I would remind Benjamin Netanyahu, of my father's words. "History is
written by the victors."
So Mister Netanyahu, spin your lies while you are winning. One day
you will fall out of favor with the American Empire, and another
history will be written. And like your history, and all histories
ever written, it will be full of lies that support the desired
position of whoever is the current Master.
As a young boy, I remember seeing the evil Nazi generals parading
across my neighborhood theater's screen. Tall, angular, bald headed
and often wearing a monocle.
Today, as a blind man for the past 51 years, I have never seen your
picture. But when you speak, in my minds eye there appears that cold
evil face.
At the time, I truly believed Americans felt compassion for the Jews.
But of course my school history books did not note that we turned
boats of desperate Jews away from our shores. Our open arm policy, so
well said on our Statue of Liberty, must not have included Jews. But
later I came to understand that our government used the plight of the
German Jew to whip up American's hatred of the Evil Nazi. Just as our
American Empire is using you.
So write what you must, Mister Netanyahu. In the scheme of things
your lies will be lost to future generations.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/22/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
> Home > Painting Palestinians as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of
> Vigilante
> Violence
> ________________________________________
> Painting Palestinians as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of Vigilante
> Violence
> By Max Blumenthal [1] / AlterNet [2]
> October 22, 2015
> It is Springtime for Hitler. The genocidal dictator who presided over the
> murder of millions of Jews across Europe during World War Two has been
> absolved of his most heinous crime by the elected leader of the
> self-proclaimed Jewish state. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
> Netanyahu, the blame for the Final Solution lay not with Der Fuhrer, but
> with Hajj al-Amin Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who oversaw holy
> sites during the 1920's and 30's. In Netanyahu's version of Holocaust
> history, Hitler was just following orders.
> This seemingly surreal event occurred at a gathering in Jerusalem of the
> World Zionist Congress [3], where the bigwigs of the pro-Israel world
> gathered amidst a spate of Palestinian stabbing attacks and brutal Israeli
> crackdowns. When he rose to address the crowd, Netanyahu was determined to
> project defiance. He would let no one accuse Israel of provoking violence
> with its brutal, half-century-long military occupation. His security forces
> were facing down a terror wave rooted in a culture of Arab anti-Semitism
> that pre-dated the country's establishment, he insisted. Jewish citizens of
> Israel were being attacked as Jews, not as occupiers or settlers, and
> anyone
> who said otherwise was a liar.
> In a long-winded [4] disquisition peppered with tales of his grandfather's
> close encounters with Arab "marauders," Netanyahu painted the Palestinian
> national movement as a collection of irrational extremists united by a
> singular goal of exterminating the Jews. To illustrate his point, he
> summoned the ghost of the Mufti.
> "Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel
> the Jews," Netanyahu declared. "And Hajj Amin al-Husseini [the Mufti] went
> to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what
> should I do with them?' he asked. He said, 'Burn them.' And he was sought
> in, during the Nuremberg trials for prosecution."
> Netanyahu had written feverishly on the Mufti's collaboration with Nazi
> Germany in his 1993 book, A Durable Peace, citing dubious testimony by one
> of Adolph Eichmann's underlings that the "Mufti was one of the initiators
> of
> the systematic extermination of European Jewry." (In his 1961 trial in
> Jerusalem, Eichmann denied that Husseini played any such role or that he
> knew him well). The long dead Palestinian patriarch has been one of
> Netanyahu's favorite boogeymen ever since, helping him implicate the
> Palestinians in crimes that had nothing to do with the occupation or
> settler-colonial domination. Back in 2012, in fact, in a speech before the
> Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu claimed [5] the Mufti was "one of the leading
> architects of the Final Solution." And a year later, at Bar Ilan
> University,
> Netanyahu attempted to draw a direct line [6] between Nazi Germany and the
> Palestinian national struggle.
> There is no evidence to support Netanyahu's statements about the Mufti's
> malignant influence over Hitler. According to a full readout of the
> November
> 28, 1941 meeting between the two, the Mufti never urged Hitler to "burn
> [the
> Jews]," as Netanyahu alleged. Hitler's discussion with the Mufti occurred
> months after the liquidation of nearly the entire Jewish population of
> Lithuania and weeks after the slaughter at Babi Yar, where over 34,000
> Ukrainian Jews were killed in one of the largest massacres of World War
> Two.
> Contrary to Netanyahu's claims, the engines of genocide were roaring by the
> time the Mufti and Hitler met.
> Almost every aspect of Netanyahu's screed was false, down to his claim that
> Husseini died in Cairo before he could be summoned to testify at the
> Nuremberg Tribunal. (He died in Beirut in 1974). In absolving Hitler of
> overseeing the Jewish genocide, Netanyahu dabbled in Holocaust denial, a
> crime in several European countries. The Holocaust revisionist David Irving
> lost his libel case against historian Deborah Lipstadt in part because
> hemade [7] the same false claim as Netanyahu: Irving wrote that Hitler was
> "inactive" in 1941, with no involvement at the time in the extermination of
> Germany's Jews.
> Unlike Irving, who eventually went to jail [8] for Holocaust denial,
> Netanyahu has escaped with little more than a slap on the wrist. The New
> York Times reported his remarks and collected critical quotes by high
> profile Holocaust scholars, however, it described his claims about Hitler
> and the Mufti as "disputed" [9] - the same language it uses to describe
> Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel. And the Anti-Defamation
> League, a pro-Israel organization that declares battling worldwide
> anti-Semitism as its mission, kindly urged [10] Netanyahu to "be careful in
> talking about the Holocaust" and thanked him for "his clarification on the
> point." Yet Netanyahu had only doubled down on his remarks, proclaiming
> that
> "it is absurd to disregard the Mufti's role in encouraging Hitler to
> exterminate the Jews."
> Over the course of his career, Netanyahu's seemingly outlandish behavior
> has
> always been animated by a cynical logic. By projecting the phantasms of the
> Holocaust onto the stark tableau of the Arab Muslim world, he has expertly
> exploited the psychological vulnerabilities of Jewish Israelis. His
> perseverance is perhaps the best validation of the phenomenon known as
> Terror Management Theory [11], in which average people turn to militaristic
> and authoritarian political leadership to cope with frightening encounters
> with mortality.
> Just over twenty years ago, Netanyahu addressed a right-wing rally in
> central Jerusalem, speaking from a balcony "in a Mussolinian posture," as
> the Israeli authors of "Lords of the Land," Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal,
> recalled. After egging on settlers bearing portraits of Rabin dressed as a
> Nazi SS officer, Netanyahu marched [12] alongside a mock coffin marked,
> "Rabin." Exactly one month later, Rabin was gunned down by a right-wing
> fanatic. And Netanyahu was on his way to winning a first term.
> When he returned to the Prime Minister's office in 2009, Netanyahu revamped
> his signature tactic, this time to brand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the
> president of Iran, as a "modern Hitler" planning a second Holocaust. When
> he
> spoke [13] in Washington before the American Israel Public Affairs
> Committee
> in 2012, Netanyahu waved a 1944 letter from the US Department of War
> supposedly relaying America's refusal to bomb the railways that carried
> Jews
> to their destruction at Auschwitz. Likening Iran's nuclear facilities to
> the
> gas chambers of the Holocaust, Netanyahu roared, "My friends, 2012 is not
> 1944. Never again!" His message to the Obama administration was clear: Bomb
> Iran, or we will.
> Netanyahu's titanic struggle had come to a sputtering end by the time he
> arrived at the UN General Assembly earlier this month. His humiliating
> failure to stop the Iran nuclear deal had deprived him of the external
> enemy
> - the "modern Hitler" - that had assured him international relevancy and
> domestic support. For a full 45 seconds, Netanyahu silently glowered at the
> room full of stone-faced diplomats as though they were impudent children.
> It
> was one of the most bizarre displays in United Nations history.
> As he returned to Jerusalem, Netanyahu turned his sights away from the
> Iranian nuclear threat and trained them on Palestinian kids with potato
> peelers. "Anyone who tries to harm us, we cut off his arm," he rumbled [14]
> during a memorial ceremony for Rehavam Ze'evi, the late right-wing
> politician who helped popularize the idea of forcibly transferring the
> Palestinian population from the West Bank to Jordan.
> Paranoia was spreading peripatetically across the country, with commando
> units bursting [15] into shopping malls during false alarms while Jews
> assaulted Jews who resembled Palestinians. As units of the Israeli army
> poured into Jerusalem for the first time since 1967, riot police took full
> advantage of authorization to shoot teenage stone throwers with live
> bullets. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, an architect of the wave of evictions
> inflaming [16] Palestinians in the east of the city, instructed all Jewish
> residents who owned weapons to stage armed vigilante patrols, and even
> embarked on one himself. "Don't hesitate. If someone is brandishing a
> knife,
> shoot him," urged [17] Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid Party.
> As the violence intensified, a sub-genre of viral snuff films emerged. In
> one grainy clip, a settler draped [18] a Palestinian corpse with pork as
> paramedics stood by impassively. Another showed an Israeli man taunting
> [19]
> a Palestinian boy as blood poured from his head and he panted for breath
> after being shot during a stabbing attack. Perhaps the most gut wrenching
> video captured crowds trouncing [20] on the lifeless body of Haftom Zarhum,
> an Eritrean refugee who had been riddled with bullets after being mistaken
> for a Palestinian gunman. "Break his head! Break his head! Son of a whore!"
> shouted one man as he abused Zarhum's body.
> By blaming a Palestinian for the Final Solution, Netanyahu has helped his
> countrymen adjust to the macabre reality. He reassured them that they were
> not settler overlords or vigilante brutes, but Inglorious Bastards curb
> stomping SS officers in the woods outside Krakow. And he sent them the
> message that those Palestinians lurking behind concrete walls and under
> siege in ghettoes were not an occupied, dispossessed people, but a new
> breed
> of Nazis hellbent on Jewish extermination. Netanyahu's comments about the
> Mufti were much more than a hysterical lie; they were an invitation to act
> out a blood soaked fantasy of righteous revenge.
>
>
>
> Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for AlterNet, and the award-winning
> author
> of Goliath [21] and Republican Gomorrah [22]. Find him on Twitter at
> @MaxBlumenthal [23].
> Share on Facebook Share
> Share on Twitter Tweet
>
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [24]
> [25]
> ________________________________________
> Source URL:
> http://www.alternet.org/world/painting-palestinians-nazis-netanyahu-incites-
> wave-vigilante-violence
> Links:
> [1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3] http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.681525
> [4]
> http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechcongress20101
> 5.aspx
> [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOIQJ2hFoho
> [6] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172574
> [7] http://www.hdot.org/en/trial/defense/evans/430diiC.html
> [8] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/austria.thefarright
> [9] https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/656835033685229568
> [10] https://twitter.com/JGreenblattADL/status/656826336099594240
> [11] http://www.newrepublic.com/article/death-grip
> [12] https://twitter.com/Ask_Netanyahu/status/629159953681510400
> [13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ufkFEU2kjw
> [14] http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.680256
> [15]
> https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1052811371420012&id=12965325
> 0402500&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FzlBcxYMHp2&_rdr
> [16] https://www.rt.com/news/318064-jerusalem-mayor-gun-palestinians/
> [17] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680706
> [18]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-settler-praised-th
> rowing-pork-body-palestinian
> [19] http://www.imemc.org/article/73371
> [20]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-mob-attacks-dying-
> eritrean-refugee-after-soldier-killed
> [21]
> http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
> [22] http://republicangomorrah.com/
> [23] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
> [24] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Painting Palestinians
> as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of Vigilante Violence
> [25] http://www.alternet.org/
> [26] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
> Home > Painting Palestinians as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of
> Vigilante
> Violence
>
> Painting Palestinians as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of Vigilante
> Violence
> By Max Blumenthal [1] / AlterNet [2]
> October 22, 2015
> It is Springtime for Hitler. The genocidal dictator who presided over the
> murder of millions of Jews across Europe during World War Two has been
> absolved of his most heinous crime by the elected leader of the
> self-proclaimed Jewish state. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
> Netanyahu, the blame for the Final Solution lay not with Der Fuhrer, but
> with Hajj al-Amin Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who oversaw holy
> sites during the 1920's and 30's. In Netanyahu's version of Holocaust
> history, Hitler was just following orders.
> This seemingly surreal event occurred at a gathering in Jerusalem of the
> World Zionist Congress [3], where the bigwigs of the pro-Israel world
> gathered amidst a spate of Palestinian stabbing attacks and brutal Israeli
> crackdowns. When he rose to address the crowd, Netanyahu was determined to
> project defiance. He would let no one accuse Israel of provoking violence
> with its brutal, half-century-long military occupation. His security forces
> were facing down a terror wave rooted in a culture of Arab anti-Semitism
> that pre-dated the country's establishment, he insisted. Jewish citizens of
> Israel were being attacked as Jews, not as occupiers or settlers, and
> anyone
> who said otherwise was a liar.
> In a long-winded [4] disquisition peppered with tales of his grandfather's
> close encounters with Arab "marauders," Netanyahu painted the Palestinian
> national movement as a collection of irrational extremists united by a
> singular goal of exterminating the Jews. To illustrate his point, he
> summoned the ghost of the Mufti.
> "Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel
> the Jews," Netanyahu declared. "And Hajj Amin al-Husseini [the Mufti] went
> to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what
> should I do with them?' he asked. He said, 'Burn them.' And he was sought
> in, during the Nuremberg trials for prosecution."
> Netanyahu had written feverishly on the Mufti's collaboration with Nazi
> Germany in his 1993 book, A Durable Peace, citing dubious testimony by one
> of Adolph Eichmann's underlings that the "Mufti was one of the initiators
> of
> the systematic extermination of European Jewry." (In his 1961 trial in
> Jerusalem, Eichmann denied that Husseini played any such role or that he
> knew him well). The long dead Palestinian patriarch has been one of
> Netanyahu's favorite boogeymen ever since, helping him implicate the
> Palestinians in crimes that had nothing to do with the occupation or
> settler-colonial domination. Back in 2012, in fact, in a speech before the
> Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu claimed [5] the Mufti was "one of the leading
> architects of the Final Solution." And a year later, at Bar Ilan
> University,
> Netanyahu attempted to draw a direct line [6] between Nazi Germany and the
> Palestinian national struggle.
> There is no evidence to support Netanyahu's statements about the Mufti's
> malignant influence over Hitler. According to a full readout of the
> November
> 28, 1941 meeting between the two, the Mufti never urged Hitler to "burn
> [the
> Jews]," as Netanyahu alleged. Hitler's discussion with the Mufti occurred
> months after the liquidation of nearly the entire Jewish population of
> Lithuania and weeks after the slaughter at Babi Yar, where over 34,000
> Ukrainian Jews were killed in one of the largest massacres of World War
> Two.
> Contrary to Netanyahu's claims, the engines of genocide were roaring by the
> time the Mufti and Hitler met.
> Almost every aspect of Netanyahu's screed was false, down to his claim that
> Husseini died in Cairo before he could be summoned to testify at the
> Nuremberg Tribunal. (He died in Beirut in 1974). In absolving Hitler of
> overseeing the Jewish genocide, Netanyahu dabbled in Holocaust denial, a
> crime in several European countries. The Holocaust revisionist David Irving
> lost his libel case against historian Deborah Lipstadt in part because
> hemade [7] the same false claim as Netanyahu: Irving wrote that Hitler was
> "inactive" in 1941, with no involvement at the time in the extermination of
> Germany's Jews.
> Unlike Irving, who eventually went to jail [8] for Holocaust denial,
> Netanyahu has escaped with little more than a slap on the wrist. The New
> York Times reported his remarks and collected critical quotes by high
> profile Holocaust scholars, however, it described his claims about Hitler
> and the Mufti as "disputed" [9] - the same language it uses to describe
> Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel. And the Anti-Defamation
> League, a pro-Israel organization that declares battling worldwide
> anti-Semitism as its mission, kindly urged [10] Netanyahu to "be careful in
> talking about the Holocaust" and thanked him for "his clarification on the
> point." Yet Netanyahu had only doubled down on his remarks, proclaiming
> that
> "it is absurd to disregard the Mufti's role in encouraging Hitler to
> exterminate the Jews."
> Over the course of his career, Netanyahu's seemingly outlandish behavior
> has
> always been animated by a cynical logic. By projecting the phantasms of the
> Holocaust onto the stark tableau of the Arab Muslim world, he has expertly
> exploited the psychological vulnerabilities of Jewish Israelis. His
> perseverance is perhaps the best validation of the phenomenon known as
> Terror Management Theory [11], in which average people turn to militaristic
> and authoritarian political leadership to cope with frightening encounters
> with mortality.
> Just over twenty years ago, Netanyahu addressed a right-wing rally in
> central Jerusalem, speaking from a balcony "in a Mussolinian posture," as
> the Israeli authors of "Lords of the Land," Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal,
> recalled. After egging on settlers bearing portraits of Rabin dressed as a
> Nazi SS officer, Netanyahu marched [12] alongside a mock coffin marked,
> "Rabin." Exactly one month later, Rabin was gunned down by a right-wing
> fanatic. And Netanyahu was on his way to winning a first term.
