Added on 20 Feb 2010: I’ve reworded the title of this post to reflect that (in New Jersey) this issue is principally a concern of community college students. Rutgers, New Jersey’s state college, offers two very low-cost options for students: for under $200 they can use clinics on site at the school and for about $500 enroll in a traditional HMO is offered. But the insurance offered by Bergen Community College covers students only in case of hospitalization for a catastrophic incident – which yes, is as serious and rare as it sounds. I supposed other state community colleges have similar policies.
What Is “Jim Crow”?
In 1829, Jim Crow was both the name of a song and the name of a satirized character written and portrayed on stage by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, who used blackface makeup to darken his skin in order to parody a Black man in this role. Later, Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965 (Wikipedia). They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities. Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia explains,
AAA Free Tipsy Tow Service NOT A Nationwide Program
2014 Update for New Jersey drivers: Sober Sam is available but
News about AAA offering free towing service nationwide to get inebriated drivers home safely on New Year’s Eve is circulating virally on Facebook but according to Snopes, less than a dozen states offer this program.
When you see this posted on Facebook, tell people not to rely on the service. There’s only a limited chance it will be in effect where they live:
No Excuses!!! Don’t drink and drive — and don’t ride with anybody who does. Tipsy Tow offered by AAA: You don’t have to be a AAA member, from 6pm-6am on New Year’s Eve/Day they will take your drunk self and your car home for FREE. Save this number … 1-800-222-4357.
Hate Crimes Target Bergen County Jews
I’m grateful as a Jew for the sentiment expressed by Hackensack Mayor Jorge Meneses at an interfaith ceremony held at Temple Beth-El to rededicate the synagogue following its desecration by graffiti vandals on December 21, the first day of Chanukah: “When these things happen,” said Mayor Meneses, “it’s not (only) that particular community that suffers and feels awful. We as a whole city feel it, too.” Similar vandalism occurred on December 10 in Maywood at Temple Beth Israel.
Colored Troop Reenactors Escort Occupy Through Trenton
At 5:00pm today Revolutionary War Reenactors will meet Occupy Wall Street Protestors who are marching from NYC to Washington DC and escort them through Trenton, New Jersey’s capital. The Occupiers will follow Route 206 out of Princeton.
16 year old Ari Wei of Fair Lawn, NJ joined the 6th US Colored Troops/1st Rhode Island Revolutionary War Regiment last spring and is one of the individuals who will escort the Occupiers. Ari says, “Joining with Occupy Wall Street as a colored troop reenactor is an exciting experience. Two of my passions – history and social justice – will come together today. Good thing my school is closed for a teacher’s conference so I can participate without having to play hooky.”
Who Has Your Back on The Web?
Internet privacy is a matter of online civil liberty.
Friends, we have an ongoing need to educate ourselves about what privacy means in the Internet environment and take action to protect it. The Internet “space” we live in today is a pioneering world where people’s rights haven’t yet been fully determined. The EFF is one of the organizations the general public knows little, or nothing, about which is working behind the scenes every day at no charge to us to protect the privacy of all netizens. Other organizations are the ACLU and Public Citizen.
Small Business Resources
Government and Affiliated Resources
SBA Small Business Administration Website A federal resource for small business information on financing and technical assistance, a guarantor of loans for small businesses and an agency which certifies certain special small business designations which assist companies holding them with government contract procurement.From here you can jump off to other resources like SCORE and the SBDC Centers
SCORE This is an SBA-affiliated national organization which provides free technical assistance and some training to small businesses just starting up, in growth mode or struggling with financial and other difficulties.SCORE counsellors at one time were all retired businesspeople but now may be successful business owners and major corporation managers or executives who are currently working. Service is completely confidential and counsellors do not compete against the entrepreneurs they mentor. Most counsellors have fabulous experience in business and all are knowledgeable and share generously.
These Small Business Develop Centers are partnerships provided for by federal government and community college funding, typically located at community college campuses and satellite offices throughout the country.
People of Color and Occupy Wall Street
Articles and comments on the People of Color Organize website share excellent perspectives on the issue of liberals disenfranchising non-whites from the progressive movement. At the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance meeting in Newark yesterday I was discussing this very same phenomenon.
. . . some communities of color are rightly suspicious of white left activist initiatives. Some whites react with defensiveness or, worse, as if they are at liberty to just ignore criticism because (they regard what they do) as more essential to the world than what disenfranchised people think (or do).
