September 16, 2013

Education - the NEWEST industry the illiterate but well to do can fix!

http://www.theawl.com/2013/09/are-the-startup-fellas-hellbent-on-destroying-education-even-literate

Helluva good rant, the above is, over at "The Awl.

I especially like the last two paragraphs:

"This is exactly how we are are in danger of wrecking our educational system, and so much else. Instead of taking pains to preserve what we have, and demanding that any cuts to funding or alterations in our practices, however minute, be subjected to the most rigorous resistance and interrogation, we're unaccountably willing to risk enormous sums, often in public money, on "experiments" to "fix" what isn't broken—on charter schools, MOOCs, and for-profit universities, for example, in the case of education—only to find that each time, these alleged improvements consist mainly of snake oil and charlatanism.

"We might blame the culture of Silicon Valley, which appears to believe that "building an app" and throwing a few million dollars at it is always a good idea; or we might blame California Governor Jerry Brown, who's already squandered some unclear amount of public money on Udacity classes in a disastrous pilot program at San Jose State, which began in January and was suspended in a matter of months. Brown is desperate for band-aids, however tiny, however hopelessly ineffectual, with which he may pretend to conceal the giant hemorrhaging gashes in the state budget (substantially caused by the quintupling of California's prison population since 1980). Here is an idea for you, Governor Brown: legalize marijuana! No matter what the police and private prison lobbies say."
####
Hells bells, here in California the "state voter-approved" and state legalized med marijuana clinics were bringing in some 125 million bucks a year. Now that dollar amount is down by half that, due to the Eric Holder DOJ policy of cracking into the dispensaries and shutting them down. And to forcing some six thousand people out of high paying jobs and into unemployment. (In my county, if you lose a good job, there is 18% unemployment, so good luck with finding another job.)

A police chief over in Humboldt or Mendocino County has realized and gone publicly on the record that the taxation of legal med marijuana means we can have fully staffed schools, police departments, fire departments etc.

And although the Prison Industry would take a hit, so what?

Our children are already spending far too much time on their computers and other devices. We need the best teachers that we can find, and we need them now. And "industry chieftains" don't understand that, as they look down on teachers.

September 13, 2013

Just because the curtain has been pulled back, pls don't leave DU.

To any of you who feel like it is now an uphill battle, without any strategy, I would say two things:

One - If you really need a break, by all means take one. Politics is exhausting. Many other fine activities exist, and some of those might replenish your soul.

Two: Now is when it gets interesting. We are in uncharted territory. Just five years ago, we had a chance, within the confines of simple electoral politics. Any of us who were out there walking the neighborhood with Dem campaign material, or phone banking or donating small amounts of money felt inspired. When we thought about things at the end of each day, we realized it was possible that people would vote the neo con "R's" out, and then things were ripe for change.

There was a guy who was giving progressive values-inspired speeches. He was young enough and he seemed passionate enough that it was not abnormal to think- "This guy might be the real thing."

It's not our fault that the movement was co opted. But right now, one of the most important attributes to cultivate within our weary souls is this one:

[h2][font color=red] "SOLIDARITY." [/h2][/font color=red]

We might not individually or collectively have a solution. Yet.

But one thing is obvious: total retreat with no intention of returning to the good fight is never much help to any movement. Especially no help to movements concerned with social issues such as poverty, securing an agricultural system wherein the Gm industry is at a disadvantage and conventional farmers and organic farmers are supported, overturning a corrupt Judicial System, shutting down the machinery of the MIC-Surveillance State, getting domestic war criminals brought to Justice (the crimes committed have NO statute of limitation) or doing any of the number of things that we thought were now inside our purview back on Nov 8th 2008.
[h2][font color=red]

As the Dalai Lama has stated, "If you think you re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
[/h2][/font color=red]

We must focus on the statement that Candidate Obama so eloquently borrowed from Mahatma Ghandi, "We are the ones we have been waiting for."

