Monthly Archives: April 2014

By Their Deeds Shall Ye Know Them…

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. Lambert Lombard (1505/1506–1566) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I am the product of an extremely conservative home and a Christian school environment. As such, I spent a good part of my childhood attending church services four to five times a week. During my years in the Christian school, we had “chapel” services daily and were required to memorize chapters of different books from the Bible.

This did not prepare me adequately for pursuing a college education, obtaining a job or learning social skills in diverse groups. But it did help me learn to think outside the box (our school work stations were cubicle style classrooms) and to think critically about my world (why CAN’T a girl take auto mechanics if we can drive cars?).

Upon entering adulthood, I studied other world religions during college and “interviewed” those from different denominations of Christianity. While most would oppose the position I have chosen, I believe that if you remove everything that is different about all these views and theologies, what you will have left is actual truth.

So I find it confusing when I hear governmental policies being proposed that support the views of conservatives, supposedly as values taught them by their faith in religion. We are told in scripture that the way we live our lives reflects that which is in our hearts. Do we go to church so we can be seen and see who else is going, drop something in the offering plate and feel absolved enough to live however we wish the rest of the week? Or is going to church a way to bring honor to that which fills our hearts and is shown by the deeds we do throughout the week?

Jesus taught through parables and lessons. He instructed his believers to bring others to understanding by living a life that would want to be emulated – one of peace, sharing, love and compassion. He talked about how giving something to a child was the same as giving it to him. He talked about giving the shirt off your back to someone that needed it. He healed the sick and he threw the moneychangers out of the temple.

Yet as the conservative wing has asserted its power in Washington DC, we hear about people with “family values” having affairs. We see legislation that literally takes food from the mouths of children by cutting SNAP funds. We have watched 51 attempts by the US House to repeal ObamaCare, the very thing that can help heal the sick. We allow banks to foreclose on families, throwing them out in the street. We allow non-profits to raise unlimited funding for campaigns and buy our democracy out from underneath us.

There is nothing in the Bible to indicate the “preferred” denomination in Heaven, but if you were to talk to 15 people from 15 different churches, they would all tell you they had found the correct path. When these type of people proclaim from the halls of Congress that they are doing the right thing, I have to question where their sense of “right” comes from.

My point, directed at those who preach one thing but practice quite another, is this: If this is how you speak for Christ, he would be better off if you were silent. If this is how you live your life while passing judgement on those less fortunate than yourselves, live it away from me. If this is how Christ lives inside you and how you reflect his love and salvation in your life, you can keep it all. That is not the one true God that you worship, and I will pray for your soul to receive understanding of his word and forgiveness for your inhumane treatment of his greatest creation.

Delays Can Have Advantages

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By chesapeakeclimate (8/22/11 Uploaded by Ekabhishek) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By chesapeakeclimate (8/22/11 Uploaded by Ekabhishek) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Usually red tape makes most of us mad or at the very least, frustrated. But we finally found an example of how following the process and dealing with government red tape can actually have good advantages.

The State Department, in a call with a staff member, told Reuters on April 18, that they will “extend the government comment period on the Keystone XL pipeline, likely postponing a final decision on the controversial project until after the Nov. 4 midterm elections.” The State Department said the decision was based on giving 8 federal agencies more time to offer opinions based on their processes and studies before making a final decision.

This follows a February Nebraska District Court ruling aimed to put decision-making power over the pipeline in the hands of the governor. The court has previously ruled that allowing TransCanada to use eminent domain laws to seize land for the controversial project was unconstitutional.

Two members of the Cowboy Indian Alliance. Photo courtesy Bold Nebraska via Flicker.

As it stands now, the permits granted for the pipeline in the state of Nebraska will expire on June 20, 2014 — meaning that TransCanada will have to reapply for a state permit after that date. Based on the current objections from landowners, the project does not currently have a clear, legal pathway cleared for construction of the final leg of the project. They won’t be able to use eminent domain laws or get around federal government approval their next go-around.

Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska, stated, “The basic fact that Nebraska has no legal route is reason to delay any decision until our state can analyze a route using process that follows our state constitution… They can’t move forward… This is a huge success for citizens and landowners.”

