November 28, 2013

The Green Bay Packers have got some run defense issues.

nt

November 28, 2013

Chris Hedges on the Role of Art in Rebellion

via truthdig:


Chris Hedges on the Role of Art in Rebellion
Posted on Nov 27, 2013


After a talk on the collapse of complex societies, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges answers an audience question: “Will it take (literature, music and art) to waken us to the empathy of other suffering or hardship?”



Peter Z. Scheer: You spoke a lot during your speech about literature and someone asked is it literature, art, music; will it take those things to waken us to the empathy of other suffering or hardship? Are those, what’s the role of literature, art and music?

Chris Hedges: Well, the role of art is transcendence. It’s about dealing with what we call the nonrational forces in human life, those forces that are absolutely essential to being whole as a human being but are not quantifiable. Not empirically measureable. Grief, beauty, the struggle with our own mortality, the search for meaning, love—Freud said he could write about sex, he could never write about love—and that’s only going to come through art. I mean, I don’t think it’s accidental that the origins of all religions are always fused with art, with poetry, with music. Because you’re dealing with a transcendence or a reality that is beyond articulation. And for those of us who seek to rise up against this monstrous evil, culture is going to be as important as the more prosaic elements of resistance such as a food tent, or a medical tent or a communications tent.

I saw that in revolutionary movements I covered in Latin America. And that has just been true throughout history. African-Americans endured the nightmare of slavery through music. And because it’s a kind of, it’s a paradox when you sink to that level of powerlessness where it is you go to find power. ...........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_the_role_of_art_in_rebellion_20131127

November 28, 2013

Finding Power in Occupy: How Occupy invigorated a generation’s fight for survival

from In These Times:


Finding Power in Occupy
How Occupy invigorated a generation’s fight for survival.

BY Kirin Kanakkanatt


[font size="1"]'Occupy was not about hope. It was about power.' (Joe Raedle/Getty)[/font]

For In These Times' December 2013 cover feature, “Generation Hopeless?”, the magazine asked a number of politically savvy people, younger and older, to respond to an essay by 22-year-old Occupy activist Matthew Richards in which he grapples with what the movement meant and whether Occupy’s unfulfilled promises are a lost cause or the seeds of the different world whose promise he glimpsed two years ago. Here is Kirin Kanakkanatt's response:

I came to Occupy Ohio University as an environmentalist. I played my part, I answered questions about fracking and mountain top removal. I even spoke on greening urban space. I came angry and hungry.

We took turns explaining that our occupation was about drawing a connection between what was happening on Wall Street to what was happening on campus. We wanted to make sure that folks understood that Occupy was about taking back space that belonged to us and that our encampment was more about representing that lack of “space” for students in our university. We got our favorite professors to come and give lectures and donate their class time. Slowly but surely, we each started to rethink public education.

Occupy was about rethinking the spaces we inhabit. These spaces are beyond parks and lawns and state capitols. These spaces are in leadership in history books, in racial profiles, in standardized tests, in pre-existing conditions, in credit scores and loan distributions. Occupy was about shifting the conversation to make people understand that we are many and they are few. They have leveraged the resources they had at hand to gain control. It is up to us to do the same.

Occupy was not about hope. It was about power. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/15900/finding_power_in_occupy/

November 28, 2013

Chris Hedges on the Role of Art in Rebellion

via truthdig:


Chris Hedges on the Role of Art in Rebellion
Posted on Nov 27, 2013


After a talk on the collapse of complex societies, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges answers an audience question: “Will it take (literature, music and art) to waken us to the empathy of other suffering or hardship?”



Peter Z. Scheer: You spoke a lot during your speech about literature and someone asked is it literature, art, music; will it take those things to waken us to the empathy of other suffering or hardship? Are those, what’s the role of literature, art and music?

Chris Hedges: Well, the role of art is transcendence. It’s about dealing with what we call the nonrational forces in human life, those forces that are absolutely essential to being whole as a human being but are not quantifiable. Not empirically measureable. Grief, beauty, the struggle with our own mortality, the search for meaning, love—Freud said he could write about sex, he could never write about love—and that’s only going to come through art. I mean, I don’t think it’s accidental that the origins of all religions are always fused with art, with poetry, with music. Because you’re dealing with a transcendence or a reality that is beyond articulation. And for those of us who seek to rise up against this monstrous evil, culture is going to be as important as the more prosaic elements of resistance such as a food tent, or a medical tent or a communications tent.

I saw that in revolutionary movements I covered in Latin America. And that has just been true throughout history. African-Americans endured the nightmare of slavery through music. And because it’s a kind of, it’s a paradox when you sink to that level of powerlessness where it is you go to find power. ...........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_the_role_of_art_in_rebellion_20131127

November 28, 2013

Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance

Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance

Wednesday, 27 November 2013 10:00
By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt | News Analysis

“Control oil and you control nations,” said US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. ”Control food and you control the people.”

Global food control has nearly been achieved, by reducing seed diversity with GMO (genetically modified) seeds that are distributed by only a few transnational corporations. But this agenda has been implemented at grave cost to our health; and if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes, control over not just our food but our health, our environment and our financial system will be in the hands of transnational corporations.

