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107.04.11 American History Quiz: Which founding father leaked documents that triggered the start of the American Revolution?

Golda to Society & Politics  

From 1773 to 2011, leaking incriminating documents into the public eye has been a powerful mechanism to galvanize revolutions.

Nothing quite like reading in black and white the recommendation for “abridgement of what are called English liberties”.

Benjamin Franklin leaked Royal Governor Hutchinson’s letters to the press back in 1773, triggering the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. (Franklin was actually trying to focus anger on a local governor instead of Britain – but once the truth is out, people act on it in their own way. After this affair and the British response to it Franklin gave up on reconciliation with England and became a revolutionary himself.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_Letters_Affair

The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin by Cheryl Harness is available in the Pima County Library – its a children’s book but with some excellent information. I learn most things by reading books to my kids!

Article originally posted to bTucson.com under Politics and Government

006.29.11 Benefit Corporations spreading – not in Arizona yet

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

Most companies are legally required to be selfish. That is, to put shareholder value over all other considerations including worker health, dangers to consumers, damage to the environment, or anything else.

Enter the “B Corp” – a kind of company that can legally pay attention to what most of us call values. Arizona doesn’t yet recognize “B” Corps, but five states now do: Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, New Jersey and now New York.

Arizona? What does your legislator say?

see http://bcorporation.net

New law fosters benefit corporations

Background reading: The Corporation by Joel Bakan, available at the library.

Originally published at bTucson.com/193476

106.20.11 Huppenthal barefaced lie?

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  
2011-06-20 The Huffington Post ran a hard-hitting article Jun 17:Did Arizona Education Chief Huppenthal Commit a Felony in Growing Ethnic Studies Scandal?

Read it for yourself – the Tucson Weekly has posted a full PDF of the ethnic studies audit online

The audit appears to be a thorough review including unannounced classroom observations, student interviews and curriculum analysis.  The audit firm, Cambium Learning, was chosen by Huppenthal’s department to conduct the audit.  

read more at bTucson.com under Schools

006.06.11 Randy Parraz Interview

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

The cool thing about citizen journalism is you get to talk to really neat people.
I talked to Randy Parraz, who led the Pearce recall effort, back in June. His voice was a little raspy after talking to thousands of voters, and the day after turning in the petitions he sounded a little tired, but took time to talk to me bright and early and explain how this turnaround came about.

So this was a big day for Arizona?

read more at Tucson Politics and Government

005.03.11 Recall Pearce campaign – no, campaigns!

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

I didn’t even know there is a strong effort out to recall Russell Pearce, the Arizona State Senator who has perhaps done the most harm to Arizona and to Tucson.

** Update – There were actually TWO efforts to recall pearce, and the first one posted, Arizonans for Better Government, is now focused on finding a decent Mormon Republican to replace him.

The second effort, Citizens for a Better Arizona, is about to reach its signature quota, see http://recallpearce.com – Arizonans for Better Govt is asking people to donate to the Citizens group since they need the money to complete their recall effort.

The deadline is May 31, help energize this campaign!

Citizens for a Better Government also has a facebook page

The Arizonans for Better Government http://recallrussellpearce.wordpress.com/ took a smart tactic of having some Mormon leaders run fireside chats to educate Mormon voters about the position of the LDS church, which is actually pretty humane and not at all in line with Pearce’s brand of vitriol.

Some background info: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/karmic-update-recall-campaign-agains

005.02.11 Tucson’s Future Mayor?

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

Quite a bit, according to Jonathan Rothschild, the Democratic candidate apparent. Rothschild, currently a $295/hr attorney, intends to drop out of his law practice and dedicate his 12-hour workdays to ‘doing whatever it takes’ to make Tucson thrive.

We (myself and two of my daughters) interviewed Rothschild from broad strokes to brass tacks. He’s articulate, well-researched, and can think on his feet. My kids also thought he was genuinely decent, and they are pretty tough on fakes.

read the full interview here: What can a Mayor do for Tucson?

004.04.11 Moderate Republicans support Jan Brewer campaign

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

Walking through Military Plaza park this afternoon, a small rally was in progress and I had a chance to talk to one of the volunteers for the campaign to Recall Jan Brewer. It seems the campaign was started by a Republican! And when the volunteer was making her calls asking for support, she mentioned this fact. The woman on the other end started laughing – “I’m a republican too, and I can’t stand that woman. I’m going to tell all my republican friends!”

Perhaps there is some hope for the Moderate Middle after all. Moderates of Arizona, unite!

Originally published at bTucson.com/190720

003.09.11 Judy Burns defends TUSD schools

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

TUSD board member Judy Burns came out strongly last night in opposition to closing any more schools for a year, and instead spending the time to redraw boundaries and work with parents and communities. Adelita Grijalva supported Burns and Hicks voted to at least vote on it; but Stegeman and Cuevas argued that if closure needs to be considered it should be done sooner rather than later. read more

002.08.11 Why the Truth Shall Set You Free

Golda to Society & Politics  

Did Wikileaks trigger events in Tunisia? Not to devalue the efforts of the Tunisian opposition, street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’s sacrifice or in any way minimize the real problems with the government; just the opposite. But it could be that Wikileaks publishing a ‘truth that everyone knows’, was just the consciousness-raising event that needed to happen to get to critical mass.

I think that Vaclav Havel wrote about this, that publishing something that everyone knows, does change things. It makes it so everyone knows that everyone knows.

There is even a mathematical proof that such an event can trigger a chain reaction. Its a silly old sexist problem, but this is how I was taught it: on an island, there is a tribe where everyone is married, everyone cheats, and no one has ever been is caught; but if anyone is caught the wife will be tied to the Hoorah tree in the middle of the island for the night. One day, the visiting minister, who was the only unmarried person on the island, announces “there is cheating going on” and leaves. Now, since everyone is cheating, everyone already knew this. Yet on an island of N couples, you can prove by induction that N days after the minister leaves every cheater will be caught. (ok, ok, just the wives..you could change the story to make it fairer if you like).

Start with the case of two couples, and only one cheating. The man who is not cheating thinks, “well, its not me, so it must be my wife with him”, and right away calls her out. Now if this does not happen that night, the next day both men think – “hm, if he wasn’t cheating, he would have known I was. So he must be cheating too.” So in the case of both couples cheating, both are caught on the second day, and so on.

How much of our behaviour is determined by what we think everyone else is thinking?

Back to reality – here’s hoping we get real democracy in Egypt and across the middle east!

002.02.11 Opening Tucson Government

Golda to Citizen Journalism,Pueblo Politics  

“Citizenship isn’t just the possession of rights and responsibilities; it’s a state of mind.” –Jess Zimbabwe, speaking at the 2010 Open Cities conference.

It’s your city. Have at it.

The Open Cities movement wants citizens to be more engaged with their city government, planning and development. Open information and modern technology promises to make city services more efficient and responsive, while giving city dwellers new avenues to provide feedback and guidance to decision makers. As a grassroots movement no single organization is ‘in charge’, but Code for America has put together some bright folks to tackle urban issues. Andrew Greenhill, chief of staff for mayor Walkup, is on the board of Code for America and had been wanting to do some projects here in Tucson, to open up city data and make it more accessible.
read more…how to fix a pothole!

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