Good morning!

Elephants are at risk like many other animals that call Earth home. Last night 60 minutes had a special called As you know, animals live very close to my heart. Yet it is hard to give time to all my passions…all the things that I care about. I have said it before, and it is always worth saying again. If we just focus on one thing to hep make lives better, whether it be improving the recycling system for the love of the environment,  helping impoverished or abused women get back into the work force, or help in saving elephants, a magnificent mammal from being killed for their precious ivory tusks…and give that one thing a few hours a week, how different our would would be.

Elephants Increasingly At Risk Of Extinction, Group Says

JOHANNESBURG — Large seizures of elephant tusks make this year the worst on record since ivory sales were banned in 1989, with recent estimates suggesting as many as 3,000 elephants were killed by poachers, experts said Thursday.

“2011 has truly been a horrible year for elephants,” said Tom Milliken, elephant and rhino expert for the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

In one case earlier this month, Malaysian authorities seized hundreds of African elephant tusks worth $1.3 million that were being shipped to Cambodia. The ivory was hidden in containers of Kenyan handicrafts.

“In 23 years of compiling ivory seizure data … this is the worst year ever for large ivory seizures,” said Milliken.

Most cases involve ivory being smuggled from Africa into Asia, where growing wealth has fed the desire for ivory ornaments and for rhino horn that is used in traditional medicine, though scientists have proved it has no medicinal value.

TRAFFIC said Asian crime syndicates are increasingly involved in poaching and the illegal ivory trade across Africa, a trend that coincides with growing Asian investment on the continent.

“The escalation in ivory trade and elephant and rhino killing is being driven by the Asian syndicates that are now firmly enmeshed within African societies,” Milliken said in a telephone interview from his base in Zimbabwe. “There are more Asians than ever before in the history of the continent, and this is one of the repercussions.”

Some of the seized tusks came from old stockpiles, the elephants having been killed years ago.

But the International Fund for Animal Welfare said recent estimates suggest more than 3,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory in the past year alone.

“Reports from Central Africa are particularly alarming and suggest that if current levels of poaching are sustained, some countries, such as Chad, could potentially lose their elephant populations in the very near future,” said Jason Bell, director of the elephant program for the fund based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts

He said poaching also had reached “alarming levels” in Congo, northern Kenya, southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique.

Milliken thinks criminals may have the upper hand in the war to save rare and endangered animals.

“As most large-scale ivory seizures fail to result in any arrests, I fear the criminals are winning,” Milliken said.

All statistics are not yet in, and no one can say how much ivory is getting through undetected, But TRAFFIC said it is clear there’s been a “dramatic increase” this year in the number of large-scale seizures – those over 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) in weight.

There were at least 13 large seizures this year, compared to six in 2010 with a total weight just under 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds).

In Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve alone, some 50 elephants a month are being killed and their tusks hacked off, according to the Washington-based Environmental Investigation Agency.

With shipments so large, criminals have taken to shipping them by sea instead of by air, falsifying documents with the help of corrupt officials, monitors said.

In another sign of corruption, Milliken said some of the seized ivory has been identified as coming from government-owned stockpiles – made up of both confiscated tusks and those from dead elephants.

Rhinos also have suffered: A record 443 rhino were killed this year in South Africa, according to National Geographic News Watch. That surpassed last year’s figure of 333 dead rhino despite the government deploying soldiers to protect the endangered animals this year in its flagship Kruger National Park.

National Geographic reported this week that 244 of the rhino killed this year were poached in Kruger, and that figure is expected to rise before the end of the month.

South Africa is home to 90 percent of the rhinos left on the continent, and Kruger has more than 10,000 white rhinos and about 500 black rhinos.

Africa’s elephant population was estimated at between 5 million and 10 million before white hunters came to the continent with European colonization. Massive poaching for the ivory trade in the 1980s halved the remaining number of African elephants to about 600,000.

Following the 1989 ban on ivory trade and concerted international efforts to protect the animals, elephant herds in east and southern Africa were thriving before the new threat arrived from Asia.

A report from Kenya’s Amboseli National Park highlighted the dangers. There had been almost no poaching for 30 years in the park, which lies in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro until a Chinese company was awarded the contract to build a highway nearby two years ago. Amboseli has lost at least four of its “big tuskers” since then.

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Readers: What passion is personal to you that pulls you to do the things you do?  If it is Elephants, do something – don’t let the extinction of the Elephant be “the Elephant in the room”.

