Max Eternity - In Copenhagen for international climate talks, lifelong Indian political and environmental activist, Sunita Narain, says what so many have been thinking all along.  Visit Democracy Now! for video and transcript.

Bruce Cameron @ Consortium News - As Washington’s long debate on the Afghan war unfolded, one group had an unhealthy advantage though – based on its record – it should have had no influence at all. These are the neoconservatives, and they have captured The Washington Post’s editorial pages along with other outlets of elite opinion.

DetNews.com - Despite an official unemployment rate of 27 percent, the real jobs problem in Detroit may be affecting half of the working-age population, thousands of whom either can't find a job or are working fewer hours than they want.

Using a broader definition of unemployment, as much as 45 percent of the labor force has been affected by the downturn.

Max Eternity - A network of Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are rallying around Barack Obama, the man Michael Moore now describes as "New War President".  A core aspect of this Rovian strategy, concealing Obama's duplicity, is to hijack the Progressive Left through a campaign of infiltration, disinformation and COINTELPRO-styled intimidation.

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.

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.

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:

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 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

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:

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!

Matt Taibbi @ The Rolling Stone - Barack Obama ran for president as a man of the people, standing up to Wall Street as the global economy melted down in that fateful fall of 2008.

Norman Solomon for TruthOut - Eloquence in Oslo cannot change the realities of war.

As President Obama neared the close of his Nobel address, he called for "the continued expansion of our moral imagination." Yet, his speech was tightly circumscribed by the policies that his oratory labored to justify.

http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2850&Itemid=76

Representative Dennis Kucinich wants Congress to end the war.  Take a look at his proposal.

Naomi Klein @ Mother Jones - The highlight of my first day at COP15 was a conversation with the extraordinary Nigerian poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International. We talked about the fact that some of the toughest activists here still pull their punches when it comes to Obama, even as his climate team works tirelessly to do away with the Kyoto Protocol, replacing it with much weaker piecemeal targets.

Robert Scheer - Barack Obama’s faux populism is beginning to grate, and when yet another one of those “we the people” e-mails from the president landed on my screen as I was fishing around for a column subject, I came unglued. It is one thing to rob us blind by rewarding the power elite that created our problems but quite another to sugarcoat it in the rhetoric of a David taking on those Goliaths. 

The Resource-Based Economy

Abundance is possible right now for everyone; however, very few people are aware of this fact.  When a large number of people finally know, giant steps can be taken to transition to the resource-based economy; its largely an educational endeavor.  Watch the movies Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist_Addendum at www.zeitgeistmovie.com. Then, please provide feedack.

Garbage collection is more important than reading the Plain Dealer so I just canceled my newspaper subscription to pay for the garbage fee.  I was hoping our council members would vote against this fee but that didn't happen so the only alternative for me to make ends meet is to cancel something else that costs money.  Since I recently opened my upstairs apartment to my granddaughter who is currently working as a caregiver for my daughter's father-in-law who has Parkinson's disease so his wife can continue working full time at a nursing home as a medical records technician, I

Yes Magazine! - This June, the doors will open at the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, a state-of-the-art, nearly $6 million facility in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland lost another one of its great historic institutions, Sunday morning, as the Lancer Steakhouse burned beyond salvage, and was demolished. Established in the mid-1950's, making it one the first restaurant’s in Cleveland owned and operated by an African American, the Lancer was for five decades at the heart of more political action, and home to more important moments and memories, than any other restautant in this region - a truly historic place in the evolution of Northeast Ohio, for the past 50 years.

And, free wifi.

Now it is gone.