[Section taken from the book  "The Sharp Knife of Forced Simplicity, Volume 1: The Numinous Rebellion"]

My revolutionary idealism stems from a radical new idea, one that is perhaps completely unheard of in the long course of human history: the idea that every human life is worth exactly the same.

That is to say that race, color, religion, sexuality, political belief, lifestyle, location, net worth, power, cash on hand, social status, health, fashion sense, tribe, history, leadership, virtues, failings, and every other possible way we can distinguish between people has no bearing on how much their life is worth. Put another way, the president’s life is worth no more or less than a prisoner, a sustenance farmer, or you. The law of equality of human life holds true across every spectrum. Read the full story

I’ve had the extremely good fortune of being involved with the state’s youth-let anti-tobacco industry movement (”Just Eliminate Lies” or “JEL” for short) since it’s inception back in 2000. This year’s theme for the state-wide summit was “JEL Number Nine” – the capstone of which were two “street marketing” events, one in Des Moines and one in Iowa City.

As you can see, the message was “50 people will die this lunch break from tobacco use.” Fifty teenagers in black shirts would “die” when “Big Tobacco” rolled in. Overall it was well-recieved!

You can find out more about Just Eliminate Lies here – http://www.JELiowa.org

This is a reprint of a letter written by William Goldstein, General Counsel of Maharishi University of Management. This letter recently appeared in the Fairfield Ledger as a PAID advertisement. I am publishing it here for free.

June 15, 2009

Dear Mr. Rooney:

Big Tobacco and Big Cell Towers

A very significant thing happened last week. In addition to your letter to our community printed in the Thursday Fairfield Ledger, the House voted 301-97 to pass federal legislation stringently regulating the tobacco industry, following the Senate’s 79-17 vote. That marked a great achievement after a decades long battle.

But even more noteworthy is that, contrary to its competitors, Phillip Morris – the nation’s largest tobacco company – came out in support of the bill saying it was behind tough but fair regulation. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sponsor of the bill and committee chairman at the memorable 1994 hearing where tobacco industry executives denied nicotine was addictive, relished the long-sought victory:

“I think we are today at the last gasp of the tobacco industry’s efforts to protect their profits at the expense of the health and lives of the American people and to get children to take up this habit.€ Read the full story

Despite much opposition from the community and efforts by Mayor Ed Malloy and the City Council to find an alternate site for the cell tower planned at 509 W. Depot Ave, the news out today is that US Cellular is resuming construction of their cell tower.

Here is a letter from one of the opposition leaders, Diane Rosenberg: Read the full story

Mayor Ed Malloy will be presenting Lynne Twist the first Mayor’s Humanitarian Award in honor of Lynne’s visit to Fairfield.  Lynne Twist is author of The Soul of Money, which the Mayor tells me he is currently reading.  She is also the founder of The Pachamama Alliance, an organization with the two-fold mission of:

• Preserving the Earth’s tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous people who are its natural custodians.
• Contributing to the creation of a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all.

Mayor Malloy described his inspiration to “create the award because of the work she has done for hunger and world poverty . . . and teaching the native principles of sustainaiblity to modern society.” Read the full story

A Fairfield parent passed me a link to Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address given to the 2009 class at the University of Portland.  The speech has become an inspiration for local graduates who are including it in graduation cards.

Here are some of the parts I found inspiring:

Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich. Read the full story

The Fairfield City Hall Council Chambers were attended Wednesday night with about thirty residents and business owners demanding regulation of cell phone towers inside city limits.  Several weeks ago, in response to protests over a new cell tower being constructed  at 509 W. Depot Ave, the Mayor referred the issue to the Property Committee and asked them to familiarize themselves with the issue, gather public comment and decide how to address the future placement of cell towers. Read the full story