Curious Carl's Corner: May 2011

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Protestor who disrupted Netanyahu in Congress attacked hospitalized,arrested

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2011 9:01 PM

Subject: Re: Protestor who disrupted Netanyahu in Congress attacked, hospitalized,arrested

Heaven knows Congress doesn't want to be disturbed...unless we are passing out big wads of money.
Curious Carl

Protestor who disrupted Netanyahu in Congress attacked, hospitalized,
arrested

by Ali Abunimah

electronicIntifada, Tue, May 25, 2011

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/protestor-who-disrupted-netanyahu-congress-attacked-hospitalized-arrested

Rae Abileah a CODEPINK activist who disrupted Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the United States Congress this morning was
physically attacked, hospitalized and then arrested from hospital according
to reports.

According to CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin:

block quote Rae Abileah is in the hospital, after having been assaulted and
tackled to the ground by members of the audience in the House Gallery during
Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to Congress. Abileah, who is with
the group CODEPINK: Women for Peace, interrupted Netanyahu with a banner
that said "Occupying Land Is Indefensible" and shouting, "No more
occupation, stop Israel war crimes, equal rights for Palestinians,
occupation is indefensible." She rose up to speak out just after the Prime
Minister talked about the youth around the world rising up for more
democracy. As this 28-year-old Jewish American woman spoke out for the human
rights of Palestinians, other members of the audience--wearing badges from
the conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee--brutally
attacked her. The police then dragged her out of the Gallery and took her to
the George Washington University Hospital, where she is being treated for
neck and shoulder injuries.

"I am in great pain, but this is nothing compared to the pain and suffering
that Palestinians go through on a regular basis," said Abileah from her
hospital bed. "I have been to Gaza and the West Bank, I have seen
Palestinians homes bombed and bulldozed, I have talked to mothers whose
children have been killed during the invasion of Gaza, I have seen the
Jewish-only roads leading to ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank.
This kind of colonial occupation cannot continue. As a Jew and a U.S.
citizen, I feel obligated to rise up and speak out against and stop these
crimes being committed in my name and with my tax dollars."

Abileah stands in solidarity with the Palestinian and Israeli activists who
are routinely jailed and beaten for speaking out for democracy.

These actions were part of a week of protests called Move Over AIPAC.

block quote end

In a subsequent update on the Move Over AIPAC website, it was reported that
Abileah was arrested from George Washington University hospital.

Abileah was charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting Congress, as she
told Democracy Now on 25 May

is money God?

Is Money God?

Do we really want to live in a civilization where money is God?

Is making our children pay for their own education the only way to teach them responsibility? ,

In such a world we will also need to charge blind men and women for their rehabilitation, so they too will become responsible. Families will pool their money to pay the extra cost of educating their blind children.

And once we've taken this philosophy to its natural conclusion, just what will all of these responsible adults be responsible for?

For themselves. Just for themselves. That is what we will have taught them. Not the value of sharing and giving and loving and building a healthy community. Each of us will be responsible for only ourselves.

Curious Carl

FEMA Declares Eric Cantor a Disaster Area

FEMA Declares Eric Cantor a Disaster Area: Congressman Denies Funds to Self

http://www.borowitzreport.com/2011/05/25/fema-declares-eric-cantor-a-disaster-area [or] http://tinyurl.com/3ev52la

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - One day after Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) stirred controversy by withholding funds for tornado relief, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took the extraordinary step of declaring Rep. Cantor a disaster area.

Within hours of the declaration, FEMA officials were dispatched to assess the damage to Mr. Cantor's status as a human being capable of empathy.

"I've seen a lot of hurricanes and tornados, but this is something new," said FEMA spokesman Tracy Klugian. "Rep. Cantor appears to have been caught up in a moral vacuum."

While concerned FEMA officials looked on, the morally ravaged House Majority Leader took to the floor of the House to make the case for denying funds to repair himself.

The FEMA spokesman said that the agency was currently trying to estimate the cost of rebuilding Mr. Cantor's soul.

"Quite frankly, I've never seen devastation like this," Mr. Klugian said. "It's like there's nothing there."
---------------

Happy birthday to America's Forgotten Liberal.

May 27, 2011

This is a reminder that today is Hubert H. Humphrey's birthday.

I shudder to ask if our younger listers know just who he was.

As the article points out, much was made over Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday earlier this year, but today, Hubert H. Humphrey's 100th birthday goes unnoticed. Both men were faithful to their particular cause. Humphrey never waivered in his belief in the working class. Reagan never took his lips from the backside of his Ruling Class Masters. Two American leaders of significant importance. But those who control and write the history have already relegated Humphrey to the dead letter office.

Curious Carl

Happy 100th birthday to America's Forgotten Liberal.

Remember the song, "What Ever Happened to Hubert"?

Once he was vice president, Johnson pretty much left him in the outer waiting room, a forgotten man.

But I was jaded by Humphrey at the time. I felt he had gone wishy washy on issues that he should have been taking the lead in. So I voted for George S. McGovern.

But Jimmy Carter, like Bill Clinton, never conned me into believing they were even close to being Liberals...or Democrats, for that matter. Still, I did vote for both of them, given the lousy choices.

We are so far removed from a Liberal, People's Party that we really should be spending our efforts in building a strong opposition party. We could name it, The Patriotic Party of America.

Curious Carl

when I was young and foolish

When I was young and foolish, as opposed to being old and foolish, I believed that if we allowed women in the military we would soon see an end to such aggressive behavior.

Now, this was odd thinking from a lad whose mother slammed him across the room for the slightest excuse. A woman who could be whistling a gentle love song one minute and screaming like a Banshee the next. But nonetheless this was what I believed. Mothers and Fathers would not want their little girls in harm's way.

So you see how that turned out.

I am totally opposed to a draft. Not just because the Ruling Class will never allow their little darlings to go marching off, but because it is wrong.

If we want our American youth to serve their country, why not establish a program where all youth put in a couple of years doing community service. They could help clean up yards, parks and roadsides of trash. They could do repairs on homes of the poor and elderly. They could patrol streets at night to prevent much of the violence that happens. They could walk little school children home safely from school. They could wander about the shopping malls ensuring folks safe passage to and from their vehicles. There are so many helpful ways our youth could serve our nation, why push war, killing and violence as our number one priority?

Let's present congress with a bill that requires any corporation with holdings beyond our national borders, or with a desire to grab something in another country, that they will not be allowed to use our youth to do their dirty work. They will need to hire their own army from places like India and China. You know, the places that are now making stuff that used to be made in the USA.

