bring your own bag

thanks to my ma for this news...

whole foods market is getting rid of the plastic bag option!!!!! hurrah!!!!!! whole foods wants customers to bring their own bags to shop... and you get a 5 cent discount for each bag you bring...

although it's pricey to shop there, whole foods is leading the way... nice move.

The Office Returns

Speaking Truth to Power: Take that Bill 0'Reilly

This video should be seen far and wide. It is some of the best arguments I have seen regarding this country and racism and the absolute hypocrisy of the media (in this case Fox news). He discusses Jeremiah Wright, Farrakhan and Martin Luther King and makes minced meat out of the O'Reilly Factor reporter. Pass this video along.

paterson's da yunginz

from program director ron cope: On Thursday April 3, Silk City Media Workshop (SCMW) had the World Premier of the video "Who We Be" by the Da Yunginz. Da Yunginz are a newly formed rap group from Paterson NJ who met at the Paterson YMCA NJ After 3 Program at Alexander Hamilton Academy. The group has two talented young women and four gifted young men.

Their work was put together in collaboration with Arts for Kids Records (ATKR). ATKR's sent the Executive Producer Tony Lewis, to work with the group to complete this project and it was a masterpiece. The was shot and edited by the up and coming Video Director, Steve "Quick Fingers" Fiedeldey.

We would like to thank, the Paterson YMCA, NJ After 3, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Passaic County Community College for their undying support for our innovative programs. We would also like to thank Gaby Rinkerman and Gregg Festa for their belief in our project.

See the video or check out silk city media. The CD and video will be on sale as a bonus, on the Global Youth Service Weekend album to support Relay For Life. If you need more info about Global Youth Service Weekend please contact Vicki Fernandez at 973.413.1626 or vfernandez@NJCDC.org.

Al Sadr at it Again? Five More U.S. Soldiers Killed and Scores of Iraqis

From the Associated Press:

Suspected Shiite militants lobbed rockets and mortar shells into the U.S.-protected Green Zone and a military base elsewhere in Baghdad on Sunday, killing three American troops and wounding 31, officials said.

The attacks occurred as U.S. and Iraqi forces battled Shiite militants in Sadr City in some of the fiercest fighting since radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered a cease-fire a week ago. At least 16 Iraqi civilians were killed and nearly 100 wounded in the fighting, according to hospital officials.

The deaths raised to at least 4,018 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The surge in violence came as tensions rose in Shiite areas despite al-Sadr's cease-fire order issued March 30 that eased nearly a week of clashes in Baghdad, Basra and other cities in the Shiite south. The cleric stopped short of asking his fighters to surrender their weapons, and sporadic clashes have continued.

Violence also continued in northern Iraq. Gunmen seized 42 students off a bus near the city of Mosul — the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq — but later released them unharmed. The U.S. military said the college students were rescued by Iraqi soldiers, and three kidnappers had been detained.

Say it with me though, slow and methodically. The surge is working, the surge is working. You say it so many times in a row and maybe we will actually believe it.

The Next President?

From Harper's Magazine:

American housing prices continued to fall, and financial institutions worldwide, which have lost $295 billion so far, were expected to lose hundreds of billions more.

1 2 McCain asked mortgage lenders to provide voluntary aid to homeowners, recalling that General Motors had offered no-interest car financing after September 11.

Senator Hillary Clinton suggested consulting former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. While Clinton conceded that Greenspan helped cause the current crisis, she claimed that he has a “calming influence” on Wall Street. “Don't ask me why,” she said, “because I never understand what he's saying.”

A Cartoon

When Blood is Running in the Streets

I guess I can't say it surprises me. In a Friday article in the New York Times, entitled, "Investors Stalk the Wounded of Wall Street," the Rothschilds are quoted as saying: "The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets."

Hedge funds managers specializing in 'distressed' businesses, ironically, are usually formerly distressed businesses themselves. For example: Countrywide Financial Corporation, one of the pushers of subprime lending. From the article:

A former executive of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, one of the mortgage giants that fostered subprime lending, recently helped start a company — to buy mortgages. And executives of the Blackstone Group, those lords of the now faded buyout boom, just raised $10.9 billion from investors to scoop up real estate.
The vultures are betting, and betting big, that some people have thrown the good out with the bad, and that the prices of some investments have simply fallen too far.

Amazing? Not exactly. 'Opprtunity investing,' as it is called in the business, is quite commonplace in times of panic. As I remember from the documentary, The Corporation, a Wall Street Commodities trader was quoted as thinking that when the World Trade center was destroyed: "With disaster comes opportunity."

This is exactly why these scumbags need to be seriously regulated. We, the mere mortals, are just pawns in their shell game.

From the article again:

“There are a lot of dead carcasses on the road, and the vultures are out sniffing,” said Andy Kessler, a former hedge fund manager. “This is the cycle of Wall Street. When bubbles crash, you get the value guys who come in and say, ‘This thing is cheap.’ ”

Martin Luther King: 40 Years Later

I have never been excited celebrating the death or the birth of Martin Luther King, jr. Today, I feel excited for the first time in my life. Watching Barack Obama's campaign rally and watching black, white, latino and others come together for a deeper and bigger cause, maybe there is hope, maybe this man did not die in vain.

One Person's Socialism is Another Person's Smart Economic Policy

Oh, you mean it is our oil? Not, Exxon's or Shell or Luk oil. We own the oil? Oh that is right, only in Venezuela do they think that natural resources are actually owned by the people, not by multinational corporations. Oil profits benefiting citizens? Not in America, but in Venezuela. Call it socialism, call it economic populism, I don't care, but I want it here.

Venezuela is planning a windfall tax on what it calls "excessive" profits of energy firms to allow state revenues to benefit from high oil prices:


The tax will take 50% of oil revenues above $70 per barrel, and an additional 60% of revenues over $100 per barrel, legislator Angel Rodriguez said.

He told state news agency ABN that oil firms had surpassed "reasonable levels of profitability".
The move will affect foreign oil firms operating in Venezuela such as Chevron.
Oil is currently trading above $104 per barrel.

'Excessive earnings'
The proposed tax comes months after President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive forced out two of the world's largest energy companies - Exxon Mobil Corp and Conoco Phillips.

Exxon is seeking $12bn in compensation from Venezuela after its oilfields were nationalised last year.

The tax will also apply to state oil company PDVSA, which now controls all of Venezuela's oilfields.

"Because of high oil prices, oil companies have excessive earnings that go beyond reasonable levels of profitability," Mr Rodriguez was quoted by Reuters as telling state news agency ABN.
"One way to distribute them to our people, who are the owners of the oil, is to create this tax."
Mr Rodriguez said the measure would get initial approval from the country's Congress this week.

Budget Cuts are Giving Nature the Axe in New Jersey

One in five New Jersey state parks would be forced to close at the height of the summer season and 80 parks workers would be laid off as part of cost-cutting measures forced by Gov. Jon S. Corzine's austere budget.

The Department of Environmental Protection is proposing to close nine state parks entirely, slash services at three more, and reduce offseason hours at all 42 sites.

The list of parks slated for closure includes five in the Skylands region and two each in the Shore and Delaware River regions. Hours and services at three others would be drastically reduced. Parks targeted to close include High Point State Park and Round Valley Recreation Area in the north, Monmouth Battlefield State Park at the shore and Parvin State Park in the south.

The article goes on to say some 17 million New Jerseyans use these parks and the parks slated for closure had 2 million visitors last year alone. Environmentalists say the cuts are not worth the trade-off. Ya think?

This is so short-sighted to close parks to save a few million dollars. Right now New Jersey is so totally in debt, cutting this amount of nature and use to save is as someone says in the article: "draconian."

"We have too many people in government who don't understand how important parks are for the people of New Jersey," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "Not everybody can have a house on Long Beach Island or the Hamptons. This is where people go on their vacations."

Why is it I dislike Corzine more and more. He tries to run the state as if it is Goldman Sachs. Cut here, cut this. Raise taxes on the rich already! It is called progressive taxation. It is the only thing that will work that does not harm the economy, and hurts those with the most who will not even feel it. It is called populism, something I am sure Governor Corzine has not heard of often.

The list of nine state parks that would close:

-- Monmouth Battlefield State Park, 2,928 acres, Monmouth County. Visitor center, restrooms, closed.

-- Stephens State Park, 805 acres, Warren County. Camping area closed.

-- High Point State Park, 15,827 acres, Sussex County. Swimming, camping, interpretive center, office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest), 36,647 acres, Burlington County. Camping, group picnic area, Indian King Tavern, office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Round Valley Recreation Area, 3,684 acres, Hunterdon County. Swimming, camping, Wallace House, office, closed.

-- Parvin State Park, 1,952 acres, Salem County. Swimming, camping, interpretive center, office, closed.

-- Jenny Jump State Forest, 4,288 acres, Warren County. Camping and office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Worthington State Forest, 6,584 acres, Warren County. Camping and office, closed. Trail access limited.

-- Fort Mott State Park, 104 acres, Salem County. Hancock House, historic sites, office, closed. Access to ferry service, open.

