As we might have guessed, now that there is a real candidate that threatens the business as usual nature of our corporate welfare/military industrial complex, the media are thoroughly ignoring him. As much as anyone, I want to vote for a female (Not Hillary) candidate for President, but that is something that I have already done. Back when Jesse Jackson sold out the Rainbow Coalition, I voted proudly for Doctor Lenora Fulani. We the People are supposed to have freedom of choice over our representatives, but the oligarchs are right to feel threatened by Mr. Sanders and the hope that he is inspiring across this great land. Shutting him up will be more difficult today than it had been to ignore the Rainbow Coalition. First, because we now have the internet which allows us to continuously share information and photos of Presidential candidates speaking to overflow crowds, or just one of two people, which recently happened to a few Rethuglican candidates. While the major "frontrunners" step up to the microphone to embarrass themselves, or parrot back the platitudes that have been deemed "safe" but their corporate henchmen, Bernie continues to hammer away on issues that affect the entire world economy, the pocketbooks of the vast majority of Americans, the rampant pollution of our sacred air and waters, and fossil fuel procurement practices that render vast swaths of land useless for generations while exacerbating global climate instability. The oligarchs have done everything in their power to dumb us down, but with a bit of luck, we are not yet too far gone. I continue to do my level best to bring up issues that can gain traction in the public conversation. Please take the time to have it!
Many have said that we need to get money out of politics, the Sanders Campaign will have the opportunity to prove it. Our difficulty has been that the oligarchs, seeing the writing on the wall, have armored themselves so thoroughly against reproach that they have kept any limits on campaign contributions and all meaningful limits on lobbying off the table. If you want a real eye-opener, check out the recently coined term "anticipatory bribery", that concept more than any other explains how bereft our democracy has become under the current broken system. The top .002% exert their stranglehold on media outlets but their strength is waning because of the information sharing that is possible through the internet. What is needed is a candidate like Bernie Sanders. We need someone so thoroughly above their diabolic scheme that their candidacy rises to the top like cream on undisturbed milk. Every word I have heard Bernie Sanders speak has been motivated by a true love for America and Americans. Perhaps when the current slate of representatives learn that moral values and humanitarian approaches to government have traction amongst the electorate, we will finally show the well-heeled that their money cannot buy the necessary amount of favor required to give their diabolic schemes and decrepit "just business" claims any validity. We may face the most important election in our history.
We the People must re-invigorate the concept of one person one vote and castigate any and all political thinkers who make excuses for corporate power being the sole arbiter of public opinion. If we pay any attention to the news at all, we quickly see distraction after distraction thrown up into the public eye for scorn, ridicule and summary judgement. Again, like having a main course of righteous indignation with a side of I don't give a (expletive). By not asking our brothers and sisters what is important, we can only be led, like lambs to the slaughter. We the People are supposed to steer the ship of state whilst the laws our representatives craft are supposed to act as sails, unfurled to the winds of change.
Do not despair. There will be many who try to humiliate you for thinking that Bernie has a chance. There may even arise an awkward moment where you don't have to choose the lesser of two evils, but be aware. I said this before Obama was elected to the Presidency the first time, we may even get him in the White house, but the next day and the day after that, and for the following four to eight years, we have to be willing to "go to the mat" for what he is a stand for. What he offers cannot be given by an all powerful government, but only by us getting involved passionately in the causes which he is not afraid to talk about. We can see how far our current administration has been able to come under the stranglehold of the big banks, insurance companies and investment firms. We need to become a nation that does not abandon our leaders and them blame them for our shortcomings. We shall overcome!
Showing posts with label corporate welfare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate welfare. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Monday, October 7, 2013
The New Holocaust
We have done a grave disservice to one another. We have all been complicit in the horror of our current state of affairs. Instead of standing up and telling the ruling classes that we will not stand for carcinogenic compounds being released onto the soil, into the air and water, ultimately making their way into our bodies, we have decided to participate in fundraising runs, buy rubber bracelets and to "bike for the cure". This is like going fishing but bringing no pole, no line and no hooks, just the bait. I know that I am not the only one who sees through the sham of spending billions on cancer research while simultaneously poisoning the environment.
I have dozens of friends who have passed the veil because they have been ravaged by cancer. I would guess that not one of us has been spared the heartache of losing a beloved friend or family member, perhaps a bunch of them to this disease. Is it always going to be easier to focus only on the hurt than to do anything about sparing one another from this exquisite pain?
Our species seems intent on hitting the wall. Like a fly in a speeding bullet train, about to hit an immovable object, we seem to be completely unaware that we are moving. Our entire environment is moving with laser speed into the future. We are on a collision course with destiny and after more than fifty years of rearranging the deck chairs on our sinking ship, we are no closer to plugging the gaping hole in the side of the hull than when we first began to dabble in the chemistry of death. The very first carcinogenic compound that we humans "discovered" was benzene. It is still a legal contaminant in gasoline. The earliest representation of the chemical was a serpent biting its own tail. Benzene is only one of many carcinogens that many of us are exposed to nearly daily. The irony is that when we put fuel in our automobiles, this carcinogen can be detected on our breath for up to six hours after we finish pumping our gasoline. The advent of "self-service" fuel depots came about because science could prove that service station attendants were getting lethal doses of the compound. We must each decide whether getting our own "fair" share is worth the cost.
My wife recently learned and related to me, that in the first six years that GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) crops have been authorized for use in the United States of America, emergency room visits because of food allergies have increased by 260%. It may just be the tip of the next iceberg, but we need to realize that all food worldwide is potentially GMO already. Pollen from these organisms can be carried vast distances on the wind and it has already been proven by Monsanto that organic growers have had their seed contaminated with patented genetic material.
I once received a hefty fine because a roommate's mutt dog had been allowed to run loose, got with a show dog that belonged to a neighbor, and inseminated the bitch. My only crime was to call the dog home (Something, by the way, GMOs can never be) when I saw it run down our street. Now, I know many organic growers and they don't want their valuable seed to be contaminated by these rogue pollens, why should we protect a corporate outlaw who cannot control their pollen?
The elites that benefit from our combined suffering need to be held to task for their inhumane treatment of the rest of us, worldwide. From their nuclear debacle to the war machine, the powers that feed are parasites of our own blood, fanciful masters of those feeding the ovens of our own demise. Ont this day of souls, let the hallowed voices of those who have died from this disease speak though our combined action to stop the crazy drunken stagger into our own demise, step away from the abyss and return to a hospitable world in which we create out of the ruin of stupidity and healing the damage caused by genocide. Our entire race is in jeopardy because of the current tragectory.
I hope that it is not too soon after 9-11 to remember those days. I solemnly hoped that in the days following, when flights were canceled, that millions of "disrupted" people would realize that where they were was a pretty good place and that families and neighborhoods across the world, or at least our part of it, would be strengthened by the contact. For decades, when I saw traffic jams, I always imagined how wonderful it would be when all people to find ways to make their way through the world, without leaving "home". I have lived from the day when a handful of local markets existed within walking distance, now it is a mile (1.6Km) to the closest one, and it used to be the furthest away. During my youth, it was the largest, by far, and saved a few cents per item over the local grocers. All those pennies, after all those years, worked up some pretty good loyalty, but now the shoe is on the other foot, by driving five miles, or ten, those same savings could be had. With a mega-grocer, moving your money further from your neighborhood.
This is the economic state of affairs for virtually all of us is like a cancer, the pennies, and in many cases dollars are being siphoned out of the majority of the people, being extracted from this region, this city, this county and this state with mind-bending consequence. I hear the term The Richest Third World Nation On Earth and I think it should stick. Apparently, now, some Germans bring their children to Detroit to show them what Berlin looked like after the war. We have had perpetrated every form of injustice on our people for the enrichment of a cream of the cream of the crop and they are in full scale assault mode. They have been winning the class war for generations. We have only threatened revolt while stoned, or that is what they would tell you. The peace movement of the sixties and the efforts to reign in pollution were feeble at best and the long term data indicates that we are failing to limit releases of many hazardous chemicals. Again, like cancer this robs a vital being of essential nurturing to continue to exist, and the "person" we knew wastes away, vitality stolen from a dear one.
To re-seed the tree of life, this insidious tree of death needs to be pulled up by the root, or it will re-establish and threaten us again. Part of my ritual intentions this Sabbat, will be to unleash as much fury on the Agro-bio-chemical-financial/insurance-petro-industrial/military complex as possible. I want clarity to be established about planet rape, about biocide, about the rampant costs to each and every one of us for the financial gain of others. We have been forced by unimaginable powers of wealth and deceit to build the very instruments of our own destruction/demise. Just the other day on the news, they were touting how upgrading the infrastructure around a boat-building facility there would help the company to become more productive. We taxpayers will foot the bill fore more roads, more trucks, more traffic and do it gladly for the sake of the company. In their defense, the company can afford and has awesome equipment that greatly increases the health and safety of their workers, but the down side is that they pump the fumes further away, into the surrounding neighborhoods. So people who don't work there will pay in two ways for the sake of the corporation, first in taxes to make it bigger and then breathe even dirtier air.