Curious Carl

flopping like fish out of water

As long as we sanction a draft of any sort we are sanctioning war. For many years this nation has not needed more than a small standing army to defend our borders. 911 could not have been stopped regardless of how many service men and women we had, and we did have a large military force. If our Ruling Class seriously loved their country and were true Patriots, we would see our efforts and money turned toward building a strong nation. Ending unemployment. Establishing universal health care, rebuilding our highways, parks and public facilities. Taking back the people's property that is now being sold to other nations. Raising the standard for all the people, not just the Ruling Class.

The dirty truth is that our Ruling Class is Un-American in nature and Terrorists in their behavior toward their own people. Until we get that fact through our propaganda-saturated brains we'll flop about like fish out of water.

Curious Carl

the day I tried to join the Marines

When I was 19, a buddy and I entered the Marine recruiting center. We were taken in for a physical. I remember that after a general going over I was sent into a room for my eye exam. At the time I was totally blind in one eye and wore bifocals with corrected vision in my good eye of perhaps 20/60, in optimum conditions.

The room was pitch black with only two small lights. One light was over the desk in front of me and the other was a blob on the wall behind the desk. A voice ordered, "Step forward and remove your glasses". I did this.

The voice came at me again, "Cover your right eye and read the chart".

I said, "I'm blind in my left eye and can't read the chart".

The voice came again, "Cover your left eye and read the chart."

I removed my hand from over my right eye and placed it over my left eye. "I can't make out the letters," I said.

After a long pause I was ordered to repeat the process with my glasses on. I was able to read about three lines down with my right eye, wearing my glasses.

After a long silence the voice said, "You may leave by the same door you entered."

I turned to leave. Now I had been staring into a patch of light for several minutes. The room was pitch black and my eyes did not adjust quickly, if at all. I took two determined strides toward what I thought was the door and slammed into the wall.

There was a very long silence. I stood there.

Then the voice said, in the same flat calm tone, "I said you may leave by the same door you entered."

Quickly I groped my way along the wall and found the door.

The recruiting sergeant escorted me out to the sidewalk while they hustled my buddy to a waiting bus.

Curious Carl

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

is money God?

Is Money God?

Do we really want to live in a civilization where money is God?

Is making our children pay for their own education the only way to teach them responsibility? ,

And once we've taken this philosophy to its natural conclusion, just what will all of these responsible adults be responsible for?

Curious Carl

Eric the happy baseball moocher

Eric The Happy Baseball Moocher.

Whether Eric had sought out the reporter or whether the reporter had sought out Eric, the article would have come out the same. For two reasons. Eric is Eric, and the reporter already had a preconceived notion about what he/she would present to his/her readers. The reporter would ask, "What's the story? Where's the hook?"

A story about a happy go lucky sports fan who cons or charms food out of other fans, is not much of a story at all. But a Blind happy go lucky sports nut conning or charming food out of other fans is a story waiting to be told. And the hook is, "Blind!"

Because, "Blind" means something to everybody. Blind pulls the reader's eye to the article, and to the reporter's name. People will pay the price just to find out about this blind, fun loving baseball geek.

A man climbs Mount Everest. Today it happens quite often. Name the person who just made it to the top and back? Neither can I. But add, Blind and we all know who Erik Weihenmayer is. And the word, blind put this fellow on the front page of every daily paper.

Curious Carl

being accepted

Blind people are different than sighted people. Just as short people are different than tall people. If you are short, try as you might you can't reach the top shelf at the grocery store.

And if you are blonde and you want to look brunette, try as you may, without a bottle of dye, you can't make yourself look brunette.

I have a Black friend who straightens her hair and does some sort of a rinse to lighten it. She still looks like a Black person.

There is nothing wrong with being who we are. The problem is that we have been conned into feeling that we are not acceptable unless we look or act differently.

Being blind makes me different. liking who I am makes me acceptable. People like me because I put them at ease, not because I have the ability to look them in the eye or wave my hands a certain way. We are different, all of us. But we are equal. Different *And* equal.

Curious Carl

Who do you trust?

Like the old TV game show, "Who do You Trust?"

The fact is that most people, homeless or not, are decent, honest folk.

But remember, desperate times make desperate people.

A bit of caution will keep us from being foolhardy.

Today's street people are not the same sort of folks that we used to call, Skidrow Bums. Those were the alcoholics, derelicts and mentally messed up people, mostly older men.

Today entire families live in their cars and in abandoned garages or even under the overpasses. They walk the streets looking for help. Jobs, money, clothing, shelter. Most will eagerly give you a hand for a few dollars. Most are just trying to get by until they figure things out.

But scattered among the growing numbers are those who will do anything to improve their situation. If you open your purse and offer them a dollar and they see a wad of money, they'll grab and run. If you allow them into your kitchen with your groceries and they see your lap top computer, it's the last time you'll have to worry about upgrading.

And you and I can't be certain who is who.

Remember, as blind people we are more vulnerable. Thieves will not take on a 250 pound, six foot three inch fellow if they see a little elderly lady struggling down the road with her bag of groceries and her big purse tucked under her arm.

Even blind, I am less apt to be hassled on the street just because of my size. But as I age, I become more of a target, big or not.

Our friend Karen appears to have a reckless side. And I think that all of us blind folks could use a pinch of daring. We need to take on life as we find it and not hide behind drawn curtains and bolted doors.

But for me there is a line beyond which I will not put my family or myself in jeopardy.

On the street I treat all people with respect. I do not become nervous aroundstreet people because I know too good and well that with just a twist of fate I could be standing along side them. But for every uplifting experience Karen can relate, I can recall a story with adiffeerent outcome.

We live in a remote area. Down the road a neighbor and his wife hired a homeless man to do some odd jobs for them. They even knew who his mother was, so it seemed safe enough.

After he bound the two of them up in their basement, killed them and torched the house, he took their bank cards and drew out money from their account at the local bank machine. And he had his picture taken. So not only was he homeless, he also was really dumb.

So as a blind man, living in the wilderness, I think about such random acts of violence. It's like lightning. It could strike at any moment, or never.

Still, I plan to continue living my life as a free man, but I will stay just a bit on the side of caution.

Curious Carl

Fw: Thomas Jefferson and the religious fanatics

----- Original Message -----

From: Carl Jarvis

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 9:00 AM

Subject: Re: Thomas Jefferson and the religious fanatics

Alice,

The Constitution was written to protect the interest of the Landed, White, Adult Males in the Colonies. It was later claimed by the Christians and even later by Working Class Americans and even later by Blacks and Women.

