11/16/11

Occupy is hardly a cult

Random Thoughts: "Say you wanted to build a Movement by appealing directly to the Cult Mind, that part of the brain that most desires to be part of a herd. You'd need a slogan to imply that following a crowd leads to Truth. Such a maxim would suggest that being in the majority, or having membership in the biggest tribe, somehow confers moral superiority. You'd want the slogan to be well-suited to sheep, while scrupulously avoiding any speck of human critical thinking."

While I respect the author, he is quite wrong - I feel - in suggesting that Occupy is like a cult. I have some expertise in this matter as the author of a respected book on Jonestown, which was a cult. And as a civil rights movement veteran. Occupy is a movement and possibly even an evolution of nonviolence. Its use of 99 and one percent is specific to the documented stratification that is the product of decades of Reaganism. The zeal with which the above text is written leads me to wonder what lies behind it. Check it out and tell me if you agree.



Global Online Privacy

Bounce Skate Play Video



Odd that headline news about kids generally concerns abuse. 
Or bullying.
How about kids' deal in an automobile saturated society going global.
Or the movement to recover outdoor play on congested streets.

Global Online Privacy

Making a cyber-community - mass-produced walls





Mass produced walls? 
Floors and ceilings.
Absolutely. 
That assemble like lego pieces.
That are replaceable.
That can be soundproof.
That are not subject to mold.
Make them in Detroit in obsolete car factories.
That need no insulation.
Or outlets.
Choose them by size and color.
Create the building blocks of spaces in your cyber community.

Global Online Privacy

Obama's Secret Weapon for 2012

They say students will not support Barack Obama with the same enthusiasm of four years back.
DUH.
Look at reality.
Students suffer more than most because of the economy.
Students have other things to do. Like find work.
So what is Barack Obama's secret weapon.
REAGAN DEMOCRATS
WORKING FOLK
BLUE COLLAR UNION FOLK
The folk who are going to recall governors in three key states.
Maybe the NYT will get around to thinking about how Obama will win rather than conjuring reasons for him to lose.
We forget that the NYT is the apostle of upward mobility to a Metro North future in Hedge Fund Paradise. with meals at Per Se and requisite hipness from reading the Style Section.
2012 will be the year in which the Obama Party becomes the Democratic Party
And Blue Dogs and Joe Lieberman be damned.
We'll be digging back to FDR and the Four Freedoms.

The GOP Will Ensure Obama's Re-election

The GOP will see Obama win
By losing recalls in some crucial states
And choosing someone who is doomed to lose
And letting outright wingnuts guide its fates

Global Online Privacy

These studies are self-evident and thus useless

"Older women who got more exercise and less television time were the least likely to be diagnosed with depression, according to a U.S. study of thousands of women – with physical activity having the biggest impact.

According to findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that women who reported exercising the most in recent years were about 20 percent less likely to get depression than those who rarely exercised.

On the other hand, the more hours they spent watching TV each week, the more their risk of depression crept up."

I wish they would spend the millions spent on useless studies to investigate why people actually get depressed, not what they do when depressed. Try economic worry due to gross inequity and living in a sprawl or high rise environment where face to face community is largely impossible.

Global Online Privacy

Penny Wilson's Plea for Free Play Video

Watch "TEDxEastEnd - Penny Wilson - Play" Video at TEDxTalks: "Penny Wilson grew up in the South East of England and played on the rolling hills of the South Downs and beside the sea. These childhood experiences influenced and continue to inform and inspire her work. She studied illustration but her career began in earnest when she started Playworking with children with disabilities and their peers at Chelsea Adventure Playground. "

Cap Tip Alice


Global Online Privacy

Per Caritatem grapples with race as continuing issue

Per Caritatem: "Unlike the white Marxists, including Sartre, Césaire and other black Négritude writers could not separate the class problem from the race problem, nor did they overlook the connection between capitalism and colonialism. As Rabaka observes, “Césaire understands European civilization to rest on the colonization of non-Europeans, their lives, labor and lands. His Negritude, like Du Bois’s and James’s discourse, was a revolutionary humanist enterprise,”[2] attuned to the sufferings of all those exploited by the machinery of colonialism and slavery."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Obama China Attack Should Be Human Rights Based

Letter from China : The New Yorker: "Already, Mitt Romney is attacking Obama for not being tough enough on China’s economic aggression, and several White House sources have told me that the President is obsessed with finding an effective response. “You can’t just slap tariffs on Chinese products, because of our membership in the World Trade Organization,” an Administration official told me. “But we are looking very closely at the intellectual-property area.”"


Try looking at the human rights record around the world. Start in Africa where China is not exactly a human rights poster child. Delve into China's own treatment of its people.


Global Online Privacy

If You Have To Ask You Cannot See

Is Football Culture The Core Of The Problem? : NPR: "Football, you see, is our proud American throwback showcase of men being at their best, most primitive masculine. Indeed, the question of whether the sport is too brutal has always been an issue, and nowadays, of course, the subject is as prominent as ever."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

A Bit More Income Disparity Data

NYT: US divides into land of rich and poor, study says - US news - The New York Times - msnbc.com: "In 2007, the last year captured by the data, 44 percent of families lived in neighborhoods the study defined as middle-income, down from 65 percent of families in 1970. At the same time, a third of American families lived in areas of either affluence or poverty, up from just 15 percent of families in 1970."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Sandusky's lawyer may not be such a slouch after all

Sandusky's lawyer Amendola is now in the spotlight | McClatchy: "The Sandusky case won’t be Amendola’s first time defending a client from allegations of child sexual abuse. Christopher G. Lee, a Harris Township supervisor and Boal Mansion CEO, was represented by Amendola after he was charged with three counts of indecent assault on 8-and 10- year-old boys. Lee entered an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program in which he did not enter either a guilty or not-guilty plea."

