Mother Jones article: how every part of American life became a police matter

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/american-society-police-state-criminalization-militarization?page=2

UN Climate Change Reports

Today, the New York Times posted an article discussing a leaked UN Climate Change report that hasn't been released yet. And basically it says that, if nations don't take action in the next 15 years to mitigate climate change, there will be irreversible damage, and extremely expensive actions will need to be taken to avoid further ecological and economic damage. I shared the article on Facebook and Twitter, but I believe it is very important, so I will share it here as well: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/science/earth/un-says-lag-in-confronting-climate-woes-will-be-costly.html?hp

The World and Human Society and My Life

I just wrote this. Pages says it has 926 words. I have not proofread, edited, or revised it. I don’t suffer, but many do. There are other people on this planet who don’t have the things they need, and that’s a serious problem. My mission is to fix that - that is my overall goal. Some would say that I should ignore the problem, and just go about my life in pursuit of my own personal gain. They say that the system will work if just given a chance. I say that’s not true because of laws and regulations, and because of the actions of criminals and multinational corporations that don’t care about anything other than profits. I also say that to leave poverty unattended also sows the seeds for extremism and terrorism, which affects me. I have to care, because I don’t want to be killed. Another reason I have to care is because if my goal is to have a lot of money, then my goal should also be a prosperous, sustainable world economy. That way I can make investments that will be hugely successful. So the starting point here is the fact that, all over the world, there are people who do not have enough food to eat. And they don’t own land, so they can’t grow their own food. And they never went to school, and they can’t get a job that pays for the things they need. So we have all these human beings all over the world who can’t get what they need. That’s a problem. Let’s step back and think about farmers for a second. What if we stripped the world economy down until every single person was a farmer, spending all day growing food for themselves to eat. Maybe have some extra food to sell. That would all be fine from a basic human survival perspective, assuming that there was enough land, equipment and water, and assuming that the farmers never get sick. Because the minute someone gets sick, it’s possible that a world-class 21-st century hospital is the only thing that can save them. So it’s impossible to even contemplate that most basic kind of society, because healthcare is arguably the most advanced thing that human beings do. We haven’t come close to mastering it. Let’s zoom back to today, and contemplate a person living in a city. This person has zero education, because there is no school. This person does not own land, so either they have some money to buy food, or food is given to them, or they go hungry. Or food is withheld from them, but we’ll ignore that criminal scenario. This person is also at risk because let’s assume that this person is homeless and doesn’t have anywhere to shower. Maybe they can get access to water, but we don’t know if we can trust the water because there are garment factories and electronics factories putting whatever they want into the rivers. And the garment factory owners have a big, powerful association because they represent most of this country’s economy and the politicians don’t want to sacrifice jobs in the name of safety. So now we’re getting to some of the big-picture topics. We’re getting to democracy versus dictatorship. We’re getting to the rule of law, and pollution, corruption, broken markets... So now we get to me. What do I want to do with my life? Well, I can become a lawyer and then fight for the underdog. Or for a powerful, multinational corporation. Or I can become a politician and still fight for the underdog or the tycoon. I can become a businessman and either do good or do harm. So the question is: what do I do? Which degrees do I get? And since college is expensive, should I just go ahead and take the most lucrative job I possibly can so that myself and my children and my grandchildren can all have access to good, healthy food, clean water, new clothes, a comfortable house, great schools, a college education, and high-quality healthcare for life? This also gets to the safety net. If every person is provided with a free college education, would that solve everything? What if a person does not want to go to college, even when it’s free? What if they’re not a good student? I think we can all agree that providing free college to every student in the world is a good idea for each person and for the whole economy. Providing free college to every student in the United States is good for each person and for the whole economy. Or have the government provide loans to every student at a rate of exactly 2%. I think that would be a no-brainer. So in that sense, I want to be a politician to enact common-sense reform such as this. And such as implementing higher fossil fuel taxes and a cap-and-trade system. That would protect the environment and give the wind and solar industries an opportunity to take over. But then there’s the problem of defective solar panels. And then we can ask: is climate change really so bad, as long as we give help to the people who are flooded out of their homes, whose homes are destroyed by storms, and whose crops are devastated by heat waves, droughts, and floods? And what can I, as one person, do about it, short of persuading a legislature to change the way the system works, or creating the world’s largest business that operates in every industry and makes the whole world a better place. My challenge stands.

Wall Street

This is the status that Robert Reich just posted on his Facebook page: Wall Street's six largest banks are far bigger than they were in 2008 when they were deemed "too big to fail," now accounting for more than half of the assets of the entire financial industry. Their combined profits rose $70 billion over the last year, a 30% increase over the year before. Yet much of the Dodd-Frank law that's supposed to prevent another "too big to fail" bailout is still on the drawing boards because the banks are delaying and watering it down. Last week Treasury Secretary Jack Lew threatened stricter measures if they won't allow Dodd-Frank to be fully implemented, but it sounded like empty bluster to me. The banks are also too big to nail (the Attorney General admits he doesn't have the resources to prosecute them); too big to jail executives or traders (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission won't even go after a JPMorgan executive who allegedly lied about rigging energy prices); too big to derail their market manipulations (not only energy prices but aluminum, copper, and other commodities, according to yesterday's Times); and too big to curtail their trading on inside information (as they buy warehouses, pipelines, and ports they also gain inside information about firms and industries that no other investors have). What should be done? (1) Senators Warren and McCain have just introduced a new version of the Glass-Steagall Act, to separate investment from commercial banking. We all need to get behind it. (2) The Fed is becoming more serious about capping the size of the biggest banks, a measure long overdue. Fed member Daniel Tarullo is pushing this. (3) In addition, a small tax (say, 1/10 of 1%) should be imposed on all financial transactions to both slow speculation and raise funds that could be used for, say, our schools (human capital is more important than financial capital). But will reform really occur before we face another Wall Street disaster?

My Political Platform

If I run for office, this will be my platform: • Increase solar production by 200% per year. • Increase wind production. • Get rid of all loopholes and subsidies for fossil fuels. Impose taxes on fossil fuels. • Raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. • Lower student loan interest rates so that the federal government is not making a profit off of students. • Increase education spending. • Zero gerrymandering. • All political spending must be 100% transparent. • Impose a tax on financial transactions (even if it’s 0.01%). • 60 mpg for cars.

Criticism of Republicans

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=549199785095802&set=a.297095436972906.93385.174319502583834&type=1&theater Quote from Pulitzer and Tony award-winning playwright Doug Wright: "I wish my moderate Republican friends would simply be honest. They all say they're voting for Romney because of his economic policies (tenuous and ill-formed as they are), and that they disagree with him on gay rights. Fine. Then look me in the eye, speak with a level clear voice, and say, "My taxes and take-home pay mean more than your fundamental civil rights, the sanctity of your marriage, your right to visit an ailing spouse in the hospital, your dignity as a citizen of this country, your healthcare, your right to inherit, the mental welfare and emotional well-being of your youth, and your very personhood."" There's a bit more to the quote, but it's the best I've seen so far.

Inspiration

What is inspiration? Is it an automobile rolling off the production line? Is it an empty stage? An empty field? Is inspiration an aircraft lifting off the ground? Is it walking across the stage and shaking the dean's hand? Or is inspiration something that comes from within? Maybe inspiration is the team that designed that automobile. The actors who live and breathe the stage. It's the athletes who play their game on the pristine field. Inspiration is a soldier coming home. It's the feeling of completing something amazing. Inspiration is lift. Poise. Grace. Freedom. Inspiration.