Carl Jarvis

feelin' glum tonight

I'm feeling very glum tonight. Why do we have to relearn the lessons that my dad learned in the 1930's? But then I suppose he was relearning the lessons from the turn of the century. And back , back, back to the beginning of civilization.

Tonight I was listening to a 20 year old speech by Howard Zinn, just after our mighty Desert Storm victory.

Something Zinn mentioned that caught my attention. He said that it appears that the Media has no memory. The Media can't remember more than a few days in the past. The Media has abdicated their role as keeper of the history.

And so it's natural that we continue making the same mistakes over and over. They are new to each new generation.

And of course we believe any big lie told to us, since we have no information to test it against.

We are told that we are the peace makers. But we are not reminded of our history of brutal conquest. Just how did we become so big? I mean, if we're peace makers, where did all this land come from?

We are outraged over the killing of nearly 3,000 Americans in the World Trade Center destruction. As well as we should be. But we have forgotten the hundreds of thousands of civilians that we have killed or allowed to be killed in our peace making efforts.

Not only do we send our sons, and now even our daughters to fight the wars of the Empire, but we pay the cost of those wars, too. And then we accept the loss of jobs, and we fight for the few jobs left. And we are willing to under bid our fellow citizens in order to have any job at all. Remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results.

So now we prepare for more war in the middle east. More war in Africa. And we keep looking for different results.

Ship of Fools.

Curious Carl

being accepted

We live in a culture that loves to make fun of those deemed to be "different". Not making eye contact or using the right facial expression is going to strike sighted folks as odd. And odd often times is translated as someone to avoid. Or at least someone to feel uncomfortable around.

Think about how Americans mimic the Japanese or Chinese. And we can all do a good Indian(India) accent. We get off over acting like the silly Brits, or the Norwegian fisherman. Don't kid yourself, we blind are different enough that we get our share of mimicking.

Singer Diane Schuur attended our training center when I was teaching Braille. She later went on to make a pretty good name for herself. Diane was invited to attend a function at the White House, I think it was President Reagan, although he was not present. But when Diane finished her song in front of Missus Reagan and others, she tried a curtsy. She raised her arms up and brought her thumbs together over her head, palms facing forward. She then bent her hands at the wrists and bowed her head, while doing a little bend at the knees. Cathy said the whole thing looked very bazaar. It left a strangeness in what should have been a magnificent performance.

But as a blind person, Diane had never had the visual contact to know what a bow should look like.

Curious Carl

who are we kidding?

Pakistanis are calling for their government to stop taking financial aid from the US government
(They) know there are serious strings attached to such aid, including the loss of independence and sovereignty.

Golly, how come the Pakistanis understand this, but Americans are still in the dark?

Here comes another national election, where Souls are sold to the highest bidder. And we simple folk think we're going to have our American Dream defended by the likes of these Ruling Class lackeys?

Curious Carl

big glumps

American Culture is part of the Great American Myth. We have been told that we are this great melting pot. But that would imply that we all blended together into one sweet tasting sauce.

But what we are is a big stew pot with lumps of this and that glumped together, but never really mixing.

Curious Carl

----- Or

is God hard up for volunteers?

Of course the first thing is that lots of young parents take or send their children to Sunday School, even if they, themselves do not attend regular church services.

My dad was an avowed Atheist and my mother seldom went to church. Yet she bundled my two sisters and me up and walked us to Sunday School.

As a visually impaired person(VIP), I received kindness and extra help by the teachers and even from other children. Treatment that I did not receive in public school or on the playfield. I sang in the youth choirs and took part in all the various Holiday pageants, etc.

Perhaps, drawing from my own limited experiences, parents found Church a safe haven for their blind children. And, as with human nature being what it is, the blind children chose not to risk wandering away from this security. There is something nice and comforting about putting your hand in the hand of God.

And if you live in a culture that teaches you not to question authority and to accept on Faith all that your leaders and your employers and your parents tell you, then you never wonder why what you believe and what is going on around you makes no sense.

We just returned from working with a 99 year old client. A most lovely lady, with the Faith of a child. "I had a stroke a couple of years ago and it left me blind and deaf on my right side. ," she told us. "But I'm praying to God to be healed."

This sweet lady has lived a long and often hard life. But she owns her modest home where she's lived for the past 60 years. She lost one daughter just a year ago to brain cancer. Still, she counts her Blessings and told us that she is so thankful that God has allowed her to keep her mind clear and sharp.

And so what does this old Agnostic tell this beautiful Soul?

"Keep on praying, and while you are waiting we will see what service we can be to you."

When we left she thanked us for allowing God to lead us to her.

That's a pretty fine God who is broad minded enough to send an Agnostic to do His work.

Curious Carl

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

THE END OF THE WORLD

This old Agnostic is hard pressed to understand how God fearing folks get themselves into such a bind. First of all, from my Bible reading days when I was a true believer, God made it very clear that no man would know the time of the Rapture. So naturally there are those stubborn folks who just got to prove God wrong.

In those long ago days when I'd been baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongue and had visions, I was sitting in a prayer meeting at the home of my first wife's aunt and uncle.

Suddenly the front door burst open and one of our group jumped into the room crying out excitedly, "The time is Now!" He believed that God had selected him, out of all the true believers in the world, to whisper the day of the end. We had only hours to gather ourselves and our loved ones together and drive to the top of Cougar Mountain, East of Seattle. There we would await the Rapture. People started jumping around like old Mexican jumping beans. Before long about half the people in the room were out the door and down the street. Those of us left behind sat stunned for a few minutes, and then poured another cup of coffee and wondered among ourselves just how we would greet our friends when they came back from the mountain...which they did the very next day.

Well, if we were concerned about them being embarrassed, not to worry. They showed up to our next meeting all smiles and happiness. They said they'd rushed up Cougar mountain and began praying for all the poor lost Souls that would be left behind. God, they told us, heard their prayers and spoke to one of them, saying, "Be not afraid my children. For I have heard your prayers and I shall refrain from bringing you home now. Go back into the world and spread the Good News".

That was way back in late 1961 or early 1962. So we have those people to thank for the extension.

