Month: August 2013

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Be vigilant in the twilight against oppression & loss of privacy

EPIC privacy word cloud 2013

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

EPIC privacy word cloud 2013On 23 August 2013, UK’s Mail Online reported

Newly published top-secret documents show that the United States government has reimbursed tech companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft millions of dollars each year for their participation in the National Security Agency’s clandestine Prism surveillance program that was made public earlier this year by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden. read more

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Cracking the Codes shows every day racism in America

vignette - trip to the supermarket

vignette - trip to the supermarketNew film asks America to talk about the causes and consequences of systemic inequity. Check out this vignette from the movie Cracking the Codes in which Joy DeGruy describes A Trip to the Grocery Store, where she as a Black woman is targeted for humiliation until her white skinned sister-in-law steps in.

Sister-in-law shines a deserving spotlight on the injustice and inequity of how poorly Joy is being treated as compared with the friendly and welcoming customer service she just received. It becomes immediately clear to all observers that the shabby treatment is race related and it needs to stop. Joy points out that her half-Black, half-white SIL who appears to be a white woman, journeys through life with an understanding of the power of white privilege and is not afraid to use it to right racial injustice wherever she goes … And Joy invites white people everywhere to do the same.
read more

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Can you keep a secret?

When someone tells you a secret and says, “Don’t tell anybody.” … this does not mean they want you to tell their secret to only one or two others. It actually means they don’t want you to tell even one other person. Because if you do tell, it won’t be a secret any more.

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Feeding homeless will get you arrested in Raleigh and over 50 US cities – Es prohibído por ley alimentar a los desamparados en Raleigh NC

Raleigh NC police stop Love Wins from feeding homeless

Raleigh NC police stop Love Wins from feeding homelessDo you know that in over 50 large US cities it’s illegal to share food with the homeless? Members of the church Love Wins in Raleigh, North Carolina learned this yesterday when they were threatened with arrest for distributing food to homeless in a park. The state of civil society in the United States is in much worse trouble than most people know.

¿ILEGAL SERVIR ALIMENTOS a desamparados en Raleigh, Carolina del Norte? Puede sonar a broma, pero la realidad es que oficiales de esa ciudad amenazaron con arrestar a voluntarios de la iglesia Love Wins que se disponían a repartirle comida a los necesitados en un parque. Hoy la noticia recorre las redes.
http://www.eldiariony.com/ilegal-distribuir-alimentos-desamparados-raleigh-carolina-norte-iglesia-love-wins read more

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We should name hurricanes after climate change denying politicians

Hurricane Marco Rubio

Hurricane Marco RubioI agree: we need a new naming convention for tropical storms and hurricanes. The Ivans, Andrews and Katrinas of this world should not be made to suffer when the blame for climate change rests largely on the shoulders of climate change denying politicians who continue to encourage commercialization of natural resources and phenomenal pollution of our beloved Planet Earth.

In future, let us have Hurricanes Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Michelle Bachman and Senator Marco Rubio … and leave the unnamed innocents to remain peaceably anonymous. read more

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Is the US financially swimming, or sinking?

My insightful friend and great truth-teller, Han Broekman, shares this on the United States financial situation:

Disappointed that even Krugman doesn’t talk here about the difference between debt and deficit. Debt is the grand total of all debts the US Federal administration has incurred. The deficit is the difference each year between the outlays and incomes of the US. Sometimes (mostly under Democratic administrations), there is no deficit, but a surplus. Whether or not deficits are really bad, and whether debt is really bad, is a question economists can’t agree on. So small wonder that debt and deficit are huge politically charged subjects … read more

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David Suzuki says why conventional economics is a form of brain damage

David Suzuki

David SuzukiDavid Suzuki explains why,

Conventional economics is a form of brain damage.

Money doesn’t stand for anything. And money now grows faster than the real world. Economics is fundamentally, so disconnected from the real world it is destructive.

Economists call life and biodiversity, “externalities,” yet we rely on the services that plants, insects and animals render to the world.

We are told over and over that the economy is the bottom line. I don’t think so.

Visit davidsuzuki.org/ to learn more about David Suzuki and his foundation
sustainableman.org explores the world of sustainability read more

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“School reform” aka diverting school funds to the rich

profiting by closing schools

profiting by closing schoolsDavid Sirota helps us see that the true mission of the corporate backed charter school initiative is to bust unions and divert public funds earmarked for student education. The goal is to remove barriers to corporate control of society and for rich guys to get all the money in the world (or at least the US). These people didn’t get the memo that you can’t take it with you.

The bottom line is clear: In attempting to change the mission of public education from one focused on educating kids to one focused on generating private profit, corporate leaders in the “reform” movement are pursuing a shrewd investment strategy. Millions of dollars go into campaign contributions and propaganda outfits that push “reform,” and, if successful, those “reforms” guarantee Wall Street and their investment vehicles much bigger returns for the long haul. read more

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Santa Ana residents beg police, “Stop killing us.”

please SAPD no more killing

please SAPD no more killingPolice in Santa Ana, California have killed five unarmed residents this year. Some residents wonder if this is part of a political strategy to create an environment which discourages people from fighting against being run out of their homes and off their land.

Concerns about Santa Ana corruption are more widespread than just shooting the public. Mark Burcaw reported illegal citations issued by the Santa Ana Police Department for the purpose of illegally seizing property.

This writer has been informed by other residents about land grab schemes within the city. People who want other people’s property reportedly have city officials misuse their positions to cite the property for bogus violations for the purpose of later condemning and stealing the desired property. The city has been known to turn off the water of residents and then cite them for not having water as part of this seemingly continuous scheme of corruption. The information provided by residents appears to confirm that Mr. Burcaw’s complaints are common place in Santa Ana. read more

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Nike continues a long tradition of youth exploitation

Nike child labor exploitation

Nike child labor exploitationSome kids buy Nikes. Others kids make them.

When I shared this graphic on Facebook, friend Leen de Weerd-Mosley commented that Nike’s long history of youth exploitation,

… all started with their logo. They held a competition, and paid 50 euros to the student who designed it. Nope, no royalties … Paid $35 in 1971; offered 500 shares worth $150 when it really became public in 1983

The Daily Mail tells us

At the party in her honour in 1983, an early Nike employee joked, ‘As everyone here knows, (Carol Davidson) invented the Nike swoosh and got paid the outrageous sum of $35 bucks for it’ read more