> When he returned to the Prime Minister's office in 2009, Netanyahu revamped
> his signature tactic, this time to brand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the
> president of Iran, as a "modern Hitler" planning a second Holocaust. When
> he
> spoke [13] in Washington before the American Israel Public Affairs
> Committee
> in 2012, Netanyahu waved a 1944 letter from the US Department of War
> supposedly relaying America's refusal to bomb the railways that carried
> Jews
> to their destruction at Auschwitz. Likening Iran's nuclear facilities to
> the
> gas chambers of the Holocaust, Netanyahu roared, "My friends, 2012 is not
> 1944. Never again!" His message to the Obama administration was clear: Bomb
> Iran, or we will.
> Netanyahu's titanic struggle had come to a sputtering end by the time he
> arrived at the UN General Assembly earlier this month. His humiliating
> failure to stop the Iran nuclear deal had deprived him of the external
> enemy
> - the "modern Hitler" - that had assured him international relevancy and
> domestic support. For a full 45 seconds, Netanyahu silently glowered at the
> room full of stone-faced diplomats as though they were impudent children.
> It
> was one of the most bizarre displays in United Nations history.
> As he returned to Jerusalem, Netanyahu turned his sights away from the
> Iranian nuclear threat and trained them on Palestinian kids with potato
> peelers. "Anyone who tries to harm us, we cut off his arm," he rumbled [14]
> during a memorial ceremony for Rehavam Ze'evi, the late right-wing
> politician who helped popularize the idea of forcibly transferring the
> Palestinian population from the West Bank to Jordan.
> Paranoia was spreading peripatetically across the country, with commando
> units bursting [15] into shopping malls during false alarms while Jews
> assaulted Jews who resembled Palestinians. As units of the Israeli army
> poured into Jerusalem for the first time since 1967, riot police took full
> advantage of authorization to shoot teenage stone throwers with live
> bullets. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, an architect of the wave of evictions
> inflaming [16] Palestinians in the east of the city, instructed all Jewish
> residents who owned weapons to stage armed vigilante patrols, and even
> embarked on one himself. "Don't hesitate. If someone is brandishing a
> knife,
> shoot him," urged [17] Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid Party.
> As the violence intensified, a sub-genre of viral snuff films emerged. In
> one grainy clip, a settler draped [18] a Palestinian corpse with pork as
> paramedics stood by impassively. Another showed an Israeli man taunting
> [19]
> a Palestinian boy as blood poured from his head and he panted for breath
> after being shot during a stabbing attack. Perhaps the most gut wrenching
> video captured crowds trouncing [20] on the lifeless body of Haftom Zarhum,
> an Eritrean refugee who had been riddled with bullets after being mistaken
> for a Palestinian gunman. "Break his head! Break his head! Son of a whore!"
> shouted one man as he abused Zarhum's body.
> By blaming a Palestinian for the Final Solution, Netanyahu has helped his
> countrymen adjust to the macabre reality. He reassured them that they were
> not settler overlords or vigilante brutes, but Inglorious Bastards curb
> stomping SS officers in the woods outside Krakow. And he sent them the
> message that those Palestinians lurking behind concrete walls and under
> siege in ghettoes were not an occupied, dispossessed people, but a new
> breed
> of Nazis hellbent on Jewish extermination. Netanyahu's comments about the
> Mufti were much more than a hysterical lie; they were an invitation to act
> out a blood soaked fantasy of righteous revenge.
> Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for AlterNet, and the award-winning
> author
> of Goliath [21] and Republican Gomorrah [22]. Find him on Twitter at
> @MaxBlumenthal [23].
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [24]
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[25]
>
> Source URL:
> http://www.alternet.org/world/painting-palestinians-nazis-netanyahu-incites-
> wave-vigilante-violence
> Links:
> [1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
> [2] http://alternet.org
> [3] http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.681525
> [4]
> http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechcongress20101
> 5.aspx
> [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOIQJ2hFoho
> [6] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172574
> [7] http://www.hdot.org/en/trial/defense/evans/430diiC.html
> [8] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/austria.thefarright
> [9] https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/656835033685229568
> [10] https://twitter.com/JGreenblattADL/status/656826336099594240
> [11] http://www.newrepublic.com/article/death-grip
> [12] https://twitter.com/Ask_Netanyahu/status/629159953681510400
> [13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ufkFEU2kjw
> [14] http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.680256
> [15]
> https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1052811371420012&id=12965325
> 0402500&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FzlBcxYMHp2&_rdr
> [16] https://www.rt.com/news/318064-jerusalem-mayor-gun-palestinians/
> [17] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680706
> [18]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-settler-praised-th
> rowing-pork-body-palestinian
> [19] http://www.imemc.org/article/73371
> [20]
> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-mob-attacks-dying-
> eritrean-refugee-after-soldier-killed
> [21]
> http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
> [22] http://republicangomorrah.com/
> [23] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
> [24] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Painting Palestinians
> as Nazis, Netanyahu Incites a Wave of Vigilante Violence
> [25] http://www.alternet.org/
> [26] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
Friday, October 23, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Re: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Televangelist: Satanic temples are hidden in Planned Parenthood clinics as 'legal cover' for child sacrifice
First, I admit I could not read this entire piece of insanity. And it
is time we named it exactly what it is. Insanity. We are talking
about average people who have decided that they, and they alone, have
direct communication with the Almighty. This is what has come of our
allowing people to make up invisible, all knowing, all powerful
Spirits. We have painted a lovely picture of our People, worshiping
in Peace and Love. But like Norman Rockwell's idealistic paintings of
America, the Beautiful, it is only a thin cover over the turmoil that
seethes beneath the surface. Until we have the guts to stand up to
these myths, and drive the insanity out, we will continue to be
victimized by these lying Devils.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/18/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> What insanity is this? Only in America!
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
> Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2015 7:39 PM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Televangelist: Satanic temples are hidden in
> Planned Parenthood clinics as 'legal cover' for child sacrifice
>
> http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/televangelist-satanic-temples-are-hidden-in-
> planned-parenthood-clinics-as-legal-cover-for-child-sacrifice/
>
>
> Televangelist: Satanic temples are hidden in Planned Parenthood clinics as
> 'legal cover' for child sacrifice
>
> David Edwards
> David Edwards
> 08 Oct 2015 at 15:47 ET
>
>
>
> FacebookTwitterMore
>
> Jim Bakker (The Jim Bakker Show)
> Jim Bakker (The Jim Bakker Show)
>
>
> Don't miss stories. Follow Raw Story!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Pastor Jim Bakker and the guests on his show asserted this week that
> Satanic
> worship services were taking place in some Planned Parenthood clinics,
> which
> were being used a legal cover for the ritual sacrifice of children.
>
> On Thursday's episode of the Jim Bakker Show, co-host Zach Drew observed
> that "the most dangerous place for a human to be in America today [is]
> inside the mother's womb."
>
>
> ADVERTISING
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> According to co-host Lori Bakker, one in five "babies" - and one in two
> African-American "babies" - were aborted in the United States. And she
> argued that Planned Parenthood had purposefully placed clinics in the black
> community because the organization's founder, Margaret Sanger, was a racist
> who believed that blacks should die.
>
> Although the Sanger myth has been debunked numerous times, guest pastor
> Rick
> Wiles and Jim Bakker both agreed.
>
> "And we think, what's going on the black community, that black lives matter
> - and they do! My God, they do!" Jim Bakker exclaimed. "Every life matters.
> Black lives matter in the womb. Let's find out where the real enemies are!"
>
> "The real reason Planned Parenthood has abortions in the black community is
> because the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a racist,"
> Wiles opined. "She's the founding mother of eugenics. And she taught that
> blacks should be eliminated."
>
> "Planned Parenthood means kill the babies so that's the plan," Jim Bakker
> replied.
>
> "They're natal Nazis," Wiles added.
>
> "It's a pile of babies almost 70 million babies tall, mountains and
> mountains and mountains of babies," Jim Bakker said. "This is why God's
> judgement is coming."
>
> The pastor noted that creationism had to be true because "there are no
> accidental babies."
>
> "You are sitting here talking about this and I think you have - your eyes
> are there," Jim Bakker said, pointing at Wiles. "They're not below your
> mouth. Your mouth didn't somehow land up [on your forehead]. If this was
> all
> accidental, you know, you'd have an ear there."
>
> Wiles said that a former Satanist told him that he "performed 164 Satanic
> rituals inside of abortion clinics."
>
> "Absolutely!" Lori Bakker chimed in. "I can't prove it because I wasn't
> there. I will tell you, especially on Halloween, that many many many many
> Satanic rituals - abortion rituals - are performed. It's the truth."
>
> "I've had women sit as close as Jim is to me, as you are to me, crying,
> screaming from their innermost being because they were in those Satanic
> rituals where their babies were aborted," she insisted.
>
> Wiles claimed that his former Satanist friend said that "sacrificing a
> human
> life is the greatest thing that they can do for Lucifer."
>
>
>
>
>
> "Because murder is illegal, they have to find a way to have a sacrifice
> that are human," Wiles continued. "And so because America has abortion,
> therefore, their doing these human sacrifices in an abortion clinic
> because it gives them a legal covering."
>
> "The anti-christ spirit is loose," Jim Bakker declared. "You know, I
> believe the first horse of the apocalypse is the Satanic - the white
> horse, this apocalyptic being is the spirit of anti-christ. And it is
> riding, this spirit is here."
>
> "Satan has always wanted to be God. And he can't create so he wants to
> kill God's creations."
>
> Watch the video below from the Jim Bakker Show, broadcast Oct. 8, 2015.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> FacebookTwitterMore
>
>
>
>
> Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Image: Shooting witnesses Heather Myers and Dominic Rabone of Salina, KS
> (Screen capture)
>
> Next on Raw Story >
>
> 'Oh my God, I just shot myself!': Newly licensed concealed carrier
> shoots own leg in Kansas theater
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> by Taboola
>
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>
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>
> 20 Celebs Who Don't Believe in God: #15 Will Shock You
>
> LifeDaily
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> Former 'Bachelors' & 'Bachelorettes': Where Are They Now? (PHO.
>
> The Stir
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Surefire Ways To Get Under A Republican's Skin
>
> Rant Politcal
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> Man Finds Secret Room In Office -- Where It Led Was Astounding .
>
> ViralNova
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>
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> by Taboola
>
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>
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>
> .The Most Horrible News Broadcast Slip Ups Ever (ViralMoon)
>
>
> .20 Celebs Who Don't Believe in God: #15 Will Shock You (LifeDaily)
>
>
> .Former 'Bachelors' & 'Bachelorettes': Where . (The Stir)
>
>
> .Surefire Ways To Get Under A Republican's Skin (Rant Politcal)
>
>
> .Man Finds Secret Room In Office -- Where It Led . (ViralNova)
>
>
> .15 Pictures That Will Scare You For A Long Time (TimeToBreak)
>
>
> .Her Dress Dropped Jaws At The 2015 Met Gala (StyleBistro)
>
>
> .25 Criminal Photos Of The Best Looking People Ever.. (Lazy Slack)
>
>
> .16 Deadliest Foods That Americans Eat E. (Healthy Diet Base)
>
>
> .Celebrities Who Are Terrible Human Beings (Fashion Underground)
>
>
>
>
> By commenting, you agree to our terms of service and to abide by our
> commenting policy.
>
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>
> The Evil Side of Columbus Recently Revealed and It's Not Pretty
>
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>
> Mike Huckabee Agrees: Slavery Is Pretty Dadgum Cool!
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> GOP Presidential Field Split Apart By 9/11
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Woman Hired Her Daughters To Have Sex With Louisville Bball Recruits
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
> Bristol Palin Outraged Other Girls Won't Get Knocked Up In High School
>
>
>
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>
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> Christopher Columbus Was A Horrible Human Being
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> Albert Einstein Arrested For Groping A Woman Last Week?
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> Using Ancient DNA, a Mystery Found at Machu Picchu - And It's Stunning
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> Scientists Discover the Bizarre Psychology Behind Religious Beliefs
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> When Prostitution Wasn't a Crime
>
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> Pictures of Too Young Child Brides Around the World Are Stunningly Sad
>
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>
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>
> Sponsored Links
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> .Your Urine Color Linked to Weight Gain
> .New Probiotic Fat Burner Takes GNC by Storm
> .Reba Fans and Family Shocked by Her New Makeover
> .Reba Divorced for Looking Too Old - See Her Makeover Revenge
> .Her Husband Said She Looked Too Old - See Her Makeover Revenge
> .Two Steps to Tightening Skin and Removing Eye Bags Overnight
> .You Will Never Believe How Easy Looking Young Can Be
> .Reba Cheated on for Looking Too Old - See her Revenge Makeover
>
> What's This?
>
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>
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>
>
> Oregon shooting hero rips conspiracy nuts: 'Just because you don't
> believe it's real doesn't mean it didn't happen'
>
> John Mayer to team up with Grateful Dead vet Bob Weir for Dead &
> Company tour
>
> Fox & Friends freaks out over black Captain America: It's a plot to
> 'target conservatives'
>
> Ben Carson: We could have caught Osama bin Laden earlier if we had
> been energy independent
>
> 'A sweet soul': Mitt Romney's reflexive cough tells you everything you
> need to know about Ben Carson
>
> Cops raid VW France headquarters
>
> Plastic-eating mealworms can safely digest styrofoam
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> New Videos
>
>
> 'Oh my God, I just shot myself!': Newly licensed concealed carrier
> shoots own leg in Kansas theater
>
> Tennessee pastor: 'What if your parents had decided to have an
> abortion? How would that make you feel?'
>
> Huckabee: What's the difference between smoking pot and denying
> someone a marriage license?
>
> Fox & Friends freaks out over black Captain America: It's a plot to
> 'target conservatives'
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is time we named it exactly what it is. Insanity. We are talking
about average people who have decided that they, and they alone, have
direct communication with the Almighty. This is what has come of our
allowing people to make up invisible, all knowing, all powerful
Spirits. We have painted a lovely picture of our People, worshiping
in Peace and Love. But like Norman Rockwell's idealistic paintings of
America, the Beautiful, it is only a thin cover over the turmoil that
seethes beneath the surface. Until we have the guts to stand up to
these myths, and drive the insanity out, we will continue to be
victimized by these lying Devils.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/18/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> What insanity is this? Only in America!
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
> Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2015 7:39 PM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Televangelist: Satanic temples are hidden in
> Planned Parenthood clinics as 'legal cover' for child sacrifice
>
> http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/televangelist-satanic-temples-are-hidden-in-
> planned-parenthood-clinics-as-legal-cover-for-child-sacrifice/
>
>
> Televangelist: Satanic temples are hidden in Planned Parenthood clinics as
> 'legal cover' for child sacrifice
>
> David Edwards
> David Edwards
> 08 Oct 2015 at 15:47 ET
>
>
>
> FacebookTwitterMore
>
> Jim Bakker (The Jim Bakker Show)
> Jim Bakker (The Jim Bakker Show)
>
>
> Don't miss stories. Follow Raw Story!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Pastor Jim Bakker and the guests on his show asserted this week that
> Satanic
> worship services were taking place in some Planned Parenthood clinics,
> which
> were being used a legal cover for the ritual sacrifice of children.
>
> On Thursday's episode of the Jim Bakker Show, co-host Zach Drew observed
> that "the most dangerous place for a human to be in America today [is]
> inside the mother's womb."
>
>
> ADVERTISING
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> According to co-host Lori Bakker, one in five "babies" - and one in two
> African-American "babies" - were aborted in the United States. And she
> argued that Planned Parenthood had purposefully placed clinics in the black
> community because the organization's founder, Margaret Sanger, was a racist
> who believed that blacks should die.
>
> Although the Sanger myth has been debunked numerous times, guest pastor
> Rick
> Wiles and Jim Bakker both agreed.
>
> "And we think, what's going on the black community, that black lives matter
> - and they do! My God, they do!" Jim Bakker exclaimed. "Every life matters.
> Black lives matter in the womb. Let's find out where the real enemies are!"
>
> "The real reason Planned Parenthood has abortions in the black community is
> because the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a racist,"
> Wiles opined. "She's the founding mother of eugenics. And she taught that
> blacks should be eliminated."
>
> "Planned Parenthood means kill the babies so that's the plan," Jim Bakker
> replied.
>
> "They're natal Nazis," Wiles added.
>
> "It's a pile of babies almost 70 million babies tall, mountains and
> mountains and mountains of babies," Jim Bakker said. "This is why God's
> judgement is coming."
>
> The pastor noted that creationism had to be true because "there are no
> accidental babies."
>
> "You are sitting here talking about this and I think you have - your eyes
> are there," Jim Bakker said, pointing at Wiles. "They're not below your
> mouth. Your mouth didn't somehow land up [on your forehead]. If this was
> all
> accidental, you know, you'd have an ear there."
