Audio Report of Wall Street Occupation

http://nyc.indymedia.org/media/2011/09//116120.mp3

At this link is an audio report from a Washington-based pirate-type radio station. If the claimed number of protestors is suspect, it is interesting to hear the voices of some of the protestors.

Warning: Contains obscene epithet. If I knew how to bleep such, I would, believe me. In this case I think the content otherwise is worth the risk of ruined ears, as we might say.

Blogging the Occupation of Wall Street

As the article at Truth-out explains, the protestors have already achieved their objective. Wall Street was blocked off all week-end and reports are that only those with identification were permitted beyond the barricades today, whether to protest or to go to work. The importance of this event symbolically is not to be under-estimated.

I plan to keep abreast of events as best I can and am currently seeking a decent source of accurate hourly reports.



http://www.truth-out.org/another-liberty-plaza-taken-and-held-near-wall-street/1316451716

"Occupy Wall Street -- All Week"

-- So chanted hundreds of protestors on and near Wall Street over this past week-end. Democracy Now! reports on the protest and its meaning. Click on the blog title. More later.


http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/19/occupy_wall_street_thousands_march_in

Photo by David Shankbone

Follow-Up to Story on Hershey's Jobs Gone Sour

Here is a link to a story which up-dates the strike story below. It seems students from abroad are not as gullible as some avaricious middle-men and Hershey's company executives would believe.

Hurray for the students!



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/americas-sweatshop-diplomacy.html?scp=1&sq=Hershey%27s%20workers%20strike&st=cse

Foreign Students Find Hershey's Job Not So Sweet

Foreign students who thought they were signing up for a summer cultural exchange program were instead put in a Hershey's factory, sometimes standing for hours wrapping candy bars. The young people -- future doctors, teachers, and diplomats -- contacted labor leaders who advised them and gave them support. Evidently, Hershey's is not the only company using students from abroad who are essentially working for slave wages, unable even to pay expenses for the trip to America.

Certainly this is not the image of America we want to project to the world. Later reports indicated news of such practices have created quite a stir.

I plan to report more on this important matter soon.



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/us/18immig.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Hershey%27s%20workers%20strike&st=cse

Judge Defies Constitution

The Accused Treated Unfairly by Judge

In a state that seems to have recently become a leader in assaults on democracy (see previous post here), a Michigan judge has pretended the Fifth Amendment allows for an exception due to "national security." Everyone understands the need to protect citizens of the U.S. from harm. But undermining the signature document of the country is no way to do it. Experience shows that the Miranda warning, in the end, does not weaken the cause of justice, but rather strengthens it. Shame on Judge Edmunds.

Judge Edmunds



http://www.freep.com/article/20110916/NEWS06/109160374/Judge-s-ruling-Miranda-rights-terrorism-case-touches-off-legal-debate

What Is Most Needed?

Today people around the world are remembering the killings of the innocent at the World Trade Center ten years ago. Besides all the other victims of mass tragedies -- such as the shootings last January surrounding a Gabrielle Giffords event, or the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City or ever so many others -- what should we also be focusing on? Should we not be remembering the shocking lack of oversight on the part of our leaders? Or was it -- just maybe -- something more than mere negligence?

More on Billy Bragg's Passion-Filled TV Appearance

At the link below, you can watch the appearance of British folk/rock singer Billy Bragg on the U.S. alternative news show, Denmocracy Now! Not only does Bragg sing as well as talk about his own life, he offers cogent commentary on the current British and American political scenes.

Interesting, Billy Bragg speaks about the tendency of those on the left to tear down politicians who offer an alternative to far-right candidates. Though this is a complicated issue, with differences of opinion abounding, Bragg counsels caution so as not to hand to the merchants of gloom the highest public office in the world.



http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/5/billy_bragg_british_rocker_on_labor

An Economic Hit Man Tells His Story

At the moment I am writing, Link-TV is presenting a partially-dramatized documentary on an economic hit man.

The film is already dramatic. This post is not a film review. Rather, having already heard John Perkins on radio, I am familiar with his story.

So based on what I already know and what I have already seen in the first ten minutes, I can enthusiastically commend to you "Apology of an Economic Hit Man."



This is the 700th post of this web log.

Labor Day Week-end Brightened by Two Sanguine Voices

In a time of rising discontent for workers two voices of hope were raised over American air-waves this past week-end. Speaking eloquently, with both seriousness and hope, the head of the National Nurses Committee, and singer Billy Bragg spoke to program hosts about the promise of renewed hope for labor.

Soon I will have more details. For now, it is clear there is hope amidst the despair. The nurses and musicians are leading the way!

Young Adults Heading Back to the Land

There's apparently a growing trend toward farming among the the non-ag set as well, with young college graduates sluffing off their urban or suburban lifestyles to get back to the land.

That trend might not be enough to compensate for the wave of retirements among current farmers, but it is a step in the right direction.

So says a writer at a U.S.D.A. web site. With farmers among my ancestors, I can attest to the value and hard work of farmers. It is indeed a noble profession, one which an increasing number of young people appear to be discovering. Read more here:

http://weblogs.nal.usda.gov/infofarm/education/index.shtml

Gallup Explodes Social Networking Myths

Does on-line social networking really attract and retain customers? Gallup says it may, but not in the way companies think. In a plaudit for old-fashioned friendship and deep relationship, Gallup says companies can build on a relationship on line, after the relationship has been established off line first. Read more in the fascinating article whose link appears below.


http://gmj.gallup.com/content/148694/Social-Media-Three-Big-Myths.aspx#2

Change in Climate Change Opinion?

http://www.truth-out.org/bill-mckibbens-afterword-eaarth/1314648614

At the link shown above is a good polemical essay on the issue of global climate change. I admire this article, though I always find it difficult to get my mind into the actual science of the situation. In high school I chose not to fit physics into my schedule, opting to go on the newspaper staff instead. So I got experience in writing for a journal. However, my science knowledge has suffered. I suspect most adults today are in the same boat regarding science.

See the article above for one perspective on the subject.

August In and Out

August came in like a lion and is going out like a -- lamb?

August came in with the nation distressed over Republican intransigence and grand-standing over some arbitrary debt ceiling. Most Americans rightly saw the whole episode as a rather shoddy attempt by far-right partisans to make political points and set policy through a manufactured crisis. Or, at the least, Americans blamed Republicans more than Democrats for the fiasco. Again, this was right.

The last day of the month reigns notably quiet in most areas. But this is after rather significant earthquakes struck the eastern seaboard and Colorado, and after a low-rated but large hurricane struck the East Coast, wreaking havoc due to its size and slow-moving pace -- especially in Vermont and regions south.

The one bright spot in this otherwise rather fright-filled month was the relief of having our Congress (read "House") in recess. I will gladly be among the first to predict a change in party leadership come January 2013 in the House, barring a tanking on the part of the Democratic Presidential nominee -- or some other manufactured disaster.

Let's hope one of these years (must we wait for 2013?) will provide more honesty and more true compassion for the people who inhabit these shores and other shores near and far around this dear yet crisis-ridden globe.

New Series on Harry Truman

I am currently reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Truman, by David McCullough. This fine book is not new, but is new to me. Over the next days I will be presenting various tid-bits of information from this book.

At the moment I am reading about the famous whistle-stop campaign of 1948. The thing I like best about this book besides its engaging

style, are the quotes of Harry Truman. The statements of "Give-'em-hell Harry" are often pithy and full of energy and spritz.

Please check here for further reports on this campaign which has relevance to today's Presidential campaign.