Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Back of Beyond
One of the drawbacks to moving out of the metropolitan region of San Francisco Bay is the lack of services we took for granted. Services like high speed DSL, rapid transit, and even telephonic voice mail are now wistful memories. Yet, as we admire the golden sunset over Vancouver Island, and enjoy the promenade along Birch Bay, we realize there are tradeoffs to surviving in today's austere economy.
Watching the geese and swans fly by our window, or witnessing the bald eagles performing acrobatics above our new home, cosmopolitan benefits like gourmet bread, olives and wine -- once taken for granted in our previous abode between San Francisco and Sonoma -- seem less important. Of course, paying $600 a month for an apartment a block from the beach, as opposed to $1,600 in the urban core, has its advantages.
After all, it's easier to learn to bake bread than it is to make money.
Watching the geese and swans fly by our window, or witnessing the bald eagles performing acrobatics above our new home, cosmopolitan benefits like gourmet bread, olives and wine -- once taken for granted in our previous abode between San Francisco and Sonoma -- seem less important. Of course, paying $600 a month for an apartment a block from the beach, as opposed to $1,600 in the urban core, has its advantages.
After all, it's easier to learn to bake bread than it is to make money.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Carbon Market Fraud
REDD, the carbon cartel's trading scheme hatched in partnership with the UN, unravels as Wall Street and the World Bank attempt to silence dissent at the COP 17 gathering in Durban, South Africa.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Armed with the Truth.
Julian Assange rounds up the usual suspects in his acceptance speech as winner of the Walkley Journalism award.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Village Voice Villainy
When our friends at Prostitution Research and Education took on Craigslist a year ago for aiding and abetting the trafficking of women and children in the sex industry, we wholeheartedly endorsed their efforts. Now that they are taking on Village Voice Media -- owners of the Seattle Weekly, San Francisco Weekly and LA Weekly -- for profiting from the same crime against humanity, we once again applaud their efforts at abolishing this modern form of slavery.
Reading Village Voice Media's lame responses, which range from everybody else is doing it to we only support trafficking of women 18 and older, we are left wondering where they got their PR people--let alone their moral values.
Reading Village Voice Media's lame responses, which range from everybody else is doing it to we only support trafficking of women 18 and older, we are left wondering where they got their PR people--let alone their moral values.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Razing Rio
Compared to the slum evictions and police harassment in the lead-up to the Vancouver Olympics, the systematic executions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the 2012 World Cup and 2016 Olympics are in another league altogether. But the modern Olympics -- no matter where -- are always about windfalls for developers and politicians benefiting from urban redevelopment associated with spectacular sporting events. Creating mass homelessness and destroying communities is simply capitalistic collateral damage.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Chain of Command
Glenn Greenwald discusses abuse of power as an anti-democratic strategy. As we witness the exercise of tyrannical abuse -- from Wall Street to the White House to the college campus -- we need to further examine the chain of command culminating in militarized police action against the citizens of the United States. As Greenwald suggests, when we cease to ask such questions, we are no longer citizens--or human beings.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Teach Your Children
Watching the pro-democracy rallies this week in Cairo and New York, one can't help but wonder what the world might have been like without the Reagan revolution. As one of Reagan's disciples, Barack Obama this week voiced support for the Egyptian military dictatorship; meanwhile, on Wall Street, peace activists sang along with David Crosby and Graham Nash to the tune of Teach Your Children--a song made famous forty years ago during the Vietnam War.
Scanning the websites of organizations supporting the movement for humanity against Obama's masters who benefit from war and other forms of thievery, American Friends Service Committee says simply, "We're all in this together." Somehow, I don't think President Obama sees it that way.