Blog me.

Zen Lill: I finally got around to watching that TED video on SOPA/PIPA – thank you.  As you can see from my new banner, I am all for stopping SOPA and ceasing censorship.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Robert, Rt: This write this morning is a nod to you. Thank you for posting. As you stated “The negative is that the white boy attempts to limit the advantages of being an american to the OTW. In the past limiting the Arts, Sciences, and Math education to the white boy limited what was accomplished.” And women were part of that too –  they have been limited too. There were no women mathematicians or scientists. Now women are given an equal chance at the math and science that has been a male dominated field, because males have been encouraged to enter the sciences over the females.

Readers: “This could only happen in America” Robert says, and I agree with him. But I also want to add that this could only happen to a woman in America. Why? Because women are considered 2nd class citizens in so many parts of the world. Women are denied schooling – they have to sneak around to get educated. Hell…baby girls are killed in China.

So yes, this is only true in America, but only if we can keep it going. We can see the potential women have – this young girl is one among many who if given the rich soil to plant their seeds, root their ideas….they will blossom...they will do great things.

But we have men such a Gingrich, and practically every other republican, who have little respect for women and just want to control and limit us. (Doug pointed this out to us in his revealing post about Gingrich.) Obama grew up surrounded by women, and he surrounds himself with intelligent women to this day – he’s no dummy. He knows our value, our potential, our passion, our intelligence, etc. He is the only one that will ensure that we women will blossom.

Do we want to to be controlled, limited, and stifled? Or do we want to be free, absolute, and inventive? The choice is ours. I’ve already made my decision. What’s yours?

Here’s the write:

By Steve Hartman

If you ever worry about the future of America, there is no need: it is in good hands. A high school student named Angela is proof of that. We think you’ll agree she is nothing short of amazing. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman met her on the road.

Born to Chinese immigrants, 17-year-old Angela Zhang of Cupertino, California is a typical American teenager. She’s really into shoes and is just learning how to drive.

But there is one thing that separates her from every other student at Monta Vista High School, something she first shared with her chemistry teacher, Kavita Gupta.

It’s a research paper Angela wrote in her spare time — and it is advanced, to say the least. Gupta says all she knows is its recipe — for curing cancer.

“Cure for cancer — a high school student,” said Gupta. “It’s just so mind-boggling. I just cannot even begin to comprehend how she even thought about it or did this.”

“I just thought, ‘Why not?’ ‘What is there to lose?’” said Angela.

When she was a freshman, she started reading doctorate level papers on bio-engineering.

“At first it was a little bit overwhelming,” said Angela, “but I found that it almost became like a puzzle, being able to decode something.”

By sophomore year she’d talked her way into the lab at Stanford, and by junior year was doing her own research.

In a lab area, Hartman asked Angela: “Try and make it for a feeble mind, such as this one, to understand.”

Angela: “So I made something that’s an iron-oxide, gold dangle…

Hartman: “You lost me.” (laughter)

Eventually, here’s what he did get.

Angela’s idea was to mix cancer medicine in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles — nanoparticles that would then attach to cancer cells and show up on an MRI. so doctors could see exactly where the tumors are. Then she thought shat if you aimed an infrared light at the tumors to melt the polymer and release the medicine, thus killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells completely unharmed.

“I think it was more of a — ‘This is really cool, I want to see if it works’ — type thing,” she said.

“And when you found out it did…” asked Hartman.

“That was pretty amazing.”

It’ll take years to know if it works in humans — but in mice — the tumors almost completely disappeared.

Angela recently entered her project in the national Siemens science contest. It was no contest. She got a check for $100,000 and promptly bought about a dozen more pairs of shoes.

“I got these shoes because they’re purple and I didn’t have purple yet,” she explained.

Easy to forget, she is still high school. It’s just her dreams that keep graduating.

“I’m excited to learn just everything possible,” she said. “Everything in the sciences — biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, even computer science — to make new innovations possible.”

Pretty big flats to fill. How will she top her cancer discovery? We can’t wait.

***********

Readers: All I want to end with is that this girl is brilliant. She wears the badge of  a “Wonderful Woman of the World” in my book. And yet, for such an amazing discovery, they gave her a lousy $100K and there is no news about it. This should be all over the place? Why isn’t it? Because she is an OTW. If she were a white woman this would be all over the news and her cure would be worth trillions. This is a cure to cancer – this is huge.

