Independence Day: Happy Fourth of July to All Who Dream the American Dream!

Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear America, happy birthday to us.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..." , excerpted from The United States Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776.

"...Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. /I lift my lamp beside the golden door!", taken from the poem, The New Colossus, written by Emma Lazarus, in 1883 and etched in its entirety on a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

A political treatise setting down the rules and reasons for the birth of a nation, and a sonnet inspired by immigrants and penned as part of a fundraising effort for a statue from France.
 
These are the words that define America. They are our moral standard - the ideals we aspire to. They are messages to the rest of the world - and  reminders to ourselves - that around here, we take the higher ground. These grace-filled words are how we see ourselves.

Americans are self-reliant: we  know what it means to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. And we know what it means to lend a helping hand. We believe in second chances and new beginnings. We believe in redemption. We don't believe in giving up.

We share a Past not always proud and we remember blood ill-spilled. With shame, our memories accuse as we recall a darker time, when bigotry and hatred divided this land of ours. But, we remember too, a Dream and we know that when we stand united for a righteous cause, even prejudice and fear can fall.

America was born as a stand against tyranny and oppression. A promise of refuge and hope. We are a country made up of immigrants - we hail from all around the globe - but we speak with one voice when we recite The Pledge of Allegiance. We believe in "liberty and justice for all...".  Most of us.

Let's Cut The Crap and Finally Put An End To Open Defecation!

Open defecation – the official euphemism for pooping outside. 1.1 billion - (with a B) – folks world-wide practice it. When nature calls, they drop their drawers or raise their skirts and go in fields, behind bushes, in streams or other near-by water sources, even next to train-tracks and on crowded streets! Because they have no toilets. No shit! Let's not let the “eeww” factor keep us from facing the down and dirty truth here: men, women and children are pooping in public!! It's time to cut the crap and talk about how we can end this gross and dangerous tradition. I mean seriously....

Who does that, you ask? Well, 600 million people in India do and 39 million in Nigeria. In fact, according to a recent UN report 15% of the population, worldwide, steps outside to move their bowels. 82% of them live in just 10 countries: India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Niger, Nepal, China and Mozambique. Extreme poverty plays a major role, and demographics: it is far more common in rural areas.

To be sure, the numbers have dropped dramatically since 1990 - in countries where education and a toilet for every household were made priorities. Bangladesh, Vietnam and Peru have all managed to lower their statistics down to single digits! But some other places, not so much: India and Nigeria? Their numbers have actually risen.

It's not just about the annoyance or embarrassment of having odorous piles dotting the landscape. (Though those are two perfectly good reasons to not take a dump out in the open.) There are serious health, safety and environmental consequences connected to this bathroom habit.

Human excrement contains pathogens that can - without adequate sanitation methods - get on hand's and feet (especially of children) and into water supplies. These germs pose a serious threat to a community's well being, increasing the risks of contracting cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. Most vulnerable are the very young, the very old, or the frail and infirm. More than 750,000 children under the age of five die every year from diarrhea directly caused by open defecation.

Having to go outside, especially at night, to engage in such an intimate act is unsafe – women and girls, in particular can find themselves victimized in horrific ways. Recently, media outlets around the globe reported on the shocking story of two young cousins in India, aged 14 and 15-years-old, who were gang-raped and then hanged after being accosted in a field were they had gone – after dark - to relieve themselves.

"This is a movement against open defecation. Cleanliness is
going to be our identity." 

The planet pays a price for this repugnant practice, too, with increased pollution both on land and in water. As faeces and fecal sludge contaminate an area it can have a domino effect where ecological processes are disrupted leading to destroyed ecosystems which in turn negatively impact the people dependent on them for sustenance and livelihoods... In short, it perpetuates a cycle of loss – not the least of which is the loss of human dignity.

More than toilets are needed though to stop this crap (see what I did there?:-)) Mind's and attitude's must be changed. The downside is so obvious to those of us who have had indoor plumbing for generations, but if this is how you've always gone, if this is how everyone around you has always gone...someone is gonna have to help you connect the dots, convince you why you should stop. Otherwise toilets become simply storage space.

Using education, humor, even shame, strides are being made. The UN had targeted 2015 in their International Decade for Action “Water for Life” campaign as the date for fully realizing sustainable sanitation world-wide and ending open defecation. The goal will not be met. But they are not giving up. On May 28^th. 2014 UNDeputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson announced a new campaign with the same goals but a different time line. The new target date:2025. To help get things rolling he is encouraging us all to learn...and talk about this issue. We must stop being coy about this practice just because we're embarrassed by the subject matter – lives are at stake. Word-of-mouth can bring about a whole lot of change. No shit.

Why Are So Many Americans Still Poor? can we reverse the reversal of fortunes so many are learning to live with?