Lest this post be mistaken for a scary one, this is like the black spot in the white side of the yin yang symbol. If humans did not have the power to be infinitely kind, there would be no humanitarians. If we did not have infinite capacity for acceptance, we could not turn our heads from this crisis. If we did not have hope, we would have surely crashed and burned as a civilization long ago. The actions we take, knowing that these cancers are there, engulfing us as I write this, burning away at the center of a swirling vortex of our lives, our neighborhoods, our families, our cities and towns. Our activity as a species reflects whether we will ultimately vanquish, or push back the nugget of evil at our core. Likewise, in the realms of the dark side, they try to overwhelm, but can never extinguish the light.
The only way out of our current state of affairs is to create new structures upon which we can be proud to hang our hat for generations. Many communities are fighting back against the extraction model by creating power co-ops, sharing in the cost of buying their electricity into the future, today. Much like our food buying club of old, we banded together to create our own store, one day each month. Ultimately, reparations need to be made, but how can one put a price on generations of pain and suffering of thousands of millions of direct victims their families, their communities, over many generations? Our lives truly have infinite value and sacrificing a single one for profit is not acceptable. Corporations are exacting death sentences upon all of us and we must all call for them, in unison to stop.
I have dozens of friends who have passed the veil because they have been ravaged by cancer. I would guess that not one of us has been spared the heartache of losing a beloved friend or family member, perhaps a bunch of them to this disease. Is it always going to be easier to focus only on the hurt than to do anything about sparing one another from this exquisite pain?
Our species seems intent on hitting the wall. Like a fly in a speeding bullet train, about to hit an immovable object, we seem to be completely unaware that we are moving. Our entire environment is moving with laser speed into the future. We are on a collision course with destiny and after more than fifty years of rearranging the deck chairs on our sinking ship, we are no closer to plugging the gaping hole in the side of the hull than when we first began to dabble in the chemistry of death. The very first carcinogenic compound that we humans "discovered" was benzene. It is still a legal contaminant in gasoline. The earliest representation of the chemical was a serpent biting its own tail. Benzene is only one of many carcinogens that many of us are exposed to nearly daily. The irony is that when we put fuel in our automobiles, this carcinogen can be detected on our breath for up to six hours after we finish pumping our gasoline. The advent of "self-service" fuel depots came about because science could prove that service station attendants were getting lethal doses of the compound. We must each decide whether getting our own "fair" share is worth the cost.
My wife recently learned and related to me, that in the first six years that GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) crops have been authorized for use in the United States of America, emergency room visits because of food allergies have increased by 260%. It may just be the tip of the next iceberg, but we need to realize that all food worldwide is potentially GMO already. Pollen from these organisms can be carried vast distances on the wind and it has already been proven by Monsanto that organic growers have had their seed contaminated with patented genetic material.
I once received a hefty fine because a roommate's mutt dog had been allowed to run loose, got with a show dog that belonged to a neighbor, and inseminated the bitch. My only crime was to call the dog home (Something, by the way, GMOs can never be) when I saw it run down our street. Now, I know many organic growers and they don't want their valuable seed to be contaminated by these rogue pollens, why should we protect a corporate outlaw who cannot control their pollen?
The elites that benefit from our combined suffering need to be held to task for their inhumane treatment of the rest of us, worldwide. From their nuclear debacle to the war machine, the powers that feed are parasites of our own blood, fanciful masters of those feeding the ovens of our own demise. Ont this day of souls, let the hallowed voices of those who have died from this disease speak though our combined action to stop the crazy drunken stagger into our own demise, step away from the abyss and return to a hospitable world in which we create out of the ruin of stupidity and healing the damage caused by genocide. Our entire race is in jeopardy because of the current tragectory.
I hope that it is not too soon after 9-11 to remember those days. I solemnly hoped that in the days following, when flights were canceled, that millions of "disrupted" people would realize that where they were was a pretty good place and that families and neighborhoods across the world, or at least our part of it, would be strengthened by the contact. For decades, when I saw traffic jams, I always imagined how wonderful it would be when all people to find ways to make their way through the world, without leaving "home". I have lived from the day when a handful of local markets existed within walking distance, now it is a mile (1.6Km) to the closest one, and it used to be the furthest away. During my youth, it was the largest, by far, and saved a few cents per item over the local grocers. All those pennies, after all those years, worked up some pretty good loyalty, but now the shoe is on the other foot, by driving five miles, or ten, those same savings could be had. With a mega-grocer, moving your money further from your neighborhood.
This is the economic state of affairs for virtually all of us is like a cancer, the pennies, and in many cases dollars are being siphoned out of the majority of the people, being extracted from this region, this city, this county and this state with mind-bending consequence. I hear the term The Richest Third World Nation On Earth and I think it should stick. Apparently, now, some Germans bring their children to Detroit to show them what Berlin looked like after the war. We have had perpetrated every form of injustice on our people for the enrichment of a cream of the cream of the crop and they are in full scale assault mode. They have been winning the class war for generations. We have only threatened revolt while stoned, or that is what they would tell you. The peace movement of the sixties and the efforts to reign in pollution were feeble at best and the long term data indicates that we are failing to limit releases of many hazardous chemicals. Again, like cancer this robs a vital being of essential nurturing to continue to exist, and the "person" we knew wastes away, vitality stolen from a dear one.
To re-seed the tree of life, this insidious tree of death needs to be pulled up by the root, or it will re-establish and threaten us again. Part of my ritual intentions this Sabbat, will be to unleash as much fury on the Agro-bio-chemical-financial/insurance-petro-industrial/military complex as possible. I want clarity to be established about planet rape, about biocide, about the rampant costs to each and every one of us for the financial gain of others. We have been forced by unimaginable powers of wealth and deceit to build the very instruments of our own destruction/demise. Just the other day on the news, they were touting how upgrading the infrastructure around a boat-building facility there would help the company to become more productive. We taxpayers will foot the bill fore more roads, more trucks, more traffic and do it gladly for the sake of the company. In their defense, the company can afford and has awesome equipment that greatly increases the health and safety of their workers, but the down side is that they pump the fumes further away, into the surrounding neighborhoods. So people who don't work there will pay in two ways for the sake of the corporation, first in taxes to make it bigger and then breathe even dirtier air.
 | |
| For my friends, this holiday season, I just want to say in the words of good friend, James Baker, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, After we have tried every key, it is time to try the skeleton key. |
Lest this post be mistaken for a scary one, this is like the black spot in the white side of the yin yang symbol. If humans did not have the power to be infinitely kind, there would be no humanitarians. If we did not have infinite capacity for acceptance, we could not turn our heads from this crisis. If we did not have hope, we would have surely crashed and burned as a civilization long ago. The actions we take, knowing that these cancers are there, engulfing us as I write this, burning away at the center of a swirling vortex of our lives, our neighborhoods, our families, our cities and towns. Our activity as a species reflects whether we will ultimately vanquish, or push back the nugget of evil at our core. Likewise, in the realms of the dark side, they try to overwhelm, but can never extinguish the light.
The only way out of our current state of affairs is to create new structures upon which we can be proud to hang our hat for generations. Many communities are fighting back against the extraction model by creating power co-ops, sharing in the cost of buying their electricity into the future, today. Much like our food buying club of old, we banded together to create our own store, one day each month. Ultimately, reparations need to be made, but how can one put a price on generations of pain and suffering of thousands of millions of direct victims their families, their communities, over many generations? Our lives truly have infinite value and sacrificing a single one for profit is not acceptable. Corporations are exacting death sentences upon all of us and we must all call for them, in unison to stop.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Wisconsin's Current Crop of Hot Heads
The rethuglicans are gloating over their recent rise to power, riding the coat tails of public opinion that the government has been spending money like a drunken sailor and promising to rescue us with their crisis management style brought about by fear and hate. Ironically, the recent economic crash has been far more gentle here in our state, mainly because unemployment never spiked to the levels of other states and the excesses of the multimillionaires did not have as much traction here as they did elsewhere. Although we have one or two cities that are in dire straights, these are the result of long-term structural changes that have isolated whole communities from sources of capital, strangled the commercial sector and foisted poverty on the vast majority of the population. Nothing that the current crop of rich white males is relying on to "save our state" will help those people. In fact their gerrymandering (redrawing district lines to favor their candidates) has led to a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people will remain disenfranchised, unable to vote for a state senator for six years. As you might guess, the vast majority of these people are poor, of color and their neighborhoods are probably the most in need of enlightened vision, not the policies of old that created the ghettos in which they are forced to survive, of any in the state. The cities most reliant on heavy industry really took it on the chin and will continue to have growing pains as we shift into a new, sustainable society.
