End Prey for Profit - Education "Reform" as an Example

Prey for Profit:
The exploitation, bullying, marginalization, and/or abuse of people, animals, the environment, economies, and/or countries for profit and/or power.

Example:
Education "reform" for the purpose of the privatization of public education and increase of corporate profits and power. Who is exploited and/or abused? Students and teachers.

The Story:

Some corporations, CEO's and millionaires/billionaires are using their power and money to abuse children, marginalize teachers, destroy unions, take away people's rights, and exploit democracy (Citizens United, etc.) for power and profit. First, they purposefully compare test results between the entire and extremely heterogeneous and higher rate of poverty, huge COUNTRY of the US with the more lower rate of poverty and homogeneous CITY of Shanghai and small country of Finland and in order to be able to say Education in America has Failed. Then, they use EVERY opportunity to scapegoat and demonize teachers and say they, especially the more experienced teachers, are the problem. I especially love their central propaganda piece, "Waiting for Superman," in which they come in to "rescue" our country from our horrendously incompetent teachers and school systems. Next, they lobby and create laws, policies and regulations, while they put their corporate reform minions in place as School District Superintendents, School Board Trustees and Federal and State Legislators to help usher in their reforms, budget cuts, vouchers, co-locations, merit pay, common core standards, increased testing, union and collective bargaining busting, as they erode public education and teacher's rights. Finally, they get their desired results: increased corporate profits for charter and private schools...testing and remediation companies...textbook publishers, etc.; dis-empowered or broken unions; low-salaried, at-will employed teachers who have no due-process rights and for whom they no longer have to pay much in benefits. Notice that there is not one mention of students in this scenario? Of course there isn't. Children were never really their concern. They threw teachers under the school bus while they used public-school children and education reform as the cover for their battle for power, control and profits. Shame on the corporate "reform" people for using our nation's children as human shields. End the Use of Children as Prey For Profit. 

How Can You Change America for the Better?

How can you change America for the better? That change must simply begin with you...and me. Income inequality and desperation breeds violence and unrest. However, the choice to not participate in the insanity is yours. The path and the power to create positive, non-violent change lies within each and every one of us. We have only to stand up, be it, and live it to create the change. Then, what those in power want or do will no longer matter. The joining of the power of our very lives will create the change.

Vote, get involved in politics to change it for the better, choose where you spend wisely, choose what you watch and do buy wisely, choose for the direction you want our country and our people to take. Whatever you do, please don't be apathetic and let this current course continue. The weakest link in the process of change helps to determine the strength and permanence of the outcome. Please choose non-violence as your method of expressing your thoughts, beliefs and actions. The only way those in power could try stop it would be to kill each and every last one of us. Then, they'd have nobody left to do their bidding and they'd be forced to become one of us to survive, and then we'd still have created the change. The path of compassion, love and non-violence will prevail.

This is a journey, and my own path has been rather circuitous. I have shut off my television. In doing so, I have reduced the amount of advertisements to which I am subjected by at least a hundred-fold. I have reduced my exposure to the purposeful propaganda of the 3 major corporate owners of most of the thousands of media outlets  in America (tv, radio, newspapers - ever wonder why they're all saying pretty much the same thing?). I don't buy all the "look at how wonderful and rich I am" celebrity magazines that fuel consumerism, greed, and the grass is greener on the rich side of America. This past year of no television has been a positive, interesting journey; so positive that I will not be watching it next year, either.

I avoid shopping, and if I do shop, I avoid buying anything except food. Yes, I get tempted. Most of the time, these days, my common sense wins. I find creative ways to delay, and then avoid, actually buying something I want but don't need. When I shop for clothes, I usually go to thrift stores before any other, to avoid buying new. At the same time, those in need also benefit. I am thankful for everything and everyone in my life. I don't need any things, except for food, water, shelter, and clothes (could get a little cold out there).

Ultimately, the path to peace varies for each traveller. I wish you all the best of luck on your path. Namaste.

