Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Joseph Dietzgen's “Brain Work” Republished
Monday, May 24, 2010
Will the BP Oil Spill Be the Spark?
Here’s what we should all be concerned about at the moment related to disasters (though this is human-made) and the government's response. It’s no longer a question of corporations vs government...although it hasn’t been for a very long time. Corporations have captured government — with the BP disaster being the latest poster child to make the point. Why government is “bad” to many teabaggers and others has to do with the fact it no longer represents the majority of its citizens. The majority are being those of us without money and power. It’s not about race or gender or religion. There are unquestionably legitimate race, gender and religious issues that exist to disempower people and communities. At the same time, race, gender and religion have been and are used to divide the majority in our country who are poor and working people from each other -- from forming social movements for real change.
Future Hope column, May 23, 2010
Will the BP Oil Spill Be the Spark?
By Ted Glick
http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog/?p=3225
Future Hope column, May 23, 2010
Will the BP Oil Spill Be the Spark?
By Ted Glick
http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog/?p=3225
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Biology of Oil and the Sociology of Democracy
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Biology-of-Oil-and-the-by-Greg-Coleridge-100518-531.html
A few weeks ago I met Riki Ott at the Move to Amend/Campaign to Legalize Democracy national gathering in Denver. We were among two dozen people who came together to begin to develop plans to end corporate rule and abolish corporate personhood.
Ott is a marine biologist and toxicologist from Alaska who became socially and politically active following the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster which spilled millions of gallons of oil in Prince William Sound. Ott documented the environmental disaster of the spill and its impact on people and communities. She began speaking out. She wrote books. She was widely interviewed. She was involved in litigation.
When the BP Gulf Coast disaster hit, Ott was once again in the news. Her presence at our weekend retreat was interrupted by radio and TV interviews, including one on CNN where she mentioned that the oil we saw on the surface was like a tip of an iceberg. Oil forms a huge cloud or plume when spilled in water well beneath the surface. This cloud or plume extinguishes all oxygen, suffocating all plant and animal life in its path.
In other words, the biology of oil when in water is much like the sociology of democracy when drowned out by money and corporate rights.
There are many elements of our democracy that on the surface are easy to see: political campaigns, voting, issue forums, letter writing, phone calling, meeting with legislators, testifying before public officials, developing and publicizing voting records, organizing citizen initiatives, among others. These elements are often extraordinarily difficult for ordinary citizens to navigate to create a positive impact.
But what we see on the surface of our so-called democracy is only a small part of the truth. Below the surface are huge destructive forces that infects everything on the surface, suffocating the voice and breath of people without money or corporate status -- making true self-governance virtually impossible.
The plume of unchecked private money and corporate constitutional rights giving corporations the "right" to influence issue campaigns and political elections are toxic to democracy. The amount of oil spilled in the Gulf will have some proportion no doubt to the amount of lobbying and campaign donations/investments dumped by BP and other involved corporations into political campaigns to ensure that their "rights" to make future profits are protected, just as in the past they were used to escape regulation, restriction, oversight and enforcement.
Oil and democracy don't mix.
Neither do banks and democracy.
The current Senate banking bill doesn't punish those responsible for the Great Recession/financial crisis. Nor does it rectify the problems associated with unregulated financial markets. A few suggestions to address the issue are at
http://createrealdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/05/reforming-reform.html
Nineteen of the 22 members of the Senate Banking Committee in 2009 received political donations/investments from Wall Street corporations. Senators up for reelection this year are receiving at least $180,000. Wall Street financial corporations gave/invested nearly $15 million to Obama's election campaign, a record amount. Goldman Sachs alone gave/invested $1 million.
If the Senate banking bill passes as is, the investments will provide favorable returns to financial corporations and their shielded and well-compensated CEOs.
The legal fictions of "money is speech" and "corporations are people" cloud our view of how our democracy actually works. What we see on the surface is bad enough. The below the surface plume is death to whatever is left of democracy.
Move to Amend (movetoamend.org) seeks to dissolve the deadly toxins to our democracy by abolishing corporate personhood, ending corporate rule and reversing laws equating money with speech. It brings to the surface what has for too long been ignored.
Call it a clean-up plan for democracy.
A few weeks ago I met Riki Ott at the Move to Amend/Campaign to Legalize Democracy national gathering in Denver. We were among two dozen people who came together to begin to develop plans to end corporate rule and abolish corporate personhood.
Ott is a marine biologist and toxicologist from Alaska who became socially and politically active following the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster which spilled millions of gallons of oil in Prince William Sound. Ott documented the environmental disaster of the spill and its impact on people and communities. She began speaking out. She wrote books. She was widely interviewed. She was involved in litigation.
