Category Archives: ethics and morals

Dividing First Nations in other ways…

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Scott Sewell has this up on how things changed when the gaming commissions came to town.  A sly way to divide tribes, eh?

There is just something wrong with giving tribes two choices: nuclear waste or gambling casinos.

But the federal government says to Indian people, “I will recognize your sovereignty if you have either a nuclear or toxic-waste dump or casino.” That’s pretty much the only way you get your sovereignty recognized as Indian people.
Let me be clear about this: We are sovereign. I don’t care if the federal government recognizes me, my nation, and my people. That’s of little consequence to me in the long-term picture. The federal government, as far as I’m concerned, is by and large illegal. Most transactions are illegal. It’s like being recognized by a bunch of hoodlums. But under the law, they recognize your sovereignty in those two things, a dump or a casino. So Indian people are in an ironic situation, in that our choices for economic development are so limited.

In Minnesota, I see two examples. I see a reservation like Mille Lacs. They have two casinos. They built schools, houses, roads, clinics, and community buildings. They bought land. Nobody was going to do that for them. No federal appropriation was going to be made for those Indian people to do that, although their land was mostly taken from them. The federal government is supposed to provide those things for them. That’s not going to happen, so they did that with their casinos, and that’s right. They’re making some long-term investments that are smart. They don’t think those casinos are going to last forever, but they’re doing the right thing.

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I have heard of folks willing their land to a tribe native to the area. Cool.

Here is the Native Harvest website Winona mentions.

And the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The grassroots people of Kul Wicasa oppose the development of the power line infrastructure planned by Basin Electric.  The Lower Brule substation is to be located two miles from the Big Bend Damn.  The thick, corrosive nature of tarsands oil (which in its natural state is the consistency of peanut butter) requires a constant temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit and necessary dilutants to liquify it enough to be slurried through the pipeline. This will require an enormous amount of power.  Basin Electric stated at a public utilities commission meeting in Winner, SD “the pipeline apparently moves oil under 1440 pounds of pressure per square inch. If the line is to move 700,000 barrels of crude per day, each pumping station requires three 6500 hp electric motors running on 17 megawatts of power night and day.  If the flow rate is increased to 900,000 barrels per day, five 6500hp electric motors are required.  That would use 25 megawatts of power.”

This increasing demand for electricity forces the need for the additional power station at Lower Brule. Transmission studies indicate the current system has reached its load limit.   Given the location of the Lower Brule substation, 2 miles south of the Big Bend Damn, it is apparent Missouri River water will be used to produce electricity.

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Soooo…..they toss a few crumbs with wind turbines…but what they don’t tell them is that the pipeline is going to require even more energy…and precious water to move the “peanut butter” through the lines…um-hmmm…

This is just stunning:

…the land isn’t even there now; it’s an oil mine; there was a lake there that was 200 miles long and 100 miles wide.  Now, the elders are saying, for the first time, the shoreline is receding and the rocks at the bottom of the lake are exposed.  Water is being taken from the rivers and lakes to support the destruction by the tarsands mine. 

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It’s really hard to imagine that much water being used.  It’s gone.  No longer usable by humans or animals.

This pipeline would destroy farmland and jobs, contrary to Big Oil myth.  The First Nations are trying to support themselves with the food production, but once again Big Oil has other ideas.  If you know anything about history, the Native Americans were moved to areas out West…once oil was discovered, suddenly they were in the way and once again moved.  This continued on…and now we have the modern day version of it–pollute the land so it is no longer inhabitable.

 

Rahm Emanuel, Propaganda, and CTU

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You would think that Rahm Emanuel would think twice before messing with Karen Lewis, but he apparently hasn’t been, um…schooled.  (sorry, bad pun I know)

She once again delivers a smackdown of the mayor by calling him on the divide-and-conquer politics.

Be sure to click on the links to Fred Klonsky’s blog, which also gives some insight to what is going on in Chicago.  What goes on there, is most certainly going on around the country.  Bless Karen Lewis.

