Hudson River Sloop Clearwater September 2011 newsletter

www.clearwater.org September 2011 E-Newsletter  In this Issue 2011 Annual Meeting   Clearwater to Honor George Wein  Pumpkin Sail Is Back!  Celebrating Young Leaders at the Helm  PepsiCo Volunteers participate in Peekskill Creek Clean Up  Clearwater 2010 Annual Report EMEC Tideline Events Walk & Wade Seine & Sing Power of Song    Call for Musicians!  Clearwater Store  Sign Up for E-News and Announcements from Clearwater! Quick Links Join Clearwater!  Volunteer with Clearwater  Donate to Clearwater   Come Sailing! Clearwater 2010 Annual Report The 2010 Annual Report now available online    Power of Song Call For Musicians:    Power of Song Apprentice Program! Who? 15 - 23 year olds What? Join Clearwater's Youth Musician program Where? Clearwater Office 724 Wolcott Ave.   Beacon, NY When? Wednesdays,   6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Contact: Linda Richards  845-265-8080 x 7105  Linda@clearwater.org  Esopus Meadows  Environmental Center September Events  Join Clearwater at Esopus Meadows Preserve near Kingston, NY this September for two free  community events:     Sunset Seine and Sing Saturday  September 17, 5:30 PM Take to the river with waders and a net and see what we catch. In the evening enjoy a campfire sing-along. Participants are invited to bring a picnic dinner. Walk and Wade Saturday  September 24,  1:00 PM  Follow the Kline-Esopus Kill from its mouth to near its source and learn how, over the last 20,000 years, water has shaped the terrain. Take part in the seine program on the Hudson River beach and learn about native and invasive species, collect and identify fish, and don chest waders to help catch fish. These family events are presented in conjunction with the Town of Esopus Waterfront Advisory Board and Hudson Valley Ramble. For more information, visit the Hudson River Valley Ramble website   Give to Clearwater  at the Office   www.earthshare.org  New Items Clearwater Store!   Pewter  Sloop Clearwater Key Chain 1 1/2" W  x 1 1/2" H Price $10.00 Pewter Sloop Clearwater Necklace 24" Adjustable leather cord 1"W x 1"H Price $10.00 To make your purchase, or for Clearwater items  such as Gifts & Clothing  Books & Music Sports Bottles  Jute Bags please visit the Clearwater Store at:   www.clearwater.org/shop   Clearwater 2011 Annual Meeting  Join fellow Clearwater members at this year's Annual Meeting for inspiring speakers and music!   "A Vision for the Future of the Hudson River" with keynote speaker Clay Hiles Saturday, September 17, 2011  8:30 am - 1:00 pm at the Clearwater offices: 724 Wolcott Avenue (NYS Route 9D) Beacon, NY  (former University Settlement Camp)     Clay Hiles is the Executive Director of the Hudson River Foundation, advisory board member with Our Hudson Tomorrow, past board president of Clearwater, and friend who will present and encourage dialog about the future of the Hudson River and Clearwater's role in creating a Kingston Home Port as a nexus for the river's maritime history and center for the next generation of environmental leaders. The 2011 Annual Meeting will also include musical performances by Linda Richards and Walkabout Clearwater Chorus and feature a viewing of the film, Hudson Rising presented by Our Hudson and WMHT. This 28-minute documentary about the challenges facing the Hudson River, and the opportunities, from farmlands to the heart of river cities, explores the diverse ideas that are shaping the future of the Hudson River Valley. The Annual Meeting is an important event and provides Clearwater members with the opportunity to participate in the vital function of electing board candidates into office. If you haven't already, please put your board ballot in the mail soon!  This event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, please call (845) 265-8080 x7105 or  e-mail: events@clearwater.org. Shuttle service for Metro-North Railroad Beacon train station is available with reservations. If you would like to volunteer to help with the planning or on the day of the meeting, let us know when you RSVP.  