tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71119722024-03-07T00:25:13.159-05:00The Foot of Mount OlympusPolitical and Personal CommentaryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-56950413422364017392022-06-21T11:27:00.000-04:002022-06-21T11:27:05.299-04:00Anti Fascist Poem No. 1There has always been a struggle for power between those who feel that everything (including human beings) belongs to them to profit from from womb to tomb. In this period, the danger of their triumph is extreme. We all have our triggers depending on which exploited group we belong to. The pending repeal of Roe v Wade is just one of mine. Hence, this poem. <div><br /></div><div> I am a woman, not an object to be bound, to be forced, to be driven, to be possessed. <div><br /></div><div> Do you think I will lower my eyes demurely and say, “Yes, sir,” while you strip me of my personhood? </div><div><br /></div><div> Do you think I will continue to cook and clean and woman your factories and your fields, your retail stores, schools and your hospitals after you legally own my womb? </div><div><br /></div><div> Do you think I will continue to allow you to beat, beat, beat me down forever? </div><div><br /></div><div> Or </div><div><br /></div><div> Will there be a bubbling, bubbling, bubbling on the surface? </div><div><br /></div><div> Will there be a burning, burning, burning in our eyes? </div><div><br /></div><div> Will there be a marching, marching, marching to your doorsteps?</div><div><br /></div><div> Will there be a singing, singing, singing for our lives? </div><div><br /></div><div> No more taking, taking, taking of our labor while you dribble back our nickels and our dimes.</div><div><br /></div><div> No more taking, taking, taking of our children for your prisons, wars, factories and mines. </div><div><br /></div><div> No more taking, taking, taking of earths treasures that your tiny minds could never even dream.</div><div> </div><div>No more guzzling of the water, oil and gasses that harm us all and only feed your greed. </div><div><br /></div><div>We are tired of your primitive performance. </div><div><br /></div><div> We are tired of your claim upon the earth. </div><div><br /></div><div> Tired of your claim upon our time, upon our lives, upon our children</div><div><br /></div><div> Who you only see as fodder for your wealth. </div><div><br /></div><div> I am a mother, not an incubator. </div><div><br /></div><div> I am a sister, not a receptacle. </div><div><br /></div><div> I am a daughter, not a vessel. </div><div><br /></div><div> There will be marching, marching, marching. </div><div><br /></div><div> There will be singing, singing, singing. </div><div><br /></div><div> This will be our first song. </div><div><br /></div><div> Now that you have touched the women you have struck a rock,
you have dislodged a boulder, you will be crushed.
Women's Freedom Song, August, 1956 South Africa
.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-76786044532852873152017-10-22T08:51:00.000-04:002017-10-22T08:51:04.314-04:00Next Phase<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Sometimes I can just feel myself at the sink in my new kitchen in some
suburb looking out a window into a green yard. I see myself sitting on a deck where I
can feed and watch the birds away from the sirens and funeral home deliveries. When
I walk with our students on the city streets, the garbage swirling everywhere
offends me and then I come upon a little patch of brick sidewalk and think of
Frenchtown or Lambertville; places I wanted to live in my younger days. I’ve always
preferred the city up until now. I feel safer in a diverse place. I like
walking even though I hardly do it with the soccer and the bus drop off time.
Usually I’m exhausted after waking at 5:00 AM, getting my grandson to the bus
stop and myself to work, picking him up, making dinner, taking him to soccer
practice twice a week and the games on Saturdays. I am sure, now, that I want to
move. The house is too big for us. We barely use the first floor. It’s a lot to
clean. I need a change. But where to go from here?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I realized a little while ago that once Medicare kicks in I’ll
be freer than I’ve ever been to go wherever I want to. I have the pension and
Social Security and I can get a job somewhere, especially if I get my license. I
can go wherever I want to go. I have to consider Eddie, though so it probably won’t
be too far. Still, the feeling of freedom is nice. As long as I don’t get sick,
I’ll be fine. As long as… Always a worry. Always a worry. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I could use a few years without worrying about things. That
would be nice. This move will be my last so it has to be the right one. I don’t
want to disrupt Eddie’s life so I want him to stay at the same school. Thank
goodness it’s a charter school so I can be in any neighborhood in almost any
town in the area. Arts are a big thing in the Lehigh
Valley. The Arts
Academy is good for him.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I’m trying to dream about where to go next. I found a nice
area in Palmer/Easton. It’s about 20 minutes closer to New
Jersey. It’s only one exit over the border on both 22
and 78. Taxes are reasonable. Houses were built in the 60’s so they have
hardwood floors. Yards are a good size. I don’t hear traffic. I’m just not sure
about the suburbs. I’d like to see more of nature. A lake or something. We’ll
see. We’ll see.I see myself at the sink, in the kitchen, but I don't see myself in a neighborhood, in a particular town.</div>
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There's so much to do, too. Thirteen glass carboys, oil lamps, tools, wine making supplies, books, the remnants of a life to dispose of. It's a big job. Then I have to paint and clean and install a new fence and kitchen appliances. It's a little overwhelming. Lately I've been in a creative phase and am making retro inspired jewelry for my Etsy shop. You have to work while you are inspired. When it comes, you have to take advantage of it. That's all for now. Up to the bead room to create.</div>
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-10982364639027423242017-07-27T07:41:00.002-04:002017-07-27T09:47:37.197-04:00Recycling <div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">What can you learn from my recycling bin?</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">The crushed cans of flavored seltzer, </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">an empty cardboard box that held Vervain eau du toilette,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">an occasional bottle of vodka, lots of Gatorade and yogurt containers,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">Saturday and Sunday newspapers, still folded and unread.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal; min-height: 20.3px;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">Can you tell that my heart has been ripped from my body along with half of my memories?</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">Can you tell that all I see before me is an ocean of loneliness with no land in sight? </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal; min-height: 20.3px;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">My husband is dead.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">The memory of all he was swirls around me.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">It lives in the spices in my cabinets,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">In the plates and cups,</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">In the teapots on their shelf</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">In the library books and the wood that holds them. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">The wood he cut and planed and stained.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">In the half empty bed, one side never unmade</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">Like Tally's sandcastle in the Ray Bradbury story. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">But my husband is not caught in the weeds of a summer lake.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">He is gone. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">His ashes sit in an urn on my work table waiting to be incorporated into stones that we will wear around our necks/</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">A stone to grasp.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">A stone to fondle.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;">A stone to be warmed by our living bodies that have no choice but to go on without him. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; min-height: 20.3px;">
<br /></div>
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-54250968022298322692017-04-29T12:17:00.000-04:002017-04-29T12:17:06.969-04:00Worry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-T-k5_qRlUcfs4XRG69Q-Hc2cstHAF__BuX0YCU-Lr1lKaioXjcvj0S35hkvIy31VYUmGZspAdC3CmENCGXM557aT2_wDq0a7mfScZhEGljHHwlalxsMYsBW5g7pivVVuL_-Iw/s1600/IMG_0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-T-k5_qRlUcfs4XRG69Q-Hc2cstHAF__BuX0YCU-Lr1lKaioXjcvj0S35hkvIy31VYUmGZspAdC3CmENCGXM557aT2_wDq0a7mfScZhEGljHHwlalxsMYsBW5g7pivVVuL_-Iw/s320/IMG_0632.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
I don't usually park in back of the daycare center, but the few spaces in front were full so I drove around to the parking lot. The view past the chain link fence and the playground is of the south side of the city where we lived when we first moved to Pennsylvania. The mountains in the distance were softened by fog. It was humid, but there was a breeze and some sun after days of rain. The birds were singing. It was Friday. I was feeling happy and then as usual, I began to list the possible disasters that could befall me this weekend. I thought of two: 1. something could happen to the house in the Poconos since I had to turn off one of the circuit breakers to the baseboard heat due to over heating. 2. Something could happen to my daughter who is a heroin addict in and out of treatment for the last seven years. I had turned off the circuit breaker to the offending unit and turned the heat down to 50 degrees, so I was not particularly bothered by the house issue. It has been warm all week so not much heat would be needed. I know who I can call to fix it when I am up there next. There is nothing I can do that I haven't tried before to help my daughter who will be 40 on her next birthday. I'll keep trying when I can, when I see her, but for now there is nothing I can do. So I dropped my grandson off at daycare and went to work happy that it was Friday and it was sunny and warm and I had the weekend before me.I realized that my anxiety level has decreased significantly since my husband died. The daily worry about him falling, or getting cancer again or just waiting, waiting for that day to come when it would end is gone. The worst thing that could happen has already happened. The worst thing that could happen has already happened. The chores that I have set for myself-the painting and cleaning and de-cluttering and rearranging-will pull me through the next months and maybe over a year as I prepare to live the rest of my life without him after 42 years. The worst thing that could happen has already happened. <span id="goog_1196623812"></span><span id="goog_1196623813"></span><br />
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-43332876203852052732017-04-02T13:12:00.002-04:002017-04-02T17:09:47.596-04:00LossCleaned up the back garden today. It's a small yard with just two strips of dirt on either side of a concrete slab. The terracotta tile stenciling is fading. I cut down the dead plants and sawed off the branches of the nuisance Rose of Sharon that is growing between the raised bed and the neighbors fence. I was getting annoyed trying to pull out the deep roots of the bronze fennel that is taking over my little gardening space. I turned to look at the back door and suddenly I started crying. He will not come to that door anymore to see what I'm doing and then go back in to fetch the correct tool for the job or a cold drink urging me to take a break. I don't know if I can live here anymore, facing season after season of the same place without him. I cleaned off his desk yesterday and found so many things: little Soviet clock in a box; our late dog, Sandy's picture ID with the note I wrote for him to give to the vet with her symptoms and the bill for the euthanasia and cremation that he had to face alone since we had no warning that she was so ill; cancelled checks for our rent on Vine St and for Orchard Park Nursery School; the credit card bill for the tile we bought in Union for the living room in our first house on Moravian. I thought as I made each room my own by moving things and storing things and painting things, I might be able to handle it. I moved my things into the top drawer of the bathroom vanity, but I keep going for the bottom drawer, still. We lived here for 17 of our 42 years together. I don't know if I can stay. I am dreading next Christmas already. It's been 15 weeks since he died and the knowledge that I will never see him again is becoming more and more real. <br />
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-60944718631573347722012-11-15T19:43:00.003-05:002012-11-15T19:43:52.247-05:00The "Stuff" I want.
