Category Archives: big oil

Dr. Martin Luther King

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Several folks have posts up this morning on Dr. King–

I’ll start with Mercedes Schneider — it is disgusting how George W. Bush used MLK to somehow try to link No Child Left a Mind with civil rights.  As we are seeing, most of the public schools being closed are in neighborhoods of the poor and minorities.  An excellent point made by Joanne Barkin about how they have appointed themselves as leaders of the reform movement without the rest of us included.  Our opinions don’t matter…unless, of course, we agree with them.

A quibble I have with “I Have A Dream…” is the sons of former slave owners and advocating brotherhood...what is glaringly missing are women being part of the whole.

As has been pointed out by others–Dr. King was defending workers who wished to unionize…he would have no part of the destruction of teacher’s unions.

Next, Diane Ravitch has a blog up on MLK.  When breaking the law is just…if one follows one’s conscience.

Finally, Democracy Now! has a video up on MLK.  When I first clicked on, I heard “I Have a Dream…” and sighed that it was going to be yet another rehash of the I have a Dream speech without reference to his other great speech, Beyond Vietnam. 

http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2014/1/20

I was so glad that they aired this speech.  It was so wonderful hearing Dr. King’s voice again…hard not to get emotional at the love that was flowing from him.  He and John F. Kennedy were advocates of Peace working against dark forces.  Both were killed for it.  But as Dr. King said prophetically, he had been to the mountain top and was not afraid of the consequences of doing what he knew God wanted him to do.

I want to say something about this speech by Amiri Baraka, also on DN!

He speaks about women being raped and wanting to have reparations for it…does he not think that white women have been raped, too?  Where is the white woman’s reparation?

What about the Irish slaves whom also worked for no wages?  Where are their reparations?  What about the Irish women whom were forced to birth babies for lighter-skinned African Americans?

The music we stole?  Didn’t all music come from the great classical composers?  Isn’t music supposed to be a shared experience?  Did we not enjoy each other’s music and share that special connection?  It is deflating to hear such anger for something we both enjoyed.

And then he says “give us our lives or be prepared to forfeit your own…”

Dr. King was against violence of any kind.  I can’t see him agreeing with advocating violence.

And I don’t understand “giving” someone their life….you can’t “give” someone their life.  You can’t give someone self-esteem nor a purpose in life–it has always come from within…from that connection to God (or your Higher Power).

Dr. King knew this…it emanated from him.  He was solidly connected and acted accordingly.   He mentions the overzealous need for material things…and questioned why someone had more than enough while others had to beg for the things they need.

Advocating violence against whites is just as bad as a KKK leader advocating violence against blacks.

I see white faces amongst the black faces in the civil rights protests.  I read a story of a white guy being hosed down and beaten along with the blacks during the civil rights riots.  He nearly had an eye gouged out.

Other whites wrote that they had fought alongside blacks and  then were told they were not welcome anymore.

White folk were right there alongside black folk, and now it seems that part of history is being rewritten.

I know I’ll probably catch hell for writing this, but it is written with an open heart, and not meant to offend, but to question biases and prejudices….and somehow get back to that love that emanated from Dr. King.   Violence, anger, and hatred don’t serve anyone.  Anger is only useful if that energy is used in a positive way.

As a side note~ Dr. King spoke about them keeping Vietnam going when they knew it was wrong.  I happened upon this the other day–and how Kissinger was behind the scenes prolonging the war…because he loved the power and he, Nixon, et al, wanted to “save face”.  They prolonged death of our soldiers, death of Vietnamese so they could keep their reputation intact.  Remember, he had stated that power is an aphrodisiac…it’s as if he thought of himself as some sort of “James Bond”….how disgusting.

West Virginia toxin spill: it ain’t over…

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Dispatches from the underclass has a post up with an interview of a West  Virginia mom concerned about the water and the effects on her children.

As she brings up, they are already dealing with toxins from the coal industry (mercury, lead, arsenic), and now this….their water is brown.

The scene from JAWS comes to mind where they tell everyone that it’s safe to go back into the water…um-hmmm….

