November 5, 2012

Young people stressed by uncertain economy, survey finds

(Toronto Star) Economic uncertainty, underemployment and other financial concerns are taking a toll on young Canadians’ mental health, a survey for Sun Life Financial Canada found.

A surprising 90 per cent of people between 18 and 24 years of age feel excessive stress compared to 72 per cent of all adult Canadians, according to the Sun Life Canadian health Index study.

Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada, found the statistic “surprising” saying “I think it points to what’s going on in the economy and the pressures on young people today.”

The study confirms what Sun Life is seeing in its long-term disability business, he said. Some 40 per cent of claims by young people are related to mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. That’s up 10 per cent since the start of the recession. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1282828--young-people-stressed-by-uncertain-economy-survey-finds

November 5, 2012

Taxpayer Storm Shield Protects Casinos as Poor Take on Water

(Bloomberg) As superstorm Sandy flooded Atlantic City, New Jersey, one area was shielded from damage by dunes constructed at taxpayer expense: casinos and other beachfront businesses and homes.

Nearby, another set of residents didn’t get government-paid storm defense. In one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, water from Absecon Inlet filled the streets, knocking down doors, sloshing into bedrooms, destroying furniture and leaving residents wondering if they would drown.

What unfolded in this East Coast resort city of 40,000, the second-largest U.S. gambling market behind Las Vegas, shows how government decisions helped businesses escape almost unscathed and open just days after the storm, while people living paycheck to paycheck suffered.

“The government has protected their cash cow, the casinos, at the expense of the people,” said Edsel Coates, 57, whose home near the inlet flooded and roof caved in. “The casinos are receiving preferential treatment and there’s neglect of the average Atlantic City resident.” .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-05/taxpayer-storm-shield-protects-casinos-while-poor-take-on-water.html

November 5, 2012

Four Lessons From The Largest Student Movement You’ve Never Heard Of

from Civil Eats:


Four Lessons From The Largest Student Movement You’ve Never Heard Of

November 5th, 2012
By David Schwartz


Over 40,000 students took action together last week and the mainstream media hardly covered it. Surprised?

You shouldn’t be. It wasn’t an Obama rally. And it wasn’t a revolt in the Middle East. While media pundits were fixated on which candidate scored more cheap political points, an unprecedented number of college students came together with Real Food Challenge and Food Day for an incredible national day of action. The truth that motivated us is simple: if we ever hope to jumpstart the economy, become energy independent or deal with our nation’s healthcare crisis (as the candidates claim they will), we must fix our food system first.

Why food? Why now? Student leaders will tell you:

If you’re concerned about energy and climate change… Our food and agriculture sectors contribute a full 33% of all greenhouse-causing gases.

If you’re worried about the economy… CNN reports that 5 out of the 7 worst paying jobs in America are in the foodservice sector.

If you’re worried about our health… The Center for Disease Control predicts that the youngest generation of Americans today (us!) will live shorter lives than their parents (for the first time in American history!), because of the food they eat. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2012/11/05/four-lessons-from-the-largest-student-movement-youve-never-heard-of/

November 5, 2012

Four Lessons From The Largest Student Movement You’ve Never Heard Of

from Civil Eats:



Four Lessons From The Largest Student Movement You’ve Never Heard Of

November 5th, 2012
By David Schwartz


Over 40,000 students took action together last week and the mainstream media hardly covered it. Surprised?

You shouldn’t be. It wasn’t an Obama rally. And it wasn’t a revolt in the Middle East. While media pundits were fixated on which candidate scored more cheap political points, an unprecedented number of college students came together with Real Food Challenge and Food Day for an incredible national day of action. The truth that motivated us is simple: if we ever hope to jumpstart the economy, become energy independent or deal with our nation’s healthcare crisis (as the candidates claim they will), we must fix our food system first.

Why food? Why now? Student leaders will tell you:

If you’re concerned about energy and climate change… Our food and agriculture sectors contribute a full 33% of all greenhouse-causing gases.

If you’re worried about the economy… CNN reports that 5 out of the 7 worst paying jobs in America are in the foodservice sector.

