Change.org – a way to get traction for your favorite cause

Change.org is a way to get your favorite cause off the ground. Here is the mission of Change.org:

Every day, across the world, people like you start campaigns on Change.org to fight for issues they care about — and the Change.org team works to mobilize people to help them win. We believe that building momentum for social change globally means empowering citizen activists locally. That's why anyone, anywhere — from Chicago to Cape Town – can start their own grassroots campaign for change using our organizing platform. Your campaign can be about anything. From supporting curbside recycling programs to fighting wrongful deportation to protecting against anti-gay bullying, Change.org members start campaigns around thousands of different issues. To start your own campaign, just click here. Our mission is to build an international network of people empowered to fight for what's right locally, nationally, and globally. We hope you'll join us.
Change.org is not all talk. The website lists a long strong of successful causes that germinated at the site.

Continue ReadingChange.org – a way to get traction for your favorite cause

Precursor to newest Constitutional Amendment: Only the government may own cameras

Long Island police make mother of three pay for taking photos of decorative helicopter in front of airport. This case involving Nancy Genovese is but one of many cases where law enforcement officers have been exposed for harassing and hurting people who are guilty of absolutely nothing. It's a long trend here in the United States. The government can spy all it wants, while the people are increasingly prohibited from expressing themselves or even from being curious. A lot of people are squeamish about Wikileaks, but it Wikileaks is an organization that does nothing different than the New York Times claims to be doing, yet the United States has illegally forced it into submission. And although Nancy Genovese did not claim to be doing serious investigative journalism, the American Vision News reports that she was was acting as a citizen journalist:

Nancy Genovese stopped her car on the side of the road across the street from the airport in an area that is open and accessible to the public, and crossed over the road to the airport entryway that is also open and accessible to the public to take a picture of the helicopter display. While still in her car, she took a picture of the decorative helicopter shell with the intention of posting it on her personal “Support Our Troops” web page.

Continue ReadingPrecursor to newest Constitutional Amendment: Only the government may own cameras

National policy regarding fossil fuel subsidies keeps getting distorted by campain contributions

At United Republic, Bill McKibben reports on the obscene amount of Big Oil lobbying each year in Congress. It amounts to $146 Million per year. Bernie Sanders and Keith Ellison have launched a new bill that dramatically cuts subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. McKibben notes that no member of Congress makes rational arguments in favor of fossil fuel subsidies. No arguments need to be made, because money talks:

According to Open Secrets, the oil and gas industry has already spent $37.6 million lobbying the federal government in the first few months of the year alone. They also spend buckets of money on campaign contributions to persuade our elected officials to vote for policies they favor. A recent vote in the Senate revealed just how persuasive campaign cash can be. A bid to end taxpayer subsidies for the five biggest oil companies failed to get the 60 votes it needed. The 57 senators who voted to end the subsidies received about $6 million from the oil and gas industries, compared to a whopping $24 million pocketed by the 41 senators who voted against the bill.

No wonder America is so slow to move to elementary conservation methods and sustainable energy production. This is not a new story, of course, but a continuation of legalized bribery that infests the entire electoral system. Even worse, this is a system that severely punishes representatives who do the right thing.

Continue ReadingNational policy regarding fossil fuel subsidies keeps getting distorted by campain contributions

The provocative cover of Time Magazine

I was surprised to see the cover of the most recent Time Magazine: an attractive young woman breast-feeding her 3-year old boy, who is standing on a chair to reach her breast, wearing army fatigues. I'm not shocked or disturbed in the least by the breastfeeding. There is nothing wrong with public breast-feeding. The subject of the main article, Attachment Parenting, does intrigue me, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Continue ReadingThe provocative cover of Time Magazine