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~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

whiney Wednesday & some News


The featured photo is from an article or event by the NMAAHC.

The Faces of My People
Margaret Burroughs (b. 1917)
Woodcut on paper

 it’s just another rant …

 About six days ago, an article popped up about slavery and while the topic is definitely, a sensitive one I do like to read what has happened because of the word itself has a history of pain misery and sadness. I have been hearing a lot about human trafficking, which is what I expected until I read the entire headline and went from interested to pretty pissed off in a matter of seconds. I don’t know about you but we don’t use the word slavery or slaves lightly where I come from.

According to wiki, yes wiki. I use them because i need the writer to read the formal use of the word in all its ugliness… Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work.[1] Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. Conditions that can be considered slavery include debt bondage, indentured servitude, serfdom, domestic servants kept in captivity, adoption in which children are effectively forced to work as slaves, child soldiers, and forced marriage.[2]

Slavery predates written records, has existed in many cultures.[3] The number of slaves today is higher than at any point in history,[4] remaining as high as 12 million[5] to 27 million,[6][7][8] though this is probably the smallest proportion of the world’s population in history.[9] Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations.[10] Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries.[11]

I responded to “the article” because many of us have ancestors who have experienced the institution of slavery in its formal definition and while the headline probably grabbed the attention of many I say shame on you for using the word so loosely so disrespectfully or remorse. There is absolutely no acceptable way of using the word “slave” when defining inmates of a prison. I will repeat wiki but it will be in my words because words matter and not only do they matter they have impact especially when the word is very specific to a person or group of people. The use of the word “slave” has a long awful history behind it and if i have tell you what it meant back in 1800’s then you need to do more research or stop writing about or using the word to gain more readers. I ask the writer, were these prisoners” “slaves” as you call them taken from their countries, homes, raped, branded just because, compromised or that families were split because the owner ordered a human being “slave” to be sold. I just do not believe or accept your article calling or using prisoners to do stoop work free can be considered slaves. I cannot begin to tell the writer just how disappointing it is to read such a nonchalant use of the word let alone the definition of the word which was taken way out context or a gimmick to gain readers not to mention a lack of true journalism forget about professionalism.  I have to ask the writer, maybe ask the people who are nice enough to read this blog how anyone could in with good conscious acquaint slave labour to that of labour from prisoners.  So, by all accounts prisoners are called prisoners because they commit a crime of some sort then tried and convicted for said crime and taken to jail or “prison” because they were bad to someone or something. I guess  you might dispute this but the fact is people of colour were victims of slavery  in the 1800’s and what ensued after being imprisoned was through no fault of people considered chattel or 3/5 of a person. That is undeniable fact not fiction and the way in which the writer used the term “slavery” is disrespectful to the people who lived it. Today, we have a more modern equivalent r of “slavery” … human trafficking. 

 The info below is from wiki is about the new modern lives of slavery …

There are more slaves today than at any point in history,[4] remaining as high as 12 million[5] to 27 million,[6][7][8] even though slavery is now outlawed in all countries.[7][133] Several estimates of the number of slaves in the world have been provided. According to a broad definition of slavery used by Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves (FTS), an advocacy group linked with Anti-Slavery International, there were 27 million people in slavery in 1999, spread all over the world.[134] In 2005, the International Labour Organization provided an estimate of 12.3 million forced labourers in the world,.[135] Thanks to the ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL), the work of the ILO has been spearheaded in this field since early 2002. The Programme has successfully raised global awareness and understanding of modern forced labour; assisted governments to develop and implement new laws, policies and action plans; developed and disseminated guidance and training materials on key aspects of forced labour and human trafficking; implemented innovative programmes which combine policy development, capacity building of law enforcement and labour market institutions, and targeted, field-based projects of direct support for both prevention of forced labour and identification and rehabilitation of its victims. Siddharth Kara has also provided an estimate of 28.4 million slaves at the end of 2006 divided into the following three categories: bonded labour/debt bondage (18.1 million), forced labour (7.6 million), and trafficked slaves (2.7 million).[136] Kara provides a dynamic model to calculate the number of slaves in the world each year, with an estimated 29.2 million at the end of 2009.

Words Matter …  I cannot stress how important it is to do research before using red button topics, words, phrases, or photos and suffice it to say the use of slavery for this story is just wrong.

