whttevrr
whttevrr's JournalWhy should we post about abortion?
How about because Republicans are doubling down on trying to get it banned!?
It must be scary to be an informed woman in this country these days. I am saddened by the continuing onslaught from Texas
https://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/planned-parenthood-v-abbott
...to New Mexico,
http://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/12/planned-parenthood-aclu-spend-500000-to-keep-abortion-legal-up-to-birth-in-new-mexico/
to... fuck... it's getting to be too many places to keep track of. This is something that cannot be ignored.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Oklahoma-Rejected-by-High-Court-on-Ultrasound-4977893.php
They are not giving up any time soon... America needs to stay vigilant... Women cannot afford for Choice Supporters to give up the fight.
The Swing Of The Pendulum
http://whateverworks4you.blogspot.com/2011/12/swing-of-pendulum.htmlLife is cyclic in nature; so too is the swing of the pendulum. America has felt the sting of a pendulum at its conservative right apogee. We’ve had tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded wars, and a coldness rarely seen in America. The recent republican presidents have pushed taxes to the lowest they have been in fifty years. When were taxes this low before? When were they the highest?
In recent history we have to go back to the early 1920’s to see taxes as low as they are today. That should be shockingly prophetic to any who care not to return to the times of The Great Depression. It is horrific to think that so many would vote to neuter the federal budget enough to bring us to the brink of such an occurrence. And sadly enough, we are living through such a time. We are at a precipice. There are many paths from here. We as a country should tread carefully and remember what the past has taught us. Greed is not good. Compassion is just.
<<snip>>
Americans need to be compassionate. It is in the long term survivability interests of our country to be the best that humanity can offer to the world. Recently it was reported that charitable contributions worldwide are up. And America is in the lead for giving. Not governmental assistance, but individual charity. When we hurt; we give.
With hate and venom some members of the political right have spit their disrespect towards our President. It is time to stop this enmity. It is time to work towards moving that Pendulum to the left. We need the charity of spirit in politics. Those that believe in the hard line stance that we are being pummeled with daily need to be thanked for reminding us, as Americans, what we do not want to be. And then us Americans need to push these partisans to the side so that we may make room to embrace those who wish to turn America into the dream our founding fathers meant it to be. We as a people need to remake the American Dream. We need to make the American Dream available to all Americans.
Let us all work together to remove the hate and prejudice from the American politic and work together to let all Americans work for the American Dream.
This: " We need to do more in this country. There is child slavery here, too. "
It's horrific anywhere, but damn...
Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/05/sex-trafficking-201105?currentPage=all
A 13 year old for $500...
Then, one day in December 2003, at a sleazy motor inn on the Berlin Turnpike—an 11.2-mile time-warp stretch of asphalt, lined on either side with at least 37 other no-tell motels—Paris remitted Forbes $1,200, and the girls, court documents show, were his. Buying girls like livestock is not unusual. Cheryl, a gems girl, at about 14 was sold by one pimp, “Love,” to another pimp, “Junior,” for $600. The New York City Police detective Wayne Taylor—convicted in July 2008 for the attempted kidnapping of a 13-year-old—purchased his thrall for $500 from a Brooklyn “pimp partner.” In fact, the price for an adolescent female slave is far lower than it was in the mid–19th century, when, adjusted to today’s dollar, the going rate was roughly $40,000, the price of a car.
What a nightmare...
Today's Republicans are not the ones I read about in school...
http://www.house.gov/representatives/The Environment?
Abraham Lincoln in 1864 signed legislation deeding Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to California for public enjoyment and recreation.
2.) National Forests
Benjamin Harrison signed into law the 1890 Forest Reserve Act
3.) The Antiquities Act
In 1906, a Republican Congress passed legislation to stop looting of historically significant artifacts on public lands. The law authorized the president to establish national monuments to protect "objects of historic or scientific interest."
Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill into law.,establishing monuments protecting Devils Tower, the Grand Canyon, Mount Lassen and others.
