Jan 28
This is what Kansas Day is all about! Via Facebook.
Happy Kansas Day Eve! Sleep tight and just maybe if you have been a good Kansan, Amelia Earhart will bring you Russell-Stover chocolates. And if you have been a bad Missourian, John Brown will shoot you and your family while you slumber.Tommy Bobo
Raconteur
Kansas Day is January 29th. This will be the 149th anniversary of Kansas’ statehood.
From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than ‘objectivity’; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.Howard Zinn
Historian, Activist
I, too, teach this way, in large part because of role models like Howard Zinn. I can only hope to have a modicum of the influence this great man imparted on his students. RIP, Dr. Zinn.
Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove
[Ed. 1/29/2010 Added a tribute to Dr. Zinn from Democracy Now!]
Jan 25
Protect Your Education by Nick Bygon
I cannot believe this is my first post of 2010! Sorry for the prolonged absence, but my life has been undergoing some drastic changes. I accepted a full time position as an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at Johnson County Community College just after the new year and have been rushing around trying to get ready for the start of the semester. That fateful day finally came and went last week and I’m happy to say that the students and I both found the new position suited us just fine.
I have a very crappy blog up right now at the school. Nothing to see there now, but note the address and I assure you it will improve as the semester progresses. I’m still hammering out some HR and IT bugs. It is still veeeeeery new.
That’s enough chit-chat: what the hell has happened in this country since I last wrote? Health care is falling out of vogue because democrats are too tired to keep working? Corporations had their imaginary inalienable rights reaffirmed by what can only be described as an activist decision from the Robert’s court? I’ll have more to say about that in a post to follow, but in the meantime, just go to your windows, open them and keep screaming mantra #2 at the top of your lungs. Repeat as necessary. Goldman Sachs is ONLY paying out $16 billion in bonuses, or a $498,000 average per employee. I doubt the janitor is getting 500 large. Finally, a nude model was elected to the United States Senate. I’ve got no problem with nude models in public service, but I am leery of our politics getting any closer to our friends in Italy. In short, its alot like 2009.
Yet, for some reason, I feel strangely hopeful. I don’t know if it is because I’m back in a classroom again, but I’ve got a feeling that we can get something done this year. Case in point: the poster that you see here from the talented Nick Bygon. It is a rally poster (released under a Creative Commons Attribution license) for the upcoming day of strike for the California tuition hikes on March 4, 2010. Stay tuned for more on that. It was passed on to me by my cousin and fellow educational activist Kat Williams. Thanks to Kat and Nick, this beauty now adorns the wall of my office and serves as a reminder to all of my students and co-workers of just why we are there. For 3+ weeks into the new year, that feels like an acceptable start. Now, about those goddamn, non-human corporations…
These lists are always so subjective and this is no exception. Not only does this one include some of the very best music that was made over the course of the 00ughts, it happens to be the music that most impacted my life over the last ten years. Leave your list in the comments! And now, as always, in no particular order:
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
The Heartless Bastards - All This Time
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
Brendan Benson - The Alternative To Love
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Tool - Lateralus
16 Horsepower - Secret South
System Of A Down - Toxicity
The Coup - Pick A Bigger Weapon
For various reasons, these stories and videos never made their way into posts this year, though they were all worthy. This is in no way intended as your typical PR, tactical news dump. These are important stories that I actually want you to read. I just needed to clean out the hopper for the new year. So, please take your time and dig through these links and videos. There’s even some “feel good” links mixed in for good measure! Happy New Year!
Monsanto: Farmer suicides in India
The World According To Monsanto, Part 1
Elizabeth Warren on the Economy
Buy “The World According To Monsanto”
Making the TransAfghanistan pipeline safe for democracy
In search of morale: are Americans too broken for the truth to set us free?
Who should resist and who will become serfs?
Why is America apathetic? Aww, screw it. Who cares?
From EFF’s secret files: Anatomy of a bogus subpoena
What do ISPs charge the law to spy on you?
Vienna students march on US embassy (in solidarity with UC students)
Spain investigates what America should
Amy Goodman and Canada’s Olympic Paranoia
Time Warner and Embarq can’t compete with city-owned ISP, trying to outlaw it
Cablevision power play: 101 Mbps Internet, no caps, $99
Parkinson’s Dirty Deal, Part 1
Student hoaxes world’s media on Wikipedia
Buggy ’smart meters’ open door to power-grid botnet
Time Warner cable cannot possibly compete with the small city of Wilson, North Carolina
Literary Lessons: Authors, Poet write the news
FCC to examine mobile phone exclusives
Comics artist Mark Sable detained for Unthinkable acts
Bush’s secret NSA spying may have tainted prosecutions, report warns
Free the patents and laws, activist tells the Feds
Birth of new species witnessed by scientists [evolution in action]
Clinic with two doors, a symbol of two-tier care
Corporations rule (II): Walmart can close stores in Canada to block unions
Democracy Now! covers Olympic security
US forgoes billions in tax on Citi
Feds ‘pinged’ Sprint GPS data 8 million times over a year
American’s consume 34 Gb of content per day
I upgraded Wordpress to 2.9 and there was a delayed reaction to my old theme that I’m sure you noticed if you tried to access the site over the last couple days. It was virtually unusable. Since I’m going to be away from the site for the next couple days, this is the temporary look that may grow into something more permanent. Leave your thoughts on it here. Obviously, there will be bugs here and there, so please excuse the dust. Thanks for your patience!
[Ed: New year's eve...I'm settling into the new look and growing to like it now. Still some bugs, but those will get ironed out shortly. Good riddance 2009! Onward and upward to 2010!]
Jane Hamsher: “We have never mandated that the public pay eight percent of their income to a private company. That is obscene.”
Way to go, Jane! Remember, dear reader, sign the petition to kill the Senate bill here.
Howard Dean: “Let's See What They Add To This Bill And Make It Work”
Dec 17
Howard Dean: “This is my life's work!”
I am an independent multimedia communications consultant and active citizen living in the state of Kansas. Philosophically, I believe that Ella Wheeler Wilcox was correct when she said, "To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men." Politically, I defy labels. Professionally, I'm currently freelancing. More? Read on.
We owe no allegiance to any government. Rather, they owe abject allegiance to us.
Corporations are not human and therefore have no inalienable rights.
Single-payer or bust!
It is impossible to awaken someone who is pretending to sleep.
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Tell your friends: 10 reasons to kill the Senate bill
Dec 21
Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in call to action, healthcare | No Comments
Check out this masterful cheat-sheet on the Senate bill, put together by the crack staff over at FiredogLake. Then sign the petition: Kill the Senate bill!
Top 10 Reasons to Kill Senate Health Care Bill
Background information on each point: