Blue Skies

Shepard Fairey Creates work in Support of Occupy Wall street

Brightfire Woman — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:08:08 +0000

This image represents my support for the Occupy movement, a grassroots movement spawned to stand up against corruption, imbalance of power, and failure of our democracy to represent and help average Americans. On the other hand, as flawed as the system is, I see Obama as a potential ally of the Occupy movement if the energy of the movement is perceived as constructive, not destructive. I still see Obama as the closest thing to “a man on the inside” that we have presently. Obviously, just voting is not enough. We need to use all of our tools to help us achieve our goals and ideals. However, I think idealism and realism need to exist hand in hand. Change is not about one election, one rally, one leader, it is about a constant dedication to progress and a constant push in the right direction. Let’s be the people doing the right thing as outsiders and simultaneously push the insiders to do the right thing for the people. I’m still trying to work out copyright issues I may face with this image, but feel free to share it and stay tuned...

-Shepard Fairey

After Conversations with Occupy Wall Street Organizers, Shepard Fairey Releases Revised “Occupy Hope” Design.

Hollow Comfort - Honoring Victims of Torture

Cassandra Tribe — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:52:39 +0000

Today, June 26, is the day set aside by the UN as an International Day of Support of Victims of Torture. Support is offered through care, recognition and celebration of the over 200 recovery and rehabilitation centers for torture victims around the world. Prayers and meditations are offered for the continuing health and healing of survivors. Silence is dedicated in the honor and memory of those who were tortured and died.

On this day, out of respect, regard and in honor of all who have suffered, the goal is not to generate mass protests against countries that still use torture or advocate for legal justice - that comes later. On this day, the focus is kept on the victims, those who have suffered the unspeakable. Victims that, although we may advocate because of them, are often forgotten by the very groups that pledge to defend and support them. Their stories becoming small bits of emotional play thrown into a larger and more distant grand drama.

It is easy, in the pursuit of justice, to lose touch with the reality of those who have suffered injustice.

Keeping the focus on the victims, keeping in touch with the reality of injustice, means more than retelling the details of what has happened to someone. The reality of injustice goes beyond the moments in which it occurred and lingers and changes the entire life of the individual. Learning to comprehend and embrace the totality of the experience of someone who has been tortured requires more than an imagining or recounting of their wounds and suffering during the time of torture -it means coming to understand who they were before, what happened when, and who they are becoming now.

Support can only be offered in a holistic sense, when the totality of the person is held and understood. Justice and advocacy that draws from a holistic understanding will lead to holistic and effective change. Change that is only spurred on from one aspect of experience will be as limited in its effectiveness as the limits of the understanding of the experience it came from.

Viktor Frankl said, "Since Auschwitz, we know what man is capable of and since Hiroshima, we know what is at stake." The International Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits torture under Article 5, was formulated by the United Nations in response to the horrors of World War II. Member nations recognized that there was a need to state, on an international level, a standard of human rights and protection that applied at all times, in all circumstances and to all peoples. While we have come to see the United Nations as a separate entity than the countries who are members of it, the U.N. is a collaborative voice of its participants. It is not a perfect voice. It is a democratic voice and democracy is an institution that is incapable of perfect representation and perfect justice, but it is an institution that is capable of righting itself through self-examination and address of its flaws.

When the U.N. assembles a treaty, covenant or declaration countries sign these documents as indication of their willingness to be governed by an international set of standards. However, signing the document does not mean the nation is bound by its rules. Each country must then ratify the document at home for it to be considered legally binding. And all countries may amend their ratified signatures. In the case of torture, for example, the USA has signed and ratified the agreement. Then in 1994, the USA amended the ratification to state that it only applied to the USA as far as it did not contradict the country's constitution and the definition of contradiction was left solely to the discretion of the current administration of the USA. The USA is not the only country that has used this kind of loophole to sign treaties and covenants and then recuse themselves from their application.

The problem with justice of any kind is it requires injustice to happen for it to come into play. And injustice, like evil, is in the eye of the beholder. That eye, is usually the current and most prominent social/cultural trend. The interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the US is caught between the debate as to whether it was based in an eternal and unchanging sense of human decency, or one that evolves as society evolves. In other words, does the meaning of "cruel and unusual" change as our perceptions and social tolerance changes? Or is there one point, one boundary that outlines a set of behaviors and sets them aside as cruel and unusual under any circumstances?