<div class="Section1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bill O'Reilly's statement that the Americans who voted for Barack Obama did so because they want "stuff" that Obama can give to them, was so obviously racist that it's hard to believe he still has job. His obvious shell shock that even with all the money and power harnessed by the richest and most powerful people in the country, people came out and stood in line for hours, sometimes in the dark, to vote against the corporations. As a woman who has worked full time for most of my life, who was laid off three years ago and spent the last two years getting a master's degree in social work, but have yet to find a job, and who voted for Obama, I just want to take this opportunity to talk about the "stuff" I want and the stuff I don't want.. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “stuff” I want:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Meaningful
work at a living wage.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Safe
and decent housing.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Education,
free and true.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Help
not incarceration for substance abusers.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Freedom
to marry the person you love.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Social
Security from birth through death.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Healthcare
for all</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Sustainable
agriculture</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Sustainable
energy policy</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Expansion
of mass transit.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Expansion
of locally grown organic food.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Expansion
of cooperatively owned local businesses.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Equal
pay </li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Freedom
for women to control their bodies.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">An end
to war.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Reparations</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Clean
air and water</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Respect
for our elders</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Love your
neighbor as yourself</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Community</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Public
television</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Funding
for the arts</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
The “stuff” I don’t want:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drones.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nuclear energy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Racism</div>
<ol start="4" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Sexism</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Homophobia</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Bailouts
of banks.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Bailouts
of corporations</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Corporate
funding of paramilitaries</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Oil</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Killing
sharks and gorillas and tigers and wolves and anything else</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Cutting
down the forests to grow palm oil</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Fomenting
unrest in sovereign countries.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">White
“political commentators” announcing the end of the world as we know it
because democracy worked in spite of all the money and dirty tricks that were
used to try and stop it.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Americans
who hide their money to avoid paying taxes.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Mobil
Masterpiece Theater</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Young
people dying in wars.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Poverty</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">War</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Hate</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Fear</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Mendacity</li>
</ol>
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-45434927632945058822012-11-05T14:42:00.001-05:002012-11-05T18:21:01.639-05:00The Election<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">I
recently saw the movie, “The Hunger Games.” The defeat on the faces of the
townspeople as they trudged to work or lined up for the lottery reminded me of
something I read about the </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Homestead</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> strike in “The War
on Labor & the Left” by Patricia Cayo Sexton. In 1892 the striking workers
at the plant owned by Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick successfully fought the
Pinkerton strike breakers who arrived by boat on the </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Monongahela River</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> for thirteen
hours, the governor of </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Pennsylvania</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">, Robert E.
Pattison, and a Democrat, sent 8000 National Guardsman to </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Homestead</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> and declared
Marshall Law. The Guardsman protected the strike breakers and the plant was
reopened with scab labor. The company then pressed charges against the strikers
for murder and conspiracy although no charges were pressed against the strike
breakers. Although the juries would not convict the strikers, the union
crumbled under the costs of the trials and the presence of strikebreakers in
the plant. Strike leaders and the Mayor of Homestead were blacklisted and lost
their homes. The returning men had their rates cut in half and the 12 hour,
seven day week remained the standard for the steel industry. International
reaction overwhelmingly condemned Carnegie and the use of government forces and
mercenaries against the workers. The workers who remained in the broken down
town were described as “discouraged and sullen” in 1894 by the American writer
Hamlin Garland. (Sexton, 1991.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Multiply this scenario through the
years of labor history before and after the </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Homestead</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> strike. Multiply
the poverty of the workers contrasted with the wealth of the owners. Multiply
the dead fallen in battle against mercenaries and military and then add in
those killed in industrial accidents, disease and hunger. Combine the workers
dead and defeated with the enslaved human beings who built much of the wealth
of the wealthy and the Native Americans who continue to be denied their rights
while the scraps of lands they are allowed to keep continue to be polluted with
toxic waste. Add in those who died fighting prejudice and racism and those who
are victims of racism today<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. <span style="color: #003300;">Aside from the enormous human cost, how much
money-government money, tax dollars- is spent on our own repression? How much
money is spent to keep us down? We are unarmed for the most part, mostly
untrained in the art of violence. We have nothing but our minds and bodies to
fight with and yet, millions if not billions of dollars are spent to make sure
we do not stand up like human beings. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the October 16-31 issue of
CounterPunch, there’s an article by Daniel Kovalik called, “The Blood Toll of
Plan Colombia.” In speaking about the presence of multinational corporations in
Columbia, he writes, “the rise of right wing paramilitaries in areas designated
for multi-national exploitation is a common one…the best documented example of
this grim phenomenon…involves North Carolina based Chiquita Banana which
actually admitted, in a criminal case brought by the US Justice Department, to
paying paramilitary forces $1.7 million and running them 3,000 kalishnikov
rifles between 1997 and 2004.” Who was the defense lawyer for Chiquita? Eric
Holder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also from this article are the
following facts from a report by Peace Brigades International, “Mining in </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Columbia</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">: At What Cost?”</span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">“In the past
10 years 40% of all Colombian land has been awarded to or solicited by
mining and crude oil companies.”</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">“80 % of the
human rights abuses of the past 10 years were committed in mining and
energy producing regions.”</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">“87% of </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Colombia</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">’s displaced
population originates from these areas.” (Kovalik, 2012.)</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">According to a BBC
article, the </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">US</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> has spent $6 billion dollars allegedly trying to
stop the drug trade with Plan </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Colombia</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: olive; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">. </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">(BBC, 2012)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All over the world, through
centuries common people have been subjected to inhuman violence. Most of us in
the </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">US</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"> have not seen or
experienced this violence but it is coming closer and closer. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300;">I do not believe
the Democratic Party or Barak Obama will change this course, but I do believe
that if Romney and Ryan win the election with their attitude of corporate
entitlement – everything that contains life, anything than can be exploited for
personal and corporate gain belongs to the corporation – things will get worse
faster. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One man does not run the country and
one man or woman cannot change or stop the evil that is so intertwined with
racism and sexism to the point where the cradle of civilization is being
routinely bombed, where the birthplace of all human beings is being routinely
and violently exploited, where the bountiful earth is being raped and polluted
with chemicals, where the waters are filled with toxic and nuclear waste, where
the diversity and uniqueness of our planet is being destroyed by the madness of
men who want everything to be tasteless, odorless, colorless and dressed in a
three piece suit. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300;">They’ll keep a stable of women. They’ll look out over the dying planet
with puffed up chests and smile at their metal and plastic world. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We can at least slow that down.
Voting doesn’t stop anyone from doing anything more. We’ve already seen so much
evidence of voter suppression over the past few elections that it’s clear that
those who are suppressing the vote do not believe in democracy. We may not have
actually existing democracy and Barak Obama may not be bringing it along, but
voting for those who openly express contempt for the majority of Americans is
irresponsible. Some people want to be on what they think of as the winning
team. They want to stand next to the important person. They want to be rich and
brush against fame. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #003300;">But most of us are not rich or famous, we are the
majority and we can make a difference if we recognize who we are and act
together for our own interests instead of against them.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">References</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">BBC.
Q&A Colombia’s civil conflict. </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">August 28, 2012</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12447532</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Kovalik,
D. CounterPunch. Vol. 19, No. 18. p 2,3. </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">October 16-31, 2012</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">Sexton,
P. The war on labor and the left. Understanding </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">America</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">’s unique
conservatism. </span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">San Francisco</span><span style="font-family: Century; mso-bidi-font-family: "Khmer UI";">, 1991, Westview
Press, p 80-84</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-57836586342485930972012-08-22T12:32:00.000-04:002012-08-22T12:33:28.713-04:00The Real Election Fraud<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
While voter fraud by individuals is rare, preventing
legitimate registered voters from casting their ballots has become common. Studies
by the California and
Massachusetts Institutes of Technology found that 4-6 million votes went
uncounted in the Florida 2000 Presidential election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2000</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">36,000
newly registered voters were not added to the rolls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">State
Troopers search voter’s cars, delaying them from getting to the polls on
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Ballot
boxes went missing or were uncollected, particularly in African-American
districts.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Polling
places close early in some Democratic districts.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Legitimate
voters were purged from the rolls.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2004</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">Tens
of thousands of voters were purged from the rolls.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">In Ohio,
particularly in African American neighborhoods, people waited for 4-7
hours to vote due to insufficient number of voting machines and
breakdowns.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">In one
Ohio precinct, the polls
never opened because the key to the office with the voting machines was
lost.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">In two
Ohio counties there were more
votes for Bush than registered voters.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">In New
Mexico, there were more votes counted than cast
in half the counties.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;">In New
Mexico, John Kerry lost in all precincts
utilizing touch screen technology.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2006</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in;">A
Democratic candidate in Florida
lost the election after 18,000 ballots were lost due to glitches in touch
screen voting machines.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The voter
ID law comes from the bowels of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a collaboration
of legislators and corporations that incubates “model” bills and uses elected
officials in state after state to peddle a corporate agenda. There have been no
documented cases of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
The bill is a diversion. Its sole purpose is to stop historically democratic
voters from being counted and bring “our” country back to a time when only
white men of property could vote.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parenti, M. (2007). the stolen presidential elections.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.michaelparenti.org/stolenelections.html">http://www.michaelparenti.org/stolenelections.html</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More information can be seen at:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/voting-fraud-is-a-fraud-buzzflash-interviews-greg-palast/">http://www.gregpalast.com/voting-fraud-is-a-fraud-buzzflash-interviews-greg-palast/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.aclu.org/voter-suppression-america">http://www.aclu.org/voter-suppression-america</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/why-the-voter-fraud-myth-wont-die.html">http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/why-the-voter-fraud-myth-wont-die.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal">
While voter fraud by individuals is rare, preventing
legitimate registered voters from casting their ballots has become common. Studies
by the California and
Massachusetts Institutes of Technology found that 4-6 million votes went
uncounted in the Florida 2000 Presidential election.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
2000</p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">36,000
newly registered voters were not added to the rolls.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">State
Troopers search voter’s cars, delaying them from getting to the polls on
time.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Ballot
boxes went missing or were uncollected, particularly in African-American
districts.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Polling
places close early in some Democratic districts.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Legitimate
voters were purged from the rolls.</li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
2004</p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">Tens
of thousands of voters were purged from the rolls.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">In Ohio,
particularly in African American neighborhoods, people waited for 4-7
hours to vote due to insufficient number of voting machines and
breakdowns.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">In one
Ohio precinct, the polls
never opened because the key to the office with the voting machines was
lost.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">In two
Ohio counties there were more
votes for Bush than registered voters.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">In New
Mexico, there were more votes counted than cast
in half the counties.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">In New
Mexico, John Kerry lost in all precincts
utilizing touch screen technology.</li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
2006</p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;tab-stops:list .5in">A
Democratic candidate in Florida
lost the election after 18,000 ballots were lost due to glitches in touch
screen voting machines.</li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The voter
ID law comes from the bowels of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a collaboration
of legislators and corporations that incubates “model” bills and uses elected
officials in state after state to peddle a corporate agenda. There have been no
documented cases of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
The bill is a diversion. Its sole purpose is to stop historically democratic
voters from being counted and bring “our” country back to a time when only
white men of property could vote.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
References:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Parenti, M. (2007). The stolen presidential elections. Retrieved
from http://www.michaelparenti.org/stolenelections.html</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
More information can be seen at:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
http://www.gregpalast.com/voting-fraud-is-a-fraud-buzzflash-interviews-greg-palast/</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
http://www.aclu.org/voter-suppression-america</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/why-the-voter-fraud-myth-wont-die.html</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p>
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</noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-42521888170500033322012-08-20T12:47:00.000-04:002012-08-20T12:47:41.335-04:00Prisons and the Economy (private profit)<noscript><center>
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African Americans face a number of obstacles even though it has been nearly a hundred and fifty years since the end of the Civil War. According to the American Psychological Association:<br />
•African American children are three times more likely than Caucasian children to live in poverty.<br />
•Unemployment rates for African Americans are typically double those of Caucasian Americans. African American men working full time earn 72 percent of the average earnings of comparable Caucasian men and 85 percent of the earnings of Caucasian women (American Psychological Association, 2012, para. 4)
The ecological perspective takes into consideration the social environment in which people live. This includes their homes, their type of work and all of the systems they interact with. It includes the way the person in environment interacts with other systems including the legal system. More African American men are involved in the legal system than were enslaved before the Civil War. (Price, nd)
In addition to the economic issues that are facing almost everyone in this climate, African Americans face institutional racism even when the practice is legal. Changes to the drug laws in the 1970’s have resulted in a 500% increase of American’s in prison. Nine-hundred thousand of these 2.2 million people are African American (Mauer & King, 2007). Understanding the difference between what is legal and what is just is important to the person-in-environment perspective. We do not live in a post racial era, but we do live in an era where the media frames our vision of the past and with few, if any, exceptions leaves out the terror and violence that occurred from the post-reconstruction period to the Civil Rights era and beyond.
