Progressive Unity Project on News Junkie Post

Starting on Monday, February 1st, News Junkie Post will be launching a new program called the Progressive Unity Project. 7 new writers will be coming onboard as weekly contributors, each one devoted to writing from the perspective of the environment, labor, LGBT, immigration, science, the drug war, and secularity.

Daily Postings
EcoMonday Green, environment, ecosystem, wildlife, climate change
Union Tuesday Unions, labor, EFCA, worker’s rights, business
LGBT Wednesday Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights
Immigration Thursday Immigration, diversity, minority, indigenous
Science Friday Astronomy, evolution, biology, technology, geology, etc.
Legalization Saturday Cannabis, legalization, drug war, medical marijuana
Secular Sunday Secularity, atheism, agnosticism, religion, fanatic watch

The purpose of this is to pool support of various progressive groups together towards a common cause. Progressives stand for rational thought, human dignity, freedom, and justice, but also tend to focus on singular issues, creating an unfair advantage to the more organized and obedient right wing groups. This project’s goal is to stimulate organization among the left to better fight for real change and reform. United we stand, divided we fall.

Each day of the week will present a new article on a particular theme. To accomplish this, experts in each of their fields have been recruited to join our team. Note that there are many progressive themes such as women’s issues, justice, humanitarianism, and peace that do not have their own categories, but hopefully these gaps will be covered from time to time by the new writers. The weekly contributors are:

Eco Monday

Mike Kaulbars is an environmental activist and writer on the science behind global climate change. He trained as a research biologist (entomology, systematics, ecology) and now directs a small NGO active on environmental and social justice issues. Climate Change was one of the big reasons he left research to get involved in public education and activism. He also teaches political action. He is the main author of Greenfyre’s, a rich resource with excellent documentation.  Mike online Twitter Digg

“We already know more than we need, it’s long past time to act”.

Union Tuesday

Wes Rackley spent thirty plus years working in Arkansas’ air-conditioning and energy management industries as a blue collar worker, corporate officer, and small business owner, but was forced into early retirement by a ‘pre-existing’ medical condition in 2001. As I imagine was the case for most progressive democrats during that period, politics went from a compelling hobby to an all-consuming compulsion as we watched the GOP shred the very fiber of our country. Over the intervening years he narrowed his focus from the general economy and despising the GOP to just specifically strengthening labor, through Universal Health Care the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), and Campaign Finance Reform, and despising the GOP. Wes online: Twitter Digg

LGBT Wednesday
James Lovette-Black is a post-doctoral scholar and activist with professional experience spanning over three decades in health care. Growing up gay in the Deep South, he moved to Chicago in the early 70s and vibrant San Francisco has been his home since 1986. One of the original founders of ACT UP San Francisco and the Lavender Greens, his activism includes anti-apartheid work, anti-nuclear work, and environmental activism. James was in the non-violent civil disobedience blockade of the US Supreme Court after the Bowers v. Hardwick decision and has worked for pro-choice issues, as well as diligently working to dispel ageist biases and for single-payer, universal health care for all Americans. He has practiced the “religion of kindness” for nearly 30 years, as expressed through the Celtic Reconstructionist Tradition of Wicca. His worldview is optimistic and he considers himself a proud American and a planetary citizen.

An early adopter, he has had a web presence since 1994, and is an avid Apple “fan boy”, as well as a critical observer of the human-technology experience. James writes for Jimboland Jots and Bright Wellness.  James online: Twitter Digg

Immigration Thursday

For nearly nine years, Douglas Rivlin served as the Senior Director of Communications of the National Immigration Forum, one of the nation’s preeminent pro-immigrant advocacy organizations and one of the leading groups in the national Reform Immigration FOR America campaign.  At the Forum until October 2009, Rivlin was responsible for helping reporters and the public understand the immigration issue and what is at stake in the comprehensive immigration reform debate. Prior to joining the Forum, Rivlin served as a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Voice of America and was the Washington Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career in advocacy and communications at the Children’s Defense Fund and the Advocacy Institute. Douglas earned an MA in communication at the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Douglas online:  Twitter Digg

Science Friday

[currently open]

Legalization Saturday
Steve Elliott, a journalist since the 1980s, is based near Seattle, Washington.

He worked for newspapers in Alabama and Mississippi before moving to the West Coast in 1999. While living in the Los Angeles area, Elliott edited two trade magazines, Business Fleet and F&I Management and Technology, until 2004.

Steve Elliott has written extensively for the S.F. Weekly, Eyes On Obama, and OpEd News. He now edits the Village Voice Media cannabis site, Toke of the Town. Steve online:   Twitter Digg

Secular Sunday

Liam Fox Is a Secular Humanist active as a Human Rights Advocate, Social Justice Activist, and Climate Justice proponent. He is a Social Service Worker and Community Program Organizer as well as Musician and Public Speaker. Liam can be found in most places the web connects and also writes for IrreverenceCafe and his home site, and can be found on Twitter.

“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense. True irreverence is disrespect for another man’s god.” – Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Liam online:   Twitter Digg