News reports yesterday indicated that Bradley Manning , widely known to be gay, had been selected to be one of the Grand Marshals of the annual San Francisco gay pride parade, named by the LGBT Pride Celebration Committee. When the predictable backlash instantly ensued , the president of the Board of SF Pride, Lisa L Williams, quick
The thriving metropolis of Boston was turned into a ghost town on Friday. Nearly a million Bostonians were asked to stay in their homes – and willingly complied. Schools were closed; business shuttered; trains, subways and roads were empty; usually busy streets eerily resembled a post-apocalyptic movie set; even baseball games and cultural events were cancelled – all in response...
Feelings of fear and powerlessness are driving the cycle of violence that surrounds us. To change that, we need to recognize that we need each other to thrive as individuals. In his book Violence , psychologist James Gilligan asked a Massachusetts prison inmate, “What do you want so badly that you would sacrifice everything in order to get it?” The inmate declared...
There's not much to say about Monday's Boston Marathon attack because there is virtually no known evidence regarding who did it or why. There are, however, several points to be made about some of the widespread reactions to this incident. Much of that reaction is all-too-familiar and quite revealing in important ways: (1) The widespread compassion for yesterday's victims...
The chief advantage that would result from the establishment of Socialism is, undoubtedly, the fact that Socialism would relieve us from that sordid necessity of living for others which, in the present condition of things, presses so hardly upon almost everybody. In fact, scarcely anyone at all escapes. Now and then, in the course of the century, a great man of science, like Darwin; a...
Forty-five years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "turn on, tune in and drop out", researchers have found that magic mushrooms do change a user's personality – for the better. The fungi have long been known for their psychedelic effects, but far from damaging the brain, the hallucinogenic drug they contain...
The Family: Friend or Foe? The family is one of the issues that divide liberals from conservatives. In general, conservatives tend to see private associations — the family, the church, the corporation — as bulwarks of freedom against the state. Few conservatives question the need for a powerful state apparatus, but they insist that it operate in the service of private...
The war on germs is just one expression of a medical system based on control. Control, in turn, arises from our sense of self, that we are separate beings in an alien and indifferent universe. Not being part of any purpose beyond ourselves, naturally we seek to maximize the security, comfort, pleasure, and other interests of those selves. Technology is one form that ambition takes. If...
San Franciscans pass by panhandlers every day. Some give change. A few smile. Fewer still strike up a conversation. It's likely that only one has ever formed a relationship with a panhand
Via Ross Heckmann on the Distributism yahoogroup . A quote from the Agrarian Wendell Berry’s book What Are People For?
Seeing gurneys of babies trundled through the chiaroscuro of old black-and-white footage at the start of Scott Noble’s Human Resources, the gurneys in the tunnels of God only knows what kind of institution, the viewer does well to brace herself for the coming onslaught. The piano accompaniment is not so much music as it is the hammering of wires in the industrial mode, a harbinger...
Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview is an exciting and surprisingly uplifting new documentary about the role of ideology in finding solutions to the urgent global crises humankind faces in the 21 st century.
Intro: Tragedy, Violence and Bourgeois Discourse Your average American is
A couple years back when I was working toward a philosophy major in college, I wrote a rebuttal on the section of The Anarchist FAQ that covers anarcho-capitalism . I removed the rebuttal from the web because I didn't have the time or inclination to continue to maintain it or expand upon it. Three years later, I've come to find myself disagreeing with my old rebuttals and agreeing...
A coalition of aid agencies has launched a campaign on food, aid and hunger (the IF campaign ) to run in the UK during 2013. The campaign hopes to attract a similar level of public support to that enjoyed by th
If the dynamic of a diverse safe space in which people dismantle oppressions through conflict resolution is at the root of Occupy's transformative potential, then perhaps there's not a distinct formula that can be reproduced, but simply spread - a culture - that people can choose to adopt. Occupy Sandy has been lauded as more American than FEMA. Strike Debt, an Occupy offshoot...
October 2012, Notre dames des Landes, France -- Chris leans forward, her long fingers play with the dial of the car radio “I’m trying to find 107.7 FM“ … a burst of Classical music, a fragment of cheesy pop. “ Ah! Here we go! I think I’ve got it?” The plastic pitch of a corporate jingle pierces the speakers: “Radio Vinci Autoroute: This is the...
Leaders must aim to bring down global inequality at least to 1990 levels. An explosion in extreme wealth and income is exacerbating inequality and hindering the world’s ability to tackle poverty, Oxfam warned today in a briefing published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week. The $240 billion net income in 2012 of the richest 100 billionaires would be enough to...
