The United States needs an independent print, (newspaper,) media. One that does not rely on a big corporate infrastructure to determine what content should or should not be carried.This is not about who selects, produces, and owns entertainment content shown on ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS, but rather the unwillingness of these GIGANTIC media companies to provide America with more news and documentary programs that just might have exposed those who led us into the horrid wars we are in, and are trying to encourage another one with Iran, and who have surreptitiously violated our constitution.
Congress should not allow these guys to own newspapers in the markets that they serve with television content. Those fabulous Republican FCC Commissioners will do their best to give the “really big bad guys” whatever they want.
By Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writer | October 28, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO –Thousands of people called for a swift end to the war in Iraq as they marched through downtown on Saturday, chanting and carrying signs that read: “Wall Street Gets Rich, Iraqis and GIs Die” or “Drop Tuition Not Bombs.”
The streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.
As part of the demonstration, protesters fell on Market Street as part of a “die in” to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.
The protest was the largest in a series of war protests taking place in New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, organizers said.
By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet
Posted on October 22, 2007
Printed on October 28, 2007
A child’s education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born. — Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
The debate in Congress over whether to reauthorize No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is underway.
What’s with these politically-calculated, brand-name, PR-speak, Orwellian euphemisms? Clear Skies Act. Operation Enduring Freedom. USAPatriot Act. No Child Left Behind. Who, other than Hal Lindsey fans, would want a child to be left behind?! What unenlightened creature, harboring “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” in the words of the President, would be opposed to legislation that promotes “academic excellence?”
Dan McDougall in New Delhi
Sunday October 28, 2007
Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant. Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings.
Time is tick…tick…ticking away! Wednesday, October 25, is the LAST DAY to purchase tickets at the early bird price of $8. After that, and at the door, tickets cost $10.
Thanks bunches to those who have already bought tickets, allowing us to pay screening and venue deposits and allowing you to see an important film promoting maternal-child health!
Location
N. Charleston Cultural & Civic Center Complex
1530 7th St.
(Fmr Navy Base – 2 blocks from McMillan Ave. entrance)
N. Charleston, SC 29405
Hosted By ICAN of Charleston
ICAN of Charleston is a mother-to-mother support group and all-volunteer nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by:
(1) preventing unnecessary cesareans through education,
(2) providing support for cesarean recovery, and
(3) promoting Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC).
Jim Hightower has the great attribute of being both accessible and funny. Here’s his most recent video. Please visit his site. He is both witty and wise. Jim is incredibly informed and his site and newsletter are valuable resources to staying informed, especially about the war machine . . .
If the transition from 386 to 486 resonates loudly in your heart strings, then you have some idea of how far we’ve come the past fifteen years or so. Of course, the seemingly exponential acceleration of tech improvements presents a fair share of problems–problems that extend beyond your feelings of inadequacy that can’t be quelled until you get your hands on the next big thing. Electronic Waste, or E-Waste, is cause for serious environmental concern. Every time someone makes a device run faster, smoother, or more efficiently, a whole line of products becomes obsolete. We, however, hope that once that happens, those items won’t become environmental burdens.
From GOOD, with love, here’s a PSA explaining what you can do to help.
Lugging huge bags of coffee through the unpaved hills of Rwanda to a processing plant was back-breaking work for the Karaba coffee co-op.
In this original GOOD video see how a collaboration between Karaba and a Portland, Oregon, coffee roaster has solved that problem, boosted production, and given birth to a new non-profit.
The above video clip was about coffee coming from Rwanda. There is a relatively new documentary movie out entitled Black Gold which is about a coffee farmer, Tadesse Meskela, in Ethiopia who is trying to save his coffee farmers from bankruptcy. Here is a clip from that movie:
Ethiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa. Over 15 million Ethiopians depend on coffee for their survival. Coffee provides approximately 67 percent of Ethiopia’s export revenue.
The Ethiopian coffee farmer receives between 1-4 Birr (20-50 cents) for a kilo of coffee. In the West, retail coffee consumers pay 2,000 Birr ($230) for that same kilo.
Globally, more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day.
Since 1990, retail sales from coffee have increased from $30 billion to $80 billion a year.
The world coffee market is dominated by four multinational corporations: Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee.
The international price of coffee is established by commodity trading exchanges in New York and London. In many years, coffee has been the second most actively traded commodity in the world.
Ethiopian women who pick through coffee beans to ensure that no bad beans are shipped out earn less than 50 cents a day for eight hours of work.
Seven million people in Ethiopia are dependent on emergency food aid every year. The United Nations Development Programme estimates Ethiopia’s population at 75.6 million people.
Over the last 20 years, Africa’s share of world trade has fallen to one percent. If that share could be raised to two percent, it would generate $70 billion a year—five times the amount the continent now receives in aid.
Coffee is widely believed to have originated in Ethiopia. The coffee ceremony is a sacred Ethiopian tradition and can take up to several hours. The beans are roasted and then ground by hand. The coffee is prepared in a special pot and poured into special cups. In many parts of Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place up to three times per day.
Ethiopia is the sixth largest producer of coffee in the world and the largest African producer and exporter.
How to Get Involved
Get a group together to watch “Black Gold.” Buy the DVD to show at your house, in a coffee-house, and on your campus.
Join Oxfam and Co-Op America’s “Check Out Fair Trade” initiative. Click here to learn how you can get your local supermarket to stock, market, and display more Fair Trade products.
Read more about Oxfam’s coffee work. Learn more about fair trade and the crisis facing coffee cooperatives here. Read about Oxfam’s campaign to get roasters such as Starbucks to recognize the rights of Ethiopian coffee farmers here.
Support Oxfam’s coffee work. Help partner organizations such as the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union by making a donation to Oxfam America.
Well this is just the coolest thing. I found it via the GOOD Magazine Blog.
FreeRice is a website with two goals: to improve your vocabulary and feed the hungry. You go to FreeRice.com, you play an addictive vocabulary game, and for every word you get right, FreeRice donates 10 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program.
The rice is paid for by the unobtrusive sponsor ads that rotate during the game.
A “vocabulary game” would be easy to phone in, but this one is good. It adapts to your performance (it’s like the GRE in that respect but a lot more fun), so you’re always being tested at your limits.
Feed the hungry at learn what “isinglass” and “veld” mean: FreeRice.com.
Try it — ’tis a bit addicting though I have to say.
Below is a blurb, pictures and a video I lifted from a new magazine I found called GOOD. As per usual, I am not feeling the need to say a ton . . . the blurb below, as well as the movie and links just about says it all. For those of you that are local (Charleston, SC) I have some ideas on how to help on this issue. If you have any ideas you wish to share, please feel free to comment here or email me (hlmparks@gmail.com). Stay tuned for more.
In 2000, 189 nations came together and made a promise to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger and combat preventable diseases by 2015.
From this alliance the Millennium Declaration, a document outlining eight specific goals to help the world realize this promise, was born.
We had the opportunity to present this video at a benefit for Millennium Promise and Malaria No More, two of the groups working to meet this challenge.
The Video
Organization Links
Millennium Promise — The mission of Millennium Promise is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight globally endorsed objectives that address the many aspects of extreme poverty – in Africa by 2015. To that end, Millennium Promise works with impoverished communities, national and local governments, and partner organizations to implement high-impact programs aimed at transforming lives on the continent and engaging donor nations, corporations, and the general public in the effort. Our work is premised on the belief that, for the first time in history, our generation has the opportunity to end extreme poverty, hunger, and disease.
Malaria No More — Malaria No More’s mission is simple: to end deaths due to malaria.
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