Category Archives: Community & Activism

call your representative, demand a debate

Community & Activism, Government, Iraq

The time has come to open the debate on Iraq again.  How?

With 218 signatures on a petition called House Resolution 543, regular business in the House of Representatives must stop and a 17 hour debate on the Iraq war must immediately begin. The debate will require that Congress consider and vote on all amendments offered as alternatives to the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq.

What can you do?  Call your congressperson and urge him/her to sign HR 543.  There are 98 signatures so far, so we’re almost halfway there already.  (Deb, your rep already signed.  Yay!)  I’m calling Susan Davis today, and if you know me you know how much that means.

don’t nuke Iran

Community & Activism, Government, Politics, World, You have got to be kidding

It really should go without saying, but I guess it really needs to be said.  The US hasn’t used a nuclear weapon against another country since they were called “atomic bombs“, and there’s good reason for that.  We’ve used other really scary weapons, but The Bomb always seemed just a bit too ridiculously deadly to justify.  Until now.

So let me say it:  Don’t nuke Iran.  Hopefully it’s a statement that Congress can agree with enough to take a stand.

Mystery Development in Grand Rapids

Community & Activism

This is mostly a test post, and I couldn’t think of anything to put at the moment, but I caught the tail end of the news and there was a reference to this. Basically some unknown company is going to be building something or other close to downtown, and everyone is rather excited, hoping that it’s cool, and not just a big furniture store or megachurch or something. I guess we find out tomorrow…

How do I add a category?

Why Conversation Cafes?

Community & Activism

As it says on the website: Because when you put strangers, caffeine and ideas in the same room, brilliant things can happen. For that very reason, the British Parliament banned coffeehouses in the 1700s as hotbeds of sedition. Might we brew up a similar social liveliness now? With democracy, critical thinking and “the ties that bind” all under siege, this may be the most radical cup of coffee you ever drink.