The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley held a meeting with a representative of Governor Corbett outlining the proposed budget cuts to social service agencies. The United Way 2011 Non-Profit Budget Survey found that although 69% of agencies had their funding cut, 80% of agencies saw an increased demand for services. Funding from donations and foundations have either remained flat for 36% of agencies or decreased for 38%. Twenty percent of agencies saw their state funding cut by 77%. Twenty one to thirty percent saw their funding cut by 9% and thirty one or more percent saw their funding cut by 14%. The cuts resulted in 52% of agencies laying off staff; 32% cutting programs; 46% cutting program hours and 45% expanding their waiting lists for services. Those affected are the least powerful members of our society: neglected and abused children, the mentally disabled, the homeless and the physically disabled (The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, 2012). The panelists at the meeting who represented major social service and educational interests in the area pointed out that prevention programs save money while incarceration, hospitalization and institutionalization cost more money. The only budget not being cut, according to the representatives power point was the prison budget.
This meeting exposed the fact that financial crisis is not the main issue. The crisis is a conflict of values between people and profits. Warehousing people diverts funding from social services that employ social workers “to enhance human well being and help meet the human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty” (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008, para. 1) to increasingly privatized institutions of incarceration.<br />
<br />
•Between 1990 and 2009 the number of people in private prisons increased by 1600%.<br />
<br />
•6% of state prisoners, 16% of federal prisoners, and, according to one report, nearly half of all immigrants detained by the federal government are housed in private prisons.<br />
<br />
•The federal government is in the midst of a private prison expansion spree, driven primarily by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency that locks up roughly 400,000 immigrants each year and spends over $1.9 billion annually on custody operations. ICE now intends to create a new network of massive immigration detention centers, managed largely by private companies, in states including New Jersey, Texas, Florida, California and Illinois (ACLU, 2011, p. 5).<br />
<br />
•In 2011, a Pennsylvania judge was sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted of taking bribes and kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to a private prison (Peralta, 2011).<br />
<br />
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) stated in their 2010 Annual Report that:
“The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws… any changes with respect to drugs…or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them...Similarly, reductions in crime rates or resources dedicated to prevent and enforce crime could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities” (ACLU, 2011, p. 12).<br />
<br />
GEO Group made a similar statement in their Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
“Our growth depends on our ability to secure contracts to develop and manage new correctional, detention and mental health facilities, the demand for which is outside our control …. Any changes with respect to the decriminalization of drugs and controlled substances could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, sentenced and incarcerated…Similarly, reductions in crime rates could lead to reductions in arrests… requiring incarceration at correctional facilities. Immigration reform laws … could materially adversely impact us.” (ACLU, 2011, p. 13)<br />
<br />
These two corporations are the first and second largest private prison corporations in the country. They also both support the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that brings state legislators and industry together to draft model legislation favorable to corporations (ACLU, 2011). ALEC has promoted legislation like the “truth in sentencing” law that requires inmates to serve up to 90% of their time before being eligible for parole and the “three strikes” law which requires a sentence of 25 years to life after the commitment of a third felony by an individual. In addition to this, private prisons divert local money when they receive government subsides, tax exemptions and utilize water and sewer services. Private prison lobbyists from both CCA and GEO are working in many states including the state of Pennsylvania (ACLU, 2011, p. 38). Both corporations receive major subsidies from the federal government. One study reported that “78 percent of CCA's and 69 percent of GEO's prisons were subsidized” (Fisher, 2011, p. 1).
In a time of record unemployment, prisoners are being paid as little as twenty cents an hour to produce everything from food for school lunches to guided missile parts, a picture far removed from the image of Rosie the Riveter during WWII. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) introduced the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program that allows private industry to partner with prisons to manufacture everything from office furniture to rocking horses. (Sloan, 2012)
In order to understand why programs that help people and create a better social system are being cut we have to understand power. “Families may not fare well, and their needs may not be addressed, if money and power interests define the agenda…the persons and groups who are able to name and frame the issues, and control the discourse, have the power” (Briar-Lawson et al., 2001, p. 261).<br />
<br />
It is difficult to know what most people think about the current situation. Political commentators and local business owners are frequently published in the local newspaper. Their views are mostly pro-business and pro-budget cuts. I feel that many people are fighting over crumbs. Ethnic issues also come into play with many long term Allentown residents and residents of the surrounding suburbs. If you read, as I do, the comments from readers of The Morning Call, many have very intense feelings about minorities that they have no hesitation to express anonymously with monikers like “Staberdeath” and “sick of crime.”
I also don’t think there is enough community organizing of those of us who are outside the social service family. Citizens who want safe neighborhoods, good schools and a vital neighborhood could be organized to do a number of things including making sure that all members of their communities have a valid picture ID to vote in the upcoming elections. I don’t believe that most people are aware of the money saved by prevention as opposed to incarceration. I don’t believe they are aware of the various kinds of subsidies businesses receive to come into a community. I don’t believe they are aware of the types of low paying service jobs that do not pay a living wage and that will only put more of a burden on social service agencies that do not have adequate funding.<br />
<br />
References<br />
ACLU. (2011, November 2). Banking on bondage: Private prisons and mass incarceration. ACLU. doi:http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bankingonbondage_20111102.pdf<br />
<br />
American Psychological Association. (2012). Ethnic and racial minorities & socioeconomic status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-erm.aspx<br />
<br />
Briar-Lawson, K., Lawson, H. A., Hennon, C. B., & Jones, A. R. (2001). Family-centered policies and practices: International implications. New York, New York: Columbia University Press.<br />
<br />
Fisher, W. (2011). The corrupt corporate incarceration complex. Retrieved from http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1905:the-corrupt-corporate-incarceration-complex<br />
<br />
Kirst-Ashman, K., & Hull, Jr., G. H. (2009). Generalist practice with organizations with organizations and communities (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.<br />
<br />
Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, Jr, G. H. (2009). Understanding generalist practice (5th ed.). Belmont, California: Brooks/Cole.<br />
<br />
Mauer, M., & King, R. S. (2007, July). Uneven justice: Rates of incarceration my race and ethnicity. The Sentencing Project. doi:http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdf<br />
<br />
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of ethics of the national association of social workers. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp<br />
<br />
Peralta, E. (2011). PA judge sentenced to 28 years in massive juvenile justice bribery scandal. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/11
/139536686/pa-judge-sentenced-to-28-years-in-massive-juvenile-justice-bribery-scandal<br />
<br />
Price, D. (nd). More black men now in prison system than enslaved in 1850. Retrieved from http://www.laprogressive.com/black-men-prison-system/<br />
<br />
Sloan, B. (2012). The prison industries enhancement system Why everyone should be concerned. Retrieved from https://www.prisonlegalnews.org
/%28S%28ecx1bqfnc5bdvwudrukj3zip%29%29/displayArticle.aspx?articleid=22190&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1<br />
<br />
The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. (2012). 2012 Pennsylvania budget analysis. Retrieved from http://www.unitedwayglv.org/Home/Advocate/PA-Budget-Forum.aspx
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-17095058785860386132011-09-19T22:33:00.002-04:002011-09-19T22:33:45.305-04:00Where I'm From<!--optional--> <noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />
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Where I’m From<br />
<br />
Bumpy bitter melon hangs from the vine,<br />
Roses nod their red velvet heads<br />
as I pluck beetles from scented petals<br />
and tuck them into a glass jar.<br />
<br />
I ride city busses and a subway with wooden seats;<br />
Play in parks with lakes and cherry blossoms,<br />
Shop in bakeries with onion rolls, miniature danish and knishes,<br />
Walk through the museum and sit in the library, marble quiet cool and calm<br />
while the streets outside rumble with rebellion.<br />
<br />
There’s a raggedy yellow teddy bear sign at the corner auto repair shop.<br />
Cardboard Coca Cola Santa’s hang from the ceiling of the corner store.<br />
Speedy Alka Seltzer’s on TV, Good Humor men sell ice cream from bicycles and the Sinclair Dinosaur sign hangs at the gas station.<br />
Pastel pink and lavender Thunderbirds park like butterflies on crowded streets. <br />
The twelve o’clock whistle signals the end of Saturday cartoons and the TV shouts, “Out of the blue of the western sky, comes Sky King.”<br />
<br />
“Lazy hazy crazy days of summer” and “Sukiyaki” play on the radio while<br />
women at the lake with petaled organza kerchiefs covering their pink rollers<br />
lie on blankets to tan, smothered in Coppertone.<br />
<br />
We sing in the back seat of a blue and white Buick Special,<br />
“Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Soldier Boy.”<br />
“The M.T.A” and the” Merry Minuet” my bothers and sister,<br />
mother and father on the long ride from Newark to Williamstown on Friday night<br />
after taking rolls of wrapped coins to Vic’s candy store to<br />
trade for bills so we can buy the gas to go.<br />
<br />
During South Jersey summers before the casino’s come<br />
we eat Sotanghan and Pancit,.<br />
can peaches and pick blueberries.<br />
Moths flutter around the back door light,<br />
as we try to dance the tinikling without smashing our ankles between sticks of bamboo.<br />
We sing with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents<br />
long into the night<br />
while my uncle plays the guitar<br />
<br />
We catch frogs in the swamp near<br />
the ruins of an old scout camp in the woods,<br />
Dig for blue mason jars<br />
and bits of broken plates at a long abandoned dump<br />
and find an inkwell<br />
with a metal top. My sister still has it.<br />
<br />
Back home in the city,<br />
I play Double Dutch and clapping games.<br />
Sing the Sanctus and Agnus Dei at mass,<br />
but only boys are allowed in the choir.<br />
Nuns who teach us everything we know at school,<br />
in church just deck the altar with flowers<br />
while the priests run the show.<br />
My first phone number is Bigelow 3-7452<br />
and the Pope’s is Et Cum Spiri 220.<br />
Before Mr. Zip moved the mail I lived in Zone 8.<br />
<br />
Abad’s, Acutanza’s, Balot’s, Carbonel’s,<br />
Dimacali’s and Europa’s.<br />
Leonen’s, Monsalud’s<br />
Quilban’s, and Relova’s. Filipino family names<br />
by way of the four Gallagher girls.<br />
<br />
Potato pancakes and sugar cookies in the house<br />
Where a WWI vet named George Sackmann sings <br />
With tears in his eyes, “There’s a long, long trail a winding into the land of my dreams,”<br />
with me on his knee. He takes me for walks to look for money<br />
on the street. (we always find some.)<br />
<br />
I read Taro Yashima’s Momo, the little girl who got rain boots and an umbrella<br />
for her birthday and waited and waited for the rain to come<br />
and when it did it was the first day she walked to school<br />
without holding either her mother or her father’s hand.<br />
Wanda Swoboda and the girl with only one dress to wear <br />
to school but a hundred dresses wallpapering her bedroom walls.<br />
Thomas Wolfe’s, “You Can’t Go Home Again”<br />
no matter how many times you try (‘cause it isn’t there anymore)<br />