Bold Nebraska is an organization that leads the fight in Nebraska against the last remaining piece of the Keystone XL project’s construction plans. The group, together with other organizations and groups opposed to the pipeline, will travel to Washington, DC for a protest and demonstration on April 22 through 26. Please see our “ACTIONS” page for more details.

Members of the Cowboy Indian Alliance prepare for the trip to Washington, DC. Taken at Rosebud Prayer Camp. Photo courtesy Bold Nebraska via Flicker.

We think following the process is the right thing to do. If the process is not followed and laws not observed, regardless of the final decision, someone will claim “FOUL!” because it wasn’t followed. The more time we have to show the damaging, long-lasting effects of oil contamination to soil, poisoned water and unknown chemicals released in the environment, the better educated the public will be and the more likely it is that reason will rule over greed.

We favor reason.

A Vested Interest

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Oil refinery in Homs, Syria 2008 By High Contrast (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Syrian civil war has been going on for three years. And, while we’ve discussed the war from various angles here at Occupy World Writes, we’ve never really discussed the reasoning behind the responses by the United States and Russia, and why they seem content to let the horrific violence continue. They claim that it’s to “allow the Syrian people to decide their own destiny”, but are they really that altruistic?

It’s 2001, and the United States had just suffered the deadliest terrorist attack on U,S, soil. In 2007, General Wesley Clark in a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco stated that a Pentagon source had told him weeks after 9/11 that the U.S was going to attack Iraq, even though they knew that Iraq had no involvement in the attack. He recalled the conversation: “Six weeks later, I saw the same officer, and asked: “Why haven’t we attacked Iraq? Are we still going to attack Iraq?” “He said: “Sir, it’s worse than that. He said – he pulled up a piece of paper off his desk – he said: “I just got this memo from the Secretary of Defense’s office. It says we’re going to attack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years – we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.”

Fortunately, the Bush administration never got any farther with their destabilization plan than invading Iraq, but they did use 9/11 as an excuse to go into Iraq. And, why did they choose Iraq first? The answer’s simple- Iraqi oil. We move forward ten years. It’s 2011, and the Arab Spring is in full bloom. What had started in Tunisia in December of 2010 had spread throughout the Arab world, and Syria was no exception. A free market economic policy had brought on massive income inequality, and the people had had enough. But, behind the unrest in the streets, there was another chess game going on; one with global implications.

Oil pipeline in Khozestan. By National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

You see, Syria is in a prime location for the transport of oil and gas. Not only does it have oil of its own, it’s also a logical place to transport oil from due to its Mediterranean ports and its proximity to Turkey, and from there, the EU. In 2009, Qatar proposed a gas pipeline from the capitol Doha to Istanbul, Turkey that would cross Syria and end on the Mediterranean, with the gas then being shipped to Europe. However, Assad said no to the proposal, instead signing a deal with Iraq and Iran to build a 3,480-mile natural gas pipeline connecting Iran’s South Pars field to European customers. Dubbed the “Islamic Pipeline” by the West, the project would run from Iran’s South Pars gas field through Iraq, Syria and Southern Lebanon, and connect to Syrian ports for exporting gas to Europe.

At that time, Qatar’s biggest ally in the region was Saudi Arabia, and, by extension, the U.S. Iran and the Syrian regime’s big ally? Russia. Since 2011, Qatar has given at least three billion dollars in aid to the Syrian rebels, and the US has provided non-military support. The Russians have given both military and humanitarian aid to the Assad regime. However, it gets even more interesting. Last year, Qatar began siding with Iran instead of with its partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) over the role and scope of U.S. military deployment in the area. This led to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalling their ambassadors to Qatar, effectively ending the GCC.

Who profits from the situation in Syria? If the Assad regime wins, the Iraq pipeline will be fast-tracked, which could be harmful to the Russian economy in the long run, as Russia is the major supplier of natural gas to Europe. However, if the rebels win, the Russians would effectively be shut out of the Mediterranean for the near future. On the U.S side, if Assad wins, it cements the Russian presence, and cuts into the U.S.’s growing oil and gas export business. However, if the rebels win, they’re more likely to associate with Qatar and Iran than they are the U.S. And, the Iranians would have another way of getting gas and oil to market, thereby lessening the impact of the sanctions imposed against them by the U.S.

