Since President Obama’s reelection Tuesday night, Republicans’ reflections on their embarrassing loss, ironically, have been a reflection of the exact reasons why they lost. In the aftermath, the $400,000,000 question is this: Who lost the election? Conservamoderate Mitt Romney or the Party itself?
First, I feel compelled to disabuse the premise. Barack Obama won the Presidential election.… [Read more]
Right this moment there are 1,500 Palestinian prisoners participating in a hunger strike to petition Israel’s apartheid government for fair trials; meanwhile in a wide network of suburban homes, corporate coffee shops, and lunch-break cubicles, a swarm of slightly-overweight opinioneers is debating, defeating, and prefiguring the validity of whatever we could call the democratic, anti-capitalist awakening which is taking hold of this country.… [Read more]
Yesterday’s May Day protests ended with a bang, or, at least 50 sets of handcuffs. While many of the demonstrations around the world in support of workers’ rights were peaceful, tensions spilled over — as they often do when right meets…well, the opposition. We offer this tip.… [Read more]
On Wednesday, April 25th, the youth and students of America are taking action and sending a message to big banks and Wall Street: they need to stop destroying our climate and bankrupting our future. It is a nationwide day of action against both crippling student loan debt and Bank of America, the number one financier of the coal industry AND the number one fore closer on American homes.… [Read more]
Now I for one thought the connections between Invisible Children and Fundamentalist Christianity became quite apparent when co-founder Jason Russell went on a naked rampage. This, if nothing else, served to underscore the trite and, frankly masturbatory nature of slacktivism: the decentralized, interconnected, 21st century’s stand-in for real brick-and-mortar (or rather megaphone-and-placard) activism. Strikes, demonstrations, and happenings, however, have not so much been replaced by web-friendly alternatives as supplemented by them.… [Read more]
Quickly overshadowed by the meteoric rise and fall of the Invisible Children and its masturbatory answers to white guilt, the Russian presidential election was covered sparsely by Western media and quickly swept under the blogosphere’s shag rug. Myopic, as this election will majorly affect global politics for the next six years, but we had seen this coming: everyone knew who the winner would be and the US-EU conglomerate’s response, a lukewarm ‘we’d appreciate an “independent and credible” investigation, but we’ll work with you anyway if that’s too much trouble’ [1] came as no surprise.… [Read more]
This week marked another week of progress…and regress. A very young man, Trayvon Martin, died a month ago and the man who shot him is still walking around quite free. Regression.
Many of us are watching to see what happens, especially since it is quite clear that law enforcement didn’t do its job; will there be justice or… just us?… [Read more]
Work: it’s what we do to eat. It’s where we meet most of the people we know when we first move to a new place. It’s where we spend most of our hours awake, and sometimes sleep there when we’re tired and nod off behind the computer. We are the one country that people from other nations think that, “lives to work.”
What happened to that? … [Read more]
This coverage of the just-completed Left Forum will endeavor to describe a moment in time when a passionately humanistic group of people achieves critical mass in both weight of numbers and ideas.
The Left Forum is a 2 ½ day event that took place from March 16-18 at Pace University in New York City. Attendees, who hailed from all over the world, could select from more than 400 sessions involving more than 1400 speakers.… [Read more]
When Mitt Romney said, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich; they’re doing just fine,” I was outraged. Many other people were outraged too – poor and rich alike. There is quite obviously a gaping tear in the “safety net.”
When the politicians and talking heads began blaming President Obama for starting a “class war,” I was incensed.… [Read more]
This week ended with the passing of an icon, music legend Whitney Houston. At 48 years of age, the amazingly talented Ms. Houston leaves behind a legacy filled with publicly documented personal ups and downs — but history books won’t soon forget the impact she had on the music industry and song stylists everywhere; she touched the hearts of millions of people around the world and her voice will live on forever.… [Read more]
The papers were saying that the Park Police, after crying wolf for months, were finally going to evict Occupy DC. Then I saw the headline that 11 people were arrested while resisting. I’d been meaning to pay McPherson Square another visit, but suddenly I felt a new sense of urgency. I didn’t want to wait until it was too late.… [Read more]
No discussion about economic inequality would be complete without an uneducated, unemployed outlier’s two cents, would it?
I’m down with the Occupy movement, its message and its method. I’ve stopped by McPherson Square, taken in the sites and smells, chatted with some Occupiers, and had a cool time. The place had a warm, inviting vibe that got me thinking about pitching a tent so that I wouldn’t have to pay rent or attention to personal hygiene ever again.… [Read more]
The last two episodes of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” that I saw really got to me. Both started with rapes – one particularly violent and disturbing because it took place in a mental hospital.
Maybe I’ve lost my spine because, lately, I’m having trouble looking at such things — and that means I can’t tolerate a lot of television these days.… [Read more]
So, what’s the news today? Let me check. Hmm…OK, here’s an evolving story: The New York City Police Department raided the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park. Based on the comments I’m reading, I get the impression that some people are surprised. Really? Why? Didn’t they see something like this happening after it was announced weeks ago that Zuccotti Park needed a clean up? … [Read more]
Tracy Chapman said/sang it best:
“Poor people gonna rise up, and get their share…
Poor people gonna rise up, and take what’s theirs.”
.
I can’t think of a song that is more appropriate to express the frustration felt by the 99%!
_________
Talking ‘Bout A Revolution, single from the album called Tracy Chapman, released in 1988.… [Read more]
While preparing my morning coffee and instant oatmeal, I overheard a conversation between three twenty-something colleagues of mine. They were discussing Occupy Wall Street outside a conference room that just happened to be named Wall Street. The takeaways from this three-way chat were as follows:
The media often portrays the Occupy Wall Street movement as one with no coherent message. Of course, as with nearly everything else, we should all consider the source — especially since mainstream media gave up on real reporting and resorted to talking heads bleating their corporate overlords’ opinions, cast as ‘research’ and ‘investigative journalism’, ages ago.… [Read more]
Along with its famous landmarks, skyscrapers and large population, New York City had a reputation for decades as a dangerous and filthy city. With much hard work over the years, the city has significantly decreased its crime levels and made itself look much more attractive. Clearly, other matters are at the forefront of the city’s agenda but, as much cleanliness matters, using it as an excuse to bring in police to suppress a protest and evict protestors is a rather transparent move. … [Read more]
What’s Happening, Brother?
For the inaugural post in the ‘Say It In Song’ category, BorderlessNewsandViews.com thinks that this classic release from 1971 is appropriate: Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. With ongoing protests about war, inequality, economic strife and control by so few over so many, Marvin Gaye’s timeless classic asked this question 40 years ago — but this song is as relevant today as it was then.… [Read more]