Like climate change, only the ignorant and uninformed dare deny the obvious anymore: in America the rich are indeed getting richer while the rest of us are, well...not. 15 percent of the population is now officially considered poor. That's 46 million Americans living (if you can call it that) at or below the poverty line! Safety net programs can be thanked for keeping millions more off of these rolls...for now. In fact, according to data put out by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an additional 20 million people would be counted were it not for Social Security. What is less agreed upon are the reasons for this spiraling downturn. Why are the poor getting poorer? Without that consensus, how to eradicate poverty becomes just another endless debate. And the ranks of the poor in America keep on growing. In a July 26, 2012 opinion piece, "Poverty in America: Why Can't We End it?” for The New York Times, Georgetown University Professor of Law and author Peter Edelman gave four reasons the war on poverty rages on: low paying jobs single parent households states reducing/ending cash assistance benefits to needy families ongoing race and gender issues A steep decline in Union membership – down now to 1916 numbers of 11.3% - must be noted as well. Unions protect wages and grow the economy. It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.who said, “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans as a 'right to work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining.” Using income statistics collected by the US Census, the National Educational Association found Right to Work (RTW) states had a lower standard of living than their worker-friendly counterparts. In fact, eleven of the fifteen poorest states in America are RTW states. Nine of the eleven states with the lowest poverty rates are considered worker-friendly. Having a job and working hard is just not enough to make it in America any longer. Low wages, coupled with a lack of affordable housing delivers a one-two punch that can leave the financially stressed reeling. Current Federal Minimum Wage is set at $7.25 per hour. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has determined you would have to earn a 'housing wage' of $15.37 per hour in order to afford a two bedroom apartment at an average fair-market rent.  Seattle, Washington recently addressed this disparity by agreeing to raise minimum wage there to $15 per hour. (Good job Seattle!) Hard times can and do happen to anyone. People just like you, just like me...just like our neighbors are slipping below the poverty line every day. Annually, 3.5 million people in the United States find out first -hand what it means to be homeless. 35% of them are families with children. 23% served our country in the military. The key to winning the battle and the war against poverty is empathy. It is incumbent on the middle class to align themselves with those losing the economic struggle if the status quo is to end. In a world where a CEO's take-home income can be 350 times that of their average worker (Confessions of a class warrior, Robert Reich, 8/12/2010), the 1% standing of the very rich blinds them to the harsh realities of being poor. That ignorance can only get in the way of meaningful change.  A “There but for the grace of God go I...” attitude is what is needed if we are to stop this downward descent into poverty so many of our fellow Americans face. note: I originally posted this on Helium - a content-provider site - they are shutting down and writers have been notified we have until December to remove/delete/re-post our work . So, I re-worked it a little and here you go. It matters so I wanted to make sure it was out there somewhere...

It's Not Always Racism!

Here we go again! Another manufactured scandal over a sound-byte! Once more the media is working themselves into a frenzy and fanning the flames of controversy, for ratings. (I'm talking to you, CNN). This time the forced outrage is aimed at a remark made by Dallas Mavericks owner  Mark Cuban during an interview with Inc. Magazine.

He said, in part: “I mean, we’re all prejudiced in one way or another. If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street, there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face — white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere — I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes that we all live up to and are fearful of. So in my businesses, I try not to be hypocritical. I know that I’m not perfect. I know that I live in a glass house, and it’s not appropriate for me to throw stones.”

Sorry – I don’t hear a racist here. I don’t hear ignorance...or hate. I hear a real person trying to have an honest dialogue about an American reality. If we cannot speak the truth about our fears and prejudices – if we can't tell it like it really is - how are we ever going to get past those fears and prejudices? We can find common ground in our shared hope for the future but we won't get there by hiding what we feel., by being afraid to say what's on our minds. Ignorance and hate thrive in the dark. They are spread by whispers. Let's shine a light on what we honestly think about race and prejudice and bigotry and each other. Let's talk openly about these things. We might surprise ourselves with just how alike we are in our perceptions.  

Sorry, I do the same as Mr. Cuban if I'm walking alone late at night. And I tell my daughter to, too. And I know I am not a racist. All the media-types feigning offense at these words are willfully misinterpreting what is being said. And ignoring the mention of a tattooed white guy. Frankly, any reasonable person no matter what their skin-color will feel trepidation in such circumstances. It's called judgment - and yes, we exercise judgment based on quick impressions all the time. We used to call it trusting our gut – our instincts – now we call it profiling. Some call it racism.

UN Report on North Korea Creates a Crisis of Conscience For The Rest of Us

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” ?

By Burmesedays (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

The recently released United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea report describes a hellish environment for the unlucky inhabitants of that secretive country. Authors, former Australian Judge Micheal Kirby, Serbian human rights campaigner, Sonja Biserko and Marzuki Darusman, of Indonesia, liken the 21^st century Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (aka North Korea's) governance to 20^th century Nazism. In fact, they say there is no modern-day “parallel” to the sub-human atrocities being committed by Kim Jong Crazy’s regime. They put Kim Jong Un on notice for possible crimes against humanity charges and issue a stern warning to China that they could be guilty of aiding and abetting in these crimes if they continue to force the repatriation of those North Koreans who have managed to flee the madness into their country. Kirby calls on the international community to act. And soon.