Some conspiracy theorists claim that the whole Syrian Civil War has been an attempt by the U.S. to destabilize the region, and the Russians to maintain what influence they had while keeping their gas exports to Europe intact. While I feel that the Syrian uprising was a true people’s movement, I also believe that both the U.S. and Russia have a vested interest in keeping the war going as long as possible.

As usual, follow the money…

We Can Fight Back!

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By Michael Gil from Toronto, ON, Canada (Fields of Rain Uploaded by OSX) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today (April 17th) is the International Day of Farmers’ Struggles. Started by La Via Campesina in 1997 in memory of the 19 peasant farmers who were killed while defending their land rights on April 17, 1996 in Eldorado dos Carajás, Brazil, this year the focus is on seed sovereignty, or the right of a community or individual to have access to and control over their agricultural seeds.

You might be asking yourself “Seed sovereignty? Why is that important?” We only need to look at two recent Supreme Court rulings to see why. Bowman v. Monsanto ruled that farmers could not collect seeds from crops they’d grown from Monsanto seeds and use them the next year. While the Court’s ruling was more about patent law than about crops, the implications are obvious, especially when combined with the second ruling.

The second ruling was more of a non-ruling than anything else. In January, the Court refused to hear Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that a farmer could be sued for having over 1% of Monsanto GM plants on their acreage even though the reason why they had the crops were through contamination of their seed stock.

The idea that a company can essentially eliminate its competition through suing for involuntary patent infringement on the part of the defendant is horrifying enough. When it also deals with the food supply, we have a big problem.

Occupy World Writes stands in solidarity with the farmers and urges everybody to join or start an International Day of Farmers’ Struggles action near you. We reject the idea that any corporation should be able to exert that much control over the food supply, and we believe that farmers shouldn’t need to worry about unwanted seed driving them out of business.

There’s a discussion in New York City tonight from 6PM to 8PM EDT; Food Justice, Food Sovereignty: Building Global Solidarity towards a Just Food System. If you’re not in New York City, you can follow the discussion here.

Tale of Two Cities

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By Jackson Beth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I think it is time for me to fulfill a lifetime dream of founding my own town.

In this town, there are ordinances that prevent the manufacturing and industrial sectors from polluting the land, air and water. They are very happy to operate within these policies. We also have a tax-increment district that encourages development of new businesses in the city center. The public utilities are modern enough to handle all water, sewer, gas and electrical needs of the growing city.

Our residents live in public school districts that have attained the highest education standards possible. We have a 98% graduation rate, with 85% of the graduates enrolling in colleges and universities within 18 months. The unemployment rate is less than 3%, and the city libraries also have internet access for free public use. Affordable housing is available for low income families.

Our police force is staffed by trained officers who regard protecting people over property a priority. Our crime rate is virtually nonexistent. People have a sense of pride and ownership of the community. Organizations work together for common goals and public areas are made available for meetings of groups in the People’s Square, a modern business/convention style facility with full technology access points.

By Suzanne Szasz (Public Domain)

Funding for all this comes through various sources. Primarily, companies pay a very small percentage of net profit income back to the city in exchange for having taken advantage of the tax increment districts as a start-up incentive. There is also a program that encourages the residents to purchase products produced by local businesses. These products are tax free for the residents, and the company receives local sales without distribution costs. Companies that use “common” goods, such as water, roads, and all other infrastructure pay a modest use tax. There are also the normal sources of state and federal funding as applicable. Residents still pay normal taxes on property and for schools, but the rate is actually lower than the state average.

Life is good in my town. The population is growing, jobs are paying well, and we were just visited by a University thinking of relocating their campus to the safe and peaceful community.

Just down the road from here lies another municipality. This one is almost the exact opposite in policy, police, education and everything else. Even the newspaper in that town is controlled by the city council. The residents live in a constant state of economic insecurity, high suicide rates and high crime. The only thing higher is the number of people using illegal drugs.