4.) The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt established 155 national forests, two-thirds of the present system, five national parks, 18 national monuments and 55 bird and game preserves, the cornerstones of our national wildlife refuge system.
5.) The Presidency of Richard Nixon
1970 Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act. Six weeks later, he put a sweeping legislative program of clean air and water, waste reduction and open space acquisition before Congress. Six months later, Nixon established EPA. Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law.
Civil Rights?
2.) The 1964 Civil Rights Act
80% of Republicans in the House and Senate voted for the bill. Minority Leader Republican Everett Dirksen led the fight to end the filibuster. Meanwhile, Democrats such as Richard Russell of Georgia and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina tried as hard as they could to sustain a filibuster.
Health Care?
Can anyone imagine this current crop of Republicans doing any of this? When I got out of High School I registered as a Republican, since then I've learned that you can not get anywhere by always looking at "what was."
When the Republicans actively sought to denounce governing and enshrined themselves in "Trickle Down Economics" it became quite clear that the Republican Party was no longer what it once was. It took me a while to realize that I could not Hope that Republicans would Change back into what they once were. I was done with them years ago.
President Obama allowed me to finally remove the rose colored hue that my history schoolbooks had put on my glasses. And at first, I did not like him because of that. But after watching all the vile bitterness that was spit out at him and his calm cool demeanor in letting that dreck just fall away, he made me realize that he was a very strong leader. He is a lot stronger than I could ever be. This guy, he just takes it all in stride and never stops moving forward.
I was proud to vote for him. I am glad that he is our President. I Hope he has the strength to overcome what the Republicans have put in our way towards progress. I want my President to succeed. I know that when he does he will lift our country up and forward into the next century. But I think he needs our help. Americans everywhere need to speak their truth and raise their voices. We as a nation must act. We must tell our elected representatives what it is that we want.
Contact Congress and let them know that we stand with President Barack Obama.
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
This is sadness personified.
Vanity Fair did a piece a while back on sex trafficking.
Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/05/sex-trafficking-201105?currentPage=all
It is a heartbreaking story no matter who it happens to. The most troubling thing is that these young women are sometimes betrayed by the very people who should be protecting them. The degradation and betrayal is horrifying; and it is something that is done over and over so that the victims never know who to trust. It breaks the psyche into tiny compartments of pain. Life becomes a harrowing nightmare.
I wish I did not know that this is a real problem. It is heartbreaking.
"There was no single person who had a complete technical understanding," The NSA machine: Too big fo
The NSA machine: Too big for anyone to understand
http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-machine-too-big-anyone-understand-071323221--politics.html
More yahoo woo for the masses...
The National Security Agency set it in motion in 2006 and the vast network of supercomputers, switches and wiretaps began gathering Americans' phone and Internet records by the millions, looking for signs of terrorism.
But every day, NSA analysts snooped on more American phone records than they were allowed to. Some officials searched databases of phone records without even realizing it. Others shared the results of their searches with people who weren't authorized to see them.
It took nearly three years before the government figured out that so much had gone wrong. It took even longer to figure out why.
Newly declassified documents released Tuesday tell a story of a surveillance apparatus so unwieldy and complex that nobody fully comprehended it, even as the government pointed it at the American people in the name of protecting them.
"There was no single person who had a complete technical understanding," government lawyers explained to a federal judge in 2009.
The only people who did not understand what was going on was Congress and The American People. The techno gear heads in charge knew what was going on. The people setting this up new what was going on. It is ridiculous to think government lawyers were being honest when they said: "There was no single person who had a complete technical understanding,"
That is complete Bullshit. The spooks in charge knew exactly what they were creating.
Ma'loula or Maaloula is a village in Syria with historical and archeological significance...
Ma'loula or Maaloula ( Aramaic: ܡܥܠܘܠܐ?, Maʿlūlā; Arabic: معلولا? Maʿlūlā ) is a village in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma'loula
It is known as one of three places where Western Aramaic is still spoken, the other two being the nearby villages Jubb Adin and Bakh'a.