Columbus Day Not for Celebrating
I find it curious that a couple of Chinese language and culture schools with a large population of K-12 students with parents from Taiwan, plan to march in a Columbus Day Parade. Those who grew up in a community dominated by ongoing dialogue about social justice and the inaccuracies of history taught in school about the development of North American society, look upon Columbus Day as a day of mourning, and not celebration. The “settling” by Europeans of this region began the end for American people who had lived and loved this land for a long time before supposedly civilized people arrived to slaughter them by means both subtle and direct and to plunder the once abundant land and resources the indigenous people had been sustained by, and had protected, for as long as their people could remember.
Lessig of FixCongressFirst.org to Speak at Ramapo College
Lawrence Lessig will speak to the community and students about the importance of taking private money out of public elections at Ramapo College on October 17. Lessig is also sponsoring a conference on the prospect of holding a conference about a constitutional convention this weekend. In a few minutes, the boys and I will be heading up there to join the dialogue.
Lessig’s Conference About a Constitutional Convention 9/23-25 in Boston
My family is going to be a roving video interview team at Lawrence Lessig’s Conversation About A Constitutional Convention in Boston September 23-25 2011, and we’d love to see our friends there as well. It turns out that the people’s will can actually trump congressional law – given that enough states and individuals come together and vote their will at a constitutional convention. Who would have thought?
Fortunately, as a professor of law at Harvard – Lessig looked into this possibility and he has invited concerned citizens, and the Tea Party leader, to discuss the prospect of such a convention. Lessig says that it’s important to include the opposition in discussions about process for determining social change, and that process is something that can – and should – be agreed upon by all parties even when opposing factions have their own views about what direction it is that society should move in.
Use It or Lose It: The Right to Observe
Veryshortlist.com, a reviewer of the short Stand Your Ground filmed in London, expresses concern over, “the privatization of our public spaces,” which is a growing issue in the United States as well – even if it doesn’t trouble citizens even half as much as it ought to. Meeting up with each other in semi-public spaces with “free wifi” such as Starbucks, restaurants and shopping malls provides us with the illusion that we’re free to meet when and where we want but in reality, this is far from true. At one NY Starbucks I was recently told, “If you want to use the occupy a space at the counter, you’re going to need to consume something,” (as if I wasn’t already consuming – oxygen, for starters), but the barista meant, “You need to buy something we sell.”
Obama deserves our trust and praise. He needs our push, too.
It’s great when someone you admire sees merit in you too. Today, I needed an injection of inspiration for finishing up the talk I’m giving next week on @jeffpulver‘s first #140Conf event on a tour bus, and got it when Reda StCyr “fanned” me on Huffington Post. StCyr is the woman who introduced me to the #p2 hashtag and through it provided me with a ready-made mechanism for interfacing on the web with the progressive community. Following links from Huffington’s fan notification took me to an important article about the poverty tour Dr. Cornel West & Tavis Smiley undertook this summer. In it, Smiley says that when the American public pressures Washington to take action on any issue, action gets taken. He gives some examples to prove his case and suggests that we be a lot more vocal about the poor needing help.
Obama’s Positive Accomplishments
I’m an openly enthusiastic fan of Obama. If you’re one of those people thinking that our president doesn’t deserve admiration, maybe an item from the list below will change your opinion. And if you’re a fellow Obama fan, enjoy the read! (I’ll be updating this list)
A Columbia University historian says this about the 111th Congress: “This is probably the most productive session of Congress since at least the ‘60s,” said Alan Brinkley, a historian at New York’s Columbia University. “It’s all the more impressive given how polarized the Congress has been.” “See for yourself, what is only a partial list of nearly 400 pieces of legislation that became law out of the 111th Congress” FB Page: “Things Obama has done…” Major Accomplishments of Barack Obama (a @StCyrlyMe2 find.) I love this format: the list is broken up into categories and every one can be expanded to give you a brief synopsis of the type of change Obama made happen. Click on the link (or several links) supplied for each entry to see the official public information page or news article where verification of the change can be viewed. What a fabulous way of presenting this information!Obamaachievements.org
Christie Claims Budget Cuts Backpedalling As Increases
Republicans are masters of brainwashing.
Christie’s claiming $850 in “new aid” to schools but the reality is that the $850 million allocated includes $820 million Christie’s first budget draft took away from New Jersey schools. This is how Christie math works:
Christie ignored a state Supreme Court ruling from last May calling for $500 million more for the state’s neediest school districts. After restoring $820 million of funds he himself cut in his original budget proposal, Christie’s present budget added only $30 million of school aid: he must still add $470 million to comply with Supreme Court ruling.