Does all this sound a bit far fetched? Maybe it would help to tell you that the first town’s name is “Theory.” In “Theory” everything always works right, runs as intended and fulfills the goal. In “Practice,” the name of the second town, however, we find the exact opposite.

Condemning “Provacative”

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The guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) underway. Donald Cook was the first surface combatant to fire Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) in the liberation of Iraq. Photo By U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist Alan J. Baribeau. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A 90-minute encounter between the USS Donald Cook and a Russian SU-24 fighter aircraft, making 12 low-altitude, close-range passes near the ship in the Black Sea over the weekend, brought some excitment to the crew of the guided missle destroyer.

The passes — ranging from sea level to several thousand feet — did not place the US destroyer in danger, according to Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren. Attempts to communicate with the Russian aircraft to inquire as to its intentions were met with radio silence.

“This provocative and unprofessional Russian action is inconsistent with their national protocols and previous agreements on the professional interaction between our militaries,” Warren said.

At Putin’s request, Obama and Putin spoke by phone on Monday evening. Described as “frank and direct,” the conversation reportedly did not go well. This is the coolest the relationship with Russia has been in decades.

This comes following a heightened tension in the Ukraine crisis as more government buildings were seized in various eastern Ukraine cities over the past few days. Tactics, equipment and unidentified provocateurs operating under the exact same methods as we saw in Crimea. Yet Russia wants us to believe there is no connection, while their media reports how Yanukovich is still the legitimate ruler of Ukraine.

Russian Air Force Jet SU-24. Photo By Alex Beltyukov - RuSpotters Team [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Russian Air Force Jet SU-24. Photo By Alex Beltyukov – RuSpotters Team [CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL 1.2], via Wikimedia Commons

How do we know about the connection with sure confidence? Activists that are homegrown movements bent on democratic change do not take over government buildings sporting automatic, military grade weaponry and maneuvers. The protest in Kiev began as a peaceful group in Independence Square – it did not turn violent until provoked by the riot police, under Yanukovich acting on Putin’s advice, attacked the protestors.

As we continue to hold our breath and pray that Ukraine does not escalate into the next World War, we also hold firm on our opinion and belief that true oppression, as seen in the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement and in Kiev, represents the fact that THE PEOPLE WILL ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!

Government By The People

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Ohio 2008. By Dean Beeler (Line after voting Uploaded by Petronas) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Ever since the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last year, we’ve seen a rash of new voter ID laws and voting restrictions in the states where Federal approval for any changes were previously required. Targeted mostly at minorities and students, the new laws will also disenfranchise or put undue hardship on many elderly voters.

While I could rant about the cowardice of such laws (if you have winning policies, there’s no reason to suppress the vote), I would like to propose a solution; one that would not only address the voter registration issue, but would also provide infrastructure jobs, enhance our educational system AND transform government at the same time. Do I have your interest yet?

The solution is simple, and starts with expanding high speed internet services to all of the U.S. The National Broadband Plan is a good start, but we can do better than this. High speed internet and the equipment to access it is a requirement for so many things these days that it only makes sense to provide every family with the tools needed. The required infrastructure upgrades would create jobs, and having high speed access at home even in the poorest and/or most remote areas would help those going to school immensely.

And, it wouldn’t be that expensive. Syed Karim, the former head of product development for Chicago Public Radio, has proposed what he calls the Outernet; a network of mini satellites providing non-commercial content for free via WiFi. And, he has a venture capital company raising money for the project. And, last year Mark Zuckerburg announced the formation of a partnership with Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Qualcomm and others to make Internet access available to everyone on Earth. With hardwired broadband in our homes and workplaces, and WiFi everywhere else, everybody in the nation would be connected.

