May 23, 2011
Social Media Fights Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation
Spain Bans Mass Protests
hundreds of protesters in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square
protesters were reacting to unemployment and the economic crisis
Youths defiant at 'Spanish revolution' camp in Madrid
May 19, 2011
The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X
Although I'm still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.
May 18, 2011
E-mail guidelines and etiquette
"Zeitgeist: Moving Forward"
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward [2011] by director Peter Joseph is a 162 minute film work which continues what the prior two films of the Zeitgeist Film Series started: a critical look at the “Zeitgeist” or ‘Spirit /Awareness of the Time’. A prominent underlying thesis of the Film Series is that a great many notions, beliefs and practices currently engaged in today and assumed as “presupposed”, “given” or seemingly empirical to our societal approaches and values are not only intellectually/historically incorrect but highly detrimental to our personal and social progress and sustainability.
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward focuses on the very fabric of the social order: Monetary-Market Economics. While the majority of the world today have slowly come to see some basic flaws in the economic system we share, as large scale debt defaults, inflation, industrial pollution, resource depletion, rising cancer rates and other signposts emerge to bring the concern into the realm of “public health” overall, very few however consider the economic paradigm as a whole as the source. The tendency is to demand reform in one area or another, avoiding the possibility that perhaps the entire system is intrinsically flawed at the foundational level. ZMF presents the case that it is, indeed, the very foundational mechanics of this system that generates the patterns of behavior and unsustainable methods of conduct that are leading to the vast spectrum of detrimental consequences both personal, social, and environmental and the longer they go on, the worse things will become.
For example, here are four of the more dominant points with respect to the current system:
-The Market System is based on “Cyclical Consumption” and in order for society to continue it’s economic operation through “labor” as the basic starting point there must be perpetual turnover of goods and services and the rate of this turnover cannot be inhibited beyond a certain level. The consequence is that strategic conservation and efficiency (the true measures of the quality of an “economy”) in the ecological, technological and hence/scientific sense become detrimental factors to perpetuating the artificial need for Cyclical Consumption. In other words the less efficient the goods and services produced, the more eventual demand and the more turnover will occur in general to meet those needs. This is the exact opposite of what logic demands for a true economic system, which would need to be based on preservation and maximum sustainability/strategic longevity. The reduction of consumption and waste is a central need for ongoing human survival on a finite planet. We live in an “anti-economy,” in fact.
May 7, 2011
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent".
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race” Calvin Coolidge
May 6, 2011
Honor the Earth is a Native-Led Organization
As a unique national Native initiative, Honor the Earth works to a) raise public awareness and b) raise and direct funds to grassroots Native environmental groups. We are the only Native organization that provides both financial support and organizing support to Native environmental initiatives. This model is based on strategic analysis of what is needed to forge change in Indian country, and it is based deep in our communities, histories, and long term struggles to protect the earth.
May 5, 2011
50 Year Anniversary of the Freedom Riders
Fifty years ago today, the inaugural Freedom Ride left Washington
freedom-riders-celebrate-50-year-anniversary
It was the spring of 1961, when the first 13 Freedom Riders planned a two week trek from Washington, D.C. They would take two buses through the deep South.
Hank Thomas was just 19 when he boarded the bus. “We had no thought of any kind of violence,” he said.
But violence would come ten days later. Outside of Anniston, Alabama, Thomas’ bus was surrounded by the Ku Klux Klan and set on fire. He and five others were almost burned alive.
“I was looking for the easiest way to die,” he said.
Hours later in Birmingham, the second bus –carrying seven others — was met by pipes and bats. James Peck lost six teeth and was knocked unconscious.
“We must not surrender to violence,” Peck said in 1961
Diane Nash was a 22-year-old junior at Fisk University in Nashville.
“It was critical at that moment that we not allow the rides to stop,” Nash said.
This site offers two approaches for the study of specific time periods in American women's history.
kmiddlet@mtsu.edu
Middle Tennessee State Univ. Library
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
May 4, 2011
NYC Dept of Transportation Says Biking Is Up And Streets Are Safer
NYC Dept of Transportation Says Biking Is Up And Streets Are Safer
Biking continues to go up in New York as driving and transit ridership stays nearly flat, according to a report being released today by the New York City Department of Transportation. The report found that bicycle commuting into Manhattan increased by 13 percent in 2010. During that same period, subway and bus ridership dropped by a little bit over 2 percent, while car traffic rose slightly.
The report comes after several other reports, including reports out of NYU and Rutgers, say cycling is only a small percentage of commuters. But the NYC DOT says that is based on older data gathered by the US census, and that census data is an inexact measure of bike commuting because it only measures “primary” methods of commutes. The DOT says its methods are more accurate because they measure actual bicycle riders, consistent with national traffic management measures.