and Tennessee Williams who understands<br />
that human beings as fragile as we may seem<br />
have an almost limitless capacity to endure pain and still live.<br />
“Look,” he wrote, “'The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks!'Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-91568148831604470082011-06-10T22:53:00.000-04:002012-08-20T11:21:46.709-04:00<!--optional--> <noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />
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Policy Analysis of the National Environmental Policy Act<br />
A. The National Environmental Policy Act<br />
The first policy written in the United States to address environmental issues was the National Environmental Policy created by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and the subsequent creation of the Environmental; Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970. B. The Purpose of the Policy<br />
The act states in section 101 that Congress recognizes the impact of man’s activity especially population growth, urbanization, industrial expansion, resource exploitation and the importance of restoring and maintaining the environment. In section 102 it states that Congress authorizes that policies, regulations and public laws should use an interdisciplinary approach to identify and develop ways of ensuring that major actions that could significantly affect the quality of the environment should first detail the impact of the action, list any adverse affects, list alternatives, state the relationship between short term use and long term productivity, state any irreversible commitments of resources. (NEPA, 1969). <br />
C. The History of the policy and the problems it addressed.<br />
After World War II with the establishment of the nuclear and chemical age, the environment and people began to be exposed to new and deadly substances. The United States Government began dumping nuclear waste into the oceans in 1946. (Leopold, 2000). Oil companies that previously produced lubricants, gas and oil diversified into petrochemicals including chemical fertilizer. The American people became very aware of environmental issues. Because of the boom in home building in the suburbs, the expansion in the ownership of automobiles for transportation and the need to build superhighways to accommodate the cars, pollution became more visible and harder to ignore. (Dukakis, 1999). In addition to air and water pollution from smog and waste, Americans were made aware of the dangers of pesticides like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) with the publication of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring in 1962. The book generated a lot of interest from the public as well as opposition from the chemical industry. Carson did not call for the immediate banning of all pesticides. She pointed out the need for science to explore natural ways of controlling pests and increasing food production. (Graham, 1978) The chemical industry attacked Carson, which generated more publicity for her book, but although more people became aware of environmental issues and DDT was banned in the United States, pesticide production has increased from 124 million pounds in 1947 to 638 million pounds in 1960 to 1.4 billion pounds in 1985. Along with this, cancer rates are also increasing. (Epstein & Briggs, 1987) These facts are at the heart of the lack of effectiveness of the EPA. There is a constant struggle between those who profit from exploiting the environment and those who want to develop it sustainably. The chemical industry uses various tactics to hide the effects of chemicals on humans and the environment. They have hidden reports from the EPA, harassed, criticized and tried to discredit ecologists, epidemiologists and researchers who do not agree with them and they along with other industries that oppose government regulation have suppressed reports that expose practices that are harmful to the environment. <br />
D. What are the benefits, eligibility criteria and the beneficiaries of the policy/program? <br />
Everyone who lives and breathes in the world is experiencing the problem. Cancer rates are going up not just because people are getting older. Chemicals are in our food, air and water. The effect on our bodies and the environment even when they are documented and studied are often hidden from the public. The people who experience a problem may not even be aware of the origin of the problem Efforts to prove that one particular chemical causes a particular illness or disease have not been successful in the US. On the other hand many grassroots groups and organizations are aware of the issues and work very hard to inform the general public about unsafe environmental practices. NEPA is a federal act and the will to enforce it should come from the federal level. There is no way to stop what happens in one state from affecting the air and water supply of another state. I believe the precautionary principal adopted by some European countries is a good one. It would force chemical companies to do testing at their expense. This would force them to find the safest solution, not the short term cheapest solution for them which has the end result of being a very expensive solution for the public for health reasons as well as for environmental clean up. All of us living on the planet would be beneficiaries.<br />
E. What level of government is responsible for its administration and financing?<br />
The EPA and the PA DEP are funded and administered by the Federal and State Government with taxpayer dollars. This year’s federal budget proposes a cut of $1.49 billion from last year. (Restuccia, 2011) The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has had its budget cut over the past five years to 59% of what it was in 2000-2001. (Bauers, 2011) <br />
F. Some of the issues and problems with implementation<br />
Implementation is an issue for a number of reasons. The main reason is that the interests of industry usually come before the interests of the environment of the public. The chemical industry of which oil and gas is a part, experienced great growth after World War II mostly because of the development of synthetic organic petroleum based compounds like DDT and vinyl chloride based plastics like PVC and CPVC piping. (Herman, 2007) The side effects of these chemical-based products on people and the environment were not obvious at first. Because they were effective as pest control and relatively cheap they were widely sold and used. By the time scientists discovered the side effects a large network of interrelated industries was in place. Industries that required the chemicals, farmers now dependent on pesticides, scientists employed by the industry, and the agriculture departments of both state and the federal government allowed the grandfathering of the use of some products so business as usual could continue. In addition to this the burden of proof to link any chemical to any illness is on the public. In the early years after the passage of NEPA under the administration of William D. Ruckelshaus people and responsibilities were transferred from different departments to the EPA. Before reorganization, the registration of pesticides was regulated by the Department of Agriculture; the pesticide label review was regulated by the Department of the Interior; Air, Solid Waste, Radiological Health, Water Hygiene, and Pesticide Tolerance were regulated by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Transferring these responsibilities to the EPA enabled the agency to enact the Federal Environmental Pesticides Control Act (1972); Safety Standards for Farmworkers (1974); regulation of land use (1972); and significantly revise water pollution legislation (1972). Regarding the regulation of water pollution, the EPA changed the focus from the quality of water to restricting effluent discharge with the goal of reaching zero discharge. Thousands of rules and regulations were modified or enacted during this period. (Wismer, 1985)<br />
During the oil crisis in 1973, the EPA and Congress modified the Clean Air Act to allow for more use of coal and eased automobile emissions standards to allow for greater fuel economy. Under the administration of Douglas M. Costle from 1977 to 1981, the major problem was chemical dumping at sites like Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. The Hooker Chemical Company owned and operated a municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite that was covered over with dirt and sold to the city for one dollar in 1953. Homes were built on the site, but in the late 1970’s after a hard rain drums of chemical began to surface and the chemical soup leached into yards, homes, playgrounds and the school. The entire community was evacuated. (Beck, 1979) In response to this in December 1980 the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) also known as the Superfund Act was passed. The act required oil and chemical companies to pay into a fund to clean up toxic waste sites. It expired in 1995. Pennsylvania has more than 100 Superfund sites, the second highest in the nation. There are also 1000 hazardous waste sites around the state. (Penn Environment, n.d.)<br />
The Reagan Administration in an effort to relieve the burden that these regulations imposed on the business community appointed a task force headed by George H.W. Bush to review existing regulations and streamline the bureaucracy. Of 176 regulations, the task force revised or eliminated 76. They also added a new regulation. Executive Order 12291, issued February 17, 1981, states that any government agency proposing new regulations had to consider the cost benefit. Reagan also cut the EPA’s staff by 11% and its budget by 12%. By 1984, the EPA staff cuts totaled 29% and the budget was cut 44% from what it was in 1980. (Sandhu, 1988). H.R. 564 the Superfund reinvestment Act of 2009 has been introduced by Representative Earl Blumenauer D-OR but has not been passed. That bill would reinstate the Hazardous Superfund financing rate and the corporate environmental income tax until 2018. There are two related bills, the Superfund Polluter Pays Act introduced by Senator Bill Nelson D-FL and the Polluter Pays Restoration Act introduced by Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. (Open Congress, n.d.). When laws are enforced, rather than protecting the environment, companies pay fines related to the violation if the violation is caught. In the case of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale for example the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association reports 1614 violations by gas drillers in Pennsylvania alone since 2008. (Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, 2011) From 2005 through February 1, 2011 the total dollar amount of the fines imposed by the PA DEP was at least $2,106,318. The average fine however was $23,666 which is low enough for a company to pay without hurting their bottom line. (Hamill, 2011)<br />
G. Is the program successful? Who says so?<br />
The policy can be effective or not effective depending on the political climate and whether it favors business or the people. Currently the program is not successful. The public can be manipulated by industry misinformation and advertising. In the case of Rachel Carson, the public, the press and the President were all sympathetic to her message. Her book was published soon after the thalidomide scare when pregnant women who took the drug for morning sickness produced children with severe birth defects of the limbs. (National Toxicology Project, 2010) People were concerned with the effects of chemicals on humans and the environment. The New Yorker Magazine published an excerpt of the book and CBS aired a documentary on Carson and the book even though some of the sponsors dropped out of the show. Ten to fifteen million people watched the interview. In spite of this fact pesticide use on farms, for lawn care and in households has consistently grown. (Herman, 2007) Why and how can this be?<br />
Part of the problem is that we use chemicals everyday in many ways. In addition to gasoline for our cars, we use soap, shampoo, cleaning products, weed killers, plant food, plastic food containers, diet foods, non-stick coatings, medicines and many other products. It’s difficult for us to believe that they are harmful if we buy them in supermarkets and bring them home. It’s almost impossible to imagine what life would be like without antibacterial soap or toothpaste. The chemical industry counts on this normalized acceptance of chemicals. Scientists who criticize a product or a policy do not always project the same physical appearance as corporate sponsors or newscasters. They may have a less polished appearance than an industry spokesperson. They may look like you or me. The information they impart may not fit into a sound bite between commercials. In addition to this, the chemical industry deliberately creates doubt and confusion about scientific findings when they do not align with industry policy. The term “junk science” is applied by the industry to environmentalists, researchers, critics of the industry and lawyers who sue on behalf of clients. According to Consumers Union the publisher of Consumer Reports, “the phrase "junk science" has been coined by those practicing public relations and lobbying activities on behalf of some companies in certain industries--particularly the plastics, chemical, biotechnology, and pesticide industries. While its coiners may have legitimate grounds for debate on some issues, the phrase has been used far too often to discredit honest public interest organizations and legitimate scientists who express concerns about consumer safety and environmental risks.” (Wagner, 1999). When the industry funds scientific research and experts, the media accepts them without criticism. Often there is little separation between what is still called independent media and chemical companies. The Washington Post has an executive of Johnson and Johnson on its board of directors as well as a few investment bankers. The Chicago Tribune has a CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, two insurance company executives, and one from an electric utility. All of these industries oppose government regulation. The same corporate culture and class consciousness applies to the advertising industry. According to Herman (2007), of the 100 largest national advertisers 31 are chemical companies. Auto companies use chemicals like oil and gas and are concerned with regulation of those goods. If you add the food industry and their relationship to chemicals, the print industry that produces toxic waste in paper production, you may not have a conspiracy, but you do have a business plan that does not include the health of people or the health of the planet. (Herman, 2007) These companies also depend on a short public memory. Although dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was banned in the US and many other countries, there is a campaign endorsed by the World Health Organization to bring it back to “save African babies” from malaria. (Schaffer, 2006)<br />
