We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, January 28, 2010

9th Circuit sides with Calif. newspaper in labor dispute

from First Amenment Center website. Another setback for labor rights and honest news coverage by courts stacked with conservative jurists.
The ruling stems from a newsroom dispute that began in mid-2006. Nearly every top editor at the paper quit in protest over what they said was the owner’s interference with news coverage.