And the sad thing, besides endangering these folks’ health and not knowing what this chemical does to people…is that West Virginia is one of the most beautiful states I’ve ever been in.  The mountains are sooo gorgeous.

The Octopus of inBloom…

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Mercedes Schneider has an excellent blog up on all the twists and turns of school profiteering–who is involved, who’s making the $$ off of our kids.  It’s an in-depth blog well worth the time of the read.

The comments are intelligent, as well.  One of them links to this article.  Bill and Melinda Gates are freaking insane.  How detached from the real world does one have to be to think this is okay??  It’s not a true measurement of engagement in the lesson–it only measures arousal.  The student could be thinking of something else, as one comment in the article illustrates, not what is being taught.  Creepy doesn’t *begin* to describe this electronic gadget.

Note the very last paragraph where National Council on Teacher Quality, which receives funding from the Gates Foundation promotes this insanity.  Remember, folks, Gates is now part of the Billionaires Media Message….gotta keep that in mind when reading anything positive on Gates, et al., because they’ve probably written it themselves or had any number of people they support financially do their dirty work for them.

Also, in the link Mercedes provided for her former post on this, is this gem:

First of all, it was Gates money that funded the inBloom data “cloud.”

Next, the sponsor of the webinar, EWA, has taken $2.7 million in Gates money since 2003.

Third, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has taken $13.5 million in Gates money. (In November 2013, I wrote this post on Aimee Guidera and DQC. Enlightening reading.)

Fourth, USDOE Assistant Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton used to work for Gates as the Gates Foundation director of its education division. Shelton is also a partner with the charter-market-creating New Schools Venture Fund (a connection to Education Undersecretary nominee Ted Mitchell) AND was a senior management consultant for McKinsey and Company (former employer of Common Core “lead architect” David Coleman).

Fifth, Fordham University professor Joel Reidenberg and others conducted a study on privacy issues and “cloud computing”… funded by Microsoft.

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Yep, it’s the revolving door with Jim Shelton…like the FDA.  Anyone wanna bet Shelton will go back to Gates once his work to destroy public education is done?

Finally, another person posted this link of a group of Carbondale, Colorado parents getting together to fight for our public schools.

 

Young: Tar Sands are Canada’s Hiroshima **edited

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Neil Young is finishing up his “Honor the Treaties” concerts in Canada.  He compared what is happening to Hiroshima, which irked a few people.

He is being compared to Jenny McCarthy, whom has spoken out on vaccines causing autism.

McCarthy, a former model/actress, vehemently claims childhood vaccinations cause autism and other disabilities, despite those claims having been disproven by rigorous scientific research.

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…disproven by rigorous scientific research….

bwahahahahahahahaha *snort*

Well, as I posted recently, scientific research has a few flaws in it that the vaccine apologists, as Dr. Cutler refers to them, choose to ignore.

I hope that Neil Young considers being compared to Jenny McCarthy a compliment, because I do….much as I do when I’m called a bitch for speaking up for myself or others…

People who diminish others have little facts to back their claims up…that’s why they attack the person instead of the person’s arguments.  Ad hominem.

**edited to add:  I just wanted to say that Global News pushes vaccines.  They had article after article on scaring people into getting vaccination, and that the flu season was horrible, and that they were running out of vaccines.  Very lopsided reporting.

Newark Principals fired for protesting school closings

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the latest in taxation without representation and punishing an American citizen for exercising their right to Freedom of Speech.

One of the links was so compelling I want to put it here.  So much for inept educators being disciplined for non-performance…you’re punished even if you’re doing well, apparently.  Good Grief, what a nazi!!

Gov. Christie must have a “Bully’s Playbook” that all in his inner circle go by…

And Michele Brown and the Economic Development Authority should be investigated, also, while they’re at it…

Under fire? Attack the teachers and unions

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Jersey Jazzman has this up on the “shiny thing” defense of Gov. Christie for bridgegate….when you’re under fire, create a distraction, and Christie’s favorite is bashing teachers.  Be sure to click on the link for the deplorable conditions of the schools.

