Sheelagh's coming out!

Sheelagh's coming out!

Hypothetical sequence of events:

1. An announcement

2. A history relating to the announcement

3. The reason for the announcement and

4. the final summary
               
Actual sequence of events:

Sheelagh Fromer, a female human being is, was and has always been the writer of this blog.

The end.

Remember i've always maintained this blog isn't about me; its about all of you and how we can make this world a better place for all of us.

Recently in my excursions on the inter tubes i came across a blurb for a piece about the use of surveillance cameras.  The short introduction details a point i have made over and over here, one that speaks to my optimistic side.  The one that says the sky isn't falling in, crime isn't as all pervasive as you might be led to think, there is more good going on than bad and improvements have been made.  You don't need to give up your liberty for security.

Apparently, England gets the award for the most surveillance cameras of any country in the world.  One statistic said there was a camera watching for every 14 people; gathering information 24 hours a day 7 days a week(as long as they are functioning).  But have they made a difference in crime?

Not really.

Cameras record details that are in its immediate view.  They do not prevent crime and rarely do they solve crime.  They merely record details.  Mostly they are a device to produce a fictional feeling of security for those invested in having them record activity.  They collect a lot of data, they track the movements of the general public, but too few humans are available to review it and crime goes on.

Cameras do not reduce crime, cameras record crime.  Mayor Giuliani increased the police force on the streets of New York and guess what? Crime dropped to the point where it became one of the safer cities in the western world.   England placed 4.2 million cameras all over the country and guess what?  Violent crime continued to increase, while petty crime went down.  No camera will prevent your mugging, rape or murder if someone is bent on doing it.   More often than not the camera is malfunctioning anyway.

Studies have shown that increased lighting and more police on the beat reduce crime.

Rather than tackling crime at the root (poor housing, lack of jobs, parental problems, drugs) installing a camera squander's public and private money on surveillance.  Cameras need maintenance; they need upgrading and cleaning to ensure good picture quality; and add in the cost of having operators to man them in order to watch the images to alert the police of potential criminal activity.

i read a number of articles on the use of surveillance cameras, pro and con and this comment (snark)at the end of one article had me laughing.

The reason for the cameras is that today fewer people believe in God.

In the old days there was a general consensus that He was looking over your shoulder watching all your actions. Now that God is dead (in the opinions of the liberal elite anyway) we are deemed to need actual cameras watching over us to deter crime and keep us subservient.

Hahahahah....God is dead so we need cameras......where in the world do people come up with these things?

There is the argument in favor of cameras that says they can catch the criminal after the crime has been committed.   For those who are now dead that is too late and what about all the times when the results are so blurry and grainy you can't identify the perpetrator anyway. 

Another argument is why are you against being watched, you must be guilty of something illegal.  Well, do you have an objection to being watched in your bedroom, are you guilty of something illegal, or do you just believe in privacy?  Most of us believe in privacy and don't want to be subjected to monitoring by surveillance cameras.

Today surveillance is the next biggest thing.  We are all bombarded constantly, through the papers, tv and radio stations about how dangerous this world is.  Surveillance is big business and it is growing but please remember; cameras are used to control ordinary citizens by creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, they remind you that you are not in control of your own life.

As Benjamin Franklin once said:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

paper flower

There is a plant that a French botanist discovered in the late 1700's in Brazil; the "paper flower" as it is sometimes called comes in many colors and thrives in any soil as long as it is well drained.  If put in soil that retains water these conditions can induce root rot.  Although quite hardy they have been cross-pollinated many times creating the more papery look.

The attributes of these plants sound very human ....ovate to rounded, pale to corky, leathery in texture and hairy underneath, the flowers can be slender or large depending upon the variety...but care is needed as they can be quite thorny.

We humans are "paper flowers", we can thrive anywhere but develop root rot when negative conditions turn our world up side down.  Our bailouts, WARS, unemployment and housing bubbles have all contributed to a wealth inequality that is turning so many "paper flowers" thorny.

Today we see a growing gap between the rich and the poor.  We have been

programed to believe that prejudice, greed, elitism and exclusion should be understood as facts of life.  We are directed to accept these aspects of humanity for our own good rather than understanding them as being unjust.  We are hammered daily in the media with articles proclaiming why some(immigrants or welfare queens) are described as less deserving and others(businessmen) are paragons, shining examples of the demigods we should all look up to.

We are taught that inequality is assured, fixed and fated and greed is good.  Upon reflection we find that an examination of the history of this country shows that we had less wealth disparity from the 50's through the 70's than we do today. 

Inequality fluctuates throughout history and there is nothing "natural" or "inevitable" about the present levels.  Our political and economic "elites" encourage us to support the status quo.  We are bombarded by television and talk radio; Government is the culprit not those that prey upon the uninformed. 

But what is the impact of a low wage?  Why aren't more demanding answers for the enormous wage gaps?  Why aren't teachers who mold and shape our children compensated the way some celebrity is for one week of work?  Why are the lower wage workers who slave day in day and day out viewed as less valuable to society?

