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Worth going to jail…

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This week’s eye candy from Canada.

#2 is breathtaking.  Can you imagine this being gone due to fracking or polluted with bitumen from a leak in tar sands pipeline, a la Kalamazoo?

Another beautiful rainbow on #3.

#9 talk about spoiling an otherwise gorgeous picture…same with #11.

Otherwise, great pics…

 

A letter from a mother

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Anne Clair, an Elsipogtog mother, wrote this about her son being jailed while protesting SWN trespassing on the native owned land.

Again, I ask–  If most of the taxpayers are against fracking and tar sands, then why are the oil companies allowed on that land?  Why were the police there and who are they working for if the taxpayers do not want this?

 

 

More evidence why we need media diversity

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Protestors in Venezuela were blocked on twitter from posting images of the protests.

PBS, which is supposed to be free from corporate influence, is now under fire for airing an anti-Pension series sponsored by John Arnold.   David Sirota’s article on it here.

In recent years, Arnold has been using massive contributions to politicians, Super PACs, ballot initiative efforts, think tanks and local front groups to finance a nationwide political campaign aimed at slashing public employees’ retirement benefits. His foundation which backs his efforts employs top Republican political operatives, including the former chief of staff to GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX). According to its own promotional materials, the Arnold Foundation is pushing lawmakers in states across the country “to stop promising a (retirement) benefit” to public employees.

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…both PBS’s “Pension Peril” correspondent and the AP reporter did not mention that according to budget data, pension shortfalls in Illinois are far smaller than the amount the state is spending on expensive taxpayer subsidies to corporations. 

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The state is just choosing to spend that money on huge subsidies to corporations like Sears and Google rather than paying its bills or making its required pension payments.

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See…the money is there…but it’s going into the pockets of the 1%, see?  Note the $4 billion per year in subsidies in New York!  OMG talk about greedy, greedy, greedy!

And here we have the smoking gun of executives knowing who was funding it and refusing to disclose it:

“We were sitting in a meeting talking about another issue and (PBS officials) were drawing examples of how they were working with other campaigns, and one of their executives said they’ve got a series called pension peril coming up talking about the threat of pensions at the state and local level,” said the source. “I asked who was funding that project, and the executive said that at this point they are not disclosing who their funders are, and everybody sitting around the room kind of paused.”

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Link to Jane Meyer’s article in the New Yorker here.

In 1997, he [David Koch] began serving as a trustee of Boston’s public-broadcasting operation, WGBH, and in 2006 he joined the board of New York’s public-television outlet, WNET. Recent news reports have suggested that the Koch brothers are considering buying eight daily newspapers owned by the Tribune Company, one of the country’s largest media empires, raising concerns that its publications—which include the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times—might slant news coverage to serve the interests of their new owners, either through executive mandates or through self-censorship. Clarence Page, a liberal Tribune columnist, recently said that the Kochs appeared intent on using a media company “as a vehicle for their political voice.”

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$50 for Christmas bonus?  Are you kidding me?  So much for trickle down economics, eh?

Meyer’s piece brings up the ABC News story on Disney hiring pedophiles being cancelled…because Disney owns ABC.  If I recall correctly, the reporter of the story was asked if he was crazy for investigating it….

Even more depressing is the upcoming PBS pieces by Chitester on the “evils of the welfare system”  I can hardly wait.  What a bully this guy is…pick on the ones who are least likely to fight back.  Creep.

TPP Opposition soars

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…meanwhile *crickets* from the corporate owned media…

…which is why we should be alarmed at even more consolidation by the media with this deal which most certainly violates the Sherman Act of antitrust law.

I read a couple of reviews which were light and not really addressing the seriousness of the deal.  Our democracy depends on a robust press that is diversified.

Let’s start with the beginning of the country–when a publisher printed unflattering things about the King of England, he had the publisher thrown in jail and the printing presses destroyed.  No matter that the publisher was printing the truth.  If I recall correctly, the newspaper had printed a story that the King had syphilis.  He in fact did have syphilis (which there was no cure and led to madness), but the presses were still destroyed anyway.

So…if you didn’t want your printing presses destroyed (therefore, your means of income), you printed only nice things about the King.  The King could accuse you of Sedition (treason, basically), and that was that.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the King of England that resorted to this:

The Sedition Act of 1798.

Related — Book Burnings History

So, with Reagan and Clinton, our media has been more and more consolidated, meaning you, the American public, does not get the coverage and opposing views necessary to make an informed decision about what is happening in your country and the world, such as TPP.  If it weren’t for Ed Shultz on MSNBC, you would not hear about it at all.

1987The Fairness Doctrine — the rule held since the founding of the FCC that mandated time for opposing viewpoints on significant issues of the day — is eliminated. This paves the way for the existence of entire networks (Fox and Sinclair) that proudly proclaim a one-side point of view. Thus “fair and balanced” becomes a trademarked phrase, instead of a principled and regulated way of presenting opinion. While the congress voted to extend the Fairness Doctrine, it was vetoed by President Reagan.

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The Fairness Doctrine explained here.