>
> Wiles said that a former Satanist told him that he "performed 164 Satanic
> rituals inside of abortion clinics."
>
> "Absolutely!" Lori Bakker chimed in. "I can't prove it because I wasn't
> there. I will tell you, especially on Halloween, that many many many many
> Satanic rituals - abortion rituals - are performed. It's the truth."
>
> "I've had women sit as close as Jim is to me, as you are to me, crying,
> screaming from their innermost being because they were in those Satanic
> rituals where their babies were aborted," she insisted.
>
> Wiles claimed that his former Satanist friend said that "sacrificing a
> human
> life is the greatest thing that they can do for Lucifer."
>
>
>
>
>
> "Because murder is illegal, they have to find a way to have a sacrifice
> that are human," Wiles continued. "And so because America has abortion,
> therefore, their doing these human sacrifices in an abortion clinic
> because it gives them a legal covering."
>
> "The anti-christ spirit is loose," Jim Bakker declared. "You know, I
> believe the first horse of the apocalypse is the Satanic - the white
> horse, this apocalyptic being is the spirit of anti-christ. And it is
> riding, this spirit is here."
>
> "Satan has always wanted to be God. And he can't create so he wants to
> kill God's creations."
>
> Watch the video below from the Jim Bakker Show, broadcast Oct. 8, 2015.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> FacebookTwitterMore
>
>
>
>
> Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Image: Shooting witnesses Heather Myers and Dominic Rabone of Salina, KS
> (Screen capture)
>
> Next on Raw Story >
>
> 'Oh my God, I just shot myself!': Newly licensed concealed carrier
> shoots own leg in Kansas theater
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> by Taboola
>
> Sponsored Links
>
>
> From The Web
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The Most Horrible News Broadcast Slip Ups Ever
>
> ViralMoon
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 20 Celebs Who Don't Believe in God: #15 Will Shock You
>
> LifeDaily
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Former 'Bachelors' & 'Bachelorettes': Where Are They Now? (PHO.
>
> The Stir
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Surefire Ways To Get Under A Republican's Skin
>
> Rant Politcal
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Man Finds Secret Room In Office -- Where It Led Was Astounding .
>
> ViralNova
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 15 Pictures That Will Scare You For A Long Time
>
> TimeToBreak
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> by Taboola
>
> Sponsored Links
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> Recommended
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>
>
>
> .The Most Horrible News Broadcast Slip Ups Ever (ViralMoon)
>
>
> .20 Celebs Who Don't Believe in God: #15 Will Shock You (LifeDaily)
>
>
> .Former 'Bachelors' & 'Bachelorettes': Where . (The Stir)
>
>
> .Surefire Ways To Get Under A Republican's Skin (Rant Politcal)
>
>
> .Man Finds Secret Room In Office -- Where It Led . (ViralNova)
>
>
> .15 Pictures That Will Scare You For A Long Time (TimeToBreak)
>
>
> .Her Dress Dropped Jaws At The 2015 Met Gala (StyleBistro)
>
>
> .25 Criminal Photos Of The Best Looking People Ever.. (Lazy Slack)
>
>
> .16 Deadliest Foods That Americans Eat E. (Healthy Diet Base)
>
>
> .Celebrities Who Are Terrible Human Beings (Fashion Underground)
>
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> The Evil Side of Columbus Recently Revealed and It's Not Pretty
>
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>
>
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>
> Mike Huckabee Agrees: Slavery Is Pretty Dadgum Cool!
>
>
>
>
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>
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> GOP Presidential Field Split Apart By 9/11
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> Woman Hired Her Daughters To Have Sex With Louisville Bball Recruits
>
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>
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>
>
> Bristol Palin Outraged Other Girls Won't Get Knocked Up In High School
>
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>
>
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>
>
>
> Albert Einstein Arrested For Groping A Woman Last Week?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Using Ancient DNA, a Mystery Found at Machu Picchu - And It's Stunning
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> Scientists Discover the Bizarre Psychology Behind Religious Beliefs
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> When Prostitution Wasn't a Crime
>
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>
>
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> Pictures of Too Young Child Brides Around the World Are Stunningly Sad
>
>
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>
>
>
> Sponsored Links
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>
> .Your Urine Color Linked to Weight Gain
> .New Probiotic Fat Burner Takes GNC by Storm
> .Reba Fans and Family Shocked by Her New Makeover
> .Reba Divorced for Looking Too Old - See Her Makeover Revenge
> .Her Husband Said She Looked Too Old - See Her Makeover Revenge
> .Two Steps to Tightening Skin and Removing Eye Bags Overnight
> .You Will Never Believe How Easy Looking Young Can Be
> .Reba Cheated on for Looking Too Old - See her Revenge Makeover
>
> What's This?
>
>
>
>
> New Stories
>
>
> Oregon shooting hero rips conspiracy nuts: 'Just because you don't
> believe it's real doesn't mean it didn't happen'
>
> John Mayer to team up with Grateful Dead vet Bob Weir for Dead &
> Company tour
>
> Fox & Friends freaks out over black Captain America: It's a plot to
> 'target conservatives'
>
> Ben Carson: We could have caught Osama bin Laden earlier if we had
> been energy independent
>
> 'A sweet soul': Mitt Romney's reflexive cough tells you everything you
> need to know about Ben Carson
>
> Cops raid VW France headquarters
>
> Plastic-eating mealworms can safely digest styrofoam
>
> How to succeed in Silicon Valley: Have a really great bad idea
>
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>
>
>
> New Videos
>
>
> 'Oh my God, I just shot myself!': Newly licensed concealed carrier
> shoots own leg in Kansas theater
>
> Tennessee pastor: 'What if your parents had decided to have an
> abortion? How would that make you feel?'
>
> Huckabee: What's the difference between smoking pot and denying
> someone a marriage license?
>
> Fox & Friends freaks out over black Captain America: It's a plot to
> 'target conservatives'
>
>
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>
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> Advertise on Raw Story
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Friday, October 16, 2015
Re: [blind-democracy] Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief
When are we going to get through our thick heads that Barak Obama is
not now, nor ever was a friend of the Working Class. Obama is not
now, nor ever was that Prince of Peace the "Winner" of the Nobel Peace
Prize.
Obama is not now, nor ever was the friend of innocent people around
the world, nor was Obama ever a proponent of free speech. In fact,
nearly everything Barak Obama campaigned on is now off his list. He
is just one more War Lord, one more Terrorist, dropping his Death
around the world, telling his lies, protecting those who are the real
killers and murderers of helpless humans. Obama would allow the
Israelis to do to Palestine what our forefathers did to those people
who lived here before us.
Personally, I would go so far as to say that Barak Obama has no
business calling himself a Black Man, as long as he allows our prisons
to be the holding pens of Blacks. At best, he is a Puppet, being
used by the Corporate Rulers. At worst he is a willing participant.
Which would entitle him to be called a Traitor.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/15/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> Kitroeff writes: "On a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred
> in a national debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the
> U.S. government launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan
> relief."
>
> President Barack Obama listens to senior Marissa Boles during a roundtable
> discussion with students currently receiving Stafford federal student loans
> at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. (photo: Chuck Kenned)
>
>
> Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief
> By Natalie Kitroeff, Bloomberg
> 15 October 15
>
> The U.S. government is becoming student borrowers' worst enemy.
>
> On a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred in a national
> debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the U.S.
> government
> launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan relief.
> On Tuesday, the Department of Education intervened in the case of Robert
> Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old who has waged a three-year legal battle
> to
> erase his student loans in bankruptcy.
> Unlike almost every single form of consumer debt, student loans can be
> erased only in very rare circumstances. Murphy's case, which is currently
> being heard in a federal court in Boston, could make things a little easier
> for certain borrowers. A win for Murphy would relieve him of $246,500 in
> debt and could loosen the standard used to determine how desperate someone
> needs to be to qualify for relief.
> The court asked the Education Department to weigh in on the matter. In a
> document submitted to the court on Tuesday, government lawyers urged the
> federal judges not to cede any ground to borrowers who say they are in dire
> financial straits. Doing so would imperil "the fiscal stability of the loan
> program" that has existed for half a century. The Department of Education
> did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
> Murphy doesn't deserve a break just because he is 65 years old, department
> lawyers wrote. Repaying his debt loan may require "that he remain employed
> at or past normal retirement age," they said, even though "his income may
> top out or decrease" and "further employment opportunities may be limited."
> "That is part of the bargain that parents strike when they take out loans
> later in their work life," the lawyers added. Murphy took out several loans
> to send his three children to college, but he lost his job at a
> manufacturing company in 2002 and has not been able to find work since.
> No student debtor should get a break on student loans unless they can show
> a
> "certainty of hopelessness," said the government's lawyers. "[A] debtor
> must
> specifically prove a total incapacity in the future to repay the debt for
> reasons not within his control," they added. The lawyers said that the
> point
> of keeping such a stringent standard is to ensure "that bankruptcy does not
> become a convenient and expedient means of extinguishing student loan
> debt."
> The Education Department is seasoned at waging this particular battle. For
> over a decade, the department, through its lawyers, has pushed the courts
> to
> adopt the harshest standards possible when considering pleas from bankrupt
> students.
> "The general purpose of the Bankruptcy Code to give honest debtors a fresh
> start does not automatically apply to student loan debtors," the
> government's lawyers wrote.
> Filing for bankruptcy ordinarily allows debtors to wipe out what they owe
> in
> exchange for marred credit for up to 10 years. In the 1970s, Congress made
> student loans unique. To get a reprieve on education debt, federal law
> requires proof that repaying it would impose an "undue hardship."
> Lawmakers have never defined undue hardship, though, so courts have tried
> to
> work out exactly how poor Americans need to be-and for how long-in order to
> qualify for student loan forgiveness.
> The Department of Education has been successful at convincing judges to
> make
> that threshold incredibly high. A borrower now has to show that making
> payments on a loan would "strip himself of all that makes life worth
> living," according to one court. Lawyers rifle through debtors' daily
> expenses to determine whether they will be able to maintain a "minimal
> standard of living" if they are required to repay student loans. Attorneys
> arguing on behalf of the Education Department have called such things as
> retirement account contributions, fast-food dinners, cell-phone plans, and
> nutritional supplements "luxury expenses."
> The government argues that such scrutiny of a borrower's financial life is
> crucial for "protecting the solvency of the student loan program." Consumer
> advocates say the Education Department's fears are exaggerated because most
> debt that could be discharged in bankruptcy is not collectable if bankrupt
> borrowers can't pay it back.
> Murphy calculated that even if he were to find a job paying $50,000 per
> year
> and then work until he turns 77, his student debt would nonetheless balloon
> to $500,000.
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
>
> President Barack Obama listens to senior Marissa Boles during a roundtable
> discussion with students currently receiving Stafford federal student loans
> at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. (photo: Chuck Kenned)
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-14/obama-administration-hits-
> back-at-student-debtors-seeking-reliefhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles
> /2015-10-14/obama-administration-hits-back-at-student-debtors-seeking-relief
> Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief
> By Natalie Kitroeff, Bloomberg
> 15 October 15
> The U.S. government is becoming student borrowers' worst enemy.
> n a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred in a national
> debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the U.S.
> government
> launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan relief.
> On Tuesday, the Department of Education intervened in the case of Robert
> Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old who has waged a three-year legal battle
> to
> erase his student loans in bankruptcy.
> Unlike almost every single form of consumer debt, student loans can be
> erased only in very rare circumstances. Murphy's case, which is currently
> being heard in a federal court in Boston, could make things a little easier
> for certain borrowers. A win for Murphy would relieve him of $246,500 in
> debt and could loosen the standard used to determine how desperate someone
> needs to be to qualify for relief.
> The court asked the Education Department to weigh in on the matter. In a
> document submitted to the court on Tuesday, government lawyers urged the
> federal judges not to cede any ground to borrowers who say they are in dire
> financial straits. Doing so would imperil "the fiscal stability of the loan
> program" that has existed for half a century. The Department of Education
> did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
> Murphy doesn't deserve a break just because he is 65 years old, department
> lawyers wrote. Repaying his debt loan may require "that he remain employed
> at or past normal retirement age," they said, even though "his income may
> top out or decrease" and "further employment opportunities may be limited."
> "That is part of the bargain that parents strike when they take out loans
> later in their work life," the lawyers added. Murphy took out several loans
> to send his three children to college, but he lost his job at a
> manufacturing company in 2002 and has not been able to find work since.
> No student debtor should get a break on student loans unless they can show
> a
> "certainty of hopelessness," said the government's lawyers. "[A] debtor
> must
> specifically prove a total incapacity in the future to repay the debt for
> reasons not within his control," they added. The lawyers said that the
> point
> of keeping such a stringent standard is to ensure "that bankruptcy does not
> become a convenient and expedient means of extinguishing student loan
> debt."
> The Education Department is seasoned at waging this particular battle. For
> over a decade, the department, through its lawyers, has pushed the courts
> to
> adopt the harshest standards possible when considering pleas from bankrupt
> students.
> "The general purpose of the Bankruptcy Code to give honest debtors a fresh
> start does not automatically apply to student loan debtors," the
> government's lawyers wrote.
> Filing for bankruptcy ordinarily allows debtors to wipe out what they owe
> in
> exchange for marred credit for up to 10 years. In the 1970s, Congress made
> student loans unique. To get a reprieve on education debt, federal law
> requires proof that repaying it would impose an "undue hardship."
> Lawmakers have never defined undue hardship, though, so courts have tried
> to
> work out exactly how poor Americans need to be-and for how long-in order to
> qualify for student loan forgiveness.
> The Department of Education has been successful at convincing judges to
> make
> that threshold incredibly high. A borrower now has to show that making
> payments on a loan would "strip himself of all that makes life worth
> living," according to one court. Lawyers rifle through debtors' daily
> expenses to determine whether they will be able to maintain a "minimal
> standard of living" if they are required to repay student loans. Attorneys
> arguing on behalf of the Education Department have called such things as
> retirement account contributions, fast-food dinners, cell-phone plans, and
> nutritional supplements "luxury expenses."
> The government argues that such scrutiny of a borrower's financial life is
> crucial for "protecting the solvency of the student loan program." Consumer
> advocates say the Education Department's fears are exaggerated because most
> debt that could be discharged in bankruptcy is not collectable if bankrupt
> borrowers can't pay it back.
> Murphy calculated that even if he were to find a job paying $50,000 per
> year
> and then work until he turns 77, his student debt would nonetheless balloon
> to $500,000.
> http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
> http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
>
>
>
not now, nor ever was a friend of the Working Class. Obama is not
now, nor ever was that Prince of Peace the "Winner" of the Nobel Peace
Prize.
Obama is not now, nor ever was the friend of innocent people around
the world, nor was Obama ever a proponent of free speech. In fact,
nearly everything Barak Obama campaigned on is now off his list. He
is just one more War Lord, one more Terrorist, dropping his Death
around the world, telling his lies, protecting those who are the real
killers and murderers of helpless humans. Obama would allow the
Israelis to do to Palestine what our forefathers did to those people
who lived here before us.
Personally, I would go so far as to say that Barak Obama has no
business calling himself a Black Man, as long as he allows our prisons
to be the holding pens of Blacks. At best, he is a Puppet, being
used by the Corporate Rulers. At worst he is a willing participant.
Which would entitle him to be called a Traitor.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/15/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> Kitroeff writes: "On a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred
> in a national debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the
> U.S. government launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan
> relief."
>
> President Barack Obama listens to senior Marissa Boles during a roundtable
> discussion with students currently receiving Stafford federal student loans
> at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. (photo: Chuck Kenned)
>
>
> Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief
> By Natalie Kitroeff, Bloomberg
> 15 October 15
>
> The U.S. government is becoming student borrowers' worst enemy.
>
> On a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred in a national
> debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the U.S.
> government
> launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan relief.
> On Tuesday, the Department of Education intervened in the case of Robert
> Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old who has waged a three-year legal battle
> to
> erase his student loans in bankruptcy.
> Unlike almost every single form of consumer debt, student loans can be
> erased only in very rare circumstances. Murphy's case, which is currently
> being heard in a federal court in Boston, could make things a little easier
> for certain borrowers. A win for Murphy would relieve him of $246,500 in
> debt and could loosen the standard used to determine how desperate someone
> needs to be to qualify for relief.
> The court asked the Education Department to weigh in on the matter. In a
> document submitted to the court on Tuesday, government lawyers urged the
> federal judges not to cede any ground to borrowers who say they are in dire
> financial straits. Doing so would imperil "the fiscal stability of the loan
> program" that has existed for half a century. The Department of Education
> did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
> Murphy doesn't deserve a break just because he is 65 years old, department
> lawyers wrote. Repaying his debt loan may require "that he remain employed
> at or past normal retirement age," they said, even though "his income may
> top out or decrease" and "further employment opportunities may be limited."