It will be interesting to see what the pharmaceutical companies say about it. Not to bring negativity to such a wonderful discovery…but hey, let’s get real, because a cure for cancer is the last thing Big Pharma would ever want to be discovered.

Thoughts? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Fear for the Women of Afghanistan

As the United States begins to tidy up its affairs in Afghanistan, I have a bad feeling about the women we’ll leave behind.

We’re already confronted with reports — and horrific images — of attacks on women and girls: noses and ears sliced off, acid-ravaged faces, beatings, whippings, honor killings. Just this month comes the story of 15-year-old Sahar Gul, tortured in a basement for months by her new husband and in-laws, apparently because she refused to become a prostitute.

Injuries and mutilations that shocked even the battle-hardened military surgeons are punishments for any number of affronts to patriarchal sensibilities — from fleeing an abusive husband to refusing a forced marriage to pursuing an education.

If these outrages continue to happen while we’re there, what happens when we’re not?

The brutalities that rivet world attention for a news cycle or two are extreme examples of a wide and ongoing problem. The rights organization Oxfam International reports that 87 percent of Afghan women have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence, as well as forced marriage, which Amnesty International says account for 80 percent of all marriages. According to the UK-based charity, Womankind, more than half of all girls married are not yet 16.

The threat-level for females is elevated by a government that is pursuing a policy of reconciliation by courting of the same Taliban that waged a campaign of gender apartheid. President Hamid Karzai now calls them “our upset brothers.”

There are early indications that the government — even without the Taliban under roof — is uprooting the tendrils of progress of the past ten years.

The new constitution may guarantee the rights of women. But it also says nothing can contradict the principles of Islamic law — which is undefined and open to interpretation by whoever happens to be in power.

Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, leader of the ideologically conservative Hizb-i-Islami faction, believes that women and men should not attend the same universities, and that women should not leave the home unless in the company of a male relative. A Time Magazine article quotes his feelings: “What we want in Afghanistan is Islamic rights, not Western rights.” He also happens to be the Minister of the Economy.

Recently passed by a Parliament we hoped would enforce constitutional protections is a law that allows husbands to withhold money and food from wives who refuse sex, limits female inheritance, curtails female custody in divorce, and denies women freedom of movement unless sanctioned by their families. The mandated 25 percent of Parliament seats held by women could do nothing to stop it — in part because many of the 68 women vote with the men who put them in power.

There are those who say that none of this means the days of wanton Taliban brutality and repression will return. The world is now watching.

As we toss the keys to a government duct taped together out of parts of convenience and already limiting female freedoms — suppose the all-out cultural attack on women resumes. What exactly could the world do other than watch? Perhaps a strongly worded statement.

Women could be beaten in the streets on live TV, and their suffering would never give cause to a return to the $300 million America spends every day in Afghanistan not to mention the prospect of losing more American lives.

Recent history is a lesson in the relativity of women’s rights. Russia’s occupation was ugly. But life for women under the Communist government was a modern high point. Reforms provided real political roles, economic opportunity and social freedoms greater than women have today.

All of that was swept away by the Taliban in the five short years between 1996 and 2001. Then it was restored piecemeal by Western occupation and investment over the past ten.

The clear lesson is that the safety and dignity of the country’s women are hostage to the beliefs of the men who carry the guns. We saw in Vietnam and, possibly in Iraq, the convenient futility of propping up a government and its military just long enough to get out of town. As we pack up our guns and go, who and what will pick up the ones we leave behind?

It’s possible that guarantees for women in the Afghan constitution will withstand the power vacuum in the wake of our departure. It’s possible that the Taliban as part of the government will think differently than the one that brutally repressed human rights, and was perfectly happy to sacrifice health, economy and modernity in the name of purity. It’s possible that the new government will be strong enough — and the army loyal enough — to allow the Taliban to join the government without consuming it.

For the sake of the long-suffering Afghan woman, let’s hope that all comes to pass — because there is little we can do but watch in horror if it doesn’t.

*******

Readers: We can’t forget about these women and girls. I am certainly not going to. And if I can support and help effect change, I certainly will do my best. I HOPE you will too.

Howie: Nicely stated.

Uma & Anonymous: I read this recently in a magazine: “When a woman steals your husband, there is no better revenge than to let her keep him.”

Ken: Thanks for the heads up on this. I use their service as well. But thankfully I am not a Zappos user. For those that are, I HOPE they heed the advice and protect their identities.