Only alternate sources such as commondreams, democracynow.org, and alternet.org have you heard about TPP….and even then, you’re not really informed because the White House has not been forthcoming with what is in it or allowing the press to examine it.

Additionally, more concentrated media means you don’t get fair coverage of whistleblowers like Edward Snowdon, Brad Birkenfeld, Thomas Drake, et al.

President Jefferson or perhaps it was President Madison said,”Information is Power.”  when referring to the Freedom of the Press.  This is why the NSA is doing all it can to gather information that it does not deserve….gathering more power.

And we all know too much power concentrated in a few hands leads to corruption.

Power corrupts.  Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.

We’re dangerously close to absolute power.

Incidentally, in case you didn’t know, the American public owns the airwaves.  Here’s a group explaining ways to hold the media accountable.

 

 

The Farm Bill

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I’ve dragged my feet looking this up, and it was as depressing as I thought…

Not only did they cut food stamps again in the Un-Depression, the heartless creeps gave the corporate interests lots of goodies.  I really don’t know how these people sleep at night.  But then again, when you have no conscience, your guilt doesn’t keep you awake…

Continuing with violence and women

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Really not trying to be a downer on Valentines Day, but just wanting to give balance to the dripping love fest–

First, the national hotline for domestic violence:  800-799-7233

Jovan Belcher

War and Domestic Violence connection.

Verbal abuse is just as damaging.

Laws and lawmakers that don’t protect and support women.

VAWA and Native American women.  Update here.  Thank you, President Obama.

Tribal governments — police, prosecutors, and courts — are essential to the response to these crimes, but have long lacked the authority to address them effectively.  Prior to TLOA’s enactment, no matter how violent the offense, tribal courts could sentence Indian offenders to only one year in prison. Even worse, since a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1978, tribal courts have had no authority to prosecute a non-Indian who commits domestic violence, even if he lives on the reservation, works for the tribe, and is married to a tribal member.

Not surprisingly, abusers who are not arrested are more likely to repeat, and escalate, their attacks. Research shows that law enforcement’s failure to arrest and prosecute abusers both emboldens attackers and deters victims from reporting future incidents. In short, the jurisdictional framework in Indian country has left many serious acts of domestic violence and dating violence unprosecuted and unpunished. The reauthorization of VAWA signed by President Obama will empower Indian tribes to protect all Native American women in Indian country, at long last.

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To go a little further with my post from yesterday, on missing Native American women, here is a map of women missing and murdered.  Pretty sobering. (click on the red spots, and a list will pop up).

Black women and domestic violence.…same sad story of an intimate partner abusing them.

Shelah Harper knows all too well the reality behind all those numbers. On Nov. 7, 2004, her daughter, Asia Adams, a 21-year-old West Chester University student, was brutally murdered by an ex-boyfriend and his friend. It was in the basement of Harper’s Philadelphia home (she was out of town at the time) where Thomas Strode, who Adams had been dating for four months, and his accomplice, Simeon Bozic, beat Adams with a shovel before cutting her throat several times. A day later, the two would set the house on fire to cover up their crime. They also withdrew money from Adams’ ATM card and went on a shopping spree.

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Utter depravity.  What’s really scary is that she was only seeing him four months–this wasn’t even a long term relationship she had broken off.   Which goes to show that our misperception of the act of domestic violence being about love is wrong…it’s about possession and control and boundaries.  Someone who violates another has no perception of boundaries and another’s right to their own autonomy.
Kudos to Sheilah Harper for redirecting that negative energy and anger into a positive one by helping get the word out.

Lastly, the post of the recent show on DN! about domestic violence and how women are still not believed, still not taken seriously, and blamed for their abuse.

The next question with this is what makes a good relationship?  Well, I don’t pretend to have the answers to that one–but here are some thoughts:

–He recognizes that you are a separate person in your own right. This means you have a right to your own opinions.

–He recognizes that you have a right to say “no” to intimacy and that he is not entitled to sex.

–He values your opinion.  He asks for your advice and considers your thoughts on an issue.

–He doesn’t put you down, in public or in private.

–He sees you as his equal, as much value as he, whether you work in or out of the home.

–He compromises.

–He genuinely likes you, honors you, respects you.

Basically, it’s the golden rule–treating you as he wishes to be treated.  Pretty simple.

 

 

 

 

Honoring dead and missing women

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Idle No More has this up on a day to honor dead and missing Indigenous women.  I would like to expand that to all women—missing, dead, beaten, and raped.

Unfortunately, it’s in Canada…but yeah, if you’re not there, perhaps you could just take that time from 10:00 to 12:00 p.m. to meditate on that.  Not only on that, but how we can heal our society so that women are not seen as second class or “less than” for being….women.

Some suggestions:

–Say a prayer.

–Make a list of what you can do personally to stop the rape/violence against women culture.

–Change your thinking of hierarchy–that one must be “above” or “below” another.  And that one’s material wealth is equal to their spiritual worth.

–Examine the media.  Truly examine how the media sends messages of women’s worth.

–Listen to women.  Listen to what they tell you they want–don’t try to put your own ideas on to women.  And don’t, for pete’s sake, make us all one homogenous group….we are all individuals with different ideas, needs, wants, and goals.