> "That is part of the bargain that parents strike when they take out loans
> later in their work life," the lawyers added. Murphy took out several loans
> to send his three children to college, but he lost his job at a
> manufacturing company in 2002 and has not been able to find work since.
> No student debtor should get a break on student loans unless they can show
> a
> "certainty of hopelessness," said the government's lawyers. "[A] debtor
> must
> specifically prove a total incapacity in the future to repay the debt for
> reasons not within his control," they added. The lawyers said that the
> point
> of keeping such a stringent standard is to ensure "that bankruptcy does not
> become a convenient and expedient means of extinguishing student loan
> debt."
> The Education Department is seasoned at waging this particular battle. For
> over a decade, the department, through its lawyers, has pushed the courts
> to
> adopt the harshest standards possible when considering pleas from bankrupt
> students.
> "The general purpose of the Bankruptcy Code to give honest debtors a fresh
> start does not automatically apply to student loan debtors," the
> government's lawyers wrote.
> Filing for bankruptcy ordinarily allows debtors to wipe out what they owe
> in
> exchange for marred credit for up to 10 years. In the 1970s, Congress made
> student loans unique. To get a reprieve on education debt, federal law
> requires proof that repaying it would impose an "undue hardship."
> Lawmakers have never defined undue hardship, though, so courts have tried
> to
> work out exactly how poor Americans need to be-and for how long-in order to
> qualify for student loan forgiveness.
> The Department of Education has been successful at convincing judges to
> make
> that threshold incredibly high. A borrower now has to show that making
> payments on a loan would "strip himself of all that makes life worth
> living," according to one court. Lawyers rifle through debtors' daily
> expenses to determine whether they will be able to maintain a "minimal
> standard of living" if they are required to repay student loans. Attorneys
> arguing on behalf of the Education Department have called such things as
> retirement account contributions, fast-food dinners, cell-phone plans, and
> nutritional supplements "luxury expenses."
> The government argues that such scrutiny of a borrower's financial life is
> crucial for "protecting the solvency of the student loan program." Consumer
> advocates say the Education Department's fears are exaggerated because most
> debt that could be discharged in bankruptcy is not collectable if bankrupt
> borrowers can't pay it back.
> Murphy calculated that even if he were to find a job paying $50,000 per
> year
> and then work until he turns 77, his student debt would nonetheless balloon
> to $500,000.
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
>
> President Barack Obama listens to senior Marissa Boles during a roundtable
> discussion with students currently receiving Stafford federal student loans
> at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. (photo: Chuck Kenned)
> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-14/obama-administration-hits-
> back-at-student-debtors-seeking-reliefhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles
> /2015-10-14/obama-administration-hits-back-at-student-debtors-seeking-relief
> Obama Administration Hits Back at Student Debtors Seeking Relief
> By Natalie Kitroeff, Bloomberg
> 15 October 15
> The U.S. government is becoming student borrowers' worst enemy.
> n a day when Democratic presidential candidates sparred in a national
> debate over who would do more to help indebted students, the U.S.
> government
> launched a new attack on student debtors seeking loan relief.
> On Tuesday, the Department of Education intervened in the case of Robert
> Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old who has waged a three-year legal battle
> to
> erase his student loans in bankruptcy.
> Unlike almost every single form of consumer debt, student loans can be
> erased only in very rare circumstances. Murphy's case, which is currently
> being heard in a federal court in Boston, could make things a little easier
> for certain borrowers. A win for Murphy would relieve him of $246,500 in
> debt and could loosen the standard used to determine how desperate someone
> needs to be to qualify for relief.
> The court asked the Education Department to weigh in on the matter. In a
> document submitted to the court on Tuesday, government lawyers urged the
> federal judges not to cede any ground to borrowers who say they are in dire
> financial straits. Doing so would imperil "the fiscal stability of the loan
> program" that has existed for half a century. The Department of Education
> did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
> Murphy doesn't deserve a break just because he is 65 years old, department
> lawyers wrote. Repaying his debt loan may require "that he remain employed
> at or past normal retirement age," they said, even though "his income may
> top out or decrease" and "further employment opportunities may be limited."
> "That is part of the bargain that parents strike when they take out loans
> later in their work life," the lawyers added. Murphy took out several loans
> to send his three children to college, but he lost his job at a
> manufacturing company in 2002 and has not been able to find work since.
> No student debtor should get a break on student loans unless they can show
> a
> "certainty of hopelessness," said the government's lawyers. "[A] debtor
> must
> specifically prove a total incapacity in the future to repay the debt for
> reasons not within his control," they added. The lawyers said that the
> point
> of keeping such a stringent standard is to ensure "that bankruptcy does not
> become a convenient and expedient means of extinguishing student loan
> debt."
> The Education Department is seasoned at waging this particular battle. For
> over a decade, the department, through its lawyers, has pushed the courts
> to
> adopt the harshest standards possible when considering pleas from bankrupt
> students.
> "The general purpose of the Bankruptcy Code to give honest debtors a fresh
> start does not automatically apply to student loan debtors," the
> government's lawyers wrote.
> Filing for bankruptcy ordinarily allows debtors to wipe out what they owe
> in
> exchange for marred credit for up to 10 years. In the 1970s, Congress made
> student loans unique. To get a reprieve on education debt, federal law
> requires proof that repaying it would impose an "undue hardship."
> Lawmakers have never defined undue hardship, though, so courts have tried
> to
> work out exactly how poor Americans need to be-and for how long-in order to
> qualify for student loan forgiveness.
> The Department of Education has been successful at convincing judges to
> make
> that threshold incredibly high. A borrower now has to show that making
> payments on a loan would "strip himself of all that makes life worth
> living," according to one court. Lawyers rifle through debtors' daily
> expenses to determine whether they will be able to maintain a "minimal
> standard of living" if they are required to repay student loans. Attorneys
> arguing on behalf of the Education Department have called such things as
> retirement account contributions, fast-food dinners, cell-phone plans, and
> nutritional supplements "luxury expenses."
> The government argues that such scrutiny of a borrower's financial life is
> crucial for "protecting the solvency of the student loan program." Consumer
> advocates say the Education Department's fears are exaggerated because most
> debt that could be discharged in bankruptcy is not collectable if bankrupt
> borrowers can't pay it back.
> Murphy calculated that even if he were to find a job paying $50,000 per
> year
> and then work until he turns 77, his student debt would nonetheless balloon
> to $500,000.
> http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
> http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
>
>
>
screwed again
Every senior who reads this information, and every person hoping to
one day become a senior citizen, and every family member should send
copies of this article to every one of their US Congress members, with
a note explaining why they will be out of work next time they are up
for re-election.
Somewhere the government has lost its way. Instead of nurturing and
protecting its citizens, it is now feeding upon the poor and the
elderly.
My old boss loved to grin in my face and say, "Nice guys finish last".
Well old boss, last place is getting very crowded. One day very soon,
all those "nice guys" will rise up with a roar and rip your grinning
face off.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/15/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> Thursday, 15 October 2015 06:56
> Seniors Face Year of Increased Hardship as Social Security Benefits
> Stagnate
>
>
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> In a specious move, the federal government will deny Social Security
> recipients an adjusted increase in benefits this coming year. (Photo:
> 401(K)
> 2012)
> According to an October 15 Associated Press article, the federal government
> has decided not to increase benefits this year for Social Security
> recipients:
> The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for
> millions
> of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees.
> It's just the third time in 40 years that benefits will remain flat. All
> three times have come since 2010....
> The announcement will affect benefits for more than 70 million people -
> that's more than one-fifth of the nation's population.
> The total includes almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses
> and
> children who get Social Security benefits.
> The government asserts that it made the decision based on the recent
> decline
> in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an inflationary statistic calculated by
> the US Department of Labor. In an October 15 news release, the Labor
> Department stated:
> The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.2
> percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of
> Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items
> index was essentially unchanged before seasonal adjustment. The energy
> index
> fell 4.7 percent in September, with all major component indexes declining.
> The gasoline index continued to fall sharply and was again the main cause
> of
> the seasonally adjusted all items decrease.
> However, there is a telling qualifier here - given how significantly the
> fall in gas prices affected the calculation of the CPI:
> In contrast to the energy declines, the indexes for food and for all items
> less food and energy both accelerated in September. The food index rose 0.4
> percent, its largest increase since May 2014. The index for all items less
> food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September. The indexes for shelter,
> medical care, household furnishings and operations, and personal care all
> increased; the indexes for apparel, used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and
> airline fares were among those that declined....
> The 18.4 percent decline in the energy index over the past year offset
> increases in the indexes for food (up 1.6 percent) and all items less food
> and energy (up 1.9 percent).
> In short, given a rational assumption that seniors spend less on gas than
> younger people and a greater percentage of their income on food, medical
> care, and other expenditures such as shelter - particularly if an elderly
> person is living on a fixed income such as Social Security - they are
> confronting real inflation on most of their expenses. This means that the
> government is speciously denying older Americans in financial need an
> adjustment in Social Security that reflects their actual purchasing needs.
> The needs of seniors are proportioned differently than most Americans - and
> the bottom line is that they have experienced reduced spending power on
> those items in the last year. They deserve a CPI adjustment based on the
> inflationary pressure that they personally experience.
> Furthermore - as BuzzFlash at Truthout has repeatedly pointed out - for
> years now those persons with small savings accounts have received virtually
> no interest from their banks. For example, the Bank of America lists a
> "Rewards Money Market Savings Standard Rate" of 0.03 percent on its
> website.
> That is virtually zero in interest that a senior receives on a basic bank
> savings account. Adjusted for inflation, seniors with such savings accounts
> are actually seeing a decrease in the value of their bank savings when
> inflation is factored in. That is because inflation on food, medical care
> and rent - for example - far exceeds the pennies "earned" on thousands of
> dollars in savings.
> The decision by the federal government not to provide an increase in Social
> Security benefits this coming year will hurt those elderly most in need.
> Not to be reposted without permission of Truthout.
>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Thursday, 15 October 2015 06:56
> Seniors Face Year of Increased Hardship as Social Security Benefits
> Stagnate
>
> http://www.reddit.com/submit http://www.reddit.com/submit
> . Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
> . font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/15/stephen-colbert-democratic-debate/?utm_source
> =EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=d67f9f083b-Top_News_10_15_2015&utm_medium=email&
> utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-d67f9f083b-85955433
> http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/15/stephen-colbert-democratic-debate/?utm_source
> =EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=d67f9f083b-Top_News_10_15_2015&utm_medium=email&
> utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-d67f9f083b-85955433In a specious move, the federal
> government will deny Social Security recipients an adjusted increase in
> benefits this coming year. (Photo: 401(K) 2012)
> According to an October 15 Associated Press article, the federal government
> has decided not to increase benefits this year for Social Security
> recipients:
> The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for
> millions
> of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees.
> It's just the third time in 40 years that benefits will remain flat. All
> three times have come since 2010....
> The announcement will affect benefits for more than 70 million people -
> that's more than one-fifth of the nation's population.
> The total includes almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses
> and
> children who get Social Security benefits.
> The government asserts that it made the decision based on the recent
> decline
> in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an inflationary statistic calculated by
> the US Department of Labor. In an October 15 news release, the Labor
> Department stated:
> The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.2
> percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of
> Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items
> index was essentially unchanged before seasonal adjustment. The energy
> index
> fell 4.7 percent in September, with all major component indexes declining.
> The gasoline index continued to fall sharply and was again the main cause
> of
> the seasonally adjusted all items decrease.
> However, there is a telling qualifier here - given how significantly the
> fall in gas prices affected the calculation of the CPI:
> In contrast to the energy declines, the indexes for food and for all items
> less food and energy both accelerated in September. The food index rose 0.4
> percent, its largest increase since May 2014. The index for all items less
> food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September. The indexes for shelter,
> medical care, household furnishings and operations, and personal care all
> increased; the indexes for apparel, used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and
> airline fares were among those that declined....
> The 18.4 percent decline in the energy index over the past year offset
> increases in the indexes for food (up 1.6 percent) and all items less food
> and energy (up 1.9 percent).
> In short, given a rational assumption that seniors spend less on gas than
> younger people and a greater percentage of their income on food, medical
> care, and other expenditures such as shelter - particularly if an elderly
> person is living on a fixed income such as Social Security - they are
> confronting real inflation on most of their expenses. This means that the
> government is speciously denying older Americans in financial need an
> adjustment in Social Security that reflects their actual purchasing needs.
> The needs of seniors are proportioned differently than most Americans - and
> the bottom line is that they have experienced reduced spending power on
> those items in the last year. They deserve a CPI adjustment based on the
> inflationary pressure that they personally experience.
> Furthermore - as BuzzFlash at Truthout has repeatedly pointed out - for
> years now those persons with small savings accounts have received virtually
> no interest from their banks. For example, the Bank of America lists a
> "Rewards Money Market Savings Standard Rate" of 0.03 percent on its
> website.
> That is virtually zero in interest that a senior receives on a basic bank
> savings account. Adjusted for inflation, seniors with such savings accounts
> are actually seeing a decrease in the value of their bank savings when
> inflation is factored in. That is because inflation on food, medical care
> and rent - for example - far exceeds the pennies "earned" on thousands of
> dollars in savings.
> The decision by the federal government not to provide an increase in Social
> Security benefits this coming year will hurt those elderly most in need.
> Not to be reposted without permission of Truthout.
> javascript:return addthis_sendto('email'); javascript:return
> addthis_sendto('email');
>
>
>
one day become a senior citizen, and every family member should send
copies of this article to every one of their US Congress members, with
a note explaining why they will be out of work next time they are up
for re-election.
Somewhere the government has lost its way. Instead of nurturing and
protecting its citizens, it is now feeding upon the poor and the
elderly.
My old boss loved to grin in my face and say, "Nice guys finish last".
Well old boss, last place is getting very crowded. One day very soon,
all those "nice guys" will rise up with a roar and rip your grinning
face off.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/15/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> Thursday, 15 October 2015 06:56
> Seniors Face Year of Increased Hardship as Social Security Benefits
> Stagnate
>
>
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> In a specious move, the federal government will deny Social Security
> recipients an adjusted increase in benefits this coming year. (Photo:
> 401(K)
> 2012)
> According to an October 15 Associated Press article, the federal government
> has decided not to increase benefits this year for Social Security
> recipients:
> The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for
> millions
> of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees.
> It's just the third time in 40 years that benefits will remain flat. All
> three times have come since 2010....
> The announcement will affect benefits for more than 70 million people -
> that's more than one-fifth of the nation's population.
> The total includes almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses
> and
> children who get Social Security benefits.
> The government asserts that it made the decision based on the recent
> decline
> in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an inflationary statistic calculated by
> the US Department of Labor. In an October 15 news release, the Labor
> Department stated:
> The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.2
> percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of
> Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items
> index was essentially unchanged before seasonal adjustment. The energy
> index
> fell 4.7 percent in September, with all major component indexes declining.
> The gasoline index continued to fall sharply and was again the main cause
> of
> the seasonally adjusted all items decrease.
> However, there is a telling qualifier here - given how significantly the
> fall in gas prices affected the calculation of the CPI:
> In contrast to the energy declines, the indexes for food and for all items
> less food and energy both accelerated in September. The food index rose 0.4
> percent, its largest increase since May 2014. The index for all items less
> food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September. The indexes for shelter,
> medical care, household furnishings and operations, and personal care all
> increased; the indexes for apparel, used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and
> airline fares were among those that declined....
> The 18.4 percent decline in the energy index over the past year offset
> increases in the indexes for food (up 1.6 percent) and all items less food
> and energy (up 1.9 percent).
> In short, given a rational assumption that seniors spend less on gas than
> younger people and a greater percentage of their income on food, medical
> care, and other expenditures such as shelter - particularly if an elderly
> person is living on a fixed income such as Social Security - they are
> confronting real inflation on most of their expenses. This means that the
> government is speciously denying older Americans in financial need an
> adjustment in Social Security that reflects their actual purchasing needs.
> The needs of seniors are proportioned differently than most Americans - and
> the bottom line is that they have experienced reduced spending power on
> those items in the last year. They deserve a CPI adjustment based on the
> inflationary pressure that they personally experience.
> Furthermore - as BuzzFlash at Truthout has repeatedly pointed out - for
> years now those persons with small savings accounts have received virtually
> no interest from their banks. For example, the Bank of America lists a
> "Rewards Money Market Savings Standard Rate" of 0.03 percent on its
> website.
> That is virtually zero in interest that a senior receives on a basic bank
> savings account. Adjusted for inflation, seniors with such savings accounts
> are actually seeing a decrease in the value of their bank savings when
> inflation is factored in. That is because inflation on food, medical care
> and rent - for example - far exceeds the pennies "earned" on thousands of
> dollars in savings.
> The decision by the federal government not to provide an increase in Social
> Security benefits this coming year will hurt those elderly most in need.
> Not to be reposted without permission of Truthout.
