I often say that the reason people don’t protest the skulduggery practiced in business and by the politically conservative right, is because the rotten things done in the name of legal profit-making and “improving society” boggle the minds of decent, hard-working people so much that those decent people cannot believe the terrible things they see done by people who are pillars of the community, some of whom are even sworn to protect the public interest, even when those things take place right in front of their eyes. Apparently, these acts are too horrible to witness. Mitt Romney is up to his eyeballs in a bilking scheme that while legal, is obviously amoral – and it also ends up causing formerly well-employed workers to become dependent on taxpayer supported program after they lose their jobs and then discover that Bain Capital’s recommendations have allowed their bankrupted employers to wipe out employee pension funds too. Bain Capital has been mentioned often in the news recently, because Mitt Romney is a former company executive.
What is Cory Booker’s vision for Newark?
Honestly, I don’t know enough about Newark politics to make a judgment call about how well Cory Booker governs. I do have growing questions about how some important city matters are being handled, though. As the Green Drinks Newark founding host, people bring issues and questions to my attention and I feel a moral obligation to look into them. This 21 May article by Josh Benson purports to addresses some of the underlying political reasons things happen the way they do in Newark. Josh quotes State Senator Ronald Rice as saying, “… if people don’t understand it now by … Cory traveling throughout the country, the people he meets with, people he supports and all the stuff happening in Newark with hedge funds and investors, if they don’t understand he’s completely beholden to them, there’s something wrong with them.”
Brainwashed to mistrust
Dear G-d, this is such a powerful statement on the chilling effects of racism. Whether we choose to believe it or not, each of us is truly a product of the messages disseminated through our society and popular culture. That’s why it’s so important to expose ourselves to the least possible propaganda: avoid malls and shopping centers, watch less TV, do not frequent commercial websites. Have more f2f conversations with people. Walk and bike more. Get involved with your communities.
… I hadn’t realized it but I was crying. I must have been crying as he spoke to me. I thought about what it was that was making me so sad and I guess it was the recognition that I cannot escape the effects of our culture’s demonization of young black boys. I, who spend so much of my time in the presence of these young men, have internalized racism. Of course, I know this intellectually but it is something quite different to be called out on one’s internalized oppression and to have to face the fact that I am just like everyone else in America: I am afraid of the “criminalblackman” (a term that Kathryn Russell has coined). The “criminalblackman” mindset is pervasive and entrenched. The idea of young black men as being “problems” is a historical fact that has infected every institution in the country as well as infiltrated individual hearts and minds.”
Support ban on prison-based gerrymandering in NJ
The Integrated Justice Alliance (IJA) requests the help of New Jersey’s social justice community to assist in, “righting a wrong in New Jersey commonly referred to as Prison Based Gerrymandering (PBG)”. This practice is outlawed in several states and New Jersey State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D) has sponsored Senate Bill S-1055 to make this unethical practice illegal in our state too.
S-1055 requires incarcerated individuals to be counted at their residential address for legislative redistricting purposes. The current practice of PBG permits the communities that house prisons to claim inmates as residents of their town. This allows those municipalities to lay claim to funds which might otherwise flow into inmates’ home communities and benefit their families. It also skews the fundamental democratic principle of one man, one vote, on which our country’s political system is based – as New Jersey prison inmates are not allowed to vote during the term of their incarceration.
Christie erodes privacy through NJMVC
Update May 9, 2012: Implementation of this law is on hold following an injunction filed on Friday, May 4 by ACLU officials and advocates for homeless, immigration, minority and women’s groups on grounds that the state imposed the new requirements without publishing details or soliciting public comment.
New Jersey MVC chairman Raymond Martinez Martinez announced that beginning May 7 2012, New Jersey will be the ninth state requiring the controversial “Tru ID” driver’s licenses, which are a form of national identity card opposed by civil rights and privacy advocates around the country. To obtain a new license or renew an old one, “proof of legal identity, proof of lawful presence in the US, proof of Social Security number, and proof of principal residence,” will be required.
New tracking skews against some NJ students
The intent to harm vulnerable young people inherent in Christie’s new educational initiative begins to reveal itself. We have to look for this in every move Christie makes: even when his PR buzz makes it look like he’s doing something good for low-income students, the reverse is always true. Using the new federal system of tracking high school graduation rates as an excuse, Christie announces plans to expand the number of assessment tests students get in their high school years.
Where’s the harm in that? Athough this tool will clearly make it harder for our state’s highschoolers to graduate, it comes with no thoughtful companion plan on how to improve education. As one poster comments in a Facebook page on education, it’s unfair to wait until students are in high school to start rigorous testing for academic readiness: those evaluations need to start much earlier in their academic careers.