CuriousCarl

----- Original Message -----

From: Chris Coulter

To: Ken Metz

Cc: ccb-l@ccbnet.org ; guide-dogs-4-2@yahoogroups.com ; acb-l@acb.org ; acb-chat@acb.org

Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 6:40 PM

Subject: Re: [acb-chat] THE END OF THE WORLD

Hi, Ken and list,
Everyone I know is present and accounted for at almost twenty minutes
to seven Pacific Time. No one really knows the day or the hour and I
remember another time in 1962 when someone predicted the end of the
world. It didn't happen then and it didn't happen tonight.
I have to say that I don't know how God will resolve things other than
Jesus'return, which I believe will happen, but we don't really know
when it is and that may be a good thing. Those people who withdrew and
spent their life savings must be very upset this evening. I'm not
happy about that; I'm not gloating. I think it's sad when people
believe something without watching and waiting. Actually, most
Christians have been very low-key about this.
Chris

Thursday, May 19, 2011

about segregation and the blind

Because this list focuses mostly on blind issues, we have become hung up on segregation of the blind in the work place. What we are referring to as, "Sheltered work shops" or"Sweat Shops".

So let's get real here. Segregation is the way our society works.

I spent 8 years working in a drapery factory in Seattle, that made most blind work shops look decent. And who do you think worked there? A cross section of America? Golly no. 120 women and about 12 men. And were these women a cross section of American women? Golly no. These were Low Income Women. Mostly single, middle-aged women abandoned by their husbands, left with children to raise and debts run up by the now absent man. They were paid wage minimum.

Mostly middle-aged and unskilled in work outside the home.

That, my friends is a segregated work place. In fact, the office girls(note the reference to girls? Not my word, but the term used by the boss), who made barely more than the factory women, only associated with other office girls.

The boys in the shipping room hung out with the boys in the shipping room.

As an aside, the women in the factory called me, the boy. "Where's that boy? He's supposed to have my yardage up."

I told them that if I ever hoped to be paid a man's wage I'd have to be referred to as a man. They were in their fifties, mostly, and I was in my early twenties. So they continued calling me boy until I began to refer to them as, "Old ladies", and, "Granny". After a while they settled on calling me, Carl.

But the point is, segregation is the way of the world in the work place. And it's the way of our society in our neighborhoods. No millionaire ever moved into my neighborhood. And I certainly can't afford to buy in the wealthy, gated sections of Seattle.

My people, the Working Class, lived in communities of small, mostly neat homes. The majority of us walked to the bus stop and rode to work and back. The folks over on Mercer Island jumped into their Caddies or expensive sports cars and drove to their private parking at their office building.

Here on the Olympic Peninsula there is hardly a Black person to be found. The Native Americans mostly live on the reservations

There are various Chinese and Mexican restaurants, but I have no idea where their owners live or shop. We never run into them in the local stores.

We live in a segregated society, and we just take most of it as the way things are, never wondering how it got this way. Until it comes to the work shops for the blind.

The segregated work shop is not the problem. I repeat, the Blind Work Shops are not the problem. The problem is that we blind people carry with us a negative stereotype that we are having a Hell of a time shaking. Those attitudes have us segregated, whether we work together in one place or are spread out across the land. We are the Blind. That is what segregates us.

Curious Carl

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Fw: [acb-l] about nib

----- Original Message -----

From: Carl Jarvis

To: John Heim ; acb-l@acb.org

Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 12:04 PM

Subject: Re: [acb-l] about nib

John, Karen and All who are looking for Mainline Jobs.

Perhaps you all can join with me and begin applying for every CEO position that comes open. I've been doing this for years, but have not even received the courtesy of a reply. And yet, I'm convinced that this is the perfect job for any blind person.

It's been my observation that not only do they pay big bucks for the job, but if you don't measure up to their expectations they give you a huge bonus, severance pay and a big farewell party. We can't miss. All we need to do is to figure out how to get through the door.

Carl Jarvis

dead end jobs? or just dead ends

Do blind people find themselves in dead end jobs?

This subject is a dead end topic.

But feeling a bit dead today myself, I venture to comment.

Opportunity is only partially to be found in any given job. I've known folks who have set in the same position for years, finally retiring from the same job, while others around them catapulted into better jobs or better pay, at any rate.

I have worked in dead end jobs and left them after their usefulness was at an end. Opportunity comes from inside the individual. Blindness may have a serious impact on what opportunities exist, but it does not close the door entirely. Many blind people have created their own opportunity. I see folks on this list doing exactly that.

So, as I now go for a second cup of coffee, the only "dead end" is the one we're sitting on.

Curious Carl

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Employment or, "Against the Odds"

Some of us get by pretty well without a college degree. I came within one quarter, but got busy and never finished. It went from being sort of embarrassing to being a badge of honor, to being just a fact of life.

Another fellow college drop out who's doing fairly well is Bill Gates.

The Harvard Crimson called him "Harvard's most successful dropout" — the rest of the world just calls him ridiculously rich.

Of course I'm just a common garden variety University of Washington drop out. Bill Gates dad is a corporate attorney and his mother was a doctor. Now that's Harvard material. $$$$$$$!

Curious Carl

Attitudes need to change with the changing times

In the 60's and 70's the Lighthouse closures were an easy 26. I remember that my counselor suggested that I "get some work experience" by working one summer between classes at the U. I took the job because I needed the money. But I told him that after 8 years in a factory job there was little in the way of work experience the Lighthouse could teach me.

But it really got to be over the top. Lazy, or incompetent counselors who had no belief that blind people could work, just shoving clients into the most convenient job, regardless of the clients desires or skills. And in those distant days the Lighthouse paid many sub-living wages. Just about everyone they hired had to go through an evaluation period, during which they received below wage minimum pay. For some years the state organization of the blind talked about trying to shut down the Lighthouse because of the poor working conditions and wages. But some of us argued that the Lighthouse provided employment to a segment of blind folks who would not be employable in competitive, integrated employment. We felt the answer was to work to improve the pay and plant safety. One piece of this was to no longer give a 26 for a sheltered work shop closure. Here in Washington state we also no longer counted Home Makers, which was the other cute trick by VRC's to grab a quick 26.

But times change. Today, with the improved conditions and pay at the Lighthouse here in Seattle, and in many of those around the country, the jobs are as good as they get. And the integrated job market is not providing many openings for anyone, much less blind people. So it is time to revisit the 26 closures and allow the work shop jobs to be counted, just so long as they are paying competitive wages to similar work in the general work place. But it will take some honest oversight by agency administration to assure the clients that they are not once again being shoved into jobs for the VRC's convenience. But that's part of what the ACB and the NFB are for.