Victims of torture suffer not just acts of torture from specific people executing the orders of a certain regime or administration; they suffer from modern society's emotional and qualitative disconnection from the reality of human life. If, in any part of the world, torture occurs, it is not the acting party that bears the sole responsibility for committing injustice - but all of us. Even the advocates. Even those who make it their life mission to struggle to end the acceptance of torture as a means of protecting national security or to aid investigation. How can this be? Because we, as a global community and individuals, have come to devalue humanity. The idea that we are good or bad or act in good or bad ways has risen in social prominence to the point that we do not recognize that at all times we possess both. It is through this awareness that we are then enabled to correct our behaviors, choose self-control and examine our means and motivations for validity. When someone is tortured, every person who is not, both suffers with them and commits the crime.

Just as when someone is homeless, every person who is not suffers with them and holds them from security as well.

This is not a judgment as much as a statement of the modern reality of duality. While we can choose to help, it is rare for us to choose the kind of complete sacrifice that would raise a person out of injustice because in choosing to help, we choose to stop before we, ourselves, exchange places with them. That is the most immediate and realistic resolution to another person's problem. In choosing not to perpetuate the problem by exchanging situations, we maintain the existence of the problem by not going far enough to solve it.

This catch-22 is not a natural condition but one that has come to be accepted socially as human society has evolved. It is based in the total acceptance of the morality of materialism. By materialism, I am not talking about the ownership of things - but the perception that our life is defined by what we have - what we have experienced, what we have read, what we consume in feeding our beliefs, security, loves and status. We are moved to justice and empathy by perceiving someone as being deprived of having things. Our goal then is to return the right of ownership to them. The definition of life is then rooted in the material. Our understanding and acceptance that life is something that one does not have, but that one is - one is living, one lives, one is alive - disappears. We fail to see that evil comes not in depriving someone of what they have, but of depriving someone of what they are - alive. Life is the universal morality and the eternal standard, not the things we place around and in it to "show" we are living - to ourselves and others - that is a standard that changes according to whim and trend.

Often, we offer as comfort to those who have suffered that, "they should be thankful they are at least still alive" but these are words of hollow comfort for they are inauthentic and insincere when spoken by people who no longer understand what it is to be alive.

To be alive one must understand that what we have come to accept as "human nature" is not natural, but is a reaction of human nature to the demands of society. Our reality is appropriated and not experienced, as Marx puts forth. We only understand and value life and its elements in as far as we can find a use for them in relation to the demands of our societies. Human nature, as Fromm states, is an essence and not a substance. It is a constellation rather than one thing or another.

To understand and offer support to someone who has been a victim of torture we must come to a place in which we recognize that the essence of their humanity is unchanged, but that their relation to society has been deeply damaged. And, that it is society that allowed them to be tortured. It is only through being able to bear both the guilt and the empathy that we can honor and respect their life and begin to see alternatives to governing our worlds.

The following is a passage from a lecture that Erich Fromm delivered in 1962 in Sherwood Hall at La Jolla, California. You can find the entire lecture and others by him in the collection, On Being Human (Fromm, Continuum Publishing, 1994).
"Terence expressed it (when he said) 'Nothing human is alien to me;' that I carry within myself all of humanity; that, in spite of the fact that there are no two individuals who are the same, the paradox exists that we all share in the same substance, in the same quality; that nothing which exists in any human being does not exist in myself. I am the criminal and I am the saint. I am the child and I am the adult. I am the man who lived a hundred thousand years ago and I am the man who, provided we don't destroy the human race, will live a hundred thousand years from now.

This proposition has a very significant connection with one phenomenon with which it is usually not connection, namely the phenomenon of the unconscious. (Firstly) what is our consciousness? Our consciousness is all those human experiences of which our particular society allows us to be aware...we are aware only of that which our language, our logic, and the taboos of our societies permit us to be aware. There is, you might say, something like a "social filter," and only those experiences that can pass through that social filter are the things we are aware of; they are our consciousness.

And what is our unconscious? Our unconscious is humanity. Our unconscious is the universal man. Our unconscious is all that is human - the good and the bad - all that exists in everybody, minus that small sector that is conscious, which represents the experience, thinking, feeling of the culture that we are thrown into rather accidentally (...) If we are in touch with our unconscious, then indeed, we experience ourselves as we experience everybody else. Indeed, we overcome that separation within ourselves in which we are aware only of that which is expressed in our particular tribe or culture, and we get in touch with that which we share with all humanity."