Profits Before Populations

According to an Acres USA interview of plant pathologist Don Huber, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, two modified traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One involves insect resistance. The other, more disturbing modification involves insensitivity to glyphosate-based herbicides (plant-killing chemicals). Often known as Roundup after the best-selling Monsanto product of that name, glyphosate poisons everything in its path except plants genetically modified to resist it.

Glyphosate-based herbicides are now the most commonly used herbicides in the world. Glyphosate is an essential partner to the GMOs that are the principal business of the burgeoning biotech industry. Glyphosate is a “broad-spectrum” herbicide that destroys indiscriminately, not by killing unwanted plants directly but by tying up access to critical nutrients.

Because of the insidious way in which it works, it has been sold as a relatively benign replacement for the devastating earlier dioxin-based herbicides. But a barrage of experimental data has now shown glyphosate and the GMO foods incorporating it to pose serious dangers to health. Compounding the risk is the toxicity of “inert” ingredients used to make glyphosate more potent. Researchers have found, for example, that the surfactant POEA can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. But these risks have been conveniently ignored. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/20295-monsanto-the-tpp-and-global-food-dominance

November 27, 2013

American Thanksgiving (cartoon)

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/thanksgiving_table_20131126

November 27, 2013

They Took 3 Years Of His Life. Now It's His Turn To Fight Back.

http://www.upworthy.com/they-took-3-years-of-his-life-now-its-his-turn-to-fight-back?c=huf1


On May 14, 2010, 16-year-old Kalief Browder was arrested by the NYPD after a stranger claimed the teen robbed him a few weeks earlier. The case was weak. Browder's family couldn't afford the $10,000 bail, so he ended up spending three years at Rikers Island before the charges were finally dropped. Now he's speaking out.

November 27, 2013

Heart of Darkness: Criminal Investigation of Wisconsin Recall Money

Heart of Darkness: Criminal Investigation of Wisconsin Recall Money

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 11:01
By Mary Bottari, PR Watch | Report


The post-Citizens United dark money showdown is underway in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin makes sense. In November 2010, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker swept to power at a time of economic turmoil with a promise to create 250,000 jobs. Instead, with Republican control of both houses, he passed a bill knee-capping public-sector unions, sparking an 18-day occupation of the Capitol and weeks of mass protests, regularly topping 100,000.

The controversy immediately kicked off a struggle for control of the Wisconsin Senate. Between 2011 and 2012 Wisconsin voters across the state knocked on doors, circulated recall petitions, and put an unprecedented number of state officials up for recall. Thirteen state senators eventually faced recall elections. Close to one million people signed recall petitions for the Governor and Lt. Governor, and even before an election was certified, outside money began to saturate the state. $137.5 million is estimated to have been spent on the recalls in total, the vast majority from out-of-state players.

The source of much of that spending remains unknown. Millions were spent in by "dark money" nonprofits -- most of them organized under 501(c)(4) of the tax code -- that allow deep pocketed donors to hide their identity. These groups spent boatloads, but attempted to evaded state disclosure laws by running phony issue ads that do not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate. These nonprofits are supposed to be social welfare groups, and cannot exist for the "primary purpose" of participating in political activity. Many have interpreted this to mean that no more than 49 percent of their funds can be spent on "issue" advertising. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/20270-heart-of-darkness-criminal-investigation-of-wisconsin-recall-money

November 27, 2013

Creative British Airways billboard identifies planes that fly overhead

http://www.gizmag.com/british-airways-billboard/29897/


(Gizmag) The ultimate goal of advertising is to get customers to remember and ultimately purchase a product or service. It helps if advertisers find creative methods of reaching that goal. British Airways is taking this to heart with its new billboard, that actually identifies its planes as they fly overhead.

When a flight is not passing over, it works like a standard digital billboard, promoting British Airways. Surveillance technology developed by advertising agency Ogilvy 12th Floor tracks the aircraft coming in, and interrupts the display with the image of a child pointing to the sky and text displaying the flight number and point of origin.

Of course, relevant information about booking a flight from said origin is also displayed, which is where the advertising comes into play. As you might expect, the billboards are located in the UK.

The video below demonstrates the innovative billboard.

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November 27, 2013

Task force: billions needed to fix transit in S.F.

(San Francisco Chronicle) San Francisco's transportation system - famous for its slow Muni buses, pothole-pocked streets and inadequate bike and pedestrian amenities - needs a lot of help: $10.1 billion worth, a task force appointed by the mayor has concluded.

And, the panel adds, city leaders should ask voters to approve nearly $3 billion in taxes, bonds and fees to help pay the bill.

The 44-member Transportation Task Force, which Mayor Ed Lee announced in his State of the City address in January, will make its recommendations to him Monday afternoon.

After months of study and discussion, the group concluded that the city has $10.1 billion in transportation infrastructure needs through 2030 and that the bulk of those needs are in maintaining and improving the core of the existing system, which has been neglected for decades. That means replacing and expanding the city's bus and streetcar fleet, systematically and regularly repairing streets, and dealing with Muni's overcrowding, unreliability and slowness, which riders have complained about for years. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Task-force-billions-needed-to-fix-transit-in-S-F-5008878.php