the reality tunnel

Judah pointed me to Barbara Ehrenreich breaks it down in her NYTimes op-ed, Is It Now a Crime to be Poor?:
Maybe we can’t afford the measures that would begin to alleviate America’s growing poverty — affordable housing, good schools, reliable public transportation and so forth. I would argue otherwise, but for now I’d be content [...]

I’m excited that some of Decarcerate Monroe County’s ideas have become projected into the mainstream media, like this from a July 26 Herald Times op-ed:
Some of his numbers also should give pause to our criminal justice hierarchy. Why is it that while incarceration rates have gone up nationwideby 38 percent from 1994 to 2007, the [...]

This is a letter to the editor that I just submitted in response to an editorial in today’s H-T, Graffiti not art; it is vandalism:
I was disappointed by today’s editorial condemning graffiti.  Rather than fostering a nuanced and frank dialog about complicated issues like the state of public and private spaces in Bloomington, the [...]

Act at http://capwiz.com/advofy/utr/2/?a=12162006&i=92217564&c=
This is what I wrote:
I am very concerned about the safety, health, and happiness of youth in Indiana and across the nation.  So, I am writing to ask you to end funding for ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage education programs including:
* Title V Abstinence Education program, Section 510 of the Social Security Act – (state formula [...]

These are part of the V Week of Events. There’s lots more, but these were the ones that caught my eye.
2/6 Friday — Critical Mass & Speak Out
@ 1pm, SAMPLE GATES
–Take to the streets in a critical mass bike ride to raise awareness of violence against women.
2/11 Wednesday — Film Screening & Teach-In, The Greatest [...]

Event: Roe v. Wade Anniversary Rally
“Celebrating 36 years of reproductive choice!”
What: Rally
Host: Roe supporters
Start Time: Thursday, January 22 at 2:00pm
End Time: Thursday, January 22 at 3:30pm
Where: IU Sample Gates
To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=71448004688

INVITATION TO COMMUNITY MEETING AGAINST JAIL EXPANSION
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 3:00-6:00 p.m.
GREAT HALL, TRINITY CHURCH, 111 S. Grant St.
Childcare will be provided

Decarcerate Monroe County (DMC), with the encouragement of Citizens for Effective Justice, UU Friends of Prisoners Task Force, and New Leaf/New Life, is pleased to invite you to a community update and discussion on Monroe [...]

Sometimes people move into your neighborhood, and sometimes it’s the whole house.  I think the house moved from N. Walnut St. to a block from my house.

I want to try to draw some cohesive analysis from the election results, but it’s so difficult.  I’m just going to post some things that come across my radar that I responded to.
Folks talking about voting for McKinney/Clemente made me think long and hard about third party candidates.  I was so sick of hearing people [...]

From Georgia early voting: Prada wearers, discount devotees together:
There, overlooking an Office Depot and, in the distance, a Wendy?s and a McDonald?s, an anymore rare public coming together of the classes has been congregating on recent weekdays to exercise an all-American right: the right to stand in line.
Voters decked out in everything from [...]