Clearwater to Honor George Wein Music Festival Impresario and Founder of the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals   Music festival impresario George Wein will be honored with the first annual "Power of Song Award" on Friday, October 21 at 8 PM, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Symphony Space in NYC. Clearwater is excited to announce this benefit concert with featured performers Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Suzanne Vega, Joan Osborne, Lucy Kaplansky,  the Power of Song, Tom Paxton, Guy Davis, David Amram, Toshi Reagon, George Wein and others to be announced. Wein, a celebrated American jazz promoter and producer, founded the Newport Folk Festival, perhaps the best-known jazz festival in the United States, held annually every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Wein went on to start a number of festivals in other cities, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles and the JVC Jazz Festival in cities around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, Warsaw, and Tokyo. Wein continues to serve on the executive board of Jazz at Lincoln Center and as an Honorary Trustee at Carnegie Hall. Recently he was honored with The French Legion d' Honneur and designated a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation's highest honor in jazz.      Tickets for this show range from $70-$90 and are now on sale at www.SymphonySpace.org  A limited amount of $250 tickets include premium seating, a post concert reception with the artists, as well as special Clearwater gifts. Proceeds from the concert benefit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater's educational programs.   Pumpkin Sail Is Back! This fall, Clearwater presents a celebration for harvest time - a tribute to the river communities we live in through food, music and history.   During October, the sloop Clearwater will travel the Hudson Valley offering education sails, public sails, and dockside programs. Come enjoy one of the highlights of the fall season! While onboard the sloop Clearwater, you can join in raising the sail and learn about Hudson River life. On shore, enjoy storytelling, music, good food and pumpkin-themed activities. ·Poughkeepsie, Sunday, October 2nd In conjunction with Kids Expo  ·Rensselear, Saturday, October 8th  ·Hudson, Monday, October 10th  ·Kingston, Saturday, October 15th  ·Beacon, Sunday, October 16th  In conjunction with Beacon Sloop Club's Pumpkin Festival     ·West Harlem Piers Park, Saturday, October 22nd    Boat tours and dockside programs are free of charge. Public Sails are two hours in length, $50 for non-members, $35 for members and $15 for children 12 and under.  Visit our website at www.clearwater.org for more sail information and to make your reservation. Interested in volunteering for these events?  Please contact Linda Richards at events@clearwater.org, or call 845-265-8080 x 7105.    See you on the river this fall!  Celebrating Clearwater's Young Leaders at the Helm Clearwater's Youth Empowerment Programs recently wrapped up its Young Women and Young Men at the Helm programs this August sailing with youth from all over the Hudson Valley. Our youth empowerment programs are coming of age events for many young people. Every summer for the past ten years, Clearwater's Young Women at the Helm and Young Men at the Helm programs have taken youth on a journey on the Hudson River.        Teens are charged with great responsibilities and encouraged to examine their own strengths in order to return to their communities prepared to lead others.The Hudson River and the sloop herself provide the perfect platform for physical, academic and emotional challenges that can help young people find their inner strength and appreciate teamwork.These Youth Empowerment Programs are truly a catalyst for positive change in the Hudson Valley. To read more about the At the Helm programs, please click here to visit Clearwater's website and read Clearwater Onboard Education Specialist Tom O'Dowd's account of this summer's Young Men at the Helm session. Volunteers Tackle Peekskill Creek Clean Up   A First Annual PepsiCo Green Partnership  with Clearwater and Peekskill CAC   Westchester PepsiCo associates motivated to "go green and do the right thing," for our environment joined Clearwater staff,   Peekskill Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) members, and volunteers from Peekskill Youth Council for a stream clean up and rain barrel workshop in support of a clean and healthy Hudson River as part of the observation of World Water Week, August 21-27, 2011. The Peekskill Creek Clean up took place on Wednesday, August 24 with volunteers collecting trash and removing invasive plant species along McGregory Brook, a Hudson River tributary that flows through the City of Peekskill, NY and into the river by the Peekskill train station.  Nina Sander, Clearwater Education Specialist, led a rain barrel construction and painting project. Clearwater thanks Carol Capobianco and Pat Reber from Peekskill CAC for their help in organizing the event. Hudson River Sloop Clearwater 724 Wolcott Avenue / Beacon, NY 12508 845.265.8080 www.clearwater.org Preserving and Protecting the Hudson River. Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders.