Wisconsin, after two years of rule by Governor Scott Walker (R) ranks forty-seventh(47th) out of fifty states in job creation. Up until a couple months ago, the ranking was dead last. Unemployment is terminally over ten percent in the largest city in our state, but his mega-bail outs for his corporate sponsors are directed to the smallest towns, where the locals still feel that they are under threat. Under threat of what, I cannot understand. The only explanation for this fear, that I can fathom, is that the rich white males are hoping the locals in these areas are as bigoted as the rethuglicans hope they are. These folks, "new rethuglicans" posit, for the most part, the people they represent are like them, accustomed to male-dominated lily-white view of the world that was the rule throughout the last century. This is the very world-view that they see the world from and it is like a containment vessel that thrives on prejudicial language as well as that nasty old Calvinist belief that only good people are living to god's plan, proven to them through economic prowess and refined taste. The dark side cuts with unsavory vehemence for those who are obviously morally suspect, simply because of their poverty and what it reflects about their "goodness". These beliefs have power over their perception. It is because of their "moral values" that we have the most to fear. Even though state wide, we have some of the lowest unemployment in the nation, the drum beat of lies that we get from our political "leaders" is that we need to create jobs in the private sector at all costs. "We have fallen and we can't get up.", without the help of giant corporations, seems to be their watch word. This in a state with fiercely independent voters and citizens that have seen the historical record of wealth much more drastically than many other states. We see daily, the artifacts of pollution, rape of Mother Earth, the results of socialist programs like the WPA and CCC. We can attest to the value of our education and the blessings of community support and interaction. After the first oppressors had their way with our state, lying, cheating and despoiling the reations between our government and the people, huge cash reserves were removed at great cost to Wisconsin's original residents. The toxic legacy of mining and the loss of soil that came with early "development" was the result of well-heeled interests running over the public for profit. The same relationships of exploitation and extraction has been applied to nearly everything of value in our state. It is just as well, there can be no way found of capitalizing on the rich family and community that we feel in our hearts, for if there were, that too would have been extracted by the rich fiends. We have more than enough examples of the way the power brokers exploit whatever they can for profit. Nary a tree was left after the lumber boom and after 90% of our forest had been decimated, The Peshtigo Fire, fed by tinder dry slash, ravaged the most populated part of our state. Their was a "land boom" here, that was more devastating than the recent housing market crash. It even drained more fortune than the recent financial market crash. Nearly every citizen in our state lost their entire life's work to fund the lavish lifestyles of a few souls. Again, wealthy interests sold off land with a fervor that had been unrivaled in human history. They extracted money from the burgeoning population on the promise that the newly deforested landscape was well-suited for wheat production.
Residents put their back into their living back then as they do now. One man, with an ox, could clear about an acre of stumps each year, but by the time they discovered that the wheat harvest would crash after about three years of production, they were left with nothing but land that was best suited for forest and no way to restore the ecosystem. All that could live on the destitute soil was grass. At the time, caring for livestock was "women's work". It took a massive swallowing of pride to make Wisconsin the dairy state, but our white ancestors have become adept at swallowing their pride in service to the ultra-wealthy.
Milwaukee, our largest city used to be a hotbed of socialist ideology. We raised a crop of politicians in the last century that saw first-hand the depraved greed that wealthy men use to guide "development" in our state. Hard-working men and women have subsidized the wealth of people far away, supported their lavish lifestyles, and suffered at the hands of these callous thugs who, for too long, have taken their cut for protection, for the privilege of dealing with them or for their luxuries and your burden. The socialist revolution was on. Many continue to call Wisconsin home because of the long history of social activism, environmental protection and the value we place on education, family and service. From the Co-ops of rural communities to the pride we have in our schools, we have proof positive that without commitment to our communities, the rich will bleed us all dry.
There are many among us, and we hope that we are in the majority, who can smell a fish and tell if it is bad, who can see a liar and identify them and to suss out who is acting like they care so they can cheat us in the end.
Wisconsin, after two years of rule by Governor Scott Walker (R) ranks forty-seventh(47th) out of fifty states in job creation. Up until a couple months ago, the ranking was dead last. Unemployment is terminally over ten percent in the largest city in our state, but his mega-bail outs for his corporate sponsors are directed to the smallest towns, where the locals still feel that they are under threat. Under threat of what, I cannot understand. The only explanation for this fear, that I can fathom, is that the rich white males are hoping the locals in these areas are as bigoted as the rethuglicans hope they are. These folks, "new rethuglicans" posit, for the most part, the people they represent are like them, accustomed to male-dominated lily-white view of the world that was the rule throughout the last century. This is the very world-view that they see the world from and it is like a containment vessel that thrives on prejudicial language as well as that nasty old Calvinist belief that only good people are living to god's plan, proven to them through economic prowess and refined taste. The dark side cuts with unsavory vehemence for those who are obviously morally suspect, simply because of their poverty and what it reflects about their "goodness". These beliefs have power over their perception. It is because of their "moral values" that we have the most to fear. Even though state wide, we have some of the lowest unemployment in the nation, the drum beat of lies that we get from our political "leaders" is that we need to create jobs in the private sector at all costs. "We have fallen and we can't get up.", without the help of giant corporations, seems to be their watch word. This in a state with fiercely independent voters and citizens that have seen the historical record of wealth much more drastically than many other states. We see daily, the artifacts of pollution, rape of Mother Earth, the results of socialist programs like the WPA and CCC. We can attest to the value of our education and the blessings of community support and interaction. After the first oppressors had their way with our state, lying, cheating and despoiling the reations between our government and the people, huge cash reserves were removed at great cost to Wisconsin's original residents. The toxic legacy of mining and the loss of soil that came with early "development" was the result of well-heeled interests running over the public for profit. The same relationships of exploitation and extraction has been applied to nearly everything of value in our state. It is just as well, there can be no way found of capitalizing on the rich family and community that we feel in our hearts, for if there were, that too would have been extracted by the rich fiends. We have more than enough examples of the way the power brokers exploit whatever they can for profit. Nary a tree was left after the lumber boom and after 90% of our forest had been decimated, The Peshtigo Fire, fed by tinder dry slash, ravaged the most populated part of our state. Their was a "land boom" here, that was more devastating than the recent housing market crash. It even drained more fortune than the recent financial market crash. Nearly every citizen in our state lost their entire life's work to fund the lavish lifestyles of a few souls. Again, wealthy interests sold off land with a fervor that had been unrivaled in human history. They extracted money from the burgeoning population on the promise that the newly deforested landscape was well-suited for wheat production.
Residents put their back into their living back then as they do now. One man, with an ox, could clear about an acre of stumps each year, but by the time they discovered that the wheat harvest would crash after about three years of production, they were left with nothing but land that was best suited for forest and no way to restore the ecosystem. All that could live on the destitute soil was grass. At the time, caring for livestock was "women's work". It took a massive swallowing of pride to make Wisconsin the dairy state, but our white ancestors have become adept at swallowing their pride in service to the ultra-wealthy.
Milwaukee, our largest city used to be a hotbed of socialist ideology. We raised a crop of politicians in the last century that saw first-hand the depraved greed that wealthy men use to guide "development" in our state. Hard-working men and women have subsidized the wealth of people far away, supported their lavish lifestyles, and suffered at the hands of these callous thugs who, for too long, have taken their cut for protection, for the privilege of dealing with them or for their luxuries and your burden. The socialist revolution was on. Many continue to call Wisconsin home because of the long history of social activism, environmental protection and the value we place on education, family and service. From the Co-ops of rural communities to the pride we have in our schools, we have proof positive that without commitment to our communities, the rich will bleed us all dry.
There are many among us, and we hope that we are in the majority, who can smell a fish and tell if it is bad, who can see a liar and identify them and to suss out who is acting like they care so they can cheat us in the end.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Looks Good From Far, But Far From Good
Who are the people who wield the cameras? Are they all mindless schmucks? It seems that the folks who are recording the images and soundscapes that inform our collective attention are either completely devoid of morals/ethics or are entirely motivated by greed. If it isn't vitriolic, invasive or prurient, it certainly isn't chosen by the editors to see the light of day, much less the overly produced shock imagery of the media as it exists today. With a tiny sliver of humanity, those on the ground floor of media-making, the camera people alone, could wield substantial power over the media's unethical twisting of imagery that i contend is equivalent to domestic terrorism. We all know the adage, X% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The lower number you substitute for X, the more you want the listener to consider your "truthiness" in a positive light, often making the point that you would never do the making up of numbers on the fly. The higher number you substitute for X, the less viable you want your listeners to think the numbers are. My problem is that I often use existing figures from reputable sources, but the hostile, hyper-mediated culture that we exist within makes my calculations seem impossible.
For instance, who has not seen relatives scarred for life in a foreign conflict that was ill-conceived and useless, except for corporate welfare for dubious corporations? One third of families have at least one member in the military. most people who speak plainly on their return from war explain that there are no good ones and that if you are not a mental case before you go (and it helps) you will be one when you get home. Why then do we continue to hear stories that somehow our "freedom" depends on doing that to them? My own family bears several scars of war and I can tell you plainly, we are perpetrating crimes against humanity each and every time that we glorify aggression. Every single dollar that we spend on defense is perpetrating destruction, of property, of lives, of our own economic interests around the globe. Power and control issues need to be taken on wherever we find them. This is 100% about giving massive government help to economic structures that, on their own, would collapse. We are funding the powerful at the expense of the weak.
In my personal experience, the first strike close to my heart, was the loss of a neighbor's son. I saw him outside, playing basketball and hanging out, riding his bike and playing board games. He never came back from Vietnam and his parents got a flag, the one that draped his coffin. In that war, we fought against people who had brought education, sanitation and health care to the impoverished people of the region. We poisoned vast acreages, forever, sterilized fields, firebombed whole villages, etc. We also snuffed out a vibrant life and forever handicapped a family, pruning off an entire family tree. When my mother married a vet, she did not know that he was addicted to the pain meds that he associated with his deliverance from the front lines. Let me tell you, the worst thing you can do with a pedophile is to send them to a place where conscience is a liability. Closer still to home, my brother has described his whole life "like living in boot camp." My eldest daughter has married a military man as well. Since the suspension of the draft, there is less corruption down at the draft board, but the bite that the military has taken out of society continues to be disproportionately out of the fabric of the poorest classes. The more dismal you make a person's life and the less vibrant their options, the more desperate for security people become. Even playing the lottery of death or dismemberment seems worth it when you look at the imagery that we are fed on a daily basis.