Waiting voters in Boston 2008. Photo by charlene mcbride (originally posted to Flickr as waiting voters) [CC-BY-2.0] via Wikimedia Commons

So, you’re thinking that this sounds all well and good, but what does this have to do with voting? The answer’s simple- online voting. Everybody would have a voter ID linked to a unique existing form- your Social Security number would be the obvious first choice. Security would be an obvious focus; either a multilevel password system or biometrics could be used here. And, before you start thinking 1984 with biometrics, remember that everybody’s fingerprinted at birth these days. Furthermore, biometric sensors are appearing more and more on our electronic devices; for example, my laptop has one, and the latest iPhones have unlocking via fingerprint.

We have our unique ID- now what? The next thing we do is redefine the role of Congress. Instead of the gridlock we see these days, Congress’s main job would be to write legislation that we the people would vote on. Yes, it would be more efficient to let Congress handle the details with some legislation, but for the most part, everything would be decided by us. Of course, the same thing could (and should) be implemented at the state and local level as well.

What would be the advantage to that? First of all, it would remove a lot of the influence that lobbyists have, as Congress wouldn’t have the power that it does now. Furthermore, it would lead to greater transparency. If we set a threshold – say 60% of eligible voters – for any bill to become law, the bills would have to be written in language plain enough for the average person to understand. And, it would promote civic responsibility and ownership in the general population, for they’d realize the only people to blame would be themselves in cases of gridlock or things not getting done. Because of this, the people would educate themselves on the issues- a win-win for all of us.

Will it be an easy transition? No. However, if we make a firm commitment to an overhaul along these lines, I could see it functional by 2020 or so. Then, we will finally have government by the people and for the people in this country.

The New Idiocracy

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Rally in downtown on fourth day of Chicago Teachers Union strike. By firedoglakedotcom [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Everywhere, I see the signs. From people on the Texas State Board of Education trying to ban environmental science textbooks and trying to block textbooks that teach evolution to legislators in Arizona dumping Common Core standards because “some of the reading material is borderline pornographic.” and has “fuzzy math”, which substitutes letters for numbers; from the demonizing of teachers and their unions to the slashing of school budgets both on the state and Federal level – what we’re seeing instead of George W. Bush’s so-called “Race to the Top” is a “Race to the Bottom.”

In what seems to be a reoccuring theme when I take a look at what’s wrong in America today, this trend towards dumbing down the population began in policies enacted during the Reagan years. While he was governor of California, Reagan repeatedly called for ending free tuition for California residents in state colleges and universities (yes, California had that), annually demanding 20% cuts across the board for higher education, and repeatedly slashing funds for new school construction. He also slashed the budgets for public schools, forcing the communities to attempt to bridge the gap via tax increases. This was no more obvious than in LA, where the teachers walked out after massive underfunding due to five separate tax bills being voted down made them unable to do their jobs.

As President, it was more of the same. During his campaign, he called for the total elimination the US Department of Education, severe curtailment of bilingual education, and massive cutbacks in the Federal role in education. Under his watch, the education budget was cut in half; from 12% to 6%. And, that money went to the states instead of the individual school districts, leading to severe inequities. He also started the trend towards public funding of private, for profit schools, and wanted to bring prayer back into the classroom. His Secretary of Education (William Bennett) toured the nation making unprecedented and unprincipled attacks on most aspects of public education including teacher certification, teacher’s unions and the “multi-layered, self-perpetuating, bureaucracy of administrators that weighs down most school systems.”

By Sabrina Maisel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Then, we move forward to the present day. According to the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), in 2012 American students fell to 29th place from 24th place in math, 22nd from 19th in science, and to 20th from 10th in reading among 65 global education systems over the previous three years. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), who are responsible for PISA, noted that over the last decade, “there has been no significant change [in the United States] in these performances over time.” In other words, we aren’t progressing, but the rest of the world is.

This really shouldn’t surprise us too much. After all, in our country, one in four believe the sun goes around the earth. Furthermore, almost half don’t realize that antibiotics aren’t effective against viruses, and half don’t believe in evolution. And then, there’s the conspiracies. According to a PPP poll from last year, 37% of Americans believe global warming is a hoax, and 15% say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals, just to name a couple.

