Category Archives: communications/media

The invisible walls that came after the visible…

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A commenter on Diane Ravitch’s blog put up this video:

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More here on the Detroit fight for worker’s rights, i.e., the pensions they were promised, versus the bond holders.  Like I said before, everybody has to lose a little bit–the city workers should not bear the brunt of it.

Juror speaks out on Zimmerman trial

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(I was going to take a break from blogging, but this is so compelling…)

One of the jurors in George Zimmerman’s trial, the only minority, spoke out on the verdict.  Democracy Now!  explores how the case was mishandled by the prosecution AND commentary on the juror’s misgivings about the verdict.

From Maddy’s own statement, she says she thought that they had to let Zimmerman go because they didn’t have clear evidence that he intended on killing Trayvon that night.  But that is a murder charge, not manslaughter.  Manslaughter is different from murder by intention, as the attorney states in the DN! interview.

I also think Maddy was intimidated into giving in–because she states she was holding out to the end.

And please, can we stop complaining about jury duty?  You can’t complain about verdicts if you’re not willing to do your civic duty and serve on jury duty.

 

 

 

 

Scientists against GMOs

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Wake-Up Call has a blog up on a new paper by scientists against genetically modified organisms (GMO’s).

From the paper:

For example, the claim that conventional plant breeders have been “genetically modifying” crops
for centuries by selective breeding and that GM crops are no different is incorrect (see 1.1). The term
“genetic modification” is recognised in common usage and in national and international laws to refer
to the use of recombinant DNA techniques to transfer genetic material between organisms in a way
that would not take place naturally, bringing about alterations in genetic makeup and properties.
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In my view, this “muddying of the waters” as they say, is a way to placate the growing public alarm about what they are
putting in our food supply.  See, if you can claim that GMO’s were there all along, the public is pacified and the current
push of asking for GMO labeling will die a slow death…
….meanwhile, the public continues to suffer from GMO induced leaky gut causing susceptibility to heavy metal poisoning,
allergies, chronic fatigue, etc., and their doctors will be clueless.
Important points of the paper:
1.  They assert that it’s a mistake saying changing one gene is only changing one gene….the scientists assert that changing one
gene has something of a ripple effect. It makes total sense that the genes aren’t isolated and they work in concert with other
genes, thus when you change it, it has unintended consequences:  crop nutritional value, allergens, toxins, environmental harm.
The most striking point of this section:
These unexpected changes are especially dangerous because they are irreversible.
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They go on to say that unlike pollutants that degrade over time, GMO’s do not.  Pandora’s Box, baby.
I shouldn’t have been surprised at the “atomic gardens” mentioned on page 12, but still shocking now, looking back,
at how they were using “peaceful radiation” to change plants beneficially.  Wow.  How naive we were.  I wonder at
the health of the people who ate those plants?  What about the people and wildlife surrounding these “atomic gardens”?
Since we know that people living within 20 miles of nuclear power plants are more likely to have thyroid issues….I
wonder about the effects of this type of radiation…
Well, I’m off to read more–it’s got 123 pages, so it’s gonna be awhile. 🙂

A Hard Day’s Night

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(PERSONAL BLOG)

I usually like to listen to smooth classical music on Sunday morning as a quiet and meditative state.  So…I turned on the boom box radio to pop in the Bach CD I have, and the radio was playing “A Hard Day’s Night”….

Well, now, who am I to resist rocking that?  :p

It turns out they were having a Beatles Sunday at the station, so, naturally, I was obligated to listen to a few more tunes and one of my favorites, “Let It Be” came on.  I read somewhere that Paul McCartney wrote that song after his mother, who had passed, came to him in a dream.  He was struggling with an issue, and her words were “Let it be…”  Wonderful.

 

President Obama’s speech

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the President’s “I could have been Trayvon” speech yesterday.  Lots of passion on both sides about his thoughts.  Of course, educators are up in arms that he does not address education in raising up poor black boys (and girls), and that the destruction of public schools going on will do more damage than good.

I, myself, am a jumble of feelings about it.

I understand the educator’s feelings.  I also know that just because someone is better educated, doesn’t necessarily mean they will not resort to violence to get their way.  Look at all the world leaders who are educated and still promote and advocate violence….

I also understand, as best I can as a white woman, President Obama’s passionate response.  He has been the target of racial profiling.  He knows what Trayvon Martin was experiencing in those moments of being followed by George Zimmerman.  He was innocently walking home, doing nothing wrong….and yet, here was this guy, who for all Trayvon knew, was going to rob him.

But I would argue with President Obama’s  assumption that white folks don’t know what it’s like to be profiled….as my recent experience in FW has proven.  It’s not criminal profiling, but the effect is still the same.

Racism, by either side, is wrong.  Like I said, I felt hopeless.  Despair.  I had treated folks as I wish to be treated.  I was respectful to the elders, addressing them as “Miss” or “Mr.”, as I would my white elders.  If I didn’t particularly care for someone, I wasn’t disrespectful…but I also didn’t have anything to do with them.  It had nothing to do with the color of their skin, but everything to do with their personality.