If you’re worried about our health… The Center for Disease Control predicts that the youngest generation of Americans today (us!) will live shorter lives than their parents (for the first time in American history!), because of the food they eat. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2012/11/05/four-lessons-from-the-largest-student-movement-youve-never-heard-of/

November 5, 2012

Mayors Are Taking Over the World

from OnTheCommons.org:


Mayors Are Taking Over the World
From Paris to Charleston, South Carolina, local officials are fixing problems and restoring people’s hope in government

| by Jay Walljasper


Bill Clinton, a man whose self-deprecating charm has carried him far in life, 
likes to tell a story about his appearance on a Shanghai radio show. It was a historic event: The president of the United States would field questions from everyday citizens in a nation notorious for its tight lock on information. But to Clinton’s surprise, two-thirds of the calls coming into the station were not directed at him, but to his host, the mayor of Shanghai. “People were more interested in talking to the mayor about potholes and traffic jams,” Clinton laughs.

Actually, when you reflect a moment, this shouldn’t be such a surprise. Mayors, as representatives of the government closest to people, are in a better position to get things done than one of the most powerful men on Earth. National governments, along with state and provincial ones, are distant and abstract entities, with which citizens feel little connection. Local government, personified by the mayor, can be a different story. Mayors operate on the front lines of democracy. If people around the world are ever to regain their trust in government, which has been fading for many years, it will be because of what happens in their hometowns.
“There is a crisis of democracy today and local government is the answer—it’s the new game in town,” notes Eric Britton, founder of The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative, a Paris-based organization that’s launched a series of global initiatives on environmental, social and technology issues. He believes that small-scale governance, “where everybody knows somebody who knows the mayor,” is the best approach to untangling problems that so far have proved insurmountable to national governments and the corporate sector.

“If we want to figure how democracy really works,” Britton says, “the local level is where we can do that.”
Here’s how Joseph Riley Jr.—who has been at the helm in Charleston, South Carolina, for 30 years, making him one of America’s longest-serving mayors—describes the job: “You have a personal relationship with people. You pick up their garbage. You make them feel safe. You try to help them when they are in trouble. It’s a chance to do things directly for people—for the poorest person in town as well as the rich.”

No one would cast Riley, a small, dignified man who speaks with a soft voice, in the role of a political power broker. Yet he has reshaped this city of 105,000 to such an extent that few who knew it in the 1970s— as a poor, racially torn backwater that had lost hope in the future—would recognize it today. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/mayors-are-taking-over-world

November 5, 2012

As bewildered by all the ballot initiatives as I am? Here's a link ......

....... to Progress Michigan's Voter Guide.

http://mivoterguide.org/

November 5, 2012

The Antidote to Ayn Rand

The Antidote to Ayn Rand

Sunday, 04 November 2012 07:05
By Jeffrey Mikkelson, Truthout | Op-Ed


The last word of Ayn Rand's dystopian novella Anthem is "EGO." Grasping the significance of this forbidden word is a kind of divine revelation for the novel's protagonist, signaling his emancipation from the benighted, collectivist society into which he was born. I read Anthem in the 8th grade and, like many adolescents introduced to Rand's seductive brand of egoism, I was attracted to her heroic depiction of strong-willed, self-reliant individuals fighting against the mediocrity and stupidity of society. I can't say I ever had an Ayn Rand phase - my childhood fantasy world was populated instead with hobbits, wizards and elves - but I understand why many teenagers do. Adolescence is a restless stage when young people test the boundaries of their world, often questioning the authority of parents, teachers and preachers for the first time. Rand captures something of that rebellious attitude. But her novels also appeal to teenagers because they validate a tendency in full bloom at that age: selfishness.

Our genetic and cultural endowment includes cooperative and altruistic impulses as well as selfish ones, but the first two are rarely at the height of expression during adolescence. Most of us are rabid egoists at that age, prioritizing our needs and wants over those of others, not yet beginning to recognize our membership in what John Dewey calls the "community of causes and consequences," which includes a world of human beings whose concerns are every bit as legitimate as our own. Tragically, some never advance beyond this stage, and not a few of them end up working on Wall Street. Which brings us back to Rand - matron saint of the financial ruling class and its political enablers, goddess of the cult of free-market capitalism. Rand is second perhaps only to Adam Smith in her hallowedness among the cheerleaders of laissez-faire government, with the distinct advantage of having been read by many of them.