The list of three New Jersey state parks that would partially close under the proposed budget:

-- Ringwood State Park, 4,044 acres, Bergen and Passaic counties. Shepherd Lake swimming area closed; Ringwood Manor, reduced hours. State Botanical Gardens and Skylands Manor, open.

-- D&R Canal State Park, 5,379 acres, central New Jersey. Bulls Island Recreation Area closed to campers. Rockingham Historic Site and towpath, open.

-- Washington Crossing State Park, 3,126 acres, Mercer and Hunterdon counties. Significantly reduced hours at Clark House, Johnson Ferry House and the museum.

Winter hours at all remaining parks would be reduced. All but Liberty and Island Beach state parks would be closed Mondays and Tuesdays from Nov. 1 through March 31.

The Logic of Hillary '08

What is a Progressive?

"The American left is in the throes of an existential crisis. Some say it's a failure of nerve, others a loss of belief. It is the latter. Neoliberalism has sucked the oxygen out of the left by deflating the political sphere to the economic one. The left must articulate a new creed around three principles: empowerment (the economic is ancillary to the political); social justice (the disadvantaged have an unconditional claim upon the collectivity); and decency (the state may not humiliate anyone). To make its case, the left must redefine that most exalted form of self-interest, patriotism, as pride in a society that grants all of its members the means to belong." -Bernard Chazelle -

Another Diner Bites the Dust

If you haven't heard, this is the news that broke on http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/:

VANISHING

A commenter to this blog (eeps) tipped me to the closing of the Cheyenne Diner, which I just covered two weeks ago upon the happy news of the Market Diner's re-opening. I called the diner to confirm and yes, sadly, this will be the Cheyenne's last week on earth after more than half a century at 9th and 33rd. Just as I thought life in New York was getting better for our diners, another is put out to pasture. Maybe it will follow the Moondance out to Wyoming. I just hope the autographed pics of What's Happening's Fred "Rerun" Berry will go with it.

I grew up in New Jersey. I went to college in the Bronx. I lived in Ridgewood and Bushwick. Each of these places had at least one thing in common: diners. The first time I went into a diner, it was probably the Candlewyck, in East Rutherford. My parents used to take my brother, sister and I on alternating weekends to that overly-mirrored paradise. I always ordered pineapple juice and hot chocolate with whipped cream. You could get anything, at any time.

New Jersey and New York, going way back to the Paterson caboose diners, specialized in the art of the diner. The closing of the Cheyenne, a place I went many a time with my Dad, who works two blocks from it at 2 Penn Plaza, is a travesty. I hope that the yuppies from Nebraska that buy up the apartments that the owner of Cheyenne will put up in its place, are somehow forced to face up to the fact that they are a part of the spiraling decline of New York history.

NINA (No Irish Need Apply)

from Folha de S. Paulo, Sunday 3/30/08:

The government of Ireland decided to mistreat the Brazilians arriving in that country. (By deporting 57 Brazilians in the first three months of the year, mainly under the suspicious "law" that says anyone traveling to the EU must carry a minimum of 75 Euros a day for the duration of their stay, even if they are registered to attend a conference where that amount would not seem to be necessary.) In a case resolved by Policia Federal (Brazilian FBI), half a dozen natives of Ireland were in turn deported, focusing on people who were working in Brasil with a tourist visa.

It's a shame that Ireland has forgotten the time when it exported 5 million of its wretched, destroyed by hunger and lack of work. These embattled masses were accompanied by stereotypes as barbarians, brawlers, and drunks.There was a period when American commercial establishments put up signs on their doors stating: 'We do not accept blacks, Irish or dogs.' The madames of New York and London advertised for housekeepers with a code: "NINA," (No Irish Need Apply).

This short piece only reinforces the fear of a world ever-increasingly smaller, and the inability of countries to remain 'pure.' Whether it is the US, Ireland, Spain, or Italy, amnesia is running rampant. The immigrant of yesterday is the know-nothing of today. And so it goes.

Chevron : TV Ad : Renewable Energy

Congress is finally going after OPEC for their obscene stranglehold on the world's energy. I was just watching this ad on CNN last night, and it looks so pretty on film, but last time I checked, Chevron wasn't richer than Lichtenstein due to their investment in geothermal energy. They, as far as I am concerned, will not do more than make nice ads unless countries force them to change. This and all the other Chevron ads are a great smokescreen. My question is: hw mcuh money will they spend to make sure they are in on the eventual Iraq oil rush?

Immigration Fiasco

I've been reading a lot lately about undocumented children in the US and the issues that arise because of their immigration status. They grow up in the US and can't legally work or attend universities.

Listen to this young man's story:



Then take action, here.