 

New SAT any value?

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Diane Ravitch has a post up on the “new” SAT.  I haven’t seen the test, so I have to go by what Diane is describing.  I do know that I when I first heard of the “new” SAT, I was sure there was some connection to the brainless Common Core.  Yep.

It’s troubling that the writing section will be optional.  Being able to write well-constructed sentences is an art.  It should be a part of the test.

Diane quotes Superintendent Cohen, whom is critical of the “new” SAT:

Nowhere in our new, vaunted Common Core State Standards are teachers told to be concerned with nurturing young people’s imaginations or their original thoughts about the books they read, about the way nature works, about whether our government’s policies are good or bad, about whether the Pythagorean theorem could be used to help design a better bridge over the Hudson river, or whether “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Nor will the “new” and “fairer” SAT ask students to write about such matters.

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Absolutely.  Spot on.   It’s not enough to be able to repeat what another wrote–but to be able to interpret what they wrote and take it beyond that to expand the dialogue.  Or to offer another point of view and facts or theory to back what you’re saying.

As I’m reading the article, I thought about when I took the SAT’s in high school.  It was a gamble on my part, because I did not take the college-bound courses offered.  That was the time that my Mom was pouring cheese soup over crackers for dinner sometimes….college seemed like an unreachable dream, so I took the easier courses offered.  Personally, I don’t think those courses should have been an option–all the students who were capable should have been in the college courses.  One really can’t know their potential until they are tested.  And when you’re young and unsure of yourself, being tested means taking a risk–putting yourself out there for possible failure.  Teenagers would rather die than face what they perceive as humiliation (when in fact it is a growing moment that should be supported, and not humiliated, as some like to do.)  And when you’re poor, your options become even more limited because taking a risk could mean consequences for the family (if one risked going to college, and failed, that money spent on tuition is lost.)

I did pass the SAT’s, and was admitted to Indiana University but on a probationary status.  I ended up not going because of being unsure of myself (probationary status to me meant “failure”) and interference by someone else.  Being supported would have made all the difference at this point in time–maturity, too.

I’m telling this story because I had some rough years in middle school and high school.  My grades reflected that.  But they didn’t reflect my potential.  As you know, I went on to college and graduated much later.  It illustrates how badly misguided the Common Core and Race to the Bottom are–we are who we are at any point in time, but who we might grow to be is not measurable by any human tool.

 

 

 

J. Edgar Hoover would have looooved this…

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Pando Daily has this up on a technology that takes pictures for advertising numbers…but has much deeper violations of privacy.

It is presented as being innocent…but we all know by now it doesn’t end up that way.

This is outrageous. Plain and simple violation of a person’s right to move about in public without being subjected to an intrusion such as being photographed.

There are so many holes in this guy’s theory it could be Swiss cheese.

For one–just because a person looks at an advertisement does not mean they will purchase that product or service.  For instance, I may look at an advertisement on a professional bug killer service, but there is no way that I’m calling that service.  The advertisers use bright colors, flashing words or lights, and the usual “grabs” of sex, fear, anger, and love.  All of these factors may draw the human eye towards the advertising, but not mean the person will buy it.

It never ceases to amaze me how psychology is used to interpret a person’s thoughts by outward gestures or appearances, when that psychological conclusion is dead wrong.

I went online looking for Rodolfo Saccoman and found this disturbing video:

It is alarming that they are using “feel good” emotions to justify the psychology software program.  They’re there to “help” with an impersonal, flawed science (in that psychology has sprouted from misogyny and bullying mindset).  Saccoman states that this software will “help” those suffering from PTSD from committing suicide…but methinks that instead it will be used to either label someone as mentally ill who might be having a rough day and just need someone to talk to–not a freaking impersonal computer.  Or it will be used as a tool by Big Pharma to force someone to take unproven and unsafe psychotropic drugs.  I feel it in my gut that this is what is driving this “help”.  I’d like to know if his brother is invested in Big Pharma…it’s not such a big leap when you consider that Saccoman mentions he loves the stocks and even built this software on that model.  If they could get more poor souls buying Big Pharma drugs, well, that’s just more money for them.