Guys: With respect to Obama’s singing…c’mon guys…loved hearing from the girls but where was your lovin’? Obama’s serenade of “Lets Stay Together” was to his supporters…all of his supporters, not just the girls. Speaking of…

…Social Butterfly: I apologize that I didn’t see your comment until after I posted yesterday. If I had I would’ve either given you a nod, or thanked you for the inspiration to the blog topic if I hadn’t found the topic myself.

Blog Biz: Please note that when I get up in the morning, from around 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM, I try to read all of the comments that I see posted (if I’m lucky), and I begin to blog by responding to comments that I want to address in my daily blog write. After that period I am either busy researching my topic for the day or writing it. I try to post around 9:00 AM which I have to admit I have not been doing as of late.

Therefore, if you post a comment from around 8:30 AM till when I actually post, It is highly likely that I did not read your comment. In fact if I am a day or so behind in reading the comments, I may not even read the comments from the most current day. And I rarely switch back and forth between writing/research and reading to keep up with any comments that come in after 8:30 AM.  I may see that a slew of them have come in, and make a comment like “Hey, I see lots more comments came in this morning”, but I don’t always read them. So please do not take it personally if I don’t see you comment to give you a nod and acknowledge you. It is not something I did intentionally.

Holly: It is mind boggling but people still will. When you have no problem lying to your wife who you supposedly love, just what will you lie about to people who you really don’t care about?

Erica: Their actions are sickening. Would love to send Maddie their way, but it would be too easy, would resolve nothing. If the people don’t see that they are Lying Sacks of Shit and do something, to prevent the election of the great white hope, then they deserve to get what they want. Because if Obama isn’t elected in 2012, it will not be a pretty picture for anyone.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning.

This to me is unbelievable and inconceivable…but it is happening.

Girls and concerned guys: This is a must watch from Rachel Maddow’s Show last night. Anybody who votes for any republican presidential candidate, know that you are voting for this Personhood pledge, because all of the republican presidential candidates back it.

Operation Rescue is there to help, and they are going nationwide. They are determined to rid the country of abortion clinics. They list who the doctors are, what they look like, and even where they live. They have labeled them as “Cartels”.

Abortion doctors have been killed in the past – do not think for one minute that the murdering of abortion doctors is over.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Readers: Maddow may not be hysterical, but in my opinion we need to get hysterical and stop this madness.

Thoughts? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Alycedale: This one is for you.

Occupy the Dream: Russell Simmons on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in action

GlobalGrind.com CEO Russell Simmons tells Keith how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy inspired him to help organize Occupy the Dream, a new offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Dr. King started the Poor People’s Campaign in November 1967 with the goal of confronting Congress about what he saw as its “hostility to the poor” while lobbying for an Economic Bill of Rights. Simmons decries a prison-industrial complex and states, “All of what promotes inequality — economic inequality — is the money in Washington.” Simmons argues for a constitutional amendment to stop the flow of money in politics, saying, “We want the politicians to work for us, not [the lobbyists].”

****

And the write that supports this video:

Occupy the Dream: The Mathematics of Racism

As we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr, it appears we are a far less prejudiced country than we once were. Individual expressions of racism are less tolerated than ever, we have an African-American President, and African-Americans are increasingly being accepted into executive suites. Yet when we look closer, we find that Greedy Bastards have rebranded racism and made it acceptable again, by calling it “the war on drugs.”

These statistics compiled by New York Times columnist Charles Blow and author Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow) are mind-blowing.

• Since 1971, there have been more than 40 million arrests for drug-related offenses. Even though blacks and whites have similar levels of drug use, blacks are ten times as likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes.
• “There are more blacks under correctional control today — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.”
• “As of 2004, more African American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote on the basis of race.”
• In 2005, 4 out of 5 drug arrests were for possession not trafficking, and 80% of the increase in drug arrests in the 1990s was for marijuana.
• There are 50,000 arrests for low-level pot possession a year in New York City, representing one out of every seven cases that turn up in criminal courts. Most of these arrested are black and hispanic men.

Why is this happening, when personal prejudice is so much less common, medicinal marijuana initiatives routinely pass around the country, and illicit drug use is accepted enough that Steve Jobs could praise psychedelic drugs as key to his creative success at Apple Computer?

The modern drug war in politics can be traced back to political operative named Clifford White, an advisor to Barry Goldwater, who recognized that there were votes to be had in the backlash against the civil rights movement. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the war on drugs became convenient code for politicians who wanted to appeal to certain working class white voters with coded racist appeals. President Reagan used this political support to escalate the war on drugs.