We are. If we don't give up, if we continue on in Solidarity, and if we manage to become Mosquito People.

I know I am one. If you are sick and tired of the same ol, same ol, those leaders who think they are rulers but have no clothing, if you are sick and tired of hearing, "Because Obama!" ("And he is friends with Jay Z!&quot you are a Mosquito People too.

And as long as we have the various routes to free information, we are supporting the movement. Social Media allows the intelligent and concerned citizen to access multiple venues of intelligent messages, many of which are free from CIA control.

The Social Media venues are also in general free from the rhetoric of political parties and their One Percent appointed leaders. Free from limiting the message to such a tiny bit of information that the CIA message is nothing more than jingoistic prattle. The Irony of Social Media is that when an important message is whittled down to almost nothing by the forces of the One Percent, through their CIA-controlled news formats, that message sinks below the heavy duty messages that make up Truth, and then the activists that are in control of the Social Media messages quite naturally offer their support keeping that Truth buoyed up.

September 12, 2013

Whatever.

There are numerous occasions when the USA has used illegal weapons. Those weapons include Agent Orange, white phosphorous, napalm, land mines, cluster bombs, and depleted uranium. In the case of land mines and depleted uranium, the hazards of those illegal weapons do not dissipate inside the region where they were deployed for decades after the fighting has ended.

Maybe we should bomb ourselves?

We also have a "good friend and ally" in the Middle East that was confirmed to have used white phosphorous inside a 575 page report by the UN. That report was completed in 2009, regrding the actions that nation took in Dec 2008 and Jan 2009. I don't remember us needing to bomb that nation, or threaten that nation, or whatever.

So I don't see your question as being simple. I think your question and that whole line of questioning is totally disingenuous, and dangerous to boot. By asking it, you are skirting the deeper moral thinking that informed citizens should be doing right now.

"Why Syria?" would be my question, which is the fundamental question. If you really truly think this has anything to do with 400 some innocent people who were hit by sarin gas, and killed by that exposure, I have a chunk of land near a busy airport to sell you for a meditation center.

This country of ours sat by and supported the President of the Congo and 600,000 people were killed. Not one whimper out of Washington DC officials, not one.

But the Congo is a place we already control. Syria is a place we don't. And Syria is the only nation offering Russia a port for its Navy, and a land mass for other military uses.

The Congo and other nations where atrocities are being committed offer us nothing in terms of military strategy in the coming war against Iran. Nor do any other areas where atrocities are being committed figure into the "needed" pipeline for that region in the Middle East.

September 11, 2013

White Phosphorous - the Guardian and the 575 page UN report

On white phosphorous and how that chemical weapon was used on citizens of Gaza.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/15/UNFFMGCReport.pdf

On edit, this is a summary of the UN report's findings from Amnesty International, and is NOT 575 pages long:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/israeli-armys-use-white-phosphorus-gaza-clear-undeniable-20090119

September 10, 2013

Whose Success In Syrian OUTCOME? OUR SUCCESS!

While the political world is sorting out whether Obama failed or succeeded regarding Syria, (and of course, the answer from the Republican side of the aisle is that he failed, while the answer from the Democratic side is he is a success) people in the trenches of transformative change are realizing this: WE ARE THE PART OF REASON THAT SYRIA IS NOT TO BE BOMBED.

FACT: 72 % of all Americans were AGAINST any sort of military action to be taken in Syria stemming from the sarin gas issue.


FACT: The public's full and advanced awareness of the manipulative forces behind the "argument for military involvement" were instrumental in informing the House of Representatives that "NO WAR! No WAY!"
People are aware, on account of social media, of "Green Screen" technology, and how the Powers that Be can make use of it, and the people are not eager to accept some video or other than CNN broadcasts as a reason to approve a new war. People are aware of the history of chemical weapons that this nation has employed, and are adamant that our nation needs to think about its own involvement with chem weapons rather than adopting some nebulous "moral authority" to start a military involvement.

