Cultivate Activists

I protest against war and the military industries as socially brutalizing, monetarily costly, and personally repugnant. I'm also opposed to exploitative colonialism, torture, and the US prison system.

What to do with such outrage? I write this blog, contact elected officials, and hope to cultivate activism.

Social activism is tough. It's easy to burn-out. Successes are short-lived and local. New generations, oblivious, inherit democracy or a world powered otherwise, and submit to authority. Mostly.

Science enjoys incremental progress over generations; evidence doesn't need continuous re-analysis. But social systems are continuously rediscovered & redefined, with the gullible hoodwinked by swindlers. Social concerns change; arrogant exploitation morphs to family concerns into aged infirmities.

Entertainment may be unfulfilling, but so is politics. Much competes for attention.

I try to balance the beauty of the world, and a natural peace, with activism. Simple redoubled effort will lead to grief. Nobody carries world problems long. Cultivate others and always model peace in daily life.

photo source:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/virgomerry/11227682

Bullies On Board?

Bully methodology has taken root in the administration of many institutions. When local government, schools, banks, the airlines & the transport police, etc., become coldhearted & brutal, they've lost concern with service excellence. Workers threatened with loss of job, operating under great stress, hijack too many social relationships. We must build healthy systems. Efficiency is not the key goal of living.

Rich Washington, Poor USA

Hundreds of America's millionaire politicians gather in Washington and decide:
  ---   great wealth pays no new taxes
  ---   less funds for social redistribution
  ---   you poor, comfort yourselves in hell.

The needs & pressing problems of Americans are a different world from the US Congress, who help the rich and the corporate donors. Lavish spending on military industries. Of all America's wealth, 27% is split among 90% of the people -- a shrinking share must support more & more (link). Congress refuses to raise revenue from cronies with comfortable wealth, making Americans less talented or less fortunate eat shit.

Government Needs Talent

Many highly talented people are never attracted to government service.

Government downsizing demoralizes & leads to personnel cutbacks. Private sector interests portray government workers as parasites. A fractured public service cannot consistently supply top-quality human resources, and good clever people often are desperately needed.

US President Obama supports huge pay for financial industry executives (link). But in contrast to self-serving astronomically-paid financial manipulators, our very lives, safety & well being rely on minimally-paid air traffic controllers, government bureaucrats, firemen, health inspectors, teachers, etc. Jobs threatened, they're stressed and unappreciated...

Most top people don't enter government. And too many who aim at politics, like Obama (who has become addicted to making war), quickly abandon their promises as candidates to grab supports from powerful private interests.

Public service is gutted.

Grief in Fukushima

I'm willing to believe Fukushima's engineers & scientists are doing everything possible to fix or limit problems at the stricken nuclear plants.

Technical efforts are essential, but so are good communications with the public.

How dangerous is the Fukushima nuclear threat? I don't know. But local residents are worried, and officials sent to reassure them appear incompetent & inconsiderate.

The Japanese government has downsized to a dangerous level.

A fractured public service fails to consistently supply needed human resources. Watch the official clowns in this video - see the Japanese government's terrible response to crisis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ

Grief in Norway

A smarmy weasel in Norway murdered some 77 people, mostly teenagers a generation younger than the killer. The dead were not directly known to him; they were defenseless against his weapons.

What should be done with this man? Perhaps he should be put in a room with the mothers for private discussions.

Forbidden Homemaking 101 ?

Today is New York's first day allowing same gender couples to marry.     Congratulations !

From today's New York Times: "New York is the sixth, and largest, state to legalize same-sex marriage. Several other states are considering following suit... But most states have either laws or constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage, and federal law bars the United States government from recognizing same-sex marriages." The US Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) remains a grim prohibition, a forced denial of basic rights to minority people.

Massachusetts had the first legal same-sex marriages in the USA on 17 May 2004. US states often continue to bicker about whether such gay pairing is termed "marriage" or "civil union" or "domestic partnership" or something else.

Here in Sweden, gay couples were allowed "registered partnership" from 1995; marriage became gender neutral from 1 May 2009 after a long struggle (one champion for change was US-born Rita 'Rainy' Creighton, who tragically died in a motorbike crash before the legal normalization).

I believe "Homemaking 101" is a human right to which the State & Church might be invited to validate, but with which they should not interfere.