And then as the video keeps rolling, we get to the *bingo!* moment…when he says he worked for Morgan Stanley. An investment banker who thinks greed is good and screw the public.   He claims to hate it, but then goes on to say that he made money…so he couldn’t have hated it too much.

He looks at billboards and says they don’t have any intelligence.  You don’t know if anyone is reading them.  Really? Because I can think of several instances where folks have become upset at messages on billboards…so obviously people are paying attention to them.

Privacy never comes out of his mouth when speaking about how great this is and how money is being *lost* by not seizing the opportunity for yet more advertising dollars.

He attended a Tony Robbins show, er I mean, inspirational speech, where he claims they “tear you apart, then put you back together”  Sounds like psychological abuse to me.

Then he shows  commercials for getting people to sign up for this.  Note that the target audience is the young, who don’t have the experience to understand how this violates privacy and the ramifications of that.  The ignorance of the youth on their right to privacy is appalling.

They have concerns about paying for college (understandable), so this is marketed to them as being a way to pay for college.  The subtle play on emotions with their “love story” also reels people in.  They also use the “everybody” is doing it schtick with the line “all our awesome friends are also doing it.”  Again, invading someone’s privacy and their part in it is never mentioned.

Saccoman repeatedly portrays standard advertising as “old school” dinosaurs.  This is another tactic used very successfully by the marketing gurus–nobody wants to be “left behind” so they will buy the latest to be seen as keeping up with the world.  This tactic really took hold in the 70s when there was plenty of money in the middle class to buy the “latest”.  Thank God I have broken myself of that brainwashing.

Another aspect to this way of advertising is driving around to get the “face” quota.  Using gas, spewing fumes into the air, creating more crowded roadways, and possibly causing accidents by distracting people from watching the road and the vehicles around them.  Just yesterday, I saw three people talking on cell phones on Indy’s busiest roadways…and they were driving in ways that showed they were distracted and not paying attention to their own driving or those around them.

Again, the emotional tug is used when the fake “son” talks about  how his fake “Mom” inspired him.  It has nothing to do with the software or the advertising, but is snuck in there to give one the “warm and fuzzy’ feelings.

And the one thing I don’t see when looking at Saccoman’s actual backpack?  A sign in big bold letters saying “YOUR FACE IS BEING COLLECTED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES” on the backpack.

Near the end, he makes an odd statement to “push” for what you want…but then he gets philosophical and says if it flows, it flows…so which is it? Does one push or just let things “flow”?

Lastly, he admires Steve Jobs and Apple.  Given their illegal wage-fixing, and this response by Jobs over getting someone fired, well, it kind of speaks of character…why would one admire someone so contemptible?

 

Canada’s Spy Agency and the First Nations

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The Canadian gov’t  was vewy vewy skeered of those pesky indigenous whom honor their traditions and refuse to be completely assimilated.  Good Grief.  They act like these people have tanks, helicopters, drones, etc….like it’s a freaking war.  Who…or What are they fighting against…?

And the quote that CSIS would not be involved if there wasn’t sufficient threat…who are they kidding?

My other posts:

Here we have a First Nations woman removed from a public meeting for…well, we don’t know because she wasn’t doing anything.  Her mere presence, apparently, made her “guilty” of a crime.

First Nations protests

Setback for First Nations protestors.

First Nations continue to stand up

Finally, this celebration on sacred Native American grounds that Mall of America was built on.

 

 

Ethnic Cleansing in Chicago Public Schools

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Fred Klonsky has this up on the ethnic cleansing of Chicago Public Schools.  But I would go a step further and say not just ethnic, but prejudice against the poor in general.  They have made it abundantly clear that they don’t believe the poor have any worth or value or potential.

He links to the Chicago Teachers Union website.  This just says it all:

Schools slated for “turn around” include McNair, Dvorak and Gresham elementary schools. At McNair, 52 percent of the staff are African American; at Dvorak 70 percent of the teachers are African Americans; and at Gresham 65 percent of educators are African American. Black students are 97.1 percent of the student body and 98 percent of them are low-income.