We can best honor those who have suffered by choosing life. Choosing life means to choose to accept that within each of us, all exists. And with that knowledge to make reasoned choices based upon a universal sense of life and being rather than one rooted in the limited experience of a life defined by culture and society, in having. In accepting that we are inextricably woven together, we share the realities of the human existence. We are the tortured and the torturers. By coming to understand that, we can prevent torture on any level from being acceptable in any circumstance. By seeing all the possibilities and potential for our choices and experiencing their effect imaginatively, we will discover alternatives that serve to bring us together into unity. Where the life that is valued is not seen as divided into individual bodies, but the life of the one unified essence of humanity.

Peace be with you, and peace go with you in all you do today.

c.2011. Cassandra Tribe. Written for Blue Skies on http://WomansMojoRisings.com. This article is available for use via Creative Commons licensing with attribution.

U.S. Midwest : Twisters Hit, Flash Flood Warnings & Records Broken

Brightfire Woman — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:00:14 +0000

Life in the Midwest in Tornado Season has never been quite this bad. It is a statistical fact that this year the amount of tornadoes occurring has already doubled for the season and broken the record. With a season that lasts through June, preventative measures can still be done by many Mid-West Residents to protect family and home. Proper planning can ease the stress of the experience, especially for the elderly and children who may not be able to take care of themselves. This is truly a case where preparation is essential to risk reduction and increasing the chances of survival.

If you have not been in tornado, let me assure you that during one is not the time to be trying to figure out what to do or where to go. Do not assume because you are in an area that has not had much damage in the past, that you are in safe area or at least safe enough that you don't need preparedness.

And for those of you who will be re-building after this season or those who will be considering building in regions prone to Tornado activity there are ways of building Tornado proof homes. Watch this video that was not up for embedding.

Tornado near end of life - photographed during "Sound Chase." "Sound Chase" was joint project of NSSL and Mississippi State University. Purpose of project was to record sounds emitted by tornadoes.

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

FAMILY DISASTER PLAN

Families should be prepared for all hazards that affect their area. NOAA's National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the American Red Cross urge each family to develop a family disaster plan.

Where will your family be when disaster strikes? They could be anywhere - at work, at school, or in the car. How will you find each other? Will you know if your children are safe? Disasters may force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services - water, gas, electricity or telephones - were cut off?

Follow these basic steps to develop a family disaster plan...

I.Gather information about hazards.
Contact your local National Weather Service office, emergency management or civil defense office, and American Red Cross chapter. Find out what type of disasters could occur and how you should respond. Learn your community's warning signals and evacuation plans.

II.Meet with your family to create a plan.
Discuss the information you have gathered. Pick two places to meet: a spot outside your home for an emergency, such as fire, and a place away from your neighborhood in case you can't return home. Choose an out-of-state friend as your "family check-in contact" for everyone to call if the family gets separated. Discuss what you would do if advised to evacuate.

III.Implement your plan
(1) Post emergency telephone numbers by phones; (2) Install safety features in your house, such as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers; (3) Inspect your home for potential hazards (such as items that can move, fall, break, or catch fire) and correct them; (4) Have your family learn basic safety measures, such as CPR and first aid; how to use a fire extinguisher; and how and when to turn off water, gas, and electricity in your home; (5) Teach children how and when to call 911 or your local Emergency Medical Services number; (6) Keep enough supplies in your home to meet your needs for at least three days. Assemble a disaster supplies kit with items you may need in case of an evacuation. Store these supplies in sturdy, easy-to-carry containers, such as backpacks or duffle bags. Keep important family documents in a waterproof container. Keep a smaller disaster supplies kit in the trunk of your car.

A DISASTER SUPPLIES KIT SHOULD INCLUDE:
A 3-day supply of water (one gallon per person per day) and food that won't spoil one change of clothing and footwear per person one blanket or sleeping bag per person a first-aid kit, including prescription medicines emergency tools, including a battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio and a portable radio, flashlight, and plenty of extra batteries an extra set of car keys and a credit card or cash special items for infant, elderly, or disabled family members.

IV.Practice and maintain your plan.
Ask questions to make sure your family remembers meeting places, phone numbers, and safety rules. Conduct drills. Test your smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries at least once a year. Test and recharge your fire extinguisher(s) according to manufacturer's instructions. Replace stored water and food every six months.

If a Warning is issued or if threatening weather approaches:

In a home or building, move to a pre-designated shelter, such as a basement.