You know, someone gave me some advice once that resonates here–I had been the subject of bullying after my divorce.  The viciousness is really something someone has to experience in order to understand it.  After being a victim, you tend to take on the victim persona and see yourself in that light.  You begin to believe what others say about you.

The advice I was given was this:  There is no doubt that you were victimized.  But you need to break away from the victim mindset.

In other words:  don’t let others define who you are.  Only you get to do that.  Don’t let others’ actions define your actions–rise above it and be the person you wish to be, not the person they are trying to make you out to be.

Again,speaking as a white woman, it seems to me that black folks have adopted the victim mindset and sometimes think people are being racist when a) they’re just ignorant ; or b) they don’t like someone not because they’re black, but because they’re being a jerk.

I hope this makes some sense–like I said, I’m a jumble of emotions this morning.  Why is it so hard for us to cut each other some slack and try to see each other’s point of view and try to find some common ground?

 

The Bullying Society

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Diane Ravitch has this up.

As I said in my comment there, bullying from children is just a reflection of the adults and culture around them.  We have shows like “Survivor” that encourage groups to pick apart others and zero in on a target.  My Boomer generation didn’t have violent video games which desensitizes one to violence.

I think these all feed into the bullying mentality. Pick on those that are different or weaker. Keep at it until they disappear–either through suicide or crushing their soul until their light goes out…the effect is still the same.

It has even broader implications than “just” bullying–creativity comes from thinking differently.  Bullying will crush the ones that think differently, limiting the greater impact they might have had on the world.

I don’t think the solutions are campaigns telling kids to stop bullying.  It’s too complicated a problem.  And it’s not the kids fault as much as it is society’s.

Detroit, Broke City

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(I didn’t get much sleep last night, and my ADD is always worse when I’m tired, so forgive any faux pas.)

I’m flipping through the channels this morning and land on CNBC with Dan Gilbert, the grand pooh bah wizard of rejuvenating Detroit.  I only caught the last part of his schpiel, but what I was hearing made me sick.  He spoke of bringing in “interns”.  Interns? Yep, he’s bringing in young minds that can be manipulated into believing what they’re doing is innovative and exciting and the right thing to do….

…I find it more than mildly curious that 50-somethings are by appearances being ignored.

And it’s disturbing how the article below reads that the sharks are circling to see how much they can get away with–everyone is watching to see who wins the “tug of war” between the unions and the moneyed interests.

From the NYTimes article:

….Detroit officials have proposed paying off small fractions of what the city owes, they have indicated they intend to treat investors holding general obligation bonds as having no higher priority for payment than, for instance, city workers — a notion that conflicts with the conventions of the market…

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An obligation is an obligation.  I don’t know why the city would be any less obligated to the workers who labored and were made a promise than to bond holders who were also made promises but did nothing to earn that but sit on their butts?  In my view, EVERYBODY should be made to give a little.  Everybody loses a little bit for the good of the whole.

Now I know folks will be saying that “investors won’t invest if they aren’t getting top dollar…”  I don’t believe that if they are still making money for doing nothing that they are going to pass on that opportunity.  Investing is a risk….why shouldn’t the investors share in the losses as well as the gains?

(Ironically, or not, I’m playing David Crosby’s “Hero”  )

My other blogs on Detroit here and here . Note the link to Dan Gilbert profiteering off of the carcass of Detroit.

Background on the “Emergency Manager”

 

Fruits of Fukushima

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Where’s my fork…??

A picture speaks a thousand words….

It is so obvious to everyone but those in a position to do something that nuclear radiation caused this food to be deformed.

Wonder what it’s done to the animals, birds, insects, and the no-see-ums (microbiological growth in a normally healthy soil).

Wonder how this will show up with the women reproductively?

How many have now been diagnosed with either thyroid cancer or low thyroid or thyroid nodules?

Well, I did a little search and found this.  Good Grief, forty-three percent!!

They’ve found butterflies with abnormalities here.  Note that the scientists say insects are rarely affected by radiation.  This is significant.

I couldn’t find a specific animal they had observed for abnormalities, but I’m sure they’re out there.

A post script

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A post script to this blog…what I meant when I referred to Katrina is that I told them I thought the George W. Bush administrations’ slow response to the emergency was racist.  It was September, 2005, so it was only a month after the storm hit, but it was apparent to me.  What really shocked me was how only the one black woman agreed with me, again, subtly, but she saw it, too.    This why I probably began to think that Daniels was dismantling or weakening the Civil Rights Commission and blurted that out.

When I think about that interview and how I missed such a fabulous opportunity–a  life changer- because it would have been a career I would have enjoyed with its daily change, using the creative along with the analytical, and fighting for the underdog—and all the misery that mercury has caused me, I want to cry in despair.   This poison has taken so much more than can be neasured…

I give myself 24 hours to feel sorry for myself, and then move on…