Back in the middle ages the poor were referred to as 'unfortunates' meaning that they had experienced some form of bad luck and therefore poverty through no fault of their own; hundreds of years of evolution has resulted in us now seeing the poor as "welfare queens" and "lazy."  No longer enjoying "bad luck" as an option instead they must be engaging in fraudulent activities or just plain lazy.  Losing a job, a medical catastrophe, or a life changing disability never enters the conversation.  In reality those actually committing fraud or just plain lazy are a very small percentage of welfare recipients but you wouldn't know that by listening to the radio or watching television.

Consider where you were born.  You and the rest of humanity had no control over your birth location, parents, or community.  But being born into wealth or poverty has a bigger impact on your life than any other event.  There are real life long effects from being born in the right or wrong place and most can't escape that fact.  Here is a small racial sample:

While the median white family has roughly $90,000 to its name, the median Latino family has just $8,000, and the median Black family has only $6,000.

What liberals favor is equality of opportunity. When we talk about a level playing field, we're not saying guarantee us victory, we're saying give us a fair chance. Not one liberal i know would say that everything should be equal.

Sadly, way too many conservative policies, especially in the last couple of decades, have been explicitly predicated on denying the majority of our citizens equality of opportunity.

Editors at the Nation had this to say about income inequality.     "Over the past three decades, market-worshiping politicians and their corporate backers have engineered the most colossal redistribution of wealth in modern world history, a redistribution from the bottom up, from working people to a tiny global elite.

This three-decade war against common sense has preached that tax cuts for the rich help the poor, that labor unions keep workers from prospering, that regulations protecting consumers attack freedom. Duly inspired, our elected officials have rewritten the rules that run our economy--on taxes and trade, on wage policies and public spending--to benefit wealthy asset owners and global corporations."

The unemployed and the poor reap these trickle up benefits.  Complex partnerships, not-so-blind trusts and dubious real estate schemes have helped the super-rich sidestep billions in taxes, shifting the burden to lower and middle income Americans.  In fact Lord Griffiths, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding their staff.

Speaking to an audience at St Paul's Cathedral in London about morality in the marketplace last October, Griffiths said the British public should "tolerate the inequality of bonus' as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all."  

In light of the charges against Goldman Sacs you might think the public today would see the Republican Party's phony populism and cries of "socialism" for what they really are: an attempt to perpetuate the economic inequality they helped to create at the expense of the very people they claim to be fighting for.

"If my well-being can exist only at the expense of the suffering of others, then I bear some responsibility for that suffering, whether or not I choose to admit it.  I am complicit in their suffering.

If I allow their hopes and dreams to be irrevocably crushed, then I should not complain when they no longer choose to be bound by the rules and laws that make this an ordered society." teacherken

visual rhythm

Visual rhythm follows the intonation and beat of speech.  Understanding this rhythm occurs through the eyes not the ears.  So today for your eyes i've decided to do a bit of a world wide wrap and tap.

China... another earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale and so far 400 dead and 10,000 injured, how many have been displaced and how much destruction took place will unfold over the coming days.

Thailand...rioting in the streets has abated and the sides are regrouping.

Australia...the captain and watch officer of the Chinese ship blamed for causing unprecedented damage on the Great Barrier Reef will face court today.

Russia... U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have signed a $3 billion deal to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium by burning it in nuclear reactors.

Gaza...Hamas has ordered the shut down of tunnels used to transport food, fuel, construction materials and animals from Egypt following a security alert warning Israelis of abduction.

Iceland...a volcano buried under a glacier came back to life today and 800 people were evacuated from their homes.

Saudi Arabia...Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority issued a fatwa (edict) denouncing all acts of terrorism and criminalising its financing, Asharq al-Awsat daily reported today.

Iraq... A bomb ripped through a busy central Baghdad commercial district on Wednesday, wounding at least three people, an official and witnesses said.

From AP:

USA...Republican backlash over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul had little effect in the nation's first U.S. House race of 2010.

Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch handily won Tuesday's special election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler after his underdog GOP opponent attempted to make the contest a referendum on the massive health care bill.

And as the visual rhythm progresses a little riff on some more aspects of the health care bill flow
below.

Text is quoted from the Kaiser Family Foundations summary of the health care reform that was passed recently.  Most don't understand what is in the bill so here are seven more aspects.

   1. Multi-State Plans
          * "Require the Office of Personnel Management to contract with insurers to offer at least two multi-state plans in each Exchange. At least one plan must be offered by a non-profit entity"

   2. Health Care Choice Compacts
          * "Permit states to form health care choice compacts and allow insurers to sell policies in any state participating in the compact."  (A Republican plan to sell across state lines)
          * Compacts may not start until Jan 1, 2016.