Judge Approves Landmark 757 Species Settlement of Center for Biological Diversity @CenterForBioDiv

Dear Ray, Breaking news: Judge approves landmark 757 species settlement. Here's great news to start your weekend: A federal judge has just approved the Center for Biological Diversity's landmark agreement to move 757 of the country's most imperiled, least protected species toward protection. The judge's signature today makes the historic agreement the Center reached with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official and legally binding. And it's the latest step in a decade-long effort at the Center to get vital federal protection for hundreds of America's most vulnerable plants and animals. All of them now have a fresh shot of survival. We couldn't have done this without you and your support, so thank you and join us in celebrating this important moment. Even before the judge today made our agreement legally binding, we've seen significant progress toward protecting species included in the Center's settlement. Over the past two months, dozens of species listed in the agreement have been proposed for listing. That includes one of the rarest butterflies in the United States, the Miami blue, which has been proposed for emergency protections. There's never been an agreement like this one: Between now and 2018, the Fish and Wildlife Service will decide on Endangered Species Act protection for hundreds of species, including the American wolverine, the Pacific fisher, Mexican gray wolf, sage grouse and the Pacific walrus. The deal includes species in all 50 states, including 26 birds, 31 mammals, 67 fish, 22 reptiles, 33 amphibians, 197 plants and 381 invertebrates. With the judge's approval today, we can count on important decisions about the fate of these species to be made in the coming months and years. And because of the ongoing hard work by our scientists, lawyers and advocates in reaching this agreement and continuing to fight for protections for other imperiled plants and animals, we can celebrate knowing that many of these species will finally get the help they so desperately need. I hope you'll join me, the Center's staff and our more than 320,000 supporters in taking a moment to reflect on this historic victory for America's plants and wildlife. There is always more work to be done -- and we'll be asking for your help again soon -- but we also need to pause and celebrate the big victories when we earn them. For the wild, Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity P.S. If you'd like to see a full list of the species covered by the agreement -- and an interactive map showing where they are in the U.S. -- check out the Center's interactive website here. P.P.S. Check out the Center's press release today on the judge's approval. Center for Biological Diversity P.O. Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 1-866-357-3349 www.BiologicalDiversity.org

Money & democracy update from @Public_Citizen

an e-newsletter about the movement to curb corporate influence in politics and restore our democracy Issue #77 • September 9, 2011 “Money and Democracy Update” is Public Citizen’s weekly e-newsletter about the intersection of money and politics. It is part of our ongoing campaign to track the results of — and ultimately overturn — the U.S. Supreme Court’s reckless decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allows for-profit corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to support or attack political candidates. We’ll update you regularly with select news stories and blog posts, legislative developments and ways to get involved. Stunning Statistics of the Week: One: The number of references in President Barack Obama’s speech to special-interest influence on our country’s budget crisis Companies that disclose political spending are more valuable Publicly held companies that disclose their electoral spending have a higher share price than politically active companies that fail to disclose their donors, according to a report released this week by Public Citizen and a Harvard Law School professor. The new finding provides added evidence that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should require corporations to disclose their political activities, the report said. Super PACs to change scope of elections Make Us Great Again, a Super PAC that is throwing its weight in support of presidential candidate Rick Perry, plans to spend $55 million to help secure the Republican nomination for the Texas governor. This may be even more than the Perry campaign raises itself. “It’s a game changer,” said Paul S. Ryan, the Federal Election Commission director for the campaign finance watchdog Campaign Legal Center, of the Super PAC’s goal. “Super PACs will make the 2012 presidential election unlike any election we've seen before.” Boosting fundraising game plans With 14 months to go until the 2012 presidential elections, the political action committee and nonprofit created by Republican strategist Karl Rove are raising the stakes in their fundraising plans. American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have more than doubled their original goal of raising $120 million to influence elections next year. Transparency would mitigate industry influence on supercommittee Nearly 100 former aides to lawmakers serving on the bipartisan “supercommittee” now lobby on K Street for industries(think energy, financial, defense, agricultural, etc.) that have a stake in the budget deal. Additionally, seven former lobbyists currently work for the lawmakers. Luckily, a bill was introduced this week that calls for transparency in the supercommittee’s dealings to ensure that its recommendations aren’t unduly influenced by lobbyists representing wealthy corporate interests. It’s all about convenience, right? Some of the top political fundraisers for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign got together to watch the commander in chief’s speech on jobs this week. But immediately after the speech, many of the guests were invited to another event: a reception hosted by two former Obama aides who formed a Super PAC to raise money for the re-election efforts. Meet the financial base of the Koch political agenda Just who helps finance the political agenda of the Koch Brothers, the billionaire industrialists who love to throw their money into political causes? Thanks to materials obtained by Mother Jones, ThinkProgress and Alternet, we now can have a better sense. Check out this analysis of the guest lists of some of the Koch Brothers’ “seminars.” Reaping benefits of legislation When Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) intervened and stopped federal regulators from shutting down a struggling kidney transplant program in her district, she was lauded for standing up for Nevada families. But her constituents weren’t the only ones reaping benefits. Berkley’s husband, a physician whose nephrology practice directs medical services at the hospital’s kidney care department, got a $738,000-a-year contract with the hospital after the regulators backed off. In fact, the kidney care industry stood to benefit from at least five House bills that his spouse co-sponsored. Visit DemocracyIsForPeople.org to learn more!

