This has been a busy week — which means there are actual news items to post, but less time in which to post them. Be that as it may, you will see that we are coming ever-closer to getting past the gate keepers and on to the prime movers. This has all been due to door opening efforts such as the following:
• Following up on the commitments they made following the CESJ annual celebration, members of the Woodman family — Rob, Jackie, and Monica — have been setting up meetings, telephone conferences, and generally helping remind the powers-that-be just why they are in the position of being "powers-that-be."
• Jackie and Monica arranged a "Meet 'n Greet" for Norman Kurland with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Norm managed to get about five minutes with the Senator, but Jackie and Monica cornered an aide and, with Norm, spent about an hour introducing him to the Just Third Way. As a result, there will be a follow up in a month to see about arranging a more substantive meeting with the Senator.
• Rob has been working on getting Norm a meeting with one of the senators from his state. We don't like to say any more until something has actually taken place, so we won't identify the state, but things are looking reasonably good, both for a meeting, and to interest the senator in what we're saying about Capital Homesteading.
• Some people might look a little askance at targeting pro-choice politicians when we've made such a big deal about Capital Homesteading as a Pro-Life economic agenda. Think about it, however. If your goal is a decent life for everyone, are you going to say "no" to Capital Homesteading? We can understand, although not really sympathize, with someone who believes that abortion is a right and a regrettable necessity, but is willing to do something about removing the presumed necessity. After all, are you more concerned with stopping abortion for any reason, or only stopping it if the people with whom you work to stop it are sufficiently pure in their motives? (At least as you judge them.)
• Pollant Mpofu is putting the final touches on a petition drive in the U.K. to persuade political and financial movers and shakers to pay some serious attention to and in-depth study of Capital Homesteading as a way out of their current malaise across the pond, at least now that the wedding euphoria seems to have died down. He hopes to garner signatures in the millions. We've talked with Pollant, and we're not going to say he can't do it. We know we can't say "no" to someone with his energy and commitment.
• Russell Williams continues to promote the Just Third Way on his radio program The Challenge, and is making great headway in forming a CESJ chapter in Hartford, Connecticut. The Woodmans are also looking at the possibility of a chapter in Cleveland, Ohio. Assuming that the heavenly Powers-That-Be hold to the classic definition of justice ("to each according to what each is due"), we anticipate that Russell's reward will be great, indeed.
• Today CESJ had the initial meeting with two Fellows (our out-of-school version of an intern) from the Hubert Humphrey Associate Program. Fati hails from Niger, while Oubeid comes to us from Mauritania. Both are very well placed people, and have expressed great interest in the money, credit, banking, and financial reforms of the Just Third Way, especially as a way of getting property (and thus power) into the hands of ordinary Africans.
• Norman Kurland was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Hubert Humphrey Associate Program for his efforts in introducing a large number of the Associates to the ideas of the Just Third Way.
• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 51 different countries and 48 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, Canada, the UK, India, and New Zealand. People in Ghana, Kenya, Belgium, Nepal, and Ireland spent the most average time on the blog. The most popular posting this past week was once again "Thomas Hobbes on Private Property," followed by "Aristotle on Private Property," "Was the Federal Reserve a Conspiracy?" "Why Own the Fed Not End the Fed?" and Part I of "The Slavery of Past Savings."
Those are the happenings for this week, at least that we know about. If you have an accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we'll see that it gets into the next "issue." If you have a short (250-400 word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog — do not send them to us to post for you. All comments are moderated anyway, so we'll see it before it goes up.
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