In the Light of Human Rights

I recently read a letter by Sharon Underwood describing her son's and her family's experience of discriminatory and cruel treatment by others. Wow! This letter is powerful, beautiful and heartfelt. Although I am not a member of the LGBT community, I believe in the intrinsic worth and rights of all human beings. As such, the type of thinking and actions that this mother, her son and many others have to deal with is unconscionable and inexcusable. The idea that one group doesn't have rights, while another does, is the heart of discrimination, bullying, hatred, greed, trafficking, slavery, violence, and genocide. The next step is for people to blame others for their own inadequacies or failures, and we have a repeat of Hitler's Germany or countless other instances of genocide and crimes against humanity. Responsibility for one's own actions and outcomes, as well respect for oneself and others, are the foundations of a peaceful and equitable society. In what kind of world do people really want to live?


Here's a link to Sharon Underwood's letter...
http://abouthomosexuality.com/vermont-mother.pdf

Stop the Oil Speculation Game

Wall Street oil speculators are driving up oil prices in a time of weak demand. The ability of American citizens to pay for housing, energy, food, and health care has already been severely curtailed due to the rampant speculation, opacity, deregulation, lack of accountability, and greed that has brought our country to its knees. All of this has created homeless and jobless citizens who can’t pay their bills, put food on the table, or pay for health care. People's lives, homes, jobs, and their very survival should not depend upon the whims of Wall Street gamers playing the shadowy Oil Speculation Game for the sole purpose of increasing their corporate profits and personal bank accounts. They're playing this game at the expense of both our citizens and our country. Please take action. Contact your Senators to pass the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act of 2010. Here's the link for you to tell Washington to act now: http://www.stopoilspeculationnow.com/home.aspx

Taking Our Countries Back from the Recession

People should take responsibility for themselves and their actions. This also goes for those who created the "recession" in which we now find ourselves. Taking a judgemental position of superiority and entitlement is what created the foundation for the problems many countries now face. The problem began, not with the unemployed, but with the greed, abuse of power, and purposeful financial deregulation by politicians and top CEO's (who now earn approximately 540% more than the average American, compared to the approximately 56% more that top European CEO's earn over the average European worker) to enable exponential increases in monetary acquisition, along with the greatest transfer of wealth and property to banks in history...paid for by the average citizen in taxes, loss of jobs, foreclosures, furlough days, reduced wages and benefits, reductions in funding for necessary things like education and basic health care, teacher layoffs, etc.

Don't blame the victims of this abuse of power and greed. The abusers' refusal to take responsibility is why those who created this mess should be tried and held accountable in a court of law. Those who are allowed to abuse with impunity will continue to abuse. In fact, our failure to hold accountable those responsible will encourage more abuse.

Taking back our countries should be about demanding ethical behavior of those in power, free and fair elections, justice for those who abuse their power, paying living wages, and adequate educational and health care funding for a start. It should be about empowering all people to rise to their highest ability level and giving a helping hand up to those who are down so they can once again contribute to society. Those who have a sense of superiority and entitlement should walk a mile in the shoes of those whom they judge. Life is very different from another's perspective.

How can we empower ourselves and each other to take our countries back to responsible leadership in politics and business? How can we take on greater responsibility and more effective leadership in our own lives as individuals and as citizens?

Let Them Eat Cake?

Well, 100 years before Marie Antoinette, a princess in the French aristocracy said, "qu'ils mangent de la brioche." This has been incorrectly translated as, "let them eat cake." "Let them eat brioche" was callously uttered by an aristocrat when there was not even enough plain bread to feed the poor people, never mind the delicious, butter-rich brioche. One way or another, this kind of callous disregard by the idle rich towards the working poor of those times led to the French Revolution. In fact, Marie Antoinette was dubbed "Madame Déficit" for her active role in overspending the people's tax money. Therefore, I believe it completely appropriate to dub George Dubya "Monsieur le President Déficit" for taking a surplus and overspending the people's money to create the huge deficit that President Obama and the people of the United States have inherited.