Curious Carl

----- Original Message -----

From: Frank Ventura

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 3:41 AM

Subject: RE: Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor toBuildHigh-TechWeaponsSystems

Charlie, maybe my understanding is incorrect but wasn't the change away
from sheltered workshops as code 26 closures made by RSA and not the
agencies themselves? I thought this was done to keep smaller agencies
with smaller case loads from cooking the books with sheltered workshop
closures.
Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Charles
Crawford
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:25 PM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to
BuildHigh-TechWeaponsSystems

Hi Miriam and Dick and all;

Actually, the workshops of the past are exactly that. The ones
running nowadays pay at least minimul wage and in many cases quite a bit
better than that. Still, the rehab agencies won't count folks being
hired at a workshop as a successful rehabilitation because of the lack
of integrated setting.

-- Charlie.

. At 01:06 PM 5/11/2011, you wrote:
>Dick,
>
>I would assume that all that anti-union junk I hear from politicians,
>repeated with no balance by the media is also "biased', as you call it.

>And in addition to prisoners, there's a tradition of government
>contracts given to workshops where disabled people work which pay very
>low wages and lay people off for part of the year when they receive
>disability benefits. I remember when NFB had a campaign about this. I

>remember in the early 60's when Helen Keller Services was still called
>the Industrial Home For the Blind and they had these huge workshops in
>Brooklyn where the blind workers were these very capable, tough blind
>men whose work was equal to any factory workers' anywhere and who were
grossly underpaid.
>
>Miriam
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "R. E. Driscoll Sr" <llocsirdsr@att.net>
>To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
>Cc: "Mike Edwards" <mike@ultraemail.us>
>Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 11:56 AM
>Subject: Re: Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build
>High-TechWeaponsSystems
>
>
>Dear Friends:
>
>I sincerely hope that all the recipients of the following message read
>and understood the entire message. I did so and came away with the
>idea that the message is a diatribe and then I came across that final
>sentence and my confusion was made clear.
>I copy and paste that sentence here.
>
>"Mike Elk is a labor reporter and third-generation union organizer
>based in Washington, DC. "
>
>One might assume that his commentary is biased.
>
>Regards,
>
>R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
>
>On 5/10/2011 12:45 PM, Mike Edwards wrote:
> > There's nothing more productive they can be doing? All
> > service/conpannion dogs have been trained? So, instead of prisoners
> > being made to feel worthwhile, their being used to feed the American

> > war machine...Beautiful
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "S. Kashdan"
> > <skashdan@cablespeed.com>
> > To: "Blind Democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 9:31 AM
> > Subject: Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech
> > WeaponsSystems
> >
> >
> > Disabled workers here in the U.S. are also now being employed to
> > make military components and accessories. Although they are not paid

> > as little as prison laborers, and they aren't generally treated as
> > badly, they are also being used to drive down wages, break unions,
> > and support military expansion. The skills disabled workers and
> > prison laborers are gaining aren't generally enabling them to get
> > those well-paid non-military high tec jobs their skill levels and
> > demonstrated capacities should entitle them to.
> > Those jobs are being more and more often done by lower and lower
> > paid people here in the U.S. and abroad in poorer countries.
> >
> >
> >
> > For justice and peace,
> >
> > Sylvie
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech Weapons
> > Systems
> >
> >
> >
> > By Mike Elk
> >
> >
> >
> > AlterNet, Posted on April 28, 2011
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/150777
> >
> >
> >
> > (8 links at the URL above)
> >
> >
> >
> > It is a little known fact of the attack on Libya that some of the
> > components of the cruise missiles being launched into the country
> > may have been made by prisoners in the United States. According to
> > its website, UNICOR, which is the organization that represents
> > Federal Prison Industries, "supplies numerous electronic components
> > and services for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced
> > Capability Missile (PAC-3)".
> >
> >
> >
> > In addition to constructing electronic components for missiles,
> > prison labor in the United States is used to make electronic cables
> > for defense items like "the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the
> > General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron's (TXT) Cobra
> > helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE
> > Systems".
> >
> >
> >
> > Traditionally these types of defense jobs would have gone to highly
> > paid, unionized workers. However the prison workers building parts
> > for these missiles earn a starting wage of 23 cents an hour and can
> > only make a maximum of $1.15 an hour. Nearly 1 in 100 adults are in
> > jail in the United States and are exempt from our minimum wage laws,

> > creating a sizable captive workforce that could undercut outside
> > wage standards.
> >
> >
> >
> > "It's no different than when our government allowed a United
> > Steelworkers-represented factory of several hundred good jobs in
> > Indiana called Magnequench to shut down," United Steelworkers Public

> > Affairs Director Gary Hubbard told AlterNet. "This was the last
> > high-tech magnetics production plant in the U.S. that made guidance
> > components for missiles and smart bombs. The factory was sold to a
> > Chinese state enterprise that moved all the machinery to China. And
> > now we depend on prison labor to build our defense products?"
> >
> >
> >
> > As the governments look to cut costs and trim deficits, they are
> > giving more and more contracts for skilled work to prisons, whose
> > workers often make one-fifteenth of the wages they would earn in the

> > private sector.
> > Whereas in
> > the past prisoners made license plates and desks for state offices,
> > they are now being trained for skilled work doing everything from
> > assembling cable components for guided missiles to underwater repair

> > welding. Even the much heralded green jobs aren't immune to being
> > outsourced to prison--the solar panels being used to provide
> > electricity for the State Department's office in Washington, D.C.
> > are constructed with prison labor.
> >
> >
> >
> > States are increasingly expanding the type of products they use
> > prison labor for to help cover the cost of keeping a person in
> > prison--nearly
> > $29,000 per
> > year. States spend a whopping $60 billion dollars per year to
> > maintain prisons, one of every 15 state dollars is spent on prisons,