To appreciate the desperation fully, you need to imagine that there is a world out here that is full to overflowing. We have so much abundance that we throw away about 40% of our food supply in these United States of America, yet people go to bed hungry every night. We spend more on health care, than any other country (18% of GDP. the next closest spends 12%) and have worse outcomes than any other developed nation. Yet, we are told by our illustrious media that health care reform will cost "more". We are asked to turn our heads and cough while insurance companies are emptying our pocketbooks. That's not scarier than Obamacare? The mileage that the right has gotten out of the threat of "death panels" is only sickening when you realize that right now, today, there are rooms where non-doctors are deciding reimbursement rates for every kind and type of procedure and what they will and will not allow people to "have". People are dying each and every day because they have been denied coverage or have gotten the wrong treatments, simply because insurance would not pay for what people really needed.
The real world America has nearly 100,000 public schools. The average school year is 180 days. Even if we had one school shooting per year, there would be a one in eight million chance that your child's school would be the site of the attack. Within that statistic lies another, if twenty out of several hundred children got killed, the chances would increase exponentially. One chance, perhaps, in one hundred million. Now, there are companies selling "bulletproof backpacks". Only three hundred dollars or so can allow parents to rest easier when they send their children into harm's way. Please, people, let's try for one moment to get our collective head out of the sand. The facts will not lie, let's try to look at them! Let's try to get a grasp of the situation. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is lobbying the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to classify motorcycle use as an epidemic, because of avoidable costs that are posed to our health care system by motorcyclists. Several hundred thousand people die in car crashes each year. Less than one percent of those deaths are people who were on two wheels, yet the motorcyclists are the problem. It seems that we are again having a hard time understanding the reality of our situation.
Interpreting data can be tricky, but for one minute consider the consequences of a myth, so firmly held by many motorcyclists as to be considered dogma. they even make bumper stickers and t-shirts that say: "Loud Pipes Save Lives". Many, most noteworthy, Harley owners subscribe to the belief that the roar of un-muffled explosions within the motor, somehow makes them more noticeable on the highway, or in traffic. In the jurisdiction I live, if you can hear music coming from a car more than fifty feet away, it is considered a ticket-able offense. I have heard Harleys from well over five hundred feet away, but no "crime" has taken place. Add to this the flinch factor when the same idiot blows by a blue haired old woman on the highway at eighty and you have potential for disaster. The damage done to both the rider's hearing and that of those around them in traffic costs society billions per year in lost hearing alone, yet the "liberty" of the idiot dishing out the damage is considered sacrosanct. I once again call Bullshit!
When we look from afar, like Disneyland, there is definitely a complete picture being created for us to sit back and watch. However, unlike an audience who has cued up and waited in line for entry, expecting a show, we think what we see is real. We often forget that the bill of goods that we are being sold as consumers of media, has been massaged to show us only what the producers, and ultimately the shareholders of media conglomerates want us to see. Clearchannel has helped put our local theater on the ropes and continues to pummel them into submission which in turn requires that I drive hundreds of miles each week to work in a distant market, plying a craft that my family has participated in for three generations. The wealth continues to concentrate in the highest echelons of our economic system, but somehow, because I'm a member of a union, I am vilified in the media. When we come in close and get a long look deep into the eyes of the beast who controls our very discussion points and vocabulary on these and other subjects, seeing the fires stoked by greed and fed with our children's future, it is both mesmerizing and stupefying that we continue to be taken in by their lie factory. I'm sorry to those of you who tire of me saying it, but lies need to be constantly propped up, but truth stands alone. When we start to see behind the mask of media, no amount of made up statistics can take away the scars and depravity that we see underneath. Whether of not demons can be tamed remains to be seen, but their time has got to come to a swift end if we are to reclaim any part of the American dream that was worth saving.
For instance, who has not seen relatives scarred for life in a foreign conflict that was ill-conceived and useless, except for corporate welfare for dubious corporations? One third of families have at least one member in the military. most people who speak plainly on their return from war explain that there are no good ones and that if you are not a mental case before you go (and it helps) you will be one when you get home. Why then do we continue to hear stories that somehow our "freedom" depends on doing that to them? My own family bears several scars of war and I can tell you plainly, we are perpetrating crimes against humanity each and every time that we glorify aggression. Every single dollar that we spend on defense is perpetrating destruction, of property, of lives, of our own economic interests around the globe. Power and control issues need to be taken on wherever we find them. This is 100% about giving massive government help to economic structures that, on their own, would collapse. We are funding the powerful at the expense of the weak.
In my personal experience, the first strike close to my heart, was the loss of a neighbor's son. I saw him outside, playing basketball and hanging out, riding his bike and playing board games. He never came back from Vietnam and his parents got a flag, the one that draped his coffin. In that war, we fought against people who had brought education, sanitation and health care to the impoverished people of the region. We poisoned vast acreages, forever, sterilized fields, firebombed whole villages, etc. We also snuffed out a vibrant life and forever handicapped a family, pruning off an entire family tree. When my mother married a vet, she did not know that he was addicted to the pain meds that he associated with his deliverance from the front lines. Let me tell you, the worst thing you can do with a pedophile is to send them to a place where conscience is a liability. Closer still to home, my brother has described his whole life "like living in boot camp." My eldest daughter has married a military man as well. Since the suspension of the draft, there is less corruption down at the draft board, but the bite that the military has taken out of society continues to be disproportionately out of the fabric of the poorest classes. The more dismal you make a person's life and the less vibrant their options, the more desperate for security people become. Even playing the lottery of death or dismemberment seems worth it when you look at the imagery that we are fed on a daily basis.
To appreciate the desperation fully, you need to imagine that there is a world out here that is full to overflowing. We have so much abundance that we throw away about 40% of our food supply in these United States of America, yet people go to bed hungry every night. We spend more on health care, than any other country (18% of GDP. the next closest spends 12%) and have worse outcomes than any other developed nation. Yet, we are told by our illustrious media that health care reform will cost "more". We are asked to turn our heads and cough while insurance companies are emptying our pocketbooks. That's not scarier than Obamacare? The mileage that the right has gotten out of the threat of "death panels" is only sickening when you realize that right now, today, there are rooms where non-doctors are deciding reimbursement rates for every kind and type of procedure and what they will and will not allow people to "have". People are dying each and every day because they have been denied coverage or have gotten the wrong treatments, simply because insurance would not pay for what people really needed.
The real world America has nearly 100,000 public schools. The average school year is 180 days. Even if we had one school shooting per year, there would be a one in eight million chance that your child's school would be the site of the attack. Within that statistic lies another, if twenty out of several hundred children got killed, the chances would increase exponentially. One chance, perhaps, in one hundred million. Now, there are companies selling "bulletproof backpacks". Only three hundred dollars or so can allow parents to rest easier when they send their children into harm's way. Please, people, let's try for one moment to get our collective head out of the sand. The facts will not lie, let's try to look at them! Let's try to get a grasp of the situation. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is lobbying the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to classify motorcycle use as an epidemic, because of avoidable costs that are posed to our health care system by motorcyclists. Several hundred thousand people die in car crashes each year. Less than one percent of those deaths are people who were on two wheels, yet the motorcyclists are the problem. It seems that we are again having a hard time understanding the reality of our situation.
Interpreting data can be tricky, but for one minute consider the consequences of a myth, so firmly held by many motorcyclists as to be considered dogma. they even make bumper stickers and t-shirts that say: "Loud Pipes Save Lives". Many, most noteworthy, Harley owners subscribe to the belief that the roar of un-muffled explosions within the motor, somehow makes them more noticeable on the highway, or in traffic. In the jurisdiction I live, if you can hear music coming from a car more than fifty feet away, it is considered a ticket-able offense. I have heard Harleys from well over five hundred feet away, but no "crime" has taken place. Add to this the flinch factor when the same idiot blows by a blue haired old woman on the highway at eighty and you have potential for disaster. The damage done to both the rider's hearing and that of those around them in traffic costs society billions per year in lost hearing alone, yet the "liberty" of the idiot dishing out the damage is considered sacrosanct. I once again call Bullshit!
When we look from afar, like Disneyland, there is definitely a complete picture being created for us to sit back and watch. However, unlike an audience who has cued up and waited in line for entry, expecting a show, we think what we see is real. We often forget that the bill of goods that we are being sold as consumers of media, has been massaged to show us only what the producers, and ultimately the shareholders of media conglomerates want us to see. Clearchannel has helped put our local theater on the ropes and continues to pummel them into submission which in turn requires that I drive hundreds of miles each week to work in a distant market, plying a craft that my family has participated in for three generations. The wealth continues to concentrate in the highest echelons of our economic system, but somehow, because I'm a member of a union, I am vilified in the media. When we come in close and get a long look deep into the eyes of the beast who controls our very discussion points and vocabulary on these and other subjects, seeing the fires stoked by greed and fed with our children's future, it is both mesmerizing and stupefying that we continue to be taken in by their lie factory. I'm sorry to those of you who tire of me saying it, but lies need to be constantly propped up, but truth stands alone. When we start to see behind the mask of media, no amount of made up statistics can take away the scars and depravity that we see underneath. Whether of not demons can be tamed remains to be seen, but their time has got to come to a swift end if we are to reclaim any part of the American dream that was worth saving.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Desperation and the Trickle Down Effect
Having survived the "Reagan Revolution", and the ensuing decades of republican inertia has taught me a few things about education, politics, economics and our social fabric generally. We have been duped into thinking that the richest individuals are benevolent. The sickening refrain often spewed by those in power, "A rising tide lifts all boats." only applies to those wealthy enough to have a boat. Just this week I saw several things that drove home the idea that the only thing that has trickled down due to the enacted Republican Agenda has been desperation. We have seen the failed policies play out in nearly every field. Our schools, having suffered from endemic underfunding over the past generation are crumbling, poorly maintained and often nothing more than warehouses for our youth. Gone are the days of hope springing from educational institutions. Just yesterday I heard a story from a teacher that her Principal told her not to worry too much about a certain pupil. "You can't expect much from him he said."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because he is black." responded the Principal.