FACT: In addition to making the knowledge of the in's and out's of Green Screen technology available, people are using the Social Media world to keep each other informed of everything from the fact that the sarin attack occurred, there is far too much uncertainty as to who did it. And even if Assad did it, can we bomb Syria without considering bombing Great Britain, that apparently supplied the actual sarin gas to Assad?
It was the tremendous number of people on the Social Media that let us know that Kerry, Rice et al actually considered letting Dubai and Saudi Arabia pay for our "military adventure" and so the USA is now merely a mercenary state. Unless we the people stop that from becoming the full day to day reality!

On account of Social Media, you and I can connect in real time with activists in Ireland (one of whom has a broadcast that I am listening to as I type this.) Activists can use information from Al Jazeera, from RT, from Real News, from some small time news source that has a web podcast. The goal of our One Percent and its inner circle of "Powers that Be" has had as its goal the notion that everything that the average American would believe will be a lie. This was told to us when Bill Casey's famous first statement to CIA recruits ended up here on the internet.

So those of us int he know understand that the CIA has a lot of control over TV "News" station CNN. And the CIA doesn't need to extend its full on control to the corporate offices of ABC, or NBC (and MSNBC) or Fox or CBS because their corporate interests already put them in the situation where any war is a good war. It's no secret that TV Station executives know that a buildup to war, and the launch of a new war guarantees higher ratings of viewers, so any station tied into profit is quite pleased to promote the military adventures our leaders are addicted to. But Social Media allows the intelligent and concerned citizen to access multiple venues of intelligent messages, many of which are free from CIA control. The Social Media venues are free from the rhetoric of political parties and their One Percent appointed leaders. Free from limiting the message to such a tiny bit of information that the CIA message is nothing more than jingoistic prattle. The Irony of Social Media is that when an important message is whittled down to almost nothing by the forces of the One Percent, that message sinks below the heavy duty messages that make up Truth, and the activists that are in control of the Social Media messages support keeping that Truth buoyed up.

September 10, 2013

It's Cute That They Didn't think we would notice them rippin' us off:

Video I found on the website "Upworthy" regarding Net Neutrality:

http://www.upworthy.com/its-cute-that-they-thought-we-wouldnt-notice-them-trying-to-rip-us-off-10?c=ufb1

September 7, 2013

One affected infant, and one illegal chemical weapon:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=553573118031712&set=a.553034728085551.1073741826.160616580660703&type=1&ref=nf

September 5, 2013

So, Mr President, you state that the funds for this war already exist... Really?

I guess I wasn't aware of the chump change you folks at the head of the government keep lying around.

Since you have such great gobs of funding, could you possibly send me back the campaign contribution that I made back in 2008? At the time, I couldn't afford it, but I thought that getting some "Change" would be worth the Hopeful Investment of having you become President.

I realize that my campaign contribution is not exactly from the same set of funds that this war is from. So maybe you could note that the contribution was made? Then once out of office, when you start raking in the big bucks that are Quid Pro Quo for your letting the Oval Office help out the MIC-Surveillance Corporations and they start having you give speeches in front of corporate podiums, (I know and you know that you will be paid well then), so maybe then the money can come back to me with interest.

I can always Hope!, right?

Anyway, since the funds for this war are not a problem, maybe there are some other items we could find funding for.

Many households have endured setbacks the like of which have not been envisioned since the days of the Great Depression, and even John McCain might convince himself that a war we cannot even pay for now is not in our best interest.

Granted that sarin is a cruel and unusual punishment, but so is the "punishment" of having our jobs outsourced, having our schools shut down, our fire fighters laid off, etc. When budgets are cut back drastically on the state level, then jobs are lost.

When jobs are lost, people cannot keep up the payments on their homes and cars, and sometimes they are even going hungry. If you are dead from, say suicide, as some four people in my small community are, you are dead, and just as lifeless as if you have had sarin sprayed on you. Same goes for those whose death came about due to untreated illness.