   3. State Demonstration Programs To Evaluate Alternatives To Current Medical Tort Litigation
          * "Award five-year demonstration grants to states to develop, implement, and evaluate alternatives to current tort litigations." (Republicans wanted to reduce tort litigation, here it is, but it attacks malpractice instead of stripping consumer rights)
          * Starts in 2011, 5 year grant

   4. Grants For Small Businesses To Provide Comprehensive Workplace Wellness Programs
          * "Provide grants for up to five years to small employers that establish wellness programs."
          * Starts in 2011, 5 year grant

   5. Nutrition Labeling Of Standard Menu Items At Chain Restaurants
          * "Require chain restaurants and food sold from vending machines to disclose the nutritional content of each item." (More information and transparency, always a plus for the consumer)
          * Go into effect 1 year after enactment

   6. Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement: Required Disclosure Of Ownership And Additional Disclosable Parties Information
          * "Require skilled nursing facilities under Medicare and nursing facilities under Medicaid to disclose information regarding ownership, accountability requirements, and expenditures."

   7. Increasing the Supply of the Health Care Workforce
          * Involves loan programs, recruitment and retention programs.

In Haiti the response of the nations of the world to earthquake victims is an example of "morally guided collective action."   The world wide giving happened not as a result of religion and its teachings but because humans naturally want to help. 

Ta da...da visual rhydum is done.

structured procrastinators(tax time)

Have you done your taxes yet?  Do you seek pleasure instead of pain?  Do you have an underlying social disorder that allows you to delay filling out tax forms?  Are you a procrastinator?  Do you put things off until the last minute, believing as some do that when under pressure to get something done you will do a better job?

Well welcome to the life of a structured procrastinator, one who can get the job done, times it just perfectly, but just by the skin of their teeth.

Structured procrastinators all over the US are calculating how many days they still have left before they REALLY have to do their taxes.  i was one of them until i gave up my hedonistic ways yesterday and bit the bullet.  Pleasure took a back seat to pain, i slaved away and  my taxes are done, well... not completely, i still have eight days left to mail them.

Taxes are a rite of passage every year and every year i wonder where it all goes.  One year i went to the government website and wrote down all the millions and millions of dollars that were being spent on different areas of the government.  It was mind boggling, i had sheets of paper listing budgets for each office and department.  i had great intentions, i was going to work out the percents and alert the masses to the real amounts that were being spent in their names. But...the structured procrastinator that i am, the totals wallowed in a file somewhere and got old before i ever found a way to use the information.

But this year, i've done it,  i've found a website that has already done the heavy lifting and  if you are like me and seek out information you may be interested in these tax factoids i picked up out there on the internet tubes.

For every tax dollar we contribute to the Federal government the breakdown for 2009 is as follows:

26.5¢ Military

20.1¢ Health

13.6¢ Interest on Debt...5.4¢ Military...8.2cNon-Military
   
9.8¢ Government

8.5¢ Income Security & Labor

7.2¢ Housing & Community

3.7¢ Food

3.5¢ Veterans' Benefits

2.5¢ Environment Energy & Science

2.0¢ Education    

1.3¢ International Affairs

1.3¢ Transportation

Jo Comerford who is the executive director of the National Priorities Project, which analyzes federal government budget choices said on April 5th: "In 2009, health received 20.1 cents of every tax dollar while interest payments on the national debt claimed an additional 13.6 cents, of which 5.4 cents was directed to interest on military-related debt. When 5.4 cents of military-related interest is added to the 26.5 cents dedicated to paying for core military-related spending, the total military allocation is 31.9 cents of each 2009 federal income tax dollar. Education received 2 cents; the combined category of environment, energy and science got 2.5 cents; and transportation and international affairs took 1.3 cents apiece."

Take special note of these statistics. The military one isn't completely accurate if you put a little more thought into it. The break down is accurate but it's split.  Here's how i see it, add the initial military expense of 26.5 cents to the 5.4 cents for interest on military, veterans benefits is another 3.5 cents giving an actual military expense of 35.4 cents.  Under health(20.1 cents) there is probably another 8 cents for the Veterans Administration for medical coverage for veterans making the total number actually closer to 44% which is in line with other sources i have read.

The military and its related aspects take a huge chunk of our tax dollars, 44 cents.  For some of us this is OK but for others of us(me) the amount we spend on keeping the war machine going is tough to swallow.  We spend more than all the other nations of the world combined on our military.

When i speak of Peace having a place at the Federal Level i don't say it lightly.

When you are done calculating the amount of tax you will pay this year click on this link http://nationalpriorities.org/taxchart/2010 to see how your tax dollars will be spent.  All you have to do is put in the amount of tax you pay this year.  i just did mine and it is shocking how much goes to the war machine.  i hate it just as much as those on the right hate paying for poor people, give me a poor person any day for my taxes to go to.

So often the tax chatter concerns these enormous sums going to welfare recipients.  Well the reality is that the bulk of our taxes goes to the military and to pay off the national debt.
Everything else suffers.  Poor people get 7.2 cents and with education only getting a measly 2 cents we need a champion, someone with vision--and clout--who can clearly articulate why a free society requires an informed citizenry, and why investing in children means investing in the future of this nation. 


I'll bet you didn't know how your taxes are divided up.
i said this two weeks ago and i'll say it again this week.
It will be a good day when sick people get all the care they need, and the government has to hold a bake sale to buy bombs.