 375 new trees are planned.

7 different style deciduous trees.

2 different style evergreen trees.

Additions incorporated into the plans after the last meeting with neighborhood stakeholders.

1) Dead and potentially hazardous trees will be removed. (Trees that have the possibility to fall or are growing at a severe angle) Additional new trees will replace these locations on a one to one basis. (These locations are not counted in the site plan totals).

Glen Greenwald @ Salon - I wonder what it's like to live in a country where political and financial elites are held accountable for wrongdoing.  Everyone can decide for themselves how credible a threat Obama, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers and friends will ever pose to Wall Street, but at least some of the bankers don't seem to be taking it very seriously:

Michael Ruppert in "Collapse."

Collapse

 BY ROGER EBERT / December 9, 2009

"'I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,' said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank."
 

NaturalNews) Jerome Daly is one of the few men to take on the might of the Federal Reserve in the courts and win. 40 years ago, a Minnesota bank attempted to foreclose on Daly`s mortgage but he humiliated them, thanks to his profound knowledge of Fractional Reserve Banking and a courageous, scrupulously honest judge. The judge delivered a dynamite decision that blasted the Federal Reserve and National Banks as unconstitutional and fraudulent.

The Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Victor Liva today at Zion United Church of Christ in Tremont today--was transcendent.

The music felt like chocolate for the soul, after subsisting on bread and water for too long. 

Evan Knappenberger @ Common Dreams  - As I prepare to take my first college degree and enter into the world of the Great Recession, I look back on a time of great turmoil. Not only have we students roundly rejected the Neo-Con worldview, but we have been betrayed by the leader we helped to elect. I also look forward to a time of re-generation. Though our generation is the most democratic and least republican one since the civil war, don't be surprised if we turn away from the Democratic party soon. Fool us once, DNC, shame on you. But beware: it may not happen again.

Max Eternity - In recent weeks, while those who do not believe in the teachings of Dr. King and Gandhi's nonviolent social change--Republicans and a stealth of right-wing operatives--have joined with President Obama.  Their strategy is to propogate a message that War is Peace, a theme originating from a speech the President recently gave in Oslo while en-route to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. 

Max Eternity - In her December 11th interview with African-American talk show host, Tavis Smiley, one of America's most respected Democrats in Congress, Representative Maxine Waters, said that Blacks need to hold President Obama to account.  Waters, a progressive member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that Blacks are suffering as a result of many of the current White House Administration's policies.  And even though Obama is the first Black President, beloved for his charm, eloquence and sophistication, Waters said that that should not be justification for allowin

Half-baked Homeland Security is spending millions to develop sensors capable of detecting a person's level of 'malintent' as a counterterrorism tool.

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted December 9, 2009.

Indiana: City Threatens $2500 Fines for Challenging Traffic Tickets
Lawyer sues traffic and parking courts in Indianapolis, Indiana over threatened $2500 penalty for contesting a ticket in court.

RAG - Resident Advocacy Group
Historic Cleveland Photographs-new page of photos from Cleveland Memory

http://rag14.weebly.com/historical-photos-2.html

Euclid Avenue, south side, between E. 9th and E. 12th Streets, looking east, during Washington's Birthday parade 1889

RAG - Resident Advocacy Group
http://rag14.weebly.com/index.html

RAG Newsletter December 2009

http://rag14.weebly.com/newsletters.html

Max Eternity - In her official capacity of Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, Elizabeth Warren--Professor of Law at Harvard University--is bringing to light the real possibility that with current economic policies as they are, the US is on a crash course with a destiny likely to result in America no longer having a middle-class. Warren states:

They have torn Beehive School down I tried to post some pictures but could'nt get it to work

 (without a little help from my friends)

Max Eternity - Quoting Fredrick Douglass on the subject of politics and power, celebrated journalist and independent TV host of Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, commented recently that "Power concedes nothing without a demand." Goodman was being interviewed by PBS TV host, Tavis Smiley, when she made the statement, referring to the fact that even with a Democrat in the White House, progressive change will not occur if citizens do not hold leadership to account.

Average Unique Monthly Visitors for REALNEO Benchmarking Sample
November 2008 - November 2009

REALNEO/COOP members, we own this... we accomplished this... in just our fifth year of operations. Congratulations!