Slavery is a crime but it is one against humanity …shame on you

Other News …

Tropical Storm Emily on path toward Haiti

Business Insider

A famine in Somalia, and a chronic political failure on humanitarian aid

FAA Shutdown to Continue as Congress Leaves

Syria Storms Center of Rebellious City

Secret Service captures second White House intruder in 48 hours

$150 million in promised upgrades at former Stevens Hospital begin

 CSPAN …

Debt Ceiling Agreement Goes Into Effect

President & Congress avoid default with last-minute deal

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Relief Efforts in the Horn of Africa Face Obstacles

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Hearings on Housing Finance System & Debt Financing

Drought and Famine in the Horn of Africa

Anti-Government Protests in Syria

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Congress: the Republican led House pro-forma the Senate


The Senate will meet on the following dates and times for pro-forma sessions only with no business conducted:

– Friday, August 5th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 9th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 12th at 12:00pm,

– Tuesday, August 16th at 11:00am,

– Friday, August 19th at 10:00am,

– Tuesday, August 23rd at 2:30pm,

– Friday, August 26th at 11:15am,

– Tuesday, August 30th at 10:00am,

– Friday, September 2nd at 10:00am;

When the Senate convenes at 10:00am on Friday, September 2nd, it will adjourn until 2:00pm on September 6, 2011. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business until 5:00pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will be in Executive Session to consider Calendar #109, Bernice Bouie Donald, of Tennessee, to be United States Circuit Judge for the 6th Circuit with 30 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Grassley.

The next roll call votes will be at 5:30pm on Tuesday, September 6th. The first roll call vote will be on confirmation of the Donald nomination. The 2nd will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R.1249, the Patent Reform bill.

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CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF AUGUST 5, 2011
112TH CONGRESS – FIRST SESSION

10:01 A.M. – The Speaker designated the Honorable Andy Harris to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

10:00 A.M. – The House convened, starting a new legislative day.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

8 days … Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America


Wisconsin Republican Alberta Darling is running scared.

 She represents a Republican district and she’s been in office for almost 20 years — She was supposed to win this recall election by a landslide. But she’s not.

 The Republican war on working families has backfired and now Darling is neck-and-neck in the polls against Democrat Sandy Pasch. Winning here would be a huge upset and we’re on the air with a powerful new ad that exposes Darling for voting to give huge tax breaks to big corporations while cutting children’s healthcare programs.

 It’s a powerful ad and there are just eight days left until the recall election.

We’re winning in Wisconsin, but it’s going to be close. Please contribute today and help make the difference.  www.democracyforamerica.com

 Thank you for everything you do.

 -Charles

 Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
 Democracy for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Politics … Nate Silver


August 1, 2011, 9:44 pm

What the White House Left on the Table

By NATE SILVER

I wrote at length earlier Monday about why I think the proper characterization of the deal that President Obama struck with Republicans is “pretty bad” rather than “terrible.” (That’s from a Democratic point of view. For Republicans, I’d say the deal should be thought of as “quite good” rather than “awesome.”)

It seems as if the results of the House’s vote on Monday tend to back up that assertion. In the end, exactly half of the Democratic caucus members voted for the debt ceiling bill, which makes it hard to classify the deal as “terrible” from their point of view.

But almost three-quarters of Republicans voted in the affirmative. And even the Tea Party came around in the end. By 32-to-28, members of the Tea Party Caucus voted for the bill, despite earlier claims — which now look like a bluff — that they wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances.

These results seem to suggest that Mr. Obama left something on the table. That is, Mr. Obama could have shifted the deal tangibly toward the left and still gotten a bill through without too much of a problem. For instance, even if all members of the Tea Party Caucus had voted against the bill, it would still have passed 237-to-193, and that’s with 95 Democrats voting against it.

Specifically, it seems likely that Mr. Obama could have gotten an extension of the payroll tax cut included in the bill, or unemployment benefits, either of which would have had a stimulative effect. Some Republicans would have complained that the new deal expanded rather than contracted the deficit in 2012, and Mr. Obama would have lost some of their votes. But this stimulus spending wouldn’t have overtly violated their highest-priority goals (no new taxes, and a dollar in spending cuts for every dollar in borrowing authority). And Mr. Obama, evidently, had a few Republican votes he could afford to lose.

