tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-304989242009-07-11T11:23:16.155-07:00A Public Good Project InitiativeSpartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-26883635108394485472009-07-11T11:12:00.000-07:002009-07-11T11:23:16.164-07:00

With much of the news today focused on struggles for autonomy, this essay by Jay Taber in collaboration with Rudolph C. Ryser and Renee Davis at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, helps put the World Indigenous Peoples' Movement into historical perspective.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-15978591138728768962009-07-08T19:11:00.000-07:002009-07-08T19:13:58.574-07:00

Center for New Community examines the racism behind the anti-immigrant network in the US, exposes its funding, and reveals the hate hyperstructure of its faux grassroots organization.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-47319312994670723952009-06-29T08:47:00.000-07:002009-06-30T08:02:49.047-07:00

Thanks to the anonymous fan who contributed this article about Public Good. (Note: Mr. de Armond retired as Public Good research director in 2007.)

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-11582323549734257162009-06-16T13:40:00.000-07:002009-06-16T13:43:12.494-07:00

With President Obama and the Religious Right against them, Equality California is fighting back. They deserve your support.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-83921974798271932392009-06-14T12:05:00.001-07:002009-06-14T12:06:44.206-07:00

Celebrating its 42nd anniversary, the Peace and Freedom Party of California -- founded during the Summer of Love -- is holding a National Organizing Conference on Saturday August 1, 2009 in San Francisco. Donations welcome.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-56402216048051404842009-06-10T17:16:00.000-07:002009-06-10T17:22:47.437-07:00

Only one traditional news reporter in all Puget Sound got the story right on the Professor Perry Mills scandal, and she is a journalism student at Western Washington University. Her article, in fact, was the only one that was either accurate or coherent. Seems like reporters at the Seattle Times and the Bellingham Herald might want to take a refresher course.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-65208502802404557592009-05-27T15:36:00.000-07:002009-05-27T15:51:35.077-07:00

In one of those rare convergences of synchronicity, Public Good operatives in the Bay Area and Puget Sound are in the midst of closing files on cases against institutions of higher education this month. Perry Mills versus Western Washington University (WWU), and SEIU versus New College of California, both stem from abuses of power and money-laundering. In yesterday's ruling in the Washington

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-48348000443560268412009-05-23T19:45:00.000-07:002009-05-23T19:59:23.492-07:00

Some of our readers asked if we ever received anything tangible as reward for our twenty years of public service. The short answer is yes; both Paul and I received a sandwich and a plaque in separate ceremonies -- mine in 2000, and his in 2001. While some might think this pretty skimpy, we tend to put it into perspective: many of our peers during these two decades had their homes bombed,

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-79287053291709728962009-05-05T19:01:00.000-07:002009-05-05T19:13:28.833-07:00

The United Nations has been put on notice by the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change that business as usual is no longer acceptable under the new international human rights regime. In the April 24 Anchorage Declaration, world indigenous leaders like Bolivian President Evo Morales announced new demands to be taken up by the UN this December in Copenhagen. Public Good was happy to

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-20956638878378986652009-05-04T10:53:00.000-07:002009-05-28T09:28:50.435-07:00

The April 21 FRONTLINE special Poisoned Waters looks at the last chance for Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound to avoid becoming dead zones. In that special, Washington's governor remarked that without citizen engagement, Puget Sound will die. As FRONTLINE observed, that engagement revolves around the state's Growth Management Act.Washington state's Growth Management Act, itself the result of a 1990

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-69366918202188935942009-05-02T15:26:00.000-07:002009-05-27T15:55:14.376-07:00

Last week, Center for World Indigenous Studies Associate Scholar Melissa Farley participated in a panel debate on prostitution. You can listen to the debate on National Public Radio. In November 2008, Public Good helped Dr. Farley and other San Francisco activists defeat Prop K -- a prostitution legalization initiative -- and position themselves to promote a plan for local authorities to

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-22393924323557925122009-04-24T11:02:00.000-07:002009-04-24T11:07:09.950-07:00

Ten years ago, we arrived in Lisbon for a week of festivities celebrating 25 years of democracy. Tomorrow, the Portuguese will celebrate 35 years of freedom, as well as the benefits of improved public health made possible by ending their empire.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-84781822192643583292009-04-10T10:19:00.000-07:002009-04-10T10:29:39.743-07:00

Conventional investigative journalism follows the money in order to discover crimes committed by corporations, aided and abetted by government officials. Preemptive investigative journalism follows the money in order to reveal crimes in the making, supported by documentation of patterns established by previously exposed or convicted perpetrators. Independent research, analysis, and narrative make