Indiana and the West Virginia spill

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Update:  Indiana actually noticed that there was a chemical spill upriver!  /just a little sarcasm, folks

Reading this, though, Indiana just seems….passive.  Cincinnati is taking a proactive stance in shutting off the water intake.

And, I have to wonder as I’m reading this, how will they separate the West Virginia chemicals from the toxins already in the Ohio River?  Will they be able to tell which are our chemicals and which are Freedom Industries?  /just a little snarky

Meanwhile, Louisville, Kentucky  is business as usual.  I just shake my head at the laissez-faire attitude  “we will treat the water and make it smell and taste good.”  WTH?

I want water that is free of chemicals, not just “taste good”.  Charcoal is fine for removing impurities, but it doesn’t remove everything.

I found a couple of websites advocating bamboo charcoal for water filtration here and here.  I haven’t tried these, but they do look promising…and since bamboo is sustainable, all the better.  Finally, there this site on a primitive charcoal filter.

Reverse osmosis is supposed to remove much more–but it also removes needed minerals.  Some sites suggest putting a high quality salt (that hasn’t had the minerals removed as they do with sodium chloride, or table salt) back in as a way to counteract it.

I had a tough time finding much information that wasn’t a company website, but this was the best one to explain what reverse osmosis removes.

 

Education: Throwing kids into the deep end

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Seamus McCarville has a thoughtful post up on the nonsensical approach of Common Core and its proponents.

I went to the NYSUT website and briefly looked over the cheerleading of Common Core.  It states that up until now, there has been a wide variation of standards from place to place…like that indicates failure…

…and as I’m reading that, I’m thinking of all the contributions to America that have happened by people who came from different areas of the country with different educational systems–Neil Armstrong pops into my head as I type–he was not educated under Common Core…

What about the artists? What about the musicians?  What about culinary endeavors or farming?  This is just sooo short-sighted and myopic in that it has such a narrow focus of what these self-appointed education gurus have deemed important.

They seem to want robots teaching class…instructing them which side of the classroom to be on? Seriously??  Micro-manage much?

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More on Education:

Mercedes Schneider has this up on Arne Duncan blaming everyone else but himself.

 

 

Geoengineering: Insane and Delusional

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A report here on Al Gore speaking out on geoengineering.  I totally agree.  The Earth is a magnificent living, breathing, organism that can take care of herself quite well, thank you, without any *help* from us.

What we need to do is put on our big adult pants and scale down the polluting.  It means stop giving industry the right to pollute what belongs to all of us.  Well, that’s not accurate, either, because it doesn’t really *belong* to us, but rather, we are borrowing it while we are here.

It’s not ours to do with as we please, but a gift to be cherished and given back….what  a wonderful humble idea…

…meanwhile, that 15 MILLION pounds of toxins into Indiana waterways keeps flashing in my head….

Ohio River and the West Virginia spill

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So…the spill in West Virginia in the Elk River has gone into the Ohio River and is headed our way…so I went looking to see how the authorities are dealing with it…

I found that the Cincinnati folk are right on this–

When I looked for Indiana authorities’ action on it…nothing.  No surprise there.  The Indiana Dept. of Environmental (MIS-) Management allows businesses three years between inspections.  West Virginia could happen here. (and probably already has, but without nary a peep from anyone who knows about it.)

But I did find this disturbing report.  Indiana is guilty of dumping 15 MILLION pounds of toxins into the waterways.  Good Grief!

Here’s yet another disturbing report of BP once again poisoning a body of water from the Whiting, Indiana, refinery…you know, the petcoke we’ve talked about.  This time,  it’s our wonderful Lake Michigan they’re dumping mercury into….where is the media coverage here?  *crickets*

If you don’t think two pounds of mercury sounds like a lot, keep in mind it only take a thermometer of mercury to poison a 20-acre lake.

(Of course, I take exception to this article ignoring amalgams as sources of mercury along with vaccines.  And ignoring GMO’s as impacts on the gut, allowing heavy metal poisoning.)

…and it’s not just the water they’re poisoning…