If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.

Stay away from windows.

Get out of automobiles.

Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car; instead, leave it immediately.

Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned

U.S. Candlelight Vigils for Japan to be held Anniversary of Three Mile Island

Brightfire Woman — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:41:24 +0000

On March 28, 2011, the 32nd Anniversary of the U.S. Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, Green Peace has the official endorsement of The Japanese American Citizens League that it be, ..."a time for us to remember those who were lost during this tremendous tragedy in Japan's history."

Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, Greenpeace activists will be hosting Candle light vigils, as a sign of solidarity with the Japanese People and to gather to "imagine a nuclear free world". Find an event in your area right now.

Also Actor Ken Wataanabe created two projects in support of the people of Japan during this crisis. To learn more about the projects visit

kizuna311.com or uniteforjapan.com.
** To learn more about what the Japanese American Citizens League is doing for the relief effort visit their website by clicking here.

Japan Declares Nuclear Emergency

Brightfire Woman — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:09:53 +0000

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

"The Japanese authorities say there has so far been no release of radiation from any of the nuclear power plants affected by today's earthquake and aftershocks," the IAEA head said.

The agency is maintaining contact with Japanese authorities and monitoring the situation "round the clock," he added.

French nuclear engineering group Areva said it hasn't been informed of any impact on its installations in the country. The company operates a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. specialized in nuclear fuel called MNF, as well as a zirconium making plant, Cezus, which is a fully owned unit of Areva.

All other Japanese power companies operating nuclear power plants in the country said their facilities are operating normally.

Source:

The Wall Street Journal

Lollipop, lollipop: The National Budget, WiFi and a Decade of Pointless Pain

Cassandra Tribe — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:02:35 +0000

This is going to be complicated, so you may want to stop reading now and take an aspirin, get a cup of tea and get comfortable because we are going to be here for a while. On Monday, Valentine's Day, President Obama will be releasing the fiscal budget for 2012. On Thursday, he will be making a spectacular announcement about plans for a National Wireless Internet Network.

There, that is the last easy thing you are going to read in this post. Now, I am going to begin to walk you through the general details of both of these items and, begin to explain what their implications are for us-as individuals and as a nation. And oh yes, I will explain how they will impact both the Canadian and Mexican economies as a result of all this and why we should even care about this. The impact is even farther reaching but that is too much for one article.

First of all, I want to point out the timing of the release of the budget. To make such a presentation on such an important topic on a day that is virtually Christmas for this country is a sure fire way to make sure that few people are really listening. Valentine's day is rarely a day when one has an attention span for anything beyond the heart, let alone facts and figures of the heaviest kind of accounting.

Now, I am by no means a conspiracy theorist. Part of what I am is a performer. Part of what I am is also someone who has what is called a "Public Presence." It is Marketing and Promotion 101 to understand that the timing of announcements will control the reception more so than the content of what is being announced. If you do not think that the choice of this day was on purpose, think again. Part of the Administration of any President is a whole department that is devoted to publicity and spin doctoring. In this case, the spinning is starting before anyone knows the details - that alone should be enough to make you sit up and start paying attention.

To have picked a day that can only be termed one of national distraction for the budget announcement and then follow up on a day when people are more apt to pay attention with a program that sounds like it is giving something to the people, this is interesting to me.

Now, a brief overview of the National Budget. This is how the budget breaks down, in descending order:

The greatest expense in the budget (and it is mandatory) is Social Security at $695 billion. The next greatest expense (not mandatory) is the military at $663.7 billion dollars.

This is followed by mandatory spending: general ($571b), Medicare ($453b), Medicaid ($290b) and interest on the National Debt ($164b).

The remainder of the budget consists of a slew of domestic programs and departments, from transportation to Veterans, Homeland Security to Education. Most of these are funded in the under $50b range. Health and Human Services and the Department of Transportation both have $70b+ budgets. The lowest funded agency is the Small Business Administration, coming in at a measly $0.7b. You can find the exact order of breakdown by following this link:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget).

Mind you, these are 2010 numbers.

So, roughly,
- 34% of the budget goes to mandatory Social Security
- 33% of it is non mandatory and spent on defense.

That is what? 67% of the budget. Of the remaining 33% about:

- 21% is used on Federal programs such as NASA, Homeland Security, Transportation and the Department of Education.
- 10% is used for grants to states to support various public health and service programs as well as fund infrastructure projects.