>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Thursday, 15 October 2015 06:56
> Seniors Face Year of Increased Hardship as Social Security Benefits
> Stagnate
>
> http://www.reddit.com/submit http://www.reddit.com/submit
> . Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
> . font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/15/stephen-colbert-democratic-debate/?utm_source
> =EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=d67f9f083b-Top_News_10_15_2015&utm_medium=email&
> utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-d67f9f083b-85955433
> http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/15/stephen-colbert-democratic-debate/?utm_source
> =EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=d67f9f083b-Top_News_10_15_2015&utm_medium=email&
> utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-d67f9f083b-85955433In a specious move, the federal
> government will deny Social Security recipients an adjusted increase in
> benefits this coming year. (Photo: 401(K) 2012)
> According to an October 15 Associated Press article, the federal government
> has decided not to increase benefits this year for Social Security
> recipients:
> The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for
> millions
> of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees.
> It's just the third time in 40 years that benefits will remain flat. All
> three times have come since 2010....
> The announcement will affect benefits for more than 70 million people -
> that's more than one-fifth of the nation's population.
> The total includes almost 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses
> and
> children who get Social Security benefits.
> The government asserts that it made the decision based on the recent
> decline
> in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an inflationary statistic calculated by
> the US Department of Labor. In an October 15 news release, the Labor
> Department stated:
> The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.2
> percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of
> Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items
> index was essentially unchanged before seasonal adjustment. The energy
> index
> fell 4.7 percent in September, with all major component indexes declining.
> The gasoline index continued to fall sharply and was again the main cause
> of
> the seasonally adjusted all items decrease.
> However, there is a telling qualifier here - given how significantly the
> fall in gas prices affected the calculation of the CPI:
> In contrast to the energy declines, the indexes for food and for all items
> less food and energy both accelerated in September. The food index rose 0.4
> percent, its largest increase since May 2014. The index for all items less
> food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September. The indexes for shelter,
> medical care, household furnishings and operations, and personal care all
> increased; the indexes for apparel, used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and
> airline fares were among those that declined....
> The 18.4 percent decline in the energy index over the past year offset
> increases in the indexes for food (up 1.6 percent) and all items less food
> and energy (up 1.9 percent).
> In short, given a rational assumption that seniors spend less on gas than
> younger people and a greater percentage of their income on food, medical
> care, and other expenditures such as shelter - particularly if an elderly
> person is living on a fixed income such as Social Security - they are
> confronting real inflation on most of their expenses. This means that the
> government is speciously denying older Americans in financial need an
> adjustment in Social Security that reflects their actual purchasing needs.
> The needs of seniors are proportioned differently than most Americans - and
> the bottom line is that they have experienced reduced spending power on
> those items in the last year. They deserve a CPI adjustment based on the
> inflationary pressure that they personally experience.
> Furthermore - as BuzzFlash at Truthout has repeatedly pointed out - for
> years now those persons with small savings accounts have received virtually
> no interest from their banks. For example, the Bank of America lists a
> "Rewards Money Market Savings Standard Rate" of 0.03 percent on its
> website.
> That is virtually zero in interest that a senior receives on a basic bank
> savings account. Adjusted for inflation, seniors with such savings accounts
> are actually seeing a decrease in the value of their bank savings when
> inflation is factored in. That is because inflation on food, medical care
> and rent - for example - far exceeds the pennies "earned" on thousands of
> dollars in savings.
> The decision by the federal government not to provide an increase in Social
> Security benefits this coming year will hurt those elderly most in need.
> Not to be reposted without permission of Truthout.
> javascript:return addthis_sendto('email'); javascript:return
> addthis_sendto('email');
>
>
>
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Re: [blind-democracy] Look! Someone else beside me noticed!
Back in 1962, I headed off to the Great World's Fair in Seattle.
Among the interesting sights were a flock of pigeons busily pecking at
different colored lights on a panel. From time to time a grain of
feed would roll out a slot, to be grabbed by the successful bird.
These pigeons had been conditioned to peck out some rather complex
patterns in order to receive their reward.
We all know of Pavlov's dogs, responding to the bell, but we seem to
be in total darkness when it comes to the conditioning that makes us
behave the way we do.
With the advent of Radio, and then the addition of pictures, we began
to be conditioned to entertainment that was packed into shorter and
shorter time frames. Today's half hour program might actually have 20
minutes of program, and ten minutes of commercials and station breaks.
We have been conditioned to demand our information in small snippets.
We are becoming more intolerant of wordy speeches, demanding to be
entertained. Our news is brought to us by pretty, giggling and
chuckling talking heads. Our thinking has been thought out for us and
packaged in short bites sprinkled with lots of advertising and
opinions of those controlling our conditioning. Mass entertainment
has already enslaved many millions of people. Presented properly,
folks will accept anything.
The so called Debates are a great example of the extent we've become
conditioned.
First, I had mentioned the Hollywood extravaganza presentation,
sprinkled with what the announcer called, "short breaks". These were
commercial spots that were more than short.
But I did overlook the fact that these debates are being presented to
us over commercial channels, paid for by corporate dollars. We are
reduced to the roll of an audience being entertained. We have no more
to do with these debates than we do when attending our favorite
sporting event. In other words, we are not involved.
As I've preached before, we have been taken captive by our
Corporate/Military Masters. A bloodless coup. We are just the same
as the pigeons. Flash the pretty pictures on the screen and we will
behave in very predictable patterns.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/14/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> Wednesday, 14 October 2015 06:46
> Privatizing Democracy: You Had to Pay to Watch Last Night's Debate on CNN
> on
> TV
>
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> Airing presidential debates only on pay-TV is another step toward
> privatizing democracy. (Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay)
> CNN aired the first Democratic debate last night, October 13. It also aired
> two Republican debates (a "main event" and an "undercard" debate) on
> September 16. On August 6, FOX held the first Republican debates (also
> televised in separate lower and upper tier candidate - based on polls -
> segments).
> CNN bragged on its CNN Money site that "23 million [viewers] watched [the]
> GOP debate, a record for CNN." Adweek reported that 24 million viewers
> watched the first FOX GOP "main event" debate. As CNN Money stated in its
> article,
> Historically the most popular events on TV have been shown by broadcast
> networks, not cable channels like CNN. According to Nielsen data,
> Wednesday's debate ranked as the #10 cable program ever, behind 8 college
> football games on ESPN and the Fox debate last month.
> The Democratic debate viewership totals were not in at the time of the
> writing of this commentary, but an October 14 CNN Money article has already
> predicted that "preliminary Nielsen ratings indicate that CNN's Tuesday
> night debate was the highest-rated Democratic debate ever."*
> So the CNN and Fox cable news channels have enhanced their branding,
> audience and potential advertising and campaign advertising revenue by
> burnishing their images as "go-to" television political outlets - with the
> full cooperation of both major political parties who negotiated details of
> the debates with the two stations.
> Overlooked by the corporate media, however, is that there was a profound
> loser in the airing of the first political debates of the duopoly political
> brands in the United States: democracy. By offering the debates on
> television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included
> CNN
> and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates
> for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.
> Yes, as the The Motley Fool website estimates there are an approximately
> robust 95 million pay-TV subscribers (although cable TV subscription is
> falling, as The Motley Fool article details, due to competition from the
> internet and other new technologies). However, the disturbing irony remains
> of offering presidential debates that can only be viewed on television by
> those who have paid for access to the channels.
> Given the tremendous impact of television on molding perceptions in the
> United States, this amounts to a capturing of a very large political space
> of discourse and spectacle by for-profit entities. These companies limit TV
> viewing of the debates to those who have paid for access in their cable
> subscription packages.
> It is a dangerous precedent that diminishes a vigorous democracy to require
> a payment for watching presidential debates. In many ways, the cable
> stations are promoting their "star" news personalities as much as offering
> a
> forum that is billed as an exchange of policies and ideas. Forget for the
> moment that analysis of the debate descends into an analysis of
> performance,
> "gotcha moments," superficial interaction and personal style - not to
> mention the vital role calculated sound bites play in post-debate coverage.
> Yes, modern presidential debates are spectacles and often are more
> superficial entertainment than an in-depth exchange of policy viewpoints.
> In
> the long-term debates should be restructured to emphasize substance over
> performance. Nonetheless, in an age when television remains our primary
> national influencer of political perceptions in a presidential race
> (although the internet is making increasing inroads into that terrain),
> debates should be televised for free and be accessible in the public
> domain.
> Despite CNN's bollixed offer of streaming the debate live on the internet
> (which many people couldn't obtain for a variety of reasons, including
> buffering problems), to watch it on an actual television you had to ante
> up.
> Furthermore, toward the end of the debate, CNN even aired advertisements on
> television.
> Why shouldn't a presidential debate be conducted in a neutral setting (not
> the tacky Wynn Casino, which received a windfall of publicity) with
> questioners who are experts in their fields? Why shouldn't there be a pool
> camera that makes the debate available to any station that wishes to air
> it?
> No one should have to pay to become engaged in democracy.
> *The Los Angeles Times reported later Wednesday that more than 15 million
> people had watched the event on CNN on television, a record for a
> Democratic
> debate.
> Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Wednesday, 14 October 2015 06:46
> Privatizing Democracy: You Had to Pay to Watch Last Night's Debate on CNN
> on
> TV
> http://www.reddit.com/submit http://www.reddit.com/submit
> . Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
> . font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> Airing presidential debates only on pay-TV is another step toward
> privatizing democracy. (Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay)
> CNN aired the first Democratic debate last night, October 13. It also aired
> two Republican debates (a "main event" and an "undercard" debate) on
> September 16. On August 6, FOX held the first Republican debates (also
> televised in separate lower and upper tier candidate - based on polls -
> segments).
> CNN bragged on its CNN Money site that "23 million [viewers] watched [the]
> GOP debate, a record for CNN." Adweek reported that 24 million viewers
> watched the first FOX GOP "main event" debate. As CNN Money stated in its
> article,
> Historically the most popular events on TV have been shown by broadcast
> networks, not cable channels like CNN. According to Nielsen data,
> Wednesday's debate ranked as the #10 cable program ever, behind 8 college
> football games on ESPN and the Fox debate last month.
> The Democratic debate viewership totals were not in at the time of the
> writing of this commentary, but an October 14 CNN Money article has already
> predicted that "preliminary Nielsen ratings indicate that CNN's Tuesday
> night debate was the highest-rated Democratic debate ever."*
> So the CNN and Fox cable news channels have enhanced their branding,
> audience and potential advertising and campaign advertising revenue by
> burnishing their images as "go-to" television political outlets - with the
> full cooperation of both major political parties who negotiated details of
> the debates with the two stations.
> Overlooked by the corporate media, however, is that there was a profound
> loser in the airing of the first political debates of the duopoly political
> brands in the United States: democracy. By offering the debates on
> television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included
> CNN
> and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates
> for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.
> Yes, as the The Motley Fool website estimates there are an approximately
> robust 95 million pay-TV subscribers (although cable TV subscription is
> falling, as The Motley Fool article details, due to competition from the
> internet and other new technologies). However, the disturbing irony remains
> of offering presidential debates that can only be viewed on television by
> those who have paid for access to the channels.
> Given the tremendous impact of television on molding perceptions in the
> United States, this amounts to a capturing of a very large political space
> of discourse and spectacle by for-profit entities. These companies limit TV
> viewing of the debates to those who have paid for access in their cable
> subscription packages.
> It is a dangerous precedent that diminishes a vigorous democracy to require
> a payment for watching presidential debates. In many ways, the cable
> stations are promoting their "star" news personalities as much as offering
> a
> forum that is billed as an exchange of policies and ideas. Forget for the
> moment that analysis of the debate descends into an analysis of
> performance,
> "gotcha moments," superficial interaction and personal style - not to
> mention the vital role calculated sound bites play in post-debate coverage.
> Yes, modern presidential debates are spectacles and often are more
> superficial entertainment than an in-depth exchange of policy viewpoints.
> In
> the long-term debates should be restructured to emphasize substance over
> performance. Nonetheless, in an age when television remains our primary
> national influencer of political perceptions in a presidential race
> (although the internet is making increasing inroads into that terrain),
> debates should be televised for free and be accessible in the public
> domain.
> Despite CNN's bollixed offer of streaming the debate live on the internet
> (which many people couldn't obtain for a variety of reasons, including
> buffering problems), to watch it on an actual television you had to ante
> up.
> Furthermore, toward the end of the debate, CNN even aired advertisements on
> television.
> Why shouldn't a presidential debate be conducted in a neutral setting (not
> the tacky Wynn Casino, which received a windfall of publicity) with
> questioners who are experts in their fields? Why shouldn't there be a pool
> camera that makes the debate available to any station that wishes to air
> it?
> No one should have to pay to become engaged in democracy.
> *The Los Angeles Times reported later Wednesday that more than 15 million
> people had watched the event on CNN on television, a record for a
> Democratic
> debate.
> Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
>
>
>
Among the interesting sights were a flock of pigeons busily pecking at
different colored lights on a panel. From time to time a grain of
feed would roll out a slot, to be grabbed by the successful bird.
These pigeons had been conditioned to peck out some rather complex
patterns in order to receive their reward.
We all know of Pavlov's dogs, responding to the bell, but we seem to
be in total darkness when it comes to the conditioning that makes us
behave the way we do.
With the advent of Radio, and then the addition of pictures, we began
to be conditioned to entertainment that was packed into shorter and
shorter time frames. Today's half hour program might actually have 20
minutes of program, and ten minutes of commercials and station breaks.
We have been conditioned to demand our information in small snippets.
We are becoming more intolerant of wordy speeches, demanding to be
entertained. Our news is brought to us by pretty, giggling and
chuckling talking heads. Our thinking has been thought out for us and
packaged in short bites sprinkled with lots of advertising and
opinions of those controlling our conditioning. Mass entertainment
has already enslaved many millions of people. Presented properly,
folks will accept anything.
The so called Debates are a great example of the extent we've become
conditioned.
First, I had mentioned the Hollywood extravaganza presentation,
sprinkled with what the announcer called, "short breaks". These were
commercial spots that were more than short.
But I did overlook the fact that these debates are being presented to
us over commercial channels, paid for by corporate dollars. We are
reduced to the roll of an audience being entertained. We have no more
to do with these debates than we do when attending our favorite
sporting event. In other words, we are not involved.
As I've preached before, we have been taken captive by our
Corporate/Military Masters. A bloodless coup. We are just the same
as the pigeons. Flash the pretty pictures on the screen and we will
behave in very predictable patterns.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/14/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> Wednesday, 14 October 2015 06:46
> Privatizing Democracy: You Had to Pay to Watch Last Night's Debate on CNN
> on
> TV
>
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> Airing presidential debates only on pay-TV is another step toward
> privatizing democracy. (Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay)
> CNN aired the first Democratic debate last night, October 13. It also aired
> two Republican debates (a "main event" and an "undercard" debate) on
> September 16. On August 6, FOX held the first Republican debates (also
> televised in separate lower and upper tier candidate - based on polls -
> segments).
> CNN bragged on its CNN Money site that "23 million [viewers] watched [the]
> GOP debate, a record for CNN." Adweek reported that 24 million viewers
> watched the first FOX GOP "main event" debate. As CNN Money stated in its
> article,
> Historically the most popular events on TV have been shown by broadcast
> networks, not cable channels like CNN. According to Nielsen data,
> Wednesday's debate ranked as the #10 cable program ever, behind 8 college
> football games on ESPN and the Fox debate last month.
> The Democratic debate viewership totals were not in at the time of the
> writing of this commentary, but an October 14 CNN Money article has already
> predicted that "preliminary Nielsen ratings indicate that CNN's Tuesday
> night debate was the highest-rated Democratic debate ever."*
> So the CNN and Fox cable news channels have enhanced their branding,
> audience and potential advertising and campaign advertising revenue by
> burnishing their images as "go-to" television political outlets - with the
> full cooperation of both major political parties who negotiated details of
> the debates with the two stations.
> Overlooked by the corporate media, however, is that there was a profound
> loser in the airing of the first political debates of the duopoly political
> brands in the United States: democracy. By offering the debates on
> television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included
> CNN
> and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates
> for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.
> Yes, as the The Motley Fool website estimates there are an approximately
> robust 95 million pay-TV subscribers (although cable TV subscription is
> falling, as The Motley Fool article details, due to competition from the
> internet and other new technologies). However, the disturbing irony remains
> of offering presidential debates that can only be viewed on television by
> those who have paid for access to the channels.
> Given the tremendous impact of television on molding perceptions in the
> United States, this amounts to a capturing of a very large political space
> of discourse and spectacle by for-profit entities. These companies limit TV
> viewing of the debates to those who have paid for access in their cable
> subscription packages.
> It is a dangerous precedent that diminishes a vigorous democracy to require
> a payment for watching presidential debates. In many ways, the cable
> stations are promoting their "star" news personalities as much as offering
> a
> forum that is billed as an exchange of policies and ideas. Forget for the
> moment that analysis of the debate descends into an analysis of
> performance,
> "gotcha moments," superficial interaction and personal style - not to
> mention the vital role calculated sound bites play in post-debate coverage.
