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Army Small Business Conference Aug. 2-3

The U.S. Department of the Army Office of Small Business Programs invites small business owners to the 2012 Army Small Business Conference on August 2-3, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

This affordably priced national conference is designed to provide attendees with “Access to Success.” Attendees will learn about options for certifying in the various designated small business categories, how doing business with the government works and will meet directly with federal government representatives and prime contractors looking to expand their base of available small business vendors. In FY 2011, The Department of the Army awarded $23.7 billion in small business contract awards: read more

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Bald eagle symbolizes GOOD government

Friend and civil rights attorney Bennet D. Zurofsky wrote on Facebook today in response to this picture,

I saw this posted on Facebook this morning and found its irony overwhelming.

The bald eagle would likely be extinct right now if the government had not imposed strict environmental regulations against DDT and other poisons that were killing them off. The government also greatly increased the protection of bald eagles by declaring them an endangered species and by engaging in a wide variety of programs to both conserve and increase their population and habitat. If I were a bald eagle, therefore, I most certainly would trust the government. read more

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Verizon wants to control your internet. Keep them out.

Learn more about the organizations fighting to protect people’s rights to control our internet experience without interference, steering or editing, and how you can get involved. Also:
Sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom and
Sign the Digital Citizens’ Bill of Rights

Imagine if every small business website was blocked by these guys – that could happen any time if big service and content providers get their way. How would that affect your own business, your community, your family and friends? Then take action: sign petitions, talk about this issue, write your politicians and letters to newspaper editors. Blog and discuss via social media. Rip this wide open. Open internet access is one of the great freedom fights of our time. We have to use it so we don’t lose it. read more

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Supreme Court gives unlimited political spending to corporations but not unions

A few years back, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling gave corporations permission to spend unlimited amounts of money, “to buy elections.” The corporations don’t need to obtain stockholder’s permission to spend corporate money on political campaigns. But the Supreme Court ruled on June 21 that unions must obtain members’ permission in order to spend union money on the same campaigns.

The Supreme Court’s ruling regarding corporate spending was based on the premise that United States citizens have the right to information from all sources under the 1st Amendment. If it was found right for corporations to be able to spend without limits to make sure their points of view are heard, why is the same right being denied to unions? read more

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Is increasing police violence the consequence of a conflicted society?


I’ve had strong responses on Facebook to the photo I posted showing Rhode Island Police Officer Edward Krawetz kicking a handcuffed and seated, White woman in the head. Krawetz was convicted but served no time due to a suspended 10 year sentence.

Police violence against citizens is truly a problem for society, an issue we need to think about, discuss and interact with. One comment I read really caught my attention: in a democracy, police must remain under civil control. So I did a bit of searching on this topic and found a thought-provoking article examining the question of what democratic policing actually is. MIT Sociology professor Gary T. Marx writes: read more

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Facebook: block invites from someone

I have an eclectic following on Facebook which includes people living in other countries who aren’t going to make it to my monthly Green Drinks or other events. Fortunately there is an easy way for friends to block future invitations from me. They won’t be blocking or un-friending ME – they just won’t be annoyed by getting invited to events they’re not going to attend.

Instructions

To block event invitations from specific friends without unfriending him/her just

  • Select Privacy Settings from the dropdown menu in the upper-right corner
  • Select Manage Blocking from the Blocked People and Apps section at the bottom of the page
  • In the Block event invites section, enter the names of friends you do not wish to send you event invitations
  • Voilà! You just eradicated a big annoyance and may have saved a friendship from terminal annoyance.
  • (Tip: if this stops working, search in Facebook help for “block invitations”)
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    Obamacare is fair – and now constitutional!

    Today, the Supreme Court justices announced through the SCOTUS blog that Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) is constitutional and will be upheld as US law. The court’s decision hinged on the question of whether Congress has the power to force people to buy anything and was upheld on the basis that the government has the free right to impose taxes, and Obamacare (as the act is popularly known), does just that. The victory provides another shining example of how brilliant the president’s team is. Despite aggressive push-back from conservatives opposing the law, the legislation drafted by the White House team does what most of the people of the United States want it to do: it uses the constitution to protect and help its citizens. This is a true victory for America and a great day in Kimilandia. read more

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    Learn how to avoid falling victim to voter disenfranchisement

    The League of Women voters is sponsoring a forum in Newark on Wednesday, June 27 2012 at the Newark Public Library’s Main Branch, 5 Washington Street, Newark NJ. You will learn about nationwide efforts to trample voting rights and what you can do to protect yours. Ryan P. Haygood, the national NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund director, will discuss his group’s legal work to protect voting rights. Here’s the background on why it’s so important to become educated on these measures and take pro-active steps to ensure that the vote you wish to cast next November will be both fairly and accurately counted. read more

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    Wisconsin’s movement turned political. Then got lost.