To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen’s work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network.

Startups by millennials as a solution to the economic crisis? I think not.

I recently came across an article which suggested that startups by millennials might be a solution to our economic woes.

I don't think so.

While I don't have statistical evidence, I have had contact with "startups" by "millennials", and my distinct impression is that their hiring practices consist of the following:

disproportionately high numbers of:

-people from privileged backgrounds
-young people
-people who've grown up with a computer in their home
-highly educated people from the 'best schools'
-caucasian people, and to a lesser extent asian people
-healthy people

disproportionately low numbers of:

-people from disadvantaged backgrounds
-older people
-people whose only access to a computer has been to wait in line at the public library for minutes of access at a time
-people who have not received good educations
-black people, latino people, and native american people
-disabled people

We need to share the wealth; not concentrate it still further.

It's time for some "trickle-up economics", time to start lending a helping hand to the downtrodden, the passed-over, the people on dead-end streets, the homeless, those without the training needed to survive in the 21st century world. Time to provide childcare to poor and working class mothers who need to work. Time to provide training to the long term unemployed. Time to make sure that every child in this country gets a quality education, and that every person who wants to work can be put to work, beginning to repair the damage which has been inflicted on this society by the advocates of trickle down theory... more aptly described as "voodoo economics".

Let us start helping those who need help, and stop piling on aid to those who already have everything.

Jim Hoffa: "Let's take these son-of-a-bitches out"

The President's speech showed a welcome change in substance and in tone

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The President delivered his major economic address yesterday evening (out of prime time):

Text

Video

Proposed Bill (Text & PDF versions)

It was the best speech I've heard from President Obama.

It delivered a major shift in both content and in tone.

It was the first time Mr. Obama made the case for the importance of government to the American people.

And it was the first time he showed some fight, and some willingness to go over Congress's head... to the people.

And it was the first time he sounded to me like he was on the side of the people.

Of course it contained the obligatory Reaganesque slams at "regulation" (i.e. "the rule of law"), and threats against the completely powerless people who rely on Medicaid and against the necessary social safety net of Medicare.

But on balance it was a good thing.

Would it be ungrateful of me to ask "Where was this guy the past 2 1/2 years?"

Well, he sounded like a man last night. I hope he can stay on track.

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The significance of today's recall election #wirecall

To me the significance of today's election for the recall of 6 miscreants in Wisconsin is whether we begin taking back our country now, or whether we will have to wait until a complete breakdown of our society, including massive civil disorder.

In case you haven't guessed it, I'm hoping we begin taking it back now.

A fascistic conspiracy between massive aggregates of wealth and two all too cooperative political parties has been eroding, and stealing from, the middle class in this country for 30 years. The discredited economic thinking which pervaded prior to, and which brought about, the Great Depression, is trumpeted as though still valid.

And it has been used to ensure a financial meltdown the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression.

Enough idiot votes have been combined with enough stolen votes to make it possible for the trend to continue.

It has to end.