H. Identify gaps and unmet needs and solutions.<br />
Where is the EPA in this picture? Severely under funded and subject to the agenda of several decades of Republican industry friendly rule, the EPA is portrayed as a part of big government thwarting the progress of industry. Unfortunately they have not been able to even regulate the majority of chemical substances they were tasked with in 1976. Seventy to seventy five percent of toxic chemicals in use have not been tested. In the case of Monsanto and Santogard, an anti-scorching chemical used in the rubber industry, the EPA found a report on the negative effects of the product that Monsanto did not give to them as the law required. Monsanto was fined $196,000 (by law the fine should have been 19.7 million) and asked if they had any more hidden reports. 164 were found. The company was fined $648,000 for those. Knowing that other chemical companies must have done the same thing, the EPA granted an amnesty to the industry with nominal fines for the next three years. The industry produced over 11,000 documents. (Herman, 2007) No business was thwarted by the EPA.<br />
After the chemical accident in Bophal India in 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act which directed chemical companies to inform the public of releases of 654 known chemicals into the environment. The disclosure showed that several billion pounds of toxic chemicals were spewed into the air each year. There was virtually no media coverage of the Toxic Release Inventory. Since then, twenty four states have passed “audit privilege laws” allowing companies to conduct their own audits and correct their own issues. (Herman, 2007) Knowing the history of the industry this does not seem like a good solution for people or the planet.<br />
Albatross chicks die every year from eating tiny pieces of plastic that they mistake for food. While consumers are responsible for some of the plastics in the ocean, the small pellets from which plastics are made come from industrial waste. Fishing nets which once were made of plant fiber are now made of plastic adding to the problem. (Azzarello, M. & Van Fleet, E. 1987) <br />
Proposed Solutions<br />
In order to effect any real enforcement of this policy which proposes to protect the environment from the influences of human activity and restore and maintain it so man and nature can coexist in healthy and pleasing surroundings maximizing the use of the environment without harm while preserving it, maintaining diversity, expanding renewable resources and recycling depleted ones there will have to be some changes in the awareness and the will of the people of the country. <br />
According to the Mt Sinai Medical Center “Over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released by industry into the nation's environment each year, including 72 million pounds of recognized carcinogens” and “of the top 20 chemicals discharged to the environment, nearly 75% are known or suspected to be toxic to the developing human brain.” The hospital has launched an environmental health education campaign in Queens, NY that includes a workshop on alternatives to plastic. (Mt. Sinai Medical Center, 2001)<br />
J. Compare policy position with Social Work Speaks.<br />
Social Works Speaks Environmental Policy quotes part of an op-ed article. The article begins by asking the question, “If everyone were mentally ill, how would we know whom to treat?” (1995, Berger). He calls our participation in harming the environment, “habitat destruction syndrome” and compares it to a mass mental illness. Berger states that although we are surrounded by information regarding the impact of environmental degradation over the past 50 years, as a society we do little about it. Because the changes are gradual and because we are not as conscious of nature due to our lack of contact with it, we don’t see this issue as a crisis. Because we are inundated with crisis messages through email and social networking sites from a myriad of organizations, we feel overwhelmed and unable to choose which issues we should prioritize or act on. <br />
According to Social Work Speaks, social workers have a “professional obligation” to educate ourselves on environmental issues, to support enforcement of the EPA, to support the use of non-toxic products in schools and the general society and to support the regulation of chemicals through the EPA and other agencies. Social Work Speaks calls the environmental crisis a “major public policy issue that will influence all future human development.” It also goes on to say that there is a solution to the crisis if we act in a timely manner. The concerns of social workers go beyond concerns for the environment to include the health issues that people face including increased rates of cancer, respiratory issues and illnesses linked to the continued use of pesticides. Communities of color are especially vulnerable to be host to chemical plants and toxic waste dumps nationally and internationally. We may face opposition perhaps even in the form of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suits that are filed against regular people who participate in public dialogue with government agencies in reacting to or reporting among other things, reporting environmental violations. (Potter, 2008)<br />
The current economic crisis can also be a time of opportunity. For some of us, being laid off or underemployed can give us the chance to follow in the footsteps of our grandparents who had victory gardens and grow our own food. We can use more glass containers than plastic. We can walk more than drive. We can read more about the crisis and think more about what we can do about it. We can write to and call our legislators and the companies that produce offending products or packaging. We can go to local meetings of environmental groups. We can make our own cleaners from simple materials at home. We can use power strips and turn our appliances off when not in use. We can put tap water in the refrigerator instead of buying bottled water. We can use cloth bags when we shop. How many chemicals are essential to your daily life? How do you profit from their production and their use? Is your financial future tied to the debasement of the environment through stock ownership or a 401K? If so divest of these interests. These sound like small steps but any act, no matter how small helps to change us as individuals and our relationship with the larger world around us. It’s the first step to becoming politically active outside of the voting booth. Engagement is essential to our continued survival as a free people and to a sustainable planet. <br />
I. Identify available agencies, services or programs available in your area or your hometown including addresses and telephone numbers. <br />
DEP Northeast Regional Office Bethlehem <br />
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1915 4530 Bath Pike<br />
Business Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bethlehem, PA 18017 <br />
570-826-2511 (24 hours/day) Business Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.<br />
Regional Director: Michael Bedrin 610 861-2070<br />
<br />
24 Hour area hotline 570-826-2511<br />
<br />
Azzarello, M. & Van Fleet, E. (1987, May 6) Marine birds and plastic pollution. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 37, 295 – 303. Retrieved from http://www.int- res.com/articles/meps/37/m037p295.pdf<br />
<br />
Bauers, S. (2011, March 24). PA DEP Budget: halved in a decade. Philly.com. Retrieved from http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/PA-DEP-budget-has- dropped-.html<br />
<br />
Beck. E. (1979, January). The Love canal tragedy. EPA Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.htm<br />
<br />
Berger, R. (1995, July) Habitat Destruction System. Social Work 40, 4, 441-443<br />
<br />
Dukakis, M. (1996, November) Environmental politics in post-World War II America Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 18, 5-9 <br />
<br />
Epstein, S. & Briggs, S. (2007, June). If Rachel Carson Were Writing Today: Silent Spring in Retrospect. Environmental Law Reporter Vol. 17.<br />
<br />
Graham Jr., F. (1978, November/December) Rachel Carson. EPA Journal. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/carson.htm<br />
Hamill, S. (2011, April 17). What fines reveal about drilling in state. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11107/1139961-503- 0.stm?cmpid=marcellusshale.xml<br />
Herman, E. (2009, January 5). Corporate Sovereignty and (Junk) Science and Media. Z Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/11316515/Edward-S- Herman-Corporate-Sovereignty-and-Junk-Science-and-Media-3-Articles<br />
Leopold, E. (May 2000). Seeing the Forest and the Trees:<br />
The Politics of Rachel Carson The Monthly Review. 52 01 Retrieved from http://www.monthlyreview.org/500leopo.htm<br />
Melchor, S. (2000, February 17.) European Commission approves precautionary principle guidelines .Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News. Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-59578792/european-commission- approves-precautionary.html<br />
National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2006) Social Work Speaks: National association of social workers policy statements. environmental policy. Washington, DC: NASW Press<br />
<br />
National Environmental Policy Act (1969). Retrieved from http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/nepa/nepaeqia.htm<br />
<br />
National Environmental Policy Act. (1970, January 1) National Environmental Policy Act, Retrieved January 24, 2011, from<br />
http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/nepa/nepaeqia.htm<br />
<br />
National Toxicology Project (2010, November 12). Retrieved from http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/common/thalidomide.html<br />
<br />
Open Congress (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111- s3164/show<br />
<br />
Penn Environment. (n.d.) Cleaning up toxic waste sites. Retrieved from http://www.pennenvironment.org/healthy-communities/cleaning-up-toxic-waste- sites<br />
<br />
Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (2011) Marcellus Shale drillers in PA amass 1614 violations since 2008. Retrieved from http://conserveland.org/violationsrpt<br />
<br />
Potter, Lori. (2008, December). Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Overview. Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/petition/topic.aspx?topic=slapp<br />
<br />
Restuccia, A. (2011, April 12.) Spending bill cuts EPA funding, delists wolves, limits funding for Interior 'wild lands' policy. The Hill. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/155425-spending-agreement-cuts- energy-and-water-programs-by-five-percent-from-fy2010-levels<br />
<br />
Sandhu, J. (1988). The Environmental Protection Agency in the 1980s. Retrieved from http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/fenlewis/epa.htm<br />
<br />
Schaffer, K. (December 2006) What’s behind the DDT comeback? Pesticides News No.74, page 4<br />
<br />
Wagner, L. (1999, December) Consumers Union statement about consumer distorts. Consumers Union. Retrieved from http://www.consumersunion.org/products/distortsopi1299.htm<br />
<br />
Wisman, P. (1985, November). EPA History (1970-1985). Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/15b.htmUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-50029296176306622712011-04-05T17:05:00.000-04:002011-04-05T17:05:16.167-04:00SinkPositiveTV_WMV V9.wmv<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JenEXA-xry8?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><!--optional--><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl">Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></center></noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-57019954184258094902011-04-05T16:00:00.000-04:002011-04-05T16:00:53.324-04:00GASLAND Trailer 2010<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dZe1AeH0Qz8?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><!--optional--><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl">Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></center></noscript>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-53921900788810701582010-11-28T15:10:00.002-05:002010-11-28T15:10:49.686-05:00Warning<!--optional--> <noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />
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I can feel it coming.<br />
<br />
I hear it moving under the earth,<br />
tremors so slight I’m not quite sure<br />
they shook the earth under my feet.<br />
There’s an odor in the summer air,<br />
suddenly strong, as suddenly gone.<br />
<br />
On the fringes of my world<br />
the evil has overwhelmed the light.<br />
Its thunderous step has stamped out all song.<br />
Its blackness has eliminated all color<br />
but the one that runs like water in the streets,<br />
the one that soaks the earth<br />
the one that obliterates the difference<br />
in the color of the skin,<br />
the difference in language,<br />
the separate historical condition,<br />
of each time and place.<br />
The color of blood.<br />
The color under which we will fight<br />
the blackness of death.<br />
<br />
The evil began so long ago<br />
that it has no distinct beginning<br />
in our consciousness.<br />
It has always been with us<br />
at times a whisper,<br />
at times a shout.<br />
Sometimes it is crushed for a while,<br />
but the struggle against it<br />
leaves the victor near death,<br />
unable to nourish itself,<br />
unable to flourish.<br />
<br />
In the high places,<br />
the struggle against it is barely noticeable<br />
as people go about their lives<br />
painting,<br />
singing,<br />
laughing.<br />
working.<br />
At times a great horror pierced through<br />
the invisible wall.<br />
People stop their individual noises and turn to watch.<br />
They cry out in sorrow and give money for a while,<br />
but soon it’s Christmas or summer or Halloween<br />
and the happiness of children with the world at their fingertips<br />
and bright futures before them takes precedence over the distant sorrow.<br />
<br />
Within the high places<br />
always there are those who fight the evil at its source,<br />
but the blows they strike are toothpicks hurled at a Goliath,<br />
an annoyance easily crushed by tricks and laws.<br />
The fighters grow old and die and are born again<br />
Battles ebb and low and ebb<br />
as those who would be soldiers marry,<br />
bear children work and live the everyday lives of the privileged,<br />
lives of safety.<br />
<br />
As the people in the outlands farm<br />
increasingly smaller<br />
more meager plots of soil<br />
for more meager rations<br />
the high places bloom with the products of the world.<br />
Fruits and vegetables in many forms<br />
From every corner of the world<br />
are always available to those who can pay.<br />
<br />
Then even in the high places,<br />
the trouble begins to spread.<br />
An entire population of those seen<br />
only in the outlands begins to grow<br />
within the cities of the high places.<br />
Their eyes recede into their sockets.<br />
Their bellies growl with hunger.<br />
They sleep in the streets and<br />
scavenge food and clothing.<br />
They watch as the privileged drive by<br />
in cars that cost more than two years wages<br />
or walk by in sneakers that cost as much<br />
as it would to feed a family of four for a month.<br />
<br />
<br />
City buildings stand empty while hundreds of thousands are homeless.<br />
Country fields lie fallow as farmers are driven from the land.<br />
The net of safety we believed existed, has turned into a web.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
During the years of prosperity<br />
The people in the high places never asked<br />
Where their coffee beans,<br />
pineapples,<br />
ginger,<br />
tangerines,<br />
teas,<br />
raspberries came from.<br />
On the part of the privileged<br />
whose ancestors had fled poverty and persecution<br />
there was no question,<br />
no curiosity of life in the outlands.<br />
No knowledge, no want of knowledge<br />
for any world other than their own.<br />
<br />
As world conditions worsened<br />
the people of the high places<br />
are seen as the enemy.<br />
They are murdered<br />
by desperate people who would die alone<br />
or take one person with them<br />
touching the people of the high places<br />
with a fraction of the terror<br />
and sorrow they live with all their lives.<br />
<br />
Now, the armies of the world stand ready,<br />
parading their weapons on land, sea and air.<br />
Will this be the beginning of the end of the planet earth?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-54865071170741377382010-05-06T11:44:00.000-04:002010-05-06T11:44:27.546-04:00<!--optional--> <noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br />
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<br />
This year flew by. It's hard to believe I was laid off a year ago. All application material are in at Kutztown. I'm trying to find an on-line statistics class that does not have prerequisites. Hopefully I can take this over the summer. I also still have to take the GRE's. I think the Social Work thing is right for me. <br />
<br />
I went for a 3 mile walk this morning. There's a mother duck with 11 babies in the rose garden pond. This morning they were all huddled together on one of the stepping stones that crosses the pond. Of course I didn't have my camera, but I'll go back later and see if I can get a good picture. Yesterday afternoon they were all swimming around and cheeping like crazy. They are just TOO cute. The park is really looking beautiful now. The path has been paved so I don't have to look down when I'm walking for fear of twisting my ankle on the irregular stones that used to be there.<br />
<br />
Still doing Census work. It's nice to be out among different kinds of people again. For the past 16 years everyone I've worked with in the offices has been white. <br />
<br />
I'm doing a lot of beading and I have some new material to work with too - dupioni silk ribbon, brass cages, smoky quartz and leather. I'm moving to a bigger booth at Cottage Crafters when my lease is up. I want to make some hanging things with glass and beads and bells. I'm going to call them Luminosities. You will be able to hang them outside or in a window as a sun catcher. I also might do some stained glass mosaic stuff. We'll see.<br />
<br />
I haven't planted anything yet. It's been warm but I think I'll wait until after may 15 as usual. The lavender in the front yard looks beautiful this year. It's very full and springy looking. The peony, bleeding heart and alliums I moved from the back yard survived and look good. I have to take out some of the spiderwort though because it's getting out of control. The Stella D'Oro lilies are also nice and bushy. <br />
<br />
I have this weird houseplant that I bought at Ikea a few years ago. I love it because it's very architectural. It's growing a new center branch and the branch is sweating a gooey clear substance. I wish I knew what kind of plant it was though. It's getting big but it has an odd footprint. Long hard green "branches" and as they grow they curve to one side or the other. The new "branch" comes from the middle of the plant.<br />
<br />
Well that's all for now. I am really pissed off about the BP gusher and the drones, but right now I feel pretty good so I don't want to spoil it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-17852348958928751302010-02-26T11:02:00.002-05:002010-03-21T12:16:36.769-04:00What's Wrong Here<!--optional--><br />
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<br />
Reading about and personally experiencing the current problem of unemployment in the US has made me realize that on the sixth day God did not create Adam and Eve the first two human beings, but Adam and Eve the first two human resources. It is a global issue that people are valued only if they can be exploited.<br />
<br />
Workers in the US are the most productive in the world according to many sources, mostly due to working longer hours. As a reward for our efforts, many of us are now unemployed or under employed after working for 20-30 years. Many of us are too young to qualify for Medicare or Social Security, or as the song goes, “Too old to work and too young to die.” While official employment statistics put the unemployment rate at 10% it is actually closer to 20%. At the same time there are many needs that are not being met because private industry has no interest in rebuilding New Orleans, fixing a badly crumbling infrastructure of levees and bridges, adequately staffing the nation’s schools or rationally and adequately feeding and sheltering the nation’s people. The spread of “American Culture” around the world through Mc Donald’s and war has disrupted the lives of people in many other countries. These people are forced to emigrate legally and illegally to escape violence and poverty.<br />
<br />
In any solution for the above issue that involves planning or government intervention the rabid cry of Socialism is heard loud and wide. When government interference takes the form of subsidies to industry including weapons manufacturers, deregulation, or allowing an American company to send jobs offshore or build factories in other countries, putting the burden of increased poverty on the government, no cry is heard. When companies in India and Africa take water from the ground while the people have to pay outrageous sums or when the World Bank imposes penalties on a country that are guaranteed to keep them impoverished forever everyone feels really bad and some movie stars adopt a child or two, but nothing is done to stop it.<br />
<br />
For the problems abroad the solutions are:<br />
• Stop supporting dictatorships, interfering in elections and the business of sovereign countries. <br />
• Stop military aid to all countries in a civil war. <br />
• In a court of law, try corporations who give aid and comfort as well as facilities to governments engaged in the murder of labor and human rights workers. <br />
• Educate the American people on the real history of their country so they can be aware enough to object to these practices. <br />
<br />
For the problems in the US, I propose the following:<br />
<br />
<br />
Education<br />
Public education should be federally funded. Teachers should be trained to find and enhance a child’s’ innate abilities and interests from an early age, communicating them to each subsequent teacher. The goal of education should be a well rounded, happy person who can be productive in an area that serves the needs of society while also being fulfilling to the individual.<br />
<br />
Manufacturing<br />
The car, while fun, has been one of the most destructive inventions ever made. Its destructive not only to the environment but to the social fabric to have everyone riding around I their own little bubble or more often than not, huge boat. Instead of bailing out GM and letting them decide what they would produce the government should have tied the bailout to lighter rail and mass transit. GM bought up and dismantled mass transit in many American cities, was given a very small fine when found guilty and circumvented environmental laws by producing SUV’s on truck bodies. The government should have seen this bailout as an opportunity for progress. More jobs would have been provided because transit workers would be needed and railroad workers would be needed to rework or rebuild abandoned rails all across the country. <br />
<br />
Federal Prison Industries (Unicor) employed 18,972 “inmate workers” according to their 2009 annual report. They make everything from clothing and textiles to office furniture to electronics. They make many statements about improving peoples’ lives and teaching them skills while they are in prison. I believe that poverty is the main cause of crime and that most of the people in US prisons are poor people there for drug related, non-violent crimes. If they and their parents had decent paying productive jobs on the outside, they probably wouldn’t be in jail. Given the trend of runaway shops and jobs over the past 40 years they are not likely to get a decent job when they get out. While I think working is a good idea for everyone, work release to a decent paying job outside the prison walls along with education and counseling is what should be done.<br />
<br />
We have a free source of energy that everyone has access to: the Sun. Many new solar panels have been developed including roof tiles that look just like normal roofing but have solar panels incorporated in them and super thin solar film. This industry should be eligible for research and capital equipment grants so they can produce as soon as possible a reasonably priced product. This industry would employ engineers, workers to assemble and install. <br />
<br />
Businesses who locate out of the country should be taxed at a high rate.<br />
<br />
Farming<br />
Factory farming does not work, is inefficient and causes environmental and medical problems for the people of this country. The water crisis in the artificially fertile state of California and the outbreak of e-coli in corn fed beef are just two examples of this.<br />
Food should be grown locally and organically. Experienced farmers could be hired to set up and run cooperative farms in every county. Workers of various abilities could be trained and hired to work while continuing their education in related fields. This would not only solve part of the unemployment problem but also stop pesticides from leaching into the water supply and cut down on the amount of plastic packaging and pollution from diesel fuel from the trucks that bring your lettuce from California. This will also help in efforts to stop a chemical company responsible for the manufacture of Agent Orange from creating pesticide laden, dead, seeds.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Building<br />