> Yes, modern presidential debates are spectacles and often are more
> superficial entertainment than an in-depth exchange of policy viewpoints.
> In
> the long-term debates should be restructured to emphasize substance over
> performance. Nonetheless, in an age when television remains our primary
> national influencer of political perceptions in a presidential race
> (although the internet is making increasing inroads into that terrain),
> debates should be televised for free and be accessible in the public
> domain.
> Despite CNN's bollixed offer of streaming the debate live on the internet
> (which many people couldn't obtain for a variety of reasons, including
> buffering problems), to watch it on an actual television you had to ante
> up.
> Furthermore, toward the end of the debate, CNN even aired advertisements on
> television.
> Why shouldn't a presidential debate be conducted in a neutral setting (not
> the tacky Wynn Casino, which received a windfall of publicity) with
> questioners who are experts in their fields? Why shouldn't there be a pool
> camera that makes the debate available to any station that wishes to air
> it?
> No one should have to pay to become engaged in democracy.
> *The Los Angeles Times reported later Wednesday that more than 15 million
> people had watched the event on CNN on television, a record for a
> Democratic
> debate.
> Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
>
> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> Wednesday, 14 October 2015 06:46
> Privatizing Democracy: You Had to Pay to Watch Last Night's Debate on CNN
> on
> TV
> http://www.reddit.com/submit http://www.reddit.com/submit
> . Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not
> valid.
> . font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
> reference not valid.
> MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
> Airing presidential debates only on pay-TV is another step toward
> privatizing democracy. (Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay)
> CNN aired the first Democratic debate last night, October 13. It also aired
> two Republican debates (a "main event" and an "undercard" debate) on
> September 16. On August 6, FOX held the first Republican debates (also
> televised in separate lower and upper tier candidate - based on polls -
> segments).
> CNN bragged on its CNN Money site that "23 million [viewers] watched [the]
> GOP debate, a record for CNN." Adweek reported that 24 million viewers
> watched the first FOX GOP "main event" debate. As CNN Money stated in its
> article,
> Historically the most popular events on TV have been shown by broadcast
> networks, not cable channels like CNN. According to Nielsen data,
> Wednesday's debate ranked as the #10 cable program ever, behind 8 college
> football games on ESPN and the Fox debate last month.
> The Democratic debate viewership totals were not in at the time of the
> writing of this commentary, but an October 14 CNN Money article has already
> predicted that "preliminary Nielsen ratings indicate that CNN's Tuesday
> night debate was the highest-rated Democratic debate ever."*
> So the CNN and Fox cable news channels have enhanced their branding,
> audience and potential advertising and campaign advertising revenue by
> burnishing their images as "go-to" television political outlets - with the
> full cooperation of both major political parties who negotiated details of
> the debates with the two stations.
> Overlooked by the corporate media, however, is that there was a profound
> loser in the airing of the first political debates of the duopoly political
> brands in the United States: democracy. By offering the debates on
> television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included
> CNN
> and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates
> for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.
> Yes, as the The Motley Fool website estimates there are an approximately
> robust 95 million pay-TV subscribers (although cable TV subscription is
> falling, as The Motley Fool article details, due to competition from the
> internet and other new technologies). However, the disturbing irony remains
> of offering presidential debates that can only be viewed on television by
> those who have paid for access to the channels.
> Given the tremendous impact of television on molding perceptions in the
> United States, this amounts to a capturing of a very large political space
> of discourse and spectacle by for-profit entities. These companies limit TV
> viewing of the debates to those who have paid for access in their cable
> subscription packages.
> It is a dangerous precedent that diminishes a vigorous democracy to require
> a payment for watching presidential debates. In many ways, the cable
> stations are promoting their "star" news personalities as much as offering
> a
> forum that is billed as an exchange of policies and ideas. Forget for the
> moment that analysis of the debate descends into an analysis of
> performance,
> "gotcha moments," superficial interaction and personal style - not to
> mention the vital role calculated sound bites play in post-debate coverage.
> Yes, modern presidential debates are spectacles and often are more
> superficial entertainment than an in-depth exchange of policy viewpoints.
> In
> the long-term debates should be restructured to emphasize substance over
> performance. Nonetheless, in an age when television remains our primary
> national influencer of political perceptions in a presidential race
> (although the internet is making increasing inroads into that terrain),
> debates should be televised for free and be accessible in the public
> domain.
> Despite CNN's bollixed offer of streaming the debate live on the internet
> (which many people couldn't obtain for a variety of reasons, including
> buffering problems), to watch it on an actual television you had to ante
> up.
> Furthermore, toward the end of the debate, CNN even aired advertisements on
> television.
> Why shouldn't a presidential debate be conducted in a neutral setting (not
> the tacky Wynn Casino, which received a windfall of publicity) with
> questioners who are experts in their fields? Why shouldn't there be a pool
> camera that makes the debate available to any station that wishes to air
> it?
> No one should have to pay to become engaged in democracy.
> *The Los Angeles Times reported later Wednesday that more than 15 million
> people had watched the event on CNN on television, a record for a
> Democratic
> debate.
> Not to be reposted without the permission of Truthout.
>
>
>
Monday, October 12, 2015
Re: [blind-democracy] (no subject)
Middle Class America lives in a sanitized world. A self imposed, rose
colored glasses, Land of Oz.
So far removed from the real world, the so called American Middle
Class will not allow themselves to think about a world described in
this article. Even Jesus Christ wanders about our churches dressed in
neat, cleanly laundered garments, with a neatly trimmed beard and
quaffed hair. Even his color has been sanitized. So, how can we
begin a process of cleaning up the dirt and slime in our ghettos and
slums, if we pretend they do not exist?
Too bad our memories are so short. How many great empires fell
because they ignored the needs of the masses? When there are more
people on the outside, the walls begin to crumble.
From the days of Jericho, when Joshua brought down the walls that
protected those who had believed they led charmed lives, all down
through history. Even the great wall of china could not protect the
people from the growing masses of outsiders.
Our Ghettos and Slums are filled to overflowing with "outsiders".
This is where the change will occur, not among we Progressive thinking
Middle Class White folk. While we are busy clucking our tongues and
trying to figure out how to clean up our messes, the mess will rise up
and take over.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/12/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> 'A Pipeline Straight to Jail'
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> Posted on Oct 11, 2015
> By Chris Hedges
>
> Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a
> student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in
> Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the
> university's Mountainview Program. (Michael Nigro)
> The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern
> New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known
> intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the
> American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the
> government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted
> communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life
> of
> suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of
> dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs
> overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after
> innocent life.
> I spent four years as a graduate student at Harvard University. Privilege,
> and especially white privilege, I discovered, is the primary prerequisite
> for attending an Ivy League university. I have also spent several years
> teaching in prisons. In class after class in prison, there is a core of
> students who could excel at Harvard. This is not hyperbolic, as the defeat
> of the Harvard debate team illustrates. But poverty condemned my students
> before they ever entered school. And as poverty expands, inflicting on
> communities and families a host of maladies including crime, addiction,
> rage, despair and hopelessness, the few remaining institutions that might
> intervene to lift the poor up are gutted or closed. Even when students in
> inner-city schools are not the targets of racial insults, racism worms into
> their lives because the institutions that should help them are nonexistent
> or deeply dysfunctional.
> I stood outside a prison gate in Newark, N.J., at 7 a.m. last April 24. I
> waited for the release of one of my students, Boris Franklin, who had spent
> 11 years incarcerated. I had ridden to the gate with his mother, who spent
> her time reading Bible verses out loud in the car, and his sister. We
> watched him walk down the road toward us. He was wearing the baggy gray
> sweatpants, oversize white T-shirt and white Reeboks that prisoners
> purchase
> before their release. Franklin had laid out $50 for his new clothes. A
> prisoner in New Jersey earns $28 a month working in prison.
> Franklin, with the broad shoulders and muscular chest and arms that come
> with years of lifting weights, clutched a manila envelope containing his
> medical records, instructions for parole, his birth certificate, his Social
> Security card and an ID issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, his
> official form of identification. All his prison possessions, including his
> collection of roughly 100 books, had to be left behind.
> The first words he spoke to me as a free man after more than a decade in
> prison were "I have to rebuild my library."
> "You don't know what to think or feel at that moment," he said to me
> recently about the moment of his release. "You are just walking. It is
> almost surreal. You can't believe it. After such a traumatic experience you
> are numb. There is no sense of triumph."
> When Franklin was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey
> Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP).
> Now, at 42, he is attending Rutgers under the university's Mountainview
> Program for ex-offenders. He is seeking a degree in social work and plans
> to
> assist the formerly incarcerated. This is an unusual and rare opportunity
> for a freed prisoner.
> Franklin, like many others I have taught, should never have ended up in
> prison. His brilliance, his hunger to learn and his passion for ideas, if
> nurtured, would have led him to a very different life. But when you are
> poor
> in America, everything conspires to make sure you remain poor. The
> invisible
> walls of our internal colonies, keeping the poor penned in like livestock,
> mirror the physical walls of prison that many in these communities are
> doomed to experience.
> "I started school in Piscataway, N.J.," he said. "It was predominantly
> white. There was a lot of space. It was clean. There was order. People
> walked down the halls in lines. I had been prepared in Head Start."
> When he was in the second grade, his family moved. He started attending an
> inner-city school in New Brunswick. The two schools, he said, "were night
> and day." The classrooms in New Brunswick were shabby, dirty and
> overcrowded. Many of the children were "loud and disruptive."
> "In Piscataway we were taught how to learn, how to read and scan texts for
> information," he said. "New Brunswick was a zoo. It was mostly black and
> Hispanic. There were fights all the time. I doubt the teachers were even
> qualified. It was not an environment where you could teach anything. Kids
> would come to school and slam things down or turn stuff over. They were
> angry. I remember seeing a girl in my class, a victim of child abuse, with
> welts all over her. She later became a drug addict. Your fight-or-flight
> mechanism as a child is activated even before you walk out of the house.
> Your blood pressure goes up. There are drugs and alcohol all around you.
> You
> see fights on the way to school. You see dope addicts slumped over. You see
> police jump on someone and beat 'em up. You run into gangs of kids."
> "I knew kids who dropped out of school because it was dangerous to be in
> school," he went on. "If you had a fight they would find out what school
> you
> went to and they would be there to retaliate when you got out. We used to
> take bats and knives to school and put them by the door when we came out in
> case there was a confrontation. I got my first weapons charge at 14 for a
> handgun. You are not in a state to learn anything. Of course criminals have
> low brain arousal. They have been desensitized since childhood. This is how
> you deal with constant danger. You go numb. And you become a danger to
> others and yourself."
> "The students in my third-grade class were tracing out letters," he said.
> "They were trying to learn how to write. I was writing in cursive. I could
> multiply and divide. They did not know how to add and subtract. The two
> schools were only 20 minutes apart. But in New Brunswick you were not
> taught
> how to think. You were taught rote behavior, to obey. I was told to sit in
> the back of the class, be quiet and wait for the other students to catch
> up.
> But they never caught up."
> "There was usually drugs in the homes," he said. "I had friends whose homes
> were raided when they were children. Most of the parents were getting high,
> including my father. I did not know any child who did not have a drug
> addict
> in the home. And if a person was not a drug addict he or she was often
> suffering from some form of mental illness. It seemed everyone was dealing
> with something. Those who were left with their grandparents were in the
> best
> situation. Kids would say they were living with their grandmother. They
> would never mention their mother or father. I never saw the fathers of most
> of my friends. They had disappeared or were in jail."
> "I remember when my friend Carl Anderson's father came home from jail," he
> said. "We were in the seventh grade. We were sitting in the classroom.
> Somebody said, 'Carl, that's your father outside.' We all turned around.
> Carl was my best friend. I had never seen his father. He looked like
> [boxer]
> Marvin Hagler. He had a leather jacket, a bald head and a goatee. Carl was
> excited because his dad was home. That same year we were walking home from
> school and this lady who was getting high ran up to him and said, 'Little
> Carl, they just locked your father up. He cut somebody's throat down in the
> projects.' You could see everything drain out of his face. He shut
> everything down. How do you learn to deal with that? You learn not to care.
> We were using a lot of misplaced aggression. That night we were probably
> fighting somebody. I could feel his pain. You want to get it out? We will
> get it out. That's how you dealt with it. That's how everybody dealt with
> it. Take it out on somebody else. When I would get hit in the house I would
> come outside and the first person lookin' at me I would say, 'What you
> lookin' at?' I would jump them or chase them or something. My mother told
> my
> father, 'You can't hit him anymore. You are making him violent.' "
> "There is a stigma that comes with being poor," he said. "If you are poor
> you are bad. You are worthless. You are ridiculed. You are picked on.
> Markets are built on this. This is how you can sell a kid from the inner
> city a pair of $200 sneakers. He is buying his identity. He is buying his
> self-esteem. And that's why poor people hustle. That's why I started
> hustling [drugs], to buy things. The gratification is immediate. You wear
> that stuff and it is like you are magically not poor anymore. It is a
> trigger to go back to selling drugs. I remember when I was struggling. I
> had
> grits one night for dinner because that was all that was in the cabinet. I
> panicked. By the next day I decided I would do something criminal to change
> my situation."
> "What's the best that can happen to you, even if you don't go to jail?" he
> asked. "Check out bags at Wal-Mart? A warehouse job? That's as far as you
> can go in this world if you are poor. The only education the poor are given
> is one where they get to a place where they learn enough to take orders.
> They are taught to remember what is said. They are taught to repeat the
> instructions. There is no thinking involved. We are not taught to think. We
> are educated just enough to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder."
> "No one in prison wanted to admit they were poor," he said. "A friend of
> mine in prison told all these big-drug-dealer stories. He has been in and
> out of jail for 20 years. But one day we were walking on the basketball
> court. He got honest. He told me he had been sleepin' in his car. Sometimes
> motel rooms. Basically homeless. No education. No connections. The only
> people he knows are inmates. He does not know anyone in the working world
> who can help him put in an application and say a word for him. When he got
> out he went to the guys he knew from jail still in the streets. That was
> his
> network. That's most people's network. 'Can you get me some dope? What's
> the
> price? Who's moving it?' That's your economy. That's the one you go back
> to.
> That's how you survive. His brother is doing 30 years. His nephew is doing
> 16 years."
> "One of my four children went to school in New Brunswick," Franklin said.
> "And he is in jail. The other three, who did not go to school in New
> Brunswick, have college degrees or are in college. You go to schools like
> the one I went to and you enter a pipeline straight to jail. When I walked
> into the mess hall in prison it looked like my old school lunchroom,
> including the fights. When I walked into the yard in prison, it looked like
> my old playground, including the fights. When I was in the projects it
> looked like prison. When guys get to prison the scenery is familiar. If you
> grow up poor, then prison is not a culture shock. You have been conditioned
> your whole life for prison."
> His family moved again when he was a child. He entered Franklin High School
> in Somerset, N.J., but his years in a dysfunctional school meant he was now
> woefully unprepared, struggling and behind. "Students in Franklin High
> School had continued in the pace I had started in," he said.
> He had become acculturated to poverty. He would not go to college. He
> would,
> as so many of his peers did, end up in prison. And it was in prison that
> he,
> like many others, found refuge in books and the world of ideas.
> "You have a lot of intellectuals in prison," he said. "There are people who
> think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People
> read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see
> libraries in some cells. You hear people say, 'I got to get my library up.'
> You would go from one cell with a library to another. It was like a cult.
> When you first loan a book to someone in prison you loan a tester. You do
> not loan a valuable book. If the person who borrows the book reads it and
> talks about it, then they get another book. But if they leave the book
> sitting on their shelf, if it doesn't get read, they never get another
> book."
> "There are a lot of guys in prison who read everything," he continued.
> "When
> I saw that those prisoners won the debate with the Harvard team I was not
> surprised. I took classes where there were prisoners who had read
> everything
> the professor had read. I was intimidated to take classes with certain
> guys.
> They read constantly. They retained all the information. And they could
> relate it to whatever we were talking about. On the outside they never had
> a
> chance."
> "Look at the faces of the young kids, when they first start out," he said.
> "They have wide, bright eyes. Then look at the pictures of the faces of
> people in prison. Their eyes are low, slanted, shifty, beaten. They are
> worn
> out. How you do you get from that child to that man? Look at the community.
> Look at the schools. Look at what is done to the poor."
> The photo of Boris Franklin at the top of this article is a still from the
> documentary movie "Can Our Families Come," now in production. The film,
> directed by Michael Nigro, is about the U.S. prison system and the mounting
> of the play "Caged," written at a New Jersey maximum-security penitentiary
> by 28 prisoners under their teacher, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges. Nigro
> is a New York City filmmaker, journalist and activist, and his website is
> at
> partiallysubmerged.com.