I hope that it will end before, rather than after, the widespread misery of the 1930's revisits us.

Wisconsinites are showing us the way.

I'm sure they will turn out in sufficient numbers to get rid of the parasite Republican senate majority in Wisconsin. Whether the votes will be counted honestly is not free from doubt, however.

I'm hoping for the best.

In my opinion, a lot is riding on this.

Dissenting opinion in Citizens United v. FEC

For those of you who may be wondering how the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is wrong legally, here's the dissenting opinion, which lays it out in great detail, and which -- unlike the majority opinion -- accurately describes the law:

http://beckermanlegal.com/100122citizensunitedJusticeStevensDissent.pdf

The majority opinion is not law, it is a coup d'etat similar to the coup engineered by rightwing Justices in 2000, in Bush v. Gore.

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Talk tonight at 7PM in #NYC: Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America

Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America

by Joe Burns

First Tuesday Political Series, hosted by Mark Crispin Miller
McNally Jackson Bookstore
52 Prince St. (b/t Lafayette & Mulberry), NYC
June 7, 2011 — 7:00 p.m.

Danny Schechter hosts Joe Burns, author of Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. Joe Burns is a veteran union negotiator, labor lawyer, and a former local union president. For the past decade, he has negotiated labor contracts in the airline and health care industries. He has a law degree from the New York University of Law.

Complete article

"Let them eat salmon" ... the January 2011 state of the union message

The President's State of the Union address was a well crafted speech.

Politically he scored points with it, and the dumbfounded Republicans were unable to mount any kind of attack against it.

That's because the speech could just as well have been delivered by a Republican as by a Democrat.

Basically what I heard was our President:

-mocking the agencies that protect fresh water fish, salt water fish, and the food we eat, from the corporations that would poison them,

-suggesting that the answer to our problems is to magically create more teachers, scientists, and mathematicians to assist those, and other, corporations make even more money,

-giving credence to the long-ago-discredited school of trickledown economics,

-giving credence to the voodoo economics theory that cutting federal expenditures during a financial crisis would somehow be stimulative, when there isn't a single economist in the country who believes that, and

-repeating the oft-mentioned theory that America is the "best" country in the world, because of the ideals upon which our nation was founded, regardless of how far we stray from those ideals in practice.

Ronald Reagan would have been proud, and Bill Clinton no doubt was proud.

Nothing was said about how to keep a roof over the head of the budding little mathematicians, or to feed the young people who would become our future teachers, or to see that they stay out of jail and get medical attention so that they even survive to adulthood, let alone get a "college" education.

Nothing was said about how the federal government -- which last I heard was the place where the President works -- was going to help create jobs.

Nothing was said about the mortgage foreclosure crisis, or homelessness, or unchecked mental illness.

Nothing was said about the fact that it costs money to educate children, and it costs money to keep them safe and healthy.

Nothing was even said about the fact that no amount of money will be able to make up for the loss of the salmon, and the other species which we are poisoning, genetically destroying, and killing.

Was there skill and craftiness in drafting this document? Certainly.

But as for logic, there was about as much as Marie Antoinette's apocryphal response to the problem of the French people not having bread to eat.... "Let them eat cake".

#p2012 -- Twitter hashtag for progressive candidates only. BlueDogs & "centrists" need not apply.

I'm going to use the hashtag #p2012 for progressive candidates running in the 2012 election or upcoming recall and special elections.

I.e., those candidates who deserve our ENTHUSIASTIC support -- financial contributions, knocking on doors, get-out-the-vote efforts, phone banks, rallies, etc.

I am not going to use it indiscriminately for Democrats running for office, just because they happen to be Democrats. If they are Democrats in name only, they will have to find their own hashtag.

And I'm not going to use it for general progressive issues unrelated to candidates running for office. For those tweets I will continue to use #progressive and/or #p2.

It's not always easy to distinguish progressives from the others. E.g., IMHO, Candidate Barack Obama was a progressive, while President Barack Obama is not. Mario Cuomo is a progressive; while the son he raised, Andrew Cuomo, is not.

If you see me use the hashtag for a candidate, and you have evidence that the candidate is not a progressive, please let me know.

Thanks.

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