Public Briefing on MCRI in Detroit

One United Michigan is hosting an event this Tuesday:

Don’t be Fooled!
Michigan is coming together to support affirmative action.

Who: One United Michigan
What: Public Briefing on defeating the California Anti-Affirmative Action Amendment
When: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 , 5:00 p.m.
Where: AFSCME Auditorium, 600 W. Lafayette, Detroit, Michigan

The
Constitional Amendment backed by California businessman Ward Connerly
puts an immediate end to affirmative action programs in Michigan.

The
Connerly amendment says it will end “preferential treatment� based on
race, gender, ethnicity or national origin. Don’t be fooled. What the
amendment will really do is end opportunities for women and minorities
to have equal access to education, jobs and contracts in Michigan.

Join us July 19 to learn how to get involved.

www.oneunitedmichigan.org

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The ‘Borf Effect’

When I was talking to this reporter
about the arrest of the graffiti artist “Borf� she asked if DCist had
seen a “spike� of traffic. After getting off the phone I checked the
numbers and saw that we did indeed see a high level of traffic on
Thursday (when the Post ran their expose on Borf) - it was about double
our normal traffic.

Today, I noticed some of my Borf photos on Flickr
have been viewed 1,000 times - or more - in the past 48 hours. Then I
remembered that this blog is the third hit on Google when you search for Borf, and I checked the traffic. Here’s the graph of hits for the past month:

Although I wonder how long the echo will last, I suspect it will die down quite quickly.

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YP4 Summer Online Course Announced

I’m
facilitating this course for my “work� (in quotes, because I can’t
believe I get paid to do this). I am lining up an awesome linup of
guests from People For the American Way, American Constitution Society,
ACLU, Earthjustice, Planned Parenthood, and more for this one - go
register. (See the announcement online.)

With
Supreme Court Justice O’Connor’s announced retirement, the process to
appoint her successor will dominate the news in the coming months. With
Justice O’Connor’s role providing the swing vote on critical 5-4
decisions regarding privacy, reproductive rights, affirmative action,
government neutrality toward religion, and more, her replacement will
have a profound impact on the direction of American law and society.

In
this 6-week online course in our Progressive Online Academy we will
examine the substance of what’s at stake in detail and hear from
different activists and advocates on the political front lines each
week. Return to campus in the fall energized and informed to fight back
against the right wing on your campus.

Tentative Schedule - week of …
July 25: Right Wing Nominees: Who are They and What do They Believe?
August 1: The Environment
August 8: Reproductive Rights
August 15: Civil Rights
August 22: Civil Liberties and Free Speech
August 29: Workers Rights and Corporate Power

The
class will involve a few short readings distributed over email each
week, online discussion, and a 1-hour weekly class conference call held
from 4 – 5 PM EST each Thursday. To apply, send your NAME, SCHOOL,
YEAR, and a short statement of interest to rgoodspeed(at)pfaw.org by
July 20. The course is open to current undergraduates in 2-year or
4-year degree programs.

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Iraq War Protest Announced

The
anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice has announced a massive
“mobilization� to Washington, D.C. this September. I thought the last
paragraph from their call was interesting:

From
every corner of this country, people will travel to Washington to bring
our demands directly to the policymakers responsible for this unjust
war. These three days of actions will send a clear message to the White
House and Congress: The Iraq war must end. It’s time to bring all the
troops home, leaving no U.S. military bases behind, and to stop the
corporate theft of Iraq’s resources. Instead of draining our national
treasury for endless war, we demand that our tax dollars be used to
repair the damage done to Iraq and to fund services in our communities.
We call for an immediate end to our government’s assault on immigrants,
the unethical pressures on our young people to join the military, and
the undermining of democracy through relentless attacks on everyone’s
basic rights.

Our mobilization will coincide with the meetings
of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, whose economic
policies place corporate profits ahead of basic human needs worldwide.
We will speak out against the corporate theft of Iraq’s resources and
the decimation of the Iraqi economy through privatization and “free
trade.�

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Help Town Hall Open in Glover Park

Town
Hall, a new restaurant to open in Glover Park, needs the ANC 3B to
approve a “Stipulated License� to allow them to serve alcohol until 2
a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends. The city gave them the liquor
license from the restaurant formerly in the space, but they need the
ANC’s blessing to extend the time. They want the later hours to help
their bottom line and are worried they won’t be able to pay the space’s
high rent without the late night sales.

Since the location is
up the street from a pizza place open until 4 a.m. and two strip club
on a busy stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, I hope they get their license!

Below is a message from the owners and the meeting announcement.

To all concerned,

We
would like to begin by thanking all those who have emailed us, either
offering their support or raising concerns so that we could address
them. This Thursday the ANC will be discussing the issue of TownHall
and our request for standard operating hours. At this Thursday’s
meeting, the ANC will be considering whether or not to give its
blessing to our request to extend these hours to the standard operating
hours (2AM during the week and 3AM on the weekend). Ultimately, our
goal is to provide a warm, friendly dining experience featuring an
exceptional menu, while incorporating a neighborhood bar atmosphere
that all Glover Park residents will feel comfortable frequenting. Our
ability to provide this atmosphere will be severly impacted if we are
forced to kick people out the doors by 11:30 every night. We feel that
there is a large population in Glover Park that doesn’t necessarily
follow a 9-5 schedule and enjoy’s having the option of dining late or
grabbing a cocktail later in the evening. There will be residents
attending that are opposed to our request, and we would hate for their
voices to be the only voices heard, and thus affect the happenings in
Glover Park. In any event, we would like to invite all interested
parties to attend
this Thursday’s meeting, whether you favor our request or would care to
address any concerns of your own. Thank you for your interest in this
concern and we hope to see some friendly faces on Thursday.

Paul Holder
Jeremy Carman
Hank Shields
Tim Walsh
Darrell Green

Meeting:

PUBLIC MEETING

Thursday, July 14th, 2005, 7 p.m.
Guy Mason Recreation Center
3600 Calvert Street, N.W.

2nd DISTRICT POLICE REPORT

OLD BUSINESS

– Town Hall, Status of Liquor License and Request for Stipulated License

NEW BUSINESS

– Glover Park Documentary Screening, Anne Savage and Sandra Biasillo
– My Bakery & Cafe, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, George Guitierrez and David Escobar
– Request for Curb Cut at 2407 37th Street, NW, Don DeFranceaux

ADMINISTRATIVE

– Treasurer’s Report
– Approval of June 2005 Minutes

OPEN FORUM

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, September 8th, 2005 at 7:00 p.m.

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Bill Clinton

I thought Bill Clinton’s speech at yesterday’s Campus Progress conference was the best I’ve ever seen him give. They’ve posted the audio (mp3) and video here.

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MoveOn Protest in D.C.

What: Protest and Picket to Demand Bush Fire Karl Rove

Where: The White House, Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC (Metro: Farragut West or McPherson Square)

When: 2:30 PM :: Thursday, July 14, 2005 (rain or shine)

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