I'm sad to have to relay this story on Martin's Birthday, but the truth is sometimes unsavory, and needs to be accepted and understood as fact to help us to move beyond the shackles of hatred and the tyrannical chains of oppression. No person is unable to develop, unless we prevent them from accessing the tools that they need to better themselves. The way we develop is often a response to factors that we do not see or understand. What we do see and make sense of is frequently the result of actions that remain hidden from view or misunderstood because the driving forces behind our lives know that they can be just as effective keepers of the wage slaves while remaining out of sight, or hidden behind the corporate shells that we think are in charge.
The many lies perpetrated upon the American People have no basis in fact, but repeated often enough, they have led to a total abandonment of good sense and decorum. We have been taught that there are "two sides" to every story. Truth has become a malleable term to be debated by the most reactionary people that the media can get their hands on. Now, we are able to distort fact and fiction until they not only represent one another but supplant one another when that becomes necessary.
Terms like "too big to fail" fly in the face of free market economics, but the same people who decry the need for massive bail outs also confer the laurel wreath of respectability to corporate raiders and the gambling house we call the stock market. Corporate welfare is class warfare, but the only time that the media uses the term is when the poor begin to fight back.
Late last week I saw a neighboring property with a gigantic heap of trash our front. The poor woman who lived there moved away, but her things were piled as tall as a person and both twice as high and three times as wide. More than a dozen people came and went from the pile, hoping to find something of value. One took every electrical cord they could find, another took a broken toy, still others took musty clothing and pots with missing lids. One fellow came early, before the pile had formed and removed every metal object this lady had amassed in the year and a half that she had lived there. In spite of all the rifling through the pile, it never seemed to get any smaller. The density of the pile was something to be amazed at. The density of crap that has been injected into the public debate is similarly dense.
Two decades ago, there were two old men who had junk pickers licenses in Green Bay, now there are several dozen people and many are young families with their children in tow. No longer are there other opportunities to make a living for these folks of meager means.
While I watched the endless parade of folks digging through the trash, another neighbor came home with a truckload of pressure treated wood that he will feed into his wood burner. In spite of the fact that he knows that toxic materials will be released when he burns it, the warmth is worth the cost in his mind. Ashes laden with poison will make their way into his garden and onto his dinner plate, but he needs the warmth to survive the coming cold weather. Life is preferable to the alternative, but he should not have to poison himself, his family or the neighbors just to get by.
What is necessary now is a reemergence of what we used to call good old common sense. The fact that we must lead, so that the leaders will follow has never been more critical than today. Ask those in charge any questions and there is a good chance that they will respond with canned answers that have been regurgitated for the better part of two decades. The same people who claim that they stand for "life" will let babies cry themselves to sleep from lack of food. Those who are opposed to sex ed. will blame young mothers for their difficult position and claim that somehow telling them what their sex organs are for made them use them. The same people who claim that government should not provide a safety net for those who fall through the cracks of capitalism wouldn't give a dime to help others whether it would be for education, homeless shelters, food programs or through a church. The crowd who focuses on "liberty" understand that word to mean that whatever they want should be theirs for the taking, whether or not it harms another or leads them to not have their own needs met. The "pursuit of happiness" crowd is similarly attentive to their own desires for freedom but without responsibility for fellow humans, future generations or the world around them. These ideals that have formed the basis of our culture for over two hundred years have never been as misunderstood as they are today and the ability of our schools to counteract the debilitating claims made by the media about what we are to make of the lies are both underfunded and under attack.
I continue to harp on the rampant beliefs of Calvinism, only because many believe them without even knowing where the ideas come from. The problem with common sense is that it has become far too uncommon. I heard an excellent saying today. The only thing that the poor lack is money. In the world that we have allowed to develop, this alone is enough for those in power to judge them as thugs, criminals and people who lack morals. Actually, the opposite is more often true. The oppressed under the current system are often the most benevolent. It has been proven time and time again that the poor give a greater percentage of their meager income to charity. The white collar crime that goes unpunished creates a level of mayhem and dislocation that far outweighs the petty theft and property crimes that poor people engage in to help them survive in our capitalist society. Rather than try to defend moral choices that people make, I will resist the urge to share what I believe and try to stick to what I know. wealthy or poor makes no significant difference in many moral choices, but the privileged classes seem to think that they have the right to justify any action whereas the poor often blame themselves for the bad behaviors of others.
Much as we might like to turn our heads away from salient facts, we are living in a time characterized by the lowest crime rates America has seen in thirty years, not because the criminals have all been locked up, but because no one thinks that they can get ahead through criminality. As desperate as we have all become, we know that stepping out of line will only rain more shit down on our heads. an entire generation of black youth has been imprisoned and the wealthy thieves are receiving bailouts paid for by the taxpayers whose children go to bed hungry, are failing in school and ready to pump out the next generation of folks who will have even less chance of their needs being met. What has worked along the way has been the deep and inspired outpouring of love that is not part of any party. The sense of community responsibility that many outsiders share. The thousands and hundreds of thousands of humble servants who operate homeless shelters, food pantries, after school programs and not-for-profits picking up the slkack that government feels is necessary to balance their books.
Anyone who studies the matter will tell you that governments are not like families or business. Austerity in hard times never works for governments, unless you are seeking to force dislocation and social break down on the populace. Austerity on the level of the household makes sense. We all need to survive until next month, so cutting expenses to pay the bills only makes sense. Government relies on deficit spending always. They are doing the work of improving infrastructure and services that pay off dozens and hundreds of years later, you have to borrow to do that kind of work. The far right, anti-tax crowd are cutting public good off at the roots. Without teaching our children, we will surely handicap our hope for the future. Cutting social programs hurts many more people than it could possibly help. By amassing more and more capital in fewer and fewer hands, we assure the continued exploitation of the greatest number of people. If we looked at taxes as the price we pay to live in a civil society rather than a penalty for working, things could change overnight. The nature of the debate could include issues such as caring for one another, the difference between wants and needs and how to find abundance through making sustainable choices. Changing minds is easier than one might think, the best place to start is by seriously questioning who is being served by the lies that are foisted upon us.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because he is black." responded the Principal.
I'm sad to have to relay this story on Martin's Birthday, but the truth is sometimes unsavory, and needs to be accepted and understood as fact to help us to move beyond the shackles of hatred and the tyrannical chains of oppression. No person is unable to develop, unless we prevent them from accessing the tools that they need to better themselves. The way we develop is often a response to factors that we do not see or understand. What we do see and make sense of is frequently the result of actions that remain hidden from view or misunderstood because the driving forces behind our lives know that they can be just as effective keepers of the wage slaves while remaining out of sight, or hidden behind the corporate shells that we think are in charge.
The many lies perpetrated upon the American People have no basis in fact, but repeated often enough, they have led to a total abandonment of good sense and decorum. We have been taught that there are "two sides" to every story. Truth has become a malleable term to be debated by the most reactionary people that the media can get their hands on. Now, we are able to distort fact and fiction until they not only represent one another but supplant one another when that becomes necessary.
Terms like "too big to fail" fly in the face of free market economics, but the same people who decry the need for massive bail outs also confer the laurel wreath of respectability to corporate raiders and the gambling house we call the stock market. Corporate welfare is class warfare, but the only time that the media uses the term is when the poor begin to fight back.
Late last week I saw a neighboring property with a gigantic heap of trash our front. The poor woman who lived there moved away, but her things were piled as tall as a person and both twice as high and three times as wide. More than a dozen people came and went from the pile, hoping to find something of value. One took every electrical cord they could find, another took a broken toy, still others took musty clothing and pots with missing lids. One fellow came early, before the pile had formed and removed every metal object this lady had amassed in the year and a half that she had lived there. In spite of all the rifling through the pile, it never seemed to get any smaller. The density of the pile was something to be amazed at. The density of crap that has been injected into the public debate is similarly dense.
Two decades ago, there were two old men who had junk pickers licenses in Green Bay, now there are several dozen people and many are young families with their children in tow. No longer are there other opportunities to make a living for these folks of meager means.
While I watched the endless parade of folks digging through the trash, another neighbor came home with a truckload of pressure treated wood that he will feed into his wood burner. In spite of the fact that he knows that toxic materials will be released when he burns it, the warmth is worth the cost in his mind. Ashes laden with poison will make their way into his garden and onto his dinner plate, but he needs the warmth to survive the coming cold weather. Life is preferable to the alternative, but he should not have to poison himself, his family or the neighbors just to get by.