However, the education system doesn’t shoulder all the blame for this (even though it plays a big part). The other big factor is what you’re using right now to read this; the internet. Take any crazy position, and you’ll find a group of people who will reinforce that belief somewhere on the weird and wacky web. But, when you ask students from Harvard (one of the best schools in the country) what the capital of Canada is, and the only person who can answer comes from there, we have a serious problem.

If brain-eating zombies were to come to America, they’d starve to death…

An Abundant Fuel

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A hydrogen filling station in Reykjavík, Iceland. By Jóhann Heiðar Árnason (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

We’ve heard a lot over the last thirty years or so about how we, sooner or later, will run out of oil. The petrochemical industry touches us all in so many ways every day; it’s used to power our transportation, make the plastics that we use for more and more things, make the drugs that we rely on to treat various conditions; the list goes on and on.

With all the other purposes we have for oil, using it as a fuel seems to be the most wasteful use of this valuable resource. But, electric cars don’t have the range to be practical except for in an urban environment, and the charging takes time. And, in the urban areas where an electric car would be the most practical, there’s a lack of charging infrastructure. Many people park out in the street or in parking lots; the challenge of creating a charging network for these people will be daunting. How will the power be metered and distributed?

So, what are the other options? Biofuel has its supporters, but growing the crops for ethanol or methanol uses valuable cropland that could be used for crops instead. And, both are toxic, and highly flammable. Then, there’s hydrogen.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. Here on Earth, we have vast supplies of hydrogen in our water. However, it doesn’t naturally exist here in its pure form; we have to extract it. And, since hydrogen is a gas, to transport it and be able to dispense it safely, we need to liquefy it. However, because it’s so abundant and because a hydrogen powered engine (either by burning straight hydrogen or used in a fuel cell) produces zero emissions, the push for hydrogen fueled vehicles and the infrastructure to support them is strong.

Honda FCX. By EERE [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Both Honda and Toyota are bringing hydrogen fuel cell cars to market next year, but they won’t be cheap. They’ll sell for close to $100,000 to begin with, with prices hopefully dropping to the $30,000 range in the 2020s once production ramps up. As usual with these things, they’ll only be available in California and the Northeast to begin with (there’s some, if limited, infrastructure to support them in both places) and from there eventually go nationwide.

Then, there’s the Holy Grail of energy- fusion reactors. Fusion reactors work along the same principle that stars do; two hydrogen atoms collide and fuse together; the result is one helium atom and energy. The problem here’s isn’t so much one of having a high enough temperature and either a high enough speed or pressure to force the hydrogen atoms to collide violently enough to fuse; it’s keeping a self-sustaining reaction going that creates more power than it uses. However, Livermore National Laboratory announced last month that they had created small fusion reactions producing five times the power that they were able to achieve a couple years ago. And, General Fusion announced this week that they’ll begin to work on a full-size prototype fusion reactor as early as the end of this year.

The U.S. Navy announced another use for sea water this week- direct conversion to whatever form of hydrocarbon fuel they need at the time. The advantages to this for the military are fairly obvious, as they can create what fuel they need when they need it, and it works in the engines our ships currently use. However, like fuel cells in cars, mass practical application’s 7 to 10 years away. And, at the present time, you need to process 23,000 gallons of sea water to get one gallon of fuel. This wouldn’t be a practical way to supply fuel for land transportation, but for ships and power generators along the ocean, this could be implemented in the foreseeable future.

There’s still a lot of work to do before these uses of sea water can compete with traditional energy sources on a cost basis, but the rewards are worth it. If we put the same manpower and resources into developing hydrogen and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power as we do into developing weapons of war and protecting the status quo, we could probably be almost completely green as far as energy goes by 2040.

Basic design for a wind hydrogen system for an off-grid community. By Longershanks at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

The future is bright – if we care enough to make it so.

“Emotional” Damage

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Barack and Michelle Obama greet guests following the Women’s History Month reception in the East Room of the White House on March 18, 2013.
By Pete Souza [Public domain], via Wikimedia Common

Patriarchal society has dominated human culture for centuries. With rare exception, men are seen as the providers of safety, economic income, the head of the family and the leaders of the community.