A Federal law passed in 1986 allowed law enforcement agencies to seize drug money, and use it to supplement their budgets. Grabbing cash connected to drugs meant that police departments could buy more tools and training. Like the fee-for-service model in medicine, that pays doctors for performing procedures, not for making people healthier, the “forfeiture laws” effectively pay the police departments for making busts – not for reducing the drug trade.

In fact, if the war on drugs was ever won, it would be a financial disaster for law enforcement. There’s so much dirty money funding law enforcement agencies that now, according to NPR, some police departments have become “addicted to drug money“.

The second significant institutional incentive is of more recent origin, though it too has its beginnings in the Reagan era – the development of for-profit prison companies and their vast lobbying and political apparatus.

• Prisoners now manufacture and assemble products for Microsoft, Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, Boeing, as well as body armor for soldiers and handcuff cases for law enforcement officers.
• In 2007, taxpayers spent 74 billion on prisons, with the largest percentage increase of prisoners going to for-profit prison companies.

The Justice Policy Institute noted that these companies make more money through longer prison sentences, but you don’t need a report from a nonprofit group to know that. Just look at their own investor reports. The Corrections Corporation of America, the largest for-profit prison company in the country, lists as a business risk in its 10K to the SEC “any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.” CCA also told investors it would make less money if there were lower minimum sentences and more eligibility for inmates for early release for good behavior.

Putting people in jail and keeping them there is good for business. So that’s what these companies lobby for. According to the Justice Policy Institute, these companies “have contributed $835,514 to federal candidates and over $6 million to state politicians. They have also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on direct lobbying efforts.” They are large donors to state-based think tanks like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who market harsh immigration, drug laws, and prison privatization laws to state level politicians around the country. While the rationale is no longer outright bigotry, the net effect, in terms of stripping millions of blacks of political and economic rights, is the same.

This is the face of racism today. It isn’t the racist sheriff in Alabama turning hoses and dogs onto protesters, or the all-white development or country club, but the smooth lobbyist and campaign contributor discussing the efficiency of private prison initiatives or the politician too cowardly to act on decriminalizing marijuana for fear of antagonizing a powerful lobby. It’s racism, Greedy-Bastards-style.

What’s the alternative? David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has highlighted a very simple common sense approach known as hotspotting. He advocates for sitting down the gang members that perpetrate most of the violence, police, prosecutors, and community leaders to talk about their shared problems and the consequences of crime. Such an approach has dramatically reduced homicide rates in Boston and Chicago, and across the country. Yet these programs and programs like them with proven success in reducing crime are the first to go on the chopping block, because they don’t provide the budgetary incentive that forfeiture laws do.

Today, the march for civil rights isn’t about convincing Americans that racism is wrong. It is about getting money out of politics, so that the profit from institutional racism is eliminated. The Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson saying “separate but equal” has been trumped by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, eliminating all restrictions on corporate cash in politics. If we are to honor Dr. King, let us make this our generation’s cause. It won’t be an easy fight, but as he said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Follow Russell Simmons on Twitter: www.twitter.com/unclerush

And while were on the topic of racism, I just want to add this segment from the Rachel Maddow’s Show last night. It seems racism is a growing issue for a few republican presidential candidates. Gee do ya think? Can you guess who they are?  No need, are there any republican presidential candidates not racist?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

*R*A*C*I*S*T*

Zen Lill: Hey no worries – no need to apologize. You can’t always be up and zen every day. It is the downs that inspire growth and change. All good.

Howie: That was quite the chronicle. Sounds to me like the vacation ended a bit too early for the 4 deserters.

Doug: Thank you. You know how I feel about animals and buying only “cruelty free” products. I was bawling watching this.

Social Butterfly: Good to see you here. I am sorry that you had been experiencing personal tragedies in the new year. I HOPE that you and yours are doing fine, and the new year only gets better.

Joe Solmones: Noted – Thanks. I say, let’s get to work.

Health Info: Loved your post this time. Thanks. Although I agree with Connie - not all can afford to hire all of these specialists. That needs to change. But I too like the “magic”. Inspiring and even applies to so many other challenges in life.

Viv: Nice to see you here. Happy to hear the kidnapping of the Princess is resolved. I HOPE all is well with you and the rest of the TAO.

I see more comments have come in, but I’m done for the day. Your turn. Blog me.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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