National

The second event of the Peace & Justice Center's Cost of War film and speaker series! Jo Comerford, Executive Director of the National Priorities Project, will be speaking about the national budget and the effects of war spending on our society. For more info, click here.

Amend 2012 is a campaign created for people—real people, not incorporated or limited liability people—who care about our democracy and want to be part of a solution. The problem? Since January 2010, corporations have been legally allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections on behalf of candidates who, when elected, owe the corporations favors. So even though "we the people" go to the polls and vote for candidates, once they're in office they must work on behalf of the corporate interests, not what's good for American families. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case called Citizens United vs. FEC that corporations have the same rights as people, and that their unlimited corporate spending is the same as our free speech. For more info, visit Amend 2012.

Host Dennis McMahon talks with Executive Director Linda Johnson of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont organization, and  Dr. Stephen Payne, a surgeon by trade with a lifetime of writing many stories - both fiction and non, about efforts at ending spousal and child abuse.  
 

Annual Celebration features keynote speaker Wallace 'Famous' Amos.  Amos, an Air Force veteran who worked as a talent agent with the William Morris Agency, would send home-baked chocolate chip cookies to celebrities to entice them to meet with him and maybe sign a deal to be represented by the William Morris Agency. In 1975, Amos took the advice of some friends and opened a cookie store in Los Angeles, naming it “Famous Amos”. In the first year he sold $300,000 worth of cookies, followed by more than $1,000,000 in sales in the store’s second year of operation. The store proved so popular that the “Famous Amos” brand eventually branched out to sell cookies in supermarkets, a move that would later be emulated by other specialty stores such as Baskin Robbins, T.G.I. Fridays, and Starbucks. Sponsors for the celebration include: United Way of Chittenden County, Burlington Police Department, Burlington School District, Church Street Marketplace, Citizens Bank, City of Burlington, Clear Water Builders, FairPoint Communications, Fletcher Free Library, KeyBank, People’ United Bank, SerVemont, University of Vermont and the Unitarian Church.