Chicken broth & soup recipe
My latest chicken broth & soup recipe produced the huge amount of very flavorful broth I was hoping for. My younger son and I have some kind of bacterial infection this week that’s been making us woozy and weak, plus Ari’s throat has been paining him like crazy so plenty of healing broth is exactly what we need. I have recently been scraping the bottom of my store of frozen chicken broth for cooking too, so I’d like to replenish it. Here’s how I got both:
Ingredients
5 good sized leg-thigh-back combos, separated (by the butcher this time, who did a fabulous job)
1/2 lb. really bony oxtail, sliced into 1″ chunks
3 chicken backs
1 lb chicken hearts
1 lb chicken gizzards
1/2 lb chicken liver
2 medium zucchini (would have liked 3 or 4) cut large chunks
2 ears corn separated into 3 pieces
5-7 medium carrots cut medium chunks
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch cilantro
8 leaves cilantrón (cimarron)
plenty of cut ginger
1 bunch scallions
plenty of rice wine
sea salt
ground white pepper
(optional) potatoes
Draw your line for Trayvon Martin
Hosts on a radio show this morning were discussing Trayvon Martin’s murder. A caller surprised everyone by saying that Trayvon’s death is a great tragedy, but it’s also tragic, “when we kill each other and no one ever talks about it.” The hosts acknowledged the truth of that statement and honored it by agreeing that there’s way too much acceptance in society today of urban violence whereas the “sexier” crimes that become high-profile stories grab maybe too much media attention.
Nobility in finance: are they kidding?
This morning I shared a chuckle with my friend Rita over the hypocrisy of finance executives who are expressing dismay over today’s lack of morality in their ‘once noble profession’. Rita agreed when I said, “What they guys do was never good, but when they were able to strut around acting like they were taking care of people by taking everyone’s money and no one knew enough to challenge that image effectively, they could fool themselves into believing they were helping people. Things have become so polarized in our society that it’s become very clear what’s been really going on and now these guys are being called out on it. Naturally, they don’t like that: it’s uncomfortable for them.”
Danger looms for higher ed student diversity
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider if it’s lawful for colleges and universities to take into account the ethnicity of a student who applies for entrance when deciding whether to admit him/her. Most institutions of higher education have been required since 1978 to make room for students who may be lower-achieving academically than other candidates because they’re members of ethnic groups recognized as disadvantaged and need the boost of a handicap to raise their area of the playing field to a level which will statistically provide a similar admission opportunity as students coming from ethnic groups with history of better academic performance.
Toll increases were for ARC tunnel, should be rolled back
A trip to Woodbridge yesterday from Bergen County cost me a whopping $1.50 in tolls. The toll increase was to pay for the ARC tunnel, which Christie cancelled. New Jersey Senate Democrats have proposed legislation to roll back the toll increases on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. What do you say people – will you join me in getting behind this?
Contact your state senators and assemblypeople. Let them know you support Bill S-2636 which calls for the toll increase to be rolled back.
Help for low-income families to fight an eviction demand
I’d like to direct D to some resources that may help her fight eviction.
D writes:
Looking for an attorney who would be willing to help on a pro bono basis a young family with two adorable children (under three years old) to avoid eviction from their apartment. The apartment has not received the appropriate heat this winter, and thus their children are always sick. So they withheld their rent to try to get the landlord’s attention. Instead they received an eviction notice. The court date is this Thursday. Any help would be truly appreciated.”
The Wei Family loves World Happy Day
When I’ve been praying for something happens and my prayers are suddenly answered in the most offbeat way imaginable, I see the breath of G-d moving through my life. That was the case yesterday. Rachel Wieland posted that she was headed to the city to watch a screening of The Happy Movie yesterday on World Happy Day. Wow! This sounded like a fabulous idea so I dived onto the site to look for place to see it with my sons Ivan and Ari.
This was around 3pm. I found one screening in New Jersey and two in New York which had taken place at 11am yesterday morning and one way up in New York State and then one more – in Astoria, Queens at a social club, which was scheduled for 5pm. If the boys made it home early enough from Chinese school, we could just make it! So I loaded up my EZpass card, took a shower, got ready and when their ride pulled up I ran downstairs and told them to come on, we were going to see this crazy movie about happiness. I knew Ari wouldn’t want to go because he’s a high school junior and wants to do as little as possible with his family. It surprised me that Ivan didn’t want to go either. So I pulled the mother card out of my pocket and checked. Yep, it still says, Mom has the last word – I showed it to my sons and we headed to the car and New York City. On the way, we grabbed some Wendy’s for the boys. It was dinner time and they were hungry!
Congressman Payne, we’re praying for you!
One of my family’s favorite pols has colon cancer. Congressman Donald Payne is also the first – and remains the only – African-American to serve New Jersey in our nation’s House of Representatives. We hope friends everywhere will join Ari, Ivan and I in wishing you a complete and speedy recovery, Congressman. We look forward to a future with you standing front and center in New Jersey and national politics. Here are some success stories that will give you encouragement to stand strong!
Columbia prof asks: “Where did the benefits of technology go?”
Sometimes people ask such good questions they blow me away. I know I’m going to be asking myself this one for quite few days and I’ll be reviewing in my mind snippets out of Columbia Professor Steve Unger’s Feb 10, 2012 article and other answers I think of myself. It’s a great question!
As a young engineer, a half century ago (Wow! Time does fly), I was fascinated by the ideas I was wrestling with, mainly dealing with various aspects of what is now called computer engineering. I greatly enjoyed my work in research and development. But I did have concerns over possible misuse of what we were developing, particularly about possible military applications. I dealt with this mainly by avoiding work on military projects.