George Bush, et al are responsible for the mortgage and financial meltdown crisis, recession and layoffs we now face. The road to our current recession and deficit is long. Phil Gramm began removal of the regulatory protections put in place after the last Depression. Then Enron officials both laughingly and greedily began the recent power surge in unregulated profit dollars, followed closely by other power companies, Big Oil, and the mortgage and financial industry.

When government and industry conspire to grasp more and more of the people's money, the people will throw the "cake" back into their faces. The American Revolution began with the Boston Tea Party because colonists were being taxed without any representation. When government and corporations conspire against the people, they also seem to think the people don't know or notice they're not being represented.

Whenever unfettered greed and abuse of power create a huge gap in income between the rich and the poor, accompanied by the disappearance of the middle class, there is often a revolution. The US government was afraid of a revolution during the first Depression. I’m surprised it’s not worried now. As a teacher, it never ceases to amaze me that people never seem to learn from history, but keep repeating the mistakes of the past. I am noticing many troubling signs, such as tea parties, comments all over the internet, and hearing talk on the street. Oh, I also noticed that the traditionally served little tea cakes were conspicuously absent from the many and very recently held tea parties.

I absolutely do not want to see a similar, violent history lesson repeated in this country. Honestly, I believe people should resort to non-violent means to effect social and political change. I truly hope the current government rapidly takes the proper steps to close the current income gap, and that President Obama and his administration also address the many other horrors of the Bush/Cheney “Reign of Terror” on the common person.

The Dark Side of The Patriot Act

The USA Patriot Act is an acronym for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (Public Law Pub.L. 107-56). I believe the USA Patriot Act is both unAmerican and unpatriotic, as it has removed the basic human rights for which our founding fathers, and every generation since, have fought and died.

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." (Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, November 11, 1755.—The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree, vol. 6, p. 242 (1963).) The following quotation, a paraphrased and more frequently quoted version of Franklin's quote, is inscribed on a plaque in the stairwell of the Statue of Liberty: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, along with Lady Liberty, are respectively, the rule of law and symbol of the United States of America. How dare President Bush and members of Congress, who all swore an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution, so quickly, easily and readily gut the fundamental protection of our rights in our Constitution. Honestly, all who voted for and signed the Patriot Act most certainly did not represent me when they did this, nor did they protect and defend our Constitution.

We've already seen what the lack of oversight and regulation have done to our country's mortgage and financial industries. Ask the millions of unemployed, those whose homes have been foreclosed or whose home values have significantly dropped, and those whose retirement accounts have evaporated down to next to nothing whether or not the Bush Administration's reduced and/or altogether removed oversight policies and regulations have protected them, while the rich and powerful made trillions of dollars.

The USA Patriot Act is the type of ultimate, purposeful removal of oversight and protective regulations for citizens' rights that governments use to get rid of those who oppose them. How easy this can also be for them now, when the media, who are the Fourth Estate, the watchdog over the government, will no longer be granted access to any information about those who are being investigated. The United States of America is not supposed to create the types of laws that can be found in a dictatorship, in which police powers have been augmented, and with which people can be "disappeared," held without charge, representation, or due process. So much for the rights of the 'tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free' who struggled to make it to this country of hope, freedom and opportunity.

Many people are concerned this country is treading on very dangerous ground that may cause some political leaders to slip and fall down the slippery slope of greed and dictatorship. If that doesn't happen, the Uniting and Strengthening America Patriot Act, may very well still be the downfall of our country by creating a rift between citizens who either support or oppose this Act, and by weakening its moral foundation. So now we will wait and see how the results of the current lack of oversight and regulation in our fundamental rules of law will affect American citizens. While we wait, I am one citizen who is on the record to demand that the President and Congress rescind the USA Patriot Act, reinstate our Constitutional rights, and create a new Constitutional amendment that firmly prohibits the removal of our citizens' fundamental rights by anyone in power!

Arrogance, Greed and Excess

Arrogance, greed and excess abound in America. Let's see...