> > and corrections spending is the second fastest-growing expenditure
> > in state budgets.
> > Prisons
> > are popular in small town America because they often mean bringing
> > several hundred jobs to economically depressed communities. Thus
> > many are in favor of using incarcerated labor to pay for prisons
> > because they work as a means of economic development.
> >
> >
> >
> > According to the New York Times, "Using inmate labor has created
unusual
> > alliances: liberal humanitarian groups that advocate more education
and
> > exercise in prisons find themselves supporting proposals from
> > conservative
> > budget hawks to get inmates jobs, often outdoors, where they can
learn
> > new
> > skills. Having a job in prison has been linked in studies to
decreased
> > violence, improved morale and lowered recidivism." Michael P.
Jacobson,
> > director of the Vera Institute of Justice, told the Times, "At the
> > grossest
> > financial level, it's just savings. You can cut the government
worker,
> > save
> > the salary and still maintain the service, and you're providing a
> > skill for
> > when they leave."
> >
> >
> >
> > For many people, prison labor looks like an easy win-win. Workers
get
> > skills, the state is able to pay for more prisons as the prison
> > population
> > grows, and local towns are eager to get prisons for the jobs they
> > bring. But
> > is it really a win-win for all?
> >
> >
> >
> > "At first, giving people in prison a job looks like a good idea. The
> > prisoner gets the job skill and a few extra dollars, the state takes
some
> > payment to let it happen, and the industry gets the work done. But
> > this is
> > not a win-win situation" says prison expert and SEIU senior research
> > analyst
> > Eric Lotke. "It's actually a lose-lose. The person in prison is paid
far
> > less than a real wage negotiated by free people in a free market
> > economy. So
> > free-market wages are undercut, driving wages down in the real
economy.
> > Meanwhile, business gets an incentive to lock people up for convict
labor
> > and the state loses its financial incentive to improve its criminal
> > justice
> > policies."
> >
> >
> >
> > In some cases, forced prison labor has resulted in inmates being
> > brutalized
> > rather than rehabilitated. Last year, Georgia inmates went on strike
> > at six
> > prisons for over a week. They complained that they were beaten if
they
> > refused to work prison jobs for little or sometimes no pay.
> >
> >
> >
> > Prison experts like Lotke say that while such jobs can be valuable
in a
> > productive environment, there are different ways to do things. "You
could
> > pay workers union wages and invest them in an account for when they
are
> > released. This would give them an incentive to behave well while
they
> > are in
> > prison and give them a financial base for when they get out of
> > prison," he
> > said.
> >
> >
> >
> > Lotke's union, SEIU, which represents many government service
workers
> > whose
> > jobs are threatened by slave wage prison labor, is looking at ways
to
> > invest
> > in programs that will help create jobs. SEIU is working with state
> > governments to dedicate resources away from prisons and into
government
> > services that keep people out of prison like education, after school
> > programs and other services that create good jobs in underdeveloped
> > communities.
> >
> >
> >
> > "The prison industry is extraordinarily destabilizing because small
towns
> > want the jobs that prisons create. However, Its all backwards--a
small
> > town
> > could get a highway or a university or a grant for a factory--any of
> > these
> > things could create jobs," says Lotke. "We could be investing in
good
> > jobs,
> > creating the conditions where poor youth don't turn to crime out of
> > economic
> > frustration. Instead we replicate the problem by throwing all this
> > money at
> > the prison system. When people realize what a waste of money,
economic
> > opportunity, and how ineffective it is to have so many people locked
up,
> > that is when we finally solve the criminal justice and jobs problem
in
> > this
> > country".
> >
> >
> >
> > The effort by SEIU to move resources away from prisons is a bold
one, as
> > prison guard unions have traditionally lobbied heavily to expand the
> > number
> > of correctional facilities in places like California. But as public
> > sector
> > union workers lose their jobs and other services are cut to keep
prisons
> > open, more unions are realizing they have to do something or their
> > jobs are
> > going to be lost in a race to the bottom with America's cheapest
> > labor--incarcerated labor.
> >
> > Mike Elk is a labor reporter and third-generation union organizer
> > based in
> > Washington, DC.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Blind-Democracy mailing list
> > Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> > http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
> >
> >
> >
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> > Version: 9.0.900 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3628 - Release Date:
> > 05/09/11 23:35:00
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Blind-Democracy mailing list
> > Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> > http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
> >
>
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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>
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How do we measure the worth of a job?

Some people measure the worth of a job by degrees. How many degrees did it take to get your current job?

And should you receive more money if you have more degrees?

And just what is a degree, anyway? How do we measure the value of any job? A doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a bus driver? a CEO? a teacher? a garbage collector?

Each one plays a vital role in our communities well being. Why do we assign more value to one over another? Are our values so scrambled that we can just shrug off the fact that we pay more to our professional athletes than we do to our teachers? We hold our bankers in higher esteem than we do our police and fire fighters?

It's obvious that we reward those we feel are of greatest value with the most money.

Perhaps we should establish a national conference to devise some sort of criteria, a job importance scale. I think we would find most jobs about equal in importance to our society. But maybe we'd decide we could do without some jobs. Anyway, we could level out the pay scale and find other meaningful rewards for those who served above and beyond, or had exceptional talents.

My list would place Teachers, garbage collectors, police, fire fighters, road maintenence workers and day care workers toward the top.

Bankers, brokers, insurance sales people, politicians, would all be down the ladder a way. Toward the bottom would be promoters, generals, professional athletes, gogo dancers, most lobbiests, tobacco company executives and junk food peddlars.

On any given day the bus driver was far more important to me than all the CEO's on Wall Street.

While I love baseball, do we really need to put these guys in mansions and fancy cars for playing a game?

If I had a magic wand I would wave it and cause all snobbery to disappear. If we could look at one another with respect, and appreciate what talents each of us bring to our community, we would not feel the need to wave our degrees or other credentials under one another's noses.

Curious Carl

looking for my group

People tend to group with like minded folks.

I'm still looking for my group.

Curious Carl (the lonely traveler)

in an ideal world

My Dear Friend,

I suspected all along that you had a sly sense of humor. you are one funny guy.

In response to your suppositions I would first clear up our use of the word, Free. Of course nothing is Free. So when we say free education or free health care we are understanding that those services are being paid for by our collective selves, i.e., our government.

Our government. That is us. All of us. Even including those who send their money off-shore and seek loop holes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Even them.

So we all most likely will agree that nothing is Free. But what some of us object to is having to pay twice for the services. We pay taxes to support our children's education. But then we find that we pay little dribbles of extra money all through their elementary and secondary education, and huge amounts of money for their college education in state funded colleges.

But saying that unions should dictate companies business is a whole different subject. Or saying that there should be no successful corporations.

Let's look at the union and the company. Since both are dependent upon successfully staying in business, what is so strange about a partnership in running the company? Oh sure, I know friends of mine who shout, "Nobody is going to tell me how to run my business. I built it up from the ground and I'm Damned if I'll give up one bit of control". But did they really build it up from the ground all alone?

The Schissels mortgaged their homes and took out huge loans to start Fentron Industries. At some point they hired my dad to do structural steel estimating. Through their collective risk, and my dad's keen ability, they made a fortune. And they proudly announced to the world that they, the Schissels were successful businessmen. And they were. But they forgot just who else was successful. My dad, the draftsmen in the drafting room, the shop foreman and his talented crew. All were responsible for the success of that company. And what did the Schessels say? Damned Union is going to drive us into the poor house. They put the drafting room on salary, telling the draftsmen that this would work to their advantage. "If you get sick or want an afternoon off, you just take it and you don't lose any pay," they cooed. My dad refused, saying he believed in being paid for the time he worked, and he'd take his chances with missing time due to illness.

