Category Archives: bullying

Indiana Charters: Show me the money

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Diane Ravitch has a blog up on the Indiana Charter schools playing the shell game of accountability.  Now you see it, now you don’t…well, you never really did see accountability…

The financial profits aspect turns my stomach to no end…

And Gates Foundation being involved….well, there’s a red flag if there ever were a red flag.  My blogs on Gates here and here and here and here, on the Gates Foundation and Brookings Institute that tossed Diane Ravitch aside when she began to question what was happening to public education.

 

Princess, indeed

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A Saudi princess has been arrested for what basically amounts to slavery.  Good Grief, these people have money out the wazoo, and they’re still not happy with that…have to have it all and if they can force someone to work for them for nothing….well, then, more for them….

….they and the Kochs must be on a first name basis….

 

Growing concern over super bugs and super weeds

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common dreams has this link up on the octopus of GMO corn and the emerging super bugs that are resistant to the pesticides….

…and of course, their answer is to….throw more pesticides after them.

We all saw this coming, so why are Monsanto and Syngenta still allowed to market this monster?

Congress, can you hear the American public that you love to  *quote*  all the time?  Can you hear us above the *clink* of money in your pocket? (Be sure to click on the media link and its pathetic and sometimes belittling coverage).

Vilsack, can you cut your ties with Monsanto and do what is right for the environment and our health?

Here’s a report about GMO’s in the waterways in my own backyard.  This is a freaking nightmare.

As a side note, here’s an article on aerial spraying and untested chemicals.  Gees-o-pete, does anyone stand up to the chemical industry??

Rewriting history

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Is what seems to be happening in the last few weeks of the “George Love In”….with the *cough* George W. Bush library that re-programs, er I mean, explains to the public  how it really was when he was president…

Abortion

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This is such a hard subject for me, because I’ve been from one extreme to the other with my feelings on it.  And feminists marginalize those women who believe in equality but have reservations about abortion.  It’s probably one of the biggest reasons that the women’s movement lost steam in the 70s.

When I was younger, before I had my children, I thought abortion was okay.  But when I had my children, I thought that it was wrong.  But I have seen the horrible picture of the woman who was so desperate that she had her boyfriend use a coat hangar on her to abort her pregnancy.  She died of an embolism.  I don’t want us to go back to that, but at the same time, I feel that there needs to be restrictions.   The heart starts beating at six weeks.

I learned something from Bill Moyers’  book published in the 80s–it stated that Europe is not as lenient about abortion as America is.  This shocked me–thinking that Europe has always been more open and “liberal’ about stuff, I presumed that they were of the mind that a woman could have an abortion at any time. Nope.  Here is a list of the countries and their abortion policy.  Most of them cut off abortion at 12 weeks, even for rape.  They only make exceptions for the physical and mental health of the mother, but even then, there are some cut-off dates.  The book stressed that the Europeans have a much more supportive structure in that they educate women and men on contraceptives.  And if a woman has the baby, she is supported the first five years of life.  Amazing, isn’t it??

In the not too distant past, women were not informed on how to prevent a pregnancy (Comstock laws) .  They  were having five and six kids and desperate not to have another when they became pregnant again.  They were too poor and uneducated to provide for the children they did have….what were they to do?

We’ve had politicians who want to deny women the means to prevent pregnancy, but then they also want to deny them abortion.  It makes absolutely no sense.  And when those children arrive, they will deny them food stamps and decent housing.

Educating women  and men is key.

Providing safe contraceptives is also key.  (Despite the popular idea that birth control pills are safe, there are many, many problems with them.  I have read that gluten intolerance is linked to them, but now can’t find the reference.  )

Spermicidal foam had been found to have mercury in it.   More here on other issues with it.  As far as I know, sponges are safe, but since they also contain N-9  there are issues.

Some women use the natural sea sponge for menstruation as well as a contraceptive.   I had heard that the ladies of days past used the sea sponges.

Here’s a report from a lady who had issues with chemically treated sponges.  On another site, a poster said she had heard that honey was a natural spermicide.  Interesting.  Here’s another site that had a brand of spermicide that is non-chemical.  It’s made in the UK, however, and I don’t know whether it’s available here.  I looked on their website, and it says there is an extra charge for shipping outside of Europe.  If one is interested, probably best to contact them and ask.

So…a complicated subject with emotions running high and no quick, easy answers.

It’s not easy for women to prevent a pregnancy in a safe way.  Why is that?

 

 

Mold

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…grows in the dark….is what passed in my head while reading this.

I just can’t wrap my brain around this.  The hubris is just beyond me.  What gives us the right?

 

 

Bradley Foundation

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PRWatch has this up on the behind-the-scenes work of the Bradley Foundation.