What is necessary now is a reemergence of what we used to call good old common sense. The fact that we must lead, so that the leaders will follow has never been more critical than today. Ask those in charge any questions and there is a good chance that they will respond with canned answers that have been regurgitated for the better part of two decades. The same people who claim that they stand for "life" will let babies cry themselves to sleep from lack of food. Those who are opposed to sex ed. will blame young mothers for their difficult position and claim that somehow telling them what their sex organs are for made them use them. The same people who claim that government should not provide a safety net for those who fall through the cracks of capitalism wouldn't give a dime to help others whether it would be for education, homeless shelters, food programs or through a church. The crowd who focuses on "liberty" understand that word to mean that whatever they want should be theirs for the taking, whether or not it harms another or leads them to not have their own needs met. The "pursuit of happiness" crowd is similarly attentive to their own desires for freedom but without responsibility for fellow humans, future generations or the world around them. These ideals that have formed the basis of our culture for over two hundred years have never been as misunderstood as they are today and the ability of our schools to counteract the debilitating claims made by the media about what we are to make of the lies are both underfunded and under attack.
I continue to harp on the rampant beliefs of Calvinism, only because many believe them without even knowing where the ideas come from. The problem with common sense is that it has become far too uncommon. I heard an excellent saying today. The only thing that the poor lack is money. In the world that we have allowed to develop, this alone is enough for those in power to judge them as thugs, criminals and people who lack morals. Actually, the opposite is more often true. The oppressed under the current system are often the most benevolent. It has been proven time and time again that the poor give a greater percentage of their meager income to charity. The white collar crime that goes unpunished creates a level of mayhem and dislocation that far outweighs the petty theft and property crimes that poor people engage in to help them survive in our capitalist society. Rather than try to defend moral choices that people make, I will resist the urge to share what I believe and try to stick to what I know. wealthy or poor makes no significant difference in many moral choices, but the privileged classes seem to think that they have the right to justify any action whereas the poor often blame themselves for the bad behaviors of others.
Much as we might like to turn our heads away from salient facts, we are living in a time characterized by the lowest crime rates America has seen in thirty years, not because the criminals have all been locked up, but because no one thinks that they can get ahead through criminality. As desperate as we have all become, we know that stepping out of line will only rain more shit down on our heads. an entire generation of black youth has been imprisoned and the wealthy thieves are receiving bailouts paid for by the taxpayers whose children go to bed hungry, are failing in school and ready to pump out the next generation of folks who will have even less chance of their needs being met. What has worked along the way has been the deep and inspired outpouring of love that is not part of any party. The sense of community responsibility that many outsiders share. The thousands and hundreds of thousands of humble servants who operate homeless shelters, food pantries, after school programs and not-for-profits picking up the slkack that government feels is necessary to balance their books.
Anyone who studies the matter will tell you that governments are not like families or business. Austerity in hard times never works for governments, unless you are seeking to force dislocation and social break down on the populace. Austerity on the level of the household makes sense. We all need to survive until next month, so cutting expenses to pay the bills only makes sense. Government relies on deficit spending always. They are doing the work of improving infrastructure and services that pay off dozens and hundreds of years later, you have to borrow to do that kind of work. The far right, anti-tax crowd are cutting public good off at the roots. Without teaching our children, we will surely handicap our hope for the future. Cutting social programs hurts many more people than it could possibly help. By amassing more and more capital in fewer and fewer hands, we assure the continued exploitation of the greatest number of people. If we looked at taxes as the price we pay to live in a civil society rather than a penalty for working, things could change overnight. The nature of the debate could include issues such as caring for one another, the difference between wants and needs and how to find abundance through making sustainable choices. Changing minds is easier than one might think, the best place to start is by seriously questioning who is being served by the lies that are foisted upon us.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Nuclear Power Dirty, Dangerous, Expensive
Reproduced with permission, in fact encouragement of beyondnulear.org (301) 270-2209 Very tiny changes have been made for brevity, but I will attempt to refrain from editorializing or from changing the content for the sake of my readers.
DIRTY
FUEL:
Nuclear reactors use uranium. Therefore, they release radioactive waste into the environment at every stage of the fuel cycle-starting at the mines, then at mills, where enormous piles of tailings are left behind, and during chemical conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication. Radioactive radon gas that escapes in the West can float across the the U.S., over the Atlantic, and beyond.
Valid concerns exist about climate change caused by carbon dioxide from coal fired power stations. Yet, production of uranium fuel also results in "greenhouse gas" emissions. Indeed, uranium mining and milling are among the most carbon dioxide-intensive industrial operations.
Nuclear reactors use uranium to power turbines by releasing intense heat and radiation through a process called fission. Old fuel rods must be replaced periodically with fresh ones. The irradiated rods rods are stored in water-filled pools within the reactor building or in an adjacent building. After a few years, rods may be placed in steel-lined concrete casks outside to a still-nonexistent permanent repository.
Because no such repository has been built anywhere in the world, the nuclear industry would like to reprocess the irradiated rods. The rods would be cut up, soaked in acid and reprocessed so that residues of plutonium and uranium could be extracted and turned into usable reactor fuel. However, the leftover radioactive fission products, liberated from the fuel rods, remain a containment problem for many thousands of years. Reprocessing is extremely hazardous for workers and to the public downstream and downwind. It produces it's own massive wastes and releases of radioactive CO2 as well as other radioactive materials into the environment.
ROUTINE RELEASES:
Nuclear power facilities don't have to blow up or melt down to release their radioactive poisons. During routine operation, they release pollutants to the atmosphere and into rivers, lakes and oceans that provide cooling water.
It is impossible to run a reactor without these routine releases. No economically feasible technology exists to filter out all the radioactive isotopes, including tritium (radioactive hydrogen) and radioactive krypton and xenon gasses, some of which convert to radioactive strontium and cesium.
No one knows how much radioactivity is released. Some radioactive wastes are released into the environment from a nuclear power system whenever the level of radioactivity in the waste water is below the level that the monitoring equipment is set to detect. The U.S. government has approved this level to be "permissible." But,"permissible" does not mean safe. It means "as low as reasonably achievable"-that is, as low as the nuclear industry claims it can afford to achieve.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on the reactor owner's self-reporting and computer modeling to estimate a facility's radioactive releases. A significant portion of the data is extrapolated-so it is virtual, not real. Therefore, no one really knows how much radioactive poison is released. Radioactive gasses, liquids and soils spread near and far.
No permanent repository exists for the irradiated fuel rods (termed high-level waste), and may never exist. In fact no facility exists for so-called "low level" waste either- that is, for the radioactive sludges and saturated air-and water-filters, as well as pipes, pumps and other components that must be replaced as they wear out and malfunction. Much of this "low-level" waste is so highly radioactive that it must be handled by remote-control equipment. The longer the facility operates, the greater accumulation of radioactive waste.
LETHAL LEGACY:
Radioactive waste is dangerous not only now, but some remains dangerous virtually forever. Each type of radioactive isotope emits appreciable radiation for over ten times it's half-life (After one half-life, half the radioactivity is gone. After two half-lives, three quarters is gone. After three half-lives three quarters is gone. But even after ten half lives, some radioactivity remains) This means that some radioisotopes,like plutonium-239 with its 24,000 year half-life, will be dangerous much longer than modern humans have walked the Earth.
DANGEROUS
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN:
An article in an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) publication describes an unfortunate fact: "Human factors and the effectiveness of people determine success or failure at every stage, from the design of a facility and its equipment, through manufacture, construction, installation and calibration, to testing, maintenance, repair and management." ("Human Error in Nuclear Power Plants," Technology Review, February 1980, page 28)
Every nuclear facility is extremely complex, with thousands of pumps, valves, motors and miles of electric circuits. Therefore, human error, design flaws and equipment malfunctions are common.
"All nuclear-power-plant systems, structures, components, procedures and personnel are potential sources of failures and malfunctions. Problems can arise from defects in design, manufacturing, installation and construction; from testing, operational and maintenance errors; from explosions and fires; from excessive corrosion, vibration, stress, heating, cooling, radiation damage and other physical phenomena; from deterioration due to component aging and from externally initiated events such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and sabotage." (Daniel F. Ford: Three Mile Island 1982 page 29)
Because many experienced workers have retired or are nearing retirement age, the industry is faced with a serious shortage of qualified personnel, including some who have important memories of past facility problems.
An average reactor contains equivalent long-lived radioactivity of at least 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. An accident can be catastrophic, causing the release of tremendous amounts of radioactivity.
Few, if any, communities have adequate emergency plans, including reliable warning systems and emergency responders who are trained and equipped to deal with radiological devastation on this scale. They lack isolated hospital space for the treatment of irradiated victims. It is unrealistic to assume that a large, panicked population could be evacuated safely. No emergency plan addresses the permanent relocation of people from their homes and communities because of long-term radioactive contamination.
HEALTH HAZARDS:
Exposure to ionizing radiation increases the risk of damaging cells, tissues and DNA, potentially causing mutations, cancer, birth defects and reproductive, immune, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders.
Radioactive hydrogen and carbon, produced in great quantities, can be incorporated into protein, carbohydrate and fat molecules throughout the body. Fetuses and children are especially susceptible to radiation injury because of the rapid and abundant cell division in their bodies during growth.
According to the national Research Council's BEIR VII report ("Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation," 2005) no level of radiation exposure is harmless.
WORKPLACE RISKS:
The nuclear industry depends on workers who are allowed to be exposed to much more radiation than members of the public. Many of the aging metal components and even just the rust, in nuclear facilities give off penetrating gamma rays. When clogged or leaking pipes must be repaired or replaced, a worker can receive a maximum permissible annual dose of radiation in mere minutes while making even a minor repair.