The school budget for my local district was over 16 million three years ago - it has been cut to the bone this year with a budget of less than 10 million.

Today you explained that the funds exist for this war...

Really, Mr President? I thought that we as a nation were all so broke, that you know, [h2][font color=red]austerity,[/h2][/font color=red] and you know, [h2][font color=red]cutbacks,[/h2][/font color=red] and you know, [h2][font color=red]forget about retiring at 65 you friggin' suckers, because the Federal government needs our Social Security to pay off the Six trillions of dollars the last two wars cost the public.[/h2][/font color=red]

Ten to twelve millions of America households have been foreclosed upon, some of whom were not even behind in payments! And much of the 50 billion dollar program that you have set up to provide homeowners with relief was not available to normal people, as bank officials and mortgage officials made it impossible for HAMP funding to happen, unless you had a Congress critter or two to help you navigate the situation.

But all of these problems can be swept aside, as we need to show the world all about our moral authority! I guess that is the one thing we still have in this nation that we had back in the 1950's when I was a kid. We no longer have the decent educational system I enjoyed, we no longer have libraries that are open, we no longer have community hospitals that are about people's health rather than profit, we no longer have jobs or a middle class, we no longer have our homes, (which I guess is good, because we no longer have fire fighters to protect those homes) BUT HELL'S BELL'S WE have OURSELVES some outstanding moral authority!

September 4, 2013

Why is an attack on Syria not legal ???

After all, the Constitution says that the only valid reason for war is to respond to a strike upon our nation.

And why does it state that in the Constitution? Because the colonists who wrote the document were clearly aware of how the King would continually engage the nation of Great Britain in war, so as to have the ability to have kickbacks from the National Treasury whenever this happened. This perpetuated the debt that the average citizen owed.

Our Founding Fathers wanted the citizens of this new land to avoid that indebtedness.

[h2][font color=red]Please someone explain how we are to pay for this? We still have not paid the Six Trillion Dollars for Iraq II and Afghanistan!![/h2][/font color=red]

Raiding Social Security is only going to get the One Percent and their puppets some 2.4 trillions of dollars. Does anyone think the Chinese are going to keep lending us money to fight wars, and in this case, fight their ally?

September 1, 2013

In other news, Monsanto Bt Corn is a Fail.

The Bt corn was supposed to totally stop pests from destroying the corn crop. But apparently, it is not working out that way in Illinois. The pests are destroying the corn.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/monsanto-developed-corn-foiled-by-pests/article_5243e458-5c97-56fb-80e3-0c7f12a8c98a.html
From the above article:
Gray said, in a report this week, that producers across a wide swath of the state will face a “formidable insect foe” capable of overcoming both crop rotation and the protein. He and Spencer collected corn rootworm not just in the damaged corn but in adjacent soybean fields. “The density of the western corn rootworm adults in both crops … was additional evidence that the Bt hybrids had failed to offer the necessary root protection,” Gray said in a statement.

The western corn rootworm costs American growers an estimated $1 billion a year in crop losses and preventative products. “The corn rootworm is one of the most devastating pests to the U.S. corn yield,” said Luke Samuel, who’s in charge of corn insect traits for Monsanto, in an email response Wednesday. “Similar to years past, we’ve seen pockets of heavy corn rootworm pressure in isolated areas of Illinois and have been closely working with those farmers to address those issues through a series of best management practices.”

Spencer and Gray say that rotation-resistant rootworm is found, not just in Illinois, but in parts of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Iowa. That might mean farmers in a larger area could see similar problems in years to come. “This is a pretty new situation,” Spencer said. “We won’t know how big this area is.”

Gray and Spencer say that growers will have to switch to a product that has “multiple modes of action” against corn rootworm — such as Monsanto’s Genuity SmartStax line, which kills the worms with an additional protein. Those growers who don’t plant the product with the additional protein may have to use soil insecticides — the very practice that the Bt hybrids were intended to curb.