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-16822157959342300482009-04-05T12:59:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:06:51.452-07:00

Were there a pro-democracy movement in the United States, it might be demoralized by the simultaneous rise of Christian fascism and corporate fascism. For the moment, however, this remains a proposition. Perhaps as things fall apart, though, attention to this double threat will grow into a means of recruitment of individuals concerned about their possible merger.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-36730916086939920962009-03-14T18:02:00.000-07:002009-03-15T13:17:31.180-07:00

The following colloquia are now available to Bay Area colleges:1. Applying Social Research2. Communicating Strategically3. Navigating Sacred Dimensions4. Understanding Multiculturalism5. Fighting Political Illiteracy6. Finding HumanityShort presentations by Jay Taber are designed to initiate one to two-hour student conversations. While the series is ordered chronologically, each seminar can also

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-13518369955182626862009-03-12T12:44:00.000-07:002009-03-12T13:00:49.316-07:00

I had an opportunity last summer to reflect on my relationship with the Center for World Indigenous Studies. Listen in.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-63962435491513491082009-02-26T09:31:00.000-08:002009-02-26T09:44:40.901-08:00

While investigative research into the fraud aided and abetted by Congress and the White House is worthwhile, one can casually ascertain who stole the food from our mouths with a little reconnaissance at the yacht club or a stakeout at the opera house. Those yachts and limos weren't purchased with sweat, they came from cheating others out of a decent living. More recently, they were made possible

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-74896369835873021992009-02-20T17:07:00.001-08:002009-02-20T17:09:53.121-08:00

If anyone sent us a donation on PayPal that wasn't confirmed, please let us know. Apparently they have become dysfunctional when it comes to paying out in a timely fashion. More on this problem in the link.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-60497192785043642362009-02-07T19:17:00.000-08:002009-02-13T17:18:54.816-08:00

Dear Friends,I'm working on a film project produced by the Center for World Indigenous Studies in Olympia, Washington. The film series -- planned for public television -- is on the UN, climate change, and Indigenous peoples. (We just sent a proposal to Sundance.)We plan on a web page as soon as we have seed money; for now we are pursuing start-up grants, and later, major funders.To launch the

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-45562299867910204362009-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:002009-01-15T13:08:04.111-08:00

The invisible original political entities eclipsed by church, state and market now have a venue for exposing their grievances and ideas. Recent efforts by the US and UN to hide from world media the indigenous nations' delegates to the UN climate change talks in Poznan will ultimately fail. When the world indigenous peoples' movement emerges on stage in Copenhagen next December, it will be like a

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-26311089202364182672008-12-31T12:48:00.000-08:002009-01-02T11:55:50.957-08:00

Freedom, for First Nations, is an achievement by Fourth World peoples, not a gift bestowed by modern states. The inherent aboriginal human rights -- acknowledged in international law through instruments like the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- are not privileges granted by institutions, but rather acknowledged moral, legal and ethical obligations. The World Indigenous

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-14348801589657914552008-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:002008-12-24T11:17:28.904-08:00

In a new venue but familiar function, I recently participated in composing a meta narrative for the International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Climate Change. Corresponding with colleagues and associates at the UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland over the last two weeks, I was indirectly involved in clarifying the indigenous position to world leaders and world media.While dealing in ideas -

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-69154990524665951582008-12-12T18:47:00.000-08:002008-12-14T12:56:24.227-08:00

Sometimes the subheading on our Public Good homepage is misunderstood. When we talk about defending democracy, we're not talking about nation-states or other institutions, but rather about grassroots, civil society efforts, that more often than not are in response to undemocratic institutions behaving as though they are above the law.Promoting a just economy, democratic political life, and

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-75751726918322680322008-12-08T10:05:00.000-08:002008-12-12T16:33:51.450-08:00

The United Nations, like its member states, is an institution based on the forceful suppression of inherent indigenous rights. As a partner of market-based economies, these institutions have always conceded to aboriginal nations as little as was deemed necessary to maintain the illusion of inclusion. With the advent of the environmental and human rights movements in recent decades, that illusion

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30498924.post-61574429314826644762008-11-23T11:20:00.000-08:002008-11-23T11:27:55.378-08:00

Our friends at PRE recently helped defeat a ballot measure to legalize prostitution in San Francisco. We at Public Good were happy to play a role in this victory over the human-trafficking industry. As you probably know, researchers and analysts don't always figure prominently in politics, but they are nevertheless essential to its democratic functioning.

Spartacus O'Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11016367021003977811tbarj@yahoo.com0