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They also make note that most of the educators are in their 40s and 50s–a favorite target of the schools-for-fun-and-profit mob.  Get rid of the higher paid older folk, and you can a) pay younger ones much, much less, and b) get more compliant employees who are desperate for a job and will subject kids to enforced abusive testing because without a union to help them protest, they’re SOL.

 

 

Dear White People… **edited

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DN! has a piece up today on a documentary entitled “Dear White People…”

We need the conversation to begin, so I’m glad that they are taking it on…but as I viewed the excerpts, I started to get that feeling of dread.  Because a young African American woman states that we (black folks) are all different and another clip one states that because she is the person of color in the room, suddenly she becomes the “voice” of the African American community.  But it seems lost on the black community that perhaps whites feel the same way?  We don’t all think alike and because one treats you badly or is prejudiced does not mean that we all agree with that person’s actions.  Most white folks have good hearts but don’t realize some of the stuff that is said and done is hurtful (as the producer of the documentary states.)

During the interview with “Reggie” –he talks about his personal life and how he lived on an all-black floor in college.  He said it helped to be with his “people’ after having people touch his hair and professors say “stuff” to him….my thought was:  doesn’t he think some white people could understand that?  Again, it is a block put up to sharing a common bond.  White people whom have been bullied, put down, ostracized can all understand how being singled out feels.  They may not understand how it is to be black, but they can understand pain.

And the tipping thing?  Hello! Women are also stereotyped for being bad tippers.  A long time ago, when I had a life, I sat in a restaurant and waited while the white waitresses were gossiping for twenty minutes until one finally came over to take my order.  And it was cold when she brought it out.  And yeah, I left a penny tip.  Screw that.

In other instances, I would leave 15% tips when the going rate was 10%.  Sometimes the service warranted that, but most times it was just okay, but I left the bigger tip because of the prejudice against women.

As far as his admission that black folk use their blackness as a tool sometimes to navigate the world…but it creates barriers. As I experienced in Ft. Wayne, an African American guy had created a serious problem for the entire building that could have meant injury or death for the residents.  When one of the white fire fighters said something to him because he was yelling at them to shut the alarm off (they could not do that–it was a door alarm and they had the door open to let all the smoke out)** edited, he immediately blamed it on racism.  He went on and on about it instead of taking a step back and realizing HE was the problem, not his skin color.  And this is not a condemnation of the guy–he wasn’t a bad person, but had a screwed up view of the world.

It’s funny that this came up today, because when I was getting dressed this morning, I thought about seeing the Light in others.

Buddhists popped into my head –the Buddhists don’t believe in a God as one Supreme Being, but that God resides in each of us.  Their greeting “Namaste” means that they recognize God within you and within themselves.

Even if one doesn’t believe in the Buddhist religion, if we could stop looking at each other’s skin color…or anything physical…and recognize the Light within the other, we could move past the prejudice.  Our hearts involved in decision making instead of just our heads…

**edited for link to DN and further explanation above.

Yet another oil spill **edited

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…off of the Texas coast.

How in the world does one collide with a barge?  It’s not like they’re speed boats zipping past one…

…looks like another drunken captain.

The words George Bush I echo the oil man’s empty promises of safety…and clean up…as we have witnessed with every freaking oil spill since then–Kalamazoo and Arkansas and the Gulf are evidence of that.  As one of the commenters said, the captain was made the scapegoat while the company escaped blame.

And Tricky Dicks’ comments?  “The Alaskan pipeline is on the way…and the environment will be saved…” Priceless.

The proponents of XL pipeline are saying it’s going to create jobs…but as this video illustrates, how many jobs are lost (income lost) by the spills?  How does one put a price tag on the oiled soil, water, and dead/impaired wildlife?  Why are they even *considering* XL after all that has happened…?

**edited to add link to XL pipeline petition.