Exxon made, once again, record-breaking profits in 2008, while we were struggling to pay $4.30/gallon for regular, unleaded gas

Nearly $20 billion in Wall Street bonuses were paid out (don't forget that the average Wall Street employee makes 3-4x the salary of the average American worker), as they laughed all the way to their banks while they took billions in bail-out money out of taxpayers' pockets

Citigroup picked up a new, multi-million dollar corporate jet, while taking billions in bail-out money out of taxpayer's pockets

A single mother of six children, who lives with her parents, just gave birth to octuplets, implanted via IVF for who knows what reason. Who will pay for the hospital bills, health care, clothing, food, daycare, etc. for all 14 children? The taxpayers???

The CEO of Morgan Stanley used $1.2 million of shareholder money to redecorate his office, including an approximately $34,000 toilet

The crippled mortgage industry, high foreclosure rates, bank failures, business closures, lay-offs, unemployment, higher food and energy prices, inability to get new loans due to bailout money-hoarding by banks and financial institutions...

and the list just keeps on growing!

I'm thankful to have my job, a place to live, and food on my table. I pray for those who are victims of all of this arrogance, greed and excess, and hope they have the courage and fortitude to survive this Depression.

Governor Blagojevich, AKA "Crash" Corruption

Talk about hitting a wall without any awareness you're there! Maybe the driver's still stumbling around drunk with power. This car must have an Illinois license plate. Governor Blagojevich, whether or not he's charged and found guilty, is either a narcissist or sociopath...or both. This kind of euphoric corruption reminds me of the words from a song in Mamma Mia. "Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man's world. Money, money, money, always sunny, in a rich man's world." He's most certainly not alone in the crime spree of corruption and influence peddling occurring in this country, nor is he the only person in office who could be the recipient of a similar diagnosis, right on up to our current Commander-in-Chief. We simply continue to see more and more riders, individuals or corporations, on the roller coaster of widespread greed and corruption.

It seems like the United States of America is for sale. It’s not just Senate seats that are pandered, it’s also the undue influence of one individual or group over another. This influence and corruption also benefit corporations and entire industries. Politicians and government employees have consistently given "particular" corporations and businesses breaks on regulations and policies, instead of protecting the American citizen and our environment.

Blagojevich is only the tip of the iceburg. We need wide-ranging reform of elections, political appointments, contracts (including outlawing cost-plus, no-bid contracts), etc. to prevent the type of corruption of which Blagojevich is, allegedly, one prime example. Honestly, I think Lincoln would not be the only one turning over in his grave; so would our Founding Fathers.

The Disappearance of the Bee and Humanity?

I heard a quote some believe has been erroneously attributed to Einstein that predicted the demise of humanity within 4 years of the disappearance of the bee. ”If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” Honeybees are dying at alarming rates in North America and Europe. There is also documentation that they are disappearing in Taiwan. A large percentage of plants depend upon honeybees for pollination to remain a viable species. Therefore, I can see how the disappearance of all bees could produce a concomitant collapse of some species, and possibly, ecosystems. Although we don't know the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, I am concerned that we humans are at the root of the collapse. Some scientists believe it is caused by insecticides, herbicides. other toxins, and/or pollutants; others believe the collapse may be caused by genetically modified crops.

I believe our agricultural system is in disarray. Agribusiness has decreased the diversity of plant species through their farming practices. Also due to their farming practices, large tracts of once arable soils are no longer fertile and are so polluted by pesticides, I question if large-scale remediation is possible. We have disregarded the "simplistic and unscientific" wisdom of our ancestors, who through thousands of years of trial and error, determined that crop rotation and letting fields lie fallow to rest, maintains soil viability and fertility. I hope that we can return to a larger percentage of small farms growing diverse, natural, non-gmo crops and using healthier, organic or permaculture-type methods of farming. We are also destroying our marine food supply by overfishing, pollution through oil spills, the dumping of waste, trash and chemicals, and the purposeful killing of whales and sharks, the top marine predators.