The documentary “America Betrayed” documented that the problems with levees built by the Army Corp of Engineers does not stop with New Orleans and Katrina. Bridges and levees built to protect many cities across the country are in danger of collapsing. Given the current water crisis and what we now know about the problems with damming a river rebuilding in these areas might take the form of restoring then to their previous state in order for the land to be able to protect itself. In a country of this size this would be a massive public works project employing thousands of laborers as well as engineers and scientists.<br />
<br />
Many beautiful and salvageable buildings in our inner cities are vacant while ticky tacky housing is built on farmland that could still be productive. Rehabbing takes more labor than putting up new housing but labor is in abundance now. Working with the farming community to stop rezoning of farmland for new construction would help to use all these resources in a more rational way. <br />
Hire and train field agents to assist homeowners to refinance their mortgages at a fare rate. If a homeowner had paid 50% of the value of his or her home, forgive the balance owed.<br />
<br />
There superfund sites in every state in the union. In addition to this there are many other polluted areas that need to be cleaned up and the pollution itself needs to stop. The EPA should hire enough field agents to be able to deal with these issues. <br />
<br />
<br />
Social Life and Art<br />
Since the 1950’s non-representational art has taken a front seat in our culture. Black painted tarpaulins titled “Thanatos”, white canvases titled, “Untitled”, and a slab of black countertop leaned up against a wall, also “Untitled.” (My suggestion for a title was “On Sale at Home Depot, Cheap) abound in contemporary art museums. Painters like Irving Norman, photographers like Milton Rogovin are not everyday names to most people. People are missing from contemporary art as if we are nothing. I recently saw an exhibit of WPA art in Washington and it was wonderful. Part of the devaluation of people is in raising art to a “higher” level. I believe that each of us has an artist in us but we are rarely given a chance for it to emerge. Art should surround us. It should be projected onto blank brick walls, performed in every public space on a regular basis. Instead of buying schlock institutions should display art made at home by their students, patients, workers. Art therapy should be a growing field. Although most Americans have not experienced the horrors of war as Judith Herman showed in her book “Trauma and Recovery,” many have been traumatized at a young age. In addition to this many of the new immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and the African continent have experienced horrors that my have to be suppressed as they get on with their lives. I think art can go along way in helping people overcome these experiences. The American Visionary Art Museum many times exhibits art by people who have been hurt in some way. A man who was mugged and beaten severely made art from matchsticks, a woman whose house burned down with some of her family in it painted on discarded doors; a woman whose childhood was marred by an abusive, alcoholic father makes tiny dresses out of scraps of fabric showing how resilient people are and how much is untapped within them.<br />
<br />
I started this article by saying that American workers were the most productive in the world mostly because they work longer hours. It has been 100 years since workers fought for and won the right to an 8 hour day. “8 hours work, 8 hours rest, 8 hours for what we will,” was the cry of these workers. In 2010 people who still have jobs are working at least that much if not more. We are human beings. We are not here to serve industry nor to be chewed up and spit out when we re no longer necessary to them. We have a right to live and a need to work, but our work should be meaningful. We cannot be real participants in this democracy unless we have the time to read, speak and meet about our social problems. After 100 years of the 8 hour day we should have a 4 hour day with no reduction in pay. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
How do we pay for this?<br />
<br />
• Return the tax rate to pre-Reagan levels 70% for the top income levels.<br />
• End the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and all interference in the internal politics of sovereign countries.<br />
• Stop the research, production and purchase of drones and other weapons of mass destruction.<br />
• Reinstate the Environmental Superfund contributions from polluting industries.<br />
• Instate a Medical Superfund to fund Universal Health care. Industries such as coal, oil, pesticide manufactures should contribute since they cause a number of preventable illnesses. Also contributing should be the Pharmaceutical companies.<br />
• Time phase the nationalization of the medical insurance companies. As long as the private insurance companies continue to operate tax them at a high rate.<br />
• Stop all foreclosures. Cap credit card interest rates at 4% and allow people to restructure their debt.<br />
<br />
These solutions may seem like pipe dreams and for the most part they are. Not because they are outrageous or unreasonable but because the power that stands in the way of solving the problems of poverty and ignorance is enormous. Every town, every state courts business. People say you need corporations to give you a job. These companies are not giving you job out of charity. They are making a profit from your labor. They are not necessary entities. People exist like all the other wonderful things on this planet. We need to learn to celebrate ourselves and use our talents, our abilities, our bodies and minds to make the world a better place, safe from the vampiric ravages of corporate entities.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-67221494181051995862010-02-12T17:26:00.002-05:002010-02-12T17:58:00.637-05:00<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />Bush was handed the presidency twice - once by fraud in Florida and other places, once by the Supreme Court. Even though most people voted for both Gore and Kerry, they were not allowed to win. Somehow Obama was.<br /><br />I'm beginning to think that that was part of the plan to keep people quiet in the face of the worst economic crisis since the '30's. If we had a Republican president people would have been down in Washington demonstrating against the bailouts, the foreclosures and the job losses. Because Obama is the first Black president people are cutting him slack that he doesn't deserve. <br /><br />There are a lot of phone callers into the various shows on Sirius Left who express dismay over the lack of change that Obama promised to bring. When's the last time you believed what a politician said? Not too many years after you stopped believing in Santa Claus I'll bet. If you watched the DNC you heard Biden say we have to get out of Iraq and get into Afghanistan. That should have been no surprise. Obama is a Democrat, not a Socialist and what have they brought in last few presidencies - war, NAFTA, GATT, more job losses, continued environmental devastation, bankrupting of the public to subsidize industry and the wealthy. I vote Democratic because it's the lesser of two evils if Nader is not on the ballot.<br /><br />Workers have never gotten anything from a politician. We human beings - as opposed to human resources - have fought for everything we have and we have to continue to do that in any way we can. The president doesn't run the country, the money that elected him does. How many more people have to suffer? Write letters, talk to people, go to Washington on March 20.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-29171296898621323982010-01-25T09:20:00.004-05:002010-01-26T17:31:29.648-05:00The Entity (a work in progress)<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />The Entity (a work in progress)<br /><br />The enemy doesn’t live halfway around the world in a country whose name you intentionally mispronounce to show which side you’re on.<br /><br />It doesn’t come from another country, work at a low-paying job and speak your language with a heavy accent.It has no interest in dating your daughter or living in your neighborhood. <br /><br />It will throw you out of a job without a thought and pocket the profit when the market rises due to its efficiency, smiling discretely all the way to the bank.<br /><br />It’ll throw you out of your house after you’ve paid 20 years on 30 year mortgage and the law will help it because it’s their job. No one will live in your empty house. The pipes will burst, the house will rot. Animals and birds will move in and make it their own. But, ha ha ha ha ha, you can’t have it, even if you have paid double the value of your house already in interest.<br /><br />Maybe you'll get sick and your medical “insurance” won’t pay for your treatment or you don’t have any insurance because you lost your job. You’ve worked all your life, paid off your house, have no debt. Too bad goody-two-shoes. You lose your house to save your life.<br /><br />It’s legal. <br /><br />This enemy can’t be fought with guns because it doesn’t have a body or a face. <br /><br />It’s an entity. A sulfuric gas that wafts yellow and stinking all around us. A gas that drugs us, blinds us, makes us sleepy and tired and stupid and afraid of anything and everything. A gas that makes us ache for a past that never was and makes it impossible for us to see the future.<br /><br />It’s name is capitalism. It’s face is the corporation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-17006766517441634272009-08-31T23:27:00.001-04:002009-08-31T23:30:22.234-04:00Unfinished poem regarding memorials to anti-capitalism<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br />Dig a little here, Dig a little there<br />Victims of capital are everywhere.<br />Buried in a mountain, <br />Thrown into the sea and <br />Strewn across the fields of every country.<br /><br />Some were shot, kicked in trenches<br />After digging their own graves<br />Some were thrown from helicopters<br />Into the waves<br />Some were raped and tortured,<br />Burned alive in their huts<br />Some were beaten to death with rifle butts.<br /><br />They were burned in England,<br />They were burned in France.<br />They were burned in Germany (much more advanced.)<br />They were burned in Korea and in Vietnam<br />They are burning now in Gaza and Afghanistan.<br /><br />Burned at the stake,<br />Burned in the ovens, <br />Bombs raining from the air<br />Dozens and dozens.<br /><br />Some were plowing their fields,<br />Some were singing a song,<br />Some were putting on their stockings <br />For a night on the town.<br /><br />Some were going to work.<br />Some were going to school.<br />Some were in the marketplace.<br />Shopping for food.<br /><br />Some were in uniform<br />Many more were not<br />Some crouched behind the barbed wire.<br />Some stirred a pot.<br /><br />Some were old, some were young<br />Some were not even born.<br />Their names we don’t know<br />But we can learn.<br /><br /><br />In Argentina, In Chile,<br />Honduras, El Salvador<br />Mothers search for the missing<br />And there’s more<br /><br />In Spain they’re exhuming<br />Mass graves of Loyalists<br />Who were murdered by Franco <br />And the fascists.<br /><br />We have our own missing in the US.<br />The ghosts of our ancestors cannot rest<br />Until we know the truth about their lives<br />Whether they lived 200 years ago<br />Or recently died.<br /><br />But it’s not just the dead <br />Of our own families we seek<br />We need to know History.<br />So we won’t be weak.<br />We need to know the names of the people who fought <br />Right here on American soil for everything we’ve got.<br /><br />We need to know about the Indians then and now,<br />To see how we are different yet the same some how.<br />We need to realize their struggle’s not done<br />There’s only one way that it can be won.<br /><br />We need to know about indentured servants and slavery<br />And how if one is slave, the other can’t be free.<br />We need to see how hard people fought<br />In spite of odds so overwhelming it’s hard to give it thought.<br /><br />We need to understand labor history<br />And the men, women and children who fought to keep us free<br />From the greed and the suffering of 7 days a week<br />Working 16 hour days to make ends meet.<br /><br />We need to understand that the 1950’s <br />The Red Scare, union purges, firing commies<br />Is one of the reasons we don’t know today<br />How in the heck the world got this way.<br /><br />We need to study history that’s within our reach<br />The Civil Rights Era and the dancing in the streets.<br />The joy and the pain and the subterfuge<br />That our government directed at anyone who moved.<br /><br />We need to remember our disappeared<br />In the jails and the prisons <br />And remember that Angola used to be a plantation<br />Then go to the website Unicor.gov<br />And tell me what it reminds you of.<br /><br />We are all suffering now, some much more than others<br />But we have to remember that we really are all brothers<br />And sisters under the skin.<br />And if we stick together we really can win<br /><br />Even if it’s just a few steps forward<br />Don’t let ruling class push us backward.<br />To the days when there wasn’t enough to go around<br />When we fought each other for scraps on the ground.