When the BP Gulf Coast disaster hit, Ott was once again in the news. Her presence at our weekend retreat was interrupted by radio and TV interviews, including one on CNN where she mentioned that the oil we saw on the surface was like a tip of an iceberg. Oil forms a huge cloud or plume when spilled in water well beneath the surface. This cloud or plume extinguishes all oxygen, suffocating all plant and animal life in its path.
In other words, the biology of oil when in water is much like the sociology of democracy when drowned out by money and corporate rights.
There are many elements of our democracy that on the surface are easy to see: political campaigns, voting, issue forums, letter writing, phone calling, meeting with legislators, testifying before public officials, developing and publicizing voting records, organizing citizen initiatives, among others. These elements are often extraordinarily difficult for ordinary citizens to navigate to create a positive impact.
But what we see on the surface of our so-called democracy is only a small part of the truth. Below the surface are huge destructive forces that infects everything on the surface, suffocating the voice and breath of people without money or corporate status -- making true self-governance virtually impossible.
The plume of unchecked private money and corporate constitutional rights giving corporations the "right" to influence issue campaigns and political elections are toxic to democracy. The amount of oil spilled in the Gulf will have some proportion no doubt to the amount of lobbying and campaign donations/investments dumped by BP and other involved corporations into political campaigns to ensure that their "rights" to make future profits are protected, just as in the past they were used to escape regulation, restriction, oversight and enforcement.
Oil and democracy don't mix.
Neither do banks and democracy.
The current Senate banking bill doesn't punish those responsible for the Great Recession/financial crisis. Nor does it rectify the problems associated with unregulated financial markets. A few suggestions to address the issue are at
http://createrealdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/05/reforming-reform.html
Nineteen of the 22 members of the Senate Banking Committee in 2009 received political donations/investments from Wall Street corporations. Senators up for reelection this year are receiving at least $180,000. Wall Street financial corporations gave/invested nearly $15 million to Obama's election campaign, a record amount. Goldman Sachs alone gave/invested $1 million.
If the Senate banking bill passes as is, the investments will provide favorable returns to financial corporations and their shielded and well-compensated CEOs.
The legal fictions of "money is speech" and "corporations are people" cloud our view of how our democracy actually works. What we see on the surface is bad enough. The below the surface plume is death to whatever is left of democracy.
Move to Amend (movetoamend.org) seeks to dissolve the deadly toxins to our democracy by abolishing corporate personhood, ending corporate rule and reversing laws equating money with speech. It brings to the surface what has for too long been ignored.
Call it a clean-up plan for democracy.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Northeast Ohio charter school boards sue White Hat Management firm
Here’s an example of...
- Public tax dollars spent to purchase public assets for private corporations, and
- Those private corporations making decisions outside the reach of public accountability
How does this further democratic self-governance?
House Bill 79 should be scrapped.
10 Northeast Ohio charter school boards sue White Hat Management firm
By Aaron Marshall, The Plain Dealer
May 18, 2010, 12:13AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A group of Cleveland and Akron charter schools is in open rebellion against the for-profit management firm that runs the schools.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/05/for-profit_management_company.html
- Public tax dollars spent to purchase public assets for private corporations, and
- Those private corporations making decisions outside the reach of public accountability
How does this further democratic self-governance?
House Bill 79 should be scrapped.
10 Northeast Ohio charter school boards sue White Hat Management firm
By Aaron Marshall, The Plain Dealer
May 18, 2010, 12:13AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A group of Cleveland and Akron charter schools is in open rebellion against the for-profit management firm that runs the schools.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/05/for-profit_management_company.html
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Big Anarchist Survey
Calling all anarchos! Do the Big Anarchist Survey. Takes about 15 minutes only and the results will be announced when done. Thank you Miroslav, for sending this. See
http://www.anarchistsurvey.com/
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Vatican's Dark Crows Come Home to Roost
The Vatican's Dark Crows Come Home to Roost by Kevin Annett
Whoever would harm one of these little ones, it would be better if a millstone was tied around his neck and he was cast into the sea.
- Jesus Christ, quoted in Luke
There's a joke circulating in Rome these days, that Pope Benedict is considering having his title changed to "Innocent" in anticipation of his upcoming trial for aiding and abetting child rapists in the Catholic church. It's no joke, really. When I and a handful of people tried to hold a memorial service for children who died in Catholic Indian schools outside the Vatican this past Easter, we were swarmed by fifteen state police and halted from our witness. The church, and its accomplices in government, know very well that they are on the verge of facing criminal charges that could bring down the church.
That's the optimistic scenario. What's more likely, according to Vatican sources, is that the church will swing a deal and have the Pope retire for "health reasons" and take the fall for what the international media are calling the worst scandal to hit the Vatican since its diplomatic concordat with Adolf Hitler in 1933.
The Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, is not a popular guy, even in Catholic circles. A German, former Hitler Youth member, and arch reactionary who led the church's Inquisition against liberals in Catholic ranks for decades, Ratzinger was fondly known as "Joe the Rat" among his fellow Cardinals. But he has a lot of power, and authored the policy, still in place, that compels clergy to suppress evidence when children are raped by priests: a criminal act which has lawyers for rape victims smacking their lips.
"The man should be on trial" stated one American jurist last month.
"The Pope not only ordered priests to silence rape victims, but he moved rapists around within the church, and he protected them. That much we know. Doing that in one country is one thing, but Ratinzinger ordered it done in other countries, which is known as international obstruction of justice. That's a crime against humanity under international law."
The image of Interpol or local police arresting the Pope when he touches down in other countries is more than compelling, but Vatican lawyers insist that as a "head of state", Ratzinger has diplomatic immunity from any kind of prosecution. The Vatican, it seems, has never heard of the Nuremburg Trials.
"That's not going to stop me from arresting him" declared Paddy Doyle to me last month, at a protest outside the Irish Parliament in Dublin. Doyle is a survivor of church torture who has become an international spokesman for victims.
"I'm going to be there in the front row when the Pope does his mass in London this September. I'll drive my wheelchair right into him and arrest him, and let them try to stop me!" declared Doyle to TV cameras and cheering supporters, prior to his meeting with Irish government officials and demanding legal sanctions against the Catholic church.
People like Paddy Doyle are stepping forward in greater numbers these days, for their time has clearly come. I had the honor of meeting many of them in my recent tour to Europe, where I began to rally them into an international campaign to bring charges against the Roman catholic church in international courts.
The murder and torture of generations of children in church run facilities happened across the world, according to the same type of church-government collusion that characterized Indian residential schools here in Canada. Indeed, in 2004, the Canadian government actually sent officials to Ireland to give politicians there advice about how to contain and co-opt the growing movement of church victims in Ireland.
"You Canadians are very good at excusing yourselves for your mass murder of Indians. Clearly our government has a lot to learn from you, and as a result, it's been very successful at avoiding prosecution for how it helped the church kidnap and exploit little children" described Mary McKinney, a human rights activist, to me during my sojourn in Dublin.
For generations, Catholic orphanages in Ireland, England and other nations ran sweat shops where children as young as four worked as slave labor producing rosary beads and other religious artifacts: just like in Canadian Indian residential schools. And the death rate in these facilities was remarkably constant, hovering between one third and one half of all the little inmates.
"The church must pay back what they stole from these children and their forced labor. They must point out where the dead are buried, too" declared Sean Hennessey, an Irish lawyer for victims, last year.
"What the church made off these children exceeds a billion dollars, just in our country alone. We demand real reparations, and jail terms for the church officers, not merely token
gestures."
How to make the Vatican accountable under the law is another matter. As in Canada, the church has so far evaded any criminal charges for the death and torture of children under its care.
And yet this issue will not go away, any more than a government and church-appointed "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) in Canada will shove under the rug a century of crimes in Indian residential schools. For the scale of the crime is enormous.
According to Ojibway Chief Louis Daniels in Winnipeg, who will be protesting outside the first official TRC forum in that city on June 15, the time for lies is over.
"I was tortured in a United Church residential school and saw my friends murdered there, and now I'm supposed to not name the names of their murderers in front of the TRC. And I can't sue the church, or bring charges against it. It all proves that we'll never get justice in the white man's system. We need the UN or someone to come in here and charge Canada with genocide. Just like what happened in other countries."
Chief Daniels will be part of a delegation of native elders who will travel with me back to Europe in September to link with other survivors of church crimes in Ireland, England, Germany and Italy. And he'll stand outside the Vatican with me to help exorcise a spirit of lies and murder from the oldest institution in history.
Says Chief Daniels,
"The church is a wolf in sheep's clothing. But we're all waking up to that now. Their time is over."
Reforming The Reform
Reform the Senate Banking Bill
Call Sherrod Brown 216-522-7272
Call George Voinovich 216-522-7095
The US Senate is currently debating “reforming” the banking industry. Banking corporations are flooding Capital Hill with lobbyists and political campaign “contributions” (more like investments). Despite the bill’s length (more than 1500 pages), there are plenty of areas that are missing.
Proposed Amendments (from those most to least discussed by the public over the last year)
- Cap pay and benefits of bank CEOs
- Create a real Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Break up the Banks – Senator Sherrod Brown is co-sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act which he is trying to add to the bill.
- Return banks to being “boring” -- providing loans to consumers and businesses.
- Conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve
- Ban speculative investments (credit default sways, collatoralized debt obligations, et.)