About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion is spent on corporate subsidies. So, the government spent 50% more on corporate welfare than it did on food stamps and housing assistance in 2006. Before we look at the details, a heartfelt plea from the Save the CEO’s Charitable Trust: There’s so much suffering in the world. It can all...
This might seem a stretch but when John Muir said everything in the universe is connected to everything else he was serious. He was speaking of the ecology of natural systems in the broadest sense – and human ecologies too, no doubt. Ecology in both senses has to do with systems with complex chains of causes and effects and networks of cross influence, the patterns through time of which...
The numbers flung about when speaking of defense acquisitions are so large and so many that it's easy for the amounts to lose their meanings. This infographic from Military Education shows the money spent on a handful of prominent defense contracts and compares each with something most average Americans can relate to.
In the week Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he ordered bombing attacks on Yemen, killing a reported 63 people, 28 of them children. When Obama recently announced he supported same-sex marriage, American planes had not long blown 14 Afghan civilians to bits. In both cases, the mass murder was barely news. What mattered were the cynical vacuities of a political celebrity...
What’s the number one reason we riot? The plausible, justifiable motivations of trampled-upon humanfolk to fight back are many—poverty, oppression, disenfranchisement, etc—but the big one is more primal than any of the above. It’s hunger, plain and simple. If there’s a single factor that reliably sparks social unrest, it’s food becoming too scarce or too...
The crime on Sunday that left a community devastated and a nation wondering how such evil still happens today Terror and tragedy struck a Milwaukee suburb on Sunday as a white supremacist opened fired in a Sikh temple, killing six and critically injuring three. Worshippers reportedly hid inside closets while the killer walked through the temple, firing coldly and repeatedly. After...
Fraternities, sororities and football, along with other outsized athletic programs, have decimated most major American universities. Scholarship, inquiry, self-criticism, moral autonomy and a search for artistic and esoteric forms of expression—in short, the world of ethics, creativity and ideas—are shouted down by the drunken chants of fans in huge stadiums, the pathetic demands...
Address given at EnvironDesign 3, Baltimore, MD, April 30, 1999. Editor's note: Even though this essay is over 10 years old, it's as relevant today as ever, especially considering the mass shootings that became a tragic outlet for wounded human beings has only increased as the years go on. We need to start solving for causes rather than effects if we ever want to see this end. - Ed...
Studying inequality in America reveals some facts that are truly hard to believe. Amidst all the absurdity a few stand out. A homeless person sits under blankets at a Wall Street subway station in New York City. (Credit: AP/Mark Lennihan) 1. U.S. companies in total pay a smaller percentage of taxes than the lowest-income 20% of Americans. Total corporate profits for 2011 were $1.97...
If you're not the type to keep up with ugly, soul-killing political controversies, let me catch you up: A while back, hugely popular political commentator Rush Limbaugh lost a bunch of advertisers because he publicly called a college girl a slut and a prostitute after she suggested that health insurance plans should cover birth control. But he's paid to say outrageous things. If you really...
We're still waiting on the new Kony 2012 video, supposedly slated to go live later today, that will answer all of our concerns about Invisible Children's finances and goals, but we have some idea of what we can expect: earnest proclamations about how \"uncomplicated\" it is to bring Joseph Kony down and reassurances that Invisible Children does spend some of their money (37%) on-the-ground in...
Panglossian Disorder? What on earth is that? And how does it apply to peak oil? Inspired by the eternal optimist Dr. Pangloss from Voltaire’s Candide , psychologist Kathy McMahon, who calls herself the “peak shrink,” explains on Peak Moment TV (episode 199) that she invented Panglossian Disorder. It’s a condition of people who view the post peak oil future with...
The usual error is assuming that other people are just like you. Assuming that others think like you, would react to a certain situation like you would, or value the same things you do — all of these are examples of the usual error. Psychologists call it false consensus bias: we project our own perceptions, opinions, and emotions onto another person, as if our experiences were...
by Mitchell Dahlhoff January 23, 2012 Minnesota's political image has been a bit tarnished as of late, what with Michele \"Crazy Eyes\" Bachmann and Tim \"Hockey Fight Blood Lust\" Pawlenty crashing and burning spectacularly in the County Fair Demo Derby that is the current Republican primary races. Except they went and done screwed up, too, considering both Franken and Klobuchar have been...
A taste of the upcoming feature documentary, Occupy Love. This is a community funded film. We are in the LAST WEEK of our crowd funding campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/Occupy-Love Please check it out! We can't do it without you... \"Love is the felt experience of connection to another being.