TERRORISTS:
A typical commercial reactor produces enough plutonium every year to make at least forty nuclear bombs. If irradiated fuel rods are reprocessed, the extracted plutonium can be diverted to make nuclear bombs. The remaining radioactive materials can be used with conventional explosives to make "dirty bombs", capable of dispersing radioactivity.
Every nuclear facility is a potential candidate for a terrorist attack-by land, water and air, as well as by persons employed within the facility or outsiders who gain access. Terrorists could attack a reactor, the fuel storage pools or other critical components, causing the release of vast amounts of radioactivity. No existing U.S. nuclear power generating station was built to withstand deliberate attack by a jumbo jet.
RADIOACTIVE ROADS, RAILS AND NEIGHBORHOODS:
If a permanent disposal facility for irradiated fuel rods were ever built, transport of the waste on trains, trucks and barges would put countless communities at risk. If a site were chosen in a Western state, long-distance transport would be required because 77 of the 104 operating reactors are East of the Mississippi River.
The potential for an accident, terrorist attack or theft of nuclear materials during this transit is real.
EXPENSIVE
A CONTINUING FINANCIAL BURDEN:
Nuclear power cannot survive in a market economy without massive subsidies.
Federal subsidies include loan guarantees for construction and funds for research and development, including the search for a solution to the problem of radioactive waste.
In the event of a major disaster, the Price-Anderson Act requires the nuclear industry to pay for only the first $10 billlion-for deaths, injuries and property damage-a mere fraction of the liability costs federal taxpayers would have to cover. According to the 1982 NRC CRAC2 report, damages could run as high as $314 billion, depending on a reactor's surrounding population density and other factors. That would be approximately a trillion dollars today.
If a new reactor were to be built, state regulators would have to be willing to boost electric rates.
Because nuclear power facilities are so complicated and dangerous, construction costs are extremely high; lengthy delays are common. Because of a shortage of certified "nuclear grade" parts manufacturers, substandard or counterfeit components from domestic or foreign vendors may be installed, increasing reactor hazards.
OPERATING COSTS:
From the start, nuclear stations become radioactively contaminated. Large and small components and whole buildings get "hot." Therefore, operation is expensive. As reactors age and become more radioactive, operation becomes even more expensive. Repair or replacement of defective, obsolete or worn-out equipment requires shielding for workers as well as protective clothing, monitors and respirators. Far more workers, time and money are required to fix a nuclear generating system than a coal-or gas-fired power facility, wind-or solar farm.
As high-quality uranium becomes more scarce, it's use as a reactor fuel will become even more expensive and its manufacture will into fuel will increase the emission of greenhouse gasses.
PERPETUAL COSTS:
Dismantling a decommissioned nuclear facility would also be expensive. Because no disposal site exists for most radioactive wastes from most states, contaminated buildings and equipment may remain on site for many years. Because of the dangers, environmental monitoring and armed guards will be needed indefinitely.
DIRTY
FUEL:
Nuclear reactors use uranium. Therefore, they release radioactive waste into the environment at every stage of the fuel cycle-starting at the mines, then at mills, where enormous piles of tailings are left behind, and during chemical conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication. Radioactive radon gas that escapes in the West can float across the the U.S., over the Atlantic, and beyond.
Valid concerns exist about climate change caused by carbon dioxide from coal fired power stations. Yet, production of uranium fuel also results in "greenhouse gas" emissions. Indeed, uranium mining and milling are among the most carbon dioxide-intensive industrial operations.
Nuclear reactors use uranium to power turbines by releasing intense heat and radiation through a process called fission. Old fuel rods must be replaced periodically with fresh ones. The irradiated rods rods are stored in water-filled pools within the reactor building or in an adjacent building. After a few years, rods may be placed in steel-lined concrete casks outside to a still-nonexistent permanent repository.
Because no such repository has been built anywhere in the world, the nuclear industry would like to reprocess the irradiated rods. The rods would be cut up, soaked in acid and reprocessed so that residues of plutonium and uranium could be extracted and turned into usable reactor fuel. However, the leftover radioactive fission products, liberated from the fuel rods, remain a containment problem for many thousands of years. Reprocessing is extremely hazardous for workers and to the public downstream and downwind. It produces it's own massive wastes and releases of radioactive CO2 as well as other radioactive materials into the environment.
ROUTINE RELEASES:
Nuclear power facilities don't have to blow up or melt down to release their radioactive poisons. During routine operation, they release pollutants to the atmosphere and into rivers, lakes and oceans that provide cooling water.
It is impossible to run a reactor without these routine releases. No economically feasible technology exists to filter out all the radioactive isotopes, including tritium (radioactive hydrogen) and radioactive krypton and xenon gasses, some of which convert to radioactive strontium and cesium.
No one knows how much radioactivity is released. Some radioactive wastes are released into the environment from a nuclear power system whenever the level of radioactivity in the waste water is below the level that the monitoring equipment is set to detect. The U.S. government has approved this level to be "permissible." But,"permissible" does not mean safe. It means "as low as reasonably achievable"-that is, as low as the nuclear industry claims it can afford to achieve.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on the reactor owner's self-reporting and computer modeling to estimate a facility's radioactive releases. A significant portion of the data is extrapolated-so it is virtual, not real. Therefore, no one really knows how much radioactive poison is released. Radioactive gasses, liquids and soils spread near and far.
No permanent repository exists for the irradiated fuel rods (termed high-level waste), and may never exist. In fact no facility exists for so-called "low level" waste either- that is, for the radioactive sludges and saturated air-and water-filters, as well as pipes, pumps and other components that must be replaced as they wear out and malfunction. Much of this "low-level" waste is so highly radioactive that it must be handled by remote-control equipment. The longer the facility operates, the greater accumulation of radioactive waste.
LETHAL LEGACY:
Radioactive waste is dangerous not only now, but some remains dangerous virtually forever. Each type of radioactive isotope emits appreciable radiation for over ten times it's half-life (After one half-life, half the radioactivity is gone. After two half-lives, three quarters is gone. After three half-lives three quarters is gone. But even after ten half lives, some radioactivity remains) This means that some radioisotopes,like plutonium-239 with its 24,000 year half-life, will be dangerous much longer than modern humans have walked the Earth.
DANGEROUS
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN:
An article in an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) publication describes an unfortunate fact: "Human factors and the effectiveness of people determine success or failure at every stage, from the design of a facility and its equipment, through manufacture, construction, installation and calibration, to testing, maintenance, repair and management." ("Human Error in Nuclear Power Plants," Technology Review, February 1980, page 28)
Every nuclear facility is extremely complex, with thousands of pumps, valves, motors and miles of electric circuits. Therefore, human error, design flaws and equipment malfunctions are common.
"All nuclear-power-plant systems, structures, components, procedures and personnel are potential sources of failures and malfunctions. Problems can arise from defects in design, manufacturing, installation and construction; from testing, operational and maintenance errors; from explosions and fires; from excessive corrosion, vibration, stress, heating, cooling, radiation damage and other physical phenomena; from deterioration due to component aging and from externally initiated events such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and sabotage." (Daniel F. Ford: Three Mile Island 1982 page 29)
Because many experienced workers have retired or are nearing retirement age, the industry is faced with a serious shortage of qualified personnel, including some who have important memories of past facility problems.
An average reactor contains equivalent long-lived radioactivity of at least 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. An accident can be catastrophic, causing the release of tremendous amounts of radioactivity.
Few, if any, communities have adequate emergency plans, including reliable warning systems and emergency responders who are trained and equipped to deal with radiological devastation on this scale. They lack isolated hospital space for the treatment of irradiated victims. It is unrealistic to assume that a large, panicked population could be evacuated safely. No emergency plan addresses the permanent relocation of people from their homes and communities because of long-term radioactive contamination.
HEALTH HAZARDS:
Exposure to ionizing radiation increases the risk of damaging cells, tissues and DNA, potentially causing mutations, cancer, birth defects and reproductive, immune, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders.
Radioactive hydrogen and carbon, produced in great quantities, can be incorporated into protein, carbohydrate and fat molecules throughout the body. Fetuses and children are especially susceptible to radiation injury because of the rapid and abundant cell division in their bodies during growth.
According to the national Research Council's BEIR VII report ("Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation," 2005) no level of radiation exposure is harmless.
WORKPLACE RISKS:
The nuclear industry depends on workers who are allowed to be exposed to much more radiation than members of the public. Many of the aging metal components and even just the rust, in nuclear facilities give off penetrating gamma rays. When clogged or leaking pipes must be repaired or replaced, a worker can receive a maximum permissible annual dose of radiation in mere minutes while making even a minor repair.
TERRORISTS:
A typical commercial reactor produces enough plutonium every year to make at least forty nuclear bombs. If irradiated fuel rods are reprocessed, the extracted plutonium can be diverted to make nuclear bombs. The remaining radioactive materials can be used with conventional explosives to make "dirty bombs", capable of dispersing radioactivity.
Every nuclear facility is a potential candidate for a terrorist attack-by land, water and air, as well as by persons employed within the facility or outsiders who gain access. Terrorists could attack a reactor, the fuel storage pools or other critical components, causing the release of vast amounts of radioactivity. No existing U.S. nuclear power generating station was built to withstand deliberate attack by a jumbo jet.