There are two sides to every story and there is a big no no about judging authored by none other than Jesus.  But this does not stop tongues from wagging about sexual abuse. MSNBC issued a wall of condemnation of Sandusky's lawyer last night but I would counsel an open mind at this point. Let's put it this way. When this country can feel as exercised about the disgusting treatment of Bradley Manning by the US as about allegations that horsing aroound was more than horsing around, I will give more credence to the wailing of uninvolved adults - or of adults trying to compensate for whatever ambivalence they may feel deep inside.




Global Online Privacy

Follow The Corrupt Money from US Globally (Video)

MapLight on AlJazeera - YouTube: "MapLight's Daniel Newman talks about how wealthy special interests, SuperPACs, and an economy of influence are corrupting American democracy."


Call this an Occupy briefing.


Global Online Privacy

Zimbabwe Continues to Teeter

Resistance and Denial: Zimbabwe’s Stalled Reform Agenda - International Crisis Group: "Transition and reform appear stalemated in Zimbabwe."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

A Nod to Robert Bellah

The Immanent Frame: "Bellah’s new masterpiece, Religion in Human Evolution is comparable in scope, breadth of scholarship, and depth of erudition to Weber’s study of world religions, but it is grounded in all of the advances of historical, linguistic, and archeological scholarship that have taken place since Weber, as well as theoretical advances in evolutionary biology and cognitive science."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Smushing that crappy amendment

The Spinster’s Finger on the Pulse of Today « I Blame The Patriarchy: "Let us mark with a glad cry the defeat of Initiative 26, the depraved attempt by delusional godbags in Mississippi — the most delusionally godbaggy state in the US — to confer “personhood” on fertilized human eggs. Hah-yee ip-ip! A heartfelt butch-ass chin-nod of appreciation goes out from Spinster HQ to everyone who worked on the successful campaign to smush that extremely crappy amendment."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Shameful treatment in China-run Zambian Mines

"You’ll Be Fired if You Refuse" | Human Rights Watch: "This 122-page report details the persistent abuses in Chinese-run mines, including poor health and safety conditions, regular 12-hour and even 18-hour shifts involving arduous labor, and anti-union activities, all in violation of Zambia’s national laws or international labor standards. The four Chinese-run copper mining companies in Zambia are subsidiaries of China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation, a state-owned enterprise under the authority of China’s highest executive body. Copper mining is the lifeblood of the Zambian economy, contributing nearly 75 percent of the country’s exports and two-thirds of the central government revenue."

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Shameful Secret Detention Stuff

Closed-Door Defense Authorization Deal Threatens National Security | Human Rights First: "Washington, DC – Following news that today’s closed-door Senate Arms Services Committee meeting has produced a tentative agreement on a defense authorization bill, now reported to contain modified versions of troubling military custody and detention policies, Human Rights First’s Raha Wala issued the following statement:
“Detaining people without trial and mandating military custody for many suspects – cutting out our law enforcement and our federal courts – run counter to our nation’s security. Those policies are unacceptable and should not pass Congress. These issues are too important to be debated behind closed doors. If members want to tie the President’s hands in dealing with national security threats, they should do so openly and answer the tough questions about these policies.”"

'via Blog this'

Global Online Privacy

Occupy 54 Photos Show Bloomberg Up Big Time

Occupy Wall St. spreads across the United States - NY Daily News:

'via Blog this'

I hope the Mayor enjoys his breakfast.

Global Online Privacy

Saudi Arabia: Outrage over Lashing Continues

Saudi Arabia: Outrage Over 10 Lashes for Female Driver · Global Voices:

"Saudi woman with great progressive beliefs will be whipped in public in the name of religion and male supremacy! Because of driving!"

Even writing about it aggravates the Saudi patriarchy. Saudi Arabia doesn't need an Arab Spring. It needs an Arab Year Round. And it will come, mark our words.



Global Online Privacy

Gallup distorts health care results

Americans Tilt Toward Favoring Repeal of Healthcare Law:

'via Blog this'

Gallup is tilting toward mindlessness. The results of this poll should read: Republicans brainwashed in support of health care repeal. With relatively even independent attitudes pro and con and substantial Democratic approval of the measure, it is the gaping GOP 80 percent for repeal that stands out, showing just how nastily harmful the GOP attack is. Between now and November 2012 the benefits of the bill will be shown to outweigh the GOP slanders against it. Meanwhile Gallup has accurate figures but influences lazy media with knee-jerk interpretations. It's not Americans that tilt toward repeal. It is the monolithic lockstep GOP.


Global Online Privacy

Rerouting pipe line is no solution

Nebraska Sandhills Spared: TransCanada Will Reroute Pipeline: "LINCOLN, Nebraska, November 15, 2011 (ENS) - TransCanada Corporation has agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline out of Nebraska's environmentally sensitive Sandhills area, which overlies the Ogallala aquifer. TransCanada announced Monday that it supports proposed Nebraska legislation that would provide for a supplemental environmental impact study for the Keystone XL pipeline to be conducted at the state's expense. "I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route," said Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president, energy and oil pipelines, at a news conference at the legislature."


Do not celebrate. Fight for the end of fracking in the name of a new world of car free communities, a global society beyond oil, long term well being over slickly-advertised short term profits.

RECCMENDATION Richard Gordon Quantum Touch

The Slow as Molasses Press