Now, unless you have been living under a rock, you know that we are in the depths of an economic crisis that is going to cause (by Bernake's projections) our debt to surpass our GDP (Gross Domestic Product - that is the value of all the goods and services we make in a given year as a country, in a way - our potential worth and profit).by 150% by the year 2030.

Countries whose debt reaches 7% of their GDP are considered to be in a deep depression and on the verge of going permanently bankrupt.

The projection for our debt to GDP within 10 years is 12%. That would bring us to 2021.

I will be 52 years old.

So....

On Valentine's day, Obama will release the fiscal budget for 2012 that promises to cut $400b from spending and keep our debt at 3% of our GDP.

Our current National Debt is at over $14 trillion dollars and increases at a rate of $4.12 billion dollars a day. This means that each citizen bears a share of this debt to the tune of $45k and rising. What is meant by sharing in this debt is that at some point, taxes must be implemented in order to get your share from your earnings or, programs funded by the government that you benefit from must have an equivalent cut. Typically, this only occurs if the lenders want the debt paid, which is why we can still pursue tax cuts. We have not yet been called on to make good on our loans. That usually only occurs when the debt to GDP reaches 7%.

I think it was Norway or Finland who recently hit that mark and was called on to pay their debt to all the international banks. Their government presented a series of drastic cuts to programs and higher taxes to pay off the debt and the citizens voted that they would rather default on the loans and suffer through rebuilding the country then have their lives so overwhelmingly burdened. They also were not happy that the government moved to protect special interests and the wealthy from any of the cuts and taxes. That drama is still playing out.

On Valentine's day, Obama will release the fiscal budget for 2012 that promises to cut $400b from spending and keep our debt at 3% of our GDP.

He is going to accomplish this through a series of funding cuts and freezes to budget amounts.

All of the cuts and freezes effect the lower 10% of the budget, i.e. the states and you and me. Mind you, the mandatory spending has to remain (although at some point we have to realistically assess at what level, we can no longer afford social security, Medicare and Medicaid and in 20 years our population will have overwhelmed the system).

In 20 years I will be 62.

The majority of the cuts will come in the following areas:

- 1 billion from airport grants
- 1 billion from state aid for water treatment plants and similar projects
- major cuts to forestry
- major cuts to public health grants
-Home energy assistance to low-income families and community service block grants would be cut in half, and an initiative to restore the Great Lakes' environmental health would be reduced by one-quarter.

Exempt from reductions and freezes would be the Pentagon.

All the Bush-era tax cuts that are to expire at the end of 2012 would be made permanent.
The cost-saving provisions of the health care law would be repealed.

Now, let's go over a few things a bit slowly.

The Pentagon will be exempt however, they will point out, there will be tremendous savings in war costs after the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and several defense development programs have also gotten the axe.

However,

Left out of this statement is that several months ago we committed to radically increase our presence in Asia and Asian waters. It would not be a war but we are committed to a policing presence that I can almost guarantee will meet the Iraq costs in no short order. There is also no mention of a withdrawal from Afghanistan which has been a much longer and costlier war than Iraq and continues to be so.

While some defense weapons development programs have been cancelled more have been ordered. In other words, their cup will remain full and occasionally over flow.

But more disturbing is that the cuts to save the day are all coming from programs which take care of this nation's people and hate to say it, more importantly, the infrastructure of the nation.

Our bridges and roadways and dams were built by the WPA during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency way back in the 1930s.

That makes our bridgework over 80 years old. Concrete and steel has a joined life span of 35 years. Ask me, I was a Union Ironworker. I have worked on many of the bridges in the New England area and even a brief stint on the dam out in Nevada, among other projects. I love my steel. I heart my concrete. But we have left important structures unattended for a very long time.

When you talk about cutting funding for sewer plants "and other similar projects" along with airport grants what you are talking about is cutting funding to infrastructure programs. Our everything is not only so old it is hanging on by a thread, but our population is shifting out of older, developed areas into the more rural south and west which does not have the utility capacity to handle the population and their generated waste. The EPA is constantly chasing cities and towns across the south and west that have still not updated their treatment plants and continue to dump waste in water and bury it despite the changes being mandated in the 70s.

Without forestry and conservation programs it will become easier for large industries to move in and develop plants in rural areas that may threaten areas that otherwise would have been protected. Not to mention, tourism aside, many of our forestry and conservation areas also serve the purpose of containing elements that left unattended could cause flooding in developed areas.

