December 2011
13 posts
“The solution for this denial of democracy is to Occupy the Corporation. In one...”
– Occupy the Corporation (via azspot)
Germany has something similar where half of the board is composed of employees. Each employee including the lowest paid like janitors get to serve a term. It is not a full democratization, but it’s better than what we have. For more about it I suggest...
The Defining Issue →
Get it? “Big government” isn’t the problem. The problem is big money is taking over government.
Government is doing less of the things most of us want it to do—providing good public schools and affordable access to college, improving our roads and bridges and water systems, and maintaining safety nets to catch average people who fall—and more of the things big corporations, Wall Street, and the...
“If you want to know what the United States would look like after this bill is...”
– America’s Future: Russia and China Use Copyright Laws to Crush Government Criticism (via azspot)
2 tags
Take 60 seconds to read 6 reasons why America... →
1. The dirtiest oil on the planet
2. Killing more jobs than it creates.
3. Making us more oil-dependent; not more secure.
4. Taking on a risk to benefit oil companies that Canadians themselves are not willing to take.
5. Threatening America’s breadbasket and U.S. waterways.
6. Laying waste to Canada’s boreal forest, home of our backyard birds.
4 tags
Local, Social, and Environmental Impacts of... →
For those that are interested here is a link to several open access peer reviewed journal articles about the impacts of biofuels.
“Globalization – the handmaiden of Cheap at All Costs – is celebrated as a...”
– The Walmartization of America Redux: How the Relentless Drive for Cheap Stuff Undermines Our Economy, Bankrupts Our Soul, and Pillages the Planet (via azspot)
Economists Push for a Broader Range of Viewpoints... →
“After a longstanding resistance, economists are now looking at adopting an ethics policy, in which they would divulge their conflicts of interest, much the way physicians do. The American Economic Association, which is meeting in January, has asked a committee to draw up guidelines on these matters.”
Anyone else not surprised that economists don’t have an ethics policy?
Debt and Democracy – Has the Link Been Broken? →
Every economy is planned. This traditionally has been the function of government. Relinquishing this role under the slogan of “free markets” leaves it in the hands of banks. Yet the planning privilege of credit creation and allocation turns out to be even more centralized than that of elected public officials. And to make matters worse, the financial time frame is short-term hit-and-run, ending...
Words That Don't Work →
What has been learned from the brain and cognitive sciences is that words are defined by fixed frames we use in thinking, frames come in hierarchical systems, and political frames are defined in moral terms, where “morality” is very different for conservatives and progressives. What lies behind the Occupy movement is a moral view of democracy: Democracy is about citizens caring about each other...
2 tags
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines...”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
2 tags
This month's charity - December 2011
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
What began as a collaboration between students and faculty members...
2 tags
Book of the Month, December 2011
American Theocracy
From Booklist
This former Republican strategist has written several books on the relationship between wealth and politics in this country, including the New York Times best-sellers Politics of Rich and Poor (1990) and Wealth and Democracy (2002). Phillips’ abiding theme is given a workout again in his new book, with his major thesis spelled out on the first page of the...