<br /><br />For we are the people each unique in our way<br />But we won’t have the power ‘till we stand up and say<br />In spite of our differences there’s one thing to be stated,<br />The people united can never be defeated.<br /><br />We have our differences but we can get along<br />And make a much better world than the one we’re living in.<br />We just need to realize who’s the true enemy<br />And that we don’t need guns to fight to be free.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-59934958728487327772009-08-02T22:31:00.003-04:002009-08-02T22:35:59.961-04:00Fallout after watching PBS Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />Sorry just understood why I don't like Bruce.<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxk0x5wuRH0"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulTmmTIlM_o"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_riJdH56t0Y"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_riJdH56t0Y"></a></a></a></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-941860609861551392009-07-29T07:59:00.008-04:002009-07-29T09:48:43.006-04:00Obesity and HFCS<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />The July 29th Morning Call carried and article by Kristina Sherry titled, "Selbelius touts strategies for winning obesity fight." <br /><br />The article states that "the direct medical costs of obesity total $147 billion annually" and "some of the $1 billion in stimulus money...would go toward obesity strategies." Does this direct cost include the subsidies to the corn industry ($243 million per year according to a Tufts University study) which benefit producers of high fructose corn syrup which in addition to extra calories elevates triglycerides since HFCS is processed by the body differently than sugar?<br /><br />At a time when there is such a need and so much resistance to a single payer health care solution shouldn't someone be pointing out that we subsidize the Archer Daniel Midlands of the world so they can make super profits by making us sick?<br /><br />Maybe if we stopped doing that we could find the money for healthcare. Maybe these people should be sued for producing and profiting from products that shorten the life of the people of this country.<br /><br />Mr. Obama, how about some "personal responsibility" lectures to corporate America?<br /><br />Here are a few links regarding HFCS:<br /><a href="http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/PB09-01SweeteningPotFeb09.pdf"></a><br /><a href="http://www.grist.org/article/Farm-subsidies-bitter-and-sweet"></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-34419186665801258042009-07-28T08:43:00.003-04:002009-07-28T09:16:17.015-04:00Ramblings<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />This has been a busy summer. Nora's dying, dad getting sick, Cyndy coming out. I've been really busy. Not complaining. This neighborhood is incredibly noisy during the day between the lawn maintenance and just work at the funeral home and the Scottish Rite/Masonic Temple, roadwork, traffic - it's loud. <br /><br />I have to get back to walking again-I haven't done it since Cyndy came out. It was nice to see Auntie Del and Phil, nice to go into the city (although I hate the Lincoln Tunnel.) <br /><br />We bought the kayaks down to Green Lane so we don't have to transport them everytime we want to use them. It's smaller than Nockamixon but I think we will use them more this way. they have to be quarantined for 10 days to make sure they are not carrying zebra mussels.<br /><br />I watched a cute movie last night with Judi Dench-The Last of the Blonde Bombshells about a recently widowed woman who had been a member of an almost all girl band during WWII. It was very nice. Today I will harvest the basil, make and freeze pesto and plant more basil. I have 3 yellow squash that I have to do something with and I have to go to Elia's for red peppers, fruit and lemons and limes. For some reason I have been off beading. I'm not sure why. We have lots of tomato's but none are ripe yet. The plants are huge. Eggplant and peppers are not so great. I think they are not getting enough sun. I'll have to move the plants on the other side to the front next year or in the fall and make more room for veggies in the back. <br /><br />I cannot believe that we are not going to get single payer healthcare. I am so sick of these politicians. I haven't heard back from Jimmy since my last email. I hope he is OK. I am not sure if he's in Afghanistan yet. 53 years old and they're sending him into that muck. Why can't this country leave everyone else alone and spend our tax dollars on making life better for the people at home instead of killing them everywhere else? What is wrong with this country?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-766231392560555492009-06-22T10:09:00.002-04:002009-06-22T10:35:55.804-04:00Reading<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><br />Well in the past week I've read <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pearl</span> by Mary Gordon, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Harvest</span> and <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Surgeon</span> by Tess Gerritsen (internist turned mystery writer) and <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Tempest Tales </span>by Walter Mosely.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The Tempest Tales</span> wasn't the best but the premise of the story was interesting. A black man is killed by the police in a case of mistaken identity. When he gets to St. Peter he is told he has to go to hell because of some of the things he's done. He refuses which upsets everyone because up until now no-one has questioned a sentence. As a result an accounting Angel is sent down to earth to live as a mortal and Tempest is returned to earth in another body to convince the Angel that he should not go to hell. Everything is progressing in an interesting manner until Basel Bob shows up to add another threat to Tempest and the Angel named Joshua.<br /><br />Tess Gerritsen is a former MD who writes mystery novels set in the medical community. I found her by wandering around in the fiction section looking for a mystery writer with a long line of books.(I've read all of Sara Paretsky's books including the essays and <span style="font-weight:bold;">Bloody Kansas</span>; all the Sherri S. Tepper's and Lia Matera's Roger L. Simon's and almost all the Walter Mosely's so I am desperate.) I read <span style="font-weight:bold;">Harvest</span> first because it was her first book and planned to continue in chronological order but at a Flea Market over the weekend I found <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Surgeon</span>. This is her sixth book and moved a lot faster than the first one. I am going back to the library for more today. I don't even want to tell you the plots because even a few sentences could spoil them for you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pearl </span>is the story of a young woman who goes on a hunger strike and chains herself to the American Embassy in Ireland after a friend dies. The other main characters are Pearls single forceful mother and the son of Pearl's father's former housekeeper who is also the executor of his will since Maria (Pearl's mother) and her father were not speaking at the time of his death. I thought Maria was going to get the short end of the stick since she comes across as a force of nature and people are normally put off by that but I was happy with the ending. It really made me cry though. I hope I never have to see my kids in the hospital with tubes all over them near death. I'm not all that familiar with the problems in Northern Ireland but the ethnic, political and religious backgrounds of the main characters meshing in that setting make an interesting story.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-49216117469829834702009-06-07T13:52:00.003-04:002009-06-16T10:27:14.806-04:00<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><a href="http://www.zillow.com/profile/Morgan-Le-Fay/?scrnnm=Morgan-Le-Fay"><br /> <img src="http://www.zillow.com/static/images/badges/bdg_allstar.gif"></img><br /></a><br /><br />I got a phone call last week from a financial services company asking me if I was interested in coming in for an interview. Since I am currently unemployed I said yes so on Thursday morning I drove down to a strip office center about 15 minutes away not sure what to expect.<br /><br />The hallway was long and dark. I found the suite number and entered a small room with a receptionist where I was asked to sign in and have a seat in another room. I entered a large room with several small offices around it. There were about 20 folding chairs set up in front of a desk and a a large pad on an easel. I took a seat and a man who turned out to be the owner of the company handed me some literature to look over. Eventually 4 other people also came in -all men. The job turned out to be sales for an insurance agency. We heard a spiel about how successful you can be selling supplemental health insurance to people over 65 since 1 person turned 65 every 15 seconds. If you make 15-20 appointments per week and get 2 sales per week you can make between $40-$60,000 the first year. Commissions range from $400 for senior life insurance policies to $9000 for annuities. You can do all this by calling 200 people a week. <br /><br />We heard about the inadequacy of Medicare, the shame attached to having to go on Medicaid after having worked all your life, the uncertainty of the current stock market and how that is playing havoc with everyone's life savings. Basically you are preying on people's fear. <br /><br />This is not something I care to do but it was worth going to check it out. After outlining the products we heard about the 12 agents currently working for the company who come from all walks of life; how the only limit on your earning power is you...very inspirational... then a parting remark, "Who else is calling you? How many calls did you get this week?" and a laugh. It was almost cult-like or like buying a car. We were asked to fill out a questionnaire listing 3 questions we would ask at our interview and to make an appointment for a one-on-one interview with the receptionist on the way out. She asked if I would like to come back the following day but I said, "I don't think so." "You'll call?" she asked. <br /><br />You would also have to use your own laptop, buy your own business cards, calculator, map, planner, direct mail leads, stamps and envelopes and dress in suits. <br /><br />It was an interesting experience.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111972.post-22408334924681997082009-05-04T10:04:00.004-04:002009-05-06T12:04:00.809-04:00The First Day of the Rest of My Life<!--optional--><br /><noscript><center><table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr><br /><td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center><br /><font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br /><br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=dianabalotfrank;u=defurl"><br />Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><br /></center></noscript><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/11940059?from_badge_documents_button=1"><img alt="Documents" src="http://www.scribd.com/images/badges/button/documents.gif" /></a><br /><br />I peeked out the window this morning and saw a panel truck outside. It was a plumber for someone else on the block. "I hear music..." popped into my head, "the murmur of the morning breeze up there, the rattle of the milkman on the stair..." <br /><br />I walked to the Post Office today in the rain. Walking down Hamilton Street I said hello to several people including a man who gave me a ticket to heaven. He was sitting in front of a coffee shop and I smiled and said hello. He said hello back and then asked me to wait while he fished in his pocket. He said, "It's nothing bad. I'm a good christian man," handed me the ticket and said it was because of my smile that he gave it to me. <br /><br />There's a new bakery/coffee shop that I didn't know was there. It's on the block before the Americus Hotel. There don't seem to be any slate sidewalks but some of the curbs are slate. <br /><br />It's very different walking than driving. Even the pink and white house on Linden and 14th didn't look bad walking by. It looks like birthday cake. The landscaping is quite nice too. <br /><br />I felt like I was in a movie; looking in shop windows-it looks like someone bought and is renovating Grim's Bakery on Linden. I peeked in-it's quite cute inside; hearing muted snatches of music from inside a house; saying hello to man reading the paper on his porch. I want to walk everywhere I can. Just seeing the grass and the sidewalks, waiting for the light to change to cross the street made me remember being young and having time. I even saw "oil in puddles in taffeta patterns," as described by Joni Mitchell in <span style="font-weight:bold;">Michael from Mountains</span>. I almost didn't walk because of the rain but I said to myself, you have an umbrella and I really wanted today to be different...to be the start of something new. I would have gone to the library but I have to finish the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana</span> first. <br /><br />It looks like rain all week unfortunately. Tomorrow I'll shampoo the carpets and the upholstery on the couches; Wednesday I'll give the kitchen and pantry a good cleaning. Today I'm going to just read and bead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0