Shortly after everyone but dad had signed the new agreement a notice was posted. All salaried personnel would work 4 hours on Saturdays during the current emergency. My dad also was called in, at time and a half. Salaried personnel received no extra pay. Did I mention that the office was non union?

But of course we want the corporations to be successful. Maybe we are not defining "successful" the same way. To me, successful is all inclusive. The CEO and the night watchman. The Corporate attorney and the cleaning crew. All are components of a successful corporation. Not just the CEO, and certainly not the share holders.

But as long as we live in a system whereby people worship the Almighty dollar above and beyond their country or their fellow human beings, there will be suffering.

As long as corporate success is based on amassing billions of dollars and profiting from war, then we will continue to have suffering.

Of course I want business to be successful. Workers coming and going, taking their children to clean modern schools, playing safely in the parks, going to and from work every day, healthy and happy. Who wouldn't want to see that sort of success?

So perhaps we need to better define what we are talking about when we speak of success.

Curious Carl

Fw: [acb-chat] [acb-l] in an ideal world

----- Original Message -----

From: Carl Jarvis

To: Frank Ventura ; acb-chat@acb.org

Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 7:53 AM

Subject: Re: [acb-chat] [acb-l] in an ideal world

Frank, Gigi and All,

Here is proof that the mass media propaganda works. We have been so overwhelmed by politicians crying out over the high costs of health and social services and predicting dire consequences if we don't drastically cut back now, that we have come to believe that it is the absolute truth. Remember Hitler? If you are going to lie, tell the big lie. Make it so big no one would believe that you'd be lying.

Just this morning, on that radical, left wing NPR, I heard that we are now spending one trillion one hundred million dollars a year on our Military, Industrial complex. Of course this figure takes in the necessary support network to keep our war machine functioning.

Where are our politicians, our president and our CEO's and Wall Street guys when it comes to screaming about over spending? Have they profited so much personally that they are willing to sell the nation down the river? We're going into deep debt and we're going to fix it on the backs of the poor, the elderly, and our children? Are we all gone mad?

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----

From: Frank Ventura

To: acb-chat@acb.org

Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 1:04 AM

Subject: Re: [acb-chat] [acb-l] in an ideal world

Gigi, while I fully agree that fraud and abuse should be weeded out, do you realize that you actually said that welfare and Medicaid are the biggest drains on the economy?!?!? Have you looked at our federal spending? Did you ever notice that elephant in the room known as defense spending? Also don't forget that welfare, Medicaid and other social safety net programs employ many folks to administer them, including many blind folks.

Frank

From: acb-l-bounces@acb.org [mailto:acb-l-bounces@acb.org] On Behalf Of Gigi
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 8:56 AM
To: Ann Parsons
Cc: acb-l@acb.org
Subject: Re: [acb-l] in an ideal world

Not sure if the $6K boat anchor is a euphemism or if there was a news story about an exorbitant fee paid for anchors, but...if there weren't so VERY much waste of our tax dollars, there'd be enough money to give those in need all they need. For me, it's just that simple!!

There's no monitoring of funds and service programs, so that guy who's driving an Escalade and shops at all the most expensive stores, is supplementing his *other* income with money he has no right to be receiving...and no one stops him!!

That happens all too often, so, those who know how to play the system, drain funds from those who should be receiving money and services.

There are so many commercials about insurance fraud, and well, there should be, but, there should also be PSAs about the recompense for fraudulently receiving government money and services...with a watchdog system to enforce it. Years ago, there was, at least for those receiving welfare and medicaid, which are the largest drains on public monies.

But, that's just one of many ways our government allows our taxes to be p***** away. And, *EVERY* politician, in *EVERY* campagin promises he or she will put a stop to it.

Gigi

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Parsons" <akp@portaltutoring.info>
To: acb-l@acb.org
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 8:01:52 AM
Subject: Re: [acb-l] in an ideal world

Hi all,

If India can afford to give its blind population cell phones, then you're right, Gigi, specialized equipment should be offered.

As for Frank's assertion about $6,000.00 boat anchors, they may be going out of vogue. However, I demand braille! I'm sorry, but I don't mind using a cell phone and a laptop or tablet or whatever, but I want braille! Braille is, by nature of the current technology, expensive, but it is damned necessary, at least for me.

Ann P.

--
AAnn K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
Email: akp@portaltutoring.info
Web Site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost." JRRT

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How come God makes poor people suffer, but not the rich?

In fact, Masters throughout the Ages have used religion to keep their subjects in line.

It has always puzzled me as to how we buy this idea that we shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and enjoy the riches that God will bestow upon us, but the wealthy enjoy those riches today without having to die to receive them.

Does this confuse anyone other than me? God rewards us for suffering, but He will punish those whom He allows to trample us in the Here And Now?

Are there folks who really believe that God is testing us by allowing us to be blind, or disabled, or poor, while He allows others to live the prosperous life?

Talk about propaganda!

Curious Carl

----- Original Message -----

From: alice dampman humel

To: Frank Ventura ; acb-chat@acb.org

Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 3:47 AM

Subject: Re: [acb-chat] [acb-l] Employment or, "Against the Odds"

hahahahaha! and if he does believe you have one, he certainly
does not care now does he?
alicedh@verizon.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Ventura" <Frank.Ventura@littlebreezes.com>
To: <acb-chat@acb.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 4:39 AM
Subject: Re: [acb-chat] [acb-l] Employment or, "Against the Odds"

Worry not my friend, old bossman wants not your soul as he
doesn't even
believe you have one in the first place.

Frank

From: Carl Jarvis [mailto:carjar82@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:53 AM
To: joe harcz Comcast; Frank Ventura; acb-l@acb.org
Subject: Re: [acb-l] [acb-chat] Employment or, "Against the Odds"

Joe and Frank,

What was the line old Ernie Ford used to sing?

"I owe my Soul to the company store".

Well Frank my old Pea Pickin' Buddy, the boss may get my body,
and I may
pay him lip service in order to pick up my paycheck at the end of
the
week, but he ain't getting my Soul. Many a slave owner learned
that
lesson the hard way.

Carl Jarvis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

American Concerns , part two.

Here are the three links I listened to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6r1IcY1pv0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaqaImebd1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8

Below is my responce to Mostafa Al'mahdy.

Forgive the rant.

Carl Jarvis

Greetings Mostafa Al'mahdy,

Thank you for the two posts and for the links.

Although I think the videos make their point, I would be amiss if I did not wonder just how many people were interviewed in order to select the vacant heads that made up these sad but funny clips.