Regardless of faith and politics there are historical sites there that do indeed have archeological significance.
The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites. http://news.yahoo.com/activists-syrian-rebels-christian-village-093722827.html
I hope the rebels respect the history of that place and do not behave like the marauders who destroyed tombs in Timbuktu.
One of the problems with the Syria conflict is that the "Bad Guy" is protecting minority faiths from the "good guys"... and even that is overly simplistic. There is so much going sideways in that country that if there is indeed one place where we do not need to be picking sides, it is this place.
I get it that we can not just sit on our hands while people suffer. So let's make sure that those neighboring countries that are getting tremendous amounts of refugees, also get tremendous amounts of real support. We as a country should be sending cargo planes full of clean water, clothing, and food. How many meals could we serve for a million dollars.
We are ready to spend at least a billion dollars bombing Syria. Why can't we leave the bombs at home and spend a billion dollars trying to help the people fleeing that mess?
I wish the President would go to congress to ask them to vote for massive amounts of humanitarian aid for the host countries that are resettling so many millions of people trying to flee the madness that is going on on Syria.
Why can't we. instead of bombing Syria, send aid and support to Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq?
I would like the precedent.
It would be nice to get back to having elected representatives actually considering the will of the people who voted them into office.
I do not want any President to have Carte blanche in launching "kinetic military engagements." I want my country to have a deliberate and vigorous debate before we as a country commit to an act of aggression towards another country. The euphemisms suck. When you launch a missile or bomb at another country it is an act of war. And it just so happens, our Constitution has a solution for this!
Yup.
Even has a name: "The War Powers Clause" ... huh... who knew?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11
Section 8
1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
And, the framers of our Constitution apparently never saw a semicolon they didn't love. Anyways...
Yeah... debate that shit! Engaging our military apparatus should not be a convenient solution. It should be an abject pain in the ass to accomplish.
Every minute, 8 people around the world are forced to flee their homes due to war and persecution.
UNHCR's Representative to Jordan, Andrew Harper, explains the reality for Syrian refugees in Jordan and thanks Syria's neighbors for taking in millions of displaced citizens.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-3-2013/exclusive---andrew-harper-extended-interview-pt--1
He also thanks the US for its generosity. This is what Syria needs instead of bombs.
http://www.unrefugees.org
Every minute, 8 people around the world are forced to flee their homes due to war and persecution.
That adds up to 43 million children and their families who have sought safety from the threat of war, persecution, natural disasters, and famine. Many travel hundreds of miles to find security, leaving everything behind -- their homes, their possessions, their livelihoods and even loved ones -- just to save their own lives.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)'s mission is to provide protection, education, shelter, food, water, medical care and life-saving assistance to some 34.5 million refugees and forcibly displaced people worldwide.
Since its formation in 1950, UNHCR has helped an estimated 50 million refugees restart their lives, receiving 2 Nobel Peace Prizes for its lifesaving work in some of the world's most dangerous regions. The agency is the lead humanitarian organization on the scene, with 6,000 staff members in 126 countries around the world.
UNHCR depends on voluntary contributions from people like you to provide these critical refugee assistance programs. With your support to USA for UNHCR, we can ensure that innocent men, women, and children receive the help they need.
A question about Syria: Is this a religious civil war?
And it's corollary: Should The USA be tasked with policing a religious fight?
Sorry, no links... But I do recall reading that Syria accepted all Muslim refugees into their country and gave them a subsidy until they could find employment. The majority of the influx was Sunni Muslims form Iraq. Iran backs the Shiite faction of Muslims that are in power in Syria; they are the Alawis.
If these statements are incorrect please let me know. If they are correct, how do we justify imposing our will in a religious civil war?
I do understand that chemical weapons are an atrocity, but how do our bombs help the survivors of a chemical agent attack? Shouldn't we send doctors instead of bombs? Or am I being too Pollyanna?
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