International communities recognize the absence of women in the most important discussions taking place today. The UN has questioned why more women are not involved in the peace processes. More women are now involved in parliaments and governments the world over. But it is still not representative of the populations being represented. In October, 2013, the United Nations Security Council and senior UN officials “issued a strong call on the international community to strengthen its commitment to ensuring that women play a more prominent role in conflict prevention, resolution and in post-war peacebuilding,” according to a UN News Centre article.

But I am becoming increasingly concerned when I see a country attempt to go back from over 50 years in progress toward women’s rights – and for the purpose of polarized politics in a reprehensible soup of despicable vitriol. And at the end of the day, the damage done is not to the women themselves, but to those who lose their credibility by sacrificing their morality in a verbal jihad resulting in sentiments that will linger long after the battles are seemingly over.

Women Grow Business bootcamp 2010 for #dcweek #wgbiz.
By ShashiBellamkonda [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I never thought I would find myself defending Bridget Kelly until Chris Christie’s attorneys released their “document” that accused Kelly of being “emotional” and therefore causing the traffic problems in Ft. Lee, or their description of Dawn Zimmer as being “emotional” about her allegation of Christie’s office holding Sandy Aid money in exchange for support of a development project. It was done again when former CIA Director Michael Hayden called Dianne Feinstein “emotional” in her CIA investigation remarks. Lois Lerner was said to be “emotional” when she took the fifth during the IRS investigation. I could only think of the rape victims who were not allowed to testify at the trial of their rapist because their testimony would be too “emotional” and might sway the jury. In all these instances, “emotional” is meant to convey weakness, poor judgement, lack of knowledge and unprofessionalism.

It started a few years back, but we’ve watched the momentum increase. Since 2009, legislatures across the country have introduced new bills that repress women’s rights. While they may seem insignificant when viewed individually, collectively they represent a regression that appears to be orchestrated by men that feel threatened by women’s empowerment.

You look confused – let me explain. You already are familiar with the claw back of abortion access in America. We have also seen laws that attempt to redefine rape so fewer women can receive abortion when impregnated by their rapist. The IRS was almost forced to audit rape victims before this was struck from a pending bill due to public outrage. And let’s not forget the Michigan “rape Insurance” bill, requiring a pre-purchased policy that covers the “just in case” scenario, and then the state made the policy itself unavailable to women in the state.

Connie Reece and others offer “social media therapy” sessions during the Austin Women in Technology (AWT) Business Conference.
By TheSeafarer [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Washington committees review policies on women’s health, yet will not allow women to testify to these committees. They state myths as facts and claim facts are myths, and refuse to allow anyone to correct their misinformed ignorance. Medical science and facts be damned, these men know what’s best for womens health.

Some cities have passed rules that take domestic violence off the “calls we respond to” list for local police departments, citing budget cuts. Those cities report domestic violence being so high that the police spend “excessive” time dealing with the issue.

Voter ID laws make it especially difficult for women who have changed their name, either through marriage or divorce, to attain proper voting documentation. The restricted hours for voting target single working women.

Budget cuts in Washington have resulted in SNAP funds being slashed – hitting single mothers hardest. The response of “women need to get married as a means of improving their lives” mantra we are beginning to hear is not a policy or solution.

Pell grants, currently being threatened in Washington, benefit women overwhelmingly, offering a means to rise above their economic restrictions.

Federal minimum wage increases would benefit women, who work more entry level and service sector jobs than men.

This week, we are hearing people argue that women don’t need or want equal pay for equal work. Yet women make on average, .77 for every $1.00 earned by a man doing the same work with the same qualifications.

Targets now include birth control in general, single mothers, making divorce more difficult, health insurance coverage, banking and lending policies, the list continues to grow.

All this takes place in the backdrop of men who were elected for their “family values” who then pass laws that they exempt themselves from regarding sexual harassment, get caught on camera in extra-marital affairs and worry about how men will be impacted if the Violence Against Women Act allows white rapists on Indian reservations to be prosecuted in court instead of falling through the legal loopholes. And now they are using the “negative impact” on men as an excuse to not pass the Equal Pay Act.

What is it called when you say one thing and do another? H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y