I think you could go out and ask the same questions and put together a video of quite different answers.

But as I said, the point is well worth making. The American Empire has so controlled the mass media that it is a wonder that citizens know anything about the world in which we live.

I hope that you understand that there are many American citizens who are struggling to put down the American Empire and return the government to the American People. But it is not an easy struggle. The Empire has the dollars and the communication outlets and has bought a majority of our political leaders. At the same time, the Greed of the American Empire and its corporate bosses is so great that they will destroy themselves because they can't stop grabbing everything in sight. Even as the Empire expands its battle fields, it is beginning to decline. The Middle and Working classes in America have had the marrow sucked out of their bones. Our once mighty manufacturing

industry has been depleted. Our factories are being shut down or sent overseas. Our workers are on the streets begging for help. Our jobs are being done in what we still call Third World Countries. We are in a downward spiral and will join those countries shortly.

It has been Greed that has brought us to our knees. And many of us who now find ourselves being thrown out of our jobs and our homes were just as guilty of being consumed by Greed.

Anyway, thank you again for your thoughtful posts. I am forwarding these to the Blind Democracy List for others to read and view the videos.

Carl Jarvis

Free Enterprise?

Just list the Capital Free Market right alongside Communist China. Both are fabrications of the imagination.

Curious Carl

Corporate Martial Law: Public Schools Auctioned Off toHighestBidder

But hasn't education been the tool of the Ruling Class all along? It's funny, but what I consider a well rounded education is sneered at as a worthless waste of time and money by the Ruling Class.

Even in our efforts to have education for all, we put limits on children of color and children of poverty and children of disability. But what did we "teach" our middle class white children? To be good little soldiers, not to question, to follow the Pied Piper of Greed.

If what I listen to when eavesdropping in restaurants, on busses and sitting in the Malls is any example of an educated people, God help is all.

Curious Carl

----- Original Message -----

From: Miriam Vieni

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 6:07 AM

Subject: Re: Corporate Martial Law: Public Schools Auctioned Off toHighestBidder

It's more than that. It's the demise of public education for children of
color and the end of education as a profession.

Miriam
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:13 AM
Subject: Re: Corporate Martial Law: Public Schools Auctioned Off to
HighestBidder

This whole idea of selling off public schools to private corporations, while
the tax payer still puts up the dollars is nothing new. Corporations have
been buying politicians for years, while the public pays their wages.

Carl Jarvis

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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Ignoring Trump's Record of Racism

Trump proves one thing. It does not take intelligence to become a Billionaire. It just takes cunning and conniving. Unfortunately those are too often the same qualities it takes to be a winning politician.

curious Carl

differences between the great depression and great recession

Comments on the chat list regarding how some folks don't understand what being poor is really like, reminds me that I also was a child of the Great Depression.

Now, living in the current Great Recession, I note a number of differences in what it is like to be poor.

Back in the 30's, after the 1929 Crash, poverty became a way of life. But White Americans believed that this was only a temporary set back. They still believed in the American Dream, a home, a job and a happy family.

There was no mass media pressure to buy, buy, buy. No bulk mailings of credit cards. No easy credit at all.

The objective of most folks was to have security, not stuff. But the poor of this Great Recession are coming from a different mind set. A great many of the poor are people of color, as well as people of disability. These people understand what disenfranchisement is all about.

They did not fall from Grace, they never were there in the first place. Some are the children of generations of people living in grinding poverty. They hold out no hope of cashing in on the American Dream. And they are under an all out attack by the mass media to believe that having the latest gadget is the most important status symbol in all Eternity.

Drugs play into this, also. In the Great Depression alcohol and tobbacco were the drugs of choice. Now, in the Great Recession it is a no holds barred Drug Store. Over the counter, under the counter, in the back alley and over the back fence, anything your little habit craves is availible.

So it appears that we have seperated into three major worlds. There is that world of the First Class Corporate American. Then there is the dwindling Working/Middle Class Americans, the fodder for the needs of the First Class. And there is the world of the poor. They function as a dumping field for the glitzy gadgets manufactured by our international corporations in China and shipped in to tempt them. They are also a ready source for bodies in the never ending war on Terror.

And that is my view of some of the diffeerences between the poor in the 30's, when hope of a brighter future still existed, and the poor of today, where all hope has been lost.

Curious Carl

another Fairy Tale

According to a report I heard this morning...or was it yesterday morning...we spend only 2% of our budget on Foreign Aid. Yeah, right. Reminds me of the time I bought that really cheap beach front property. Turned out the beach was on the land side of my property.

I wonder if that 2% includes all of the arms we sell overseas? And what about those 800 plus military installations around the world? Aren't they there to "protect" the people living there from Terrorists? Present company excluded, of course.

I think this is a case of, Figures don't lie, but Liars sure can Figure.

Curious Carl

----- Original Message -----

From: R. E. Driscoll Sr

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Cc: Marsha

Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2011 9:55 AM

Subject: Re: THIS IS A WITHDRAWAL?

There are other subsidies - generally in the billions - that are being sent to our 'beloved friends' around the world. I have ofter written by representative and senators about these funds but have never had an answer.

On 5/8/2011 1:33 AM, Marsha wrote:
Hi
Here we go again. "Our government is broke". We can't afford to take care of our veterans. Social Security and Medicare need to go. We can't help the poor and elderly heat their homes during the winter. Our children may not be fed or educated. But we can keep substantial forces in Iraq, where we really aren't wanted.

Marsha
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Blind people whining? Or just feeling trapped.

Well, maybe I do want to say again that I was saying that there are people who do not have a clue as to what living in poverty is like. I'm not sure that I actually know myself, since I only remember it from a child's perspective. It's a funny thing. We lived in poverty during the late 30's and through most of WW II, but with the exception of the teasing and some bullyingI received from other school children, these years were quite happy ones. Later, as a newly blind adult, my wife and I had our backs to the wall but I never thought of myself as living in poverty. I just figured it was a temporary set back and I would find a way around it.

So would you accept that poverty is as much a state of mind as it is of living standard?

Do you think that there is a difference between a person passing through a period of poverty in their life, as opposed to a person ground down and hopelessly trapped with no hope of escape?

I think of the politicians who "experienced" poverty for several weeks. But they knew that at some point they would pull off their rags, wash their bodies and put good food and wine in their stomachs. How do they really experience the futility of knowing that the deck is stacked against you and no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you will be shoved back into the mire?

You see, there are people who believe that this only happens because people allow it to occur. They have no understanding of the forces at work in the real world.

Curious Carl