- Create a modern equivalent of the Glass-Steagall Act — which created a firewall between commercial and investment banks. Glass Steagal was passed in 1933 and repealed in 1999.
- Eliminate deriviatives or at least impose heavy regulations and and full transparency on their issuance
- Reduce or eliminate the Federal Reserve’s financial regulatory powers (given that it’s to a great extent a private entity)
- Criminally prosecute those responsible for the financial crisis
- Prohibit financial institutions that receive public funding from engaging in political activities (campaign contributions, lobbying).
- Prohibit banks from creating money out of thin air. It’s time to end the privatization/corporatization of money — and begin to have money issued by the government for infrastructure repair (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
- Move the Federal Reserve under the authority of the Treasury Department (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
- Increase the “reserve requirements” of banks (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
Background
Great information on Audit the Fed at
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/
Brown-Kaufman Amendment: The State Of Play
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/brown-kaufman-amendment-t_b_566024.html
Senate Financial Bill Misguided, Some Academics Say
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM and SEWELL CHAN
Published: May 2, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/economy/03crisis.html
Progressive Breakfast: Bank Lobby Waiting In The Backroom
By Bill Scher
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010051804/progressive-breakfast-bank-lobby-waiting-backroom
Senators Opposing Breaking up the Banks Get Way More Money from Financial Industry
http://www.anewwayforward.org/blogs/2010/05/06/senators-opposing-breaking-up-the-banks-get-way-more-money-from-financial-industry/
Breaking Up the Banks - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/breaking-up-the-banks/?hp
Rahm Working With Fed To Beat Back Audit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/rahm-working-with-fed-to_n_561505.html
State Banks – Should Ohio Have its Own?
US States Consider Starting Their Own Banks
http://www.truthout.org/us-states-consider-starting-their-own-banks59084
Public Banking
http://publicbanking.wordpress.com/
Contact your State Reps and Senators — ask if they support Ohio creating its own State bank? We’ll discuss this issue at our next meeting on Wednesday, May 12.
Call Sherrod Brown 216-522-7272
Call George Voinovich 216-522-7095
The US Senate is currently debating “reforming” the banking industry. Banking corporations are flooding Capital Hill with lobbyists and political campaign “contributions” (more like investments). Despite the bill’s length (more than 1500 pages), there are plenty of areas that are missing.
Proposed Amendments (from those most to least discussed by the public over the last year)
- Cap pay and benefits of bank CEOs
- Create a real Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Break up the Banks – Senator Sherrod Brown is co-sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act which he is trying to add to the bill.
- Return banks to being “boring” -- providing loans to consumers and businesses.
- Conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve
- Ban speculative investments (credit default sways, collatoralized debt obligations, et.)
- Create a modern equivalent of the Glass-Steagall Act — which created a firewall between commercial and investment banks. Glass Steagal was passed in 1933 and repealed in 1999.
- Eliminate deriviatives or at least impose heavy regulations and and full transparency on their issuance
- Reduce or eliminate the Federal Reserve’s financial regulatory powers (given that it’s to a great extent a private entity)
- Criminally prosecute those responsible for the financial crisis
- Prohibit financial institutions that receive public funding from engaging in political activities (campaign contributions, lobbying).
- Prohibit banks from creating money out of thin air. It’s time to end the privatization/corporatization of money — and begin to have money issued by the government for infrastructure repair (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
- Move the Federal Reserve under the authority of the Treasury Department (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
- Increase the “reserve requirements” of banks (per the proposed American Monetary Institute)
Background
Great information on Audit the Fed at
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/
Brown-Kaufman Amendment: The State Of Play
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/brown-kaufman-amendment-t_b_566024.html
Senate Financial Bill Misguided, Some Academics Say
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM and SEWELL CHAN
Published: May 2, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/economy/03crisis.html
Progressive Breakfast: Bank Lobby Waiting In The Backroom
By Bill Scher
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010051804/progressive-breakfast-bank-lobby-waiting-backroom
Senators Opposing Breaking up the Banks Get Way More Money from Financial Industry
http://www.anewwayforward.org/blogs/2010/05/06/senators-opposing-breaking-up-the-banks-get-way-more-money-from-financial-industry/
Breaking Up the Banks - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/breaking-up-the-banks/?hp
Rahm Working With Fed To Beat Back Audit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/rahm-working-with-fed-to_n_561505.html
State Banks – Should Ohio Have its Own?
US States Consider Starting Their Own Banks
http://www.truthout.org/us-states-consider-starting-their-own-banks59084
Public Banking
http://publicbanking.wordpress.com/
Contact your State Reps and Senators — ask if they support Ohio creating its own State bank? We’ll discuss this issue at our next meeting on Wednesday, May 12.
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