Our food supply has been contaminated with the introduction of genetically modified organisms (gmo's), which have also been allowed to cross-contaminate natural plants. Gmo's were not subjected to long-term independent scientific testing to determine their long-term health effects on human health (or that of other species) before they were introduced into our food supply. The use of Monsanto's genetically modified, patented seeds and plants require the use of Monsanto's poisonous pesticide Round-Up. Small-acreage farmers, into whose fields the gmo seeds blow and grow without any intent of those farmers, are being sued by Monsanto for patent infringement. Another problem is that one chemical company owns the patents to a large percentage of natural seeds in the western hemisphere. This company can withhold selling these seeds in favor of its own. He who controls the food supply... Who allowed them to patent life? I hope that I, as an American citizen, didn't fall asleep at the wheel and that I don't share the blame. Can we have these patents found unlawful, unconstitutional and be rescinded?

The diversity of all plant and animal species have been dramatically reduced partly because of the encroachment of humans into their natural habitats. If you look at a population map of the human species, our population growth over thousands of years used to be predominantly linear and sustainable. However, our population growth increased substantially with the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of antibiotics and modern medicine. It has been exponential, in fact, almost vertical since around the 1970's. Potable water is less than 1% of all water on earth. Habitable land is approximately 4% of the earth's surface. There is no longer enough potable water or arable land to sustain our still-growing global population. When we compete with all the other species for what's left of habitable land and potable water, they lose. Yet, so do we, although on the surface, we appear to win.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, based in Switzerland, recently released the results of a five-year study that concluded almost 1 in 4 mammals on our planet are at risk of extinction. When the top predators are gone, the trophic cascade spills down to the smallest of species, adversely affecting entire ecosystems. In the 1920's we eradicated wolves from the Yellowstone ecosystem, unwittingly setting off the trophic cascade. The recent reintroduction of wolves, the top predator, into Yellowstone has led to a natural balance in that ecosystem and a significant increase in the diversity of plant and animal species found there. We humans often arrogantly disrupt the balance and rhythms of nature, thinking that a)we have the right to do this, b)we "know better," and c) it is in "our", but actually one group's, best interest. Our huge population increase, in and of itself, has put the balance of nature into a downward spiral. Will nature create a way to bring our population into a more natural balance with the rest of the species?

These are dangerous times for all who inhabit Planet Earth, mostly by our own hand. We consistently see reports of how something we've done adversely effects other species and our environment. We also see reports of human illnesses that have been attributed to the increased concentration of pollutants, toxins and heavy metals in our environment. Many different allergies, cancers, asthma, COPD and other pulmonary disorders are being reported at increasingly alarming rates. How can we continue to commit specicide?

I haven't even introduced CO2 emissions, global warming, or climate change into this discussion and we're already in trouble. When these issues are included, our problems escalate exponentially. When global temperature increases and sea levels rise, the percentage of habitable land decreases. Considering the fact that more than 50% of humans live along or close to coastlines, there will be mass migrations. Where do we put all those people? Do we believe these migrations will all occur peacefully? What role in all of this will storms have; storms that are predicted to increase in both strength and frequency? Will there be water wars over what's left of unpolluted potable water? What happens to all the other species affected?

Can we humans, somehow, come together in peace to discuss and formulate global initiatives to control our population growth, as well as the pollution and destruction of our common home? Will corporate executives stop their seemingly unquenchable greed and quest for power? Will they also end their unhealthy and unsustainable policies and actions and, instead, start caring for the beings of this planet? Will governments finally start penalizing these people and their behaviors, as well as their own? Why can't a free economy benefit all sentient beings of this planet? The current huge and still-expanding gap between rich and poor is immoral. Why do we reward uncontrolled greed and power that so clearly benefits the few and harms our planet and all life? Has our quest for more "stuff" been worth it? Are we already too late to even attempt to repair the damage we've caused? Is this last-minute bid for our own survival yet another form of human arrogance? What do you think?

Check out the following:
Human Population Maps
http://desip.igc.org/mapanim.html
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange/current/lectures/human_pop/human_pop.html
The Future of Food
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNezTsrCY0Q
The IUCN Red List
http://www.iucnredlist.org/Population Along Coastlines
http://www.livescience.com/environment/060718_map_settle.html
The Story of Stuff
http://www.storyofstuff.com/