From the article:

In advance of the 2012 elections, Bradley was revealed as the secret funder that had bankrolled giant billboard ads, exclusively in neighborhoods of color, stating “Voter Fraud is a Felony” during a period when voter ID was on hold in Wisconsin and many were confused as to its status. It funded groups that employed James O’Keefe, whose heavily-edited undercover videos hyped voter fraud allegations and helped take down ACORN, which had helped millions of low-income people register to vote. It also funded the legal advocacy group that represented O’Keefe.

Both Bradley and Searle have funded the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promoted voter ID laws in states across the country. And in the wake of Shelby County, ALEC-inspired voter ID bills and other restrictions will likely take effect across the South. As many as eleven percent of registered voters don’t have government-issued photo ID and would be unable to vote under the laws, with those percentages even higher among communities of color and students.

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(In case you missed it, James O’Keefe has crawled out from the rock he was under (after pleading guilty to misrepresenting himself as a telephone employee at Mary Landrieu’s office)  and is now proclaiming to be a journalist who was victimized. Bwahahahahahahaha….seriously….bwahahahahaha.   Let’s hope that his *cough* journalism efforts land him in jail for a looong time this go around…)

Be sure to click on the link explaining the Bradley foundation and its links to none other than….the Kochs and the John Birch Society.  Also, the link for  “group that brought both challenges”  is very informative.  Truly, their motives are to go back to “separate but equal” status of education.   Yeah, we all know how that worked out.   And the Searle connection…you know, one has to consider all the possibilities of drug companies that are behind racist overtures.  Kind of scary, isn’t it?

Good God,  these people  are control freaks.  And evil.

More on ALEC

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From the last post, Center for Media and Democracy has this up on filing suit for Ethics investigation of unreported gifts.

I really wanted to get access to the Financial Times article that includes John Kerry’s dirty fingers in the pie, but I don’t have a subscription….can Kerry get any farther from the Vietnam protester that he once was?  What the hell happened to him?

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Here is a group fighting back against the privatization of public interests.  What bothers me about this is that I don’t see language here that expressly denies privatization, but rather, it seeks to make more stringent rules.  Making rules is good, don’t get me wrong, but to me, privatization should be illegal when taxpayers have already foot the bill for building roads (and keeping them maintained with paving and such); when taxpayers paid for parking meters; when taxpayers built huge water reservoirs, when taxpayers paid for library books that are now being dumped and then sold by so-called ‘friends of the library”…and on….

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The dirty nine

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Nine state legislators were flown on a chartered flight and…well, you can read the rest here.

From the article:

The tar sands of Alberta are estimated to be the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet. But the process of turning the tar-like bitumen into a refined product that can be used as fuel is extremely energy intensive and highly polluting. The former NASA scientist James Hansen, warned that the extraction and use of Canadian tar sands would mean “game over” for the climate. TransCanada is the operator of the proposed KXL pipeline, which would carry the tar sands to Texas for processing and likely for exports to markets abroad.

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I think it’s really important to highlight NASA scientist James Hansen’s statement on this because most folk think that folks who believe in climate change are “fringe” liberals, when they’re not.  Dr. Hansen is a prime example of that.

More:

TransCanada, which is a member of ALEC, sponsored ALEC’s Spring Task Force Summit in Oklahoma City in May 2013, alongside other corporations with tar sands interests including BP, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. TransCanada’s Vice President Corey Goulet presented to legislators at the conference during a session called “Embracing American Energy Opportunities.“

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Dimon stayed in touch with Adams’ office over the proceeding months, providing his staff with further materials about Keystone XL, including a set of talking points stamped with the TransCanada logo.

By February 14, Adams had an updated draft that had been reviewed by the Ohio legislative service commission, the non-partisan body that assists legislators with drafting legislation. Adams staffer Ryan Crawford sent this language to Rob Eshenbaugh, a lobbyist with Ohio Petroleum Council, the state affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute. “Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,” Crawford wrote to the lobbyist. Eshenbaugh responded with some requested changes, which Crawford then incorporated into the bill.

 

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So…yeah….pretty glaring examples of not so subtle bribery.  Unethical. Unethical. Unethical.

I have something of a quibble with the story saying that the XL has become a national issue….where were you when Enbridge was getting the northwest Indiana pipeline approved even though it runs near Lake Michigan and other sources of water?  Does anyone know why Indiana is ignored?    I’d like to know why we don’t matter….somebody tell me, please.

 

 

 

 

Correction

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I was thinking about the previous post and I misstated something:  my doctor actually urged my (ex) husband to urge me to get a hysterectomy.  Incredible, eh?  Not to mention a sneaky way to influence me to get an unnecessary operation that would have caused more problems than it solved.

Again, I am so grateful that I did my research and listened to my intuition and didn’t succumb to the pressure.

Giving thanks. 🙂