Cutting funding to the states for such programs as heating assistance etc hits the poorest and the elderly the most. The states, if you haven't noticed, don't have the money to even come close to providing help for those who need it.

In other words, the budget cuts are coming from those of us most in need and will drive the large and growing population of the working poor into the arms of...where else? Federal services such as Medicare and Medicaid. So rather then being able to bring down some debt and then deal with the rising costs of the entitlement programs, the cuts are going to create a whole new population to place an increased burden on those programs. Mind you, the Republicans would like to see even more money cut from these programs.

Which brings me to the carrot on the stick. Thursday's announcement about spending $9.6 billion dollars to bring 500 MHz broadband into rural areas. Now, think about what I just said about certain cuts opening the way for development by large industries and think about whether or not they would benefit from that service. Industrialized nations who develop National Wireless Internet services to encourage innovation, increase competition and add to educational opportunities do so by offering the service for free in all areas and subsidizing computers.

There has been no mention of that in the proposal. What has been mentioned is that it would be done by reclaiming airwaves by asking large corporations, such as CBS, to give up some broadband blocks to auction. The company, of course, would receive 20% of the auction amount; the government would get the rest. So the question is, who is buying at that auction?

And by the way, in spending $9.6 billion the projection is we will gain and put $10.6b towards the debt, which in my book is really $1b.

There is no talk about free access to this network. No mention of how it will be wed to education and perhaps, small business initiatives. And the latter is important because this past year alone our trade deficit went up 33%. A trade deficit means that you are importing more than you are exporting. In other words, we are buying more than we are selling and this will raise our debt to GDP ratio. Research and development, as well as increased education, is crucial to bringing both down to reasonable levels and reclaiming a part of the world market that can help sustain our economy.

And all of this effects other countries too. What we do with our economy has broad reaching effects. The way that the cuts will effect our infrastructure will have drastic effects on the economies of both Canada and Mexico. Why? Because like us, over 90% of our products and goods are transported by truck. The worse our roads and bridges get the more companies will suffer. And not just companies, but consumers too. Food prices rise and fall partially based on the ability of produce to make it to processing factories in a timely fashion.

All in all, what is going to be presented tomorrow is a 10 year plan for the destruction of America. What the Republicans are rabbling about doing for the next year's budget (which they start working on shortly) is even worse.

Trying to resolve an economy's debt woes by penalizing its citizens worsens both the society and the economy. Continuing to preserve the divide between the nation and the 3% of people and companies who make a profit off of everyone else's suffering cannot continue. Penalizing and asking the nation to suffer to redeem the mistakes of the few is not the way. There is no company and no institution that cannot go under. We have to stop thinking that there are things "too big to fail" and that includes social security and Medicare and Medicaid. All of those were great ideas, but their budgets and management has been abysmal and they have become too sick to go on.

Letting the working parts of the country rot while feeding the military machine is not going to do it either.

Neither is speaking in tongues or handing out lollipops.

That "National Wireless Network" is a joke. It is a panacea to distract from the fact that we will not be able to provide for our weakest in times of need nor, protect ourselves as our infrastructure slowly begins to crumble around us.

I know everyone has their own thing going on but I hope you read this at some point.

Please, please, please, there is nothing that can be done about the 2012 budget but we can have a strong voice in 2013. Do more than click a button or send a form letter. Educate yourself, come up with your own theories, interject yourself into the conversation and goddamnit, act like you care and act like the health of this nation is worth something to you.

I want the generations to come to have more hope than so many of us have right now. That alone gives my life purpose and drive. As I go, I grow and find others who not only feel the same way but work to be heard and to create change and change that is not dictated, defined and contained by the established order that is so intent on pillaging our entire country for profit until there is nothing left.

The only difference between the US and Egypt is that our Mubaraks remain behind the scenes.

Time to start shining the lights and opening doors.

Let's let some fresh air in.

written for Womansmojorisings.com with contributing material from Reuters

c.2011. Cassandra Tribe. All Rights Reserved

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Takes on Global Warming

Brightfire Woman — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:15:25 +0000

Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine’s "Heroes for the Planet," and is the author of the New York Times bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Nation, Outside Magazine, The Village Voice, and many other publications. He serves as President of Waterkeeper Alliance, is a clinical professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law, and is a venture partner and senior advisor at VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the world’s premiere cleantech venture capital firms.