With that payroll tax cut, the deal becomes a much easier sell to Democrats — and perhaps also to swing voters, particularly given that nobody spent much time during this debate talking about jobs. Plus, it would have improved growth in 2012 and, depending on how literally you take the economic models, improved Mr. Obama’s re-election chances.

No, we can’t know this for sure. Voting during roll calls can be tactical, and the results may have been skewed by the heartwarming and unexpected return of Representative Gabrielle Giffords to the House chamber. But this is at least a little bit more tangible than simply asserting that Mr. Obama did as well as he could under the circumstances.

It wouldn’t have been a great deal for Democrats — still no tax increases, still lots of spending cuts, still buying into Republicans’ premise that the debt ceiling is an appropriate vehicle for fiscal reform. But it would have been a fair one, and better than what Mr. Obama got.

August 1, 2011, 12:00 pm

The Fine Print on the Debt Deal

By NATE SILVER

If Democrats read the fine print on the debt deal struck by President Obama and Congressional leaders, they’ll find that it’s a little better than it appears at first glance.

That’s not to say that the deal is a good one for them. It concedes a lot to Republicans, and Democrats may be wondering why any of this was necessary in the first place. But the good news, relatively speaking, has to do with the timing and structure of the spending cuts contained in the deal.

First, the timing: the cuts are heavily back-loaded, so the deal is unlikely to have much direct effect on the economy in 2012.

The spending cuts will proceed in two stages. There is an initial round of about $1 trillion in cuts, which will be locked in place when (and if) the deal is signed by the president. Then there is an additional $1.5 trillion in cuts, which will go into effect if Congress is unable to agree to the recommendations of a bipartisan commission (or “Super Congress”) by the end of the year.

The first round of cuts include “only” about $22 billion in reductions in 2012 spending — the same as the bill proposed last week by Representative John A. Boehner, which provided some of the outlines for this deal. That would reduce 2012 G.D.P. by just 0.1 percent, other factors being equal.

The second and larger round of cuts, according to the White House’s summary of the deal, would not include any reductions to the fiscal year 2012 budget. Instead, those cuts would kick in during 2013 and last through 2022.

Congress could decide to accept the bipartisan commission’s recommendations, which would override the second round of cuts and identify some new mechanisms to provide for $1.5 trillion in deficit savings, although for reasons I will detail below, this is unlikely. And even if it did, one presumes that Congressional Democrats would insist that the new measures abide by the spirit of the original bill and back-load the cuts. Read more…

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Big News for Women’s Health – Birth Control Without Co-Pays Now a Reality


National Women's Law Center
 
 
     
  We Got you Covered!  
     
     
     
  Thank Secretary Sebelius for making contraception without co-pays a reality.  
     
     
     

While we are all focused on the debt ceiling deal in Washington — and we will provide you with more information later today on the painful and unfair cuts and the harm they will do to women’s health and the well-being of their families — we also have big news to report on a victory you’ve helped us secure.

Over 60,000 of you signed our petition to support no-cost birth control, and earlier today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is adopting expert recommendations to require health insurers to cover contraception, along with a number of other preventive health services for women, without charging women co-payments. We got you covered — birth control without a co-pay will soon be a reality!

  Thank HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for maving women’s health a huge step forward   www.nwlc.org

For many years, the National Women’s Law Center has been working to get contraception covered in all health insurance plans, and without you, we would not have been able to say — we got you covered. Help us mark this important step forward for women’s health — join us in thanking Secretary Sebelius for this landmark decision and urge her to ensure that all women can benefit from it .   www.nwlc.org

This decision is a milestone in the effort to improve the health and lives of women and their families and underscores the real and tangible impact the new health care law will have on women’s lives. At the same time, HHS is unfortunately considering a proposal to exempt some religious employers from providing contraceptive services, and we will work to ensure that all women are guaranteed this vital coverage.

The HHS announcement expands the list of preventive health services that insurance companies will be required to be offer at no cost to the individual. It now will include contraception, yearly well-woman visits, support for breast feeding, counseling for sexually transmitted infections, and screening and counseling for domestic violence, among others.

Thank HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for this huge step moving women’s health forward and urge her to make sure that all women are able to access this vital coverage.

And thank you for all that you do for women and girls.

Sincerely,