On a personal note, when my parents married in Massachusetts in 1956, they were legally prohibited to marry or cohabit in 14 U.S. states (my mom is mixed race, Hawaiian / Caucasian / Chinese, my dad is Caucasian). If my mother were Negro, they were barred marriage in a further 11 states (25 total of the then 48 states). Bad.

Anyhow, to those marrying today - Belated Congratulations !

Murdoch She Wrote

Rupert Murdoch has positioned himself and his companies in a key nexus of power. Information is essential for democracy to function, and Murdoch firms have come to act as gatekeepers for news & commentary. Extreme concentration of money & power can seem efficient, but it's dangerous, intimidating and deadening.

Some reporting lacks civility, but a titillated public buys the output.

They are faulted for developing too-cozy relationships with those in power.

They're also criticized for bending the rules and for breaking the law.

As with the implosion of Robert Maxwell's media empire, we might hope any changes result in more and diverse voices among a wider concerned community.

Going to Hell - Community Despair

Community is undermined by the incidents described below. It's painful to examine the assorted legal & ethical problems of Mrs. Gina Marie Clark (age 40, Marstons Mills, MA, USA).

(In brief:) Gina Clark ran the charity Touched by Angels, raising money for local accident victims & the critically ill. The organization was effective with fundraising: working with regional groups and businesses, soliciting funds from private donors in the community with true stories of local need and hardship.

A problem emerged: numerous people claimed to not have received their expected funds (link). Perhaps simple ingratitude, but many loud voices shouted scam. Ultimately, Gina Clark was arrested and charged dozens of crimes, including larceny by embezzlement, fraud, and more. Outside her arraignment, her lawyer Seth Roman (of Wilkins and Deyoung, Hyannis) stated "This is a witch hunt!" The charity is no longer operating.

Last week, Gina Clark was arrested (link) for shoplifting. She is accused of hiding assorted items worth $1093.89 down at the base of her shopping cart, paying $190.09 for merchandise on the top layer, and leaving a Kohl's department store with stolen goods. She reportedly claimed to the arresting policeman "That was not my cart, and I didn’t know how the items got in there." Such a defense might have been believable, although fingerprints or CCTV video might show if she'd handled the items. At a subsequent court appearance, her lawyer reportedly claimed something different, the shoplifting was a mere "misunderstanding" - Gina simply forgot about some items in her cart.

The public is left to wonder. Is it at all believable that someone selects nearly $1300 of goods, pays less than $200, and notices nothing? Is this lawyer's job simply to say whatever might potentially defend his client? One is left feeling the community system is hopelessly dirty & corrupt.

2011-05-05 fraud arraignment (link to YouTube video)

BackupBankroll® Joe DebtDupe

Private bankers lend money & collect interest. They get more interest from weaker borrowers. When a borrower can't pay on time, the public instead must pay those debts.

Sound crazy?
Not for a lender bank. Look carefully at this "can't lose" excellent business plan - - politicians dispense taxpayer funds to private banks (or to weak borrower nations) and make you pay-in involuntarily.

The stronger of the world are already well-served with good banking relationships. So what can a hungry bank do? Push the marginal borrowers into high-priced debt. Any problem and Joe Public will bailout the bank for the note.

This happened in the USA with the housing bubble, and earlier with savings & loan companies; now the public shoulders sovereign debt of Greece. Banks have played the politicians and ultimately the taxpayers to backup bankroll their lending.

Banks have not "accidentally" found themselves in this situation. As financial brokers it is fundamental to their business plan. Buying-selling selling-buying, they collect whatever happens.

Lord Murdoch of Mordor

When media baron Rupert Murdoch and son James Murdoch were invited to appear before the British House of Commons (Culture, Media and Sport Committee) they initially declined as being "unavailable." When then more formally summoned to appear, they claimed to be too busy (James Murdoch offered an alternate schedule 22 days after the assigned day). As public outrage grew, they finally agreed to appear as demanded.

Press & public interest are high. But who should be responsible for illegal spying by media that happened years ago? These cases involve national politics, huge funds and great power. They highlight incestuous relationships between media, politicians, and law enforcement. We're likely to hear of similar crimes in other countries -- by Murdoch-related reporters and also by others. Can we ever know what truly happened? What lessons can be learned?

We might feel sympathy for the Murdochs as they're being grilled; they claim to know little or nothing of procedures at their businesses. But wait - - these are the bosses of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, & other Foxholes, so better we recognize the Murdochs as cynically manipulative, super wealthy weasels.