As tempting as it is to dismiss Rand's novels as self-indulgent adolescent fantasy (and many have), it would be a mistake not to take her ideas seriously. They inspired the modern libertarian movement and helped shape American economic policy for the past 30 years. A figure no less prominent than Alan Greenspan counted Rand as a close personal friend and guiding light, and conservatives from Ron Paul to Clarence Thomas built their political and judicial philosophies around her ideas. Her radical brand of individualism has all but taken over the Republican Party - steering it away not only from the founding fathers' vision of "a more perfect union," but also from the GOP's own communitarian roots, as E.J. Dionne argues in his book Our Divided Political Heart. Until now, Rand wielded influence largely by invisible hand, her critically panned but perennially popular books passing from reader to reader like a secret right-wing manifesto slipped under the snooty noses of the liberal academic establishment. Sooner or later, however, her ideas were bound to emerge from the shadows.

.........(snip).........

Dewey's short and superb book Individualism Old and New was published in 1930, but could easily have been written last year. In it, he argues that personal liberty is enhanced - not diminished - by social cooperation, and the real threat to the individual comes not from a dynamic concept of the public good, but from the social isolation and economic injustice endemic to mindless corporate capitalism. Dewey thinks that promoting individual freedom and opportunity requires not just private ambition, but also public collaboration and an open, experimental attitude. Unfortunately, we watched a different experiment play out over the past 30 years - the Randian experiment of deregulation, deunionization and regressive tax policy - which culminated in economic crisis, soaring inequality, decreased social mobility, political gridlock and cultural decline. It's time to learn from another experimental period in American history, one that brought us 30 years of relative progress, growth and prosperity - time, in other words, to stop listening to John Galt and to start listening again to John Dewey. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12429-the-antidote-to-ayn-rand

November 5, 2012

Voting day euphoria has been eclipsed by campaign fatigue

from the Toronto Star:



By Tim Harper
National Affairs Columnist


BOSTON—When this ends Tuesday, or Wednesday, or whenever the lawyers snap their briefcases shut, this will be one joyless, soulless lunge across the finish line.

The old adage, that you can only make history once, has been oft-cited in the final hours of the U.S. presidential election, but the climb down from history has rarely been so steep and so fast.

Regardless of who wins this election, it is difficult to see how the other side will allow the victor to claim a mandate.

Similarly, whoever wins seems fated to inherit a split, angry, largely ungovernable country. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1282646--tim-harper-u-s-election-voting-day-euphoria-has-been-eclipsed-by-campaign-fatigue

November 5, 2012

Toronto is a great city with a clown for a mayor

from the Toronto Star:



Graham Slaughter
Staff Reporter



[font size="1"]STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR Rob Ford inspects the field at Don Bosco Secondary School during football practice.[/font]


The TTC and Toronto police are both distancing themselves from the decision to kick passengers off two buses so they could be dispatched to pick up Mayor Rob Ford’s high school football team.

“At no time were TTC frontline personnel aware of why a shelter bus was required,” a TTC news release sent out Sunday evening said.

“Given the urgency of the police request, operations personnel at the TTC made the decision to utilize buses from nearby routes to meet the request as quickly as possible.”

Officers were called to the field at Father Henry Carr Secondary School at 3:46 p.m. on Thursday after an altercation between the school’s coach and referees. An officer at the field requested a bus for Ford’s players. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1282667--ttc-police-deny-responsibility-for-decision-to-divert-buses-for-mayor-rob-ford-s-football-team

November 5, 2012

Moyers and Company: What’s Wrong With the Stop Special Interest Money Now Act?

http://vimeo.com/52167935


What’s Wrong With the Stop Special Interest Money Now Act?
October 26, 2012

Peter Dreier tells Laura Flanders why he thinks California’s Stop Special Interest Money Now Act is really a sneak attack on unions.


http://billmoyers.com/content/whats-wrong-with-the-stop-special-interest-money-now-act/