In the midst of the students and conservative stalwarts in business attire at CPAC, Howard Wooldridge stands out like a sore thumb — but not because of his cowboy hat and big belt buckle. It’s his T-shirt, which loudly proclaims “COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT ASK ME WHY.” And people do, one and two at a time, in the convention hall and the hotel lobby at the Marriott Wardman...
Why do we stick up for a system or institution we live in -- a government, company, or marriage -- even when anyone else can see it is failing miserably? Why do we resist change even when the system is corrupt or unjust? A new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science , a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, illuminates the conditions under which we're...
Faith in Public Life reports that more than 40 Catholic leaders and theologians across the country are calling on two of their “fellow Catholics,” GOP contenders Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, to stop using divisive rhetoric about race and poverty on the campaign trail. Noting that Catholics consider racism an “ intrinsic evil ,” the open letter confronts the two...
My response to this editorial , not published by the University Daily Kansan: " For someone who emphasizes the importance of education, Billy McCroy seriously needs to do his homework. In portraying the Occupy Movement participants as nothing more than uninformed whiners that are jealous of others, and in his defense of corporate banks, financial institutions, and the Federal...
Over the last six months of researching for my work-in-progress documentary about the pitfalls of American higher education, The Elephant on Campus , there have been many problems I have come across. One of the biggest and least talked about problems is that public universities are totally opaque when it comes to the way they receive and spend money, especially tuition money. No one outside...
What began as the gathering of just a few US Marines has now become a major organized movement to get Marines and military personnell of all branches to Occupy America nationwide. You can thank Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas for that. His actions last week have inspired service men and women across the country to take a stand for the American people and join the Occupy protests. Sgt. Thomas, as...
Starting with the occupation of a park next to Wall Street on September 17, a new movement is spreading across the country in which people gather in public spaces in protest against social inequalities. We’ll present a full analysis of this phenomenon here shortly; in the meantime, here’s an open letter to the occupation movement, engaging with some of the issues that have...
I wrote this originally in 2010, and, it is based on decades of work by some of our best. Our scientists do not get credence from media. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/publications/annrpt25/Manning.pdf This document is pages 121 to 126 of a longer set of data about our monitoring of our Homeworld, and specifically, the composition of our air, or, atmosphere. Unlike the countless tens and...
In the US on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, politicians and their presstitute media presented Americans with "A Day of Remembrance," a propaganda exercise that hardened the 9/11 lies into dogma. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Canada, at Ryerson University the four-day International Hearings on the Events of September 11, 2001, came to a close at 5pm. During the four days of...
Higher Prices – With market power comes the ability to raise prices and do so in unspoken collusion with the other big players. For an example of that, you need only look at AT&T’s recent elimination of its $10 for 1000 texts per month plan, which left users with the choice of paying 30 cents a text or paying $20 for unlimited texts – a crappy choice given that the...
This is one of those times when everyone has something to say, and are desperate to say it, to make their voice heard. On every bus, café, pub, shop, and street, people are talking about the riots, the causes and the consequences. Emotions are running high in Britain today, but there’s one feeling that overwhelms all others – anger. And it takes many different...
A new study of U.S. census data reveals that wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tracking them a quarter-century ago. White Americans now have on average 20 times the net worth of African Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, the gaps were compounded during the...
“This odd little woman is attempting to give a moral sanction to greed and self interest,” Gore Vidal said of Ayn Rand, writing for Esquire in July 1961, “and to pull it off she must at times indulge in purest Orwellian newspeak of the ‘freedom is slavery’ sort.” The mindset of Rand’s followers has not changed over the decades. “She has a...
There’s no doubt that the U.S. culture is famous for its promises of happiness. As age-old as the idea of the “American dream” is the idea that working hard and making money to create the life you want will lead you to happiness and bliss. It’s made painfully obvious in movies, TV shows, billboards and ads everyday: The best way to find happiness today, at this moment...
I n the last few years, a growing number of economists have been discovering happiness. It's not that they are spending more time admiring flowers, helping old folks cross the road, dancing on the street or baking pies for neighbors. In fact, these happiness economists are working long hours in soul-numbing ways, torturing data with their latest econometric techniques to force deeply buried...
Reaching out to young people is especially critical at this time. With mounting psycho-social stress attributed to an increasingly uncertain future, young people are going to need support grappling with the social effects of so many convergent crises. The world is rife with uncertainty about our fate on the planet. Declining ecosystems and biodiversity, a quickly destabilizing climate and an...
“Every child,” wrote pioneer botanist Luther Burbank, “should have mud pies, grasshoppers, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pinecones, rocks to roll, snakes, huckleberries and hornets. And any child who has been deprived of...