(Hat tip, feministing)

A Question of Fairness: Restore the Vote

"I done things I'm not proud of, and I'm different now; I'm a man," he said outside the hall. "But I can't go back and change what I did." Mr. McGowan said he doubts his rights will be restored in time. If he can, he will vote for Sen. Barack Obama. "I like Hillary; Hillary is all right, but Barack, Barack is something different," he said.

An issue that seems to be getting more and more traction in the news is felony reenfranchisement. Yesterday, another editorial in the Wall Street Journal of all papers argues felons case. Florida recently restored voting rights to felons. Charlie Crist went against the Republican machine in Florida, but the process has been slow and of course the 2008 election looms.

Florida's clemency board has restored voting rights to nearly 75,000 residents. But nearly 96,000 requests are pending, according to information through March 20. Activists say there might be an additional 400,000 people who have been rejected without explanation, making it impossible for them to be reinstated.

The issue will only gain more traction as the fall comes into focus. But, rest assured no state house will do anything this year to move felons vote in their respective states, but this does not underscore the fact that "5.3 million U.S. citizens unable to vote because of felony convictions -- including four million people who are no longer in prison, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law."

Maine and Vermont are the only states that allow felons to vote while incarcerated. Thirteen others and the District of Columbia allow inmates to regain the right to vote after their release, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington advocacy group. Other states limit voting based on factors including the severity of a crime, the completion of probation and the payment of fines.

This reenfranchisement is a question of fairness, of a society that expects people to pay their debt to society and then improve, do not move back into crime. But, what of a society that says, sorry - yes, you have paid your debt to society, but you still cannot vote, you are not a citizen, you are not a man. What of a society when most of those men (of course some women) are people of color, mostly black, is there something being said? What of these laws, these disenfranchisement laws come from the post slavery south that instead of denying blacks the right to vote outright, they sought laws on the books that those with a criminal record can't vote, then they arrested former slaves.

We need to end felony disenfranchisement, once and for all.

Speaker Pelosi Had to Intervene on Behalf of Congress Woman Tammy Baldwin's Domestic Partner on Military Flight

From Think Progress: How much longer do we have to put up with this shit? Let's see I will tell you how long: 294 days left.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was recently “forced to intervene with Defense Secretary Robert Gates” in order to get Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) “domestic partner on a military flight for a congressional fact-finding trip to Europe.” While House rules allow spouses to travel with members of Congress on such missions, “military officials were apparently unwilling to consider” Baldwin’s partner “a ’spouse’ within the meaning of the House guidelines.” Pelosi’s effort was successful, but the Politico reports that “[t]he Pentagon appears to be self-conscious about transporting gay domestic partners at a time when it continues to enforce a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in its own ranks.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), another openly gay lawmaker, suggested the military is perhaps “following orders” because “the [Bush] administration disapproves of same-sex marriage.”

Wealthy People Enrolled in New Jersey Health Care Program for the Poor

This could hurt (politically) Vitale's call for universal healthcare in New Jersey. Already some Republicans are calling the state not proficient enough to run a state healthcare insurance program. While, sure fraud exists, I think it is important to note the fraud is from those over qualified from this program, not people who are qualified and are so-called "double dipping." Health Care for all is absolutely essential and because possible fraud is possible is no reason to stop the call for universal healthcare. This is what was found:

Wealthy people are enrolled in a state-run health care program for working poor families and criminal investigators are examining another state health program for the poor, according to new state audits that found shocking displays of wasted money.

An audit found:

• Some beneficiaries failed to report all income on NJ FamilyCare applications. Applicants authorize the program to match applications with their tax return, but the state isn't checking all tax files, allowing people with incomes of $295,000, $186,000 and $177,700 to enroll.

• About 13,000 NJ FamilyCare participants weren't sent renewal applications, though regulations require eligibility be determined annually. The audit found $43.1 million was paid to these participants from July 2005 to September without knowing if they remain eligible.

• The state failed to try to collect $4.6 million owed to NJ FamilyCare by 16,300 people.

• The state paid $2.1 million from July 2005 to December for medical equipment that should have been paid for by nursing facilities.

• The state is failing to monitor medical equipment providers. For example, it found a provider billed the Medicaid program $30,000 for 48,000 adult incontinence briefs, though the audit found only 10,000 briefs were purchased. Auditors said they've referred this and other examples to state criminal investigators.

• The state isn't properly calculating Medicaid reimbursements. For instance, auditors found the state paid $8,181 for a wheelchair that should have cost $5,705.

• The state spent $6.7 million in state and federal money more than was needed to rent oxygen equipment and buy adult incontinence briefs.

• The state, from July 2005 to December, sent as many as three blood pressure monitors to Medicaid patients, even though many come with warranties and are replaced for free by drug store chains. The audit found the state could have saved $100,000 by denying these claims.