For over six decades, through three generations, the Kim Dynasty has exacted a brutal order on their citizens. With intimidation, fear and monstrous savagery they have maintained control in North Korea...at a terrible cost. Like the victims of the fictional character Saw in the horror movie franchise of the same name, the gruesome details documented through hundreds of eyewitness and first-hand testimony show a people dehumanized by the relentless horrors inflicted upon them. They are numb to their own – and others - suffering. They have lost the ability to feel. It is what it is, when survival becomes the only goal.

One thing that is obvious after reading these narratives: we can't un-read them. What we were once able to - albeit a little nervously – push aside as rumor – has been confirmed – many times over. This report creates a crisis of conscience we all have to face. This isn't the laughable spectacle of a drunken, once-relevant basketball player trying to get noticed. Nor is it the “maybe debate” about an unstable government's nuclear capabilities. This is what is happening right now to 'too many to count' fellow human beings. The report estimates 120,000 people are being held in four prison camps across the country – a number that would certainly be higher had not so many inmates already died prior to the panels investigation.

We cannot say we don’t know. We do. Now what? 

With Coal It's What We Don't Know That Can Hurt Us

To bad the NSA didn’t hire a few coal guys to keep an eye on things for them. Their secrets might still be secret if they had. When you think about how little we know about the chemicals (what chemicals, exactly?) these energy producers use in the extraction, cleaning and processing of their product, I'd say the industry is pretty adept at keeping things classified. Hell, as Kate Sheppard pointed out for Huff Post Green 1/20/14, we can't even say for certain where every related storage facility is! (Hint: that rusty, abandoned-looking tank in your community might not be empty!)

There has been no Snowden-scale whistle-blowing exposing all of coal's dirty little secrets, no leaked documents detailing the full scope of their commercial deceit - at least none that have managed to maintain the level of scrutiny Edward Snowden's revelations were rewarded with. In fact, less then two weeks after hundreds of thousands of West Virginians lost their access to potable water for more than a week because of a chemical spill related to 'big coal', (no matter what the state's governor says) the attention of the media and the nation is faltering and news-gatherers are leading with other topics. I find that very disconcerting.

From mountain-top removal to fracking to cross-country pipelines, the biggest story in carbon-based fuel consumption is how much we don’t know about the processes and materials and dangers involved. The amount of information we are not privy to – even when it directly affects us - is mind-boggling! Spilled and leached poisons have rendered water sources undrinkable throughout 'coal country', accidents - or like industry spokes-people like to call them, “acts of God” - have turned whole towns uninhabitable and yet the Energy companies cry “Proprietary!” when asked to disclose the specifics of the chemical substances they use. And unbelievably, we let them: current law backs them up! Huh?!?

When John Boehner tells us ...“we have enough regulations...” in place to protect the waters in West Virginia and beyond, he ignores the fact that what happened in West Virginia was a direct consequence of a lack of mandated oversight. Deregulation is why inspecting chemical storage containers isn't done in WV – ever. 

House Appropriations Chairman (aka “Prince of Pork”) Hal Rogers (R-Ky), openly acknowledged helping the coal industry as his reason for attaching an omnibus rider that stops the EPA from tightening the rules for dumping waste into streams.

With the spectre of high unemployment working in their favor, the sociopaths (according to Wikipedia definition: sociopath: an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct but masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal... seems appropriate) in charge of coal and coal-related companies are able to maintain their huge profit margins with the promise of a pay check. But job security won't make up for a way of life forever lost through greed. It won't make the streams run clear again, or shape the tops of cut down mountains. It won't bring back the people.

Don't Push The Long-term Unemployed Over Fiscal Cliffs: Extend Emergency Unemployment Benefits

You'd think Repub's would have learned after last year's failed Tea-party planned budget debacle:
American's aren't keen on hostage taking tactics. But we're talking GOP here, and that was then. This time around they're narrowing their focus and bullying a much smaller group of citizens: the 1.3 million long-term unemployed.

Seeking a 'tit-for-tat trade-off' the party of "our way or no way!" is again tying doing the right thing to getting their own way. Feigning fiscally motivated outrage, Boehner and Co. are calling for ways that will off-set the cost of continuing with emergency unemployment extensions - before continuing them. Some of us see this as just another blatant Republican ransom demand with the by now expected payment requirement: repeal Obama-Care.

While Party leaders drone on about long-term solutions and job creation, the more immediate concerns occupying an unemployed persons thoughts remain: "how will I pay this months rent and power bill? What will I feed my children for dinner tonight?"

While the end-result of all governmental aid should include preventing someone from having to go on the dole in the first place - stuff happens. 3 applicants for every job opening counts as 'stuff' happening' to at least 2 of the people responding to a Help Wanted ad. Safety nets are needed for this reason.  Frankly it is immoral to use an individual's misfortune as a bargaining chip in the game of politics. It is also bad business.

What kind of voodoo math are they using in the House to determine taking away money as a means to improve someones financial circumstance? Kicking people off the unemployment rolls before they have found work does not translate into an automatic increase in jobs numbers. It's a shell game that's just moving recipients around. Take away the insurance stipend (average benefit $300 per week) and the statistics may jump in other areas, notably social service counts for food stamps, Medicaid, and the like.  The long term unemployed are facing fiscal cliffs of their own every day and that weekly unemployment check  is the only thing keeping many of them from going over the edge.