Mr. Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard University, studied at the London School of Economics, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. He subsequently attended Pace University School of Law, where he was awarded a Masters Degree in Environmental Law.

His Website Bio

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet” for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn more than 130 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe.

Mr. Kennedy serves as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career he served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City. He has worked on several political campaigns including the presidential campaigns of Edward M. Kennedy in 1980, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. He helped lead the fight to turn back the anti-environmental legislation during the 104th Congress.

Among Mr. Kennedy's published books are the New York Times’ bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004), St. Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy (2005), The Riverkeepers (1997), and Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr: A Biography (1977). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Nation, Outside Magazine, The Village Voice, and many other publications. His award winning articles have been included in anthologies of America’s Best Crime Writing, Best Political Writing and Best Science Writing.

Mr. Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard University. He studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. Following graduation he attended Pace University School of Law, where he was awarded a Masters Degree in Environmental Law.

He is a licensed master falconer, and as often as possible he pursues a life-long enthusiasm for white-water paddling. He has organized and led several expeditions in Canada and Latin America, including first descents on three little known rivers in Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela.

So what does Mono Lake, CA look like?

Brightfire Woman — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:57:18 +0000

Recently in heated debate, I heard myself say that facts don't necessarily mean it is the truth, and that a Truth only stood until someone proved it was false, that I had seen many facts and truths rendered false in my half a century.

Needless to say the news of an alien life form, a bacteria, that unlike everything else on the planet has no phosphorous in it's DNA and has replaced it in the sequence with the abundance of toxic arsenic built up at Mono Lake, CA...was the ultimate extreme. And wow! Doesn't that just knock the side out of the box we all had life in?

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

Fish Kills and National Security...

Brightfire Woman — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 03:06:53 +0000

washingtonsblog

floridaoilspilllaw

Video transcript

Science in the Gulf, NPR Science Friday, August 20, 2010:

Darren in College Station, Texas: I'm an adjunct professor here at [Texas] A&M

We were also in the Gulf and got thrown out.

We were testing a theory that the chemical composition of the dispersant they were using was causing the dispersant to sink. And we'd been there for approximately three days and federal agents told us to get out.

Federal agents said it was in the interest of national security.

They were Homeland Security officers.

They took all the samples we had and they also took some notes that we had, the theory we were operating upon was information that had been given to us by someone who worked in the plant that made that dispersant, and they took everything.

Cary Nelson, president, American Association of University Professors, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois: This is kind of an insane world we've entered into kind of the barring of reputable scientists from a public site who could contribute considerably to the knowledge we have.

Talk of the Nation: Dr D'Elia, have you head of other cases like that?

Dr. Christopher D'Elia, professor and dean, School of The Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.: Yes I've heard of other cases.

Save Gas, Save the Planet by John Addison

Brightfire Woman — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:03:56 +0000

Contents

Prologue
1 Smiles per Gallon
2 The Promise of Electric Vehicles
3 Plug-in Drivers get Charged
4 Lighter than Air
5 Riding on Sunlight
6 The Temptation of Biofuels
7 Flexible Work and Flying Less
8 Cool Commutes
9 Yours, Mine and Ours
10 The Car-free Option
11 New Diet for Oil Addicts
12 Energy Security
13 Global Action
14 Living in a Sustainable City
15 What Choices Should You Make?

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report. He is a member of the Western Automotive Journalists and of the Society of Environmental Journalists. His articles have appeared in print and electronic magazines with up to 1,000,000 readers including the CNET, Green Options, Cleantech Blog, and EV World. Mr. Addison is a popular speaker, conducting over 1,000 workshops in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report. He is a member of the Western Automotive Journalists and of the Society of Environmental Journalists. His articles have appeared in print and electronic magazines with up to 1,000,000 readers including the CNET, Green Options, Cleantech Blog, and EV World. Mr. Addison is a popular speaker, conducting over 1,000 workshops in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Clean Fleet

Presentations about the Future of Transportation

Now that your home is more sustainable, it’s time to take on your car. In this presentation, John Addison shares how people ride clean, ride together, and ride less. It’s not all or nothing. You have more choices than you think in fuel efficient vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles. Understand how Americans are driving fewer miles each month due to demographic shifts, flexwork, employer commute programs, public transportation, and high-speed rail. People are being rewarded with a smaller carbon footprint, saving thousands of dollars, and having more time to enjoy life.

For Author's pdf Presentation Download You will not leave WMR.

Or you can buy it as an E-book off site Here