Scanning the websites of organizations supporting the movement for humanity against Obama's masters who benefit from war and other forms of thievery, American Friends Service Committee says simply, "We're all in this together." Somehow, I don't think President Obama sees it that way.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
FBI Fantasy
In The Revealer on Monday, Nora Connor discussed the anti-Islamic bias taught at the FBI academy in Quantico. As part of the counter-terrorism curriculum, fostering ignorance and bigotry in America's top law enforcement institution raises serious questions. One question is how effective they can be after being indoctrinated to ignore reality while pursuing fantasy. As I note in the comments section, that hasn't worked so well in the past.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Obama Feels No Pain
Sicking the Department of Justice on California medical marijuana dispensaries may seem like good electoral strategy to Obama, but attacking the sick and disabled could backfire on Goldman Sach’s golden boy. After all, California voters approved medical relief for people dealing with chronic pain, and Obama’s decision to unleash U.S. attorneys against pot clubs because he thinks people still hate hippies is misplaced. I mean, even Sarah Palin says pot should be legal.
In the end, abuse of power by the White House, exercised through the Attorney General's office, is about social control. If one is looking for an argument against centralized government, prohibition -- past and present -- is a pretty good one.
In the end, abuse of power by the White House, exercised through the Attorney General's office, is about social control. If one is looking for an argument against centralized government, prohibition -- past and present -- is a pretty good one.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Final Solution
If you look at the sum of UN programs rather than its pieces, a different picture emerges. As storytellers, it is our task to paint that picture through narratives that capture the totality of what is happening.
While minor concessions are being made to placate indigenous peoples and their civil society friends, ethnic cleansing on a scale not seen since the first wave of invasions out of Europe is well underway.
This final solution for the disposition of the world's 5,000 remaining indigenous societies, in order to extract fossil fuels and minerals without regard for human rights, is the result of conflating greed and need. Neglecting environmental concerns as well, TNCs, states and the UN are engaged in an all out effort to clear the way for wholesale ravaging of the planet. If you doubt my assertions, take a look at the UN Millenium Development goals sometime.
Development has to happen in order to meet the demands of a burgeoning world population, but how that happens depends on attitude. Taking into consideration the needs of all peoples, including indigenous nations, would temper the greed and focus on the need. Development without their consent leaves it to markets and institutions to decide our fate.
Given this horrific scenario, the bewildering manipulations within the UN to exclude indigenous peoples from a seat at the table on all matters of substance makes sense. Silencing their voices is a prerequisite to their marginalization and, ultimately, their annihilation.
While minor concessions are being made to placate indigenous peoples and their civil society friends, ethnic cleansing on a scale not seen since the first wave of invasions out of Europe is well underway.
This final solution for the disposition of the world's 5,000 remaining indigenous societies, in order to extract fossil fuels and minerals without regard for human rights, is the result of conflating greed and need. Neglecting environmental concerns as well, TNCs, states and the UN are engaged in an all out effort to clear the way for wholesale ravaging of the planet. If you doubt my assertions, take a look at the UN Millenium Development goals sometime.
Development has to happen in order to meet the demands of a burgeoning world population, but how that happens depends on attitude. Taking into consideration the needs of all peoples, including indigenous nations, would temper the greed and focus on the need. Development without their consent leaves it to markets and institutions to decide our fate.
Given this horrific scenario, the bewildering manipulations within the UN to exclude indigenous peoples from a seat at the table on all matters of substance makes sense. Silencing their voices is a prerequisite to their marginalization and, ultimately, their annihilation.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Time Is Come
Demonstrations and teach-ins return to Berkeley. It's about time.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Healing Connection
Resettled and beginning to heal with the help of friends and my new massage therapist extraordinaire, Laura Hedges. For those willing and able to donate toward the latter, this is my new healer's online gift certificate link.
Friday, November 04, 2011
De-funding Globalization
Reading through Bay Area coverage of the Oakland and San Francisco police clashes with anti-globalization protestors this week, I came across a useful suggestion in the Bay Guardian: transfer your funds from bailout bank accounts to credit unions. While this may be nothing new to pro-democracy advocates, it seems the time is right for the millions of us made homeless or jobless since 2008 to begin putting our money where our mouth is.
With direct deposit and online banking available no matter where you put your money, there's simply no reason to keep supporting Wall Street financial institutions.
With direct deposit and online banking available no matter where you put your money, there's simply no reason to keep supporting Wall Street financial institutions.