>
>
>
> http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
> 'A Pipeline Straight to Jail'
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> Posted on Oct 11, 2015
> By Chris Hedges
>
> Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a
> student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in
> Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the
> university's Mountainview Program. (Michael Nigro)
> The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern
> New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known
> intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the
> American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the
> government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted
> communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life
> of
> suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of
> dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs
> overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after
> innocent life.
> I spent four years as a graduate student at Harvard University. Privilege,
> and especially white privilege, I discovered, is the primary prerequisite
> for attending an Ivy League university. I have also spent several years
> teaching in prisons. In class after class in prison, there is a core of
> students who could excel at Harvard. This is not hyperbolic, as the defeat
> of the Harvard debate team illustrates. But poverty condemned my students
> before they ever entered school. And as poverty expands, inflicting on
> communities and families a host of maladies including crime, addiction,
> rage, despair and hopelessness, the few remaining institutions that might
> intervene to lift the poor up are gutted or closed. Even when students in
> inner-city schools are not the targets of racial insults, racism worms into
> their lives because the institutions that should help them are nonexistent
> or deeply dysfunctional.
> I stood outside a prison gate in Newark, N.J., at 7 a.m. last April 24. I
> waited for the release of one of my students, Boris Franklin, who had spent
> 11 years incarcerated. I had ridden to the gate with his mother, who spent
> her time reading Bible verses out loud in the car, and his sister. We
> watched him walk down the road toward us. He was wearing the baggy gray
> sweatpants, oversize white T-shirt and white Reeboks that prisoners
> purchase
> before their release. Franklin had laid out $50 for his new clothes. A
> prisoner in New Jersey earns $28 a month working in prison.
> Franklin, with the broad shoulders and muscular chest and arms that come
> with years of lifting weights, clutched a manila envelope containing his
> medical records, instructions for parole, his birth certificate, his Social
> Security card and an ID issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, his
> official form of identification. All his prison possessions, including his
> collection of roughly 100 books, had to be left behind.
> The first words he spoke to me as a free man after more than a decade in
> prison were "I have to rebuild my library."
> "You don't know what to think or feel at that moment," he said to me
> recently about the moment of his release. "You are just walking. It is
> almost surreal. You can't believe it. After such a traumatic experience you
> are numb. There is no sense of triumph."
> When Franklin was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey
> Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP).
> Now, at 42, he is attending Rutgers under the university's Mountainview
> Program for ex-offenders. He is seeking a degree in social work and plans
> to
> assist the formerly incarcerated. This is an unusual and rare opportunity
> for a freed prisoner.
> Franklin, like many others I have taught, should never have ended up in
> prison. His brilliance, his hunger to learn and his passion for ideas, if
> nurtured, would have led him to a very different life. But when you are
> poor
> in America, everything conspires to make sure you remain poor. The
> invisible
> walls of our internal colonies, keeping the poor penned in like livestock,
> mirror the physical walls of prison that many in these communities are
> doomed to experience.
> "I started school in Piscataway, N.J.," he said. "It was predominantly
> white. There was a lot of space. It was clean. There was order. People
> walked down the halls in lines. I had been prepared in Head Start."
> When he was in the second grade, his family moved. He started attending an
> inner-city school in New Brunswick. The two schools, he said, "were night
> and day." The classrooms in New Brunswick were shabby, dirty and
> overcrowded. Many of the children were "loud and disruptive."
> "In Piscataway we were taught how to learn, how to read and scan texts for
> information," he said. "New Brunswick was a zoo. It was mostly black and
> Hispanic. There were fights all the time. I doubt the teachers were even
> qualified. It was not an environment where you could teach anything. Kids
> would come to school and slam things down or turn stuff over. They were
> angry. I remember seeing a girl in my class, a victim of child abuse, with
> welts all over her. She later became a drug addict. Your fight-or-flight
> mechanism as a child is activated even before you walk out of the house.
> Your blood pressure goes up. There are drugs and alcohol all around you.
> You
> see fights on the way to school. You see dope addicts slumped over. You see
> police jump on someone and beat 'em up. You run into gangs of kids."
> "I knew kids who dropped out of school because it was dangerous to be in
> school," he went on. "If you had a fight they would find out what school
> you
> went to and they would be there to retaliate when you got out. We used to
> take bats and knives to school and put them by the door when we came out in
> case there was a confrontation. I got my first weapons charge at 14 for a
> handgun. You are not in a state to learn anything. Of course criminals have
> low brain arousal. They have been desensitized since childhood. This is how
> you deal with constant danger. You go numb. And you become a danger to
> others and yourself."
> "The students in my third-grade class were tracing out letters," he said.
> "They were trying to learn how to write. I was writing in cursive. I could
> multiply and divide. They did not know how to add and subtract. The two
> schools were only 20 minutes apart. But in New Brunswick you were not
> taught
> how to think. You were taught rote behavior, to obey. I was told to sit in
> the back of the class, be quiet and wait for the other students to catch
> up.
> But they never caught up."
> "There was usually drugs in the homes," he said. "I had friends whose homes
> were raided when they were children. Most of the parents were getting high,
> including my father. I did not know any child who did not have a drug
> addict
> in the home. And if a person was not a drug addict he or she was often
> suffering from some form of mental illness. It seemed everyone was dealing
> with something. Those who were left with their grandparents were in the
> best
> situation. Kids would say they were living with their grandmother. They
> would never mention their mother or father. I never saw the fathers of most
> of my friends. They had disappeared or were in jail."
> "I remember when my friend Carl Anderson's father came home from jail," he
> said. "We were in the seventh grade. We were sitting in the classroom.
> Somebody said, 'Carl, that's your father outside.' We all turned around.
> Carl was my best friend. I had never seen his father. He looked like
> [boxer]
> Marvin Hagler. He had a leather jacket, a bald head and a goatee. Carl was
> excited because his dad was home. That same year we were walking home from
> school and this lady who was getting high ran up to him and said, 'Little
> Carl, they just locked your father up. He cut somebody's throat down in the
> projects.' You could see everything drain out of his face. He shut
> everything down. How do you learn to deal with that? You learn not to care.
> We were using a lot of misplaced aggression. That night we were probably
> fighting somebody. I could feel his pain. You want to get it out? We will
> get it out. That's how you dealt with it. That's how everybody dealt with
> it. Take it out on somebody else. When I would get hit in the house I would
> come outside and the first person lookin' at me I would say, 'What you
> lookin' at?' I would jump them or chase them or something. My mother told
> my
> father, 'You can't hit him anymore. You are making him violent.' "
> "There is a stigma that comes with being poor," he said. "If you are poor
> you are bad. You are worthless. You are ridiculed. You are picked on.
> Markets are built on this. This is how you can sell a kid from the inner
> city a pair of $200 sneakers. He is buying his identity. He is buying his
> self-esteem. And that's why poor people hustle. That's why I started
> hustling [drugs], to buy things. The gratification is immediate. You wear
> that stuff and it is like you are magically not poor anymore. It is a
> trigger to go back to selling drugs. I remember when I was struggling. I
> had
> grits one night for dinner because that was all that was in the cabinet. I
> panicked. By the next day I decided I would do something criminal to change
> my situation."
> "What's the best that can happen to you, even if you don't go to jail?" he
> asked. "Check out bags at Wal-Mart? A warehouse job? That's as far as you
> can go in this world if you are poor. The only education the poor are given
> is one where they get to a place where they learn enough to take orders.
> They are taught to remember what is said. They are taught to repeat the
> instructions. There is no thinking involved. We are not taught to think. We
> are educated just enough to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder."
> "No one in prison wanted to admit they were poor," he said. "A friend of
> mine in prison told all these big-drug-dealer stories. He has been in and
> out of jail for 20 years. But one day we were walking on the basketball
> court. He got honest. He told me he had been sleepin' in his car. Sometimes
> motel rooms. Basically homeless. No education. No connections. The only
> people he knows are inmates. He does not know anyone in the working world
> who can help him put in an application and say a word for him. When he got
> out he went to the guys he knew from jail still in the streets. That was
> his
> network. That's most people's network. 'Can you get me some dope? What's
> the
> price? Who's moving it?' That's your economy. That's the one you go back
> to.
> That's how you survive. His brother is doing 30 years. His nephew is doing
> 16 years."
> "One of my four children went to school in New Brunswick," Franklin said.
> "And he is in jail. The other three, who did not go to school in New
> Brunswick, have college degrees or are in college. You go to schools like
> the one I went to and you enter a pipeline straight to jail. When I walked
> into the mess hall in prison it looked like my old school lunchroom,
> including the fights. When I walked into the yard in prison, it looked like
> my old playground, including the fights. When I was in the projects it
> looked like prison. When guys get to prison the scenery is familiar. If you
> grow up poor, then prison is not a culture shock. You have been conditioned
> your whole life for prison."
> His family moved again when he was a child. He entered Franklin High School
> in Somerset, N.J., but his years in a dysfunctional school meant he was now
> woefully unprepared, struggling and behind. "Students in Franklin High
> School had continued in the pace I had started in," he said.
> He had become acculturated to poverty. He would not go to college. He
> would,
> as so many of his peers did, end up in prison. And it was in prison that
> he,
> like many others, found refuge in books and the world of ideas.
> "You have a lot of intellectuals in prison," he said. "There are people who
> think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People
> read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see
> libraries in some cells. You hear people say, 'I got to get my library up.'
> You would go from one cell with a library to another. It was like a cult.
> When you first loan a book to someone in prison you loan a tester. You do
> not loan a valuable book. If the person who borrows the book reads it and
> talks about it, then they get another book. But if they leave the book
> sitting on their shelf, if it doesn't get read, they never get another
> book."
> "There are a lot of guys in prison who read everything," he continued.
> "When
> I saw that those prisoners won the debate with the Harvard team I was not
> surprised. I took classes where there were prisoners who had read
> everything
> the professor had read. I was intimidated to take classes with certain
> guys.
> They read constantly. They retained all the information. And they could
> relate it to whatever we were talking about. On the outside they never had
> a
> chance."
> "Look at the faces of the young kids, when they first start out," he said.
> "They have wide, bright eyes. Then look at the pictures of the faces of
> people in prison. Their eyes are low, slanted, shifty, beaten. They are
> worn
> out. How you do you get from that child to that man? Look at the community.
> Look at the schools. Look at what is done to the poor."
> The photo of Boris Franklin at the top of this article is a still from the
> documentary movie "Can Our Families Come," now in production. The film,
> directed by Michael Nigro, is about the U.S. prison system and the mounting
> of the play "Caged," written at a New Jersey maximum-security penitentiary
> by 28 prisoners under their teacher, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges. Nigro
> is a New York City filmmaker, journalist and activist, and his website is
> at
> partiallysubmerged.com.
> http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/video_john_oliver_urges_us_wake_up_big_
> oil_destroying_north_dakota_20151012/
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> _you_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
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colored glasses, Land of Oz.
So far removed from the real world, the so called American Middle
Class will not allow themselves to think about a world described in
this article. Even Jesus Christ wanders about our churches dressed in
neat, cleanly laundered garments, with a neatly trimmed beard and
quaffed hair. Even his color has been sanitized. So, how can we
begin a process of cleaning up the dirt and slime in our ghettos and
slums, if we pretend they do not exist?
Too bad our memories are so short. How many great empires fell
because they ignored the needs of the masses? When there are more
people on the outside, the walls begin to crumble.
From the days of Jericho, when Joshua brought down the walls that
protected those who had believed they led charmed lives, all down
through history. Even the great wall of china could not protect the
people from the growing masses of outsiders.
Our Ghettos and Slums are filled to overflowing with "outsiders".
This is where the change will occur, not among we Progressive thinking
Middle Class White folk. While we are busy clucking our tongues and
trying to figure out how to clean up our messes, the mess will rise up
and take over.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/12/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> 'A Pipeline Straight to Jail'
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> Posted on Oct 11, 2015
> By Chris Hedges
>
> Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a
> student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in
> Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the
> university's Mountainview Program. (Michael Nigro)
> The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern
> New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known
> intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the
> American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the
> government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted
> communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life
> of
> suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of
> dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs
> overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after
> innocent life.
> I spent four years as a graduate student at Harvard University. Privilege,
> and especially white privilege, I discovered, is the primary prerequisite
> for attending an Ivy League university. I have also spent several years
> teaching in prisons. In class after class in prison, there is a core of
> students who could excel at Harvard. This is not hyperbolic, as the defeat
> of the Harvard debate team illustrates. But poverty condemned my students
> before they ever entered school. And as poverty expands, inflicting on
> communities and families a host of maladies including crime, addiction,
> rage, despair and hopelessness, the few remaining institutions that might
> intervene to lift the poor up are gutted or closed. Even when students in
> inner-city schools are not the targets of racial insults, racism worms into
> their lives because the institutions that should help them are nonexistent
> or deeply dysfunctional.
> I stood outside a prison gate in Newark, N.J., at 7 a.m. last April 24. I
> waited for the release of one of my students, Boris Franklin, who had spent
> 11 years incarcerated. I had ridden to the gate with his mother, who spent
> her time reading Bible verses out loud in the car, and his sister. We
> watched him walk down the road toward us. He was wearing the baggy gray
> sweatpants, oversize white T-shirt and white Reeboks that prisoners
> purchase
> before their release. Franklin had laid out $50 for his new clothes. A
> prisoner in New Jersey earns $28 a month working in prison.
> Franklin, with the broad shoulders and muscular chest and arms that come
> with years of lifting weights, clutched a manila envelope containing his
> medical records, instructions for parole, his birth certificate, his Social
> Security card and an ID issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, his
> official form of identification. All his prison possessions, including his
> collection of roughly 100 books, had to be left behind.
> The first words he spoke to me as a free man after more than a decade in
> prison were "I have to rebuild my library."
> "You don't know what to think or feel at that moment," he said to me
> recently about the moment of his release. "You are just walking. It is
> almost surreal. You can't believe it. After such a traumatic experience you
> are numb. There is no sense of triumph."
> When Franklin was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey
> Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP).
> Now, at 42, he is attending Rutgers under the university's Mountainview
> Program for ex-offenders. He is seeking a degree in social work and plans
> to
> assist the formerly incarcerated. This is an unusual and rare opportunity
> for a freed prisoner.
> Franklin, like many others I have taught, should never have ended up in
> prison. His brilliance, his hunger to learn and his passion for ideas, if
> nurtured, would have led him to a very different life. But when you are
> poor
> in America, everything conspires to make sure you remain poor. The
> invisible
> walls of our internal colonies, keeping the poor penned in like livestock,
> mirror the physical walls of prison that many in these communities are
> doomed to experience.
> "I started school in Piscataway, N.J.," he said. "It was predominantly
> white. There was a lot of space. It was clean. There was order. People
> walked down the halls in lines. I had been prepared in Head Start."
> When he was in the second grade, his family moved. He started attending an
> inner-city school in New Brunswick. The two schools, he said, "were night
> and day." The classrooms in New Brunswick were shabby, dirty and
> overcrowded. Many of the children were "loud and disruptive."
> "In Piscataway we were taught how to learn, how to read and scan texts for
> information," he said. "New Brunswick was a zoo. It was mostly black and
> Hispanic. There were fights all the time. I doubt the teachers were even
> qualified. It was not an environment where you could teach anything. Kids
> would come to school and slam things down or turn stuff over. They were
> angry. I remember seeing a girl in my class, a victim of child abuse, with
> welts all over her. She later became a drug addict. Your fight-or-flight
> mechanism as a child is activated even before you walk out of the house.
> Your blood pressure goes up. There are drugs and alcohol all around you.
> You
> see fights on the way to school. You see dope addicts slumped over. You see
> police jump on someone and beat 'em up. You run into gangs of kids."
> "I knew kids who dropped out of school because it was dangerous to be in
> school," he went on. "If you had a fight they would find out what school
> you
> went to and they would be there to retaliate when you got out. We used to
> take bats and knives to school and put them by the door when we came out in
> case there was a confrontation. I got my first weapons charge at 14 for a
> handgun. You are not in a state to learn anything. Of course criminals have
> low brain arousal. They have been desensitized since childhood. This is how
> you deal with constant danger. You go numb. And you become a danger to
> others and yourself."
> "The students in my third-grade class were tracing out letters," he said.
> "They were trying to learn how to write. I was writing in cursive. I could
> multiply and divide. They did not know how to add and subtract. The two
> schools were only 20 minutes apart. But in New Brunswick you were not
> taught
> how to think. You were taught rote behavior, to obey. I was told to sit in
> the back of the class, be quiet and wait for the other students to catch
> up.
> But they never caught up."
> "There was usually drugs in the homes," he said. "I had friends whose homes
> were raided when they were children. Most of the parents were getting high,
> including my father. I did not know any child who did not have a drug
> addict
> in the home. And if a person was not a drug addict he or she was often
> suffering from some form of mental illness. It seemed everyone was dealing
> with something. Those who were left with their grandparents were in the
> best
> situation. Kids would say they were living with their grandmother. They
> would never mention their mother or father. I never saw the fathers of most
> of my friends. They had disappeared or were in jail."