    Black Agenda Report managing editor Bruce A. Dixon in his article, “Wisconsin: What Happens When Movements Turn Into Campaigns” gives us plenty of food for thought. He explains the difference between a campaign and a movement, and why we were pretty much slated to lose the battle in Wisconsin for rights once that movement’s momentum morphed from demands for social change into electioneering.

    How did we get from hundreds of thousands in the streets of Madison, Wisconsin demanding union rights for everybody and fundamental economic justice for all, to a desultory set of Democratic campaigns for the candidates who, as they say, sucked the least, and ended up losing. read more

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    BCDO backed Rothman loses big time

    Gee whiz! complete wipe out for Rothman in the 9th. I so wish Rothman had decided to run against Garrett instead of Pascrell. No matter the outcome, that would have been a heck of a race, and one certainly worth fighting. Running against Pascrell instead didn’t sit well with too many people – even me. Although Steve has been a family friend for many years, I couldn’t support him this time around.

    On another note, I totally don’t understand what is up with the Bergen County Democratic organization. BCDO seems to feel that county Democrats are humble lapdogs that will roll over, sit up or beg when our party leadership whistles. But, this is the second important election where The People have shown that they possess an independent, collective will and desire and when that doesn’t exactly coincide with the agenda and candidates the county machine is pushing, voters can and will either stay home or vote against the party’s choice. Speaking of which, it’s worth mentioning that “the push” itself seems nowhere near hard enough. Only a few days ago did Rothman signs start to be visible in the area. And only a couple of brief weeks ago did the party get Rothman to begin making appearances in Passaic County. Pascrell’s team, by contrast, made sure their candidate was visible at all times; they had zillions of volunteers out canvassing constantly, tirelessly and skillfully; and the Congressman himself was both physically and frequently accessible to the people whose votes he courted. This demonstrated Pascrell’s appreciation for the people he represents and a clear willingness to be accountable to his constituents on a truly personal level. The only other federal politicians I’ve seen be so attentive and engaged with their constituents are President Obama and Senator Menendez, and it’s probably a big part of the reason voters chose Pascrell over Rothman by a 3 to 1 ratio. read more

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    Us or them? Goals for public education

    An increasingly corporatized school system wishes to crush students with learning challenges because they are not expected to fulfill the mission being set: that students during the course of their educations should be trained to become willing and obedient servants of large corporations and of wealthy individuals upon graduation. But, is this what the people of the United States want to be? If not, we must begin evaluating what public education means to our families, our children and our overall society. We must ask: what is the purpose of public education? What are the life, moral and academic lessons we want imparted to our children during the course of their public school educations? read more

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    We must keep the internet open

    Vincent Cerf, one of the recognized fathers of the internet, writes in this New York Times op-ed piece:

    Several authoritarian regimes reportedly would ban anonymity from the Web, which would make it easier to find and arrest dissidents. Others have suggested moving the privately run system that manages domain names and Internet addresses to the United Nations. …

    When I helped to develop the open standards that computers use to communicate with one another across the Net, I hoped for but could not predict how it would blossom and how much human ingenuity it would unleash. What secret sauce powered its success? The Net prospered precisely because governments — for the most part — allowed the Internet to grow organically, with civil society, academia, private sector and voluntary standards bodies collaborating on development, operation and governance. read more

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    Fight for internet freedom and the open web

    These organizations are fighting for your freedom and privacy (and mine) online and in all digital/electronic media. Learn about them – and from them, get involved with their campaigns, support them and publicize their efforts. We’re all in this together.

  • Free Press
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Electronic Privacy Information Center
  • Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor, who’s spending his life educating America about how disconnected American politicians have become from the American people and why we should take big money out of public elections: 28 Oct 2011 lecture
  • and book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It
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