RADIOACTIVE ROADS, RAILS AND NEIGHBORHOODS:
If a permanent disposal facility for irradiated fuel rods were ever built, transport of the waste on trains, trucks and barges would put countless communities at risk. If a site were chosen in a Western state, long-distance transport would be required because 77 of the 104 operating reactors are East of the Mississippi River.
The potential for an accident, terrorist attack or theft of nuclear materials during this transit is real.
EXPENSIVE
A CONTINUING FINANCIAL BURDEN:
Nuclear power cannot survive in a market economy without massive subsidies.
Federal subsidies include loan guarantees for construction and funds for research and development, including the search for a solution to the problem of radioactive waste.
In the event of a major disaster, the Price-Anderson Act requires the nuclear industry to pay for only the first $10 billlion-for deaths, injuries and property damage-a mere fraction of the liability costs federal taxpayers would have to cover. According to the 1982 NRC CRAC2 report, damages could run as high as $314 billion, depending on a reactor's surrounding population density and other factors. That would be approximately a trillion dollars today.
If a new reactor were to be built, state regulators would have to be willing to boost electric rates.
Without assurance of such state and federal handouts, private investors would refuse to finance construction of new nuclear reactors.
CONSTRUCTION COSTS:Because nuclear power facilities are so complicated and dangerous, construction costs are extremely high; lengthy delays are common. Because of a shortage of certified "nuclear grade" parts manufacturers, substandard or counterfeit components from domestic or foreign vendors may be installed, increasing reactor hazards.
OPERATING COSTS:
From the start, nuclear stations become radioactively contaminated. Large and small components and whole buildings get "hot." Therefore, operation is expensive. As reactors age and become more radioactive, operation becomes even more expensive. Repair or replacement of defective, obsolete or worn-out equipment requires shielding for workers as well as protective clothing, monitors and respirators. Far more workers, time and money are required to fix a nuclear generating system than a coal-or gas-fired power facility, wind-or solar farm.
As high-quality uranium becomes more scarce, it's use as a reactor fuel will become even more expensive and its manufacture will into fuel will increase the emission of greenhouse gasses.
PERPETUAL COSTS:
Dismantling a decommissioned nuclear facility would also be expensive. Because no disposal site exists for most radioactive wastes from most states, contaminated buildings and equipment may remain on site for many years. Because of the dangers, environmental monitoring and armed guards will be needed indefinitely.
NUCLEAR POWER CAN AND SHOULD BE PHASED OUT AND REPLACED WITH CLEAN, SAFE AND ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ALTERNATIVES. SPREAD THE WORD: NUCLEAR POWER IS BASED ON FALSE PROMISES AND REAL DANGERS.
for information on clean, safe, sustainable electrical power generation, check out themrea.org
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Nukewatch Plans Walk For a Nuclear-Free Future
Please let everyone you know about the upcoming walk between the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station and Point Beach Nuclear Facility. The event will start at noon, April 23, just North of the Kewaunee reactor and it will end after ten miles at the North end of Point Beach State forest with a potluck picnic. Thousands have protested these facilities in the past. We would like several thousand to walk with us again.
All three reactors are at the end of their design life. In their original plans, they were supposed to be decommissioned by now, resulting in millions of pounds of radioactive waste. Operators recently pursued license extensions and increases of maximum allowable electricity production levels. Both threaten Lake Michigan and millions of people with their continued operation and on-site waste storage.
Clean energy technologies exist to offset the 20.7% of Wisconsin energy that is generated at these facilities. The extraordinary amount of corporate welfare that continues to flow to these facilities needs to end. Conservation alone could eliminate the need for these old and ill-conceived electric generating stations. The on-site nuclear waste storage at these two facilities alone could render much of Northeast Wisconsin useless for farming and human habitation for many, many years.
I am personally planning to get out to the Lake Michigan Shore early in the day. Just north of the starting point along Lake View Drive is a wonderful beach that folks need to see to believe. During the ten mile walk, from Noon to 3PM, we will be sharing the wonderful company of others who believe that is time for us to move beyond nuclear energy in light of the recent developments in Japan as well as the twenty-five year anniversary of Chernobyl, which government officials believe has led to over thirty-five million deaths. This rally was planned long before the recent earthquake and tsunami that unleashed the worst ecological catastrophe in the history of the nuclear industry. The next twenty five years will make clear the ultimate injustice of nuclear energy production on innocent people whose only crime was to live near a reactor, but at this time, even our leaders are trying to put a good face on the mayhem, death and destruction created by the Japanese power stations that are failing right now.
You can bet that with a President in office from Illinois, where they currently have the fifth highest nuclear energy percentage of any state, the well-heeled lobbyists have beaten a path to the White House. In fact, there are currently afoot in Congress, plans to extend even more government backed (guaranteed)loans for future growth of this dastardly industry. The very use of the term industry makes one sick. The idea behind industry is to create something useful and ideally, socially benign. Wisconsin's history has proven that corporations who undertake splitting the atom for power have a very bad track record for doing it safely and responsibly. The talk about nuclear energy being "green", or carbon neutral are complete and utter fabrications. In fact, the admissible levels of radiation have been doubled in the United States recently, no doubt an early nod to further contamination of our environment by shameless and conscious-less corporate outlaws who seek to shift attention away from this dangerous activity.
Only four "Red Findings" have ever been issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Three of them were issued for hazardous situations at the Point Beach Facility. The two Point Beach reactors have recorded at least ten hazardous events since 1995. The Kewaunee reactor has had eight hazardous situations, including the exposure of a worker and groundwater contamination during that time. The managing corporation of these facilities has changed several times and the operators have felt compelled to lie to inspectors and fail to carry out emergency planning required by law.
These nuclear reactors were aggressively pushed on local citizens with plenty of political power. Ratepayers are ultimately responsible for this capricious form of "development" and are told little about the true nature of the threat that the nuclear reactors pose along some of the most beautiful shoreline in Northeast Wisconsin. As we progress into a more sustainable future, revoking the "rights" of corporations to endanger millions of unsuspecting citizens for the prize of corporate profits has got to end. Please let everyone you know about the need for people to show up for this event. Standing up for what is right and good must be undertaken if we are to guide future policy that has such lasting negative effects.
Contact nukewatch1@lakeland.ws for more information
All three reactors are at the end of their design life. In their original plans, they were supposed to be decommissioned by now, resulting in millions of pounds of radioactive waste. Operators recently pursued license extensions and increases of maximum allowable electricity production levels. Both threaten Lake Michigan and millions of people with their continued operation and on-site waste storage.
Clean energy technologies exist to offset the 20.7% of Wisconsin energy that is generated at these facilities. The extraordinary amount of corporate welfare that continues to flow to these facilities needs to end. Conservation alone could eliminate the need for these old and ill-conceived electric generating stations. The on-site nuclear waste storage at these two facilities alone could render much of Northeast Wisconsin useless for farming and human habitation for many, many years.
I am personally planning to get out to the Lake Michigan Shore early in the day. Just north of the starting point along Lake View Drive is a wonderful beach that folks need to see to believe. During the ten mile walk, from Noon to 3PM, we will be sharing the wonderful company of others who believe that is time for us to move beyond nuclear energy in light of the recent developments in Japan as well as the twenty-five year anniversary of Chernobyl, which government officials believe has led to over thirty-five million deaths. This rally was planned long before the recent earthquake and tsunami that unleashed the worst ecological catastrophe in the history of the nuclear industry. The next twenty five years will make clear the ultimate injustice of nuclear energy production on innocent people whose only crime was to live near a reactor, but at this time, even our leaders are trying to put a good face on the mayhem, death and destruction created by the Japanese power stations that are failing right now.
You can bet that with a President in office from Illinois, where they currently have the fifth highest nuclear energy percentage of any state, the well-heeled lobbyists have beaten a path to the White House. In fact, there are currently afoot in Congress, plans to extend even more government backed (guaranteed)loans for future growth of this dastardly industry. The very use of the term industry makes one sick. The idea behind industry is to create something useful and ideally, socially benign. Wisconsin's history has proven that corporations who undertake splitting the atom for power have a very bad track record for doing it safely and responsibly. The talk about nuclear energy being "green", or carbon neutral are complete and utter fabrications. In fact, the admissible levels of radiation have been doubled in the United States recently, no doubt an early nod to further contamination of our environment by shameless and conscious-less corporate outlaws who seek to shift attention away from this dangerous activity.
Only four "Red Findings" have ever been issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Three of them were issued for hazardous situations at the Point Beach Facility. The two Point Beach reactors have recorded at least ten hazardous events since 1995. The Kewaunee reactor has had eight hazardous situations, including the exposure of a worker and groundwater contamination during that time. The managing corporation of these facilities has changed several times and the operators have felt compelled to lie to inspectors and fail to carry out emergency planning required by law.
These nuclear reactors were aggressively pushed on local citizens with plenty of political power. Ratepayers are ultimately responsible for this capricious form of "development" and are told little about the true nature of the threat that the nuclear reactors pose along some of the most beautiful shoreline in Northeast Wisconsin. As we progress into a more sustainable future, revoking the "rights" of corporations to endanger millions of unsuspecting citizens for the prize of corporate profits has got to end. Please let everyone you know about the need for people to show up for this event. Standing up for what is right and good must be undertaken if we are to guide future policy that has such lasting negative effects.
Contact nukewatch1@lakeland.ws for more information
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