> "I remember when my friend Carl Anderson's father came home from jail," he
> said. "We were in the seventh grade. We were sitting in the classroom.
> Somebody said, 'Carl, that's your father outside.' We all turned around.
> Carl was my best friend. I had never seen his father. He looked like
> [boxer]
> Marvin Hagler. He had a leather jacket, a bald head and a goatee. Carl was
> excited because his dad was home. That same year we were walking home from
> school and this lady who was getting high ran up to him and said, 'Little
> Carl, they just locked your father up. He cut somebody's throat down in the
> projects.' You could see everything drain out of his face. He shut
> everything down. How do you learn to deal with that? You learn not to care.
> We were using a lot of misplaced aggression. That night we were probably
> fighting somebody. I could feel his pain. You want to get it out? We will
> get it out. That's how you dealt with it. That's how everybody dealt with
> it. Take it out on somebody else. When I would get hit in the house I would
> come outside and the first person lookin' at me I would say, 'What you
> lookin' at?' I would jump them or chase them or something. My mother told
> my
> father, 'You can't hit him anymore. You are making him violent.' "
> "There is a stigma that comes with being poor," he said. "If you are poor
> you are bad. You are worthless. You are ridiculed. You are picked on.
> Markets are built on this. This is how you can sell a kid from the inner
> city a pair of $200 sneakers. He is buying his identity. He is buying his
> self-esteem. And that's why poor people hustle. That's why I started
> hustling [drugs], to buy things. The gratification is immediate. You wear
> that stuff and it is like you are magically not poor anymore. It is a
> trigger to go back to selling drugs. I remember when I was struggling. I
> had
> grits one night for dinner because that was all that was in the cabinet. I
> panicked. By the next day I decided I would do something criminal to change
> my situation."
> "What's the best that can happen to you, even if you don't go to jail?" he
> asked. "Check out bags at Wal-Mart? A warehouse job? That's as far as you
> can go in this world if you are poor. The only education the poor are given
> is one where they get to a place where they learn enough to take orders.
> They are taught to remember what is said. They are taught to repeat the
> instructions. There is no thinking involved. We are not taught to think. We
> are educated just enough to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder."
> "No one in prison wanted to admit they were poor," he said. "A friend of
> mine in prison told all these big-drug-dealer stories. He has been in and
> out of jail for 20 years. But one day we were walking on the basketball
> court. He got honest. He told me he had been sleepin' in his car. Sometimes
> motel rooms. Basically homeless. No education. No connections. The only
> people he knows are inmates. He does not know anyone in the working world
> who can help him put in an application and say a word for him. When he got
> out he went to the guys he knew from jail still in the streets. That was
> his
> network. That's most people's network. 'Can you get me some dope? What's
> the
> price? Who's moving it?' That's your economy. That's the one you go back
> to.
> That's how you survive. His brother is doing 30 years. His nephew is doing
> 16 years."
> "One of my four children went to school in New Brunswick," Franklin said.
> "And he is in jail. The other three, who did not go to school in New
> Brunswick, have college degrees or are in college. You go to schools like
> the one I went to and you enter a pipeline straight to jail. When I walked
> into the mess hall in prison it looked like my old school lunchroom,
> including the fights. When I walked into the yard in prison, it looked like
> my old playground, including the fights. When I was in the projects it
> looked like prison. When guys get to prison the scenery is familiar. If you
> grow up poor, then prison is not a culture shock. You have been conditioned
> your whole life for prison."
> His family moved again when he was a child. He entered Franklin High School
> in Somerset, N.J., but his years in a dysfunctional school meant he was now
> woefully unprepared, struggling and behind. "Students in Franklin High
> School had continued in the pace I had started in," he said.
> He had become acculturated to poverty. He would not go to college. He
> would,
> as so many of his peers did, end up in prison. And it was in prison that
> he,
> like many others, found refuge in books and the world of ideas.
> "You have a lot of intellectuals in prison," he said. "There are people who
> think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People
> read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see
> libraries in some cells. You hear people say, 'I got to get my library up.'
> You would go from one cell with a library to another. It was like a cult.
> When you first loan a book to someone in prison you loan a tester. You do
> not loan a valuable book. If the person who borrows the book reads it and
> talks about it, then they get another book. But if they leave the book
> sitting on their shelf, if it doesn't get read, they never get another
> book."
> "There are a lot of guys in prison who read everything," he continued.
> "When
> I saw that those prisoners won the debate with the Harvard team I was not
> surprised. I took classes where there were prisoners who had read
> everything
> the professor had read. I was intimidated to take classes with certain
> guys.
> They read constantly. They retained all the information. And they could
> relate it to whatever we were talking about. On the outside they never had
> a
> chance."
> "Look at the faces of the young kids, when they first start out," he said.
> "They have wide, bright eyes. Then look at the pictures of the faces of
> people in prison. Their eyes are low, slanted, shifty, beaten. They are
> worn
> out. How you do you get from that child to that man? Look at the community.
> Look at the schools. Look at what is done to the poor."
> The photo of Boris Franklin at the top of this article is a still from the
> documentary movie "Can Our Families Come," now in production. The film,
> directed by Michael Nigro, is about the U.S. prison system and the mounting
> of the play "Caged," written at a New Jersey maximum-security penitentiary
> by 28 prisoners under their teacher, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges. Nigro
> is a New York City filmmaker, journalist and activist, and his website is
> at
> partiallysubmerged.com.
>
>
>
> http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
> 'A Pipeline Straight to Jail'
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> Posted on Oct 11, 2015
> By Chris Hedges
>
> Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a
> student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in
> Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the
> university's Mountainview Program. (Michael Nigro)
> The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern
> New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known
> intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the
> American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the
> government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted
> communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life
> of
> suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of
> dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs
> overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after
> innocent life.
> I spent four years as a graduate student at Harvard University. Privilege,
> and especially white privilege, I discovered, is the primary prerequisite
> for attending an Ivy League university. I have also spent several years
> teaching in prisons. In class after class in prison, there is a core of
> students who could excel at Harvard. This is not hyperbolic, as the defeat
> of the Harvard debate team illustrates. But poverty condemned my students
> before they ever entered school. And as poverty expands, inflicting on
> communities and families a host of maladies including crime, addiction,
> rage, despair and hopelessness, the few remaining institutions that might
> intervene to lift the poor up are gutted or closed. Even when students in
> inner-city schools are not the targets of racial insults, racism worms into
> their lives because the institutions that should help them are nonexistent
> or deeply dysfunctional.
> I stood outside a prison gate in Newark, N.J., at 7 a.m. last April 24. I
> waited for the release of one of my students, Boris Franklin, who had spent
> 11 years incarcerated. I had ridden to the gate with his mother, who spent
> her time reading Bible verses out loud in the car, and his sister. We
> watched him walk down the road toward us. He was wearing the baggy gray
> sweatpants, oversize white T-shirt and white Reeboks that prisoners
> purchase
> before their release. Franklin had laid out $50 for his new clothes. A
> prisoner in New Jersey earns $28 a month working in prison.
> Franklin, with the broad shoulders and muscular chest and arms that come
> with years of lifting weights, clutched a manila envelope containing his
> medical records, instructions for parole, his birth certificate, his Social
> Security card and an ID issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, his
> official form of identification. All his prison possessions, including his
> collection of roughly 100 books, had to be left behind.
> The first words he spoke to me as a free man after more than a decade in
> prison were "I have to rebuild my library."
> "You don't know what to think or feel at that moment," he said to me
> recently about the moment of his release. "You are just walking. It is
> almost surreal. You can't believe it. After such a traumatic experience you
> are numb. There is no sense of triumph."
> When Franklin was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey
> Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP).
> Now, at 42, he is attending Rutgers under the university's Mountainview
> Program for ex-offenders. He is seeking a degree in social work and plans
> to
> assist the formerly incarcerated. This is an unusual and rare opportunity
> for a freed prisoner.
> Franklin, like many others I have taught, should never have ended up in
> prison. His brilliance, his hunger to learn and his passion for ideas, if
> nurtured, would have led him to a very different life. But when you are
> poor
> in America, everything conspires to make sure you remain poor. The
> invisible
> walls of our internal colonies, keeping the poor penned in like livestock,
> mirror the physical walls of prison that many in these communities are
> doomed to experience.
> "I started school in Piscataway, N.J.," he said. "It was predominantly
> white. There was a lot of space. It was clean. There was order. People
> walked down the halls in lines. I had been prepared in Head Start."
> When he was in the second grade, his family moved. He started attending an
> inner-city school in New Brunswick. The two schools, he said, "were night
> and day." The classrooms in New Brunswick were shabby, dirty and
> overcrowded. Many of the children were "loud and disruptive."
> "In Piscataway we were taught how to learn, how to read and scan texts for
> information," he said. "New Brunswick was a zoo. It was mostly black and
> Hispanic. There were fights all the time. I doubt the teachers were even
> qualified. It was not an environment where you could teach anything. Kids
> would come to school and slam things down or turn stuff over. They were
> angry. I remember seeing a girl in my class, a victim of child abuse, with
> welts all over her. She later became a drug addict. Your fight-or-flight
> mechanism as a child is activated even before you walk out of the house.
> Your blood pressure goes up. There are drugs and alcohol all around you.
> You
> see fights on the way to school. You see dope addicts slumped over. You see
> police jump on someone and beat 'em up. You run into gangs of kids."
> "I knew kids who dropped out of school because it was dangerous to be in
> school," he went on. "If you had a fight they would find out what school
> you
> went to and they would be there to retaliate when you got out. We used to
> take bats and knives to school and put them by the door when we came out in
> case there was a confrontation. I got my first weapons charge at 14 for a
> handgun. You are not in a state to learn anything. Of course criminals have
> low brain arousal. They have been desensitized since childhood. This is how
> you deal with constant danger. You go numb. And you become a danger to
> others and yourself."
> "The students in my third-grade class were tracing out letters," he said.
> "They were trying to learn how to write. I was writing in cursive. I could
> multiply and divide. They did not know how to add and subtract. The two
> schools were only 20 minutes apart. But in New Brunswick you were not
> taught
> how to think. You were taught rote behavior, to obey. I was told to sit in
> the back of the class, be quiet and wait for the other students to catch
> up.
> But they never caught up."
> "There was usually drugs in the homes," he said. "I had friends whose homes
> were raided when they were children. Most of the parents were getting high,
> including my father. I did not know any child who did not have a drug
> addict
> in the home. And if a person was not a drug addict he or she was often
> suffering from some form of mental illness. It seemed everyone was dealing
> with something. Those who were left with their grandparents were in the
> best
> situation. Kids would say they were living with their grandmother. They
> would never mention their mother or father. I never saw the fathers of most
> of my friends. They had disappeared or were in jail."
> "I remember when my friend Carl Anderson's father came home from jail," he
> said. "We were in the seventh grade. We were sitting in the classroom.
> Somebody said, 'Carl, that's your father outside.' We all turned around.
> Carl was my best friend. I had never seen his father. He looked like
> [boxer]
> Marvin Hagler. He had a leather jacket, a bald head and a goatee. Carl was
> excited because his dad was home. That same year we were walking home from
> school and this lady who was getting high ran up to him and said, 'Little
> Carl, they just locked your father up. He cut somebody's throat down in the
> projects.' You could see everything drain out of his face. He shut
> everything down. How do you learn to deal with that? You learn not to care.
> We were using a lot of misplaced aggression. That night we were probably
> fighting somebody. I could feel his pain. You want to get it out? We will
> get it out. That's how you dealt with it. That's how everybody dealt with
> it. Take it out on somebody else. When I would get hit in the house I would
> come outside and the first person lookin' at me I would say, 'What you
> lookin' at?' I would jump them or chase them or something. My mother told
> my
> father, 'You can't hit him anymore. You are making him violent.' "
> "There is a stigma that comes with being poor," he said. "If you are poor
> you are bad. You are worthless. You are ridiculed. You are picked on.
> Markets are built on this. This is how you can sell a kid from the inner
> city a pair of $200 sneakers. He is buying his identity. He is buying his
> self-esteem. And that's why poor people hustle. That's why I started
> hustling [drugs], to buy things. The gratification is immediate. You wear
> that stuff and it is like you are magically not poor anymore. It is a
> trigger to go back to selling drugs. I remember when I was struggling. I
> had
> grits one night for dinner because that was all that was in the cabinet. I
> panicked. By the next day I decided I would do something criminal to change
> my situation."
> "What's the best that can happen to you, even if you don't go to jail?" he
> asked. "Check out bags at Wal-Mart? A warehouse job? That's as far as you
> can go in this world if you are poor. The only education the poor are given
> is one where they get to a place where they learn enough to take orders.
> They are taught to remember what is said. They are taught to repeat the
> instructions. There is no thinking involved. We are not taught to think. We
> are educated just enough to occupy the lowest rung on the social ladder."
> "No one in prison wanted to admit they were poor," he said. "A friend of
> mine in prison told all these big-drug-dealer stories. He has been in and
> out of jail for 20 years. But one day we were walking on the basketball
> court. He got honest. He told me he had been sleepin' in his car. Sometimes
> motel rooms. Basically homeless. No education. No connections. The only
> people he knows are inmates. He does not know anyone in the working world
> who can help him put in an application and say a word for him. When he got
> out he went to the guys he knew from jail still in the streets. That was
> his
> network. That's most people's network. 'Can you get me some dope? What's
> the
> price? Who's moving it?' That's your economy. That's the one you go back
> to.
> That's how you survive. His brother is doing 30 years. His nephew is doing
> 16 years."
> "One of my four children went to school in New Brunswick," Franklin said.
> "And he is in jail. The other three, who did not go to school in New
> Brunswick, have college degrees or are in college. You go to schools like
> the one I went to and you enter a pipeline straight to jail. When I walked
> into the mess hall in prison it looked like my old school lunchroom,
> including the fights. When I walked into the yard in prison, it looked like
> my old playground, including the fights. When I was in the projects it
> looked like prison. When guys get to prison the scenery is familiar. If you
> grow up poor, then prison is not a culture shock. You have been conditioned
> your whole life for prison."
> His family moved again when he was a child. He entered Franklin High School
> in Somerset, N.J., but his years in a dysfunctional school meant he was now
> woefully unprepared, struggling and behind. "Students in Franklin High
> School had continued in the pace I had started in," he said.
> He had become acculturated to poverty. He would not go to college. He
> would,
> as so many of his peers did, end up in prison. And it was in prison that
> he,
> like many others, found refuge in books and the world of ideas.
> "You have a lot of intellectuals in prison," he said. "There are people who
> think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People
> read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see
> libraries in some cells. You hear people say, 'I got to get my library up.'
> You would go from one cell with a library to another. It was like a cult.
> When you first loan a book to someone in prison you loan a tester. You do
> not loan a valuable book. If the person who borrows the book reads it and
> talks about it, then they get another book. But if they leave the book
> sitting on their shelf, if it doesn't get read, they never get another
> book."
> "There are a lot of guys in prison who read everything," he continued.
> "When
> I saw that those prisoners won the debate with the Harvard team I was not
> surprised. I took classes where there were prisoners who had read
> everything
> the professor had read. I was intimidated to take classes with certain
> guys.
> They read constantly. They retained all the information. And they could
> relate it to whatever we were talking about. On the outside they never had
> a
> chance."
> "Look at the faces of the young kids, when they first start out," he said.
> "They have wide, bright eyes. Then look at the pictures of the faces of
> people in prison. Their eyes are low, slanted, shifty, beaten. They are
> worn
> out. How you do you get from that child to that man? Look at the community.
> Look at the schools. Look at what is done to the poor."
> The photo of Boris Franklin at the top of this article is a still from the
> documentary movie "Can Our Families Come," now in production. The film,
> directed by Michael Nigro, is about the U.S. prison system and the mounting
> of the play "Caged," written at a New Jersey maximum-security penitentiary
> by 28 prisoners under their teacher, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges. Nigro
> is a New York City filmmaker, journalist and activist, and his website is
> at
> partiallysubmerged.com.
> http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/video_john_oliver_urges_us_wake_up_big_
> oil_destroying_north_dakota_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/video_john_oliver_urges_us_wake_up_big_
> oil_destroying_north_dakota_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/video_john_oliver_urges_us_wake_up_big_
> oil_destroying_north_dakota_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/does_obama_have_a_syria_strategy_putin_d
> oes_video_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/does_obama_have_a_syria_strategy_putin_d
> oes_video_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/does_obama_have_a_syria_strategy_putin_d
> oes_video_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/your_smart_home_knows_way_too_much_about
> _you_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/your_smart_home_knows_way_too_much_about
> _you_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/your_smart_home_knows_way_too_much_about
> _you_20151012/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
> http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_pipeline_straight_to_jail_20151011/
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